Chicago Tribune
By Tom Hamburger and Josh Meyer | Washington Bureau
April 7, 2009
Former FBI Director Louis Freeh says $2 billion that flowed from Britain to bank accounts controlled by the Saudi ambassador in the U.S. were sent as part of a secret arms deal between the British and the Saudis that, among other things, made it easier for the Saudis to evade American weapons-sales restrictions.
Freeh's comments were made to the Public Broadcasting Service for a " Frontline" documentary to be broadcast Tuesday. They have drawn criticism in Washington, where the transfer of funds to the Saudis continues to be the subject of a Justice Department international corruption inquiry.
The bank accounts were controlled by Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a member of the Saudi royal family who served as Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States. The money was transferred as part of a complex deal between the British government, the British arms manufacturer BAE Systems and the Saudi government, in which Bandar also got use of an Airbus 340 plane.
Prince Bandar, now a national security adviser to Saudi King Abdullah, has denied any wrongdoing, as have other Saudi officials.
Mr. Freeh, now a private lawyer and consultant representing Bandar, acknowledged to Frontline that close to $2 billion was sent to accounts at Washington's former Riggs Bank from Britain. The funds were part of a complex "oil for planes" deal that allowed Saudi Arabia to purchase arms with "maximum flexibility" even if the purchases ran afoul of congressional restrictions, he said.
"U.S. arms could be purchased through BAE in a way that did not deal with the objection of the U.S. Congress to the selling of American equipment to the Saudis," Freeh explains in the interview.
BAE has sold planes with American-made components to the Saudis. U.S. law requires Congressional review before such deals are completed. Congressional arms experts said that as far as they knew all such sales to the Saudis by BAE were reviewed and they could not explain Freeh's comment.
The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether bribes were paid to Saudi officials to secure the contract and whether the funds sent to Riggs bank were part of a bribery scheme.
U.S. government officials said the investigation was being conducted under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which has jurisdiction over business executives making bribes but not the government officials receiving them. As a result, someone like Bandar would not be the target of the investigation, but his role helping to manage the Riggs Bank accounts could make him central to the inquiry.
In a statement issued to Tribune Newspapers, Freeh's consulting firm, Freeh Group International, dismissed the bribery allegations saying that "not only have both these reckless allegations not been proved in any court or fair factual forum, but neither has been the subject of any charge or official government accusation." Freeh was FBI director from 1993 to 2001 and became known for his tough approach to white-collar crime and terrorism.
BAE confirmed that it is the subject on ongoing investigations.
BAE Systems' view is that the interests of the company as well as of all its stakeholders, including the general public, are best served by allowing these investigations to run their course. The Company is working with regulators towards that end, with a view to achieving resolution of the ongoing investigations."
Bandar, a close friend of the Bush family, has generated controversy following news reports that he played a key role getting the British government to quash its own corruption investigation into the $86 billion BAE contract with Riyadh, allegedly by threatening to stop cooperating on counter terrorism matters. In the press statement issued Monday, Freeh's office said that "the claim that Prince Bandar attempted to interfere" with the British investigation is "refuted by the facts."
Still, Bandar's alleged role provokes anger.
"Someone who characterizes himself as a U.S. patriot and national security advocate ought not to be on the side of someone blackmailing people not to investigate crimes by threatening to withdraw a nation's cooperation against terrorists," said Richard Clarke, a top counter-terrorism adviser to former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
Clarke and others say they have concerns about Freeh's defense of Bandar because of the Saudi threats to withhold cooperation in terrorism investigations if British officials moved ahead with their own BAE bribery inquiry a few years ago.
Freeh declined to comment for this article but his office issued a lengthy statement Monday denying the bribery reports and kicking back at suggestions that the Prince played a role in quashing the British investigation.
On Frontline, Freeh tells correspondent Lowell Bergman that Bandar did not accept a bribe, either in the form of $2 billion to Riggs or a BAE-supplied aircraft.
"Allegations that my client received $2 billion in bribes and...an Airbus 340...those allegations are totally false," Freeh says. He says that the Airbus, painted in the colors of Bandar's favorite football team, the Dallas Cowboys, is in fact owned by the Saudi Air Force. If members of the Saudi royal family agree to distribute an airplane or anything else "what was personal or not personal is really none of the business of the United States."
Actually, that question was important in the mind of an FBI official who originally investigated the Riggs accounts and Bandar's expenditures.
07 April, 2009
ECONOMIC CRISIS: HIKE IN FUEL PRICE, DROP IN EXPORTS.
MISNA
7 April 2009
The collective taxis and buses cost 20% more, said the main consumer groups, attributing the increase to the government decision to hike the cost of fuel amid the world financial crisis. The measure, in force since yesterday, follows an over 20% depreciation of the Congolese franc in respect to the US dollar, the currency used for oil transactions. The currency devaluation in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a consequence of a reduction in proceeds from the export of minerals and hydrocarbons. The government decision was strongly criticized by the Consumers union: “When fuel prices are raised, it is important to adopt measures to increase the buying power of the people: we want the public administration to acknowledge the poverty of this population”, the union said in a statement. The cost of a taxi ride increased from 250 to 300 francs (around 22 to 27 Euro) in Kinshasa.
7 April 2009
The collective taxis and buses cost 20% more, said the main consumer groups, attributing the increase to the government decision to hike the cost of fuel amid the world financial crisis. The measure, in force since yesterday, follows an over 20% depreciation of the Congolese franc in respect to the US dollar, the currency used for oil transactions. The currency devaluation in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a consequence of a reduction in proceeds from the export of minerals and hydrocarbons. The government decision was strongly criticized by the Consumers union: “When fuel prices are raised, it is important to adopt measures to increase the buying power of the people: we want the public administration to acknowledge the poverty of this population”, the union said in a statement. The cost of a taxi ride increased from 250 to 300 francs (around 22 to 27 Euro) in Kinshasa.
African Leaders Seek $7 Billion to Boost Trade, Transport Links.
By Sarah McGregor
April 6 (Bloomberg) -- African leaders are meeting today to try push ahead with a plan to invest $7 billion in transport links between southern and central Africa.
Zambian President Rupiah Banda, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Kenya’s Mwai Kibaki and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni meet in Lusaka today to lure funding for the North-South Corridor project aimed at boosting trade flows and improving economic growth. World Trade Organization Secretary General Pascal Lamy will also attend the talks, according to the meeting’s agenda.
“The program is ready,” John Donovan, program manager of the South African-based Regional Trade Facilitation Program, said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday. “Work can start now if the funding is available.”
Southern Africa needs $800 million for the rehabilitation of rail-wagons, locomotives and sections of railway in Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, according to the North-South Corridor, while more than $450 million is needed to upgrade the main Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania. The project intends to revamp 8,646 kilometers (5,374 miles) of highway, halve waiting times at border posts and cut the cost of moving goods by $50 million a year.
The corridor project, a pilot under the Aid for Trade program, will prioritize routes from the Dar es Salaam port with the Copperbelt in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo; and routes from the Copperbelt to South Africa’s ports, according to its Web site.
The project will seek aid, loans or investment and encourage the full or partial sale of state-owned companies to private investors, Donovan said. It will start an investment fund for regional infrastructure, work to harmonize customs procedures between countries and aim to slash the length of time it takes to cross borders at a cost of $20.4 million over the next five years, he added.
April 6 (Bloomberg) -- African leaders are meeting today to try push ahead with a plan to invest $7 billion in transport links between southern and central Africa.
Zambian President Rupiah Banda, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Kenya’s Mwai Kibaki and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni meet in Lusaka today to lure funding for the North-South Corridor project aimed at boosting trade flows and improving economic growth. World Trade Organization Secretary General Pascal Lamy will also attend the talks, according to the meeting’s agenda.
“The program is ready,” John Donovan, program manager of the South African-based Regional Trade Facilitation Program, said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday. “Work can start now if the funding is available.”
Southern Africa needs $800 million for the rehabilitation of rail-wagons, locomotives and sections of railway in Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, according to the North-South Corridor, while more than $450 million is needed to upgrade the main Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania. The project intends to revamp 8,646 kilometers (5,374 miles) of highway, halve waiting times at border posts and cut the cost of moving goods by $50 million a year.
The corridor project, a pilot under the Aid for Trade program, will prioritize routes from the Dar es Salaam port with the Copperbelt in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo; and routes from the Copperbelt to South Africa’s ports, according to its Web site.
The project will seek aid, loans or investment and encourage the full or partial sale of state-owned companies to private investors, Donovan said. It will start an investment fund for regional infrastructure, work to harmonize customs procedures between countries and aim to slash the length of time it takes to cross borders at a cost of $20.4 million over the next five years, he added.
Somaliland Troops Fire On Opposition Demonstrators.
Garowe Online
7 April 2009
Security forces in Somalia's separatist republic of Somaliland fired on demonstrators in the regional capital Hargeisa, Radio Garowe reports.
The incident took place on Monday, when Kulmiye opposition party supporters demonstrated in front of the party's headquarters in Hargeisa.
Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, Somaliland's opposition leader and Kulmiye chairman, was among hundreds of supporters walking between the Kulmiye party headquarters to Silanyo's residence in Hargeisa.
At least one girl was wounded in the gunfire, as Somaliland security forces fired in the air and reportedly fired "at demonstrators," according to independent sources in Hargeisa.
Angry demonstrators chanted anti-Dahir Riyale slogans, demanding that Somaliland's leader leave office after failing to hold presidential elections on time and receiving a controversial six-month extension from the upper house of parliament, the House of Guurti.
Mr. Silanyo, Somaliland's opposition leader who lost a close vote to Mr. Riyale in 2003, told supporters that the "peaceful demonstrations will not stop," while appealing to the public to "uphold the peace."
Meanwhile, in the port city of Berbera, Kulmiye party's top official, Mr. Shine Abdi Barkadle, was temporarily jailed by Somaliland police as he organized a similar demonstration to oppose President Riyale's term extension.
Somaliland's constitutional crisis began in mid-2008, when the House of Guurti gave Mr. Riyale's government a one-year term extension, which ended on April 6, 2009.
Mr. Riyale has rejected opposition demands to resign, arguing that the House of Guurti's decision for a six-month term extension that ends in Oct. 2009 is legal under Somaliland's constitution. He has vowed to step down "only to an elected president."
Located in northwestern Somalia, Somaliland unilaterally declared indepedence from the rest of the country in 1991 but has not been recognized internationally. Mr. Riyale's term extensions have damaged the region's democratization process.
7 April 2009
Security forces in Somalia's separatist republic of Somaliland fired on demonstrators in the regional capital Hargeisa, Radio Garowe reports.
The incident took place on Monday, when Kulmiye opposition party supporters demonstrated in front of the party's headquarters in Hargeisa.
Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, Somaliland's opposition leader and Kulmiye chairman, was among hundreds of supporters walking between the Kulmiye party headquarters to Silanyo's residence in Hargeisa.
At least one girl was wounded in the gunfire, as Somaliland security forces fired in the air and reportedly fired "at demonstrators," according to independent sources in Hargeisa.
Angry demonstrators chanted anti-Dahir Riyale slogans, demanding that Somaliland's leader leave office after failing to hold presidential elections on time and receiving a controversial six-month extension from the upper house of parliament, the House of Guurti.
Mr. Silanyo, Somaliland's opposition leader who lost a close vote to Mr. Riyale in 2003, told supporters that the "peaceful demonstrations will not stop," while appealing to the public to "uphold the peace."
Meanwhile, in the port city of Berbera, Kulmiye party's top official, Mr. Shine Abdi Barkadle, was temporarily jailed by Somaliland police as he organized a similar demonstration to oppose President Riyale's term extension.
Somaliland's constitutional crisis began in mid-2008, when the House of Guurti gave Mr. Riyale's government a one-year term extension, which ended on April 6, 2009.
Mr. Riyale has rejected opposition demands to resign, arguing that the House of Guurti's decision for a six-month term extension that ends in Oct. 2009 is legal under Somaliland's constitution. He has vowed to step down "only to an elected president."
Located in northwestern Somalia, Somaliland unilaterally declared indepedence from the rest of the country in 1991 but has not been recognized internationally. Mr. Riyale's term extensions have damaged the region's democratization process.
President Sirleaf Kicks-Off U.S. Visit With Weeklong Activities in Los Angeles, California.
Press Release: Government of Liberia
6 April 2009
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf arrived Thursday in the United States of America at the start of a three-week annual vacation, which will also include a book launch and an annual routine medical checkup.
An Executive Mansion dispatch from Washington, D.C. says the President will spend most part of the week in Los Angeles, California, where she will participate in a number of events including the Distinguished Lecture Series. While in Los Angeles, the Liberian leader will officially launch her book, entitled, "This Child Will Be Great." The President departs California on Friday for Minnesota where she will deliver the keynote address at the Carlson Lecture, hosted by the University of Minnesota.
President Johnson Sirleaf is also expected to meet with Liberians residing in that part of the United States while in Minnesota.
Part of the President's schedule will also include fund raising events in support of the Liberia Education Trust (LET), a non-governmental organization, which supports Government's education drive, through the provision of scholarships, schools and teachers.
6 April 2009
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf arrived Thursday in the United States of America at the start of a three-week annual vacation, which will also include a book launch and an annual routine medical checkup.
An Executive Mansion dispatch from Washington, D.C. says the President will spend most part of the week in Los Angeles, California, where she will participate in a number of events including the Distinguished Lecture Series. While in Los Angeles, the Liberian leader will officially launch her book, entitled, "This Child Will Be Great." The President departs California on Friday for Minnesota where she will deliver the keynote address at the Carlson Lecture, hosted by the University of Minnesota.
President Johnson Sirleaf is also expected to meet with Liberians residing in that part of the United States while in Minnesota.
Part of the President's schedule will also include fund raising events in support of the Liberia Education Trust (LET), a non-governmental organization, which supports Government's education drive, through the provision of scholarships, schools and teachers.
Kerry to Visit Sudan.
Adapted from News 24 report
6 April 2009
Democratic US Senator John Kerry will discuss US-Sudan relations and snarled efforts to implement a 2005 north-south peace deal when he visits the country next week, an aide said Monday.
But the top lawmaker will not meet with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court.
Senator Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "will discuss US-Sudan relations and the implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement" reached in 2005, the aide said.
"John Kerry will arrive in the middle of next week, he will visit Darfur and meet with officials in the country. His visit will last a few days," said that official, who asked not to be named.
The announcement coincides with US President Barack Obama's new envoy to Sudan Gen. Scott Gration's first visit to Sudan.
6 April 2009
Democratic US Senator John Kerry will discuss US-Sudan relations and snarled efforts to implement a 2005 north-south peace deal when he visits the country next week, an aide said Monday.
But the top lawmaker will not meet with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court.
Senator Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "will discuss US-Sudan relations and the implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement" reached in 2005, the aide said.
"John Kerry will arrive in the middle of next week, he will visit Darfur and meet with officials in the country. His visit will last a few days," said that official, who asked not to be named.
The announcement coincides with US President Barack Obama's new envoy to Sudan Gen. Scott Gration's first visit to Sudan.
05 April, 2009
Willy Claes: <>
2 April 2009
Selon l'ancien ministre Willy Claes, le général Kagamé, actuel président du Rwanda, a été «au moins en partie responsable du génocide rwandais en 1994».
La semaine prochaine, cela fera exactement quinze ans, qu’a éclaté au Rwanda, petit pays d’Afrique centrale, le dernier génocide du 20ème siècle.
Suite à l'assassinat de dix paras belges, le 7 avril 1994, la Belgique a retiré presque aussitôt le reste de son contingent de casques bleus.
Etant donné que les Belges formaient le noyau de la mission de l'ONU, le reste de la force onusienne est parti avec eux. C’est ainsi que le génocide a donc pu éclater et emporter près d'un million de vies humaines.
En 2000, à Kigali, capitale rwandaise, le premier ministre Guy Verhofstadt a été présenter ses excuses, au nom du gouvernement belge.
Neuf ans plus tard, Willy Claes, ministre des Affaires étrangères en 1994, déclare qu’il avait trouvé inapproprié le fait que Verhofstadt se soit également excusé auprès du général Kagamé.Paul Kagamé a été avant et pendant le génocide, le chef de la rébellion tutsie et est devenu président après le génocide. Pour Claes, il ne fait aucun doute que Kagamé est « au moins en partie responsables» du génocide.
A l’époque les excuses Verhofstadt, qui auparavant était dans l’opposition, ont été surtout considérées comme une raillerie à la politique du CVP, parti démocrate flamand, au pouvoir lors du génocide au Rwanda.
Voir l'interview:
http://www.deredactie.be/cm/de.redactie.francais/mediatheek_fr/1.500061?mode=popupplayer
Selon l'ancien ministre Willy Claes, le général Kagamé, actuel président du Rwanda, a été «au moins en partie responsable du génocide rwandais en 1994».
La semaine prochaine, cela fera exactement quinze ans, qu’a éclaté au Rwanda, petit pays d’Afrique centrale, le dernier génocide du 20ème siècle.
Suite à l'assassinat de dix paras belges, le 7 avril 1994, la Belgique a retiré presque aussitôt le reste de son contingent de casques bleus.
Etant donné que les Belges formaient le noyau de la mission de l'ONU, le reste de la force onusienne est parti avec eux. C’est ainsi que le génocide a donc pu éclater et emporter près d'un million de vies humaines.
