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Laurent Gbagbo is to blame for the crisis

Posted on March 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

March 9, 2011

Ivory Coast stands on the brink of civil war. The constitutional coup staged by the incumbent Laurent Gbagbo after last year’s presidential elections has led to a wave of rapidly worsening violence, and the situation is a serious threat to peace and stability in west Africa. A solution requires decisive action by the African community, with Gbagbo’s departure needed to halt a return to all-out war. The November elections were meant as the culmination of a painstaking peace process that followed the country’s civil war. Gbagbo, however, simply refused to accept the result once his main challenger, Alassane Ouattara, was declared the winner. There is no doubt that Gbagbo lost the election. Ouattara had a winning margin of more than 350,000 votes, and the UN certified the vote as free and fair. In an attempt to reverse the outcome, the Constitutional Council – firmly in the hands of Gbagbo supporters – largely fabricated fraud in the centre and north, where Ouattara enjoys huge support, pushing the incumbent’s share of the vote over 50% and declaring him the winner.

Gbagbo has since become an international pariah, digging in his heels and ignoring strong pressure to leave. Violent incidents have been building in number and intensity. The UN has reported close to 400 deaths, mostly Ouattara supporters, as well as rapes and disappearance at the hands of pro-Gbagbo security forces. In one particularly shocking incident, the army last week opened fire on peaceful protesters in the largest city, Abidjan, killing seven women. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said parts of the city resemble a war zone. Ethnic and religious divisions between the south and the north run deep, but the differences have been mobilised by political actors in their quest for absolute power. Unless a solution to the crisis can be found, a return to the devastating 2002-03 civil war is the likely outcome. International efforts to mediate have so far been fruitless. Gbagbo has refused offers of amnesty if he leaves the country, and the international community must realise that he is willing to resort to anything to keep his grip on power, even if it means dragging the country into anarchy and economic disaster.

Divisions at the UN security council mean that body has been ineffective in its response. Hope now rests on an African solution, but the continent is also worryingly divided on how to respond. The African Union summit in Addis Ababa decided in late January to convene a high-level panel comprising five heads of state from across the continent. It should have concluded its one-month mandate in February, but now it has an extension until the end of March. The delay reflects a dangerous disagreement when urgent action is needed. Nigeria and South Africa are divided over who should take the lead in west Africa, while Gbagbo still has supporters across the continent from countries that share his anti-western, and especially anti-French, rhetoric. Many also accuse the west of hypocrisy, pointing to other flawed, recent African elections that were deemed “acceptable”. Gbagbo and his allies, however, have conveniently forgotten that he agreed to the election modalities and the UN’s certifier role, as part of the peace process. The panel’s dithering is unnecessary and potentially deadly. After all, nobody expects it to disagree with the AU’s and Ecowas’s earlier unconditional backing of Ouattara as the rightful winner. The panel’s eventual solution should focus solely on recommendations for Ouattara to pursue a reconciliatory policy aimed at bringing pro-Gbagbo elements into a national unity government.

Any other formula, especially anything that gives Gbagbo hopes of clinging on to power through a power-sharing deal, would now look like a stamp of approval for the coup. Gbagbo is clearly the sole architect of the current crisis, and he needs to go immediately. If African leaders fail to meet this challenge, it would have dire consequences for Ivory Coast and for the continent. Civil war would return, with untold suffering for the civilian population, while the credibility of the AU and Ecowas would be seriously undermined. It would harm their ability to deal with any future election disputes in a year with several key votes across Africa. Armed conflict in Ivory Coast could spark unilateral military intervention by neighbours. A potential nightmare scenario would be a proxy war where various countries take sides, similar to what unfolded in Liberia in the 1990s. African leaders ought to sort this out now before they find themselves dragged into a deadly and costly wider conflict. Major world powers, including the US, the European Union and France, which maintains a military force in the country, should stay firm in their rejection of Gbagbo’s regime and be ready to support by all means the decisions of the African organisations.

