Replies to post #8721 on Foreign Correspondence

[fuagf]

What is delaying Haiti's aid?
21 January 2010

prev: Security in short supply, especially for poor


Aid distribution in Dabonne, Haiti (21 Jan 2010)

The earthquake in Haiti has left an estimated 1.5 million people homeless and tens of thousands without access to food, water and medical supplies. The UN says the scale of the disaster is "historic", with its staff confronting devastation and logistical problems on a scale never seen before.

Here is a look at some of the issues agencies say have hampered the aid effort and how they are being dealt with.

SCALE OF DISASTER


The devastation has been described
as 'historic' in scale

Aid agencies say Haiti is quite simply one of the worst disasters they have ever handled.

"In every direction the task is huge, it is an historic challenge" UN spokesman Elisabeth Byrs told the BBC.

"We are trying to run an operation for three million people, the task is huge and the coordination is immense."

They say that while images of the misery in Haiti can spread rapidly around the world, aid supplies and skilled people cannot travel so fast.

"Haiti is definitely the most complex emergency to date," said Jean Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

He said it was difficult for those not involved in emergency aid to understand how difficult the operations can be.

"The fact that the reporting is immediate might give the impression that aid can be sorted out in such a fashion, but you can't do that because of the scale of the operation and complexity."

AIRPORTS AND PORTS


Aid groups say supplies have been
stuck at the airport

While the main airport in Port-au-Prince was not put out of action by the quake, it is not equipped to deal with the volume of flights arriving.

There have been complaints of huge backlogs, with some aircraft circling for hours or being diverted to the Dominican Republic. Paul Peachy of Christian Aid said it had difficult even getting emergency staff to Haiti.

The UN says 150 planes are now landing daily in Port-au-Prince but the US Army, which has taken over control of the airport, says 1,500 planes are still scheduled to arrive.

To speed up the process, aid flights are also coming into and out of the neighbouring Dominican Republic and in smaller airports in Haiti.

Port-au-Prince's main port was also badly damaged by the quake and other ports in the area could only accept smaller vessels. One of the two piers in the capital's docks reopened on Thursday, allowing bulkier shipments to be delivered by sea.

But on Thursday, Haiti's President Rene Preval joined several aid agencies in saying it is what happens when aid arrives in the country that is the problem.

"People say to us: Where are the trucks to transport the aid? Where are the depots to store what arrives?" said Mr Preval.

"What's important is coordination of the aid, so that we know what we receive, in what quantity, when and how it's distributed."

DAMAGE TO ROADS


Damaged roads make it harder to
move resources around the country

Moving aid to where it is needed has been hampered by damage to roads, piles of rubble in the streets or by the sheer volume of people trying to move out of or around the capital.

"Road corridors are heavy with traffic, so travelling takes hours," said Ms Byrs of the UN.

Aid agencies also report a lack of trucks and a lack of fuel but said supplies were now starting to arrive. They also hope to start employing local people soon in rubble clearing so reconstruction can begin.

The fact that many roads were damaged also meant that survivors have tended to gather in small groups, rather than in larger camps, he said.

"It is very difficult to reach out systematically when you've got hundreds of groups of people in Port-au-Prince and the vicinity," he said.

"If you manage to get tens of thousands of displaced people in one place you obviously streamline the distribution."

The US has carried out air drops of basic supplies in some areas, but this is considered a last resort as it is considered inefficient and can lead to unrest on the ground as people compete for the few supplies.

INFRASTRUCTURE


Aid groups were unable to broadcast
information to camps

Phones and internet links were down in many areas of Haiti for some time after the quake, making it harder for agencies to coordinate their efforts.

Mr Peachy of Christian Aid said it had been impossible to contact his colleagues in Haiti for the first 48 hours after the quake.

But Mr Chauzy of the IOM said the lack of communications also meant it was hard to tell people needing aid where they could go to collect it.

"Now the media is up and running, local radio station have started broadcasting and the UN's Radio Minustah has started broadcasting in Creole," he said.

Many NGOs based in Haiti lost staff and equipment in the disaster, which meant the systems they had in place could not be used. Christian Aid was one of many to lose its entire building.

Aside from the practical losses, many aid workers are also dealing with grief as they carry out their work.

"For the moment we are concentrating - and I would say escaping - with the work. After, we will experience the emotions," said Ms Byrs at the UN.

SAFETY ISSUES


Armed police have been deployed to
deter looting and violence

There has been concern about the security situation in Haiti, with fears that people not receiving aid would turn to violence.

John O'Shea of Irish charity Goal told the Guardian newspaper he could not allow aid workers to move into Haiti from the Dominican Republican because he had "no guarantee that the people driving them are not going to be macheted to death on the way down".

But while there have been reports of looting and some incidents of violence, other agencies say they have been impressed by how Haitians have responded to the disaster.

Ms Byrs said the capital was "tense but calm" and that the few examples of violence were not representative of Haitian people.

"We are seeing a huge solidarity between Haitian people. They resilient, they taken their fate into own hands from the very beginning," she said.

Jean Philippe Chauzy of French agency Acted said the security issues in Haiti should neither be over-played nor used as an excuse to prevent aid deliveries.

"The needs are there, people are desperate, if you don't distribute the assistance, people will be even more desperate and ready to resort to anything."

