July 24, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Several leaders of the opposition Sudan Call forces on Sunday have defended their recent decision to meet the mediation over the roadmap saying its signing depends on the outcome of these discussions.
Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) President Omer al-Dugair, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Leader Gibril Ibrahim and SPLM-N negotiating team spokesperson Mubarak Ardol Sunday brushed aside criticism against their expected meeting with the head of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) Thabo Mbeki to discuss the eventual signing of the Roadmap Agreement he proposed since last March.
They further reiterated their commitment to the opposition demand for an equal dialogue, leading to achieve peace and genuine democratic change in Sudan.
SCP Chairman, Omer al-Dugair, told Sudan Tribune on Sunday that the positive developments mentioned in the statement of 22 July means that AUHIP has changed its rejection to the oppositions' proposals on the Roadmap Agreement.
"These are the demands included in a memorandum of understanding proposed by the Sudan Call last month. The AUHIP had first rejected the memo before to change its mind and accept it through a letter Mbeki sent to the Sudan Call and direct (telephone) contacts by his senior assistant,'' said al-Dugair.
On the same trend; JEM leader Gibril Ibrahim said the opposition umbrella said the opposition decided "in principle to sign the Roadmap, if we found further reassurance in the upcoming meeting with the mediation in Addis Ababa.
"President Mbeki dispatched to the recent Paris meeting, the AUHIP Chief of Staff Abdel Qader Mohamed (known as Abdul) to explain the spirit of the letter that President Mbeki sent to the Sudan Call forces, dated on June 23, 2016, and to confirm the mediation's readiness to consider with due diligence the observations of the Sudan Call on the Roadmap, and to put it in a framework that can dissipate the opposition fears," wrote Ibrahim in a written statement extended to Sudan Tribune.
Last March, the Sudanese opposition groups rejected the Roadmap Agreement which proposes a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access to civilians in the conflict affected areas, before to engage in the government proposed national dialogue process.
In a letter sent by Sadiq al-Mahdi to Mbeki, the Sudan Call forces requested to add a supplemental document to the Roadmap before to sign it.
They said it should retake all the points provided in the African Union Peace and Security Council decision 539: the release of political prisoners and detainees, ensure political freedoms and full guarantee of the freedom of expression and publication.
The AUPSC decision also proposes a preparatory meeting ensuring that all the necessary confidence-building are taken, the key steps of the National Dialogue process are agreed upon, and that the process is fair and will result in the mutually-agreed objectives.
Ibrahim said that the roadmap proposed last March was not inclusive and neglects important opposition forces as it was addressed only to the National Umma Party (NUP), JEM, SPLM-N and Sudan Liberation Movement - Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM).
But, he stressed that the mediation for the first time in its letter of June recognized the Sudan Call forces and addressed it as political body, showing it has no objection to the formation of a delegation including additional opposition groups..
A leading member of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, Mohamed Dia al-din, slammed the decision of opposition groups to meet with the AUHIP in order to discuss the signing of the Roadmap Agreement.
Dia al-Din said the statement of Paris meeting did not clearly explain what these "positive developments" in the position of the AUHIP.
“This issue represents the essence and the purpose of Paris meeting but it was omitted in the statement,” said Dia al-Din said on his Facebook page.
He further pointed that Sudan Call statement did not mention the needed conditions to sign the Roadmap before to engage in talks with the ruling National Congress Party.
However, SPLM-N negotiating team spokesperson, Ardol strongly criticized the negative position of the Ba'ath Party towards the Sudan Call saying they remain the objective ally of the NCP ruling party.
The Ba'ath Party ''does not belief in collective work and democratic change and shares the same ideologies with the ruling party,'' said Ardol.
His hostility of the Sudan call "means to delay the collective process of change that is now shaping up in line with the mechanisms and convictions of the Sudan Call forces (not the Baath). This change will take place and the first of its steps is the unit of the opposition forces," he stressed.
The Ba'ath Party is a member of the National Consensus Forces, an alliance of the left groups. However, the group remained hostile to the participation of the internal opposition group with the Sudan Call forces.
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France’s interior minister is protesting accusations the government tried to cover up security failings the night of the Bastille Day attack in Nice that killed 84.
France’s Socialist government has come under fire for not doing enough to prevent a delivery man from ploughing a refrigerator truck into a crowd of revelers leaving a July 14 fireworks display on the Riviera city’s beachfront promenade.
