Category: Politics

  • Amnesty Calls on Republic of Congo to Free Opposition Figure

    Amnesty Calls on Republic of Congo to Free Opposition Figure

    Amnesty International has called on Republic of Congo authorities to unconditionally release an opposition leader detained for more than two months.

    The organization said Monday that Paulin Makaya was detained and charged for exercising his right to freedom of expression by participating in an October protest against amendments to the constitution in Brazzaville.

    Amnesty International says Makaya and others arrested are prisoners of conscience. It says all charges should be dropped in the run-up to national elections.

    Republic of Congo opposition leaders called for a boycott of an Oct. 25 referendum vote that ultimately passed to allow the country’s longtime president to seek another term.

    Amnesty says 16 people died in clashes during demonstrations in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire.

    Elections originally scheduled for July, will be held March 20.

    Source:ABC NEWS:Amnesty Calls on Republic of Congo to Free Opposition Figure

  • Myanmar: New era as parliament holds historic session

    Myanmar: New era as parliament holds historic session

    Politicians from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party take their seats in parliament for the first time after decades of army rule.

    Myanmar’s newly elected politicians, most of them from pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, have taken their seats in parliament for the first time, in a landmark session that was meant to install the first democratically chosen government in half a century.

    The session on Monday marked a historic turnaround for the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which was suppressed by the country’s army for years.

    The party won 80 percent of the elected seats in general elections in November, qualifying it to form a government and end nearly 50 years of military rule.

    Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw, said there is a real sense of historic change in the country.

    “It is known here as a democracy on a leash. The military still retains a huge amount of power here but with that being said, the NLD, with their victory do get to choose the next government and they get to formulate government policy as well,” he said.

    “However, the danger for the NLD is that they are now seen as the cure of all the problems that have exisited here through decades of alleged mismanagement by the military … so there is real sense of expectation that they will sort all the problems.”

    One of the NLD’s central campaign promises was to reform the constitution to curtail the power of the military. This may prove difficult as military appointees still hold a quarter of the seats in each house of parliament, enough to block any changes.
    First decision

    The lower house of parliament elected NLD party member Win Myint to the powerful post of speaker.

    Suu Kyi is constitutionally barred from taking the presidency, and has vowed to rule from behind the scenes through a proxy.

    The Southeast Asian nation started moving from a half-century of dictatorship toward democracy in 2011, when military rulers agreed to hand over power to a nominally civilian government headed by President Thein Sein, a general turned reformist.

    He will stand down in late March or early April when an NLD president will take over.

    Source:Al Jazeera:Myanmar: New era as parliament holds historic session

  • African Union decides against peacekeepers for Burundi

    African Union decides against peacekeepers for Burundi

    Pan-African body will not send troops to crisis-hit country after government said any such force would be an invasion.

    The African Union (AU) has decided against sending peacekeepers to crisis-hit Burundi after the embattled government said that any such move would be considered an invasion.

    Smail Chergui, AU commissioner for peace and security, told a press conference in the Ethiopian capital on Sunday that a proposed deployment of 5,000 troops would be deferred until permission was granted by Bujumbura.

    The decision came after a closed-door session at the AU where African leaders are meeting for a two-day summit.

    Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi, reporting from African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, said the decision was not a surprise considering Burundi’s opposition to the plan.

    “It is going to be interesting to see how this delegation will be able to convince them to accept the troops,” she said.

    Chergui said an AU delegation would now fly to Burundi to hold talks aimed at ending the violence.

    Speaking to Al Jazeera, Stephanie Wolters, from the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), said the decision could galvanise the armed opposition and lead to an escalation of violence in the country.

    “It would appear that [Burundian] government propoganda about the situation in the country, had won over certain countries, and this may have led to this decision.

    “Also i think there is no indication that the Burundian government will give its consent to the deployment of troops any time soon,” Wolters, who heads the conflict prevention and risk analysis program at the South African based think-tank said.

    The AU charter’s Article 4 (h) gives it the right to intervene in a fellow nation state “in respect of grave circumstances, namely: war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.”

    Analysts say other African nations are wary of setting a precedent of deploying troops against the government’s wishes.

    Solomon Dersso, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera that while Burundi has demonstrated some flexibility on the issue of dialogue, there has been “complete disagreement between Bujumbura and the AU when it has come to the deployment of [AU] troops”.

    On Saturday as the AU summit opened, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, made clear troops were needed to stem the violence.
    The UN has warned Burundi risks a repeat of a 1993-2006 civil war, with hundreds killed since April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would stand for a controversial third term in office.