On Thursday, a truck run by the US-based Catholic Relief Service was reported to have been overrun by desperate people when it arrived at a makeshift camp in the town of Leogane.

But Adrien Tomarchio of Acted says the main safety concern has been for those people receiving aid.

"The best process is not to start distribution at once and announce it so everyone comes," he says.

"We make sure we can set up a proper secured distribution point, where people can come one-by-one. The aim is to deliver to the most vulnerable people first, then we also can focus on other groups."

[b]CO-OPERATION

The US Army has been deployed in vast numbers in Haiti, both to help with the aid effort and to help maintain law and order.


The US has tens of thousands of troops
in the country

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has complained that the rush to get troops into the country has been at the expense of the delivery of humanitarian supplies.

"Everything has been mixed together and the urgent and vital attention to the people have been delayed while military logistics - which is useful but not on day three, not on day four, but maybe on day eight - has really jammed the airport and led to this mismanagement."

MSF say one of its planes carrying 12 tonnes of medical supplies was repeatedly turned away from the airport despite having prior permission to land.

John O'Shea of Goal said the failure of the UN and US to work together was leading to "a situation of utter chaos".

The UN has dismissed such criticism, saying it "underestimated the logistical difficulties" and that the US was the only country in the region capable of providing logistical support on the scale needed.

"We are not talking about politics, this is humanitarian. Our goal is to delivery assistance as soon as possible and co-ordination is vital - without it you can't get the right aid to the most vulnerable," said spokeswoman Ms Byrs.

RESPONSIBLE AID

Aid agencies are keen to stress that the response to a disaster such as Haiti must be responsible and durable. The last thing they want is for the mechanisms they put in place to lead to long term harm for the people they are trying to help.


Badly managed distributions can mean
the most needy go without

Adrien Tomarchio, of French agency Acted, told the BBC the aim when distributing food is to get it to the right people quickly, rather than just get it out quickly.

"If we distribute food all at once, some people will take more then they need and there is the risk of them selling food items, rather than it reaching the people that need it," he said.

"The aim is to deliver to the most vulnerable people, then we can focus on other groups."

In the case of shelter, there is little point in building a camp for displaced people without confirming they will be able to stay there, possibly for many months.

Agencies have had to work with the local authorities to determine whether the land is suitable, whether it can be properly equipped with shelter and sanitation.

Land rights issues also do not disappear after a disaster, so agencies have to establish who owns the land on which they hope to build.

"You can't just go there and get land, level it and start building," says Jean Philippe Chauzy of IOM.

Haiti's rainy season begins in May or June, so camps cannot be placed in areas which are likely to be flooded in the next few months.

IOM, working with troops from Minustah, have started clearing a patch of land in a suburb about 10km out of Port-au-Prince, but say further camps will almost certainly be needed.

As recovery begins, it is important that as many Haitians that can return to work do. A camp which is too far away from the capital for them to be able to travel in for work will benefit no one.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8472670.stm

[fuagf]

China suspends military exchanges with US
AP

fp: IT is hard to find places that have become safer rather than more troubled during the past year. But the Taiwan Strait is one.

China still has 1000 or so missiles pointing at the island it regards as a recalcitrant part of its own country, but the relationship between the two governments has warmed impressively, to the extent that leaders of the People's Republic no longer refer publicly to their right to reconquer Taiwan by force. Tourists travel both ways and Taiwan's massive investment in China is starting to be complemented by Chinese funds buying into Taiwan businesses.


In this July 20, 2006 photo, a U.S.-made Patriot missile is launched during the annual Han Kuang No. 22 exercises in Ilan County, 80 kilometers (49 miles) west of Taipei, Taiwan. The United States is planning to sell US$6.4 billion in arms, including Black Hawk helicopters, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles, mine hunter ships and information technology, to Taiwan, a move that will infuriate China and test whether President Barack Obama's efforts to improve trust with Beijing will carry the countries through a tense time.
(AP Photo/File)

BEIJING – China suspended military exchanges with the United States, threatened unprecedented sanctions against American defense companies and warned Saturday that cooperation would suffer after Washington announced $6.4 billion in planned arms sales to Taiwan.

The response to Friday's U.S. announcement, while not entirely unexpected, was swift and indicated that China plans to put up a greater challenge than usual as it deals with the most sensitive topic in U.S.-China relations.

"This is the strongest reaction we've seen so far in recent years," said Stephanie T. Kleine-Ahlbrandt, northeast Asia project director for the International Crisis Group. "China is really looking to see what kind of reaction it's going to receive from Obama on this."

China's Defense Ministry said the arms sales to self-governing Taiwan, which the mainland claims as its own, cause "severe harm" to overall U.S.-China cooperation, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. Vice ministerial-level talks on arms control and strategic security were postponed.

The warning comes as the U.S. seeks Beijing's help on issues including the global financial crisis and nuclear standoffs in North Korea and Iran. Tensions were already high after recent U.S. comments on Internet freedom and a dispute between Google and China, as well as President Barack Obama's plan to meet with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama this year.

China's Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei told U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman that the sales of Black Hawk helicopters, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles and other weapons to Taiwan would "cause consequences that both sides are unwilling to see," a ministry statement said.

The Foreign Ministry also threatened sanctions against U.S. companies involved in the arms sales, which hasn't happened in past sales to Taiwan.

