An independent Inquiry has begun into the bloody events of October 3, 2006, in Victoria when the leader of the opposition Seychelles National Party (SNP) and other party officials were beaten up in front of the National Assembly building.
The Inquiry, led by Irish Judge Michael Reilly, is now probing into the events of the day after considering the situation regarding access to public media by political parties, the issue which led to the incidents.
This part of the Inquiry is focusing on the actions of the police, in particular the anti-riot Special Support Unit (SSU), in the incidents.
The Inquiry has questioned a number of the SSU officers involved but the officers have on several occasions told the inquiry they did not see or did not remember critical details of the incidents. None of the police officers involved have admitted seeing any of the SNP leaders being hit.
Police officers have on several occasions changed their testimony, making statements to the Inquiry which were different from statements they had made to investigative officers in preparing for the Inquiry.
SNP officials had last week appeared before the Inquiry to give their account of the events of October 3, 2006.
On that day, a group of SNP officials and supporters gathered in front of the National Assembly building to sign a petition against an amendment to the Radio and Telecommunications Act which would bar a political party or religious organization as well as bodies affiliated to them from obtaining a radio broadcasting licence.
The SSU intervened to break up the gathering, using tear-gas, rubber bullets and batons. SNP leader Wavel Ramkalawan and another party official, Jean-François Ferrari, were beaten on the head with batons and both received several stitches for their wounds. Other party officials, including Members of the National Assembly, were also injured, along with several supporters.
SSU officers have told the Inquiry they were informed by their commanding officers from early in the morning of October 3, at around 7.00 am or 7.30 am, that there would be an illegal gathering by the SNP that day. Some said they were told then there would be a riot while others even said there was already a riot in progress.
The SSU officers were issued with full riot gear including shields, batons, tear-gas guns and canisters as well as firearms and ammunition. They were deployed first to the Central Police Station to await further instructions and then to the National Assembly building.
When they went there, SSU officers entered the building through a side door, crossed the entrance lobby and emerged through the front doors where the SNP had gathered. Their commanding officer on the scene addressed the gathering with a loud-hailer, telling them they were taking part in an illegal assembly and that they were to disperse.
But almost at the same time, Mr. Ramkalawan and Mr. Ferrari were dragged inside the building and beaten on the head. The Inquiry has established that they emerged from the building by the same door that the SSU had entered only one minute and 23 seconds after the officer had shouted through the loud-hailer.
The SSU officers questioned have said they did not see who dragged Mr. Ramkalawan or Mr. Ferrari inside or who hit them. One however said he was told by his superior officer to take Mr. Ferrari inside but let him go because he had received a cut on the arm, supposedly from a dagger. He told the court he had took no further part in the operation because of the wound but was shown a video in which he was seen walking around briskly later on with a loud-hailer and with no apparent sign of injury.
Police officers had spent all day following the events to film and take pictures. One officer submitted a video purporting to be of the events but later admitted that a part of the video, which he had repeatedly said was of the day, had been filmed one week later. Another said he had taken pictures all day but submitted only 19 pictures to the inquiry.
The Deputy Head of the Special Branch of the police told the Inquiry the only role of the Special Branch was to monitor the activities of political parties. He said the Special Branch was the eyes and ears of the Government. He said he collected information and gave it to his superior officer but did not know how the information was stored or used later.
Judge Reilly has had to repeat questions to the SSU officers several times over as witnesses did not answer the question or replied vaguely. He has repeatedly exhorted the SSU officers to tell the truth and to cooperate with the Inquiry. He has also repeatedly read to the witnesses statements from other officers, including their commanders, which contradicted their testimony before the Inquiry.
President James Michel appointed the independent Inquiry under international pressure after initially endorsing the actions of the police in dealing with the incidents. The Inquiry is being conducted by an Irish team which includes, besides the presiding officer, Judge Micheal Reilly, an assistant presiding officer, a lawyer and a team of three investigative officers led by a retired superintendent of the Irish police.

The bill on reorganising the country’s law courts that passed its first reading in the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Friday seeks to outlaw all broadcasting of trials.
One article states “to safeguard the material truth and the legally protected interests and rights of those involved in cases, the production and public transmission of images and sound of trials is prohibited”.
This is a blanket ban on cameras and microphones in courtrooms.
Under the existing system, judges make their own minds up as to whether trials may be broadcast. Thus in the case of the six men charged with the murder of Mozambican journalist Carlos Cardoso, judge Augusto Paulino decided to allow live transmission of the entire trial, which lasted from November 2002 to January 2003. His decision was widely praised within Mozambique and abroad – although it scandalised more conservative sectors of the judiciary.
Other judges have been more restrictive – thus in 2004 judge Achirafo Abubakar only allowed the broadcast of the opening and closing sessions of the trial of the 17 people accused in the country’s largest bank fraud, involving the theft of the equivalent of 14 million US dollars from the Commercial Bank of Mozambique (BCM).
But the new bill takes away judges’ discretion in this matter, and ensures that never again will a Mozambican trial be broadcast. It is not only live broadcasts that are banned: taken literally, this is a prohibition on any filming or recording in courtrooms.
Even more ominous is another paragraph in the same article, which states that trials are public, except in cases where the court decides otherwise “to safeguard the dignity of persons and public order. or when there are other powerful reasons”.
This is extraordinarily vague language. No doubt the mention of “dignity” is intended to protect victims of rape or other sexual offences. But it is not specified, and any criminal could easily claim that holding a trial in public could prejudice his “dignity”.
The bill makes no attempt to define “other powerful reasons”. Thus any judge might declare that he has “powerful reasons” for holding a trial behind closed doors, and there is no mechanism whereby the public can appeal against that decision.
In informal discussions, some deputies of the ruling Frelimo Party admit that this article is badly worded. It is thus possible that, when the parliamentary committees rework the bill before the second reading (some time in early May), the article will be improved.
In a public meeting last week, Tomas Vieira Mario, the chairperson of the Mozambican chapter of the regional press freedom body MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa), argued that a ban on broadcasting trials would be unconstitutional, since it violates the constitutionally enshrined right of citizens to information.
But Justice Minister Esperanca Machavela defended the ban, on the grounds of the presumption of innocence of accused persons, and the right of citizens to their “honor and good name”, which are also included in the Constitution. She also argued that broadcasting trials could be damaging and intimidating to witnesses.
There seems to be a bi-partisan agreement on limiting press coverage of trials. For at last week’s meeting, the most prominent jurist among opposition parliamentarians, Maximo Dias, lined up in support of Machavela’s position. He argued that broadcasting trials might affect what witnesses said in court.
During Friday’s debate on the bill in the Assembly, not a single deputy, either from Frelimo, or from the opposition, raised the issue.

Even after the signing of a peace accord in Côte d’Ivoire, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the West African country still has much work ahead of it, an official for the world body has said.
“I found a very tangible, very perceptible relaxation of the situation in the country,” Under-Secretary-General Hédi Annabi said in a UN radio interview on Monday at the end of a 12-day visit to the divided nation to evaluate the situation on the ground.
Referring to a peace deal struck by the sides in neighbouring Burkina Faso, he said there was a “very clear willingness on the part of Ivorian leaders to implement the Ouagadougou agreement and try to stick as much as possible to the timeline outlined in the Accord.”
The mission, known as UNOCI, “will continue to help our Ivorian friends in the implementation of the Accord.”
The agreement between President Gbagbo and Forces Nouvelles Secretary-General Guillaume Soro commits both sides to honouring all Security Council resolutions on the issue, including the need to abide by free, fair and transparent elections.
The Accord also tackles disarmament, reform and restructuring of the armed forces as well as the restoration of State authority throughout the country, which has been divided between north and south since 2002. National elections originally slated for last October have been postponed until this year.
Mr. Annabi said that everyone he met with, including President Laurent Gbagbo, stated that they wanted the mission to continue its work to help Ivorians realize the agreement.
The agreement calls for the dismantling of the so-called Zone of Confidence separating the Government-controlled south and rebel-held north, and will be replaced by a green line along which the UN will establish observation points.
As the Accord is fulfilled, Mr. Annabi said that the situation regarding the UN’s mission in the country will be re-evaluated, especially in regards to demobilization of militias.
“After the redeployment of the administration to the north of the country, we will analyze the residual areas we need to accomplish and, based on this analysis, we can envisage a lightening of our resources on the ground and a reduction in manpower,” he noted.
Of the voting scheduled to take place this October, Mr. Annabi stressed that the “organization and management of the elections falls on Ivorian institutions.”
The UN will ensure that they take place “under good conditions.” It will also confirm that the results “proclaimed by Ivorian institutions conform to international norms and that the process takes place under credible, free, democratic and transparent conditions as described in the Accord of Ouagadougou,” he said.
UNOCI has nearly 9,000 total uniformed personnel in the country, including 7,850 troops and almost 1,000 police with a mandate to monitor the cessation of hostilities and movements of armed groups, help in disarmament and dismantling of militias and contribute to the security of the operation of identifying the population and registering voters.

Live radio broadcasts of opposition rallies in the lead-up to presidential polls in 2009 led state regulators in the commercial city of Blantyre this week to bar all private radio stations in Malawi from airing live broadcasts without permission, according to local journalists and media reports. Officials accused unnamed stations of airing “hate messages” but offered no evidence.
All private radio and television broadcasting stations must seek advance permission from the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) before conducting live broadcasts, according to a statement released by the agency on Tuesday. The directive threatened violators with unspecified punishment. “Of late, MACRA has noted with great concern that hate messages are being broadcast by various broadcasting stations,” the statement said.
CPJ has not found any evidence to support the government’s allegations. MACRA spokeswoman Clara Mulonya would not identify any offensive messages, saying the government did not want to repeat them.
The government’s action effectively targeted three leading private stations, Capital Radio, Joy Radio, and Zodiac Broadcasting Station; they were the only stations to air live coverage of presidential campaign rallies for Bakili Muluzi, local journalists told CPJ. Muluzi, the country’s former president and the current owner of Joy Radio, is challenging his former protégé, the incumbent Bingu Wa Mutharika, in a heated campaign. The stations have denied all government allegations, they told CPJ.
“This ruling amounts to censorship and will distort coverage of the presidential election campaign,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “The authorities have produced no evidence to support their disturbing allegations that radio stations are broadcasting hate messages. MACRA must rescind this decision immediately.”
The National Media Institute of Southern Africa, a local media rights group, expects to challenge the ruling in court, Director Innocent Chitosi told CPJ. MACRA, whose members are presidential appointees, already faces a pending legal challenge from Joy Radio, which alleges that some agency members lack the qualifications required by Malawi’s 1998 Communications Act, according to local media reports.
It is not the first time MACRA has threatened private radio stations over critical news coverage. In 2003, it announced that community radio stations were not allowed to broadcast news, a move linked to critical live call-in programs, according to CPJ research. MACRA also threatened private MIJ FM and Capital Radio over political coverage.

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.”

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.