IGIHE

Category: Politics

  • Macron and Le Pen clash in presidential debate

    {Frontrunners Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen dominate heated debate which centres on immigration and economy.}

    The top candidates in France’s presidential election have clashed in a televised debate, with centrist Emmanuel Macron accusing far-right leader Marine Le Pen of lying and seeking to divide the French.

    The election is shaping up as the most unpredictable in decades, with Macron and National Front leader Le Pen tied in polls for the April 23 first round, while the mainstream left and right languish in third and fourth place.

    One of the most heated exchanges in Monday’s debate came between the two frontrunners, after Le Pen accused Macron of being in favour of the burkini, a full-body swimsuit worn by Muslim women that created weeks of controversy in France last summer.

    “The burkini is a public order problem. Do not use it to divide the French,” he said, accusing Le Pen of transforming “the over four million French people, whose religion is Islam…into enemies of the Republic”.

    “I want to put an end to immigration, that’s clear,” Le Pen said, before talking about a rise of “Islamist fundamentalism” in France and saying the security situation was “explosive”.

    The Socialist Party’s Benoit Hamon took issue with Le Pen’s claim that public schools are wracked by violence, calling her remarks “nauseating”.

    The debate, the first between the five main contenders ahead of a two-round election on April 23 and May 7, could help viewers make up their minds in an election where nearly 40 percent of voters say they are not sure who to back.

    While polls show Macron and Le Pen establishing a clear lead in the first round, conservative candidate Francois Fillon, the one-time front-runner, has fallen back, damaged by a scandal surrounding the employment of his wife as a parliamentary assistant.

    Fillon, accused of paying his wife a generous salary for work she may not have done, has been put under formal investigation, a first for a French presidential candidate.

    Only the top two candidates go through to the runoff, where polls show Macron easily beating Le Pen.

    But with so many voters undecided and polls showing the abstention rate could be higher than ever in France, the level of uncertainty remains high. A high abstention rate could benefit Le Pen as polls consistently show that her supporters are the most certain of their vote.

    The election is taking place against a backdrop of high unemployment and sluggish growth.

    Fillon said Le Pen’s proposal to ditch the euro and bring back the French franc would cause “economic and social chaos”.

    “You don’t leave the euro and the protection afforded by the European Central Bank…for an adventure… that would ruin borrowers and savers alike,” Fillon said.

    Le Pen, who has been buoyed by Donald Trump’s election in the US and Britain’s decision to leave the EU, accused Fillon of scaremongering.

    “That’s called Project Fear, Mr Fillon. It was used before Brexit,” said Le Pen, who has pledged a similar referendum on France’s EU membership.

    A total of 11 candidates are running for president. Six smaller candidates were excluded from Monday’s debate.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Donald Trump meets Haider al-Abadi at White House

    {US president hosts the Iraqi prime minister at the White House, pledging support for Baghdad in battle against ISIL.}

    Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said he received assurances during talks with President Donald Trump and his administration of increasing American support as he presses his country’s campaign against ISIL.

    “We have been given assurances that the [US] support will not only continue but will accelerate for Iraq to accomplish the task,” Abadi said following talks with Trump at the White House on Monday.

    In a meeting on the 14th anniversary of the US invasion, Trump questioned whether the United States should have pulled combat troops out of the country.

    “We should never ever have left,” he said, after previously having supported the withdrawal.

    Trump told Abadi that he knew Iraqi forces were fighting hard against ISIL.

    “It’s not an easy job,” Trump said. “It’s a very tough job. Your soldiers are fighting hard. I know Mosul is moving along.

    “We will figure something out. I mean we have to get rid of ISIS,” he added, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group. “We’re going to get rid of ISIS. It will happen. It’s happening right now.”

    The Iraqi authorities launched an offensive in October to retake the northern city of Mosul from ISIL with the support of US-led coalition air strikes.

    Government forces retook the east side of Mosul in January before setting their sights on the more densely populated west of the city, the last major urban centre ISIL holds in Iraq.

    Currently, there are almost 5,000 US troops assisting coalition forces, providing air power, training and advice. That is down from a peak of more than 170,000 in 2007.

    Speaking at the United States Institute of Peace later on Monday, Abadi said the Trump administration has a greater desire to be more engaged in the fight against “terrorism” than its predecessor.

    But he cautioned that the fight cannot be won solely with military action.

    “There are better ways” to defeat ISIL than military might alone, Abadi said.

    “We have to be careful here,” he said. “We are not talking about military confrontation [alone]. Committing troops is one thing, while fighting terrorism is another thing. You don’t defeat terrorism by fighting it militarily.”

