PURE AS THE ENDS WE SEEK by Jim Ghedi

Jim Ghedi, the artist, writer and poet returns as guest writer on the blog with the insightful article, somewhat appropriately titled ‘Pure as the ends we seek’. His new album entitled ‘Sets of Abyssinia’, the result of a project with the singer-songwriter Neal Heppleston, is now available to the public and comes highly recommended by 1worldinternational.

 

I started to realize that as human beings we influence each other by who we are. In that sense, humanity is the most susceptible organism on earth.

This brings up an interesting concept, as being surrounded by good and positive people we will evidently be influenced to do good and positive deeds in day-to-day life. But there obviously are, in this world, an abundance of bad people with negative or selfish intentions who have the power to influence us subconsciously or indeed even consciously to do bad on this earth.

This brought to mind a continuous theme that’s existed for centuries, namely man’s constant battle between good and evil. I began to contemplate a situation, where ourselves as human beings consciously tune into goodness, positivity and love, learning from the works of great men, great composers, great authors, great artists, poets, people who committed their lives to do good for others, who sacrificed their lives for the struggle for justice and peace on earth and those who believed that the universe exists on moral foundations. Evidently the fate of the universe and the future of existence lie in our moral convictions as good human beings.

In short my realization today illustrated that previous philosophers and social thinkers through time even though well intentioned, were often misdirected, in that they observed the sufferings of the world from a materialistic point of view. For instance, Marx looked at changing or destroying states and social systems. In essence he advocated a revolution by means of brutality, when to bring true change I feel would have been much simpler than forming marched armed revolts against the state.

Imagine if more human beings awoke tomorrow morning, having simply switched perspectives and consciousness to something closer to feelings of compassion. If more people woke up with an incentive to not just be tuned in to goodness but to have a moral determination to generate positivity for the benefit of all beings in the day to come ahead of them. Imagine just by an awareness each understood the concept of this universal influence we have on each other, maybe it is all just connecting to a mental and emotional switch, where we can turn on to the prosperity of this world.

As simple as waking with a thought, to provide for something living with me today, this also creates the truth that as being consciously tuned into what’s good we must distinguish evil as well. If we continuously fall victim to this world’s distractions and fail to switch on to what’s right and what’s wrong we will not progress as a people; rather we shall fall into emptiness instead of meaning.

I realise sceptics and realists will argue that there are few who will desire the intentions of good within themselves or that people live in different circumstances and as such are unable to focus their energy towards “the good”. But I argue all human beings desire happiness and to be happy and though distracted now they must understand the only happiness they will attain will be through the goodness of what’s inside them and also what surrounds us all, in our environment, our society, our world and our universe.

Martin Luther King jr once said “the means we use, must be as pure as the ends we seek.” There is nothing quite as pure as human compassion and through that we can endure true love. We must though understand we can only achieve anything through human kind’s ability to change its own condition, nothing can be of substance without action.

THE CONGO: ARE SOME WARS LESS IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS?

This week's post comes from the writer and poet, Uche Ndaji who has produced a polemic on the fortunes, or rather misfortunes, of one of Africa's largest countries, DRC Congo. The piece adopts a multi-faceted approach in its analysis of the Congo with the author avoiding the oft-repeated patronizing tone adopted by many researchers in their attempts to channel or convey the Congo experience to the rest of the world. The piece is worth publication in the very best of the global news outlets across the world and 1worldinternational is certainly privileged to serve as the mouthpiece of this fantastic writer.


When the M23 rebel group audaciously marched into Goma on 20 November a feeling of dread emerged, an oxymoronic combination of expectation and surprise. As MONUSCO, the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DR Congo shockingly looked on, the M23 captured Goma with little more than agonising stares to contend with.

For the unfortunate population in eastern Congo, a sentiment of déjà vu perseveres: a feeling that a war that never ends begins once more in a conflict that has claimed 5 million lives. Where were the diplomats, the envoys and regional leaders spinning for one side or the other? Did the world leaders lose the memo? If colonial discord is put to one side for the purpose of addressing the country’s recent past, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been in turmoil since independence in 1960.

In recent times, the Congolese population have not known peace because the mineral wealth which it is blessed with including: gold, tantalum, tin, but to name a few has turned into an encumbrance. Decades of political coups d’état and unstable leadership steadily guided a country with abundant natural wealth into the hands of rapacious states.

In a letter presented on November 15 to the Security Council by the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo, light is shed on the carefully coordinated proxy war financed by Rwanda and factions of the Ugandan government. The report emphasises the influence of the Rwandese and Ugandan governments on the conflict through arms and personnel provision. Furthermore, the report stresses the fact that M23 is the only rebel group in eastern Congo that wears Rwandan armed forces uniforms. This deals a big blow to Rwandan president Paul Kagame’s unrelenting denials of his government’s support and connection to the cause of the uprising or the M23 rebel group.

Simmering alongside allegations of Rwanda’s support for M23 are ethnic divisions which stem from Rwanda’s genocidal past and DR Congo’s safeguarding of some of the Hutu administration who devised the 1994 massacre that killed as many as 1 million people according to the United Nations Outreach Programme. In a bid to protect the Rwandan Tutsi minority and its expatriate population within Congo from attacks by Hutu militiamen operating from its border with eastern Congo, the Rwandan government has used the pretext of protecting its citizens to pillage Congo DR’s natural resources.

On one hand, criticising the international community for lack of action against a conflict that has ravaged the lives of millions seems unwarranted, perhaps unfair. On the other hand, the least the UN can do is to take action against systematic human rights abuses for the sake of the 5 million killed; 1.7 million internally displaced people and the rape victims, attacked at the rate of 48 every hour according to the American Journal of Public Health.

A recurring concern remains that warlords capture and retain territory with impunity, executing civilians, looting, raping and forcibly conscripting child soldiers. A prime example of such an aggressor is the M23 leader Bosco Ntaganda, wanted for trial by the International Criminal Court on a warrant issued in 2006 for conscripting, coordinating the recruitment and training of children under 15, as former Deputy Chief of General Staff for Military Operations for the Forces Patriotiques pour la libération du Congo (FPLC).

In light of such atrocities, there is an unpleasant impression propagated by the international community that some wars are more important than others. That if your war does not involve terrorism, extremism or a direct threat to the exportation of democracy to the developing world then it must be a trivial conflict to be tucked away into the pile of inconsequential scuffles that just happen. In such cases few resolutions are made except for squabbling between Security Council members, who doubt the motives of intervention even when civilians are trapped in the savageries of warfare: the conflict in Syria comes to mind.

Consider if the fanfare surrounding the recent Israel-Gaza hostilities had been applied to the DR Congo conflict, much progress would have been made bearing in mind that it is in poor taste to compare wars. In the same breath, restrained indifference encourages belligerent forces to continue brutalising villages. The recent UN report also called attention to the slaughter of hundreds of civilians in North Kivu under the instructions of M23, with at least 800 houses burnt down since May 2012.

Although the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO costs an estimated $1 billion a year, its function is yet to be realised. Established in 1999, the mission has done little to prevent widespread killings and rapes in the eastern region of Congo. The purpose of the peacekeeping mission was further called into question when UN personnel stood and watched as rebels took the city of Goma. The frequency of such incursions tells the dismal story of a failed mission but more importantly the innocent Congolese people caught in the middle of MONUSCO’s spineless assignment, leaving civilians to protect themselves.

The $1 billion spent on a protective force that appears futile can be used to prop up the projects of rape victims who assist other victims by providing shelter, medical and psychological care.

Meanwhile, the rebels are aware that the UN mission has run its course, the daring march into Goma emphasises this point and the exasperation of the angry crowd that clapped for the rebels and hurled stones at UN troops is an indication of accepted apathy. The international community must do something to restore confidence, it should either extend MONUSCO’s mandate or create a different structure, active in engaging when rebels show aggression towards civilians.

Also, it is essential to initiate dialogue between the governments of Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo. These governments are culpable on some level of arming rebel groups. Perhaps Rwandan and Ugandan governments realise that if the war rages on in Congo they can appropriate more minerals and assure that the status quo of their regimes remain. However, the unpredictability of constant change in leadership and blocs in the respective rebel groups operating in DR Congo shows that nothing is guaranteed.

