Niger opposition slams presidential 'coup'

Opponents of Niger's President Mamadou Tandja on Saturday slammed his assumption of emergency powers as a coup d'etat, calling on the army not to obey him and urging international powers to intervene.

The Front for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), a grouping of opposition parties, "condemns the coup d'etat which President Tandja has carried out and calls on everyone to mobilise to prevent by all legal means this attempt to eliminate the rule of law and democracy," FDD head Mahamadou Issoufou said.

He called on "the security and defence forces to refuse to obey the orders of a man who has made the deliberate choice of violating the constitution and who has now forfeited all political and moral legitimacy."

The FDD also urged the international community to "take all possible measures to restore a state of legality and democracy."

Tandja, a 71-year-old retired colonel, acted late Friday after a failed bid to prolong his stay in office by changing the constitution to allow him to run for a third term in elections due at the end of this year.

He said in a television address that he was invoking "article 58 of the constitution" giving him special powers "because the independence of the country is threatened."

Tandja defeated Issoufou in the 1999 and 2004 presidential elections and was due to step down at the end of this year.

"We are at an institutional impasse, which justified the president's address to the nation.... He cannot accept that Niger is blocked by an act of sabotage," Communications Minister Mohammed Ben Omar said on Friday.

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African Union lifts sanctions against Mauritania

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The African Union has lifted sanctions on Mauritania because of steps it is taking to restore democracy this month, the body said in a statement on Wednesday.

The African Union suspended Mauritania after the army overthrew the elected president in August last year and imposed visa and travel bans on members of the junta and its supporters.

But an election is due on July 18 under a transition administration agreed on by the junta and the civilian opposition in the iron ore-producing northwest African country of 3 million.

The African Union's Peace and Security Committee said the decision to lift the measures against Mauritania was taken at a meeting on Monday.

It said it would keep watching the situation in Mauritania to make sure it stayed on track and in case other measures needed to be taken, potentially including the re-imposition of sanctions.

Under an agreement that took effect last month, a transition government was set up to allow a presidential election on July 18 in which junta leader Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and the opposition will take part.

Mauritania's neighbours were concerned the military takeover could set a precedent in a region that had begun to shed its reputation for coups.

The African Union also imposed sanctions on Guinea after the military took over following the death of the veteran president last December. African countries are concerned Guinea's junta may not keep plans to hold free elections this year.

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Junta head denounces resumption of political activities in Guinea

The head of the ruling junta in Guinea, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, on Friday condemned a statement that announced the resumption of political and trade unions activities in the country.

Camara described as "null and void" the text read on Thursday evening on the Guinean Radio and Television Broadcaster (RTG) by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Dr. Frederi Kolié, which lifted the seal on political party activities.

According to a statement by the press office of the Guinean Presidency, read during a news programme broadcast at mid-day Thursday, the announcement of the resumption of political activities was issued on the orders of the country's Premier, Kabiné Komara.

"This statement, which was not endorsed by the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD), is likely to undermine social peace and the democratic process in Guinea," said the head of the ruling junta, who ordered members of CNDD and the government to stop issuing statements without his consent.

Thursday's statement said political parties and trade unions should resume their activities throughout the country, but prohibited electioneering campaigns.

Camara had decided, shortly after the 23 December coup, to suspend political and trade union activities to "avoid chaos and disorder."

The leader of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), Cellou Dalein Diallo, and his motorcade were prevented on 18 June from holding a meeting in Kérouané, about 900 km from Conakry, before they were banned from entering the eastern town of Kankan where they wanted to spend the night.

Pana

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Stability in Guinea Bissau is a critical issue in presidential vote

Months after soldiers killed former President Joao Bernardo Vieira, Guinea-Bissau goes to the polls Sunday to elect a replacement amid widespread hopes for stability in the poor, coup-wracked African nation.

AFP - Guinea-Bissau goes to the polls Sunday in an election where the key contenders are promising to bring stability and peace to one of Africa's poorest and coup-wracked states.

The current political crisis in the West African country, a notorious transit point for the drugs trade to Europe, was sparked by the March murder of president Joao Bernardo Vieira.

