Mangala In Fresh Soup: Mahinda S Declares War Saying He Was “Bypassed” On Shipping Liberalization

author: COLOMBO TELEGRAPH-NOVEMBER 14, 2017

The liberalization of the industry, which contributes to around $ 400 million, enables foreigners ease of entry into the Sri Lankan market. This controversial move, which jeopardizes the local shipping and freight forwarding industry, has resulted in the Finance Minister’s fellow Cabinet ministers ganging up against him, Colombo Telegraph reliably learns.

At the forefront of this battle is Ports Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, a close ally of President Maithripala Sirisena, who has said in no uncertain terms that he will not let Samaraweera’s proposal pass.

Samarasinghe argues that his ministry, which is also the line ministry concerning the matter, has not been consulted before including the proposal in the budget.

“When this was proposed before, our ministry said firmly that it would completely destroy the local industry. But Mangala has arbitrarily included the proposal in the budget bypassing us. I am taking this very seriously,”

Samarasinghe had told some of his Cabinet colleagues on the sidelines of the Cabinet meeting today.

Several leading shipping agents have also informed Samarasinghe of their grave concerns and urged him to raise this matter with the President. It is learnt that they have also lobbied several other influential Cabinet ministers.

Samarasinghe, who represents the SLFP, had said he would take it up with the President and push for rescission of the proposal.

Meanwhile, addressing a post-budget forum in Colombo on Monday, Finance Minister Samaraweera said changing the core principles of free enterprise and liberalisation was “non-negotiable”, indicating that he was not ready to backtrack on the matter.

“I would say nothing is cast in stone. We are willing to listen to suggestions where there may be anomalies to correct, but the basis of free enterprise is non-negotiable, liberalisation is non- negotiable. But within those parameters, certainly, we are willing to be flexible,” Samaraweera told the post-budget forum.

Despite the resistance from others in the local industry, from Maersk Line – the largest container shipping line globally and a prominent player in Sri Lanka, said it fully supported the 2018 budget proposal to open up the shipping and logistics sector to foreign investments and the introduction of an independent port regulator.

Steve Felder, Managing Director India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for Maersk Line in a statement issued on the subject mentioned “Maersk Line supports any efforts that governments make to liberalize and improve the business environment for the maritime industry, and for our customers. In this spirit, we commend the proposals tabled in the Sri Lankan parliament last week, which included removing the restriction on foreign ownership of shipping agencies & amendment of the Merchant Shipping Act, which are intended to further support the development of Colombo as a key Maritime hub.”

The statement said the liberalization of shipping agencies is expected to reduce transaction costs for carriers using Colombo as a transshipment hub thereby making it attractive for shipping lines like Maersk to further increase volumes especially given the growth of new transshipment hubs in this region.

Felder further said, “if the proposals tabled in the Parliament last Thursday which included removing the restriction on foreign ownership of shipping agencies, and the amendment of the Merchant Shipping Act, are approved, we will engage closely with our headquarters and our valued partners in Sri Lanka, and together evaluate options on increasing our footprint in Sri Lanka.”

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SRI LANKA IGP TAKES OVER THE ROLE OF PRESIDENT AND THE PM & BLAME NGOS

14/11/2017

Inspector General Pujith Jayasundara has told a public gathering that the President and the Prime Minister would not tolerate the NGOs, which are dependent on foreign aid  reports Daily Mirror. 
he has sad this  at a function held at Mallawapitiya in Kurunegala on 14th November.

defending the President Sirisena he has said that it is important for people to display human values and that it was the President who is being blamed often.

“The President is a man from the village, a humble person possessing exemplary qualities. He has teamed up with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who is a person well known in international circles. This is a resilient combination, not easily dented,”  talking as a politician of the ruling party he has said.

“Those who amassed wealth by corrupt means, those who earned commissions, those who hoodwinked the masses and earned enough to last several generations, those who fattened the foreign banks with the ill-gotten wealth are the ones who hate the President and the Prime Minister. There are some in the left who are trying hard, by staging protests to embarrass the government. They spread false rumors abroad and earn money. This is their main task,” he said.

Forgotten people: On Sri Lankan refugees and why Indo- Lanka relations should consider repatriation of Tamil refugees

14 November 2017

In recent months, the focus of the media has been on the Rohingya refugees in India. But the plight of Sri Lankan refugees, who have been here for nearly 35 years, appears to have gone out of the public consciousness.

The following article first appeared in the Hindu

The pathetic condition of shelters, restrictions on movement, and limited scope of livelihood opportunities affect the community of one lakh-odd Sri Lankan refugees, who have been living in Tamil Nadu ever since the anti-Tamil pogrom in Sri Lanka in July 1983. Besides, statelessness is a major problem for a section of refugees whose roots are from central parts of Sri Lanka, generally called hill country.

The refugees also suffer from social and psychological problems as reports of suicides, school dropouts and child marriage show. Many middle-aged refugees worry about their children’s future, given the fact that 40% of camp refugees are below 18 years. As 28,500 refugees are said to be stateless, the Sri Lankan government, in 2003 and 2009, amended its laws to enable easier repatriation. Tamil political parties on the other side of the Palk Strait would love the refugees to return so that the strength of elected representatives from the Tamil-majority Northern Province will go up in the Sri Lankan Parliament.