En 2000, à Kigali, capitale rwandaise, le premier ministre Guy Verhofstadt a été présenter ses excuses, au nom du gouvernement belge.
Neuf ans plus tard, Willy Claes, ministre des Affaires étrangères en 1994, déclare qu’il avait trouvé inapproprié le fait que Verhofstadt se soit également excusé auprès du général Kagamé.Paul Kagamé a été avant et pendant le génocide, le chef de la rébellion tutsie et est devenu président après le génocide. Pour Claes, il ne fait aucun doute que Kagamé est « au moins en partie responsables» du génocide.
A l’époque les excuses Verhofstadt, qui auparavant était dans l’opposition, ont été surtout considérées comme une raillerie à la politique du CVP, parti démocrate flamand, au pouvoir lors du génocide au Rwanda.
Voir l'interview:
http://www.deredactie.be/cm/de.redactie.francais/mediatheek_fr/1.500061?mode=popupplayer
UN Rights Concerns From Rwanda To Sweden.
Scoop News
Press Release: United Nations
New York, Apr 3 2009 6:10PM
A group of independent United Nations experts today expressed concern over the judicial system in Rwanda, the terms of Australia’s Anti-Terrorist Act and violence against women in Sweden, after reviewing the state of civil and political rights in the three countries.
The Human Rights Committee – in charge of monitoring compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which has been signed by 164 States – made its observations as it concluded a weeklong session in New York.
Among the Committee’s concerns over the situation in Rwanda were the numerous cases of persons, including women and children, reported to have been killed during and in the wake of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) uprising against the 1994 genocide.
The Committee urged the Rwandan Government to investigate the deaths and to ensure that those responsible were prosecuted and punished.
“The one thing the Committee was cognisant of was that in making suggestions to Rwanda one should take as the starting point that they had a terribly difficult and unhappy and tragic and unworldly chaos to resolve,” Committee member Ruth Wedgwood, a law professor at John Hopkins University in the United States, told reporters.
Ms. Wedgwood said the Committee had recognized positive developments in the country, including the adoption of a new constitution in 2003 that helped to establish the rule of law and reconciliation, the abolition of the death penalty and the significant representation of women in parliament.
However, the Committee called on Rwanda to end the practice of sentencing perpetrators of crimes to life imprisonment in solitary confinement as a replacement to the death penalty.
Also, the Committee voiced concern about reports that Kigali authorities often arrest persons belonging to vulnerable groups, such as street children, beggars and sex workers, on the grounds of vagrancy.
“Such persons are reported to be held in detention without any charges being brought against them and in precarious material conditions,” the experts stated in their written observations on Rwanda’s report on compliance with the landmark treaty.
Ms. Wedgwood characterized the conditions in some Rwandan prisons as “deplorable” in regards to access to health care and food, as well as the separation of adults from children, and accused from convicted prisoners.
Among its concerns over provisions under the Anti-Terrorism Act in Australia, Nigel Rodley, Vice-Chair of the Committee, highlighted the vagueness of the definition of the term “terrorist act,” as well as the reversal of the burden of proof contrary to the right to be presumed innocent.
“Another concern is legislation that provides for the Australian Security Intelligence Organization [ASIO] to be able to detain people for up to seven days and for rolling periods,” without access to a lawyer and in conditions of secrecy, said Mr. Rodley.
On Sweden, the Committee was concerned about “violence against women, including honour killings,” said Ms. Wedgwood, underscoring the importance of providing and financing shelters for women who need refuge.
“We worry about female genital mutilation; though not a traditional part of Swedish culture, there may be immigrant communities where this is still practised…[we] urge that there be further education of the police, prosecutors, family members and the girls themselves,” she added.
During its next session in July in Geneva, the Committee will consider the reports of Azerbaijan, Chad, the Netherlands and Tanzania, as well as review responses to a list of issues submitted to Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, New Zealand and Uzbekistan.
Press Release: United Nations
New York, Apr 3 2009 6:10PM
A group of independent United Nations experts today expressed concern over the judicial system in Rwanda, the terms of Australia’s Anti-Terrorist Act and violence against women in Sweden, after reviewing the state of civil and political rights in the three countries.
The Human Rights Committee – in charge of monitoring compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which has been signed by 164 States – made its observations as it concluded a weeklong session in New York.
Among the Committee’s concerns over the situation in Rwanda were the numerous cases of persons, including women and children, reported to have been killed during and in the wake of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) uprising against the 1994 genocide.
The Committee urged the Rwandan Government to investigate the deaths and to ensure that those responsible were prosecuted and punished.
“The one thing the Committee was cognisant of was that in making suggestions to Rwanda one should take as the starting point that they had a terribly difficult and unhappy and tragic and unworldly chaos to resolve,” Committee member Ruth Wedgwood, a law professor at John Hopkins University in the United States, told reporters.
Ms. Wedgwood said the Committee had recognized positive developments in the country, including the adoption of a new constitution in 2003 that helped to establish the rule of law and reconciliation, the abolition of the death penalty and the significant representation of women in parliament.
However, the Committee called on Rwanda to end the practice of sentencing perpetrators of crimes to life imprisonment in solitary confinement as a replacement to the death penalty.
Also, the Committee voiced concern about reports that Kigali authorities often arrest persons belonging to vulnerable groups, such as street children, beggars and sex workers, on the grounds of vagrancy.
“Such persons are reported to be held in detention without any charges being brought against them and in precarious material conditions,” the experts stated in their written observations on Rwanda’s report on compliance with the landmark treaty.
Ms. Wedgwood characterized the conditions in some Rwandan prisons as “deplorable” in regards to access to health care and food, as well as the separation of adults from children, and accused from convicted prisoners.
Among its concerns over provisions under the Anti-Terrorism Act in Australia, Nigel Rodley, Vice-Chair of the Committee, highlighted the vagueness of the definition of the term “terrorist act,” as well as the reversal of the burden of proof contrary to the right to be presumed innocent.
“Another concern is legislation that provides for the Australian Security Intelligence Organization [ASIO] to be able to detain people for up to seven days and for rolling periods,” without access to a lawyer and in conditions of secrecy, said Mr. Rodley.
On Sweden, the Committee was concerned about “violence against women, including honour killings,” said Ms. Wedgwood, underscoring the importance of providing and financing shelters for women who need refuge.
“We worry about female genital mutilation; though not a traditional part of Swedish culture, there may be immigrant communities where this is still practised…[we] urge that there be further education of the police, prosecutors, family members and the girls themselves,” she added.
During its next session in July in Geneva, the Committee will consider the reports of Azerbaijan, Chad, the Netherlands and Tanzania, as well as review responses to a list of issues submitted to Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, New Zealand and Uzbekistan.
Sudan SPLM delegation received at White House, State, and Pentagon.
Sudan Tribune
5 April 2009
The Foreign Minister of Sudan and Secretary General of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) continued their talks in Washington and New York holding meetings with US officials.
The delegation is led by Secretary General Pa’gan Amum Okiech and accompanied by Foreign Minister Deng Alor, the delegation was received at the White House, State Department, Department of Defense, and US Mission to the United Nations.
The SPLM, which heads the semi-autonomous Government of Southern Sudan, faces a deepening budget crisis due to lower oil revenues, arrears owed them by the central government, and high military spending.
Refugees International warned last week that the GoSS is on the brink of collapse and urged the US to help “secure an emergency financial rescue package in order to avoid a breakdown of law and order.”
The SPLM delegation reportedly asked the US government for assistance with the shortfall, but there are no signs of a positive response from Washington.
The visit signals the high stakes of the quiet political and diplomatic maneuvering ongoing by the two 2005 peace partners of Sudan, SPLM and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).
Sudan presidential assistant Nafi Ali Nafi was quoted by the official government news agency (SUNA) as saying the US administration must establish direct channels of communication with the NCP adding that any other dialogues Washington conducts “will not suffice.”
The chairman of the SPLM, General Salva Kiir sent the high-level delegation to the United States for a visit lasting from March 28 to April 5, 2009.
According to a statement from the GoSS office in Washington, the delegation met the US Special Envoy, Scott Gration on Tuesday – just a day before his journey to Khartoum — and discussed the implementation of the CPA, the Darfur situation, as well as an economic and military support package to the GOSS.
Speaking at a gathering of the Sudanese community on Friday, Amum disclosed that the delegation had been sent on short notice with the intention of meeting Gration before his journey to Khartoum.
The SPLM team also held an interagency meeting attended by representatives of the State Department, Department of Defense, USAID and US Congress. On Friday, the SPLM team met the Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, a GOSS official affirmed.
The delegation was received at the White House by Michelle Gavin, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs in the National Security Council. Together they discussed the current political situation in Sudan, said the GOSS statement.
The SPLM leaders also met with officials in the Department of Defense led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs Theresa Whelan and discussed GOSS-US military cooperation in the field of security sector reform.
Commenting on the same situation during a public event Wednesday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Foreign Minister Alor echoed remarks made earlier by other SPLM officials, saying that he was not consulted about the government’s decision to expel the groups from North Sudan.
In a trip to New York, the delegation visited the United Nations headquarters and held meetings with the Deputy UN Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro and Edmond Mulet, Assistant Secretary for Peacekeeping Operations.
They also met with US Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice, who until recently had been on personal leave, according to a diplomat in New York.
Amum was chosen for the mission because he led a larger SPLM delegation to the US in August last year, he said.
Kiir also hand-picked another member of the SPLM Political Bureau, Abdel-Aziz Adam El-Hilu, who was one of the key commanders during the war in the Nuba Mountains and its failed invasion of Darfur. El-Hilu is reportedly tasked with heading SPLM’s efforts in facilitating an end to the Darfur conflict.
Akot Lual, private secretary to the president of GoSS, also took part in the delegation. Lual had previously met at the White House with Gavin on February 27.
5 April 2009
The Foreign Minister of Sudan and Secretary General of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) continued their talks in Washington and New York holding meetings with US officials.
The delegation is led by Secretary General Pa’gan Amum Okiech and accompanied by Foreign Minister Deng Alor, the delegation was received at the White House, State Department, Department of Defense, and US Mission to the United Nations.
The SPLM, which heads the semi-autonomous Government of Southern Sudan, faces a deepening budget crisis due to lower oil revenues, arrears owed them by the central government, and high military spending.
Refugees International warned last week that the GoSS is on the brink of collapse and urged the US to help “secure an emergency financial rescue package in order to avoid a breakdown of law and order.”
The SPLM delegation reportedly asked the US government for assistance with the shortfall, but there are no signs of a positive response from Washington.
The visit signals the high stakes of the quiet political and diplomatic maneuvering ongoing by the two 2005 peace partners of Sudan, SPLM and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).
Sudan presidential assistant Nafi Ali Nafi was quoted by the official government news agency (SUNA) as saying the US administration must establish direct channels of communication with the NCP adding that any other dialogues Washington conducts “will not suffice.”
The chairman of the SPLM, General Salva Kiir sent the high-level delegation to the United States for a visit lasting from March 28 to April 5, 2009.
According to a statement from the GoSS office in Washington, the delegation met the US Special Envoy, Scott Gration on Tuesday – just a day before his journey to Khartoum — and discussed the implementation of the CPA, the Darfur situation, as well as an economic and military support package to the GOSS.
Speaking at a gathering of the Sudanese community on Friday, Amum disclosed that the delegation had been sent on short notice with the intention of meeting Gration before his journey to Khartoum.
The SPLM team also held an interagency meeting attended by representatives of the State Department, Department of Defense, USAID and US Congress. On Friday, the SPLM team met the Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, a GOSS official affirmed.
The delegation was received at the White House by Michelle Gavin, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs in the National Security Council. Together they discussed the current political situation in Sudan, said the GOSS statement.
The SPLM leaders also met with officials in the Department of Defense led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs Theresa Whelan and discussed GOSS-US military cooperation in the field of security sector reform.
Commenting on the same situation during a public event Wednesday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Foreign Minister Alor echoed remarks made earlier by other SPLM officials, saying that he was not consulted about the government’s decision to expel the groups from North Sudan.
In a trip to New York, the delegation visited the United Nations headquarters and held meetings with the Deputy UN Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro and Edmond Mulet, Assistant Secretary for Peacekeeping Operations.
They also met with US Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice, who until recently had been on personal leave, according to a diplomat in New York.
Amum was chosen for the mission because he led a larger SPLM delegation to the US in August last year, he said.
Kiir also hand-picked another member of the SPLM Political Bureau, Abdel-Aziz Adam El-Hilu, who was one of the key commanders during the war in the Nuba Mountains and its failed invasion of Darfur. El-Hilu is reportedly tasked with heading SPLM’s efforts in facilitating an end to the Darfur conflict.
Akot Lual, private secretary to the president of GoSS, also took part in the delegation. Lual had previously met at the White House with Gavin on February 27.
04 April, 2009
NATO sending more support to Afghanistan.
AP
4 April 2009
NATO allies have agreed to send up to 5,000 more military personnel to Afghanistan as the alliance steps up its campaign to stabilize the country before elections in August, the White House said Saturday.
About 3,000 of the personnel will be on short-term deployments, sent in to provide security before the pivotal elections this summer, said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. Another 1,400 to 2,000 will provide training for Afghanistan's national army.
"If we don't get the security around the elections right, a lot of the other things we want to do won't matter," Gibbs said.
NATO leaders also agreed to create a $100 million trust fund to assist Afghanistan's army, with $57 million of it coming from Germany.
The United States is sending in 21,000 additional troops as part of President Barack Obama's new anti-terror strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Earlier Saturday, Obama welcomed Albania and Croatia to the alliance and declared to other nations that "the door to membership will remain open."
"It is a measure of our vitality that we are still welcoming new members," Obama said of NATO, which is marking its 60th anniversary at a summit dominated by the war in Afghanistan.
Obama, the one doing the welcoming, is himself new to the table. He is taking part in his first NATO summit and seeking support from allied nations toward the plodding effort in Afghanistan, where the new U.S. president is sending in more troops and civilian help.
As the leaders got down to business, the two NATO summit hosts, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, made it clear they embraced new U.S. leadership. "We are very pleased to work with him," Sarkozy said of Obama. "We trust him."
Meanwhile, outside, police fired tear gas and flash bombs at protesters throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks less than 2 miles from the gathering of world leaders. First lady Michelle Obama and other spouses canceled a visit to a cancer hospital out of concern for security, the French president's office said.
One of NATO'S stickiest political issues is how and where to grow. Germany, France and many other NATO nations fear any more NATO eastward expansion will further damage the alliance's ties to Russia.
Said Obama: "The door to membership will remain open for other countries that meet NATO standards and can make a meaningful contribution to allied security."
Founded in 1949, NATO has added members since the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, its Soviet-dominated Cold War foe. In contrast to the alliance's previous eastward expansion, which infuriated Russia, Moscow has not objected to the inclusion of Albania and Croatia in NATO.
Albania and Croatia officially joined NATO this week. Obama praised them for having already deployed troops to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, calling that commitment a sign that both countries will be strong contributors.
"We are proud to have you as allies," Obama said. He also made a pitch for Macedonia and said he looks forward to the day when it will would join the alliance, too. Macedonia's accession to NATO has been stalled over a dispute with Greece.
Earlier, in a move symbolic of NATO's unity, Obama began his Saturday by joining Merkel and other heads of states in walking along a pedestrian bridge that links Germany and France across the Rhine River. The leaders met Sarkozy at the center of the bridge, then crossed together onto the French side in Strasbourg and posed for a group photo.
In the midst of an eight-day trip abroad, Obama says it is a new day in U.S.-European relations. But he encountered the same old story of allied reluctance to send more troops to Afghanistan.
___
Associated Press writers Jennifer Loven and Mark S. Smith contributed to this story from Strasbourg.
4 April 2009
NATO allies have agreed to send up to 5,000 more military personnel to Afghanistan as the alliance steps up its campaign to stabilize the country before elections in August, the White House said Saturday.
About 3,000 of the personnel will be on short-term deployments, sent in to provide security before the pivotal elections this summer, said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. Another 1,400 to 2,000 will provide training for Afghanistan's national army.
"If we don't get the security around the elections right, a lot of the other things we want to do won't matter," Gibbs said.
NATO leaders also agreed to create a $100 million trust fund to assist Afghanistan's army, with $57 million of it coming from Germany.
The United States is sending in 21,000 additional troops as part of President Barack Obama's new anti-terror strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Earlier Saturday, Obama welcomed Albania and Croatia to the alliance and declared to other nations that "the door to membership will remain open."
"It is a measure of our vitality that we are still welcoming new members," Obama said of NATO, which is marking its 60th anniversary at a summit dominated by the war in Afghanistan.
Obama, the one doing the welcoming, is himself new to the table. He is taking part in his first NATO summit and seeking support from allied nations toward the plodding effort in Afghanistan, where the new U.S. president is sending in more troops and civilian help.
As the leaders got down to business, the two NATO summit hosts, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, made it clear they embraced new U.S. leadership. "We are very pleased to work with him," Sarkozy said of Obama. "We trust him."
Meanwhile, outside, police fired tear gas and flash bombs at protesters throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks less than 2 miles from the gathering of world leaders. First lady Michelle Obama and other spouses canceled a visit to a cancer hospital out of concern for security, the French president's office said.
