Reuters
8 December 2007
By Pascal Fletcher
The African Union's top official said on Saturday the EU's strategy of pressing individual African regions and states to sign new trade deals was divisive and would hurt the continent's rural poor and its industry.
In a speech at the opening of a summit of European and African leaders in Lisbon, the chairman of the AU Commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, attacked the EU's forceful campaign to clinch new trade and development deals with former colonies.
Most governments on the world's poorest continent have resisted EU pressure to sign new Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) by Dec. 31, when a World Trade Organisation waiver allowing preferential treatment for developing countries' exports expires.
But EU trade officials have persuaded some African regional sub-groups and individual countries to sign initial interim trade deals, and talks have started with large regional groups, with the EU saying it wants to promote regional integration.
Some developing countries and anti-poverty campaigners accuse Brussels of arm-twisting poor states into agreements that could open up weak economies to destructive competition.
Konare said that for the African Union, "Africa is one and indivisible" and that European efforts to negotiate with separate regions and states harked back to the past when colonial powers carved up the continent between them.
"We must avoid playing certain African regions against each other, or playing the countries of the same region against each other," he told more than 70 European and African heads of state in Lisbon.
"Otherwise it will no doubt be possible to push through a victory of sorts, but it will be a Pyrrhic victory, based on divisions at a tremendous cost to the rural African population and to African industry," he added.
"BURY COLONIAL PAST"
Brussels has initialled -- prior to formally signing -- interim trade agreements with the East Africa Community trading bloc, some Indian Ocean African states, several countries in southern Africa and Ivory Coast in West Africa.
EU Commision President Jose Manuel Barroso said EU officials were continuing talks with individual African states during the Lisbon summit. These are believed to include Ghana and Cameroon.
But Africa's major economic powerhouses, South Africa and Nigeria, have been holding out against signing EPAs.
EU Aid and Development Commissioner Louis Michel denied Europe's aim was to divide Africa. He told reporters EU trade negotiators were trying to help states that would be hardest hit by tariffs after the end of the year if no deal is in place.
But Konare insisted speeding up the trade negotiations would bring no benefit to Africa and called for a new strategic partnership in which both continents would gain.
"It is time to bury definitively the colonial pact based on slavery and trading posts. We can no longer be merely exporters of raw materials, we can no longer accept being solely an import market for finished products," he said.
Konare noted that, as the EU continued to press Africa to sign EPAs, the continent was increasingly engaging with other international partners, such as China, India and Latin America.
(Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander and Henrique Almeida; editing by Andrew Roche)
08 December, 2007
Extraordinary Ibuka Congress in Connection With the Gacacas.
Hirondelle News Agency
7 December 2007
Ibuka (Remember), the principal collective of associations of Rwanda genocide survivors, held Friday an extraordinary congress to make an assessment of the gacaca courts.
Mr. Naphtal Ahishakiye, head of the memory department within the collective, explained to the Hirondelle agency, in Kigali, that with partners of justice and associations of genocide survivors, they planned "to discuss ways in which the gacaca courts can end in respecting the objectives that they were assigned".
This extraordinary congress followed a recent Ibuka report which criticized, among others, the quality of the gacaca trials, the interference of the authorities, the uncontrolled acquittal and release of "génocidaires ", the insecurity of survivors and witnesses and the hiding of the truth.
This report recommends the revision or the repair of these failures, in particular by a fair administration of justice against authorities that were involved in the genocide, the revision of the trials of persons acquitted on the basis of corruption and the harmonious organization of Work of General Interest (WGI).
Representatives of the widows of the genocide, orphans, heads of households, students and the agents of Ibuka on the district level are awaited.
According to Mrs. Mukantaganzwa, the gacaca courts, which the official end is scheduled in a month, could benefit from an extension which the mission would extend to trials of 1st category persons.
Out of the half a million 2nd category alleged authors of the genocide, 95% have until now been tried by the gacaca courts and 5% are either on appeal or their cases have recently been created on the basis of new information.
7 December 2007
Ibuka (Remember), the principal collective of associations of Rwanda genocide survivors, held Friday an extraordinary congress to make an assessment of the gacaca courts.
Mr. Naphtal Ahishakiye, head of the memory department within the collective, explained to the Hirondelle agency, in Kigali, that with partners of justice and associations of genocide survivors, they planned "to discuss ways in which the gacaca courts can end in respecting the objectives that they were assigned".
This extraordinary congress followed a recent Ibuka report which criticized, among others, the quality of the gacaca trials, the interference of the authorities, the uncontrolled acquittal and release of "génocidaires ", the insecurity of survivors and witnesses and the hiding of the truth.
This report recommends the revision or the repair of these failures, in particular by a fair administration of justice against authorities that were involved in the genocide, the revision of the trials of persons acquitted on the basis of corruption and the harmonious organization of Work of General Interest (WGI).
Representatives of the widows of the genocide, orphans, heads of households, students and the agents of Ibuka on the district level are awaited.
According to Mrs. Mukantaganzwa, the gacaca courts, which the official end is scheduled in a month, could benefit from an extension which the mission would extend to trials of 1st category persons.
Out of the half a million 2nd category alleged authors of the genocide, 95% have until now been tried by the gacaca courts and 5% are either on appeal or their cases have recently been created on the basis of new information.
Niger Delta: 'Peace Accord' is a Farce Says MEND.
MISNA
8 Decemer 2007
Timipre Sylva, governor of Bayelsa state, described the pace accord signed yesterday between state authorities and some rebels groups (Mend excluded) in Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa, as ‘historic’, while the Niger Delta MEND rebels countered that it was a ‘farce’. The accord implies that the rebels have agreed to stop kidnappings and sabotage operations against the oil companies in the region.
In view of the deal, the governor exhorted oil companies to do their part to uphold the agreement by creating jobs in Bayelsa, which has been described as a ‘capital of peace’ shedding its reputation as the ‘headquarters of the militants’. Sylva added that oil companies shall be able to resume operations in the area in a more tranquil atmosphere. The governor of the neighboring state of Rivers, Chibuke Amaechi, said that the vice-president Jonathan Goodluck declared that “the great problem of the region is not development but unemployment, adding that “if youth had jobs they would not resort to weapons”. However, in an e-mail received by international press organs, a MEND spokesman described the accord as a ‘farce’, accusing the government of having pacified fake militants to take part in the ceremony and “impress the international community”.
8 Decemer 2007
Timipre Sylva, governor of Bayelsa state, described the pace accord signed yesterday between state authorities and some rebels groups (Mend excluded) in Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa, as ‘historic’, while the Niger Delta MEND rebels countered that it was a ‘farce’. The accord implies that the rebels have agreed to stop kidnappings and sabotage operations against the oil companies in the region.
In view of the deal, the governor exhorted oil companies to do their part to uphold the agreement by creating jobs in Bayelsa, which has been described as a ‘capital of peace’ shedding its reputation as the ‘headquarters of the militants’. Sylva added that oil companies shall be able to resume operations in the area in a more tranquil atmosphere. The governor of the neighboring state of Rivers, Chibuke Amaechi, said that the vice-president Jonathan Goodluck declared that “the great problem of the region is not development but unemployment, adding that “if youth had jobs they would not resort to weapons”. However, in an e-mail received by international press organs, a MEND spokesman described the accord as a ‘farce’, accusing the government of having pacified fake militants to take part in the ceremony and “impress the international community”.
An Obstacle on the Way to Dialogue.
MISNA
8 November 2007
A communiqué from one of the rebel groups could obstruct the ‘inclusive’ dialogue between the government and the opposition; the UFDR, invited by president François Bozizé to join the reconciliation process, has protested the make up of the preparatory committee for dialogue, which includes 25 members. The UFDD says the group mis partial and it does not recognize Cheikh Tediane Deya as a representative of the movement. The UFDD told “the people of Central Africa and the international community that it favors dialogue”, which is needed to ensure a return to security, reconciliation and peace in the country – encouraged recently by UN sec. gen. Ban Ki-moon – even as it holds that Bozizé’s approach is “authoritarian and dictatorial”. In early November the president had opened to the rebels according to a peace deal signed in Sirte, Libya last February 2nd between Bangui, the UFDR and the group led by Abdoulaye Missine.
8 November 2007
A communiqué from one of the rebel groups could obstruct the ‘inclusive’ dialogue between the government and the opposition; the UFDR, invited by president François Bozizé to join the reconciliation process, has protested the make up of the preparatory committee for dialogue, which includes 25 members. The UFDD says the group mis partial and it does not recognize Cheikh Tediane Deya as a representative of the movement. The UFDD told “the people of Central Africa and the international community that it favors dialogue”, which is needed to ensure a return to security, reconciliation and peace in the country – encouraged recently by UN sec. gen. Ban Ki-moon – even as it holds that Bozizé’s approach is “authoritarian and dictatorial”. In early November the president had opened to the rebels according to a peace deal signed in Sirte, Libya last February 2nd between Bangui, the UFDR and the group led by Abdoulaye Missine.
Lisbon Summit: EU Nominates Ambassador to African Union.
MISNA
8 December 2007
The EU has nominated, on the eve of the II Afro-European summit, which will start in earnest tomorrow in Lisbon, the first official representative of the EU to the African Union (AU). Sources said that the first diplomat to serve in this post shall be the Belgian Koen Vervaeke, who had been the director of the ‘Task Force Africa’ at the EU office for foreign affairs led by Javier Solana. Vervaeke will be a full ambassador, representing solely the EU Council and Commission.
8 December 2007
The EU has nominated, on the eve of the II Afro-European summit, which will start in earnest tomorrow in Lisbon, the first official representative of the EU to the African Union (AU). Sources said that the first diplomat to serve in this post shall be the Belgian Koen Vervaeke, who had been the director of the ‘Task Force Africa’ at the EU office for foreign affairs led by Javier Solana. Vervaeke will be a full ambassador, representing solely the EU Council and Commission.
Chad: Contrasting Tolls of Fighting, Calls for Dialogue Ignored.
MISNA
8 December 2007
According to a statement released by the Popular Front for National Revival (FPRN) anti-government movement headed by Adoum Yacoub, 150 soldiers were killed, 43 captured and some thirty vehicles were destroyed in over 6-hours of fighting with Chadian regular forces yesterday in the area of Tissi, not far from the border with Sudan. A toll, which also refers of seven rebels wounded, not confirmed by military sources that instead report “a heavy defeat” inflicted on the rebellion. “All rebels active in the area were pushed across the border into Sudan. There are no rebels left on Chadian territory, not a single one”, said General Abdelkarim Bahar Mahamat Itno, Chadian army chief and cousin of President Idris Deby.
The army chief referred that “over 70 rebels were killed in two days of fighting while just six soldiers died”. The tolls are substantially impossible to very with independent sources, which merely confirm the violence of the fighting demonstrated by the hundreds of people brought to the hospitals of the area. Meanwhile, appeals for dialogue by the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), the first rebel group to resume the armed conflict around ten days ago and suspend actions 72 hours ago, appear to have been ignored and four formations – UFDD-fundamental, the Rally of Forces for Change (RFC) of Timane Erdimi and the Front for the Salvation of the Republic (FSR) – continue their activities in the area. A situation, according to some local newspapers, which demonstrates a significant division of the rebellion over leadership and rivalries between the different communities present in the territory. The fighting in east Chad began after the main rebel factions, signatories on October 25 in Sirte (Libya) of an accord with the government, annulled the agreement accusing the government of failing to respect the conditions.
8 December 2007
According to a statement released by the Popular Front for National Revival (FPRN) anti-government movement headed by Adoum Yacoub, 150 soldiers were killed, 43 captured and some thirty vehicles were destroyed in over 6-hours of fighting with Chadian regular forces yesterday in the area of Tissi, not far from the border with Sudan. A toll, which also refers of seven rebels wounded, not confirmed by military sources that instead report “a heavy defeat” inflicted on the rebellion. “All rebels active in the area were pushed across the border into Sudan. There are no rebels left on Chadian territory, not a single one”, said General Abdelkarim Bahar Mahamat Itno, Chadian army chief and cousin of President Idris Deby.
The army chief referred that “over 70 rebels were killed in two days of fighting while just six soldiers died”. The tolls are substantially impossible to very with independent sources, which merely confirm the violence of the fighting demonstrated by the hundreds of people brought to the hospitals of the area. Meanwhile, appeals for dialogue by the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), the first rebel group to resume the armed conflict around ten days ago and suspend actions 72 hours ago, appear to have been ignored and four formations – UFDD-fundamental, the Rally of Forces for Change (RFC) of Timane Erdimi and the Front for the Salvation of the Republic (FSR) – continue their activities in the area. A situation, according to some local newspapers, which demonstrates a significant division of the rebellion over leadership and rivalries between the different communities present in the territory. The fighting in east Chad began after the main rebel factions, signatories on October 25 in Sirte (Libya) of an accord with the government, annulled the agreement accusing the government of failing to respect the conditions.
Belgium gives billions (RwFc) for budget.
The New Times
By Gasheegu Muramila
8 December 2007
The Belgian government has fulfilled its budget support commitment by giving 16 million euros (approx Frw12.8bn) to the health and education sectors.
The two sector-financing agreements were signed yesterday by Foreign Affairs minister Dr Charles Murigande and the Belgian Ambassador, François Roux, at the Foreign affairs ministry offices.
According to a statement from the Belgian Embassy, each of the sectors will receive 8 million euros. The health sector will be considered for the first phase.
‘The health sector budget support will be provided to the Government of Rwanda to fund budgeted expenditures focusing on access to quality health services for the poor and the vulnerable,’ it indicated.
It added: ‘This is the very first budget support in the health sector for Rwanda.’
The education sector is an extension of the ongoing budget support covering 2008 – 2010.
It complements the 2007 contribution of 3.5 million euros.
In October this year, several development partners promised to increase sector budget support through the Sector Wide approach (SWAp).
Through the alignment, government and partners can meet to discuss sector planning and prioritisation to promote effectiveness of aid.
By Gasheegu Muramila
8 December 2007
The Belgian government has fulfilled its budget support commitment by giving 16 million euros (approx Frw12.8bn) to the health and education sectors.
The two sector-financing agreements were signed yesterday by Foreign Affairs minister Dr Charles Murigande and the Belgian Ambassador, François Roux, at the Foreign affairs ministry offices.
According to a statement from the Belgian Embassy, each of the sectors will receive 8 million euros. The health sector will be considered for the first phase.
‘The health sector budget support will be provided to the Government of Rwanda to fund budgeted expenditures focusing on access to quality health services for the poor and the vulnerable,’ it indicated.
It added: ‘This is the very first budget support in the health sector for Rwanda.’
The education sector is an extension of the ongoing budget support covering 2008 – 2010.
It complements the 2007 contribution of 3.5 million euros.
In October this year, several development partners promised to increase sector budget support through the Sector Wide approach (SWAp).
Through the alignment, government and partners can meet to discuss sector planning and prioritisation to promote effectiveness of aid.
Anglo, BHP approve Zondagsfontein, Klipspruit projects.
Mining Weekly Online
7 December 2007
Two of the world’s largest mining companies, Anglo American and BHP Billiton, on Friday announced that they had approved two new major coal projects in South Africa, with a combined cost of about $955-million (around R6,4-billion).
BHP Billiton approved its $450-million Klipspruit project, which would see the mine's capacity growing from the existing 4,8-million tons a year to eight-million tons a year.
Anglo American announced that Anglo Inyosi Coal’s $505-million Zondagsfontein project, which would produce some six-million tons of coal a year, would go ahead.
The two companies also formed a 50:50 joint venture (JV) to develop a 16-million-tons-a-year coal-processing plant, called Phola Coal.
Each company would process eight-million tons a year of coal at the plant, which Anglo Inyosi Coal would construct.
ZONDAGSFONTEIN
The Zondagsfontein project, situated near the town of Ogies in Mpumalanga, would deliver the six-million tons a year from its underground mine and opencast pit over a life of 20 a year life-of-mine. This would be made up of three-million tons a year of thermal export product and three–million tons a year of domestic product.
Anglo Inyosi Coal said that the mine’s coal reserves were in excess of 250-million tons.
The company added that preparation of the site had begun, and construction was planned to start in early 2008, with production starting in the second half of 2009, and reaching full production by 2011.
“It is envisaged that this project will create employment for more than 1 000 people when completed, in addition to contributing substantially to the economic development of the region through infrastructure development and providing procurement opportunities for local businesses,” the company said in a statement.
KLIPSPRUIT EXPANSION
BHP Billiton said that the increased production was due to come on stream in the second half of 2009. The company would export some four-million tons a year through the Richards Bay Coal Terminal, using BHP Billiton’s existing allocation.
Using current reserves, Klipfontein, which produced 3,4-million tons of energy coal in the year ended June 30, the mine had an expected life-of-mine of about 20 years.
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE
The companies said that Anglo Coal CEO John Wallington commented: “This is indeed a vote of great confidence by Anglo American in this first Anglo Inyosi Coal project and in Anglo Coal’s growth strategy in South Africa.”
BHP Billiton president of its coal division, Dave Murray, said that the approval to expand the Klipspruit mine was demonstrating its commitment to South Africa and the energy coal market.
“The new JV processing facility with Anglo Coal will be a value adding investment for both parties and will reduce the need to transport coal on public roads, thereby supporting our goal of zero harm,” he said.
7 December 2007
Two of the world’s largest mining companies, Anglo American and BHP Billiton, on Friday announced that they had approved two new major coal projects in South Africa, with a combined cost of about $955-million (around R6,4-billion).
BHP Billiton approved its $450-million Klipspruit project, which would see the mine's capacity growing from the existing 4,8-million tons a year to eight-million tons a year.
Anglo American announced that Anglo Inyosi Coal’s $505-million Zondagsfontein project, which would produce some six-million tons of coal a year, would go ahead.
The two companies also formed a 50:50 joint venture (JV) to develop a 16-million-tons-a-year coal-processing plant, called Phola Coal.
Each company would process eight-million tons a year of coal at the plant, which Anglo Inyosi Coal would construct.
ZONDAGSFONTEIN
The Zondagsfontein project, situated near the town of Ogies in Mpumalanga, would deliver the six-million tons a year from its underground mine and opencast pit over a life of 20 a year life-of-mine. This would be made up of three-million tons a year of thermal export product and three–million tons a year of domestic product.
Anglo Inyosi Coal said that the mine’s coal reserves were in excess of 250-million tons.
The company added that preparation of the site had begun, and construction was planned to start in early 2008, with production starting in the second half of 2009, and reaching full production by 2011.
