Twenty four investigators from the National Gendarmerie and National Police Corps on June 3, 2016 in Yaounde completed a 12-day training in terrorist crime scene investigation. The training, carried out by several instructors deployed by the government of the United States of America (USA), was the second out of five modules related to the fight against terrorism.

After handing over end-of-course attestations to the trainees at the Judicial Police Training Centre of the National Gendarmerie, Yeyap Barracks last Friday, the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence in charge of the National Gendarmerie, Jean Baptiste Bokam, expressed gratitude for the increasing multifarious assistance given by Cameroon’s strategic partner, the USA.

He expressed hope that the training, which started on May 23, 2016, will help alleviate several shortcomings observed in the handling of terrorist-related crime scenes since the country started receiving Boko Haram attacks. In this vein, US Ambassador to Cameroon, H.E. Michael Stephen Hoza, reassured that the training will enhance Cameroonian security services’ ability to investigate terrorist attacks and help the military and other branches of the government stop Boko Haram bomb makers and other threats. The US diplomat also handed over 24 sets of kits to the centre for training in counter-terrorism crime scene investigations.

Cameroon Tribune

The Libyan Red Cross says the bodies of 133 refugees, including five children, have been washed up on Libya’s western coast in recent days. Three-quarters of the dead refugees were women, said Red Cross spokesman, Al-Khalis al-Bosaifi on Sunday, noting that the bodies were found on the shore of the northwestern Zuwara City. Bosaifi added that no documents were found with the bodies to identify their nationalities but they were mainly sub-Saharan Africans.

A local official said the refugees were believed to have taken their journey from the Libyan city of Sabratha. People who hope to reach Italy from Libya pay a huge amount of money to human smugglers to give them places on their flimsy boats.The head of the EU’s Mediterranean naval mission recently said that human trafficking accounts for about 30 to 50 percent of the GDP in northwestern Libya.

The UN refugee agency said the route between North Africa and Italy is “dramatically more dangerous” than the route between Turkey and Greece.

Presstv

Preliminary statement of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) mission to Gabon

Libreville, June 3, 2016

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) deployed an international delegation to Gabon from May 29 to June 3. The purpose of the mission was to assess preparations for the 2016 presidential election and to support Gabonese efforts at ensuring a peaceful, transparent and credible election.

Traveling at the invitation of the Gabonese government and welcomed by all Gabonese political parties – from the majority and opposition – the delegation included political and civic leaders, and election and regional experts from North America, Europe and Africa. It comprised Right Honorable Joe Clark, former Prime Minister of Canada; Ambassador Maria Leissner, Secretary General of the Community of Democracies; Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh, Senior Associate for Africa at NDI; and Dr. Sophia Moestrup, Deputy Director for Central and West Africa at NDI.

During its stay in Gabon, the delegation met with election authorities, notably the Ministry of Interior, the election commission (CENAP), the Constitutional Court and the National Communications Council (CNC); members of the major political parties from ruling and opposition coalitions; the Council for Democracy (CND); representatives of civic organizations and labor unions; the Mediator of the Republic; and representatives of international development partners present in Libreville, to elicit their views on the electoral framework and political process. The team was also received by the Head of State. The delegation conducted its activities in conformity with Gabonese law and international standards as reflected in the 2005 “Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation.”

While awaiting a more detailed assessment report, the delegation offers its preliminary findings and recommendations on steps that could enhance confidence and participation in the election process.

Overview of the electoral context

The delegation observed that there is intense political debate around the elections with several political parties and grouping splanning to participate actively in the upcoming presidential race. The Gabonese expects the outcome of the electoral process to contribute significantly to the consolidation of peace and democracy in the country.

The delegation noted considerable concerns among many of its interlocutors pertaining to growing tensions andthe possibility of violence during the election period. These concerns derive in large part from the history of past presidential elections in Gabon, coupled with an increasingly polarized socio-political environment. Under these circumstances, concrete steps should be taken to increase transparency and calmtensions. Such actions would reassure citizens that disputes and acts of violence would be prevented before, during and after the election.

