Agrégateur de flux

The EU-India strategic partnership has lost momentum. Bilateral ties are not receiving sufficient priority from both sides. Economics remains at the core of this relationship. Since negotiations on the Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) may take time to be concluded, EU-India ties should not be held hostage to developments at BTIA level. On defence and security matters, India deals with EU Member States directly and has a good framework for cooperation with major European powers. The recent Indian decision to buy Rafale jets from France will also have long-term implications for EU-India links. Unlike its partnerships with the US and Russia, India has yet to discover the relevance of EU-India relations within evolving Asian security and economic architecture. Growing Indo-American relations and the close transatlantic partnership could provide new opportunities to work together. Collaboration in research and innovation has expanded significantly and dialogues on global governance, energy, counter-terrorism, migration and mobility as well as human rights all show great potential. New dialogues could be initiated on Afghanistan, maritime security, development cooperation and the Middle-East. Indian engagement in resolving the Ukraine crisis could be explored.
Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Esther Benbassa, sénatrice écologiste depuis 2011, n'est pas une professionnelle de la politique. Universitaire de carrière, elle est spécialiste de l'histoire du judaïsme, entre autres sujets de recherche. Au sein de la Chambre haute française, elle n'hésite pas à faire valoir son originalité et, avec une verve certaine, défendre des causes progressistes comme les droits des homosexuels, la dépénalisation du racolage ou encore de la consommation de cannabis. Trinationale, elle donne des cours partout en Europe et dans le monde et se définit elle-même comme une "cosmopolite" qui dénote dans un microcosme "d'hommes blancs d'un certain âge".

Cécile Riallant est directrice du programme global ICMD, une initiative conjointe entre la Commission européenne et les Nations unies pour le développement et la migration. Interrogée à l’occasion des Journées européennes du développement, elle revient sur le nouvel agenda migratoire de la Commission européenne, le rôle des réfugiés et la place de la migration dans les Objectifs du développement durable qui doivent être adoptés en septembre prochain à New York.

June 17, 2015 (JUBA)- South Sudanese president Salva Kiir has reiterated his rejection of a new peace proposal by Intergovernmental Authority on development (IGAD) mediators, aiming to end the 18-month conflict in which several lives have been lost and millions more displaced since December 2013.

South Sudanese president Salva Kiir (L) prior to a meeting on 3 March 2015 in Addis Ababa (Photo: AFP/Zacharias Abubeker)

According to the minister at the presidency, Awan Guol Riak, President Kiir told the heads of state and government attending the African union summit in Johannesburg that his government was committed to peaceful settlement of the conflict but the new proposal undermines peaceful coexistence, hardens ethnic sentiments and polarization of the country.

“Regarding the new IGAD proposal, the President of the Republic and our team made reservations and gave them to the African Union. It is our view that some areas of the proposal should be revised or removed and so we felt that it should be returned to the chief negotiators to hold exhaustive discussions in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, so that the result of the consultations would be the basis of new proposals and the agenda”, Riak told reporters on Tuesday upon his arrival at Juba international airport from South Africa.

Earlier this month, the mediation proposed a draft agreement that gives the SPLM-IO 33% power-sharing ratio at the national level and 53% in the three states of Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei within the oil-rich greater Upper Nile region.

South Sudanese government officials rejected new proposal pointing it undermined national unity and social cohesion as it put the oil-rich greater Upper Nile region under the control of the opposition faction of the former vice-president, Riek Machar.

Also the rebels who call for a federal system in the country brushed aside the proposal saying it encourages the other two regions of Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria to continue with the war.

The minister explained that issues discussed at the summit were vast and complex. He added that African leaders made significant efforts to address challenges from the wider problems of security and immigration to more specific matters.

The recent 25th African Union (AU) summit discussed xenophobic attacks in South Africa, and the current political upheaval in Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.