"Our action regarding Taiwan reinforces our commitment to stability in the region," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Saturday. "We know China has a different view. Given our broad relationship with China, we will manage this issue as we have in the past."

The United States is Taiwan's most important ally and largest arms supplier, and it's bound by law to ensure the island is able to respond to Chinese threats.

China responds angrily to any proposed arms sales, however, and it also cut off military ties with the U.S. in 2008 after the former Bush administration announced a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan.

A similar cutoff of military ties was expected this time, but it comes as Washington and Beijing wanted to improve normally frosty relations between their armed forces. The U.S. has tried to use military visits to build trust with Beijing and learn more about the aims of its massive military buildup.

"In the past, these kinds of suspensions have lasted for three to six months, with some parts of the military-to-military relationship suspended beyond that," said Phillip Saunders, a distinguished research fellow at the National Defense University in Washington. "I expect something similar this time."

It's not known whether the arms sale will affect President Hu Jintao's expected visit to the U.S. this year or a summit on nuclear safety in the U.S. this spring.

Experts on China warned Beijing could take further steps to punish the United States to show its newfound power and confidence in world affairs.

Jin Canrong, a professor of international studies at China's Renmin University, said the sale would give Beijing a "fair and proper reason" to accelerate weapons testing. China test-fired rockets in recent weeks for an anti-missile defense system in what security experts said was a display of anger at the pending arms sale.

"The U.S. will pay a price for this. Starting now, China will make some substantial retaliation, such as reducing cooperation on the North Korea and Iran nuclear issues and anti-terrorism work," Jin added.

The latest suspension of military ties should affect planned visits to China by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. A visit to the U.S. by the Chinese military's chief of the general staff, Gen. Chen Bingde, could also be called off.

The U.S. Congress has 30 days to comment on the newest arms sales before the plan goes forward. Lawmakers traditionally have supported such sales.

Though Taiwan's ties with China have warmed considerably since Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou took office 20 months ago, Beijing has threatened to invade if the island ever formalizes its de facto independence. China has more than 1,000 ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan.

China often argues that arms sales to Taiwan hurt their relations, but Saunders said that despite the latest announcement and the one in 2008, "cross-Strait relations have never been better."

The arms package announced Friday dodged a thorny issue: The more advanced F-16 fighter jets that Taiwan covets are not included.

The Pentagon's decision not to include the fighters and a design plan for diesel submarines — two items Taiwan wants most — "shows that the Obama administration is deeply concerned about China's response," said Wang Kao-cheng, a defense expert at Taipei's Tamkang University.

Taiwan's Ma told reporters Saturday that the deal should not anger
the mainland because the weapons are defensive, not offensive.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100130/ap_on_re_as/as_china_us_taiwan_arms_sales

There are US jobs and revenue, yet i wonder does Taiwan really need the extra package now.

[fuagf]

Subway Blasts Kill Dozens in Moscow
By CLIFFORD J. LEVY
March 29, 2010

MOSCOW — Suicide bombers set off huge explosions during Monday morning’s rush hour in two subway stations in central Moscow, officials said, killing at least 35 people and raising fears that the Muslim insurgency in southern Russia was once again being brought to the country’s heart.

The attacks spread panic throughout the capital as people searched for missing relatives and friends and the authorities tried to determine whether more blasts were planned. The subway, known as the Metro, is one of the world’s most extensive, and it serves as a vital artery for Moscow’s commuters, carrying up to 10 million people a day.

“The terrorist acts were carried out by two female terrorist bombers,” said Moscow’s mayor, Yuri M. Luzhkov. “They occurred at a time when there would be the maximum number of victims.”

Mr. Luzhkov said 23 people were killed in the first explosion, at the Lubyanka station, and 12 people at the Park Kultury station.

Pavel Y. Novikov, 25, an electrician, said he was evacuated from the Park Kultury station about 15 minutes after the explosion. “It smelled like a burned rubber,” he said. “I saw blood, and I saw bloody clothes on the ground. It was so unpleasant.”The system had been subjected to several attacks related to the separatist war in Chechnya in the early part of the last decade.

Officials said the first explosion on Monday occurred at 7:50 a.m. in second car of a train at the Lubyanka station, killing people both on the platform and inside the train. Numerous others were injured.

The authorities closed off the station and the surrounding Lubyanka Square, formerly the site of the Lubyanka prison, which served as headquarters of the K.G.B., the Soviet-era secret police. The F.S.B., the principal successor to the K.G.B., now has its headquarters there.

About 40 minutes later the second attack took place, in the second car of a train at the Park Kultury station, officials said.

Yuri Syomin, the Moscow city prosecutor, said investigators believe that both explosions were set off by suicide bombers wearing belts packed with explosives.

Crowds of people rushed to both stations in an effort to locate relatives, and cell phone networks became overloaded. The roads were blocked with traffic as people avoided the subway system.

The attacks marked the second major upsurge in terrorism on the transportation system over the last year. In November, a bomb derailed a luxury train traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg, killing 26 people. The authorities linked the attack to Muslim insurgents in the Ingushetia region, which is near Chechnya.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has sought to suppress a Muslim insurgency in the country’s south, in the Caucasus region, centered on Chechnya.

Two brutal wars in Chechnya and a guerrilla insurgency gave rise to numerous bombings and acts of terror in southern Russia throughout the 1990s. Starting in 2002, Chechen separatists then began to export their bombing campaign to Moscow.