    Abadi also thanked Trump for removing Iraq from a travel ban affecting several Muslim-majority countries.

    After an appeal from Abadi, Trump decided this month’s revised order would not include Iraq because of its cooperation with the US. Both the initial January 27 travel ban and the revised version have been blocked by federal courts.

    “I thank you for removing Iraq from the presidential order … this was a positive response to the Iraqi request that betters the relationship with Iraq and the value of Iraq as far as Iraqi-American relations,” Abadi told Trump.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Call to support DRC electoral process

    {The Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders have appealed to the international community to support the DR Congo hold peaceful and credible elections.}

    They made the appeal in a communique following the SADC extraordinary summit in Swaziland on Saturday.

    DR Congo was expected to hold a General Election by the end of 2017 as stipulated in a power-sharing deal reached on the New Year’s Eve.

    However, the United Nations has criticised the lack of progress towards implementing the deal, which also called for the establishment of a transitional council.

    {{The disarmament}}

    The Swaziland summit also urged all parties in the DR Congo to embrace the disarmament, demobilisation, repatriation and reintegration and resettlement programme to urgently to address the needs of those in the refugee camps and the surrender of those still in combat.

    DRC’s central region of Kasai has seen a spike in violence since September, leaving at least 400 dead in an uprising that erupted when government forces killed a tribal chief and militia leader Kamwina Nsapu.

    {{Security situation}}

    Nsapu was leading a rebellion against President Joseph Kabila.

    The Swaziland summit also mandated the Facilitator and the Oversight Committee to closely monitor the political and security situation in the Kingdom of Lesotho during the election period.

    Elections in the mountain kingdom are set for June 3, following a motion of no confidence on the prime minister.

    {{Third time}}

    The June 3 polls will be Lesotho’s third time in five years.

    SADC has 15 member states namely, Angola, Botswana, DR Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    King Mswati III of Swaziland is currently the SADC chairperson.

    Source:Africa Review

  • Green Party for trans-boundary wall

    {Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR) has unveiled a plan to build an eight-meter wall at Rwanda’s borders with Burundi and DRC if its candidate wins upcoming presidential elections in August 2017. }

    The wall will be built under a project that Green Party has called ‘barring enemies of the country’.

    Habineza Frank, the president of Green Party who has been nominated as its flag-bearer in presidential polls made the pledge during the party’s general assembly held yesterday.

    This has been confirmed by the media relations officer in Green Party,Tuyishime Deo who said; “We will build an eight-meter wall that will be closely protected by security officers. We will also install security cameras relaying what is happening around. The wall will not only be built at Rwanda, DRC border but also at Burundi border because in the recent past unidentified gunmen killed people in Rusizi, escaped and culprits are still at large.”

    Green Party neither indicates the source of funding for the mega-structures nor how it will be built in the area separating Rwanda, DRC at Lake Kivu.

    The wall separating US and Mexico.

  • Palestinians honour Rima Khalaf for apartheid report

    {Palestinian president hails UN official for ‘courage’ in publishing report accusing Israel of building apartheid state.}

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has awarded the highest Palestinian honour to Rima Khalaf, a senior UN official who resigned on Friday amid pressure to withdraw a report that accused Israel of creating an apartheid state.

    Local media reported the Palestinian president had spoken to Khalaf by phone and given her Palestine’s Medal of the Highest Honor in recognition of her “courage and support” for Palestinians.

    A statement said Abbas “stressed to Dr. Khalaf that our people appreciate her humanitarian and national position”.

    Khalaf stepped down from her posts as the UN under-secretary general and executive secretary for the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) after the report was removed from the ESCWA website.

    The report accused Israel of imposing an apartheid regime that oppresses the Palestinian people. It also urged governments to support the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

    Hanan Ashrawi, an executive member of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said the report was a “step in the right direction” and should be reinstated.

    “Instead of succumbing to political blackmail or allowing itself to be censored or intimidated by external parties, the UN should condemn the acts described in the report and hold Israel responsible,” Ashrawi said in a statement on Saturday.

    Upon resigning, Khalaf said: “It was expected that Israel and its allies will exercise pressure on the UN secretary-general to distance himself from the report and that they will ask him to withdraw it.”

    A UN spokesman said the issue with Khalaf was not the content of the report, but a result of her failure to follow the necessary procedure before the publication.

    “The secretary-general cannot accept that an under secretary-general or any other senior UN official that reports to him would authorise the publication under the UN name, under the UN logo, without consulting the competent departments and even himself,” Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres, told reporters on Friday.

    Al Jazeera’s Imtiaz Tyab said, however, it was “highly unlikely” that UN leadership was unaware of the report’s existence or its content prior to its publication.

