Category: Rubrique

NATO General: Permanent Troops in Eastern Europe an Option

NATO will have to consider permanently stationing troops in parts of eastern Europe as a result of the increased tension between Russia and Ukraine, the alliance’s top military commander said.

NATO has arranged a number of short-term army, air force and naval rotations in eastern Europe, including the Baltic republics, Poland and Romania, but these are due to finish at the end of this year.

Asked Тuesday whether NATO might have to look at permanently stationing troops in the alliance’s member states in eastern Europe, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove said: “I think this is something we have to consider and we will tee this up for discussion through the leaderships of our nations to see where that leads.”

NATO leaders are due to hold a summit in Wales in early September.

In the run-up to the summit, NATO commanders, defense ministers and foreign ministers would look at “tougher questions” about whether the alliance had the right footprint in Europe, Breedlove told a news conference in Ottawa.

“We need to look at our responsiveness, our readiness and then our positioning of forces to be able to address this new paradigm that we have seen demonstrated in Crimea and now on the eastern border of Ukraine,” he said.

Breedlove, who said on Monday he did not think Moscow would send troops into eastern Ukraine, stressed the steps that NATO had taken so far were designed to support eastern members of the alliance.

“We are taking measures that should be very easily discerned as being defensive in nature. This is about assuring our allies, not provoking Russia, and we are communicating that at every level,” he said.

Breedlove insisted the so-called U.S. strategic “pivot” toward Asia would have no effect on its commitment to NATO and collective defense, though he acknowledged that U.S. troop levels in Europe have been reduced by about three-quarters from Cold War levels.

Asked if the U.S. troop levels would be enough in light of the Russian moves, he said: “In our own country now, and I think in every other NATO nation, based on the paradigm that we see that Russia has presented in Crimea and on the border of Ukraine … we are all going to have to reevaluate some of the decisions that have been made (after the end of the Cold War).”

Breedlove declined to say whether he thought that France should scrap the sale of two Mistral helicopter-carrier frigates to Russia, saying this was “a national decision” that was up to France. Moscow has said it would demand compensation if this took place.

May 7, 2014
Opposition Leader Wins Panama Presidential Elections

Opposition leader Juan Carlos Varela has won the presidential election in Panama with almost 40% of the votes.

Mr Varela, who is currently the vice-president, had distanced himself from outgoing President Ricardo Martinelli.

Correspondents say Mr Varela has taken credit for Mr Martinelli’s economic success, but has promised a cleaner, more transparent government.

The president’s preferred candidate, the governing party contender Jose Domingo Arias, came second.

‘May God help us’

President Martinelli had actively supported the campaign of Mr Arias, 50, and the leader’s wife Marta Linares was the candidate’s running mate.

Critics said his support for the Arias-Linares team was an attempt by Mr Martinelli to hold on to the reins of power.

Under the Panamanian constitution, presidents are obliged to step down after one term and are banned from running for the two following terms.

BBC

May 5, 2014
Russia Wants Ukrainian Government & Rebels to Negotiate

(more…)

May 5, 2014
US Asks Kabila not to Seek 3rd Term

The United States urged Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday to stick to its constitution that sets terms limits for the president, as speculation grows that Joseph Kabila may seek a third term.

Highlighting an issue that exists in several African countries where leaders have sought to extend their rule beyond constitutional limits, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pledged $30 million in aid aimed in part at ensuring “credible” elections in 2016.

Kabila has not announced his intentions for the 2016 poll but, with his political fortunes sharply improved after last year’s defeat of the M23 rebel group, there are growing opposition fears he might try to remain in power.

“(Kabila) has an opportunity which he understands to be able to put the country on a continued path of democracy,” Kerry told reporters after talks with the Congolese leader in Kinshasa.

Kerry stressed that the legacy of Kabila, who in 2006 won Congo’s first democratic elections since independence but was heavily criticized over fraud-tarnished polls five years later, must go beyond security gains.

“I believe it is clear to him that the United States of America feels very strongly – as do other people – that the constitutional process needs to be respected and adhered to.”

