Target Centermass

Category: Africa

  • International Landmine Summit Opens

    Representatives of 143 countries opened a conference in Nairobi, Kenya today with calls for a “total ban of production, stockpiling and use of anti-personnel landmine to make the world mine-free.”

    In his opening remarks, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said “unless all the existing stocks are destroyed, and unless production of these lethal weapons is brought to an end, the threat posed by landmines will continue to be with us.”

    He urged governments to intensify conflict resolution efforts by resolving conflicts before they escalate into full-scale war.

    Jointly organized by the United Nations, International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Kenyan Coalition Against Landmines, the Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World, has brought together senior government officials of 143 countries across the world.

    The summit, to be held in Kenya’s capital Nairobi from Nov. 29 -Dec. 3, will see the first review conference of the milestone Ottawa Convention and the most significant event of the treaty since its signing in 1997, according to the organizers.

    During the conference, participants will review the progress of the efforts made in ridding the world of landmines, and produce a concrete action plan for the next five years.

    The President-Designate of the Nairobi Summit Wolfgang Petritsch also called at the opening ceremony for increased efforts and action to address the man-made humanitarian catastrophe posed by landmines.

    “The problem of anti-personnel mines is unique, as the solution to it is within our reach if we maintain the same intensity and even increase in coming years as we have in the past. My expectation is that the summit will propel us close to our dream of a world free of landmines,” Petritsch said.

    The Ottawa Convention, officially known as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, was signed in 1997 and entered into force in 1999.

    Africa is the world’s most mine-affected region and many saw it as fitting that the First Review Conference of the Ottawa Convention is being held in Africa.

    The U.S. is not attending the conference, nor is it a signatory to the Ottowa Convention. Forty-two other countries, including Russia and China, also chose to not sign the convention. The main sticking point for the U.S. is the Korean peninsula, where anti-personnel mines are a large part of defense plans against a North Korean invasion. It should be noted that the U.S. has stated that it shares “common cause with all those who seek to protect innocent civilians from indiscriminately used land mines.”

  • Gadhafi Claims Reward Too Small for Giving up WMD Pursuit

    After cringing at the headline and thinking, “Great, Libya’s at it again,” I found myself somewhat surprised by the content of Gadhafi’s complaint.

    Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi says the international community should have offered Tripoli a better payback for renouncing its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

    Mr. Gaddhafi told France’s Le Figaro newspaper that he was “a bit disappointed” that Libya was not better rewarded for what he described as Tripoli’s contribution to international peace. In clearer terms, that translates as Libya’s decision last year to scrap its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

    That decision has led to the end of years-long United Nations sanctions against Libya, and helped improve diplomatic ties between the North African country and a number of Western nations. That includes relations with France whose president, Jacques Chirac, arrived in Tripoli Wednesday afternoon. Mr. Chirac’s visit to Libya is the first by a French head of state in more than half a century.

    British, German and Italian leaders have also visited Libya in recent months.

    But Mr. Gadhafi told Le Figaro that in exchange for scrapping its weapons program, Libya should at least receive guarantees from the international community to protect its national security, and help in transforming its weapons material for peaceful, civilian use. The Libyan leader specifically faulted Japan, Europe and the United States.

    Since Libya was not rewarded, Mr. Gadhafi warned, other countries like North Korea and Iran would not be inclined to follow Libya’s example and dismantle their own weapons programs. He said he had already had talks to this effect with officials from the two countries.

    Yes, I feel Gadhafi’s move should be rewarded more than it has been, though perhaps not to the extent Gadhafi actually wishes. I certainly concur with assurances of national security, at least in terms of outward threats, and assistance in “civilizing” Libya’s weapons material seems reasonable.

    I would hesitate towards rushing to any other immediate rewards, and that hesitancy is driven by two factors. First, there should not be so much of an immediate reward so as to actually induce other nations to get the idea that starting and dropping WMD programs is the way to a fast buck. Second, Gadhafi still has much he can do to better the lives of Libyans, including granting them a greater voice in their own governance. Further rewards should be held in reserve for such steps.