One of NATO'S stickiest political issues is how and where to grow. Germany, France and many other NATO nations fear any more NATO eastward expansion will further damage the alliance's ties to Russia.
Said Obama: "The door to membership will remain open for other countries that meet NATO standards and can make a meaningful contribution to allied security."
Founded in 1949, NATO has added members since the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, its Soviet-dominated Cold War foe. In contrast to the alliance's previous eastward expansion, which infuriated Russia, Moscow has not objected to the inclusion of Albania and Croatia in NATO.
Albania and Croatia officially joined NATO this week. Obama praised them for having already deployed troops to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, calling that commitment a sign that both countries will be strong contributors.
"We are proud to have you as allies," Obama said. He also made a pitch for Macedonia and said he looks forward to the day when it will would join the alliance, too. Macedonia's accession to NATO has been stalled over a dispute with Greece.
Earlier, in a move symbolic of NATO's unity, Obama began his Saturday by joining Merkel and other heads of states in walking along a pedestrian bridge that links Germany and France across the Rhine River. The leaders met Sarkozy at the center of the bridge, then crossed together onto the French side in Strasbourg and posed for a group photo.
In the midst of an eight-day trip abroad, Obama says it is a new day in U.S.-European relations. But he encountered the same old story of allied reluctance to send more troops to Afghanistan.
___
Associated Press writers Jennifer Loven and Mark S. Smith contributed to this story from Strasbourg.
15 Years Later: In memoriam to all the victims of genocidal violence in Rwanda.
Photo by David Barouski, 2006.Two Judges Removed From Hartmann Case.
IWPR
3 April 2009
By Rachel Irwin in The Hague (TU No 595)
A special panel ruled this week that two judges set to preside over the contempt trial of journalist Florence Hartmann should be removed from the case.
The panel’s decision comes nearly two months after Hartmann’s defence team filed a motion claiming that the judges assigned to her case “lacked an appearance of impartiality”.
The motion, filed confidentially on February 3 and made public on February 6, alleged that the trial judges assigned to Hartmann’s case “supervised and partook in all aspects of the investigation and preparation of this prosecution”.
The disqualified judges – Carmel Agius and Alphons Orie – were part of the chamber that first asked the registry to investigate Hartmann and then issued the charges against her.
“The investigation was done at the behest, in the name of, and under the supervision of the Trial Chamber,” stated the defence motion.
Bruce McFarlane, the independent investigator assigned to look into allegations against Hartmann, later became the prosecutor on her case. He was an “investigative proxy” for the judges, alleged the defence.
Hartmann, a former spokeswoman for the Hague tribunal’s chief prosecutor, is charged with two counts of contempt for revealing confidential information pertaining to two appeals chamber decisions issued in 2005 and 2006, during the trial of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic.
She allegedly disclosed the confidential information in her 2007 book, Peace and Punishment, and in an article, Vital Genocide Documents Concealed, which was published on the Bosnian Institute website on January 21, 2008.
Her trial, originally slated to begin on February 5, was suspended pending an investigation into the defence allegations, to be conducted by a special panel of judges appointed by Hague tribunal president Patrick Robinson.
In their decision this week, the special panel wrote that while the defence did not provide sufficient evidence “demonstrating the subjective partiality” of the judges, the panel acknowledged that the relationship between the judges and McFarlane “may lead an objective observer to conclude that the chamber has an interest in the investigation and prosecution of the case against Ms Hartmann”.
Therefore, they wrote that judges Agius and Orie should be disqualified because of their “active involvement… in the directing the course and parameters of the investigation… beyond the extent of giving general, generic or purely administrative instructions”.
Prior to the panel’s decision this week, Hartmann’s lawyer, Karim Khan, filed a motion on March 24 asking Robinson for “leave to be heard” regarding the continuation of the case, should the special panel decide to remove any of the judges.
Since it is up to Robinson to assign new judges to the case, Khan wrote that “it would be in the interests of justice [for the president] to hear the defence” before a decision is made to continue proceedings.
Khan declined to comment publicly on Hartmann’s case.
Robinson dismissed the motion on March 30, saying he lacked authority to hear the defence on the matter.
On April 2, he appointed judges Mehmet Guney and Liu Daquin to replace Agius and Orie.
No trial date has been set.
3 April 2009
By Rachel Irwin in The Hague (TU No 595)
A special panel ruled this week that two judges set to preside over the contempt trial of journalist Florence Hartmann should be removed from the case.
The panel’s decision comes nearly two months after Hartmann’s defence team filed a motion claiming that the judges assigned to her case “lacked an appearance of impartiality”.
The motion, filed confidentially on February 3 and made public on February 6, alleged that the trial judges assigned to Hartmann’s case “supervised and partook in all aspects of the investigation and preparation of this prosecution”.
The disqualified judges – Carmel Agius and Alphons Orie – were part of the chamber that first asked the registry to investigate Hartmann and then issued the charges against her.
“The investigation was done at the behest, in the name of, and under the supervision of the Trial Chamber,” stated the defence motion.
Bruce McFarlane, the independent investigator assigned to look into allegations against Hartmann, later became the prosecutor on her case. He was an “investigative proxy” for the judges, alleged the defence.
Hartmann, a former spokeswoman for the Hague tribunal’s chief prosecutor, is charged with two counts of contempt for revealing confidential information pertaining to two appeals chamber decisions issued in 2005 and 2006, during the trial of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic.
She allegedly disclosed the confidential information in her 2007 book, Peace and Punishment, and in an article, Vital Genocide Documents Concealed, which was published on the Bosnian Institute website on January 21, 2008.
Her trial, originally slated to begin on February 5, was suspended pending an investigation into the defence allegations, to be conducted by a special panel of judges appointed by Hague tribunal president Patrick Robinson.
In their decision this week, the special panel wrote that while the defence did not provide sufficient evidence “demonstrating the subjective partiality” of the judges, the panel acknowledged that the relationship between the judges and McFarlane “may lead an objective observer to conclude that the chamber has an interest in the investigation and prosecution of the case against Ms Hartmann”.
Therefore, they wrote that judges Agius and Orie should be disqualified because of their “active involvement… in the directing the course and parameters of the investigation… beyond the extent of giving general, generic or purely administrative instructions”.
Prior to the panel’s decision this week, Hartmann’s lawyer, Karim Khan, filed a motion on March 24 asking Robinson for “leave to be heard” regarding the continuation of the case, should the special panel decide to remove any of the judges.
Since it is up to Robinson to assign new judges to the case, Khan wrote that “it would be in the interests of justice [for the president] to hear the defence” before a decision is made to continue proceedings.
Khan declined to comment publicly on Hartmann’s case.
Robinson dismissed the motion on March 30, saying he lacked authority to hear the defence on the matter.
On April 2, he appointed judges Mehmet Guney and Liu Daquin to replace Agius and Orie.
No trial date has been set.
Judges Decide Croatian Generals Have Case to Answer.
IWPR
3 April 2009
By Simon Jennings in The Hague (TU No 595)
Judges in the trial of former Croatian general Ante Gotovina and his two co-defendants have dismissed the request by all three defence teams to acquit their clients of all charges – including murder, deportation and cruel treatment of Serb civilians – at the halfway stage of proceedings.
Judges concluded that prosecutors had presented evidence that could convict Gotovina, along with two other former generals, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac, of orchestrating the permanent removal of Serbs from the Krajina region of Croatia between July and September 1995.
The prosecution’s evidence suggested “there was an attack and it was directed against the civilian population of the southern portion of Krajina”, said presiding judge Alphons Orie, while delivering the judges’ decision on April 3.
The prosecution alleges that Croatian forces bombarded towns across the Krajina region as part of a joint criminal plan conducted by the defendants, before embarking on a campaign across 16 municipalities, which included the killing of civilians, the burning of houses and looting of property in a bid to drive Serbs out of the area and prevent their return.
“There is sufficient evidence of a common objective aimed at the permanent removal of Serbs from Krajina by force or threat of force, persecution, forced transfer and deportation, as well as appropriation and destruction of property,” Judge Orie told the court.
He added that the prosecution had also presented enough evidence to show that the three defendants could also be convicted of the murder and cruel treatment of Krajina Serb civilians in the aftermath of the attack known as Operation Storm.
Under tribunal rules, the defence may seek an acquittal from the judges at the midpoint of a trial on any charges that it deems the prosecution has not proved during the presentation of its evidence.
However, Judge Orie cited evidence presented by prosecutors covering all the counts listed in the indictment, concluding that it could warrant a conviction at the end of the trial.
“All three accused have a case to answer on all nine counts of the indictment,” said Judge Orie.
To support the judges’ findings, Judge Orie recounted evidence presented by a number of prosecution witnesses corroborating the prosecution’s allegations about crimes in the Krajina during the summer of 1995.
He recounted the testimony of one witness who had testified that on August 6, 1995, in Knin municipality, Croatian soldiers had thrown his disabled father into a burning workshop and locked the door.
Addressing the charges of cruel treatment inflicted on Serb civilians, the judge recalled the statements of a 73-year-old woman who said that Croatian soldiers came to her village in August 1995.
After smashing her belongings and shooting at her house, the soldiers called her a “Chetnik whore” and forced her to strip to her underwear, she said. “Chetnik” was a term commonly used by Croats and Bosniaks during the Balkan wars to refer to Serbian ultra-nationalists.
Turning to the allegations of murder, Judge Orie said the evidence given in relation to killings of Serb civilians by Croat troops in the town of Grubori in August 1995 suggested “the victims were not actively participating in hostilities at the time the offences were committed and that the murders were closely related to the armed conflict”, making the defendants criminally liable.
Addressing the evidence for the criminal liability of each defendant, Judge Orie referred to evidence suggesting that they had planned the removal of Serb civilians from the Krajina, in particular, the minutes of a meeting at Brijuni on July 31, 1995, attended by the-then Croatian president Franjo Tudjman, Gotovina and Markac.
“During the meetings, the participants discussed, among other things, that civilians should be leaving the area as part of the armed operation,” said Judge Orie, quoting statements made by both Tudjman and Gotovina.
“If we continue this pressure, probably for some time to come, there won’t be so many civilians,” the judge cited Gotovina as saying. The judge noted that it had been agreed at the meeting that information should be spread around the area that Serb civilians were already leaving to encourage others to follow.
Concerning the actual crimes committed on the ground, Judge Orie said that judges had “received evidence of Mr Gotovina’s awareness of crimes committed by men under his command during and following Operation Storm”.
He referred to evidence which showed that although Gotovina was informed about crimes being committed by his men and the human rights abuses taking place, he had claimed that he did not think such behaviour was against Croatian state policy.
“The evidence heard allows for the conclusion that Mr Gotovina had the power and ability to discipline soldiers under his command,” explained Judge Orie, but that the evidence suggested that Gotovina “primarily used his power for disciplining men for violations or crimes that would jeopardise combat operations, rather than for crimes against a civilian population, such as looting and burning”.
The evidence heard so far suggested that Markac was also guilty of “attempting to obscure crimes committed by the Special Police” under his command, said Judge Orie.
The judges ruled this week that there was evidence that could lead to the conviction of Cermak based on the fact that he was informed about crimes in and around the town of Knin where he served, yet did nothing.
“There is evidence that Mr Cermak either denied that members of Croatian forces had committed crimes, attempted to downplay these crimes or promised that investigations would take place. But such investigations were either not carried out or were not conducted until much later,” said Judge Orie.
He said that judges had also received documentary evidence that suggested Cermak was “one of the key persons” organising the removal of Serbs to Serbia on a convoy of 35 buses on September 16 and 17, 1995.
Judges concluded that the evidence suggested that Cermak, along with Gotovina and Markac, had participated in the joint criminal plan to drive Serbs out of the Krajina.
Judges will now hear the defence cases of all three defendants. Proceedings are scheduled to begin again on May 28.
3 April 2009
By Simon Jennings in The Hague (TU No 595)
Judges in the trial of former Croatian general Ante Gotovina and his two co-defendants have dismissed the request by all three defence teams to acquit their clients of all charges – including murder, deportation and cruel treatment of Serb civilians – at the halfway stage of proceedings.
Judges concluded that prosecutors had presented evidence that could convict Gotovina, along with two other former generals, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac, of orchestrating the permanent removal of Serbs from the Krajina region of Croatia between July and September 1995.
The prosecution’s evidence suggested “there was an attack and it was directed against the civilian population of the southern portion of Krajina”, said presiding judge Alphons Orie, while delivering the judges’ decision on April 3.
The prosecution alleges that Croatian forces bombarded towns across the Krajina region as part of a joint criminal plan conducted by the defendants, before embarking on a campaign across 16 municipalities, which included the killing of civilians, the burning of houses and looting of property in a bid to drive Serbs out of the area and prevent their return.
“There is sufficient evidence of a common objective aimed at the permanent removal of Serbs from Krajina by force or threat of force, persecution, forced transfer and deportation, as well as appropriation and destruction of property,” Judge Orie told the court.
He added that the prosecution had also presented enough evidence to show that the three defendants could also be convicted of the murder and cruel treatment of Krajina Serb civilians in the aftermath of the attack known as Operation Storm.
Under tribunal rules, the defence may seek an acquittal from the judges at the midpoint of a trial on any charges that it deems the prosecution has not proved during the presentation of its evidence.
However, Judge Orie cited evidence presented by prosecutors covering all the counts listed in the indictment, concluding that it could warrant a conviction at the end of the trial.
“All three accused have a case to answer on all nine counts of the indictment,” said Judge Orie.
To support the judges’ findings, Judge Orie recounted evidence presented by a number of prosecution witnesses corroborating the prosecution’s allegations about crimes in the Krajina during the summer of 1995.
He recounted the testimony of one witness who had testified that on August 6, 1995, in Knin municipality, Croatian soldiers had thrown his disabled father into a burning workshop and locked the door.
Addressing the charges of cruel treatment inflicted on Serb civilians, the judge recalled the statements of a 73-year-old woman who said that Croatian soldiers came to her village in August 1995.
After smashing her belongings and shooting at her house, the soldiers called her a “Chetnik whore” and forced her to strip to her underwear, she said. “Chetnik” was a term commonly used by Croats and Bosniaks during the Balkan wars to refer to Serbian ultra-nationalists.
Turning to the allegations of murder, Judge Orie said the evidence given in relation to killings of Serb civilians by Croat troops in the town of Grubori in August 1995 suggested “the victims were not actively participating in hostilities at the time the offences were committed and that the murders were closely related to the armed conflict”, making the defendants criminally liable.
Addressing the evidence for the criminal liability of each defendant, Judge Orie referred to evidence suggesting that they had planned the removal of Serb civilians from the Krajina, in particular, the minutes of a meeting at Brijuni on July 31, 1995, attended by the-then Croatian president Franjo Tudjman, Gotovina and Markac.
“During the meetings, the participants discussed, among other things, that civilians should be leaving the area as part of the armed operation,” said Judge Orie, quoting statements made by both Tudjman and Gotovina.
“If we continue this pressure, probably for some time to come, there won’t be so many civilians,” the judge cited Gotovina as saying. The judge noted that it had been agreed at the meeting that information should be spread around the area that Serb civilians were already leaving to encourage others to follow.
Concerning the actual crimes committed on the ground, Judge Orie said that judges had “received evidence of Mr Gotovina’s awareness of crimes committed by men under his command during and following Operation Storm”.
He referred to evidence which showed that although Gotovina was informed about crimes being committed by his men and the human rights abuses taking place, he had claimed that he did not think such behaviour was against Croatian state policy.
“The evidence heard allows for the conclusion that Mr Gotovina had the power and ability to discipline soldiers under his command,” explained Judge Orie, but that the evidence suggested that Gotovina “primarily used his power for disciplining men for violations or crimes that would jeopardise combat operations, rather than for crimes against a civilian population, such as looting and burning”.
The evidence heard so far suggested that Markac was also guilty of “attempting to obscure crimes committed by the Special Police” under his command, said Judge Orie.
The judges ruled this week that there was evidence that could lead to the conviction of Cermak based on the fact that he was informed about crimes in and around the town of Knin where he served, yet did nothing.
“There is evidence that Mr Cermak either denied that members of Croatian forces had committed crimes, attempted to downplay these crimes or promised that investigations would take place. But such investigations were either not carried out or were not conducted until much later,” said Judge Orie.
He said that judges had also received documentary evidence that suggested Cermak was “one of the key persons” organising the removal of Serbs to Serbia on a convoy of 35 buses on September 16 and 17, 1995.
Judges concluded that the evidence suggested that Cermak, along with Gotovina and Markac, had participated in the joint criminal plan to drive Serbs out of the Krajina.
Judges will now hear the defence cases of all three defendants. Proceedings are scheduled to begin again on May 28.
Less development revenue as diamonds lose their shine.
IRIN
3 April 2009
Diamond-rich Botswana has so far managed to avoid Africa's "resource curse" - a term for conflicts sparked or maintained by commodities - but is unlikely to escape the global recession unscathed.
The country relies heavily on diamonds for its development, but in tough economic times, deriving most of your revenue from a single resource can sour reputations. In March credit agencies downgraded Botswana's rating.