Yet, the voluntary reverse flow of refugees has happened only incrementally. Even the end of the Eelam War in May 2009 and the decision of Indian authorities in January 2016 to waive visa fees and overstay penalty on a case by case basis for willing persons have not made a huge difference. In the last eight and a half years, hardly 10% of the refugee population (9,238 people) went back through a scheme implemented by Indian officials along with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). There is perhaps good reason for the refugees’ reluctance to return.

Improvement in lifestyle

Around 62,000 refugees, living in 107 camps across Tamil Nadu, have been receiving various relief measures of the Central and State governments. In addition, in recent years, the Tamil Nadu government has taken steps for scores of young boys and girls of the refugee community to join professional courses, particularly engineering. This has benefitted eligible candidates among 36,800 non-camp refugees in the State too.

Regardless of the quality of housing and the nature of their jobs, several camp refugees have experienced a perceptible improvement in their lifestyle. Besides, a new generation has been raised completely in Tamil Nadu and it would not be a surprise for many among them to regard Sri Lanka as an alien country, however nostalgic their parents may be for Jaffna or Mullaitivu.

The refugees know well that if they go back to Sri Lanka, they will not get many of the benefits they have been enjoying in Tamil Nadu. What especially bothers them is “lack of or no livelihood opportunities”, as found in a survey of refugee returnees by the UNHCR, Colombo, in 2015. This situation may not improve in the near future given the state of the Sri Lankan economy.

The refugees from the hill country are landless. Unless they are given some quantum of land, they will be not be inclined to go back. One has to keep in mind the current situation in the hill country region too where the Tamils are no longer interested in working on tea plantations.

Change in status quo

At present, for both India and Sri Lanka, the repatriation of refugees does not seem to be a priority. But they cannot afford continuing with the status quo either, as Tamil Nadu holds the distinction of hosting the largest number of refugees in India. It would be in the interests of the two countries to thrash out the issue sooner than later. While for India a long-standing problem would be resolved, for Sri Lanka it would be a step towards ethnic reconciliation.

In fact, political changes in Tamil Nadu in the last year provide a window of opportunity for India to revive talks with Sri Lanka. The two governments can come out with a comprehensive package on voluntary repatriation, after involving representatives of the refugee community, the Tamil Nadu government and Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council.

For refugees who want to stay back, India can consider providing them citizenship, as it did for refugees from Pakistan and Afghanistan. Of course, it has the right not to grant citizenship to trouble-makers. If everything goes off smoothly, authorities can finally close down camps in Tamil Nadu, bringing an end to an episode that has lasted longer than the civil war of Sri Lanka.

Clearance of jungle or mountain causes destruction – Uruwarige Wannilla Aththo

November 14, 2017 by

Any clearance of jungle or mountains, even it is for cultivation, causes destruction says the Leader of Indigenous People Uruwarige Wannilla Aththo. He said a kilo of rice that was Rs. 5 or rs.10 seventy years ago and has up to Rs.125 at present and the whole human race would be destroyed if the environment is not protected.
The Leader of the of Indigenous People made these observation speaking at the seminar organized by ‘Right to Life’ organization held at Matara on the 11th under the theme ‘Destruction of central hills – the future death of the country.’

To improve female labour force participation in Sri Lanka, first change attitudes

Monday, 13 November 2017

Earlier this year in Hatton, I met a group of talented, young adults who had just participated in a social innovation pilot program. They were enthusiastic and dynamic, brimming with potential. But the potential to realise that potential was going to be influenced along gender lines; the expectations and obligations to the families were the most important determinants.

First, gender equality needs to start at home, with the way we raise our daughters; we need to be more ambitious for them and women themselves need to be become the drivers of the change we want to see – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara
I heard about some of these challenges. One girl had an ailing mother at home and was responsible for her care; another struggled to study on weekends while working on weekdays, with both activities requiring long commutes.

One young lady, T. Priya, who had just graduated from university with a BA, told me she was currently unemployed because she was determined to wait for the right job—which to her, meant joining the public sector. You’d be amazed at how often I have heard this from young Sri Lankans. Unfortunately, as we all know too well, there are only a limited number of these positions available.


This week, the World Bank will publish ‘Getting to Work: Unlocking Women’s Potential in Sri Lanka’s Labour Force’. The report notes that the number of women participating in Sri Lanka’s workforce is low, that women under 30 are facing high rates of unemployment and that wage disparities still exist between the sexes.

Among its findings is that women like Priya, despite having high educational attainments (university level or higher), still queue for a limited number of public sector jobs which raises their rates of unemployment. Government jobs are seen as offering more flexible hours and financial security than private sector jobs.

Another issue is that the burden of household responsibilities and chores fall disproportionately on women. When women got married, it made it harder, not easier, for them to go to work, and this was only exacerbated when women had children.

For men, the situation is somewhat different. As of 2015, marriage lowered the odds of Female Labour Force Participation by 4.4 percentage points, while boosting men’s odds by 11 percentage points.