Despite the announcement on 30 November by International Development Secretary Justine Greening that £21m worth of aid to Rwanda would be withdrawn, it remains to be seen how responsive the Rwandan government and their Ugandan counterparts can be in ensuring that peace finally reigns in DR Congo.

SIERRA LEONE: SIERRA LEONANS CHOOSE THE BALLOT OVER THE BULLET

Unsurprisingly the pattern of events which have unfolded since the outcome of national elections in Sierra Leone became known have followed a rather rancorous and familiar path. Last week’s re-election of President Ernest Bai Koroma has drawn the ire of leading figures from the country’s main opposition party who claim that the elections were flawed and rigged in favour of the incumbent. Koroma, who campaigned on the joint headers of fighting corruption and attracting investment to the country, will now serve a second term in office following his 2007 victory.

Koroma’s All People’s Congress were said to have garnered 58.7 percent of the popular vote thereby surpassing the 55 percent threshold required to claim a first round victory. The opposition party’s Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) questioned the validity of elections which international observers have acknowledged as being free and fair. Bio averred that the credibility of the results had been undermined by “systemic and widespread irregularities, malpractices and injustices”.

The SLPP and Bio will meet difficulties in attempting to convince anyone but their own supporters that the elections were marred by irregularities. For one, international observers including a European Union observer mission stationed in the country during the elections have had no reasons, as far as is known, to question the polls’ credibility. The EU’s presence was supplemented by observer missions from the Commonwealth, the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU). Further, a recount of a cross-section of the votes cast and conducted by the country’s electoral commission following the aforementioned claims of voter irregularity revealed that only a handful of the sample had been ‘contaminated’ and that the numbers of ‘contaminated’ votes were insufficient in number and scale to necessitate the annulment of the election results.

If the results of this third democratic election stand, it would signal immense progress since the end of the country’s 11-year civil war between 1991 and 2002. That unsavoury period of the country’s existence saw Sierra Leone serve as venue against the background of the commission of grave breaches of human rights and war crimes. The conflict was famous for the use of ‘blood diamonds’ by rebel soldiers to acquire ammunition, the deplorable use of child soldiers and the scores of innocent civilians now living with amputated limbs, amputation being the rebel fighters’ favoured means of intimidation and punishment. Hopes however abound that the recent elections will serve as the impetus which the country needs in order to realise the potential which the wealth of natural resources it possesses could only fuel or propel. Encouragingly early indications reveal a country so haunted by its past that its people, regardless of ethnic or political affiliation, are intent on steering its path far away from the history it attempts to dissociate therefrom.

IRAN: INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY AND IRAN AGREE TALKS

News of Iran’s imminent return to the negotiating table has allayed concerns of further instability in the Middle East. The talks, which are being forced through by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), are expected to take place on December 13 in the country’s capital, Tehran. The talks are being held side by side with separate discussions involving Germany, France, Britain, China, Russia and the United States, and are also aimed at defusing the rather complex Middle East powder keg.

The IAEA’s attempts to inject some calm to the tense proceedings have so far been met by strong Iranian resistance. Iran continues to assert that its nuclear intentions are pure and that its purpose for acquiring nuclear capability is non-military. Iran’s return to the negotiating table has surprisingly been met with anything but elation and optimism which most certainly owes to the fact that too many proclamations of a ‘new dawn’ have been sounded out in the past but without progress on the ground commensurate with previous shades of optimism. Dare I say that the present debacle is rather akin to the parable of ‘the boy who cried wolf’.

Matters are not made any easier by the country’s leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who appears to revel in the attention directed by the international media towards his region of the world, albeit for the wrong reasons. Needless to say his latest pronouncements that “the Iranian nation is not seeking an atomic bomb, nor do they need to build an atomic bond” was not only met with silence which it deserved but also derision. To many, Ahmadinejad will continue to fail in his attempts to pull the wool over the watching world’s eyes if he, on the one hand states that the country’s nuclear enrichment programme is geared towards peaceful aims, but at the same time, prevents the IAEA from visiting alleged nuclear enrichment sites and also, continues to threaten the state of Israel, for all their faults, with eternal damnation.

The restrained pronouncements in light of the latest developments by leading global figures perhaps tells its own story and buttresses the writer’s earlier assertions. Catherine Ashton, the Foreign Policy supremo of the European Union cautiously asserted that the talks “could be an initial step on the path to resolving outstanding issues.” The United States, via its State Department Spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, offered: “In the past Iran has been unwilling to do what it needs to do despite the best efforts of the IAEA. But we commend the IAEA for keeping at it and we call on Iran to do what it needs to do to meet the international community’s concerns.”

The announcement comes a week after the Pentagon reported that Iran had fired at an unarmed American drone thereby risking an international incident with the capacity to morph into a major conflict. Nonetheless and in spite of the air of pessimism which pervades, the agreement to return to the table is encouraging and signals a climb down from the ‘chest puffing’ which the conflict’s main protagonists – Iran, Israel and the United States – have so far been engaged. Liberals will argue that the sanctions regime has been effective at forcing Iran to utilise diplomatic channels to resolve the dispute while ‘hawkish Republicans’ and Benjamin Netanyahu’s – the Israeli President - supporters will state that Iran is utilising the talks as a smokescreen whilst it completes its nuclear programme. Although President Obama’s victory most certainly means that the United States will only engage militarily against Iran as a last resort, the writer however believes the threat of an Israeli pre-emptive strike still looms large and has not been allayed by Iran’s sudden and unexpected move.

SRI LANKA: U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL URGES GOVERNMENT TO INVESTIGATE WAR CRIMES

The global human rights watchdog the United Nations Human Rights Council this week pressed the Sri Lankan government to bring to book those implicated in the commission of war crimes and the violation of human rights during the course of the country’s 30-year long civil war. The allegations principally centre on the state of chaos which prevailed in the period towards the end of the civil war during which army personnel were said to have wantonly carried out mass crimes against Tamil civilians in their fight against Tamil Tiger rebels.


Extra-judicial killings, Freedom of Expression and Disappearances

Speaking in the aftermath of the Council’s latest meeting, the U.K’s ambassador Karen Pearce made reference to allegations that lawyers, activists and journalists who have dared to highlight continuing violations of human rights have faced persecution from the authorities. Mrs Pearce urged the Sri Lankan government to ensure the discontinuance of “reprisal attacks against any individual including for cooperating with U.N. mechanisms”. In adding her own two cents to the debate, the U.S. ambassador Eileen Donahoe revealed the unfortunate truths that threats to freedom of expression, disappearances and extra-judicial killings still exist in the post-war Sri Lanka. Addressing the alleged violations of human rights and international law, Mrs Donahoe stated that Sri Lanka needed to “end impunity for human rights violations and fulfil legal obligations regarding accountability by initiating independent and transparent investigations”.


Government Denials

As expected, the latest developments have been met with concrete denials by the Sri Lankan government as has been the case since the allegations first surfaced at the end of the war about three years ago. The special envoy of the President on human rights matters, Mahinda Samarasinghe said that his country was taking matters seriously as evidenced by the fact that the country’s courts were already investigating crimes committed against civilians during the war. Samarasinghe referred to the country’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), akin to South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has played a significant role in the country’s healing process following the war. To this end Samarasinghe averred: “Protection of civilian life was a key factor in the formulation of government policy for carrying out military operations and the deliberate targeting of civilians formed no part in that strategy…If reliable evidence is available in respect of any contravention of the law, the domestic legal process will be set in motion.”


Report of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)

Try as it may the Sri Lankan government’s protestations have not been persuasive enough to shake off the claims. The contents of the recent report of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) titled “Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka” provided a damning indictment of the government’s efforts to bring the alleged perpetrators of the crimes to book. The report accused the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa of being in serious breach of its international obligations to protect and promote human rights by purposefully failing to bring to justice the alleged criminals. The ICJ also highlighted evidence of intimidation of members of the judiciary, media and human rights groups who have shouldered responsibility for bringing the said criminals to book in the absence of effective and coordinated government action.