The woman in charge of video surveillance in Nice on July 14, Sandra Bertin, told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that government officials told her what to write in her report and that she should mention the presence of police she hadn’t seen.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement Sunday that he is suing for alleged defamation and said he is committed to uncovering the truth about what happened.
Many French are angry that the government couldn’t prevent the Nice attack despite a state of emergency in place.
Cazeneuve acknowledged that no national police were protecting the beachfront promenade targeted in the attack.
Led by regional government president Christian Estrosi, conservative politicians from Nice have aggressively questioned whether officers from the national police were present in sufficient numbers on the night of the attack.
Nice, a city of nearly 350,000 people, is France’s most heavily policed city with nearly 600 officers municipal police officers and other security agents – more than much larger cities – and an extensive network of surveillance cameras.
The post The Nice attack: growing rift between the government and local police appeared first on New Europe.
On 24-25 July, EU Member States’ ministers and state secretaries responsible for European affairs debate on EU enlargement and on the EU’s strategic communication priorities.
On 24-25 July, EU Member States’ ministers and state secretaries responsible for European affairs debate on EU enlargement and on the EU’s strategic communication priorities.
July 23, 2016 (WAU) – South Sudan army's (SPLA) 5th division in Western Bahr el Ghazal state on Friday executed two soldiers charged with murder and various crimes.
The duo were arrested on 17 July and kept at Wau central prison after for allegedly murdering a couple at a residential area situated within Wau town.
They faced firing squad in front of a military parade at the army division headquarters. Hundreds of Wau residents also witnessed it.
Wau town mayor, Akol Akol Ajith, said the two soldiers were sentenced to death after the military high court found them guilty.
“The order to execute these soldiers comes from above and this is what will warn the soldiers from involving in such crimes,” said Akol.
No one, according to the town mayor, is above the stipulated laws.
A military judge cautioned soldiers against violating army regulations.
“This is a warning to those soldiers who used to violet the military regulation, it is also what tell the people of South Sudan that any soldier found committing crime against civilian should be deal with,”a judge, who preferred anonymity said on Friday.
This is the first such an execution has taken place at the army's 5th division headquarters in Western Bahr el Ghazal state over the years.
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Germany’s Green party has warned against radical Turkish nationalists in the country and suggested sanctions against Turkey in order to curb “Erdogan’s long arm”.
As reported by Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international broadcaster, the party’s co-head, Cem Özdemir, said German politicians need to treat radical Turkish nationalist groups with the same caution as radical right-wing groups.
“There is, unfortunately, a form of Turkish PEGIDA in Germany that we must treat the same way as the group we already know of,” Cem Özdemir told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
Özdemir told the newspaper that, in Germany, there was a consensus that German right-wing populists existed “on the margins of society and are not normal interlocutors”.
If PEGIDA leader Lutz Bachmann were invited to an event, no “self-respecting democrat” would attend, said the Green party chief, urging this kind of political attitude to be applied to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s government representatives who are based in Germany.
Özdemir also said the EU should consider sanctions against Turkey if democracy and human rights “continue to be suspended”.
The EU has expressed concern over the imposition of a state of emergency in the wake of an attempted military coup.
The post Germany’s Green party warns against Turkish nationalists appeared first on New Europe.
Cette recension est issue de Politique étrangère (2/2016). Aurélie Faure-Schyuer propose une analyse de l’ouvrage de Pierre-Noël Giraud et Timothée Ollivier, Économie des matières premières (Paris, La Découverte, 2015, 128 pages).
L’esprit des pionniers de la géologie, qui anima André Giraud et les fondateurs de l’économie des matières premières en France, inspire cet ouvrage. Après avoir rappelé la définition des « commodités » (commodities) et relaté les grandes étapes du développement des marchés de matières premières depuis la révolution industrielle, les auteurs retracent les fondements théoriques des sciences économiques appliquées au secteur des matières premières (principalement pétrole, cuivre, charbon et matières premières agricoles). Ils présentent les structures théoriques de formation de l’offre, comme celle de la demande, pour l’ensemble de ces matières puisées dans les ressources naturelles. Nombre d’éléments importants sont ici fournis, qui permettent de comprendre la sensibilité, ou l’élasticité, qui peut amener à des variations de l’offre ou de la demande, jusqu’à des « chocs » provoquant un effondrement ou une accélération haussière des prix (illustrés lors des chocs et contre-chocs pétroliers de 1973, 1987, 2007).