But I think the roots of this problem go deeper, and start early. Young girls learn that it’s not important to be good at maths or sciences and many more pursue degrees in humanities and the arts, widely considered gender appropriate, rather than in the technical skills that are in demand in the private sector and growing industries.

This is only one way in which we limit our daughters.

Later on, worried about issues like their safety while commuting and sexual harassment at work, families want women to take only jobs that are considered suitable and safe.  On a national level, Sri Lanka is beginning to see that championing women’s participation is not just about supporting human rights. It’s about smart economics—the untapped wealth of labour and talent that women in this country represent, could be turned to growing the island’s workforce and enabling the economy to thrive.

We’re not doing women a favour by bringing them into the workforce. The public sector and private companies can both learn lessons on the importance of diversity. It cannot be a token effort, but instead should be seen for what it is—a process that enriches businesses at every level. Done right, it can help make companies innovative and profitable simply by being responsive to a market that is itself increasingly diverse. Done right, it can turn women from job seekers, into job creators.

Both at home and at work, it’s time we rethink the role of women. Without a dramatic change in attitudes, women’s participation will continue to lag. We can help support gender equity through labour legislation and the creation of non-discriminatory workplace environments. We can reduce barriers to women’s participation in paid work through improving child care services and confronting the socio-physical constraints on women’s mobility.

However, first, gender equality needs to start at home, with the way we raise our daughters. We need to be more ambitious for them. And women themselves need to be become the drivers of the change we want to see. We should ask ourselves, as women, why we don’t do more to break the barriers? Then we should go out and do just that.

(The writer is the World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Follow her on twitter @Idah_WB.)

(To access the full report and learn more about its findings visit: www.worldbank.lk and www.facebook.com/WorldBankSriLanka.)

Raised to rebel

The occupied East Jerusalem suburb of Issawiyeh has long been a flashpoint for confrontations between Israeli soldiers and its Palestinian residents.

Budour Youssef Hassan - 13 November 2017

But even by Israel’s repressive standards, the crackdown to which the town has been subjected over the past three years has been extreme.

In July 2014, and like in many Jerusalem areas, the people of the town – known for the tenacity of its youth-led resistance to Israeli incursions or provocations – rose up in protest at the burning to death of Palestinian teen Muhammad Abu Khudair. Hundreds of village youth streamed to Shuafat, Muhammad’s hometown, to take part in his funeral and participate in the ensuing protests.

Clashes between Israeli soldiers and youth then continued in Issawiyeh to protest the Israeli assault on Gaza that summer. In October 2014, Israeli forces imposed a weeks-long closure on the town, sealing all but one of its entrances with concrete blocks.

A series of attacks waged by individual Palestinians in Jerusalem in October 2015 was met with another Israeli campaign of repression and collective punishment. This included mass arrests, punitive home demolitions, threats of residency revocation, withholding of bodies, and raids and closures in several Palestinian areas of the city.

Issawiyeh’s main entrances were sealed off again.

The roadblocks and the stringent checks on cars entering and exiting the town made life unbearable for Issawiyeh’s 20,000 residents.

The youth of Issawiyeh were also at the forefront of the civil disobedience movement that swept through the occupied Old City of Jerusalem in July 2017 in response to Israel’s decision to install metal detectors at the entrance of the al-Aqsa mosque compound.

“The young men of Issawiyeh would join the sit-in at Bab al-Asbat [Lions’ Gate] before dawn prayers and nothing could intimidate them,” Zahra Qous, a nurse who lives in the Old City’s Afro-Palestinian community right next to the mosque compound, told The Electronic Intifada.

“But it was not just the youth. During the two weeks of the sit-in, people in Issawiyeh cooked meals for the thousands of protesters gathering in the Old City and sent donations,” she added.

“The solidarity we received from other parts of Jerusalem, especially Issawiyeh, was key to sustaining the movement and defeating Israel’s draconian security measures in the mosque.”

“Another kind of resistance”

The Issawi family is as deeply engaged in this grassroots resistance effort as any in Issawieyh.
Tareq, 77, and Layla Issawi, 70, have a large family. Six of their children – Rafaat, Medhat, Samer, Firas, Shireen and Shadi – have been imprisoned by Israel at different times; another, Fadi, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers when he was 16.

Fadi was killed during protests in Jerusalem in response to the 1994 Ibrahimi mosque massacre in Hebron.

As Tareq recounted the role of his town during those two weeks of protests in Jerusalem, his daughter Shireen, 38, listened in awe. Shireen, a lawyer, was in prison when the protests to reclaim al-Aqsa mosque broke out in July.

She was also in jail during the closure of 2014 and the Jerusalem uprising of October 2015.

Shireen had been detained and incarcerated with her brother Medhat, also a lawyer, in March 2014.

She was sentenced to four years in prison, Medhat to eight after being convicted of providing money to Palestinian political prisoners and communicating with proscribed organizations.

In effect, they were condemned for doing their job.
Tareq and Layla Issawi in May 2013.Oren ZivActiveStills

“When Palestinians were resisting Israeli restrictions in al-Aqsa, I knew nothing about it. I wish I could have been on the streets of the Old City then but I was waging another kind of resistance,” said Shireen, who was released on 17 October.

“I was in solitary confinement. Prisoners held in solitary are denied family or lawyer visits and are not even allowed a radio, so I was completely detached from the outside world.”