    “The curious thing here is that Al Jazeera and many other news organisations had been aware of this report for several days now,” he said on Friday..

    Israel was highly critical of the report, likening it to Nazi-era propaganda. The US also demanded the report be withdrawn.

    Ofir Gendelman, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman, said on Twitter that Abbas was waging “a diplomatic war on Israel” by announcing the award, describing the report as “libelous and false”.

    President Abbas recognised Rima Khalaf for her "courage and support" of the Palestinian people

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Israeli coalition crisis raises threat of snap polls

    {Israeli Prime Minister raises possibility of snap elections following dispute over a new national broadcasting service.}

    Israel’s prime minister backed out of an agreement to establish a new broadcasting authority on Sunday, creating a coalition crisis with one of his key partners that could lead to early elections.

    The conflict centres on the fate of the struggling state-run Israel Broadcasting Authority. Netanyahu initially ordered it shut down and replaced with a new corporation, only to reverse course once the emerging personnel of the new body did not seem as favourable as his administration had hoped.

    Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that his coalition partners are required to side with his ruling Likud party regarding all media regulation matters.

    But Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, head of the centrist Kulanu party, said the corporation would start broadcasting next month as planned.

    The crisis has sparked speculation that the coalition could fall apart, and new elections called.

    Before departing on a weeklong visit to China, Netanyahu said Kahlon’s insistence was “unacceptable” and there was no need for the new corporation to be established when the current authority could be reformed.

    Netanyahu has long tried to curb his many detractors in the media, which he considers biased against him.

    The prime minister recently confirmed for the first time that he called an early election in 2015 to block legislation aimed at curtailing the distribution of Israel Hayom, a free daily financed by billionaire backer Sheldon Adelson that largely serves as his mouthpiece.

    This time, though, speculation is rife that Netanyahu may be trying to use a potential election to deflect the numerous police investigations into his alleged corruption scandals.

    Several Netanyahu associates have threatened that he will call an election if Kahlon does not back down from his demands. Others, however, say it’s a minor scuffle that should not unravel the government.

    Several ministers and Likud MPs are known to be against a snap election, and it is unlikely that rightwing and ultra-Orthodox parties would want to join a more centrist government.

    Transport and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said he opposed fresh elections and believed a compromise could be found.

    “I think that only two years after the elections, it’s not the time to go to new elections,” Katz, a senior member of Netanyahu’s Likud who aspires to one day replace the prime minister, told AFP news agency.

    “It’s against the interests of the Israelis, of the country, and also against the interests of the Likud… We’ll not have a better coalition after the elections.”

    Netanyahu’s current coalition, seen as the most right-wing in Israel’s history, includes 67 out of parliament’s 120 members. Kahlon’s Kulanu has 10 seats, and the current coalition would not survive without him.

    The government is dominated by hardliners who support an increase in settlement construction across the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.

    But even if the coalition collapses it does not necessarily mean there will be new elections, which are currently slated for late 2019.

    The country’s ceremonial president could appoint someone else to try and build a new coalition, a scenario opposition chief Isaac Herzog says he has already discussed with Kahlon.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) sits next to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon ( L) at the Knesset

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • DRC disappearances raise alarm as political tensions grow

    {Dakar – Nearly a week after the Democratic Republic of Congo announced the kidnapping of two United Nations experts along with their translator and drivers, no trace of them has been found.}

    Their abduction in a region of the country where kidnappings are rare, and where the experts were investigating abuses by state and militia forces, has raised alarm as political tensions spread over an election crisis.

    Michael Sharp of the United States and Zaida Catalan of Sweden were abducted with three Congolese colleagues while traveling by motorcycle through Central Kasai province. It was not clear when exactly the kidnapping occurred.

    It is the first recorded abduction of international workers in the province, a region far from the usual turmoil in eastern DRC where multiple armed groups roam.

    A new report by the UN secretary-general has warned that violence and threats to civilians have spread to new parts of the vast country because of Congo’s prolonged political crisis.

    Expansion of tensions

    President Joseph Kabila’s mandate ended in December, but he has stayed on as presidential elections once set for last year have been delayed. A political agreement reached between the ruling party and opposition after weeks of deadly protests promises an election by the end of this year and that Kabila will not run.

    But the new report by UN chief Antonio Guterres says the agreement is in peril as the sides engage in “brinksmanship.” Further delays in implementing the deal “will only serve to inflame tensions and fuel the violence that is now spreading across the country,” the report says.

    Parts of Congo have experienced insecurity for more than two decades since the end of the Rwandan genocide led to the presence of local and foreign armed militias, all vying for control of mineral-rich land.

