In a major step forward in the implementation of a peace deal signed between the government of Côte d’Ivoire and rebels last month, work has started on dismantling the buffer zone which has divided the country’s rebel-held north and government-controlled south for almost four years.
The buffer zone was established after a brief civil war that erupted after a failed coup in September 2002. It was set up by the United Nations Security Council, which used French troops and UN Peacekeepers to keep government loyalists and rebels apart.
“For us, the dismantling of the buffer zone is a great day. Our people have not been moving freely as they had wished. Some of them were victims of violence. Today a new day has started which is the end of their suffering,” President Laurent Gbagbo said on Wednesday at a ceremony in Tiebissou, 250km north of the main economic centre, Abidjan. As he spoke, white bulldozers smashed through wooden guard posts.
Since the country was divided, aid agencies have warned of a serious deterioration in the north as basic services such as schools, water and sanitation facilities, and health centres that used to be maintained by the government have deteriorated.
Many of the local people milling around at Wednesday’s ceremony came from villages formerly inside the 12,000 sq. km buffer zone.
“We were in a no-man’s land where there was no local authority,” said farmer Desire Kouassi. “When the night fell, we were left in the hands of highwaymen and bandits because the impartial forces controlling the buffer zone were not effective in providing security. I think now security will be arranged.”
Blaise Gouan, a village leader, said: “During the four years our parents only drank from rivers. Health centres were not functioning and only some interventions were made by the French troops.”
Also this week, President Gbagbo signed a law granting a general amnesty for crimes committed during the crisis. Sanctioned by the recent peace accord, the amnesty applies to both rebels and loyal government troops.
Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, a former rebel leader appointed as prime minister in late March, has assured Ivorians that peace is sealed.
“We are getting out of fighting. We did it for five years without results. We wounded, beat up and killed ourselves without results,” he said.
Gbagbo said the next step in the peace process would be organising presidential elections, which according to the terms of the peace deal must happen before the end of the year. Disarmament and the identification of undocumented Ivorians are two other crucial steps to be taken before the polls.

A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists voiced concern today about a troubling pattern of punitive judicial sanctions that have threatened Morocco’s independent press.
Over the last two years, Moroccan courts have levied stiff criminal penalties and civil damages against independent news publications, effectively banishing two of the country’s most outspoken journalists from their profession, pressuring a third to quit journalism, and sending a strong message to independent-minded journalists who report on sensitive political issues in the kingdom. Moroccan officials and members of the press are also discussing amendments to the country’s press law that would keep in place tough criminal penalties and possibly open the door to new restrictions on the news media.
“These recent cases threaten not only Morocco’s international reputation as an oasis of relative press freedom, but the quality and integrity of its national conversation,” CPJ board member and Al-Jazeera English anchor Dave Marash said. Marash, a member of the delegation, took part in a press conference today that concluded CPJ’s nine-day mission to Casablanca and Rabat.
“The record shows that Moroccan courts are influenced by the government,” said Joel Campagna, who led the delegation as CPJ’s senior program coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa. “It’s clear to us that authorities are putting economic pressure on critical newspapers by exacting exorbitant civil damages in the courts.” These cases have, in some instances, prompted news outlets to soften coverage, CPJ research has found.
Many of the recent press prosecutions underscore the restrictions imposed by Morocco’s 2002 press law, which lays out a variety of potential penalties. A draft press law now under discussion among publishers, journalists, and the government would keep several criminal penalties in place for journalists deemed to have violated vaguely worded bans against offending the monarchy, Islam, and state institutions such as the army and judiciary. Offenders would face the prospect of jail and heavy fines for violating the content bans, which also include critical coverage of the country’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.
The new draft law would also stipulate the creation of a National Press Council whose 15 members would be appointed by the king, journalists, and publishers. One draft version of the amendments grants the council sweeping powers to ban journalists from working in their profession, and levy economic sanctions against newspapers journalists who violated a prospective ethics code. Moroccan Journalist Syndicate head Younes Mujahid told CPJ that the most recent draft has excised these provisions. Both he and Moroccan officials told CPJ that the drafting of the amendments continues and is open to improvement.
“Drafting a new press law is an opportunity for Morocco to decriminalize sanctions against journalists and implement internationally recognized civil remedies for defamation or journalistic error,” Marash said. “It is chance to renew Morocco’s dedication to freedom of speech and access to ideas, opinions, and information.”