That October, a group of Chechen terrorists stormed into a Moscow theater during a performance and took some 850 actors, musicians and theatergoers hostage. After 57 hours of negotiations, Russian special forces sent knockout gas into the building and then launched an assault, killing all the militants and 117 of the hostages.

About 20 of the militants involved the theater siege were women, and several were found to be wearing explosive vests. The following year, Chechen tacticians began using female suicide bombers in Moscow.

The first of those attacks came in July 2003, when the Russian authorities said a Chechen woman exploded a suicide belt at a rock concert, killing more than a dozen people. In what was to have been a coordinated attack, the police said, another woman’s explosives failed to detonate nearby.

In December 2003, a woman bomber blew herself up in central Moscow, killing six people and injuring dozens. She was identified as the widow of a Chechen guerrilla commander, and the female bombers soon came to be known in Russia as the “black widows.”

In September 2004, a suicide bomber killed at least 9 other people and wounded more than 50 outside the Rizhskaya subway stop. In February of that same year, a woman carrying a bomb destroyed another subway car, killing at least 41 people as the train moved between the Paveletskaya and the Avtozavodskaya stations at one of the busiest times of the day.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/world/europe/30moscow.html

[fuagf]

Tamil Tiger funding trio walks free
By Sarah Farnsworth
Updated 40 minutes ago

fp: "The DFAT advice, in its second most severe tier of warnings, says Australians should reconsider their need
to travel to Algeria, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia,
Lebanon, Madagascar, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Yemen and Zimbabwe."


Arumugum Rajeevan, one of three men who pleaded
guilty to providing funds to the Tamil Tigers.
(AAP: Julian Smith, file photo)

Three men have walked free from court after pleading guilty to funding the separatist Sri Lankan group the Tamil Tigers.

Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, 35, Sivarajah Yathavan, 39, and Arumugum Rajeevan,
44, pleaded guilty to providing $1 million to the Tamil Tigers between 2002 and 2005.

Vinayagamoorthy also pleaded guilty to providing electronic
equipment, including radio transmitters, used in bomb attacks in Sri Lanka.

It is a federal offence under the United Nations Act to provide funds to a recognised terrorist organisation.

The Tamil Tigers are recognised as a terrorist organisation overseas but not in Australia.

Justice Paul Coghlan accepted that each were connected with Tamil Tigers and
knew the group had a reputation of being a terrorist organisation. But he told the
court the men were motivated to assist the Tamil community in the north of Sri Lanka.

He sentenced Vinayagamoorthy to two years' jail but released him on a good behaviour bond for four years.

Yathavan and Rajeevan were sentenced to one year in jail and released on a good behaviour bond for three years.

Last year, Justice Coghlan criticised the Australian Federal Police's 2007 arrest of Rajeevan,
describing his treatment as "frightfully heavy handed" and of questionable legality.

During pre-trial arguments, the Supreme Court was told Rajeevan was arrested at
gunpoint and was refused access to a lawyer during a five-hour interrogation.

Terrorism charges against all three men were later withdrawn by prosecutors
and replaced with the lesser charges of funding the separatist group.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/31/2861474.htm

[fuagf]

Indonesian legislative election, 2009 ..

Analysis


The national results showing parties achieving the largest vote share per province.
Source: General Elections Commission

Election results saw a drop in votes for Islamic parties compared to 2004, when they collected a total of 38 percent of votes. Although 87 percent of Indonesia's population are followers of Islam, the four Islamic parties in this election (the United Development Party, the National Mandate Party, the Prosperous Justice Party, and the National Awakening Party) only collected 24 percent of votes.[40] The Prosperous Justice Party, perhaps the most conservative Islamist party,[citation needed] gained 12 seats but fell short of its goal of garnering 15-percent of total votes cast.

In addition to growing concerns for the economy, observers believed that many voters shied away from Islamism after several local elections resulted in victories for Islamic parties. Once elected, these officials began experimenting with sharia, or Islamic law, prompting resistance among the local population. Most notably, legislators had proposed an anti-pornography bill in 2006 to gain the favor of religious groups. However, the bill's vagueness meant that practicing yoga could be construed as a pornographic action. Additionally, several corruption charges were brought against officials representing Islamic parties, which had previously been considered clean compared to other political parties.

The trend of voting for secular parties was not limited to Islam-based parties. The Christianity-based Prosperous Peace Party received only 1.48 percent of votes, and Catholicism-based Indonesian Democratic Party of Devotion received 0.31 percent.

Aftermath

The Democratic Party was the only party to have fulfilled the requirements needed to nominate its own candidates for president and vice president in the July election. It won 150 seats in the People's Representative Council, well over the 112 needed to nominate a candidate. No party met the criterion of achieving 25 percent of the popular vote. By 16 May, three coalitions submitted candidates for the presidential election. The coalition led by the Democratic Party submitted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Bank Indonesia Governor Boediono as running mates. Golkar and the People's Conscience Party submitted Vice President Jusuf Kalla and retired General Wiranto as running mates. Finally, the coalition led by the Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle and the Great Indonesia Movement Party submitted former President Megawati Sukarnoputri and retired General Prabowo Subianto as running mates. .. more .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_legislative_election,_2009

Indonesian presidential election, 2009

Presidential elections were held in Indonesia on 8 July 2009. The elections returned a president and vice president for the 2009–2014 period. A run-off election was scheduled to be held on 8 September if needed, but President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won more than 60% of the vote in the first round, which enabled him to secure reelection without a run-off. Yudhoyono was officially declared the victor of the election on 23 July 2009, by the General Election Commission .. [...]

