Category: Politics

Outcry as Tunisian president proposes relative for PM

{Critics accuse Tunisia’s Beji Caid Essebsi of nepotism as he promotes a relative for the premiership.}

Tunisia’s President Beji Caid Essebsi has proposed a junior minister who is a family member as his candidate to replace sacked Prime Minister Habib Essid, drawing accusations of nepotism from the opposition.

During negotiations over the new government on Tuesday, Essebsi put forward Youssef Chahed, a senior official in the ruling Nidaa Tounes party and the minister for local affairs in the outgoing government, according to Issam Chebbi, a party official.

Chebbi said negotiations will continue on Wednesday in the Carthage-based presidential palace, where parties will give their responses about the proposal. Essebsi has until August 10 to name a new prime minister.

Opponents said on Tuesday they would protest the choice of Chahed, while critics on social media used the hashtag “keep your relatives at home” in Arabic to express their opposition to his appointment.

Local media and sources close to his party said Chahed is the nephew of Essebsi’s son-in-law.

“Essebsi got rid of Essid so he could put in place someone close to him and have them follow orders,” said Jilani Hammami, with the opposition Popular Front party. “This is a step back to when one family ran everything.”

Aymen Abderrahmen, a Tunis-based activist, said there was a “growing feeling of disappointment” among Tunisians who supported the president, as well as those who opposed him.

“This is the same president that was the prime minister few years ago and promised retirement from politics when he stepped down,” he told Al Jazeera.

Tunisian politicians voted on Saturday to dismiss Essid in a no-confidence ballot, clearing the way for a new government of unity that Essebsi wants to push through delayed economic reforms.

The president is already facing widespread criticism from the opponents over what some see as his attempt at a hereditary transfer of power to his son Hafed, the new leader of Nidaa Tounes. That caused a split within the party.

Allies of Essebsi dismiss claims they are looking to place his son into a position of influence.

Since its 2011 revolution to oust Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has emerged as a democracy praised as a model for the region. But armed attacks have tested the government and political infighting has slowed economic progress.

Essebsi has said the country needs a more dynamic government ready to take strong decisions to bring about the liberalisation and cost-cutting required for an overhaul of the North African state’s economy.

Three deadly attacks last year – including gun attacks on foreign visitors at a museum and a beach resort – have badly damaged the tourism industry, which makes up around eight percent of the economy and is a major source of jobs.

August 3, 2016
South Africa elections: ANC and Jacob Zuma face test

{South Africans are going to the polls for local elections in a ballot seen as a test for President Jacob Zuma and the ruling African National Congress.}

The ANC has dominated the political landscape since the first all-race elections in 1994.

But Mr Zuma has had to weather scandal, after being ordered to repay taxpayers’ money spent on his private home.

Polls show the ANC may lose three key cities in Wednesday’s poll – Pretoria, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.

{{ANC under pressure}}

The ANC, which led the fight against white minority rule, is under pressure from two parties – the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters, who are competing in their first local elections under firebrand leader Julius Malema.

The economy is one of the main issues as people vote, with growth expected to be 0% this year, and unemployment at 27%.

Protests demanding better housing and amenities have also sprung up across South Africa.

The vote comes a month after South Africa’s treasury recommended President Zuma pay back $509,000 (£381,000) to the government for upgrades made to his private home.

It came after the country’s highest court ruled earlier this year that Mr Zuma repay some of the $23m of public funds spent on his house in 2009, ruling that he had violated the constitution by earlier failing to repay some of the money.

The upgrades included an amphitheatre, pool, chicken run and cattle enclosure.

The next presidential elections are due to take place in 2019.

August 3, 2016
Pope Francis: Not right to identify Islam with violence

{The pope says it is not fair to speak about violence by Muslims without talking about violence committed by Catholics.}

Pope Francis has condemned the habit of linking Islam with terrorism, saying that “nearly all religions” have a “small group of fundamentalists”.

Reporters aboard the Catholic leader’s plane flying him back to Rome on Sunday after a pilgrimage to Poland, asked him why he never uses the world “Islam” to describe terrorism or other violence.

“It’s not right to identify Islam with violence. It’s not right and it’s not true,” he replied.