Kristin Lindow, senior vice-president and regional credit officer for Africa at Moody's, a well-known international credit rating agency, said in a statement that Botswana's lower rating was a result of the current economic crisis representing a "serious risk for Botswana's diamond-dependent economy."
A third of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) flows from diamonds, and the gemstones account for 80 percent of all export earnings and about 39 percent of public revenue.
Finance minister Baledzi Gaolathe warned in his 2009 budget speech that there "will be a slowdown in economic growth and decline in government revenues from the end of 2008/09, probably until 2010/11. Government's reserves may not be sufficient to sustain current rates of expenditure."
Diamond revenues have created a heavily subsidized education system from pre-school to university, about 95 percent of the population of 1.8 million reside 15km or less from a clinic providing free health care, and all HIV-positive citizens have access to antiretroviral therapy.
"There can be no doubt that diamonds have played a major part in the transformation of our country's fortunes and the lives of our citizens," Botswana's then president, Festus Mogae, told parliament in 2006.
"For our people, every diamond purchase represents food on the table, better living conditions, better healthcare, potable and safe drinking water, more roads to connect our remote communities, and much more."
From cattle post to shining economy
Botswana, a landlocked and largely arid southern African country, discovered diamonds soon after independence from Britain in 1966, and despite its proximity to regional wars and apartheid South Africa, managed to chart a course of development.
Between 1966 and 1997 Botswana recorded an average annual growth rate of 9.2 percent, the highest in the world, but at the price of being the world's most diamond-dependent economy.
The ripple effects of the global recession have already begun lapping against its economy. Debswana, a joint venture between international diamond company De Beers and the government, has suspended production at two of its three mines and reduced operations at a third.
"These actions are being taken to mitigate the effects of the global downturn by reducing production during 2009 to align with demand, conserving cash ... for an eventual upturn in the market," De Beers said in a statement to IRIN.
"During this shutdown, all Debswana essential services, such as hospitals and schools, will continue normally," De Beers said.
The diamond industry employs about 10,000 people in Botswana, of whom 6,300 work for Debswana.
Oupa Tsheko, an economic lecturer at the University of Botswana in the capital, Gaborone, told IRIN that diamonds funded government expenditure, and declining diamond revenues would have "a huge impact" on development.
He said the government was the country's biggest employer and provider of goods and services, and the private sector was dependent on government spending. "There is a risk of everything stagnating," he commented.
Diamond shocks
The discovery of diamonds in Kimberley, South Africa, in the 1870s irrevocably changed the industry. Previously, the gems were occasionally found in the riverbeds of Brazil and India.
The extraction of diamonds from rock, subsequently known as "kimberlite pipes", saw the then British colony produce more diamonds in 15 years than India had found in 2,000 years.
However, the sudden deluge of diamonds coming onto the market undermined the very value their preciousness was premised on - that of rarity.
To avoid diamonds being relegated to the stature of semi-precious stones, analysts said, South African producers realized it was in their interest to control the quantity of diamonds reaching the market to maintain their "rarity", and so De Beers Consolidated Mines was created.
At its zenith De Beers controlled every aspect of the world's diamond trade, and even though this control has been diluted in recent decades, industry players acknowledge the creation of scarcity is in the best interests of all.
Sentiment and availability are crucial to maintaining the value of diamonds, making the diamond price extremely sensitive to oversupply, or changes in attitude.
Such sensitivities were starkly illustrated in the immediate aftermath of the 1917 Russian revolution. The Bolsheviks threatened to sell the Tsar's diamonds, thereby flooding the market, which sowed panic in the industry.
The situation was calmed by diamond dealer Solly Joel, who purchased the entire collection and promised other dealers he would not release them onto the market.
A few years later the 1929 Wall Street crash brought a steep drop-off in the demand for diamonds, and it took a generation for the stones to regain pre-crash prices.
More recently, "blood diamonds" - a term describing the production of diamonds in conflict zones, which fuelled the war - sent shivers through the diamond market when consumers began to heed a boycott call by NGOs.
The establishment of the Kimberley Process, which weeded conflict diamonds from the market, went a long way to restoring public confidence.
De Beers maintains that diamonds are better positioned to weather the current economic crisis "because even in a recession people continue to get engaged, married, and celebrate special anniversaries, [which] diamonds are inherently linked to."
Edward Jay Epstein, author of The Rise and Fall of Diamonds, takes a more pessimistic view of the effects of the current recession on the industry, which sources 60 percent of the world's diamonds from Africa.
Predicting a drop in the value of rough diamonds by about 80 percent, Epstein wrote in a recent article that the recession could bring into play a "diamond overhang", with devastating consequences for producing countries.
"The real fear of the diamond cartel is not just that retail prices will decline - it has managed that problem before - but that the public will begin to sell its hoard of diamonds, or what is called at De Beers, 'the overhang'."
Epstein's cites NW Ayer, an advertising company contracted by De Beers in 1952 to lift flagging diamond sales. "Diamonds do not wear out and are not consumed. New diamonds add to the existing supply in trade channels and in the possession of the public. In our opinion, old diamonds are in safe hands only when widely dispersed and held by individuals as cherished possessions valued far above their market price," it reported.
"De Beers executives estimate that the public holds more than 500 million carats of gem diamonds, which is more than 50 times the number of gem diamonds produced by the diamond cartel in any given year," Epstein said.
"The moment a significant portion of the public begins selling diamonds from this prodigious inventory, the cartel would be unable to sustain the price of diamonds, or maintain the illusion that they are such a rare stone," he commented.
Such an eventuality would have a catastrophic impact on diamond-producing countries, and even more so on those with a skewed reliance on them.
De Beers dismissed Epstein's scenario. "A simple review of the supply-demand dynamics would starkly illustrate how wrong this theory is," the company said in a statement to IRIN.
"Decades of geological surveying confirms that diamonds are rare and getting rarer. In fact, known worldwide diamond reserves are at an all time low, and with no new major sources of supply on the horizon, some predict that we will run out of diamonds in just over 20 years."
Whichever prediction materializes, Botswana is on borrowed time if it does not wean itself off its diamond dependency.
3 April 2009
Diamond-rich Botswana has so far managed to avoid Africa's "resource curse" - a term for conflicts sparked or maintained by commodities - but is unlikely to escape the global recession unscathed.
The country relies heavily on diamonds for its development, but in tough economic times, deriving most of your revenue from a single resource can sour reputations. In March credit agencies downgraded Botswana's rating.
Kristin Lindow, senior vice-president and regional credit officer for Africa at Moody's, a well-known international credit rating agency, said in a statement that Botswana's lower rating was a result of the current economic crisis representing a "serious risk for Botswana's diamond-dependent economy."
A third of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) flows from diamonds, and the gemstones account for 80 percent of all export earnings and about 39 percent of public revenue.
Finance minister Baledzi Gaolathe warned in his 2009 budget speech that there "will be a slowdown in economic growth and decline in government revenues from the end of 2008/09, probably until 2010/11. Government's reserves may not be sufficient to sustain current rates of expenditure."
Diamond revenues have created a heavily subsidized education system from pre-school to university, about 95 percent of the population of 1.8 million reside 15km or less from a clinic providing free health care, and all HIV-positive citizens have access to antiretroviral therapy.
"There can be no doubt that diamonds have played a major part in the transformation of our country's fortunes and the lives of our citizens," Botswana's then president, Festus Mogae, told parliament in 2006.
"For our people, every diamond purchase represents food on the table, better living conditions, better healthcare, potable and safe drinking water, more roads to connect our remote communities, and much more."
From cattle post to shining economy
Botswana, a landlocked and largely arid southern African country, discovered diamonds soon after independence from Britain in 1966, and despite its proximity to regional wars and apartheid South Africa, managed to chart a course of development.
Between 1966 and 1997 Botswana recorded an average annual growth rate of 9.2 percent, the highest in the world, but at the price of being the world's most diamond-dependent economy.
The ripple effects of the global recession have already begun lapping against its economy. Debswana, a joint venture between international diamond company De Beers and the government, has suspended production at two of its three mines and reduced operations at a third.
"These actions are being taken to mitigate the effects of the global downturn by reducing production during 2009 to align with demand, conserving cash ... for an eventual upturn in the market," De Beers said in a statement to IRIN.
"During this shutdown, all Debswana essential services, such as hospitals and schools, will continue normally," De Beers said.
The diamond industry employs about 10,000 people in Botswana, of whom 6,300 work for Debswana.
Oupa Tsheko, an economic lecturer at the University of Botswana in the capital, Gaborone, told IRIN that diamonds funded government expenditure, and declining diamond revenues would have "a huge impact" on development.
He said the government was the country's biggest employer and provider of goods and services, and the private sector was dependent on government spending. "There is a risk of everything stagnating," he commented.
Diamond shocks
The discovery of diamonds in Kimberley, South Africa, in the 1870s irrevocably changed the industry. Previously, the gems were occasionally found in the riverbeds of Brazil and India.
The extraction of diamonds from rock, subsequently known as "kimberlite pipes", saw the then British colony produce more diamonds in 15 years than India had found in 2,000 years.
However, the sudden deluge of diamonds coming onto the market undermined the very value their preciousness was premised on - that of rarity.
To avoid diamonds being relegated to the stature of semi-precious stones, analysts said, South African producers realized it was in their interest to control the quantity of diamonds reaching the market to maintain their "rarity", and so De Beers Consolidated Mines was created.
At its zenith De Beers controlled every aspect of the world's diamond trade, and even though this control has been diluted in recent decades, industry players acknowledge the creation of scarcity is in the best interests of all.
Sentiment and availability are crucial to maintaining the value of diamonds, making the diamond price extremely sensitive to oversupply, or changes in attitude.
Such sensitivities were starkly illustrated in the immediate aftermath of the 1917 Russian revolution. The Bolsheviks threatened to sell the Tsar's diamonds, thereby flooding the market, which sowed panic in the industry.
The situation was calmed by diamond dealer Solly Joel, who purchased the entire collection and promised other dealers he would not release them onto the market.
A few years later the 1929 Wall Street crash brought a steep drop-off in the demand for diamonds, and it took a generation for the stones to regain pre-crash prices.
More recently, "blood diamonds" - a term describing the production of diamonds in conflict zones, which fuelled the war - sent shivers through the diamond market when consumers began to heed a boycott call by NGOs.
The establishment of the Kimberley Process, which weeded conflict diamonds from the market, went a long way to restoring public confidence.
De Beers maintains that diamonds are better positioned to weather the current economic crisis "because even in a recession people continue to get engaged, married, and celebrate special anniversaries, [which] diamonds are inherently linked to."
Edward Jay Epstein, author of The Rise and Fall of Diamonds, takes a more pessimistic view of the effects of the current recession on the industry, which sources 60 percent of the world's diamonds from Africa.
Predicting a drop in the value of rough diamonds by about 80 percent, Epstein wrote in a recent article that the recession could bring into play a "diamond overhang", with devastating consequences for producing countries.
"The real fear of the diamond cartel is not just that retail prices will decline - it has managed that problem before - but that the public will begin to sell its hoard of diamonds, or what is called at De Beers, 'the overhang'."
Epstein's cites NW Ayer, an advertising company contracted by De Beers in 1952 to lift flagging diamond sales. "Diamonds do not wear out and are not consumed. New diamonds add to the existing supply in trade channels and in the possession of the public. In our opinion, old diamonds are in safe hands only when widely dispersed and held by individuals as cherished possessions valued far above their market price," it reported.
"De Beers executives estimate that the public holds more than 500 million carats of gem diamonds, which is more than 50 times the number of gem diamonds produced by the diamond cartel in any given year," Epstein said.
"The moment a significant portion of the public begins selling diamonds from this prodigious inventory, the cartel would be unable to sustain the price of diamonds, or maintain the illusion that they are such a rare stone," he commented.
Such an eventuality would have a catastrophic impact on diamond-producing countries, and even more so on those with a skewed reliance on them.
De Beers dismissed Epstein's scenario. "A simple review of the supply-demand dynamics would starkly illustrate how wrong this theory is," the company said in a statement to IRIN.
"Decades of geological surveying confirms that diamonds are rare and getting rarer. In fact, known worldwide diamond reserves are at an all time low, and with no new major sources of supply on the horizon, some predict that we will run out of diamonds in just over 20 years."
Whichever prediction materializes, Botswana is on borrowed time if it does not wean itself off its diamond dependency.
03 April, 2009
FIGHTING IN NORTH, HUNDREDS OF NATIVES FLEEING.
MISNA
3 April 2009
At least 600 Emberá natives, for the most part women and children, were forced to abandon their villages in a remote rural area of the north-western department of Chocó, on the border with Panama, due to violent fighting. In reporting the news, the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) did not identify the protagonists of the clashes, defining them “parts in the internal conflict”. The area is presided by the guerrilla, the new extreme-right paramilitary groups known as ‘Los Rastrojos’ and government troops. The Emberá indigenous for days have been fleeing from their communities along the Purricha River and its tributaries in the Bajo Baudó area, seeking refuge in the urban areas of Pizarro and Bocas de Pegadó. “They told us of their anguish in learning that many family members and friends got lost in the forest and are now isolated”, said Silvia Padrón of the local Red Cross. The new displaced add to the 2,000 forced from their homes in mid March. Based on estimates of the National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia, at least 50,000 natives were forcedly displaced from their villages in the past six years, and over 1,200 were killed.
3 April 2009
At least 600 Emberá natives, for the most part women and children, were forced to abandon their villages in a remote rural area of the north-western department of Chocó, on the border with Panama, due to violent fighting. In reporting the news, the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) did not identify the protagonists of the clashes, defining them “parts in the internal conflict”. The area is presided by the guerrilla, the new extreme-right paramilitary groups known as ‘Los Rastrojos’ and government troops. The Emberá indigenous for days have been fleeing from their communities along the Purricha River and its tributaries in the Bajo Baudó area, seeking refuge in the urban areas of Pizarro and Bocas de Pegadó. “They told us of their anguish in learning that many family members and friends got lost in the forest and are now isolated”, said Silvia Padrón of the local Red Cross. The new displaced add to the 2,000 forced from their homes in mid March. Based on estimates of the National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia, at least 50,000 natives were forcedly displaced from their villages in the past six years, and over 1,200 were killed.
US reopens visa section in Libya.
The News
3 April 2009
The United States re-opened a visa office in Libya on Thursday, 29 years after it was closed, in a new step toward cementing diplomatic ties between the two nations.
“I am very pleased to celebrate the opening of US visa services to the Libyan public,” Ambassador Gene Cretz said during a ceremony at the American mission.
“This is a tangible and important symbol of the commitment of the United States to establish a normal relationship with Libya and with its people,” he said.
“With this step, we are sending the message to the Libyan people: our doors are open for business, study and travel.”
He also urged Libya to open a visa section at its Washington embassy.
“I’m confident that the Libyan government will take a similar step so that we also see more American business people, students, academics and tourists here in Libya as well,” he said.
Before the US visa section reopened in Tripoli, Libyan citizens had to travel to neighbouring Tunis to gain access to American consular services.
Cretz was confirmed by the US Senate in November as Washington’s first ambassador to Libya in 36 years, capping the restoration of ties between the two former foes.
After being severed in 1981, US-Libyan relations were restored in early 2004 a few weeks after Libyan leader Moamer Qadhafi announced Tripoli was abandoning efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
3 April 2009
The United States re-opened a visa office in Libya on Thursday, 29 years after it was closed, in a new step toward cementing diplomatic ties between the two nations.
“I am very pleased to celebrate the opening of US visa services to the Libyan public,” Ambassador Gene Cretz said during a ceremony at the American mission.
“This is a tangible and important symbol of the commitment of the United States to establish a normal relationship with Libya and with its people,” he said.
“With this step, we are sending the message to the Libyan people: our doors are open for business, study and travel.”
He also urged Libya to open a visa section at its Washington embassy.
“I’m confident that the Libyan government will take a similar step so that we also see more American business people, students, academics and tourists here in Libya as well,” he said.
Before the US visa section reopened in Tripoli, Libyan citizens had to travel to neighbouring Tunis to gain access to American consular services.
Cretz was confirmed by the US Senate in November as Washington’s first ambassador to Libya in 36 years, capping the restoration of ties between the two former foes.
After being severed in 1981, US-Libyan relations were restored in early 2004 a few weeks after Libyan leader Moamer Qadhafi announced Tripoli was abandoning efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
Leaders' statement from the G20 summit in London.
G20 LONDON SUMMIT 2009
The G20 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, the US and the EU.
1. We, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty, met in London on 2 April 2009.
2. We face the greatest challenge to the world economy in modern times; a crisis which has deepened since we last met, which affects the lives of women, men, and children in every country, and which all countries must join together to resolve. A global crisis requires a global solution.
3. We start from the belief that prosperity is indivisible; that growth, to be sustained, has to be shared; and that our global plan for recovery must have at its heart the needs and jobs of hard-working families, not just in developed countries but in emerging markets and the poorest countries of the world too; and must reflect the interests, not just of today's population, but of future generations too. We believe that the only sure foundation for sustainable globalisation and rising prosperity for all is an open world economy based on market principles, effective regulation, and strong global institutions.
4. We have today therefore pledged to do whatever is necessary to:
· restore confidence, growth, and jobs;
· repair the financial system to restore lending;
· strengthen financial regulation to rebuild trust;
· fund and reform our international financial institutions to overcome this crisis and prevent future ones;
· promote global trade and investment and reject protectionism, to underpin prosperity; and
· build an inclusive, green, and sustainable recovery.
