Bosnia rethink under US pressure
Under US pressure, Bosnia’s political leaders agreed on Tuesday to “streamline” their tri-presidency by March, which could lead to a sole president for the divided Balkan country and bolster its chances of joining NATO and the EU.
In a joint statement during US-brokered talks, leaders of Bosnia’s three ethnic groups also made an unusual call for accused war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic to surrender to a UN court at The Hague.
The Bosnians reached the agreements during talks that mark this week’s 10th anniversary of the US brokered Dayton accords, which stopped a 1992-95 civil war but also established a political system based on ethnic divisions.
“We have decided to embark upon a process of constitutional reform that will enhance the authorities of the state government and streamline parliament and the office of the presidency,” eight political leaders representing Bosnia’s three main ethnic groups said in a statement distributed by the U.S. State Department.
Faced with Bosnian Serb resistance, the statement did not specifically commit the leaders to creating a single presidency.
During tough talks over two days, U.S. diplomats said they dropped their goal for a specific pledge for a sole president and instead focused on winning a strong commitment for reform that they believe will bring about a single presidency anyway.(Reuters)
Colombian rebels ‘keen’ to talk
Colombia’s second largest rebel group says it is prepared to hold exploratory talks with the government to discuss the terms of a possible peace process.
However, the National Liberation Army (ELN) said in a statement that it was not suspending its armed campaign.
One of ELN’s main leaders, Francisco Galan, was recently released in an attempt to pave the way for dialogue.
The ELN and the larger FARC have been involved in a 40-year conflict with state forces and right-wing fighters.
Alejo Vargas, who serves as a mediator, said that the ELN statement was optimistic.
“The big step is that for the first time the group at the highest level is willing to sit down with the government.”
Francisco Galan is serving a 30-year sentence for rebellion, terrorism and kidnapping.
The government allowed him to leave jail for three months in September in the hope that he would convince the ELN to begin talks.
President Alvaro Uribe has already started a peace process with the country’s main right-wing paramilitary group, the AUC, but the terms of them have been strongly criticised by human rights groups.
The Farc, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has refused to negotiate with the government.(BBC)
Kurd UDI if civil war erupts
Iraqi Kurds will have no choice but to proclaim independence in the event of civil war in Iraq, Massud Barzani, president of northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish zone, warned.
In an interview with Turkish television station NTV on a day of fresh bombings of Shiite mosques in Iraq, Barzani said an outbreak of civil war would force Iraqi Kurds to exercise the “right” to independence.
“May God save us from civil war, but if others start fighting among themselves and there is an outbreak, we will have no other alternative,” he said.
He said that while independence was a “natural and legitimate right” for Iraqi Kurds, they would “at this stage” implement the country’s new constitution in support of a “democratic federal and pluralist” Iraq.
Turkey fears a declaration of independence by Iraq’s Kurds would inflame a rebellion by separatists within its own large Kurdish minority.
Barzani downplayed the presence of anti-Turkey Kurdish rebels in his territory of northern Iraq, saying there was no military solution to the unrest in Turkey.
At least 55 people were killed and 62 wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up Friday amid worshippers at two Shiite mosques in Khanaqin. Authorities imposed a curfew in the majority Shiite Kurdish town near the Iranian border.(AFP)
Palestianians reform foreign service
The Palestinians are cleaning out their embassies around the world, removing entrenched ambassadors and establishing a code of conduct in reforms aimed at transforming their calcified foreign service into a professional diplomatic corps, officials said.
The campaign is the largest reform effort undertaken by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas since he took power after Yasser Arafat’s death a year ago, officials said this week. Arafat, who dominated Palestinian politics for more than three decades, left behind an administration riddled with corruption, where cronies were given choice appointments based on their connections rather than their qualifications.
Nasser Al Kidwa, Arafat’s nephew and the former Palestinian representative to the United Nations, has forced 22 ambassadors into retirement and moved 13 others into different jobs since he became foreign minister early this year. Most of those removed were between 60 and 76 years old — 16 years beyond retirement age — and many had been in their post for decades, some for nearly 40 years, Palestinian officials said.
In their place, Al Kidwa appointed 33 new ambassadors, most of them prominent academics.
Many of the ambassadors, struggling to live on small salaries, took second jobs to supplement their incomes, said Ibrahim Khreisha, the Palestinian deputy foreign minister. Many stayed in their posts so long that they became citizens of the countries where they lived, prompting questions about their loyalty, he said.(AP)
Under US pressure, Bosnia’s political leaders agreed on Tuesday to “streamline” their tri-presidency by March, which could lead to a sole president for the divided Balkan country and bolster its chances of joining NATO and the EU.