During the three-and-a-half years she ultimately spent in prison, Shireen said she was put in solitary confinement on 15 separate occasions.

“Each stint in isolation usually lasted for two months so you can do the math. And it was always for punitive reasons,” she explained. “I was repeatedly accused of inciting against the prison services and causing trouble. Each time the girls with me in jail returned meals, I would be punished and taken to solitary for inciting them to do it.”

Crime to be warm?

Being labeled a troublemaker by the prison authorities is clearly a badge of honor for her. She happily admitted that she encouraged her fellow prisoners to demand their rights and confront Israeli guards during raids on the cells, both in the Hasharon and the Damon prisons where she was held.

“The majority of [Palestinian] girls arrested over the last two years were charged with stabbings or attempted stabbings and have no political background,” she said.

“Many of the girls I encountered knew very little about the national cause. They are children and usually receive long sentences, so I tried to support and empower them, raise their national and political consciousness and educate them.”

Just as Shireen supported fellow prisoners, she also drew strength from the determination of others.
One of them was her cellmate in Hasharon prison, Isra Jaabis. On 10 October 2015, Jaabis, a resident of East Jerusalem’s Jabal al-Mukabbir neighborhood, suffered severe burns to her face and body from what she and her family insist was an accidental gas cylinder explosion in her car. Israeli police claimed, however, that she was trying to detonate a bomb near a checkpoint, and she was sentenced to 11 years and has been prevented from seeing her son Mutasim.

“She lost virtually everything but she is hanging on for her 9-year-old child,” Shireen said. “She is one of the strongest women I’ve ever seen, a true fighter.”

Shireen was aware that her background, as well as her role as a mentor and a leader in prison, exposed her to heightened repression. Guards beat her, she said, and left her with a bruised neck and arm in one raid on her cell in Damon prison.

She could not receive letters of solidarity or send letters to her imprisoned brothers, Medhat and Samer, she said. Among the items that were prohibited to her were woolen blankets and clothes during winter.

“Why would they limit the number of blankets I was allowed to get or prevent me from getting woolen clothes?” she said. “Perhaps it is a crime for prisoners to be warm?”

“Starving for joy”

Tareq Issawi, Shireen’s father, is relieved that with her release, the family has one less prison to visit.
“Each of my children was held in a different facility,” Tareq said. “Samer is held in Gilboa, Medhat in the Ketziot prison in the Naqab [Negev desert], and Shireen was either in Hasharon or in Damon.”
“The long journeys leave a huge emotional and physical toll on us,” he said.

Medhat was just 14 when he was first arrested. Now 43, he has spent more than half his life –- nearly 23 years – in Israeli lockup.

“His 5-year-old daughter keeps asking about him,” Layla said. “She wants him to buy her ice cream and take her to the swimming pool and be with her during her first day at school.”

Layla remembered her son as “an incredibly bright” student with dreams of becoming a nuclear scientist. His life, she said, has been “squandered behind bars.”
Tareq Issawi holds a photo of Layla Issawi visiting her son Samer in Israeli prison, October 2012.Ryan Rodrick BeilerActiveStills
Then there is Samer Issawi.

“Now it appears like a distant memory but it was the happiest day of our lives,” Shireen said of the day Samer was released in December 2013. “Our family, our people, our Jerusalem were starving for some joy and Samer’s release after a long battle was one of those rare moments.”

Imprisoned in 2002 and sentenced to 30 years for engaging in armed resistance, Samer was released in a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel in 2011. His rearrest the following year prompted him to go on a hunger strike.

During her brother’s hunger strike, Shireen – almost single-handedly at the beginning – fought his cause. She campaigned for his release, organized protests and mobilized Palestinians to support her brother’s quest for freedom. And his strike and her efforts seemed to pay off: in December 2013, he was released for a second time.

Three months after the arrest of Shireen and Medhat, however, in June 2014, Samer was arrested again. In May 2015, an Israeli military court then reimposed his original 30-year sentence.

No mercy for children

The younger members of the Issawi family have also not been spared. On 24 July 2016, Shireen’s nephew Fadi, then 15, was detained by Israel’s notorious undercover police. The encounter left him with a broken arm.

On 21 July 2017, her other nephew and the imprisoned Medhat’s son, Tareq, lost his right eye after being hit with an Israeli rubber-coated bullet.

Both Tareq and Fadi were among 27 Palestinian minors arrested during a 12-hour raid by Israeli police on 23 October, unprecedented even in Issawiyeh for the number of arrests in one night.

“Israel launched this wave of mass arrests probably in retaliation for the Issawiyeh youth’s role in July’s al-Aqsa protests,” Amjad Abu Asab, head of the Jerusalem Committee for the Families of Prisoners, said. “It comes after a month of attacks on schoolboys on their way to and back from school, which forced the Issawiyeh local committee to declare a school strike.”

According to Abu Asab, 41 children and young men were arrested during the 23 October raid in Issawiyeh. Most of them were released the following day, including Fadi and Tareq Issawi.
Tareq had been scheduled to undergo surgery on his right eye that day, a procedure that had to be postponed.

It is with no small measure of pride that Tareq blames his wife for their children’s behavior.

