IGIHE

Category: Rubrique

  • US Senators arrive in Egypt to Push for Peace

    {{US senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham arrived in Cairo Monday as part of a fresh diplomatic push to find a peaceful solution to Egypt’s ongoing political crisis sparked by the military’s overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.}}

    The two senators were asked by US President Barack Obama to travel to Egypt to meet with its military leaders and members of the opposition, with talks due to start on Tuesday.

    Before leaving, Senator Graham said in a television interview that Egypt’s military must move “more aggressively” to hold elections and that future US aid will hinge upon a return to civilian rule.

    “The military can’t keep running the country. We need democratic elections,” he told CNN’s State of the Union programme on Sunday.

    Almost 300 people have been killed in political violence since the military ousted Morsi on July 3 and the US has been grappling with how to respond to the situation amid increasing political turmoil.

    The White House and US lawmakers are also struggling with how to handle the $1.55 billion in mostly military aid that Washington sends each year to Egypt, a key ally in the Middle East.

    US law bars sending aid to countries in which there has been a military coup, and Obama administration officials have been strenuous in their efforts to to talk about events in Egypt without using the word.

    “I want to keep the aid flowing to Egypt but it has to be with the understanding that Egypt is going to march toward democracy, not toward a military dictatorship. And that’s the message we’re going to send,” Graham said.

    france24

  • Australia PM Rudd criticizes Rupert Murdoch role in election race

    {{Global media mogul Rupert Murdoch has waded into Australia’s election race, calling a key ruling party platform unaffordable and drawing accusations from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that he was trying to oust his struggling government.}}

    Murdoch, whose News Corp controls about 70 percent of Australia’s newspaper market, questioned in a Twitter message how an ambitious $34 billion super broadband being built by Rudd’s Labor was affordable in a slowing economy.

    “Oz politics! We all like ideal of NBN, especially perfect for Foxtel. But first how can it be financed in present situation?” tweeted the Australian-born Murdoch, whose global media empire is now based in the United States.

    NBN is the national broadband network, a plan to provide an internet connection to every home. But the opposition has promised to spend less on the network and scale back its capability, reflecting tighter financial conditions with economic growth forecast to slow to 2.5 percent this fiscal year.

    Murdoch, who owns 50 percent of pay-TV operator Foxtel, as strongly criticized on the opening day of the election campaign on Monday when his best-selling Daily Telegraph newspaper ran a front-page headline “Kick This Mob Out” over a picture of Rudd.

    Rudd, who has claimed underdog status ahead of a September 7 general election, told reporters on Tuesday there was no doubt the Australia-born Murdoch was determined to engineer election defeat for Labor after six years in power.

    “I think he’s made it fairly clear … that he doesn’t really like us, and would like to give us the old heave-ho,” said Rudd, whose minority government trails the conservative opposition 48 percent to 52 percent in the latest opinion polls.

    Rudd said Murdoch’s views on the election campaign largely mirrored those of conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott, who has promised to downsize the planned broadband network.

    “Does he sense it represents a commercial challenge to Foxtel, to the major cash-cow for his company, or not?” asked Rudd, referring to the planned broadband network.

    “It’s a free country, he’s entitled to those views. I’m sure he sees it with crystal clear clarity all the way from the United States.”

    But Rudd denied his criticism hinted at plans to challenge Murdoch’s domination of Australia’s newspaper market should Labor be returned to power, by changing media laws.

    {agencies}

  • Somali gov’t Urged to take over Kismayo

    The summit of regional heads of state from the African countries with troops in Somalia has directed that the Somali Federal Government should take over control of Kismayo.

    The decision came at the end of a Friday meeting for AMISOM troops-contributing countries meant to harmonize the ongoing approach in building a peaceful Somalia.

    The heads of state who met in Kampala included Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni,Uhuru Kenyatta, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, and Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

    The summit was preceded by a meeting of regional ministers of foreign affairs and defence and high-level officials from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Uganda.

    Present were Fawzia Adam, the Somali deputy Prime Minister; Hassan Darar Houfaneh, the defence minister of Djibouti; Gabriel Nizigama, the Burundian minister of public security and Andrew Bangali the AU permanent representative for Sierra Leone.

    The summit resolved that in accordance with the Provisional Federal Constitution of Somalia, the control of the Kismayo seaport and airport should be handed over to the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS).

    Minister Fawzia said that the Federal Government is in talks with the various political groups in Kismayo. And that a lasting solution in Kismayo requires the establishment of government institutions with the help and support of AMISOM.

    The summit pledged that the region will support Somalia to establish its authority in the Jubba Regions especially its control of state-owned federal infrastructure including the seaport and airport.

    They also said that in line with UN Security Council resolutions, the ban on the exportation of charcoal should be adhered to and all militias should be integrated into the Somalia National Security Forces except those associated with the Al Shabaab .

