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Aujourd’hui dans L’Expresso : Macron au Brésil, la Slovaquie peine à payer ses agriculteurs, Reynders présélectionné comme SG du Conseil de l’Europe et Pedro Sánchez dément avoir engagé des pourparlers avec les séparatistes catalans

La Secrétaire générale de la Francophonie, Louise Mushikiwabo, a suivi avec attention l'évolution de la situation politique au Sénégal et la préparation de l'élection présidentielle du 24 mars 2024. Elle tient également à souligner que le Sénégal, en tant que pays d'un des pères fondateurs de l'OIF, Léopold Sédar Senghor, et du Président Abdou Diouf qui a dirigé l'OIF pendant plusieurs années, joue un rôle historique et significatif au sein de la Francophonie.

Elle félicite les autorités et l'ensemble du peuple sénégalais pour le déroulement pacifique du scrutin. Prenant acte de l'annonce des résultats provisoires, Louise Mushikiwabo félicite le nouveau Président de la République élu, Monsieur Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar FAYE. Elle ne peut que souhaiter que la suite s'inscrive dans l'esprit de ce transfert de pouvoir fluide et apaisé.

A cet effet, elle encourage toutes les parties prenantes à poursuivre les efforts pour préserver la stabilité du Sénégal, essentielle pour les Sénégalais et pour l'ensemble de la sous-région, et renforcer les acquis démocratiques du pays.

L'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) renouvelle sa disponibilité aux partenaires sénégalais pour continuer à œuvrer, à leurs côtés, en faveur de la consolidation de la paix, de la démocratie et de l'État de droit au Sénégal.

L'OIF compte 88 États et gouvernements : 54 membres, 7 membres associés et 27 observateurs.

Source : OIF

Le gouvernement grec de centre droit (PPE) sera confronté mardi à un vote de défiance proposé par les partis d’opposition à la suite d’un rapport de presse suggérant que les conversations entre les employés des trains la nuit de l’accident qui a fait 57 morts ont été déformées.

Comme chaque année depuis 2014, RFI lance un appel à écriture pour participer au Prix Théâtre. Depuis sa création, ce prix met en lumière toute une nouvelle génération d'autrices et d'auteurs venant d'Afrique francophone, du Liban ou d'Haïti, avec des textes en résonance avec le monde contemporain

Quels seront les sujets forts abordés cette année ? De quelle humanité témoigneront les auteurs lors de cette édition ? Avec quels mots, dans quel style ? C'est aux artistes d'apporter leur réponse. L'appel à écriture pour la 11ème édition du « Prix Théâtre RFI » est ouvert depuis le lundi 25 mars, et les autrices et auteurs ont jusqu'au 27 avril à minuit pour envoyer leurs textes, à l'adresse prix.theatre@rfi.fr. Une douzaine de textes seront présélectionnés pour leurs qualités littéraires, dramaturgiques et leur originalité, avant d'être soumis en septembre prochain au vote final du jury.

Pour participer, les autrices et auteurs doivent avoir entre 18 et 46 ans, être originaires et installés dans un pays situé en Afrique, Océan indien, Caraïbes (hors Dom-Tom), Proche ou Moyen-Orient. Le Prix est ouvert également aux étrangers issus de ces zones, résidant en France depuis moins de 4 ans et détenteurs d'un titre de séjour ou d'un statut de réfugié politique. Leurs textes doivent être originaux, inédits en France et rédigés en français.

Le « Prix Théâtre RFI » sera remis le 29 septembre à Limoges dans le cadre du festival Les Zébrures d'automne organisé par « Les Francophonies - Des écritures à la scène ». Le Prix a pour objectif de promouvoir la richesse des écritures dramatiques contemporaines francophones du Sud et de favoriser le développement de carrière de jeunes auteurs écrivant en français. RFI et ses partenaires offrent ainsi au lauréat un soutien professionnel et une exposition médiatique à travers : une résidence à la villa Saint Louis Ndar au Sénégal ; une résidence de création scénique sur le texte lauréat au Centre Dramatique National de Normandie-Rouen ; une dotation financière attribuée par la SACD ; l'organisation et le financement par l'Institut français d'une résidence d'écriture à la Maison des Auteurs de Limoges et à Paris avec Théâtre Ouvert ; une promotion du texte et une mise en ondes sur les antennes de RFI, ainsi qu'une lecture en public lors du cycle « Ça va, ça va le monde ! », organisé dans le cadre du Festival d'Avignon. Le Règlement, formulaire d'inscription et précisions sont disponibles sur le site de RFI.