    At least 230,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries.

    Since Nkurunziza’s re-election in July, clashes between government loyalists and the opposition have turned increasingly violent.

    Source:Al Jazeera:African Union decides against peacekeepers for Burundi

  • Sweden: Arrests and scuffles after anti-refugee rampage

    Sweden: Arrests and scuffles after anti-refugee rampage

    Witnesses report people were attacked by mob after group handed out leaflets threatening violence against foreigners.

    Swedish police have made three arrests following reports that scores of black-clad men targeted foreigners as they rampaged through central Stockholm on Friday.

    Local media reported on Saturday that up to 100 men had attacked people and handed out leaflets threatening violence against foreigners, highlighting growing tensions in a country of 10 million people that received 163,000 asylum seekers last year.

    Friday night’s incident was followed by an anti-refugee protest on Saturday, which resulted in some scuffles with counter-demonstrators, according to local media.

    “Racist groups are spreading hate and violence in our streets. This has to be met with force,” Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said in a statement on Saturday.

    Swedish newspapers said that according to witnesses a number of people had been attacked by the gang on Friday, who they reported to be hooligans associated with local football teams.

    One witness told the Aftonbladet newspaper that he had seen a group of men beating people in the middle of the capital’s busy central Sergels torg square.

    Police said three arrests were made on Saturday, the Reuters news agency reported.

    The police also said one man had been arrested on Friday night for punching a plain clothes officer and another for carrying a knuckleduster, but the extent of assaults on immigrants was not clear.

    Friday’s incident came a day after a 22-year-old female worker was stabbed to death in a centre for unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors in the southwest of the country.

    ‘Our duty’

    The leaflets handed out on Friday, which police said were also posted to Swedish social media, said: “When Swedish streets are no longer safe for ordinary Swedes it is our DUTY to fix the problem … The police have amply shown that it lacks the means to rein them in and we now see no alternative than for us to mete out the punishment they deserve.”

    The Swedish government said this week it was likely to deport between 60,000 and 80,000 of last year’s applications for refugee status in a move that drew criticism from rights groups.

    More than 35,000 unaccompanied minors sought asylum in Sweden last year, roughly half of them registered as 16 or 17-years-old. More than 23,000 of them came from Afghanistan.

  • Turkey warns Russia after alleging new airspace breach

    Turkey warns Russia after alleging new airspace breach

    Russian SU-34 jet reportedly flew into Turkish airspace despite radar warnings, prompting Ankara to summon ambassador.

    Turkey has warned Moscow of “consequences” after saying that a Russian warplane ignored several radar warnings not to violate Turkish airspace, in the latest spat between the two countries.

    Two months after Turkey’s army shot down a Russian jet for allegedly crossing over its territory, Ankara said on Saturday that it had summoned the Russian ambassador after a Russian SU-34 jet crossed into Turkish airspace.

    The Russian defence ministry denied that there was any violation and dismissed the Turkish accusations as “baseless propaganda”.

    “There has not been a single violation of Turkish airspace by Russia air force planes in Syria,” ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Russian news agencies.

    He added that Turkish radar installations were not capable of identifying a particular aircraft or its type or nationality, and that no verbal warning had been issued.

    Rising tensions

    Relations between the two countries are at their lowest point in decades, prompted by the November 24 downing of the Russian jet by Turkish forces.

    Moscow imposed a series of economic sanctions against Ankara after the incident, sparking the biggest crisis between the two countries since the Cold War.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Friday’s incident was a sign that Russia wanted issues between the two countries to deteriorate.

    “We regard this infringement which came despite all our warnings in Russian and in English as an effort by Russia to escalate the crisis in the region,” Erdogan said on Saturday.

    “If Russia continues the violations of Turkey’s sovereign rights, it will be forced to endure the consequences,” he added, saying he wanted to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after the incident.

    “I told our foreign ministry to convey my desire to meet Mr Putin personally. There has been no answer on this yet.”

    NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on Russia to “act responsibly” and “take all necessary measures” to ensure the bloc’s airspace was not violated again.

    “A Russian combat aircraft violated Turkish airspace yesterday, despite repeated warnings by the Turkish authorities. Previous incidents have shown how dangerous such behaviour is,” Stoltenberg said in a statement on Saturday.

    Source:Al Jazeera:Turkey warns Russia after alleging new airspace breach

  • France to recognise Palestine if talks fail

    France to recognise Palestine if talks fail

    Foreign minister says Israeli “colonisation continues” and if renewed efforts collapse, France will recognise Palestine.