Candidates

Nominees for president and vice president registered their candidacy at the central General Election Commission office in Jakarta on 16 May. Candidates underwent physical and psychological evaluations at Gatot Subroto Army Hospital following registration. Personality tests were also conducted using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.

Megawati Sukarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto

The pair of Megawati Sukarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto is referred to colloquially by the Indonesian media as Mega–Pro. These two candidates belong to opposing ideological backgrounds. Prabowo's father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, was a political enemy of Megawati's father, former President Sukarno.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Boediono

Initially, the pair of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Boediono was referred to colloquially by the Indonesian media as SBY Berbudi. Three days after the slogan was announced, the campaign team had changed its name to SBY–Boediono due to concerns that the term berbudi was not as well known outside Java.

Jusuf Kalla and Wiranto

The pair of Jusuf Kalla and Wiranto is referred to colloquially by the Indonesian media as JK–Win. .. 10 links there alone .. more ..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_presidential_election,_2009

[fuagf]

Zenawi's Ethiopian election sting
By Andrew Simmons in Addis Ababa


Zenawi, the incumbent prime minister, and his EPRDF were said by election
observers to have been favoured by an uneven playing field and a narrow
political space [AFP]

Shortly after dawn Ethiopia's capital was filled with the sound of loud hailers, the horns of flatbed lorries packed with people and the distorted blast of sound systems playing music.

Roads in Addis Ababa on Tuesday were blocked by paramilitary police in pale blue combat uniforms. A helicopter with a surveillance camera zoomed in on the crowded streets below.

The ruling party had planned it this way well in advance - the heart of Addis to be taken over for celebrations. Tens of thousands of people awaiting the message from one time guerilla fighter turned Africa statesman, father of three, Meles Zenawi.

Twelve hours earlier a posse of media had waited patiently outside a single storey building the size of a school classroom - the place where the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) was to make its pronouncement on provisional results.

'Tell us who won!'

It turned out to be a haphazard affair. First Merga Bekana, the board chairman, struggled with spreadsheets beamed onto a rough plaster wall from a projector.

As he decided to abandon the presentation and send a messenger to get a printout of the provisional results, an American reporter barked: "Just tell us who won!"

Meskel Square was a hive of activity. With security forces all around this historic square in darkness, construction work was going on to assemble a dais for the victory celebration - and a position where Meles, the incumbent prime minister, could address his supporters from behind a bullet proof screen.
in depth

Video:
Opposition cries foul .. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/05/201052274135729474.html
Democracy's stiff test .. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/05/201052364559553531.html
Interview: Meles Zenawi .. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/05/2010520102652415666.html
Ethiopia: Then and now .. http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/listeningpost/2009/10/20091030142954551473.html

In the heated atmosphere of the results room, a long list of numbers was finally read out by Bekana. At first he appeared reluctant to announce a provisional winner and then came the words: "Definitely the EPRDF [the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front] has won. At this point definitely."

And it was a landslide. The EPRDF had won by a larger margin than many analysts had expected. Their biggest challengers - Medrek, a forum of eight parties - had been decimated.

In advance of Sunday's poll and during the voting, the opposition had been complaining of ballot stuffing, intimidation, harassment and the blocking of their observers in some of the 43,000 polling stations.

But on this night they were silent. And the next morning it was obvious they were letting the ruling party's choreographed plans roll out.

They were waiting to hear what foreign observers had to say.

EU election monitors, in two floors of the Addis Hilton Hotel, were busily preparing for its news conference.

Expulsion threat

Draft copies of their findings had somehow found their way to Zenawi's office.

I understand from sources that Thijs Berman, the EU chief observer, had been summoned by Zenawi on Monday for a serious dressing down - even a threat of expelling the 170-strong mission from the country.

And so, when on early Tuesday morning Zenawi spoke above the cacophony of his supporters' wailing and cheering in Medrek Square, these words came in the Amharic language: "The people's vote will not be overturned by foreign forces.

"Some of our foreign friends have disappointed us but that's in the past.

"We urge them now to give recognition to the people's vote. The politics of hate is out. Not one life should be lost in post-election riots."

EU complaints

What was the opposition position on that statement?

Still no official word as the assembled throng of ruling party supporters became more challenging towards foreign faces. Some of them turned on foreign national journalists, like myself, chanting: "Tell the truth, fair reporting".

Less than two hours later Berman addressed his large media audience.

He said the polling had been generally calm and peaceful, and organised in a competent and professional manner. However, in the political atmosphere during the weeks running up to the elections, his observers noted apprehension and insecurity as the number of complaints from the opposition increased.


Opposition parties complained of intimidation
in the run-up to, and during, the poll [AFP]

Then he got to the point: "The title of our preliminary report is high turnout on election day but marred by narrowing political space and an uneven playing field.

"The EU observed the use of state resources for the campaign.

"Insufficient measures were taken to increase the level of trust of some political parties in the NEBE institution, especially at the local level."

A few hours after his news conference came another EU statement, this time from Brussels.

Catherine Ashton, the EU foregn policy chief, said: "I welcome the peaceful conduct of the elections and I congratulate the Ethiopian voters for showing their commitment to this process with a high turnout.