“It is envisaged that this project will create employment for more than 1 000 people when completed, in addition to contributing substantially to the economic development of the region through infrastructure development and providing procurement opportunities for local businesses,” the company said in a statement.
KLIPSPRUIT EXPANSION
BHP Billiton said that the increased production was due to come on stream in the second half of 2009. The company would export some four-million tons a year through the Richards Bay Coal Terminal, using BHP Billiton’s existing allocation.
Using current reserves, Klipfontein, which produced 3,4-million tons of energy coal in the year ended June 30, the mine had an expected life-of-mine of about 20 years.
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE
The companies said that Anglo Coal CEO John Wallington commented: “This is indeed a vote of great confidence by Anglo American in this first Anglo Inyosi Coal project and in Anglo Coal’s growth strategy in South Africa.”
BHP Billiton president of its coal division, Dave Murray, said that the approval to expand the Klipspruit mine was demonstrating its commitment to South Africa and the energy coal market.
“The new JV processing facility with Anglo Coal will be a value adding investment for both parties and will reduce the need to transport coal on public roads, thereby supporting our goal of zero harm,” he said.
Weak dollar, skyrocketing oil bite on Ghana's mining sector.
Mineweb
6 December 2007
A weakened dollar coupled with an ever skyrocketing of global oil prices is biting on Ghana's mining industry and according to President of Ghana Chamber of Mines Jurgen Eijgendaal, most mining companies in this west African country will, as a consequence, not meet their 2007 production targets.
While the greenback has been sagging, the current nose-drive is sending companies scampering, especially those in Africa which export their products in priced In US dollars.
And as if the drop in the dollar value is not bad news enough, global oil prices reached record highs the past three years further bleeding industries in Africa where intermittent power supplies are often the order of the day.
This oil and dollar crisis, says Eijgendaal is weighing heavily on the mining industry in Ghana, Africa's second gold producer after South Africa and tenth in the world. "Those who tried to meet their target had to incur extra cost on self-generating plant," Ghanaian Chronicle quotes Eijgendaal saying when addressing an end of year party for chamber staff. "At one point during the recent power fluctuations the cost to the mining sector was US$8.5 million a month."
Apart from oil and the weak dollar, he also said illegal mining presented Ghana with yet another challenge to confront in the mining industry. Eijgendaal said the presence of illegal miners on mining companies' bona fide concessions adversely affects Ghana's image as a safe investment destination and also impacts on members' ability to contribute positively towards national development.
However despite these challenges, Ghana's mining industry shows signs of resilience, as companies continue performing slightly above par revenue-wise and are showing signs that they will beat the US$1.2 billion mark they recorded in 2006. The country's ten big mining companies remitted in the process, US$781 million to government coffers last year. This is 65 percent of Ghana's total earnings.
Mining accounts for five percent of the country's GDP and gold contributes about 90 percent of its mineral exports. It has 13 big mining companies, including Anglo-Gold Ashanti, Newmont, and Gold Fields. In 2006 Ghana mined 2.5 percent of the world's gold production, producing 63.1mt.
6 December 2007
A weakened dollar coupled with an ever skyrocketing of global oil prices is biting on Ghana's mining industry and according to President of Ghana Chamber of Mines Jurgen Eijgendaal, most mining companies in this west African country will, as a consequence, not meet their 2007 production targets.
While the greenback has been sagging, the current nose-drive is sending companies scampering, especially those in Africa which export their products in priced In US dollars.
And as if the drop in the dollar value is not bad news enough, global oil prices reached record highs the past three years further bleeding industries in Africa where intermittent power supplies are often the order of the day.
This oil and dollar crisis, says Eijgendaal is weighing heavily on the mining industry in Ghana, Africa's second gold producer after South Africa and tenth in the world. "Those who tried to meet their target had to incur extra cost on self-generating plant," Ghanaian Chronicle quotes Eijgendaal saying when addressing an end of year party for chamber staff. "At one point during the recent power fluctuations the cost to the mining sector was US$8.5 million a month."
Apart from oil and the weak dollar, he also said illegal mining presented Ghana with yet another challenge to confront in the mining industry. Eijgendaal said the presence of illegal miners on mining companies' bona fide concessions adversely affects Ghana's image as a safe investment destination and also impacts on members' ability to contribute positively towards national development.
However despite these challenges, Ghana's mining industry shows signs of resilience, as companies continue performing slightly above par revenue-wise and are showing signs that they will beat the US$1.2 billion mark they recorded in 2006. The country's ten big mining companies remitted in the process, US$781 million to government coffers last year. This is 65 percent of Ghana's total earnings.
Mining accounts for five percent of the country's GDP and gold contributes about 90 percent of its mineral exports. It has 13 big mining companies, including Anglo-Gold Ashanti, Newmont, and Gold Fields. In 2006 Ghana mined 2.5 percent of the world's gold production, producing 63.1mt.
Liberia police arrest ex-leader.
BBC News
7 December 2007
Liberia's ex-President Gyude Bryant has been arrested over charges that he embezzled some $1m while in office.
Police detained him after he failed to appear in court to answer the charges.
Mr Bryant, who headed the country during a transitional phase after the end of the 14-year civil war in 2003, was charged in February.
He denies the charges. As he was being taken to the main prison, he said that he was being rewarded with detention for restoring peace and democracy.
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took office last year after winning elections on a pledge to fight graft.
Mr Bryant was originally charged after an audit by the West African regional body, Ecowas, uncovered evidence of corruption during his two years in office ending in 2006.
He had been free on bail.
"This is a very, very, very dark day for Liberia. This is the reward we get for restoring peace and democracy to our country," Mr Bryant, dressed in a white shirt and olive-coloured trousers, told reporters as he was led into the prison compound.
His power-sharing government took over after Charles Taylor stepped down, with rebel forces on the outskirts of the capital, Monrovia.
Mr Taylor is now facing war crimes charges.
7 December 2007
Liberia's ex-President Gyude Bryant has been arrested over charges that he embezzled some $1m while in office.
Police detained him after he failed to appear in court to answer the charges.
Mr Bryant, who headed the country during a transitional phase after the end of the 14-year civil war in 2003, was charged in February.
He denies the charges. As he was being taken to the main prison, he said that he was being rewarded with detention for restoring peace and democracy.
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took office last year after winning elections on a pledge to fight graft.
Mr Bryant was originally charged after an audit by the West African regional body, Ecowas, uncovered evidence of corruption during his two years in office ending in 2006.
He had been free on bail.
"This is a very, very, very dark day for Liberia. This is the reward we get for restoring peace and democracy to our country," Mr Bryant, dressed in a white shirt and olive-coloured trousers, told reporters as he was led into the prison compound.
His power-sharing government took over after Charles Taylor stepped down, with rebel forces on the outskirts of the capital, Monrovia.
Mr Taylor is now facing war crimes charges.
UN Refugee Agency Staff Member Shot Dead.
UN News Service
7 December 2007
A staff member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was shot dead during a shooting incident in Chad yesterday, prompting the agency and the Government to examine the circumstances surrounding the killing.
Mahmat Mahamadou, a driver based at the UNHCR Field Office in Danamadji in the south of Chad, where UNHCR cares for over 43,000 refugees from the Central African Republic, was returning alone in a vehicle after delivering a staff member to a regular meeting point for transfer of staff members when he was attacked, according to a spokesman for the agency.
"We are shocked and saddened" by the killing, said William Spindler.
"The circumstances surrounding the shooting are still not clear and we are working with the Chadian authorities to find out exactly what happened," he told the press in Geneva, where UNHCR is headquartered.
This is the first fatality UNHCR has suffered in its operations in Chad.
7 December 2007
A staff member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was shot dead during a shooting incident in Chad yesterday, prompting the agency and the Government to examine the circumstances surrounding the killing.
Mahmat Mahamadou, a driver based at the UNHCR Field Office in Danamadji in the south of Chad, where UNHCR cares for over 43,000 refugees from the Central African Republic, was returning alone in a vehicle after delivering a staff member to a regular meeting point for transfer of staff members when he was attacked, according to a spokesman for the agency.
"We are shocked and saddened" by the killing, said William Spindler.
"The circumstances surrounding the shooting are still not clear and we are working with the Chadian authorities to find out exactly what happened," he told the press in Geneva, where UNHCR is headquartered.
This is the first fatality UNHCR has suffered in its operations in Chad.
Nigerian gov’t, Niger Delta militants sign peace pact to end conflict.
African Press Agency
7 December 2007
The Nigerian Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday said unemployment was the greatest problem facing the restive Niger Delta region.
Jonathan, who was represented by the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, at the signing of a “cease-fire agreement’’ between Niger Delta militants and the Nigerian government in Yenagoa, about 700km from Abuja, said: “If the militants are employed, I am sure they will not carry guns.’’
The agreement was signed at the end of a two-day symposium organised by the Niger Delta Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee.
Jonathan also identified the lack of infrastructure as the second major problem facing the people.
“People die of malaria in the rural areas of the region, because of poor infrastructure,’’ he added.
Jonathan commended the militants for agreeing to lay down their arms and for also allowing politicians to negotiate on their behalf, in order to achieve peace in the region.
He assured the youths of the commitment of the Nigerian government to create employment opportunities and “do more for the Niger Delta," if the militants could maintain the agreement.
The governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Timipre Sylva had earlier lauded the militants, whom he described as “intelligent young men," for collectively agreeing to allow peace to reign in the state.
He said that by the agreement, the militantshad agreed to give the Yar’Adua/Jonathan administration a chance.
“They have also agreed to shut all the camps down to allow oil companies to return to site,’’ he added.
Sylva said the signing of the peace pact was an opportunity for the government to look into the problems of the Niger Delta.
Senator David Brigidi signed the peace pact on behalf of the Nigerian government, whileChief James Jephtah, Chairman of the Niger Delta Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee, and Mr Maxwell Oko, the State Commissioner for Youth, Conflict Resolution and Employment Generation, signed for the Bayelsa State government.
Eight representatives of the militants in Bayelsa State signed for their groups.
7 December 2007
The Nigerian Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday said unemployment was the greatest problem facing the restive Niger Delta region.
Jonathan, who was represented by the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, at the signing of a “cease-fire agreement’’ between Niger Delta militants and the Nigerian government in Yenagoa, about 700km from Abuja, said: “If the militants are employed, I am sure they will not carry guns.’’
The agreement was signed at the end of a two-day symposium organised by the Niger Delta Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee.
Jonathan also identified the lack of infrastructure as the second major problem facing the people.
“People die of malaria in the rural areas of the region, because of poor infrastructure,’’ he added.
Jonathan commended the militants for agreeing to lay down their arms and for also allowing politicians to negotiate on their behalf, in order to achieve peace in the region.
He assured the youths of the commitment of the Nigerian government to create employment opportunities and “do more for the Niger Delta," if the militants could maintain the agreement.
The governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Timipre Sylva had earlier lauded the militants, whom he described as “intelligent young men," for collectively agreeing to allow peace to reign in the state.
He said that by the agreement, the militantshad agreed to give the Yar’Adua/Jonathan administration a chance.
“They have also agreed to shut all the camps down to allow oil companies to return to site,’’ he added.
Sylva said the signing of the peace pact was an opportunity for the government to look into the problems of the Niger Delta.
Senator David Brigidi signed the peace pact on behalf of the Nigerian government, whileChief James Jephtah, Chairman of the Niger Delta Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee, and Mr Maxwell Oko, the State Commissioner for Youth, Conflict Resolution and Employment Generation, signed for the Bayelsa State government.
Eight representatives of the militants in Bayelsa State signed for their groups.
AFRICOM commander welcomed Thursday in Libreville.
African Press Agency
7 December 2007
The Gabonese head of state, Omar Bongo Ondimba on Thursday received the American General William Ward, commander of the Africa Command (AFRICOM) in the capital, Libreville.
Gen. Ward is on his first leg of a tour of the central African sub region.
The two men discussed about the mission and the effective implementation of AFRICOM recently created by the US to work closely with African nations and regional organisations of the continent.
AFRICOM’s reported role is to coordinate the assistance programmes and activities for security on the African continent.
It is the equivalent of the French ``RECAMP’ ’ operation (Reinforcement of African Peacekeeping Capacities).
The US is looking for a country which will house the headquarters of the new security outfit.
This is the second trip of General Ward to Africa in his capacity as AFRICOM commander.
Editor's Note: In another interesting development, francophone Gabon, another oil-rich African country, established new economic ties with Rwanda when Gabon's Foreign Minister met with President Kagame earlier this week.
7 December 2007
The Gabonese head of state, Omar Bongo Ondimba on Thursday received the American General William Ward, commander of the Africa Command (AFRICOM) in the capital, Libreville.
Gen. Ward is on his first leg of a tour of the central African sub region.
The two men discussed about the mission and the effective implementation of AFRICOM recently created by the US to work closely with African nations and regional organisations of the continent.
AFRICOM’s reported role is to coordinate the assistance programmes and activities for security on the African continent.
It is the equivalent of the French ``RECAMP’ ’ operation (Reinforcement of African Peacekeeping Capacities).
The US is looking for a country which will house the headquarters of the new security outfit.
This is the second trip of General Ward to Africa in his capacity as AFRICOM commander.
Editor's Note: In another interesting development, francophone Gabon, another oil-rich African country, established new economic ties with Rwanda when Gabon's Foreign Minister met with President Kagame earlier this week.
07 December, 2007
North Kivu: "Wounded Increase as Civilians More Concerned."
MISNA
6 December 2007
The population’s concern in North Kivu has been increasing as military activity has been intensifying in the area since last December 1, “on one side we fear that some civilians have not been able to escape in time and that they are trapped; on the other, knowing the behavior of armed actors, both rebels and government soldiers, we fear a multiplication of vexations and abuse,” said Gabriel Saugeron, ICRC Red Cross (ICRC) spokesman to MISNA from Kinshasa.
In a recent report, the ICRC notes an increase of the number of wounded arriving at the two hospitals in Goma (capital of North-Kivu) and in Kitchanga; since the start of the fighting among soldiers loyal to former general Laurent Nkunda and the regular army (FARDC), last August, the Red Cross has noted more than 500 war wounded. “Most are combatants, but there are also some civilians” said Saugeron, who also noted that6 the fighting makes it more difficult to store medical material in the hospitals. In the past four weeks, ICRC has intensified its missions in areas that have so far been inaccessible (Masisi, Matschumbi, Pinga, Nyanzale, Mushake, Nyamilima) to evaluate humanitarian needs, having already started to concentrate activities on first aid. International organizations said some 370,000 people are now homeless because of the insecurity in the northeastern part of the country, bordering Rwanda and Uganda.
6 December 2007
The population’s concern in North Kivu has been increasing as military activity has been intensifying in the area since last December 1, “on one side we fear that some civilians have not been able to escape in time and that they are trapped; on the other, knowing the behavior of armed actors, both rebels and government soldiers, we fear a multiplication of vexations and abuse,” said Gabriel Saugeron, ICRC Red Cross (ICRC) spokesman to MISNA from Kinshasa.
In a recent report, the ICRC notes an increase of the number of wounded arriving at the two hospitals in Goma (capital of North-Kivu) and in Kitchanga; since the start of the fighting among soldiers loyal to former general Laurent Nkunda and the regular army (FARDC), last August, the Red Cross has noted more than 500 war wounded. “Most are combatants, but there are also some civilians” said Saugeron, who also noted that6 the fighting makes it more difficult to store medical material in the hospitals. In the past four weeks, ICRC has intensified its missions in areas that have so far been inaccessible (Masisi, Matschumbi, Pinga, Nyanzale, Mushake, Nyamilima) to evaluate humanitarian needs, having already started to concentrate activities on first aid. International organizations said some 370,000 people are now homeless because of the insecurity in the northeastern part of the country, bordering Rwanda and Uganda.
Fighting in East Chad, Khartoum Closes Border.
MISNA
7 December 2007
The government of Sudan decided to temporarily close its border with Chad due to the escalation of fighting between the Chadian army and rebel groups in an area near the frontier between the two countries. The announcement was made by Sudan’s Foreign Minister al-Samani al-Wasila, according to the local press, explaining that the measure aims to prevent the entry of armed groups in Sudan, as also foreseen by the accords signed in Tripoli by the respective governments. In an official statement yesterday, Sudan denied any involvement in the violence underway in east Chad. Relations deteriorated between Chad and Sudan nearly two years ago, with mutual accusations of alleged support for the rebellions faced by both governments: that of east Chad and that of the western Sudanese Darfur region.
7 December 2007
The government of Sudan decided to temporarily close its border with Chad due to the escalation of fighting between the Chadian army and rebel groups in an area near the frontier between the two countries. The announcement was made by Sudan’s Foreign Minister al-Samani al-Wasila, according to the local press, explaining that the measure aims to prevent the entry of armed groups in Sudan, as also foreseen by the accords signed in Tripoli by the respective governments. In an official statement yesterday, Sudan denied any involvement in the violence underway in east Chad. Relations deteriorated between Chad and Sudan nearly two years ago, with mutual accusations of alleged support for the rebellions faced by both governments: that of east Chad and that of the western Sudanese Darfur region.
North Kivu: Army Regains Control of Various Locations, Fighting Continues.
MISNA
7 December 2007
The fighting continues also today in the North Kivu province, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and the advance continues of the Congolese armed forces (FARDC), since the start of December engaged in a vast offensive against militants loyal to the pro-Rwandan renegade General Laurent Nkunda.
Sources of the United Nations Mission in DR-Congo (MONUC) referred to MISNA that the FARDC, after seizing Mushake, in the past hours also occupied the village of Kingi, around 10km from Sake (along the road that takes to Kitshanga, north-west of North Kivu’s capital Goma), pushing the rebels north-east. The same sources also referred that both Nyanzale and Kikuku (respectively 150km and 180km from Goma) are back under government control. There are no confirmations however on the death toll and possible victims among civilians caught in the crossfire. North Kivu has been theatre since this summer to fighting between the regular forces and rebels forcing thousands of civilians to flee and live in displaced camps in precarious conditions.
The FARDC offensive of the past days has further exacerbated the humanitarian situation: based on international estimates, at least 370,000 people have been displaced; a Red Cross spokesperson, contacted by MISNA, said he feared “a multiplication of violations and abuse against civilians by both sides in conflict”.
7 December 2007
The fighting continues also today in the North Kivu province, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and the advance continues of the Congolese armed forces (FARDC), since the start of December engaged in a vast offensive against militants loyal to the pro-Rwandan renegade General Laurent Nkunda.
