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L’Afrique du Sud a rejeté jeudi les accusations de corruption lors de l’attribution par la Fifa du Mondial-2010, le ministre à la Présidence Jeff Radebe assurant que son pays avait « reçu un audit impeccable ». « Lorsque nous avons organisé la Coupe du monde de la Fifa en juin (2010) nous avons reçu un audit impeccable (…) […]

Le journaliste Rafael Marques, symbole de la lutte contre la corruption en Angola, a été condamné jeudi à six mois de prison avec sursis pour un livre accusant le régime de couvrir des violences contre les chercheurs de diamants dans le nord-est du pays. Poursuivi pour « dénonciation calomnieuse » par sept généraux, dont un proche du […]

La force Sangaris resserre progressivement ses troupes et matériels autour de Bangui pour densifier la « force de réaction » mobile au profit des forces de l’ONU. Les emprises militaires française à Bria et N’Délé ont ainsi été transférées à la MINUSCA les 22 et 28 mai. Cette semaine, trois hélicoptères Puma ont été désengagés du théâtre.

A csíkcsicsói Kelemen Zsófia mintegy tíz éve dolgozik gyógytornászként, néhány éve Csíkszereda több óvodájában is foglalkozik gyermekekkel. A Romániai Gyógytornászok Egyesületének elnöke munkájáról mesélt.
Kategória: Magazin

Több héttel eltűnése után videó üzenetben jelentkezett Gulmurod Halimov, a tadzsik belügyi különleges alakulat vezetője. Mint szavaiból kiderült, Szíriában harcol az Iszlám Állam mellett. Halimov kritizálta a tadzsik hatóságokat amiért szerinte korlátozzák az iszlám vallás gyakorlását a rendfenntartó erők soraiban.

A parancsnokkal tartott az alakulat 10 katonája is, Moszkván keresztül érkeztek Szíriába. Halimov 2012 óta állt az egység élén, többször járt kiképzésen Oroszországban és az Egyesült Államokban is, számos állami elismerésben részesült.

Az ország nemzetbiztonsági hivatalának információi szerint mintegy 400 tadzsik harcol az ISIS mellett, a közép-ázsiai térségből pedig összesen 4-5 ezren lehetnek jelenleg Szíriában. Orosz források 6-7 ezresre becsülik a Szíriában harcoló, Oroszországból érkezettek számát.

The national unity government is making its fourth attempt to appoint a minister of defence. On 24 May 2015, the presidential palace announced the nomination of Masum Stanakzai who has been the head of the Joint Secretariat of the High Peace Council and Afghanistan Peace and Reconciliation Programme since 2009. Members of Parliament will still need to give him a vote of confidence. The fact that, eight months after the national unity government was sworn in, it has still not filled one of the most important offices during war time is extraordinary, says AAN’s Kate Clark. She looks at why this might be the case and presents a biography of the new candidate.

It took the government three months to make its first attempt to appoint any minister: on 20 January 2015, it announced a full cabinet list, but two thirds of the nominees either fell away (they were ineligible because they held two passports, had no higher education or were wanted by Interpol) or were rejected by the MPs. Those rejected included the government’s first choice as defence minister, General Sher Muhammad Karimi. Karimi is the current Chief of Army Staff; Sandhurst-educated in the 1960s, in the presidential guard of Sardar Muhammad Daud during the 1978 coup d’ètat and, after imprisonment, made his way back to the ministry in the later PDPA administrations (Babrak Karmal and Dr Najibullah) and those of the mujahedin, Taleban, Karzai and Ghani.

In the government’s second attempt to fill the cabinet, it put forward names for all the vacant ministries except defence. Although this was not officially acknowledged, it appeared Abdullah and Ghani had not been able to agree on a candidate. When the parliament voted on this second list, on 18 April 2015, it confirmed all the nominees. Since then, two other names for minister of defence were floated, although neither made it to the ‘being introduced to parliament’ stage.