The pope was in Poland from July 27 until July 31 for World Youth Day, a week-long event attended by over a million pilgrims.

A day before he left, an elderly Catholic priest was killed in Northern France during Mass, in an attack that was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

“I don’t like to talk of Islamic violence because every day, when I go through the newspapers, I see violence,” the pope said, in apparent reference to news of crime in the predominantly Catholic country of Italy.

“And these are baptized Catholics. If I speak of Islamic violence, then I have to speak of Catholic violence.”

Noting he has spoken with imams, he concluded: “I know how they think, they are looking for peace.”

As for the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant group, he said it “presents itself with a violent identity card, but that’s not Islam”.

August 2, 2016
South Sudan minister resigns, calls for Kiir to go

{Leading opposition minister Lam Akol has resigned, dealing a major blow to the country’s fragile peace deal.}

An influential South Sudanese minister and opposition figure has resigned, saying a fragile peace deal was dead and calling for President Salva Kiir’s unity government to leave power.

Lam Akol, agriculture minister in Kiir’s administration and the leader of the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) party, spoke out on Monday against rebel leader Riek Machar, whose forces have clashed in recent weeks with government troops loyal to the president.

Machar, who has also been vice president, was Kiir’s only real opponent in a 2010 election when the young country was still a semi-autonomous territory.

“There is no more peace agreement to implement in Juba,” Akol said at a press conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

“The only sensible way to oppose this regime, so as to restore genuine peace to our war-torn country, is to organise outside Juba.”

After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan descended into civil war in December 2013.
{{
‘Fraying’ unity government
}}

Under the terms of an August 2015 peace deal, the 30 ministerial posts are split between Kiir and Machar, as well as opposition and other parties.

{{Inside Story – What’s hampering peace in South Sudan?}}

But, after fighting broke out again, Machar fled the capital, and Kiir appointed a replacement from Machar’s SPLM/A (IO) party, laying bare fractures within the administration and opposition.

Akol said he was working with other opposition figures so that anti-government resistance could be “consolidated”.

“Since the agreement is dead and there is no free political space in Juba, the only sensible way to oppose this regime so as to restore genuine peace… is to organise outside Juba,” he said.

“The entire unity government is fraying apart at the edges. [Akol’s] departure adds another blow to a very delicate situation,” Robin Sanders, a former US diplomat who has worked on issues related to South Sudan, told Al Jazeera.

Sanders said she was worried Akol’s departure could push South Sudan “towards a crisis”.

“If he joins forces with Machar, then you really are on the road to a bigger fight and a bigger crisis. It is a worrying sign.”

{{Renewed clashes}}

At least nine people were killed over the weekend in renewed clashes between troops loyal to Kiir and troops loyal to Machar, a spokesman for Machar said on Monday.

{{What’s gone wrong in South Sudan?}}

Government military spokesman Lul Ruai Koang downplayed the weekend clashes, saying there was “small fighting” between the SPLA and Machar’s forces.

“We engaged them and they tried to put up some resistance, but at the end we overcame them and they fled to different locations,” Koang said.

Koang accused the SPLA-IO of shelling government positions in Nasir town in Upper Nile state, while the opposition claimed it was the SPLA that shelled their positions.

The United States said over the weekend it had received “disturbing reports” of renewed violence in the south of the country and the United Nations is considering imposing an arms embargo.

August 2, 2016
Republic of Congo Opposition Wants Political Prisoners Freed

A Republic of Congo opposition party has called for the unconditional release of political prisoners and easing of arbitrary arrests.

The Pan-African Union for Social Democracy’s statement issued overnight Sunday follows a similar request last week by Amnesty International.

Gen. Jean Marie Michel Mokoko, an independent candidate in the March presidential elections, is under provisional house detention. Paulin Makaya, president of the opposition United Party for Congo, was sentenced last week to two years in prison for inciting public disorder and insurrection.

Makaya was detained after participating in an October protest of a referendum allowing the country’s longtime president to seek another term. The referendum ultimately passed.

President Denis Sassou N’Guesso, in power for more than 30 years, was re-elected in March.