"The legislative elections in Ethiopia were an important moment in the democratic process in the country,."

Ashton further said the EU "stands ready to work with Ethiopia to further deepen our relations with the government and the peoples".

Court consideration

So what should most Ethiopians, and particularly the opposition parties, make of this? Opposition leaders are still considering their next move.

Street protests are ruled out after the deaths of 193 demonstrators and seven policemen following the disputed 2005 election.


EU observers have said that there were
irregularities in the election [AFP]

Back then the opposition was much stronger. Now the only realistic option is for them to look to the civil courts.

Medrek has an open hand as its campaign symbol, seen as a stop sign for Meles rule.

The EPRDF has a worker bee as its symbol.

The bee has stung the hand convincingly.

But how will this play out with a new government with a massively increased majority?

Ethiopia is a country with an estimated population of more than 80 million people and a massive need to help the vast majority of its people who live on less than $2 a day.

Meles has an answer - more foreign support for aid programmes while he works on the private sector.

The open hand, for now, cannot compete.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/05/2010525184139417252.html

[fuagf]

Suspects detained in North Ossetia

Police question three over suicide attack that killed at least 17 people in major city in Russia's North Caucasus.
Last Modified: 10 Sep 2010 00:42 GMT

Insert fp: The Caucasus, where nations have emerged, or re-emerged, comparatively recently from the disintegration of the Soviet Union, contains many dangerous zones, still including Georgia and secessionist South Ossetia, where violence erupted during the 2008 Olympic Games, a time that traditionally sees a cessation of wars. But - fingers crossed - we predict that we may survive 2010 without seeing an old-fashioned military invasion of one neighbour by another.

The number of deaths is expected to rise as many of the wounded were hospitalised in serious condition [AFP]

Russian police have detained three men on suspicion of involvement in a deadly suicide attack at a busy marketplace in North Ossetia.

The announcement came as the number of those killed in the blast on Thursday in Vladikavkaz, a major city in Russia's North Caucasus region, rose to at least 17.

Alexander Bortnikov, the federal security chief, told Russian news agencies on Thursday evening that the men were suspected accomplices of the bomber.

"Three have been detained on suspicion of carrying out this terrorist act. At the moment I can only give this information," Bortnikov said after travelling to the scene.

Nearly 140 people were wounded in the bombing and officials warned the death toll would likely rise as many of the injured were in critical condition.

Investigation

Russia said it was launching an investigation into what it described as an "act of terror" on Thursday, while Dmitry Medvedev, the president, vowed to capture the "bastards" who organised the attack.

IN DEPTH

Timeline: Attacks in Russia .. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/03/201032952371134.html
........................
Add update .. At least 17 dead in Russian republic after suicide car bombing
By the CNN Wire Staff .. VIDEO ..
September 9, 2010 -- Updated 1641 GMT (0041 HKT)
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/09/09/russia.explosion/?hpt=Sbin#fbid=8pSJduulBQN&wom=false
.......................
The North Caucasus: A history of violence .. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/08/2009817141410883512.html
Chechnya's battle for independence .. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/04/200941616473833140

"We will do everything to capture these monsters ... these bastards, who carried out a terrorist act on ordinary people," he was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

"We will do everything to find and punish them."

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing - the deadliest attack since twin suicide bombings on Moscow metro network in March killed 40 people and wounded over 100.

Vladikavkaz is the capital of the Russian republic of North Ossetia, which lies in the restive North Caucasus region.

Meanwhile Barack Obama, the US president, in a written statement condemned the "terrorist bombing" and offered his condolences to the victims.

"Our hearts go out to the people of North Ossetia, who have already suffered so much from horrific acts of terrorism. We offer our deepest condolences, and stand with the people of Russia in this time of tragedy," he said.

"This bombing further underscores the resolve of the United States and Russia to work together in combating terrorism and protecting our people."

Schools evacuated

The bomb, which was said to be packed with metal bars, bolts and ball bearings, was detonated at the entrance to the city's market where buyers and traders were operating.


The region suffers from ethnic tensions and has seen
a wave of unrest in recent months [EPA]

Vladikavkaz's market and its surrounding blocks has been the target of several bomb attacks over the past decade or so, in which scores of people have died.

Neave Barker, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Moscow, said children were believed to be among the dead and injured.

Our correspondent said that the attack could have been a "message" from separatist fighters that "the authorities and the people of the North Caucasus remain as vulnerable as they were six years ago when the Beslan siege took place, despite an increase in counter-insurgency operations".

He added that local authorities in the province said they received an anonymous threat to blow up an unspecified school in Vladikavkaz on Thursday, leading to all schools and kindergartens being evacuated.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, said the country must not let attacks like these continue.

"Criminals like those who acted today in the North Caucasus hope to sow hatred between our peoples. We have no right to let this happen," he said.

Scene of massacre

North Ossetia is seen as one of the Caucasus' more stable areas, unlike the republics of Chechnya and Dagestan, which see violence between separatists and Russian forces on a regular basis.

However, the republic does suffer from ethnic tensions and has seen a rise in unrest in recent months.

In November 2008, the mayor of the city was killed when an assassin shot him in the chest near his home.

It was also the scene of the 2004 Beslan massacre, in which Chechen separatist fighters took hundreds of hostages at a school - a siege that ended in the deaths of 330 people, around half of them children.