On 6 April 2015, the president’s office announced it had nominated General Afzal Ludin as the new minister, describing him as “a military professional [who] in the past has worked in different capacities at the ministry of Defense and more recently as Military Advisor to the Office of the National Security Council.” Two days later, the president’s office announced his withdrawal. Dr Abdullah had reportedly been furious, saying he had not been consulted on the appointment, while Ludin said he had withdrawn so as not to risk internal turmoil, given that “some might cause problems to my country over my candidacy.” Ludin was a former commander of the presidential guard, under Najibullah, and worked closely with the current interior minister, Nur-ul-Haq Ulumi.

The third attempted minister was General Abdullah Khan Habibi, in mid-April, although he only made it as far as the second deputy speaker of the Wolesi Jirga, Nazer Ahmadzai, saying the general was to be formally introduced to the house (as reported by Mandegar newspaper). That never happened. Now it is the turn of Masum Stanakzai, who emerges not out of the Ministry of Defence but out of the High Peace Council.

A leaderless army

It is clear that the appointment has been held up not by a shortage of suitable candidates, but by the political ‘tug of war’ over appointments at the heart of the national unity government. Talk to the people involved on either side (in the Ghani and Abdullah camps) and they each accuse the other side of intransigence, working unilaterally or bias. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the matter internally, the impression given by that one empty ministerial chair is terrible – making it look like the national unity government is squabbling over positions while the country burns, with no sense of urgency over the need to get a leader for an army which is having to fight hard and sacrifice much.

It is indeed extraordinary that a country facing as dangerous an opponent as the Taleban and as bloody a year as this one should not have a defence minister. The insurgency has been fierce ever since the new government was formed, with no ‘winter lull’ (except in Kabul) and offensives by the Taleban in many places, including Kunduz, Badakhshan, Faryab, Uruzgan, Sar-e Paul and Helmand – where there was also a counter-offensive by the ANSF. Casualties have been high; in the first four months of 2015, according to a Western military official who spoke anonymously to The New York Times on Afghan government figures not officially released, more than 1,800 soldiers and police officers have been killed in action and another 3,400 wounded – more than 65 per cent higher during the same period last year. Civilians have also been harmed in greater numbers this year: 2974 killed and 1,963 injured in the first four months of the year, reported UNAMA, up by 16 per cent since the same period in 2014. The situation is so precarious the government is reported in the north, to be turning to militias, including those accused of carrying out human rights abuses.

The army is sorely in need of a leader. The question now is whether Stanakzai will get through parliament and then whether he will make a good defence minister.

Muhammad Masum Stanakzai’s biography

Stanakzai was born in 1958, a Pashtun from Moghulkhel village, Muhammad Agha district of Logar province. He graduated from the communications (mukhabara) section of Kabul Military University. Later, he also got a Masters in Philosophy of Engineering for Sustainable Development from Cambridge University. (1)

As a young man, Stanakzai served in the Afghan army for a decade, rising through the ranks to end as a colonel, still, it seems, in communications. No official dates are given, but this would have been during the PDPA era. At some point, he moved into NGO work in Peshawar, moving up through the ranks there and serving eventually as director of one of the largest Afghan NGOs, the Agency for Rehabilitation and Energy Conservation (AREA) (2001-2002). I remember it being one of the first agencies to start mapping civilian casualties from at least early 2002. Stanakzai also served on the steering committee of ACBAR, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief.

He moved into government in 2002, first as Minister of Telecommunications (2002-2004), then as an advisor on security to President Karzai. In 2009, he was appointed Head of the Joint Secretariat of the newly created High Peace Council (HPC) and its Afghanistan Peace and Reconciliation Programme (APRP), serving there until the present – one of the few senior officials to stay in office during the transition from Karzai to Ghani. Stanakzai was centrally involved in Karzai’s peace-making efforts, as his loyal man in any contacts with the Taleban. Little, if anything, was achieved and some would say chances for negotiations were lost. However, any appraisal of the success or failure of the efforts would have to be laid primarily at Karzai’s door.