À travers la rareté des ressources, les contraintes techniques liées à la géologie, ou la possibilité de substitution future d’une matière première à une autre, se trouvent évoquées les interactions entre le monde de la géologie et celui du marché financier, principal apporteur de capitaux. Au début des années 2000, une association de géologues à l’origine de la théorie du peak oil, assurait que le rythme d’exploitation des ressources pétrolières nous amènerait à un « pic » de production pétrolière. Giraud et Ollivier pensent quant à eux que cette théorie de la rareté ne permet pas de prédire un horizon d’épuisement des réserves connues à un moment donné, compte tenu des facteurs à venir de substitution sur l’offre et des évolutions de la demande.
Deux enjeux liés au développement des marchés de matières premières sont finalement discutés. Le premier est le développement de la spéculation, dont les causes sont souvent attribuées aux acteurs intervenant sur les marchés de matières premières. On se souviendra des manipulations sur le cuivre ou l’électricité (Sumitomo en 1996 ou Enron en 2001), bien qu’elles ne soient pas évoquées dans l’ouvrage. Le second enjeu tient à la rareté des matières premières, à son impact sur les prix des denrées alimentaires et le développement économique, ainsi qu’aux limites des politiques climatiques visant à atténuer la production d’énergies fossiles émettrices de gaz à effets de serre.
Cet ouvrage a pour intérêt de définir les frontières des marchés de matières premières, et de rappeler les prérogatives essentielles de ces marchés, qui constituent un facteur d’ajustement des cycles économiques, un élément anticipatif et une source d’informations. Autant de connections à l’économie physique sous-jacente des matières premières.
Aurélie Faure-Schuyer
S’abonner à Politique étrangère.
An ambitious free trade deal between the United Kingdom and China is on the cards. Britain’s new finance minister has started discussions with China that could ease access for major Chinese banks and businesses to the UK economy.
In an interview with the BBC, Chancellor Philip Hammond said it was time to explore “new opportunities” across the world, including with China, one of the UK’s biggest inward investors. China invested over $5bn (£3.8bn) in the UK in 2014.
“What we now need to do is get on with it in a way that minimises the economic impact on the UK economy in the short term and maximises the benefit in the long-term,” Hammond said, admitting that there had been “global disappointment” about the Brexit vote.
Earlier this month, the Chinese state media reported that the Chinese ministry of commerce wants to do a UK free trade deal. Hammond has now revealed that Britain is also keen.
And in return for greater access to the UK for its manufactured products and investment, China would reduce barriers to Britain’s service industries like banking and insurance as well as UK goods, reported the BBC.
“The mood music that I have heard here is very much that this will mean more opportunity for countries like China that are outside the European Union to do business with Britain,” Hammond said at the end of a G20 summit in China. “And as Britain leaves the European Union and is not bound by the rules of the European Union perhaps it will be easier to do deals with Britain in the future.”
In a separate report, the Telegraph noted Hammond’s warning to European leaders. He said they must respond “positively” to Brexit negotiations or they will risk years of damaging economic uncertainty.
“I think what will start to reduce uncertainty is when we will set out more clearly the kind of arrangement we envisage going forward with the EU,” explained Hammond. “If our EU partners respond to such a vision positively, obviously it will be subject to negotiation, but positively, so that there is a sense later this year that we’re all on the same page where we expect to be going. I think that will send a reassuring signal to the business community and to markets.”
The post UK keen to strike free trade deal with China appeared first on New Europe.
Hüseyin Özgürgün, the leader of the Turkish-Cypriots is scheduled to visit Ankara to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım.
As reported by Famagusta Gazette, Turkey’s top envoy in the unrecognised Turkish-occupied state in northern part of Cyprus, Derya Kanbay, said that the break-away areas are not affected by the State of Emergency in Turkey, but media reports suggest a trustee will take over at three universities and two colleges “as a precaution”.
The FETO organisation, which is linked to cleric Fethullah Gulen, has been added to a list of terror organisations in the occupied territories of north Cyprus, he said. A special task force has also reportedly arrived in the north from Turkey to determine if the military in Cyprus have any links to the failed coup.
Turkey maintains more than 35,000 troops in the northern part of Cyprus.
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