ROP Dispatch

See the map of our ROP-1

Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, SierraLeone, The Gambia, USAGeorgia

We encourage you assist where you have expertise and offer ideas for improvement anytime. We will provide facility for such collaborative work as we construct. Please pardon our mess in the new paradigm of democracy’s journey..

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Tuesday Sept. 29th., 2009

USAGeorgia Floods

 

 

 

In the past week, record rainfall has devastated our state, causing major floodingand mounting losses to families, businesses, and governments.While the rain hasceased for now, the loss of homes and loved ones carved a wound that has only begun to heal. To help us rebuild, President Obama signed a disaster declaration for Georgia and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts. Vice President Biden visited some of the most heavily affected areas on Friday with members of Georgia’s congressional delegation to survey the damage and make sure we’re getting the help we need. With so many Georgians displaced by the rain and reeling from loss, this is a time for us all to come together and do what we can. There are many ways we all can help. Please check with your local community organizations and faith centers, or visit the websites of local media outlets. And this weekend there are more flood watches in the northern parts of the state, so we must all remain watchful and look out for each other. Thank you for standing together and lending a hand as we struggle to get through this difficult time. Lee Lee Goodall Georgia State Director Organizing for America

 

 

 Monday, Sept. 28th., 2009

La-GUINEA MURDERS!!!!

WHAT HAPPENED???

First there was presumably a Citizen’s group called Dadis Must Stay whose aim was to grow a  “grass-roots” movement of La-Guineans, mostly youth, to encourage Dadis to contest the much-anticipated Presidential elections promised for the end of 2009. The sudden appearance of such a group perplexed La-Guineans and a roll-call of her members indicates a preponderance of Presidential guard officers. Nonetheless, the group was well-funded and accorded uinique privileges of assembly and march. They demonstrated profusely even after Dadis promised he would NOT contest the elections nor would any member of the Interventionist CNDD.

Although the Group’s activities and apparent lattitude insensed most opposition and ordinary La-Guineans, We, at The GDP maintained that the group indeed had the right to peaceably demonstrate and that in addition, the opposition or any ordinary La-Guinean also has the right to oppose the Group’s views and demonstrate their disdain peaceably. Further, when Dadis Camara came out openly and on National TV, in defense of the Group, and inured an odious ambiguity in his earlier promise NOT TO CONTEST the elections which he and the CNDD will shepherd, we advised sobriety and asserted that Dadis is not the prosecutor between the opposing Groups and that no aversion to Democratic principles had occured. Both Groups demonstrated peaceably and passionately, but sans violence or crimes. There was no need to introduce ambiguity in Dadis’ earlier sacrosanct promise, especially when he has no discernible interest in the Group “Dadis Must Stay”.

Unfortunately, Dadis would continue to propagate the odious ambiguity and in an ominous coup de gras, he engineered a new date in 2010 for the prospective elections as if to pave the way to renege on his recusal promise. How sophomoric and irresponsible? The opposition and civic associations went along with the new election schedual, oblivious to Dadis’ horseplay. Hordes of charlatans took turns at Camp Alpha Yahya Diallo to pronounce their desire for Dadis to contest the elections because his recusal promise was tied to the earlier schedual of 2009-end. Incredible!

As the ignominy amplified, the opposition parties and civic associations figured they’d better reconnoitred and take the idiot seriously. They organised a peaceful demonstration at Conakry’s soccer stadium to show that the opinion encouraging Dadis to contest the prospective elections, new date or not, was not as pervasive as it was made to appear.

Dadis’ promise NOT TO CONTEST the infamous elections was not a mere promise. It was high promise in the heirarchy of promisories. Dadis was forced by local and international pressure to begrudgingly accept that position and indeed some aid and assistance he would not have received were he to buck that urging, came flowing in. Dadis used the aid to surreptitiously coerce greater public opinion which encourages him to run for President of La-Guinea. No matter the  scope of such ill-adviised pressure, Dadis did not have the privilege of changing his mind to renege on the High promise. The idiot was oblivious as to the gravity of the High Moment for La-Guinea.

Minutes into the opposition rally at Conakry Stadium, a bevy of Red-Beret-clad Presidential guard forces opened fire on the crowd with live amunition killing as many as 200 La-Guineans. Simply butchered for no good reason. As the casualties mounted and the uncouth soldiers went on a rampage raping women in broad daylight and in public, the idiot Dadis began to squirm and forment unconscionable excuses such as “I do not control this military”.

You know Dadis may be right because word is that the Presidential guard, the same nincompoops he had earlier made to crawl in repentance for maltreating a CNDD partner, are remnants of the Liberia and SierraLeone debaucheries. The same military he relied on to INTERVENE in the small hours following Lansana’s expected passing.

Dadis and the entire Presidential Guard must be apprehended and tried for murder and treason. Nevermind his proposal for a government of National Unity. If these idiots are not arrested and tried for their crimes, La-Guinea will never know peace and her neighbours will live to regret their indifferences severally. I urge her neighbours – Mali, Burkina Faso, SierraLeone, Liberia, Guinea Bissau, and Senegal to immediately recall their ambassadors and terminate diplomatic relations with an ungovernable nation.