His final action in this capacity – under Ghani – appears to have been organising and “holding talks,” as it was reported in The Wall Street Journal, with three senior Taleban officials on 19 and 20 May 2015 in Urumqi, the capital of China’s western Xinjiang region. The Taleban officials were named as Mullah Abdul Jalil (former deputy foreign minister during the Taleban’s ‘Emirate’ government), Mullah Muhammad Hassan Rahmani (former governor of Kandahar) and Mullah Abdul Razaq (former interior minister). The meeting was denied by the Taleban. (2)

Reconciling Taleban

Stanakzai was also in charge of implementing the High Peace Council’s Afghan Peace and Reconciliation Programme (APRP), although it was – and is – still officially ‘led’ by the 70-member High Peace Council. The APRP, which aims to persuade combatants to come over to the government side, has been a highly expensive and futile endeavour. Here is one just-published conclusion by Deedee Derksen, in a paper for the United States Institute for Peace (USIP):

“Peace is business” was a recurring comment of well-informed Afghan officials and tribal elders, who assert that the [local High Peace] councils’ main goal is to receive funds from Kabul. Patronage drives resource allocation in the APRP on all levels. Although progress has been made on the demobilization phase, intelligence gathering and assessment for vetting takes place in a “‘black box’, hidden from scrutiny.” This lack of transparency allows political players to subvert the process.

Accordingly, many participants seem to have not belonged to the insurgency, or at best have operated only in its periphery. This situation is explained by a number of factors: the Taliban are not interested, program officials and international stakeholders need to show numbers of participants, no consensus has been reached over who was eligible for the program, the vetting process is not transparent, and some APRP officials seem to have included people connected to them who are not in the insurgency rather than Taliban.

The failure of APRP could be blamed on its unworkable assumption: that fighters could be brought over for money and other inducements at a time when there was no over-arching peace process to make ‘coming over’ not look like surrender or treachery (see AAN’s initial critique here). It has to be said, as well, that its failure on the domestic reintegration front is little different from many other foreign-funded, Afghan state projects, and its record matches all previous demobilisation programmes, with a lot of money spent, little to show for and questions of where the money ended up. Nevertheless, the failure of the APRP – and it has been massive – has been under Stanakzai’s leadership, with responsibility shared with the two High Peace Council chairmen, Burhanuddin and Salahuddin Rabbani.

In September 2011, Stanakzai was seriously injured in the suicide bombing that killed Burhanuddin Rabbani. He eventually recovered from his injuries, although still walks with a stick. He returned to his job – many admired him for his persistence – and was himself also targeted in another suicide attack almost a year ago (21 June 2014). Stanakzai managed to work for and with a difficult and varied range of characters at the High Peace Council, including its seventy, disparate, frequently demanding members, the patrician Burhanuddin Rabbani and then his son, Salahuddin, with whom Stanakzai reportedly had a much more antagonistic relationship as both vied to be the senior player in the High Peace Council; then there were the various international players – also often demanding and rarely acting coherently as a group.

In the communist army – and Pashtun as well

So what will Stanakzai bring to the ministry of defence, should he get parliament’s votes? He has proven himself a loyal, hard-working government servant. He has run one ministry and a reasonably big government agency and has been at the heart of government for many years. He is going from trying to reconcile and seek peace to leading the war effort – which is interesting. He also has some military experience. However, that was a very long time ago, and it seems he does not have field command experience.

His ‘communist’ background may make him suspect to some, especially as he becomes the third head of the power ministries – defence, interior and NDS – with a non-mujahedin background; one could also add here the powerful National Security Advisor, Hanif Atmar, who also served in the PDPA regime (in his case, as a young Khad intelligence officer), then in NGOs before becoming a post-2001 minister. Given the threats – actual or perceived – of a coup over the elections, the president may have wanted to ensure loyalists in these ministries. Even so, the fact that Stanakzai served and rose through the ranks of the PDPA army may make him suspect for those who sacrificed much in the war against the Soviet invasion. Moreover, like Interior Minister Ulumi, NDS boss Rahmatullah Nabil and Hanif Atmar, he is Pashtun. This probably should not be relevant, but after an election which split the country on ethnic grounds, it needs mentioning. As political affiliation also counts, it should be added that – among the four – only Ulumi belongs to the political camp of CEO Abdullah.