Sources of the United Nations Mission in DR-Congo (MONUC) referred to MISNA that the FARDC, after seizing Mushake, in the past hours also occupied the village of Kingi, around 10km from Sake (along the road that takes to Kitshanga, north-west of North Kivu’s capital Goma), pushing the rebels north-east. The same sources also referred that both Nyanzale and Kikuku (respectively 150km and 180km from Goma) are back under government control. There are no confirmations however on the death toll and possible victims among civilians caught in the crossfire. North Kivu has been theatre since this summer to fighting between the regular forces and rebels forcing thousands of civilians to flee and live in displaced camps in precarious conditions.
The FARDC offensive of the past days has further exacerbated the humanitarian situation: based on international estimates, at least 370,000 people have been displaced; a Red Cross spokesperson, contacted by MISNA, said he feared “a multiplication of violations and abuse against civilians by both sides in conflict”.
East: Contrasting Tolls Of Fighting, Calls for Dialogue Ignored.
MISNA
7 December 2007
According to a statement released by the Popular Front for National Revival (FPRN) anti-government movement headed by Adoum Yacoub, 150 soldiers were killed, 43 captured and some thirty vehicles were destroyed in over 6-hours of fighting with Chadian regular forces yesterday in the area of Tissi, not far from the border with Sudan. A toll, which also refers of seven rebels wounded, not confirmed by military sources that instead report “a heavy defeat” inflicted on the rebellion. “All rebels active in the area were pushed across the border into Sudan. There are no rebels left on Chadian territory, not a single one”, said General Abdelkarim Bahar Mahamat Itno, Chadian army chief and cousin of President Idris Deby. The army chief referred that “over 70 rebels were killed in two days of fighting while just six soldiers died”. The tolls are substantially impossible to very with independent sources, which merely confirm the violence of the fighting demonstrated by the hundreds of people brought to the hospitals of the area.
Meanwhile, appeals for dialogue by the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), the first rebel group to resume the armed conflict around ten days ago and suspend actions 72 hours ago, appear to have been ignored and four formations – UFDD-fundamental, the Rally of Forces for Change (RFC) of Timane Erdimi and the Front for the Salvation of the Republic (FSR) – continue their activities in the area. A situation, according to some local newspapers, which demonstrates a significant division of the rebellion over leadership and rivalries between the different communities present in the territory. The fighting in east Chad began after the main rebel factions, signatories on October 25 in Sirte (Libya) of an accord with the government, annulled the agreement accusing the government of failing to respect the conditions.
7 December 2007
According to a statement released by the Popular Front for National Revival (FPRN) anti-government movement headed by Adoum Yacoub, 150 soldiers were killed, 43 captured and some thirty vehicles were destroyed in over 6-hours of fighting with Chadian regular forces yesterday in the area of Tissi, not far from the border with Sudan. A toll, which also refers of seven rebels wounded, not confirmed by military sources that instead report “a heavy defeat” inflicted on the rebellion. “All rebels active in the area were pushed across the border into Sudan. There are no rebels left on Chadian territory, not a single one”, said General Abdelkarim Bahar Mahamat Itno, Chadian army chief and cousin of President Idris Deby. The army chief referred that “over 70 rebels were killed in two days of fighting while just six soldiers died”. The tolls are substantially impossible to very with independent sources, which merely confirm the violence of the fighting demonstrated by the hundreds of people brought to the hospitals of the area.
Meanwhile, appeals for dialogue by the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), the first rebel group to resume the armed conflict around ten days ago and suspend actions 72 hours ago, appear to have been ignored and four formations – UFDD-fundamental, the Rally of Forces for Change (RFC) of Timane Erdimi and the Front for the Salvation of the Republic (FSR) – continue their activities in the area. A situation, according to some local newspapers, which demonstrates a significant division of the rebellion over leadership and rivalries between the different communities present in the territory. The fighting in east Chad began after the main rebel factions, signatories on October 25 in Sirte (Libya) of an accord with the government, annulled the agreement accusing the government of failing to respect the conditions.
TWO RWANDANS RELEASED IN FRANCE: THE BALL IN THE ICTR’S COURT (KIGALI).
Hirondelle News Agency
6 November 2007
The Rwandan government estimates that after the abandonment of the French public ministry to appeal the release of two Rwandans accused of genocide, the ball is now in the court of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) which had requested their arrest.
At the beginning of the month, the Court of Appeal of Paris released Abbot Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and the former prefect of Gikongoro (western Rwanda), Laurent Bucyibaruta, who had been arrested and placed in detention in France at the request of the ICTR.
"The ball is in the court of the ICTR which had issued the arrest warrants. It is them who must see with the French authorities what can be done ", stated, Thursday, to the Hirondelle agency, the Rwandan Minister of Justice, Tharcisse Karugarama.
The Rwandan minister was questioned during a ministerial conference for the East African Community (EAC) which Rwanda is member.
"But for us, the ideal would have been that they be extradited to Rwanda. We have always asked France to extradite these two men; if Paris had accepted, they would have been tried a while ago, and these problems would not be at hand ", added Mr. Karugarama.
Paris having given its consent, in principle, to try the two accused, the ICTR had wished that they be maintained in detention until a chamber designated for this purpose by the president of this United Nations tribunal came to a conclusion about the transfer of their cases to France.
The ICTR, which must conclude its first instance trials by December 2008, is obligated to transfer certain cases to national courts.
By releasing Munyeshyaka and Bucyibaruta, the Court of Appeal of Paris had estimated that their arrest and their detention violated, in particular, the presumption of innocence principle.
Munyeshyaka and Bucyiburuta have been for few years under legal control in France. This measure remains in force.
"Why does the ICTR not ask that the two accused be transferred to its headquarters (in Arusha, Tanzania), while awaiting for the decision of the chamber designated to examine the transfer request?", suggested under the cover of anonymity, another Rwandan high official.
6 November 2007
The Rwandan government estimates that after the abandonment of the French public ministry to appeal the release of two Rwandans accused of genocide, the ball is now in the court of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) which had requested their arrest.
At the beginning of the month, the Court of Appeal of Paris released Abbot Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and the former prefect of Gikongoro (western Rwanda), Laurent Bucyibaruta, who had been arrested and placed in detention in France at the request of the ICTR.
"The ball is in the court of the ICTR which had issued the arrest warrants. It is them who must see with the French authorities what can be done ", stated, Thursday, to the Hirondelle agency, the Rwandan Minister of Justice, Tharcisse Karugarama.
The Rwandan minister was questioned during a ministerial conference for the East African Community (EAC) which Rwanda is member.
"But for us, the ideal would have been that they be extradited to Rwanda. We have always asked France to extradite these two men; if Paris had accepted, they would have been tried a while ago, and these problems would not be at hand ", added Mr. Karugarama.
Paris having given its consent, in principle, to try the two accused, the ICTR had wished that they be maintained in detention until a chamber designated for this purpose by the president of this United Nations tribunal came to a conclusion about the transfer of their cases to France.
The ICTR, which must conclude its first instance trials by December 2008, is obligated to transfer certain cases to national courts.
By releasing Munyeshyaka and Bucyibaruta, the Court of Appeal of Paris had estimated that their arrest and their detention violated, in particular, the presumption of innocence principle.
Munyeshyaka and Bucyiburuta have been for few years under legal control in France. This measure remains in force.
"Why does the ICTR not ask that the two accused be transferred to its headquarters (in Arusha, Tanzania), while awaiting for the decision of the chamber designated to examine the transfer request?", suggested under the cover of anonymity, another Rwandan high official.
THE BUTARE TRIAL SUSPENDED UNTIL MID-APRIL.
Hirondelle News Agency
6 December 2007
The trial of six people accused of genocide in Butare (south) was suspended Tuesday for a little more than two weeks before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
Hearings will take place again on April 16. In course since June 2001, Butare is the oldest trial that the Tribunal is handling at present. The judges are currently hearing from defense witnesses called by the fourth defendant, the former prefect Aphonse Ntezirayo.
Among the co-defendants of Ntezirayo figure the former Minister of Family and Female Advancement, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, the only woman detainee of the ICTR. All have pleaded not-guilty.
Apart from Butare, the Tribunal also held hearings only in one trial: that of the former prefect of Ruhengeri (North), Protais Zigiranyirazo, a brother-in-law of the former President Juvenal Habyarimana.
In this trial, the defense suffered a hard blow during the course of the week, the Trial Chamber having twice refused its expert witnesses. The first, Gaspard Musabyimana, was a high level official in the Habyarimana administration; the second, Emmanuel Neretse, was an officer in the Rwandan Army.
They were specifically to testify on the parallel power structure in the administration and the army. The prosecutor alleges that Zigiranyirazo was at the center of the akazu (small house in Kinyarwanda), a circle of relatives of the former President suspected of having exercised de facto power before and during the genocide.
Arrested in 2001 in Brussels, Zigiranyirazo, aged 69 years, has been on trial since October 2005. He has pleaded not guilty.
Also of note in the news at the ICTR this week, a new development in the “Karemara et. al” trial, namely, the appeal by one of the three accused against the decision of the continuation of the trial following the withdrawal of a judge.
Edouard Karemara, Vice-President of the former Presidential Party, the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND), is being tried with other former party officials: Matthieu Ngirumpatse, the President, and Joseph Nzirorera, the General-Secretary.
Last January, the Ghanian Judge Emile Francis Short, withdrew from the trial for health reasons. The remaining judges subsequently decided to continue the trial with a substitute judge, despite the opposition of Nzirorera and Ngirumpatse.
After a previous plea introduced by Ngirumpatse, it was Nzirorera’s turn this week. Both proposed the removal of the trial before a national jurisdiction other than Rwanda, arguing that the ICTR will not finish the trial before the end of its mandate in December 2008. According to different information that has not been confirmed, it appears that the Tribunal is preparing to ask for an extension of its activities to permit it to render a judgment in this trial.
This joint trial started in September 2005. At the time of Judge Short’s withdrawal, the prosecution had just called only 13 witnesses out of an anticipated number of around one hundred.
In May 2004, a previous trial which started in November 2003 with the same defendants and a non-political member of MRND was cancelled after the President of the Chamber, Andresia Vaz (Senegal) was obliged to withdraw for “appearance of partiality.”
The trial was also brought before the Appeals Chamber.
6 December 2007
The trial of six people accused of genocide in Butare (south) was suspended Tuesday for a little more than two weeks before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
Hearings will take place again on April 16. In course since June 2001, Butare is the oldest trial that the Tribunal is handling at present. The judges are currently hearing from defense witnesses called by the fourth defendant, the former prefect Aphonse Ntezirayo.
Among the co-defendants of Ntezirayo figure the former Minister of Family and Female Advancement, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, the only woman detainee of the ICTR. All have pleaded not-guilty.
Apart from Butare, the Tribunal also held hearings only in one trial: that of the former prefect of Ruhengeri (North), Protais Zigiranyirazo, a brother-in-law of the former President Juvenal Habyarimana.
In this trial, the defense suffered a hard blow during the course of the week, the Trial Chamber having twice refused its expert witnesses. The first, Gaspard Musabyimana, was a high level official in the Habyarimana administration; the second, Emmanuel Neretse, was an officer in the Rwandan Army.
They were specifically to testify on the parallel power structure in the administration and the army. The prosecutor alleges that Zigiranyirazo was at the center of the akazu (small house in Kinyarwanda), a circle of relatives of the former President suspected of having exercised de facto power before and during the genocide.
Arrested in 2001 in Brussels, Zigiranyirazo, aged 69 years, has been on trial since October 2005. He has pleaded not guilty.
Also of note in the news at the ICTR this week, a new development in the “Karemara et. al” trial, namely, the appeal by one of the three accused against the decision of the continuation of the trial following the withdrawal of a judge.
Edouard Karemara, Vice-President of the former Presidential Party, the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND), is being tried with other former party officials: Matthieu Ngirumpatse, the President, and Joseph Nzirorera, the General-Secretary.
Last January, the Ghanian Judge Emile Francis Short, withdrew from the trial for health reasons. The remaining judges subsequently decided to continue the trial with a substitute judge, despite the opposition of Nzirorera and Ngirumpatse.
After a previous plea introduced by Ngirumpatse, it was Nzirorera’s turn this week. Both proposed the removal of the trial before a national jurisdiction other than Rwanda, arguing that the ICTR will not finish the trial before the end of its mandate in December 2008. According to different information that has not been confirmed, it appears that the Tribunal is preparing to ask for an extension of its activities to permit it to render a judgment in this trial.
This joint trial started in September 2005. At the time of Judge Short’s withdrawal, the prosecution had just called only 13 witnesses out of an anticipated number of around one hundred.
In May 2004, a previous trial which started in November 2003 with the same defendants and a non-political member of MRND was cancelled after the President of the Chamber, Andresia Vaz (Senegal) was obliged to withdraw for “appearance of partiality.”
The trial was also brought before the Appeals Chamber.
5.000 RWANDANS TO BE DEPORTED FROM UGANDA.
Hirondelle News Agency
6 December 2007
Uganda has warned it will deport 5000 Rwandans staying in the country illegally, the Ugandan newspaper Daily Monitor said that the warning was issued at a meeting held last week in Kigali, Rwanda.
The meeting was attended by the Rwandan delegation that included Foreign Affairs Minister Charles Murigande and the head of external security Joseph Nzabamwita and Ugandans officials who indicated that Rwanda is given just less than two months to repatriate its people living in Uganda as illegal immigrants.
The Ugandan ambassador to Rwanda Richard Kabonero who attended the meeting said that the country will be obliged to deport them forcefully if they will not accept to voluntarily repatriated. He added that they are neither refugees nor asylum seekers.
Other sources stated that most of them including the Kibati group were expelled from Tanzania three years ago and as they didn’t go back to their country, they headed for Uganda.
The Ugandan Minister for Internal Affairs, Matiya Kasaija told Daily Monitor that there is no justified reason for any Rwandan to seek refuge in Uganda because Rwanda has become a stable and peaceful country.
Ambassador Kabonero further said that the Rwandan group entered the country was estimated at 7,000 but the number decreased from 7,000 to 5,000 following mixing up of the rest of migrants with the local population.
According to the UNHCR the number of Rwandan refugees and asylum seekers in Uganda was estimated at 18,902 in 2004 while DRC and Burundians people counted 14,982 and 663 respectively.
March, 2006, the government of the United Republic of Tanzania announced the plan to expulse some 60,000 people of Rwandan origin who entered the country since 1962. Those Rwandans were admitted to live among local Tanzanian population instead of living in the refugees camps at that period of time but due to the dramatic burden that Kagera region experienced during the 1994 influx, the government decided to expulse the Rwandans senior migrants in the country.
6 December 2007
Uganda has warned it will deport 5000 Rwandans staying in the country illegally, the Ugandan newspaper Daily Monitor said that the warning was issued at a meeting held last week in Kigali, Rwanda.
The meeting was attended by the Rwandan delegation that included Foreign Affairs Minister Charles Murigande and the head of external security Joseph Nzabamwita and Ugandans officials who indicated that Rwanda is given just less than two months to repatriate its people living in Uganda as illegal immigrants.
The Ugandan ambassador to Rwanda Richard Kabonero who attended the meeting said that the country will be obliged to deport them forcefully if they will not accept to voluntarily repatriated. He added that they are neither refugees nor asylum seekers.
Other sources stated that most of them including the Kibati group were expelled from Tanzania three years ago and as they didn’t go back to their country, they headed for Uganda.
The Ugandan Minister for Internal Affairs, Matiya Kasaija told Daily Monitor that there is no justified reason for any Rwandan to seek refuge in Uganda because Rwanda has become a stable and peaceful country.
Ambassador Kabonero further said that the Rwandan group entered the country was estimated at 7,000 but the number decreased from 7,000 to 5,000 following mixing up of the rest of migrants with the local population.
According to the UNHCR the number of Rwandan refugees and asylum seekers in Uganda was estimated at 18,902 in 2004 while DRC and Burundians people counted 14,982 and 663 respectively.
March, 2006, the government of the United Republic of Tanzania announced the plan to expulse some 60,000 people of Rwandan origin who entered the country since 1962. Those Rwandans were admitted to live among local Tanzanian population instead of living in the refugees camps at that period of time but due to the dramatic burden that Kagera region experienced during the 1994 influx, the government decided to expulse the Rwandans senior migrants in the country.
TWO DEFENSE EXPERTS REFUSED IN ONE WEEK.
Hirondelle News Agency
6 December 2007
The Chamber trying Protais Zigiranyirazo, brother-in-law of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, refused Thursday the status of expert for a defense witness, leading the defense to call him as an ordinary witness.
It is the second time in one week that lawyers for Zigiranyirazo, accused of genocide before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) have suffered such a refusal.
Emmanuel Neretse, a former major in the Rwandan army, should testify on numerous subjects going to the relations between civil and military authorities in the death squads in the army, also going over parallel networks in the power structure.
Zigiranyirazo, in spite of being outside official government circles since 1989, is suspected of having exercised important powers in 1994 through the akazu, a circle consisting of relatives of the former president. He has refuted these allegations.
The Chamber estimated that despite Neretse’s long experience in the army, « neither his report, nor his outline, nor his publications » could help him to « understand the context of the pertitent events of the trial. »
The judges also pointed out that Neretse was a batallion commandant between April and July 1994, « which raises problems regarding his impartiality. »
Zigiranyirazo’s lawyer, Mr. John Philpot, decided to call Neretse as an ordinary witness. The officier should specifically demonstrate that Zigiranyirazo could not give orders to the military.
At the beginning of the week, the same Chamber rejected the expert status of Gaspard Musabyimana, a high-ranking official of former President Habyarimana who refuted allegations of the existence of a parallel power structure in the administration.
Arrested in Belgium six years ago, Zigiranyirazo, aged 69 years, has been on trial since October 3, 2005.
6 December 2007
The Chamber trying Protais Zigiranyirazo, brother-in-law of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, refused Thursday the status of expert for a defense witness, leading the defense to call him as an ordinary witness.
It is the second time in one week that lawyers for Zigiranyirazo, accused of genocide before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) have suffered such a refusal.
Emmanuel Neretse, a former major in the Rwandan army, should testify on numerous subjects going to the relations between civil and military authorities in the death squads in the army, also going over parallel networks in the power structure.
Zigiranyirazo, in spite of being outside official government circles since 1989, is suspected of having exercised important powers in 1994 through the akazu, a circle consisting of relatives of the former president. He has refuted these allegations.
The Chamber estimated that despite Neretse’s long experience in the army, « neither his report, nor his outline, nor his publications » could help him to « understand the context of the pertitent events of the trial. »
The judges also pointed out that Neretse was a batallion commandant between April and July 1994, « which raises problems regarding his impartiality. »
Zigiranyirazo’s lawyer, Mr. John Philpot, decided to call Neretse as an ordinary witness. The officier should specifically demonstrate that Zigiranyirazo could not give orders to the military.