With  sadness,

Haruna.

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 Monday, Sept. 28th., 2009

ATT and Wade: Africa Green Belt

The vision of a belt of plants, vegetation, retention ponds, and wetlands that is 15 kilometers wide and approx. 7000 kilometers long to stretch from Senegal through Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, to Djibouti, was the brainchild of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo during the ‘05 AU summit. The purpose is to retard and even arrest the southward advance of the Sahara desert, help in reconstituting the soils of the Sahel region and encourage biodiversity and reclaim ecosystems in the area.

The comprehensive project has gained an ally in the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO, and constituent nations of the Green Belt.

Incremental implementation is achieved by the nations alligning local environmental development efforts with the scale and scope of the project. Indeed Mali, Burkina Faso, and Senegal have already completed significant projects in line with the Green Belt. The creation of the agency helps to better focus these common efforts and act as conduit for bilateral and multi-lateral collaboration toward accomplishing the grand vision of the African Green Belt.

Wednesday June 10th, 2009

Al-Qaa’Ida of the Maghreb desert (AQMI) Assassinates Lieutenant Colonel Lamana Ould Bou of the Mali Army

The officer, Lieutenant Colonel Lamana Ould Bou, had been instrumental in the arrest of several armed islamists in North Mali some months ago.

A member of the late officer’s family shares with Agence France Presse “A vehicle was parked in front of our house on wednesday. Two armed men got out leaving two others behind in the vehicle. The two armed men came into the house as Lieutenant Ould Bou sat in the living room. Its him, its him, and just like that the two men shot three bullets into Colonel Ould Bou, killing him.”

If confirmed, this will have been the first time that Al-Qaa’Ida assassinated a Mali Army officer. This after Mali declared war on armed Islamists and barely a week after the assassination of British Edwin Dyer.

Courtesy AFP/AFRIBONE CN. Summary by Haruna.

Nord-Mali : Un officier tué à Tombouctou

Un officier malien ayant participé à l’arrestation d’islamistes dans le nord du Mali a été assassiné mercredi à Tombouctou par des hommes soupçonnés d’appartenir à la branche maghrébine d’Al-Qaïda, a-t-on appris jeudi auprès de sa famille et de source sécuritaire.

“Un véhicule s’est garé mercredi soir devant notre maison. Deux hommes armés sont descendus, deux autres sont restés à bord du véhicule. Ceux qui sont descendus sont rentrés dans notre maison”, a raconté à l’AFP un membre de la famille du lieutenant-colonel Lamana Ould Bou, joint par téléphone.

“Le lieutenant-colonel était assis au salon et un des hommes armés a dit à l’autre : +c’est lui, c’est lui+, en (le) pointant du doigt. C’est comme ça qu’ils ont tiré trois balles sur le lieutenant-colonel”, qui était un agent des services de renseignement maliens, a-t-il ajouté.

L’armée malienne a immédiatement poursuivi les hommes armés à l’origine de cet assassinat, a indiqué à l’AFP une source sécuritaire.

“Nous soupçonnons très fortement Al-Qaïda d’être l’auteur de l’assassinat mercredi d’un officier de l’armée malienne à Tombouctou”, a affirmé cette source jointe à Tombouctou par l’AFP.

“Nous savons que, pour avoir participé à l’arrestation dans le nord du Mali de plusieurs islamistes armés, il était dans le collimateur”, a déclaré une autre source proche de l’enquête.

Le défunt lieutenant-colonel avait joué un rôle déterminant dans l’arrestation, il y a plusieurs mois, de membres de la branche d’Al-Qaïda au Maghreb islamique (Aqmi) qui transitaient par le territoire malien, selon des sources sécuritaires.

Si cette piste se confirmait, ce serait la première fois que des islamistes armés tuent un militaire malien.

“Il y a là un symbole. Les islamistes ont compris que le Mali s’engage fermement dans la lutte contre Al-Qaïda. Ils ont tué un élément important qu’ils connaissent bien et qui les connaît bien”, a estimé un diplomate étranger en poste à Bamako, sous couvert de l’anonymat.

“C’est un acte de guerre, nous ne laisserons pas ce crime impuni”, a affirmé de son côté un officier de l’armée malienne.

Le gouvernement malien a récemment annoncé une “lutte sans merci” contre les combattants islamistes, après l’assassinat le 31 mai du touriste britannique Edwin Dyer, qui était détenu depuis janvier par Aqmi.

Edwin Dyer faisait partie d’un groupe de quatre touristes européens capturés le 22 janvier au Niger, à la frontière avec le Mali, par Aqmi qui avait également revendiqué l’enlèvement de deux diplomates canadiens.

Un otage suisse reste détenu par Aqmi dans le nord du Mali.

AFP du 11 Juin 2009

June 1st., 2009 AGRA Alliance News.

AGRA and JICA Cement New Partnership to

Double Africa’s Rice Production

Twelve African Countries Deliver National Rice Development Strategies

with Support from the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD)

Tokyo, Japan (3 June 2009) – One year almost to the day after the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) jointly launched a major initiative aimed at doubling Africa’s rice production by 2018, AGRA and JICA are entering into a long-term pact that builds on the strengths of each organization to reach their ambitious goal.

The pact will be formalized at the second General Meeting of the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD), which will be held in Tokyo on June 3-4, 2009. Mr. Kofi Annan, Chair of the AGRA Board of Directors, will attend the signing ceremony, along with Madam Sadako Ogata, President of JICA. Dr. Namanga Ngongi, Agra’s President, and Mr. Kenzo Oshima, Senior Vice President of JICA will sign the agreement on behalf of their organizations.

“In its first year, CARD has been instrumental in nurturing the development of national strategies to increase the productivity and production of rice,” says Dr. Ngongi. “Deepening cooperation between AGRA and JICA is an important step toward significantly boosting rice production by Africa’s smallholder farmers, which will reduce costly food imports and move the continent further toward food security.”

CARD is a consultative group of major donors, rice research organizations and a number of other development entities, which together are working with 21 African countries to strengthen their ability to produce this valuable commodity. Current CARD members include AGRA, FAO, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), JICA, the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), NEPAD and the Africa Rice Center (WARDA). The main target of the CARD initiative is reflected in the Yokohama Action Plan, which was one of the main documents adopted at the recent TICAD IV (The Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development) held in Yokohama, May 2008.

Since its inception one year ago, CARD has focused on supporting the efforts of 12 countries to develop more effective National Rice Development Strategies. This “first wave” of African rice producing nations includes Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda.

With the support of the CARD Secretariat, which is hosted by AGRA, all 12 counties have produced the first versions of their strategies. During the CARD meeting, Coalition members will discuss how to best support the national plans while refining them through policy dialogues. In the coming year, CARD will work on similar strategies with the “second wave” of rice-producing countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, The Gambia and Togo).

“Our partnership with AGRA moves JICA further along its critical path of engagement in agricultural development in Africa,” says Mr. Oshima. “We have a rich history of national, regional and international partnerships for change, and CARD’s effectiveness thus far bears witness to the potential of our collaboration. Rice specialists in Japan – indeed, from all over Asia and other parts of the world – are eager to bring their expertise to bear on transforming Africa’s rice sector.”

Currently, the demand for rice in sub-Saharan Africa is double the rate of population growth and, at about 5.8% per year, consumption is growing faster than that of any other major staple food. Across Africa, local production has been unable to keep up with the rate of increase in demand. In the past 50 years, rice production in Africa has increased to 14.60 million tons (from about 3.14 million tons), much of that increase based on expanding the area devoted to the crop. During the same five decades, Asia has increased rice production on a much grander scale, to about 570 million tons (up from some 200 million tons), with most of this coming from higher yields on existing farmland.

“Rice is quickly becoming a major staple food for urban and rural consumers alike,” says Mr. Hiroshi Hiraoka, Coordinator of the CARD Secretariat. “African production increases, which have been achieved mainly by expanding the area devoted to rice, are not keeping pace with demand.”

CARD aims to improve African rice productivity by taking a holistic approach – promoting change both on small-scale farms (for example the increased use of modern inputs and farming practices), as well as off farm by advocating post-harvest value chain improvements, increasing access to markets for small producers, and promoting enabling policies. “Our goal is to double Africa’s rice production in 10 years,” Mr. Hiraoka says, “To accomplish this, specialists from the rice-producing countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world need to work together, systematically sharing their experiences and knowledge about how to promote rice in Africa. Making such cooperation a reality is the purpose behind the long-term agreement being signed by JICA and AGRA.”

The MoU between JICA and AGRA will strengthen their cooperation to promote rice development in Africa and to increase the flow of support to African institutions engaged in this work – all toward the realization of achieving an African Green Revolution.

The rice production situation in Africa mirrors the general food production challenges facing the continent – as well as the opportunities for overcoming them. AGRA’s goal is to transform smallholder agriculture through: development and widespread use of modern farming technologies and methods; promotion of appropriate policy environments; large-scale changes in soil management; and better access to local, national and regional markets. Achieving that transformation will require a large number of innovative and dynamic partnerships such as that with JICA, and increased financial support for African agriculture. The JICA/AGRA pact is a long-term commitment and represents for both organizations a determination to revolutionize rice production in Africa. This is a critical step toward improving food security and reducing poverty for millions of Africans.

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May 14th., 2009

La-Guinea

President Moussa Camara has announced in a news conference on may 10th that he will not contest the Presidential election at year’s end. Further, the President assured the people that no member of the interventionist CNDD team will contest in the much anticipated elections.

This is welcome news indeed for The GDP and the people of La-Guinea because it relieves the President and the CNDD of implied conflicts of interest and restores credibility to the preparations for the elections. President Camara and his CNDD team must be commended for this declaration and we urge their further encouragement to complete preparations for the elections in good time.

We encourage civilian political parties to seek stronger partnership with the President and CNDD and assist without let or hinderance, in the successful conduct of campaigning and elections proper. They are indeed an inspiration to La Guinea and all Africa and like their neighbour and brother President Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali, they must be celebrated.

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Sunday, April 26th, 2009.

Mali 

President ATT votes in Muni-09

The people of Mali vote in municipal elections (Muni-09) to choose some 10,780 councillors, mayors, and county administrators. Some counties for example in Bougouni, both legislative and municipal elections are being held. President ATT and First Lady Mrs Lobbo Toure Traore voted at 9:45 Am at the Air Nationa Guard Base in Bamako.

The independent party Mouvement Citoyen (Citizens’ Movement) has had their candidate list rejected in Commune 5 and Bourem commune elections due to alleged duplicitous voter registrations. As a result, none of MC’s candidates were on the ballots in Commune 5. In anticipation of this eventuality, The MC party had held a congress last friday encouraging its partisans to come out in full force and vote for the ADEMA party of former President Alpha Oumar Konare’.

It is worth noting that Mouvement Citoyens grew out of a grassroots political Action Committee who desire to convince President ATT to run for a third term via constitutional referendum should they be victorious enough. Their support base is multiplying rapidly. Perhaps this Muni-09 elections is a barometer of the inroads they have made in the Malian polity.

There were some inconsequential irregularities reported which have been resolved without material affect to process and party fortunes. The voter lists had contained one individual listed in various precincts. There were voter registration cards missing or unclaimed in several precincts but the owners were allowed to vote with verifiable witnesses and other documentation. A National Civic Engagement Day, with pay, was declared on wednesday to enable workers and students to retrieve their voter cards. However it appeared that some of the missing and unclaimed cards were lifted by other individuals who were apprehended and denied the right of casting their own votes in addition to the stolen votes when they attempted to vote multiple times.

In Mali’s comprehensive democracy, a dizzying 113 political parties including several independent candidates are contesting council seats. In some Communes, a coalition of some of the parties presented one list of candidates. For example in Kayes and Sikasso Communes, a coalition of ADEMA and PASJ contested those council seats. It is generally reported that Muni-09 elections were a marked improvement over Muni-07 in Mali. Turnout was a percentage or two higher with Tomboctou, Gao, and Mopti counties leading the way and Bamako’s six communes lagging behind in voter participation. Incidents were few and far between. There was good news on friday of the release of four European hostages abducted last year by Al Qaa’Ida of the Maghreb (AQMI). Grassroots campaigning was animated. One piece of sad news was that a band of Algerian Salafist Islamists threatened to disrupt the calm and voting in Kidal. Four of them were apprehended along with arms and munitions and some pickups. 

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April 24th., 2009

Mali

Al Qaa’Ida of the Maghreb (AQMI) has released four hostages who were abducted in the desolate frontier between Mali and Niger. The four hostages included Canadian UN diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay, a Swiss tourist Gabriela Greiner and a German tourist Marianne Petzold. They were released in Gao to Malian authorities who escorted them to The Peoples’ House in Koulouba where they were re-united with their respective consulars in Mali.

It is reported that the release of the hostages was in exchange for the release of two Mauritanian AQMI prisoners held in Mali and two others in Europe. Malian authorities thanked the people and President of Burkina Faso for their efforts in yielding the freedom of the four hostages. President ATT used the occasion to appeal to the international community to consider a coordinated effort in maintaining security in the desert expanse which is used as transhipment route for drugs, small arms, and contraband. He went on to share that the insecurity in that region and its sheer expanse overwhelms the resources of one nation. De-minimis, the frontier nations of Mali, Algeria, Libya, and Niger ought to be strengthened to maintain security in the region.

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Du Courage to Mali Opposition Political Parties

Ladies & Gentlemen, Friends,
 
I thank you for your audience.
 
You, the proud people of Mali, in your various dispositions, ethnicities, desires, and aspirations, have the rare privilege of being led by an honourable president who is independent of political party or cult. I take time to behold the magnificence and wisdom of ATT. He has put together a team of your distinguished number to administer the affairs of your government. You are working with him to yield the Mali all of you can be proud of.
 
Together, you have addressed those issues of secession and disenchantment of your Tuareg coleagues. And you are on your way, with the grace and assistance of your development partners, to growing a model of civil administration. You are working on dispelling the myths of corruption and to dispense with it in the main. You are on the cusp of leading the world’s peoples amid scarcity, global economic hemmorhage, and reorientation of priorities, into the new paradigm of value-life.
 
Pause and behold your grand achievements. Savour your successes and blessings.
 
From now moving foreward, the calendar of your lives is clearer than those of many of your fellow world citizens. Face that calendar with your trademark sobriety and resolve.
 
You have 113 political parties in a nation of a little more than 12,000,000 persons. Because you are a democratic people, you do not place limits on the number of aspiring political parties. However, I encourage you to monitor the number of political parties not so much to place a cap on it at some number, but to identify the variety of distinct interests that will require 113 or more political parties. I encourage you to look at it in the context of marginal value and the threats of further artifical divisions among your peoples. You may have 113 or more ethnic interests but it is not wise to have as many political parties as you have ethnic interests. That prospect is ominous for your hard-earned democracy. When you become a society of individual interests, the common good becomes ever elusive and secessionist tendencies are nurtured.
 
I therefore enjoin all of you and your friends in La Guinea, Burkina Faso, Senegal, SierraLeone, Liberia, Guinea Bissau, and Gambia,  to review your parties’ constitutions and platform with a view to becoming more inclusive. For those parties who have an overwhelming preponderance of one ethnicity, endeavour to diversify your platform and embark on a formidable outreach campaign to attract other ethnicities. At the end of the day, the most inclusive party of your constituent ethnicities, wins elections inasmuch as elections rely on numerical advantage. I understand there will be ardently ethnic folk who simply cannot see beyond their own families and ethnicities, but endeavour nonetheless and be perceived as efforting to reach out to them. Further education and review of your party platforms is sure to do the trick.
 
God speed as you campaign for the April municipal elections.
 
Haruna
The Global Democracy Project.

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La Guinea in Flux – 1/1/2009

President Lansana Conte’ Dies.

On Monday december 22nd., 2008, President Lansana Conte’ was reported to have succombed to his long reported illness. At age 74, Mr. Conte’ was living with an advanced stage of diabetes which led him to curtail public engagements and appearances during 2008 including much of the celebrations marking La Guinea’s 50th independence anniversary.  At the time of his passing, Lansana Conte’ had been President of La Guinea for 24 years since a group of mainly ethnic Soussou military personnel seized government in 1984. This was exactly one week after the passing of the country’s first President Ahmed Seku Toure’.

The obituary was announced on national radio and

Dr. Ahmed Tidiane Soare’

television in the small hours of Tuesday, december 23rd., 2008, by Lansana’s appointed Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Tidiane Soare’ who reassures the nation that the current President of the national Assembly, Mr. Aboubacar Sompare’ will become the caretaker President of La Guinea to steward the nation through Presidential elections within 60 days of Lansana’s passing as dictated by the constitution.

Coup D’etat announced.

 

 

La-Guinea

Dadis Reneges on his promise to forego contesting the prospective presidential elections in January 2010

On may 10th 2009, CNDD-interventionist President Moussa Dadis Camara of La-Guinea held a news conference in which he declared that neither himself nor any member of the CNDD partners would contest the polls of the upcoming 2010 legislative and presidential elections. We were humbled and excited at this sobriety bearing in mind that the CNDD is the bona-fide steward of those elections.

Therefore, it had come as a distrustful shock to us when earlier this month, President Dadis tried to engineer a ruse of an invasion of La-Guinea by narco-traffickers using neighbouring countries of Bissau, Liberia, and SierraLeone as launching pad to drumbeat La-Guinea into a frenzy in fear of genuine invasion and to postpone holding elections at the end of 2009. The opposition and trades unions yielded to his tricks and agreed to Dadis’ artificial schedule of 2010, according him the face-saving deference he sought.

President Dadis’ trip to Tripoli for audience with Gaddafi was aborted amid fears of a coup d’etat brewing in La-Guinea.

Later, President Dadis used the disagreement between opposition parties and a phantom group calling itself “Dadis Must Stay” to hint that he may contest the infamous elections afterall. If Dadis were not the engineer of that Group “Dadis Must Stay”, it is highly unfortunate for him to horseplay with the existential ware of La-Guinea and Guineans in this infantile and inimical manner.

We share our utter disdain with President Dadis and the Interventionist CNDD for such ill-advised and puerile gamesmanship. We advise sobriety and completion of high promisory for the otherwise gallant soldiers of La-Guinea.

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Tuesday, Sept. 1st., 2009

The Mali CODE

A keystone in Mali’s sojourn in democracy is the landmark accord called The Code of Persons and The Family (The Mali CODE). For a decade now, the National Assembly has been engaged in harmonizing religious edicts, cultural lore, and traditional norms that have governed Mali life since independence in 1960. As the nation becomes signatory to UN conventions, particularly those on Human Rights,The Rights of The Child, Women’s Rights, and enshrined freedoms of worship and assembly, the National Assembly’s deliberations have been frought with age-old conflicts, fear, and suspicions. The National Assembly has commendably navigated through these impediments by making religious organisations, civic groups, Children’s Rights organisations, Women’s organisations, eminent jurists, and Child Protection agencies her partners during the development phase of the CODE. A decade-long due-diligence culminated in the near-unanimous passing of the CODE which was delivered to President ATT for his signature.

Between the time of delivery to the President and last week when the President sent the CODE back to the National Assembly for further review, Malians have been thrown into all manner of gesticulations and convulsions. An atmosphere of hysterical controversy gripped the nation mainly driven by mis-information, fear-mongering, and religious zealotry. Chief among the complainants was the Supreme Islamic Council (SIC) led by Mr. Mahmoud Dicko.

The National Assembly of Mali comprises 95% Muslims and they passed the CODE.

The WOmen and Children of Mali are 90% Muslim and they support the CODE.

Mahmoud Dicko’s SIC therefore would appear to represent the majority of Mali’s National Assembly, Women, and Children. It is to be revealed that the SIC actually represents  Muslim men and as one SIC demonstrator put it to a BBC reporter, Illiterate Malians who are the true muslims. This certifies the unwarranted fear of literate muslims by illiterate muslims I suppose.

That such a landmark CODE that is valuable to the health of Islam can inure such gratuitous controversy is beyond belief. The SIC must be commended however for staging two PEACEFUL demonstrations of their disquiet. It is enough reason for the ever-wise President ATT to yield calm by sending the CODE back to the Assembly for a second look. If nothing else, the respite will afford greater comprehensions and review and may garner more support among SIC members. The adoption of the revised CODE will afford Mali the benefits of choosing a democratic life. I fully support the impetus and yield of the CODE and I equally supprt ATT’s punting of the CODE back to the Assembly.

The Mali CODE consists of some 1,143 aticles of law written in some 10 books. The main areas of the CODE which yielded disquiet among the SIC are:

1. The State does not recognize religious marriages. Only marriages registered with the Justice of the peace.

2. The CODE de-emphasizes the wife’s obligation to OBEY her husband and instead emphasizes shared spousal obligations and responsibilities.

3. The CODE is an option to be invoked in the absence of the deceased having chosen, by living will and testament or by witness, that his/her affects be executed along religious edicts or a myriad customary lore.

4. The CODE elevates the minimum age for marriage for girls to 18 from 15.

5. The area of inheritance and succession favouring the woman and orphaned child.

Some or most of the SIC’s contentions can be ameliorated by toning down the language of the CODE and or by explaining the genesis and reason for the article. I will endeavour to share some suggestions later.

Haruna.  

Monday, Aug. 10th, 2009

Murder in Koutiala: We mourn Hon. Maiga Salimata Dembele.

Hon. Maiga Salimata Dembele is a third term mayor of Yongogo commune in Koutiala county, Mali. Her first term as mayor was completed as an ADEMA-Pasj candidate. Her second and this third term as URD candidate.

The Hon. mayor Dembele was travelling on the Koutiala-San highway on monday morning. Her driver veered off the road and onto a feeder road to “collect hops of medicinal herbs”. Suddenly, some armed men emerged from the dense brush approaching the mayor. She instinctively offered them her vehicle when she thought they would be car-jackers. They retorted that it was not her vehicle they were after, but her person. Hon. Maiga Salimata Dembele was shot twice, once in the head and once in the neck. Hon. Dembele was taken to Koutiala hospital where she succumbed to her assailants’ gunshots.

Hon. Maiga Dembele was thirty-something and was married to a veterinary officer in Yongogo. Her assassins and other complicit persons are in custody.

We offer our heartfelt condolences to Hon. Dembele’s bereaved and all Koutiala.

Paul Wallace.

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Georgia Chamber Chair Chosen to Help Resolve Tri-State Water War

Governor Sonny Perdue last week selected Georgia Chamber of Commerce Chair Mike Garrett to lead Georgia’s effort in finding a solution to the nearly 20-year legal battle with Florida and Alabama over access to water from Lake Lanier. Recently, a federal judge ruled that Georgia does not have a legal right to utilize Lake Lanier as a water source for the Atlanta Metro Region. While the judge admitted his ruling was “draconian,” he did provide the state a three-year window of opportunity to find a negotiated solution before the ruling would take effect.

In a show of solidarity, more than 130 key business and government leaders recently met with Governor Perdue to discuss and pursue a multi-pronged strategy of finally resolving this matter. It was at this meeting the governor announced his selection of Mike Garrett as “quarterback” of the effort.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce understands that this is a critical statewide issue and will update readers regarding progress.

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009.

War against Desertification

Today in Bamako, ATT and his Senegalese counterpart Maitre Wade signed the convention to create the Pan-African Agency for The Green Belt.

 

 

 

 

 

President Moussa Dadis Camara

Soon after the death of Lansana was announced, a group of mid-level military officers from Camp Alpha Yaya Diallo and led by Fuel Supply Chief Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, made their own announcement dissolving the bereaved Republican government of Lansana Conte’ and suspending the constitution. Captain Camara proclaimed a governance council called the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD) will steer the nation toward Presidential elections in 2010 when Lansana’s term in office will have expired. With the mantra to fight corruption, nepotism, and fraudulent agency of Lansana’s government during the time of his illness-while-in-office, the CNDD was able to garner support of the fatigued and despairing citizenry and Trades Unions, the latter of these being at the forefront of opposition and demonstrations against Lansana’s government for the past several years. The military putschists proceeded to disable the vehicles of former government ministers inorder to imobilize them and requested they turn themselves in.

The Chief of defense staff General Diarra Camara, who represents a fading breed of senior military officers from retirements and deaths, announced that the group of military officers who announced the coup d’etat, represent only the minority in the military and that the coup will not stand. However, the military Chief Diarra did not appear to be conducting any operations to abort the coup.

It will be recalled that the past mutinies of army officers was spearheaded by mid to low-level military personnel who had become disenchanted with the senior military officers’ collusion with Lansana and his government in debilitating corruption, nepotism, and criminal conduct with impunity. Therefore, while the coup itself was a surprise, the composition in rank of the CNDD was considered a given. Below is the list of the members of the CNDD whose number swelled to 32, to include 6 civilians, from the initial 26 announced by Captain Camara to:

1. Captaine Moussa Dadis Camara – President
2. General Mamadou ‘Toto’ Camara – Minister of Security
3. Lieutenant-Colonel Mathire Bangoura
4. Lieutenant-Colonel Aboubacar Sidiki Camara
5. Commandant Oumar Balde
6. Commandant Mamadi Mara
7. Commandant Almamy Camara
8. Lieutenant Anti
9. Lieutenant-Colonel Mamadou Bhoye
10. Captaine Koulako Beavogui
11. Lieutenant-Colonel Kandja Mara
12. Colonel Sekou Mara
13. Modi Cire Camara
14. Lieutenant Colonel Mamadou Korka Diallo
15. Captaine Kelitigui Faro – Sect. General, President’s Office
16. Lieutenant Colonel Fodeba Toure
17. Commandant Check Tidiane Camara
18. Alfajor Bah
19. Colonel Sekouba Konate’ – Defense Minister
20 Lieutenant Claude Pivi Coplan
21. Saa Alphanse Toure
22. Lieutenant Moussa Keita
23. Commandant Gamou Lama
24. Mohamed Kaba
25. Captaine Dama Conde
26. Commandant Amadou Doumbouya
27. Lieutenant Moussa Seboro Camara
28. Adjudant Issa Camara
29. Lieutenant-Colonel Abdoulaye Cherif Diaby
30. Docteur Aboubacar Diakite
31. Mamadi Conde
32. Lieutenant Check Ahmed Toure

We will assign the appointments as we confirm them.

Prime Minister Kabine’ Komara

For good measure, the CNDD has appointed as Prime  Minister, former Africa Export-Import Bank Administrative Director, Mr. Kabinet Komara. Mr. Komara is expected to oversee La Guinea’s transition to civilian governance. This in our view is also commendable and reassuring.

The CNDD has also retired some of the senior military officers who have sustained the late Lansana Conte’ even while the latter was too ill to govern effectively. This action suggests La GUinea’s breaking with its debilitating past and psychologically and actually ushers in a new dawn for La Guinea.

These actions by the CNDD have had an appeasing effect on resident Guineans and more Guinea diasporans. It demonstrates CNDD’s commitment to free and fair legislative and presidential elections free of the coercive forces of the late president. It will be valuable for the CNDD to extend an olive branch to Mr. Sompare to return and submit himself to audit and that if he had not partaken of corruption and theft of public funds, that he ought not have anything to worry about. Indeed the CNDD’s intervention was remarkable in that except for a deliberate show of force, not a single event of bloodshed occured. This is to be commended.   

Some Background.

Although much of La Guinea’s military comprises ethnic factions or groupings, as are the opposition parties, it is widely believed that the members of the CNDD do not belong to these ethnic enclaves. Perhaps further reason why they seemed credible to a good number of the citizenry and the Trades Unions…….

to be continued……..

Here is the new government of the CNDD (adapted from Le Jour newspaper):

Le gouvernement tant attendu depuis la nomination du Premier ministre Kabinet Komara a été rendu public dans la nuit du mercredi 14 janvier. Il compte 29 membres dont trois femmes. Cette nouvelle équipe gouvernementale compte aussi 10 officiers de l’armée et 19 civils. Voici la liste complète de ce gouvernement qui aura désormais la gestion du pays en charge.

The much awaited government of CNDD after the appointment of Prime Minister Kabinet Komara has been made public on wednesday, Jan. 14th, 2009. They are 29, including 10 military officers and 19 civilians, of whom 3 are women. Here is the list of governors who will conduct the affairs of La Guinea:

1- Minister for National Security, General Mamadou Toto Camara.
2- Minister of Defense, General Sekouba Konate’.
3- Minister of State for Public works and Infrastructure, Boubacar Barry.
4-Minister of State and Secretary General of the Presidency, Commander Keletigui Faro.
5- Minister for Industry and Private Enterprise, Mamadouba Max Bangoura, formerly Minister of African Integration.
6- Minister for Mines and Energy, Mahmoud Thiam, a  New York banker.
7- Minister for Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Guineans, Alexandre Cécé Loua, formerly La Guinea’s Ambassador to Germany.
8- Minister for Territorial Administration, Dr Frédéric Kolié, formerly a Judge in Germany.
9- Minister of State for Economy and Finance, Captain Mamadou Sandé.
10- Minister for Basic Education and Training, Mrs. Hadja Aicha Bah, formerly Director at UNESCO.
11- Minister for Higher Education and Research, Dr Alpha Kabiné Camara, Medical doctor and university professor.
12- Minister for Agriculture and Animal husbandry, Mr. Abdouramane Sanoh.
13- Minister for Justice, Colonel Siba Nolamou, formerly Director of Sonfonia Gendarmerie (military-police) Academy.
14- Minister for Commerce and PME, Commander Korka Diallo.
15- Minister for The Environement and Sustainable Development, Mr. Papa Koly Kourouma.
16- Minister for Telecommunications and New Technologies, Colonel Mathurin Bangoura, formerly officer at the ministry of Defense.
17- Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Mr. Raymond Ounouted.
18- Minister for Cooperation and African Integration, Mr. Abdoul Aziz Bah, formerly Chief of Cabinet in the Ministry of Planning and Cooperation.
19- Minister for Employment and Administrative Reform, Dr Alpha Diallo.
20- Minister for Public Health, Colonel Abdoulaye Cherif Diaby, formerly Chief Medical Doctor of the Armed forces.
21- Minister for Transport, Mr. Mamadi Kaba, formerly Director General of Aviation.
22- Minister for Tourism, Hospitality and Craft, Dr Leonie Koulibaly.
23- Minister for Audits, Transparency, and Good Governance, Mr. Joseph Kandouno.
24- Minister for the Promotion of Women and Children, Mrs. Hadja Makoura Sylla, formerly CHief of Staff at the Ministry of Social Affairs.
25- Minister for Culture and Information, Mr. Justin Morel Junior, Journalist.
26- Minister for Youth Sports, and Employment, Colonel Fodeba Touré.
27- Minister for Decentralisation and Local Development, Mr. Naby Diakité.
28- Secretary of State for Special Services, Drug Enforcement, and Criminal Prosecutions, Captain Moussa Diokoro Camara.
29- Secretary of State for Public Works, Housing, and Infrastructure, Mr. Mamadi Kallo.

Immediate Reactions to the Coup.

The CNDD’s proclaimed reasons for the Coup d’etat were the same grievances of earlier mutinies (by the same cadre of military officers), Trades Union and student demonstrations, in addition to the rift between the police and military. It was as if an angel from the heavens conjured to these so-aggrieved what they had been maimed and killed for, for decades. It is not therefore extraordinary for the CNDD to garner such support inside La Guinea at a time when it seemed West Africa was turning the corner from gratuitous coups. It is significant to note that Ghana, who has experienced coup d’etats galore, is in the midst of run-off presidential elections which seems to give the edge to opposition candidate Professor Ata Mills over the incumbent party candidate Nana Akufo Addo.

International reaction however was less favourable to the CNDD. The UN, AU, US, and La Guinea’s EU development partners swiftly rejected the coup as did many diasporan Guineans living within La Guinea’s neighbouring countries of Mali, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea Bissau, and overseas in Western Europe and North America. A sampling of diasporan blogs and e-newspapers bears this out.

The EU, currently under the Presidency of France, was a bit more reserved in its rejection of the coup stating only that legislative and presidential elections should be held in the first semester of 2009. It did not demand the reversal of the coup, nor did it emphasize the 60-day mandated extraordinary schedule for elections. La Guinea gained independence from France on September 28th, 1958 amid much animus and Lansana Conte’ had recently awarded half of the mining concern of RIO Tinto to Ben Steinmetz’ BSG. Steinmetz had been accused of trading in blood diamonds in SierraLeone and other conflict minerals in the Congo, and France had seized his diplomatic passport effectively rendering him a pariah and persona non-grata.

The UN and AU on the other hand were a bit more stern in their condemnation of the CNDD coup, with the AU going further as to suspend La Guinea from the continental body until the latter’s return expeditiously, to constitutional civil government. It is only a few months ago when the AU had to condemn the Mauritania Junta from the body after it staged a coup removing and arresting that country’s elected head of state although it was not clear whether Mauritania was conditionally suspended from the AU. AU’s reaction therefore perhaps marks a historical resolve to stand her ground of No-tolerance for military usurpation of governance in Africa. ECOWAS, which is a sub-regional parcel of the AU, and with Nigeria’s Ya’Ardua as sitting President of ECOWAS, follows suit with her own condemnation along a similar  theme. It is noteworthy however that one of the members of AU and of ECOWAS, senior President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, has endorsed the CNDD and has since travelled to France to solicit support for the CNDD after a phone call from Captain Moussa Dadis Camara immediately upon securing government. President Wade has also  sent a delegation to La Guinea to reassure the CNDD of Senegal’s unconditional support. 

CNDD’s evolving Public Relations Campaign.

Amid the flux and groping for a footing, and capitalizing on the glimmer of goodwill from President Wade of Senegal, President Moussa Camara flew to Mali for a visit with President Amadou Toumani Toure’. It is unclear whether the young Camara received support from ATT or not but that support was not shared with the public if it exists. ATT was preoccupied at the time with gratuitous banditry by a faction of the Touareg rebels at the Mali-Mauritania border where the desert pirates launch surprise attacks on the civilian populations around border towns and villages. Mali has since deployed the National Guard to ward off such banditry. For value-diplomacy therefore, President Camara put together a strong delegation led by his minister of national security Brigadier-General Mamadou Tato Camara, formerly Chief of the Army. This delegation made the rounds of La Guinea’s west African neighbours Guinea Bissau, Mali, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, in that order, to explain the reasons behind the CNDD’s intervention in La Guinea. This is a commendable effort by the CNDD and they must be encouraged to extend the courtesy to Burkina Faso, Niger, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and later Ghana as that country is currently pre-occupied with epochal Presidential elections.

The CNDD has held two highly applauded and inspiring meetings, one of Trades Unions, opposition political parties, and civil society, and another of foreign consuls and international organisations working in La Guinea. These meetings were aimed at communicating the open dispensation of the CNDD to dialogue and an open-door policy. Former Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Soare’ has since accepted the CNDD and promises to cooperate with the new governors of La Guinea and to assist in the conduct of elections, registration for which was already underway though reluctantly by Lansana’s government and the CENI (National Electoral Commission). Former President of the National Assembly, Mr. Sompare however remained defiant and has since left La Guinea for an undisclosed country.