“She is the one who raised her children and her grandchildren to become rebellious and to keep resisting,” he said. “And she is the one who keeps us strong despite the arrests, despite the demolition order on our home and despite the suffering.”

Layla Issawi is an imposing woman. She once slapped an Israeli prison guard during a court hearing for one of her imprisoned children.

“I smacked him because he dragged Medhat and tripped him and he accused me of teaching my children to hate Israelis,” Layla recalled.

“My children did not need anyone to teach them to hate their occupier. Their brother was killed when he was a child. Their lives were crushed in detention, and their land has been stolen, so it’s only natural for them to resist.”

And Shireen carries her mother’s spirit.

“Never for a split second did I think that our resistance is futile or that our sacrifices are in vain,” Shireen said. “The path to freedom is long and our struggle paves the way for future generations to achieve it.”

Budour Youssef Hassan is a Palestinian writer based in Jerusalem. She blogs at budourhassan.wordpress.com.

Israeli arms firm investigated over live drone test on Armenian soldiers

Azerbaijan is one of the biggest recipients of Israeli weapons

Armenian servicemen of the self-defence army of Nagorno-Karabakh fire an artillery shell towards Azeri forces in 2016 (AFP)

Olivia Alabaster-Tuesday 14 November 2017 

The Israeli defence ministry and police are investigating an Israeli weapons manufacturer after allegations they live-tested a drone on an Armenian army position, while trying to sell the vehicle to Azerbaijan.

The investigation has been going on for several weeks, Haaretz reported on Tuesday, and a gag order into the specifics of the investigation remains in place.

“An investigation is ongoing against Aeronautics Defense Systems Ltd in regards to a deal with a significant customer,” Israeli police said in a statement on Tuesday.

Whilst it is not expressly stated that this refers to Azerbaijan, that is widely understood to be the case.

A spokesperson for Aeronautics Defense Systems told MEE the company would “fully cooperate with the police and we hope the investigation is concluded as soon as possible.”

In August, the defence ministry withdrew some of the company’s export licences, preventing the company from selling its Oribiter 1k drone to Azerbaijan, one of its biggest clients, after a complaint was made.

According to the original complaint, leaked to the Maariv newspaper, a team from the arms company was asked to operate the unmanned device, armed with explosives, against a manned Armenian outpost. Such an act would be illegal under Israeli law.

The Orbiter deal with Azerbaijan was meant to be worth $20m over the next two years (AFP)

When the drone operators refused the request, managers from the company carried out the demand, the complaint alleges.

Lacking experience, the two managerial officials missed their target directly, but two Armenian soldiers were nevertheless wounded in the July attack, according to the Armenian press agency.

Aeronautics Defense Systems at the time denied the allegations, and said that the company “never carries out demonstrations on live targets, as is true in this case as well.”

But the spokesperson for the company on Tuesday told MEE that: “We don’t say whether the incident happened or didn’t happen.”

Earlier this month, Israeli journalist Yossi Melman, writing for Middle East Eye, reported that Commtac, a subsidiary of Aeronautics Defense Systems, had sold equipment installed on Chinese-made drones operated by the Myanmar army, accused by the UN of carrying out ethnic cleansing against the country’s minority Rohingya Muslim population.

Read more ►

Israel's badly kept secret: Selling arms to regimes at war

Azerbaijan and Armenia have an ongoing dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which has an ethnic Armenian majority but lies within Azerbaijan.

Tensions flared between the two countries in early 2016, when dozens of soldiers were killed on each side.

Israel and Azerbaijan are important allies and both share a border with Iran.

In 2016, Azerbaijan imported $243m worth of weapons from Israel, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

In the same year, a Azeri army drone manufactured by another Israeli company, Israel Aerospace Industries, killed seven Armenian "volunteers", according to the Armenian defence ministry.

The kamikaze drone deal with Azerbaijan was expected to be worth $20m over the next two years, according to Aeronautics Defense Systems.

Over the last 20 years, Azerbaijan has been the fifth-biggest recipient of Israeli arms exports.

The Israeli defence ministry said it was unable to comment further on the investigations.

The Azeri and Armenian defence ministries have not responded to a request for comment.

Tensions rise in Zimbabwe as military drives through outskirts of capital

Witnesses report soldiers and armoured vehicles approaching Harare, leading many to believe coup is underway amid unprecedented challenge to Mugabe

Zimbabwe’s army commander, Constantine Chiwenga addresses a press conference in Harare. Photograph: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP

Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe addresses Zanu-PF members gathered to show support for Grace Mugabe, right, becoming the party’s next vice president. Photograph: Jekesai Njikizana/AFP/Getty Images-Soldiers standing besides armoured vehicles outside Harare, Zimbabwe. Photograph: Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters

Jason BurkeAfrica correspondent-Tuesday 14 November 2017 18.29 GMT

Tensions rose in Harare on Tuesday as armoured vehicles, military police and soldiers from Zimbabwe’s powerful military drove through the outskirts of the capital, a day after the head of the armed forces said he was prepared to “step in”to end a purge of supporters of sacked vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Witnesses in the city reported several lorries full of military personnel and at least six armoured vehicles on roads approaching the city in the late afternoon, though residents said there was no sign of troops in the centre of Harare, the airport, government broadcasters or the residence of president Robert Mugabe.