These tensions also stem from grievances about the constitutional and legal framework of elections in Gabon, including the electoral system, term limits and the representation of civil society on election management bodies; highly relevant questions on which Gabonese actors should be able to agree in order to consolidate democracy in the country. These differences of opinion are exacerbated by the lack of equal access to public media by opposition parties and the lack of professionalism in information dissemination by some private media outlets.

While many Gabonese political leaders call for dialogue, they each complain of the lack of good faith efforts on the part of their opponents. Although prior attempts at dialogue may not have succeeded, most Gabonese that met with the delegation would like to see those efforts pursued.

The delegation is aware that Gabon has some institutions that could play a catalytic role in fostering citizen participation in politics, such as the National Council for Democracy (CND) and the office of the Mediator of the Republic. These innovative institutions are assets for the consolidation of democracy in Gabon, and strengthening their capacity would provide additional platforms for Gabonese politicians and citizens by facilitating communications and regular interaction. Similarly, the delegation acknowledges early steps over the past few years to modernize the Gabonese electoral system and hopes those initiatives will be further perfected.

The delegation also heard concerns about potential shortcomings in the operationalization of the electoral framework that could undermine the inclusivity, peacefulness, transparency and credibility of the August 2016 presidential poll. These concerns touch on important aspects of the electoral process such as: the reliability of the voters list; the bi-partisan make-up of the CENAP national commission and its decentralized components; and the counting, compilation, centralization and announcement of election results. Under these circumstances, extraordinary steps should be taken beyond the letter of the law by election authorities in consultation with political actors to build citizen confidence in the election and its outcome.

Recommendations

In the spirit of international cooperation and the principles of the African Union Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, and taking into consideration the open-mindedness of the Gabonese with whom we met which aligns with their best national traditions, the delegation offers the following recommendations:

1. Political and civic leaders should be mindful that elections are a key pillar of democracy; and viewing them as a purely recurring administrative exercise would undermine the free expression of the will of the people.
2. Concrete steps should be taken to enhance confidence amongst candidates and political parties in the voters list, and could include a professional, public audit of the registry.
3. The election management body (CENAP) should take concrete steps to speed up the vote counting and transmission of election results. It should also emulate best global practices in the consolidation of results by releasing figures in both aggregated and disaggregated forms at each level of compilation in order to enhance transparency and confidence amongst voters, candidates and political parties.
4. The National Communication Council (CNC) should adopt measures in partnership with public media to guarantee equitable access to public media during the two-week election campaign as provided for by law. Additionally, the CNC should make accommodations to reflect the reality that the country is already in campaign mode.
5. The Code of Conduct recently adopted by the National Council for Democracy (CND) as a moral and ethics charter, should be publicly endorsed and implemented by all presidential candidates and party leaders in order to reassure the population of their commitment to contribute to peaceful, transparent and credible elections.
6. Steps should be taken to facilitate the optimum participation of civil society groups and enhance their capacity to recruit, train and deploy citizen observers to monitor all phases of the electoral process across the country before, during and after the election.
7. Political and civic leaders should manifest their commitment to peaceful elections by initiatinga high level dialogue as soon as possible in order to lower tensions in the pre- and post-election periods.

The delegation calls on all Gabonese leaders across the political spectrum from majority as well as opposition parties, heads of institutions, civil society, labor unions, the media, religious leaders and the population at large to consider upcoming elections as a historic moment to consolidate peace and democracy and preserve the highest interests of the country.

The delegation thanks all Gabonese with whom we met for their warm welcome.

The mission was funded by a grant from the Department of State under the Fundamental Freedoms Fund.

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NDI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

France has acknowledged that its soldiers deployed to the Central African Republic (CAR) under the pretext of quelling the bloody sectarian violence in the country, have committed physical abuse against civilians there, disciplining five servicemen. The French defense ministry announced on Saturday that it has disciplined five of the troops accused of engaging in physical abuse following their deployment to CAR, including sexual abuse of children, local press reports said.

The five are accused of physically abusing two Central Africans at a military outpost in the capital Bangui in 2014, the Ouest-Francenewspaper reported. There are currently three official probes under way into allegations that French soldiers sexually abused children in the country, but the latest case does not relate to sexual acts, said a ministry source cited in the report. “In view of the gravity of the facts, the five soldiers have been suspended,” said the defense ministry, noting, “Simultaneously disciplinary action has been launched… as a precursor to their eviction from the military.”

