politics | Protest update: Côte d'Ivoir, Mauritania, Gabon, Oman, Kuwait, North Korea, Lebanon & others...

CôTE D'IVOIR. (guys? how do I get that punctuation mark on the "o" in Côte d'Ivoire?)

Côte d'Ivoire: The Difficult Legacy of Houphouët-Boigny

In order to better understand the origins of the current political crisis in Côte d'Ivoire, it is necessary to place recent events within the context of the post-colonial era.
Post-Colonial Politics
Félix Houphouët-Boigny was the first president of Côte d'Ivoire from its independence in 1960 to his death in 1993. Henri Konan Bédié, president of the national assembly succeeded the deceased president in accordance with the Ivorian constitution. In 1995, Henri Konan Bédié remained in power, having been elected with 96.44% of the vote.
Politician Laurent Koudou Gbagbo called a boycott of this presidential election due to reforms that had been implemented to the electoral code. He was elected as a member of parliament in his constituency after his party, the FPI (Ivorian Popular Front), won five of the eight seats in the elections.
General Robert Guéï overthrew President Bédié on December 24, 1999, after the latter attempted to change the constitution in his favor.
Presidential elections were then held in 2000 and Guéï was beaten by Laurent Koudou Gbagbo. The elections were marred however, by the elimination of several candidates by the Supreme Court including former president Bédié and politican Alassane Ouattarabecause of ”dubious nationality”, forgery and use of a false identity. During Ouattara's prime ministerial rule under President Houphouët-Boigny, Gbagbo was imprisoned as a political opponent in1992 and sentenced to two years in jail, although he was released after seven months.
The result of the contest was strongly contested by Guéï and some clashes marred this period; he eventually recognized the legitimacy of Gbagbo, thus winning FPI a majority of 91 seats in parliament (against 70 and 16 to the opposition).
While Gbagbo was abroad in September 2002, soldiers made an attempt to overthrow him. During the coup, several assassination attempts took place against political figures including Alassane Ouattara, and several difficult years in Ivorian politics ensued.
Bitter Context for 2010 Elections
It is within this context that elections were organized by the international community in December 2010.
MORE

Côte d'Ivoire: Amnesty International Mission Report

An Amnesty International research team has just returned from a four week mission to Côte d'Ivoire where they investigated ongoing human rights violations connected with the disputed November 2010 presidential election and the subsequent political rift between outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of the election.

The team conducted research in the commercial capital Abidjan and in parts of the west of the country controlled by either the security forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo or the Forces Nouvelles who back Alassane Ouattara. The Forces Nouvelles are an armed opposition group that took control of the north and part of the west of Côte d'Ivoire after an armed uprising in September 2002.

The Amnesty International research team documented human rights violations and abuses both by the security forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo and by the Forces Nouvelles. Documented violations include extra-judicial executions, ill treatment, arbitrary detention, disappearances and sexual violence including rape.

The team investigated the many human rights violations and abuses that occurred before, during and after the 16 December 2010 march organized by the supporters of Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy Peace (RHDP - the coalition supporting Alassane Ouattara) in Abidjan. During the march there were violent clashes between protestors and the security forces. Dozens of unarmed demonstrators were killed, arrested and ill-treated by security forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo and three policemen were killed at the PK18 (an Abidjan suburb) by demonstrators armed with guns.

In addition, the team investigated inter-communal clashes in parts of the west of the country that have caused some 70,000 people to flee their homes, half of them have sought shelter in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the area or are staying with relatives in other villages and the other half have crossed the border to neighboring countries notably Liberia.MORE

Global Voices reports on a twitter campaign launched by members to get Nicolas Kristoff and Anderson Cooper to pay attention to Gabon and Cote D'Ivoir:

On February 21, 2011, @kenyanpundit sent a tweet linking to an article about international media following protests across the ‘Arab world' but ignoring those in Africa:
@kenyanpundit: On global media and African protests, “Why are Anderson Cooper and Nick Kristoff not in C'ote d'Ivoire”? http://bit.ly/ibWmdu
....In the Middle East people speak English rather than French (the language used primarily on Ivorian protest hashtag #CIV2010), and this gave me the idea to start up a tweet campaign to get CNN reporter Anderson Cooper to cover Côte d’Ivoire:
@annagueye: @kenyanpundit yes but people there speak English. I have decided that I will harass @andersoncooper until he gets his ass in #CIV2010
MORE

Cooper tweeted on the 25th Feb:

I have been following #ivorycoast closely and it deserves far more coverage. Monday will try to do something9:57 PM Feb 25th via Twitter for BlackBerry®

So watch out for his report.

