A former prime minister, Alassane Ouattara, returned to Ivory Coast today and said the ousting of President Henri Konan Bedie by the army on Friday was not a coup but a revolution to get rid of an "outlaw regime." "This is not a coup d'etat," he told reporters at Abidjan airport after stepping off a plane from Paris. "This is a revolution supported by all the Ivorian people." He said he regretted the way power had changed hands, but added, "We were in an outlaw state."
Mr. Ouattara arrived with his wife, Dominique, and was greeted by supporters and journalists. About 200 more supporters outside the airport chanted "A.D.O., president," using his initials. Mr. Ouattara left his job as deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund in July to take the leadership of the Rally of the Republicans Party and to prepare a challenge to Mr. Bedie in the presidential election scheduled for next October. Mr. Bedie claimed that Mr. Ouattara was actually from neighboring Burkina Faso, which would make him ineligible to run for president.
A judge began investigating whether Mr. Ouattara had submitted forged documents to prove his nationality, and an arrest warrant was issued. Mr. Ouattara was out of the country at the time and chose to remain in France. An official from his party said that a court had ruled on Tuesday that there were no grounds to pursue the forgery allegation, and that the arrest warrant had been canceled.
The military junta has invited the political parties to nominate potential ministers in a transitional government. Elections have been promised, but no timetable has been set.
Mr. Ouattara, asked whether he might be a member of the interim government, said no, but he added, ''My wish is to serve my country through the transition.'' He said he would be a candidate in the presidential election.
The junta's leader, Gen. Robert Guei, today continued a series of meetings to explain the coup, meeting religious leaders and urging them to rally round the transition. "Mr. Bedie should not have taken the liberty of meddling in religious matters," said General Guei, who is a Roman Catholic. "I was shocked, sometimes indignant to see that people wanted to use religion to divide the country."
General Guei asked a Muslim leader who is close to Mr. Bedie to dissolve his own organization and join the mainstream National Islamic Council. The Muslim leader, Moustapha Diaby Koweit, had no immediate comment. The general has taken pains to woo Mr. Bedie's Baoule ethnic group and the Agni, who have dominated in power since the nation became independent in 1960. "There are those who think that the Baoule ethnic group went too far," he said on Tuesday in the capital, Yamoussoukro, in the heart of the central Baoule region. "It's not that at all. It was the behavior of one man."
In Bamako, the capital of Mali, two rival Ivoirian delegations held an emergency meeting of West African foreign ministers to discuss the coup in Ivory Coast. One delegation represented the Ivoirian junta, which was led by Gen. Adboulaye Coulibaly; another represented Mr. Bedie and was led by his defense minister, Vincent Bandama N'Gatta. Mr. N'Gatta and Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan fled with Mr. Bedie to Togo under French protection after the coup.
Source: New York Times
Thursday, December 30, 1999
Arrests made in India over screening of film on the Manjolai massacre
Tamil Nadu's Dravida Munetra Kazhagam (DMK) state government, a coalition partner in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in New Delhi, arrested two men in October for holding a preview of the documentary Death of a River. The film deals with the police massacre of striking Manjolai tea estate workers at the Thamiraparani River and includes footage of the police attack on the demonstrators and their supporters.
Tamil Nadu police arrested T. S. S. Mani, convenor of the Tamil Nadu Human Rights Organisation (TNHRO) and Thirunavukarasu, a cinema manager, on October 11 after screening the film to writers, journalists and intellectuals.
Mani was held by police and then brought him before a magistrate where they obtained permission to detain him for "interrogation". Police did not file a mandatory First Information Report, which is required within 24 hours. The human rights activist was then shifted from one city police station to another for 10 days in order to prevent him meeting with his lawyers, supporters and relatives.
On October 21, he was released on the condition that he reported to the local police station every Saturday. Police targeted Mani because he was an important witness to the massacre and helped the Kanchenai Film Movement produce the film. Thirunavukarasu, the cinema manager, was released after questioning on the day of his arrest. R. R. Srinivasan, the film's director had to obtain anticipatory bail from the courts in order to avoid arrest.