Sound-off

Long-term observers of political affairs relating to the Asian sub-continent will agree that the Sri Lankan government is currently in denial and could have achieved more than it currently has in terms of bringing the key protagonists in the country’s darkest period to book. Its recent actions are also at odds with its persistent pronouncements of innocence. This week the President instigated a motion in parliament aimed at the removal of the chief justice, Shirani Bandaranayake. At the time of writing no reason has been provided for the move although some claim that it is evidence of the campaign of intimidation which awaits individuals who fail to toe the government line. Rajapaksa should best beware that the eyes of the international community are, from this point on, permanently trained upon him and its stares will not be diverted until the subject of accountability is nudged towards the crest of his political agenda.

MALI: ALGERIA’S AGREEMENT PAVES THE WAY FOR MILITARY INTERVENTION

The last few months have seen numerous developments take place in the West African country of Mali. So numerous have these changes been that news outlets have struggled to keep apace with the rapidly transcending circumstances. This week, Algeria, said to be the only obstacle to an ECOWAS-led military intervention in Mali, approved an intervention, the consequences of which have the potential to spill into its territory.


ECOWAS’s (The Economic Community of West African States) aim, by way of the intended action is to wrestle back control from al Qaeda-backed militants of the northern part of the country which for several months, has been outside the control of the country’s government. Some reports now claim that Tuareg rebels, working in tandem with al Qaeda-supported Islamist militants now control two thirds of the country since army generals instigated a coup in March of this year.


Algeria’s agreement hasn’t been achieved without the usual diplomatic arm twisting. In this case, its colonial father France has been at the forefront of efforts to acquire Algeria’s approval prior to the intended intervention. It would now appear that France has been able to assuage the fears of Algeria, a country with growing influence in the region, of fears that the conflict would spill into its territory and further fears over the likely duration of the conflict. This latest development follows the recent U.N. Security Council resolution whose central proposal was its urging of African states and the United Nations for the production of an intervention plan in Mali.


In the same week the African Union (AU) lifted its suspension of Mali which was imposed on the country following the aforementioned coup d’etat which unseated President Amadou Toumani Toure earlier on in the year. The country’s Foreign Minister Tieman Coulibaly attributed the lifting of the sanctions to Mali’s “respect of signed agreements and the creation of a government of national union conforming to the demands of the international community.” One of the conditions for the intervention is rumoured to be that elections would have to be held within 12 months after the return to ‘constitutional order’.


It is worthwhile noting that international consensus has been achieved with regard to how the Malian situation should be addressed. Germany, by way of its Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle averred in the past week that the European Union must assist with the African-led Mali mission. France’s position is visibly clear having seized the reins in the drafting of an intervention centred U.N. resolution and selling the idea of intervention to a very reluctant Algeria.


The U.S., via its Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, highlighted the gains made by al Qaeda which has successfully exploited the power vacuum in the region and the need for the international community to work hand in hand in order to deal with the threats. Panetta stated: “We need to work with the nations in the region. They all agree that we are facing the same threat there from AQIM (said to be al Qaeda’s branch in North Africa). He continued: “Our goal right now is to try to do everything we can to bring those countries together in a common effort to go after AQIM.”


Even if the AU can produce the detailed plan for intervention requested by the U.N. Security Council within six weeks of October 12, uncertainty still pervades as to whether military action will commence in the immediate aftermath or after a further, and as yet unknown, time limit has elapsed. If last week’s statements by the Chairwoman of the AU, Nkosazana Dlamina-Zuma, are to be believed then the former might well be the case. To this end, Dlamina-Zuma stated, in the course of interviews with global news outlets: “We are working to finalise the joint planning for the early deployment of an African-led international military force to help Mali recover the occupied territories in the North.” At the same time she revealed that the AU was set to “leave the door of dialogue open to those Malian rebel groups willing to negotiate.”


Realists will acknowledge that the chances of resolution of the conflict at this late stage by way of dialogue are slim at best and negligible at worst. The AU and UN must pay heed to the fact that the slightest signs of failure of this most surreptitious of plans will inevitably lead to scribes reaching for their pens in order to draw parallels between the present scenario and Afghanistan.

WEST AFRICA: U.N. APPROVES MASS VACCINATION IN BID TO BEAT SEASONAL MENINGITIS IN WEST AFRICA

The U.N. has stepped up the fight against seasonal Meningitis in West Africa with the news that 50 million people in the region are set to be immunized within the next three months. The campaign is expected to reach inhabitants of the West African countries of Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.


The campaign is being led by the Geneva-based GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership which is backed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the pharmaceutical industry amongst others. According to the GAVI Alliance, the region is said to have been targeted as a result of its vulnerability to ‘seasonal severe outbreaks of meningitis’ which places up to 430 million people at risk of the disease.


The Meningitis bacteria is transmitted between people through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions and affects the lining surrounding the brain and spinal cord. The disease can be spread by way of person-to-person contact such as through sharing, eating or drinking utensils, kissing, sneezing and coughing. The disease can lead to brain damage, hearing loss, learning disability which occurs in 10 to 20 per cent of survivors and in extreme cases, death.


“Meningitis takes a terrible toll on the people living in vulnerable parts of Africa every year. It is a painful disease which can kill quickly and often leaves victims with disabilities that will blight their lives,” said Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance. Dr. Berkley added: “Nobody really understands exactly why just in that region. But every five to seven years there would be an epidemic. There would be hundreds of thousands if not millions of cases. And it would completely drive the economies to a halt.”


Reports of the renewed campaign against the disease comes on the heels of last year’s development of a new vaccine MenAfriVac, the revolutionary meningococcal A conjugate vaccine developed through the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) which aims to eliminate group A meningitis epidemics which has plagued the sub-Saharan African region for more than a century. MVP aims to eliminate meningitis as a public health concern through the development, testing, introduction, and widespread use of conjugate meningococcal vaccines. The Meningitis Vaccine Project is a partnership between the WHO, the global non-profit organisation PATH and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.


News of the immunization campaign is certainly welcome not least because of the myriad effects including economic and social which the outbreak of the disease – outbreaks are said to occur every 7-14 years – brings along with it. It is widely known that people tend to avoid large or social gatherings when these outbreaks occur with associated consequences being that children often miss school and adults avoid the workplace. Following news that the West African country of Burkina Faso has reported no new cases of Meningitis since the introduction of the MenAfriVac vaccine, hopes abound that Meningitis will be eradicated by the turn of the present decade.

NIGERIA: CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY COMMITTED BY BOTH SIDES, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH CLAIM

Reports by one of the leading global human rights organisations, Human Rights Watch, that at least 2,800 people have been killed since the onset of the Boko Haram-led insurrection in the West African country of Nigeria are evidence of the scale of the humanitarian tragedy currently pervading Northern Nigeria.


In its Report, the organisation stated that both the Nigerian security authorities and the militant group were complicit in the commission of crimes against humanity. According to Human Rights Watch some of the attacks carried out since the commencement of the conflict bore the characteristics of “deliberate acts leading to population ‘cleansing’ based on religion or ethnicity”. In case the participants in the conflict need to be reminded, offenders charged with crimes against humanity can be prosecuted before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.


The Report attributes the killings of Muslim clerics critical of the group’s activities and innocent Christians to Boko Haram and at the same time blames the Nigerian authorities for “physical abuse, secret detentions, extortion, burning of houses, stealing money during raids, and extrajudicial killings of suspects”. Although the leadership of Boko Haram is yet to respond to the conclusions of the report, the government, via its spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, denied that it had been involved in the ‘culture of impunity for violence’ which the report imputes to it. Lieutenant Colonel Musa averred: “There is no established or recorded case of extrajudicial killing, torture, arson or arbitrary arrest by the JTF (Nigeria’s joint military and police taskforce) in Borno state”.