New Chief of Army Staff as well

There was an attempt by the administration at some ethnic and factional balance with the simultaneous announcement of a new Chief of Army Staff who is a Jamiati. He is the current commander of the ANA’s 111 division (ferqa) based at Qargha, west of Kabul, General Qadam Shah Shahim.

According to a Badakhshi journalist AAN spoke to, Qadam Shah is from Tashkan district of Badakhshan and finished Keshm High School in 1360 (1981/2).(3) From the early 1980s, he was fighting with Jamiat-e Islami against the Soviets and then, judging by his promotion record, against other mujahedin factions during the civil war and then against the Taleban; in 1372 (1993/4), he was appointed commander of 82 regiment (ghund) in Qargha and in 1375 (1996/7) made brigadier (appointments by the mujahidin Islamic State administration of Burhanuddin Rabbani).

In 1380 (2001/2), Qadam Shah was the commander of 37 brigade (lewa) of commandos and, reportedly, had a lot of dealings with foreign forces. In 1389 (2011), he was appointed as the commander of 111 division of Kabul, which is relatively small, half the normal size of a division. Becoming Chief of Army Staff is therefore a big step up for Qadam Shah. However, he does at least have more high-ranking, more on the ground and, of course, much more recent experience than his (nominated) boss.

Stanakzai still has to be introduced to parliament. They were picky about the government’s first list – rejecting half – but then appeared to fear the country would not forgive them if they left posts empty and proceeded to endorse every single nominee on the second list. So far, only one MP, the Uzbek Enayatullah Farahmand from Jawzjan, has voiced criticism of the choice, alleging there had (again) been ethnic bias. Acting governor of Balkh and chairman of Jamiat-e Islami’s Executive Council, Atta Muhammad Nur, a more powerful voice, has called the appointment “a historical mistake.” Atta alleged that Stanakzai was behind the murder of the then head of Jamiat, the former president, Burhanuddin Rabbani.

The next step for the defence minister nominee is to go and present himself to the MPs. Then, if all goes well, they will vote to accept or reject him.

 

(1) The Masters from Cambridge was gained between Stanakzai’s stints at the Ministry of Telecommunications and the High Peace Council. During that time, he was also a visiting fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (2008) and a Jennings Randolph Afghanistan Fellow (2008-2009).

(2) These men are heavy-weights of the movement, probably already in regular contact with the Afghan government and also thought to be close to Pakistan. They are generally the more ‘talk-friendly’ people in the movement, but none has been expelled by the leadership, who know of their contacts. In going to China, they either had the tactical space and flexibility to talk and travel unofficially, and still be deniable by the leadership, or they have ‘gone rogue’ but expelling them would cause more trouble than not.

(3) The Afghan calendar starts from the Spring Equinox (usually 21 March), so unless you know the month of an event, it could have taken place in one of two Western years.

WARSAW, 28 May 2015 – Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today commended the legislature of Nebraska for voting to abolish the death penalty in that U.S. state.

“The legislature’s vote to abolish capital punishment is a welcome one,” Link said. “It is my hope that those states that continue to carry out executions will give serious consideration to following Nebraska’s example in abolishing this practice.”

The 30-19 vote in the legislature overrode a veto of the bill by the state’s governor, Pete Ricketts, when it first reached his desk on Wednesday.

While there is no OSCE commitment on the abolishment of the death penalty, OSCE participating States, including the United States, have committed themselves to keep the question of abolishment under consideration.

Further, the 2013 Istanbul Final Declaration by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly called on all states to adopt a moratorium on all executions, with the ultimate goal of abolishing the death penalty completely.

ODIHR publishes an annual background paper providing information on the status of the death penalty across the OSCE’s 57 participating States. The 2014 edition of the Background Paper, released last September, stated that 51 of these countries have abolished capital punishment outright, while another four maintain the penalty in law, but have moratoriums on carrying out executions. Belarus and the United States continue to maintain the death penalty in practice.