    But the Central Kasai province where the UN experts were abducted represents the new expansion of tensions.

    Sharp and Catalan had been looking into recent large-scale violence and alleged human rights violations by the Congolese army and local militia groups. Hundreds of people have been killed in an upsurge of violence since July in the province, according to the UN Joint Human Rights Office.

    Various war crimes

    While the violence is linked to local power struggles, there are also clear ties to the national political crisis, according to experts who say DRC’s security forces have been known to back local leaders seen to be loyal to Kabila. Meanwhile, militia groups support those who are believed to support the opposition.

    Just days after the UN expressed grave concern about reports of more than 100 people killed in Central Kasai region during clashes between soldiers and Kamwina Nsapu militia fighters, a video posted online appeared to show men in Congolese uniforms fatally shooting more than a dozen alleged militia members armed with little more than sticks.

    International governments and rights groups have called for investigations into the shootings, which followed months of alleged violence by the militia after its leader was killed in a police operation in August.

    Seven soldiers have been arrested in connection with the killings in the video, Congo’s armed forces auditor general, Major General Joseph Ponde, said Saturday. They are charged with various war crimes including murder, mutilation and inhumane treatment, he said. Ponde also promised investigations into allegations of mass graves in the area.

    Independent investigators

    Also Saturday, the UN mission in Congo reported renewed violence in the past week, with credible reports of a “high number of deaths” as Congolese security forces clashed with local Kamwina Nsapu militia members in the capital of Central Kasai province, Kananga. In a statement, the mission said it was concerned about the targeting of civilians, including women and children.

    The UN mission also said security forces had restricted its movement in the area in recent days. The UN secretary general’s special envoy for Congo, Maman Sambo Sidikou, called for an investigation by authorities into the violence.

    Though little is known yet about the kidnapping of the UN experts, one motive might be an effort to silence independent investigators, said Ida Sawyer, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

    “We can’t rule out the possibility of involvement by the militia groups active in the area, and/or the Congolese army or government,” Sawyer said. She added: “The disappearance … likely will have a dramatic deterrent effect on other independent investigators looking into violence in the region.”

    The spokesperson for the UN mission in DRC, Charles Bambara, said the mission had intensified its searches for the missing experts and their colleagues.

    While the UN experts aren’t humanitarian workers, DRC is the fourth worst country in the world in terms of security incidents targeting aid workers, according to Elodie Sabau, advocacy officer with the local UN humanitarian office. Some aid groups have suspended work in the insecure east after multiple kidnappings.

    Source:News 24

  • Ndileka Mandela: ANC rejection ‘heart-wrenching’ – brother

    {The eldest granddaughter of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president and an anti-apartheid icon, has been urged to reconsider her decision no longer to vote for the governing African National Congress.}

    Ndileka Mandela, 52, has been told she should instead help revive the party.
    She had earlier stated she no longer believed the ANC represented the values of her illustrious relative.

    Ms Mandela said the party was neglecting to care for the poor.

    “I will not be voting for something that does not resonate with me anymore, and does not resonate for what granddad and his comrades fought for,” she told News 24 South Africa.

    Ms Mandela, a nurse, runs a Mandela family foundation to tackle rural poverty.

    She said the ANC’s recent period in power had left her feeling despondent, especially when it came to its record in wasting public money.

    Ms Mandela identified the country’s social care crisis and its treatment of psychiatric patients as “tipping points” that added to her loss of faith in the ANC.

    But her brother was quick to urge her to re-think.

    “I call on you… to reconsider your decision,” News 24 reported Mandla Mandela as writing in an open letter to her.

    “Please do not throw the baby out with the bathwater. What we are dissatisfied with in the ANC, it is our obligation to set right.

    “The ANC has been the heartbeat of our family for many years. One can only imagine the many crises and challenges our grandfather… lived through since joining the ANC in 1944.”

    Mr Mandela exhorted his sister to remain within the ANC, breathe new life into it and “re-inculcate the values and principles that secured our democracy”.

    His letter on Friday described his sister’s move as “heart-wrenching”.

    But Ms Mandela seems unlikely to change her mind.

    “I get very incensed with people who think they knew my grandfather more than his own family did,” she said on Friday.

    “Nobody can actually articulate how granddad felt across the board, not just as a politician but as a father, as a family man. So you can’t tell me he would be disappointed.”

    The ANC has held power in South Africa since Nelson Mandela was elected president in the country’s first democratic elections in 1994.