Followers of global affairs and passive observers alike will note that the Islamist sect has waged a three-year long campaign against the government with the aim of establishing an Islamic state and in effect seceding from the country. Boko Haram are also rumoured to be backed by Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militia and Al-Qaeda who have of recent successfully made inroads – see Mali and Mauritania – into the Western region of Africa. Boko Haram’s notoriety and initial successes were of such significance that a United States Congressional Panel was established to address the threat posed by the group.


The government’s initial lackadaisical and disjointed attempts at dealing with the menace have now been replaced with a joint army and military crackdown commensurate with its opponent’s might. It has successfully conducted raids on areas within the northern part of the country, the region predominantly populated by Nigeria’s Muslims and which is effectively the group’s stomping ground. The group’s bases have been routed, its fighters arrested and some of its figureheads killed following the reinvigoration of the government’s campaign against the militancy. The killing of the group’s spokesman Abu Qaqa by the authorities in a gun battle last month against the authorities was just the news which the country’s beleaguered leader needed to placate critics who have lambasted the lack of urgency he has shown in his handling of the situation.


The Nigerian government at least acknowledges that military engagement on its own will not be sufficient to usher in the peace and tranquillity which previously reigned in the now tumultuous region of Northern Nigeria. To this end it has attempted to engage Boko Haram by way of negotiations in order to achieve an impasse in the dispute. However, Boko Haram’s continued demands for the full implementation of Sharia law in the whole of Northern Nigeria has put paid to hopes that a non-military solution to the troubles can be achieved in the circumstances. Aside highlighting the human tragedy pervading in the warring region at present, the Report does well to remind the protagonists in the conflict of the accountability which awaits them at the International Criminal Court after the war has been won and lost.

IRAN: HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE A NUCLEAR-ARMED IRAN

This week's article is written by a guest weblogger, Uche Ndaji. Miss Ndaji is a Law graduate with a keen interest in international law and global affairs. She is also an aspiring novelist, poet and writer of the short story form.


The 67th United Nations General Assembly meeting once more highlighted the intensifying political tension between Iran and Israel which has been fuelled by Iran’s burgeoning nuclear ambitions.


IAEA Report

Iran’s latest refusal to consent to an inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) not only heightened suspicions about the country’s true motives for pursuing the nuclear programme but has also become the proverbial ‘red rag’ to Israel’s ‘bull’. Notably, the IAEA’s September 13th resolution which raised concerns about the ferocious pace at which the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant had advanced and in turn the threat which it posed to international peace and stability bolsters Israel’s claims regarding Iran’s intended purpose for embarking on the project.


Tough Questions

Some might question the widespread objection to Iran’s enrichment programme since nuclear warheads have so far not been produced nor can observers assert with confidence that they will be constructed in the near future. How seriously should President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s posturing be taken? Why is the West quick to dismiss the Iranian government’s assertion that its nuclear programmes are intended for peaceful purposes while Security Council members keep nuclear stockpiles in readiness for potential use? What will unilateral strikes by Israel on Iran’s plant do to diffuse or escalate the instability in the Middle East?

The unanswered questions lead one to doubt that a resolution to the region’s peace and security problems will be arrived at in the immediate future. At the same time however, they are legitimate queries which demand valid answers.


The Case for and Against ‘Pre-Emptive Strike’

According to the New York Times, “international nuclear inspectors confirmed that Iran had installed three-quarters of the centrifuges it needs to complete a deep-underground site for the production of nuclear fuel.” Assuming there is an inkling of truth to the allegation, certain concerns arise bearing in mind recent history of the intelligence errors which resulted in the ghastly mission that was the last Iraq war.

Like Saddam Hussein, President Ahmadinejad’s petulance can be dismissed as a façade, a sorry attempt at attracting international attention to his many baseless causes for instance: “wiping Israel off the map” whilst declaring that “the regime is on its way to annihilation.” Ahmadinejad’s venomous language continued to flow at the General Assembly where he reiterated that “Israel has no roots in the Middle East.”

Yet how can the UN separate suspicions of the Iranian government’s nuclear ambitions from Ahmadinejad’s inflammatory rhetoric? One can certainly draw parallels with Saddam Hussein who misguidedly engaged in similar ‘war games’ with the international community about his alleged possession of chemical weapons. With the benefit of hindsight which of course is the best sight, Hussein’s antics appeared to have been a defence mechanism, or better yet, merely a ruse to fend off intimidation from neighbouring states.


Iraq Parallels

Evidence provided by the Iraq Survey Group in 2004 concluded that Saddam Hussein’s government possessed no chemical weapons thus validating the illegitimacy of the conflict. Yet, there is a telling distinction between both circumstances; Iran is actively expanding its nuclear program whereas Saddam Hussein remained pigheaded and somewhat unpredictable with regard to ownership of biological and chemical weapons leading to a sweeping assumption that his government embarked on the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Lessons should have been learned from the Iraq crisis for the reason that, without comprehensive evidence and concrete substantiation of the existence of nuclear weapons, pre-emptive strikes must be avoided at all costs.

Furthermore, it is important to point out that nuclear programs can in fact be used for ‘peaceful purposes’ as claimed by the Iranian government. For example, Japan uses its nuclear plants to generate electricity although its dependence on nuclear power remains somewhat controversial following the meltdown of the Fukushima Daichii Nuclear Power Plant after a devastating earthquake and the subsequent tsunami which ravaged much of the country in March 2011.

Unlike Japan, some of the doubts facing Iran’s nuclear programs are exacerbated by its hateful denouncement of Israel, questioning Israel’s existence and its promise to eliminate Israel. When nuclear development is added to the framework, doubts set in consequently discrediting the ‘peaceful’ nature of such programmes.


The Potential for War

Finding a solution appears more difficult than the crisis itself. Prior to the General Assembly meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu restated the importance of setting a ‘red line’ on Iran’s nuclear expansion. Mr. Netanyahu backed up this statement in flamboyant fashion at the meeting with a visual chart, highlighting the 90% point at which military strikes would be appropriate to stop Iran’s uranium enrichment.

Talks of a unilateral strike on Iran by the Israeli government have circulated for months, although the United States opts for a diplomatic solution through economic sanctions and has so far avoided all suggestions of military action. The eagerness for conflict seems to have diminished from the Obama government’s discourse and the Iranian government keeps a close eye on this. Some state that the US government has suffered enough financial strain as a result of the Iraq war which Iran is all too aware of and has sought to capitalize upon.


The Effect of Sanctions

However, claims last week that EU and US sanctions have sent the Iranian economy into free fall gathered pace with The Guardian reporting an overwhelming 15% depreciation of the rial. The diminishing accessibility of foreign currency and inflationary food prices resulted in the Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz’s proclamation that the Iranian economy is “on the verge of collapse” as reported by Reuters.

Evidently, sanctions are somewhat effective though it needs reminding that Iran’s foreign currency reserves can still be used to galvanise its economy which would ultimately render the sanctions useless. What appears interesting is how far the sanctions can go to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms. Will further sanctions be invoked to stop Iran from accessing its foreign currency reserves? Would global financial isolation convince the government to curtail its nuclear activity?

Regrettably, sanctions affect ordinary citizens who are innocent bystanders and who are also in the thrall of this regime. The hardship caused by the sanctions could have the counter-productive effect of pushing the country’s citizens into extremism, thereby intensifying the level of distrust, which is already at an all time high, between the West and the Muslim world. As we have learnt from our planet’s complex politics, sanctions do not always affect the politicos or theocrats as they can easily serve as a recruitment drive for the respective government’s anti-western campaigns.


So Where Do We Go From Here, What Happens Next?

It is unlikely that the Israeli government will follow through with threats of a unilateral pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities without the participation of its great ally, the United States. Needless to say the unilateral pre-emptive strike would be an unfortunate decision considering the fragile political state of the Middle East, what with Syria, Yemen and Lebanon being in the grip of unrelenting internal turmoil.

One can take comfort in the knowledge that the UN and IAEA appear to be more in control of this situation than it was in its handling of the Iraq affair if evidence is to be scrutinized. One hopes that the lessons learnt from the past will bolster academic arguments against the concept of ‘pre-emptive strike’ currently favoured by the U.S neo-cons and the Israeli government.