MAURITANIA

Feb 26 Mauritania: Pro-Democracy Protests Break Out in Nouakchott

Protests broke out in Nouakchott, Mauritania's capital today, after young people assembled themselves online to call for rallies, which demand social, political and economic reforms, and an end to Mauritania's military rule.

Up to 2,000 protesters have reportedly marched to Blockat Square, where some intend to camp, until their demands are met. Among their demands are a cap on rising costs of living and a solution to the problem of unemployment. Others spoke out against discrimination and the fall of the military rule. This youth movement follows similar movements we have been witnessing across the Arab world since the Tunisian uprising - youth assembling themselves both in real life and virtual spaces, and protesting on the streets until their demands are met.

Mauritania's protests coincide with similar youth movements in Bahrain, Iraq, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Yemen and Libya.
On a Facebook page, one of the groups calling for the protests state:
نجحت الثورة التونسية ثم الثورة المصرية بعد ذلك بفترة وجيزة فبدأت شعوب المنطقة تتطلع لغد أفضل بعد أن أصاب الإحباط كثيرا من أبنائها وبعد أن ظلت لفترة طويلة تعيش تحت وطأة الاستبداد والظلم والقهر.
نجح قبل ذلك الأتراك من خلال الأحزاب والمجتمع المدني في إنشاء اقتصاد قوي وديمقراطية وليدة استطاعوا من خلالها إبعاد العسكر عن الحكم.
وقبل الأتراك نجح الإسبان في الانتقال إلى الديمقراطية عن طريق المصالحة وقاد الملك إخوان كارلوس بنفسه عملية التحول.
هناك إذا نماذج ناجحة مختلفة لانتقال ديمقراطي : النموذج التونسي والمصري (قيد التشكل) ، النموذج التركي والنموذج الإسباني.
أنشأت هذه الصفحة لتبادل الآراء لصناعة غد أفضل لبلدنا موريتانيا.
أي النماذج السابقة أصلح لنا وأيهم بإمكانه التحقق وكيف نساهم في تحقيقه؟
بإمكانكم أيضا اقتراح نماذج أخرى والهدف هو أن نحقق الديمقراطية والعدالة في بلدنا.
ننتظر إذن مشاركاتكم جميعا مهما كان موقفكم فهنا ديمقراطيتنا هنا سنصنع دولتنا على الفيس بوك قبل أن نراها واقعا بإذن الله تعالى.
The Tunisian revolution has succeeded, followed by the Egyptian revolution, a short period of time after it. People in the region have started to aspire for a better tomorrow after they have suffered from depression after living in oppression and injustice for a long period of time.
The Turks have succeeded before them, through creating political parties and with the help of a civic society, to create a strong economy, and with their new democracy, they have been able to push the military from power.
And before the Turks, the Spaniards were able to become a democracy through reconciliation, and King Juan Carlos himself led the reforms.
There are many successful examples of a transition into democracy. The Tunisian and Egyptian models (under formation), as well as the Turkish and Spanish models.
This page has been created to exchange views for a better tomorrow for our country Mauritania.
Which of those previous models is most suitable for us and which is the one we can achieve and work on implementing?
You can also suggest other models. The goal is to achieve democracy and justice in our country.
We look forward to your participation, whatever your opinion. This is where our democracy is and this is where we will create our country - on Facebook - before we are able to see it in reality. MORE

GABON

2011-02-12 The Gabonese Revolution on February 21 More information on what sparked it and what Wikileaks has to say about it.