However, observers have argued that the summit did not come out with significant resolutions especially in the light of the continent turning into part of the world in which some of the leaders are trying to remain in power by changing their countries' constitutions.

Other questions which have continued to be posed include those asking whether the continental body is achieving its original goals for greater unity and good governance.

The activities of the summit were overshadowed by the presence of Sudan's President Omer al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes and genocide charges.

(ST)

June 17, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - June 17, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Armed Forces (SAF) said its troops repulsed an attack by unnamed rebel group against its positions in Silai'a area, 64km north of West Darfur state capital of El-Ginaina.

SAF spokesman Swarmi Khaled Saad speaks during a news conference in Khartoum October 31, 2011— (Reuters)

The official news agency SUNA on Wednesday quoted SAF spokesperson, Col. al-Sawarmi Khaled Saad as saying that a rebel group on Tuesday attacked army position in Silai'a area, noting their troops repulsed the attack and inflicted a number of dead and wounded on the rebels.

Saad added the government forces seized two Land Cruiser vehicles and destroyed two others, pointing that one army soldiers was killed in the attack and four others injured.

The Sudanese military also said their forces combed the area and chased the fleeing rebels, noting the situation is currently stable in the area.

However, the spokesperson did not clarify whether the attackers belong to an armed rebel group or they belong to an armed gang.

Armed clashes between government army and rebel groups are rare in West Darfur which has been recently classified as the most secure and stable state amongst Darfur's five states.

CENTRAL DARFUR PROTESTS

Meanwhile, the pro-government Sudan Media Center (SMC) said that a joint regular force has contained Wednesday rioters in downtown Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur state.

According to SMC, the protest was carried out by a group of former fighters from rebel groups who are seeking integration into the Sudanese army.

A reliable source from the state's security told SMC that a joint force from the army, police and security services managed to contain the situation by driving the rioters out of commercial market.

The same stressed that the security situation is stable and life is going on as normal in Zalingei, describing the way the regular forces dealt with the protesters as “wise”.

(ST)

June 17, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - Darfur's National Liberation and Justice Party (NLJP) led by Tijani al-Sissi on Wednesday has decided to suspend its political partnership with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and to withdraw from the government.

Tijani el-Sissi (SUNA)

The former rebel Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), formed by 19 rebel factions, signed the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) on 14 July 2011 with its leader Sissi became the chairman of the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA).

However, last March the LJM split into two political parties following deep differences between Sissi and the group's secretary general Bahar Idris Abu Garada. The two parties participated in April's general elections at the national constituencies' level.

The NLJP did not explain the reasons behind the decision to withdraw from the government which has been taken in an emergency meeting on Wednesday.

It said in a short statement following the meeting that it will hold a press conference on Thursday to disclose details of the decision.

The decision provides for pulling all party officials off their posts in the federal and states' governments.

Sources told Sudan Tribune that the NLJP continued to complain that the NCP didn't carry out understandings reached by both parties before the elections regarding its participation in the government.

They pointed that the NLJP expressed reservation on the distribution of ministerial portfolios, saying the NCP ignored to appoint its officials in the recent cabinet formation.

(ST)

June 17, 2015 (JUBA) - South Sudanese rebel fighters in Western Bahr el Ghazal state denied on Tuesday any link to youth arrested by the state authorities allegedly on the ground that they were found in an apparently declared “no go area” for civilians in the state.

Rebel fighters aligned with former vice-president Riek Machar gather in a village in South Sudan's Upper Nile state on 8 February 2014 (Photo: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

The rebel appointed governor of Western Bahr el Ghazal state, Tingo Peter, told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday they were not in any way connected to eight suspected members of the youth currently being held by the pro-government state authorities.

On Monday, state authorities claimed to have intercepted the movement of a group of youth from the area south of the state capital, Wau town, towards the rebels held areas, 50km away, with the suspected aim to join the armed opposition fighters.