ALN Denounces Recent Violence in Zimbabwe
The Africa Liberal Network (ALN), an organisation of eighteen African liberal parties is deeply concerned about the rapidly deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe.
Following the break up of a public meeting by riot police on 11th of March 2007 in Harare, Zimbabwe, and the arrest of opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai and his supporters, and the subsequent arrest on 17th of March of Arthur Mutambara, we the members of the ALN strongly condemn the excessive use of force used by the police against Zimbabwean citizens exercising their right to freedom of expression.
The events of the last week are a gross violation of the basic democratic rights of citizens to engage in peaceful assembly.
The role of any rights respecting government is to allow peaceful assembly and to provide a space for the exercise of legitimate political rights.
We call on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) to strongly condemn the actions of President Mugabe’s police force;
We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all opposition supporters;
We wish the prompt recovery of those who have been brutalized;
We express our solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe who have been fighting for a peaceful, stable, and truly democratic Zimbabwean state that respects the rights of its citizens;
We call on the international community to increase the level of sanctions against the government of Zimbabwe, especially “smart sanctions” that target senior government officials if the rights of citizens are not restored and respected.
Aly Touré
Président of the Africa Liberal Network
19 March 2007

South Africa’s decision to oppose a request for a United Nations Security Council briefing on the economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe is another example of South Africa bending over backwards to defend Robert Mugabe’s increasingly tyrannical rule.
Britain’s ambassador to the UN, Emyr Jones Parry last week requested a “humanitarian briefing” for the UNSC following the attack on Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, as well as the deepening economic and political crisis in the country. South Africa is the current rotating President of the UNSC – Dumisani Khumalo, South Africa’s ambassador to the UN, opposed the request.
In a repeat of South Africa’s indefensible blocking of a UN resolution on the human rights crisis in Burma, Khumalo argued that the turmoil in Zimbabwe does not affect international peace and security and therefore does not belong on the UNSC’s agenda.
Apart from the extraordinary irony that this reasoning was often the excuse used to block UNSC debates on Apartheid South Africa, it is also a fundamental misreading of the extent of the crisis in Zimbabwe. As the situation continues to get worse on a daily basis, there is a distinct possibility that the southern African region will be negatively affected by the fallout from Zimbabwe’s implosion. This fallout could in all likelihood constitute a threat to international peace and security.
South Africa, as the leading nation in the region, has a moral responsibility to tell Harare that its brutal intolerance of legitimate opposition will no longer be accepted. By shielding President Mugabe from international scrutiny, Pretoria has become complicit in suppression of democratic freedoms in Zimbabwe.
South Africa is rapidly developing a reputation as a defender of the world’s pariahs; our tenure at the head of the UNSC is characterised by an indifference to human rights and temporising with tyranny. We have now all but lost much of the moral high ground we once had under President Mandela. As South Africa prepares to commemorate Human Rights Day on Wednesday, we must urgently reassess our position and make sure that Zimbabwe is placed on the UNSC’s agenda.
Our window of opportunity is fast closing, as Britain will next month assume the UNSC chairpersonship. If they put Zimbabwe on the agenda when we opposed such a move, our moral high ground will be lost completely.
Tony Leon MP
Leader of the Democratic Alliance
19 March 2007