Unlike most other Caucasus provinces where Muslims make up the majority of the population, North Ossetia is predominantly Orthodox Christian.

The market attack came as Muslims were preparing to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, a holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/09/201099225145858763.html

See also ..

Russia Moves Missiles Into Breakaway Region
By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ .. NYT .. August 11, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/world/europe/12moscow.html?ref=georgia

Russian invasion scare sweeps Georgia after TV hoax

Imedi TV broadcaster provokes panic with report claiming Russian attack in progress
* Luke Harding in Moscow .. Guardian .. 14 March 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/14/russia-georgia-fake-invasion-report

Q&A: the Georgia coup .. Guardian .. Monday 24 November 2003
Simon Jeffery on the causes and consequences of Georgia's 'velvet revolution'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/nov/24/georgia.qanda

[fuagf]

Marikana is the latest chapter in a long saga

24 Aug 2012 07:50 - Micah Reddy

Statistically speaking, a Marikana massacre occurs many times
every year beneath the surface of South Africa's mining badlands.



Special Focus


Lonmin: Platinum mines in chaos .. [ Insert video from link, quote, and comment .. WARNING bloodshed ..

Dozens killed in South Africa mine shooting

"blamed on union rivalry" .. a shameful assertion when abrogation of
social responsibility by the mining company is the real root cause ]
http://mg.co.za/report/lonmin-platinum-mines-in-chaos

Our Coverage

Ten things about platinum .. http://mg.co.za/article/2012-08-23-ten-things-about-platinum
Marikana massacre illustrates need for development plan
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-08-24-00-marikana-mine-massacre-illustrates-the-need-for-a-development-plan

More Coverage

Marikana: Disastrous crowd control led to mayhem
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-08-24-00-marikana-disastrous-crowd-control-led-to-mayhem
Blood-spattered remains make media footage of workers charging even more ambiguous
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-08-23-blood-spattered-remains-make-media-footage-of-workers-charging-even-more-ambiguous

Jacob Moilwa (not his real name) is no stranger to the kind of bloodshed that took
place at Marikana, something all too common on the platinum fields of South Africa.

As a young man in the 1980s, he took up employment at Impala Platinum in what was then the Bophuthatswana bantustan. Fed up with appalling conditions and pitiful pay, workers at the mine embarked on wildcat strikes. The ensuing violence cost scores of lives and, as at Marikana, was fuelled by union rivalry.

~~~~~~~~
Insert:

Implats joins South Africa mining chamber amid labor unrest
updated 8/23/2012 7:26:39 AM ET

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Impala Platinum said on Thursday it had joined the country's chamber of mines as a full member, a move that could see it eventually bargain collectively with other companies and stem a wave of labour unrest.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48762304/ns/business-careers/#.UDiFCqC0KSo
~~~~~~~~

A then-militant National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), banned under Boputhatswanan labour law, took advantage of workers' growing disillusionment with local sweetheart union Bonume and rapidly built a strong base at Impala. With a handful of others, Moilwa was instrumental in setting up a branch of the NUM. For his efforts, he was imprisoned and tortured by Boputhatswanan police. After months of bitter struggle, the Impala workers ousted the discredited Bonume and won recognition for the NUM. They forced the company to concede a number of major demands, including a decision to "democratise" the prisonlike hostels.

Now, two decades later, Moilwa and his comrades must be reeling from the grim historical rerun playing out at Marikana, just a short distance from Impala, where violence erupted again earlier this year. Just as in the early 1990s, union rivalry has fuelled the fires of discontent at Marikana, with the NUM and the Association of Mineworkers and Constructution Union vying for influence.

But, although it feeds into an already volatile situation, union rivalry itself is neither the primary cause of the ongoing violence at Lonmin's mines now, nor, of course, can it explain the unrest at Impala then. Despite the successes of workers fighting for better conditions and pay in confronting one of the most brutal labour regimes in modern history, much remains unchanged. Beyond the cited wage figures, there are the squalid living conditions and endemic violence of the mine world and workers' daily lives.

Statistically speaking, a Marikana massacre occurs many times every year beneath the surface of South Africa's mining badlands. In 2010, 128 legal mineworkers lost their lives. This is a marked improvement on the figure of 309 for 1999, but it is still roughly three times the number of workers who lost their lives in the recent Marikana tragedy.

Permanently incapacitated
That is to say nothing of the hundreds of others who are maimed or permanently incapacitated, or who suffer slow, agonising deaths from silicosis and other industrial diseases.

It is to say nothing of their families languishing in rural ­poverty in the depleted hinterlands of Southern Africa, families whose breadwinners become economic burdens when they are laid off and dumped in their homes to await early death.

To take a step back and put the statistics and stories into historical perspective is to witness a permanent tragedy, one that has unfolded silently over the more than a century of industrial mining in South Africa. It is the country's never-ending underground war with the forces of nature that, like any war, leaves widows in its wake. But rarely do the daily struggles of its victims make headlines. If they did so half as often as fluctuations in the price of precious metals, perhaps real change in the industry would not seem so desperately fanciful.

In the wake of the killings, two community activists showed me around the townships and squatter camps that lie in the shadows of Lonmin's platinum mining operations. Replace the bleak brick-and-mortar buildings of purpose-built 19th-century European mining towns with a cramped mix of sooty corrugated-iron shacks and cracked reconstruction and development programme shoeboxes and you have a scene from an Émile Zola novel set in 21st-century South Africa.