    The summit also said that the UN Security Council resolution which sets February 28, 2014 as the deadline for implementing the AMISOM peace enforcement mandate is premature and uncalled for. That this would undo the hard-won gains on the ground.

    NV

  • SPLM to investigate former vice-president

    {{South Sudan’s ruling Sudan’s People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) will investigate the conduct of the country’s former vice-president and a deputy chairperson of the party, Riek Machar Teny, for allegedly using public media to discredit the government and announcing his presidential ambition.}}

    “The leadership and the entire membership of the SPLM believe the former vice president went off track. He did not show respect and adherence to the guiding principles of the party. He did not completely follow basic rules and regulations.

    He ignored the existence of these rules and went off track to not only criticize the president but used wrong channels to air out his personal opinions”, a senior official said Sunday.

    The official, who occupies a key position at the national secretariat, said SPLM members were shocked to read statements coming out from the deputy chairperson.

    “Comrade Riek Machar is the senior member of the leadership council. He is not just a member of the national Political Bureau but he is the deputy chairperson. He was also the vice-president for eight years, which means he was the chief execute administrator,” he said, adding; “in fact Kiir president delegated to him all the powers to run the government during the interim period (of the CPA implementation)”.

    “He was the one in charge of everything. Now it was surprising seeing him coming out to blame President Salva Kiir. This was wrong”, he stressed.

    These statements comes less than 24 hours following a warning message Machar issued through a local radio in Bentiu against any unilateral move to dismiss him of the ruling party. He told Naath FM on Friday that such measure could lead to chaos and instability in the country.

    Machar reiterated further his criticism to Salva Kiir pointed out that recent decisions to dissolve the cabinet or suspending SPLM secretary general among others are taken without consulting the party leadership.

    President Salva Kiir once again on Saturday during a meeting with the SPLM caucus in the parliament criticized those who challenge his leadership and added they have quit the party and form their own organization.

    {agencies}

  • Zimbabwe Opposition Calls for Political Boycott

    {{A leading Zimbabwe opposition figure has called for a campaign of “passive resistance” after election results showed President Robert Mugabe’s party had won a large majority in parliament.}}

    Roy Bennett, treasurer of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said people should force Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF to “rule by themselves”.

    The MDC has already said it will not recognise the results, alleging fraud.

    It comes as the party holds emergency meetings to discuss the outcome.

    The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission earlier said Zanu-PF had won 137 seats in the 210-seat chamber – just short of two-thirds – with most seats declared.

    Results in the presidential race have yet to be announced.

    Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the MDC and is running for president against Mr Mugabe, has already dismissed the election as “a sham”.

    Amid rising tension, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on President Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai to send “clear messages of calm” to their supporters.

    His spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said Mr Ban wanted any election disputes to be handled “transparently and fairly”.

    The MDC was believed to be holding talks on Friday and Saturday to decide on a response to the results.

    Its treasurer Roy Bennett said there should be a wave of social disobedience in order to bring the regime to a halt.

    “I’m calling on the people of Zimbabwe, who are our constituents and who we represent in the positions we hold, for passive resistance and for total disengagement,” he said.

    “And let Zanu-PF rule and rule by themselves and bring the country to a standstill.”

    Mr Tsvangirai, 61, earlier said the vote was “null and void”.

    {wirestory}

  • Ex-PM Keita to face Cisse in Mali election run-off

    {{Mali’s postwar election produced no clear winner and former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita will face ex-Finance Minister Soumaila Cisse in a run-off due on August 11, the government said on Friday.}}

    Provisional results gave Keita 39 percent of votes cast in the July 28 poll, well ahead of Cisse’s 19 percent. But the third and fourth placed candidates may now rally behind Cisse, with whom they have been in coalition.

    The election was the first since a March 2012 coup led to the occupation of Mali’s north by separatist and Islamist rebels. French forces intervened in January to defeat the al Qaeda-linked Islamists, whose threats to disrupt the poll did not materialize.

    The election turnout, at 51.5 percent, was the highest ever in Mali, underscoring its people’s deep desire to turn the page on the violence and upheaval that have brought the West African nation to its knees over the last 18 months.

    “The crisis is reaching an end … There will be no problem for the second round,” interim Prime Minister Django Sissoko, on a visit to neighboring Ivory Coast, said after the results were announced.

    “We are confident that we can do everything to ensure a peaceful vote and a result that will be accepted first of all by the Malian people and also by the candidates,” he said.

    But more than three million people did not take part and 400,000 of those who did spoiled their ballot papers, according to official figures, setting the stage for some hectic campaigning and coalition building before the second round.