In a joint statement during US-brokered talks, leaders of Bosnia’s three ethnic groups also made an unusual call for accused war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic to surrender to a UN court at The Hague.
The Bosnians reached the agreements during talks that mark this week’s 10th anniversary of the US brokered Dayton accords, which stopped a 1992-95 civil war but also established a political system based on ethnic divisions.
“We have decided to embark upon a process of constitutional reform that will enhance the authorities of the state government and streamline parliament and the office of the presidency,” eight political leaders representing Bosnia’s three main ethnic groups said in a statement distributed by the U.S. State Department.
Faced with Bosnian Serb resistance, the statement did not specifically commit the leaders to creating a single presidency.
During tough talks over two days, U.S. diplomats said they dropped their goal for a specific pledge for a sole president and instead focused on winning a strong commitment for reform that they believe will bring about a single presidency anyway.(Reuters)
Colombian rebels ‘keen’ to talk
Colombia’s second largest rebel group says it is prepared to hold exploratory talks with the government to discuss the terms of a possible peace process.
However, the National Liberation Army (ELN) said in a statement that it was not suspending its armed campaign.
One of ELN’s main leaders, Francisco Galan, was recently released in an attempt to pave the way for dialogue.
The ELN and the larger FARC have been involved in a 40-year conflict with state forces and right-wing fighters.
Alejo Vargas, who serves as a mediator, said that the ELN statement was optimistic.
“The big step is that for the first time the group at the highest level is willing to sit down with the government.”
Francisco Galan is serving a 30-year sentence for rebellion, terrorism and kidnapping.
The government allowed him to leave jail for three months in September in the hope that he would convince the ELN to begin talks.
President Alvaro Uribe has already started a peace process with the country’s main right-wing paramilitary group, the AUC, but the terms of them have been strongly criticised by human rights groups.
The Farc, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has refused to negotiate with the government.(BBC)
Kurd UDI if civil war erupts
Iraqi Kurds will have no choice but to proclaim independence in the event of civil war in Iraq, Massud Barzani, president of northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish zone, warned.
In an interview with Turkish television station NTV on a day of fresh bombings of Shiite mosques in Iraq, Barzani said an outbreak of civil war would force Iraqi Kurds to exercise the “right” to independence.
“May God save us from civil war, but if others start fighting among themselves and there is an outbreak, we will have no other alternative,” he said.
He said that while independence was a “natural and legitimate right” for Iraqi Kurds, they would “at this stage” implement the country’s new constitution in support of a “democratic federal and pluralist” Iraq.
Turkey fears a declaration of independence by Iraq’s Kurds would inflame a rebellion by separatists within its own large Kurdish minority.
Barzani downplayed the presence of anti-Turkey Kurdish rebels in his territory of northern Iraq, saying there was no military solution to the unrest in Turkey.
At least 55 people were killed and 62 wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up Friday amid worshippers at two Shiite mosques in Khanaqin. Authorities imposed a curfew in the majority Shiite Kurdish town near the Iranian border.(AFP)
Palestianians reform foreign service
The Palestinians are cleaning out their embassies around the world, removing entrenched ambassadors and establishing a code of conduct in reforms aimed at transforming their calcified foreign service into a professional diplomatic corps, officials said.
The campaign is the largest reform effort undertaken by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas since he took power after Yasser Arafat’s death a year ago, officials said this week. Arafat, who dominated Palestinian politics for more than three decades, left behind an administration riddled with corruption, where cronies were given choice appointments based on their connections rather than their qualifications.
Nasser Al Kidwa, Arafat’s nephew and the former Palestinian representative to the United Nations, has forced 22 ambassadors into retirement and moved 13 others into different jobs since he became foreign minister early this year. Most of those removed were between 60 and 76 years old — 16 years beyond retirement age — and many had been in their post for decades, some for nearly 40 years, Palestinian officials said.
In their place, Al Kidwa appointed 33 new ambassadors, most of them prominent academics.
Many of the ambassadors, struggling to live on small salaries, took second jobs to supplement their incomes, said Ibrahim Khreisha, the Palestinian deputy foreign minister. Many stayed in their posts so long that they became citizens of the countries where they lived, prompting questions about their loyalty, he said.(AP)