ZAMBIANS will get a new Constitution before the 2011 general elections through the much-desired Constituent Assembly (CA), chief Government spokesperson Vernon Mwaanga has said.
Mr Mwaanga who is Information and Broadcasting minister said in Lusaka yesterday that it was wishful thinking for Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) chairman William Mweemba to suggest that the K206 billion provided for in this year’s Budget was enough to complete the Constitution exercise within a year.
He explained that the Constitution making process was tedious as it involved a laborious process which involved holding of a census as well as amending the current Constitution to allow the sharing of powers for the CA and Parliament in terms of making laws.
Mr Mwaanga also wondered whether parliamentarians would agree to share power with the CA.
The minister said President Mwanawasa was determined to leave the Zambian people with a new Constitution as his legacy after his final five-year term of office.
“The Government roadmap on the Constitution making process envisages on giving Zambians a new Constitution much earlier than the 2011 elections. Besides, President Mwanawasa would want to leave a legacy of a new Constitution before his final term of office,” Mr Mwaanga said.
He said although President Mwanawasa clearly stated that adopting the new Constitution through a CA was not the best because of the huge costs and the laborious process, Government would go ahead with such a mode because it was the wish of the Zambian people.
“It is therefore sad that we are being told that people want a new Constitution within a few months which is not fair. People should be patient and allow the Constitution process to run and they should agree that huge sums of money which could have been spent on development should be chanelled to this task,” he said.
On complaints by certain quarters of society that the 2006 Electoral Law was inadequate, Mr Mwaanga said such assertions were incorrect.
He explained that certain recommendations made by the Electoral Reform Technical Committee (ERTC) could not be incorporated into the Electoral Law because they would have been in conflict with the Constitution.
Mr Mwaanga also reiterated Government’s commitment to fighting corruption and called for patience among the Zambian people as the graft fight was complex the world over.
“Government is committed and we will remain committed to fighting corruption and that is why we have ratified relevant international protocols to fight this vice. It is not easy to fight corruption and it has remained so the world over but as a Government, we are committed to this fight,” Mr Mwaanga said.

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has more votes than all his opponents put together so far, and a second round may not be needed, his supporters predict. Prime Minister Macky Sall – who is Mr Wade’s campaign manager – said partial results gave the president 57% of the votes counted so far.
No official results have been announced so far, and opposition candidates say any outright win would be fraudulent.
Voter turnout was high and long queues left some polling stations open late.
The first official provisional results are expected later on Monday. A second-round run-off is scheduled for mid-March, if no candidate secures a majority. Mr Sall said partial figures compiled from their polling stations representatives showed that Mr Wade “is well clear of the 50% needed to be elected in the first round”.
But, opposition supporters dismissed these claims as “fantasy”. The election commission warned against predicting results, saying it was unhelpful.
Battle
Mr Wade, who is seeking a second term, has come under pressure in recent months over high rural unemployment.
President Wade, who came from behind to win in the last election, will be well aware of the danger of a second round, says the BBC’s Will Ross in Dakar.
Since that election, which saw a rare transfer of power in Africa by the ballot from one leader to a rival, President Wade has fallen out with several of his allies, some of whom were among the 14 opponents challenging him on the ballot papers.
Two of them were Moustapha Niasse and the youthful Idrissa Seck, who have both served as prime minister in Mr Wade’s administration.
Ousmane Tanor Dieng, who served under the previous president, Abdou Diouf, was also seen as a strong contender.
Senegal, a predominately Muslim nation, is seen as a rare model of stable democracy in Africa. It is the only West African nation not to have experienced a coup since independence, and polls in 2000 passed off peacefully.
Some five million people were eligible to vote, which is almost double the figure in the last election.

ALN members are pleased to welcome a new sister party from Burkina Faso, l’Alliance pour la Democratie et la Federation/Rassemblement Democratique Africain (ADF-RDA). A representative from the party attended the ALN General Assembly meeting in Dakar (3 February 2007) where he gave a brief presentation and answered questions from the ALN members present at the GA. All members then unanimously voted in favour of the ADF-RDA joining the ALN.
ADF-RDA is headed by Maitre Gilbert Noel Ouedraogo who is the current Transport Minister. It is the second political force in Burkina Faso and the first opposition party. It has 17 out of the 111 parliamentary seats and 2 Ministers in Government for both Transport and education.