The leader, who ruled Guinea-Bissau for 23 years, was killed by members of the army on March 2 in apparent revenge for a bomb attack that claimed the life of the army chief, General Batista Tagme Na Waie.

Eleven candidates, including three former presidents, are in the running, as one pulled out after the army killed two senior politicians on June 5 after they were accused by the government of plotting a coup.

One favourite is Malam Bacai Sanha, who served as interim president from June 1999 to May 2000 and who is the candidate for the long-dominant African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).

The PAIGC already controls 67 of the 100 seats in the country's national assembly.

The other aspirants are former presidents Kumba Yala (2000-2003), who was toppled in a coup and whose reign was marked by wide fiscal mismanagement and sweeping arrests of opposition figures, and Henrique Rosa (2003-2005).

Both Yala and Rosa have also made stability and peace the main planks of their electoral campaigns.

A second round, anticipated for July 28, could also take place to decide on the new president.

Around 600,000 of the country's 1.3 million inhabitants are eligible to vote when polling stations open at 7 am (0700 GMT). Voting is due to end at 5 pm.

Observers have been sceptical that Guinea-Bissau is ready for a vote after the recent upsurge in violence.

In a bid to ensure Sunday's election runs smoothly, regional west African bloc ECOWAS announced that it had paid the country's armed forces three months salary they were owed and issued a call for pledges of support to help after the vote.

But other government employees, also unpaid for three months, still face uncertainty in a state which was ranked 175 out of 177 countries in the 2007-2008 human development report by the United Nations Development Programme.

The elections costing around 5.1 million euros (7.1 million dollars) is entirely funded by foreign donors.

The European Union is sending election observers to the former Portuguese colony, which won its independence in 1974 but has since been overwhelmed and weakened by the international drugs trade.

Observers say the sudden influx of drugs money has considerably raised the stakes in the ongoing power feuds between the army and politicians.

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Low turnout in tense Guinea Bissau election by Malick Rokhy Ba

The candidate for the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), Malam Bacai Sanha (above) speaks outside a polling station in Bissau. Guinea Bissau's presidential election, after the assassination of the incumbent and other killings, was marked by one of the lowest turnouts ever, officials said as the slow count got underway.

Guinea Bissau's presidential election, after the assassination of the incumbent and other killings, was marked by one of the lowest turnouts ever, officials said Monday as the slow count got under way.

First provisional results would take four or five days and the official results up to a week, National Electoral Commission (CNE) spokesman Orlando Mendes told AFP.

Eleven candidates, including three former presidents, ran to replace assassinated leader Joao Bernardo Vieira in the coup-prone former Portuguese colony of 1.3 million people.

No incidents were reported but the atmosphere was tense as the election came less than four months after members of the army gunned down Vieira.

Vieira, who ruled Guinea-Bissau for much of the past quarter century, was killed by soldiers in apparent revenge for the death of army chief, General Batista Tagme Na Waie, in a bomb attack.

On June 5, former territorial administration minister, Baciro Dabo, a candidate in the election, and former defence minister Helder Proenca, were killed by soldiers amid allegations that they were plotting a coup.

The CNE spokesman said Sunday's turnout was "very weak" compared to recent legislative elections when up to 82 percent of the 600,000 eligible voters took part. Another source close to the CNE said the abstention rate could have been up to 40 percent, the highest of the past decade.

"It has got nothing to do with the rain, but more the recent events," the CNE spokesman said, referring to the killings.

The three leading contenders in the contest are all former heads of state.

Malam Bacai Sanha served as interim president from June 1999 to May 2000 and was candidate for the long-dominant African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which already controls 67 of the 100 seats in the national assembly.

Also running was Kumba Yala, whose time in office between 2000 and 2003 was marked by wide fiscal mismanagement and sweeping arrests of opposition figures until he was brought down in a coup.

Another former head of state, running as an independent, is Henrique Rosa (2003-2005).

If no candidate wins an overall majority in the first round, the election will go to a run-off between the two highest-placed contenders on July 28.

Whoever wins will have to contend with grinding poverty -- Guinea-Bissau was ranked 175 out of 177 countries in the 2007-2008 UN Development Programme human index report -- and with the corrupting influence of drugs trafficking.