“We’re a country with term limits. We live by them … and we encourage other countries to adhere to their constitution,” he added.

Kerry did not explicity say Kabila should not seek a third term, but U.S. special envoy to the Great Lakes region Russ Feingold, made the point clear.

“President Obama, when he was here last year made a very important statement: What Africa needs is not strong men but strong institutions,” Feingold told reporters travelling with Kerry on his tour of Africa.

“One of those strong institutions is a credible method of executive succession, executive term limits.”

The speculation in Congo is hardly an exception. There is widespread public expectation that Burkina Faso’s Blaise Compaore and Burundi’s Pierre Nkurunziza will seek constitutional changes in order to stay in power.

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has also refused to rule out running for a third term when his mandate expires in 2017.

Kerry said the $30 million in U.S. aid, which was expected to be delivered mostly to non-governmental organizations, would support elections as well as recovery and reconstruction programs in the remote and conflict-hit east.

A U.S. official said Washington reserved the right to withhold funds if the process were not transparent and credible.

May 5, 2014
Gen. Kiir Agrees to Meet Rebel Leader Machar

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has agreed to Ethiopian-mediated and direct talks with rebel leader Riek Machar aimed at implementing a ceasefire and setting up a transitional government, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced Friday.

Speaking to reporters in Juba, Kerry said President Kiir was “willing to travel to Addis Ababa in the near term, sometime early next week hopefully in order to engage in a discussion with the (Ethiopian) prime minister and hopefully with Riek Machar.”

Kerry said that Machar had already agreed to such a meeting, but that he would be holding further telephone talks with him later Friday to set up the face to face talks – which would be the first to be held since South Sudan’s civil war broke out four months ago.

“It is safe to say that President Kiir was very open to take forceful steps in order to end the violence and implement the cessation of hostilities agreement and to begin to engage with respect to a transitional government,” Kerry told reporters.

“This meeting between Riek Machar and President Kiir is critical to be able to really engage in a serious way on how the cessation of hostilities agreement will now once and for all really be implemented,” he added.

Kerry flew into Juba earlier Friday on an unannounced visit to push for peace, amid mounting international outrage over atrocities and war crimes, and with the UN and aid agencies warning that the country is on the brink of famine.

Thousands of people have already been killed – and possibly tens of thousands – and at least 1.2 million forced to flee their homes since rival troops loyal to President Kiir and his sacked vice president Machar started fighting on December 15.

May 2, 2014
Kerry in South Sudan in U.S. Push to Halt Conflict

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew into South Sudan on Friday to push for a halt to more than four months of fighting in Africa’s newest nation, a message he was expected to deliver in talks with President Salva Kiir.

Kerry’s trip to South Sudan, his first as Secretary of State, came a day after he renewed U.S. threats of sanctions and held out hope for the rapid deployment of more peacekeepers. He said the conflict could descend into genocide.

“Secretary Kerry will reiterate the need for all parties to respect the cessation of hostilities agreement, to immediately cease attacks on civilians, and to fully cooperate with the United Nations and humanitarian organizations,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

More than 1 million people have fled their homes since fighting erupted in December between troops backing Kiir and soldiers loyal to his sacked deputy, Riek Machar.

The fighting has largely run along ethnic lines between Kiir’s Dinka people and Machar’s Nuer.

Thousands of people have been killed and tens of thousands have sought refuge from the violence at U.N. bases around South Sudan, a country the size of France that secured independence in 2011 when it split from its northern neighbor, Sudan.

Kerry, speaking on Thursday in Ethiopia after talks with regional states, warned of the risks of genocide in South Sudan and said all sides agreed the “killing must stop”.

Kerry lamented violence on both sides and called upon Kiir and Machar to publicly “condemn the brutal attacks that are taking place against innocent people.”

agencies

May 2, 2014
Communique for 12th EAC Extra Ordinary Summit

May 1, 2014
Election Violence Flares in South Africa

South African Police used water cannon and stun grenades to disperse rioters in South Africa’s strike-hit platinum belt on Sunday after a government minister was attacked by rock-throwing protesters while campaigning for the May 7 election.