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gaddafi’s forces fire at opposition protest – March 9

Posted on March 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

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Jesse Ventura – Police State

Posted on March 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

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Libya: Video shows Libya army ‘executions’

Posted on March 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

March 8, 2011

Al Jazeera has received pictures that purportedly show Libyan army officers killed for refusing to fire on the rebels, evidence of how Gaddafi deals with “traitors”. It is claimed the soldiers refused to shoot rebels in the mountainous region west of the capital, Tripoli. The pictures were sent to Al Jazeera by a rebel group in the area. A survivor of the killings says the men were rounded-up, their legs tied before being shot in the head or back from close range. It is impossible to independently verify the authenticity of the video. The pictures emerged as rebel fighters face perhaps their greatest challenge yet as they take stock of what seems a slowing of momentum in their campaign. Libyan state media has also reported that a rebel base was recaptured by the army in the western city of Az-Zawiyah. There are also reports that tank shelling of the city on Monday has been the fiercest so far. This comes despite earlier claims that the military had taken full control. Rebels are regrouping in towns in the east of the country. The military and pro-Gaddafi forces have at least for the time being halted their advance to the Libyan leader’s home town and stronghold of Sirte. A report on Libyan state television showed pictures it said were of rebel fighters killed in battle. A man describes the dead bodies as “rats serving a foreign conspiracy”.

>>> Continued on Libya Page <<<

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Egypt: “State Security HQ overrun in Cairo”

Posted on March 7, 2011 | Leave a comment

March 5, 2011

CAIRO – Hundreds of protesters stormed the headquarters of Egypt’s widely feared State Security Investigations agency in Cairo on Saturday and began sifting through thousands of potentially inflammatory documents, marking another step toward dismantling the administration of ousted President Hosni Mubarak. State Security was responsible for suppressing domestic political dissent, as well as for internal counterterrorism, and had a reputation for torturing detainees. The unearthed documents could provide information for cases against senior members of Mubarak’s government, from the former president on down, and could prove explosive if publicized, analysts said. “This could be bigger than Mubarak’s fall in terms of the effect it could have on the country,” said Elijah Zarwan, a Cairo-based analyst with the International Crisis Group.

>>> Continued on Egypt Page <<<

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Libya: Gaddafi goes on the offensive against liberated towns close to Tripoli

Posted on March 7, 2011 | Leave a comment

Gaddafi Forces Launch Counterattack, Overcome Defenses In Rebel Town

March 6, 2011

TRIPOLI, Libya — Government forces in tanks rolled into the opposition-held city closest to Tripoli after blasting it with artillery and mortar fire, while rebels captured a key oil port and pushed toward Moammar Gadhafi’s hometown in a seesaw Saturday for both sides in the bloody battle for control of Libya. With the Gadhafi regime’s tanks prowling the center of the city of Zawiya, west of Tripoli, residents ferried the wounded from the fierce fighting in private cars to a makeshift clinic in a mosque, fearing that any injured taken to the military-controlled hospital “will be killed for sure,” one rebel said after nightfall.

>>> Continued on Libya Page <<<

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Libya: “Libya rebels locked in battles with Gaddafi forces”

Posted on March 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

March 4, 2011

Libyan rebels have been locked in fierce battles with pro-Gaddafi forces on two fronts. Rebel-held Zawiya, just 50km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, was the subject of a fierce government assault. Both sides later claimed to be in control. Heavy casualties were reported there and in other key cities, including the eastern port of Ras Lanuf. Dozens of people were also killed and hurt in apparently accidental blasts at an arms dump in rebel-held Benghazi. Hospital sources in the city, Libya’s second-largest, said they believed the two explosions were not triggered by an air strike. Reports said at least 17 people had been killed in the blasts. Earlier in the day, clashes briefly erupted after Friday prayers in the capital, Tripoli, but protesters dispersed after security forces fired tear gas and baton rounds. Reports from Zawiya said the most senior rebel commander in the city was among those killed there. One resident told BBC Arabic TV that many people had died when a peaceful demonstration came under fire.

