President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan to Miss African Union Meetingin Nigeria

KHARTOUM, Oct 26 (AFP)

Sudan’s Beshir to miss African Union meeting in Nigeria

Sudan’s President Omar al-Beshir will stay away from a conference in Nigeria where African Union leaders will discuss a report on the war-torn western province of Darfur, officials said on Monday.

Beshir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, and rights groups had urged the Nigerian government to arrest him if he turned up for Thursday’s meeting.

Around 15 heads of African states are expected to meet in Abuja to examine a study of the Darfur crisis drawn up by a high-level AU panel chaired by South Africa’s former president Thabo Mbeki.

A Nigerian government source told AFP that Beshir had been invited even though Nigeria has signed up to the law establishing the ICC and would therefore have a duty to arrest the Sudanese president.

Sudan’s representative at the meeting will be influential Second Vice-President Ali Osman Taha, official SUNA news agency reported, adding that Taha will arrive in Nigeria on Tuesday.

According to press reports, the AU panel will propose a “hybrid criminal court” of Sudanese and foreign judges to try people accused of offences in Darfur.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels in the western region of Darfur first rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum in February 2003.

The Sudanese government says 10,000 people have been killed.

AFP

Source: http://www.africasia.com/service /news/newsitem.php?area=africa&item=091026194929.97r0s8i4.php

Asian Leaders Seek to Reduce Western Trade Dependence

Asian leaders seek to reduce Western trade dependence

ASIA-Pacific leaders have called for regional-wide free trade and other measures to reduce dependence on the United States (U.S.) and big Western markets as Asia leads the way out of the global economic downturn.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, according to Reuters yesterday, urged Asian leaders to keep up fiscal and monetary stimulus measures even as their economies show mounting signs of recovery, saying there was “no room for complacency” and that the job market was still “dire.”

“At the moment, the global economy is showing signs of recovery, mainly in Asia,” Hatoyama told the closed-door East Asia Summit of 16 Asia-Pacific leaders in the Thai town of Hua Hin, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman, Kazuo Kodama.

At the meetings, held under tight security, Hatoyama found tentative support from his Asian counterparts for a proposed regional community inspired by the European Union that would account for nearly a quarter of global economic output.

“I think my long-term vision of forming an East Asia Community was largely welcomed by participants,” Hatoyama said.

The bloc, however, would take more than 10 years to create and may include some sort of regional currency, he added.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, host of the meetings, said Asia clearly needed a new growth model leaning less on big Western trading partners and more on Asia-wide trade pacts. The global financial crisis, he said, bore this out.

“The old growth model, where simply put we have to rely on consumption in the West for goods and services produced here, we feel will no longer serve us as we move to the future,” Abhisit told a news conference.

Asia’s leaders also called on North Korea to end its nuclear arms programme and resume stalled six-nation talks. It also urged military-ruled Myanmar to ensure its elections next year were free and fair.

And they mostly agreed it was too early to end government spending and other measures designed to get Asia back on its feet, said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is at the helm of Asia’s third biggest economy.

“The world’s eyes are on Asia as the region which can lead the global economic revival,” he said.

But there were signs that integrating Asia’s wildly divergent countries - from the economic powerhouses of Japan and China to the hermit state of Myanmar and impoverished regions of Southeast Asia - is easier said than done.

Thailand, the world’s biggest rice exporter, and the Philippines failed to reach agreement on the weekend in a row over import tariffs that could derail a trade pact at the heart of Southeast’s bid to build an economic community by 2015.

A free-trade pact in Southeast Asia, a region of 570 million people, calls for Philippine rice import tariffs to be cut to 20 per cent from 40 per cent by January 1, and then be progressively cut further. But Manila says the tariffs should stay at 35 per cent.

“The Philippines is not ready to change its figure as far as tariff rates are concerned because it has to protect its own farmers,” said Philippine Trade Secretary, Peter Favila. There were other ways to propel the region’s budding economic recovery, said Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda, urging Asian leaders to keep stimulating domestic demand along with regional demand to become less dependant on the U.S. market.

“A re-balancing of the sources of growth in Asia is a very important challenge,” he was quoted by a Japanese official as saying.

Japan’s idea for an East Asian Community would encompass Japan, China, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand, along with the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Leaders from all those states joined yesterday’s talks.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pushed another idea for a new, separate forum of Asia-Pacific nations to respond to regional crises - from natural disasters to security scares and economic meltdowns. His idea includes the United States.