MALI: U.N. PONDERS MALI GOVERNMENT’S REQUEST FOR MILITARY INTERVENTION

Last week’s news that the West African country has called on the United Nations (U.N.) to intervene militarily in order to reclaim parts of the country currently controlled by Islamist militants, though welcome, raised several eyebrows and subsequently questions amongst followers of the country’s recent fortunes. The most vital of the questions which have arisen are whether the call for intervention has come too late and secondly, whether the said intervention will achieve its desired aims if approved by the UN.


Recent History

Prior to the unfolding of the events of March of this year, Mali had been hailed by observers as one of the few democratic success stories in Africa. In March of this year however, and borrowing from the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe’s seminal masterpiece, things fell apart when a gang of soldiers initiated a coup d’etat which saw to the overthrow of the nation’s President. A combination of forces, namely Tuareg rebels who have always had an axe to grind with the government following decades of claims of marginalisation, together with various groups of Islamist militants acting jointly and severally launched an operation against the establishment which has resulted in the Northern region of the country being fully under their control. It is also reported that people in that region of the country are now subjected to Sharia law, which is the strictest form of Islam.


Call for Intervention

The call for intervention was said to have been made by way of a letter sent by the Malian government to the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the contents of which were revealed by the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. In calling for a U.N. resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, under which the U.N. can authorise military interventions, the Malian government stated that terrorists, drug dealers and criminals currently occupy areas of the country and as such it needed the support of an international force “to help the Malian army to reconquer the occupied areas of northern Mali.”

Mali’s request for intervention was met with a rather familiar obstacle in a divided United Nations. At a special summit arranged by the U.N. to address all things Mali-related and held against the background of the recent U.N. General Assembly, the Malian Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra stated: “There is an urgency to act to end the suffering of the people of Mali and to prevent a similar situation that would be even more complicated in the Sahel and the rest of the world.” Diarra’s impassioned plea for assistance was supported by the country’s Colonial Father, France who’s President Francoise Hollande pledged his country’s support to the idea of a potential military action.



Reservations to Calls for Intervention

Whilst France had no reservations in throwing its hat in the ring in support of military intervention, the reverse was the case with the US who appear to be exhibiting more restraint than they have been associated with in recent times, perhaps an indication of their reduced influence in the global politics arena. Hilary Clinton, the country’s Secretary of State insisted that a legitimate government had to be put in place before such an action could be considered. In respect of what can only be described as the multi-dimensional nature of the problems currently facing Mali, Clinton stated: “This is not only a humanitarian crisis; it is a power keg that the international community cannot afford to ignore.” She continued “in the end, only a democratically elected government will have the legitimacy to achieve a negotiated political settlement in northern Mali, end the rebellion and restore the rule of law.”

Clinton’s stance has also received support from the U.N. Secretary General who has also raised reservations regarding the topic of military intervention on the ground that it may further exacerbate the already critical humanitarian crises in the region.


The Future

Although the American call for caution in respect of the potential for military action is comprehended, a legitimate question which then arises is how democratic elections can be held in a country where a sizeable area is controlled by Islamist militants who abhor the concept of democracy and accordingly the principles and ideals associated with it. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly clearer by the day that diplomacy may be futile in salvaging the situation. The July 5 Security Council sanctioned ECOWAS (The Economic Community of West African States) mission which was mandated to apply political means to resolve the conflict hardly made any notable gains despite its credible efforts. Its failure was no doubt significantly handicapped by the difficulty in identifying all the warring factions in order to commence any form of effective negotiations as Al-Qaeda is only but one of the several Islamist militant groups said to be operating in the northern region of Mali.


Sound-off

Whilst the U.N.’s sounds of caution are laudable its prevarication on the same subject has already contributed to the humanitarian crises facing the region and clearly lessons have not been learnt. A rational move at this point would be the authorisation of ECOWAS troops – who have indicated its preparedness to send troops at short notice – in order to quell the flames emanating from the nation’s combustion. Sooner rather than later the U.N.’s leadership will be forced to make the decision it has attempted to circumvent for some time which in sum amounts to whether the benefits of military intervention outweigh the potential of a worsening of the humanitarian crises which has resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of innocent Malians.

GEORGIA: PRISON ABUSE SCANDAL ROCKS GEORGIA IN LEAD UP TO PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili appears to be suffering the same torrid fate which has befallen his incumbent contemporaries in the lead up to presidential elections in their respective countries.

With leadership elections due on October 1, Saakashvili already faced an uphill task to secure re-election, what with the country’s stagnating economy – an experience which is not too dissimilar from the rest of the continent - and its people discontent with a government seen by many to have no qualms about encroaching on their civil liberties and freedom. Unfortunately for Saakashvili and his supporters his problems have been further compounded by recent videos released by his political opponents which show gross abuse of prisoners by the authorities.

As expected the images have drawn the ire of the public and the furore which emanated as a result has failed to dissipate into the ether with the rapidity which Saakashvili seeks. The broadcast of the images by television stations allied with the country’s opposition parties has led to days of protests by individuals who have taken to the streets in their thousands to denounce the authorities.

To his credit Saakashvili has moved to distance himself and his party from the images which show prison authorities indiscriminately beating, allegedly raping, manhandling and hitting prisoners. The chief of Tbilisi prison where the abuse was recorded, his deputies and prison guards with alleged involvement in the debacle have been detained by the authorities. The country’s Interior Minister Bacho Akhalaia resigned earlier in the week and Saakashvili has also this week appointed a new Prisons Minister in Georgy Tugushi following the resignation of the minister in charge of the prisons at the time of the scandal.

Controversy still surrounds the production of the video and how it happened to have been acquired by the media. According to the global news agency Reuters, Saakashvili’s United National Movement party claim that the videos were staged and the recording filmed by guards who had been bribed by “politically motivated persons”. Whatever the origins of the video, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe (COE) have weighed in on the scandal and urged Saakashvili to bring those culpable to justice and also reminded the government of the duty to maintain human rights standards across the nation.

The revelations which surfaced at such a late phase in the presidential campaign comes as a gift to the Georgian Dream coalition led Bidzina Ivanishvili and no doubt has the capacity to significantly hurt Saakashvili’s re-election ambitions although not enough, in the current writer’s opinion, to decimate the 20 percentage points cushion which the United National Movement had over its opponents before the scandal broke and by election day.

KENYA: RENEWED VIOLENCE LEADS TO FEARS OF A REPRISAL OF 2007’s DEADLY CONFLICT

Last week’s discovery by the Kenyan authorities of over 150 explosive devices in the country’s capital city of Nairobi indicates that the country’s battle against Islamic militants is far from seeing its end. Close observers of Eastern African affairs recall last year’s Kenyan incursion into Somalia aimed at deterring the Somalia-based Islamist group, al Shabaab, who were alleged to have been behind a spate of terror attacks on Kenyan soil.

Many Kenyans will probably concur with the assertion that its government’s incursion into Somalia, although well intentioned, has been counterproductive at best and its consequences disastrous at worst. The incursion has also resulted in conflict between the country’s Christian and Muslim populations and the recent discovery of explosives will no doubt further compound the distrust between members of both communities.

Tensions were stoked even further last week following the arrest of the Muslim cleric, Abubaker Sharif for his part in inciting violence in the country’s second biggest city Mombasa which led to the deaths of five people. Sharif, a divisive figure who has previous form when it comes to incitement, is alleged to have called on his followers to eliminate senior Islamic figures adjudged to have collaborated with the government, to burn churches and attack police officers.

The spiralling conflict with al Shabaab comes against the background of alarming sectarian violence in Kenya’s coastal regions which have been linked to disputes over resources between pastoralists and settled farmers. Last week’s clashes resulted in the deaths of 11 people and occurred in spite of calls from the country’s leaders, including that of its Prime Minister Raila Odinga, for an end to the violence. Of concern is that the parallel conflicts have the potential to morph into the violent scenes which followed from Kenya’s last presidential elections in December 2007 which led to the deaths of over 1,200 people.