August 2, 2016
Museveni blames police brutality on Besigye

{President defends the use of batons to break illegal demonstrations as opposed to sticks usually used by herdsmen.}

President Museveni on Sunday offered mixed reaction to increasing cases of police brutality in the country and blamed it on Dr Kizza Besigye whom he accused of “indiscipline and lawlessness.”

Answering the Daily Monitor question on the rising cases of police brutality in the country that have put his government in the spotlight, Mr Museveni, who was addressing journalists at the close of a week-long joint retreat for permanent secretaries and Cabinet ministers in Kyankwanzi, also defended the use of batons to break illegal demonstrations as opposed to the sticks usually used by herdsmen, which the policemen were seen using to beat Dr Besigye’s supporters last month.

“We don’t support police brutality but you also know that we don’t support the indiscipline of the political actors like Dr Besigye,” Mr Museveni said

“There are many Opposition leaders like Cecilia Ogwal (FDC), Norbert Mao (DP), UPC and others but I haven’t heard them being involved in these conflicts with police.The whole thing is with Besigye because of his lawlessness and indiscipline,” the President said.

Dr Besigye was busy attending FDC NEC meeting at the party headquarters, but Mr Wandera Ogalo, a senior legal counsel of FDC, disparaged Mr Museveni for linking Dr Besigye to police brutality and reminded the NRM leader that “people see Dr Besigye as their president.”

“Where is the constitutional freedom to assemble? Either the president is not properly briefed or he is just ignoring the brief on police brutality for political reasons,” Mr Ogalo said.

“The president is trying to blame the victim yet the stick-wielding goons in police who beat Ugandans like cows are known. If other political leaders and political parties don’t command much enthusiasm from the people, you cannot blame Dr Besigye. People see Dr Besigye as their president and there is no way they can seek for police permission to wave at him as he passes,” Mr Ogalo said.

Mr Museveni also complained that some people demonstrate peacefully but illegally because “many of the demonstrations are illegal”, adding that if the likes of Dr Besigye, the former presidential candidate of the FDC, wanted to demonstrate they could work with the police and demonstrate legally and peacefully but “FDC doesn’t want that, so they don’t involve the police.”

On July 12, the police were seen beating supporters of Dr Besigye, who were welcoming the FDC strongman from prison after court granted him bail but Mr Museveni said on Thursday that most of the FDCs demonstrations are illegal and that “if they are illegal and violent then, the police must do something.”

“Either you charge with a baton, which involves beating in defending yourself or the other options (rubber bullets and live bullets) which in my opinion are worse,” Mr Museveni said.

As Ugandans speak about police brutality, Mr Museveni asked them to also speak about others killed by the demonstrators, citing a policeman (John Michael Ariong) who was allegedly killed by demonstrators in March 2012.

Although Mr Museveni said “beating” is one of the accepted police methods of dealing with illegal demonstrations, he sought to distance himself from the use of long sticks, insisting that “baton charge”, is what is provided for in the police Act as one of the many peaceful ways of quelling illegal demonstrations by using “non-lethal ways without killing people.”

Explaining the use of shields and baton charge, the President said: “These are short and heavy sticks which they (police officers) can use to defend themselves because they are used even in other counties but I am told police here have used some other sticks….”

Addressing the question of beating citizens; Mr Museveni asked, “They were demonstrating but how were they demonstrating? Were they demonstrating peacefully or they were violent against the police and throwing stones? Were the police defending themselves or people were demonstrating peacefully but illegally? If they were demonstrating peacefully and then you attack them, then, you are wrong.”

Even though Mr Museveni admitted that since July 12 he has not found time to meet the Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, to find out whether the demonstration was violent or peaceful, he said, “The fact that some people were charged in court, I suspect, this was illegal but not violent, otherwise it wouldn’t have been reasonable to charge these young police people for defending themselves against an illegal and violent demonstration.”

Addressing journalists in the aftermath of the brutal events, Gen Kayihura said the Force had replaced use of tear gas with baton charge (use of sticks), and indicated that the beating of Dr Besigye’s supporters was sanctioned by the Force’s top command, claiming they had learnt about their planned violent disruptions.