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Imen Trabelsi
Africa Network Officer
•    ALN Holds First General Assembly Meeting and Elects ALN President, Dakar, Senegal.
•    Burkina Party ADF- RDA Joins the ALN as Observer Member
•    Mission Accomplished- Tony Leon Announces He Will Relinquish Party Leadership
•    Democracy is More than Elections: The Experience of the Seychelles National Party– by Roger Mancienne, SNP Secretary General
•    Zambia’s Fourth Democratic Elections: A Country of Minority Governments–By Tiens Kahenya, UPND Secretary General
•    The Conflict in Cote d’Ivoire: What’s Next?–By Aly Toure, RDR Member and ALN President
•    ALN Sends Message of Condolences to ANADER for loss of Party Leader
•    ALN 2007 Election Calendar
ALN Holds First General Assembly Meeting and Elects ALN President, Dakar, Senegal.
The ALN held its first General Assembly meeting on Saturday 3rd February 2007, following the workshop on Advocacy and Lobbying at the International level which took place in Dakar, 31st January-2nd February. The meeting provided an opportunity for the members to reach agreement on outstanding issues and to discuss a plan of action for the Network for 2007. The meeting was also an opportunity for the members to elect the first ALN president; Mr. Aly Toure from RDR- Cote d’Ivoire.
Burkina Party ADF- RDA Joins the ALN as Observer Member
ALN members are pleased to welcome a new sister party from Burkina Faso, l’Alliance pour la Democratie et la Federation/Rassemblement Democratique Africain (ADF-RDA). A representative from the party attended the ALN General Assembly meeting in Dakar (3 February 2007) where he gave a brief presentation and answered questions from the ALN members present at the GA. All members then unanimously voted in favour of the ADF-RDA joining the ALN.
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Mission Accomplished- Tony Leon Announces He Will Relinquish Party Leadership
In a statement delivered on Sunday 26 November 2006, DA Leader Tony Leon announced that he will not be seeking nor accepting nomination for the leadership of the Democratic Alliance when the Party Federal Congress convenes in May 2007.The following is an excerpt from his statement.
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Democracy is More than Elections: The Experience of the Seychelles National Party– by Roger Mancienne, SNP Secretary General
2006 has been a watershed year for the Seychelles National Party. In July, it faced a critical presidential election which it lost only narrowly and on October 3, its leaders were beaten up by police at the entrance of the National Assembly building in Victoria. The two events showed that fair and equitable conditions do not come easily in a political system shaped by the one-party mentality. They also changed the party’s outlook and approach to politics. In other words, our experience showed that elections are not enough to say that a country has achieved democracy.
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Zambia’s Fourth Democratic Elections: A Country of Minority Governments–By Tiens Kahenya, UPND Secretary General
IT wouldn’t be wide off the mark to suggest that Abraham Lincoln’s definition of democracy, as a government of the people for the people and by the people, has almost failed in Africa and Zambia in particular. Since Zambia’s return to multi party democracy in 1991, the country has so far held four elections, three of which have been widely disputed by the civil society and political parties as not reflective of the people’s wishes.
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The Conflict in Cote d’Ivoire: What’s Next?–By Aly Toure, RDR Member and ALN President
Once considered a rare example of stability in the region, Côte d’Ivoire descended into conflict in September 2002 after a failed attempt to topple President Laurent Gbagbo grew into a rebellion that divided the country into two parts: the south controlled by the government, and the north, ruled by the insurgents.
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ALN Sends Message of Condolences to ANADER for loss of Party Leader
During their meeting in Dakar (31 January-3 February 2007),  and upon hearing of the death of ANADER leader Mr.Raphael KUMBU-KI-LUTETE, members of the Africa Liberal Network issued the following statement:
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ALN 2007 Election Calendar
Parliamentary and presidentail elections will be taking place in some of the ALN member countries in 2007 as follows:
Senegal                Presidential elections 25 February
Burkina Faso       Parliamentary elections 6 May
Senegal                Parliamentary elections 3 June
Morocco                Parliamentary elections September 2007
Cote d’Ivoire         Presidential elections October 2007
Seychelles           Parliamentary elections November 2007
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Colin Eglin, one of the founders of the Africa Liberal Network, was at the frontline of the making of South African history for the second half of the 20th Century.
In Crossing the Borders of Power, he recalls an active life well lived. From childhood in South Africa to fighting his way through Italy in the second world war. Then to fighting his corner in Parliament – from which perspective he provides searching insights into South African politics and politicians during the most dramatic and traumatic half-century in the history of the country.
Crossing the Borders of Power will be available through www.centralbooks.co.uk from 1 July 2007.