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Ivory Coast's government on Tuesday accused the opposition of "plotting" against the state after it vowed to set up a rival government following bruising presidential elections won in a landslide by the incumbent, Alassane Ouattara.
The standoff pitched the West African nation deeper into a three-month-old crisis that has claimed several dozen lives, triggering EU appeals for calm and dialogue.
Hours after 78-year-old Ouattara was declared victor with more than 94 percent of the vote, Justice Minister Sansan Kambile accused the opposition of "acts of assault and plotting against the authority of the state."
The Abidjan public prosecutor has been asked to investigate, Kambile said, warning that "all options are on the table."
Opposition leader Pascal Affi N'Guessan had told reporters late Monday that opposition parties and groups were forming a "council of national transition."
"This council's mission will be to... create a transitional government within the next few hours," N'Guessan said.
The goal, he said, was to "prepare the framework for a fair, transparent and inclusive presidential election."
Ouattara's landslide in Saturday's vote had been widely expected -- two opposition leaders had called for a boycott of the ballot and a civil disobedience campaign.
But the protests and bloody clashes have also stirred traumatic memories of a crisis a decade ago that tore the country apart and dealt it lasting economic damage.
Around 3,000 people died after then-president Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat by Ouattara.
N'Guessan late Monday said the "transitional council" would be led by opposition veteran Henri Konan Bedie, 86, a former president and long-term adversary of Ouattara.
"Keeping Mr Ouattara as head of state could lead to civil war," he warned.
- Confrontation -
In Abidjan, the economic capital, security forces blocked off roads close to Bedie's villa.
They fired teargas to disperse small groups of supporters and journalists outside, preventing the staging of a press conference called to follow up Monday night's announcement.
In Daoukro, an opposition stronghold 235 kilometres (146 miles) north of Abidjan, anti-Ouattara protesters were manning barricades.
"These results are a farce, " said one, who gave his name as Firmin. "We are going to carry on with civil disobedience until Ouattara steps down."
In contrast, Ouattara supporters sang his praises, saying he had strived to end instability in the world's top cocoa producer and revive its battered economy.
"He has worked hard for the country. He has to carry on, not just for us, but for our children," said Hamed Dioma, a scrap-metal worker in a rundown district of Abidjan.
"We are going to party."
Anger sparked by Ouattara's quest for a third term has revived memories of past feuds left mostly unreconciled after a 2002 civil war split the country in two.
Thirty people died in clashes before Saturday's vote, often between local ethnic groups allied to the opposition and Dioula communities seen as close to Oua
\t On Friday, internet and international calls were cut off across the West African nation in anticipation of the election results, according to locals and international observers in the capital, Conakry.
\t This was the third time that Conde matched-up against Diallo. Before the election, observers raised concerns that an electoral dispute could reignite ethnic tensions between Guinea's largest ethnic groups.
Madagascar lies in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of Africa opposite Mozambique. The worlds fourth-largest island, it is twice the size of Arizona. The countrys low-lying coastal area gives way to a central plateau. The once densely wooded interior has largely been cut down.
Multiparty republic.
The Malagasy are of mixed Malayo-Indonesian and African-Arab ancestry. Indonesians are believed to have migrated to the island about 700. King Andrianampoinimerina (1787–1810) ruled the major kingdom on the island, and his son, Radama I (1810–1828), unified much of the island. The French made the island a protectorate in 1885, and then, in 1894–1895, ended the monarchy, exiling Queen Rànavàlona III to Algiers. A colonial administration was set up, to which the Comoro Islands were attached in 1908, and other territories later. In World War II, the British occupied Madagascar, which retained ties to Vichy France.
An autonomous republic within the French Community since 1958, Madagascar became an independent member of the community in 1960. In May 1973, an army coup led by Maj. Gen. Gabriel Ramanantsoa ousted Philibert Tsiranana, president since 1959. Cdr. Didier Ratsiraka, named president on June 15, 1975, announced that he would follow a socialist course and, after nationalizing banks and insurance companies, declared all mineral resources nationalized. Repression and censorship characterized his regime. Ratsiraka was reelected in 1989 in a suspicious election that led to riots as well as the formation of a multiparty system in 1990. In 1991, Ratsiraka agreed to share power with the democratically minded opposition leader, Albert Zafy, who then overwhelmingly won the presidential elections in Feb. 1993. But Zafy was impeached by Parliament for abusing his constitutional powers during an economic crisis and lost the 1996 presidential election to Ratsiraka, who again became president in Feb. 1997.
The Dec. 2001 presidential election between incumbent president Didier Ratsiraka and Marc Ravalomanana, the mayor
Djibouti lies in northeast Africa on the Gulf of Aden at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. It borders Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia. The country, the size of Massachusetts, is mainly a stony desert, with scattered plateaus and highlands.