On January 25, as Egypt began the first day of its revolution, Andre Mba Obame declared himself president of Gabon and set up his own government, stating "We have information that Obame got 42% and Ali Bongo 37%, and that the results were practically inverted.". The incumbent president, Ali Ben Bongo, the late president's son, came to power after a widely criticizedelection in August 30, 2009 which was followed by days of riots. Gabon was further inflamed in December when the parliament adopted a constitutional amendment allowing the president to extend his mandate in the case of an emergency. Opposition leader Zacharie Myboto at that time objected that "This leaves the door open to dictatorship."

On December 28, Wikileaks released a July 2009 US US state cable which showed senior Gabonese officials in the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) accused of embezzling more than 18.3 billion CFA (about US$36 million) from the pooled reserves of the six states of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) over the past five years."According to the Embassy source, senior Gabonese political`leadership, including the late President Omar Bongo and his son, Defense Minister and presidential hopeful, Ali Bongo benefited from the embezzlement. The source said Gabonese officials used the proceeds for their own enrichment and, at Bongo's direction, funneled funds to French political parties, including in support of French President Nicholas Sarkozy. Asked who received the funds, the BEAC official responded, "both sides, but mostly the right; especially Chirac and including Sarkozy." The BEAC official said "Bongo was France's favorite President in Africa," and "this is classic France Afrique." The BEAC official said his own government and others would seek jail time for some of the officials, but that there would be pressure to deal delicately with the new Gabonese Government. Ali Bongo, he said, is close personal friends with BEAC Governor Anzembe."
MORE

Gabon’s Lords of Poverty

Gabon’s Ba’aka pygmy population may soon be saying au revoir to smoked fish and nihao to tofu, if the $3.5 billion Belinga iron-ore mining deal, awarded to a Chinese consortium in 2006, goes off without a hitch. The ore, billed as one of the world’s last remaining major untapped deposits, was first discovered in 1885 in a remote forested region located in the Ogooue-Ivindo province, and is estimated to hold one billion tons of ore with iron content of 64 per cent.

According to the deal previously struck by Gabon’s former lifetime dictator - and Africa’s longest standing president, Omar Bongo, - China received a 25 year tax holiday, despite profits projected within the eight years and 90 per cent of the profits thereafter, as well as environmental and other para-fiscal exemptions, such as significant control over national infrastructure.[1]

Except that Gabon has little or no infrastructure - just 10 per cent of the roads are paved and an estimated 70 per cent of the population lives below the poverty belt. Political and civil rights are limited to laminated constitutions, and economic, social and cultural rights, such as state services ranging from healthcare to waste sanitation, are unheard of.

But it would be wrong to conclude that Gabon’s development policy has failed: over 120 French multinationals in addition to Gabon’s venal political elite take development very personally indeed, collaborating on the kind of corporate-state partnerships glimpsed in the Elf Affair.

Though Gabon scores in the top 33 per cent of countries with high ranking per capita GDP ($14,000) - averaging four times that of Sub-Saharan Africa - Gabon’s political elite lord over the country’s wealth as they do the artificially manufactured poverty. And just in case the population rebels, France’s strong Marine Infantry Battalion, based in the capital Libreville, will swiftly intervene, via France’s ‘Africa’ policy of Francafrique. Gabon, renowned as the focal point of Francafrique, composed of secretive defense agreements, multinationals, and handpicked black governors, has existed in a state of forced peace since decolonisation.[2]

MORE

Chinese investments in Gabon’s extractive industries

This article provides a brief overview of the recent developments in Gabon’s extractive industries – mining, oil and forestry, with a special focus on Chinese investments. It draws on field research in the country’s capital Libreville in May-June 2010 and in September 2008.[3]

OIL

Oil remains Gabon’s economically most important commodity. The Chinese presence in the petroleum sector was substantially strengthened in August 2009 when Sinopec purchased Addax, thus gaining access to the Canadian company’s blocks in Gabon. Of Addax’s three own concessions, two are in production (Maghena and Remboué) and one is in the exploration phase (Epaemeno). Two shared blocks are in production (Etame and Awoun). Addax’s day-to-day activities have not changed with the acquisition; it still operates under the same name and management. At present, Sinopec’s and Addax’s offices in Libreville do not collaborate, and the only Sinopec team that works directly with Addax is based at the latter’s headquarters in Geneva.[4]