    “I think this is a positive thing for Malian democracy given what the country has just gone through,” said Christopher Fomunyoh, a senior associate with the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute, which works to strengthen democracy around the world.

    “Firstly it allows whoever wins the second round to have a full mandate, legitimacy that is required to govern. Secondly it is going to allow the election management body… to address some of the shortcomings that were identified in the first round,” he added.

    {agencies}

  • Tsvangirai Denounces Zimbabwe Vote

    {{Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai dismissed Zimbabwe’s election as a farce on Thursday after his rival President Robert Mugabe’s party claimed a landslide victory that would secure another five years in power for Africa’s oldest head of state.}}

    Speaking at the headquarters of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), a dejected Tsvangirai said Wednesday’s vote should be considered invalid because of polling day irregularities and vote-rigging by 89-year-old Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party.

    “This has been a huge farce,” he told reporters. “In our view, that election is null and void.” He did not take questions, leaving it unclear whether he or his party would mount any kind of legal challenge.

    The conflicting claims from the competing camps came before Zimbabwe’s Electoral Commission had issued any official results.

    There are fears that an acrimonious post-election dispute could spill over into violence, as happened after the last election in 2008, when 200 MDC supporters were killed in the wake of a first-round defeat for Mugabe, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980.

    Wednesday’s poll was peaceful, but the largest independent observer group said it was seriously compromised because of voter registration problems that might have disenfranchised up to a million people – a fifth of all Zimbabweans of voting age.

    Releasing unofficial results early is illegal, and police had said they would arrest anybody who did this.

    However, a senior source in Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, who asked not to be named, told Reuters less than 15 hours after the polls closed that the result was already clear.

    “We’ve taken this election. We’ve buried the MDC. We never had any doubt that we were going to win,” the source said.

    A vote tally compiled throughout the day by South Africa-based private Zimbabwean channel 1st TV indicated that ZANU-PF had swept the board in the parliamentary vote, with many of the Western-backed MDC’s top leadership losing their seats.

    The station, using tallies posted at polling stations around the country, said ZANU-PF had won 93 seats in parliament to the MDC’s 33, a massive swing from 2008. It was not confident enough to declare the remaining 84 seats.

    {agencies}

  • South Sudan’s Kiir names new Cabinet

    {{South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has named new cabinet ministers, but he is yet to name a vice president.}}

    In a presidential decree on Wednesday evening, Mr Kiir named 19 ministers and 10 deputies, barely a week after sacking his former Vice President Riek Machar and dissolving the entire cabinet.

    Mr Machar has indicated that he is now eyeing the presidency.

    The list is a mixture of new and old faces. Notably, President Kiir named the governor of the restive Jonglei State and career soldier, Kuol Manyang Juuk, as the new defence minister.

    A former member of the Sudan’s Islamist Popular Congress Party who ran against President Omar al-Bashir in April 2010, Abdhalla Deng Nhial, has been named minister for Electricity, Dams and Water Resources.

    Mr Kiir also named the former chairman for the-then southern sector of Bashir’s ruling National Congress Party, Mr Riek Gai, as the new health minister.

    Ms Awut Deng Achuil, who had resigned as Labor and Public Service Minister, has been taken to the gender docket.

    Most of the former ministers have been dropped.

  • Tsvangirai’s Election Organiser Arrested

    Zimbabwean police on Sunday arrested the election organiser of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party after he reported marked ballot papers were found in a dustbin following early voting, the party and police said.

    “Around 6:00 am (0400 GMT) our deputy national chairman, Honourable Morgan Komichi, who is a deputy minister of transport, was picked up at his home by the police,” Nelson Chamisa from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) told a news conference in Harare.

    Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba confirmed the arrest just three days before key general elections, but did not elaborate immediately on the charge against Komichi.

    wirestory

  • Ex-Prime Minister Keita holds wide lead in Mali vote

    {{Former Malian Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita holds a comfortable lead and could win an outright first-round victory in the West African nation’s high-stakes presidential election, the minister of territorial administration said on Tuesday.}}

    Keita’s rivals immediately rejected the partial results, calling for the minister, who is in charge of the elections, to resign and an international commission to be established to tally the vote, which they said must go to a second round.

    Voters turned out in large numbers across Mali on Sunday, eager for a fresh start after a March 2012 coup allowed separatist and al Qaeda-linked rebels to seize the desert north last year. It took an offensive by thousands of French troops in January to scatter them into the desert and mountains.

    Voting was peaceful and observer missions have praised the polls, but tensions were rising as announcement of results neared.

    “There is one candidate, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who has a wide margin compared with the other candidates,” Colonel Moussa Sinko Coulibaly, the minister of territorial administration, told journalists in the capital, Bamako.

    “If maintained, (it means) there will not be a need for a second round,” he said. The results represented a third of ballots cast from constituencies across the country, he said.

    reuters