France launched the Sangaris military operation in 2013 in a bid ‘to maintain peace in its impoverished and chronically restive former colony’ after the outbreak of inter-communal violence between Muslim and Christian militias that has killed thousands. The military mission is due to conclude at the end of the current year, after a progressive draw-down. The United Nations announced in April that it has documented 108 new cases of sexual abuse committed by French troops mostly against minors, describing them as “sickening” and urging investigations that “leave no stone unturned.”

Presstv

US President Barack Obama has condemned the violence at a rally by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in San Jose, California. During a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Florida on Friday, Obama said that there’s no room for politics that ignores opposing opinions.

“It is very important for us to remind ourselves of who we are and what is best about American democracy and not slip into some of the bad habits that currently manifest themselves in the other party,” Obama said.

“We saw in San Jose these protesters starting to pelt stuff [at] Trump supporters. That’s not what our democracy is about,” he added. “That’s not what you do,” Obama said. “There’s no room for violence. There’s no place for shouting. There’s no room for a politics that fails to at least listen to the other side, even if you vehemently disagree. Because I believe if you’ve got the better argument, then you don’t need to do that. Just go out there and organize and persuade.”

Presstv

A senior military commander says Iran is ready for a “decisive and difficult confrontation” with the US after Hillary Clinton threatens Tehran with military action.  Defining her hawkish foreign policy in a speech Thursday in San Diego, Clinton said the US could disarm Iran by military action if she became the president. “Although talk of all options being on the table against Iran is a propaganda show in the United States, the Islamic Iran is prepared for a decisive and difficult confrontation with any American option,” Brig. Gen. Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff of Iran armed forces, said on Friday.

“Our nation and armed forces have never sought a war, but they have not neglected their defensive preparation for a moment,” the commander said. “In case the American military threats are implemented, they (Iranians) are ready to rid humanity of the evil of America’s warmongering and hegemonic policies in a real and direct battle,” he added. In her speech, Clinton took credit for a nuclear agreement that allows Iran to continue its peaceful nuclear program but keeps Clinton’s hypothetical war with Iran on the table.

“The world must understand that the United States will act decisively if necessary, including with military action, to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” Clinton said. “In particular, Israel’s security is non-negotiable. They’re our closest ally in the region and we have a moral obligation to defend them,” she added. The nuclear agreement was reached after the UN confirmed the peaceful nature of Iran’s  program after years of inspections. A self-imposed ban under a fatwa issued by Iran’s top religious authority prohibits the country from acquiring nuclear weapons.  Iran’s biggest enemy in the region, Israel, is widely believed to possess the only arsenal of nuclear warheads in the Middle East.

Culled from Presstv

At least five American soldiers have been killed and four other army troops swept away by a flood-swollen creek in the state of Texas. The Thursday accident happened at Fort Hood when an army troop carrier was washed away from a crossing at Owl Creek, the Texas Army post said. Three soldiers were found dead shortly after their truck was overturned by a swift current of the creek during a morning training exercise.

Two more bodies were found late Thursday night. Three other soldiers were rescued and taken to hospital. Local military spokesman Chris Haug said a search was on for the four soldiers who remain missing. The army did not release the names of the dead as it was still notifying relatives. Parts of Texas have been flooded with rain over the last week, where at least six deaths have been blamed on flooding.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement saying the state “stands ready to provide any assistance to Fort Hood as they deal with this tragedy.” The heaviest downpour Thursday night was reported in LaPorte, on the western shore of Galveston Bay, where several inches of rainfall was recorded between, according to ABC News. This week’s storms are the latest in a string of torrential rains since May 2015 that have put swaths of the state underwater.

Other areas of Texas dealing with heavy rainfall include Bexar County, where San Antonio is located. Meanwhile the rising Colorado River was expected to cause minor flooding in the coming days around Bastrop and La Grange, cities located southeast of Austin, according to the National Weather Service.

Presstv