    France intends to make another push at trying to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has warned that if its efforts failed, it would recognise a Palestinian State.

    “France will engage in the coming weeks in the preparation of an international conference bringing together the parties and their main partners, American, European, Arab, notably to preserve and make happen the two-state solution,” French Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius said on Friday.

    If this last attempt at finding a solution hits a wall, “well … in this case, we need to face our responsibilities by recognising the Palestinian state,” said the minister.

    As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Fabius added that France had a responsibility to try to keep up efforts to find a solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

    “We see that unfortunately colonisation continues and that recently, the Israeli Prime Minister went so far as to reproach the UN Secretary General for encouraging terrorism on the basis that he had reminded of colonisation’s illegality and asked that it cease,” Fabius said.

    UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday described Israel’s settlements as “provocative acts” that raised questions about its commitment to a two-state solution, nearly 50 years after occupying lands the Palestinians seek for a state.

    In recent months, Israel has become increasingly isolated as the United States, European Union and the United Nations have issued unusually stern criticism of Israel, provoking sharp responses from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    The Israeli leader described Ban’s comments as “encouraging terror”.

    Protests against Israel’s ongoing occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip have become increasingly violent in recent months.

    Since October 1, Israeli forces or settlers have killed at least 165 Palestinians, including bystanders, unarmed demonstrators and attackers. At least 25 Israelis have also been killed in attacks carried out by Palestinians.

    Source:Al Jazeera:France to recognise Palestine if talks fail

  • Syria opposition en route to crunch Geneva peace talks

    Syria opposition en route to crunch Geneva peace talks

    Main opposition group travelling to Switzerland but wants humanitarian issues addressed before it will talk politics.

    A delegation representing Syria’s main opposition bloc was travelling to Geneva to assess the intentions of the Syrian government in implementing humanitarian measures that could allow it to join peace settlement negotiations, an opposition representative said.

    A 17-strong team including the head of the the Higher Negotiation Committee (HNC) Riad Hijab and lead negotiator Asaad al-Zoubi would depart from the Saudi capital, the Reuters news agency reported.

    The delegation was expected to arrive in Switzerland late on Saturday.

    On Friday, HNC member Farah Atassi said the delegation was coming “not to negotiate” with the government yet, but to talk to UN officials after receiving reassurances from the organisation.

    Atassi spoke at a Geneva hotel not far from the UN offices where UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura and Syria’s UN ambassador Bashar Jaafari were meeting.

    HNC spokesman Monzer Makhous said that the opposition had not changed a previous position that it would not travel to Switzerland if specific conditions for talking were not met.

    “Yes, we will go to Geneva to be present but we will not attend the talks at all unless the regime fulfils our humanitarian demands, which specify stoppage to bombings and starvation of civilians in besieged areas as a condition,” Makhous said.

    “Today we received guarantees that these issues will be addressed in addition to political transition of power. We will not accept anything else unless we see these demands met on the ground.”

    250,000 dead

    Mistura said he believed he would be able to meet the HNC on Sunday.

    The talks are the first since two rounds of negotiations collapsed in 2014. Syria’s conflict has killed more than 250,000 people, displaced millions and sent hundreds of thousands fleeing as refugees to Europe.

    The meetings are part of a process outlined in a UN resolution last month that envisages an 18-month timetable for a political transition, including the drafting of a new constitution and elections.

    Disputes are ongoing over which opposition parties should attend, with the HNC bloc facing criticism from the Syrian government and Russia for including the Army of Islam group, which controls wide territory near the capital.

    Earlier on Friday, UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi reflected the sense of chaos and confusion surrounding the beginning of the negotiations when he told reporters at a briefing: “I don’t have a time, I don’t have the exact location, and I can’t tell you anything about the delegation.”

    Source:Al Jazeera:Syria opposition en route to crunch Geneva peace talks

  • Uganda:Museveni will go this time, Besigye reassures Masaka

    Uganda:Museveni will go this time, Besigye reassures Masaka

    The Forum for Democratic Change presidential candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye, has reassured his supporters in Masaka District that he is a few days away from accomplishing his mission of ending President Museveni’s rule, a pledge he made in his first presidential contest in 2001.

    “Today, I want to reassure you that its high time you prepared for that opportune moment (of Museveni’s exit) which is only not too distant,” Dr Besigye told a cheering crowd on Friday.

    Dr Besigye was addressing a rally at Masaka Golf Course Grounds, the same venue where he made a similar pronouncement 15 years ago.