At the beginning of the week, the same Chamber rejected the expert status of Gaspard Musabyimana, a high-ranking official of former President Habyarimana who refuted allegations of the existence of a parallel power structure in the administration.
Arrested in Belgium six years ago, Zigiranyirazo, aged 69 years, has been on trial since October 3, 2005.
Trial of Burundi’s ruling former party chief opens.
The New Times
By Patrick Nduwimana
7 December 2007
Lawyers for the former boss of Burundi’s ruling party said at the opening of his trial on Wednesday he should be released because prosecutors had failed to prove he tried to destabilise the central African nation.
Hussein Radjabu, the former head of President Pierre Nkurunziza’s CNDD-FDD ruling party, was thrown in jail in April, accused of fomenting instability.
“Radjabu has been detained illegally for over seven months, but the prosecutors were not able to prove the charges against him. For that reason, we demand the provisional release of our client,” lawyer Prosper Niyoyankana said.
Burundi High Court judges said they would consider Hussein Radjabu’s application to be freed before continuing with the trial.
“We can’t say when we will give our decision, but we promise to work on it as soon as possible,” said the head of the judges’ panel, Laurentine Kanyana.
Radjabu, who still has support in some quarters, wielded tremendous influence as party chair and was seen by many as the real power behind Nkurunziza, with control over party finances and a powerful intelligence network.
Several supporters chanted “You are the Mandela of Burundi” as Radjabu was returned to jail after the trial was adjourned.
He was believed to be behind the treason trial of several opposition politicians, including former President Domitien Ndayizeye, that ended in an acquittal and tarnished Burundi’s image after several defendants said they were tortured.
Burundi is emerging from more than a decade of ethnic conflict that killed more than 300,000 people in the mountainous tea and coffee growing nation of 8 million.
It had been seen as an African success story after Nkurunziza was elected peacefully under a U.N.-backed plan. But claims of corruption and rights abuses have clouded that.
Editor's Note: Please see my article on Burundi's political crisis for background information on what led to this trial.
By Patrick Nduwimana
7 December 2007
Lawyers for the former boss of Burundi’s ruling party said at the opening of his trial on Wednesday he should be released because prosecutors had failed to prove he tried to destabilise the central African nation.
Hussein Radjabu, the former head of President Pierre Nkurunziza’s CNDD-FDD ruling party, was thrown in jail in April, accused of fomenting instability.
“Radjabu has been detained illegally for over seven months, but the prosecutors were not able to prove the charges against him. For that reason, we demand the provisional release of our client,” lawyer Prosper Niyoyankana said.
Burundi High Court judges said they would consider Hussein Radjabu’s application to be freed before continuing with the trial.
“We can’t say when we will give our decision, but we promise to work on it as soon as possible,” said the head of the judges’ panel, Laurentine Kanyana.
Radjabu, who still has support in some quarters, wielded tremendous influence as party chair and was seen by many as the real power behind Nkurunziza, with control over party finances and a powerful intelligence network.
Several supporters chanted “You are the Mandela of Burundi” as Radjabu was returned to jail after the trial was adjourned.
He was believed to be behind the treason trial of several opposition politicians, including former President Domitien Ndayizeye, that ended in an acquittal and tarnished Burundi’s image after several defendants said they were tortured.
Burundi is emerging from more than a decade of ethnic conflict that killed more than 300,000 people in the mountainous tea and coffee growing nation of 8 million.
It had been seen as an African success story after Nkurunziza was elected peacefully under a U.N.-backed plan. But claims of corruption and rights abuses have clouded that.
Editor's Note: Please see my article on Burundi's political crisis for background information on what led to this trial.
NATO nations vow to maintain Kosovo force.
Reuters
7 December 2007
By Mark John and Sue Pleming
NATO ministers pledged on Friday to keep their peace force in Kosovo at current strength as it heads towards independence and to make more troops available as necessary to deal with any violence.
Ethnic Albanian leaders of the breakaway Serbian province are expected to declare independence in the next couple of months after the failure of international mediation, potentially sparking new unrest in the Balkans.
"We will act resolutely against anyone who seeks to resort to violence," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told foreign ministers of the 26-nation Western military organisation as they began talks in Brussels.
A senior U.S. official said ministers would announce that NATO's 16,000-strong KFOR peace force would remain at current levels "with full flexibility for the commanders".
Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said after a dinner of NATO and EU foreign ministers late on Thursday that all agreed that KFOR strength should be maintained.
He said de Hoop Scheffer had confirmed at the dinner that additional troops would be made available if needed, a reference to up to four reserve battalions on stand-by.
"Everybody agreed to that and nobody was putting into question their contribution to KFOR," he told a news briefing.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters it was crucial that European nations, whose internal divisions failed to stop the outbreak of the Balkan wars of the 1990s, showed unity in the months ahead.
"This is in Europe's backyard and European nations need to show real leadership ... We know from the mid-1990s the cost of Europe wringing its hands and failing to provide leadership."
PRE-EMPTIVE APPEAL
NATO foreign ministers will be asked to confirm they will not lay down limits on how the KFOR can deal with violence as they did when riots in 2004 caught NATO off-guard.
"It will be a pre-emptive appeal to ensure that commanders have maximum flexibility," said one NATO source, adding that a statement after the meeting should reflect that commitment.
Diplomats believe an explicit pledge by alliance nations that they will keep KFOR at full strength and not impose caveats -- such as banning their troops from riot control -- will be a crucial deterrent in the tense weeks ahead.
International mediators will report to the United Nations on Monday that efforts to reach a compromise between Pristina and Belgrade failed. Russia wants further mediation, but the West says the time to settle Kosovo's status has come.
Washington and the vast majority of European Union states are likely to recognise a declaration of independence by Kosovo, expected around late January, and a senior NATO envoy said no KFOR country had indicated a wish to pull troops out.
"We want to say to the Kosovars that a unilateral declaration of independence will make things difficult, if not impossible," said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.
He added that many European capitals wanted them to wait until aftr Serb presidential elections expected from mid-January before making an declaration.
NATO commanders are confident KFOR is well resourced to deal with trouble and diplomats play down the prospects of violence.
But the West has been irked by aggressive rhetoric from Belgrade, and on Thursday the EU's mediator on Kosovo demanded that Serbia disown a comment made by an adviser to Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica that "war is a legal tool".
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since a 1999 NATO bombing campaign.
(Writing by Mark John; Editing by Diana Abdallah)
7 December 2007
By Mark John and Sue Pleming
NATO ministers pledged on Friday to keep their peace force in Kosovo at current strength as it heads towards independence and to make more troops available as necessary to deal with any violence.
Ethnic Albanian leaders of the breakaway Serbian province are expected to declare independence in the next couple of months after the failure of international mediation, potentially sparking new unrest in the Balkans.
"We will act resolutely against anyone who seeks to resort to violence," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told foreign ministers of the 26-nation Western military organisation as they began talks in Brussels.
A senior U.S. official said ministers would announce that NATO's 16,000-strong KFOR peace force would remain at current levels "with full flexibility for the commanders".
Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said after a dinner of NATO and EU foreign ministers late on Thursday that all agreed that KFOR strength should be maintained.
He said de Hoop Scheffer had confirmed at the dinner that additional troops would be made available if needed, a reference to up to four reserve battalions on stand-by.
"Everybody agreed to that and nobody was putting into question their contribution to KFOR," he told a news briefing.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters it was crucial that European nations, whose internal divisions failed to stop the outbreak of the Balkan wars of the 1990s, showed unity in the months ahead.
"This is in Europe's backyard and European nations need to show real leadership ... We know from the mid-1990s the cost of Europe wringing its hands and failing to provide leadership."
PRE-EMPTIVE APPEAL
NATO foreign ministers will be asked to confirm they will not lay down limits on how the KFOR can deal with violence as they did when riots in 2004 caught NATO off-guard.
"It will be a pre-emptive appeal to ensure that commanders have maximum flexibility," said one NATO source, adding that a statement after the meeting should reflect that commitment.
Diplomats believe an explicit pledge by alliance nations that they will keep KFOR at full strength and not impose caveats -- such as banning their troops from riot control -- will be a crucial deterrent in the tense weeks ahead.
International mediators will report to the United Nations on Monday that efforts to reach a compromise between Pristina and Belgrade failed. Russia wants further mediation, but the West says the time to settle Kosovo's status has come.
Washington and the vast majority of European Union states are likely to recognise a declaration of independence by Kosovo, expected around late January, and a senior NATO envoy said no KFOR country had indicated a wish to pull troops out.
"We want to say to the Kosovars that a unilateral declaration of independence will make things difficult, if not impossible," said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.
He added that many European capitals wanted them to wait until aftr Serb presidential elections expected from mid-January before making an declaration.
NATO commanders are confident KFOR is well resourced to deal with trouble and diplomats play down the prospects of violence.
But the West has been irked by aggressive rhetoric from Belgrade, and on Thursday the EU's mediator on Kosovo demanded that Serbia disown a comment made by an adviser to Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica that "war is a legal tool".
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since a 1999 NATO bombing campaign.
(Writing by Mark John; Editing by Diana Abdallah)
06 December, 2007
Fighting in East: Witness Account From Abeche.
MISNA
5 December 2007
Ferran Puig of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Abeche, in eastern Chad, told MISNA that the security conditions are worsening due to the fighting of the last ten days, a situation made all the worse by the presence of refugees. Puig also noted that recent threats from the Chadian Concord (CNT) formation, a rebel group which signed the Sirte peace accords last October 25, indictaed that it may break the ceasefire. Another group that signed that accord, the UFDD-Fundamental, said it had taken the village of Adé, near the Sudanese border; some sources suggest that the movement is about to join the RFC, which was involved in fighting in the area of Blitine yesterday.
“Insecurity complicates the already precarious living conditions for all civilians because of the lack of services and basic infrastructures such as schools…. The level of schooling is no more than 7% and literacy rates are very low” said Puig, who trains teachers in 12 refugee camps and supports the creation of 11 elementary schools aimed at 12,500 refugee children around Goz-Beida and Koukou. Meanwhile, an appeal for dialogue to the UFDD, the first rebel group to resume fighting ten days ago, only to stop it in the past 48 hours, has not been reciprocated: “we would like to hold talks with president Idriss Deby Itno but nobody is willing to act as mediator” said to MISNA Hassan Boulmaye, spokesman for the movement, adding: “we think that those best suited to mediate could be the Europeans. Rather than to rush to send troops on the ground, they might be more willing to support dialogue”.
5 December 2007
Ferran Puig of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Abeche, in eastern Chad, told MISNA that the security conditions are worsening due to the fighting of the last ten days, a situation made all the worse by the presence of refugees. Puig also noted that recent threats from the Chadian Concord (CNT) formation, a rebel group which signed the Sirte peace accords last October 25, indictaed that it may break the ceasefire. Another group that signed that accord, the UFDD-Fundamental, said it had taken the village of Adé, near the Sudanese border; some sources suggest that the movement is about to join the RFC, which was involved in fighting in the area of Blitine yesterday.
“Insecurity complicates the already precarious living conditions for all civilians because of the lack of services and basic infrastructures such as schools…. The level of schooling is no more than 7% and literacy rates are very low” said Puig, who trains teachers in 12 refugee camps and supports the creation of 11 elementary schools aimed at 12,500 refugee children around Goz-Beida and Koukou. Meanwhile, an appeal for dialogue to the UFDD, the first rebel group to resume fighting ten days ago, only to stop it in the past 48 hours, has not been reciprocated: “we would like to hold talks with president Idriss Deby Itno but nobody is willing to act as mediator” said to MISNA Hassan Boulmaye, spokesman for the movement, adding: “we think that those best suited to mediate could be the Europeans. Rather than to rush to send troops on the ground, they might be more willing to support dialogue”.
Confidential Report Published on March Clashes.
MISNA
6 December 2007
According to a report from MONUC, received by ‘La Libre’ newspaper in Belgium, some 100 corpses were thrown in the Congo river and in mass graves by the armed forces, suggesting that the number of people killed in the clashes that took place last March in Kinshasa, RD Congo, between regular armed force and militias backing former vice president and candidate Jean Pierre Bemba was higher than the reported 300.
The 27 page report denounces a failure to support the MONUC investigation and hostilities from the Republican Guard of president Kabila, involved in the clashes. MONUC was denied access to Bemba. The report notes that several human rights violations were perpetrated by both sides, such as using heavy artillery in inhabited areas, which left at least five civilians killed on ‘Boulevard du 30 juin’, Kinshasa’s main avenue. The report also denounces the summary execution of at least 18 (perhaps 40 among civilians and Bemba soldiers) who surrendered. Fighting in the ‘La Gombe’ quarter pitted 500-600 Bemba militiamen – who according to MONUC were largely youth – against 2600 professional soldiers backed by a company of special Angolan forces which landed at the N’Djili airport aboard a ‘Ilyushin 76’ on March 22. Since the clashes, Bemba has been living in Portugal in exile.
6 December 2007
According to a report from MONUC, received by ‘La Libre’ newspaper in Belgium, some 100 corpses were thrown in the Congo river and in mass graves by the armed forces, suggesting that the number of people killed in the clashes that took place last March in Kinshasa, RD Congo, between regular armed force and militias backing former vice president and candidate Jean Pierre Bemba was higher than the reported 300.
The 27 page report denounces a failure to support the MONUC investigation and hostilities from the Republican Guard of president Kabila, involved in the clashes. MONUC was denied access to Bemba. The report notes that several human rights violations were perpetrated by both sides, such as using heavy artillery in inhabited areas, which left at least five civilians killed on ‘Boulevard du 30 juin’, Kinshasa’s main avenue. The report also denounces the summary execution of at least 18 (perhaps 40 among civilians and Bemba soldiers) who surrendered. Fighting in the ‘La Gombe’ quarter pitted 500-600 Bemba militiamen – who according to MONUC were largely youth – against 2600 professional soldiers backed by a company of special Angolan forces which landed at the N’Djili airport aboard a ‘Ilyushin 76’ on March 22. Since the clashes, Bemba has been living in Portugal in exile.
East: Rebels Sieze Haraz.
MISNA
6 December 2007
Weeks of fighting appears to be continuing between the armed forces and rebels in east Chad. According to sources close to the rebellion, the Popular Front for National Revival (FPRN) anti-government movement headed by Adoum Yacoub, today managed to seize control of the town of Haraz, in east Chad. The same sources specified that after hours of fighting, the rebels penetrated into the town along the border with Sudan, not far from Tissi, where in the past days the military clashed with other rebel formations, the Rally of Forces for Change (RFC) of Timane Erdimi and the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD). The FPRN claims to have “inflicted a heavy defeat on the army, with thirty some soldiers killed, seven vehicles torched and a large quantity of arms and munitions sequestered”. There is no independent confirmation to the toll, nor any government comment in regard. Meanwhile, there appears to be calm since yesterday in some areas theatre in the past days to fierce fighting between the army and the many rebel groups, formed in the past two years in a bid to overthrow President Idriss Deby.
On the political front, the Chadian Human Rights League renewed its call for the release of the sultan of Dartama (i.e. ‘land of the Tama’, a majority ethnic group in east Chad), among the administrative departments that make up east Chad. The abduction of the sultan by a rebel group “will merely exacerbate the conflict underway in the east”, specified the League.
6 December 2007
Weeks of fighting appears to be continuing between the armed forces and rebels in east Chad. According to sources close to the rebellion, the Popular Front for National Revival (FPRN) anti-government movement headed by Adoum Yacoub, today managed to seize control of the town of Haraz, in east Chad. The same sources specified that after hours of fighting, the rebels penetrated into the town along the border with Sudan, not far from Tissi, where in the past days the military clashed with other rebel formations, the Rally of Forces for Change (RFC) of Timane Erdimi and the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD). The FPRN claims to have “inflicted a heavy defeat on the army, with thirty some soldiers killed, seven vehicles torched and a large quantity of arms and munitions sequestered”. There is no independent confirmation to the toll, nor any government comment in regard. Meanwhile, there appears to be calm since yesterday in some areas theatre in the past days to fierce fighting between the army and the many rebel groups, formed in the past two years in a bid to overthrow President Idriss Deby.
On the political front, the Chadian Human Rights League renewed its call for the release of the sultan of Dartama (i.e. ‘land of the Tama’, a majority ethnic group in east Chad), among the administrative departments that make up east Chad. The abduction of the sultan by a rebel group “will merely exacerbate the conflict underway in the east”, specified the League.
Somaliland: Expulsion Order for 24 Journalists; A Voice From Hargeisa.
MISNA
6 December 2007
“The authorities postponed our expulsion by five days, after first giving us 24 hours to leave. Now we are still in Hargeisa (capital of Somaliland), but the order remains in force”, said to MISNA one of the 24 journalists who received expulsion orders from the government of Somaliland, the semi-autonomous region of northern Somalia, where the reporters sought refuge after fleeing the violence and threats in Mogadishu. “For many of us, returning to Mogadishu in this moment would be extremely risky”, added the journalist, requesting anonymity for security reasons. The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) criticised Somaliland authorities, which justified the order saying that the journalists are endangering the “security and stability of Somaliland”.
Also the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the expulsion, reminding that “if Somaliland wants to be recognised as an autonomous nation by the international community, it needs to adhere to international human rights principles and ensure the safety and protection of these journalists”. The CPJ also accused Somaliland of “punishing” the expelled journalists for writing critical reports on violent actions of Ethiopian forces, in Somali territory in support of the transitional government of Mogadishu, jeopardising Somaliland’s “vital relationship” with Ethiopia. Eight journalists were assassinated in 2007 in Somalia, whose authorities recently imposed a clamp down on the media, becoming according to press freedom associations “the second most dangerous place for media workers after Iraq”. Mogadishu’s Mayor Mohammed Dhere in the past weeks issued a decree with restrictions on the media that bans the reporting of military operations and fighting underway in the capital without permission and interviewing government opponents.
6 December 2007
“The authorities postponed our expulsion by five days, after first giving us 24 hours to leave. Now we are still in Hargeisa (capital of Somaliland), but the order remains in force”, said to MISNA one of the 24 journalists who received expulsion orders from the government of Somaliland, the semi-autonomous region of northern Somalia, where the reporters sought refuge after fleeing the violence and threats in Mogadishu. “For many of us, returning to Mogadishu in this moment would be extremely risky”, added the journalist, requesting anonymity for security reasons. The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) criticised Somaliland authorities, which justified the order saying that the journalists are endangering the “security and stability of Somaliland”.