En 2023, Eric Delphin Kwegoué (Cameroun) a été récompensé avec A cœur ouvert. Il succédait ainsi à Gaëlle Bien-Aimé, Jean D'Amérique, Souleymane Bah, Valérie Cachard, Sedjro Giovanni Houansou, Edouard Elvis Bvouma, Hakim Bah, Hala Moughanie et Julien Mabiala Bissila.

Le « Prix Théâtre RFI » est organisé en partenariat avec la SACD, l'Institut français, l'Institut français du Sénégal à Saint Louis, les Francophonies - Des écritures à la scène, Théâtre Ouvert - Centre National des dramaturgies contemporaines, et le Centre Dramatique National de Normandie-Rouen.

Euractiv's Transport Brief brings you the latest roundup of news affecting the transport sector in Europe.

Die PSOE von Spaniens Ministerpräsident Pedro Sánchez "spricht bereits" mit katalanischen Separatisten über ein künftiges Unabhängigkeitsreferendum, erklärte die Generalsekretärin der separatistischen ERC-Partei in einem Interview. Die Sozialdemokraten dementieren.

Die EU-Kommission hat die Lufthansa davor gewarnt, eine Minderheitsbeteiligung an der italienischen Fluggesellschaft ITA Airways zu erwerben. Der Deal könnte abgelehnt werden, wenn keine Maßnahmen zur Lösung von Wettbewerbsfragen getroffen würden.

La LNB S.A vous donne le récapitulatif des résultats de Loto 5/90 du Lundi 25 Mars 2024.

Tirage N°1:18-43-26-68-57-44

Tirage N°2:45-48-78-40-88-68

Tirage N°3:65-88-57-33-22-50

L’opérateur vaudois basé à Renens affiche un excédent brut d’exploitation en hausse de 4,7%. Son chiffre d'affaires dépasse le milliard de francs.

A Security Council meeting in progress. Credit: United Nations

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 26 2024 (IPS)

The UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution for a temporary cease-fire in the ongoing conflict in Gaza— adopted by a 14-0 vote with the US abstaining –- marks a significant step forward in momentarily halting the five-month-old fighting which has claimed the lives of over 32,000 Palestinians and 1,200 inside Israel.

But a lingering question remains: how will Israel respond?

Clearly, Israel has had a longstanding notoriety for flouting UNSC resolutions —and still never having to pay a price for such violations—primarily because of the unyielding support of the United States.

Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics, University of San Francisco, who has written extensively and authoritatively on the politics of the Security Council, told IPS: “By my count, Israel has initially stood in violation of as many as 40 UN Security Council resolutions for at least a decade following their passage, though they eventually came into compliance with about a dozen of those. They remain in violation of the others”.

Successive U.S. administrations, including the Biden administration, have made clear they would veto any UN Security Council resolution that would impose sanctions or any other kind of pressure to force Israel into compliance, he said.

While it is certainly a positive development that the Biden administration did not veto Monday’s Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire as it has previously, the United States again demonstrated its isolation in the international community by being the only country to not vote in favor.

The Biden administration threatened to veto the original draft resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire, only agreeing to not cast a veto in return for dropping the word “permanent.”

White House spokesperson John Kirby said the United States did not vote in favor because the resolution did not condemn Hamas, despite the fact that it did not condemn Israel either.

The wording of the various clauses which the Biden administration also apparently demanded are revealing: While it “demands” that Hamas release the hostages, the United States made sure that the resolution only “emphasizes the urgent need” to get desperately-needed aid to Palestinians and that it did not mention that it is Israel that is preventing it, said Dr Zunes, currently Torgny Segerstedt Visiting Research Professor, at the Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

At the same time, even though the ceasefire resolution, if honored, would only stop the fighting for two weeks, it is significant that the United States allowed for even a temporary ceasefire resolution to pass without conditioning it on the release of Israeli hostages, he noted.

“This is no doubt a reflection of the growing domestic and international pressure the Biden administration has been facing over its support for Israel’s horrific war on the people of Gaza.

Whatever the wording of the resolution, however, it is unlikely that Israel will abide by it and the United States would certainly veto any attempt by the United Nations to enforce it,” he declared.

Oxfam’s UN Representative and Head of New York Office Brenda Mofya said: “We welcome the Security Council’s adoption of a ceasefire resolution so Palestinians in Gaza can have much-needed respite from the relentless and devastating Israeli violence and critical aid can reach them”.

However, this resolution, while a step in the right direction, falls short of the permanent ceasefire which is truly required and comes too late for the over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza that have been killed, and thousands more unaccounted for, while the Security Council wrung its hands over semantics, she argued.

“For nearly six months, the rest of the international community has repeatedly called for a permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and the provision of unrestricted aid into Gaza. It is long overdue for UN Security Council Member States to finally heed these calls with the moral leadership that is rightfully expected of them and to stop the killing and suffering in Gaza.

“Now this resolution has passed, it is imperative for Member States to fulfil their obligations to ensure that it is implemented so that Palestinians never endure violence such as this again. This includes immediately halting the transfer of weapons, parts, and ammunition to Israel and Palestinian armed groups,” she said.

“A mere two-week pause is not enough. This initial cessation in violence must lead to a permanent ceasefire that lasts and a sustainable peace for Palestinians and Israelis alike, so people in Gaza can mourn their loved ones and begin the long road of recovery and reconstruction,” declared Mofya.

Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch said Israel needs to immediately respond to the UN Security Council resolution by facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid, ending its starvation of Gaza’s population, and halting unlawful attacks.

Palestinian armed groups should immediately release all civilians held hostage. The US and other countries should use their leverage to end atrocities by suspending arms transfers to Israel, said Charbonneau.

In a statement issued on March 25, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US abstention on the Security Council resolution comes on the heels of the Russian and Chinese veto “of our comprehensive draft resolution in the Council, reaffirms the U.S. position that a ceasefire of any duration come as part of an agreement to release hostages in Gaza”.

“While we do not agree with all provisions included in this text, adjustments made by the resolution’s sponsors over recent days are consistent with our principled position that any ceasefire text must be paired with text on the release of the hostages”, he said.

This resolution further explicitly recognizes the painstaking, non-stop negotiations being conducted by the Governments of Egypt, Israel, Qatar, and the United States to achieve such a release in the context of a ceasefire, which would also create space to surge more lifesaving humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians, and to build something more enduring.

“Because the final text does not have key language we view as essential, notably a condemnation of Hamas, we could not support it. This failure to condemn Hamas is particularly difficult to understand coming days after the world once again witnessed the horrific acts terrorist groups commit,” Blinken said.

“We reiterate the need to accelerate and sustain the provision of humanitarian assistance through all available routes – land, sea, and air. We continue to discuss with partners a pathway to the establishment of a Palestinian state with real security guarantees for Israel to establish long-term peace and security,” he declared.

Nihal Awad, National Executive Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the Biden administration’s long overdue decision to permit the passage of a Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire “will only be impactful if our government takes concrete steps to support it.”

The far-right Netanyahu government is already flouting the resolution and promising to continue its genocide in Gaza. The Biden administration should respond by ending the transfer of any new weapons to the Israeli government and taking steps to pursue a just, lasting peace, he said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Le commissaire européen à la Justice Didier Reynders a été présélectionné pour devenir le prochain secrétaire général du Conseil de l’Europe, a annoncé le Comité des ministres mardi.

In today’s edition of the Capitals, find out more about the Czech Senate Speaker suggesting Prague should host the Belarusian oppositional government, the European Commission raising concerns over the Lufthansa-ITA deal., and so much more.  

La statue Bio Guera se retrouve depuis ce lundi 25 mars 2024 au carrefour Erevan.

Inaugurée le 30 juillet 2022, la statue Bio Guera n'est plus au rond point de l'aéroport international cardinal Bernardin Gantin de Cadjèhoun. Elle a été déplacée ce lundi pour le carrefour Erevan.

La statue est composée d'une enveloppe faite de fonte (cuivre T3) d'une épaisseur moyenne de 5 mm montée sur une structure en acier ; l'ensemble reposant sur un massif en béton armé. La hauteur de la statue elle-même est de 7m. Les travaux entamés depuis des mois au niveau du carrefour Erevan sont toujours en cours.

A.A.A

Das österreichische Landwirtschaftsministerium und sechs andere EU-Mitgliedsstaaten versuchen, die Umsetzung eines neuen Gesetzes gegen Entwaldung zu verzögern und Kleinbauern auszunehmen. Kurioserweise wendet sich das österreichische Umweltministerium öffentlich gegen die Rebellen aus dem eigenen Land. 

By Roshmi Goswami and P. Saravanamuttu
THIMPHU, Bhutan, Mar 26 2024 (IPS)

South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR), a regional network of human rights defenders, has called on the Government of Bhutan to release the political prisoners it has detained for decades.

SAHR made the call on the occasion of the 16th World Social Forum (WSF) held in Nepal recently, where a session was organised on ‘Bhutan’s Prisoners of Conscience’.

The session drew attention to the expulsion of Bhutanese citizens of Nepali origin, also known as Lhotshampas, which started in the late 1980’s into the early 1990’s. While the situation of the Lhotshampa refugees was relatively well known, the reality of political prisoners, many of whom have spent more than 30 years in Chamjang Jail, has only recently been reported. Further, there are also significant numbers of disappeared citizens of Bhutan about whom not much is known.

While at present Bhutan puts up a front of a country high on the Gross National Happiness index, it hides the sufferings of the Lhotshampas who were strategically expelled, made stateless, and also detained as prisoners categorised as ‘non-nationals’ or ‘anti-nationals’.

These Prisoners of Conscience are held in prison for their expressions of political beliefs or identity assertion, while others have been framed. Different international human rights organisations have recognised 50-100 people still held as political prisoners in Bhutan, without trials or cases being brought, with 37 kept in Chamgang Jail.

Bhutan as a country moved towards democracy from absolute monarchy in 2008 with the promulgation of the Constitution. However, in many respects the country has remained autocratic, and successive kings have held ultimate power even as the state security establishment cracked down on Lhotshampa activists who demanded democracy and an end to discriminatory policies, including that of Driglam Namza, which called for cultural purity tied to the ‘Drukpa’ community.

Some of the incarcerated Lhotshampa were arrested in the early 1990s and have been detained for nearly 43 years. Different human rights organisations at various times have made efforts for the release of the political prisoners, without success.

The ultimate power for release of the political prisoners lies at present with King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and SAHR believes that he should personally be held accountable for the continued incarcerations.

SAHR believes that Bhutan’s progression towards a democratic state, where the citizenry is truly ‘happy’ and content, requires the release of the prisoners of conscience. SAHR further calls on the international community, including Nepal as the host country of refugees and India as a country that has not done its bit on the refugee issue being the land neighbour of Bhutan and with deep links to the Bhutanese state, to work to persuade Bhutan to take back the refugees who have refused to take the option of third-country settlement. These Lhotshampa refugees languish in the camps of Southeast Nepal, maintaining a principled stand on their ‘right of return’.

SAHR is also concerned that the remaining several thousand refugees in southeast Nepal are now without support of international organisations such as UNHCR and WFP. Similarly, the Government of Nepal has disbanded the refugee camps, and it has also become difficult for the refugees to move about and lead normal lives.

SAHR demands that the Government of Nepal as well as international organisations re-engage with Bhutanese refugees and provide support and security to the refugees still in Nepal.

SAHR notes that the lives of the refugees have been made more complicated by the scam involving top-level Nepali politicians and officials involved in providing Nepali citizens with fake certificates as Bhutanese refugees to make fraudulent income with the promise to get them settled in third countries.

The exposure of this scam has, through no fault of their own, made the refugees in Nepal more vulnerable to neglect and delays on the hands of the host country’s officialdom.

Further, SAHR demands the following of and on behalf of Bhutan’s prisoners of conscience as well as refugees:

• While the majority of the Lhotshampa refugees have been provided a third country resettlement, this does not undermine their entitlement to right of return to Bhutan, which they consider as their homeland.
• The Government of Nepal should provide for the needs of the refugees who are currently restricted to live in camps, including the issuance of travel documentation, birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates and refugee ID card renewals which facilitate their rights and entitlements within Nepal.
• The Lhotshampa refugees in Nepal have the right to decent living and quality of life, for which they should have the right to work.
• The scam in Nepal regarding the creation of fake refugees of Nepali citizens should be impartially investigated and the perpetrators duly brought to justice, while the refugees themselves should not be made subject to further discrimination as a result of the racket.

Dr. Roshmi Goswami is Co-Chairperson, South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR); Dr. P. Saravanamuttu is Bureau Member, SAHR

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Meetings between Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels on Monday over the use of the Serbian dinar in the country yielded no results, with Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi stating he hopes the EU envoy for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, will schedule another meeting for next week.

Le gouvernement slovaque a retardé le versement des subventions agricoles de l’UE aux agriculteurs éligibles, la Commission européenne ayant confirmé que la situation n’était pas de son ressort.

As of 20 May 2024, camps in Albania that will process the asylum applications of individuals rescued by the Italian authorities will be up and running, as a recently published tender document reveals more details about the deal and how the site will function.

The Greek centre-right government (EPP) will face on Tuesday a no confidence vote pushed forward by opposition parties following a press report suggesting that the conversations between train workers at the night of an accident that killed 57 people were distorted.

Emmanuel Macron se rend au Brésil pour une visite d'Etat de mardi à jeudi (26-28 mars) afin de renouer les liens bilatéraux entre les deux pays avec le président Lula, tout en esquivant l'épineuse question de l'accord UE-Mercosur.