>>> Continued on Libya Page <<<

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“Hundreds march on State Security building in Egypt”

Posted on March 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

March 4, 2011

CAIRO—Hundreds of Egyptian protesters attempted to storm a building belonging to the internal security service in Alexandria on Friday in an outpouring of anger at the agency blamed for some of the worst human rights violations during ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s rule. Officers inside the building opened fire on the crowd, injuring three demonstrators, according to a medic and one of the protesters. Tensions remain high even as Egypt’s military, which took control of the country after Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, takes steps to meet the protesters’ demands before a promised return to civilian rule. One of the protesters’ key remaining demands is for the dismantling of Egypt’s State Security Agency. Friday, crowds in Cairo’s Tahrir Square celebrated the military’s choice of a new prime minister to replace the one Mubarak had appointed. The new premier, Essam Sharaf, was carried on the shoulders of demonstrators to a podium in the square from which he promised the estimated 10,000 people gathered there that he would do his best to meet their demands. In Alexandria, where some of the uprising’s worst violence occurred, around 1,000 protesters encircled the State Security Agency building after nightfall and demanded that the officers inside come out or they would storm the building. Several fire bombs were hurled and four police cars were set ablaze, though one protester insisted they were not to blame and only threw rocks.

>>> Continued on Egypt Page <<<

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IRAQ: Protesters converge on capital

Posted on March 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

March 4, 2011

Thousands of people have converged on Baghdad’s Tahrir, or Liberation, Square to protest against corruption and unemployment, despite a vehicle ban that forced many to walk for hours to the heart of the Iraqi capital. Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf reported from Baghdad that the situation was heading towards a stand-off, as security forces demanded the protesters leave, blocking their route across a bridge leading to the Green Zone, where the government has its base. Concrete blocks were set up by authorities on all of Baghdad’s bridges ahead of the protests. “What we’re seeing here is a bit of a test, of how the government will respond when these people clearly want their demands to be heard,” Arraf said. The protests in Iraq are growing in size, partly because of the instability of the coalition government formed by Nouri al-Maliki, the country’s prime minister, Arraf said. Iraqis are increasingly unwilling to accept the nature of the democracy that has emerged in years after Saddam’s regime was overthrown.

“This is a new democracy, it’s an unusual democracy, and it’s not exactly what people bargained for,” she said. “On top of that, people are looking around protests in Egypt and Tunisia … It has shown them, particularly these young people that if they come out and demand their rights, perhaps something will happen.” The Baghdad demonstration was one of many taking place across the country on Friday, including in the port of Basra and the city of Najaf. In the southern city of Basra, about 1,000 people gathered at the Basra provincial council building to rally against corrupt officials and poor basic services. Iraqi security forces used water cannon and batons to disperse the crowds. Last week the protests in Basra led to the resignation of the governor. This week, protesters demanded that the provincial council step down and essential services such as water and electricity be improved. Demonstrations have been taking place in Iraq for the past month, with protesters decrying a lack of improvement in their daily lives, eight years after the US-led invasion that ousted the late Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein. The biggest of the rallies took place last Friday, when Iraqis took to the streets of at least 17 cities and towns. A total of 16 people were killed and more than 130 wounded as a result of clashes on that day.

The demonstrations, inspired by revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, have concentrated on demands for improved government services, better pay and an end to corruption in Iraq. “Our country is lost and for the last eight years the government has failed to offer services for people. Thousands of youths are without jobs,” Bahjat Talib, who joined the protest in Baghdad, said. He said he walked from the vast slum in eastern Baghdad called Sadr City through eight checkpoints to get to the square. Talib said he had to tell security forces that he was going to work or they would refuse to let him pass. He was one of about 500 demonstrators in Liberation Square, surrounded by what appeared to be even more security forces. “People will continue demonstrating until there is reform because the government has been built on a sectarian basis,” said Faisal Hamid, a pensioner who walked to Tahrir Square from the nearby neighbourhood of Karrada. The Iraqi government, worried the demonstrations may spiral out of control, have taken strict measures that appear designed to limit the number of demonstrators who come out. Late Thursday, they imposed a vehicle ban in the capital so many of the protesters were forced to walk for miles. Similar vehicle bans were in place in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, and the southern city of Basra.

Side streets leading up to the square were blocked with security vehicles and helicopters buzzed overhead in Baghdad. Before those protests, Iraqi officials tried to discredit the demonstrations by saying they were being backed by supporters of Saddam and al-Qaeda. The warnings seemed designed to keep people away and paint those who did take part in a bad light. Ammar Ziad, a finance ministry employee who was protesting at Tahrir Square, on Friday, rejected the claims. “We are not Baathists, we are just Iraqis asking for simple rights like services,” he said. Demonstrators this Friday took measures to protect themselves, showing the distrust many feel toward the security forces. Kamil al-Assadi, a resident of Sadr City, formed a committee checking demonstrators entering the square because they were worried the security forces might plant people in the crowd to create problems. “We do not trust the Iraqi security forces and formed a committee to check the demonstrators to make sure that no one is carrying a knife or any kind of weapon who aims at creating any problems during the demo,” he said.

Maliki’s Broadened Powers Seen as a Threat in Iraq

March 4, 2011

BAGHDAD — As protesters throughout the Arab world challenge their authoritarian leaders, Iraqis, government officials and regional experts see increasing signs that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is expanding his power, undermining the fragile democracy struggling to take hold here. A ruling in January by Iraq’s highest court — sought by Mr. Maliki — gave him control of once-independent agencies responsible for running the country’s central bank, conducting elections and investigating corruption. A month after that ruling, two leading human rights groups reported that forces that report directly to Mr. Maliki, in violation of the country’s Constitution, were running secret jails where detainees had been tortured. And in July, Iraq’s high court ruled that members of Parliament no longer had the power to propose legislation. Instead, all new laws would have to be proposed by Mr. Maliki’s cabinet or the president and then passed to the Parliament for a vote. Political experts said they knew of no other parliamentary democracy that had such restrictions.

With influence from the United States waning as the military prepares to withdraw at the end of the year, Mr. Maliki’s critics say that one legacy of the eight-year American occupation is a democratically elected leader from the country’s Shiite majority who has far more power than the Constitution intended. Critics said that the court ruling in January was a particularly damaging blow to the country’s voting process and feeble economy. Sean Kane, the program officer for Iraq at the United States Institute of Peace, a Congressionally financed research center, said that the decision appeared to contradict Iraq’s Constitution, which he said states that the commissions have varying levels of responsibility to Parliament. Referring to the recent court ruling, Aliya Nasaif, a lawmaker from the Iraqiya coalition, a rival to Mr. Maliki’s State of Law bloc, said: “Because there is no law, you will find him overwhelming other institutions. This is the beginning of dictatorship. We are regressing by centuries.” Mr. Maliki has tried to respond to public discontent by giving his Cabinet 100 days to come up with ways to improve services. He has also promised to cut his pay and not seek a third term in 2014. An official for the United States Embassy said that Mr. Maliki and his advisers were trying to signal that they understood the outrage of Iraqis over corruption and poverty.

Those concessions, however, have done little to mollify Iraqis, and thousands took to the streets last week, sometimes violently, to protest the government’s failure to provide electricity and jobs. Rights groups criticized the government for what they called a violent crackdown on those demonstrations, saying that scores of people — including journalists — were beaten and detained. On Friday, protesters took the streets again, although there were far fewer reports of violence. Nevertheless, in the southern city of Basra, several journalists at a protest reported they had been beaten by security forces. Mr. Maliki, an uncharismatic but canny politician who was elected prime minister in 2006, has been credited with helping reduce the violence that once threatened to tear Iraq apart. But his critics say those victories have come at a cost. They accuse Mr. Maliki of taking a stronger hand over Iraq’s powerful police and military by leaving the slots of defense and interior minister open indefinitely, allowing him to act as the head of both agencies. “The developments in recent months have provoked real concern across the Iraqi political spectrum, and the responsibility now rests largely with the Parliament to check the prime minister’s power,” said Jason Gluck, a rule of law adviser at the United States Institute of Peace and an adviser to the Iraqi Parliament in 2007. “Whether the diverse political parties in Parliament can effectively do so will be a critical test for Iraq’s burgeoning democracy.”

One of Mr. Maliki’s top advisers, Ali al-Moussawi, said that the once-independent agencies had “irregularities and problems” in the past because of “the lack of supervision.” Mr. Moussawi said the new oversight would focus on administrative matters but would not interfere with the overall missions of the institutions. “The noise against the court decision is for political reasons,” Mr. Moussawi said. “Those who make this noise are not doing it for the sake of these bodies but for political gains.” Mr. Maliki had been seen as a fairly weak leader until 2008, when he ordered an Iraqi military offensive against Shiite militias, which had taken control of parts of southern Iraq. His critics say he continued to strengthen his power by using his security forces to resolve political disputes, particularly in Kurdistan. Mr. Maliki narrowly lost in the March 2010 election and appeared significantly weakened. But he muscled his way to a second term after favorable decisions from the election commission and the high court, allowing him to assemble a wide-ranging coalition government in December. Joost Hiltermann, an Iraq expert for the International Crisis Group, said that Mr. Maliki had benefited from the fact that Iraq has not been a top priority for the Obama administration. Some members of Iraq’s fractious Parliament, a rubber-stamp institution under Saddam Hussein, have said they would take measures to check Mr. Maliki’s power, vowing to cut funds to security agencies controlled by the prime minister and to pass laws that limit him.

None of those attempts, however, have gained much traction, in large part because the opposition is so divided. The degree of the court’s independence is unclear. The Iraqi Constitution is vague on how members of the court can be removed and appointed, and what guarantees its independence. Officials with the election commission said they were baffled by the court’s decision that placed them under Mr. Maliki’s supervision. They also worried that Iraqis would lose faith in the credibility of local and national elections if Mr. Maliki’s office began to select election monitors or to change the rules governing where voting takes place, how ballots are counted and who runs polling stations. Faraj al-Haidari, head of Iraq’s election commission, said that United Nations officials had expressed their concern about the ruling to him. Shortly after the decision was handed down, Mr. Haidari said he had received a letter from Mr. Maliki’s office telling the commission to halt the appointments of 38 low-level election officials. He said the commission had refused. Fear has also extended to the central bank, where officials said they worried that Mr. Maliki would now have the power to order the institution to print money to cover Iraq’s growing budget deficits. Such a move would weaken the value of Iraq’s anemic currency and lead to rapid inflation. “Our fear is that they will now see it as their money,” said the bank’s senior adviser, Mudher M. Salih Kasim.

In Iraq, Thousands Protest for Better Services

March 4, 2011

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets in cities and towns across the country on Friday, calling for better public services and demanding the government clean up corruption. News reports say Iraqi security forces used batons to disperse protesters who rallied in the southern city of Basra. Meanwhile, a government ban on vehicles in Baghdad and other cities, announced late Thursday, meant some protesters were forced to walk many kilometers to reach the demonstrations.

This is the second Friday Iraqis have protested, joining a wave of anti-government protests across the Middle East and North Africa. Chanting demonstrators massed in other cities, including Mosul and Nasiriya. Last Friday, clashes between security forces and protesters caused some 14 deaths across the nation. In response to the unrest, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki cut his own pay and increased funding for food programs for the needy. On Sunday, he gave his cabinet 100 days to improve or be fired.

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“Protests in Tripoli after prayers”

Posted on March 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

March 4, 2011

Libyan security forces have used tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters after Friday prayers in Col Gaddafi’s stronghold of Tripoli. A BBC reporter in the flashpoint eastern suburb of Tajoura said demonstrators had burnt the official Libyan flag. Secret police had tightened security in the area earlier, and Gaddafi loyalists set up traffic checkpoints. Unrest was also reported in the town of Zawiya and the oil port of Ras Lanuf. Reports from Ras Lanuf described the sound of multiple explosions and heavy artillery on the outskirts of the port. Opposition fighters had reportedly advanced on the city. Pro-Gaddafi forces withdrew to Ras Lanuf two days ago after a battle. Rebels later said they had seized the airport at Ras Lanuf, while state television reported that the town of Zawiya had been retaken by pro-Gaddafi forces. There was no independent confirmation of either claim.

>>> Continued on Libya Page <<<

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