    Since 2001, Dr Besigye has told voters in Masaka that they will have a golden opportunity of seeing Museveni driving back to his home in Rwakitura in Kiruhura District after getting defeated in the elections.

    However, the FDC founding president has not delivered on his pledge. He said his promise still stands and will be fulfilled soon.

    Dr Besigye told the voters that defeating a ‘dictator’ was a hard task, equating it to uprooting a huge tree, which according to him, has this time lost its strength and awaits a slight push to fall off.

    “Over these years, I have been shaking this aging tree. The roots have weakened; its branches have already started breaking off and simply needs a small push, and it is a matter of days,” Dr Besigye told the cheering crowd that donated cash as facilitation funding for his campaigns.

    The cash donations have been common practice in many other districts he has been to on the campaign trail.

    Earlier in day, Dr Besigye held rallies in Kawoko before proceeding to Butenga Town in Bukomansimbi District where he addressed more crowds.

    He promised to improve healthcare and education services in the country, which he said have been messed up by the NRM government.

    “This is the reason they are deploying at these facilities to prevent us from exposing the rot in there. But this time, Ugandans have proved ready to claim their rights through a transitional election,” he said .

    Kampala Lord mayor Erias Lukwago told the voters to be fearless and turn up in big numbers on polling day and cast their votes.

    “Despite all the harassments meted out on us on instructions of President Museveni, our government will pardon him and instead accord him a decent retirement,” Mr Lukwago said.

    Meanwhile, copies of Dr Besigye’s recorded speeches at his rallies has become hot selling items at video and CD booths that are playing around Masaka Town.

    On his arrival in the town, businesses momentarily came to a standstill as wild celebrations rocked the streets with FDC supporters dancing to Besigye’s campaign songs which were played in his campaign fleet trucks.

    Shops closed and the verandahs and streets filled. Most streets were decorated with banana stems, banners with Dr Besigye’s portrait and those of other FDC candidates.

    Source:Daily Monitor:Museveni will go this time, Besigye reassures Masaka

  • Sudan’s Bashir orders border with South Sudan to reopen

    Sudan’s Bashir orders border with South Sudan to reopen

    Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has ordered the opening of his country’s border with South Sudan for the first time since the latter seceded in 2011.

    The move comes days after reports that South Sudan had ordered its troops to withdraw a short way from the border.

    Disputes over the border remain unresolved and the two countries fought over the Heglig oilfield in 2012.

    South Sudan gained independence as the outcome of a 2005 agreement that ended a 22-year civil war.

    Mr Bashir has asked the Sudanese authorities to “take all measures” for the reopening, state news agency Suna reported.

    Last week Mr Bashir also agreed to consider lowering the fees paid by South Sudan for the use of Sudanese infrastructure to export oil.

    South Sudan contains most of the oilfields that belonged to Sudan before 2011.
    The new country descended into civil war in 2013 when fighting broke out between forces loyal to Mr Kiir and his then deputy Riek Machar, splitting the country down ethnic lines.

    Hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese have fled to neighbouring countries including Sudan.

    Source:BBC:Sudan’s Bashir orders border with South Sudan to reopen

  • I want to start a new chapter of peace, Machar assures Museveni

    I want to start a new chapter of peace, Machar assures Museveni

    President Yoweri Museveni and South Sudan’s Opposition leader, Riek Machar have held a meeting to discuss peace in South Sudan.

    “I want to start a new chapter of peace and friendship,” Machar assured President Museveni who responded that he was available to support any peace initiatives to stabilize South Sudan.

    The two leaders at Masindi State Lodge in Masindi municipality on Tuesday. The President is camped in Masindi and Hoima where he is campaigning as NRM Presidential flag bearer in the up coming national elections next month.

    Dr. Machar who arrived in the country with his 15 member delegation that included Ms. Angelina Teny, the Chairperson of SPLM national committee for Security and Defense, Ambassador Ezekeil Lol Gatkuoth the SPLM chairperson for the national committee on foreign affairs and Dr. Peter Odwok the SPLM national chairperson for the committee for training and research among other, briefed Museveni on the progress and steps so far taken to fully implement the negotiated peace process in South Sudan.

    Museveni and his guest also discussed a number of issues pertaining to the political, economic, security and humanitarian situation in South Sudan as well as the role and mandate of the Inter-Governmental Authority on development in bringing about lasting peace in South Sudan.

    He commended the progress so far made in bringing about peace and stability in South Sudan and the positive response of the two sides. He pledged the Ugandan government support to ensure that lasting peace returns to South Sudan.

    Source:The New Vision:I want to start a new chapter of peace, Machar assures Museveni