The meetings followed an ASEAN summit that got off to a rancorous start on Friday, overshadowed by a diplomatic spat between Thailand and neighbor Cambodia, and marred by the absence of three leaders at the opening ceremony.

Host Thailand deployed about 18,000 security personnel backed by military gunships, determined to avoid a rerun of mishaps at past summits.

The summit was initially scheduled for December last year but was postponed when anti-government protesters shut down Bangkok’s airports. It was moved to the Thai resort area of Pattaya in April but was subsequently aborted when a rival protest group broke through police and army lines and stormed the summit venue.

Tunisian President Ben Ali Headed for Victotry in the Tunisia Elections

15:30 Mecca time, 12:30 GMT

Tunisian president ‘re-elected’

Preliminary results indicate Ben Ali was re-elected with 89.28 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s poll

Tunisia’s president has won a fifth term in office by a massive margin, according to initial results from the country’s presidential election.

Results from 20 of the North African country’s 26 regions showed that in two regions Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali won 99 per cent of the vote, and in the rest his support did not dip below 84 per cent.

Ben Ali, 73, has been in power for 22 years.

The definitive official results of the presidential and parliamentary elections were due to be announced later on Monday by the interior ministry, which oversaw Sunday’s election.

Ben Ali’s little known rivals trailed far behind, with two candidates close to the government, Mohamed Bouchiha and Ahmed Inoubli, averaging less than five per cent.

Ben Ali won 86 per cent of the vote in Tunis, the country’s capital, according to the interior ministry figures.

The only real opposition candidate, Ahmed Brahim, came in last.

In the parliamentary election, Ben Ali’s Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) party won 161 of the 214 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, with the remaining 53 to be divided proportionally between the competing opposition parties.

Official figures showed a high turnout on Sunday.

‘Silenced media’

International human-rights groups have alleged that campaigning took place in an atmosphere of repression.

Rachid al-Ghannouchi, the exiled head of the banned Nahda party, criticised the presidential and legislative elections.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, he said: “How can the elections be carried out amid silenced media, full jails, countries full with political immigrants, banned parties and laws?

“What we witness is a cold, badly written, badly directed play that despises the intelligence of Tunisians and believes that these aspects can make legitimacy, or make a new political regime, while it is only a practice that does not belong to this era.”

Rafiq Abdessalem, a senior researcher for the Al Jazeera Research and Studies Centre in Doha, described the Tunisian government as “a dictatorship”.

“It is an expected win … there is no free media within Tunisia’s civil society, no free speech, everything is orchestrated by the government and the elite,” he said.

“This is the hallmark of a real dictatorship. On the outside the regime has a modern facade which is the antithesis of political life in Tunisia. On the ground the practices are of a totalitarian regime.”

Ben Ali had hit out at critics just hours before polling stations opened on Sunday, saying the vote would be democratic and accusing his opponents of peddling lies.

Many voters said the president deserved another term because he had made Tunisia into one of the region’s most stable and prosperous countries.

Tunisia has been commended for its “solid economic foundations” and “real efforts at modernisation” by the International Monetary Fund.

Ascent to power

Ben Ali came to power in 1987 when doctors declared his predecessor, Habib Bourguiba, unfit to rule after more than 30 years in power.

He won the last election, in 2004, with 94.4 per cent of the vote, while his RCD won an overwhelming majority in parliament.

Tunisia is expected to apply to the European Union next year for “advanced status” - which could give it preferential trade terms and boost its international standing.

It does not want criticism over the election to affect its bid.

Ben Ali has vowed to elevate Tunisia to the rank of developed countries, committing himself during his next mandate to reducing an unemployment rate of 14 per cent.

However, he faces a difficult economic climate.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Genocide trial at UN tribunal adjourned by a day after Karadžić boycotts opening

The genocide trial of the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić opened today before a United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague but was then adjourned by a day after the defendant failed to attend the proceedings.

Dr. Niara Sudarkasa: A Woman of High Purpose

COLUMN RELEASE

October/26/2009

Contact:
Miracle Howard
Last Word Productions Inc.
lastwordprod@aol.com

Niara Sudarkasa- A Woman of High Purpose

By Julianne Malveaux

Dr. Niara Sudarkasa, the first woman President of Lincoln University, has a name that reflects her reality. Niara means woman of high purpose, and that she is, indeed. After leaving Lincoln University in 1998, she traveled and consulted, and has recently been scholar-in-residence at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Last week, she donated her papers and personal library, including more than 3800 books, 4100 issues of journals and periodicals, plaques and other collectibles, including the outfit she wore when she was enstooled as a chief in the Ife Kingdom of Nigeria. This is a sister and scholar whose name ought to be spoken frequently among African American people, especially those who have concerns about the African American family, and those who have interests in things African.

We are more likely to know entertainers, however, than we are to know scholars. This is a scholar certainly worth knowing.

I had the honor of traveling to Fort Lauderdale to help salute Dr. Sudarkasa on the occasion of her very generous gift (valued at more than $270,000) to the library. In thinking about Niara’s life and career, I was especially focused on the work she has done as an Africanist and anthropologist, long before it was fashionable for African American people to look at our African roots.

Indeed, Niara learned Yoruba as part of her doctoral work and studies the work that women did in African society for her dissertation. Her early work lays the foundation for contemporary work on linkages between Africa and the United States.

One of the things Dr. Sudarkasa developed is the concept of the seven R’s as foundations for family life. The R’s represent African family values that supported kinship structures. From a contemporary perspective, when we see the R’s absent, we can also explain some of the challenges that we face in family life.

The R’s - respect, responsibility, restraint, reciprocity, reverence, reason and reconciliation - represent the highest and best in family life and indeed in civic life. Unfortunately, many are all too absent in relations and discourse today.

Niara Sudarkasa has had the blessing and the burden to be many “firsts” - the first black woman to teach at Columbia University, where she earned her doctorate; the first black woman to teach at New York University; the first African American woman to teach anthropology at the University of Michigan; the first woman to lead Lincoln University.

Being a first isn’t easy - you are carrying the burden for the race, for the gender, being judged as a representative of everyone, not simply as a human being. In those first positions, stumbling is not an option. Niara has soared, and there are so many sister Presidents and sister scholars who stand on her shoulders.

Why write a column about this phenomenal woman? Because history has a way of swallowing women’s lives, and especially black women’s lives, unless we insistently step up, speak up, and tell our stories. Because Niara’s story is inspirational to young women and to not-so-young women. Because we ignore the real foundations of African American Studies if we ignore this woman’s wonderful work.

The Shriver Report was released a couple of weeks ago, a collaboration between California’s first lady, Maria Shriver, and the DC-Based Center for American Progress. It alleges that “it’s a woman’s world” because women are now the majority of American workers. Indeed, women have been the majority of our nation’s college students for about a decade.

But women still earn, on average, less than men do, and women’s wages have been dropping faster than men’s in this recession. I thought of Dr. Sudarkasa as I skimmed the report, thinking of the pioneer that she is, and the ways the work world has changed (but also not changed) for women. Niara Sudarkasa is among those who paved the way for women like Maria Shriver, and so many others to contemplate the contemporary status of women.

My hat is off to this woman of high purpose, an educator, author, scholar and leader whose work has made this world a better place!

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author and commentator, and the Founder & Thought Leader of Last Word Productions, Inc., a multimedia production company.

Last Word Productions, Inc. is a multimedia production company that serves as a vehicle for the work and products of Dr. Julianne Malveaux. For the last 10 years the company has centered its efforts on Dr. Malveaux’s public speaking appearances, her work as a broadcast and print journalist, and also as an author. Currently, Julianne Malveaux is President of Bennett College For Women in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Renewed multilateralism order of the day, Ban tells graduates in Seattle

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today highlighted the need for greater collaboration among nations to address common challenges, including the global economic slowdown, the flu pandemic and climate change, adding that the United States is central to these efforts.

Iraq War Update: Responses to the Bombing in Baghdad; Over 150 Killedin ‘Green Zone’ Explosions

Monday, October 26, 2009
23:40 Mecca time, 20:40 GMT

World leaders condemn Iraq attacks

Sunday’s double bombing in Baghdad was the country’s deadliest attack in two years

World leaders have joined their Iraqi counterparts in condemning Sunday’s double bombing in Baghdad - the deadliest attack in Iraq in two years - and offered their condolences to the Iraqi people.

Up to 155 people were killed and more than 500 injured when two vehicle bombs exploded outside government offices in the Iraqi capital.

Iraqi officials have held the al-Qaeda in Iraq and remnants of the Baathist party responsible for the bombing.

One of the attackers detonated a lorry bomb at a busy intersection near the justice and municipalities ministries, while the other set off a car bomb opposite the nearby Baghdad provincial government offices.

Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, visited the site of the attack on the provincial government office, where he spoke to officials and security officers.

“These cowardly terrorist attacks must not affect the determination of the Iraqi people to continue their struggle against the remnants of the dismantled regime and al-Qaeda terrorists,” he said in a statement.

Al-Maliki said the attacks would not affect the political process or parliamentary elections due in January, and promised to punish those behind the bombing.

For his part, Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president, said: “The perpetrators of these treacherous and despicable acts are no longer hiding their objective but to the contrary, they publicly declare that they are targeting the state … and aiming at blocking the political process, halting it and destroying what we have achieved in the last six years.”

‘Hateful agenda’

Barack Obama, the US president, said the bombs showed the attackers’ “hateful and destructive” agenda.

“I strongly condemn these outrageous attacks on the Iraqi people, and send my deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones,” he in a statement released by the White House.

“These bombings serve no purpose other than the murder of innocent men, women and children, and they only reveal the hateful and destructive agenda of those who would deny the Iraqi people the future that they deserve.”

He telephoned both al-Maliki and Talabani to offer his condolences.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said: “These despicable terrorist attacks seek to undermine the impressive progress that Iraq has made towards stability and self-reliance.”

She said Washington “will continue to support the people and government of Iraq in fighting terrorism”.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato’s secretary-general, condemned as “reprehensible” the attacks, saying in a statement: “On behalf of Nato, I strongly condemn the bombing that occurred … in Baghdad, which caused huge loss of innocent life”.

The European Union’s Swedish presidency expressed its disgust, while France offered its “full solidarity” and Britain said the attacks had “no justification”.

An Iranian foreign ministry official said: “These terrorist actions aim to wreck stability and the process of reinforcing democratic structures.”

The Cairo-based Arab League said it “vehemently condemns the blasts” and that it supports and “Iraqi government plans to impose law and security and to fight violence and terrorism”.

Iraqi accusation

Sunday’s explosions left streets littered with charred bodies and torn-off limbs, and buildings in ruins.

Ali al-Dabbagh, the Iraqi government spokesman, and Major-General Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi army’s Baghdad operations, both said 99 people had been killed in the attacks.

A senior official in the health ministry, which bases its toll on combined figures from hospitals, confirmed the number of dead and added that more than 700 people were wounded.

Atta said the lorry was carrying one tonne of explosives while the car was packed with 700kg.

“The blasts that took place today hold the fingerprints of al-Qaeda and al-Baath. They are similar to the ones that took place in August,” al-Dabbagh said.

Jihad al-Bolani, Iraqi interior minister, said: “The preliminary report presented to me states that today’s bombings are connected with the August blasts.”

Al-Boulani said that security forces are now trying to hunt down fugitives who were convicted in absentia in the August terror attacks.

They are believed to have a role in Sunday’s blasts.

On August 19, some 10 explosions rocked the Iraqi capital, leaving more than 100 dead and 1,200 injured.

The blasts targeted the finance and foreign ministries, the sites of which were not far from Sunday’s blasts.

Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish MP in the Iraqi parliament, told Al Jazeera the bombing was a message to Iraqi politicians and foreign investors.

“This sends two messages, one of them is to the investment conference in Washington held just a few days ago as if to tell investors not to come to Iraq … At the same time I think it may be a message to the meeting today of the political council of national security,” he said.

‘Electoral strategy’

Othman said: “They are trying to solve the problems concerning the elections law. I hope this will urge them to work more than before to solve this problem.”

But Ahmed Rushdi, an Iraqi analyst, said that pointing to al-Qaeda in Iraqi and elements from the Baath party, the party of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi leader overthrown in the 2003 US invasion, was an electoral strategy.

“Al-Maliki represents the Dawa party, which is [from] the Shia majority, and we have elections in January. He will say … ‘I’m going to protect you from al-Qaeda and pro-Baathists’,” he told Al Jazeera.

“It’s always al-Qaeda and pro-Baathist [elements that are blamed]. There is no talking about security infiltration, or the security failures in the Iraqi government.”

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Bombings target government in Baghdad, 147 killed

By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD – A pair of suicide car bombings Sunday devastated the heart of Iraq’s capital, killing at least 147 people in the country’s deadliest attack in more than two years. The bombs targeted two government buildings and called into question Iraq’s ability to protect its people as U.S. forces withdraw.

The bombings show that insurgents still have the ability to launch horrific attacks even as violence has dropped dramatically in Iraq. Many fear such attacks will only increase as Iraq prepares for crucial January elections.

The dead included 35 employees at the Ministry of Justice and at least 25 staff members of the Baghdad Provincial Council, said police and medical officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. At least 721 people were wounded, including three American contractors.

The street where the blasts occurred had just been reopened to vehicle traffic six months ago. Shortly after, blast walls were repositioned to allow traffic closer to the government buildings. Such changes were touted by Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as a sign that safety was returning to the city.

The Iraqi leader walked among the mangled and blackened cars, which lay in front of blast walls that had been decorated with peaceful street scenes of Iraq. At the Justice Ministry, windows and walls on both sides of the street were blown away, and blood pooled with water from burst pipes.

Al-Maliki has staked his political reputation and re-election bid on his ability to bring peace to the country and pledged to punish those responsible, who he said wanted to “spread chaos in the country, undermine the political process and prevent the holding of parliamentary elections.” But the Sunday attacks seemed designed to paint the Iraqi leader as incapable of providing security to the beleaguered city, undermining much of his political support.

The attacks occurred just hours before Iraq’s top leadership was scheduled to meet with heads of political parties in order to reach a compromise on election guidelines needed to hold the January vote.

President Barack Obama, who earlier this week reaffirmed the U.S.’s commitment to withdrawing its troops from the country, called al-Maliki to offer his condolences.

“These bombings serve no purpose other than the murder of innocent men, women and children, and they only reveal the hateful and destructive agenda of those who would deny the Iraqi people the future that they deserve,” Obama said.

The fact that the vehicles were able to get into an area home to numerous government institutions — just hundreds of yards from the heavily fortified Green Zone where the U.S. Embassy and the prime minister’s office are located — sparked demands that those in charge of the city’s security be held accountable.

“Those responsible for security and intelligence should be checked and interrogated,” said Sunni Iraqi lawmaker Wathab Shakir. “Why should innocent people be killed?”

The initial investigation suggested the vehicles, each loaded down with more than 1,500 pounds of explosives, might have passed through some security checkpoints before hitting their destination, said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi, a spokesman for the city’s operations command center.

There have been no claims of responsibility so far, but massive car bombs have been the hallmark of the Sunni insurgents seeking to overthrow the country’s Shiite-dominated government. Iraq has accused members of the outlawed Baath Party living in neighboring Syria of being behind another series of deadly bombings in August that also targeted government buildings. Al-Maliki blamed the attacks on Baathist and Al-Qaida.

Black smoke billowed from the frantic scene, as emergency service vehicles sped to the area. Many of the wounded were loaded into the back of trucks and into civilian cars because there were too many for ambulances to carry.

“The walls collapsed and we had to run out,” said Yasmeen Afdhal, 24, an employee of the Baghdad provincial administration, which runs the city. “There are many wounded, and I saw them being taken away. They were pulling victims out of the rubble, and rushing them to ambulances.”

The provincial council is the city government, which oversees a broad range of city services such as garbage collection, electricity, distribution of fuel for generators and school maintenance.

U.S. troops were also called in at the request of the Iraqi government to help secure the area, deal with any explosive material and offer forensics personnel to assist in the investigation, said a military spokesman, Maj. Dave Shoupe.

The coordinated bombings were the deadliest since a series of massive truck bombs in northern Iraq killed nearly 500 villagers from the minority Yazidi sect in August 2007. In Baghdad itself, it was the worst attack since a series of suicide bombings against Shiite neighborhoods in April 2007 killed 183.

Three American security contractors working for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad were injured in the blasts, said Philip Frayne, an embassy spokesman. Frayne could not immediately provide details about who the contractors were escorting, which company they worked for or the nature of their injuries.

The explosions were just a few hundred yards from Iraq’s Foreign Ministry, which is still rebuilding after massive bombings there in August. The bombings were a devastating blow for a country that has seen a dramatic drop in violence since the height of the sectarian fighting in 2006 and 2007.

On the streets of Baghdad, many Iraqis were angry at what they described as a lapse in security and wary about what will happen when U.S. forces leave.

“Everyday, we hear statements from different government officials that our forces are ready to control the situation on the ground when the U.S. forces withdraw,” Zahid Hussain Najim said. “But day after day it has been found that these officials are either liars or have no idea about what’s going on outside their offices.”
__
Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Muhieddin Rashad, Mazin Yahya and Barbara Surk contributed to this report.

Mozambique News: Commonwealth Observer Group Arrival Statement

Commonwealth News and Information Service (London)

Mozambique: 2009 Mozambique Elections - Arrival Statement
23 October 2009
——————————————————————————–
Below is statement by HE Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Chairperson of the Commonwealth Observer Group, delivered as he prepared to lead a team of election observers to Mozambique.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Mr Kamalesh Sharma, has constituted an Observer Group for the 2009 Mozambique National and Provincial Elections, following an invitation from the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Co-operation of Mozambique.

It is my honour and privilege to have been asked to lead this Commonwealth Observer Group and be here in Mozambique at this time for the country’s fourth multi-party elections.

Democracy and good governance are core Commonwealth principles and ones which our Observer Group has been constituted to promote and uphold. These elections are crucially important for the people of Mozambique, as they elect their President and National and Provincial Assemblies. It is therefore imperative that the electoral process is transparent, fair and ultimately reflects the wishes of the people.

Our task as the Commonwealth Observer Group is to observe and report on relevant aspects of the organisation and conduct of the elections. The Group will consider all the factors impinging on the credibility of the electoral process as a whole, and assess whether the elections have been conducted according to the standards for democratic elections to which Mozambique has committed itself, with reference to its own election-related legislation as well as relevant regional, Commonwealth and other international commitments.

In this regard, we will consider, among other things, whether the conditions exist for free and competitive elections; the transparency of the process; participation rights; the impartiality of state apparatus and public media; whether voters enjoyed universal suffrage and the right to vote; whether candidates were free to campaign on a level playing field; and if voters were able to express their will free of intimidation and if their will was respected.

In conducting our duties and undertaking our assessment, we will be neutral, impartial, objective and independent. Commonwealth Observers are present here in their individual capacities as eminent Commonwealth citizens. The assessment by the Group will be its own and not that of member governments. If we offer any criticism it will be constructive, with the intent to help further strengthen the democratic process in the country.

The team of Observers come from across the Commonwealth, and includes politicians, members of election commissions, an academic and representatives of civil society, youth and the media.

In the pre-election period we will meet with officials from the National Election Commission (CNE), the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), representatives of political parties, civil society and media, as well as High Commissions and representatives of other international and domestic observer groups.

Prior to the election day, Commonwealth teams will deploy to at least eight of the 11 provinces around the country to observe the voting, counting and results processes. Our Group will co-ordinate closely with other international and domestic observer groups before, during and after the poll.

We will issue an Interim Statement after the election but we are aware that the results process will take some time, so our Interim Statement will be a preliminary one on the process up to that point.

The conduct of peaceful, transparent and credible elections is vital for Mozambique and I urge all concerned to meet their responsibilities in this regard. I wish the people of Mozambique well and hope that these elections serve to further strengthen the democratic process in the country.

The rise of Europe’s surveillance state

We’ve published a new briefing today, called “How the EU is watching you: the rise of Europe’s surveillance state”, looking at the growing impact the EU is having on civil liberties. Click here to read the press release.

There are lots of juicy proposals in the pipeline including: a target to train a third of all police officers across the EU in a “common culture” of policing; the mass collection and sharing of personal data including DNA records into an EU-wide database; controversial surveillance techniques including ‘cyber patrols’; the creation of a fledgling ‘EU Home Office’ with powers to decide on cooperation on police, border, immigration and criminal justice issues; an EU “master plan” on information exchange; the transfer of criminal proceedings among EU member states; a three-fold increase in the number of controversial EU arrest warrants; access to other member states’ national tax databases; and EU laws on citizens’ right to internet access.

The Lisbon Treaty’s ratification, which is looking increasingly imminent, will see the amount and scope of EU justice and home affairs legislation increase further. National governments will lose their veto, while the European Court of Justice will be given the power to overrule national courts in this area for the first time.

It is however also important to understand the role the UK Government has played in the growth of the EU’s policies in this field. It was the UK, for instance, that pushed the EU’s Data Retention Directive, which requires telecoms companies to store information regarding every phone call we make, or text message and email we send.

I guess the EU and the Government could argue they are finally “listening to” their citizens, but this isn’t quite what we had in mind.

UN refugee agency urges probe into alleged abuses at Greek detention centre

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today expressed serious concern over recently reported violent incidents at a detention centre in Greece, and called for a thorough investigation into the matter.