Whilst the government’s attempts to quash the scourge presented by Islamic militants by sanctioning the military exercise in Somalia has been referred to by many as constituting the origin of the present conflict, it is well worth adding that identifying the root cause of the latest violent scenes may not be as simplistic as some would like to think. As was the case in the bloody violence which occurred half a decade ago the fight for limited resources is a major factor and element in this troubling equation which must not be discounted.

Muslim communities who outnumber their Christian contemporaries in the country’s coastal regions complain rather vociferously about losing jobs and land to members of the Christian communities. Adding to these are issues to do with unemployment mostly amongst members of the Muslim community thereby increasing the potential of the radicalisation of youth who feel marginalised and in some cases are reported to have been recruited by the al Shabaab Islamic militia in their battle against the Kenyan government. Perhaps the only certainty in this otherwise uncertain circumstance is that there will be no end to the Kenyan crises until its government adopts a multifaceted approach in confronting its problems as opposed to its current one dimensional modus operandi which fails to address the underlying social, political and economic problems facing its people.

ANGOLA: VOTERS CHOOSE STATUS QUO OVER NEW DAWN

Angola’s President Eduardo Dos Santos appears not be giving up easily in what seemingly has become a 2-man race or contest between himself and Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo to be crowned Africa’s longest serving leader.


Election Results

Last week Dos Santos was elected by way of a landslide victory to serve a further five-year term as President. Currently aged 70 and having already led the country for 33 years, Dos Santos will be 75 by the end of his tenure. Early reports indicate that Dos Santos’s MPLA party won about 70 per cent of the votes while the rest was split between opposing parties UNITA and CASA-CE. Although MPLA’s victory was overwhelming this time, it was not as decisive as the 2008 elections where it amassed about 81 per cent of the votes.


Questions and Protests

As we are all too aware, no elections held in Africa passes without controversy and problems. It therefore comes as no surprise that the validity of the elections have been challenged by the government’s opponents. Concerns have been raised over alleged rigged ballots and the transparency of the election process. In an interview with the Reuters news agency following the announcement of the provisional results, a candidate seeking election on the platform of the opposing CASA-CE party William Tonet denounced the elections as “cheating”. Tonet added that the election results amounted to a “declaration of war” by MPLA.

The leaders of the country’s second largest party UNITA have also voiced their intention to challenge the election results. Pre-election, observers will recall that the party’s leader Isaias Samakuva called for the postponement of the elections for another month as a result of what he termed interference in the election process by the ruling MPLA as well as questions raised over the credibility of the country’s national election commission (CNE).


Giant Leaps

The disquiet which has stemmed from the elections should however not detract from the progress, in gargantuan proportions, which the country has made since the end of its 27-year long civil war which devastated the nation. Now Africa’s second largest oil producing country, its oil wealth has served as the fulcrum of its economic transformation. It is reported that the country experienced an average of 15 percent growth in the period between 2002 and 2008. Further and even more impressive is the fact that Angola reported the world’s highest annual average GDP growth at 11 percent between 2001 and 2010.


Sound-off

Unsurprisingly and much like its oil producing African counterparts Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea the oil wealth has failed to trickle down to those who occupy the bottom strata of its 18 million strong population and as a result endemic corruption, patronage, nepotism and poverty thrive below the glamorous face of the country which is most encapsulated by its skyscraper thronged capital, Luanda.

Perhaps in a bid to address these concerns, Dos Santos ran a re-election campaign which had at its centre the promise to reduce poverty and inequality backed by a declaration to invest $17 billion in the country’s energy sector. At the risk of being labelled a cynic or a pessimist, critics of the Dos Santos government have good basis upon which to base their damning indictments of the administration, after all Dos Santos has already had three decades to lead the country to the promised land but all he has delivered, in spite of the considerable resources which the country is blessed, is a nation with enormous social and economic disparities which may only be checked by a change of administration.

GAMBIA: PRESIDENT SET TO GO AHEAD WITH PRISONER EXECUTION

In what many would consider a ‘slow news week’, the Banjul government attracted the sort of publicity which in most weeks would have passed unnoticed under the global news radar.

Last week Amnesty International revealed that the government had executed about nine of the country’s 47 death row prisoners. Amnesty International added that further executions were to follow “in the coming days”. The recent executions come as a shock not least because the last State sanctioned execution occurred in 1985.

At the time of writing President Yahya Jammeh’s motives for persevering with the executions are still unclear although some of the executed individuals had been arrested on treason allegations. Unfortunately Jammeh’s latest pronouncements indicate that more executions are to follow. In early last week’s press release, Jammeh asserted: “By the middle of next month, all the death sentences would have been carried out to the letter; there is no way my government will allow 99% of the population to be held to ransom by criminals.”

President Jammeh’s government appears to be backtracking somewhat on the back of the criticism it has faced since Amnesty International’s revelations. In a statement released late last week the government muddied already murky waters by appearing to refer to Amnesty International’s report as mere speculation. It has to date failed to clarify either one way or the other whether it has indeed executed any prisoners at all.

Ousainou Darboe, leader of the UDP opposition party has called on the government to reveal the whereabouts of the nine prisoners said to have been executed in this seemingly first round of capital punishments. “If the government denies that any execution has taken place, it should go further and parade all those on death row on TV for their families and the public to see them. If the execution has indeed taken place, the international community should consider imposing travel bans on Jammeh and his ministers,” Darboe said.

The second strand of Darboe’s statement appears to have been assimilated and heeded by Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign affairs supremo. In a counter statement in response to Jammeh’s threats to execute all prisoners on death row within the next month, Ashton demanded an immediate cessation of all executions. “In light of these executions, the European Union will urgently consider an appropriate response,” she added.

If the government’s latest statements are to be used as a barometer to gauge its determination to follow through on the promise of further executions, it may well appear that its appetite has been quenched by the furore which has enveloped it since its internal affairs became breaking global news. Jammeh’s unpredictability however implies that the preceding statement must be absorbed in tandem with a disclaimer. Now in his fourth term since he came to power via a coup d’etat in 1994, Jammeh continues to lead a government which pays little to no regard to matters relating to civil liberties, human rights and press freedom. In spite of his ego and unstinting obduracy the country’s heavy reliance on foreign aid means that Jammeh can ill afford to alienate the EU and the international community who are responsible for propping up its precariously unstable economy.

BAHRAIN: GOVERNMENT CONTINUES ASSAULT ON OPPOSITION ACTIVISTS

The writer refers to Bahrain as the gift that keeps on giving, the reason being that the Bahraini government keeps on providing enthusiasts of global politics and international law with something to write about. It has certainly been successful at grabbing our collective attentions although not for the reasons it would prefer to be famous for.

Last week, opposition activist Nabeel Rajab was sentenced to three years in jail for effectively having the audacity to lead ‘peaceful’ protests against the government. The country’s courts are expected to hear his appeal next week.

Although the decision to sentence Rajab came as no surprise to observers, the length of the sentence for the ‘crime’ was even by Bahraini standards unprecedented. The EU’s foreign affairs High Representative Catherine Ashton has led calls against the Bahrain government’s anti-democratic stance. Ashton highlighted that Rajab had done nothing wrong and added that his sentencing was linked to his calls for the government to respect its citizens’ fundamental freedoms.

Victoria Nuland, the U.S. State Department spokeswoman stated that the U.S. was deeply troubled by Rajab’s sentence. She continued; “We’ve made it clear that it is critical for all governments, including Bahrain, to respect freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.” The NGO Amnesty International has gone even further than both the EU and the U.S by stating that it was a “dark day for justice.” Amnesty International’s Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui averred that Rajab’s sentence eliminates the potential for change in the country. Sahraoui affirmed: “Like many others in Bahrain, Nabeel Rajab is a prisoner of conscience, jailed solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and assembly.”

The government’s publicity machine has since gone into overdrive in anticipation of the global opprobrium it expects to rain down upon it. The government insisted that it had evidence to hand which conclusively showed that Rajab had caused the deaths of innocent people by inciting “violence and escalation against law enforcement officers”. The country’s interior ministry also confirmed that about 700 security officers have been injured since clashes began last year. It has however failed to explain why others charged with the same offence appeared to have been given lighter sentences that that which befell Rajab.

