African
Union Authority to be established - 6 July
Continental leaders gathered at the 13th African Union Summit on
Friday took a decision to transform the African Union Commission
into a new African Union Authority. Libyan President and host
of the summit, Muammar Gaddafi, hailed the landmark decision at the
closing of the summit. "Africa will speak through one single
voice to take up challenges," said the leader. - BuaNews
Online website
AU
summit tackles divisions over 'African government'
- 1 July
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's drive to create a powerful
pan-African authority split the continent's leaders Thursday, as a
new debate erupted over the war crimes indictment of Sudan's
president. Kadhafi grew so frustrated at the dissent over his scheme
to give the authority broad power over regional defence and foreign
affairs that he briefly walked out of the talks at an African Union
summit here, diplomats said. - AFP on Google
website
Gaddafi
calls for AU Summit in Sept - 6 July
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Friday called for a special African
Union Summit in early September to coincide with the 40th
anniversary of his rise to power. President Gaddafi, who is the
current chairperson of the African Union, made the proposal during
the last day of the 13th AU summit in Sirte, Libya. He explained
that the meeting would be held to coincide with the rise to power of
the Libyan "Guide" on 1 September 1969, after King Idriss
was overthrown. - BuaNews
Online website
3 July 2009
Closing
remarks by His Excellency Jacob Zuma, President of the Republic of
South Africa, to the 13th Ordinary Session of the African Union
Assembly of Heads of State and Government, Sirte, Libya
Presidency
website
4 July 2009
Zuma's
closing address to AU
The
Richmark Sentinel website
SADC
caught in EU-SA crossfire - 8 July
Countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are
caught between a rock and a hard place as South Africa and the EU
sling it out over the continuity of trade blocs in the region. At
issue is allegiance in the over a century-old Southern African
Customs Union (Sacu), after division brought on by the signing of
a separate economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the EU by
three Sacu members. The EU's splitting of Sacu, with the
signatures of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland on a separate EPA,
was forcing South Africa's hand in endorsing a SADC customs union,
said Peter Draper, the head of the Development Through Trade
Programme at the SA Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). - Business
Report website
Europe
resorts to name calling - 8 July
A top EU trade envoy has launched a scathing attack on South
Africa, accusing it of being "a bully" and "acting
in bad faith" in relation to its partners in the Southern
African Customs Union (Sacu). Ivano Casella, the EU's trade
negotiator for the Southern African Development Community (SADC),
said he believed South Africa wanted to disband Sacu, as it was
not in the country's interests to continue to share customs
revenue with the region. - Business
Report website
Sacu
trade negotiators head for talks in Namibia - 8 July
A quarterly meeting of the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu)
council and commissioners will take place in Namibia next week,
with an objective of clarifying how the oldest union in existence
intends to manage the impact on the functioning of Sacu, following
differing opinions on how best to approach negotiations with the
European Union (EU) regarding the signing of the Economic
Partnership Agreements (EPAs). - Creamer
Media's Engineering News website
EPAs
not in Africa's interest - 10 July
Local civil society groups have said that Botswana, Lesotho and
Swaziland, which are now being referred to as BLS countries in
SADC's Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiations with
the European Union (EU), signed the agreements under pressure from
the European bloc. They are the Kohemo Namibia Development Agency,
the Labour Resources and Research Institute (LaRRI), the National
Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), the National Youth Council
(NYC), the Do O.D Southern Africa and TKMOAMS. "We are
disappointed that the BLS countries signed under pressure from the
EU and wish to point out that the Swakopmund 'agreed' texts are
not included in the interim EPA text", the groups said in a
joint statement this week. - Namibia
Economist website
Egypt
Egypt
mourns 'headscarf martyr' - 6 July
The body of a Muslim woman, killed in a German courtroom by a man
convicted of insulting her religion, has been taken back to her
native Egypt for burial. Marwa Sherbini, 31, was stabbed 18 times by
Axel W, who is now under arrest in Dresden for suspected murder.
Husband Elwi Okaz is also in a critical condition in hospital, after
being injured as he tried to save his wife. Ms Sherbini had sued her
killer after he called her a "terrorist" because of her
headscarf. - BBC
News website
See also :
Europe.
Freedom of Religion
Middle East. Burqa
losing popularity among young Afghan women
Kenya
Using
puppets to battle Kenya corruption - 7 July
The satirical puppet show, XYZ Show, which was influenced by the
British 1980s show Spitting Image and France's Les Guignols, is a
chance for a group of scriptwriters and puppeteers to delve into the
murky world of Kenyan politics. The man behind it is East Africa's
best known cartoonist, Gado, who has been taking a pop at Kenya's
elite for years and encourages people to question events in Kenya.
"We bring out the character . . . especially when it comes to
the fact that the politicians never stand for anything, the
double-standards and the hypocrisy," said director James Kanja,
who says he is not expecting any threatening phone calls in response
to the show. "We feel secure knowing that we are working with
puppets so we could argue at the end of the day that this is a
puppet not a real person". - BBC
News website
See also :
ANCYL
slams Nando's ad - 21 April
The ANC Youth League on Tuesday called for the immediate withdrawal
of the "disgusting" Nando's television and radio
advertisements. The league said the advertisements used "cheap
satire" to undermine electoral politics in South Africa.
"We are fully aware that the advertisement is intended at
mocking the president of the ANCYL, and in a racist fashion portrays
political leaders as cartoons". The television adverts feature
a puppet named Julius - which could be a reference to ANCYL leader
Julius Malema - who demands "change". The league said it
has commissioned its lawyers to investigate. - News24
website
Madagascar
European
Union begins consultations with Madagascar on return to democratic
rule - 7 July
As a representative of the EU Presidency, State Secretary for
Development Cooperation Joakim Stymne has today begun political
consultations in Brussels with Madagascar's self appointed high
authority (Haut Autorite Transitoire - HAT). The EU is beginning
consultations following the military coup that took place on 17
March and the disturbances that followed. The delegation from
Madagascar was led by HAT's President Andry Rajoelina. - eGov
Monitor website
Madagascar
authority says understands EU despite punitive measures - 9 July
The Madagascan transitional government understands the European
Union (EU) despite its punitive measures, according to a senior
official. In an exclusive interview with Xinhua here on
Wednesday, Interior Minister Manantsoa Masimana said what the EU had
said was to encourage Madagascan politicians to continue dialogue
and seek peaceful solution to the current political crisis. - Xinhua
News Agency website
See also :
Madagascar
sentences ex-president - 3 June
BBC News
website
[InfoUpdate 12 of 2009]
Sudan
African
Union in rift with court - 3 July
The African Union says it will halt co-operation with the
International Criminal Court over its decision to charge Sudan's
leader with war crimes. President Omar al-Bashir was indicted over
alleged atrocities in the Darfur region in March. - BBC
News website
AU
ruling means Bashir can travel in Africa : Sudan - 4 July
Sudan said on Saturday its president was free to travel across
Africa after heads of state of the African Union voted not to
cooperate with the International Criminal Court's indictment of him.
- Reuters
website
Africa
refuses to act on Sudan war crimes warrant - 4 July
The African Union refused to act on an international war crimes
warrant for Sudan's president, at a summit that also yielded a deal
on the powers of a new regional Authority. The refusal to arrest
Sudan President Omar al-Beshir granted a continent-wide reprieve to
a leader accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in
Darfur. While the measure was backed by Libya and other nations that
sympathise with Sudan, the text also voiced Africa's frustration at
the UN Security Council's failure to consider a request to suspend
the warrant for one year, delegates said. - AFP
on Google website
African move
on Bashir dismissed - 5 July
The African Union's (AU) decision not to help arrest Sudan's
president will not affect the International Criminal Court's work,
its prosecutor says. Luis Moreno Ocampo told the BBC Omar al-Bashir
was still a wanted man and that it was up to each African state to
decide whether to arrest him. Mr Bashir was indicted over alleged
atrocities in Darfur in March. But on Friday an AU meeting in Libya
agreed a resolution saying they would not co-operate in his arrest.
- BBC News
website
SA
faces a dilemma - 8 July
The South African government faces a dilemma over the African Union
summit's decision on Friday not to help the International Criminal
Court (ICC) to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war
crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. The decision by the
AU's highest body, the assembly of heads of state and government -
who included President Jacob Zuma - at the summit in Sirte, Libya,
directly contradicts South Africa's obligations - as a country that
has ratified the ICC's founding Rome Statute - to arrest al-Bashir
as a fugitive from the ICC and hand him over to the court in The
Hague. - IOL website
See also :
South
Africa and Rwanda call for African court - 12 June
South African President Jacob Zuma and his Rwandan counterpart Paul
Kagame yesterday called for the creation of an African court,
accusing the International Criminal Court in The Hague of imposing
"selective" justice. - Gulf
News website
[InfoUpdate
12 of 2009]
Indicting
Bashir is wrong - 2 July
The indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir by the
International Criminal Court (ICC) threatens peace and security in
Sudan. The arrest warrant for the president not only escalates the
conflict in Darfur and makes the resolution of the conflict more
elusive, but it also weakens the sovereignty of the state of Sudan.
This in turn revives the violence that escalated in the South-North
war, destroying the peace deal that ended 22 years of civil war.
This war saw the deaths of two million Sudanese and the displacement
of more than three million refugees overseas. - Article by
Hussein Ali Yusuf, PhD student at the Institute For Conflict
Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University on the Foreign
Policy in Focus website
Indicting
Bashir is right - 2 July
The International Criminal Court’s indictment of Sudanese
President Omar al-Bashir is more than a moral imperative. It's a
strategic opportunity to advance peace in Sudan. Since al-Bashir
took office in 1989 through a military coup, he has overseen two
premeditated, coordinated military campaigns inside Sudan, both
characterized by crimes against humanity and war crimes. Although
the ICC's indictment only addresses acts committed in Darfur, the
Sudanese government killed hundreds of thousands of citizens and
displaced millions of others over the course of these two campaigns.
- Article by Meghan E Stewart, attorney and Senior Peace Fellow with
the Public International Law and Policy Group on the Foreign
Policy in Focus website
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
to re-evaluate all mining contracts - 3 July
Zimbabwe will re-evaluate all mining contracts and introduce a
"use it or lose it" policy for its mining industry under a
proposed law, the country's Finance Minister Tendai Biti told
Reuters on Friday. News of the vetting of mining contracts by
Zimbabwe's unity government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is likely to surprise investors at a time
the country is wooing them to help repair a battered economy. Mining
in the southern African country has become the leading source of
foreign exchange, with gold accounting for a third of exports, but
political turmoil, lack of energy and unfavourable regulatory rules
has led to several mines closing. - Creamer
Media's Mining Weekly website
Zimbabwe
army 'to go from mines' - 5 July
Zimbabwe's government has agreed to withdraw soldiers from diamond
mining fields amid criticism over human rights abuses, state-run
media reports. - BBC
News website