Also the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the expulsion, reminding that “if Somaliland wants to be recognised as an autonomous nation by the international community, it needs to adhere to international human rights principles and ensure the safety and protection of these journalists”. The CPJ also accused Somaliland of “punishing” the expelled journalists for writing critical reports on violent actions of Ethiopian forces, in Somali territory in support of the transitional government of Mogadishu, jeopardising Somaliland’s “vital relationship” with Ethiopia. Eight journalists were assassinated in 2007 in Somalia, whose authorities recently imposed a clamp down on the media, becoming according to press freedom associations “the second most dangerous place for media workers after Iraq”. Mogadishu’s Mayor Mohammed Dhere in the past weeks issued a decree with restrictions on the media that bans the reporting of military operations and fighting underway in the capital without permission and interviewing government opponents.
05 December, 2007
Peace Deal "Surpassed," Sporadic Fighting in East.
MISNA
4 December 2007
The peace accord between the government and rebel groups is “definitively surpassed”, said the rebels of the UFDD (Union of Forces for Democracy and Development) in a statement, after days of fighting in east Chad. The rebels also denounce the “irresponsible attitude of the government” and “return to the Greek calends in implementing the peace accords”. According to military sources, between 200 and 300 wounded soldiers were transported this week to N’Djamena from hospitals in Abeche, main city of east Chad. The fighting of the past days, on which the rebels and government give contrasting versions, was however concentrated in the Hadjar Marfaine area, a mountainous region along the border with Sudan; no official toll has been released by the rebels, though military sources claim hundreds of rebels were killed. In regard to the situation on the field, the fighting underway since dawn ceased between the regular forces and rebels of the Rally of Forces for Change (RFC) in the Biltine region.
The RFC accused the army of attacking its posts and unleashing the violent fighting in which “numerous soldiers were killed and several captured”. Former prime minister Jean Alingué Bawoyeu this morning urged Chad’s President Idriss Deby “to resume the path of the peace process in Chad”. Bawoyeu, a member of the opposition ‘Coordination of parties for the defence of the Constitution’ (CPDC), in an interview with the Panapress news agency underlined that “the actors of this crisis must meet and speak, because war will not bring to any solution”. The fighting broke out in the past days in eastern Chad after the rebel factions, signatories of an accord with the government on October 25 in Sirte (Libya), declared the annulment of the deal denouncing the government’s failure to respect the pacts. The UFDD and RFC are only two of numerous rebel groups active for nearly two years in east Chad in an aim to overthrow President Idriss Deby.
4 December 2007
The peace accord between the government and rebel groups is “definitively surpassed”, said the rebels of the UFDD (Union of Forces for Democracy and Development) in a statement, after days of fighting in east Chad. The rebels also denounce the “irresponsible attitude of the government” and “return to the Greek calends in implementing the peace accords”. According to military sources, between 200 and 300 wounded soldiers were transported this week to N’Djamena from hospitals in Abeche, main city of east Chad. The fighting of the past days, on which the rebels and government give contrasting versions, was however concentrated in the Hadjar Marfaine area, a mountainous region along the border with Sudan; no official toll has been released by the rebels, though military sources claim hundreds of rebels were killed. In regard to the situation on the field, the fighting underway since dawn ceased between the regular forces and rebels of the Rally of Forces for Change (RFC) in the Biltine region.
The RFC accused the army of attacking its posts and unleashing the violent fighting in which “numerous soldiers were killed and several captured”. Former prime minister Jean Alingué Bawoyeu this morning urged Chad’s President Idriss Deby “to resume the path of the peace process in Chad”. Bawoyeu, a member of the opposition ‘Coordination of parties for the defence of the Constitution’ (CPDC), in an interview with the Panapress news agency underlined that “the actors of this crisis must meet and speak, because war will not bring to any solution”. The fighting broke out in the past days in eastern Chad after the rebel factions, signatories of an accord with the government on October 25 in Sirte (Libya), declared the annulment of the deal denouncing the government’s failure to respect the pacts. The UFDD and RFC are only two of numerous rebel groups active for nearly two years in east Chad in an aim to overthrow President Idriss Deby.
Somali President Hospitalized.
MISNA
4 December 2007
Somali president Abdullahi Yussuf was hospitalized this morning in Nairobi as confirmed to MISNA by sources from Somali embassy in Nairobi. It is likely, said local sources, that Yussuf would be moved to London for further checks. The reason for the sudden hospitalization and Yussuf’s current state of health are unknown. Some sources said that he is in serious or critical condition, while other sources are more optimistic. The president was expected to travel to Addis Abeba to attend a meeting also featuring US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice; he was then to travel for a routine medical check-up in Germany routine – ten years ago he underwent a liver transplant – and then Lisbon for the Euro-African summit. Meanwhile, the Somali government is enduring a difficult period as the new prime minister Nur “Adde” Hassan Hussein begins office: yesterday, four government representatives resigned less than 24 hours after the presentation of the new cabinet. In the next few hours, parliament is expected to participate in a confidence vote, and given the tone of the debates, such confidence is not at all assured.
Editor's Note: Sources confirm he is in London.
4 December 2007
Somali president Abdullahi Yussuf was hospitalized this morning in Nairobi as confirmed to MISNA by sources from Somali embassy in Nairobi. It is likely, said local sources, that Yussuf would be moved to London for further checks. The reason for the sudden hospitalization and Yussuf’s current state of health are unknown. Some sources said that he is in serious or critical condition, while other sources are more optimistic. The president was expected to travel to Addis Abeba to attend a meeting also featuring US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice; he was then to travel for a routine medical check-up in Germany routine – ten years ago he underwent a liver transplant – and then Lisbon for the Euro-African summit. Meanwhile, the Somali government is enduring a difficult period as the new prime minister Nur “Adde” Hassan Hussein begins office: yesterday, four government representatives resigned less than 24 hours after the presentation of the new cabinet. In the next few hours, parliament is expected to participate in a confidence vote, and given the tone of the debates, such confidence is not at all assured.
Editor's Note: Sources confirm he is in London.
North: Rebel Ambush on Army Convoy Near Iferouaneu.
MISNA
5 December 2007
A military convoy headed to Iferouane, near the Air mountains in northern Niger, was ambushed yesterday by rebels of the MNJ (Niger Movement for Justice). As usual, the rebels and government give contrasting tolls: according to the MNJ all nine vehicles of the convoy were destroyed and the thirty-some soldiers onboard killed; while based on an official government statement, only three soldiers were killed and one vehicle was destroyed after it hit a landmine. In the past weeks the around 5,000 residents of the town of Iferouane abandoned their homes due to the growing isolation and military escalation. The main clashes between the government forces and MNJ rebels have in fact been concentrated in this area. The residents of Iferouane remain camped nearby in alarming conditions.
“No help has arrived for these civilians, not from the government or humanitarian agencies. Some families are camped in the desert area of Tchinchoulous, others moved closer to the cities of Agadez and Arlit. We are very concerned about the humanitarian situation of our people. A solution must be found”, said to MISNA last week Mohamed Houma, deputy mayor of Iferouane. The Tuareg majority rebellion, formed last February, claims to fight in defence of the local population neglected by the government and cut off from proceeds from the exploitation of the region’s rich natural resources, particularly uranium. The rebels also denounce the failed full implementation of peace accords signed in 1995 to end four years of Tuareg rebellion.
5 December 2007
A military convoy headed to Iferouane, near the Air mountains in northern Niger, was ambushed yesterday by rebels of the MNJ (Niger Movement for Justice). As usual, the rebels and government give contrasting tolls: according to the MNJ all nine vehicles of the convoy were destroyed and the thirty-some soldiers onboard killed; while based on an official government statement, only three soldiers were killed and one vehicle was destroyed after it hit a landmine. In the past weeks the around 5,000 residents of the town of Iferouane abandoned their homes due to the growing isolation and military escalation. The main clashes between the government forces and MNJ rebels have in fact been concentrated in this area. The residents of Iferouane remain camped nearby in alarming conditions.
“No help has arrived for these civilians, not from the government or humanitarian agencies. Some families are camped in the desert area of Tchinchoulous, others moved closer to the cities of Agadez and Arlit. We are very concerned about the humanitarian situation of our people. A solution must be found”, said to MISNA last week Mohamed Houma, deputy mayor of Iferouane. The Tuareg majority rebellion, formed last February, claims to fight in defence of the local population neglected by the government and cut off from proceeds from the exploitation of the region’s rich natural resources, particularly uranium. The rebels also denounce the failed full implementation of peace accords signed in 1995 to end four years of Tuareg rebellion.
North Kivu: Mushake Under Government Control But Clashes Continues.
MISNA
5 October 2007
Military operations continue also this morning in the Mushake area, though the city and surrounding areas are under control of the regular forces, explained to MISNA a spokesman for the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). Mushake, around 40km west of Goma, capital of the north-eastern North Kivu province, for three days has been theatre to fighting between the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) and militants loyal to the pro-Rwandan renegade general Laurent Nkunda.
“We are not able to give a toll on the losses of the sides in conflict, but we can say that between yesterday and today we evacuated civilians and around a hundred wounded”, said to MISNA Major Tiwari of the MONUC. Resistance pockets are still active and the fighting is not over. Nkunda’s militants have also left the area of Nyanzale, 150km north of Goma, in the Rutshuru territory; while there are no updates on the other fronts of the fighting, in particular Nyange (south-west of Goma), the hills of Saké and Kimoka (around 30km from Goma) and Bihambwe. North Kivu has been theatre since this summer to fighting between the army and rebels that has caused the flight of thousands of civilians, living in precarious conditions in displaced camps. The latest fighting in Mushake and other areas of the province has exacerbated the humanitarian situation.
5 October 2007
Military operations continue also this morning in the Mushake area, though the city and surrounding areas are under control of the regular forces, explained to MISNA a spokesman for the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). Mushake, around 40km west of Goma, capital of the north-eastern North Kivu province, for three days has been theatre to fighting between the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) and militants loyal to the pro-Rwandan renegade general Laurent Nkunda.
“We are not able to give a toll on the losses of the sides in conflict, but we can say that between yesterday and today we evacuated civilians and around a hundred wounded”, said to MISNA Major Tiwari of the MONUC. Resistance pockets are still active and the fighting is not over. Nkunda’s militants have also left the area of Nyanzale, 150km north of Goma, in the Rutshuru territory; while there are no updates on the other fronts of the fighting, in particular Nyange (south-west of Goma), the hills of Saké and Kimoka (around 30km from Goma) and Bihambwe. North Kivu has been theatre since this summer to fighting between the army and rebels that has caused the flight of thousands of civilians, living in precarious conditions in displaced camps. The latest fighting in Mushake and other areas of the province has exacerbated the humanitarian situation.
Niger Delta: Rebels Demand, "Creation of Two New States" in the South.
MISNA
5 December 2007
“It is our belief that the creation of Toru-Ibe and Oil Rivers States are necessary to correct the grossly unfair and inequitable distribution of political power, revenues and development in the country and guarantee peace and harmony”: this is the demand made by the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), which includes four militant groups active in the southern Niger Delta region, including the most known Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). According to the JRC spokesperson, Cynthia Whyte, “the creation of the two states is the necessary condition to obtain the cessation of attacks on oil installations in the region”. The movements accuse the federal government of failing to respect agreements: “The continued unrest in the Niger Delta are tied to incomplete sincerity of the Federal Government”, said Whyte, adding that “the people of the Ijaw and Niger Delta territories have for too long now borne the brunt and carried the pain of sustaining the Nigerian state”.
The JRC indicated as a positive example for development the creation of the State of Bayelsa (made up by Brass, Yenagoa and Sagbama), taking a part of territory from Rivers State. Despite an immense oil wealth – Nigeria is the 10th world oil producer and among the first six exporters – the level of living conditions of the inhabitants is among the lowest of West Africa. Over the past two years armed militant groups have been demanding a more equal distribution of oil proceeds, conducting numerous attacks and abductions against foreign oil interests.
5 December 2007
“It is our belief that the creation of Toru-Ibe and Oil Rivers States are necessary to correct the grossly unfair and inequitable distribution of political power, revenues and development in the country and guarantee peace and harmony”: this is the demand made by the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), which includes four militant groups active in the southern Niger Delta region, including the most known Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). According to the JRC spokesperson, Cynthia Whyte, “the creation of the two states is the necessary condition to obtain the cessation of attacks on oil installations in the region”. The movements accuse the federal government of failing to respect agreements: “The continued unrest in the Niger Delta are tied to incomplete sincerity of the Federal Government”, said Whyte, adding that “the people of the Ijaw and Niger Delta territories have for too long now borne the brunt and carried the pain of sustaining the Nigerian state”.
The JRC indicated as a positive example for development the creation of the State of Bayelsa (made up by Brass, Yenagoa and Sagbama), taking a part of territory from Rivers State. Despite an immense oil wealth – Nigeria is the 10th world oil producer and among the first six exporters – the level of living conditions of the inhabitants is among the lowest of West Africa. Over the past two years armed militant groups have been demanding a more equal distribution of oil proceeds, conducting numerous attacks and abductions against foreign oil interests.
North and South Agree on Troop Redeployment Timetable.
MISNA
5 December 2007
A new meeting between president Omar el Bashir and the first vice-president and head of the SPLM Salva Kiir may have opened the way for a solution to the national unity government crisis; the talks, on the heels of those of last Saturday, could then allow a full application of the peace accords, signed in 2005, which ended a long civil war in 2005. According to local sources, the mixed commission – made up by the former rebels and by the National Congress, Beshir’s party – has been asked to draft a timetable for the withdrawal of its various troop deployments around the area of Abyei. The very future of this region, rich in oil, and claimed by the north and the south, provoked the government crisis last October 11 and the withdrawal of SPLM ministers from the executive. On the basis of yesterday’s meeting between Salva Kirr and Beshir, the president shall be entrusted to resolve the Abyei issue, while a mixed commission shall work to define the border line.
5 December 2007
A new meeting between president Omar el Bashir and the first vice-president and head of the SPLM Salva Kiir may have opened the way for a solution to the national unity government crisis; the talks, on the heels of those of last Saturday, could then allow a full application of the peace accords, signed in 2005, which ended a long civil war in 2005. According to local sources, the mixed commission – made up by the former rebels and by the National Congress, Beshir’s party – has been asked to draft a timetable for the withdrawal of its various troop deployments around the area of Abyei. The very future of this region, rich in oil, and claimed by the north and the south, provoked the government crisis last October 11 and the withdrawal of SPLM ministers from the executive. On the basis of yesterday’s meeting between Salva Kirr and Beshir, the president shall be entrusted to resolve the Abyei issue, while a mixed commission shall work to define the border line.
A NATURALIZED BELGIAN OF RWANDAN ORIGIN APPEARES BEFORE A GACACA COURT.
Hirondelle News Agency
4 December 2007
The trial of a naturalized Belgian of Rwandan origin for crimes of genocide before the Gacaca court of Gashirabwoba, in the Bushenge sector, in the district of Nyamasheke (West Province), was deferred from 29 November to 6 December, reports the Hirondelle Agency.
Mr. Aloys Mujyabwami, alias Biniga, a businessman from Kamembe, then chief of the Cyangugu Prefecture, is accused of planning the 1994 Tutsi genocide and of distributing weapons in Kamembe and Gashirabwoba, the indictment specifies.
After the reading of the charges of the indictment by the president of the chamber, the defendant explained that he did not have sufficient time to prepare his defence. After deliberation, his trial was deferred to Thursday 6 December 2007.
Aloys Mujyabwami was entrusted to the authorities in Rusizi, where his case for negationism is in the pre-trial phase before being seized by the traditional courts. This investigation follows a controversial trial on 11 November 2007, where he answered for the same crimes of genocide before the appeals court of Kamembe in the district of Rusizi and during which, pleading not guilty, he would have highly protested that there had been no genocide in Kamembe.
Acquitted in first instance, this appeals court had found him guilty and sentenced him to 7 years in prison; which he was to serve starting with Work of General Interest (WGI). At the end of the hearing, the police had arrested him and handed him to the authorities for his "denial of the genocide during his defence”.
Local sources close to the police state to the agency possible corruption in this first instance and appeal trial. "What else do you want it to be", said to confirm these suspicions the IBUKA representative, an association of genocide survivors. "Seven years for somebody who is convicted for planning the genocide and distributing weapons? Article 73.6, cited in this trial, are only for persons of the 2nd category that have confessed. And he pled not guilty!", he remarked.
A fugitive after 1994 and exiled with his family in Belgium where he acquired Belgian citizenship, Mr. Mujyabwami was wanted in his native prefecture for his active role in the 1994 genocide. 55 years of age, Mr. Aloys Mujyabwami would have been apprehended during a business trip to Goma in the DRC in June 2007 and was repatriated home to Cyangugu to be tried there.
4 December 2007
The trial of a naturalized Belgian of Rwandan origin for crimes of genocide before the Gacaca court of Gashirabwoba, in the Bushenge sector, in the district of Nyamasheke (West Province), was deferred from 29 November to 6 December, reports the Hirondelle Agency.
Mr. Aloys Mujyabwami, alias Biniga, a businessman from Kamembe, then chief of the Cyangugu Prefecture, is accused of planning the 1994 Tutsi genocide and of distributing weapons in Kamembe and Gashirabwoba, the indictment specifies.
After the reading of the charges of the indictment by the president of the chamber, the defendant explained that he did not have sufficient time to prepare his defence. After deliberation, his trial was deferred to Thursday 6 December 2007.
Aloys Mujyabwami was entrusted to the authorities in Rusizi, where his case for negationism is in the pre-trial phase before being seized by the traditional courts. This investigation follows a controversial trial on 11 November 2007, where he answered for the same crimes of genocide before the appeals court of Kamembe in the district of Rusizi and during which, pleading not guilty, he would have highly protested that there had been no genocide in Kamembe.
Acquitted in first instance, this appeals court had found him guilty and sentenced him to 7 years in prison; which he was to serve starting with Work of General Interest (WGI). At the end of the hearing, the police had arrested him and handed him to the authorities for his "denial of the genocide during his defence”.
Local sources close to the police state to the agency possible corruption in this first instance and appeal trial. "What else do you want it to be", said to confirm these suspicions the IBUKA representative, an association of genocide survivors. "Seven years for somebody who is convicted for planning the genocide and distributing weapons? Article 73.6, cited in this trial, are only for persons of the 2nd category that have confessed. And he pled not guilty!", he remarked.
A fugitive after 1994 and exiled with his family in Belgium where he acquired Belgian citizenship, Mr. Mujyabwami was wanted in his native prefecture for his active role in the 1994 genocide. 55 years of age, Mr. Aloys Mujyabwami would have been apprehended during a business trip to Goma in the DRC in June 2007 and was repatriated home to Cyangugu to be tried there.
News Brief: The Lastest Fighting in North Kivu
Due to time constraints there I will not be posting further news updates today despite several key developments on a number of stories. I apologize. My update today is only to say that General Nkunda has been confirmed be several sources to be in Rwanda. He fled there Tuesday. Counting on MONUC's policy of indirect intervention, fighting on 3 fronts (Kimoka-Mushake, near Kikuku, and in Rutshuru Territory) drew FARDC soldiers away from the corridor to the border in the Rumangabo area. There, Rwandan Defense Force soldiers crossed the border and escorted General Nkunda across the border. Initial reports say he was wounded during his escape but will recover. In the meantime, the FARDC has taken back Mushake, one of General Nkunda's military bases and the sight of a brassage center. Rwanda will use him as leverage during the talks in Addis with US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice. President Kagame is personally attending the talks, which also include Congolese Interior Minister Denis Kalume.
04 December, 2007
Togo names new prime minister.
News 24
4 December 2007
Togo's city and urbanisation minister, Komlan Mally, has been named the west African country's prime minister by presidential decree, the government has announced.
Mally, 47, a member of the ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) party and a relative unknown in Togo, succeeded Yawovi Agboyibo, a major opposition figure who quit on November 13.
His nomination was delayed by the formation of the government as President Faure Gnassingbe negotiated with the main opposition party in order to pick his new national unity cabinet.
Gnassingbe held an historic meeting last month on the future prime minister appointment with long-exiled opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio - both of whose fathers were previous leaders of Togo.
Parliamentary elections in October were won by Gnassingbe's RPT, which took 50 of the 81 seats.
For the first time in 17 years all the opposition parties took part in the election, including Olympio's Union of Forces for Change (UFC), which took 27 seats.
Officials from the main opposition parties called Mally's appointment "a good choice".
4 December 2007
Togo's city and urbanisation minister, Komlan Mally, has been named the west African country's prime minister by presidential decree, the government has announced.
Mally, 47, a member of the ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) party and a relative unknown in Togo, succeeded Yawovi Agboyibo, a major opposition figure who quit on November 13.
His nomination was delayed by the formation of the government as President Faure Gnassingbe negotiated with the main opposition party in order to pick his new national unity cabinet.
Gnassingbe held an historic meeting last month on the future prime minister appointment with long-exiled opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio - both of whose fathers were previous leaders of Togo.
Parliamentary elections in October were won by Gnassingbe's RPT, which took 50 of the 81 seats.
For the first time in 17 years all the opposition parties took part in the election, including Olympio's Union of Forces for Change (UFC), which took 27 seats.
Officials from the main opposition parties called Mally's appointment "a good choice".
U.S. Debating Shift of Support in Somali Conflict.
The Washington Post
By Ann Scott Tyson
30 November 2007
The escalating conflict in Somalia is generating debate inside the Bush administration over whether the United States should continue to back the shaky transitional government in Mogadishu or shift support to the less volatile region of Somaliland, which declared independence in 1991, U.S. defense and military officials said.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates discussed regional issues during a visit to Djibouti on Monday, including Somalia and the presence there of about 8,000 Ethiopian troops, the officials said. Ethiopian forces intervened a year ago to install the fledgling government in Mogadishu and they continue to fight Islamic radicals in Somalia.
"My biggest concern about Somalia is the potential for al-Qaeda to be active there," Gates said on his first visit to the Horn of Africa as defense secretary. Asked about allegations of human rights abuses by Ethiopian troops in Somalia, Gates said: "We're obviously very interested in helping the African Union and Ugandans to try and exercise some constructive influence on the Ethiopians."
U.S. military officials say Somalia is the greatest source of instability in the Horn of Africa, leading them to seek new ways to contain the violence there.
One approach, Pentagon officials argue, would be to forge ties with Somaliland, as the U.S. military has with Kenya and other countries bordering Somalia. A breakaway region along Somalia's northwestern coast, Somaliland has about 2 million people and an elected president, and offers greater potential for U.S. military assistance to bolster security, even though it lacks international recognition, they say.
"Somaliland is an entity that works," a senior defense official said. "We're caught between a rock and a hard place because they're not a recognized state," the official said.
The Pentagon's view is that "Somaliland should be independent," another defense official said. "We should build up the parts that are functional and box in" Somalia's unstable regions, particularly around Mogadishu.
In contrast, "the State Department wants to fix the broken part first -- that's been a failed policy," the official said.
The official U.S. government position is that the United States should withhold recognition from Somaliland because the African Union has yet to recognize it. "We do not want to get ahead of the continental organization on an issue of such importance," said Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi E. Frazer in an e-mailed response to questions.
The issue is diplomatically sensitive because recognizing Somaliland could set a precedent for other secession movements seeking to change colonial-era borders, opening a Pandora's box in the region.
In Djibouti, U.S. military officials say they are eager to engage Somaliland. "We'd love to, we're just waiting for State to give us the okay," said Navy Capt. Bob Wright, head of strategic communication for the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa. The task force is composed of about 1,800 U.S. troops who conduct military training and reconstruction projects such as digging wells and building schools in 11 countries in the region.
Meanwhile, the United States continues to back Somalia's weak Transitional Federal Government, set up in late 2004 with support from international organizations and the African Union.
Lawlessness in Somalia, where a political vacuum since the government's collapse in 1991 has been filled by rival warlords and militias, is a concern for the U.S. military because the country has provided sanctuary for terrorists and has fostered groups that seek to impose strict Islamic law, or sharia.
In late 2006, Ethiopia dispatched thousands of troops into Somalia to unseat a group known as the Islamic Courts movement, which the U.S. military says is affiliated with al-Qaeda.
That incursion also created an opportunity for the U.S. military to take action in Somalia with counterterrorism raids by small Special Operations teams. Together with the CIA, they are attempting to eliminate members of what is known as the East Africa al-Qaeda cell, thought to be responsible for the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, according to defense officials.
"They are precise, laser-like focused, small, a handful of guys who go in and out," the defense official said. "Some things the agency [Central Intelligence Agency] does, some things they allow us to do," the official said, adding that counterterrorism operations are ongoing.
In Somalia, the U.S. military has also staged at least two AC-130 gunship airstrikes and a naval strike targeting suspected al-Qaeda operatives in the past year.
In recent months, human rights groups have accused Ethiopian forces of abuses such as rape and indiscriminate killing of civilians as they bomb and burn villages in counterinsurgency operations.
Despite those allegations, the Pentagon continues to back the Ethiopian presence. "Any government that provides Somalis with assistance we support, including Ethiopia," a senior defense official said. "I am unaware of specific allegations regarding the conduct of the Ethiopian troops."
By Ann Scott Tyson
30 November 2007
The escalating conflict in Somalia is generating debate inside the Bush administration over whether the United States should continue to back the shaky transitional government in Mogadishu or shift support to the less volatile region of Somaliland, which declared independence in 1991, U.S. defense and military officials said.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates discussed regional issues during a visit to Djibouti on Monday, including Somalia and the presence there of about 8,000 Ethiopian troops, the officials said. Ethiopian forces intervened a year ago to install the fledgling government in Mogadishu and they continue to fight Islamic radicals in Somalia.
"My biggest concern about Somalia is the potential for al-Qaeda to be active there," Gates said on his first visit to the Horn of Africa as defense secretary. Asked about allegations of human rights abuses by Ethiopian troops in Somalia, Gates said: "We're obviously very interested in helping the African Union and Ugandans to try and exercise some constructive influence on the Ethiopians."
U.S. military officials say Somalia is the greatest source of instability in the Horn of Africa, leading them to seek new ways to contain the violence there.
One approach, Pentagon officials argue, would be to forge ties with Somaliland, as the U.S. military has with Kenya and other countries bordering Somalia. A breakaway region along Somalia's northwestern coast, Somaliland has about 2 million people and an elected president, and offers greater potential for U.S. military assistance to bolster security, even though it lacks international recognition, they say.
"Somaliland is an entity that works," a senior defense official said. "We're caught between a rock and a hard place because they're not a recognized state," the official said.
The Pentagon's view is that "Somaliland should be independent," another defense official said. "We should build up the parts that are functional and box in" Somalia's unstable regions, particularly around Mogadishu.
In contrast, "the State Department wants to fix the broken part first -- that's been a failed policy," the official said.
The official U.S. government position is that the United States should withhold recognition from Somaliland because the African Union has yet to recognize it. "We do not want to get ahead of the continental organization on an issue of such importance," said Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi E. Frazer in an e-mailed response to questions.
The issue is diplomatically sensitive because recognizing Somaliland could set a precedent for other secession movements seeking to change colonial-era borders, opening a Pandora's box in the region.
In Djibouti, U.S. military officials say they are eager to engage Somaliland. "We'd love to, we're just waiting for State to give us the okay," said Navy Capt. Bob Wright, head of strategic communication for the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa. The task force is composed of about 1,800 U.S. troops who conduct military training and reconstruction projects such as digging wells and building schools in 11 countries in the region.
Meanwhile, the United States continues to back Somalia's weak Transitional Federal Government, set up in late 2004 with support from international organizations and the African Union.
Lawlessness in Somalia, where a political vacuum since the government's collapse in 1991 has been filled by rival warlords and militias, is a concern for the U.S. military because the country has provided sanctuary for terrorists and has fostered groups that seek to impose strict Islamic law, or sharia.
In late 2006, Ethiopia dispatched thousands of troops into Somalia to unseat a group known as the Islamic Courts movement, which the U.S. military says is affiliated with al-Qaeda.
That incursion also created an opportunity for the U.S. military to take action in Somalia with counterterrorism raids by small Special Operations teams. Together with the CIA, they are attempting to eliminate members of what is known as the East Africa al-Qaeda cell, thought to be responsible for the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, according to defense officials.
"They are precise, laser-like focused, small, a handful of guys who go in and out," the defense official said. "Some things the agency [Central Intelligence Agency] does, some things they allow us to do," the official said, adding that counterterrorism operations are ongoing.
In Somalia, the U.S. military has also staged at least two AC-130 gunship airstrikes and a naval strike targeting suspected al-Qaeda operatives in the past year.
In recent months, human rights groups have accused Ethiopian forces of abuses such as rape and indiscriminate killing of civilians as they bomb and burn villages in counterinsurgency operations.
Despite those allegations, the Pentagon continues to back the Ethiopian presence. "Any government that provides Somalis with assistance we support, including Ethiopia," a senior defense official said. "I am unaware of specific allegations regarding the conduct of the Ethiopian troops."
Somali leader hospitalised.
Afrol News
4 December 2007
Abdullahi Yusuf, the President of Somalia's transitional federal government has been rushed to a hospital in the Kenyan capital Nairobi where doctors are striving hard to normalise his serious health conditions. The details of his health conditions are still not made public.
Though Somalian authorities said the 72-year-old leader is in a stable condition, sources said he will be flown to London for further treatment.
The Somali leader, who ascended to power in 2004 after so many peace talks in the neighbouring Kenya, had earlier undergone liver transplant.
Mr Yusuf had cancelled a meeting with regional leaders and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
President Yusuf's hospitalisation coincides with the resignation of four ministers 24 hours after their appointment.
They are Hassan Mohamed Nur, Abdikafi Hassan, Sheikh Aden Maden and Ibrahim Issac Ibrow -Ministers of National Security, Trade, Reconciliation and National Planning, respectively.
The irate ministers could not withstand what they called the "under-representation" and "penalisation" of their Rahanwein clan in the new government of Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.
They also blamed the Prime Minister for not consulting them earlier before he had nominated them, which according to them, disrespects the power-sharing agreement.
Since the ousting of the Islamic Courts Union from power last December by the Ethiopian-backed government troops, Mogadishu has been a centre of Islamic insurgency, resulting to loss of several lives.
The UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, who conducted a four-day trip to Somalia, deplored the deplorable humanitarian situation in the country.
“It is the civilians who are getting caught in the crossfire of this ongoing conflict. Violence, pressure and intimidation of all kinds are clearly getting worse” Holmes said.
4 December 2007
Abdullahi Yusuf, the President of Somalia's transitional federal government has been rushed to a hospital in the Kenyan capital Nairobi where doctors are striving hard to normalise his serious health conditions. The details of his health conditions are still not made public.
Though Somalian authorities said the 72-year-old leader is in a stable condition, sources said he will be flown to London for further treatment.
The Somali leader, who ascended to power in 2004 after so many peace talks in the neighbouring Kenya, had earlier undergone liver transplant.
Mr Yusuf had cancelled a meeting with regional leaders and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
President Yusuf's hospitalisation coincides with the resignation of four ministers 24 hours after their appointment.
They are Hassan Mohamed Nur, Abdikafi Hassan, Sheikh Aden Maden and Ibrahim Issac Ibrow -Ministers of National Security, Trade, Reconciliation and National Planning, respectively.
The irate ministers could not withstand what they called the "under-representation" and "penalisation" of their Rahanwein clan in the new government of Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.
They also blamed the Prime Minister for not consulting them earlier before he had nominated them, which according to them, disrespects the power-sharing agreement.
Since the ousting of the Islamic Courts Union from power last December by the Ethiopian-backed government troops, Mogadishu has been a centre of Islamic insurgency, resulting to loss of several lives.
The UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, who conducted a four-day trip to Somalia, deplored the deplorable humanitarian situation in the country.
“It is the civilians who are getting caught in the crossfire of this ongoing conflict. Violence, pressure and intimidation of all kinds are clearly getting worse” Holmes said.
Russia, Turkmenistan hasten Caspian pipeline work.
Gas and Oil Journal
3 December 2007
By Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
Russia and Turkmenistan have agreed to accelerate development of the proposed Caspian Gas Pipeline project following talks between OAO Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, and Deputy Prime Minister Tachberdy Tagyyev.
"Turkmenistan can start the implementation of the project earlier than it was initially scheduled," said Berdymukhammedov, referring to a declaration on the construction of pipeline signed May 12 by the Russian, Kazakh, and Turkmen presidents.
On completion in 2012, the pipeline will extend 510 km along the coast of the Caspian Sea—360 km via Turkmenistan and another 150 km through Kazakhstan—and connect with the existing Central Asia-Center gas pipeline network on the Russian-Kazakh border.
The decision to accelerate construction of the line followed reports that Gazprom on Nov. 27 signed a contract amendment for the supply of gas from Turkmenistan.
Under the amendment, the price of gas in first half 2008 will be $130/1,000 cu m and will rise to $150 in the second half. Starting Jan. 1, 2008, the rate will be determined by a price formula based on market principles. Earlier Russia and Turkmenistan had agreed on $100/1,000 cu m for the period ending in 2009.
"The price formula that will come into force in 2009 will define the price of supplies under a long-term contract up to 2028," said Gazprom's Miller. "The Turkmen side expressed the readiness to increase the volume of gas supply to Gazprom, compared with the volume of the current year."
Following the announced price increase, Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russia's ambassador to Ukraine, said the increase will be passed on to customers in that country, the main recipient of Turkmen gas via Russia.
"Naturally, the gas price for Ukraine will also be changed. We do not know yet what price they agreed upon," said Chernomyrdin, who expressed surprise at the new rate.
3 December 2007
By Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
Russia and Turkmenistan have agreed to accelerate development of the proposed Caspian Gas Pipeline project following talks between OAO Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, and Deputy Prime Minister Tachberdy Tagyyev.
"Turkmenistan can start the implementation of the project earlier than it was initially scheduled," said Berdymukhammedov, referring to a declaration on the construction of pipeline signed May 12 by the Russian, Kazakh, and Turkmen presidents.
On completion in 2012, the pipeline will extend 510 km along the coast of the Caspian Sea—360 km via Turkmenistan and another 150 km through Kazakhstan—and connect with the existing Central Asia-Center gas pipeline network on the Russian-Kazakh border.
The decision to accelerate construction of the line followed reports that Gazprom on Nov. 27 signed a contract amendment for the supply of gas from Turkmenistan.
Under the amendment, the price of gas in first half 2008 will be $130/1,000 cu m and will rise to $150 in the second half. Starting Jan. 1, 2008, the rate will be determined by a price formula based on market principles. Earlier Russia and Turkmenistan had agreed on $100/1,000 cu m for the period ending in 2009.
"The price formula that will come into force in 2009 will define the price of supplies under a long-term contract up to 2028," said Gazprom's Miller. "The Turkmen side expressed the readiness to increase the volume of gas supply to Gazprom, compared with the volume of the current year."
Following the announced price increase, Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russia's ambassador to Ukraine, said the increase will be passed on to customers in that country, the main recipient of Turkmen gas via Russia.
"Naturally, the gas price for Ukraine will also be changed. We do not know yet what price they agreed upon," said Chernomyrdin, who expressed surprise at the new rate.
TRANSFERS TO RWANDA HAVE NOT BEEN DECIDED YET.
Hirondelle News Agency
3 December 2007
For the second time in its history, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) delivered, last week, a transfer order to a national court on the basis of article 11 bis of its Rules of Evidence and Procedure; but if this procedure is the only one which should enable it to complete its mandate by the end of 2008, it is not obvious to all.
Laurent Bucyibaruta and Wenceslas Munyeshyeka will be normally tried by French courts. The first transfer, that of Michel Bagaragaza, had being annulled by the Ministry of Justice and the Dutch federal prosecutor estimating that it did not have jurisdiction.
According to article 11 bis of the ICTR Rules of Evidence and Procedure, so that a national court is declared competent to try its cases, several points are examined: the jurisdiction of the state, its willingness and its provision to accept the case; the non subjugation to the death penalty; the respect of a fair trial; the protection of witnesses and the possibility of follow-up of the procedure by observers sent by the ICTR prosecutor.
These are the conditions of various chambers of the international tribunal that are currently examining to grant or not the transfer of four cases to the Rwandan authorities. The concerned cases are: Ildephonse Hategekimana, Gaspard Kanyarukiga, Yussuf Munyakazi and Fulgence Kayishema.
Besides the prosecutor and the judges, many are those who are opposed to these transfers. The lawyers have expressed their concerns, Amnesty International clearly stated its dissension, Human Rights Watch (HRW) will soon be heard as Amicus Curiae (friend of the court) in the case of Fulgence Kayishema. All criticize the lack of guarantees of the Rwandan criminal procedure (fair trials and defence rights, in particular). Only Rwanda seems to hold to with it, to make it a question of principle, and regards these probes as "propaganda".
Kigali, however, believed, after having abolished the death penalty this summer, that the last obstacle had been crossed before being able to welcome these defendants. Since the end of the genocide, considerable work has been done to rebuild the legal system with the assistance of non-governmental organizations, notably Belgian ones.
On 30 August 1996, the organic law "on the organization of prosecution for infringements constitutive of the crime of genocide or crimes against humanity, committed as of 1 October 1 1990" was passed. Faced with an always increasing number of prisoners, and with ordinary laws not making it possible to prosecute the génocidaires, the entry into force of the law was urgent. Although Rwanda ratified the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, it had not given itself incriminations and sentences to sanction it.
The project was the subject of a debate between the government and the deputies on the questions of non-retroactivity of criminal law, the categorization of the accused and the plea of guilty. The Rwandan code of criminal procedure of 23 February 1963, was modified for the first time on 17 May 2004. The second reform of 22 April 2006, further improved the procedure.
Its 1st article affirms that "criminal trials must be rendered public in all justice and impartiality, to respect defence rights to action, the adversary principle, to respect the principle of the equality of the parties in the trial before the law, to be founded on the evidence provided in legal manners and to respect deadlines". The latter are now clearly mentioned in connection with various phases of the procedure, which was not the case before.
But while the law of 1996 created the jurisdiction of specialized chambers within first instance and military courts for category 1suspects, Rwanda proposed to the ICTR that its defendants be tried by the High Courts of the Republic and with the possibility of appeal before the Supreme Court.
The High Courts of the Republic were established by the Constitution of June 2003. Its article 143 establishes four levels of jurisdictions: the Supreme Court, the High Courts of the Republic, First Instance Courts and District Courts. Theoretically, the High Courts are qualified to try crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity but not those committed between 1 October 1990 and 31 December 1994. The choice to bypass this restriction is certainly explained by the status of the persons prosecuted by the ICTR. This creates fears of a justice on two levels and a difference between category 1 defendants and those transferred from the ICTR and other suspects sought by Interpol who would be extradited, remarked an NGO on mission there.
The Supreme Court is generally qualified to receive the appeal of judgments from the High Courts of the Republic and the Military High Court. Prior to 2004, it was the equivalent of a French or Belgian Supreme Court and could, thus, only receive issues of law. It can receive other extraordinary matters.
Within the framework of the law of 30 August 1996 (article 24), the appeal recourse for judgments rendered on the genocide by the specialized chambers is only possible on questions of law or flagrant factual errors. However, before the Supreme Court a second examination of the case is possible.
3 December 2007
For the second time in its history, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) delivered, last week, a transfer order to a national court on the basis of article 11 bis of its Rules of Evidence and Procedure; but if this procedure is the only one which should enable it to complete its mandate by the end of 2008, it is not obvious to all.
Laurent Bucyibaruta and Wenceslas Munyeshyeka will be normally tried by French courts. The first transfer, that of Michel Bagaragaza, had being annulled by the Ministry of Justice and the Dutch federal prosecutor estimating that it did not have jurisdiction.
According to article 11 bis of the ICTR Rules of Evidence and Procedure, so that a national court is declared competent to try its cases, several points are examined: the jurisdiction of the state, its willingness and its provision to accept the case; the non subjugation to the death penalty; the respect of a fair trial; the protection of witnesses and the possibility of follow-up of the procedure by observers sent by the ICTR prosecutor.
These are the conditions of various chambers of the international tribunal that are currently examining to grant or not the transfer of four cases to the Rwandan authorities. The concerned cases are: Ildephonse Hategekimana, Gaspard Kanyarukiga, Yussuf Munyakazi and Fulgence Kayishema.
Besides the prosecutor and the judges, many are those who are opposed to these transfers. The lawyers have expressed their concerns, Amnesty International clearly stated its dissension, Human Rights Watch (HRW) will soon be heard as Amicus Curiae (friend of the court) in the case of Fulgence Kayishema. All criticize the lack of guarantees of the Rwandan criminal procedure (fair trials and defence rights, in particular). Only Rwanda seems to hold to with it, to make it a question of principle, and regards these probes as "propaganda".
Kigali, however, believed, after having abolished the death penalty this summer, that the last obstacle had been crossed before being able to welcome these defendants. Since the end of the genocide, considerable work has been done to rebuild the legal system with the assistance of non-governmental organizations, notably Belgian ones.
On 30 August 1996, the organic law "on the organization of prosecution for infringements constitutive of the crime of genocide or crimes against humanity, committed as of 1 October 1 1990" was passed. Faced with an always increasing number of prisoners, and with ordinary laws not making it possible to prosecute the génocidaires, the entry into force of the law was urgent. Although Rwanda ratified the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, it had not given itself incriminations and sentences to sanction it.
The project was the subject of a debate between the government and the deputies on the questions of non-retroactivity of criminal law, the categorization of the accused and the plea of guilty. The Rwandan code of criminal procedure of 23 February 1963, was modified for the first time on 17 May 2004. The second reform of 22 April 2006, further improved the procedure.
Its 1st article affirms that "criminal trials must be rendered public in all justice and impartiality, to respect defence rights to action, the adversary principle, to respect the principle of the equality of the parties in the trial before the law, to be founded on the evidence provided in legal manners and to respect deadlines". The latter are now clearly mentioned in connection with various phases of the procedure, which was not the case before.
But while the law of 1996 created the jurisdiction of specialized chambers within first instance and military courts for category 1suspects, Rwanda proposed to the ICTR that its defendants be tried by the High Courts of the Republic and with the possibility of appeal before the Supreme Court.
The High Courts of the Republic were established by the Constitution of June 2003. Its article 143 establishes four levels of jurisdictions: the Supreme Court, the High Courts of the Republic, First Instance Courts and District Courts. Theoretically, the High Courts are qualified to try crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity but not those committed between 1 October 1990 and 31 December 1994. The choice to bypass this restriction is certainly explained by the status of the persons prosecuted by the ICTR. This creates fears of a justice on two levels and a difference between category 1 defendants and those transferred from the ICTR and other suspects sought by Interpol who would be extradited, remarked an NGO on mission there.
The Supreme Court is generally qualified to receive the appeal of judgments from the High Courts of the Republic and the Military High Court. Prior to 2004, it was the equivalent of a French or Belgian Supreme Court and could, thus, only receive issues of law. It can receive other extraordinary matters.
Within the framework of the law of 30 August 1996 (article 24), the appeal recourse for judgments rendered on the genocide by the specialized chambers is only possible on questions of law or flagrant factual errors. However, before the Supreme Court a second examination of the case is possible.
UNICEF Condemns Kidnapping and Murder of Children.
MISNA
4 December 2007
UNICEF has strongly condemned recent cases of murder and kidnapping of children in Haiti. “Children are not spared and it seems that they are the direct target of these odious crimes” said Unicef, noting that last month eleven boys aged between 3 and 17 years were kidnapped. “It is intolerable” said Unicef, referring to a case where a seven year old boy was found dead (and mutilated) ten days ago in Cabaret, north of Port-au-Prince, leading to the arrest of two people so far. Unicef notes that children who witness violence or are victims of it, of any type, suffer an emotional and psychological trauma that is difficult to overcome; in demanding local authorities for guarantees of justice and security, Unicef reminded Haiti that it ratified the convention on the rights of minors in 1994.
4 December 2007
UNICEF has strongly condemned recent cases of murder and kidnapping of children in Haiti. “Children are not spared and it seems that they are the direct target of these odious crimes” said Unicef, noting that last month eleven boys aged between 3 and 17 years were kidnapped. “It is intolerable” said Unicef, referring to a case where a seven year old boy was found dead (and mutilated) ten days ago in Cabaret, north of Port-au-Prince, leading to the arrest of two people so far. Unicef notes that children who witness violence or are victims of it, of any type, suffer an emotional and psychological trauma that is difficult to overcome; in demanding local authorities for guarantees of justice and security, Unicef reminded Haiti that it ratified the convention on the rights of minors in 1994.
Nigeria: Oil Industry Vessel Attacked.
MISNA
4 December 2007
At least one person was killed and another critically wounded in an attack this morning in southern Nigeria by gunmen against a vessel of a firm operating under the US Exxon Mobil oil giant. Based on information referred to MISNA by local sources, a speedboat with onboard around ten men dressed in black approached the Seamark vessel along the Bonny River, near Onne, in Rivers State, in the Niger Delta region, opening fire and killing a crewmember. After boarding and wounding a second crewmember, also a Nigerian national, the assailants fled taking some computers and radios. Nigeria is Africa’s main oil producer and among the top seven in the world. Despite the Niger Delta region being the nation’s ‘natural oil safe’, the southern regions remain the most underdeveloped of Nigeria. For years various armed movements have been demanding a more equal distribution of oil proceeds, accusing the government and foreign oil companies of appropriating the enormous wealth and leaving the Delta inhabitants the highly polluting oil waste from extraction and refining. Many criminal groups are also active in the region and at time join ranks.
4 December 2007
At least one person was killed and another critically wounded in an attack this morning in southern Nigeria by gunmen against a vessel of a firm operating under the US Exxon Mobil oil giant. Based on information referred to MISNA by local sources, a speedboat with onboard around ten men dressed in black approached the Seamark vessel along the Bonny River, near Onne, in Rivers State, in the Niger Delta region, opening fire and killing a crewmember. After boarding and wounding a second crewmember, also a Nigerian national, the assailants fled taking some computers and radios. Nigeria is Africa’s main oil producer and among the top seven in the world. Despite the Niger Delta region being the nation’s ‘natural oil safe’, the southern regions remain the most underdeveloped of Nigeria. For years various armed movements have been demanding a more equal distribution of oil proceeds, accusing the government and foreign oil companies of appropriating the enormous wealth and leaving the Delta inhabitants the highly polluting oil waste from extraction and refining. Many criminal groups are also active in the region and at time join ranks.
North Kivu: Fighting Continues in Mushake.
MISNA
4 December 2007
Heavy artillery fire continues since this morning in the Mushake area, around 40km west of Goma, capital of the North Kivu province in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, since this summer theatre to fighting between the Congolese regular armed forces (FARDC) and militants loyal to the pro-Rwandan renegade general Laurent Nkunda. Local sources referred to MISNA that the fighting resumed in the Mushake area this morning at around 5:00a.m, when the army launched an offensive to seize control of the town. According to army sources, a part of the town is now under government control, while another is still controlled by Nkunda’s militants.
The attack began yesterday also with the intervention of helicopter gunships and participation of peacekeepers of the United Nations Mission in DR-Congo (MONUC), currently only providing logistic support, but that in a statement claimed it was ready to intervene in support of the regular forces if requested. There is no confirmation for the moment on reports of a resumption of fighting between the army and Nkunda’s militants also on the other ‘fronts’ opened yesterday: in the Nyange area (south-west of Goma), on the hills surrounding Saké and Kimoka (locations around 30km from Goma of which the army last night claimed to have seized control), in Bihambwe and in the areas of Nyanzale and Kikuku, 150km north of Goma, in the Rutshuru region.
4 December 2007
Heavy artillery fire continues since this morning in the Mushake area, around 40km west of Goma, capital of the North Kivu province in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, since this summer theatre to fighting between the Congolese regular armed forces (FARDC) and militants loyal to the pro-Rwandan renegade general Laurent Nkunda. Local sources referred to MISNA that the fighting resumed in the Mushake area this morning at around 5:00a.m, when the army launched an offensive to seize control of the town. According to army sources, a part of the town is now under government control, while another is still controlled by Nkunda’s militants.
The attack began yesterday also with the intervention of helicopter gunships and participation of peacekeepers of the United Nations Mission in DR-Congo (MONUC), currently only providing logistic support, but that in a statement claimed it was ready to intervene in support of the regular forces if requested. There is no confirmation for the moment on reports of a resumption of fighting between the army and Nkunda’s militants also on the other ‘fronts’ opened yesterday: in the Nyange area (south-west of Goma), on the hills surrounding Saké and Kimoka (locations around 30km from Goma of which the army last night claimed to have seized control), in Bihambwe and in the areas of Nyanzale and Kikuku, 150km north of Goma, in the Rutshuru region.
US official Gates in Djibouti to discuss Africa operations.
AFP
3 December 2007
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Djibouti Monday to discuss the future of US military operations in Africa, an AFP correspondent reported.
Topping the agenda of Gates' talks with local leaders and military commanders will be the role of Africom, the Pentagon's new Africa command, which has yet to move its headquarters to the continent.
"They will talk about what role Africom will play in the Horn (of Africa)... This will be a very different command from the rest," a senior US defence official said on condition of anonymity.
Africom was launched on October 1 with the stated aim of assisting African countries on security issues and enhancing development. It is currently headquartered in Germany and will only be fully operational in 2008.
Yet the project to move a US military command to the continent remains controversial and the only two countries to have declared their willingness to host the command are Liberia and Djibouti.
The senior defence official said Gates' visit to Djibouti would also look at how lessons from the US operation in Djibouti could be applied to the rest of the continent.
The Combined Task Force-Horn of Africa is currently the only US military base in Africa, and comprises some 1,800 troops.
Some observers have argued that the US move to unite the continent under one command -- it was previously managed by three -- was an attempt to counter the rising influence of China in Africa.
But the US official denied the claim, saying: "Africom is not driven by the desire to compete with China."
The aim is to provide a "counterbalance to strategic threats in the region with an innovative approach," he added.
Djibouti -- where France also has its largest foreign military base -- lies in a strategic location between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The Horn of Africa has been of concern to the US military for some time, with some countries considered breeding grounds for Islamist militants.
The Pentagon believes the Al-Qaeda network has some operatives hiding in Somalia, where US-backed Ethiopia muscled in last year to remove an Islamist group that briefly took power and imposed strict Islamic law.
Gates, who is due to meet Djiboutian President Ismael Omar Guelleh during his brief visit, is also expected in Bahrain this week for a security conference.
3 December 2007
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Djibouti Monday to discuss the future of US military operations in Africa, an AFP correspondent reported.
Topping the agenda of Gates' talks with local leaders and military commanders will be the role of Africom, the Pentagon's new Africa command, which has yet to move its headquarters to the continent.
"They will talk about what role Africom will play in the Horn (of Africa)... This will be a very different command from the rest," a senior US defence official said on condition of anonymity.
Africom was launched on October 1 with the stated aim of assisting African countries on security issues and enhancing development. It is currently headquartered in Germany and will only be fully operational in 2008.
Yet the project to move a US military command to the continent remains controversial and the only two countries to have declared their willingness to host the command are Liberia and Djibouti.
The senior defence official said Gates' visit to Djibouti would also look at how lessons from the US operation in Djibouti could be applied to the rest of the continent.
The Combined Task Force-Horn of Africa is currently the only US military base in Africa, and comprises some 1,800 troops.
Some observers have argued that the US move to unite the continent under one command -- it was previously managed by three -- was an attempt to counter the rising influence of China in Africa.
But the US official denied the claim, saying: "Africom is not driven by the desire to compete with China."
The aim is to provide a "counterbalance to strategic threats in the region with an innovative approach," he added.
Djibouti -- where France also has its largest foreign military base -- lies in a strategic location between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The Horn of Africa has been of concern to the US military for some time, with some countries considered breeding grounds for Islamist militants.
The Pentagon believes the Al-Qaeda network has some operatives hiding in Somalia, where US-backed Ethiopia muscled in last year to remove an Islamist group that briefly took power and imposed strict Islamic law.
Gates, who is due to meet Djiboutian President Ismael Omar Guelleh during his brief visit, is also expected in Bahrain this week for a security conference.
US: Iran halted weapons program in 2003.
Originally By PAMELA HESS
3 December 2007
Associated Press
A new U.S. intelligence report concludes that Iran's nuclear weapons development program has been halted since the fall of 2003 because of international pressure — a stark contrast to the conclusions U.S. spy agencies drew just two years ago.
The finding is part of a National Intelligence Estimate on Iran that also cautions that Tehran continues to enrich uranium and still could develop a bomb between 2010 and 2015 if it decided to do so.
The conclusion that Iran's weapons program was still frozen, through at least mid-2007, represents a sharp turnaround from the previous intelligence assessment in 2005. Then, U.S. intelligence agencies believed Tehran was determined to develop a nuclear weapons capability and was continuing its weapons development program. The new report concludes that Iran's decisions are rational and pragmatic, and that Tehran is more susceptible to diplomatic and financial pressure than previously thought.
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," says the unclassified summary of the secret report.
The findings come at a time of escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, which President Bush has labeled part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and North Korea. At an Oct. 17 news conference, Bush said, "If you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
Rand Beers, who resigned from Bush's National Security Council just before the Iraq war, said the report should derail any appetite for war on the administration's part, and should reinvigorate regional diplomacy. "The new NIE throws cold water on the efforts of those urging military confrontation with Iran," he said.
Senior intelligence officials said Monday they failed to detect Iran's fall 2003 halt in nuclear weapons development in time to reflect it in the 2005 estimate.
One of the officials said Iran is the most challenging country to spy on — harder even than North Korea, a notoriously closed society. "We put a lot more collection assets against this," the official said, "but gaps remain." The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Some of the changes in the new report reflect the use of "open source" intelligence —public information from sources such as the news media and international organizations. An official said, for example, that photos taken at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility during U.N. inspections in 2002 were particularly useful in assessing the capabilities of the civilian uranium enrichment program.
U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, said the risk of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon remains "a serious problem." The estimate suggests Bush "has the right strategy: intensified international pressure along with a willingness to negotiate a solution that serves Iranian interests, while ensuring the world will never have to face a nuclear armed Iran," Hadley said. He was less interested in what the 2005 assessment missed than what it got right: that Iran had a covert nuclear program.
Bush was briefed on the 100-page document on Nov. 28. National Intelligence Estimates represent the most authoritative written judgments of all 16 U.S. spy agencies. Congress and other executive agencies were briefed Monday, and foreign governments will be briefed beginning Tuesday, the officials said.
Despite the suspension of its weapons program, it may be difficult to ultimately dissuade Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb because Iran believes such a weapon would give it international prestige and leverage to achieve its national security and foreign policy goals, the assessment concluded.
"The bottom line is this: For that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions, and with other financial pressure and Iran has to decide it wants to negotiate a solution," Hadley said.
The intelligence officials said they do not know all the reasons why Iran halted its weapons program, or what might trigger its resumption. They said they are confident that diplomatic and political pressure played a key role, but said the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Libya's termination of its nuclear program and the implosion of the illegal nuclear smuggling network run by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan might also have influenced Tehran.
To develop a nuclear weapon, Iran needs to design and engineer a warhead, obtain enough fissile material, and build a delivery vehicle such as a missile. The intelligence agencies now believe Iran halted warhead engineering four years ago and as of mid-2007 had not restarted it.