Republic with a unicameral legislature.
Ablé immigrants from Arabia migrated to what is now Djibouti in about the 3rd century B.C. Their descendants are the Afars, one of the two main ethnic groups that make up Djibouti today. Somali Issas arrived thereafter. Islam came to the region in 825.
Djibouti was acquired by France between 1843 and 1886 through treaties with the Somali sultans. Small, arid, and sparsely populated, it is important chiefly because of the capital citys port, the terminal of the Djibouti–Addis Ababa railway that carries 60% of Ethiopias foreign trade. Originally known as French Somaliland, the colony voted in 1958 and 1967 to remain under French rule. It was renamed the Territory of the Afars and Issas in 1967 and took the name of its capital city on June 27, 1977, when France transferred sovereignty to the new independent nation of Djibouti. On Sept. 4, 1992, voters approved in referendum a new multiparty constitution. In 1991, conflict between the Afars and the Issa-dominated government erupted and the continued warfare has ravaged the country.
The dictatorial president, Hassan Gouled Aptidon, who had run the country since its independence, finally stepped aside in 1999, and Ismail Omar Guelleh was elected president. In March 2000, the main Afars rebel group signed a peace accord with the government. The fighting, severe drought, and the presence of tens of thousands of refugees from its war-torn neighbors, Ethiopia and Somalia, have severely strained Djiboutis agricultural capacity.
In April 2000, experts estimated some 150,000 people, or more than one-quarter of the population, needed food aid. The UN agreed to spend $2.7 million to increase the city of Djiboutis port facilities since it is a crucial regional grain terminus. In 2002, Djibouti
Zambia, a landlocked country in south-central Africa, is about one-tenth larger than Texas. It is surrounded by Angola, Zaire, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia. The country is mostly a plateau that rises to 8,000 ft (2,434 m) in the east.
In 1972, Kaunda outlawed all opposition political parties. The world copper market collapsed in 1975. The Zambian economy was devastated—it had been the third-largest miner of copper in the world after the United States and Soviet Union. With a soaring debt and inflation rate in 1991, riots took place in Lusaka, resulting in a number of killings. Mounting domestic pressure forced Kaunda to move Zambia toward multiparty democracy. National elections on Oct. 31, 1991, brought a stunning defeat to Kaunda. The new president, Frederick Chiluba, called for sweeping economic reforms, including privatization and the establishment of a stock market. He was reelected in Nov. 1996. Chiluba declared martial law in 1997 and arrested Kaunda following a failed coup attempt. The 1999 slump in world copper prices again depressed the economy because copper provides 80% of Zambias export earnings.
In 2001, Chiluba contemplated changing the constitution to allow him to run for another presidential term. After protests he relented and selected Levy Mwanawasa, a former vice president with whom he had fallen out, as his successor. Mwanawasa became president in Jan. 2002; opposition parties protested over alleged fraud. In June 2002, Mwanawasa, once seen as a pawn of Chiluba, accused the former president of stealing millions from the government while in office. Chiluba was arrested and charged in Feb. 2003.
Although the country faced the threat of famine in 2002, the president refused to accept any international donations of food that had been genetically modified, which Mwanawasa considered “poison.” In Aug. 2003, impeachment proceedings against the president for corruption were rejected by parliament. In April 2005, the World Bank approved a $3.8 billion debt relief
Ethiopia's parliament has approved allowing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to stay in office beyond his mandate after elections planned for August were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The vote on Wednesday - 114 in favour, four against and one abstention - came two days after a leading opposition politician resigned as speaker in an apparent protest against the decision to delay the election.
Ethiopia's election board announced in March that it would be impossible to organise the vote on time because of the pandemic, in which 2,506 infections have been confirmed in the country with 35 deaths.
Some opposition leaders have called for a caretaker or transitional government to guide the country to elections, a suggestion Abiy dismissed as unworkable during a question-and-answer session on Monday with legislators.
On Wednesday night, two major opposition parties with power bases in Abiy's home Oromia region issued a joint statement rejecting Wednesday's vote as \"an illegal and illegitimate act\".
In Dec. 2013, Madagascar held its presidential and parliamentary elections. The presidential elections were a run-off between the top two candidates of an earlier round, Jean Louis Robinson and Hery Rajaonarimampianina. Rajaonarimampianina won the runoff, receiving 54% of the vote.
Rajaonarimampianina took office on Jan. 25, 2014. He previously served as Minister of Finance. He has been the CEO of Air Madagascar since 2011. In April 2014, President Rajaonarimampianina named Roger Kolo prime minister. However, less than a year later, Kolo and his cabinet resigned over criticism of its poor handling of frequent power outages. In Jan. 2015, Rajaonarimampianina appointed air commodore Jean Ravelonarivo prime minister.