For its part the Bahrain government has no incentive to restrain itself from maintaining the current status quo not least because its strategic location in the Middle East makes it a viable alternative as an oil transport route out of the Gulf region to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran currently holds sway. The fact that the country also hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet further complicates matters thus rendering any idea of political will being mustered and mobilized by the U.S. redundant. The Bahrain government, like its Russian counterpart who drew the ire of the watching world with its absurd decision to jail members of the Russian female punk rock band, Pussy Riot last week, fails to appreciate the significance of the oft-repeated mantra spawn by the current writer. The said mantra being that the movement for change is akin to a hydra which will not cease to exist when one of its heads - the movements’ individual foot soldiers – are incarcerated or silenced.

FRANCE: SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT CONTINUES WITH PREDECESSOR’S ROMA EXPULSION PROGRAMME

Last week, France’s new Socialist government continued in the same vein as its predecessor, the administration led by Nicholas Sarkozy, by repatriating persons alleged to be illegal immigrants. This week’s raids centred on Roma immigrants from Eastern Europe settled in Paris, Lille and Lyon. In scenes reminiscent of the U.K’s October 2011 eviction of unauthorised travellers from Dale Farm in Essex, security forces donning riot gear were tasked with removing Roma immigrants from the illegal encampments.

The evacuation programme began in mid-2010 when the French government announced with vigour its attempts to crackdown on illegal immigrants. The Roma Evacuation/Repatriation Programme as it is now known, owing to the fact that mainly Romanian and Bulgarian Roma have been repatriated, has so far seen the demolishment of illegal camps and the forced deportation of thousands of Romanis to their Eastern European countries of origin. Most of the deportees were reportedly paid around £230.00 each to leave the country but some have since returned

The continuance of the programme has confounded analysts not least because the policy was hewn by the former conservative government just before the May elections in what some considered a sinister ploy to win over voters aligned with the right side of the country’s political spectrum. What most observers least expected however was that the liberal socialist government of Francois Hollande would persevere with the same policy.

The European Commission (EC) have been unimpressed by the government’s actions and have followed up its criticisms of the government which it dished out several years ago by reminding the French that the organisation’s watchful eyes are being trained on the country. The European Commission’s spokeswoman Mina Andreeva confirmed that the organisation was “monitoring the situation” and that “the Commission…has requested further information from the French authorities on the expulsions to ensure that they are being conducted in compliance with EU rules.” The NGO Human Rights Watch have also added their voice to the controversy with one of its directors, Veronika Goldston calling on Hollande to abide by his pre-election promise of ending discrimination against the Roma.

France’s Interior Minister, Manuel Valls refuted claims that the repatriations amounted to “forced expulsions”. Valls’s statements in reference to the health risks which the deportees’ pose and the unsanitary nature of their camps is somewhat contradictory to his claims that they were being repatriated following an “individual evaluation of their legal status in France.” Whatever the case may be the French appear to be treading precariously in respect of one of the EU’s fundamental principles which is the prohibition of discrimination based on racial or ethnic grounds. Evidence as seen from afar appears to suggest that a group of individuals with similar characteristics are being targeted for expulsion from the French territory. On this basis the French will do well to find the legal grounds to justify the expulsions.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: GOVERNMENT CRACKS DOWN ON PROTESTERS' LEGITIMATE DEMANDS

Amidst the mutterings that the Arab spring was about to claim its latest victim, the ruler of the country’s Sharjah emirate last week moved quickly to calm fears that the country’s forces was wantonly jailing persons responsible for organising the unprecedented recent episodes of protests against the state. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed al-Qassimi inferred that the arrest of several individuals over the last couple of weeks was linked to its investigation of “crimes against the security of the state” and added that the state’s forces had a “duty” to protect the country against the individuals involved in the alleged plot.


Background

Over recent weeks several dissidents and protesters have been arrested in a synchronised crackdown against activists in the country. The activists arrested in the crackdown are allegedly linked to the al-Islah (Reform) Islamic group which calls for a stricter observance of Sharia’a law in what is already the most conservative part of the country. About 50 dissidents are reported to have been arrested since last year without recourse to an effective judicial system. Moving swiftly to set an example of the activists and to perhaps dissuade others from joining the perceived revolution the government has stripped some activists of their citizenship while others have been issued summary jail sentences.


Criticism

If the rapidly modernising country thought that stamping down swiftly on voices of protest may prevent attention being drawn to the revolutionaries’ causes they had better have a rethink. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have voiced concern over the treatment of activists. In its statement last week, Amnesty International urged the government to release details of the location of those it had arrested. Joe Stork, Human Rights Watch deputy Middle East director called on the United Kingdom and the US to rein in its ally. Stork stated: “After all their fine words over the past year about standing up for democracy and human rights in the Arab world, the U.S. and the UK have completely lost their voices when it comes to the UAE.”


Campaign of intimidation

The Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch statements follow recent criticisms of the government’s actions by related international organisations. Rupert Colville, the UN human rights spokesman asserted that the government’s actions were effectively a ruse to silence legitimate protests. Colville stated: “It appears that national security is increasingly being used as a pretext to clamp down on peaceful activism, to stifle calls for constitutional reform and on human rights issues such as statelessness.” The highly respected Geneva based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) whose mission statement includes the implementation of principles which advance human rights have added to the debate. Said Bernabia, the organisation’s Senior Legal Advisor for its Middle East and North Africa Programme stated that the government’s move was “part of a broad campaign of intimidation and harassment by UAE authorities that aims to silence any and all critical voices”. Bernabia called for the crackdown to cease immediately.


Oil wealth

The UAE is made up of seven emirates or states which united to form a federation in 1971. The country’s oil wealth has placed it amongst the world’s fastest growing economies and the standard of living of its people has risen significantly since its discovery of the oil resource. The country is as liberal as they come in comparison with its neighbours. Its allegiance with the major players on the international scene such as the US and UK is testament to its status as one of the leading figures in the Middle East. The country’s overly generous welfare system has enabled it to avoid the disturbances in the region which has led to the toppling of four governments during the Arab spring.


Sound-off

Nevertheless the government appears not to have learnt any lessons from recent events in the Middle East as rather than engaging the public and its opponents in debate about political reforms and civil rights, it has opted to demonise activists as ‘Islamists’ and jail those it deems as threats to its stability. It clearly has not learnt that its attitude may be counterproductive as it stands the risk of galvanising further protests against it as the recently deposed governments of Ben-Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt highlight. The government’s close ties with the US and U.K means that the West’s political will to cause change may not be forthcoming in the immediate future. The country’s rulers will do well to learn some lessons from the past, most notably from events which transpired in neighbouring Egypt whose deposed government’s close ties with the West counted for nothing when the waves of change could no longer be held back by revetments.

UNITED KINGDOM: CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME

This week 1worldinternational deviates from its usual themes of human rights, global affairs and international development to highlight some fantastic causes supported by the law firm of Overburys Solicitors based in the East Anglia region of England.

It is perhaps an understatement to assert that the concept of capitalism has taken a bruising battering in the last few months, what with Jamie Dimon’s JPMorgan Chase & Co embroiled in a billion dollar trading scandal, the Barclays Plc LIBOR rate fixing scandal which brought to an end the reign of its pugnacious CEO Bob Diamond and the dark clouds enveloping the private security firm G4S which somehow managed to muck up its own side of its contract with the British government by failing to provide the numbers required to secure the Olympic venues. The founding fathers of capitalism must have heard the shrill screams emanating from the public’s unease from the comfort of their graves as a result of these developments. One is almost certain that the parents of capitalism are somewhat ecstatic at the fact that they are not alive to face the public’s wrath at this time.

Coming to the rescue of capitalism is the super hero in the form of the aforementioned East Anglia based firm which hosts a quarterly open microphone event called OUTSPOKEN. The funds raised from each of the events go to a different nominated local charity. The charities tend to be less well known and smaller in size than those which attract national attention.