Two days after his arrest Mani's mother was told that he had been charged with screening the film without government permission and for instigating caste tensions (most of the estate workers belong to the oppressed castes). The charges have been framed against him under the Indian Penal Code and under section 31/w 15(2) of the Tamil Nadu Exhibition of Films on Television Networks (Regular) Act of 1984 and section 7(a)(I) of the Cinematography Act of 1952.
Demonstrations by intellectuals, professionals and women activists have been held to protest Mani's arrest, and while no further action has been taken against the film's makers since October, the police have not withdrawn the charges and can act against those arrested at any time in the future.
Death of a River is a documentary about the Manjolai massacre, which took place when Tamil Nadu police attacked a procession of striking tea estate workers, their families and supporters on July 23. The demonstrating workers were demanding that they be paid the half-day wages illegally deducted from their pay packets since February and the release of 652 fellow workers previously arrested by police. Seventeen people, including two women and a two-year-old boy, were killed and 500 injured in the police attack.
The documentary exposes the provocative nature of the police attack, which involved the Rapid Action Force, a special police unit, and shows police throwing bricks and stones at the demonstrators. It also includes footage of police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and rifles at the terror-stricken and unarmed men, women and children. The demonstrators were subjected to a baton-charge and forced into the river; a waiting column of police beat those able to make their way to the other side of the river.
The film opens with a Brahmin standing in the river in prayer with a holy thread across his shoulders. The holy man is worshipping the river, "the goddess Ganga—the goddess of life". The film later shows the bodies of those killed by police strewn on the banks of the river. Thus the Manjolai massacre represented the Death of a River, the Thamiraparani, which had sustained the life of many people over centuries.
The first part of the documentary graphically exposes the police brutality and includes interviews with tea estate workers, the injured and leaders of the demonstration. The 60-minute film, which denounces the Tamil Nadu government's judicial inquiry into the massacre, concludes with the words, "It is only the people who will and are eligible to give justice."
Although some television channels have previously broadcast news footage on the incident, Death of a River is the first film to provide a detailed examination of the massacre. The response of the Tamil Nadu government to the film reveals its extreme nervousness over any exposure of the Manjolai massacre. The film has been screened in Bangalore and New Delhi.
Source: World Socialist Web Site
Tamil Nadu police arrested T. S. S. Mani, convenor of the Tamil Nadu Human Rights Organisation (TNHRO) and Thirunavukarasu, a cinema manager, on October 11 after screening the film to writers, journalists and intellectuals.
Mani was held by police and then brought him before a magistrate where they obtained permission to detain him for "interrogation". Police did not file a mandatory First Information Report, which is required within 24 hours. The human rights activist was then shifted from one city police station to another for 10 days in order to prevent him meeting with his lawyers, supporters and relatives.
On October 21, he was released on the condition that he reported to the local police station every Saturday. Police targeted Mani because he was an important witness to the massacre and helped the Kanchenai Film Movement produce the film. Thirunavukarasu, the cinema manager, was released after questioning on the day of his arrest. R. R. Srinivasan, the film's director had to obtain anticipatory bail from the courts in order to avoid arrest.
Two days after his arrest Mani's mother was told that he had been charged with screening the film without government permission and for instigating caste tensions (most of the estate workers belong to the oppressed castes). The charges have been framed against him under the Indian Penal Code and under section 31/w 15(2) of the Tamil Nadu Exhibition of Films on Television Networks (Regular) Act of 1984 and section 7(a)(I) of the Cinematography Act of 1952.
Demonstrations by intellectuals, professionals and women activists have been held to protest Mani's arrest, and while no further action has been taken against the film's makers since October, the police have not withdrawn the charges and can act against those arrested at any time in the future.
Death of a River is a documentary about the Manjolai massacre, which took place when Tamil Nadu police attacked a procession of striking tea estate workers, their families and supporters on July 23. The demonstrating workers were demanding that they be paid the half-day wages illegally deducted from their pay packets since February and the release of 652 fellow workers previously arrested by police. Seventeen people, including two women and a two-year-old boy, were killed and 500 injured in the police attack.