By acting together to fulfil these pledges we will bring the world economy out of recession and prevent a crisis like this from recurring in the future.
5. The agreements we have reached today, to treble resources available to the IMF to $750 billion, to support a new SDR [IMF special drawing rights] allocation of $250 billion, to support at least $100 billion of additional lending by the MDBs [Multilateral Development Banks], to ensure $250 billion of support for trade finance, and to use the additional resources from agreed IMF gold sales for concessional finance for the poorest countries, constitute an additional $1.1 trillion programme of support to restore credit, growth and jobs in the world economy. Together with the measures we have each taken nationally, this constitutes a global plan for recovery on an unprecedented scale.
Restoring growth and jobs
6. We are undertaking an unprecedented and concerted fiscal expansion, which will save or create millions of jobs which would otherwise have been destroyed, and that will, by the end of next year, amount to $5 trillion, raise output by 4 per cent, and accelerate the transition to a green economy. We are committed to deliver the scale of sustained fiscal effort necessary to restore growth.
7. Our central banks have also taken exceptional action. Interest rates have been cut aggressively in most countries, and our central banks have pledged to maintain expansionary policies for as long as needed and to use the full range of monetary policy instruments, including unconventional instruments, consistent with price stability.
8. Our actions to restore growth cannot be effective until we restore domestic lending and international capital flows. We have provided significant and comprehensive support to our banking systems to provide liquidity, recapitalise financial institutions, and address decisively the problem of impaired assets. We are committed to take all necessary actions to restore the normal flow of credit through the financial system and ensure the soundness of systemically important institutions, implementing our policies in line with the agreed G20 framework for restoring lending and repairing the financial sector.
9. Taken together, these actions will constitute the largest fiscal and monetary stimulus and the most comprehensive support programme for the financial sector in modern times. Acting together strengthens the impact and the exceptional policy actions announced so far must be implemented without delay. Today, we have further agreed over $1 trillion of additional resources for the world economy through our international financial institutions and trade finance.
10. Last month the IMF estimated that world growth in real terms would resume and rise to over 2 percent by the end of 2010. We are confident that the actions we have agreed today, and our unshakeable commitment to work together to restore growth and jobs, while preserving long-term fiscal sustainability, will accelerate the return to trend growth. We commit today to taking whatever action is necessary to secure that outcome, and we call on the IMF to assess regularly the actions taken and the global actions required.
11. We are resolved to ensure long-term fiscal sustainability and price stability and will put in place credible exit strategies from the measures that need to be taken now to support the financial sector and restore global demand. We are convinced that by implementing our agreed policies we will limit the longer-term costs to our economies, thereby reducing the scale of the fiscal consolidation necessary over the longer term.
12. We will conduct all our economic policies cooperatively and responsibly with regard to the impact on other countries and will refrain from competitive devaluation of our currencies and promote a stable and well-functioning international monetary system. We will support, now and in the future, to candid, even-handed, and independent IMF surveillance of our economies and financial sectors, of the impact of our policies on others, and of risks facing the global economy.
Strengthening financial supervision and regulation
13. Major failures in the financial sector and in financial regulation and supervision were fundamental causes of the crisis. Confidence will not be restored until we rebuild trust in our financial system. We will take action to build a stronger, more globally consistent, supervisory and regulatory framework for the future financial sector, which will support sustainable global growth and serve the needs of business and citizens.
14. We each agree to ensure our domestic regulatory systems are strong. But we also agree to establish the much greater consistency and systematic cooperation between countries, and the framework of internationally agreed high standards, that a global financial system requires. Strengthened regulation and supervision must promote propriety, integrity and transparency; guard against risk across the financial system; dampen rather than amplify the financial and economic cycle; reduce reliance on inappropriately risky sources of financing; and discourage excessive risk-taking. Regulators and supervisors must protect consumers and investors, support market discipline, avoid adverse impacts on other countries, reduce the scope for regulatory arbitrage, support competition and dynamism, and keep pace with innovation in the marketplace.
15. To this end we are implementing the Action Plan agreed at our last meeting, as set out in the attached progress report. We have today also issued a Declaration, Strengthening the Financial System. In particular we agree:
· to establish a new Financial Stability Board (FSB) with a strengthened mandate, as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), including all G20 countries, FSF members, Spain, and the European Commission;
· that the FSB should collaborate with the IMF to provide early warning of macroeconomic and financial risks and the actions needed to address them;
· to reshape our regulatory systems so that our authorities are able to identify and take account of macro-prudential risks;
· to extend regulation and oversight to all systemically important financial institutions, instruments and markets. This will include, for the first time, systemically important hedge funds;
· to endorse and implement the FSF's tough new principles on pay and compensation and to support sustainable compensation schemes and the corporate social responsibility of all firms;
· to take action, once recovery is assured, to improve the quality, quantity, and international consistency of capital in the banking system. In future, regulation must prevent excessive leverage and require buffers of resources to be built up in good times;
· to take action against non-cooperative jurisdictions, including tax havens. We stand ready to deploy sanctions to protect our public finances and financial systems. The era of banking secrecy is over. We note that the OECD has today published a list of countries assessed by the Global Forum against the international standard for exchange of tax information;
· to call on the accounting standard setters to work urgently with supervisors and regulators to improve standards on valuation and provisioning and achieve a single set of high-quality global accounting standards; and
· to extend regulatory oversight and registration to Credit Rating Agencies to ensure they meet the international code of good practice, particularly to prevent unacceptable conflicts of interest.
16. We instruct our Finance Ministers to complete the implementation of these decisions in line with the timetable set out in the Action Plan. We have asked the FSB and the IMF to monitor progress, working with the Financial Action Taskforce and other relevant bodies, and to provide a report to the next meeting of our Finance Ministers in Scotland in November.
Strengthening our global financial institutions
17. Emerging markets and developing countries, which have been the engine of recent world growth, are also now facing challenges which are adding to the current downturn in the global economy. It is imperative for global confidence and economic recovery that capital continues to flow to them. This will require a substantial strengthening of the international financial institutions, particularly the IMF. We have therefore agreed today to make available an additional $850 billion of resources through the global financial institutions to support growth in emerging market and developing countries by helping to finance counter-cyclical spending, bank recapitalisation, infrastructure, trade finance, balance of payments support, debt rollover, and social support. To this end:
· we have agreed to increase the resources available to the IMF through immediate financing from members of $250 billion, subsequently incorporated into an expanded and more flexible New Arrangements to Borrow, increased by up to $500 billion, and to consider market borrowing if necessary; and
· we support a substantial increase in lending of at least $100 billion by the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), including to low income countries, and ensure that all MDBs, including have the appropriate capital.
18. It is essential that these resources can be used effectively and flexibly to support growth. We welcome in this respect the progress made by the IMF with its new Flexible Credit Line (FCL) and its reformed lending and conditionality framework which will enable the IMF to ensure that its facilities address effectively the underlying causes of countries' balance of payments financing needs, particularly the withdrawal of external capital flows to the banking and corporate sectors. We support Mexico's decision to seek an FCL arrangement.
19. We have agreed to support a general SDR allocation which will inject $250 billion into the world economy and increase global liquidity, and urgent ratification of the Fourth Amendment.
20. In order for our financial institutions to help manage the crisis and prevent future crises we must strengthen their longer term relevance, effectiveness and legitimacy. So alongside the significant increase in resources agreed today we are determined to reform and modernise the international financial institutions to ensure they can assist members and shareholders effectively in the new challenges they face. We will reform their mandates, scope and governance to reflect changes in the world economy and the new challenges of globalisation, and that emerging and developing economies, including the poorest, must have greater voice and representation. This must be accompanied by action to increase the credibility and accountability of the institutions through better strategic oversight and decision making. To this end:
· we commit to implementing the package of IMF quota and voice reforms agreed in April 2008 and call on the IMF to complete the next review of quotas by January 2011;
· we agree that, alongside this, consideration should be given to greater involvement of the Fund's Governors in providing strategic direction to the IMF and increasing its accountability;
· we commit to implementing the World Bank reforms agreed in October 2008. We look forward to further recommendations, at the next meetings, on voice and representation reforms on an accelerated timescale, to be agreed by the 2010 Spring Meetings;
· we agree that the heads and senior leadership of the international financial institutions should be appointed through an open, transparent, and merit-based selection process; and
· building on the current reviews of the IMF and World Bank we asked the Chairman, working with the G20 Finance Ministers, to consult widely in an inclusive process and report back to the next meeting with proposals for further reforms to improve the responsiveness and adaptability of the IFIs.
21. In addition to reforming our international financial institutions for the new challenges of globalisation we agreed on the desirability of a new global consensus on the key values and principles that will promote sustainable economic activity. We support discussion on such a charter for sustainable economic activity with a view to further discussion at our next meeting. We take note of the work started in other fora in this regard and look forward to further discussion of this charter for sustainable economic activity.
Resisting protectionism and promoting global trade and investment
22. World trade growth has underpinned rising prosperity for half a century. But it is now falling for the first time in 25 years. Falling demand is exacerbated by growing protectionist pressures and a withdrawal of trade credit. Reinvigorating world trade and investment is essential for restoring global growth. We will not repeat the historic mistakes of protectionism of previous eras. To this end:
· we reaffirm the commitment made in Washington: to refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services, imposing new export restrictions, or implementing World Trade Organisation (WTO) inconsistent measures to stimulate exports. In addition we will rectify promptly any such measures. We extend this pledge to the end of 2010;
· we will minimise any negative impact on trade and investment of our domestic policy actions including fiscal policy and action in support of the financial sector. We will not retreat into financial protectionism, particularly measures that constrain worldwide capital flows, especially to developing countries;
· we will notify promptly the WTO of any such measures and we call on the WTO, together with other international bodies, within their respective mandates, to monitor and report publicly on our adherence to these undertakings on a quarterly basis;
· we will take, at the same time, whatever steps we can to promote and facilitate trade and investment; and
· we will ensure availability of at least $250 billion over the next two years to support trade finance through our export credit and investment agencies and through the MDBs. We also ask our regulators to make use of available flexibility in capital requirements for trade finance.
23. We remain committed to reaching an ambitious and balanced conclusion to the Doha Development Round, which is urgently needed. This could boost the global economy by at least $150 billion per annum. To achieve this we are committed to building on the progress already made, including with regard to modalities.
24. We will give renewed focus and political attention to this critical issue in the coming period and will use our continuing work and all international meetings that are relevant to drive progress.
Ensuring a fair and sustainable recovery for all
25. We are determined not only to restore growth but to lay the foundation for a fair and sustainable world economy. We recognise that the current crisis has a disproportionate impact on the vulnerable in the poorest countries and recognise our collective responsibility to mitigate the social impact of the crisis to minimise long-lasting damage to global potential. To this end:
· we reaffirm our historic commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goals and to achieving our respective ODA [Overseas Development Agencies] pledges, including commitments on Aid for Trade, debt relief, and the Gleneagles commitments, especially to sub-Saharan Africa;
· the actions and decisions we have taken today will provide $50 billion to support social protection, boost trade and safeguard development in low income countries, as part of the significant increase in crisis support for these and other developing countries and emerging markets;
· we are making available resources for social protection for the poorest countries, including through investing in long-term food security and through voluntary bilateral contributions to the World Bank's Vulnerability Framework, including the Infrastructure Crisis Facility, and the Rapid Social Response Fund;
· we have committed, consistent with the new income model, that additional resources from agreed sales of IMF gold will be used, together with surplus income, to provide $6 billion additional concessional and flexible finance for the poorest countries over the next 2 to 3 years. We call on the IMF to come forward with concrete proposals at the Spring Meetings;
· we have agreed to review the flexibility of the Debt Sustainability Framework and call on the IMF and World Bank to report to the IMFC [International Monetary and Financial Committee] and Development Committee at the Annual Meetings; and
· we call on the UN, working with other global institutions, to establish an effective mechanism to monitor the impact of the crisis on the poorest and most vulnerable.
26. We recognise the human dimension to the crisis. We commit to support those affected by the crisis by creating employment opportunities and through income support measures. We will build a fair and family-friendly labour market for both women and men. We therefore welcome the reports of the London Jobs Conference and the Rome Social Summit and the key principles they proposed. We will support employment by stimulating growth, investing in education and training, and through active labour market policies, focusing on the most vulnerable. We call upon the ILO, working with other relevant organisations, to assess the actions taken and those required for the future.
27. We agreed to make the best possible use of investment funded by fiscal stimulus programmes towards the goal of building a resilient, sustainable, and green recovery. We will make the transition towards clean, innovative, resource efficient, low carbon technologies and infrastructure. We encourage the MDBs to contribute fully to the achievement of this objective. We will identify and work together on further measures to build sustainable economies.
28. We reaffirm our commitment to address the threat of irreversible climate change, based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and to reach agreement at the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.
Delivering our commitments
29. We have committed ourselves to work together with urgency and determination to translate these words into action. We agreed to meet again before the end of this year to review progress on our commitments.
The G20 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, the US and the EU.
1. We, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty, met in London on 2 April 2009.
2. We face the greatest challenge to the world economy in modern times; a crisis which has deepened since we last met, which affects the lives of women, men, and children in every country, and which all countries must join together to resolve. A global crisis requires a global solution.
3. We start from the belief that prosperity is indivisible; that growth, to be sustained, has to be shared; and that our global plan for recovery must have at its heart the needs and jobs of hard-working families, not just in developed countries but in emerging markets and the poorest countries of the world too; and must reflect the interests, not just of today's population, but of future generations too. We believe that the only sure foundation for sustainable globalisation and rising prosperity for all is an open world economy based on market principles, effective regulation, and strong global institutions.
4. We have today therefore pledged to do whatever is necessary to:
· restore confidence, growth, and jobs;
· repair the financial system to restore lending;
· strengthen financial regulation to rebuild trust;
· fund and reform our international financial institutions to overcome this crisis and prevent future ones;
· promote global trade and investment and reject protectionism, to underpin prosperity; and
· build an inclusive, green, and sustainable recovery.
By acting together to fulfil these pledges we will bring the world economy out of recession and prevent a crisis like this from recurring in the future.
5. The agreements we have reached today, to treble resources available to the IMF to $750 billion, to support a new SDR [IMF special drawing rights] allocation of $250 billion, to support at least $100 billion of additional lending by the MDBs [Multilateral Development Banks], to ensure $250 billion of support for trade finance, and to use the additional resources from agreed IMF gold sales for concessional finance for the poorest countries, constitute an additional $1.1 trillion programme of support to restore credit, growth and jobs in the world economy. Together with the measures we have each taken nationally, this constitutes a global plan for recovery on an unprecedented scale.
Restoring growth and jobs
6. We are undertaking an unprecedented and concerted fiscal expansion, which will save or create millions of jobs which would otherwise have been destroyed, and that will, by the end of next year, amount to $5 trillion, raise output by 4 per cent, and accelerate the transition to a green economy. We are committed to deliver the scale of sustained fiscal effort necessary to restore growth.
7. Our central banks have also taken exceptional action. Interest rates have been cut aggressively in most countries, and our central banks have pledged to maintain expansionary policies for as long as needed and to use the full range of monetary policy instruments, including unconventional instruments, consistent with price stability.
8. Our actions to restore growth cannot be effective until we restore domestic lending and international capital flows. We have provided significant and comprehensive support to our banking systems to provide liquidity, recapitalise financial institutions, and address decisively the problem of impaired assets. We are committed to take all necessary actions to restore the normal flow of credit through the financial system and ensure the soundness of systemically important institutions, implementing our policies in line with the agreed G20 framework for restoring lending and repairing the financial sector.
9. Taken together, these actions will constitute the largest fiscal and monetary stimulus and the most comprehensive support programme for the financial sector in modern times. Acting together strengthens the impact and the exceptional policy actions announced so far must be implemented without delay. Today, we have further agreed over $1 trillion of additional resources for the world economy through our international financial institutions and trade finance.
10. Last month the IMF estimated that world growth in real terms would resume and rise to over 2 percent by the end of 2010. We are confident that the actions we have agreed today, and our unshakeable commitment to work together to restore growth and jobs, while preserving long-term fiscal sustainability, will accelerate the return to trend growth. We commit today to taking whatever action is necessary to secure that outcome, and we call on the IMF to assess regularly the actions taken and the global actions required.
11. We are resolved to ensure long-term fiscal sustainability and price stability and will put in place credible exit strategies from the measures that need to be taken now to support the financial sector and restore global demand. We are convinced that by implementing our agreed policies we will limit the longer-term costs to our economies, thereby reducing the scale of the fiscal consolidation necessary over the longer term.
12. We will conduct all our economic policies cooperatively and responsibly with regard to the impact on other countries and will refrain from competitive devaluation of our currencies and promote a stable and well-functioning international monetary system. We will support, now and in the future, to candid, even-handed, and independent IMF surveillance of our economies and financial sectors, of the impact of our policies on others, and of risks facing the global economy.
Strengthening financial supervision and regulation
13. Major failures in the financial sector and in financial regulation and supervision were fundamental causes of the crisis. Confidence will not be restored until we rebuild trust in our financial system. We will take action to build a stronger, more globally consistent, supervisory and regulatory framework for the future financial sector, which will support sustainable global growth and serve the needs of business and citizens.