This national intelligence estimate was originally due in the spring of 2007 but was delayed because the agencies wanted more confidence their findings were accurate, given the 'inaccuracy' of the 2002 intelligence estimate of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., said the report showed "a level of independence from political leadership that was lacking in the recent past."
The CIA, which did most of the analysis, considered at least six alternate scenarios that could explain the new findings, including whether Iran was intentionally trying to deceive them into believing weapons work had stopped.
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell decided last month that key judgments of NIEs should not be declassified and released. The intelligence officials said an exception was made in this case because the last assessment of Iran's nuclear program in 2005 has influenced public debate about U.S. policy toward Iran, and must be updated to reflect the latest findings.
Also Monday, a top U.S. diplomat said China may be open to discussing fresh U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran. China and Russia, both veto-wielding members of the Security Council, have been reluctant to support new sanctions.
3 December 2007
Associated Press
A new U.S. intelligence report concludes that Iran's nuclear weapons development program has been halted since the fall of 2003 because of international pressure — a stark contrast to the conclusions U.S. spy agencies drew just two years ago.
The finding is part of a National Intelligence Estimate on Iran that also cautions that Tehran continues to enrich uranium and still could develop a bomb between 2010 and 2015 if it decided to do so.
The conclusion that Iran's weapons program was still frozen, through at least mid-2007, represents a sharp turnaround from the previous intelligence assessment in 2005. Then, U.S. intelligence agencies believed Tehran was determined to develop a nuclear weapons capability and was continuing its weapons development program. The new report concludes that Iran's decisions are rational and pragmatic, and that Tehran is more susceptible to diplomatic and financial pressure than previously thought.
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," says the unclassified summary of the secret report.
The findings come at a time of escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, which President Bush has labeled part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and North Korea. At an Oct. 17 news conference, Bush said, "If you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
Rand Beers, who resigned from Bush's National Security Council just before the Iraq war, said the report should derail any appetite for war on the administration's part, and should reinvigorate regional diplomacy. "The new NIE throws cold water on the efforts of those urging military confrontation with Iran," he said.
Senior intelligence officials said Monday they failed to detect Iran's fall 2003 halt in nuclear weapons development in time to reflect it in the 2005 estimate.
One of the officials said Iran is the most challenging country to spy on — harder even than North Korea, a notoriously closed society. "We put a lot more collection assets against this," the official said, "but gaps remain." The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Some of the changes in the new report reflect the use of "open source" intelligence —public information from sources such as the news media and international organizations. An official said, for example, that photos taken at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility during U.N. inspections in 2002 were particularly useful in assessing the capabilities of the civilian uranium enrichment program.
U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, said the risk of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon remains "a serious problem." The estimate suggests Bush "has the right strategy: intensified international pressure along with a willingness to negotiate a solution that serves Iranian interests, while ensuring the world will never have to face a nuclear armed Iran," Hadley said. He was less interested in what the 2005 assessment missed than what it got right: that Iran had a covert nuclear program.
Bush was briefed on the 100-page document on Nov. 28. National Intelligence Estimates represent the most authoritative written judgments of all 16 U.S. spy agencies. Congress and other executive agencies were briefed Monday, and foreign governments will be briefed beginning Tuesday, the officials said.
Despite the suspension of its weapons program, it may be difficult to ultimately dissuade Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb because Iran believes such a weapon would give it international prestige and leverage to achieve its national security and foreign policy goals, the assessment concluded.
"The bottom line is this: For that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions, and with other financial pressure and Iran has to decide it wants to negotiate a solution," Hadley said.
The intelligence officials said they do not know all the reasons why Iran halted its weapons program, or what might trigger its resumption. They said they are confident that diplomatic and political pressure played a key role, but said the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Libya's termination of its nuclear program and the implosion of the illegal nuclear smuggling network run by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan might also have influenced Tehran.
To develop a nuclear weapon, Iran needs to design and engineer a warhead, obtain enough fissile material, and build a delivery vehicle such as a missile. The intelligence agencies now believe Iran halted warhead engineering four years ago and as of mid-2007 had not restarted it.
This national intelligence estimate was originally due in the spring of 2007 but was delayed because the agencies wanted more confidence their findings were accurate, given the 'inaccuracy' of the 2002 intelligence estimate of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., said the report showed "a level of independence from political leadership that was lacking in the recent past."
The CIA, which did most of the analysis, considered at least six alternate scenarios that could explain the new findings, including whether Iran was intentionally trying to deceive them into believing weapons work had stopped.
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell decided last month that key judgments of NIEs should not be declassified and released. The intelligence officials said an exception was made in this case because the last assessment of Iran's nuclear program in 2005 has influenced public debate about U.S. policy toward Iran, and must be updated to reflect the latest findings.
Also Monday, a top U.S. diplomat said China may be open to discussing fresh U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran. China and Russia, both veto-wielding members of the Security Council, have been reluctant to support new sanctions.
Jacob Zuma confirmed as ANC presidency candidate.
African Press Agency
3 December 2007
South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC)’s deputy president, Jacob Zuma, is now officially running for the ANC presidency, after a nomination form was sent to him in London (Britain) where he is on a private visit to confirm this, the ANC has said here.
ANC deputy leader Jacob Zuma officially running for ANC presidency. "He has accepted his nomination for the position by signing the nomination form," the party said on Sunday.
Last week Jacob Zuma was nominated for the presidency by five of the party’s provincial structures, the ANC Youth League and the ANC Women’s Leagues – all very influential groupings within the party’s electoral structures towards the high post.
President Thabo Mbeki was nominated to serve a third term by four of the ANC’s provincial structures.
Mbeki, who wants a third term as ANC president, has said he would not withdraw his nomination from the race.
3 December 2007
South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC)’s deputy president, Jacob Zuma, is now officially running for the ANC presidency, after a nomination form was sent to him in London (Britain) where he is on a private visit to confirm this, the ANC has said here.
ANC deputy leader Jacob Zuma officially running for ANC presidency. "He has accepted his nomination for the position by signing the nomination form," the party said on Sunday.
Last week Jacob Zuma was nominated for the presidency by five of the party’s provincial structures, the ANC Youth League and the ANC Women’s Leagues – all very influential groupings within the party’s electoral structures towards the high post.
President Thabo Mbeki was nominated to serve a third term by four of the ANC’s provincial structures.
Mbeki, who wants a third term as ANC president, has said he would not withdraw his nomination from the race.
03 December, 2007
The Gersony "Report"
In 1994, as the UNHCR encouraged Rwandan Hutu refugees to come back to Rwanda, reports of wide-scale massacres emanated out of the countryside. The UNHCR enlisted the help of a team (led by Robert Gersony) to investigate the conditions in Rwanda for refugee return. This team was unique because it was the only team that was allowed to travel freely though the country without RPA escorts. They visited 41 communes and 9 refugee camps to collect evidence. In his findings, Mr. Gersony initially states he subjectively believed the RPA may have committed genocide against Hutu in Kibungo, Butare, and parts of Kigali and between early April to mid-September 1994, the RPA killed between 25,000-45,000 Rwandans, both Hutu and Tutsi.
The findings were potentially damaging to the UNHCR, RPF and UNAMIR that certain officials did not want the findings made public, despite the fact the UNHCR stopped encouraging Rwandan Hutu refugees to return to Rwanda because of the killings, as reported in the New York Times at the end of September. Mr. Gersony was instructed never to talk about it publicly (pg. 16). Officials who asked were told the "Gersony report" didn't exist. In her book "The Turbulent Decade," Ms. Sadako Ogata describes Mr. Gersony "formalizing his report for presentation to the commision of experts" on October 11, 1994. He did give a presentation on his findings to a UN commission of experts that was travelling to Rwanda to investigate human rights abuses and the genocide. In his book on the Great Lakes, Mr. Gerard Prunier said the head of the DPKO told then VP Kagame, the late Seth Sendashonga (then Interior Minister), PM Faustin Twagiramungu, and President Pasteur Bizimungu the UN would withhold any report to allow the RPF government time to consolidate (Ibid). Mr. Gersony also orally briefed the Human Rights commission in Geneva. When Alison des Forges made several requests to the UN for the report, she was told the report didn't exist. Since Mr. Gersony never actually wrote and had a UN-approved official publication of his findings, they can say a report doesn't exist.
The information was also potentially damaging to the United States, a strong supporter of the new Rwandan government. As described by Mr. Prunier, the Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs sought to discredit the report. They travelled to Kigali and several places in New York, spreading disinformation by attacking Gersony's methodology and claiming it was a "Hutu conspiracy." They also delivered carefully crafted propagandic press statements. (pg. 31).
Though an official written report doesn't exist, a cable from the SRSG in Rwanda to UN HQ in New York gives the findings and is available below. Mr. Gersony and his team initially subjectively concluded from the investigation that the RPA committed genocide against the Hutu. The cable also shows the head of the DPKO and the High Commissioner of the UNHCR, expressing concern if the report were to be released publicly. According to the SRSG (in his book), they, along with the head of the DPKO, concluded RPA massacres did occur, but they were not genocide. The Rwandan government never denied killings occurred during that time period, but strongly disputed Gersony's assertion they were systematic and pre-planned.
"By not publishing the Gersony report and other information about RPF´s massacres, a blank cheque was issued to continue the murders," said noted academic Rwandan expert Professor Filip Reyntjens of the University of Antwerp to the Denmark newspaper "Information" writer Gunnar Willum. Professor Reyntjens went on to say in the article of 28 June 1999 that, "Publication of the report would have prevented the RPF to commit the massacre of over 200,000 Hutu refugees in Zaire."
According to the same article, the UN Secretary General summoned the Rwandan Ambassador to the UN in 1999 in order to ask the Rwandese Government to soften their criticism in connection with an internal UN enquiry of the UN Secretariat's actions during the Tutsi genocide in 1994. The enquiry was carried out in autumn 1996 and investigated allegations top UN officials received many warnings that genocide was under way while it was happening.
The second cable is from Refugees International, who had a station across the Tanzanian-Rwandan border. It describes in detail some RPA killings in May 1994.
Cable 1: (Gersony Cable)
Cable 2: (Refugees International)
The findings were potentially damaging to the UNHCR, RPF and UNAMIR that certain officials did not want the findings made public, despite the fact the UNHCR stopped encouraging Rwandan Hutu refugees to return to Rwanda because of the killings, as reported in the New York Times at the end of September. Mr. Gersony was instructed never to talk about it publicly (pg. 16). Officials who asked were told the "Gersony report" didn't exist. In her book "The Turbulent Decade," Ms. Sadako Ogata describes Mr. Gersony "formalizing his report for presentation to the commision of experts" on October 11, 1994. He did give a presentation on his findings to a UN commission of experts that was travelling to Rwanda to investigate human rights abuses and the genocide. In his book on the Great Lakes, Mr. Gerard Prunier said the head of the DPKO told then VP Kagame, the late Seth Sendashonga (then Interior Minister), PM Faustin Twagiramungu, and President Pasteur Bizimungu the UN would withhold any report to allow the RPF government time to consolidate (Ibid). Mr. Gersony also orally briefed the Human Rights commission in Geneva. When Alison des Forges made several requests to the UN for the report, she was told the report didn't exist. Since Mr. Gersony never actually wrote and had a UN-approved official publication of his findings, they can say a report doesn't exist.
The information was also potentially damaging to the United States, a strong supporter of the new Rwandan government. As described by Mr. Prunier, the Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs sought to discredit the report. They travelled to Kigali and several places in New York, spreading disinformation by attacking Gersony's methodology and claiming it was a "Hutu conspiracy." They also delivered carefully crafted propagandic press statements. (pg. 31).
Though an official written report doesn't exist, a cable from the SRSG in Rwanda to UN HQ in New York gives the findings and is available below. Mr. Gersony and his team initially subjectively concluded from the investigation that the RPA committed genocide against the Hutu. The cable also shows the head of the DPKO and the High Commissioner of the UNHCR, expressing concern if the report were to be released publicly. According to the SRSG (in his book), they, along with the head of the DPKO, concluded RPA massacres did occur, but they were not genocide. The Rwandan government never denied killings occurred during that time period, but strongly disputed Gersony's assertion they were systematic and pre-planned.
"By not publishing the Gersony report and other information about RPF´s massacres, a blank cheque was issued to continue the murders," said noted academic Rwandan expert Professor Filip Reyntjens of the University of Antwerp to the Denmark newspaper "Information" writer Gunnar Willum. Professor Reyntjens went on to say in the article of 28 June 1999 that, "Publication of the report would have prevented the RPF to commit the massacre of over 200,000 Hutu refugees in Zaire."
According to the same article, the UN Secretary General summoned the Rwandan Ambassador to the UN in 1999 in order to ask the Rwandese Government to soften their criticism in connection with an internal UN enquiry of the UN Secretariat's actions during the Tutsi genocide in 1994. The enquiry was carried out in autumn 1996 and investigated allegations top UN officials received many warnings that genocide was under way while it was happening.
The second cable is from Refugees International, who had a station across the Tanzanian-Rwandan border. It describes in detail some RPA killings in May 1994.
Cable 1: (Gersony Cable)
Cable 2: (Refugees International)
Pro-democracy candidate wins HK election.
Associated Press
2 December 2007
By DIKKY SINN
Pro-democracy candidate Anson Chan, a hugely popular former government official, won a seat in Hong Kong's legislature Monday, a win she hailed as a victory for democracy in the southern Chinese territory.
Chan received 175,874 votes, or about 54.6 percent, of the ballots cast in Sunday's election, according to official results announced early Monday. The race, billed as a referendum on democracy, was one of the most keenly watched and closest fought elections since the territory was returned to China a decade ago.
"The result of this election indicates that Hong Kong people are anxious to put forward democracy. We think we're all ready to implement universal suffrage in 2012," Chan said on hearing her election win.
Dubbed "Hong Kong's conscience" for her championing of civil liberties, Chan wants Hong Kong to be able to elect all its lawmakers and leader by 2012. Currently, only half the legislature is elected by voters, and Beijing has refused to set a date for full democracy.
Her closest opponent, former security chief Regina Ip, who had the backing of Beijing-allied parties, received 137,550, or 42.7 percent of votes.
Six other candidates vying for the seat — made vacant when a lawmaker died earlier this year — received one percent or less each, according to the electoral officials.
Although Chan's victory was not expected to change the balance of power in the legislature, where pro-Beijing voices dominate, the race had been seen as a gauge of the public's desire for democratic reform — especially at a time when the former British colony is experiencing a booming economy.
Ip also claimed to support full democracy for the vibrant, capitalist city, but only when Beijing gives its approval.
Political analysts said they expected the territory's communist leaders in Beijing to keep a close eye on the election, but cast doubt on whether the outcome would lead to any real change for Hong Kong.
"Beijing has already made up its mind on Hong Kong's democratic development. It's unlikely that it will allow universal suffrage in 2012, regardless of whether Chan wins the election or not," said James Sung, a political academic at the City University of Hong Kong.
However, Sung said before the results were in that a win by Chan would be a fillip for the pro-democracy movement, which suffered a huge blow in last month's district elections when Beijing-allied parties swept the board.
Chan was the first woman and the first ethnic Chinese to rise to the No. 2 government post, chief secretary for administration, under British rule. She continued in the post when the territory was handed back to China in 1997, but stepped down in 2001 amid, she says, a disagreement with Hong Kong's then-chief executive Tung Chee-hwa over his plan to introduce appointed ministers.
As security chief, Ip pushed for a Beijing-backed anti-subversion bill that many feared would drastically curtail civil freedoms. A half-million people protested in July 2003, forcing the bill to be withdrawn. Ip later resigned.
Ip, 57, also drew criticism for saying that democracy was not a cure-all for a society's problems, and that Adolf Hitler was elected through universal suffrage and went on to kill 6 million Jews.
She has since tried to repair her battered image and apologized for her "unnecessarily provocative" remarks.
2 December 2007
By DIKKY SINN
Pro-democracy candidate Anson Chan, a hugely popular former government official, won a seat in Hong Kong's legislature Monday, a win she hailed as a victory for democracy in the southern Chinese territory.
Chan received 175,874 votes, or about 54.6 percent, of the ballots cast in Sunday's election, according to official results announced early Monday. The race, billed as a referendum on democracy, was one of the most keenly watched and closest fought elections since the territory was returned to China a decade ago.
"The result of this election indicates that Hong Kong people are anxious to put forward democracy. We think we're all ready to implement universal suffrage in 2012," Chan said on hearing her election win.
Dubbed "Hong Kong's conscience" for her championing of civil liberties, Chan wants Hong Kong to be able to elect all its lawmakers and leader by 2012. Currently, only half the legislature is elected by voters, and Beijing has refused to set a date for full democracy.
Her closest opponent, former security chief Regina Ip, who had the backing of Beijing-allied parties, received 137,550, or 42.7 percent of votes.
Six other candidates vying for the seat — made vacant when a lawmaker died earlier this year — received one percent or less each, according to the electoral officials.
Although Chan's victory was not expected to change the balance of power in the legislature, where pro-Beijing voices dominate, the race had been seen as a gauge of the public's desire for democratic reform — especially at a time when the former British colony is experiencing a booming economy.
Ip also claimed to support full democracy for the vibrant, capitalist city, but only when Beijing gives its approval.
Political analysts said they expected the territory's communist leaders in Beijing to keep a close eye on the election, but cast doubt on whether the outcome would lead to any real change for Hong Kong.
"Beijing has already made up its mind on Hong Kong's democratic development. It's unlikely that it will allow universal suffrage in 2012, regardless of whether Chan wins the election or not," said James Sung, a political academic at the City University of Hong Kong.
However, Sung said before the results were in that a win by Chan would be a fillip for the pro-democracy movement, which suffered a huge blow in last month's district elections when Beijing-allied parties swept the board.
Chan was the first woman and the first ethnic Chinese to rise to the No. 2 government post, chief secretary for administration, under British rule. She continued in the post when the territory was handed back to China in 1997, but stepped down in 2001 amid, she says, a disagreement with Hong Kong's then-chief executive Tung Chee-hwa over his plan to introduce appointed ministers.
As security chief, Ip pushed for a Beijing-backed anti-subversion bill that many feared would drastically curtail civil freedoms. A half-million people protested in July 2003, forcing the bill to be withdrawn. Ip later resigned.
Ip, 57, also drew criticism for saying that democracy was not a cure-all for a society's problems, and that Adolf Hitler was elected through universal suffrage and went on to kill 6 million Jews.
She has since tried to repair her battered image and apologized for her "unnecessarily provocative" remarks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