On May 26, 2015, Madagascars parliament voted, by a 121-4 vote, to remove President Rajaonarimampianina from office because of alleged constitutional violations and general incompetence. Next, the countrys constitutional court would decide if parliaments decision to dismiss Rajaonarimampianina could be enacted legally.
See also Encyclopedia: Madagascar
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes: Madagascar
National Institute of Statistics (In French Only) http://www.cite.mg/instat/index.htm .
In June 2000 the World Bank agreed to provide more than $200 million to build a $3.7-billion pipeline connecting the oil fields in Chad to those in Cameroon. Oil revenues are estimated to earn $2.5 billion over the next 30 years. Human rights groups were concerned that the project would only benefit the oil companies and the political elite in Cameroon and Chad. The World Bank, however, forced Chad to agree to spend 80% of the resulting oil revenues on education, health, infrastructure, and other social welfare projects desperately needed by this impoverished country. The deal was hailed as a novel approach to ensuring that developing countries with authoritarian governments manage to spend revenues to alleviate the poverty of their people rather than enrich its elite. (In 2005, Transparency International listed Chad as the worlds most corrupt country.) Over the next 25 years, Chad is expected to make $80 million per year, increasing the government treasury by 50%. But in 2006, after the pipeline was completed, Déby reneged on the deal with the World Bank, saying he would spend the oil revenues to finance the military, to buttress his nearly insolvent government, and to shore up his fragile hold on power. In response, the World Bank suspended its loans and froze Chads bank accounts. In May, the World Bank and Chad reached a compromise: Chads government would receive 30% of the oil revenues, instead of the 10% originally agreed to, and the remaining 70% of revenues would be spent exclusively on programs to alleviate the countrys poverty.
By 2006, about 250,000 Sudanese refugees had fled to Chad to escape the fighting in Sudans Darfur region, where they face hunger and disease in desperately under supplied refugee camps.
In April 2006, a coup to oust Déby was averted with the help of French troops stationed in the country. Opposition parties boycotted the May presidential elections, and Déby retained the presidency.
Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimnadji died in February 2007. President Déby named Delwa Kassire
South Africa handed over limited powers to a new multiracial administration in 1985 (the previous government had enforced South Africas apartheid laws). Installation of this government ended South Africas direct rule, but it retained an effective veto over the new governments decisions. Finally, in 1988 a South Africa agreed to a plan for independence. SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma was elected president, and on March 21, 1990, Namibia achieved nationhood.
Nujoma was reelected in 1994 and again in 1999, after the constitution was amended to allow him to seek a third term. Nujoma announced in Nov. 2001 that he would not seek reelection when his term expired in 2004. In Nov. 2004, Hifikepunye Pohamba of SWAPO was elected president with 76% of the vote. He took office on March 21, 2005, and was easily reelected in 2009, taking 75% of the vote.
In 2004, Germany issued a formal apology for the massacre of Herero by German colonial troops between 1904 and 1908.
In a 2012 cabinet reshuffle, Hage Geingob became prime minister, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah foreign minister, Nahas Angula defense minister, and Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana home affairs minister. In 2014 presidential elections, Geingob won by an overwhelming 86.7% of the vote. His party, SWAPO, received 80% of the vote.
Geingob took office as president on March 21, 2015. He nominated Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila as prime minister. A member of the National Assembly of Namibia since 1995, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila also took office on March 21. She previously served as minister of finance from 2003 to 2015.
See also Encyclopedia: Namibia
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes: Namibia
Central Bureau of Statistics http://www.npc.gov.na/cbs/index.htm .
The opposition Tonse Alliance is taking the campaign of its presidential candidate, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader Lazarus Chakwera, to the doorstep with former and incumbent Karonga Central constituency parliamentarians Frank Mwenifumbo and Dr. Cornelius Mwalwanda setting aside their political rivalry for the canvassing strategy.
Mwalwanda and Mwenifumbo were accompanied by People's Party (PP) vice president for North, Ralph Mhone in the canvassing of votes.
Taking his turn, MCP's director of economic affairs Dr. Cornelius Mwalwanda said the Alliance will enhance social-economic development that will in turn spur tourism to boost the economy.
Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) party chairman Frank Mwenifumbo said the only hope for Malawi is the Tonse Alliance which is geared to enable people afford meals three times a day, provide affordable fertilizer at K4, 900 per bag to revamp agriculture which is the backbone of the country's economy and create one million jobs to the youth.
\"This is the time to stop the 'two finger' political party alliance of United Democratic Front (UDF) and DPP and usher in power development conscious leaders who will give people different development projects, job and business opportunities beyond regionalism and tribalism lines,\" Mwenifumbo said.
The possible return of former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo to the Côte d’Ivoire after his acquittal on charges of crimes against humanity might well be the catalyst for negotiations in that country, argues Thabo Mbeki.
These decisions concern the future of Mr Laurent Gbagbo, former President of Côte d’Ivoire.
Mr Gbagbo served as President of Côte d’Ivoire from 26 October, 2000 until 2011.
The Forum therefore pleaded with the ICC Prosecutor, Ms Bensouda, to withdraw the charges against Mr Gbagbo and therefore allow him to return home to contribute everything in his power to the achievement of the said national reconciliation.
Mr Bedie, himself a former President of Côte d’Ivoire, supported Mr Ouattara during the 2010 and 2015 Presidential elections and his party served in the Ouattara governments in coalition with President Ouattara’s RDR.
Bamako — As cotton price tumbles during pandemic, farmers worry the state support they rely on to grow food in a warming climate will dry up
For years, Mali's government has helped Yacouba Kone pay for the fertiliser he uses on his cotton crop - as long as he also devotes some of his land in the south to growing cereals.
In Mali, cotton and food are closely linked: To hold the country's spot as one of Africa's top cotton producers and keep its people fed, cotton farmers get state subsidies on the condition that they also cultivate crops like corn and millet.
But now Mali's food production is under threat as the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has sent the price of cotton plummeting, farmers warn, leaving them unable to afford key climate-smart inputs, even with government help.
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the price of cotton - traditionally a high earner for farmers - has dropped from 275 West African francs (about $0.50) per kilo to 200 francs.
Ibrahima Coulibaly, president of the National Coordination of Peasant Organisations (CNOP), a non-profit advocacy group, warned that without government support, the pandemic could undo much of the progress Mali's farmers have made in adapting to climate change.
National name: Soomaaliya
Current government officials
Languages: Somali (official), Arabic, English, Italian
Ethnicity/race: Somali 85%, Bantu and others 15% (including Arabs 30,000)
Religion: Islam (Sunni)
Literacy rate: 37.8% (2001 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2010 est.): $5.896 billion; per capita $600. Real growth rate: 2.6%. Inflation: n.a. (businesses print their own money). Unemployment: n.a. Arable land: 1.73%. Agriculture: bananas, sorghum, corn, coconuts, rice, sugarcane, mangoes, sesame seeds, beans; cattle, sheep, goats; fish. Labor force: 3.447 million (very few are skilled laborers); agriculture (mostly pastoral nomadism) 71%, industry and services 29%. Industries: a few light industries, including sugar refining, textiles, wireless communication. Natural resources: uranium and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt, natural gas, likely oil reserves. Exports: $515.8 million (2012 est.): livestock, bananas, hides, fish, charcoal, scrap metal. Imports: $1.263 billion (2010 est.): manufactures, petroleum products, foodstuffs, construction materials, qat. Major trading partners: UAE, Yemen, Oman, Djibouti, Kenya, India, China, Pakistan (2012).
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 100,000 (2012); mobile cellular: 658,000 (2012). Broadcast media: 2 private TV stations rebroadcast Al-Jazeera and CNN; Somaliland has 1 government-operated TV station and Puntland has 1 private TV station; Radio Mogadishu operated by the transitional government; 1 SW and roughly 10 private FM radio stations broadcast in Mogadishu; several radio stations operate in central and southern regions; Somaliland has 1 government-operated radio station; Puntland has roughly a half dozen private radio stations; transmissions of at least 2 international broadcasters are available (2007). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 186 (2012). Internet users: 106,000 (2009).
Transportation: Railways: 0 km. Highways: total: 22,100 km; paved: 2,608 km; unpaved: 19,492 km (2000 est.).
- Chakwera (r) with Obasanjo and Mills showing 'Democracy Works' Malawi vice president Saulos Chilima (r) is seen here with Obasanjo and Lesotho's Finance Minister Dr Morketsi Majoro at the Olusegun Obasanjo library in Nigeria
We failed the people of Malawi when Africa, through its observers, gave the election of 21 May 2019 its blessing.
The African Union election observer mission reported that \"the elections took place in a peaceful, transparent and orderly manner, and thus met national, regional, continental and international standards for democratic elections... \".
Fortunately, the people of Malawi were saved by their courageous Constitutional Court which declared in a unanimous judgment the election null and void and ordered that a new election be held in free and fair circumstances that would guarantee a democratic outcome that would reflect the will of the people.
The legitimacy and success of Malawi's election is essential if we are to strengthen the movement towards democracy and legitimate governance on the African continent.
We should start by making sure that the Malawian election is free, fair and the result reflects the will of the people as an example of how democratic practices should unfold under this pandemic.