14. We each agree to ensure our domestic regulatory systems are strong. But we also agree to establish the much greater consistency and systematic cooperation between countries, and the framework of internationally agreed high standards, that a global financial system requires. Strengthened regulation and supervision must promote propriety, integrity and transparency; guard against risk across the financial system; dampen rather than amplify the financial and economic cycle; reduce reliance on inappropriately risky sources of financing; and discourage excessive risk-taking. Regulators and supervisors must protect consumers and investors, support market discipline, avoid adverse impacts on other countries, reduce the scope for regulatory arbitrage, support competition and dynamism, and keep pace with innovation in the marketplace.
15. To this end we are implementing the Action Plan agreed at our last meeting, as set out in the attached progress report. We have today also issued a Declaration, Strengthening the Financial System. In particular we agree:
· to establish a new Financial Stability Board (FSB) with a strengthened mandate, as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), including all G20 countries, FSF members, Spain, and the European Commission;
· that the FSB should collaborate with the IMF to provide early warning of macroeconomic and financial risks and the actions needed to address them;
· to reshape our regulatory systems so that our authorities are able to identify and take account of macro-prudential risks;
· to extend regulation and oversight to all systemically important financial institutions, instruments and markets. This will include, for the first time, systemically important hedge funds;
· to endorse and implement the FSF's tough new principles on pay and compensation and to support sustainable compensation schemes and the corporate social responsibility of all firms;
· to take action, once recovery is assured, to improve the quality, quantity, and international consistency of capital in the banking system. In future, regulation must prevent excessive leverage and require buffers of resources to be built up in good times;
· to take action against non-cooperative jurisdictions, including tax havens. We stand ready to deploy sanctions to protect our public finances and financial systems. The era of banking secrecy is over. We note that the OECD has today published a list of countries assessed by the Global Forum against the international standard for exchange of tax information;
· to call on the accounting standard setters to work urgently with supervisors and regulators to improve standards on valuation and provisioning and achieve a single set of high-quality global accounting standards; and
· to extend regulatory oversight and registration to Credit Rating Agencies to ensure they meet the international code of good practice, particularly to prevent unacceptable conflicts of interest.
16. We instruct our Finance Ministers to complete the implementation of these decisions in line with the timetable set out in the Action Plan. We have asked the FSB and the IMF to monitor progress, working with the Financial Action Taskforce and other relevant bodies, and to provide a report to the next meeting of our Finance Ministers in Scotland in November.
Strengthening our global financial institutions
17. Emerging markets and developing countries, which have been the engine of recent world growth, are also now facing challenges which are adding to the current downturn in the global economy. It is imperative for global confidence and economic recovery that capital continues to flow to them. This will require a substantial strengthening of the international financial institutions, particularly the IMF. We have therefore agreed today to make available an additional $850 billion of resources through the global financial institutions to support growth in emerging market and developing countries by helping to finance counter-cyclical spending, bank recapitalisation, infrastructure, trade finance, balance of payments support, debt rollover, and social support. To this end:
· we have agreed to increase the resources available to the IMF through immediate financing from members of $250 billion, subsequently incorporated into an expanded and more flexible New Arrangements to Borrow, increased by up to $500 billion, and to consider market borrowing if necessary; and
· we support a substantial increase in lending of at least $100 billion by the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), including to low income countries, and ensure that all MDBs, including have the appropriate capital.
18. It is essential that these resources can be used effectively and flexibly to support growth. We welcome in this respect the progress made by the IMF with its new Flexible Credit Line (FCL) and its reformed lending and conditionality framework which will enable the IMF to ensure that its facilities address effectively the underlying causes of countries' balance of payments financing needs, particularly the withdrawal of external capital flows to the banking and corporate sectors. We support Mexico's decision to seek an FCL arrangement.
19. We have agreed to support a general SDR allocation which will inject $250 billion into the world economy and increase global liquidity, and urgent ratification of the Fourth Amendment.
20. In order for our financial institutions to help manage the crisis and prevent future crises we must strengthen their longer term relevance, effectiveness and legitimacy. So alongside the significant increase in resources agreed today we are determined to reform and modernise the international financial institutions to ensure they can assist members and shareholders effectively in the new challenges they face. We will reform their mandates, scope and governance to reflect changes in the world economy and the new challenges of globalisation, and that emerging and developing economies, including the poorest, must have greater voice and representation. This must be accompanied by action to increase the credibility and accountability of the institutions through better strategic oversight and decision making. To this end:
· we commit to implementing the package of IMF quota and voice reforms agreed in April 2008 and call on the IMF to complete the next review of quotas by January 2011;
· we agree that, alongside this, consideration should be given to greater involvement of the Fund's Governors in providing strategic direction to the IMF and increasing its accountability;
· we commit to implementing the World Bank reforms agreed in October 2008. We look forward to further recommendations, at the next meetings, on voice and representation reforms on an accelerated timescale, to be agreed by the 2010 Spring Meetings;
· we agree that the heads and senior leadership of the international financial institutions should be appointed through an open, transparent, and merit-based selection process; and
· building on the current reviews of the IMF and World Bank we asked the Chairman, working with the G20 Finance Ministers, to consult widely in an inclusive process and report back to the next meeting with proposals for further reforms to improve the responsiveness and adaptability of the IFIs.
21. In addition to reforming our international financial institutions for the new challenges of globalisation we agreed on the desirability of a new global consensus on the key values and principles that will promote sustainable economic activity. We support discussion on such a charter for sustainable economic activity with a view to further discussion at our next meeting. We take note of the work started in other fora in this regard and look forward to further discussion of this charter for sustainable economic activity.
Resisting protectionism and promoting global trade and investment
22. World trade growth has underpinned rising prosperity for half a century. But it is now falling for the first time in 25 years. Falling demand is exacerbated by growing protectionist pressures and a withdrawal of trade credit. Reinvigorating world trade and investment is essential for restoring global growth. We will not repeat the historic mistakes of protectionism of previous eras. To this end:
· we reaffirm the commitment made in Washington: to refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services, imposing new export restrictions, or implementing World Trade Organisation (WTO) inconsistent measures to stimulate exports. In addition we will rectify promptly any such measures. We extend this pledge to the end of 2010;
· we will minimise any negative impact on trade and investment of our domestic policy actions including fiscal policy and action in support of the financial sector. We will not retreat into financial protectionism, particularly measures that constrain worldwide capital flows, especially to developing countries;
· we will notify promptly the WTO of any such measures and we call on the WTO, together with other international bodies, within their respective mandates, to monitor and report publicly on our adherence to these undertakings on a quarterly basis;
· we will take, at the same time, whatever steps we can to promote and facilitate trade and investment; and
· we will ensure availability of at least $250 billion over the next two years to support trade finance through our export credit and investment agencies and through the MDBs. We also ask our regulators to make use of available flexibility in capital requirements for trade finance.
23. We remain committed to reaching an ambitious and balanced conclusion to the Doha Development Round, which is urgently needed. This could boost the global economy by at least $150 billion per annum. To achieve this we are committed to building on the progress already made, including with regard to modalities.
24. We will give renewed focus and political attention to this critical issue in the coming period and will use our continuing work and all international meetings that are relevant to drive progress.
Ensuring a fair and sustainable recovery for all
25. We are determined not only to restore growth but to lay the foundation for a fair and sustainable world economy. We recognise that the current crisis has a disproportionate impact on the vulnerable in the poorest countries and recognise our collective responsibility to mitigate the social impact of the crisis to minimise long-lasting damage to global potential. To this end:
· we reaffirm our historic commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goals and to achieving our respective ODA [Overseas Development Agencies] pledges, including commitments on Aid for Trade, debt relief, and the Gleneagles commitments, especially to sub-Saharan Africa;
· the actions and decisions we have taken today will provide $50 billion to support social protection, boost trade and safeguard development in low income countries, as part of the significant increase in crisis support for these and other developing countries and emerging markets;
· we are making available resources for social protection for the poorest countries, including through investing in long-term food security and through voluntary bilateral contributions to the World Bank's Vulnerability Framework, including the Infrastructure Crisis Facility, and the Rapid Social Response Fund;
· we have committed, consistent with the new income model, that additional resources from agreed sales of IMF gold will be used, together with surplus income, to provide $6 billion additional concessional and flexible finance for the poorest countries over the next 2 to 3 years. We call on the IMF to come forward with concrete proposals at the Spring Meetings;
· we have agreed to review the flexibility of the Debt Sustainability Framework and call on the IMF and World Bank to report to the IMFC [International Monetary and Financial Committee] and Development Committee at the Annual Meetings; and
· we call on the UN, working with other global institutions, to establish an effective mechanism to monitor the impact of the crisis on the poorest and most vulnerable.
26. We recognise the human dimension to the crisis. We commit to support those affected by the crisis by creating employment opportunities and through income support measures. We will build a fair and family-friendly labour market for both women and men. We therefore welcome the reports of the London Jobs Conference and the Rome Social Summit and the key principles they proposed. We will support employment by stimulating growth, investing in education and training, and through active labour market policies, focusing on the most vulnerable. We call upon the ILO, working with other relevant organisations, to assess the actions taken and those required for the future.
27. We agreed to make the best possible use of investment funded by fiscal stimulus programmes towards the goal of building a resilient, sustainable, and green recovery. We will make the transition towards clean, innovative, resource efficient, low carbon technologies and infrastructure. We encourage the MDBs to contribute fully to the achievement of this objective. We will identify and work together on further measures to build sustainable economies.
28. We reaffirm our commitment to address the threat of irreversible climate change, based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and to reach agreement at the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.
Delivering our commitments
29. We have committed ourselves to work together with urgency and determination to translate these words into action. We agreed to meet again before the end of this year to review progress on our commitments.
02 April, 2009
Halliburton - EFCC Quizzes More Suspects.
This Day
By Chika Amanze-Nwachuku and Ali M Ali
2 April 2009
Top government officials and others alleged to have collected bribes from Halliburton Group to secure Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts in the country may soon have their day in court.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has interrogated some of the alleged bribe takers and may soon commence legal action against them.
Besides, the anti-graft body is said to have written the Attorney-General of the Federation to formally apply to the United States Justice Department to avail it (EFCC) of the details of the judgment delivered in the matter, including the evidence tendered during the trial of the foreigners implicated in the bribery case.
EFCC Chairman Farida Waziri, who confirmed the development yesterday in Abuja during a chat with newsmen at the opening of the Third Anti-Money Laundering/ Counter Financing of Terrorism Stakeholders' Summit, said the Nigerian officials fingered in the $180 million contract scam had made written statements to the commission.
The top government officials and other prominent Nigerians were alleged to have accepted at least N27 billion in bribes from the oil services companies to facilitate the contracts for the building of the country's liquefied natural gas plant put at $6 billion.
Former Energy Minister, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, and former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Funsho Kupolokun, were among scores of persons quizzed last year in the wake of the bribery scandal.
But THISDAY learnt that more Nigerian officials have also been quizzed over the matter.
The EFCC Chairman who declined to name the interrogated officials said the commission would intensify efforts to stop foreign nationals from using undue advantage to perpetrate corruption in Nigeria.
Waziri, however, said the commission was requesting the Attorney-General and Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa to write to the US Department of Justice for details of the court judgment which indicted some Nigerian public officers and officials of the Halliburton Group.
The charge recently brought against two citizens of the United Kingdom, Jeffrey Tesler, 60, of London, England, and Wojciech Chodan, 71, of Maidenhead, England by the US Justice Department, revealed that some high level Nigerian government officials, including top level executive branch officials, including employees of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) were alleged to have obtained billions of dollar bribe from Halliburton to secure the juicy EPC contracts.
The EFCC boss said: "We are working on that case. We have written to the Attorney-General of the Federation on the need to have a copy of the court judgment so that we can see the roles and the names of all actors and what each person did. We have since invited some people that were mentioned and we recorded their statements. We are working on it. Nobody is above the laws of the land, the law is no respecter of persons, and everybody is equal before the laws of the land. So whether they are prominent or obscure if you are indicted and our investigation proved that you breached the law, of course, you are liable."
She pointed out that the commission was on top of developments on the matter and would follow the issue closely as soon as the Attorney-General furnished it with details of the judgment.
Commenting on EFCC's running battle with the Vaswani Brothers, Waziri warned that henceforth foreigners doing business in the country would not be allowed to defile the laws of the land.
"We can not allow foreigners to come in here and take advantage of us and do what they like because I know that we can't go out there and do one quarter of what they are doing in this country, we will not allow that," she said
The Attorney-General of the Federation recently wrote to his US counterpart requesting names and details of the bribe takers in respect of the Halliburton scandal.
THISDAY, however, learnt that the information being sought will assist the commission in its investigation, as the investigating officers will have to study the statements made by the foreign collaborators to ascertain the level of involvement of their Nigerian counterparts.
A source said as soon as the legal information is obtained, the commission would commence legal proceedings against those found culpable.
The bribe was in connection with four contracts for engineering, procurement and construction of Bonny Island Liquefied Natural Gas terminal worth more than $6 billion.
Investigation into the scandal which broke out in 2003 suffered a setback due to the failure by the alleged foreign collaborators to provide useful information to the Nigerian investigators.
But the Federal Government has written to the US government, demanding that individuals involved in the Halliburton bribery scandal be named.
In a letter signed by Aondoakaa and addressed to the US Attorney-General, Mr. Eric Holder, the Justice Minister asked his US counterpart to avail the Nigerian government of all the evidence in his possession on the scandal.
The letter, dated February 17, 2009, said it was obvious from the allocution and indictment of Mr. Albert Stanley Jackson that the US was aware of the identities of the persons who assisted Jackson in committing the crimes.
He demanded that all information and names of the individuals involved in the scandal be named.
Aondoakaa also introduced Messrs Kayode Oladele and Jack Blum as attorneys appointed by the Nigerian government to liaise with the US government's relevant authorities to release all the information and documents in their possession on the investigation of Jackson relating to the evidence gathered and presented to the grand jury during the trial.
Meanwhile, Aondoakaa has called for concerted efforts in the fight against money laundering.
Speaking at the stakeholders' summit in Abuja, the Justice Minister also called for joint efforts in the fight against the financing of terrorism and other forms of corruption.
Represented by Mr. Salihu Aliu, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the minister assured anti-corruption bodies of the political support in the execution of their statutory mandates.
"This has become imperative given the current global financial crisis, as the revenue available to government and institutions faces increasing depletion.
"There is also the need for us all to ensure that the available resources are utilised in a more transparent, prudent and accountable manner," Aondoakaa said.
The attorney general of the federation said the effect of corruption on national growth and development was enormous.
"The challenge that now confronts us as stakeholders is to ensure that we develop the appropriate legal and institutional mechanisms to counter corruption wherever it may manifest," he added.
By Chika Amanze-Nwachuku and Ali M Ali
2 April 2009
Top government officials and others alleged to have collected bribes from Halliburton Group to secure Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts in the country may soon have their day in court.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has interrogated some of the alleged bribe takers and may soon commence legal action against them.
Besides, the anti-graft body is said to have written the Attorney-General of the Federation to formally apply to the United States Justice Department to avail it (EFCC) of the details of the judgment delivered in the matter, including the evidence tendered during the trial of the foreigners implicated in the bribery case.
EFCC Chairman Farida Waziri, who confirmed the development yesterday in Abuja during a chat with newsmen at the opening of the Third Anti-Money Laundering/ Counter Financing of Terrorism Stakeholders' Summit, said the Nigerian officials fingered in the $180 million contract scam had made written statements to the commission.
The top government officials and other prominent Nigerians were alleged to have accepted at least N27 billion in bribes from the oil services companies to facilitate the contracts for the building of the country's liquefied natural gas plant put at $6 billion.
Former Energy Minister, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, and former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Funsho Kupolokun, were among scores of persons quizzed last year in the wake of the bribery scandal.
But THISDAY learnt that more Nigerian officials have also been quizzed over the matter.
The EFCC Chairman who declined to name the interrogated officials said the commission would intensify efforts to stop foreign nationals from using undue advantage to perpetrate corruption in Nigeria.
Waziri, however, said the commission was requesting the Attorney-General and Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa to write to the US Department of Justice for details of the court judgment which indicted some Nigerian public officers and officials of the Halliburton Group.
The charge recently brought against two citizens of the United Kingdom, Jeffrey Tesler, 60, of London, England, and Wojciech Chodan, 71, of Maidenhead, England by the US Justice Department, revealed that some high level Nigerian government officials, including top level executive branch officials, including employees of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) were alleged to have obtained billions of dollar bribe from Halliburton to secure the juicy EPC contracts.
The EFCC boss said: "We are working on that case. We have written to the Attorney-General of the Federation on the need to have a copy of the court judgment so that we can see the roles and the names of all actors and what each person did. We have since invited some people that were mentioned and we recorded their statements. We are working on it. Nobody is above the laws of the land, the law is no respecter of persons, and everybody is equal before the laws of the land. So whether they are prominent or obscure if you are indicted and our investigation proved that you breached the law, of course, you are liable."
She pointed out that the commission was on top of developments on the matter and would follow the issue closely as soon as the Attorney-General furnished it with details of the judgment.
