CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: REBELS FINALLY OVERTHROW GOVERNMENT

Several weeks ago 1worldinternational reported on the ongoing military conflict between government forces and rebels (the Seleka rebel coalition) seeking the overthrow of the President Francois Bozize-led government (Central African Republic: Rebels Closing in on Power published on 4^th January 2013). At the time it appeared as if a compromise peace deal had successfully been brokered which would see President Bozize remaining in power for a further three years and until 2016 when presidential elections are scheduled to be held in the country.

 

If early reports are to be believed, hopes of a working compromise appear have been short-lived following the rebels’ renewed attacks against the government. At the time of writing, the rebels are said to have forced their way into the country’s capital of Bangui with President Bozize fleeing the country in the process. It is as yet unclear as to why the rebels acted in breach of the peace accord agreed in January between themselves and the government although observers couldn’t assert with any confidence at the time that the peace agreement had any chance of lasting its course.

At the time of writing, news emanating from the country is that about nine South African and three Chadian soldiers were also killed by fighters linked to the rebels during the recent upheaval. The South Africans have provided military assistance to the Central African Republic government forces for sometime while Chad and the Central African Republic maintain close ties, not only because of the relationship between President Idriss Deby of the former and President Bozize of the latter since Bozize gained power by way of a coup in 2003, but also because Bozize has relied heavily on the Chadian forces’ military might in dealing with various uprisings which have become commonplace following his assumption of power.

The fall-out from the rebels’ success in the region in which the country is surrounded is expected to be of seismic proportions not least because the country’s neighbours have to some extent propped up President Bozize’s regime and have assisted militarily in attempting to extinguish the rebels. To this extent, President Idriss Deby’s Chad comes to mind. As previous experience indicates, the rebels will be most aware, if they have any sense of course, that the easy part is overthrowing governments whom they perceive to be an obstacle in their path. The difficulty arises in terms of establishing the rule of law and quelling the spates of mass disorder which inevitably follows as an after spill from the turmoil and carnage.

This tinderbox or powder-keg-like state is further exacerbated by the make-up of the rebels who, from the limited information gleaned so far, are essentially a coalition of disparate fighters. One should therefore not expect this marriage of convenience to persist until death do them part. To be fair, the Seleka forces have indicated on several occasions their intention to organise a transition towards democratic elections. Observers of Africa’s fortunes will however assert, at the risk of being labelled pessimists and perpetual killjoys, that we have heard it all before. Nevertheless, the writer will most certainly be happy to be proved wrong.

CAMBODIA: ANOTHER MASS MURDER SUSPECT ESCAPES JUSTICE

News of the death of Ieng Sary, 87, one of the high level officials of the country’s deposed Khmer Rouge regime, has been met with a range of responses. The responses have broadly fallen into two categories with some ecstatic that Sary has now met his maker and will accordingly be judged for his hand in the pogroms committed in his time on earth and many who are disappointed that Sary will not now face justice as well as his accusers in the courts of law.

Ieng Seng served as foreign minister in the 1970s and at a time at which the country’s leadership was headed by the murderous Pol Pot whose dictatorship was responsible for the killing of between 1.7 and 2.5 million people. In the aftermath of the pogrom, the United Nations (U.N.), with the agreement of the Cambodian government, created the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, now officially referred to as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, with the aim of trying senior and the most culpable members of the regime. The Tribunal’s processes are overseen by locally qualified and international judges working hand in hand to ensure the achievement of objectives placed within its remit, i.e. facilitating access to justice for victims of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide committed by the regime between April 1975 and January 1979.

Elisabeth Simmoneau Fort, a legal representative of some of the victims echoed the sentiments voiced by many that Sary’s death is a big blow to the authorities’ efforts which are aimed at bringing those responsible for the mass crimes to book. Ms Fort stated: “For the victims, this death narrows the scope of the trial and limits their search for truth and justice.” She added: “We can say that by death, Ieng Sary escapes justice.”

Sary’s death comes against the background of claims that the Cambodian government has impeded the Tribunal’s efforts by repeatedly interfering in its work and the rather shambolic conviction rates of the Tribunal constitutes, in the writer’s view, sufficient evidence to buttress this. Thus to date, only one high ranking official of the regime Kaing Guek Eav, famously known as “Duch” has been convicted for his hand in the massacres. Compounding matters further is the fact that there are only two surviving high ranking members of the regime, the majority being deceased and one having been declared mentally unfit to stand trial. With the twin evils of government interference and lack of funding impeding the process one finds it difficult to see how an ending which involves the conviction and subsequent imprisonment of those in custody will ever be achieved.

For reasons of expediency perhaps the cases should be transferred to a neutral country, possibly within the area in which Cambodia is located, appointed by the U.N. as this may rid the issue of government interference which is seen as a major stumbling block in the way of the Tribunal. While many call for increased funding of the Tribunal, one struggles to see how this would result in speeding up the process as it is the interference in the first place which has resulted in the gridlock currently being experienced by the Tribunal, and as a consequence, the Tribunal’s costs have risen accordingly. The Tribunal is clearly not short of funding, what with a reported $175 million having been spent in the five and half years from mid-2006 when it was founded to the end of last year. The writer’s sentiments are seconded by Surya Subedi, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia in last week’s speech in Geneva, Switzerland. To sound-off, Subedi, in urging the Tribunal to exhibit some urgency in dealing with the trials, asserted: “We owe it to the surviving victims of the Khmer Rouge, the families of the victims, and the whole of Cambodian society that continues to suffer from the impact of the Khmer Rouge.” Admittedly, the writer couldn’t have highlighted the significance of the trials to the Cambodian people any better than Subedi did.

GUINEA: FIGHTING AND RIOTING ENGULF ANOTHER WEST AFRICAN STATE

The West African country of Guinea appears to have been struck by the curse which has afflicted its West African neighbours of late by succumbing to the political crises which has so far threatened to rip the region apart from itself. Protesters, apparently aping the Arab Spring protests, have taken to the streets over the last couple of days clamouring for the sort of change to which the region has become unfamiliar of late.

 

With the attention of regional diplomats being trained on disturbances afflicting neighbouring Chad, Mali and recently the Ivory Coast, the last thing the regional watchdog ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) envisaged at this most inopportune of times was the upheaval which has emanated from Guinea and which most certainly will have the effect of encumbering its already stretched to the limit resources.

 

The protests, which started several days ago, is said to have been the result of President Alpha Conde’s failure to call for elections before the 3^rd March 2013 deadline which had been set for that purpose and on which most people had relied. The said elections would have taken place on 12^th May 2013. Unfortunately the waters are further muddied by the usual powder keg concoction of ethnic rivalries which when mixed with politics inevitably results in the combustion with which observers of Africa’s fortunes have become too familiar. In this vein, the protests are of added significance not least because it has now transcended mere political disagreements and appear to be a camouflage for the continued feuding between two of the country’s largest ethnic groups, the Malinke and the Peul, with the latter predominantly forming the opposition and the former currently comprising the bulk of the government’s support.
 

At the time of writing, it is reported that at least a dozen people had been killed and over a hundred had suffered injuries following the escalation of the disturbance. At least one of those reported to have lost their lives and several of the injured were said to have been caught up in a round of protests which then led to the country’s security officials opening fire on an unarmed group of protestors. Worryingly the protests, which started in the capital city of Conakry, is now said to have spread to towns located as far as over 200 miles from the epicentre of the unrest. The fact that legitimate protests have apparently been hijacked by miscreants, as has at times been reported on occasions on which there are anti-government protests, cannot be ignored.

 

The leading opposition leader, Cellou Dalein Diallo has blamed the security forces, and by implication, the President for failing to exercise control over them and for attempting to muzzle the voices of protests through intimidation. Mr Diallo asserted: “The President of the Republic has a crucial responsibility to create peace. He needs to agree to listen to others, and to respect his adversaries.” Although there appears to be no end in sight to the rapidly spreading wave of violence, the rioters will best be advised to pause for thought and gaze at their surroundings, comprising landscapes which have been blighted by the scourge of ethnic violence and bringing along with it destruction which will in turn inevitably result in a passage of time to be forever referred to as ‘the lost decades’. Perhaps a look across the horizon and onto neighbouring West African States may well help steer the fortunes of Guinea away from the quagmire into which it stares at the present moment.