40 World International THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 8- 14, 2013
40 World International THE MYANMAR TIMES JULY 8- 14, 2013
HARARE
Zimbabwe court rejects calls to shift vote date
NAIROBI
ELECTIONS to choose a new government in Zimbabwe will go ahead on July 31, the disputed date that President Robert Mugabe had unilaterally set, the country’ s top court ruled on July 4.
The court dismissed appeals by both Mr Mugabe and his nemesis Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to have the date postponed following pressure from regional leaders.
“ Elections should proceed on the 31st of July 2013 in terms of the proclamation by the president in compliance with the order of this court,” chief justice Godfrey Chidyausiku ruled.
‘ Given [ Mugabe’ s ] advanced age of 89, ZANU-PF will view the election as a critical bridge for asserting the prominence and credibility of the party in the post- Mugabe era.’
Charles Laurie Risk analysis researcher
The presidential vote will be held on the same day as parliamentary elections to replace an uneasy powersharing deal between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai in place since 2009.
Mr Mugabe had lodged an appeal to shift by two weeks the date that he had himself set, after regional bloc the Southern African Development Community asked him to allow more time for preparations.
Mr Tsvangirai, who accuses Mr Mugabe and his allies of failing to implement promised reforms ahead of the vote, had wanted an even longer extension to allow time for the overhauls, and lodged a separate petition.
But“ after perusing the papers, and hearing counsel in this matter, the court unanimously concludes that the applications should be and are hereby dismissed”, said Mr Chidyausiku.
Mr Tsvangirai’ s Movement for Democratic Change( MDC) party dismissed the ruling as“ a political decision, not a legal one”.
The court’ s ruling came as the two presidential rivals readied to launch their election campaigns.
The party of 89-year-old Mr Mugabe launched his campaign and election manifesto on July 5 at a stadium in the capital Harare.
He will be bidding for another five years in power, to add to the 33 years he has already notched up. But first he will have to beat his longtime rival Mr Tsvangirai, who unveiled his own election campaign on July 7 in the eastern town of Marondera.
Charles Laurie, senior Africa researcher at UK-based risk analysis company Maplecroft, said party“ stalwarts will fiercely seek to ensure Mugabe’ s victory, with an eye to positioning themselves for possible succession bids”.
“ Given the leader’ s advanced age of 89, ZANU-PF will view the election as a critical bridge for asserting the prominence and credibility of the party in the post-Mugabe era,” said Mr Laurie.
Despite grumblings over the date, Mr Tsvangirai and his MDC appear gearing to square off against Mr Mugabe at the end of the month. There are fears that Mr Mugabe, who has been ruling the country by decree since parliament’ s dissolution on June 29, could introduce other laws to scuttle the planned electoral reforms. – AFP
A Kenya Wildlife Service officer numbers elephant ivory tusks on July 3. Photo: AFP
Kenyan officials seize 1.5 tonnes of ivory
OFFICIALS in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa seized almost 1.5 tonnes of ivory hacked out of poached elephants, they said on July 3, the latest in a series of seizures by Kenyan authorities.
“ The ivory was stashed in 69 bundles of several pieces and had been disguised as sun-dried fish,” said Kenya Wildlife Service spokesman Paul Udoto.
The smugglers tried to use smelly dried fish to hide the ivory – some 770 pieces weighing 1478 kilogrammes( 3252 pounds) – from sniffer dogs of the customs officers.
“ Some bags had worked polished pieces of ivory, while others had raw ivory,” Mr Udoto said.
The seizure comes just two days after US President Barack Obama signed an executive order launching a US $ 10 million bid to cut wildlife trafficking in Africa, with $ 3 million in assistance earmarked for Kenya.
Export documents from the seizure show that the consignment had entered Kenya from Uganda on June 12, 2013, and was destined for Malaysia.
In January, 2 tonnes of ivory worth $ 1 million on transit from Tanzania to Indonesia were seized also at
Mombasa, a regional trade hub.
Ivory trade is banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora( CITES).
Poaching has risen sharply in Africa in recent years. Besides targeting rhinos, whole herds of elephants have been massacred for their ivory.
The illegal ivory trade, estimated to be worth between $ 7 billion and $ 10 billion a year, is mostly fuelled by demand in Asia and the Middle East, where elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns are used in traditional medicine and to make ornaments. – AFP
ROME
Coward or scapegoat? Italian cruise captain goes on trial
FRANÇOISE KADRI
WITH his slick hair and macho-man image, the captain of the Costa Concordia has been portrayed as a villain who crashed and then abandoned his cruise ship in a tragedy that claimed 32 lives.
But as Francesco Schettino’ s trial opens in Italy on July 9, some lawyers are saying he should not be the sole defendant and Costa Crociere, Europe’ s biggest cruise operator, should share the blame.
The 52-year-old Mr Schettino is accused of crashing the giant liner on the night of January 13 last year, as he was trying to perform a risky“ salute” manoeuvre just off the Tuscan island of Giglio.
With 4229 people from 70 countries onboard, the Costa Concordia hit a rock, veered sharply and then keeled over near the shore, sparking a panicky and heavily delayed nighttime evacuation.
Mr Schettino is accused of leaving the ship before all the passengers had been evacuated, earning him the nickname“ Captain Coward” in the tabloid press.
He has defended himself saying that the ship was already tilting at a 90-degree angle and that he was coordinating the rescue from the shore.
Mr Schettino says he slipped and fell onto a lifeboat.
The court will rule on the charges he faces of multiple manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing environmental damage but the trial by media has already delivered its guilty verdict.
A widely quoted piece of evidence against him is a phone call in which a coast guard official is heard upbraiding Mr Schettino and ordering him to“ get back on board, for fuck’ s sake”.
Several passengers have said they saw Mr Schettino drinking on the night of the tragedy in the company of an attractive young blonde, later identified as Moldovan passenger Domnica Cemortan.
At his home in Meta, a picturesque town of seafarers on the Amalfi Coast near Naples, locals initially defended the captain but have become increasingly critical in recent months.
One of his former teachers at the prestigious Nino Bixio Nautical Institute said Mr Schettino was a risk-taker and pointed out that the ship was travelling far too fast at the moment of impact.
“ There’ s a character problem there,” Antonio Ferraiuolo said in a recent interview.
While acknowledging he could be a showoff, several former colleagues have however defended Mr Schettino when questioned by investigators.
Fellow Costa captain Mauro Mautone said he was“ a very serious, reliable, well-trained person”.
Another, Mario Moretta, said Mr Schettino was“ well-trained and with an excellent skill-set”.
Mr Schettino’ s lawyers, Domenico and Francesco Pepe, have said they will show the court that“ no single person was responsible” for the disaster.
They plan to probe the role played by Costa managers, the type of steel used to build the ship, as well as the apparent malfunctioning of sealed doors and back-up generators on board.
Another group of lawyers calling themselves Justice for the Concordia, who are suing Costa on behalf of dozens of survivors, have said the company’ s managers should also stand trial.
Costa has accepted responsibility as Mr Schettino’ s employer and has been ordered to pay 1 million euros( US $ 1.3 million), a controversial ruling that excludes the company from the criminal case.
Mr Schettino himself has spoken very little since the tragedy, spending most of his time in his home after a court ordered him to stay in Meta.
In one of his few comments, he has said that he is looking forward to the chance to explain himself in court and that his conscience is at peace.
“ I will go to trial knowing that I can explain what happened, calmly,” Mr Schettino said. – AFP