The documentary exposes the provocative nature of the police attack, which involved the Rapid Action Force, a special police unit, and shows police throwing bricks and stones at the demonstrators. It also includes footage of police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and rifles at the terror-stricken and unarmed men, women and children. The demonstrators were subjected to a baton-charge and forced into the river; a waiting column of police beat those able to make their way to the other side of the river.
The film opens with a Brahmin standing in the river in prayer with a holy thread across his shoulders. The holy man is worshipping the river, "the goddess Ganga—the goddess of life". The film later shows the bodies of those killed by police strewn on the banks of the river. Thus the Manjolai massacre represented the Death of a River, the Thamiraparani, which had sustained the life of many people over centuries.
The first part of the documentary graphically exposes the police brutality and includes interviews with tea estate workers, the injured and leaders of the demonstration. The 60-minute film, which denounces the Tamil Nadu government's judicial inquiry into the massacre, concludes with the words, "It is only the people who will and are eligible to give justice."
Although some television channels have previously broadcast news footage on the incident, Death of a River is the first film to provide a detailed examination of the massacre. The response of the Tamil Nadu government to the film reveals its extreme nervousness over any exposure of the Manjolai massacre. The film has been screened in Bangalore and New Delhi.
Source: World Socialist Web Site
Monday, December 27, 1999
Ousted Leader Of Ivory Coast Flees to Togo
The ousted president of Ivory Coast left the country in a French aircraft today, landed in nearby Togo and may seek asylum in France, the government here said. Three days of rioting seemed to be coming to an end today as the army established control over the West African country, which until last week was considered one of the most stable, prosperous and democratic on the continent.
Residents of Abidjan, the main city, who were unable to finish their Christmas shopping when looting and car hijackings began on Thursday as soldiers held a protest, were back in stores, guarded by soldiers. There were military checkpoints on the thoroughfares, but buses, the main means of transportation for the city's three million people, began running again at dawn. Nonetheless, a nightly curfew and patrols by soldiers and police officers empowered to shoot anyone on the street after 6 p.m. will continue for the moment, security officials said. The country is being run by a nine-man junta calling itself the National Public Salvation Committee. The commanders of the police, the marines, the paratroops and armored and infantry units took oaths to it on television on Saturday night.
But the real power seems to be Gen. Robert Guei, 58, a former chief of the armed forces. He said today that he would create a government that would include civilians, but did not say when. On Saturday he invited political parties to discuss a unified government. France and the United States condemned the overthrow of President Henri Konan Bedie, 65, as did Nigeria and South Africa, the two most powerful countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A panel of foreign ministers from the Economic Community of West African States said it would meet soon to discuss the crisis. Ivory Coast is a member of the group, which has intervened in civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
This is the first coup in Ivory Coast, which is the world's largest producer of cocoa, and which exports palm oil, bananas and other tropical products. The country had a history of stable government. It was ruled by Felix Houphouet-Boigny from independence in 1960 until his death in 1993. Mr. Bedie, of Mr. Houphouet-Boigny's Democratic Party, succeeded him.
General Guei said today that mutineers had overthrown the government because it had been taking political prisoners and showing ethnic intolerance uncharacteristic of Ivorian traditions. But several forces seemed to be at work. General Guei, a French-trained career officer with a relatively low profile, was himself dismissed as armed forces chief by Mr. Bedie in 1995 after rumors of a coup were circulated. The general has said he was not involved in plotting a coup and was working on his farm when the mutineers asked him to be their spokesman.
The young soldiers who took part along with hooligans in the looting that began on Thursday complained about pay and working conditions. The government has recently been showing virulent nationalism and a xenophobic attitude toward migrant workers; a third of the 19 million population is from neighboring countries. More recently, the governing Democratic Party, dominated by members of Mr. Bedie's Baoule ethnic group, has tried to prevent Alassane Ouattara, an International Monetary Fund official who was Mr. Houphouet-Boigny's prime minister, from becoming a candidate in a presidential election next October. Mr. Bedie contended that Mr. Ouattara was a citizen of Burkina Faso and thus ineligible to run.
The government also jailed leaders of Mr. Ouattara's party, the Rally for the Republicans, who were freed by the mutineers. The new junta has some apparent links to Mr. Ouattara's party. Gen. Lassana Palenfo, another prominent member of the junta, was once Mr. Ouattara's security minister.