Asked what his government is doing to stop the police brutality in the face a new Cabinet resolution to deal with demonstrators firmly, Mr Museveni said: “I have not heard time to study it [police brutality] because I was attending the African Union summit (when that incident happened). But I hear that police were involved in beating up people who were demonstrating.”

Since the Walk to Work protests in 2011, the the relationship between the police and civilians as well as politicians has ebbed with the Police chief now facing torture charges in relation to the beating of civilians. The 2016 disputed election which Dr Besigye claims he won made matters worse.

President Museveni, in power for 30 years, received nearly 60.75 per cent of the votes, with Dr Besigye taking 35.37 per cent. This result indicated that Dr Besigye’s support grew from 26 per cent while President Museveni declined from 68.38 per cent in 2011 polls.

August 2, 2016
Mukabalisa elected PL President

{Mukabalisa Donatille, Speaker of the Rwandan parliament has been elected to lead the Liberal Party (PL), one of Rwanda’s political parties .Mukabalisa replaces Protais Mitali who was dismissed from duties following an impeachment accused of misallocating resources of the party. }

Mukabalisa was appointed as the sole candidate to lead PL and was yesterday elected president of PL with 569 out of 577 votes.

Munyangeyo Théogène was elected the first vice president after garnering 472(81.8%) out of 577 voters.

Mukabalisa, who promised good performance, has been the acting leader of PL’s committee after Mitali fled.

“You have believed in us and so we will make sure to fulfill the responsibilities as we have willingness and capacity to make it,” she said, calling for collaboration between PL members from across the country to uplift the political party.

“We request you to work closely with us to achieve more which can be gained if we unite, share good ideas, capacities and commitment.There is nothing to worry of since our political party has a vision and potential leaders,” she said.

Mukabalisa urged PL members to be exemplary in implementing government programs.

PL was established in 1991.

August 1, 2016
Turkey threatens to back away from refugee deal with EU

{Turkish foreign minister says Turkey could ditch the refugee deal by October, as the EU fails to grant visa-free travel.}

Turkey would have to back out of its agreement with the European Union (EU) to stem the flow of refugees and migrants into the bloc if the EU does not deliver visa-free travel for Turks, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said.

Visa-free access to the EU – the main reward for Ankara’s collaboration in cutting off an influx of refugees and migrants into Europe – has been subject to delays due to a dispute over far-reaching Turkish legislation and Ankara’s crackdown after a failed coup.

Cavusoglu told Germany’s daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung the agreement on stemming the refugee flow had worked because of “very serious measures” taken by Ankara.

“But all that is dependent on the cancellation of the visa requirement for our citizens, which is also an item in the agreement of March 18,” Cavusoglu said in a release in advance of comments to be published in the newspaper’s Monday edition.

“If visa liberalisation does not follow, we will be forced to back away from the deal on taking back (refugees) and the agreement of March 18,” he said, adding that the Turkish government was waiting for a precise date for visa liberalisation.

“It could be the beginning or middle of October – but we are waiting for a firm date.”

The EU-Turkey agreement was designed to halt the flow of refugees and migrants by deporting them back to Turkey from Greece and allowing a number of Syrians to participate in a relocation programme from Turkey to the EU.

The deal was widely criticised by humanitarian groups and rights organisations, many of which claimed it violated international law.

In June, the medical aid charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it will reject all funding from the European Union in protest of the agreement.

MSF received $63m, about 8 percent of its total budget, from European Union institutions and its 28 member states last year.

“The EU deal is the latest in a long line of policies that go against the values and the principles that enable assistance to be provided,” Jerome Oberreit, the secretary general of MSF, said at the time.

“We cannot accept funding from the EU or the member states while at the same time treating the victims of their policies. It’s that simple.”

European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said recently he did not see the EU granting Turks visa-free travel this year due to Ankara’s crackdown after the failed military coup in mid-July.

Fleeing war and economic devastation, more than a million refugees and migrants arrived in Europe by boat in 2015, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR). More than 251,000 have made the dangerous journey so far this year.

At least 3,034 refugees perished on the Mediterranean Sea between January 1 and July 28 of 2016, compared with 1,970 in almost the same period a year earlier – an increase of 54 percent, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

August 1, 2016
Trump slated over ‘insult’ to fallen soldier’s parents

{Storm of criticism over billionaire businessman’s attack on parents of Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq.}

Donald Trump has been hit with a barrage of criticism for “insulting” the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed while serving with US forces in Iraq.