The event has various aims which include raising money for local charities which do not benefit from national or government funding, raising the profiles of these organisations which perhaps do not have the financial might to publicise their work in the mass media, supporting local businesses where the event is held and also providing a platform for up and coming local singers, song-writers, poets and writers to showcase their talent.

The third instalment was organised for the benefit of the Norfolk & Norwich Association for the Blind (NNAB), a 207 year old charity which provides assistance to the partially sighted. The well attended event was held within the ambient surrounds of HOUSE Café in Norwich on 27th July 2012 and was also a fantastic event. The event featured singer-songwriters such as the inimitable Cara Winter, Peter Appleyard, Emily Hirst and the talented Tom Cox. Poets and writers including Hilary Stanton, Tish Kerkham, Peter Goodrum and Sarah Walker wowed the audience with their impressive verbal gymnastics. Perhaps even more important than the money raised on the night was the publicity which the charity benefited from on the night.

The moral of the story is that whilst no charity is, for want of a more suitable word, ‘better’ than the other at least in the view of the writer although the writer very much welcomes a debate on the subject, it is vitally important that we continue to support our smaller local charities. Our support for organisations of a size similar to the likes of Amnesty International and Save the Children et al should not be at the expense of the charities located a stone’s throw away from our door steps.

In a lot of cases these charities lack the financial muscle which Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have hence their inability to effectively publicise the good work which they carry out in the community. Against the background of austerity measures being waged by the present government, the task of survival for these organisations has become even more arduous than it ever was. To sound off, one is certainly not overstating matters in surmising that we are all a bad decision away from losing our self sufficiency and when this happens, we will have no option other than reverting to the assistance of the charities which we neglected to support when we had more than enough resources to do so.

UNITED KINGDOM: CPS DECIDE AGAINST CHARGING PERSONS INVOLVED IN MIGRANT’S DEATH

Last week’s decision reached by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) against prosecuting three security guards over the death of Angolan refugee, Jimmy Mubenga was met with howls of derision. The men who work for the much maligned private security firm G4S – currently embroiled in the Olympic Games security fiasco and also contracted with the Home Office to shepherd deportees to their home countries – will not now face charges of manslaughter.

Mubenga resided with his family in the United Kingdom for 16 years after being granted leave to remain in the country. After a conviction in 2006 for actual bodily harm (ABH), he was sentenced to two years in jail and then detained at an immigration centre before the fateful attempted deportation.

Confusion surrounds the series of events which led to the death. G4S and the Home Office insist that Mubenga had taken ill on the day of the aborted deportation, 12th October 2010 which in turn led to the airline carrier’s return to London. His wife, Makenda Kambana on the other hand points to the fact that some on the flight had borne witness to the fact that “he was crying for help before he was killed”.

The CPS for their part insist that there was insufficient evidence to pursue charges of gross negligence manslaughter. Its Senior Crown Advocate, Gaon Hart highlighted that experts unanimously concluded that Mr Mubenga’s physiological condition and agitated state prior to his death may have contributed to his demise. Hart continued that a combination of additional factors including “adrenaline, muscle exhaustion or isometric exercise” could not be ruled out as a cause of the death.

Needless to say more than a couple of eyebrows were raised following Hart’s pronouncements. Frances Webber, former Barrister & Vice-Chair of the Institute of Race Relations wrote in the Guardian that Hart’s line of reasoning would mean that no murderer whose victim struggled could be charged if they exhibited the same characteristics highlighted by Hart as potential causes of death. More importantly, he raises the long abiding principle of the “eggshell skull” doctrine, which ensures that one still bears legal responsibility for the death of another, even if the latter had a pre-existing medical condition, whether diagnosed or not.

In addition to these, the CPS appear to have neglected to consider public interest matters in deciding against prosecution, not least because of the government’s rapidly expanding privatisation programme. Even more questionable is Hart’s assertion that there were shortcomings in the standard of training received by the men and that there was a “breach of duty”. Surely even one with only the most basic legal knowledge would appreciate that this finding may not have been arrived at without the acquisition of sufficient supporting evidence.

It is not unfair to assert that the CPS appear to have assumed both judicial and prosecution roles in this sad debacle. The decision also comes against the background of the acquittal of PC Simon Harwood over the death of Ian Tomlinson. Statistics also suggest that over 1,440 individuals have lost their lives whilst in the hands of the Police since 1990. Staggeringly only one individual has been successfully prosecuted following a charge of manslaughter in that time.

Perhaps the CPS should have left it to the Court to decide the issue of “beyond reasonable doubt” the men’s innocence or guilt. The greater damage however has been done to the reputation of the much vaunted British legal system as the decision not only sends the message that the life of a migrant is not worth as much as the country’s own citizens, but also that the country’s security personnel are no different to those of authoritarian states in being above the law.

ETHIOPIA: GOVERNMENT WAGES FURTHER ASSAULT ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION

The principles of freedom of speech and expression came under serious attack in the past week in the East African country of Ethiopia where journalists, opposition politicians and bloggers were sentenced to terms in jail for allegedly conniving with rebels to overthrow the government. The prison sentences imposed on the said individuals ranged from between eight years to life imprisonment.


2009’s Anti-terrorism law

The assault on freedom of speech and expression in the country has slowly gathered steam over the last few years but has intensified since 2009 when an anti-terrorism bill was passed by its parliament. One of the by-product of the provisions of the law would see individuals jailed for up to 20 years if found to have published information which could ‘incite’ terrorist activities. This provision appears to stretch the definition of ‘terrorist activity’ to include the work of journalists, bloggers, artists et al which have the temerity to criticise the government when it falls short of maintaining international human rights standards.


The ‘Convicts’

Needless to say unrelenting opprobrium has been heaped on the decision since the verdicts became public knowledge not least because the Ethiopian government has serious form when it comes to incarcerating individuals who voice any forms of dissent against it. Amongst those jailed in this latest onslaught on freedom of speech were Andualem Arage, an opposition politician from the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ) who was jailed for life, along with Berhanu Nega and Andargachew Tsige who also received life sentences in absentia.

Probably the most well known of the individuals jailed is blogger and journalist Eskinder Nega who was sentenced to 18 years in jail. Nega appears to have offended the authorities by having the audacity to challenge the government’s decision to arrest, under the aforementioned anti-terrorism legislation, Debebe Eshetu, an actor in the country who has also been a constant thorn in the government’s flesh. In addition, the said individuals and others who received similar sentences were accused of being members of the US-based opposition group Ginbot 7, which the government has classed as a “terrorist organisation”.


Prime Minister Zenawi

The country is led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary democratic Front (EPRDF) who is currently serving a fourth 5-year term in power following an election victory in May 2010. As has been the case with elections held on the continent, opposition groups refused to accept the decision on the grounds that the elections were not free and fair while international observers chorused in unison that the elections failed to adhere to international standards. Zenawi is said to have been one of the writers of the country’s constitution which was created in 1994. Zenawi has also been the country’s only Prime Minister since multi-party elections were first held in 1995.


Criticisms of the latest convictions

The European Union (EU) has voiced strong concerns about the sentences. The organisation’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton averred that the principle of freedom of expression enshrined in the Ethiopian Constitution is somewhat compromised by “a lack of clarity with regards to what constitutes a terrorism offence”. The prominent Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Amnesty International added: “The Ethiopian government is treating calls for peaceful protest as a terrorist act and is outlawing the legitimate activities of journalists and opposition members”.


Sound-off

The detainees’ legal representatives appear to have already set plans in motion to appeal the decision of the authorities. Whilst trying to avoid being labelled a ‘prophet of doom’, it is highly unlikely that the appeals will result in the release of any of the convicted persons. One notes that the country is highly dependent on foreign aid for its economic stability as was the case with the East African country of Malawi where democratic ideals were also threatened by the government in similar circumstances. In Malawi threats of withdrawal of foreign aid and the West’s follow through of the threat was sufficient enough to check the excesses of the government. In the same vein it is unlikely that any measures taken by the West, short of those implemented in Malawi, will be effective as a means of preventing further strangulation and stifling of freedom of speech and expression by the Ethiopian government.