Police spokesman Thulani Ngubane told Reuters a community hall, municipal center and the house of a councillor for the ruling ANC were burnt down. He would not identify the rioters but local media and union leaders said the minister had been attacked by members of the striking AMCU miners’ union.

Ngubane confirmed sports minister Fikile Mbalula had to be whisked away under police protection after he and the ANC activists he was campaigning with were confronted by a crowd in the shanty town of Freedom Park northwest of Johannesburg.

It was after this that the protest erupted into a full-scale riot, Ngubane said.

Sydwell Dokolwana, the regional secretary for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), a key ANC ally and AMCU’s arch rival, told Reuters he was with the minister at the time and that several people were hurt in the scuffle.

“There was a group of about 100 guys with AMCU shirts. We had to run for our lives,” he told Reporter.

“They said they would only allow us to campaign if the ANC assisted them in getting 12,500 rand ($1,200),” he said.

AMCU’s battle cry has become “12,500 rand”, which is the minimum monthly wage it is seeking from the world’s top platinum producers, Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin.

agencies

April 28, 2014
South Africans Celebrate 20 Years of End of Apartheid

South Africa on Sunday celebrated the 20th anniversary of its first ever all-race, democratic election that ended decades of sanctioned racial oppression under the apartheid system.

The day was marked by street parades, speeches, prayers, music and military salutes and displays.

President Jacob Zuma led the main festivities at the Union Buildings, the seat of government in Pretoria, where generations of apartheid leaders penned many of the racial laws that South Africa’s first black leader Nelson Mandela fought most of his life.

After the historic April 27, 1994, the day has been retained as a holiday and named Freedom Day.

For many South Africans it brings back sweet memories of the euphoria as black, Indian and mixed race voters stood in long meandering lines — alongside whites — to cast their first ballots.

Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu said the day felt like “falling in love”.

FW de Klerk, apartheid South Africa’s last president, described the day as “our proudest moment as South Africans”.

But 20 years on, the euphoria has died down and the country is counting both the gains and failures of the democratic era.

South Africa boasts among other things, one of the strongest constitutions in the world, an independent judiciary and is probably the most developed country on the continent.

But the successes are tainted by mismanagement and high level corruption blamed largely on the ANC-led administration.

wirestory

April 27, 2014
Obama Says US & Europe Must Jointly Impose Sanctions on Russia

U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday said the United States and Europe must join forces to impose sanctions on Russia to stop it destabilizing Ukraine, where armed pro-Russian separatists were for a third day holding eight international observers prisoner.

Washington and Brussels are expected, possibly as early as Monday, to name new people and firms close to Russian President Vladimir Putin who will be hit by punitive measures, but there is no consensus yet on wider economic sanctions.

Speaking during a visit to Malaysia, Obama said any decision on whether to slap sanctions on sectors of the Russian economy at a later time would depend on whether the United States and its allies could find a unified position on how to proceed.

“We’re going to be in a stronger position to deter Mr. Putin when he sees that the world is unified and the United States and Europe is unified rather than this is just a U.S.-Russian conflict,” Obama told reporters.

The stand-off over Ukraine, an ex-Soviet republic of about 45 million people, has dragged relations between Russia and the West to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War.

Obama said Russia had not “lifted a finger” to get pro-Russian separatist rebels in Ukraine to comply with an international agreement to defuse the crisis.

“In fact, there’s strong evidence that they’ve been encouraging the activities in eastern and southern Ukraine,” he said.

Washington is more hawkish on further sanctions than Brussels, and this has caused a degree of impatience among some U.S. officials with the European response.

Many European countries are worried about the risks of imposing tougher sanctions, not least because Europe has extensive business ties with Moscow and imports about a quarter of its natural gas from Russia.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that in the coming days there would be “an expansion of existing sanctions, measures against individuals or entities in Russia”.

reuters

April 27, 2014