 |
Teslim Folarin,
a PDP member,
is the majority leader of
Nigeria's Senate
Source: BBC News |
A court in Nigeria has charged the leader of the Senate, Teslim Folarin, with involvement in the murder of trade union activist Lateef Salako.
Mr Salako, a transport workers' union leader, was shot dead during a dispute at a ruling party PDP meeting in the south-western city of Ibadan last week.
Three others have also been charged with his killing.
Senator Folarin, who was present at the PDP meeting, is to remain in custody until a bail hearing later this month.
 |
Callixte Mbarushimana
Reuters
Source: RFI
|
A French court on Tuesday ruled that an exiled Rwandan Hutu rebel leader arrested in France in October will be transferred to the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Source:
RFI
 |
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga
Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde |
Côte d'Ivoire's incumbent president, Laurent Gbagbo, said Wednesday he would lift a three-week siege on his presidential rival Alassane Ouattara if former rebels protecting Ouattara’s headquarters leave. Ouattara said earlier that military intervention does not mean the country will descend into civil war.
Gbagbo’s Security and Defence Forces have barred access to Ouattara’s headquarters at the Golf Hotel in Côte d’Ivoire’s economic capital Abidjan for the last three weeks.
United Nations troops and New Forces soldiers have been protecting the hotel.
 |
| Joe “Shakespeare” Gbaba, Sr., Ed. D. |
By Joe “Shakespeare” Gbaba, Sr., Ed. D.
Introduction: “Our Silly Decision Past Mark”!
Ladies and gentlemen: greetings!
Welcome to another uplifting read about the age of lawlessness in Liberia through the Dehkontee Artists Theatre, Inc.’s post-war literature series entitled: “Terrorism Legalized in Liberia .” This series is intended to educate Liberians and members of the international community about the need to galvanize civic support and action in order to bring the age of lawlessness to an immediate halt in Liberia . Of course, this patriotic goal can only be achieved if those who committed atrocities against the Liberian people and humanity in Liberia are charged and prosecuted for their wicked deeds they performed before and not after elections are held in November of this year!
Jennifer Easterday and Eline Houwen
Document
A summary of the Taylor trial for the months of October and November 2010 written by Jennifer Easterday and Eline Houwen at the UC Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Open Society Justice Initiative.
 |
| Ouattara |
African Union mediator and Kenya prime minister Raila Odinga has announced that political rivals, Allasane Outtara and Laurent Gbagbo, would be meeting face-to-face in an attempt to end the country’s political crisis.
This was denied by the Ouattara camp, calling the claim ‘completely false’. Source:
allAfrica
The United Nations, African Union, and many world leaders, have thrown their support behind presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara in Ivory Coast's political stalemate. But not everyone thinks that President Gbagbo should comply.
US academic Gary Busch has written an article condemning France's role in the Ivory Coast crisis.
BBC Focus on Africa's Hassan Arouni asked him if, given France's power and influence in West Africa, he thought it would get its way?
Listen to Gary Busch on why Gbagbo should ingnore his critics at: BBC News
 |
Odinga claims two rivals
have agreed to meet
Reuters/Luc Gnago |
Source:
Reuters/Luc Gnago By RFI
African Union mediator and Kenya prime minister Raila Odinga has announced that political rivals, Allasane Outtara and Laurent Gbagbo, would be meeting face-to-face in an attempt to end the country's political crisis.
This was denied by the Ouattara camp, calling the claim 'completely false'.
Head of ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, and Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan told reporters today that there is still a stalemate.
ECOWAS members met with both men separately yesterday.
Meanwhile, the United States said yesterday that Gbagbo, who has family members in Atlanta, Georgia, could seek refuge there, but that this was a limited time offer.
Western countries and African regional groups have called for Gbagbo to step down after Ouattara was deemed the winner of the presidential run-off by the countries' electoral commission.
A Nigerian military spokesman said last week that west African military chiefs met in Abuja to set in motion plans to oust Gbagbo if negotiations fail.
A follow-up meeting on this last resort plan is scheduled to take place in Mali on 17 and 18 January 17.
Source:
BBC News Africa
 |
| Mr Gbagbo |
Will West African leaders convince Laurent Gbagbo (left) to cede power?
Incumbent Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo could be offered refuge in the US as a means to end the country's political crisis, US officials say.
Washington could help Mr Gbagbo make a "dignified exit", but this opportunity was "rapidly closing", they said.
The comments came as a delegation of African leaders met Mr Gbagbo in a new effort to persuade him to step down following disputed elections.
West African states have said they will remove him by force if he does not.
Source:
RFI
 |
A United Nations patrol
on the streets of Abidjan
AFP/Citizenside |
African Union mediator and Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga arrived Monday in Côte d'Ivoire to repeat demands that definant leader Laurent Gbagbo cede power to rival Alassane Ouattara. After Gbagbo failed to heed a 1 January deadline to transfer power peacefully, military commanders continue to finalise plans for his forceful removal.
Odinga will be joined in Abidjan by three regional presidents, Benin's Boni Yayi, Sierra Leone's Ernest Koroma and Cape Verde's Pedro Pires. They represent the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).
A member of the delegation has said that "there is no point of negotiation" and that the bloc's position has not changed.
 |
Operation We Care for Grand Gedeh
President - Mr. Bernard Gbayee Goah |
Liberia must play a significant role in restoring peace in Ivory Coast!
Liberians still live in Ivory Coast
The situation in Ivory Coast is extraordinarily precarious to the People of Grand Gedeh County in Eastern Liberia. Remnants of Liberian refugees from Grand Gedeh, Nimba, and Maryland Counties still live in cities and villages along the borders of that country and their lives are at risk. Also, the lives of Ivorian citizens themselves are at risk.
By MARCO CHOWN OVED, Associated Press Source: Yahoo News
 |
AP – A UN soldier stands guard
inside the UN Headquarters
in Abidjan, Ivory Cost,
|
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to cede power, has accused world leaders of launching a coup to oust him.
Meanwhile, the U.N. has warned Gbagbo supporters not to attack the hotel where his political rival is being protected by hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers. A Gbagbo youth leader has called for internationally recognized leader Alassane Ouattara to leave the hotel by Saturday. By midday, however, no Gbagbo supporters had shown up at the hotel to contest Ouattara's presence.
The United Nations has said that the volatile West African nation once divided in two faces a real risk of return to civil war, but Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, a Ouattara ally, told reporters that the country is already at this point — "indeed in a civil war situation."
 |
UN peacekeepers
have been attacked
by Gbagbo loyalists |
Ivory Coast's incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has said the country could face greater violence if he were to resign. Source: BBC
The UN says some 200 people have been killed or have disappeared in the past month - mostly supporters of his rival, Alassane Ouattara.
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has told Mr Gbagbo he could be held criminally accountable for abuses.
Some of Ivory Coast's neighbours have threatened to oust Mr Gbagbo by force.
By MARCO CHOWN OVED, Associated Press
Source: Yahoo News
 |
AP – Alassane Ouattara,
centre, opposition leader
acknowledges supporters
in Abidjan,
Ivory Coast Thursday, … |
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – A top ally of Ivory Coast's internationally recognized leader said Friday that the country is already in a "civil war situation," and urged the incumbent leader who refuses to cede power to step down by a midnight deadline.
The United Nations has said that the volatile West African nation once divided in two faces a real risk of return to civil war, but Prime Minister Guillaume Soro told reporters that the country is already at this point — "indeed in a civil war situation."
"This is what's at stake: Either we assist in the installation of democracy in Ivory Coast or we stand by indifferent and allow democracy to be assassinated," Soro said at a news conference hours before incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo was expected to make an address on state television.
Source: rfi english
West African military chiefs have set in motion plans to oust Côte d'Ivoire's Laurent Gbagbo if negotiations fail, a Nigerian defence official said Friday. And France has renewed its call for citizens to leave the country, especially if they have children.
Press release
Source: allAfrica
ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme has airlifted emergency food assistance into Liberia to feed refugees fleeing the political crisis in neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire as part of a rapid scale up of humanitarian operations in response to the evolving humanitarian crisis.
 |
| BMGBai M. Gbala |
BMGBai M. Gbala1335 N. 59th Street
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania 19151-4411
Tel.(1-215)471-3380,
Mobile: (1-215)609-5472
Email:bai_gbala@yahoo.
November 30, 2010
His Excellency Barak ObamaPresident, United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D. C. 20500
Ref: Appeal/Request
Dear Mr. President:
It is my honor and privilege, most respectfully, to present sincere greetings and compliments, with wishes of good health and long life throughout the coming years.
 |
Reuters – Incumbent Ivory Coast leader
Laurent Gbagbo stands after a meeting in |
By MARCO CHOWN OVED, Associated Press
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – West African leaders blinked in their showdown with Laurent Gbagbo on Wednesday, taking a military intervention off the table for now so that negotiations can continue with the incumbent leader who refuses to hand over power in Ivory Coast.
Even as the 15-nation regional bloc ECOWAS gave Gbagbo more time, though, defense officials from member states gathered in Nigeria.
ECOWAS had vowed to use force to wrest Gbagbo from the presidential palace if he did not agree on Tuesday to step aside for Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of last month's election. The presidents of Sierra Leone, Benin and Cape Verde delivered the ultimatum on ECOWAS' behalf, hoping to escort Gbagbo into exile. He refused to budge.
 |
Presidential contenders
TQ Harris and Simeon Freeman. |
- Nat Nyuan Bayjay FPA
Monrovia - Simeon Freeman and Thomas Quilen Harris, Jr-the latter who is just known as TQ Harris-have been involved with what they termed as ‘comparing notes’.
The both men have expressed their respective interests in bidding for the highest political seat in the country during next October’s presidential election.
Presidential contenders TQ Harris and Simeon Freeman.
Freeman, one of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs, is the Standard Bearer of the newly certified Movement for Progressive Change (MPC) while Harris’ presidential intention has been known during the past elections and has returned again to the country to further press in achieving his presidential dream.
 |
| Mr. Bernard Gbayee Goah |
Commenting on events in Liberia where a rising tide of the concern for impunity has engulfed the country following the killing of more than 200,000 Liberians during its 14 years Civil War, Bernard Gbayee Goah writes: "Crimes sponsored, masterminded, or carried out by a handful of individuals cannot be conferred upon an entire nationality, in this case Liberians.”
Operation We Care for Grand Gedeh (OWCGG) has become aware that the Sirleaf government is using calculated tactics designed to make the Liberian people believe that implementing the TRC recommendations would bring to book every child soldier, who were predominantly indigenous children, recruited to fight for warring factions during the course of the Liberian Civil War. Such tactics are not in the interest of peace, but rather a misinterpretation of the TRC final recommendations against the will and wishes of the Liberian people. It is unacceptable for President Sirleaf and her accomplices to capitalize on the country’s high rate of illiteracy to get away with crimes that should be handled through the legal process in a court of law.
Everyone is a genius
Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. – A Einstein
Drawing the line in Liberia
Crimes sponsored, committed, or masterminded by handful of individuals cannot be blamed upon an entire nationality. In this case, Liberians! The need for post-war justice is a step toward lasting peace, stability and prosperity for Liberia. Liberia needs a war crimes tribunal or some credible legal forum that is capable of dealing with atrocities perpetrated against defenseless men, women and children during the country's brutal war. Without justice, peace shall remain elusive and investment in Liberia will not produce the intended results. - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Men with unhealthy characters should not champion any noble cause
They pretend to advocate the cause of the people when their deeds in the dark mirror nothing else but EVIL!!
When evil and corrupt men try to champion a cause that is so noble … such cause, how noble it may be, becomes meaningless in the eyes of the people - Bernard Gbayee Goah.
If Liberia must move forward ...
If Liberia must move forward in order to claim its place as a civilized nation amongst world community of nations, come 2017 elections, Liberians must critically review the events of the past with honesty and objectivity. They must make a new commitment to seek lasting solutions. The track records of those who are presenting themselves as candidates for the position of "President of the Republic of Liberia" must be well examined. Liberians must be fair to themselves because results from the 2011 elections will determine the future of Liberia’s unborn generations to come - Bernard Gbayee Goah
What do I think should be done?
The situation in Liberia is Compound Complex and cannot be fixed unless the entire system of government is reinvented.
Liberia needs a workable but uncompromising system that will make the country an asylum free from abuse, and other forms of corruption.
Any attempt to institute the system mentioned above in the absence of rule of law is meaningless, and more detrimental to Liberia as a whole - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Liberia's Natural Resources
Besides land water and few other resources, most of Liberia’s dependable natural resources are not infinite, they are finite and therefore can be depleted.
Liberia’s gold, diamond, and other natural resources will not always be an available source of revenue generation for its people and its government. The need to invent a system in government that focuses on an alternative income generation method cannot be over emphasized at this point - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Liberia needs a proper system
If Liberians refuse to erect a proper system in place that promotes the minimization of corruption and mismanagement of public funds by government institutions, and individuals, there will come a time when the value of the entire country will be seen as a large valueless land suited on the west coast of Africa with some polluted bodies of waters and nothing else. To have no system in place in any country is to have no respect for rule of law. To have no respect for rule of law is to believe in lawlessness. And where there is lawlessness, there is always corruption - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Solving problems in the absence of war talks
As political instability continues to increase in Africa, it has become abundantly clear that military intervention as a primary remedy to peace is not a durable solution. Such intervention only increases insecurity and massive economic hardship. An existing example which could be a valuable lesson for Liberia is Great Britain, and the US war on terror for the purpose of global security. The use of arms whether in peace keeping, occupation, or invasion as a primary means of solving problem has yield only little results. Military intervention by any country as the only solution to problem solving will result into massive military spending, economic hardship, more fear, and animosity as well as increase insecurity. The alternative is learning how to solve problems in the absence of war talks. The objective of such alternative must be to provide real sustainable human security which cannot be achieved through military arm intervention, or aggression. In order to achieve results that will make the peaceful coexistence of all mankind possible, there must be a common ground for the stories of all sides to be heard. I believe there are always three sides to every story: Their side of the story, Our side of the story, and The truth – Bernard Gbayee Goah
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