Prior to the acquisition, China’s presence in Gabon’s oil sector was modest. It merely included two exploration blocks (Lotus and Salsich) and minor shares of two oil-producing blocks (Ozigo and Awoun). Sinopec’s activities at the Lotus block have been without success to date. The seismic data has been difficult to interpret and only one round of drilling has taken place, in 2008, without discoveries. Over the coming year Sinopec is going to initiate a new round of analysis of the existing seismic data to plan a new round of drilling.[5]MORE

OMAN, BAHRAIN, SAUDI ARABIA

Mideast unrest spreads to Oman (and Bahrain has huge protests and Saudi Arabia activists are getting restless)

Oman
Riot police have clashed with pro-democracy demonstrators in the seaside town of Sohar, 120 miles (200km) northwest of the capital, Muscat. At least one person was killed as security forces fired teargas and rubber bullets.
Oman's state-run news agency said protesters set fire to cars, houses, a police station and the governor's residence.

...
Bahrain
Protesters have streamed through Bahrain's diplomatic area and other sites, chanting slogans against the country's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and rejecting his appeals for talks to end the political crisis.
At least three processions paralysed parts of the capital, Manama, with marchers chanting: "No dialogue until the regime is gone." Some marchers claimed more than 200 political prisoners were still being held. No violence was reported.
...

Saudi Arabia
More than 100 leading Saudi academics and activists have joined calls made on the internet for King Abdullah to enact sweeping reforms and relinquish many of his powers. Abdullah has tried to fend off the rumblings with a spending spree. His latest concession is to allow government sector workers employed under temporary contracts to be offered permanent jobs with major benefits.

MORE

KUWAIT

Protests in Kuwait started around Feb 18-19th by bedoons demanding citizenship:

While Omani protests not stumbled by violence, 50 stateless Arabs arrested in protests in Kuwait

KUWAIT/MUSCAT (Agencies)
Thirty people were wounded in Friday's clashes in Kuwait between security forces and stateless Arabs demanding citizenship, security sources said on Saturday. The protest in Jahra, northwest of Kuwait City, was the first in the oil-producing Gulf Arab state since a wave of unrest began sweeping across the Middle East in December.

Fifty people were arrested after the demonstration, the security sources said. A similar protest in the village of Salibiya also drew 80 protesters on Friday, they said.

The sources said seven of the wounded in Jahra were from the security forces, who dispersed the demonstration using smoke bombs and water cannon after protesters refused warnings to leave. The Interior Ministry said protesters threw stones.
Those with more serious wounds were treated at Kuwait City's Sabah Hospital, the sources said.

The stateless Arabs, long-time residents of Kuwait known as bedoun from the Arabic "bedoun jinsiyya" (without nationality), were demanding citizenship, free education, free healthcare and jobs, benefits available to Kuwaiti nationals.

Many of Kuwait's stateless are descendents of desert nomads denied citizenship under strict nationality laws in the small Gulf state, where citizenship entitles holders to generous welfare benefits.
MORE

3rd Day of Protests by Kuwaiti Bidoon Please note that this a news article posted in a blog. There are other links to the same situation at the bottom of the page. I haven't read the blog and thus cannot vouch for it's other posts.

MPs split on bedoons as protests continue
Kuwait Times
Published Date: February 21, 2011
By B Izzak and Agencies

KUWAIT: Hundreds of stateless Arabs demonstrated for the third day running yesterday to press for basic rights and citizenship. Up to 300 protesters took to the streets in Jahra and around 200 demonstrated in Sulaibiya, and the two protests remained peaceful unlike the previous two days. Stateless Arabs, who are locally known as bedoons, claim entitlement to Kuwaiti citizenship, but the government calls them "illegal residents".