A second column of around a dozen vehicles was reported moving down the same road several hours later.

The deployments of military vehicles and soldiers led many to believe a coup was underway against Mugabe, the only leader Zimbabwe has known in 37 years of independence.

It is still unclear who ordered the military movement, though it comes amid an unprecedented challenge to the 93-year-old president from the armed forces.

Zimbabwe was plunged into crisis last week when Mugabe sacked Mnangagwa, a 75-year-old veteran of Zimbabwe’s liberation wars.

The former intelligence chief and long-time associate of the president had been viewed as his most likely successor, and is thought to have significant support within Zimbabwe’s security establishment.

Mnangagwa’s downfall opens the way for his arch rival, Mugabe’s 52-year-old wife Grace, to take power when the ailing president dies, resigns or is ousted.

Gen Constantine Chiwenga, the head of Zimbabwe’s military, warned on Monday that troops would intervene if long-term political allies continued to suffer.

“We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that, when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in.

“The current purging, which is clearly targeting members of the party with a liberation background, must stop forthwith,” Chiwenga said in a statement read to reporters at a news conference packed with senior officers.

Neither the president nor his wife has responded to the general’s remarks.

The failure of Mugabe to issue a clear statement reassuring supporters suggests he “is not in full control”, said Piers Pigou, an expert on Zimbabwe with the International Crisis Group, who is based in neighbouring South Africa.

“It is very unclear how this will play out and there is a certain amount of wishful thinking from those who would like to see Mugabe arrested or dragged off ... but the president’s silence suggests he may not be in full control of the situation” he added.

Mugabe was chairing a weekly cabinet meeting in the capital on Tuesday, which continued through the afternoon.

Late on Tuesday night a statement was issued by Simon Khaya-Moyo, the national secretary for information and publicity, accusing Chiwenga of “treasonable conduct”.

“Such conduct stands unreservedly condemned not only in the party ... but also in the [region] and the entire African continent where subversion of constitutional authority is ... regarded as absolute anathema,” the statement read.

Mugabe’s authoritarian rule has been anchored by support from the military but the ageing leader has systematically dismissed veterans of the liberation struggle from party posts in recent years leaving the top echelons of Zanu-PF stacked with officials who did not fight in the independence war.
War veterans broke ranks with him in 2016 and have vowed to form a broad front with the opposition to challenge his long rule.

Chris Mutsvangwa, the head of the war veterans’ group, told reporters in Johannesburg last week that Grace Mugabe was “a mad woman” who had won power through a “coup ... by marriage certificate”.

The first lady is a deeply divisive figure in Zimbabwe with limited popular support. She has been tarnished by an alleged assault against a model she had found in the company of her sons in a luxury apartment in Johannesburg in September.

Granted diplomatic immunity after the incident, she was allowed to leave South Africa despite a police inquiry and denies any wrongdoing.

Reports of extravagant purchases, including property in South Africa and a Rolls-Royce, have also angered many Zimbabweans. Pictures of one of the first lady’s sons apparently pouring most of a bottle of champagne over a luxury watch worth tens of thousands of dollars in a nightclub were shared widely on social media this week.

The former junior administrator is detested by many of the independence-era war veterans, who once enjoyed a privileged role in the ruling party under Mugabe, but who have increasingly been banished from senior government and party roles in recent years.

The crisis comes at a time when Zimbabwe faces severe economic problems. The country is struggling to pay for imports due to a shortage of dollars, which has also caused acute cash shortages.

Political Chaos in the Maldives – Where it all Began

Featured image courtesy Dhivehisitee

S. MOHAMED-on 11/13/2017

To the outside world, the Maldives is known as a “Paradise on earth” with its white sandy beaches and crystal clear lagoons.  However, its troubled political realm is little recognised. Political tension escalated back in the early 2000s, along with the emergence of reformist voices. As a result, the long serving president who ruled with an iron fist put forth a reform agenda to address the uprising, on top of which there was a revision of the constitution.

A new, modern constitution focused on civil and political rights was enacted years later in 2008. From governance to individual life, the new constitution altered every aspect of the nation enormously. The first election held under the new code ousted the old regime. Now almost a decade gone by, the country is still in chaos.

Transitional justice was not at all taken into account in the transformation from a long serving dictatorial rule and tyrannical past to democracy. Stressing this point, human rights advocate Ibrahim Thayyib remarked: “To my knowledge, there was no process of transitional justice nor of national reconciliation when Maldives transitioned to democracy”. Emphasising its importance, the MP for Kendhoo constituency Ali Hussain said “Transitional justice is very crucial for the reconciliation and rehabilitation of people while moving from a dictatorship to democracy. This is especially so for those individuals who have suffered during the dictatorial regime, who would be expecting it to happen as part of the healing process. If public trials are not conducted, a truth and reconciliation process is mandatory at minimum, for a smooth transition to a viable democracy.”

