Côte d'Ivoire: opposition leader Alassane Ouattara calls for mass protest
Mr Alassane Ouattara the internationally recognised winner of Côte d'Ivoire’s presidential election has set up his headquarters at a luxury hotel in Abidjan under the protection of UN peacekeepers and former rebels. Mr Alphonse Djédjé Mady, a spokesperson of the coalition called on “all people of Côte d'Ivoire to support massively the government” to install Ouattara’s new CEO of the state television. The group also said they will march on government buildings which are under the control of the incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo to install the legitimate one.
Sudan: Federalism in Sudan is the best, suggests Bashir
The Sudanese leader downplayed the possibility of post-referendum conflict in the country. Speaking in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa on Monday evening, President Bashir also observed that a federal government system could ease the post-referendum relations between North and South Sudan. He believes that a federal system of government can save his country from disintegration.
International recognition eludes Madagascar despite new constitution
Even after voting in favour of a new constitution paving the way for the country’s Fourth Republic, Madagascar is still struggling for recognition by the international community. That the international community has continued to ignore the newborn republic was made abundantly clear by the absence of foreign guests during its inauguration last Saturday. Not even congratulatory messages were sent to the country’s High Authority of Transition (HAT), led by President Andry Rajoelina. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) emissaries heading the peace negotiations led by Dr Leonardo Simao, arrived in Antananarivo last Sunday , after the inauguration of the Fourth Republic, and avoided to comment on the island’s new political development .The SADC officials are actually in Antananarivo to commission an international mediation local liaison office following their previous visit in November. On Monday, at UN headquarters in Madagascar, discussions focused on the possibility of resuming the negotiations between the rival politicians.
Six Kenyans accused of rape, murder and torture
The ODM group of Eldoret North, consisting of William Ruto, Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey and journalist Joshua arap Sang will each face charges of murder, deportation or forcible transfer of people, causing serious injury and persecution based on political affiliation. On the other side, the PNU group consisting of Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, head of Public Service Francis Muthaura and former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali will face similar charges. Their actions, the international prosecutor, Mr Moreno-Ocampo says, resulted in more than 1,100 people being killed, 3,500 injured and more than 600,000 being displaced from their homes. The prosecutor accuses Mr Ruto and Mr Kosgey of planning attacks against PNU supporters as far back as December 2006. The prosecutor says Mr Sang used his radio programme to collect supporters and provide signals to members of the plan on when and where to attack. “Their two goals were: (1) to gain power in the Rift Valley Province and ultimately in the Republic of Kenya, and (2) to punish and expel from the Rift Valley those perceived to support the PNU,”. Mr Moreno-Ocampo said that all the attacks occurred in a uniform fashion. The perpetrators gathered at designated meeting points outside of locations selected for attack. He adds that Mr Sang helped coordinate the attacks using coded language disseminated through radio broadcasts, and the three prominent PNU members and/or Government of Kenya officials Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Mohammed Hussein Ali developed and executed a plan to attack perceived ODM supporters in order to keep the PNU in power .The officers, he said, used excessive force against civilian protester in Kisumu and Kibera,Nairobi
Diallo turns down offer to be Guinea's premier
Guinean losing presidential runoff election candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo has rejected the offer to be the prime minister. Mr Diallo made the statement in Dakar on Monday evening following a courtesy call on President Abdoulaye Wade. He explained that his decision stemmed from the fact that there were a lot of dissimilarities of character and points of divergence on issues with Prof Condé. “I have values and norms to defend and I can do that better if I stay in the opposition, and that is what I’m going to do,” .He added that: “I believe Guineans can remain united in diversity and fully carry out their civic responsibilities, especially fighting against those scourges that erode society.” He then accused Prof Condé of building and perpetuating ethnic and regional segregation during the recent presidential election.
AU makes fresh attempt at unlocking Côte d'Ivoire stalemate
The African Union commission chair Jean Ping Thursday left for Côte d'Ivoire in a new effort at ending the political stalemate that has engulfed the West African country and seen two parallel governments in place. Dr Ping is accompanied by a strong diplomatic team that includes AU peace and security commissioner Mr. Ramtane Lamamra, Mr Victor Gbeho, the President of the Commission of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), and a retinue of special advisors. He is set to meet current ECOWAS chair, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja before meeting the feuding Ivorian parties on Thursday afternoon in the capital Abidjan. On the running out of time, the AU, which has suspended Côte d'Ivoire, comes after the bloc's special envoy to Côte d’Ivoire, former South African president Thabo Mbeki, failed to reach a compromise last week with incumbent Laurent Gbagbo defiantly hanging on to the military, key ministries and the cocoa ports that are the key levers of state power.
Great Lakes bloc calls for arrest of LRA leader
The Great Lakes region bloc said that it backs efforts to apprehend Uganda’s Lord Resistance Army (LRA) rebel leader Joseph Kony and his commanders. Addressing the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in Lusaka last Wednesday, Zambian President Rupiah Banda, who chairs the bloc, said that they supported the US Government’s four-point strategy to protect civilians and capture Kony, promote defection, disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of the remaining LRA fighters. “Such an initiative is bound to contribute to ending bloodshed and the protection of civilian populations in the Great Lakes Region and bring the leaders of negative forces to justice,” DRC’s President Joseph Kabila told the summit that the region must rid itself of illegal exploitation and trade in natural resources, especially minerals. According to him, illegal exploitation of natural resources has ramifications that go beyond country boundaries. AU deputy chairperson Erastus Mwencha said that despite Africa being blessed with rich natural resources, its people were “very poor” partly due to illegal exploitation of resources.