It is a transit point in the cocaine trade to Europe from Latin America, according to the United Nations.

Raimundo Pereira, the caretaker president, described the poll as "an important step towards stability" in the country which became independent from Portugal in 1974.

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Interim government agrees to July 18 election date

Mauritania's transitional government, headed by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz since a military coup in August 2008, agreed to an internationally-brokered pact scheduling presidential elections for July 19

AFP- Mauritania's transitional government on Sunday endorsed the internationally-brokered pact to overcome the west African country's political crisis and set the presidential election for July 18.

However, anti-putsch politicians, who have been seeking a longer delay to the vote, claimed the decree was not properly adopted.

"The council of ministers examined and approved the Dakar agreement of June 4, 2009..." said a government statement, adding "the government also examined and adopted a decree convening the electorate to vote in the presidential election planned for July 18, 2009."

Under the internationally-mediated pact signed in Dakar, Mauritanian political forces agreed to the delay until July 18 the presidential election, which the general who led last year's putsch was set to sweep.

General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who toppled Mauritania's first democratically elected president last August, was expected to have easily won the presidential election set for June 6 as opposition parties had boycotted the vote.

While anti-putsch forces did not secure as long a delay in holding the vote as they sought, the did succeed in having a transitional government installed made up equally of pro- and anti-putsch forces.

Ousted president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi signed the decree appointing the transitional government on Friday and formally stepped down.

Under the transitional government's decree, later approved by the Constitutional Council, candidates have until Tuesday to register to stand in the presidential election. Under Mauritania's constitution they should have 45 days to declare their candidacy.

Anti-putsch forces said the decree was not properly adopted.

"I can tell you that the decree convoking the vote was not signed either by me or the interim president, Ba Mamadou dit Mbare," transitional interior minister Mohamed Ould Rzeizim told AFP.

Lawmaker Khalil Ould Teyeb, who is close to anti-putsch candidate Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, said opposition candidates were set to meet late on Sunday to try to agree on a common position.

Official sources said decree foresees the electoral campaign getting underway on Thursday.

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Mauritania Interim gov't formed ahead of July 18 vote

Mauritania has appointed a transitional government ahead of next month's presidential elections after ousted president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi (pictured) officially resigned on Friday.

AFP - The transitional government that will lead Mauritania into presidential elections next month was appointed Friday after disputes that threatened to unravel an internationally brokered pact were overcome.

Ousted president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi signed the decree appointing the transitional government and then officially resigned his office in front of the Constitutional Council and Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who has led international mediation efforts.

The move signaled that disputes that held up implementation of an agreement reached earlier in the month to resolve the political crisis in the west African country had been overcome.

The installation of a transitional government was foreseen under an agreement signed on June 4 by all Mauritanian parties delaying the election until July 18, just days before a controversial presidential election was due to go forward.

General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who toppled Mauritania's first democratically elected president last August, was set to sweep the election as the opposition had boycotted the vote.

Under the agreement, a transitional government equally balanced between pro-junta and anti-coup forces was to be formed to organise the election.

But Ould Cheikh Abdallahi refused to appoint the transitional government and step down until the junta council was dissolved.

International mediators said Friday an agreement had been reached under which the junta would become a national defence council under the transitional government's authority.

After signing the decree to loud applause, Ould Cheikh Abdallahi said he was stepping down "to protect the country from the simultaneous dangers from the economic embargo, political stress and social explosion."

The African Union imposed sanctions on the junta and the European Union froze cooperation with Mauritania earlier this year.

Ould Cheikh Abdallahi called on Mauritanians "to unite to give hope" to holding transparent elections.

The elections are still to go ahead on July 18 despite the delay in appointing the transitional government, international mediators said Friday.

Although the political crisis was overcome, there were new fears in Mauritania on Friday after Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for this week's murder of an American teacher in Nouakchott.

Christopher Logest was shot several times from close range after he resisted an apparent kidnap attempt on Tuesday at a private language and computer school he ran, a witness told AFP.

The Al-Qaeda statement called him guilty of "the crime of missionary in the land of Muslims," according to US-based monitoring group SITE Intelligence.

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