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MADRID. A globális felmelegedéshez is kötődő gáz lehet a krónikus hátfájás legújabb ellenszere. Az új kutatások szerint az ózon és az oxigén megfelelő arányú keveréke képes összehúzni a sérült szöveteket és enyhíteni a hátfájdalmat.

Indulatokkal fűtött és vitákkal tűzdelt volt a székelyudvarhelyi önkormányzati képviselő-testület májusi ülése: a többségi RMDSZ-frakció és az ellenzék között több témában is kiéleződött az szembenállás.
Kategória: Aktuális/Udvarhelyszék

Ancien patron du g�ant du BTP Arab contractors et habile administrateur, le Premier ministre n'a pas le profil d'un simple politicien. Sa mission : mettre en oeuvre la politique du pr�sident Sissi et superviser le red�marrage du pays apr�s la r�volution.

Apparemment, quelque chose se prépare à la frontière ukranienne. D’après les témoignages de journalistes de Reuters et de l’AFP, de nombreux mouvements de troupes russes y ont été récemment signalés et des véhicules militaires ont été chargés sur des trains dans la région de Rostov-sur-Don, à seulement 20 km de l’Ukraine. Les marques d’identification de […]

Cet article Le secrétaire général de l’Otan juge la « rhétorique nucléaire » russe préoccupante est apparu en premier sur Zone Militaire.

Les relèves des militaires de la force Barkhane se poursuivent : après les unités du fuseau « Ouest », les unités du fuseau « Est » de la force sont à leur tour en cours de relève.

Proposer des vaches et des ch�vres en �change d'un mariage est-il insultant ou valorisant pour une future �pouse ? C'est sans doute surprenant pour la premi�re fille de Barack Obama, le pr�sident des �tats-Unis qui vient de recevoir une in�dite demande de main ...

Le nouveau modèle de l’armée de Terre a un nouveau logo, un nom « Au contact » et un slogan « Notre armée pour vous ». Découvrez-les en images.

Cette action de la police américaine était-elle prévisible ?

Non, on ne l’attendait pas même si nous savions que des enquêtes pour corruption sont en cours depuis pas mal de temps. Interpeller de hauts responsables de la Fifa deux jours avant l’élection de son président, constitue un véritable coup de tonnerre. C’est d’ailleurs certainement pour cela que la police américaine a agi à ce moment précis.

Pensez-vous, justement, que dans ces conditions l’élection du président peut avoir lieu ?

Je pense qu’il est nécessaire de la reporter pour qu’elle se déroule dans un climat serein. Si Joseph «Sepp» Blatter tente de passer en force, faisant fi de cette affaire, cela serait très mal perçu et pourrait se retourner contre lui s’il n’est pas, semble-t-il, visé par ces procédures.

Pourquoi les USA sont, semble-t-il, les seuls à avoir ouvert des enquêtes sur des représentants de la Fifa et à intervenir en Suisse alors que plusieurs pays sont concernés par ces éventuelles malversations ?

Tout d’abord, certaines opérations financières frauduleuses se seraient produites sur le sol américain, ce qui les met en première ligne. De plus, les USA, qui ont une conception intrusive du droit, entretiennent de bonnes relations avec l’état helvétique, tout particulièrement en matière d’extradition. La justice américaine est ainsi quasi certaine que les personnes interpellées leur seront remises. Dans d’autres pays, cela n’aurait pas forcément été le cas. N’oublions pas non plus, que les USA n’ont pas décroché la Coupe du monde et en garde une rancœur.

Depuis plusieurs dizaines d’années, la Fifa est secouée par des affaires similaires. Est-ce à dire que cette association est totalement corrompue ?