MPs made contradictory statements on the issue yesterday as National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi bluntly told them that demonstrating is not the right way to get their rights. Khorafi told reporters that HH the Amir would study the grievances, but urged the demonstrations to cease. Khorafi also denied that authorities overstepped their bounds. The interior ministry yesterday denied in a statement that any protesters had died as a result of injuries. It said some protesters suffered slight injuries that were treated on the scene, while others were taken to hospitals where they are recovering.

Asked whether the government had failed to resolve the file of bedoons, Khorafi said: "I do not doubt that we were all late in the treatment of this subject and thus encouraged those who do not deserve to claim rights of others. I think that there is a class of beneficiaries who had been wronged and were lost among those who deserve and others who do not deserve .. but I think the keenness of everyone to solve the problem and give everyone his rights would lead to the solution of the problem," he added.

A number of MPs, meanwhile, filed a request that part of a regular session of the Assembly on March 8 be allocated to debate and approve draft laws granting bedoons their basic rights. Opposition MP Hassan Jowhar said he had information that a number of bedoon detainees were tortured by police and some were taken to the military hospital for treatment. Jowhar also said that security forces stormed homes of some bedoons and advised the interior minister not to deal with bedoons with violence and urged the protesters not to attack security forces. The lawmaker accused the government of being responsible for the problem because it has refused to cooperate with the Assembly to resolve the issue.

...

Bedoons number more than 100,000 and come primarily from bedouin, or nomadic, origins. Most say they are stateless because they or their forefathers failed to apply for citizenship at the time of Kuwait's independence, HRW said. Currently, the Kuwaiti government obstructs the bedoons' right to civil documentation by requiring them to relinquish citizenship claims before they can receive birth, marriage or death certificates, the organisation said. "The government does not recognise their right to work, and bedoon children may not attend government schools," and they cannot press their claims to nationality before Kuwaiti courts, it said.

The bedoons claim they have the right to Kuwaiti citizenship, but the government says many of their ancestors came from neighbouring states and they are not entitled to nationality. Kuwait launched a crackdown on the bedoons in 2000, depriving them of basic rights including the right to health, education and jobs, in a bid to force them to reveal what the authorities say are their true identities. Many bedoons have no right to a driving licence, cannot get birth certificates for their babies or death certificates for the dead. They are also banned from getting their marriage contracts attested. Because of stringent government restrictions, a majority of them are living in dire economic conditions in Kuwait, where the average monthly salary of native citizens is more than KD 1,000.
MORE

On Lord. You cannot have nationstates who patrol their borders and demand that nomadic peoples settle down in one place, then refuse to integrate them into society (or demand that they give up everything to integrate into society), and NOT expect protest to follow sooner or later. Does anyone have any good book recs or articles on the relationship between nomadic nations and the nation-state?

NORTH KOREA via:

colorblue

First public protests against the Kims’ regime

Seoul (AsiaNews) – The wave of protests that began in the Mideast appears to have reached even North Korea. For the first time in the history of the Stalinist regime, groups of ordinary citizens have protested in three cities demanding food and electricity, sources say. The event is exceptional and confirms the economic difficulties, especially concerning food supplies, people have to face under the Communist government.

According to South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper, citing a North Korean source, demonstrations broke out on 14 February, two days before Kim Jong-il’s birthday, in the cities of Jongju, Yongchon and Sonchon, not far from the border of China.

The State Security Department (the all-powerful agency under Kim Jong-il’s direct control) investigated the incident but failed to identify the people who started the commotion when they met with a wall of silence.

BAHRAIN

Thousands continue to march in Bahrain

General Federation for Trade Unions signals possible general strike

MANAMA: Thousands of Bahrainis marched in Manama on Sunday calling for the fall of the ruling Sunni dynasty, as 18 opposition MPs submitted their letter of resignation to protest the killing of demonstrators.
The throng of protesters set out from Pearl Square, which has become the epicenter of anti-government protests that began on February 14, marching onto a major highway.
Demonstrators carrying a large banner that read "The People Want to Topple the Regime" led the marching protesters, who chanted the same refrain.

