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Did the African Union Get Ghana’s Message?
[Africa] (Afrigator)
Did the African Union Get Ghana’s Message? The recent elections in Ghana have been hailed as a successful African story. The praises, admirations and messages of commendations coming from all corners of the globe is an indication that the world is hoping for a change in Africa. It is also an indication that the world is expecting something different, different from the way things are done all the time on the continent. Having experienced po ...

[details] [close] received 25 days ago published 25 days ago lang: en

Did the African Union Get Ghana’s Message? The recent elections in Ghana have been hailed as a successful African story. The praises, admirations and messages of commendations coming from all corners of the globe is an indication that the world is hoping for a change in Africa. It is also an indication that the world is expecting something different, different from the way things are done all the time on the continent. Having experienced political instabilities for most of her modern existence Africa has often been described as a failed continent – a continent where everything is depressing. So it came as a surprise when Ghana managed to conduct one of the best successful elections on the continent. The successful elections in Ghana have indeed opened a different chapter for the continent. It has shown the rest of countries on the continent that there is the need for democracy to be given a chance in Africa. The elections have sent a powerful message to the continent that democracy as a form of government should be widely adopted and practiced by all the countries so that there will always be peaceful means of electing leaders and transferring power from one administration to the other. I strongly believe that Ghanas elections are sending the following message to the African Union and its members. That the constitutions of the various African states should stipulate the number of years and number of terms one could occupy the office of president or prime minister. To alleviate the continent from political diarrhoea, poverty and economic melancholy the governments must as a matter of urgency embark on democratic reforms. The years where leaders rule till they die or are chased out of office should be a thing of the past. The leaders should allow free and fair elections to be held every 4 or 5 years depending on what the constitution says. Elected leaders must have fixed term of office and on no account should they try to manipulate the system in order to remain in power. The elections in Ghana which attracted a lot of international commendations around the world are indicating to the rest of Africa that the people want something different. Our image as a continent can improve considerably if we allow democracy to flourish, if we allow rule of law to work, if we embark on a new path-a path where it is possible for the incumbent to lose elections and hell does not break loose, a path where judges are free to dispense justice without fear or favour, a path where members of the opposition are not seen as enemy combatants but as contributors of our democracy and development, and a path where policies and ideas dominate political discussions and elections instead of the whipping of tribal and ethnic sentiments. The leaders on the continent must realize that the existence of a vibrant democracy is in the best interest of the people and the continent as a whole. The politicians must know that vibrant democracy is a necessary condition if Africa is to come out of her current political and economic misery. More often than not, lack or absence of democracy, corruption and abuse of power has often been cited by coup plotters as reasons for overthrowing governments in power. To prevent such incursions by the army political accountability on the continent must be nurtured strengthened. That means the three organs of government namely the executive, legislature and the judiciary must first be independent of each other and secondly they should powers that checks and balances each other so as to prevent one arm from amassing too much power. History has shown that a situation where one arm of government amasses power only breeds envy and instabilities. The Judiciary should be given enough powers to investigate allegations of corruption so as to prevent the repetition of corrupt practices that fuelled the wars on the continent. Additionally, the fourth arm of government that is the media should be enshrined in the constitution and the AU Charter. The mushrooming of public and private media on the continent especially electronic media should be seen as an encouraging development and governments should be encouraged to allow such private stations to be established unconditionally. The freedom of the press must be safeguarded so as to prevent unscrupulous politicians from attacking them and subjecting them to all sorts of negative tactics. The media should be allowed to play its role as the watchdog of the state and every law that will intimidate them and undermine their ability to work should be repealed. The various institutions of government such as police, military and the ministries should work to promote democracy and development. Rule of Law should be employed by the state. Everyone should be equal before the law. Instances where there are two separate laws for the rulers and the ruled is not only affront to rule of law but affront to democracy and justice. The office of the Ombudsman and other independent bodies should be established to protect the citizens from the state. That brings us to one of the most important institutions of democracy .i.e. electoral commission. The role of the electoral commission must also be enshrined in the constitution. This office must be independent of the executive branch of government. It must be well resourced so that it can organise elections without any difficulties. The role played by Dr. Afari Gyan in conducting Ghanas election can only be described as excellent. The electoral commission must be impartial so as to prevent the electoral disputes that characterised the elections in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria. The constitutions of the various countries should guarantee the existence of opposition parties. This will prevent the one party state found in most countries from gaining root. Absence of official opposition not only prevents the people from having a choice but also discredit any advantage democracy or elections may have. Therefore, constitutional and electoral courts should be established in member countries so that matters of political and electoral disputes could be settled amicably. Corruption should be punished severely and every effort should be made track down every penny stolen from the countries. The AU The African Union as a continental body has a lot to learn from Ghanas elections. The AU Charter should be reformed, strengthened and implemented to the letter. All regional bodies such as ECOWAS, SADC and the rest should be streamlined to work within the broader framework of the AU. The AU must not be a talking shop anymore. It must not be a gathering of corrupt, despotic and kleptocratic rulers but rather a gathering of true democrats. The AU must be a platform of action and concrete decision making, a platform where issues affecting the people are addressed. This will require strong, determined and visionary leadership. A leadership who share the thoughts and ideas of Nkrumah, Lumumba, Seketuri and Nasser and who are committed to fighting poverty and improving the lots of the people. The AU must have a full time foreign policy chief who will be the mouthpiece of the continent and who will articulate the needs and concerns of the people to the outside world. The AU should establish special bodies of experts who will serve as advisory bodies to the AU. The complete silence exhibited by the AU during the current global financial crisis necessitates for the establishment of such bodies of experts. These bodies may include health, economics, environment, resource, science and technology. Each country should strengthen her intelligence capabilities so as to ward off the undesirables of the cold war tactics where Africa was destabilised by the west using their intelligence branches and the various African countries should share vital information about what the west is up to. Every effort should be made to prevent arm struggles either within the countries or between the countries. The days where suspensions are used as a form of punishment for coup plotters should be things of the past. Instead there should be a strong, well funded standing army (Africa High Command) ready to be deployed to any country where the army will try to cease power. Such an army should also be used to crash any arm insurgence that will show it ugly head onto the Africa political scene. The Pan African Parliament should be strengthened and its decisions binding on all member countries. An African Court of Justice should be established to settle disputes between nations and within nations and its decisions must be binding on all members as well. This court must be the highest court on the continent. It must be modelled in line with European Court of Justice. Individuals could take their case to this court for dispensation of justice. These democratic and constitutional measures will definitely help to reduce conflicts and human rights abuse which is rife on the continent. Africans must unite and form a common front so as to make their voices heard on the international stage. We must unite against all forms of propaganda from the rest the world. The positive effect that Aljazeera is having on the world is an indication of what positive thinking could bring to the world. Aljazeera has done well in shaping the world opinion about Islam, Arabs and issues affecting Muslims, Arabs and people of the developing world. To counter the growing influence of Aljazeera, BBC for example has had to close down some programmes in order to launch an Arabic version of the BBC. Africans must know that our coming together will be interpreted differently by many who do not share our interests. As a result every effort would be made to thwart these laudable efforts in order to maintain the status quo of having a north south divide. We must also know that our effort to change our predicament would meet several challenges among them the huge financial requirement, the human and material resources needed and many others. But we must put ourselves together and start doing something now because a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. Finally it is time for the old guard of African politics to leave the scene and give way to the younger generation. There are a lot of Barak Obamas on the continent but they have been prevented by the old guard from making any economic, social and political contribution towards Africas development. It is very sad that even in this 21st Century these old guards still think they only hold the key to wisdom. Some of these old guards have been in power for more than 3 decades yet they still want to continue to rule. For example Gaddafi of Libya has been in power for 39 years now. Omar Bongo of Gabon 31 years, Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea 28 years, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe 28 years, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt 27 years, Paul Biya of Cameroon 26 years, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda 22 years, Omar Al Bashir of Sudan 19 years, Iddriss Derby of Chad 17 years, Yahya Jammeh of Gambia 14 years, and the list goes on unending. Recently the president of Tunisia has decided to make himself a life president of the country. The presence of such dictators is not only harmful to the image and the development of the continent but a major factor why impoverishment and underdevelopment is prevalent on the continent. Every effort should be made by the AU and the regional bodies to discourage such blatant abuse of power. It is against this background that Ghana should be commended again and again for conducting one of the freest elections on the continent. Ghanas elections are a straight message to the African Union and its members that democratic reform needed on the continent is long overdue and that the African Union should take notice of it. Let this 21st Century be a century of hope, a century of development, a century of prosperity and a century of peace for Africans and the world. Find More Africans Articles
Os 17 países africanos cinquentenários em 2010 (I)
[Africa] (Afrigator)
Dos 53 pases africanos, 17 celebram este ano o cinquentenrio da sua independncia. So eles: Camares, Togo, Mali, Senegal, Madagscar, Congo-Kinshasa, Somlia, Benim, Nger, Burquina Faso, Costa do Marfim, Chade, Repblica Centro-Africana, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabo, Nigria e a Mauritnia. Que proezas e desiluses perfazem essas cinco dcadas? A maioria desses pases domina o ndice dos Estados Falhados da revista Foreign Policy e do think-tank Fund for Peace: 1. Somlia 2. Chade 5. Congo-Kinshasa 8. Repblica ...

[details] [close] received 49 days ago published 49 days ago lang: da

Dos 53 pases africanos, 17 celebram este ano o cinquentenrio da sua independncia. So eles: Camares, Togo, Mali, Senegal, Madagscar, Congo-Kinshasa, Somlia, Benim, Nger, Burquina Faso, Costa do Marfim, Chade, Repblica Centro-Africana, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabo, Nigria e a Mauritnia. Que proezas e desiluses perfazem essas cinco dcadas? A maioria desses pases domina o ndice dos Estados Falhados da revista Foreign Policy e do think-tank Fund for Peace: 1. Somlia 2. Chade 5. Congo-Kinshasa 8. Repblica Centro-Africana 12. Costa do Marfim 14. Nigria 20. Nger 26. Camares 31. Congo-Brazzaville 35. Burquina Faso 39. Mauritnia 47. Togo 64. Madagscar 78. Mali 93. Benim 98. Gabo 99. Senegal No fundo do ndice de Desenvolvimento Humano, tambm l esto: 103. Gabo 136. Congo-Brazzaville 145. Madagscar 153. Camares 154. Mauritnia 158. Nigria 159. Togo 161. Benim 163. Costa do Marfim 166. Senegal 176. Congo-Kinshasa 177. Burquina Faso 178. Mali 175. Chade 179. Repblica Centro-Africana 182. Nger O IDH no tem dados sobre a Somlia. Gostou deste post? Tambm vai gostar destes:Comea hoje a festa da bola na frica do Sul! A sucesso de Omar Bongo Congo, 50 anos de independncia
Essai Range Rover 4,4l TDV8 Autobiography: héritage (5/5)
[France] (le blog auto: l'actualité automobile et sport automobile en temps réel)
Le Range Rover fête cette année ses 40 ans. A l’occasion des essais du nouveau Range Rover 4,4l TDV8, Land Rover a apporté une poignée d’anciens modèles. A priori, rien ne ressemble plus à un Range Rover qu’un autre Range Rover. Le constructeur a volontairement réutilisé un certain nombre de codes stylistiques d’une génération à l’autre. En plus, il n’y a eu que trois générations de ‘Range à ce jour.Le bleu qui pose avec l’Autobiogra ...

[details] [close] received 52 days ago published 52 days ago lang: Unknown

Le Range Rover fête cette année ses 40 ans. A l’occasion des essais du nouveau Range Rover 4,4l TDV8, Land Rover a apporté une poignée d’anciens modèles.

A priori, rien ne ressemble plus à un Range Rover qu’un autre Range Rover. Le constructeur a volontairement réutilisé un certain nombre de codes stylistiques d’une génération à l’autre. En plus, il n’y a eu que trois générations de ‘Range à ce jour.

Le bleu qui pose avec l’Autobiography Black est le 40ème produit. C’est le plus ancien encore roulant. Hélas, pour cause d’une boite de vitesse convalescente, il restera à l’arrêt.

Parmi la quinzaine de véhicules présentés, il y a un 3 portes de 1980, un 25ème anniversaire (l’ultime version de la première génération), un châssis long, un deuxième et un troisième génération.