    One reward I would most assuredly and whole-heartedly back would be for the English-speaking world to reach a consensus on the spelling of dear ol’ Moammar’s name. The above article spells it Gadhafi. This article has it as Kadhafi. Actually, here’s a site with thirty-freaking-two variations. This needs to be resolved. Perhaps this is something the United Nations could actually manage.

  • Kadhafi Committed to Democracy

    File this one under the “Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it” category.

    Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi is committed to introducing direct democracy in his North African nation, his son Sayef al-Islam Kadhafi said in an interview.

    Speaking on BBC World Service radio, the younger Kadhafi said that in the wake of regional government elections three months ago, nation-wide polls — under the gaze of US and European observers — would be “the next step” and that they would be held “soon”.

    “The Libyan people want to modernise their economy, they want to reform their system, they want to deepen direct democracy,” he said. “We will do this through a collective action.”

    “In Libya, next time, everything should be democratic from A to Z. This is the desire of my father. This is the desire of the people.”

    Kadhafi’s motivations for democracy are obvious. With the president’s re-election, Bush’s drive towards a successful democracy in the Arab world will continue. Right now, very goods seats are still available on the “Arab Freedom” bus. An open and democratic Libya would certainly reap economic rewards from the West, as well as pushing itself towards greater prominence in the Arab world and international community.

    Unfortunately, there’s a major hitch.

    Asked whether his father — who rules Libya with no formal title — would contest the presidency, he replied with a laugh: “I think he is going to be the leader, and not president.”

    The Kadhafi regime simply does not understand democracy.

  • Ivory Coast mobs target French

    Well, looks like French and UN involvement may legitimize foreign intervention in some eyes, but they don’t guarantee things will go smoothly.

    Mobs loyal to the Ivory Coast government roamed the streets in two major cities of the West African country, searching for foreigners to attack.

    The search on Saturday came as nine French troops were killed and 23 other people were injured when Ivory Coast warplanes bombed a French position near Bouake, a rebel stronghold.

    An American citizen was also killed, but the State Department said details of the death were unclear.

    Ivory Coast has been split between the loyalist south and rebel-held north since an attempted coup in September 2002 triggered a civil war. The nation gained its independence from France in 1960.

    Although French forces have often kept rebels away from government positions, they are widely suspected in the nationalistic south of siding with the rebels, The Associated Press reports.

    About 4,000 French troops and 6,000 U.N. forces are in the country, according to the AP.

    The U.N. Security Council, meeting in an emergency session Saturday, condemned the initial attack on French forces as a violation of a May cease-fire agreement, and demanded the “immediate cessation” of military operations in accordance with that agreement.

    France and the U.N. forces were authorized to use “all necessary means” to carry out that directive, a U.N. statement read.

    ….

    Appearing on national television, presidential spokesman Desire Tagro called for calm said mobs should stop attacking civilians.

    The leaders of the Young Patriots group also appeared on television to accuse France of attacking Yamoussoukro, the country’s capital, and said the pro-government militia is now at war with France, CNN has learned.

    French troops retaliated to the attack by government warplanes, destroying an Ivorian military base in Yamoussoukro and a stash of weapons, CNN has learned.

    ….

    About 100 people were stranded to the south at Abidjan’s airport when the facility was closed, said Carrie Giardino, a reporter for Voice of America. Earlier, smoke billowed from the suburb of Cocody after an attack on a French school. Pro-government rebels were stationed at roadblocks in the city, attacking cars holding suspected foreigners.

    Explosions could also be heard in Abidjan, she said.

    The French deaths and injuries resulting from Saturday’s bombing were confirmed by John Victor Nkolo, spokesman for the U.N. operations in the Ivory Coast, and the French Defense Ministry.

    The African Union, meanwhile, accused the Ivory Coast government of breaking existing peace agreements, according to a statement issued after top-level crisis talks.

    AU chairman Olusegun Obasanjo, president of Nigeria, “expressed his deep concern at the renewed fighting, particularly at the bombardment by government forces on rebel locations in the northern part of Ivory Coast,” through a statement read to CNN by presidential spokeswoman Remi Oyo.

    ….

    Obasanjo called for a change of the U.N. mandate in Ivory Coast from one of peacekeeping to peace-enforcing.

    I love the smell of French military involvement in the morning. It smells like … quagmire.