On ne peut pas dire que tout le monde est mouillé, non. Beaucoup se plaignent de son fonctionnement et de son manque de transparence. Il y a certainement des gens corrompus mais ce n’est pas la mafia. On peut penser que cette organisation n’est plus adaptée au monde d’aujourd’hui et qu’il est indispensable de la réformer. C’est d’ailleurs, à l’instar de Michel Platini (président de l’UEFA) ce que pas mal de monde demande. La Fifa n’a, pour l’heure, aucun compte à rendre à personne, si ce n’est à la justice.

Certains sont prêts, à coups de millions d’euros ou de dollars, à corrompre ou à se faire corrompre. Accueillir la Coupe du monde ou décrocher des contrats de diffusion de matchs sont donc des marchés extrêmement juteux ?

Pour un pays, ce n’est pas qu’une question d’argent. Certains en perdent d’ailleurs en organisant cet événement. Mais cela génère du prestige et une exposition mondiale exceptionnelle. ça offre aussi une formidable occasion de créer une cohésion intérieure. Certains présidents veulent à tout prix cet événement pour asseoir leur popularité. C’est un enjeu de puissance et symbolique. C’est cela que cherche le Qatar par exemple. Pour des entreprises de médias ou autres, les contrats occasionnent, par contre, très souvent des retombées financières énormes. C’est pour tout ça que pas mal de gens sont prêts à pas mal de choses, parfois malhonnêtes, pour profiter des retombées de la Coupe du monde».

SUMMARY

On 28 May 2015 at 07:00hrs (Moscow time), a Russian convoy arrived at the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP). A total of 50 vehicles were checked by the Russian border guard and customs services. All the vehicles had crossed back into the Russian Federation by 15:10hrs on 28 May.

 

***

DETAIL

Leaving the Russian Federation

On 28 May 2015 at 07:00hrs, the Observer Mission observed the arrival of a Russian convoy at the gate of the Donetsk BCP. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations team led the process of the convoy movement. The convoy consisted of 44 cargo trucks and 6 support vehicles. All cargo trucks bore the inscription “Humanitarian help from the Russian Federation”.

The vehicles stopped at the customs control area and lined up in three lines, backdoors and/or tarpaulins of all of the cargo trucks were opened and visually checked from outside by Russian border guards and customs officers. One service dog was used by Russian border guard to check most of the cargo trucks. Ukrainian officers – 8 border guards and 1 customs officer were present during the check. They performed visual observation of the opened trucks from the outside together with Russian border guards. By 07:40hrs all vehicles had left the BCP towards Ukraine.

Returning to the Russian Federation

At 14:25 hrs on 28 May, the convoy arrived and lined up at the customs area .The backdoors of the trucks were opened and both Russian and Ukrainian border guards and customs officers visually checked the returning convoy. One service dog was used to check some of the cargo trucks. By 15:10hrs on 28 May all 50 vehicles had returned and crossed back into the Russian Federation.

 

***

Related Stories

• Spot Report by OSCE Observer Mission: A twenty sixth Russian convoy of 51 vehicles crossed into Ukraine and returned back through the Donetsk Border Crossing Point
• Weekly update from the OSCE Observer Mission at Russian Checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk based on information as of 10:00 (Moscow time), 19 May 2015
• Weekly update from the OSCE Observer Mission at Russian Checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk based on information as of 10:00 (Moscow time), 5 May 2015

Vojislav Šešelj, a Szerb Radikális Párt elnökének még mindig nem kézbesítették a hágai törvényszék döntését, ugyanakkor a szerb végrehajtó hatalom sem szólította fel, hogy vissza kell térnie Hágába – legalábbis ezt állítja az SZRP elnöke.

Egyelőre nem módosították a Marosvásárhelyen érvényes parkolási szabályzatot a csütörtöki soros tanácsülésen a képviselők.
Kategória: Aktuális/Marosszék

POZSONY. Idén a tavalyinál közel 98 ezerrel több nyugdíjas örülhet majd a karácsonyi nyugdíj-kiegészítésnek. A munkaügyi tárca ugyanis 514,80 euróra emelte annak a nyugdíjösszegnek a felső határát, amely esetében a kiegészítés még jár az idős embereknek.