Understandably the old regime would never want to invite such a process, and unfortunately, the reformists never had such an idea on their agenda. Throughout the programme for reform, both the old guard and the opposition had their eye on elections. The matter was never taken care of by the reformists even after succeeding in the first democratic election in late 2008.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed at the National Square moments before his resignation/Photo Sun.mv

Neglecting transitional justice and national reconciliation turned-out to be a dreadful mistake.

“I believe that the current political turmoil is very much related to the failure of the then government to provide for transitional justice. The people who are benefiting from the current autocratic regime are the same individuals who have gotten undue economic advantages through corruption and bribery at the top level,” Ali further noted. The first democratically elected president was ousted halfway through his term, which his supporters claimed to be a coup. An offshoot of the old guard won the second presidential election with a slight margin.

Following the victory, the newly elected president dissolved the coalition to consolidate power and began arresting political rivals, starting with the former president and the leader of main opposition party Mohamed Nasheed and the leader of Justice Party Imran Abdulla who organised a massive protest against the regime’s tyranny and corruption. He then altered the Constitution and the statutes to silence political opposition. As of now many of the major political leaders who might do so are either behind bars, in exile or being prosecuted. A couple of parliamentarians were dismissed from  their seats, and a few others are being investigated.

The Military has padlocked the Parliament after forcefully removing Parliamentarians from the premises. However, a statement published on the website of president’s office regarding the events at the Parliament premises reads “The special measures taken by the security forces at the Parliament building on 24 July 2017, were to ensure the security and safety of the premises”. The worst nightmare is that the rights, freedom and values assured in the constitution are being undermined.

In response to the government’s anti-democratic moves, corruption and oppression almost all major political parties and individual actors colluded to form the Maldives United Opposition. MUO consists of elements from both ends of the political spectrum which is an excellent representation for a transitional administration and at the same time an existential challenge. The coalition itself needs intense dialogue and reconciliation within themselves for survival and to deliver a successful unity government as they promised. The union is so far successful in defeating President Yameen in the local council elections by a wide margin earlier this year and in overcoming the president’s firm grip over the Parliament following the local council elections.

Leader of the Justice Party Imran Abdulla addressing the May Day rally 2015. / Photo raajje.mv

Corruption, embezzlement of state funds and money laundering are some serious allegations raised in the international media against President Yameen. Given these allegations and the strategic location of Maldives in the Indian Ocean, a problematic and isolated Maldives is always a serious threat to regional stability and security. President Yameen has already shifted the focus of his foreign policy towards Shanghai and Riyadh in response to challenges from western and regional powers. His only ally in the region, Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan was removed from office on return to home from Maldives recently. Inviting Chinese influence to the Indian Ocean to an unprecedented level is an obstacle to regional stability. Hence the chaotic political status quo in Maldives needs to be dealt with as a matter of utmost importance.

May Day Rally 2015 under the slogan “against tyranny & corruption”. / Photo Maldives Independent

Diplomatic involvement is vital not only to bar President Yameen’s wrongdoings but also to facilitate and mediate all-encompassing national reconciliation process which is an essential step towards peace and stability. Stressing to the point Mr Ibrahim added: “What is evidenced is that a process of reconciliation and transitional justice positively contributes to peace and stability contributing to the strengthening of democracy and governance”. The current Maldivian opposition has appealed several times to the international community to facilitate dialogue between the government and the opposition. However international actors have so far taken the plea timidly. The United Nations attempted to handle the situation but failed even to bring parties to the table, and the UN involvement was unworkable in the face of president Yasmeen’s stubborn behaviour. Hence diplomatic efforts are either ineffective or too weak to deliver a fruitful outcome so far.

Ibrahim believes that there is a crucial role for transnational advocacy platforms in the equation. Initially, at the reporting stage transnational networks can work with local activists and civil societies in reporting the situation to intensify moderate voices in the international platforms. He further said, “The international community can strongly contribute to the capacity-building of domestic civil society organisations to continue collective advocacy and to mobilise for a national agenda of democratisation, peace building and national reconciliation”. He also believes that the efforts of transnational NGOs worked perfectly back in the early 2000s in pushing the country towards the reform programme.

Bangladesh may be in turmoil as opposition threatens boycott of 2018 polls

2017-11-14 00:09

The leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Begum Khaleda Zia, has thrown a political bombshell by declaring that the BNP, which is the principal opposition group in the country, will not contest the 2018 parliamentary elections if there is no Neutral Caretaker Government (NCG) composed of non-partisan people to conduct free and fair elections. 

“A fair election is not possible with Sheik Hasina in power. I tell the chief election commissioner that it’s his responsibility to hold a credible election in the country,” Khaleda told a massive party rally in Dhaka on Sunday. 

She reiterated her demand for a ‘neutral government’ for the polls. She also demanded deployment of the army with “magisterial power” during the polls and rejected the use of electronic voting machines which she alleged could be tampered by the ruling party. 

Ruling Awami League (AL) leaders, however, said that the elections will be held with Sheikh Hasina as Prime Minister as per the constitution of the country. 

The constitution had been amended in by the current regime in 2011 to abolish the NCG system following a Supreme Court judgment that rule by an un-elected body of persons, however short its term may be, is a violation of the sovereignty of the people.  