Il y avait surtout plusieurs véhicules très spéciaux: ambulance, voiture de police blindée, une voiture de pompier, un châssis nu (!), le tout premier Range diesel, un cabriolet ayant véhiculé la reine et un Range de 1971 ayant relié l’Alaska au cap Horn. Bref, des véhicules qu’on croirait sorti de boites de Matchbox.

Tous les véhicules (sauf le bleu, donc) était disponible à l’essai. Un parcours autour d’une propriété viticole était prévu.

On pouvait apprécier l’évolution du ‘Range à travers les âges. Avec leurs V8 à carbu et leurs boite 4, les premiers Range sont très brutaux. Les derniers de la première génération sont beaucoup plus civilisés et équipés. Encore que le 4 cylindres diesel n’était pas vraiment silencieux, même à chaud…

Du côté des Range spéciaux, la palme de l’insolite va au 6-roues, ex-pompier Suisse.

Les Range sont dans leur jus. En bons Anglais, la plupart des comodos n’actionnent plus grand chose.

Pour rester dans le “so british”, l’ambulance disposait de tout son matériel, y compris le brancard (mais point d’infirmière, hélas.)

Le soir, un autre Range “historique” nous attendait. Le bleu est un faux jumeau de celui qui posait avec l’Autobiography Black. Il s’agit du premier Range de série, sorti en 1969.
Les trois premiers Range étaient un vert anglais (châssis N°1), un rouge (châssis N°2) et un bleu (châssis N°3.) Solihull a terminé le bleu en premier, en vue des photos presse. Finalement, le photographe a préféré le rouge et c’est lui que l’on voit sur les photos prises au Pays de Galles. Heller a reproduit le vert anglais, qui est donc de fait le troisième!

Le bleu fut vendu à Omar Bongo. Le dictateur président à vie Gabonais a tenu à faire installer une poignée, car il était de petite taille et il avait besoin de la poignée pour monter à bord! Bongo fut également le premier a réclamer un Range 5 portes. Il s’asseyait à l’arrière et il trouvait que cela manquait de classe…

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Essai Range Rover 4,4l TDV8 Autobiography: intérieur/extérieur (1/5)
Essai Range Rover 4,4l TDV8 Autobiography: moteur (2/5)
Essai Range Rover 4,4l TDV8 Autobiography: hors piste (3/5)
Essai Range Rover 4,4l TDV8 Autobiography: Range Rover Autobiography Black “live” (4/5)
Pedro Pires está recebendo a visita do ditador equato-guineense
[Africa] (Afrigator)
O presidente da Guin Equatorial, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo efectua esta quarta-feira uma visita de Estado de dois dias a Cabo Verde, centrada no reforo do dilogo e da cooperao (comrcio a parceria empresarial na construo civil) e na segurana area. Esse pas pretende aderir CPLP e a pretenso apoiada por Cabo Verde. Para tal, o portugus ser tambm lngua oficial, a par do espanhol e do francs. Apesar de ser governado com mo de ferro, o ministro dos Negcios Estrangeiros cabo-verdiano Jos Brito no ...

[details] [close] received 78 days ago published 78 days ago lang: en

O presidente da Guin Equatorial, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo efectua esta quarta-feira uma visita de Estado de dois dias a Cabo Verde, centrada no reforo do dilogo e da cooperao (comrcio a parceria empresarial na construo civil) e na segurana area. Esse pas pretende aderir CPLP e a pretenso apoiada por Cabo Verde. Para tal, o portugus ser tambm lngua oficial, a par do espanhol e do francs. Apesar de ser governado com mo de ferro, o ministro dos Negcios Estrangeiros cabo-verdiano Jos Brito no v problemas pois acha que os interesses econmicos no se sobrepem s exigncias de democracia e de garantia de defesa dos Direitos Humanos defendidos na CPLP. Porm, o caso angolano contraria o argumento da garantia de defesa dos Direitos Humanos que Jos Brito usa. Devia ser um incmodo ter um dspota nessa imprestvel organizao. Apoiar entusiasticamente a entrada de um segundo devia ser um, evitvel, enorme embarao. Infelizmente, o ministro no v as coisas assim. A Agncia Lusa tem um perfil de Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo: O Presidente da Guin Equatorial, no poder desde 1979, atualmente o segundo lder africano que h mais tempo se mantm no cargo, apenas atrs do dirigente lbio Muammar Kadhafi (1969), e frente por meses do angolano Jos Eduardo dos Santos. Obiang, que nasceu a 05 de junho de 1942 em Akoakam-Esangui, no distrito de Mongomo, no nordeste do pas, considerado um dos governantes mais ricos e corruptos do mundo, com uma fortuna estimada em mais de 600 milhes de euros. Da etnia fang, a mais numerosa do pas e que sempre deteve o aparato estatal, Obiang aceite, em 1963, na prestigiada Academia Militar do general Franco, em Saragoa, onde se forma na manipulao de veculos militares. Em 1965 volta ao seu pas e comea a subir na hierarquia militar. Em 1970, com 28 anos, so-lhe atribudas as primeiras funes no ministrio da Defesa. Nos prximos anos Obiang continua a ocupar posies de relevo no regime ditatorial do seu tio Francisco Macias Nguema (1968-1979), que lhe garantem grande proeminncia dentro do governo. nomeado, em 1975, com apenas 33 anos, comandante das Foras Armadas da Guin Equatorial. Seis meses mais tarde passa a secretrio geral e em 1979 nomeado tenente-coronel e passa a ocupar o cargo de ministro da Defesa. A 03 de agosto do mesmo ano lidera o golpe de estado que depe Macias Nguema. eleito para presidir ao Conselho Supremo Militar e oficialmente empossado como Presidente da Repblica em outubro. Teodoro Obiang promete restaurar a democracia mas rapidamente passa a governar o pas com mo de ferro, dando continuidade a um regime ditatorial marcado pela represso da oposio, detenes e julgamentos arbitrrios, e tortura. Em 2003, a rdio estatal declara que o Presidente um deus que est “em permanente contacto com o todo poderoso” e que “pode decidir matar sem que ningum o chame a contas e sem ir para o inferno”. Atualmente Obiang e o seu Partido Democrtico, juntamente com alguns aliados, ocupam 99 dos cem assentos na Assembleia Nacional. Alm de manterem um monoplio absoluto sobre a vida poltica num pas que nunca conheceu eleies livres, Obiang e os seus mais prximos so acusados de controlar todos os recursos e operaes financeiras do estado petrolfero e de gerir a economia como uma conta pessoal. Eleito pela Forbes como oitavo governante mais rico do mundo, Obiang e vrios familiares so alvo de investigaes por suspeita de apropriao indevida de fundos do estado e lavagem de dinheiro. Alvo de numerosas tentativas de homicdio e golpes de estado, a segurana pessoal de Obiang e do seu patrimnio garantida por guarda-costas marroquinos, visto que no confia nos seus prprios militares. Casado com cinco mulheres, Obiang, atualmente com 67 anos, sofre de um cancro terminal na prstata e a questo da sucesso desencadeou uma luta poltica no seio da elite do pas. Obiang favorece o filho Teodorn Nguema Obiang. Crditos da foto: U.S. Department of State. Usada sob licena United States Government Work. Gostou deste post? Tambm vai gostar destes:A sucesso de Omar Bongo Jacob Zuma est em maus lenois Jos Eduardo dos Santos, Imperador
SoccerPoint! Feel it, it is here!
[Africa] (Afrigator)
After months or countdowns, it’s finally here! People are at fever-pitch already and it’s only 10am. Woke up to the sound of vuvuzelas today, it was awesome. In celebration of the Soccer World Cup in our wonderful country, here are the stats as published by the SoccerLife Magazine, June 2010 World Cup Special Issue (sorry about the weird off the page thing happening, donno how to fix it) : Team Odds Coach SWC Wins Interesting Facts Algeria 500/1 Rabah Saadane 0 The g ...

[details] [close] received 83 days ago published 83 days ago lang: en

After months or countdowns, it’s finally here! People are at fever-pitch already and it’s only 10am. Woke up to the sound of vuvuzelas today, it was awesome. In celebration of the Soccer World Cup in our wonderful country, here are the stats as published by the SoccerLife Magazine, June 2010 World Cup Special Issue (sorry about the weird off the page thing happening, donno how to fix it) : Team Odds Coach SWC Wins Interesting Facts Algeria 500/1 Rabah Saadane 0 The greatest Algerian to play the game never actually pulled on the white and green shirt. Both of Zinedine Zidanes parents emigrated in 1953 before the start of the Algerian war, yet despite proudly wearing his heritage on his sleeve, he has denied turning down Les Fennecs for Les Bleus in the 1990s. Argentina 9/1 Diego Maradona 2 Martin Palermo returned to the national team 10 years after the 1999 Copa America in which hed missed 3 penalties against Columbia. The Boca striker scored the goal against Peru (2-1) that practically secured Argentinas tickets to SA and is the leading goalscorer under Maradona with 6. Australia 125/1 Pim Verbeek 0 With English fathers, Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill could both have been lining up for England at this world cup. Brazil 5/1 Dunga 5 Spurs keeper Heurelho Gokmes is struggling to make the squad, despite and outstanding season for the North London club. Cameroon 80/1 Paul Le Guen 0 Cameroons qualification may have been saved by the death of Gabon president Omar Bongo, which forced the postponement of their qualifier in Libreville. By the time the game was rearranged, Le Guen had arrived and Cameroon were rejuvenated. Chile 50/1 Marcelo El Loco Bietsa 0 Despite the earthquake, incoming President Sebastian Pinera used his first weeks in power to organise an over-50s friendly with Bolivian leader Eva Morales. Denmark 80/1 Morten Olsen 0 Denmark scored the first goal in the 1908 Olympics in London, which is widely regarded as the precursor and prototype for the world cup tournament model. England 11/2 Fabio Capello 1 Proportionally, England have drawn more games at the world cup finals than any other side to have reached four or more tournaments. France 12/1 Raymond Domenech 1 More than 300000 Ireland fans and 5000 French joined Facebook groups demanding a reply between the two nations following Henrys handball shame. One group threatened to chop off Henrys hand with a guillotine; another encourages Irish fans in South Africa to back Frances opponents. Germany 14/1 Joachim Low 3 Despite their consistency, Germany have not beaten any of the big footballing nations Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Holland, Italy or Spain at a tournament in regulation time or after extra-time since 1990. Wins against Argentina in 2006 and England in 1996 were both on penalties. Ghana 75/1 Milovan Rajevac 0 Dont mess with the Ghanians. John Menash is known as The Rock of Gibraltar for his imposing physique, Michael Essien is The Bison for his thundering tackling style; and midfield enforcer Stephen Appiah revels in the nickname The Tornado. Crikey! Greece 100/1 Rehhagel 0 Rehhagel was named Greek of the Year in 2004, the first foreigner to win the award. Holland 14/1 Bert van Marwijk 0 Arjn Ronnes reputation as the Man with Glass Ankles is unfair. The winger has played more than 30 games in the past two seasons. Specialists compare me to a Formula 1 car, he says. Whenever one little screw is loose, the engine is blown. But my problems are behind me now. Honduras 400/1 Reinaldo Rueda 0 A loss in the qualifying round for the 1970 world cup ignited a six-day war against neighbouring El Salvador. It is known today as the Football War because it was sparked by riots in the aftermath of the game. Italy 12/1 Marcello Lippi 4 This year is the 100th anniversary of the Azzurris first ever international football match, an uncharacteristically attacking 6-2 win against France, played at Milans Arena Civica. In the 700 games that Italy ave played since then, they have won 378 times, drawn 185 and lost 137. Ivory Coast 25/1 Sven-Goran Eriksson 0 Ivory Coast won the Cup of Nations in 1992, and the credit was taken by two local witch doctors. But when they werent paid, they cursed the team. They duly struggled until 2004, when the government settled the bill with $2000 and a bottle of whiskey. Ivory Coast promptly qualified for their first world cup. Japan 200/1 Takeshi Okada 0 To say Japan dont travel well is something of an understatement they have never won a world cup match overseas. Mexico 50/1 Javier Aguirre 0 Mexico play most of their games in the United States. And why? Money! Mexican immigrants in the US fill the States cavernous football arena and pay top dollar. New Zealand 750/1 Ricki Herbert 0 The goal that beat Bahrain and sent the All Whites to South Africa was scored by an Englishman. Sort of. Plymouth Argyle striker Rory Fallon represented England youth, but switched just before last years crucial play-offs after FIFA relaxed rules governing players who hold dual nationalities. Nigeria 100/1 Lars Lagerback 0 Indicative of their tendancy to fluff their lines, Nigeria have appeared in the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations 13 times but have just won it twice. North Korea 1000/1 Kim Jong-hun 0 Mm, no interesting facts were posted for this team. Shame. Paraguay 40/1 Gerardo Martino 0 The Paraguayans speak the native American language Guarani on the field to avoid being understood by the Spanish-speaking opponents. Cabanas first words after being shot in a bar-room incident was in this language. Portugal 25/1 Carlos Queiroz O He may be the most expensive player in the world and has scored a hatful of goals for Real Madrid, but Cristiano Ronaldos last competitive goal for Portugal was against the Czech Republic in Euro in 2008. Serbia 66/1 Raddy Antic 0 This will be Dejan Stankovics third world cup for a third different country (Yugoslavia in 1998, Serbia-Montengro in 2006 and Serbia this time). Slovakia 200/1 Vladimir Weiss 0 Coach Vladimir Weisss dad (also Vladimir), played for Czechoslovakia. Slovenia 175/1 Matjaz Kek 0 Slovenia is the smallest country to qualify for two non-consecutive world cups. South Africa 100/1 Carlos Alberto Parreira 0 No world cup host has ever failed to beyond the group stages of a tournament before, so the pressure is definitely on for Bafana Bafana. (My note : Izzit?? Theyll make us proud either way!) South Korea 250/1 Huh Jung-moo 0 South Korea were the only unbeaten team in the Asian zone during the qualifying. Spain 4/1 Vicente del Bosque 0 Spain set a new record during qualification for this summers world cup. No country has ever qualified for the finals with a perfect 10 out of 10 record before. Switzerland 175/1 Ottmar Hitzfeld 0 In 2004, Johan Vonlanthan became the youngest scorer in European Championship history, breaking the record Wayne Rooney had set 4 days earlier. Uruguay 80/1 Oscar Washington Tabarez 2 Right-winger Alcides Ghiggia, 83, who scored the winner against Brazil in 1950 is the only survivor of the Uruguay team and the oldest man alive to have scored in a world cup final. USA 66/1 Bob Bradley 0 The USAs best world cup finish is third place one better than this years tournament favourites Spain, who have only ever managed fourth. (shorted article) Don’t forget the words to the National Anthem : Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika Maluphakanyisw’ uphondo lwayo, Yizwa imithandazo yethu, Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo. Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso, O fedise dintwa la matshwenyeho, O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso, Setjhaba sa South Afrika – South Afrika. Uit die blou van onse hemel, Uit die diepte van ons see, Oor ons ewige gebergtes, Waar die kranse antwoord gee, Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land. BAFANA BAFANA – we will be proud of you no matter what!!! Filed under: General
Il y a un an, Omar Bongo disparaissait
[Africa] (Afrigator)
Le gouvernement du Gabon a dcid de faire observer une minute de silence mardi 13h50 (12h50 TU) en mmoire de l'ancien chef de l'Etat Omar Bongo Ondimba dcd le 8 juin 2009 73 ans Barcelone en Espagne. Des messes d'actions de grce seront dites () - Togo ...

[details] [close] received 86 days ago published 86 days ago lang: en

Le gouvernement du Gabon a dcid de faire observer une minute de silence mardi 13h50 (12h50 TU) en mmoire de l'ancien chef de l'Etat Omar Bongo Ondimba dcd le 8 juin 2009 73 ans Barcelone en Espagne. Des messes d'actions de grce seront dites (...) - Togo
Un an après la mort d'Omar Bongo: le Gabon entre rupture et continuité
[Nouvelles en France] (Le Parisien - Toute l'actualité)
Un an après la mort de son père Omar Bongo Ondimba, Ali Bongo tente de donner au Gabon un nouveau style avec des plans de réforme de l'administration et de l'économie, des annonces dans l'écologie ...

[details] [close] received 87 days ago published 87 days ago lang: fr

Un an après la mort de son père Omar Bongo Ondimba, Ali Bongo tente de donner au Gabon un nouveau style avec des plans de réforme de l'administration et de l'économie, des annonces dans l'écologie...
Un an après la mort d'Omar Bongo: le Gabon entre rupture et continuité
[Nouvelles en France] (Toutes les dépêches AFP Monde)
Un an après la mort de son père Omar Bongo Ondimba, Ali Bongo tente de donner au Gabon un nouveau style avec des plans de réforme de l'administration et de l'économie, des annonces dans l'écologie et des promesses de moralisation mais l'opposition se montre sceptique."L'émergence": avec ce mot, Ali ...

[details] [close] received 87 days ago published 87 days ago lang: fr-FR

Un an après la mort de son père Omar Bongo Ondimba, Ali Bongo tente de donner au Gabon un nouveau style avec des plans de réforme de l'administration et de l'économie, des annonces dans l'écologie et des promesses de moralisation mais l'opposition se montre sceptique."L'émergence": avec ce mot, Ali...
Un an après la mort d'Omar Bongo: le Gabon entre rupture et continuité
[Nouvelles en France] (Toutes les dépêches AFP)
Un an après la mort de son père Omar Bongo Ondimba, Ali Bongo tente de donner au Gabon un nouveau style avec des plans de réforme de l'administration et de l'économie, des annonces dans l'écologie et des promesses de moralisation mais l'opposition se montre sceptique."L'émergence": avec ce mot, Ali ...

[details] [close] received 87 days ago published 87 days ago lang: fr-FR

Un an après la mort de son père Omar Bongo Ondimba, Ali Bongo tente de donner au Gabon un nouveau style avec des plans de réforme de l'administration et de l'économie, des annonces dans l'écologie et des promesses de moralisation mais l'opposition se montre sceptique."L'émergence": avec ce mot, Ali...
Luc Tsioba en studio
[Africa] (Afrigator)
Aprs l'album 100 limit ralis en duo avec Jean Jacques Mayi du groupe Mbala de l'universit Omar Bongo de Libreville qui a connu un grand succs l'artsite gabonais Tsioba prpare activement son premier album solo enregistr au studio Ka'ge de () - 1. Arts & culture ...

[details] [close] received 94 days ago published 94 days ago lang: en

Aprs l'album 100 limit ralis en duo avec Jean Jacques Mayi du groupe Mbala de l'universit Omar Bongo de Libreville qui a connu un grand succs l'artsite gabonais Tsioba prpare activement son premier album solo enregistr au studio Ka'ge de (...) - 1. Arts & culture
WHAT SHOULD BE THE HEIGHT OF A PRESIDENT?
[CNN] (CNN iReport - Latest)
Politicians should politely push aside the issue of age, height and physical stature when given the platform to speak to the public. In a number of recent speeches, some Ghanaian opposition flag bearer hopefuls or leading members in their camps have employed such preposterous antics to driver home these vulgar and unwholesome message. But clearly, this is one of those cases where common sense lets us down. Our poverty-stricken country is craving for people with vision, track record w ...

[details] [close] received 118 days ago published 118 days ago lang: en

Politicians should politely push aside the issue of age, height and physical stature when given the platform to speak to the public. In a number of recent speeches, some Ghanaian opposition flag bearer hopefuls or leading members in their camps have employed such preposterous antics to driver home these vulgar and unwholesome message.

But clearly, this is one of those cases where common sense lets us down. Our poverty-stricken country is craving for people with vision, track record with outstanding competence to turn our economic fortunes around, and some people are making fuss over height as if a tall president will have an oversight duty of keeping the goal posts of the Black Stars. Or do we need a younger president so he can feature in one of the underage completions of FIFA? Ghanaians are tired of this distasteful kind of politics. I strongly believe we have come of age in our democratic dispensation and it is not propitious time to start such ridiculous propaganda.

Quickly, I will add that this ill-perception seemed to have emanated from the era of former president Rawlings, when people ignorantly assumed that he never lost elections because he was handsome and tall. But Mr. Rawlings won his victories from hard work and integrity.T his is a man who disregarded suggestions from colleagues, and at some personal sacrifice switched a once tyrannized nation to a free democratic one which has won international admiration today. A selfless and bold decision which eulogized him as a hero, and like Nkrumah helped him to win all elections he contested. Today, many Ghanaians from both political divide are perhaps obsessed with Nana Akuffo-Addo, Dr Frimpong Boateng and some few politicians. It stands to reason that the former’s disregard for his own life by championing democracy clearly account for this.

As for Mr. Boateng, his footprints at Korle-bu are obvious for all to judge. This is a man who left a six-figure salary in Europe to take a meagre wages at home just for the love for his nation. These are the qualities we are looking, for not some Prince Charming who may not know anything about leadership. Size, age or height does not win elections. Omar Bongo, Jacob Zumah, Nkrumah may serve as guide here. Age-wise, Mandela, Mugabe and Abduli Wade are clearer examples. Let’s not forget that even in America; Mr. McCain contested for the Republicans when he was 72 years old.

To those politicians who look in the mirror and seem to believe that their “dashing good looks” will make them fine presidents, they are only wasting their precious time; I advise that they seek a career in modeling.
The problem with Africa
[Africa] (Afrigator)
One of the Presidential Residences of the late Omar Bongo The problem with Africa is not its dictators who own limousines when their citizens need to carry a sack of money to buy a loaf of bread, if it is even there. The PROBLEM with Africa is not with the West, with its double-edged sword of grants; money to buy food and weapons while they buy blood diamonds from our rich mines. Some say the poor ones are the problem, maybe we should just get rid of them, lift them out of poverty or kill them ...

[details] [close] received 121 days ago published 121 days ago lang: en

One of the Presidential Residences of the late Omar Bongo The problem with Africa is not its dictators who own limousines when their citizens need to carry a sack of money to buy a loaf of bread, if it is even there. The PROBLEM with Africa is not with the West, with its double-edged sword of grants; money to buy food and weapons while they buy blood diamonds from our rich mines. Some say the poor ones are the problem, maybe we should just get rid of them, lift them out of poverty or kill them off by starving them; but they are too many in Africa. In addition, it may be a problem when it comes time to plough the farms that grow our endless feasts of cake and burnt flesh. The real problem is not with the ten percent who own eighty percent of Africa, they did what anyone would or could in their situation. Who is the problem? If you are reading this, then you are the problem. You and I my friend ARE THE PROBLEM. There you go dousing yourselves with wine and homegrown beer, driving your second hand car or you modest Toyota to the next weekend party or music festival; such are the cares of the petit bourgeoisie. The oppressors are smart; they have you so consumed in wanting to be like them, wanting to wear the latest clothes from the exhibitions or their cast off clothes, joking with your friends about the last time you got wasted. Wasted! Yes you are wasted! So wasted by consumerism and functional alcoholism…tequila sunrise anyone? Our brothers and sisters die for want of a meal, we die for want of the common sense not to drink and drive; the petit bourgeoisie have many problems my friends. What problems you ask? Taxes, rent and wages for the poor folk that we employ in our homes to clean our clothes, cook our meals, take out our trash and raise our brats. We have many problems, we the petit bourgeoisie, so forgive us if we dont take to the streets when the oppressors steal our money or raise taxes (same difference many might say). Well leave that to the masses, they have the time, they have nothing to loose, for they own nothing. We dont own everything, but we have bills to pay, land to buy, jobs to go to the next morning. The masses can fight for themselves. The funny thing is my friend, that the masses will fight us at some point, for we are closer to them than the oppressors. The problem is that we are not protected by anything owned by the oppressors; the police serve the monarchs, the army has its allegiances, the devil has his slaves and religion serves its followers only. We are blessed with opportunity as well as some semblance of integrity, somewhere deep inside, swirling in the pool of tequila and vodka that numbs our souls. Dont shut your eyes, dont stand back and watch Africa go to the dogs my friends, because if it does, we will too. We must look, we must speak out, we must act; small acts like paying your workers fair wages, or signing petitions, or writing blogs, or just saying No! to the problems of Africa. If we are part of the problem, then lets start with ourselves and open our eyes, as we down our last shot of tequila. By TKO Related Posts No Related Posts
African leaders show there are many countries for old men
[Guardian] (World news: Zimbabwe | guardian.co.uk)
Robert Mugabe is the eldest statesman on a continent where age is seldom a barrier to powerLet them eat cake. That is one of the likely headlines after an all-night birthday gala for Robert Mugabe, the autocratic president of Zimbabwe, which was due to finish in the early hours of yesterday. Mugabe, who last week turned 86 in a country where average life expectancy stands at 45, is the eldest statesman on a continent where age is seldom a barrier to power.But events confronting both Nigerians an ...

[details] [close] received 186 days ago published 186 days ago lang: en-gb
Robert Mugabe is the eldest statesman on a continent where age is seldom a barrier to power

Let them eat cake. That is one of the likely headlines after an all-night birthday gala for Robert Mugabe, the autocratic president of Zimbabwe, which was due to finish in the early hours of yesterday. Mugabe, who last week turned 86 in a country where average life expectancy stands at 45, is the eldest statesman on a continent where age is seldom a barrier to power.

But events confronting both Nigerians and Nigeriens in the past week have demonstrated that the next generation of African leaders might find it somewhat harder to crush all comers.

President Mamadou Tandja of Niger, who had rewritten the constitution rather than quit when his term expired, paid the penalty when soldiers stormed the presidential palace and spirited him away in a military coup. Diplomats were ambivalent about whether to condemn the means or praise the ends.

President Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria, who created a power vacuum when he disappeared in November for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, returned at dead of night to a country where politicians, lawyers, media and ordinary citizens have made their demands for accountability and transparency clear. Yar'Adua's deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, remains at the helm while questions linger over the president's health.

In recent times, the objections raised to the likes of Menzies Campbell and John McCain in recent British and American election campaigns rarely keep politicians awake here.

Africa's club of leaders of pensionable age includes Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, 81, Cameroon's Paul Biya, 77, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, 73, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, believed to be 67, Eduardo dos Santos of Angola, also 67, Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville, thought to be 66, and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, believed to be 65.

Together these men have ruled for close to 250 years combined and none seems in a hurry to bend to free and fair democratic will. It took the grim reaper to part Gabon's Omar Bongo, at 41 years the longest-serving president in African history, from the levers of power last year at the age of 73.

It is hoped that the rise of civil society organisations across Africa, flourishing on the internet, will prove a powerful counterweight to future big men turned old men. But optimism should be checked. The Mo Ibrahim prize for African leadership, intended to honour good governance, was not awarded last year because no worthy candidate could be found.

Mugabe, for one, shows no signs of going quietly. In April, he will mark 30 years in power since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain, making him one of the world's longest-reigning leaders. Urban myths abound about how the 86-year-old retains the zeal of a man half his age.

Many wish that he had followed the example of Nelson Mandela, now 91, whose decision to step down from South Africa's presidency after one term guaranteed his special place in posterity.
- Niger
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David Smith

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Guinea Ec- Malabo dice que las acusaciones del Senado de EEUU contra Teodorín se basan en fuentes "de dudosa fiabilidad"
[Spanish News, Noticias] (Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com)
Asegura que la legislación ecuatoguineana permite a los ministros mantener negocios privados "al margen de sus obligaciones" oficialesMADRID, 15 (EUROPA PRESS)El Gobierno de Guinea Ecuatorial ha asegurado que el reciente informe del Senado norteamericano en el que se acusa al ministro ecuatoguineano Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangué --más conocido como 'Teodorín' e hijo del presidente de su país, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo-- de haber desviado 110 millones de dólares mediante la apertura de c ...

[details] [close] received 199 days ago published 199 days ago lang: es-es

Asegura que la legislación ecuatoguineana permite a los ministros mantener negocios privados "al margen de sus obligaciones" oficiales

MADRID, 15 (EUROPA PRESS)

El Gobierno de Guinea Ecuatorial ha asegurado que el reciente informe del Senado norteamericano en el que se acusa al ministro ecuatoguineano Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangué --más conocido como 'Teodorín' e hijo del presidente de su país, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo-- de haber desviado 110 millones de dólares mediante la apertura de cuentas falsas en bancos norteamericanos, se basa en "fuentes de dudosa fiabilidad" cuyo objetivo es "manchar la reputación y credibilidad" del presidente, de su familia y de su Gobierno. Asimismo, precisó que la legislación guineana permite que los ministros mantengan negocios privados "al margen de sus obligaciones" gubernamentales, "como sucede exactamente en la mayor parte del mundo".

"El Gobierno de la República de Guinea Ecuatorial lamenta que el Subcomité permanente del Senado haya basado su Informe sobre fuentes de dudosa fiabilidad, ya que se trata de organizaciones, periodistas y personas individuales animadas por unos sentimientos políticos discriminatorios y contrarios al régimen político de Guinea Ecuatorial y no actúan con la transparencia y objetividad que preconizan las leyes norteamericanas en materia de lucha contra la corrupción", afirmó el Gobierno.

El objetivo de estas fuentes, prosiguió el Ejecutivo en un comunicado difundido este lunes, es "simplemente manchar la reputación y credibilidad del presidente de la República de Guinea Ecuatorial, su familia y los miembros de su Gobierno".

El pasado 4 de febrero, el Subcomité Permanente de Investigaciones del Senado norteamericano hizo público un informe de 325 páginas sobre el presunto desvío hacia bancos norteamericanos de millones de dólares de origen "sospechoso" por parte de algunos dirigentes africanos, entre ellos el fallecido presidente gabonés Omar Bongo y el propio 'Teodorín', actual ministro de Agricultura y Bosques.

El informe indica que 'Teodorín' canalizó 110 millones de dólares a Estados Unidos mediante la apertura de cuentas a nombre de "empresas fantasmas" en varios bancos norteamericanos. Estas cantidades, canalizadas a través de los bancos Wachovia y Citibank y la firma de abogados Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, sirvieron para la adquisición de un jet Gulfstream, valorado en 38,5 millones dólares, y de una mansión en Malibú, valorada en 30 millones de dólares, "con dinero sospechoso procedente de Guinea Ecuatorial".

"NEGOCIOS AL MARGEN"

Según el comunicado del Gobierno, el ministro "es la primera persona interesada en colaborar en dicha investigación para aclarar los hechos con los que se le relacionan, y tanto él como sus abogados se han puesto a disposición permanente del Subcomité del Senado para ofrecer toda su ayuda, colaboración y datos solicitados a los miembros de este Subcomité". "En este sentido", prosiguió, Nguema Obiang "ha realizado declaraciones juradas concernientes a distintos ámbitos, entre las que se incluyen el origen y fuentes de sus ingresos y su cumplimiento con las leyes locales aplicables".

El Gobierno aseguró también que el propio informe del Senado precisa que los movimientos financieros del ministro únicamente están "bajo sospecha" y "no aporta ningún hecho específico que apoye esta conclusión, sino que se limita a citar continuas acusaciones y alegaciones insustanciales no concluyentes". "Por ese motivo, el señor Nguema Obiang Mangue no es considerado en ningún momento como 'acusado', ya que en ningún caso se reconoce que estas acusaciones hayan podido ser confirmadas", añadió.

El Gobierno denunció también que el informe del Senado se basa en "gran cantidad de fallos documentales" y "ofrece una bibliografía basada muchas veces en afirmaciones procedentes de insustanciales artículos de prensa, páginas de Internet y otras afirmaciones gratuitas, poco serias y procedentes de personas de dudosa credibilidad".

Aparte, el Ejecutivo aseguró que, "según la legislación ecuatoguineana, tal y como sucede exactamente en la mayor parte del mundo, las personas físicas y jurídicas, como sucede en este caso con el ministro de Agricultura y Bosques, están perfectamente autorizadas a realizar negocios y mantener otros tipos de trabajos al margen de sus obligaciones ministeriales".

La Ley española de Incompatibilidades establece la "incompatibilidad absoluta" entre el ejercicio de cualquier alto cargo de la administración con "cualquier actividad pública o privada, retribuida o no", a excepción de las que no afecten a "la dedicación absoluta del alto cargo o a su independencia".

A finales de 2006, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangu admitió en una declaración jurada ante un tribunal sudafricano --en relación con un litigio presentado contra el Gobierno de Malabo por una empresa sudafricana, Maseve Investments-- que "a los ministros y funcionarios ecuatoguineanos se les permite por ley tener empresas que, en consorcio con una compañía extranjera, puedan optar a contratos gubernamentales", lo cual implica, según la declaración jurada --sellada por el Ministerio de Justicia y Culto de Guinea Ecuatorial y firmada en los márgenes-- "que el ministro acaba ingresando una parte importante del dinero procedente del contrato en su propia cuenta corriente".

El pasado mes de diciembre, la prestigiosa organización no gubernamental internacional Global Witness aseguró que Teodorín ha sido acusado de "haber instituido un 'impuesto revolucionario' por la madera" cuyos beneficios "le llegan directamente a él, ya sea en dinero o mediante cheques a través de la empresa forestal de su propiedad".

"RACISTA, PREPOTENTE Y SEGREGACIONISTA"

En líneas más generales, el comunicado del Gobierno lamenta que las cuatro personas mencionadas en el informe procedan de África, lo cual revelaría que, "a la hora de buscar culpables, el continente negro sigue siendo un excelente punto de mira, ya que no dudamos de que existen en cualquier parte del mundo occidental mil veces más casos de transacciones económicas susceptibles de investigación, de fortunas más grandes y poderosas que las que se mencionan en el informe".

En este sentido, Malabo considera que el informe "es claramente un documento racista, xenofobo, prepotente, segregacionista, y que de una forma inequívoca demuestra claramente un desprecio absoluto hacia el continente llamado 'negro'".

Por último, el Gobierno desea "hacer constar" que Estados Unidos es el país "del que procede la mayor inversión extranjera en Guinea Ecuatorial, que supera los 12.000 millones de dólares", y que "ninguna sociedad americana se ha quejado de un comportamiento fraudulento del Gobierno".
Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group: Senate committee calls for tighter regulations on property, bank accounts of foreign politicians
[Freedom of Information] (Sunlight Foundation Transparency Ecosystem)
In a hearing on Feb. 4th, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations questioned lawyers, a realtor and representatives of financial institutions and government agencies about money laundering activities by foreign politicians.The subcommittee's 325-page report found that U.S. bankers, lawyers, real estate agents and escrows overlooked foreign political officials moving millions of dollars into the country. For years, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the 40-year-old son of Equatorial Guinea ...

[details] [close] received 203 days ago published 203 days ago lang: en

In a hearing on Feb. 4th, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations questioned lawyers, a realtor and representatives of financial institutions and government agencies about money laundering activities by foreign politicians.The subcommittee's 325-page report found that U.S. bankers, lawyers, real estate agents and escrows overlooked foreign political officials moving millions of dollars into the country. For years, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the 40-year-old son of Equatorial Guinea's president was using U.S. banks to move $110 million into the country. Obiang Mangue, also the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of the oil and timber rich western African country, used U.S. financial institutions, including Wachovia Bank, Citibank, Union Bank of California and Bank of America to move money through five shell companies and other accounts.One of Obiang Mangue's real estate agents, bought a Malibu residence without a mortgage with $30 million funds wire transferred from Equatorial Guinea to escrow agents. According to the report, presently "U.S. real estate and escrow agents operate without any legal obligation to know their customers, evaluate the source of their funds, or exercise special precautions when dealing with Politically Exposed Persons." At the hearing, Senator Carl Levin called for a Senate bill, which would require high risk U.S. corporations to disclose beneficial owners in order to be transparent. The Republic of Equatorial Guinea is represented by the lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates which has worked with U.S. officials on anti-corruption legislation and banking issues, according to filings under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.In another case, the former President of Gabon, Omar Bango hired a U.S. lobbyist, Jeffrey Birrell to purchase armored vehicles with over $18 million wire transferred from Gabon to U.S. bank accounts. Birrell held the money under a U.S. corporation, the Grace Group LLC, which has not filed under FARA. However, the company he previously co-owned, Barron-Birrell, Inc., provided public relations services to President Omar Bongo and acted as a policy consultant to the Republic of Gabon, according to FARA filings and the Senate hearing report.Read all about it

Read more...
Banks Snooze, Arms Dealers Win
[Green, Health] (Blogs | Mother Jones)
You've heard plenty about the big banks' role in the Great Recession, but their headaches are about to get worse. At a packed hearing today, the Senate investigations subcommittee led by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) shed new light on banks' negligence and wrongdoing—and this time it's not credit-default swaps or derivatives but money laundering and arms dealers. The hearing, held in conjunction with a 325-page report by the subcommittee, focused on four detailed cases of foreign money pouring in ...

[details] [close] received 209 days ago published 210 days ago lang: en

You've heard plenty about the big banks' role in the Great Recession, but their headaches are about to get worse.

At a packed hearing today, the Senate investigations subcommittee led by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) shed new light on banks' negligence and wrongdoing—and this time it's not credit-default swaps or derivatives but money laundering and arms dealers. The hearing, held in conjunction with a 325-page report by the subcommittee, focused on four detailed cases of foreign money pouring in the United States and the ways in which American banks, lobbyists, lawyers, and other businessmen aided that money laundering. "For the United States, which has so much riding on global stability, corruption is a direct threat to our national interests," Levin said in his opening statement. "The stories we uncovered are striking in their misuse of our financial system."

In essence, the hearing and the report highlighted how institutions like Bank of America, HSBC, and Citibank snoozed when it comes to due diligence and investigating their clients, while notorious arms dealers, sons of despotic politicians, and even shady central banks channeled millions upon millions into the US to buy planes, sports cars, and luxury houses. Singling out HSBC, whose anti-money laundering compliance director testified at the hearing, Levin slammed the bank for actually encouraging the Central Bank of Angola—whose clients include many questionable red-flagged individuals, or "Politically Exposed Persons"—to move millions to an offshore bank in the Bahamas beyond the reach of British financial laws. "You claim that you're a leader in anti-money laundering rules and enforcement," Levin told HSBC's Wiecher Mandemaker. Yet "you facilitate people evading the law of your own country."

Levin, seated next to subcommittee ranking member Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), had also invited three active participants in the corruption cases detailed in the report—Beverly Hills attorneys Michael Berger and George Nagler, who'd aided Teodoro Obiang, son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, and Jeffrey Birrell, an American lobbyist who tried to purchase armored cars and military transport planes for Omar Bongo, the president of Gabon. All three directly implicated witnesses, however, chose not to speak at the hearing, citing the Fifth Amendment.

Levin and Coburn did offer a modicum of praise to a Bank of America senior executive who spoke at this morning's hearing. Bank of America appears several times in the subcommittee's report for allowing Pierre Falcone, an infamous arms dealer imprisoned several times, and his relatives to circulate at least $60 million through 29 accounts with the bank. In fact, Levin pointed to documents obtained by the subcommittee showing that Bank of America knew of Falcone's background and the millions flowing into his accounts from the secretive countries and shady "clients" yet concluded that "activity for the accounts of the Falcone's [sic] is not unusual." And while William Fox, the Bank of America executive, acknowledged that the bank had made "a bad judgment call" with Falcone, he emphasized the tougher disclosure and anti-money laundering safeguards that bank had installed in the past few years, measures that Levin praised.

In all, the hearing, together with the report, offered an unparalleled glimpse at the ways in which corrupt foreign figures still funnel their money into major American financial institutions. At the hearing, Levin said he hopes to close legal loopholes and revoke a 2002 exemption allowed by the Patriot Act, among others, to cut off the gaping holes that still allow dirty money to come into the US. "There is a lot more that can be done to combat foreign corruption," Levin said. "It doesn't have to be that way."

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Banks Snooze, Arms Dealers Win
[Politics] (Mojo Feed | Mother Jones)
You've heard plenty about the big banks' role in the Great Recession, but their headaches are about to get worse. At a packed hearing today, the Senate investigations subcommittee led by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) shed new light on banks' negligence and wrongdoing—and this time it's not credit-default swaps or derivatives but money laundering and arms dealers. The hearing, held in conjunction with a 325-page report by the subcommittee, focused on four detailed cases of foreign money pouring in ...

[details] [close] received 209 days ago published 210 days ago lang: en

You've heard plenty about the big banks' role in the Great Recession, but their headaches are about to get worse.

At a packed hearing today, the Senate investigations subcommittee led by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) shed new light on banks' negligence and wrongdoing—and this time it's not credit-default swaps or derivatives but money laundering and arms dealers. The hearing, held in conjunction with a 325-page report by the subcommittee, focused on four detailed cases of foreign money pouring in the United States and the ways in which American banks, lobbyists, lawyers, and other businessmen aided that money laundering. "For the United States, which has so much riding on global stability, corruption is a direct threat to our national interests," Levin said in his opening statement. "The stories we uncovered are striking in their misuse of our financial system."

In essence, the hearing and the report highlighted how institutions like Bank of America, HSBC, and Citibank snoozed when it comes to due diligence and investigating their clients, while notorious arms dealers, sons of despotic politicians, and even shady central banks channeled millions upon millions into the US to buy planes, sports cars, and luxury houses. Singling out HSBC, whose anti-money laundering compliance director testified at the hearing, Levin slammed the bank for actually encouraging the Central Bank of Angola—whose clients include many questionable red-flagged individuals, or "Politically Exposed Persons"—to move millions to an offshore bank in the Bahamas beyond the reach of British financial laws. "You claim that you're a leader in anti-money laundering rules and enforcement," Levin told HSBC's Wiecher Mandemaker. Yet "you facilitate people evading the law of your own country."

Levin, seated next to subcommittee ranking member Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), had also invited three active participants in the corruption cases detailed in the report—Beverly Hills attorneys Michael Berger and George Nagler, who'd aided Teodoro Obiang, son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, and Jeffrey Birrell, an American lobbyist who tried to purchase armored cars and military transport planes for Omar Bongo, the president of Gabon. All three directly implicated witnesses, however, chose not to speak at the hearing, citing the Fifth Amendment.

Levin and Coburn did offer a modicum of praise to a Bank of America senior executive who spoke at this morning's hearing. Bank of America appears several times in the subcommittee's report for allowing Pierre Falcone, an infamous arms dealer imprisoned several times, and his relatives to circulate at least $60 million through 29 accounts with the bank. In fact, Levin pointed to documents obtained by the subcommittee showing that Bank of America knew of Falcone's background and the millions flowing into his accounts from the secretive countries and shady "clients" yet concluded that "activity for the accounts of the Falcone's [sic] is not unusual." And while William Fox, the Bank of America executive, acknowledged that the bank had made "a bad judgment call" with Falcone, he emphasized the tougher disclosure and anti-money laundering safeguards that bank had installed in the past few years, measures that Levin praised.

In all, the hearing, together with the report, offered an unparalleled glimpse at the ways in which corrupt foreign figures still funnel their money into major American financial institutions. At the hearing, Levin said he hopes to close legal loopholes and revoke a 2002 exemption allowed by the Patriot Act, among others, to cut off the gaping holes that still allow dirty money to come into the US. "There is a lot more that can be done to combat foreign corruption," Levin said. "It doesn't have to be that way."

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Lawyers, lobbyist in money-laundering report take the Fifth at hearing
[Politics, Washington, D.C.] (News)
A pair of lawyers and a lobbyist used their Fifth Amendment rights Thursday when called to a hearing before Congress on suspected money-laundering for allegedly corrupt African politicians and their relatives. All three witnesses — Michael Berger, George Nagler and Jeffrey Birrell — said they could not answer questions because they could incriminate themselves and were excused by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, who was holding the ...

[details] [close] received 210 days ago published 210 days ago lang: en-gb

A pair of lawyers and a lobbyist used their Fifth Amendment rights Thursday when called to a hearing before Congress on suspected money-laundering for allegedly corrupt African politicians and their relatives.

All three witnesses — Michael Berger, George Nagler and Jeffrey Birrell — said they could not answer questions because they could incriminate themselves and were excused by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, who was holding the hearing.

Thursday’s hearing came after a 330 page-long report was released by the subcommittee detailing how African officials and their associates — who are suspected of becoming wealthy off bribery and other corruption — used their U.S. contacts to undermine anti-money laundering safeguards and transfer millions of dollars in and out of U.S. banks. Aides to Levin as well as to the panel’s ranking member, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), worked on the report.

{mosads}Under the 2001 Patriot Act and other subsequent measures, banks have to carefully monitor their business with the officials, known as “politically exposed persons,” or PEPs, but many other professions do not. That has left gaping loopholes for money-laundering into the United States, according to Levin and others.

For example, Nagler and Berger helped Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mbasogo, set up shell companies to move funds for him in and out of the United States, says the report. Obiang, using American lawyers, real estate agents and escrow agents, ended moving more than $110 million in suspect funds here, buying a $30 million Malibu mansion and a $38.5 million Gulfstream jet along the way, according to the report.

Birrell helped the late Omar Bongo, who was president of Gabon, by accepting more than $18 million in wired funds to his company, the Grace Group, the report says. Birrell then used the money to buy Bongo six armored vehicles and six C-130 military cargo aircraft from Saudi Arabia, according to the report.

Pivoting off the report, Levin is calling for tougher restrictions to stop money laundering and not allow PEPs circumvent the system through other means.

“Stopping the flow of illegal money is critical, because foreign corruption damages civil society, undermines the rule of law, and threatens American security,” the Michigan senator said in his opening statement.
El Senado de EEUU investiga el desvío de millones de dólares de origen "sospechoso" por parte de 'Teodorín'
[Spanish News, Noticias] (Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com)
MADRID, 4 (EUROPA PRESS)El Subcomité Permanente del Senado de los Estados Unidos ha iniciado una investigación sobre el presunto desvío hacia bancos norteamericanos de millones de dólares de origen "sospechoso" por parte de algunos dirigentes africanos, entre ellos el fallecido presidente gabonés Omar Bongo y el ministro ecuatoguineano Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangué, más conocido como 'Teodorín' e hijo del presidente de su país, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.Según el diario 'The New York ...

[details] [close] received 210 days ago published 210 days ago lang: es-es

MADRID, 4 (EUROPA PRESS)

El Subcomité Permanente del Senado de los Estados Unidos ha iniciado una investigación sobre el presunto desvío hacia bancos norteamericanos de millones de dólares de origen "sospechoso" por parte de algunos dirigentes africanos, entre ellos el fallecido presidente gabonés Omar Bongo y el ministro ecuatoguineano Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangué, más conocido como 'Teodorín' e hijo del presidente de su país, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Según el diario 'The New York Times', el Subcomité ha presentado un informe, difundido esta semana, en el que se analizan los procedimientos utilizados por Omar Bongo para introducir en Estados Unidos un millón de dólares en una maleta. Con este dinero, una de sus hijas se compró un apartamento en Manhattan.

Asimismo, el informe revela que 'Teodorín' canalizó millones de dólares a Estados Unidos mediante la apertura de cuentas a nombre de "empresas fantasmas" en varios bancos norteamericanos. Más concretamente, según el documento del Subcomité, el ministro de Agricultura y Bosques ecuatoguineano utilizó los bancos Wachovia y Citibank y la firma de abogados Sidley Austin Brown & Wood --actualmente conocida como Sidley Austin-- para adquirir en 2005, por 38,5 millones dólares, un jet Gulfstream-5.

Los abogados Michael Berger y George Nagler, según el informe citado por el 'Times', le ayudaron a burlar los controles en los bancos mediante la creación de cuentas de "empresas fantasmas" con nombres como Beautiful Vision, Unlimited Horizonte y Sweet Pink, ésta última en homenaje a su entonces novia, la cantante de rap Eve.

El informe del Senado incluye diversa documentación sobre los gastos personales de 'Teodorín', los pagos a los cocineros y mayordomos de su casa de Malibú (California) y las gestiones hechas ante un tal "señor Berger" para poder asistir en 2007 a la 'Kandy Halloween Bash' en la Mansión Playboy. El documento señala también que utilizó a dos agentes inmobiliarios para comprar su casa de Malibú, por 30 millones de dólares, "con dinero sospechoso procedente de Guinea Ecuatorial".
Dictator Kids Still Living Obscenely in the US, Report Says [Money Talks]
[Silicon Valley, CA, New York City, NY, Fashion, New York City] (Gawker)
Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, son of the Equatorial Guinean dictator managed to move $110m into the US between 2004 and 2008, a senate investigation shows. Here's a picture we were given of him and his "million dollar watch." Obiang, who is the subject of a criminal investigation, had help help circumnavigating post-9/11 laws designed to stop nefarious figures abusing US hospitality, according to the Associated Press. He "used two lawyers who helped him with shell company accounts, two real esta ...

[details] [close] received 210 days ago published 210 days ago lang: en

Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, son of the Equatorial Guinean dictator managed to move $110m into the US between 2004 and 2008, a senate investigation shows. Here's a picture we were given of him and his "million dollar watch."

Obiang, who is the subject of a criminal investigation, had help help circumnavigating post-9/11 laws designed to stop nefarious figures abusing US hospitality, according to the Associated Press. He "used two lawyers who helped him with shell company accounts, two real estate agents who helped him purchase a $30 million home in Malibu, Calif., and an escrow agent who assisted in buying a $38.5 million Gulfstream jet."

Obiang is not the only one flouting the rules. Pierre Falcone, an Angolan arms dealer kept $60m in US bank accounts here and bought a $9.6m house in Arizona. Omar Bongo, the president of Gabon for 41 years until he died last year, bought armored vehicles and transport planes from the US. His daughter was discovered with $1m in shrink-wrapped hundred-dollar bills in a New York safety deposit box. Atiku Abubakar, former vice president of Nigeria, used his wife, a US citizen, to smuggle in more than $40m of 'suspect funds'. We are living in a Frederick Forsyth novel.
Senate Report: 'Dirty Money' Still Entering U.S.
[The Huffington Post, Huffington Post, Obama] (The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com)
WASHINGTON — Foreign dictators, high-living bureaucrats and arms dealers are still able to funnel millions of dollars in potentially corrupt money into the United States despite post-Sept. 11 laws cracking down on money laundering, according to a Senate investigation. The son of the president of Equatorial Guinea moved $110 million in suspect funds into the United States from 2004 to 2008 while an Angolan arms dealer, now in a French jail, was able to pay $9.6 million for an Arizona home ...

[details] [close] received 210 days ago published 210 days ago lang: en-US

WASHINGTON — Foreign dictators, high-living bureaucrats and arms dealers are still able to funnel millions of dollars in potentially corrupt money into the United States despite post-Sept. 11 laws cracking down on money laundering, according to a Senate investigation.

The son of the president of Equatorial Guinea moved $110 million in suspect funds into the United States from 2004 to 2008 while an Angolan arms dealer, now in a French jail, was able to pay $9.6 million for an Arizona home in 2000 and maintained U.S. bank accounts handling some $60 million in transactions between 1999 and 2007, the report found.

The Senate Homeland Security subcommittee on investigations, which wrote the report, has summoned several of the U.S. lawyers, real estate agents and bankers involved in the financial transactions to a hearing Thursday.

The subcommittee chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said that while banks are doing better in blocking dirty money because of anti-money laundering safeguards in the 2001 Patriot Act, there are still "so many vehicles in our system where corrupt money can flow." The findings of the report, which focused on four case studies, are "infuriating," he said.

The 330-page report concluded that powerful foreign officials and their families, known internationally as "politically exposed persons" or PEPs, have used lawyers, real estate and escrow agents, lobbyists, bankers and university officials to circumvent anti-corruption laws.

It noted that the Treasury Department exempted some industries, such as hedge funds and the real estate industry, from Patriot Act anti-money laundering requirements, and that many of the professionals examined were under no legal obligation to take anti-money laundering precautions when dealing with a foreign official.

The four case studies:

_Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, who used U.S. lawyers, bankers, real estate agents and escrow agents to move $110 million into the United States. The report said Obiang, the subject of an ongoing U.S. criminal investigation, used two lawyers who helped him with shell company accounts, two real estate agents who helped him purchase a $30 million home in Malibu, Calif., and an escrow agent who assisted in buying a $38.5 million Gulfstream jet.

_Omar Bongo, president of Gabon for 41 years until his death last year, employed a U.S. lobbyist to buy six U.S.-built armored vehicles and obtain U.S. government permission to buy six U.S.-built C-130 military cargo aircraft from Saudi Arabia.

A bank in New York closed an account of Bongo's daughter, a student, after discovering she had $1 million in $100 shrink-wrapped bills in her safe deposit box, which she said her father had brought into the United States using his diplomatic status.

_Jennifer Douglas, a U.S. citizen and fourth wife of the former vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, reputedly helped her husband bring more than $40 million in suspect funds into the United States. Some $25 million of that was wire transferred by offshore corporations into more than 30 U.S. bank accounts opened by Douglas. Two offshore corporations transferred about $14 million over five years to American University in Washington, D.C., to pay for consulting services in setting up a university in Nigeria founded by Abubakar.

Prosecutors last year said former Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., who received a 13-year sentence for accepting bribes, demanded $100,000 from a Virginia businesswoman to pay a bribe to Abubakar. The Nigerian denied any wrongdoing.

_Bank of America did not flag the accounts of Pierre Falcone, the Angolan arms dealer, despite numerous suspicious transactions, the report said. From 1999 to 2003, the accounts received multiple wire transfers totaling more than $6 million from unidentified "clients" from such secrecy jurisdictions as the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, Singapore and Switzerland. The bank closed the accounts in 2007.

The report recommended that Treasury adopt recent World Bank proposals to strengthen bank controls related to foreign officials and repeal anti-money laundering exemptions. Congress should require that the owners of shell corporations be named, according to the report, and should make acts of foreign corruption a legal basis for denying U.S. entry to the person involved in the corruption and his family.

A Levin aide said one possibility was attaching anti-money laundering provisions to pending legislation to increase oversight of financial institutions.
Lawyers, Guns, and Money
[Politics] (MoJo Articles | Mother Jones)
Among Bank of America’s 50 million customers, Pierre Falcone was far from ordinary. An infamous global arms dealer who illegally sold weapons to Angola for its civil war and an international fugitive, Falcone was convicted of tax fraud and illegal arms dealing in 2007 and 2009 and is currently serving six years behind bars. Yet for nearly two decades, Falcone and his relatives freely used 29 different bank accounts to funnel at least $60 million into the US from secretive havens like the C ...

[details] [close] received 210 days ago published 210 days ago lang: en

Among Bank of America’s 50 million customers, Pierre Falcone was far from ordinary. An infamous global arms dealer who illegally sold weapons to Angola for its civil war and an international fugitive, Falcone was convicted of tax fraud and illegal arms dealing in 2007 and 2009 and is currently serving six years behind bars. Yet for nearly two decades, Falcone and his relatives freely used 29 different bank accounts to funnel at least $60 million into the US from secretive havens like the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, and Singapore, and from shell corporations and secret clients. Despite his criminal record and worldwide notoriety, Bank of America essentially treated him like any other depositor.

The story of how a criminal like Falcone used Bank of America—which later received billions in a taxpayer-funded bailout—and the US financial system to advance his criminal activities appears in a new report by the Senate investigations subcommittee, led by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.). In describing the operations of Falcone and others, the report uses three previously unreported cases and new information on a fourth to offer offers a lurid primer explaining how big banks, powerful attorneys, influential lobbyists, and a host of other businessmen in this country help launder dirty foreign money.

The report highlights several gaping holes in American money laundering and corruption laws, including an exemption made by the Treasury Department in 2002 to the Patriot Act. "Foreign officials still get access to our financial system at times because US officials aid and abet their actions," Levin told reporters on Tuesday. The 325-page report sets the stage for a hearing Thursday featuring US enforcement officials as well as some of the main players who abetted secretive individuals like Falcone and the corrupt former president of Gabon, the late Omar Bongo.

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La ONU exige a Obiang «acciones contra la tortura y las detenciones arbitrarias»
[Spanish News, Noticias] (Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com)
ESTEBAN VILLAREJO MADRID. La «democracia» en algunos países africanos arroja resultados electorales tan sorprendentes como el 98 por ciento de apoyo a Ben Ali en Túnez, el 90 por ciento a Buteflika en Argelia o el 79 por ciento al ya difunto Omar Bongo en Gabón. Otro abonado a recabar meteóricos escrutinios a favor es el presidente de Guinea Ecuatorial, Teodoro Obiang, quien el pasado martes tomó posesión de su cargo tras haber alcanzado un histórico 95,37 por ciento de los votos en las ...

[details] [close] received 266 days ago published 266 days ago lang: es-es

ESTEBAN VILLAREJO MADRID. La «democracia» en algunos países africanos arroja resultados electorales tan sorprendentes como el 98 por ciento de apoyo a Ben Ali en Túnez, el 90 por ciento a Buteflika en Argelia o el 79 por ciento al ya difunto Omar Bongo en Gabón. Otro abonado a recabar meteóricos escrutinios a favor es el presidente de Guinea Ecuatorial, Teodoro Obiang, quien el pasado martes tomó posesión de su cargo tras haber alcanzado un histórico 95,37 por ciento de los votos en las elecciones del 29 de noviembre. Precisamente el caso ecuatoguineano fue objeto de debate ayer en el Consejo...
Obiang denuncia las "injerencias extranjeras" en África durante su investidura
[Spanish News, Noticias] (Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com)
MADRID, 9 (EUROPA PRESS)El presidente de Guinea Ecuatorial, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, defendió este martes una política de "continuismo proactivo" a fin de alcanzar "las metas propuestas en el Plan de Desarrollo Horizonte 2020", cuyo objetivo es conseguir alimentos, salud, educación, viviendas, electricidad y agua "para todos" y convertir a Guinea Ecuatorial en un "país emergente" antes de ese año. Asimismo, el mandatario aprovechó su discurso de investidura por un nuevo mandato de si ...

[details] [close] received 267 days ago published 267 days ago lang: es-es

MADRID, 9 (EUROPA PRESS)

El presidente de Guinea Ecuatorial, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, defendió este martes una política de "continuismo proactivo" a fin de alcanzar "las metas propuestas en el Plan de Desarrollo Horizonte 2020", cuyo objetivo es conseguir alimentos, salud, educación, viviendas, electricidad y agua "para todos" y convertir a Guinea Ecuatorial en un "país emergente" antes de ese año. Asimismo, el mandatario aprovechó su discurso de investidura por un nuevo mandato de siete años para denunciar el "hostigamiento de algunas instituciones extranjeras" que, con el pretexto de defender la democracia y los Derechos Humanos, pretenden "injerir en la soberanía y en la independencia" de los Estados africanos.

Obiang jurósu cargo cuando sólo habían pasado nueve días desde las elecciones y tres días desde el anuncio oficial de los resultados, que le otorgaron la reelección con el 95,4 por ciento de los votos. La ceremonia de investidura tuvo lugar en el Palacio de Congresos y Conferencias Internacionales de Ngolo, en la ciudad de Bata (capital de la región continental), según informó este miércoles el Ministerio de Información en su página de Internet.

En su discurso de investidura, Obiang Nguema expresó su intención de mantener un "continuismo proactivo" a fin de seguir impulsando "todos los cambios y transformaciones" que ha iniciado el país para alcanzar las metas propuestas en el llamado "Plan de Desarrollo Horizonte 2020". "Nuestro objetivo es conseguir alimentos para todos, salud para todos, educación para todos, viviendas para todos, electricidad para todos, agua potable para todos, carreteras para todos y todo aquello que necesite el pueblo", afirmó, citado hoy por el Ministerio. El objetivo, según Obiang, es convertir a Guinea Ecuatorial en un "país emergente" antes de 2020.

Asimismo, el presidente guineano se comprometió a "fortalecer las relaciones y la amistad con todos los países y organismos internacionales en aras de conseguir una mayor integración, paz y estabilidad mundial" y advirtió de que los Estados africanos, "sin renunciar a la cooperación con otros continentes, deben asumir el protagonismo y la solución de los problemas africanos".

"Sin embargo, observamos con gran disgusto el hostigamiento de algunas instituciones extranjeras contra gobiernos africanos calificados constantemente como dictaduras y violadores de los Derechos Humanos cuando la buena gestión son notablemente visibles en beneficio de los pueblos afectados", prosiguió. "Es más, desde algunas organizaciones internacionales se nos imponen políticas a los gobiernos de los Estados africanos, que con el pretexto de promover la integración mundial de las naciones, que en realidad oculta la pretensión de injerir en la soberanía y en la independencia de los estados que África debe rechazar", aseveró.

ASISTENTES EXTRANJEROS

A la ceremonia asistieron diversos mandatarios africanos, entre ellos el chadiano Idriss Déby, la liberiana Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, el congoleño (de Congo-Brazzaville) Denis Sassou-Nguesso, el burundés Pierre Nkurunziza, el centroafricano François Bozize y el togolés Faure Gnassingbé. "Por problemas de agenda, no acudieron los presidentes de Gabón, Omar Bongo, ni de Sudáfrica, Jacob Zuma, pese a las excelentes relaciones que mantienen ambos países con Guinea Ecuatorial", precisó el Ministerio de Información. Omar Bongo falleció en Barcelona el pasado mes de junio. El actual presidente de Gabón es su hijo, Alí Ben Bongo.

Aparte, durante la ceremonia estuvo presente el ministro francés de Cooperación y Francofonía, Alan Joyandet, en representación del presidente Nicolas Sarkozy. Por parte de España, según el Ministerio de Información guineano, asistieron la directora general de Política Exterior para África en el Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Carmen de la Peña, y el embajador en Malabo, Manuel Gómez-Acebo Rodríguez-Spiteri.
Obiang aprovecha su acto de investidura para denunciar las "injerencias extranjeras" en África
[Spanish News, Noticias] (Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com)
El preseidente defiende una política de "continuismo proactivo" para convertir a Guinea en un "país emergente" en 2020MADRID, 9 (EUROPA PRESS)El presidente de Guinea Ecuatorial, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, defendió ayer martes una política de "continuismo proactivo" a fin de alcanzar "las metas propuestas en el Plan de Desarrollo Horizonte 2020", cuyo objetivo es conseguir alimentos, salud, educación, viviendas, electricidad y agua "para todos" y convertir a Guinea Ecuatorial en un "paí ...

[details] [close] received 267 days ago published 267 days ago lang: es-es

El preseidente defiende una política de "continuismo proactivo" para convertir a Guinea en un "país emergente" en 2020

MADRID, 9 (EUROPA PRESS)

El presidente de Guinea Ecuatorial, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, defendió ayer martes una política de "continuismo proactivo" a fin de alcanzar "las metas propuestas en el Plan de Desarrollo Horizonte 2020", cuyo objetivo es conseguir alimentos, salud, educación, viviendas, electricidad y agua "para todos" y convertir a Guinea Ecuatorial en un "país emergente" antes de ese año. Asimismo, el mandatario aprovechó su discurso de investidura por un nuevo mandato de siete años para denunciar el "hostigamiento de algunas instituciones extranjeras" que, con el pretexto de defender la democracia y los Derechos Humanos, pretenden "injerir en la soberanía y en la independencia" de los Estados africanos.

Obiang juró ayer su cargo cuando sólo habían pasado nueve días desde las elecciones y tres días desde el anuncio oficial de los resultados, que le otorgaron la reelección con el 95,4 por ciento de los votos. La ceremonia de investidura tuvo lugar en el Palacio de Congresos y Conferencias Internacionales de Ngolo, en la ciudad de Bata (capital de la región continental), según informó este miércoles el Ministerio de Información en su página de Internet.

En su discurso de investidura, Obiang Nguema expresó su intención de mantener un "continuismo proactivo" a fin de seguir impulsando "todos los cambios y transformaciones" que ha iniciado el país para alcanzar las metas propuestas en el llamado "Plan de Desarrollo Horizonte 2020". "Nuestro objetivo es conseguir alimentos para todos, salud para todos, educación para todos, viviendas para todos, electricidad para todos, agua potable para todos, carreteras para todos y todo aquello que necesite el pueblo", afirmó, citado hoy por el Ministerio. El objetivo, según Obiang, es convertir a Guinea Ecuatorial en un "país emergente" antes de 2020.

Asimismo, el presidente guineano se comprometió a "fortalecer las relaciones y la amistad con todos los países y organismos internacionales en aras de conseguir una mayor integración, paz y estabilidad mundial" y advirtió de que los Estados africanos, "sin renunciar a la cooperación con otros continentes, deben asumir el protagonismo y la solución de los problemas africanos".

"Sin embargo, observamos con gran disgusto el hostigamiento de algunas instituciones extranjeras contra gobiernos africanos calificados constantemente como dictaduras y violadores de los Derechos Humanos cuando la buena gestión son notablemente visibles en beneficio de los pueblos afectados", prosiguió. "Es más, desde algunas organizaciones internacionales se nos imponen políticas a los gobiernos de los Estados africanos, que con el pretexto de promover la integración mundial de las naciones, que en realidad oculta la pretensión de injerir en la soberanía y en la independencia de los estados que África debe rechazar", aseveró.

ASISTENTES EXTRANJEROS

A la ceremonia asistieron diversos mandatarios africanos, entre ellos el chadiano Idriss Déby, la liberiana Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, el congoleño (de Congo-Brazzaville) Denis Sassou-Nguesso, el burundés Pierre Nkurunziza, el centroafricano François Bozize y el togolés Faure Gnassingbé. "Por problemas de agenda, no acudieron los presidentes de Gabón, Omar Bongo, ni de Sudáfrica, Jacob Zuma, pese a las excelentes relaciones que mantienen ambos países con Guinea Ecuatorial", precisó el Ministerio de Información. Omar Bongo falleció en Barcelona el pasado mes de junio. El actual presidente de Gabón es su hijo, Alí Ben Bongo.

Aparte, durante la ceremonia estuvo presente el ministro francés de Cooperación y Francofonía, Alan Joyandet, en representación del presidente Nicolas Sarkozy. Por parte de España, según el Ministerio de Información guineano, asistieron la directora general de Política Exterior para África en el Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Carmen de la Peña, y el embajador en Malabo, Manuel Gómez-Acebo Rodríguez-Spiteri.
Fonds publics : quatre dirigeants africains visés par une plainte à Paris
[France] (Le Monde.fr : à la Une)
Une association a déposé une plainte pour détournements de fonds publics contre les présidents sénégalais, congolais, guinéen et le défunt président gabonais Omar Bongo.

[details] [close] received 272 days ago published 272 days ago lang: ca

Une association a déposé une plainte pour détournements de fonds publics contre les présidents sénégalais, congolais, guinéen et le défunt président gabonais Omar Bongo.
Conservation: Indigenous people's enemy No. 1? - Mother Jones
[Conflict Resolution] (CONFLICT RESOLUTION - Bing News)
After legendary explorer and ecologist J. Michael Fay completed his remarkable 1,200-mile, 455-day trek across the Congo Basin in 2002, he asked Africa's longest-serving leader, President El Hadj Omar Bongo of Gabon, to sit down for a chat. Bongo ...

[details] [close] received 281 days ago published 281 days ago lang: en

After legendary explorer and ecologist J. Michael Fay completed his remarkable 1,200-mile, 455-day trek across the Congo Basin in 2002, he asked Africa's longest-serving leader, President El Hadj Omar Bongo of Gabon, to sit down for a chat. Bongo ...
Roy Greenslade: Gabon government suspends six papers
[Journalism] (Media: Greenslade | guardian.co.uk)
Six independent newspapers have been suspended in Gabon for "violations of the principles of professional conduct and ethics" and two other titles were "warned to respect the regulations." Among their "violations" was to criticise the contested September election of Ali Bongo Ondimba as president of the oil-rich equatorial African nation. He replaced his father, Omar Bongo, who died in June after ruling for 41 years.One paper called Gabon "a republican monarchy" and another referred to the elect ...

[details] [close] received 294 days ago published 294 days ago lang: en-gb
Six independent newspapers have been suspended in Gabon for "violations of the principles of professional conduct and ethics" and two other titles were "warned to respect the regulations."

Among their "violations" was to criticise the contested September election of Ali Bongo Ondimba as president of the oil-rich equatorial African nation. He replaced his father, Omar Bongo, who died in June after ruling for 41 years.

One paper called Gabon "a republican monarchy" and another referred to the election as "a parody of democracy."

Norbert Ngoua Mezui, editor of one of the banned papers, Nkuu le Messager, said the bans were "a way of sweeping aside democratic expression."

Sources: Sapa-AFP/IoL
Roy Greenslade

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France court refuses to hear embezzlement case against African heads of state
[Law] (JURIST - Paper Chase)
[JURIST] The Paris Court of Appeals on Thursday refused to hear an embezzlement case brought by the anti-corruption group Transparency International (TI) against the late president of Gabon, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the president of Equatorial Guinea. The complaint accused the late Omar Bongo of Gabon, Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the DRC, Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, and their relatives, of acquiring luxury homes and cars in France with African publ ...

[details] [close] received 308 days ago published 308 days ago lang: en

[JURIST] The Paris Court of Appeals on Thursday refused to hear an embezzlement case brought by the anti-corruption group Transparency International (TI) against the late president of Gabon, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the president of Equatorial Guinea. The complaint accused the late Omar Bongo of Gabon, Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the DRC, Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, and their relatives, of acquiring luxury homes and cars in France with African public funds. In its decision to dismiss the case, the court held that activists could not bring suit against foreign heads of state. In reaction to the ruling, TI has already announced its intention to appeal. Despite the disappointment, TI stressed the case's triumphs, citing the increase in the public's awareness of corruption and decreasing the barriers against prosecuting foreign heads of state in France. The case was heard earlier this year by French Magistrate Francoise Desset, who ruled that the suit could move forward. French state prosecutors appealed that decision. The case is sensitive for France, with Gabon and the DRC as former colonies. France has struggled with how to reconcile its colonial history.
French court decides not to probe 3 African leaders for possible money laundering
[Tech] (Gaea Times (by Simple Thoughts) Breaking News and incisive views 24/7)
French court decides not to probe African leaders PARIS ? A French court has decided not to pursue an investigation into three African heads of state for money laundering linked to their assets in France. A French judge had been seeking to investigate Gabon’s late leader Omar Bongo, the Republic of Congo’s President Denis Sassou-Nguesso and President ...

[details] [close] received 308 days ago published 308 days ago lang: en

French court decides not to probe African leaders PARIS ? A French court has decided not to pursue an investigation into three African heads of state for money laundering linked to their assets in France. A French judge had been seeking to investigate Gabon’s late leader Omar Bongo, the Republic of Congo’s President Denis Sassou-Nguesso and President [...]
Justiça francesa se recusa investigar patrimônio de governantes africanos
[Brazil] (Correio Braziliense)
PARIS - O Tribunal de Apelações de Paris se negou nesta quinta-feira (29/10) a abrir uma investigação sobre o chamado caso dos "bens indevidos", que apura o patrimônio dos presidentes do Gabão, Congo e Guiné Equatorial na França - que, segundo uma ONG, chegaria a 160 milhões de euros. O Tribunal de Apelações declarou que não há lugar para a demanda interposta pela ONG Transparência Internacional, dedicada à luta contra a corrupção, que em maio havia sido aceita, indicaram uma f ...

[details] [close] received 308 days ago published 308 days ago lang: pt-br

PARIS - O Tribunal de Apelações de Paris se negou nesta quinta-feira (29/10) a abrir uma investigação sobre o chamado caso dos "bens indevidos", que apura o patrimônio dos presidentes do Gabão, Congo e Guiné Equatorial na França - que, segundo uma ONG, chegaria a 160 milhões de euros. O Tribunal de Apelações declarou que não há lugar para a demanda interposta pela ONG Transparência Internacional, dedicada à luta contra a corrupção, que em maio havia sido aceita, indicaram uma fonte judicial e um dos advogados do caso. Imediatamente, a Transparência Internacional anunciou em um comunicado que "entrará com um recurso de cassação" contra a decisão. A demanda apresentada pela ONG denuncia as condições em que três chefes de Estado africanos - Denis Sassou Nguesso do Congo, Teodoro Obiang Nguema da Guiné Equatorial e o falecido presidente do Gabão Omar Bongo Ondimda - e alguns de seus parentes adquiriram um significativo patrimônio na França. Em maio, um juiz de Paris havia autorizado a abertura de uma investigação, mas a promotoria apelou da decisão alegando que o demandante não possui interesses jurídicos no caso. Segundo a Transparência Internacional, o patrimônio imobiliário destes três chefes de Estado africanos na França, principalmente em Paris, chega a 160 milhões de euros (US$ 236 milhões). Apenas Bongo e seus parentes possuem cerca de 30 luxuosos apartamentos e casas na capital francesa. Para a ONG, "não resta dúvida de que este patrimônio foi erguido graças aos salários e à renda destes chefes de Estado, sobre os quais existem sérias suspeitas de malversação de fundos públicos".
No more excuses for Africa | Aaron Akinyemi
[Guardian] (World news : Africa roundup | guardian.co.uk)
Africa must own up to and challenge the role its morally bankrupt elite are playing in the continent's underdevelopmentWhen Gabon's president of 42 years, Omar Bongo, died in June, many breathed a sigh of relief, hoping his departure would usher in a new era of democracy and responsible leadership. Bongo had been the world's longest-serving leader, having banned political opposition for much of his tenure to reinforce a stranglehold on the presidency and plunder the tiny central African nation o ...

[details] [close] received 326 days ago published 326 days ago lang: en-gb
Africa must own up to and challenge the role its morally bankrupt elite are playing in the continent's underdevelopment

When Gabon's president of 42 years, Omar Bongo, died in June, many breathed a sigh of relief, hoping his departure would usher in a new era of democracy and responsible leadership. Bongo had been the world's longest-serving leader, having banned political opposition for much of his tenure to reinforce a stranglehold on the presidency and plunder the tiny central African nation of much of its oil wealth.

Despite 80% of Gabonese living in poverty, Omar Bongo thought nothing of decorating his private jet using $2.6m of aid money, hoarding $130m of public funds away in foreign accounts and maintaining at least 39 luxury properties in France worth $190m. It is easy to empathise with the exasperation and accusations of rigging, therefore, when Bongo's son Ali-Ben was "democratically elected" as his father's successor last month.

A despicable cycle of corruption continually repeats itself across Africa and is becoming tiresome – as are some of the usual explanations for underdevelopment in Africa: colonialism, neo-colonialism and the inability to fully recover from its lingering after effects. These old excuses are little more than convenient spiels designed to divert attention away from the most immediate root of underdevelopment in much of Africa today – greed and corruption, which according to the African Union costs the continent around $140bn a year and seriously hampers economic growth. It is high time for Africa to stop passing the buck and acknowledge the role its leaders, whose mental faculties are held to ransom by their own avarice, are having on the continent's inadequate rate of development.

Europe too certainly has plenty to answer for vis-a-vis underdevelopment in Africa. A legacy of slavery and colonialism left the continent's human and natural resources exploited and spent. Sophisticated indigenous socio-political systems were dismantled, arbitrary geographical boundaries drawn up and scores of different ethnic groups lumped together with little regard for their different languages and customs. When Europe finally exited, it left behind governmental systems largely based on patronage and thus prone to graft. Cue decades of coups, warfare and military dictatorships. Today, western countries are complicit with corruption in the developing world through bribery and in the case of France, propping up kleptocratic African leaders and helping to facilitate the 1994 Rwandan genocide, one of the worst atrocities in modern times.

But where does victimhood end and personal responsibility begin? Almost half a century after independence and a trillion dollars worth of aid later and poverty remains rife in Africa. Any well-meaning attempt to help from the outside world is largely useless if there is no transparency and political will at the other end to ensure it ends up where it is supposed to.

My father became the first indigenous director general of the Nigerian Institute of Management and a director of the National Bank of Nigeria in the 1970s – a decade of untold economic prosperity thanks to the oil boom. Spurred on by a moral, if idealistic, desire to redistribute the wealth and improve the lot of ordinary Nigerians, Chief OIA Akinyemi ventured into the political arena, where he was constantly propositioned with bribes, which he rebuffed at every turn. Needless to say, he didn't get very far in politics. Political and moral corruption now seems an unspoken prerequisite to attain office in Africa, insidiously weaving its way into Africa's cultural fabric.

More than a decade earlier, in 1958, my father had spoken as a guest at the Ealing branch of the United Nations Association in London, where he called for an end to irresponsible leadership in apartheid-era South Africa and across the continent. Over half a century later, and the consequences of the unmitigated greed – which almost wrecked the Nigerian banking system – are only just catching up with old family friends.

And there are many stories similar to my father's. Nuhu Ribadu, the former chairman of Nigeria's economic and financial crimes commission, was feted internationally as a beacon of hope in Africa's fight against corruption when he recovered billions of dollars in stolen public funds and successfully prosecuted scores of international advance fee fraudsters and top government officials. When his investigations began to get too close for comfort and he refused to be bought, the government essentially sacked him and forced him into exile in the UK, where is currently a fellow at Oxford University. Decent people do exist in Africa - they just aren't often allowed to speak. Similarly, encouraging success stories such Botswana and Ghana frequently seem overshadowed by setbacks such as those recently seen in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Zambia.

Africa must own up to and challenge the role its morally bankrupt elite are playing in the continent's underdevelopment and in the suffering of its disadvantaged citizens. But developed nations must also consider the impact of their own complicity in corruption on the continent. It's a myth that fraud is the sole preserve of the developing world, and sanctimonious calls for political transparency ring very hollow when the likes of Britain and China send subliminal messages that bribery is acceptable.

Pointing fingers at the west won't build good roads or feed the poor. Modern-day external exploitation can only be adequately challenged once Africa gets its own house in order. And the time for that is now. No more excuses.
Aaron Akinyemi

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Gabon court declares Bongo victor in disputed presidential election
[Law] (JURIST - Paper Chase)
[JURIST] The Constitutional Court of Gabon upheld on Monday the presidential election victory of Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba. Bongo, former minister of defence and foreign affairs and of son of long-time Gabonese president Omar Bongo, received over 40 percent of the vote, but was accused of fraud by his challengers. The court rejected the claims filed by the opposition, and ordered that the inauguration can take place in the coming days. Bongo represents a minority party in the nation. This is believe ...

[details] [close] received 324 days ago published 324 days ago lang: en

[JURIST] The Constitutional Court of Gabon upheld on Monday the presidential election victory of Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba. Bongo, former minister of defence and foreign affairs and of son of long-time Gabonese president Omar Bongo, received over 40 percent of the vote, but was accused of fraud by his challengers. The court rejected the claims filed by the opposition, and ordered that the inauguration can take place in the coming days. Bongo represents a minority party in the nation. This is believed to have played a part in the violence that erupted following the election. Former colonial power, France, had previously acknowledged Bongo as the electoral victor. Accusations of election fraud and related violence have been widespread in Africa. Earlier this month the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it will prosecute responsible parties for the December 2007 Kenyan post-election violence. In 2008, opposition parties in Zimbabwe alleged that the government rigged the results of the re-election of President Robert Mugabe. In 2007, the Nigerian presidential election received sharp criticism from outside observers and opposition leaders, despite what appeared to be a landslide victory for Umaru Yar'Adua.
Ali Bongo Ondimba investi président du Gabon
[France] (Le Monde.fr : à la Une)
Ali Bongo Ondimba, fils du chef de l'Etat Omar Bongo Ondimba mort en juin, a été investi vendredi à Libreville comme président du Gabon.

[details] [close] received 321 days ago published 321 days ago lang: fr

Ali Bongo Ondimba, fils du chef de l'Etat Omar Bongo Ondimba mort en juin, a été investi vendredi à Libreville comme président du Gabon.
Bongo calls for 'elite renewal'
[BBC , Rugby, Science] (BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition)
New President Ali Ben Bongo, son of long-time leader Omar Bongo, says Gabon's elites should be renewed.

[details] [close] received 321 days ago published 321 days ago lang: en-gb

New President Ali Ben Bongo, son of long-time leader Omar Bongo, says Gabon's elites should be renewed.
Ali Bongo toma posesión de la Presidencia gabonesa entre críticas de la oposición
[Spanish News] (Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com)
Dakar.- Ali Bongo tomó hoy posesión de la Presidencia de Gabón en un acto oficial al que asistieron varios gobernantes africanos, tras unas elecciones calificadas de "mascarada" por la oposición, que no acepta su gobierno."Juro dedicar todos mis esfuerzos al bienestar del pueblo gabonés, respetar y defender la Constitución y el Estado de derecho, asumir los deberes de mi cargo y ser justo con todos", dijo Bongo, ante los presidentes de Guinea Ecuatorial, Teodoro Obiang Nguema; de Mali, Aam ...

[details] [close] received 321 days ago published 321 days ago lang: es-es

Dakar.- Ali Bongo tomó hoy posesión de la Presidencia de Gabón en un acto oficial al que asistieron varios gobernantes africanos, tras unas elecciones calificadas de "mascarada" por la oposición, que no acepta su gobierno.

"Juro dedicar todos mis esfuerzos al bienestar del pueblo gabonés, respetar y defender la Constitución y el Estado de derecho, asumir los deberes de mi cargo y ser justo con todos", dijo Bongo, ante los presidentes de Guinea Ecuatorial, Teodoro Obiang Nguema; de Mali, Aamadou Toumani Toure, y de Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso.

En el acto, en el que también estaban presentes los altos cargos del Estado gabonés y que fue retransmitido por la televisión oficial, captada en Dakar, Bongo prestó juramento ante los miembros del Tribunal Constitucional, máxima instancia judicial del país.

La sesión, celebrada en el Palacio Presidencial de Libreville, empezó con un minuto de silencio en recuerdo del anterior presidente, Omar Bongo, fallecido el pasado 8 de junio en una clínica privada de Barcelona tras 42 años en el poder.

El régimen de Omar Bongo, padre de Ali Bongo, estuvo plagado de escándalos de corrupción y, a su muerte, el anterior gobernante y sus familiares eran investigados por enriquecimiento ilícito por un tribunal francés, que también tiene en su mira as los presidentes Obiang, de Guinea Ecuatorial, y Sassou Nguesso, de Congo.

En su discurso de investidura, el nuevo mandatario mostró su "voluntad" de hacer de Gabón un país emergente y una democracia política y económica.

"Quiero un Gabón exento de corrupción, en el que haya una justicia igual para todos, con unas empresas prósperas y que creen empleos", dijo Bongo, quien se comprometió a consolidar los valores de "paz, desarrollo y distribución de la riqueza".

Ali Bongo reafirmó también la fidelidad de Gabón a sus compromisos regionales, continentales e internacionales y reiteró la adhesión de su país a los proyectos de integración y cooperación Norte-Sur y Sur-Sur.

Ali Bongo, de 51 años, fue elegido en los comicios del pasado 30 de agosto para un mandato de siete años y se convierte en el tercer presidente de Gabón.

Los pasados comicios estuvieron seguidas por una oleada de violencia en Libreville y en la principal ciudad financiera, Port-Gentil, debido a las protestas de los opositores al conocer los resultados oficiales, que calificaron de "fraudulentos" y de "golpe de estado electoral" para realizar una "sucesión dinástica".
El presidente Bongo confirmó a Paul Biyoghé Mba como primer ministro de Gabón
[Spanish News] (Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com)
Dakar.- El presidente Ali Bongo confirmó a Paul Biyoghé Mba en su cargo de primer ministro, como primer acto tras tomar posesión hoy por un mandato de siete años, informaron las emisoras de radio regionales captadas en Dakar.Biyoghe Mba (de 53 años), ha sido nombrado primer ministro en julio pasado para sustituir al anterior jefe del gobierno, Jean Eyeghe Ndong, quien renunció para presentar su candidatura en las elecciones presidenciales del pasado 30 de agosto.Bongo tomó posesión hoy t ...

[details] [close] received 321 days ago published 321 days ago lang: es-es

Dakar.- El presidente Ali Bongo confirmó a Paul Biyoghé Mba en su cargo de primer ministro, como primer acto tras tomar posesión hoy por un mandato de siete años, informaron las emisoras de radio regionales captadas en Dakar.

Biyoghe Mba (de 53 años), ha sido nombrado primer ministro en julio pasado para sustituir al anterior jefe del gobierno, Jean Eyeghe Ndong, quien renunció para presentar su candidatura en las elecciones presidenciales del pasado 30 de agosto.

Bongo tomó posesión hoy tras prestar juramento en un acto solemne presenciado por una decena de mandatarios africanos.

En su discurso de investidura, Bongo manifestó su voluntad de ser "el presidente de todos los gaboneses", a los que invitó a sumarse a sus esfuerzos para hacer de Gabón "un país emergente".

Se comprometió a luchar contra la corrupción, fortalecer el Estado de derecho y la democracia, así como el clima de paz y la unidad nacional.

Bongo, quien se convierte en el tercer presidente de la república gabonesa, sustituye a su padre, Omar Bongo, fallecido de un cáncer en una clínica privada de Barcelona, en junio pasado.

La oposición gabonesa impugnó los resultados de las elecciones, que calificó de "una mascarada" para oficializar la sucesión dinástica, un proyecto planeado desde hace años en el seno del clan Bongo y con el beneplácito de Francia, la antigua potencia colonizadora.