Trump on Sunday defended his criticism of the bereaved parents of US Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in 2004, by complaining on Twitter that the fallen soldier’s father, Khizr Khan, had “viciously attacked” him in a speech at the Democratic National Convention last week.

“Am I not allowed to respond?” Trump tweeted. “Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!”

At the Democratic convention, Khizr Khan told the story of his late son, Humayun, who received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, and took Trump to task for threatening to ban Muslims, such as his son, from entering the US, asking if the presidential candidate had ever read the US Constitution.

Trump focused his attack on Khan’s wife, Ghazala, who stood quietly by her husband’s side at the convention last week.

“If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me,” Trump said, in an interview with ABC’s This Week.

Ghazala Khan responded on Sunday in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post, explaining that even talking about her son’s death 12 years ago was still hard for her.

“Donald Trump said that maybe I wasn’t allowed to say anything. That is not true,” she wrote.

“When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant,” she added.

“If he studied the real Islam and Quran, all the ideas he gets from terrorists would change, because terrorism is a different religion.”

Nothing but insults

While Hillary Clinton, Trump’s rival for the presidency, defended the Khans on Sunday, so did senior members of the Republican Party, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who called the late Captain Khan “an American hero”.

McConnell said he agreed with the Khan family than banning people from entering the US based on their religion was contrary to American values. On Twitter, Republican strategist Ana Navarro called Trump’s comments about the Khans “gross” and labelled him a “jerk”.

Clinton said Trump had repaid a family that made the “ultimate sacrifice” with “nothing but insults” and “degrading comments about Muslims”.

“I do tremble before those who would scapegoat other Americans, who would insult people because of their religion, their ethnicity, their disability,” she told parishioners in a Cleveland church on Sunday morning.

Al Jazeera’s Rob Reynolds, reporting from Washington DC, said for any other presidential candidate such a controversy could be a campaign changer. But not in Trump’s case.

“Normally, I would say that a presidential candidate who attacks or disparages the parents of a heroic soldier who died in the line of duty would lose a lot of votes, and that may be the case here,” Reynolds said.

“But it’s certainly not going to drive Donald Trump to discard the nomination, he is the nominee. It may change some minds of people who may be leaning one way or the other…certainly there is a core of support for Donald Trump, which is not going to be dissuaded from voting for him by this particular incident.”

August 1, 2016
Massive rally in Congo demanding resignation of President Joseph Kabila

{Tens of thousands of people have protested in Congo, calling for the resignation of President Joseph Kabila once his term ends in December. Opposition leaders fear Kabila may try to extend his rule for a third term.}

Demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans and waved flags as they marched down Kinshasa’s streets on Sunday, calling for President Joseph Kabila to resign after his term ends in late December.

Addressing tens of thousands of protesters, opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi said the electoral commission needed to be convened by September 19, the “first red line, which must not be crossed.”

“The electoral body must be convened for the presidential election. If it is not, high treason will be proved in the person of Mr. Kabila, who will take responsibility for the misery of the Congolese people,” said the 83-year-old leader.

Presidential polls are due to take place in November, but Kabila’s government has said logistical problems may delay the vote.

In May, Congo’s Constitutional Court ruled Kabila could remain in office in caretaker capacity beyond the end of his mandate.The ruling sparked fears that Kabila could try to extend his rule by a third term.

Tshesekedi credited with uniting opposition

Kabila, 45, took over as president of the country of 71 million people after his father was assassinated in 2001. He won a 2011 election against Tshisekedi, which critics say was marred by fraudulent practices.

Earlier this week Tshisekedi returned from Europe, where he had been undergoing medical treatment for two years. An immensely popular figure, he rose to prominence in the 1980s as a strong critic of former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.Today, Tshesekedi is credited with uniting the voice of the opposition in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tshisekedi has also demanded an end to “arbitrary judicial cases” against opposition leaders like Moise Katumbi, who was sentenced in absentia to three years in jail for property fraud, making him ineligible to contest the upcoming presidential poll.

August 1, 2016