The BNP had boycotted the last elections in 2014 on the grounds that the elections would not be free and fair in the absence of an NCG to conduct it. The boycott led to Hasina’s AL sweeping the polls with 79% of the votes, though only 20% of the electorate voted. 154 of the 300 seats in parliament had gone uncontested. The elections were also preceded by intense and widespread violence. 
The entire world questioned the credibility of the elections, but the boycott was not seen in a favourable light. Many felt that the BNP could have contested and amended the constitution to bring back the NCG system. Recently, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj had met Khaleda Zia to persuade her not to boycott the 2018 elections. The international community, which is eyeing investment and strategic opportunities in Bangladesh, is also interested in political stability in that country. 

The Hasina government could also be blamed for being soft on India on the grounds that it has failed to force India to yield on the issue of sharing the waters of the Teesta river. Much will also depend on how Hasina tackles Myanmar on the issue of the 600,000 Rohingya refugees who have cast a huge burden on the Bangladesh economy 

However, given Bangladesh’s political history, a second boycott of the elections by the BNP and its allies cannot be ruled out. And before formally announcing a boycott, the BNP could unleash widespread violence to pressure the government to concede. 

Pre-election violence of a high order has been part and parcel of Bangladeshi elections since the earliest times as ruling groups, whether civilian or military, have behaved extremely undemocratically and rigged polls. 

The BNP is expected to put all its might into the campaign to get an NCG installed because it is smelling victory in the 2018 elections given the anti-incumbency factor at work against Sheikh Hasina, who has been in power continually since January 2009. 

The war crimes trials that her government conducted, though justified from a Bangladeshi nationalistic point of view, did not accord with international standards, human rights activists had charged. Islamic militancy, tolerated initially, was crushed ruthlessly after foreigners and Bangladeshis from elitist families were massacred in an upmarket restaurant in Dhaka on July 1, 2016. 

The Hasina government could also be blamed for being soft on India on the grounds that it has failed to force India to yield on the issue of sharing the waters of the Teesta river. Much will also depend on how Hasina tackles Myanmar on the issue of the 600,000 Rohingya refugees who have cast a huge burden on the Bangladesh economy. 

NCG’s history 

The NCG has a long history in Bangladesh and it has been a violent and blood soaked one. The NCG system was brought into effect through the 13th Amendment of the Constitution in 1996. Three elections (1996, 2001 and 2008) had been held under NCG successfully. 

The idea of an NCG was mooted in 1983 by the Bangladesh Jamaat e-Islami. But the struggle for the NCG began only in 1987 and that was against the military government of H. Mohamed Ershad. 
Three multi-party alliances signed an agreement that they would not take part in any elections under an Ershad-led government. In 1990 university students also joined the country-wide struggle. Ershad declared a State of Emergency but had no option but to resign in December 1990. 

The fifth parliamentary election was held in February 1991 in a free, fair and impartial manner under an NCG headed by Chief Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed. 

However, despite this successful experiment, the main political parties, namely, the BNP and AL, did not consider institutionalizing or constitutionalizing the NCG. But in December 1991 the Bangladesh Jamait-ul-Islami leader Matiur Rahman Nizami, submitted a Private Members’ Bill for holding all future parliamentary elections with a NCG in place. In late 1993, AL and Jatiya Party (JP) of Ershad, changed their mind and submitted bills for NCG. But they did not press the issue.  

The BNP had boycotted the last elections in 2014 on the grounds that the elections would not be free and fair in the absence of an NCG to conduct it. The boycott led to Hasina’s AL sweeping the polls with 79% of the votes, though only 20% of the electorate voted

However, when the BNP government brazenly rigged the Magura by election in 1994, the AL and JP got serious about making the NCG part of the country’s constitution The opposition parties were convinced that the 1996 parliamentary elections would not fair under a BNP government. To press for an NCG the opposition boycotted the parliament continuously. 

But the BNP government was adamant. The opposition boycotted the February 1996 parliamentary elections which resulted in the BNP completely sweeping the elections though with a meagre vote. There was widespread pre-and post-poll violence. 

The international community too stepped in to bring about a rapprochement between the Khaleda and Hasina. All this made Khaleda bring in the 13th Constitutional Amendment in March 1996, to set up the NCG. As a further concession to democracy, she dissolved parliament. And in the parliamentary election which followed in June 1996, the AL emerged winner, albeit narrowly. 

Later in May 2011, the Supreme Court struck down the NCG saying that rule by unelected men abridges the sovereignty of the people. However, it said that the next two elections should be fought under an NCG. But in June the Hasina government got the 15th Amendment passed, which among other things, did away with the NCG. 

When the time came for the next elections came in 2014, the opposition BNP declared a boycott after its call for an NCG was negatived. The boycott led to poor polling and an extremely lopsided parliament.  

when the BNP government brazenly rigged the Magura by election in 1994, the AL and JP got serious about making the NCG part of the country’s constitution

According to a paper written by Mahbub Alam Prodip and Golam Rabbani - both Assistant Professors in the Department of Public Administration, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, the NCG though generally welcomed by the people, has not been an unmixed blessing. 

Some of the non-political persons in charge had been as dictatorial and insensitive as politicians. Unlike politicians, these “neutral” persons had enjoyed power without responsibility, that is without the necessity to go back to the people for votes.