    Ndileka Mandela (above) argues that nobody can articulate how her grandfather felt as a politician, a father and a family man

    Source:BBC

  • Donald Trump and Angela Merkel in key White House talks

    {Two leaders discuss the fight against ISIL, NATO and Ukraine among other topics.}

    US President Donald Trump has welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the White House for the first face-to-face meeting between two leaders known for holding opposing views on a host of issues.

    Items on the agenda for Friday’s meeting included the fight against ISIL, strengthening the NATO alliance and resolving Ukraine’s conflict with Russia.

    At the start of her remarks in a joint press conference, Merkel said it was “much better to talk to one another and not about one another”.

    Trump had repeatedly bashed Merkel during his presidential campaign last year, accusing her of “ruining” Germany for allowing an influx of refugees from Syria.

    At the news conference, Merkel hinted at differences, saying: “This is obviously something we had an exchange of views about.”

    For his part, Trump, whose executive order temporarily suspending the US refugee programme and barring people from several Muslim-majority countries was recently struck down again by a federal court, said both countries must protect themselves from the threat of what he called “radical Islamic terrorism”.

    “Immigration is a privilege, not a right, and the safety of our citizens must always come first, without question,” Trump said at the news conference.

    Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from Washington, DC, said the meeting represented a “chance to make things up” between the two leaders, “but it has been an awkward day”.

    “The relationship between these two leaders has been difficult in the past, mainly because of comments made by President Trump when he was a candidate,” Bays said.

    “What most people are going to take away from this are the optics. It did not look like these two leaders go on well at all.”

    The visit began cordially, with the pair shaking hands at the entrance of the White House.

    But later, sitting side-by-side in the Oval Office, Merkel’s suggestion of another handshake went unheard or ignored by Trump – an awkward moment in what are usually highly scripted occasions.

    {{NATO, ‘wiretapping’}}

    Trump reaffirmed Washington’s “strong support” for NATO but also reiterated his stance that member countries in the alliance need to “pay their fair share” for the cost of defence.

    “Many nations owe vast sums of money from past years and it is very unfair to the United States. These nations must pay what they owe,” said Trump, who has long complained that the US shoulders too much of the burden of the cost of the alliance.

    In response, Merkel said she was encouraged that Trump backed NATO, stressed its vital role and pledged that Germany will increase its own payments.

    The two leaders also discussed the situation in Afghanistan and Ukraine.

    Trump said he “very seldom” regrets anything he tweets, brushing off questions about his claims without evidence that his predecessor, Barack Obama, wiretapped him during last year’s presidential campaign.

    “At least we have something in common,” Trump said, apparently referring to reports during Obama’s presidency that the US had bugged Merkel’s phone. Congressional leaders from both political parties say they do not believe Trump was wiretapped.

    On the issue of the economy, Trump said he expected the US to do “fantastically well” in trade with Germany, while Merkel said she hoped the US and the European Union could resume discussions on a trade agreement.

    Trump said he did not believe in isolationism but that trade policy should be fairer.

    “We held a conversation where we were trying to address also those areas where we disagree, but we tried to bring people together … (and) tried to find a compromise that is good for both sides,” Merkel said.

    The two leaders will continue their discussions over lunch on Friday with a focus on fair trade.

    Trump and Merkel shake hands at the conclusion of their joint news conference

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Ghana leader defends decision to appoint 110 ministers

    {Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo on Friday defended his controversial decision to appoint a 110-minister government, calling it a “necessary investment” in the small west African country.}

    The new government nominated Wednesday — which includes dozens of lower-level and regional ministers — is a record for Ghana and has sparked a storm of commentary on social media and radio talk shows.

    “I’m aware that people are concerned about what they see as maybe the cost of this large government,” Akufo-Addo admitted in an interview on national television Friday.

    “It is a necessary investment to make.”

    Akufo-Addo, who was elected in December on a promise to fix a host of economic problems and fight corruption, stressed that his ministers “are coming to work, it is not going to be a holiday”.

    And he insisted the costs of his new government would not be as high as people might think.

    “The number, for instance, among the deputy ministers — 42 out of 50 are all parliamentarians, and in effect converting them from parliamentarians into ministers, the marginal cost of that transformation is minimal in terms of the public exchequer,” he said.

    The ministers are needed for the “rapid transformation of this country”, Akufo-Addo said.

    George Lawson, deputy general secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), told AFP that the increase in the number of ministers was “not proper” and charged that Akufo-Addo was giving out “jobs for the boys”.

    “It’s a drain on the Ghanaian economy,” he added.

    Akufo-Addo came to power in January after beating the NDC’s John Dramani Mahama in December’s election.

    The new president says he has inherited an economy reeling from huge fiscal deficits, rising inflation and high unemployment despite an IMF programme designed to stimulate growth.

    Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo.

    Source:AFP