The junta expressed satisfaction with the departure of Mr. Bedie under what the French Foreign Ministry described as ''safe and dignified circumstances.'' Mr. Bedie spent two days hiding inside a French military base near the Abidjan airport under the protection of 550 French marines. Some cabinet ministers are being held by the junta, which said the detention was for their own protection. At least two appeared on television endorsing the coup, one of them surrounded by soldiers.
Mr. Bedie's wife and children were among the entourage of about 12 people allowed to leave with him. He was greeted at the airport in Lome, Togo's capital, by the Togolese president, Gnassingbe Eyadema. Asked by Agence France-Presse whether Mr. Bedie could end up in France, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry here replied that she did not know whether he wanted to come, but ''if he wishes to, he has the option of doing so.''
On Saturday, France reinforced its garrison with 40 troops from Gabon and positioned 300 more in Senegal to aid in any possible evacuation of the 20,000 or more French citizens in Ivory Coast. But General Guei refused permission for any more French troops to enter and guaranteed the safety of French citizens and property. He said an increase in troop strength could lead to a bloodbath, but also seemed to fear that France might try to restore Mr. Bedie to power.
Source: New York Times
Residents of Abidjan, the main city, who were unable to finish their Christmas shopping when looting and car hijackings began on Thursday as soldiers held a protest, were back in stores, guarded by soldiers. There were military checkpoints on the thoroughfares, but buses, the main means of transportation for the city's three million people, began running again at dawn. Nonetheless, a nightly curfew and patrols by soldiers and police officers empowered to shoot anyone on the street after 6 p.m. will continue for the moment, security officials said. The country is being run by a nine-man junta calling itself the National Public Salvation Committee. The commanders of the police, the marines, the paratroops and armored and infantry units took oaths to it on television on Saturday night.
But the real power seems to be Gen. Robert Guei, 58, a former chief of the armed forces. He said today that he would create a government that would include civilians, but did not say when. On Saturday he invited political parties to discuss a unified government. France and the United States condemned the overthrow of President Henri Konan Bedie, 65, as did Nigeria and South Africa, the two most powerful countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A panel of foreign ministers from the Economic Community of West African States said it would meet soon to discuss the crisis. Ivory Coast is a member of the group, which has intervened in civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
This is the first coup in Ivory Coast, which is the world's largest producer of cocoa, and which exports palm oil, bananas and other tropical products. The country had a history of stable government. It was ruled by Felix Houphouet-Boigny from independence in 1960 until his death in 1993. Mr. Bedie, of Mr. Houphouet-Boigny's Democratic Party, succeeded him.
General Guei said today that mutineers had overthrown the government because it had been taking political prisoners and showing ethnic intolerance uncharacteristic of Ivorian traditions. But several forces seemed to be at work. General Guei, a French-trained career officer with a relatively low profile, was himself dismissed as armed forces chief by Mr. Bedie in 1995 after rumors of a coup were circulated. The general has said he was not involved in plotting a coup and was working on his farm when the mutineers asked him to be their spokesman.
The young soldiers who took part along with hooligans in the looting that began on Thursday complained about pay and working conditions. The government has recently been showing virulent nationalism and a xenophobic attitude toward migrant workers; a third of the 19 million population is from neighboring countries. More recently, the governing Democratic Party, dominated by members of Mr. Bedie's Baoule ethnic group, has tried to prevent Alassane Ouattara, an International Monetary Fund official who was Mr. Houphouet-Boigny's prime minister, from becoming a candidate in a presidential election next October. Mr. Bedie contended that Mr. Ouattara was a citizen of Burkina Faso and thus ineligible to run.
The government also jailed leaders of Mr. Ouattara's party, the Rally for the Republicans, who were freed by the mutineers. The new junta has some apparent links to Mr. Ouattara's party. Gen. Lassana Palenfo, another prominent member of the junta, was once Mr. Ouattara's security minister.
The junta expressed satisfaction with the departure of Mr. Bedie under what the French Foreign Ministry described as ''safe and dignified circumstances.'' Mr. Bedie spent two days hiding inside a French military base near the Abidjan airport under the protection of 550 French marines. Some cabinet ministers are being held by the junta, which said the detention was for their own protection. At least two appeared on television endorsing the coup, one of them surrounded by soldiers.
Mr. Bedie's wife and children were among the entourage of about 12 people allowed to leave with him. He was greeted at the airport in Lome, Togo's capital, by the Togolese president, Gnassingbe Eyadema. Asked by Agence France-Presse whether Mr. Bedie could end up in France, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry here replied that she did not know whether he wanted to come, but ''if he wishes to, he has the option of doing so.''
On Saturday, France reinforced its garrison with 40 troops from Gabon and positioned 300 more in Senegal to aid in any possible evacuation of the 20,000 or more French citizens in Ivory Coast. But General Guei refused permission for any more French troops to enter and guaranteed the safety of French citizens and property. He said an increase in troop strength could lead to a bloodbath, but also seemed to fear that France might try to restore Mr. Bedie to power.
Source: New York Times
Wednesday, December 15, 1999
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT 116 OF 1998
The purpose of the Domestic Violence Act is to provide for the issuing of protection orders with regard to domestic violence; and for matters connected therewith.
RECOGNISING that domestic violence is a serious social evil; that there is a high incidence of domestic violence within South African society; that victims of domestic violence are among the most vulnerable members of society; that domestic violence takes on many forms; that acts of domestic violence may be committed in a wide range of domestic relationships; and that the remedies currently available to the victims of domestic violence have proved to be ineffective;
AND HAVING REGARD to the Constitution of South Africa, and in particular, the right to equality and to freedom and security of the person; and the international commitments and obligations of the State towards ending violence against women and children, including obligations under the United Nations Conventions on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Rights of the Child;
IT IS THE PURPOSE of this Act to afford the victims of domestic violence the maximum protection from domestic abuse that the law can provide; and to introduce measures which seek to ensure that the relevant organs of state give full effect to the provisions of this Act, and thereby to convey that the State is committed to the elimination of domestic violence.
Source: SABINET
RECOGNISING that domestic violence is a serious social evil; that there is a high incidence of domestic violence within South African society; that victims of domestic violence are among the most vulnerable members of society; that domestic violence takes on many forms; that acts of domestic violence may be committed in a wide range of domestic relationships; and that the remedies currently available to the victims of domestic violence have proved to be ineffective;
AND HAVING REGARD to the Constitution of South Africa, and in particular, the right to equality and to freedom and security of the person; and the international commitments and obligations of the State towards ending violence against women and children, including obligations under the United Nations Conventions on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Rights of the Child;
IT IS THE PURPOSE of this Act to afford the victims of domestic violence the maximum protection from domestic abuse that the law can provide; and to introduce measures which seek to ensure that the relevant organs of state give full effect to the provisions of this Act, and thereby to convey that the State is committed to the elimination of domestic violence.
Source: SABINET
Sunday, December 12, 1999
One in eight South Africans HIV-positive
Currently 6 million South Africans, one in eight, are HIV positive, with 1,500 new cases reported every day. More than 60 percent of beds at state hospitals are filled with AIDS patients.
Source: World Socialist Web
Source: World Socialist Web
Thursday, December 9, 1999
COTE D'IVOIRE: Arrest warrant issued for opposition politician
Ivorian authorities have issued an arrest warrant for opposition politician Alassane Ouattara who is insisting on his right to run against Henri Konan Bedie in presidential elections next year.
The warrant issued on 29 November by an examining magistrate has been issued on the grounds of Ouattara's alleged fraud and the use of forged documents to support his eligibility to run in the elections in October 2000.
A defiant Ouattara has announced his intention to return home before the end of December and a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry (le Quai d'Orsay), Anne Gazeau-Secret, has criticised the arrest order.
Source: IRIN
The warrant issued on 29 November by an examining magistrate has been issued on the grounds of Ouattara's alleged fraud and the use of forged documents to support his eligibility to run in the elections in October 2000.
A defiant Ouattara has announced his intention to return home before the end of December and a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry (le Quai d'Orsay), Anne Gazeau-Secret, has criticised the arrest order.
Source: IRIN
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