Commenting on EFCC's running battle with the Vaswani Brothers, Waziri warned that henceforth foreigners doing business in the country would not be allowed to defile the laws of the land.
"We can not allow foreigners to come in here and take advantage of us and do what they like because I know that we can't go out there and do one quarter of what they are doing in this country, we will not allow that," she said
The Attorney-General of the Federation recently wrote to his US counterpart requesting names and details of the bribe takers in respect of the Halliburton scandal.
THISDAY, however, learnt that the information being sought will assist the commission in its investigation, as the investigating officers will have to study the statements made by the foreign collaborators to ascertain the level of involvement of their Nigerian counterparts.
A source said as soon as the legal information is obtained, the commission would commence legal proceedings against those found culpable.
The bribe was in connection with four contracts for engineering, procurement and construction of Bonny Island Liquefied Natural Gas terminal worth more than $6 billion.
Investigation into the scandal which broke out in 2003 suffered a setback due to the failure by the alleged foreign collaborators to provide useful information to the Nigerian investigators.
But the Federal Government has written to the US government, demanding that individuals involved in the Halliburton bribery scandal be named.
In a letter signed by Aondoakaa and addressed to the US Attorney-General, Mr. Eric Holder, the Justice Minister asked his US counterpart to avail the Nigerian government of all the evidence in his possession on the scandal.
The letter, dated February 17, 2009, said it was obvious from the allocution and indictment of Mr. Albert Stanley Jackson that the US was aware of the identities of the persons who assisted Jackson in committing the crimes.
He demanded that all information and names of the individuals involved in the scandal be named.
Aondoakaa also introduced Messrs Kayode Oladele and Jack Blum as attorneys appointed by the Nigerian government to liaise with the US government's relevant authorities to release all the information and documents in their possession on the investigation of Jackson relating to the evidence gathered and presented to the grand jury during the trial.
Meanwhile, Aondoakaa has called for concerted efforts in the fight against money laundering.
Speaking at the stakeholders' summit in Abuja, the Justice Minister also called for joint efforts in the fight against the financing of terrorism and other forms of corruption.
Represented by Mr. Salihu Aliu, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the minister assured anti-corruption bodies of the political support in the execution of their statutory mandates.
"This has become imperative given the current global financial crisis, as the revenue available to government and institutions faces increasing depletion.
"There is also the need for us all to ensure that the available resources are utilised in a more transparent, prudent and accountable manner," Aondoakaa said.
The attorney general of the federation said the effect of corruption on national growth and development was enormous.
"The challenge that now confronts us as stakeholders is to ensure that we develop the appropriate legal and institutional mechanisms to counter corruption wherever it may manifest," he added.
EFCC to Probe Halliburton Bribery Scandal.
Vanguard
By Ise-Oluwa Ige & Bukola Ojeme
2 April 2009
Abuja — THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday said it is set to launch investigations into the alleged involvement of some Nigerian officials over the Halliburton bribe scandal.
About $180 million was paid out as bribe through a subsidiary of Halliburton, Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), to facilitate the award of $6 billion LNG contracts.
Meanwhile, April 14 has been set for hearing after a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja gave the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) the green light to prosecute a lawsuit seeking an order compelling the EFCC to probe and prosecute former President Olusegun Obasanjo over alleged corruption.
EFCC chairman, Mrs Farida Waziri, said the Commission has requested the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to furnish it with details of Nigerian officials indicted in the Halliburton bribe scam as well as the actual judgment against them.
She made this known in Abuja during the opening of the 3rd Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Compliance Stakeholders summit expected to end today in Abuja.
The EFCC boss also affirmed that investigations into the matter would be professionally executed, without prejudice to the calibre of those involved.
Her words: "Yes, we are working on that case. We have written to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) on the need to have the actual court judgment so that we can see the actual names; what each person did. We even invited some people that were mentioned specifically, we recorded their statements and we are working on it.
"You know, nobody is above the laws of the land, the law is no respecter of persons, and everybody is equal before the law. So, I don't know whether prominent or whatever; if you are indicted, if our investigations prove that you have breached the law, of course you are liable," Waziri added.
The EFCC boss further reiterated the need for AML/CFT compliance to economic growth, insisting that "the current economic crisis calls for concerted effort on the part of every country to comply with and ensure effective implementation of anti-money laundering programmes."
"Nigeria must stand tall in this endeavour among the comity of nations. We must stand to be counted as a nation. It is important to mention that there is a nexus between AML/CFT and the achievement of the Federal Government's 7-Point Agenda; attainment of Vision 2020 and ultimately, a sustainable economic growth", she said.
Waziri warned that, the EFCC will not stay on the sidelines "while the economic stability of the country is sacrificed on the altar of unethical business practices. We will strictly enforce the Money Laundering compliance requirements of the law.
"Where market operators and reporting entities are found wanting, the commission will firmly and decisively deal with defaulters. In this context, it may interest the audience and market operators to know that the Commission intends to develop and apply administrative sanctions against entities that fail to adhere with the money laundering compliance requirements of the law" she added.
Also speaking at the event, the House Committee Chairman on Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Nasir Rabe said that the EFCC has all the tools and enabling laws to fight corruption to a standstill as well as curb it.
CNPP's move to compel Obasanjo's probe get green light
Meanwhile, a Federal high court sitting in Abuja has given the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) the green light to prosecute a lawsuit seeking an order compelling the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe and prosecute former President Olusegun Obasanjo over alleged corruption.
Obasanjo was accused by CNPP of diversion of public funds and illegal enrichment.
Similarly, the trial high court judge, Justice Adamu Bello who granted the association permission to sue EFCC has also granted leave to the umbrella organisation of the political parties in the country to pursue an order of mandamus compelling EFCC to probe and prosecute former Executive Secretary of PTDF, Alhaji Adamu Waziri over corruption and diversion of public funds.
The judge had directed the CNPP to serve the court order on the anti-graft agency to enable it defend the suit. The CNPP had written two separate petitions to EFCC under the leadership of Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu alleging corruption against the two top public officials. But the petition did not give specific details of how the corruption was perpetrated.
The EFCC had consequently written back to the CNPP to assist it in beefing up the petition by giving specific details. Ever since, nothing was done on the petitions.
Aggrieved by the position of EFCC, CNPP filed a suit before the Federal high court seeking an order of mandamus compelling EFCC to perform its statutory function of probing the allegations made against the two top public officials.
It was the contention of the CNPP that its own was to alert while EFCC's responsibility was to follow up, probe and prosecute where there is prima facie evidence against them.
By procedure, the CNPP first sought for the leave of the court to commence the legal action against the anti-graft agency
The court has not only granted it but also fixed April 14 for commencement of hearing in the case. The EFCC is expected to come up with its defence or and preliminary objection on the adjourned date.
It is likely too that both ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and Adamu Waziri may file an application for joinder as necessary parties in the case.
By Ise-Oluwa Ige & Bukola Ojeme
2 April 2009
Abuja — THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday said it is set to launch investigations into the alleged involvement of some Nigerian officials over the Halliburton bribe scandal.
About $180 million was paid out as bribe through a subsidiary of Halliburton, Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), to facilitate the award of $6 billion LNG contracts.
Meanwhile, April 14 has been set for hearing after a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja gave the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) the green light to prosecute a lawsuit seeking an order compelling the EFCC to probe and prosecute former President Olusegun Obasanjo over alleged corruption.
EFCC chairman, Mrs Farida Waziri, said the Commission has requested the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to furnish it with details of Nigerian officials indicted in the Halliburton bribe scam as well as the actual judgment against them.
She made this known in Abuja during the opening of the 3rd Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Compliance Stakeholders summit expected to end today in Abuja.
The EFCC boss also affirmed that investigations into the matter would be professionally executed, without prejudice to the calibre of those involved.
Her words: "Yes, we are working on that case. We have written to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) on the need to have the actual court judgment so that we can see the actual names; what each person did. We even invited some people that were mentioned specifically, we recorded their statements and we are working on it.
"You know, nobody is above the laws of the land, the law is no respecter of persons, and everybody is equal before the law. So, I don't know whether prominent or whatever; if you are indicted, if our investigations prove that you have breached the law, of course you are liable," Waziri added.
The EFCC boss further reiterated the need for AML/CFT compliance to economic growth, insisting that "the current economic crisis calls for concerted effort on the part of every country to comply with and ensure effective implementation of anti-money laundering programmes."
"Nigeria must stand tall in this endeavour among the comity of nations. We must stand to be counted as a nation. It is important to mention that there is a nexus between AML/CFT and the achievement of the Federal Government's 7-Point Agenda; attainment of Vision 2020 and ultimately, a sustainable economic growth", she said.
Waziri warned that, the EFCC will not stay on the sidelines "while the economic stability of the country is sacrificed on the altar of unethical business practices. We will strictly enforce the Money Laundering compliance requirements of the law.
"Where market operators and reporting entities are found wanting, the commission will firmly and decisively deal with defaulters. In this context, it may interest the audience and market operators to know that the Commission intends to develop and apply administrative sanctions against entities that fail to adhere with the money laundering compliance requirements of the law" she added.
Also speaking at the event, the House Committee Chairman on Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Nasir Rabe said that the EFCC has all the tools and enabling laws to fight corruption to a standstill as well as curb it.
CNPP's move to compel Obasanjo's probe get green light
Meanwhile, a Federal high court sitting in Abuja has given the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) the green light to prosecute a lawsuit seeking an order compelling the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe and prosecute former President Olusegun Obasanjo over alleged corruption.
Obasanjo was accused by CNPP of diversion of public funds and illegal enrichment.
Similarly, the trial high court judge, Justice Adamu Bello who granted the association permission to sue EFCC has also granted leave to the umbrella organisation of the political parties in the country to pursue an order of mandamus compelling EFCC to probe and prosecute former Executive Secretary of PTDF, Alhaji Adamu Waziri over corruption and diversion of public funds.
The judge had directed the CNPP to serve the court order on the anti-graft agency to enable it defend the suit. The CNPP had written two separate petitions to EFCC under the leadership of Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu alleging corruption against the two top public officials. But the petition did not give specific details of how the corruption was perpetrated.
The EFCC had consequently written back to the CNPP to assist it in beefing up the petition by giving specific details. Ever since, nothing was done on the petitions.
Aggrieved by the position of EFCC, CNPP filed a suit before the Federal high court seeking an order of mandamus compelling EFCC to perform its statutory function of probing the allegations made against the two top public officials.
It was the contention of the CNPP that its own was to alert while EFCC's responsibility was to follow up, probe and prosecute where there is prima facie evidence against them.
By procedure, the CNPP first sought for the leave of the court to commence the legal action against the anti-graft agency
The court has not only granted it but also fixed April 14 for commencement of hearing in the case. The EFCC is expected to come up with its defence or and preliminary objection on the adjourned date.
It is likely too that both ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and Adamu Waziri may file an application for joinder as necessary parties in the case.
01 April, 2009
TEXT-Israeli-Palestinian commitments at 2007 peace meeting.
1 April 2009
The following joint statement was issued at the conference in Annapolis, Maryland, which was hosted by then-U.S. President George W. Bush, in Nov. 2007:
"The representatives of the Government of the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), represented respectively by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Mahmoud Abbas, in his capacity as Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee and President of the Palestinian Authority, have convened in Annapolis, Maryland, under the auspices of President George W. Bush of the United States of America, and with the support of the participants of this international conference, having concluded the following Joint Understanding:
"We express our determination to bring an end to bloodshed, suffering and decades of conflict between our peoples, to usher in a new era of peace, based on freedom, security, justice, dignity, respect and mutual recognition, to propagate a culture of peace and non-violence, and to confront terrorism and incitement, whether committed by Palestinians or Israelis.
"In furtherance of the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security:
"* We agree to immediately launch good faith bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues, without exception, as specified in previous agreements.
"* We agree to engage in vigorous, ongoing and continuous negotiations, and shall make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008.
"* For this purpose, a steering committee, led jointly by the head of the delegation of each party, will meet continuously, as agreed.
"* The steering committee will develop a joint work plan and establish and oversee the work of negotiations teams to address all issues, to be headed by one lead representative from each party.
"* The first session of the steering committee will be held on 12 December 2007.
"* President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert will continue to meet on a bi-weekly basis to follow up the negotiations in order to offer all necessary assistance for their advancement.
"The parties also commit to immediately implement their respective obligations under the Performance-Based Road Map to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israel-Palestinian Conflict, issued by the Quartet on 30 April 2003 (hereinafter, "the Roadmap") and agree to form an American, Palestinian and Israeli mechanism, led by the United States, to follow up on the implementation of the Roadmap. The parties further commit to continue the implementation of the ongoing obligations of the Roadmap until they reach a peace treaty. The United States will monitor and judge the fulfillment of the commitments of both sides of the Roadmap.
"Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, implementation of the future peace treaty will be subject to the implementation of the Roadmap, as judged by the United States.
"In conclusion, we express our profound appreciation to the President of the United States and his Administration, and to the participants of this international conference, for their support for our bilateral peace process." (Source: Israeli Foreign Ministry www.mfa.gov.il))
The following joint statement was issued at the conference in Annapolis, Maryland, which was hosted by then-U.S. President George W. Bush, in Nov. 2007:
"The representatives of the Government of the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), represented respectively by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Mahmoud Abbas, in his capacity as Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee and President of the Palestinian Authority, have convened in Annapolis, Maryland, under the auspices of President George W. Bush of the United States of America, and with the support of the participants of this international conference, having concluded the following Joint Understanding:
"We express our determination to bring an end to bloodshed, suffering and decades of conflict between our peoples, to usher in a new era of peace, based on freedom, security, justice, dignity, respect and mutual recognition, to propagate a culture of peace and non-violence, and to confront terrorism and incitement, whether committed by Palestinians or Israelis.
"In furtherance of the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security:
"* We agree to immediately launch good faith bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues, without exception, as specified in previous agreements.
"* We agree to engage in vigorous, ongoing and continuous negotiations, and shall make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008.
"* For this purpose, a steering committee, led jointly by the head of the delegation of each party, will meet continuously, as agreed.
"* The steering committee will develop a joint work plan and establish and oversee the work of negotiations teams to address all issues, to be headed by one lead representative from each party.
"* The first session of the steering committee will be held on 12 December 2007.
"* President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert will continue to meet on a bi-weekly basis to follow up the negotiations in order to offer all necessary assistance for their advancement.
"The parties also commit to immediately implement their respective obligations under the Performance-Based Road Map to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israel-Palestinian Conflict, issued by the Quartet on 30 April 2003 (hereinafter, "the Roadmap") and agree to form an American, Palestinian and Israeli mechanism, led by the United States, to follow up on the implementation of the Roadmap. The parties further commit to continue the implementation of the ongoing obligations of the Roadmap until they reach a peace treaty. The United States will monitor and judge the fulfillment of the commitments of both sides of the Roadmap.
"Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, implementation of the future peace treaty will be subject to the implementation of the Roadmap, as judged by the United States.
"In conclusion, we express our profound appreciation to the President of the United States and his Administration, and to the participants of this international conference, for their support for our bilateral peace process." (Source: Israeli Foreign Ministry www.mfa.gov.il))
Text of US-Russia statement on nuclear arms, other global issues.
1 April 2009
Text of a joint statement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama, as released by the White House on Wednesday:
Reaffirming that the era when our countries viewed each other as enemies is long over, and recognizing our many common interests, we today established a substantive agenda for Russia and the United States to be developed over the coming months and years. We are resolved to work together to strengthen strategic stability, international security, and jointly meet contemporary global challenges, while also addressing disagreements openly and honestly in a spirit of mutual respect and acknowledgment of each others perspective.
We discussed measures to overcome the effects of the global economic crisis, strengthen the international monetary and financial system, restore economic growth, and advance regulatory efforts to ensure that such a crisis does not happen again.
We also discussed nuclear arms control and reduction. As leaders of the two largest nuclear weapons states, we agreed to work together to fulfill our obligations under Article VI of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and demonstrate leadership in reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the world. We committed our two countries to achieving a nuclear free world, while recognizing that this long-term goal will require a new emphasis on arms control and conflict resolution measures, and their full implementation by all concerned nations. We agreed to pursue new and verifiable reductions in our strategic offensive arsenals in a step-by-step process, beginning by replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new, legally binding treaty. We are instructing our negotiators to start talks immediately on this new treaty and to report on results achieved in working out the new agreement by July.
While acknowledging that differences remain over the purposes of deployment of missile defense assets in Europe, we discussed new possibilities for mutual international cooperation in the field of missile defense, taking into account joint assessments of missile challenges and threats, aimed at enhancing the security of our countries, and that of our allies and partners.
The relationship between offensive and defensive arms will be discussed by the two governments.
We intend to carry out joint efforts to strengthen the international regime for nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. In this regard we strongly support the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and are committed to its further strengthening.
Together, we seek to secure nuclear weapons and materials, while promoting the safe use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. We support the activities of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and stress the importance of the IAEA Safeguards system. We seek universal adherence to IAEA comprehensive safeguards, as provided for in Article III of the NPT, and to the Additional Protocol and urge the ratification and implementation of these agreements.
We will deepen cooperation to combat nuclear terrorism. We will seek to further promote the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, which now unites 75 countries. We also support international negotiations for a verifiable treaty to end the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons.