The large flag-waving crowd wound its way down the highway to the Diplomatic Area, marching past the Kuwaiti and Saudi embassies and the Bahraini central bank.
The crowd stopped in front of the Ministry of Justice, roaring "Down, down Hamad!"- a reference to the Gulf state's king, King Hamad bin Issa Al-Khalifa.

However, a prominent Shiite dissident said on Sunday he would accept a constitutional monarchy in the Gulf Arab kingdom if protesters supported the measure. Hassan Mushaimaa was allowed to return to Bahrain as part of several concessions by the ruling Al-Khalifa family to Bahrain's majority Shiites who have been at the forefront of nearly two weeks of protests demanding more say in government. Mushaimaa, leader of the Haq movement which has in the past questioned the legitimacy of the king, also did not rule out the Sunni royal family's removal.MORE

LEBANON

Tyrants of Lebanon, Your turn is next!

BEIRUT: Hundreds of people marched in Beirut yesterday demanding an end to Lebanon's confessional system, mobilized by a call posted on Facebook, an AFP journalist reported. "The revolution is everywhere... Lebanon, it's your turn," chanted demonstrators, most of them young people, in reference to the popular uprisings rattling regimes across the Arab world since January. Lebanon's system of government is rooted in a 1943 power-sharing agreement along confessional lines adopted after the country won its in
dependence from France.

Aimed at maintaining a balance between the 18 religious sects, the agreement calls for the president to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister to be a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shiite Muslim. Other government jobs are also allocated according to religious affiliation. The power-sharing arrangement has been blamed for most of the country's problems over the decades, including corruption, cronyism and above all the devastating civil war (1975-1990) and its subsequent crises.MORE

LIBYA

A glimpse into Gaddafi's palace

As pro-democracy demonstrators gain control of more cities in eastern Libya, Muammar Gaddafi's many properties in the hands of protesters have been ransacked and destroyed.

One such palace sits on the outskirts of al-Baida.

Set in beautifully landscaped gardens, with a covered swimming pool, a sauna and a jacuzzi for Gaddafi and his guests, the palace offers a glimpse into the fortified world of a leader, who, according to US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, suffers from a severe phobia.

With a fully equipped underground shelter designed to keep the leader safe for several months, in case of an attack involving use of unconventional weapons, the palace is more than just a luxurious castle.

The bunker in the palace has a fully serviced air filter system and is also equipped with emergency generators, fire alarm, water pumps, and a ladder fixed in what could have served as a back emergency exit to help the leader escape.

Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland gives us a glimpse into one of Gaddafi's palaces.

I have got to protest the characterization of this bunker preparation as paranoia, here. The US did bomb Libya in 1986 in retaliation for terrorism attributed to him, and he and his sons barely escaped with their lives, though an adopted daughter named Hanna was killed. (Conservative news sources are quibbling that he ever had a daughter named Hanna). And who the hell knows what could have happened during the Cold War? Latin America: On teleSUR's Coverage of Libya Uprising

Latin American news channel teleSUR, backed by the Venezuelan government and broadcasting from Caracas, managed earlier this week to send several journalists (including a special correspondent, Jordán Rodríguez) into Tripoli to cover the ongoing uprising in Libya. Nonetheless, its coverage [es], which seems quite different to the one provided by other international news media, has caught the attention of many Latin Americans.Unlike the Egyptian protests, when teleSUR mostly relied on the coverage by Al Jazeera English (both outlets have a content deal since 2006) and which were celebrated as a “victory” by the network, teleSUR seemed to have, specially during the early days of their coverage inside Libya, a favourable bias to the country's ruler Muammar Al Gaddafi. Critics of teleSUR have claimed it is a “propaganda tool” for left-wing Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, and last week whenrumours emerged about Gaddafi having fled to Venezuela, many people were reminded aboutthe close relationship between the two leaders.

MORE

Discussion of All Things Political

Protest update: Côte d'Ivoir, Mauritania, Gabon, Oman, Kuwait, North Korea, Lebanon & others...

Protest update: Côte d'Ivoir, Mauritania, Gabon, Oman, Kuwait, North Korea, Lebanon & others...

no subject

no subject

no subject

Profile

January 2013

Links

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags