Pour le premier groupe, le retour des faucons est le résultat de l’échec de la transition. Les mêmes qui criaient derrière Lansana Conté alité soit pour prolonger son mandat, soit pour truquer les élections, soit pour amasser des fonds ou pour consolider son pouvoir même au prix des représailles sanglants et de démolition de quartier entier de l’opposition, voient leur position se consolider du jour le jour au sommet de l’État. Le même groupe s’interroge sur le cas des présumés narco-trafiquants que le capitaine Moussa Dadis Camara avait réussi malgré les dérapages à isoler, pourraient être libres pour ceux qui sont encore en prison. Au moment où dans les pays voisins, les autorités s’attellent à lutter farouchement contre le trafic de drogue, le blanchiment d’argent et le financement du terrorisme, en Guinée, l’on cherche plutôt des excuses à ceux qui entretenaient les réseaux pour qu’ils soient blanchis, réintégrés dans la société comme des honnêtes gens. Pourtant, se souviennent-ils, les Guinéens ont vécu une fin de règne cavalière du Général Conté où tout le monde semblait unanime pour condamner les dérives totalitaires, l’impunité, la corruption et la mal gouvernance incarnés par son régime. Mais depuis le 23 décembre qu’est-ce qui a réellement changé ? Et plus particulièrement depuis le 15 janvier dernier qu’est-ce qui se passe au sommet de l’État ? Pourtant, les partisans du système ne partagent pas ces critiques. Ils pensent tout simplement que la transition marche bien. Le régime fait son mieux pour aider la Guinée, comme l’a fait le Président Lansana Conté qui a instauré la démocratie bancale et le multipartisme, qui a défendu l’intégrité du territoire et empêché la rébellion dans le pays. Pour eux, ceux qui sont en prison, ce sont des innocents qu’il faut libérer et surtout ne parlez pas d’audit, c’est une fausse histoire. Car d’après eux, il n’y a aucune preuve qu’il y a eu des détournements. En conclusion, un observateur averti souligne que le Guinéen lambda attendra encore pour voir les lueurs du bonheur qui semblait pourtant proche à l’annonce de la fin de règne du régime et la tenue d’élection juste et crédible dans le pays. Et l’on se demande surtout si les nominations opérées ces derniers temps ne divisent que l’opinion. Abdoulaye Baldé, Aminata.com

Ce que ne partagent pas forcément l’autre frange qui estime qu’il faut fermer les yeux sur cette partie de plaisir du Général Sékouba qui n’est au fait qu’un pur produit du Général Kerfalla Camara, l’homme qui avait assuré l’état de siège après les massacres du 22 janvier et du 12 février dans le pays avec au bas mot 200 morts et des milliers de blessés.

Pour le premier groupe, le retour des faucons est le résultat de l’échec de la transition. Les mêmes qui criaient derrière Lansana Conté alité soit pour prolonger son mandat, soit pour truquer les élections, soit pour amasser des fonds ou pour consolider son pouvoir même au prix des représailles sanglants et de démolition de quartier entier de l’opposition, voient leur position se consolider du jour le jour au sommet de l’État.

Le même groupe s’interroge sur le cas des présumés narco-trafiquants que le capitaine Moussa Dadis Camara avait réussi malgré les dérapages à isoler, pourraient être libres pour ceux qui sont encore en prison. Au moment où dans les pays voisins, les autorités s’attellent à lutter farouchement contre le trafic de drogue, le blanchiment d’argent et le financement du terrorisme, en Guinée, l’on cherche plutôt des excuses à ceux qui entretenaient les réseaux pour qu’ils soient blanchis, réintégrés dans la société comme des honnêtes gens.

Pourtant, se souviennent-ils, les Guinéens ont vécu une fin de règne cavalière du Général Conté où tout le monde semblait unanime pour condamner les dérives totalitaires, l’impunité, la corruption et la mal gouvernance incarnés par son régime. Mais depuis le 23 décembre qu’est-ce qui a réellement changé ? Et plus particulièrement depuis le 15 janvier dernier qu’est-ce qui se passe au sommet de l’État ?

Pourtant, les partisans du système ne partagent pas ces critiques. Ils pensent tout simplement que la transition marche bien. Le régime fait son mieux pour aider la Guinée, comme l’a fait le Président Lansana Conté qui a instauré la démocratie bancale et le multipartisme, qui a défendu l’intégrité du territoire et empêché la rébellion dans le pays. Pour eux, ceux qui sont en prison, ce sont des innocents qu’il faut libérer et surtout ne parlez pas d’audit, c’est une fausse histoire. Car d’après eux, il n’y a aucune preuve qu’il y a eu des détournements.

En conclusion, un observateur averti souligne que le Guinéen lambda attendra encore pour voir les lueurs du bonheur qui semblait pourtant proche à l’annonce de la fin de règne du régime et la tenue d’élection juste et crédible dans le pays. Et l’on se demande surtout si les nominations opérées ces derniers temps ne divisent que l’opinion.

Abdoulaye Baldé, Aminata.com

Pourtant, cela pourrait être largement amélioré si les conditions d’intégration dans un marché unique sont créées. Ce qui nécessite des préalables au nombre desquels une volonté politique concrète et particulièrement orientée dans la lutte contre la corruption et la promotion de la bonne gouvernance d’une part.

De l’autre, la mise en place des conditions d’intégration sous-régionale qui passent par la création d’une monnaie unique, la suppression des barrières douanières, l’harmonisation des législations en matière fiscale et une large sensibilisation des populations, qui doivent être les potentielles bénéficiaires.

Ces dispositions exigent en outre des efforts conjugués au sein de la CEDEAO , où les Chefs d’Etat doivent veiller non seulement à la ratification des conventions nécessaires à la mise en place des l’arsenal juridique institutionnel mais insister surtout à l’application des textes.

En même temps, des efforts doivent être déployés pour la création d’infrastructures routières, ferroviaires et aéroportuaires afin de fiabiliser la chaîne de transport au niveau sous-régional, créer des barrages énergétiques et hydrauliques pour la fourniture d’eau, d’électricité et l’irrigation des terres. La mise en place du projet hydroélectrique de Konkouré et la mise en œuvre d’autres projets notamment l’OMVS, s’inscrivent dans cette logique. Il reste cependant une réelle volonté des gouvernants puisque toutes les études de faisabilité sont déjà réalisées.

Aussi, la mise en place des infrastructures monétaires et économiques accompagnée d’une stabilité dans les États membres constitue le meilleur argument d’un marché commun attractif, créateur d’emplois, de richesses, de croissance économique et de la prospérité des États avec la possibilité d’accroître les échanges, de bénéficier la confiance des partenaires au développement.

Notons que la création d’un marché unique avec des gammes de produits de consommation et d’exportation constitue un argument sûr pour l’établissement avec les partenaires au développement d’un accord de partenariat gagnant-gagnant.

Ainsi, la CEDEAO pourra s’engager avec l’Union Européenne dans la signature des accords de partenariat économique (APE) ainsi que de tout autre partenaire économique sans le risque de voir atomisé ses économies, actuellement trop faibles pour une telle coopération.

L’Afrique de l’Ouest avec ses 300 millions d’habitants, ses innombrables potentialités économiques et un marché unique, pourrait ainsi disposer d’un réseau routier fiable, d’une monnaie unique forte, de grands barrages hydroélectriques et de grosses industries avec un secteur agricole dynamique, capable de nourrir ses populations dans un environnement communautaire durable et bénéfique pour tous.

Depuis Dakar, Abdoulaye Baldé pour Aminata.com

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable country in the world where there women are passing in very danger situation. Indeed in Bangladesh have gotten two great women leaders Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia who have been governing Bangladesh since 1991. Presently Sheikh Hasina has governing Bangladesh as a Prime Minister. And Begum Zia was a former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. But, yet the women are crying for their rights and security. Though, every day many women’s have been torturing, killings. Violence against women is a common picture in Bangladesh.

Many women in Bangladesh suffer from rape, gang rape, murder, torture and acid throwing. The position of women in Bangladesh is vulnerable. Even though Bangladesh has an elected government, the difficulties facing women haven’t ended. Violence against women is a common feature in Bangladesh, and women face various problems under the system of repression.

The main types of the oppression of women include dowry, trafficking, kidnapping, rape, physical torture and acid throwing. Almost every day, women are victimized by these acts of violence and repression. And domestic violence at the hands of husbands is a very routine practice in Bangladesh.

According to a survey conducted by the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, at least  937 women were killed during the period from January to October this year. Prominent human rights leader and BMP president, Ayesha Khanam, said that although an elected government is now in power and there are conscious people in the ministry and in parliament, women continue to face violence. (Source: The Daily Star, 12/7/2009)

There is one example of a sensationalistic gang rape case. On Sept. 25, an adolescent was gang raped following her abduction by ten Bangladesh Chhatra League activists while she was returning from a Puja Mandap in the Kolapar subdistrict of the Patuakhali district. Also, on Nov. 8, one Bir Bengal attempted to rape a woman, Jamnua Chakma, age 21, in the Ghilachari army camp in the Naniachar subdistrict of Rangamati. She is wife of Shyamal Kanti Chakma.

In Bangladesh, there are many laws for the protection of women, yet the oppression of women hasn’t lessened. It is hard to imagine that it will be stopped in the near future. What is causing this situation? It is because there is no rule of law and no good governance. Impunity and corruption are very common in Bangladesh, and illegal political interference on behalf of criminals is another reason that women’s persecution continues.

Bangladesh has many laws for the protection of women. For example, the Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act 1933, the Family Court Ordinance, the Cruelty to Women (Deterrent Punishment) Ordinance, the Trafficking in Women and Children Act 1993, the Dowry Prohibition Act, the Prevention of Women and Child Repression Act (2000), etc.

The problem is that every case of oppression of women involves the police, witnesses, lawyers, magistrates or judges, and often doctors. If all the parties involved perform their professional and moral obligation, then the perpetrator will be punished. But, with some exceptions, most of the parties are involved in corruption or are irresponsible. Political pressuring can also hamper the investigation of cases involve women’s repression. Sometimes, to protect themselves, witnesses in the cases will not give truthful statements to the court.

The Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) is a Bangladesh Awami League government-supported human rights organization. According to this organization, during the first six months of this year, 1,479 women were raped. The Minister for Home Affairs Sahara Khatun shared this figure with the national assembly.

According to a monitoring cell at the police headquarters, from January to October 2009, at least 3,413 women were tortured over dowry, 83 women fall victim to torture, 2,336 were abducted, 2,476 were raped, 36 were killed after rape, 33 were injured after rape, and 117 women were killed.

In Bangladesh have no equal rights in practice for women. The women have facing difficulties by various ways. Especially the working women are facing these difficulties like discrimination of wages. According to the daily Star (8-3-2010), Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) Executive Director Monira Rahman said, in the last 100 years the world achieved a lot, but it is a matter of regret that violence against women, especially in countries such as Bangladesh, is still widespread. Referring to a WHO study in 2005, she said 57.5 percent of women in Bangladesh are sexually and physically tortured. In reality, the rate is much higher, she said. Monira told, there were 490 incidents of acid throwing in 2002.

Still three accused rapist and provocateurs to death of sensational mass raped and killing case of Mohima. We are hearing from abroad that the family members of Simee have been facing insecurity still. And after happening women persecution our NGO’s starting their activity. But, after some days they turned to back. Then the real problem has starting for a victim family.

We can give an example on Rajufa and Sheulee rape cases. After raped to Sheulee the rapist was murdered to the father of rape victim. And they were started false cases against the relatives of Sheulee. But, no body comes to help of this helpless and oppressed family. In the same situation has going on Rajufa’s family. The Indigenous, Christian and the Hindu women have been insecure more than Muslim women. Many NGO have been working for the rights of women. But, they have no coordination. They have been working for the women rights as for the problem of cover. Never have they wanted to go inside or the root cause of a problem.

In order to prevent violence against women, it is necessary to practice the rule of law, carry out proper and competent investigations, should reduce poverty and all kinds of discrimination (man and women) and implement existing laws protecting women. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure the security of witnesses and victims, and corruption must be fought against during the time from when the case is filed until the trial is finished. And political pressuring must be stopped. To prevent women’s oppression, men must first come forward. The question remains: is the Bangladesh government ready to tackle any and all kinds of violence against women?

The present government has passed one year already. But, they didn’t take any step for the rights of women. Even the women development policy of 1997 hasn’t reinstead. We want to see that, Bangladesh government should take positive step for the empowerment and for the rights of women immediately.

http://jaakash.wordpress.com/

http://youtube.com/user/jaakashbd

jahangiralamakash@gmail.com

The death penalty is a kind of killing. Recently, five persons were handed the death penalty in a day. On Jan. 28, the decision was made by the Bangladesh Supreme Court to execute the self-declared killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader of Bangladesh. However, questions have risen on the execution procedure.

Here are some statistics on extra judicial killings in Bangladesh, specifically for human rights organization and bodies working on national and international levels, for human rights.

Extra judicial killings since 2004 have resulted in at least 1,600 deaths. Fifty-eight people were killed during “Operation Clean Heart” led by the army, in 2002. The mutiny by the Bangladesh Rifles regiment in February 2009 resulted in the deaths of 74 people including 57 meritorious army officers.

According to the daily Bhorer Kagoj, after the mutiny at least 71 BDR mutineers died in police custody. It is alleged that most were tortured before death.

The death penalty is extremely inhuman, degrading and cruel. The constitution and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights prohibit it, but Bangladesh continues to exercise it.

According to the book “The death penalty,” most executions in 2008 were carried out in Asia. Eleven Asian nations – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Japan, North Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Singapore, and Vietnam – still continue to practice the death penalty.

China alone accounted for at least 1,718 executions although the figure is believed to be much higher, as statistics on death sentences and executions are not publicly disclosed and are considered state secrets.

The Middle East and North Africa were second highest with 508 executions. In Iran, stoning and hanging are among the most cruel and inhumane methods used for carrying out death sentences and least 346 people have been executed including eight juvenile offenders. In Saudi Arabia, where beheadings in public is common practice, at least 102 people have been executed.

In the Americas, 37 executions were carried out in 2008, most in the state of Texas. The release of four men from death row in the United States on grounds of innocence brings the total to more than 120 released since 1975. The only other country in the Americas to carry out the death penalty in 2008 was St Kitts and Nevis, the first Caribbean state to carry out an execution since 2003.

According to Amnesty International, 93 percent of the world death penalty took place in China including other four countries.

DW-Bengali’s online section wrote on Feb. 25 that the European Union published a declaration on anti-death penalty. Europe is the first region, which there is no death penalty. The United States, China, Africa and some Asian countries contradicted a EU proposal on anti-death penalty presented to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva and the general assembly of the United Nations in 1998. However, in 2007, the proposal was finally passed by the U.N. general assembly.

Fifty-eight percent of people in China support the death penalty. That said 93 countries have already abolished the death penalty by making it law. Unfortunately, some 141 countries still practice the death penalty.

Historically, Italy has a strong background on the anti-death penalty movement. We must salute Italy as well as other EU states for their dedicated efforts to preserve the right to life and other human rights.

Bangladesh should obey the national and international treaties and human rights declarations and abolish the death penalty immediately, if they believe, even a bit, that life and rights are valuable.
jahangiralamakash@gmail.com

http://jaakash.wordpress.com/

http://youtube.com/user/jaakashbd

Mr Mettle-Nunoo was representing the substantive Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kumbour, who, according to the Majority Leader, Cletus Avoka, was touring some parts of the Northern Region, in connection to the recent outbreak of the Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) in the region.

According to him, those on level of the one-time premium to be charged, is yet to be fixed, a situation he said, illustrates that “the one-time premium cannot be clearly charged at the present value of all future payment, but rather at a rate that reflects the social and economic conditions of the informal sector workers, who have been presently excluded.”

That notwithstanding, the Deputy Health Minister said the results further showed that projections of the information sector coverage, would increase approximately by 30% in 2009, to 80% in 2018 under the one-time premium, if managers of the scheme assume a flat one-time payment of GH¢50 for informal sector members, irrespective of age, which could be introduced by 2011.

To further buttress his argument, Mr Mettle-Nunoo said the result of the actuarial analysis showed that without introducing the one-time premium payment, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) would experience a negative balance in 2010, when the program expenditure is expected to exceed revenue, adding “its reserves will be quickly used up in subsequent years and get depleted in 2016.”

“an actuarially determined one-time premium, based on the current annual premiums, will give rise to amounts beyond the pockets of most Ghanaians. A one-time premium payment within the reach of most Ghanaians, the study found, will result in the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) reserve getting depleted one year earlier than anticipated, that is 2015,” Mr Mettle-Nunoo emphasised.

According to him, the Ministry of Health, aware of the challenges it may encounter in introducing the new scheme (one-time premium payment), was undertaking a number of reform programs to pave the way for its smooth implementation, which includes improving the use of standard treatment guidelines, and rational prescription by service providers to reduce cost of treatment, and undertake legal review aimed at improving efficiency and reducing costs.

The Ministry of Health, Mr Mettle-Nunoo said, would also improve the logistics management system in the sector, to bring down the cost of inputs such as medicines and consumables, and reform the claims management process to reduce connivance and wastage from lack of capacity.

It would also explore sources of additional funding, to further build up the NHIF reserve, and make the NHIS sustainable, even after the introduction of the one-time premium payment. As to how long would it take his outfit to conclude the reform process, Mr Mettle-Nunoo said a review would be done, and the new proposal presented to Parliament for consideration, adding, “it is only when the Parliament has approved the review, that it will come into effect.”

The intellectual cowardice of some should not blind the majority to the fact that the war in Afghanistan is morally indefensible and militarily unwinnable.

The decision of the US to continue with its brutal military adventurism in Afghanistan can only be understood in terms of its limited and highly selfish political logic.

Let us start by ruling out some of the ridiculous assumptions that have permeated this war since it began in 2001. First, we were told that the war was aimed at eliminating al-Qaida. However, a retied CIA Station Chief who has served in the Middle East and as Chief of the Counterterrorism Staff, has claimed that, “al-Qaida is finished in Afghanistan.” He further argued that, “the Obama administration, like its predecessor, claims we are fighting terrorism there. That is simply not true. It is a pure counterinsurgency issue.”

Indeed, even the most ardent war hawks are exerting little effort to delineate the link between Taliban and al-Qaida. If the link is infused, it is readily unleashed to demonstrate al-Qaida’s links to Pakistan’s tribal areas, thus urging ‘action’ in that part of the country, and not in Afghanistan.

Thanks to the random military ‘strategy’ of the US and its allies, al-Qaida has spread in all sorts of directions and branched off to many al-Qaida offshoots in various parts of the world. Without a centralized leadership in the military sense, al-Qaida inspired groups and individuals now are now working for localized sets of objectives and respond to different stimuli.

So if it’s not al-Qaida that is inspiring the awesome, although largely futile firepower and military surges in Afghanistan, then what is? This is where the idealists come in. They talk of nation-building, Western-style democracy, regional security and so on. Some of them genuinely mean what they say, and some don’t believe the present military surges and Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s rural area fight to the death will yield its intended results. Still, they contribute to the illusion that good intentions – starting with the initial hype about saving Afghani women, then ‘liberation’ from foreign terrorists, then democracy and nation-building, and so on – had anything to do with this bloody war. With their insistence on using such positive terminology, they continue to provide Washington’s political elites – and Kabul’s as well – with the benefit of the doubt that while we may disagree with their methods, we still trust their overall intentions.

It behooves those democracy-inspired, nation-building enthusiasts to remember that Washington has done much to stifle genuine democracy movements around the world since its occupation of Afghanistan in 2001. Palestine and Lebanon remain the most obvious examples. As for nation-building, compare the astronomical amounts invested in financing the destructive war in Afghanistan and to prop up the corrupt puppet regime in Kabul, to the miniscule sums devoted to enhancing the country’s stone-aged economic infrastructure. The US military budget for this year is set to exceed $693 billion, not counting the $42 billion set aside for Homeland Security. According to CostofWar.com, the financial cost of war in Afghanistan alone has exceeded the $256 billion; both wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are approaching the $1 trillion threshold.

The war in Afghanistan cannot possibly be defended on any moral grounds. The official death count of Afghani civilians in 2009 is estimated at 2,412. The actual death toll is probably far, far higher, as polls do not account for the many more who perished in distance villages across the south and east, areas that are not accessible to outsiders. The death of these innocent people alone should silence the few who still speak of ethics and morality in relation to the disastrous war.

But not everyone is so overtly misguided in their assessment of the war. Some fully understand that the war in Afghanistan is a self-seeking, political and strategic venture. Still, they giddily welcome it, including one Con Coughlin whose recent article in The Telegraph was tellingly entitled, ‘India and Pakistan must bury the hatchet for the Taliban to be crushed.’

The India-Pakistan rapprochement is seen as beneficial only insofar as its potential to ‘crush’ someone else. And considering that that someone else is not a band of aimless terrorists, but a well-grounded, grass-roots, popular insurgency, the price of that “crushing” is likely to be tens of thousands of innocent people. Coughlin uses the same haughty and generalized language of “militant Islamist groups” to be crushed, failing to understand or appreciate the distinctiveness of each and every situation, whether in Afghanistan, Pakistan or anywhere else. Instead, Coughlin nonchalantly expresses concern about the danger these militants pose to “the survival of the ruling classes” in Islamabad. What a compelling reason to get Richard Holbrooke, Washington’s special envoy to the region all fired up over the need to preserve the survival of the ruling classes, not just in Islamabad, but in Kabul and Delhi as well.

The war in Afghanistan has turned into find-an-objective-as-you-go military march to nowhere. It is proving futile and indefensible on every ground, be it political or military or moral. Moreover, as Haviland Smith concluded in his grim assessment, “it doesn’t really matter that we think of ourselves as benevolent liberators, it only matters that Afghans think of us as foreigners occupiers.” When will we all face up to this reality?

- Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is “My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story” (Pluto Press, London), now available on Amazon.com.

Au regard des statisques produites recemment, il ressort que 16 ans après la création de l’UEMOA, les économies des huit Etats membres sont devenues plus faibles que dans le passé. Tenez, d’après M. Diéry Seck, directeur de l’institut africain de développement économique et de planification des Nations Unies (IDEP) Dakar, ” l’évolution du développement humain a regressé continuellement et dans chaque pays membre”.

Dans un rapport élaboré à cet effet, l’expert souligne que les pays comme le Benin, la Côte d’Ivoire ont perdu par exemple 20 points de leur classement chacun. Ce qui fait payer du coût les frais de l’intégration aux enfants des pays membres.

Mais le plus inquiétant dans cet espace monétaire de la CEDEAO est l’absence d’investissement et de crédit pour le secteur privé nigerien et bissau guinéen par rapport aux autres pays membres de l’UEMOA, partageant le Franc CFA.

Le seul bénéfice enregistré jusqu’ici, indique ce rapport “est la maîtrise du taux d’inflation à l’ordre de 1.5% l’an et la facilité des échanges entre les pays de la communauté financière africaine (CFA).

Est-il besoin de souligner que la gestion de cette monnaie unique de la sous région est assurée par la banque centrale de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (BCAO) et la politique monétaire elle même supendue à la décision de la conférence des Chefs d’Etat des pays membres.

Ce qui, malgré tout ne doit pas décourager les dirigeants de la CEDEAO à aller vers l’intégration communautaire par la création d’une monnaie unique et la mise en place des structures et instruments juriques, indique un autre expert, spécialisé dans la recherche et l’ingration monétaire en Afrique de l’Ouest, M. Jérôme Gerard.

En attendant, “des efforts devraient être fournis pour accroître le fonds d’investissement social et la concrétisation des projets régionaux (barrages énergétiques, routes, écoles régionales, petites industries de transformation locale, etc..) en vue de doper sensiblement les économies de la sous région et favoriser d’avantage l’intégration communautaire”, d’après M. Ross Tieman, consultant pour financial times et formateur en journalisme économique (France/Angleterre).

Depuis Dakar, Abdoulaye Baldé pour Aminata.com