As a key measure of nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, we underscored the importance of the entering into force the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. In this respect, President Obama confirmed his commitment to work for American ratification of this Treaty.
We applaud the achievements made through the Nuclear Security Initiative launched in Bratislava in 2005, including to minimize the civilian use of Highly Enriched Uranium, and we seek to continue bilateral collaboration to improve and sustain nuclear security. We agreed to examine possible new initiatives to promote international cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy while strengthening the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
We welcome the work of the IAEA on multilateral approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle and encourage efforts to develop mutually beneficial approaches with states considering nuclear energy or considering expansion of existing nuclear energy programs in conformity with their rights and obligations under the NPT. To facilitate cooperation in the safe use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, both sides will work to bring into force the bilateral Agreement for Cooperation in the Field of Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy.
To strengthen nonproliferation efforts, we also declare our intent to give new impetus to implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540 on preventing non-state actors from obtaining WMD-related materials and technologies.
We agreed to work on a bilateral basis and at international forums to resolve regional conflicts.
We agreed that al-Qaida and other terrorist and insurgent groups operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan pose a common threat to many nations, including the United States and Russia. We agreed to work toward and support a coordinated international response with the U.N. playing a key role. We also agreed that a similar coordinated and international approach should be applied to counter the flow of narcotics from Afghanistan, as well as illegal supplies of precursors to this country. Both sides agreed to work out new ways of cooperation to facilitate international efforts of stabilization, reconstruction and development in Afghanistan, including in the regional context.
We support the continuation of the Six-Party Talks at an early date and agreed to continue to pursue the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in accordance with purposes and principles of the September 19, 2005, Joint Statement and subsequent consensus documents. We also expressed concern that a North Korean ballistic missile launch would be damaging to peace and stability in the region and agreed to urge the DPRK to exercise restraint and observe relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
While we recognize that under the NPT Iran has the right to a civilian nuclear program, Iran needs to restore confidence in its exclusively peaceful nature. We underline that Iran, as any other Non-Nuclear Weapons State-Party to the NPT, has assumed the obligation under Article II of that Treaty in relation to its non-nuclear weapon status. We call on Iran to fully implement the relevant U.N. Security Council and the IAEA Board of Governors resolutions, including provision of required cooperation with the IAEA. We reiterated their commitment to pursue a comprehensive diplomatic solution, including direct diplomacy and through P5+1 negotiations, and urged Iran to seize this opportunity to address the international communitys concerns.
We also started a dialogue on security and stability in Europe. Although we disagree about the causes and sequence of the military actions of last August, we agreed that we must continue efforts toward a peaceful and lasting solution to the unstable situation today. Bearing in mind that significant differences remain between us, we nonetheless stress the importance of last years six-point accord of August 12, the September 8 agreement, and other relevant agreements, and pursuing effective cooperation in the Geneva discussions to bring stability to the region.
We agreed that the resumption of activities of the NATO-Russia Council is a positive step. We welcomed the participation of an American delegation at the special Conference on Afghanistan convened under the auspices of Shanghai Cooperation Organization last month.
We discussed our interest in exploring a comprehensive dialogue on strengthening Euro-Atlantic and European security, including existing commitments and President Medvedevs June 2008 proposals on these issues. The OSCE is one of the key multilateral venues for this dialogue, as is the NATO-Russia Council.
We also agreed that our future meetings must include discussions of transnational threats such as terrorism, organized crime, corruption and narcotics, with the aim of enhancing our cooperation in countering these threats and strengthening international efforts in these fields, including through joint actions and initiatives.
We will strive to give rise to a new dynamic in our economic links, including the launch of an intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation and the intensification of our business dialogue. Especially during these difficult economic times, our business leaders must pursue all opportunities for generating economic activity. We both pledged to instruct our governments to make efforts to finalize as soon as possible Russias accession into the World Trade Organization and continue working towards the creation of favorable conditions for the development of Russia-U.S. economic ties.
We also pledge to promote cooperation in implementing Global Energy Security Principles, adopted at the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg in 2006, including improving energy efficiency and the development of clean energy technologies.
Today we have outlined a comprehensive and ambitious work plan for our two governments. We both affirmed a mutual desire to organize contacts between our two governments in a more structured and regular way. Greater institutionalized interactions between our ministries and departments make success more likely in meeting the ambitious goals that we have established today.
At the same time, we also discussed the desire for greater cooperation not only between our governments, but also between our societies — more scientific cooperation, more students studying in each others country, more cultural exchanges and more cooperation between our nongovernmental organizations. In our relations with each other, we also seek to be guided by the rule of law, respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights, and tolerance for different views.
We, the leaders of Russia and the United States, are ready to move beyond Cold War mentalities and chart a fresh start in relations between our two countries. In just a few months we have worked hard to establish a new tone in our relations. Now it is time to get down to business and translate our warm words into actual achievements of benefit to Russia, the United States, and all those around the world interested in peace and prosperity.
Text of a joint statement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama, as released by the White House on Wednesday:
Reaffirming that the era when our countries viewed each other as enemies is long over, and recognizing our many common interests, we today established a substantive agenda for Russia and the United States to be developed over the coming months and years. We are resolved to work together to strengthen strategic stability, international security, and jointly meet contemporary global challenges, while also addressing disagreements openly and honestly in a spirit of mutual respect and acknowledgment of each others perspective.
We discussed measures to overcome the effects of the global economic crisis, strengthen the international monetary and financial system, restore economic growth, and advance regulatory efforts to ensure that such a crisis does not happen again.
We also discussed nuclear arms control and reduction. As leaders of the two largest nuclear weapons states, we agreed to work together to fulfill our obligations under Article VI of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and demonstrate leadership in reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the world. We committed our two countries to achieving a nuclear free world, while recognizing that this long-term goal will require a new emphasis on arms control and conflict resolution measures, and their full implementation by all concerned nations. We agreed to pursue new and verifiable reductions in our strategic offensive arsenals in a step-by-step process, beginning by replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new, legally binding treaty. We are instructing our negotiators to start talks immediately on this new treaty and to report on results achieved in working out the new agreement by July.
While acknowledging that differences remain over the purposes of deployment of missile defense assets in Europe, we discussed new possibilities for mutual international cooperation in the field of missile defense, taking into account joint assessments of missile challenges and threats, aimed at enhancing the security of our countries, and that of our allies and partners.
The relationship between offensive and defensive arms will be discussed by the two governments.
We intend to carry out joint efforts to strengthen the international regime for nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. In this regard we strongly support the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and are committed to its further strengthening.
Together, we seek to secure nuclear weapons and materials, while promoting the safe use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. We support the activities of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and stress the importance of the IAEA Safeguards system. We seek universal adherence to IAEA comprehensive safeguards, as provided for in Article III of the NPT, and to the Additional Protocol and urge the ratification and implementation of these agreements.
We will deepen cooperation to combat nuclear terrorism. We will seek to further promote the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, which now unites 75 countries. We also support international negotiations for a verifiable treaty to end the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons.
As a key measure of nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, we underscored the importance of the entering into force the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. In this respect, President Obama confirmed his commitment to work for American ratification of this Treaty.
We applaud the achievements made through the Nuclear Security Initiative launched in Bratislava in 2005, including to minimize the civilian use of Highly Enriched Uranium, and we seek to continue bilateral collaboration to improve and sustain nuclear security. We agreed to examine possible new initiatives to promote international cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy while strengthening the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
We welcome the work of the IAEA on multilateral approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle and encourage efforts to develop mutually beneficial approaches with states considering nuclear energy or considering expansion of existing nuclear energy programs in conformity with their rights and obligations under the NPT. To facilitate cooperation in the safe use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, both sides will work to bring into force the bilateral Agreement for Cooperation in the Field of Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy.
To strengthen nonproliferation efforts, we also declare our intent to give new impetus to implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540 on preventing non-state actors from obtaining WMD-related materials and technologies.
We agreed to work on a bilateral basis and at international forums to resolve regional conflicts.
We agreed that al-Qaida and other terrorist and insurgent groups operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan pose a common threat to many nations, including the United States and Russia. We agreed to work toward and support a coordinated international response with the U.N. playing a key role. We also agreed that a similar coordinated and international approach should be applied to counter the flow of narcotics from Afghanistan, as well as illegal supplies of precursors to this country. Both sides agreed to work out new ways of cooperation to facilitate international efforts of stabilization, reconstruction and development in Afghanistan, including in the regional context.
We support the continuation of the Six-Party Talks at an early date and agreed to continue to pursue the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in accordance with purposes and principles of the September 19, 2005, Joint Statement and subsequent consensus documents. We also expressed concern that a North Korean ballistic missile launch would be damaging to peace and stability in the region and agreed to urge the DPRK to exercise restraint and observe relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
While we recognize that under the NPT Iran has the right to a civilian nuclear program, Iran needs to restore confidence in its exclusively peaceful nature. We underline that Iran, as any other Non-Nuclear Weapons State-Party to the NPT, has assumed the obligation under Article II of that Treaty in relation to its non-nuclear weapon status. We call on Iran to fully implement the relevant U.N. Security Council and the IAEA Board of Governors resolutions, including provision of required cooperation with the IAEA. We reiterated their commitment to pursue a comprehensive diplomatic solution, including direct diplomacy and through P5+1 negotiations, and urged Iran to seize this opportunity to address the international communitys concerns.
We also started a dialogue on security and stability in Europe. Although we disagree about the causes and sequence of the military actions of last August, we agreed that we must continue efforts toward a peaceful and lasting solution to the unstable situation today. Bearing in mind that significant differences remain between us, we nonetheless stress the importance of last years six-point accord of August 12, the September 8 agreement, and other relevant agreements, and pursuing effective cooperation in the Geneva discussions to bring stability to the region.
We agreed that the resumption of activities of the NATO-Russia Council is a positive step. We welcomed the participation of an American delegation at the special Conference on Afghanistan convened under the auspices of Shanghai Cooperation Organization last month.
We discussed our interest in exploring a comprehensive dialogue on strengthening Euro-Atlantic and European security, including existing commitments and President Medvedevs June 2008 proposals on these issues. The OSCE is one of the key multilateral venues for this dialogue, as is the NATO-Russia Council.
We also agreed that our future meetings must include discussions of transnational threats such as terrorism, organized crime, corruption and narcotics, with the aim of enhancing our cooperation in countering these threats and strengthening international efforts in these fields, including through joint actions and initiatives.
We will strive to give rise to a new dynamic in our economic links, including the launch of an intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation and the intensification of our business dialogue. Especially during these difficult economic times, our business leaders must pursue all opportunities for generating economic activity. We both pledged to instruct our governments to make efforts to finalize as soon as possible Russias accession into the World Trade Organization and continue working towards the creation of favorable conditions for the development of Russia-U.S. economic ties.
We also pledge to promote cooperation in implementing Global Energy Security Principles, adopted at the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg in 2006, including improving energy efficiency and the development of clean energy technologies.
Today we have outlined a comprehensive and ambitious work plan for our two governments. We both affirmed a mutual desire to organize contacts between our two governments in a more structured and regular way. Greater institutionalized interactions between our ministries and departments make success more likely in meeting the ambitious goals that we have established today.
At the same time, we also discussed the desire for greater cooperation not only between our governments, but also between our societies — more scientific cooperation, more students studying in each others country, more cultural exchanges and more cooperation between our nongovernmental organizations. In our relations with each other, we also seek to be guided by the rule of law, respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights, and tolerance for different views.
We, the leaders of Russia and the United States, are ready to move beyond Cold War mentalities and chart a fresh start in relations between our two countries. In just a few months we have worked hard to establish a new tone in our relations. Now it is time to get down to business and translate our warm words into actual achievements of benefit to Russia, the United States, and all those around the world interested in peace and prosperity.
CNDP President is a Rwandan Lawyer
WNJ has learned from African sources that the Chairman of the CNDP, Mr. Desire Kamanzi, is a Rwandan citizen with a law office in Kigali located in the Kiyovu District called Kamanzi, Ntaganira & Associates.
http://www.employmentlawalliance.com/en/node/2282
http://ukinrwanda.fco.gov.uk/en/our-offices-in-rwanda/our-embassy-in-kigali/list-lawyers-attorneys
http://www.employmentlawalliance.com/en/node/2282
http://ukinrwanda.fco.gov.uk/en/our-offices-in-rwanda/our-embassy-in-kigali/list-lawyers-attorneys
Kla-Eldo Petroleum Pipeline Postponed.
East African Business Week
By Paul Mwijagye
30 March 2009
Kampala — The construction of the Eldoret-Kampala oil pipeline has been postponed yet again.
The works supposed to commence on April 1, 2009 have now been pushed to May 15.
The construction of the 320-kilometre pipeline was initially scheduled to begin before August, 2008 but has been postponed several times.
The delay has hampered stable fuel supply to Uganda, a situation that has contributed to high fuel prices.
Last Friday, Ahmed Elgembri, the project manager told East African Business Week: "We could not begin construction on April 1 as planned due to delays in land acquisition."
Ahmed said the construction will begin on May 15 this year and end mid May 2010.
On July 18, 2006 Tamoil East Africa Limited won a 20-year concession to finance and extend the oil pipeline from Eldoret to Kampala at a development cost of $72 million.
Early this month the commissioner for energy in the energy ministry Ben Twodo insisted that nothing would stop the commencement of the project.
"The survey has been completed and submitted to the chief government valuer. There is nothing that we can say will stop the commencement of the project in April," Twodo said in an interview with this reporter early this month.
Once complete, the pipeline is expected to ensure stable fuel supply, reduce on fuel prices and accidents involving fuel tankers and spare the roads of potholes. "The accidents of trucks and burning of people won't happen anymore once the pipeline is complete. Potholes in the roads as a result of heavy trucks will also be done away with," noted Habib Kagimu the chairman of Tamoil East Africa Ltd.
The pipeline will be constructed from Eldoret in Kenya via Malaba, Iganga to Kampala and will be 20km west of Kampala to avoid inconveniences such as traffic jam. Kagimu also noted that since the pipeline will be underground people who will be relocated as a result of the pipeline could continue using their land for cultivation. He said homes on the land will be relocated.
However the compensation of the affected people which was also expected to begin before the end of March has not taken place either.
By Paul Mwijagye
30 March 2009
Kampala — The construction of the Eldoret-Kampala oil pipeline has been postponed yet again.
The works supposed to commence on April 1, 2009 have now been pushed to May 15.
The construction of the 320-kilometre pipeline was initially scheduled to begin before August, 2008 but has been postponed several times.
The delay has hampered stable fuel supply to Uganda, a situation that has contributed to high fuel prices.
Last Friday, Ahmed Elgembri, the project manager told East African Business Week: "We could not begin construction on April 1 as planned due to delays in land acquisition."
Ahmed said the construction will begin on May 15 this year and end mid May 2010.
On July 18, 2006 Tamoil East Africa Limited won a 20-year concession to finance and extend the oil pipeline from Eldoret to Kampala at a development cost of $72 million.
Early this month the commissioner for energy in the energy ministry Ben Twodo insisted that nothing would stop the commencement of the project.
"The survey has been completed and submitted to the chief government valuer. There is nothing that we can say will stop the commencement of the project in April," Twodo said in an interview with this reporter early this month.
Once complete, the pipeline is expected to ensure stable fuel supply, reduce on fuel prices and accidents involving fuel tankers and spare the roads of potholes. "The accidents of trucks and burning of people won't happen anymore once the pipeline is complete. Potholes in the roads as a result of heavy trucks will also be done away with," noted Habib Kagimu the chairman of Tamoil East Africa Ltd.
The pipeline will be constructed from Eldoret in Kenya via Malaba, Iganga to Kampala and will be 20km west of Kampala to avoid inconveniences such as traffic jam. Kagimu also noted that since the pipeline will be underground people who will be relocated as a result of the pipeline could continue using their land for cultivation. He said homes on the land will be relocated.
However the compensation of the affected people which was also expected to begin before the end of March has not taken place either.
Central African Republic / Resumption of armed hostilities between Government and rebel forces.
BANGUI, Central African Republic, April 1, 2009
African Press Organization (APO)
Daily press briefing by the office of the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says a resumption of armed hostilities between Government and rebel forces is dampening hopes for an end to a decade-old humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic. The fighting has displaced some 24,000 people since January, including some 9,200 new refugees in neighbouring Chad. This cuts short a recent wave of refugee returns begun in the wake of a national reconciliation effort which led to an all-party dialogue in December. A total of 300,000 Central African nationals are now living as refugees across the region.
Meanwhile, only 22 per cent of a required $116 million in an OCHA-led appeal has been pledged or disbursed.
SOURCE : United Nations - Office of the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General
African Press Organization (APO)
Daily press briefing by the office of the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says a resumption of armed hostilities between Government and rebel forces is dampening hopes for an end to a decade-old humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic. The fighting has displaced some 24,000 people since January, including some 9,200 new refugees in neighbouring Chad. This cuts short a recent wave of refugee returns begun in the wake of a national reconciliation effort which led to an all-party dialogue in December. A total of 300,000 Central African nationals are now living as refugees across the region.
Meanwhile, only 22 per cent of a required $116 million in an OCHA-led appeal has been pledged or disbursed.
SOURCE : United Nations - Office of the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General
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