Lonmin, the world's third-largest platinum producer, is able to give its chief executive an annual pay package equivalent to what the average rock-drill operator would take home after 400 years on the job. Yet it is unwilling to make good on its modest promises to mining communities: it is unable to fix the burst pipes that leak raw sewage into the rivers running through these sites, spreading waterborne diseases such as ­bilharzia; it is incapable of living up to the easily achievable task of providing effective waste removal and maintaining basic infrastructure.

The local soccer field lies in disrepair, overrun with weeds as children play in the potholed, dust-blown streets. Whitewashed company statements probably will not have much to say about its failed corporate social responsibility initiative: a hydroponic project that has fallen to ruin. They will not tell you how far the Dickensian wage paid to the least-skilled workers will stretch to provide for a family of four.

Dehumanising conditions
For years before the Marikana massacre, the Bench Marks Foundation, a mining watchdog non-governmental organisation, had been drawing attention to the dehumanising conditions of communities in the platinum-mining heartland. It warned that the mines were waiting to explode. But it cut a Cassandra-like figure. Its words of caution and appeals for change went unheeded. All too often, the media discourse is dominated by one-dimensional economic arguments abstract from any sense of social and political reality.

The mining executives and their shills, polemicists and apologists constantly bemoan what they see as excessive labour regulation and union influence and the supposed high costs of South African labour, despite the fact that wages and salaries as a proportion of national wealth have fallen, relative to profit, in recent decades. In the past 15 years, the richest 20% were the only people to experience growth in real wages, whereas the lowest decile endured the greatest decrease, further entrenching inequality in the most unequal country in the world.

Lonmin's actions before, during and after the massacre betray a callous disregard for the lives of its workers. In keeping with tradition, the company has handled the recent unrest with wearisome predictability: query and criticism have elicited only stonewalling. And then Lonmin broke its silence with a threat to striking workers, still mourning the loss of their gunned-down peers, to return to work or face dismissal. Although it later backtracked on this heartless act, it carried through a similar threat last year. The mass dismissal was a tool dear to apartheid-era employers and none more so than Impala, which made widespread use of it in the early 1990s when it sacked a record number of workers.

Amid all this, President Jacob Zuma could no longer maintain his usual hands-off approach, although he might just as well have. In his limp attempt to defuse the situation, we were told that this is a time for mourning, not pointing fingers. How convenient.

Meanwhile, our top cop, Riah Phiyega, unquestioningly absolved the police from any wrongdoing. She said, while the barrels were still hot and the blood still wet, they "shouldn't be sorry".

In the aftermath of the bloodiest confrontation since the end of apartheid, the heads of officials and bosses should be rolling. In an accountable democracy that is exactly what would be happening. Instead we scapegoat the victims, blaming the poorest and most disenfranchised for their own needless deaths. Sadly, it took a populist such as Julius Malema to say what Zuma is too compromised to say, to articulate the workers' anger, call for social justice and point fingers at those who are to blame.

Life on the mines
No articles or opinion pieces, no commissions of inquiry or mournful politicians' speeches could hope to capture the obnoxious, violent and degrading nature of life on the mines as lucidly and honestly as Zola did in Germinal. That was nearly 130 years ago, around the time gold mining started on the Rand. The similarities with the lives of workers then and now and the overlaps between events at Impala in the 1980s and events at Marikana today underscore the dire lack of meaningful transformation in the mining industry.

It would be madness to think that the tension will simply blow over with a commission of inquiry. The platinum mines may well get back to business as usual, but business as usual has always entailed deplorable levels of violence and misery.

If we are to avoid another Marikana, then this must surely be a turning point in the industry. Perhaps recent events make the best case thus far for rigorous debate on the future of the mining industry, even nationalisation. With this in mind, there is a pressing need to undo the historical amnesia that allowed these deaths to happen. All of this was foreshadowed and, in hindsight, should have been glaringly obvious.

Micah Reddy is a freelance researcher and master's student at Oxford University, who has been researching labour relations on platinum mines.

http://mg.co.za/article/2012-08-24-00-marikana-the-latest-chapter-in-a-long-saga

Mr Chief Lonmin Executive, have you ever felt any speck of social conscience, at all?

"Lonmin, the world's third-largest platinum producer, is able to give its chief executive an annual pay
package equivalent to what the average rock-drill operator would take home after 400 years on the job." .. says it all ..

Who would you rather have over for dinner? The Lonmin honcho executive, or one of the average rock-drill operators?

See also:

S African far-right leader killed [...]

Police said Terreblanche was attacked at his farm outside of Ventersdorp, on Saturday,
allegedly in a dispute over unpaid wages, the Johannesburg Star newspaper has reported.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=48569571

Terre'Blanche verdict sparks racial protests
23 Aug 2012 07:57 - Guardian Reporter

Outside court, white protesters showed an effigy of a hanged black man as
backers of Eugene Terre'Blanche's killer, Chris Mahlangu, sang racial songs.



A black farmworker was jailed for life on Wednesday for the murder of the white supremacist leader
Eugene Terre'Blanche, ending a two-year case that raised the spectre of racial unrest in South Africa.
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-08-23-terreblanche-verdict-sparks-racial-protests