The youth, allegedly including a 12-year-old boy, were taken to Wau town where they were paraded before journalists.

The general commanding officer of the government forces in its fifth division, Major Geneneral David Manyok, told reporters on Monday that the youth were captured during a night patrol in Namatina area.

The state governor, Rizik Hassan Zechariah, said the youth will be investigated for the alleged accusations that they were mobilizing to join the rebellion.

Fighting occurred two weeks ago in Bazia area, 50km from the state capital, when rebel forces allied to the former vice president, Riek Machar, launched attacks in Western Bahr el Ghazal state.

While the rebels claimed to have remained under the full control of Bazia including other villages in the payam [sub-district], the government said it had retaken the area from the opposition forces.

Sources however told Sudan Tribune that the rebels have been present in many pockets in the state and were mobilizing and recruiting youth to join the struggle against president Salva Kiir's government.

The number of the arrested youth members was not however disclosed.

(ST)

Az Európai Unió állam- illetve kormányfőinek korábbi döntésével összhangban az Európai Unió meghosszabbítja az Oroszországgal szemben bevezetett szankciókat. A tagállamok brüsszeli nagyköveteinek szerdán sikerült megegyezniük a részletekről. Nevük mellőzését kérő uniós források szerint a kérdés hétfőn kerülhet az uniós külügyminiszterek tanácsa elé, amely formálisan jóvá is hagyja majd.

Tizedik alkalommal szerveztek tiltakozó megmozdulást Topolya központjában azzal a céllal, hogy a folyamatos környezetszennyezésre hívják fel a figyelmet.

L’attaquant international algérien Rafik Djebbour, 31 ans, a signé mercredi un contrat d’un an plus une saison en option avec le promu grec de l’AEK Athènes, a annoncé le club dans un communiqué. L’Algérien retrouve le club où il avait joué de 2008 à 2011. Il était la saison dernière à l’APOEL Nicosie, où il […]

Dix-sept adeptes d'un pasteur accusé d'être le cerveau d'attaques meurtrières fin 2013 en République démocratique du Congo ont été

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La force de l'ONU au Mali (Minusma), qui a subi les plus lourdes pertes parmi les missions de l'ONU, n'a pas l'entraîneme

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Plusieurs militaires et civils ont été inculpés ces derniers mois en Guinée dans l'enquête sur le massacre de 157 personnes le 28 septembre 2

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Des groupes armés pro-gouvernementaux du nord du Mali ont refusé de quitter la ville de Ménaka, comme le prévoit un "arrangement sécu

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Après quatre jours d'intenses réflexions, le Burundi vient de réagir au communiqué de la réunion du conseil de paix et de sécurité de l'Union africaine durant le week-end, consacré notamment à la crise que traverse ce pays. Le gouvernement ne dit pas non aux propositions de l'Union africaine, mais il pose ses conditions.

Le Conseil des ministres s’est réuni en session ordinaire, hier dans sa salle de délibérations au Palais de Koulouba sous la présidence du Premier ministre Modibo Keïta. Après examen des points inscrits à l’ordre du jour, le Conseil a adopté des projets de texte ; entendu des communications et procédé à des nominations. AU CHAPITRE DES […]

La región del Sahel está gravemente afectada por la fragilidad estatal y una extrema desigualdad de género, factores que están inextricablemente relacionados. A lo largo de la zona, la profunda exclusión política, económica y social que sufren las mujeres se ve agravada por, y contribuye a, una mala gobernanza, el subdesarrollo y el conflicto. Asimismo, impide la construcción de la paz. Pese a ello, los actores internacionales aún no han otorgado prioridad a la igualdad de género o a los derechos de las mujeres en sus respuestas a la fragilidad en el Sahel. Es imperativo que reconozcan la importancia del género para sus objetivos políticos, de seguridad, de desarrollo y de sostenibilidad en la región.

 

DRAFT REPORT on the EU-China relations
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Bas Belder

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP