C.L.R. James on Fanon and the Caribbean

Source: ‘Fanon and the Caribbean’ by Dr. C.L.R. James, Professor of History, University of the District of Columbia, in International Tribute to Frantz Fanon: Record of the Special meeting of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid, 3 November 1978, (United Nations Centre against Apartheid, New York, N.Y. 10017, USA, 1979), pp. 43-46.  Transcribed: by Christian Høgsbjerg.

When I was asked to speak, I was invited to submit a paper. I said that in 60 years of public speaking I had not done that and I was not prepared to start here, because I really did not know who was speaking with me and who would be listening. It is not possible to present a paper under those circumstances. As I look around, I notice that on the platform there are lots of heads of departments or members of Governments. Most of the other speakers are professors from universities. I find this combination a rather unusual one. I would have liked to hear from the platform a Portuguese voice. The voice would have been translated and we would have understood a little more about Fanon. I would have liked to hear from among the audience a man like Wole Soyinka from Africa and another man from the Caribbean called Walter Rodney. I am sure we would have immensely benefitted by what they would have had to say about Fanon. That was the reason why as a habit I do not present papers but I am going to say more or less what I have to say now and I will tell you the outline of it.

Fanon as a political person

First of all I am a Marxist and I am going to deal with Fanon as a political person. He has been dealt with, I presume, as a psychologist and some have obviously taken a lot of trouble to do that. I am going to deal with his political activities, then in general in relation to the political thinking of his particular age. Secondly, I am going to deal with him as a member of the Caribbean, as a West Indian, somebody whom I understand from being a West Indian myself, and certainly I want to deal with Fanon and the Caribbean and world civilization, because I believe we have a particular role to play in it. First of all, let us consider his political ideas.

Fanon made one particular statement that I think ought to be remembered. He said that when a revolution is made in an undeveloped country, the people who make it are some intellectuals and other political leaders but when the revolution is achieved, then for that people to achieve a new nation the struggle has to be waged against those who made the revolution. Mao Tse Tung had a lot to say about that. He went on to say further in a most precise political analysis that many of those who made the revolution and made it successfully against the imperialists will find that they have to leave the party which won and that the ultimate place where they had to go was to the peasantry, if they wanted to form a new nation. That is a highly political statement and that is a valuable statement. I believe that that statement and the analysis which went with it, in the light of what is being done today in Africa by Julius Nyerere represent two of the most important political analyses that the world has seen since the death of Lenin. You see what Fanon means to me.

When was there no violence?

Secondly, there is a lot of talk about violence. I can not understand how people in the world that we have lived in for so many centuries argue about violence. When was there no violence? Fanon’s violence was a profoundly philosophical conception. It came originally from Hegel and Hegel has a wonderful passage where he analyzes the relation between the master and the slave. The master incorporates what the slave produces, but the slave by having to work on the material develops himself and becomes a personality and ultimately the struggle is a struggle to the death between the master and the new slave who has developed himself by working on the material for his master. That is a famous passage in Hegel. Marx took it over and it is one of the most powerful themes in Das Kapital. When Fanon develops this theme he is merely elaborating on that profound political conception of Hegel and Marx. So, I do not see any need to argue about violence apart from the fact that the violence is there whether you want it or not. Violence for Fanon was part of the revolutionary struggle between oppressors and oppressed; and if he thought that violence meant some development of the person who was using it against those who were oppressing him, he was merely in the tradition of Hegel and Marx, in my mind the most powerful political tradition in the Modem World.

Fanon as a Caribbean citizen

The next thing I want to speak about is Fanon as a Caribbean member of the Caribbean society. That is a remarkable society with many immense advantages and many negative characteristics. I am not going to speak about them here altogether. But I want to give you my knowledge of one distinguished Caribbean citizen, Aimé Césaire. In 1968 I was in Cuba with him and we got to know one another. He knew my work, I knew his and we used to talk. I asked him one day, the last day he came to see me to say goodbye:

“But Césaire, where have you come from?”

He said: “I was educated at the Victor Schoelcher School.”

In every Caribbean island there was always one school where the masters sent their children and those blacks who had some money or had some influence were able to send their children too. In those days it was a small school, about 200 people. I knew this school well because I was educated at one also. I learned Latin, Greek and French, elementary mathematics and advanced Mathematics, Roman history, Greek history, a whole lot of things that were of no use to me in the Caribbean. But when I came to Europe I found I was quite an impressive person. I knew more about Europe than they did.

Anyway, he said: “I was educated at the Victor Schoelcher School” and I said: “What did you do there?”

He said: “Latin, Greek and French literature, and then I went to the Ecole Normale Supérieure in France.”

I said: “What did you do there?”

He said: “Latin, Greek and French literature. Then I went on to the Sorbonne.”

I said: “What did you do there? I suppose you did Latin, Greek and French literature.”

He said: “Yes, but that is not all. I went back to Martinique and I taught at the Victor Schoelcher School, and I taught Latin, Greek and French literature.”

Frantz Fanon was one of his pupils. You begin to get to understand the West Indian intellectual when you understand that Frantz Fanon and Léon Damas were taught by Césaire and Césaire made the most savage attack upon bourgeois society that I can think of in verse. He did it because he could attack it, because he knew it inside out. He had spent twenty years of his life studying the history of the ways that society expressed itself. There was this body of intellectuals in the Caribbean, but cut away from the mass of the population, but who understood everything and Fanon not only was educated by Césaire and Césaire’s poems and general work, but he read most of the literature that was being published in Europe at the same time. Then he went away and found that all that he had read in this advanced literature was not a reality at all that he understood. He understood this reality as most of us Caribbean people who went away. It was not a reality either in the advanced territories. In these territories they wrote about it in books but they did not practice the things that their great writers wrote about in books. So, Fanon was a man who found himself lost, unable to do anything.

Fanon: a man of action

The same thing happened to George Padmore. The same thing happened to Aimé Césaire. The same thing happened to me. The same thing happened to all of us, so ultimately we went where an attack was being made on this tremendous monster that was pressing upon us and which we could not handle. Most of us went and worked in regard to Africa. In general we did propaganda for Africa but Fanon was lucky enough to find an African State to which he could go – Algeria. He went to Algeria and was a revolutionary of the first water. I want to take note of something. He was not only a propagandist for the revolution, but when they sent him to Accra as a representative of the Algerian movement, Fanon got to work as to the means of getting soldiers and getting guns and the combination of the military means whereby the struggle should be carried on. He was not a man who was only writing and thinking of psychology, not at all. When he went to Accra, he plunged himself into the military organization of the struggle against imperialism. That was Frantz Fanon. One of the best West Indians.

What I have to look at now is, not sitting today looking back at Fanon’s work, what he did then. My point to end is what would Fanon have done today with the ideas that he had? What would he be doing in 1978? He told us at the end of his life he heard that Cuba had made the revolution. We misunderstood the fact that the other West Indian islands had gained independence. They had not got it yet, but they were very near and we know that Fanon had said he would go back to the Caribbean to help them to struggle for their independence. But for a number of years he had never gone back there, because he did not feel that there was a possibility of struggling against the imperialist power. I know George Padmore, the father of African emancipation. He never went back either. I never went back for 25 years. I devoted myself to the African struggle, because we felt that there we could hit some blows, but at the end, the moment Fanon heard that in the Caribbean Cuba was free and the other countries were gaining independence, he said then he would go back to struggle there with them. I feel that today there would be no place for Fanon working elsewhere. He would be in the Caribbean, where he was born, bringing the knowledge that he had had and giving to the people of his own country all that he had in him and all that he had learnt.

Saharawi Autonomy: AU ‘Robbing Peter to Pay Paul!’

March 29, 2017

Ibrahim Ghali was appointed leader of the Polisario Front after the death of Mohamed Abdel Aziz in May last year

Sharon Hofisi Legal Letters

HISTORY is a science that manifests the future, but is predicated upon the accomplished events, and is ultimately shaped by the present occurrences. History is, and shall remain a matter of dates, people and places. Two issues define the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic’s (SADR) sovereign status — the independence from Spain in 1975, and the AU’s readmission of Morocco.

The Saharawi’s future sovereignty is undoubtedly built upon these two events. Seemingly, the continued Moroccan control is evidencing a SADR in stillbirth, while the re-admission is suggestive of the ‘regionalised’ end of the Saharawi’s right to self-determination.

Independence and sovereignty are two centripetal forces for any state the world over. Both promote and protect cultural homogeneity, the recognition of state and government by other States, and the ability to participate as a sovereign entity in the global society.

Spain had enabled the Saharawi Republic to be part of the free African countries that could assert their sovereignty. The AU is tarrying in this regard. Africa’s apex regional bloc is not showing commitment to asserting the independence of the Saharawi Republic.

This, together with the re-admission of Morocco without the condition precedent steeped in Saharawi independence, and menacing failure to openly deliberate on Morocco and Saharawi-a solid 42 years after its independence, amounts to a centrifugal force that is dividing Africa.

By depriving the SADR of the pearl that is its independence, the AU is like “robbing Peter to Pay Paul”. While Morocco and those countries who voted for its re-admission may not politically buy into the Saharawi’s continued clamour for ‘another’ independence, they should do so under the law of nations, which binds the global society.

Law simply describes the rules that bind a society. Africa is a society that should not sacrifice the right to self-determination at the altar of political or state-centric convenience.

The narrative of Saharawi’s autonomy in Africa was bequeathed by Spain. Spain colonised the SADR in 1884. The Year 1965 saw the United Nations calling for the decolonisation of Western Sahara. For Zimbabweans, the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) was being declared.

The BBC News Monitoring shows that the Polisario Front was founded in 1973 to fight for SADR’s independence. By 1975, Morocco defied an international Court’s ruling on the need to uphold SADR’s rights to self-determination.

What has perhaps not been adequately addressed by the AU is the political diatribe that the AU obtained from re-admitting Morocco. Let us first consider what is politically axiomatic.

The AU simply allowed Morocco to carry on from where Spain left off. What did this mean for the whole of Africa?

Two things. First, the AU was conveniently condoning irregular and unlawful acquisition of sovereign territory. The Territory is acquired through occupation, accretion, and cession. Morocco annexed the SADR.

Strong arguments can be made that Spain did not cede the Saharawi to Morocco in 1982. We may not restructure the order of events that saw the re-admission of Morocco, but the AU may need to

Second, it meant that the competing interests of Spain and Morocco were legitimised at a regional level. Spain came, conquered and restored that autonomy. Morocco took over, continues to threaten the Saharawi’s sovereign status. The unformulated position of the AU on the SADR may even affirm Morocco’s acts of irredentism-considering that the Saharawi Republic is conveniently referred to as part of Western Sahara.

The above factors are enormously centrifugal to the realisation of Saharawi independence or unity. This business unusual is bordering on regional impiety, which makes Africa’s long walk to independence appear artificial.

Morocco itself can affected by the centrifugal forces. A State that has a people that want self-determination may eventually break up into several units.

The AU and Morocco should take a leaf from the former Soviet Union (SU) which experienced the effect of ethnic centrifugal forces.

Morocco, from its country size, may not break up into 15 independent countries as was the case in the USSR, but the handwriting is on the wall for the AU.

It is being weighed on the scales of regional stability.

One brief disclaimer is in order. This article seeks only to illuminate how a regional bloc’s institutional role shapes its decision-making in competing sovereignty paradigms. In this vein, any allegations of inefficiency could be obviated by declaration or communiqué from the AU on the Saharawi’s future.

Africa-the descendants of the Biblical Ophir, have to craft a counter-strategy to self-made centrifugal forces. Judging by the fact that right to self-determination became a standardised right when Africa was fighting liberation wars, it should affect the whole of African states. The starting point which must evoke the AU’s urgent and strong action, which should prompt an equally Moroccan response. The AU should tap from the UN’s peace initiative that led to a truce between Morocco and the SADR’s freedom fighters in 1991.

The AU should urgently ensure that the referendum that was supposed to have been done in 1991 is done. The referendum would put to rest the issue of the SADR’s independence.

Mauritania should be at the forefront in this endeavour. It renounced its claim to SADR in 1979. Morocco then annexed the part that was once under Mauritania.

Zanu-PF Women’s League Contraries, Knowledge of History

March 29, 2017
Opinion & Analysis
Lovemore Ranga Mataire Senior Writer
Zimbabwe Herald

Jane Austen, an English Georgian era author, best known for her social commentary in novels like “Sense and Sensibility”, “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma” has a remarkably ironic quote in “Northanger Abbey” in which one of her characters says: “I can read poetry and plays, and things of that sort, and do not dislike travels. But history, solemn history, I cannot be interested in. Can you?”So ironic that Austen should create a character challenging the efficacy of history when all her novels bear a sharp historical consciousness.All her novels interpret, critique and comment on the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century.

Recent dramatic events in Zanu-PF where top Women’s League members Cdes Eunice Sandi Moyo (deputy secretary) and Sarah Mahoka (finance secretary) are in the eye of a storm reminds one of Austen’s writings particularly their fixation on society and a woman’s place in it.

Austen makes one latent observation in almost all her novels. The shape of things to come is normally imagined in the private actions of major players and not in what they publicly proclaim. What individuals do in private determines the shape of things to come. In delivering this truism, Austen employs satire to get her female readers (and male ones) to see themselves in the comical and small-minded antics of her characters and to relate to that, and think how they can improve in the elements that apply to them — each reader as an individual.

Austen deliberately creates fluffy and empty-headed and short-sighted characters like Mrs Bennet in “Pride and Prejudice” and the impetuous, naïve, impulsive and similarly short-sighted Lydia. Other characters are tad arrogant and full of themselves to the extent of being thoughtlessly hurtful to others. With remarkable gentle humour Austen gets readers to see society in a new way.

Would it have been helpful if Cdes Sandi Moyo and Mahoka had read Austen’s novels? Would the shape of things to come have taken a different course? Austen makes it imperative that; “The person, be it gentlemen or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

Cde Mahoka can be forgiven for not indulging is such pleasurable exegete of a novel for she has in the past confessed to being semi-literate. But the same cannot be said of old Cde Sandi Moyo, who did her primary education up to Standard Six at De Glae Primary School in South Africa and after completing her primary education, did her secondary at Certificate Barkley Rd High School in Kimberly, South Africa. She also did her Joint Matriculation Board there.

One would assume that this comrade is a well rounded individual who has had the experience of both worlds, apartheid South Africa and colonial Rhodesia. She also holds a Degree in Agricultural Economics which she attained at Gore Browne Teachers Training College, Kimberly in South Africa.

Mai Sandi Moyo is not like Cde Mahoka. She is a whole Minister of State for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, a veteran of our struggle for independence and a Zanu-PF Central Committee and Politburo member.

She has a rich history, a history that makes her very conversant with episodic contraries in the trajectory of any revolution. What exactly could have irked hundreds if not thousands of Women’s League members to vent such vitriol against someone with so much history and be juxtaposed with Cde Mahoka who, like Mrs Bennet, is impulsive, naïve and seemingly empty-headed?

As they say, the astronomer’s knowledge of the stars is mediated by what his telescope picks up from them. Similarly, as a scribe, an unconventional daily purveyor of history as it unfolds, relies more on what the characters say and act — essentially what is mediated.

Between the scribe and the past lies the evidence. But in unearthing this uncongenial history, value-neutrality is impossible. I am a social being, shaped by own social environment. The assumptions of my own time are inescapable. I am part of the historical process, powerfully influenced by my time and place.

Of course, the placards were explicit. The misdemeanours of the two comrades laid bare, citizen justice at play and within a whim of a historical moment, they join the club of renegades, incompatible and unrehabilitated. Comment is free but facts are sacred.

What then is the task of the scribe in deciphering the facts in this dramatic turn of events where top league members are accused of failing to subordinate themselves to the dictates of hierarchical order?

In the premature period of the fiasco, interpreters rely more on inherent concepts of right and wrong to determine the facts. The invention of the spinning jenny, for instance, is important not so much in itself but mainly because it contributed to the industrial revolution.

It is our concepts that determine and colour the language we use. Interpretation unavoidably enters our very terminology and hardly makes a significant statement without it being coloured by our point of view and writing a value-free account of what happened and what is likely to happen is beyond any scribe’s power.

So in understanding the sad developments within the political life of the two, Cdes Eunice Sandi Moyo and Mahoka, we have no choice but to delve into history. We have no choice but to indulge in journalistic voyeurism and construct something seemingly credible out of those nuances and those behind-the-scenes episodes attributed to them.

Having been instrumental in exposing the shenanigans of ex-VP Joice Runaida Mujuru, Cde Mahoka overnight became an arch superintendent of all manner of things in the party. In her impulsive and tad arrogant attitude, she failed to draw the line in appreciating the constitutional dictates of a party that she belonged to.

Many will remember how out of sync with tradition, culture and hierarchical respect she publicly derided VP Mnangagwa and Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Mr George Charamba, calling them all sorts of names. It was clear that Mahoka, in her tawdry impulsive semi-illiterate mind, thought she had became indispensable.

Zanu-PF has its own ways of dealing with such characters. It gives them a very long rope in the hope of rehabilitation but soon they entangle themselves completely rendering their continued existence in the party incompatible.

But that’s not all. Sarah Mahoka was not so long ago in 2015 accused by her own Mashonaland West Province of misleading and duping the First Lady, Amai Grace Mugabe. The provincial women’s league members demonstrated holding placards inscribed with very foul statements.

While this was a clear sign of the shape of things to come, Cde Mahoka paid little regard to it. Some would say what’s in a name? But names can reveal a lot about the individual. In Hebrew, Sarah means Princess but in the Bible Sarah was the wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac.

Her name was originally Sarai, which in Hebrew means the quarrelsome and this is the reason why God commanded that her name be changed to Sarah before the birth of her son. Like her namesake, Cde Mahoka was to distinguish herself as a rabble-rouser and that tag seemed to have gotten to her head.

If in public Cde Mahoka had become a nuisance, she was worse in private. Out of public glare, she pitched herself as the master-player and had the temerity to suggest that the First Lady had reached the threshold of her ascendency. Her big illiterate mouth went berserk and it was only a matter of time before members were to show her where power truly resides.

As for old Cde Sandi Moyo, her troubles are far beyond just the issue of the league.

Being Deputy Secretary for the Women’s League and also the Provincial Affairs Minister for Bulawayo, Cde Sandi Moyo should have known that she at all times needed to exhibit unquestionable allegiance to her party and Government.

Those in the know say that she has survived this far as the provincial minister on the convenience and benevolence of the appointer. Numerous intelligence reports from Bulawayo reportedly cast her in not so good a light. She is alleged to have consistently uttered unsavoury anti-establishment remarks in the company of those she thought were her confidantes.

At one time she had to chuck out one female intelligence officer after accusing her of issuing adverse reports about her. Behind the scenes, out of the glare of the public, Cde Sandi is said to have been venomous and critical of the party and the Women’s League chairperson.

The turning point must have been her failure to attend the Women’s League rally in Buhera. She is alleged to have told her confidantes very negative things about the rallies and the First Lady.

There is also that issue of her harbouring higher ambitions. Of course in a democratic party like Zanu-PF everyone is allowed to dream but certain dreams need to be managed lest they entangle the dreamer.

Unlike Cde Sarah Mahoka, Cde Sandi Moyo’s middle name is an antithesis of her current troubles. Short for Sandra, her name means a helper of mankind, intelligent, witty, honest and loyal friend. Has a strong sense of family and will do whatever it takes to protect those she loves.

Easily hurt but a strong woman who goes through tough times but never gives up.

As mere mortals, we all hope Cde Sandi will learn from this sad development in her personal and political life.

Although the extent of the two comrades’ misdemeanours is yet to unravel, the hope is that a lesson is learnt in appreciating the importance of history in our lives. A people unaware or unconscious of their history are fated to repeat it. History helps us to understand the past, to predict the future and assist in creating it.

The more we delve into history, not just Mills and Boons, the wiser we become.

ZANU-PF Women's League Resolves to Fire Sandi Moyo, Mahoka 

Case to Be Referred to NDC

Kasukuwere Called to Order

March 29, 2017

First Lady and zanu-pf secretary for Women’s Affairs Amai Grace Mugabe shares a lighter moment with secretary for Administration Cde Leticia Undenge before the start of the national executive meeting at the ruling party’s national headquarters in Harare yesterday. — (Picture by Kudakwashe Hunda)

Tendai Mugabe Senior Reporter
Zimbabwe Herald

THE Zanu-PF Women’s League resolved at its national executive meeting yesterday to expel its two senior members, Cdes Eunice Sandi Moyo (deputy secretary) and Sarah Mahoka (secretary for Finance).The pair is accused of undermining the First Lady, who is secretary for Women’s Affairs, corruption, insubordination and fanning factionalism, with Cde Mahoka facing further charges of denigrating Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Presidential spokesman Mr George Charamba.

Conspicuous by their absence at the meeting were Cdes Sandi Moyo and Mahoka, as well as Tabeth Kanengoni-Malinga (secretary for External Affairs), who also did not attend Monday’s Top 10 meeting.

Sources who attended the meeting said the pair’s case will be referred to the revolutionary party’s disciplinary committee and if confirmed, it will then be ratified by the Politburo, according to party procedure, rules and regulations.

The Women’s League national executive meeting, sources said, also recommended that national commissar Cde Saviour Kasukuwere be put to his defence on slew of charges among them trying to block last week’s nationwide demonstrations against Cdes Sandi Moyo and Mahoka.

Cde Kasukuwere then accused another party cadre Cde Jimayi Muduvuri of leaking information to The Herald to the effect that he was against the Women’s League programmes.

The Women’s League, one of the party’s three arms, yesterday called Cde Kasukuwere to order, saying he was not a member of the wing.

“The Women’s League resolved that Cdes Sandi Moyo and Mahoka should be expelled,” said the source. “That has to be endorsed by the Politburo, but a position has already been taken.

“Also on notice is Cde Kasukuwere whom the wing felt is fanning factionalism and is also accused of attempting to stop our demonstrations last week.”

Zanu-PF secretary for Women’s Affairs and First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe, told the wing’s members at the beginning of the meeting that they wanted to investigate all charges being levelled against Cdes Sandi Moyo and Mahoka, after which they would make recommendations to the Politburo.

“Isu tiri pano kuti tiongorore zvange zvichiitika svondo rapfuura kusvika paweekend,” Amai Mugabe said. “Zvakarerekerana nadeputy wedu weWomen’s League Mai Sandi Moyo nafinance secretary wedu Sarah Mahoka.

“Saka tichiri kutarisa nyaya idzodzo kuti tione kuti zvipomerwa zvavo ndizvo here, hazvina kuwedzerwa here, hatisi kuitira vamwe zvakashata here. Saka kuungana kwataita nhasi ndozvataungana kuti titarise.

“But isusu tega se executive yeWomen’s League, hatikwanisi kuzoti tiite decision kuti zvaitika izvi ndizvo kana kuti hazvisi izvo, but tinonyora pasi zvatinoona zvakakodzera kuti ndozviri kusafadza vazhinji. Tanyora kudaro tinofanirwa kunge tichizoenda kuPolitburo kutevedza procedure kuPolitburo.

“Totevera procedure kuti tinovaratidza kuti aiwa izvi makaona madzimai achiratidzira maprovinces ese. Madzimai akatibuka neuwandu hwavo vachiratidzira kusafadzwa nemashandiro ange achiita vamwe vedu veTop 10 venational executive yedu yemadzimai.

“Saka tiripo kuti nhasi tiongorore kuti zvakanyorwa ndizvo here, tiri kubvumirana nazvo here. Tochinyora pasi mapoints edu tochizoenda zvino kumusoro kuti izvi kuratidzira kwemadzimai ndozvimwe zvezvinhu zvavaitaura kuti havasi kufara nazvo. Saka decision ichazotorwa ikoko. Kune inonzi disciplinary committee iriko ikoko.”

Amai Mugabe went on: “Vachazenge vachiongorora kuti madzimai basa ratakaita nekusafadzwa vevamwe vedu ibasa rakakodzerana here nezviri kutaurwa pasi nezviri kuenderana neConstitution yedu kuti sesu zvatiripo kudai kunational executive tiri vanhu here vanoita zviri pamutemo kana kuti tave kutsaudzira?

“Ndiri kuzviziva kuti zvimwe zvacho zvaitaurwa zvakarerekerana nekusaita basa kwakanaka kwataitarisira, zvakarerekerana nekusashandisa, kusabatwa kwemari, mari inenge ichifanira kuuya kuzobata mabasa eWomen’s League, zvimwe zvacho zvakabatana zvichienderana nefactionalism, zvimwe zvacho zvichienderana nekutyisidzira vanhu kuti vanhu vasaite basa zvakanaka, vaite basa vachitya vachiti ini ndikasaita zvarehwa naMai Sandi kana naMahoka ndinoburitswa mumusangano.

“Saka ndozvimwe zvezvinhu zvatiri kuongorora izvozvo. Saka tichiripo pakuongorora. Hatisati tasvika pekuti tingakuudzei kuti zvataongorora tikabvumirana nazvo ndezvipi. Tichangotanga musangano wedu this morning. Yesterday we had our Top 10 meeting tikaongorora tikatarisawo tikati ngatichiendai kune ruzhinji rwese, Top 50, kuti tichisangana pamwe chete tiongorore nyaya iyi.

“Saka ndingangoti ndopandingasiire ipapo. Tichiri kuongorora zvine procedure mukati zvokutiwo vachowo vari affected, the two Cdes, havazopokane nazvo. Hatisi kuda kuroverera vanhu pane mhosva yavakaita, yavasina kuita.

“Hatisi kudawo kuti zvimwe pakushanda vamwe tinogona kuvengana asi zvese izvozvowo tiri kuzviongorora kuti hapana here kusimuka kuvengana, kurasirira vamwe mhosva yavasina kupara. Zvese izvozvo tiri kuzvitarisa.

“Asiwo pane zvimwe zvakawanda zvatinokwanisa kubvumirana pano. Saka kana tikataurirana tikabvumirana kuti izvi zvakatadzwa zvinenge zvichiongororwa zvakare.”

Before the wing’s secretary for information and publicity Cde Thokozile Mathuthu gave her press statement after the meeting, journalists were allowed to enter the conference room.

Some of the Women’s League members were shouting and clapping their hands saying: “Ava (Cde Sandi Moyo and Cde Mahoka) tavadzinga tave kuda (Cde) Kasukuwere wacho.”

Another member shouted: “Don’t say that, there are media people here”, to which another voice shouted from the floor: “But is it a lie?”

In her statement on the outcome of the meeting, Cde Mathuthu said: “Last week members of the Zanu-PF Women’s League staged a nationwide demonstration against Cde Eunice Sandi Moyo, deputy secretary for Women’s Affairs and Cde Sarah Mahoka, secretary for finance, over various allegations impropriety and conduct, unbecoming of persons in such high profile positions.

“On Monday 27 March, 2017, the wing’s top leadership referred to as the Top 10 met to deliberate on these demonstrations against the pair. The provincial chairpersons submitted petitions from their respective areas highlighting grievances they were raising against Cdes Sandi Moyo and Mahoka.

“Today, Tuesday 28 March, 2017, the Women’s League national executive also met here at Harare party headquarters as a follow up to the Monday meeting by the top 10.

“Again, chairpersons of the Women’s League presented petitions from their respective provinces against the two executive members, which were discussed at length. Following those deliberations, it suffices at this stage to say that due processes regarding the resolution of disciplinary cases of this nature will be followed through according to the rules and guidelines of our revolutionary party.

“The nation will be advised about the fate of two Cdes in the fullness of time. The nation will be appraised of the outcome after we conclude the requirements of our Zanu-PF party constitution. No action has been taken against them yet, as we are still to conclude the requirements of our Zanu-PF constitution.”

Asked on claims by Cde Kasukuwere that the Women’s League was hijacked, Cde Mathuthu said: “I am sorry Cde Kasukuwere is not part of the national executive of the Women’s League.”

Zuma Declares Special Official Funeral for Ahmed Kathrada

March 28, 2017

JOHANNESBURG – President Jacob Zuma has declared a special official funeral for freedom icon Ahmed Khatrada. This entails the national flag being flown at half-mast at all government buildings from Tuesday until the evening of the official memorial service.

Kathrada was admitted to the Donald Gordon Hospital earlier this month, where he underwent surgery after doctors discovered a blood clot in his brain.

In paying tribute to Khatrada, President Zuma has described him as a stalwart of the liberation struggle for a free and democratic South Africa.

Presidency’s Bongani Ngqulunga says: “President Zuma has sent his deepest condolences to his partner, former minister of public enterprises Barbara Hogan the Kathrada family and his political home, ANC, which he served selflessly throughout his adult life.”

The family of struggle icon Ahmed Kathrada, also known as “Uncle Kathy”, is at the hospital, where the struggle stalwart died.

Kathrada’s grandnephew Aziz says the family will remember him for his sense of humour and wisdom.

Kathrada is expected to be buried according to Muslim rites.

Both the Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada Foundations are expected to give a briefing during the course of Tuesday morning.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has described 87-year-old Kathrada as a man of remarkable gentleness, modesty and steadfastness.

Tutu has hailed Kathrada for his loyalty to the African National Congress (ANC), which also extended to criticising it.

The ANC has described “Uncle Kathy” as an extraordinary leader whose service to South Africa will forever be inscribed.

The ANC’s Zizi Kodwa says: “We give our revolutionary banner in honour of this Isitwalandwe/Seaparankwe the highest honour in the ANC, which is bestowed to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution and sacrifice towards the struggle and liberation of South Africa. ‘Uncle Kathy’ was not just an ordinary leader, he was exceptional.”

Former Robben Island and Pollsmoor Prison warder for Kathrada, Christo Brand, says the struggle icon was like a father to him.

“It’s a very sad day for us today, for me personally or the country because what he was fighting for should’ve happened in his time. We’ll miss him. He did a lot for South Africa.”

South African Communist Party General Secretary Blade Nzimnade says it’s important to never allow Kathrada’s memory and other stalwarts like Nelson Madela and Oliver Tambo to fade away.

“This is a great loss for South Africa. These are stalwarts who’ve served our country without any expectations. We must continue to hold them as examples, not just for us who are still alive today, but for our future generation… if we’re to build a South Africa that they dreamt of and sacrificed for.”

– Eye Witness News

YCLSA Statement on the Passing Away of Ahmed Kathrada

28 March 2017

The YCLSA is deeply saddened to hear the sad news that a comrade who has joined YCLSA at the age of 12, Cde Ahmed Kathrad has ceased to exist. We send our heartfelt condolences to the Kathrada family, to the Congress Movement, to the South African people and to all peace-loving internationalists.

Cde Kathrada was the true embodiment of the struggles against the oppressor. He hated capitalism with passion. He further understood the struggle in such a way that he understood clearly the link between the national question and the class questions, both in the South african context as well as in the international context.

He was actively involved in the reconstitution of the underground SACP structure which had hitherto been known as CPSA after it was banned under the Suppression of Communism Act by the apartheid regime.

Out of Cde Kathrada's political stamina, loyalty to a people's cause and extraordinary integrity, as this generation, we can learn a lot. He was loyal but critical to the movement. He was a figure of strenght and a source of inspiration to many. He remained true to the cause of the marginalized till his last breath.

As the YCLSA we remain indebted by his commitment and exemplary conduct as the member of our organization. He fulfilled YCLSA member's duties. He had carried out YCLSA decisions. He was always to sacrifice for the YCLSA and he was loyal to YCLSA hence our indebtness as an organization.

With the passing away of a man who has lived his life to the fullest, dedicated his entire in the struggle for humanity and with an unquestionable commitment to the liberation of the socially and economically marginalized, the YCLSA calls upon young people of our country not to mourn but to emulate, celebrate and take the baton forward till there is no exploitation of one man by another.

May the soul of the fighting soldier for socialism rest in peace.

Issued by the National Secretary of the YCLSA
Cde Mluleki Dlelanga
078 642 9004

COSATU Mourns the Death of Ahmed Kathrada

28 March 2017

The Congress of South African Trade Unions joins millions of people in South Africa to mourn the death of the ANC struggle stalwart Cde Ahmed Kathrada , who passed away in earlier this morning. We send our heartfelt condolences to his family, the ANC and his friends. This struggle icon will be sorely missed and greatly remembered for his dedication and sacrifices to the fight against apartheid and for social justice.

He was a humble and dedicated activist , who as one of the founding fathers of the post-apartheid South Africa ,was prepared to pay the ultimate price to dismantle the evil system of apartheid. We will remember him as a moral voice that consistently spoke out against corruption and social injustice.

He departs at a very difficult time for his beloved organisation the ANC that is in dire need of his brand of leadership that was characterised by selflessness and integrity.

Cde Ahmed Kathrada’s death represents the end of an era for the oldest liberation movement that reached a milestone of its105th birthday earlier this year. The young and emerging leadership of the movement needs to turn a new chapter in our liberation struggle towards a second more radical phase of our transition. They can learn a lot from the generation of Ahmed Kathrada and Nelson Mandela that joined the struggle without expecting any material benefits or compensation.

He represented the best values of the movement and we owe it to him and others like him to preserve and defend the movement ,and emulate their exemplary and principled leadership. The best way to honour and preserve their legacy will be to work to end factionalism and corruption that is threatening to destroy our glorious movement.

Issued by COSATU

Sizwe Pamla (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street
Braamfontein
2017

P.O.Box 1019
Johannesburg
2000
South Africa

Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct 010 219-1339
Mobile: 060 975 6794
E-Mail: sizwe@cosatu.org.za

- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=12588#sthash.en4V1KRT.dpuf


NEHAWU Limpopo media statement on the ongoing strike in Government Departments

28 March 2017

The National Education Health and Allied Workers Union [NEHAWU] calls on the government of Limpopo led by Premier Chupu Mathabathe to intervene and resolve the longstanding stalemate around the payment of the 2nd and 3rd notch progressions owed to workers since 2012.

Nehawu has been engaging with government on this matter since August 2016 and at one point government agreed to pay but a month later changed their minds. Nehawu further marched and engaged in lunch hour picketing since then up until now without any success.

It is also very much unfair that only four departments have been paid these performance incentives correctly while with the rest of government departments wants to pay only a fraction of those workers who qualify. We have warned that this is a recipe for a confrontation in the workplace.

We also condemn the apartheid tactics employed by the employer to try to intimidate and beat workers into submission by utilizing the courts with a spate of court interdict against the union, its leaders and workers in general. The unleashing of security forces on workers continues to fail dismally to intimidate workers but only work to mobilize them more and more just like it failed during the apartheid era.

Lately the employer is also engaged in a attempt to sow division amongst trade union movement in the province in order to isolate Nehawu. However Nehawu remains resolute that our grievance is genuine and no amount of isolation will deter us from championing the interest of workers in this regard.

We still implore on the employer to meet the union and resolve the demands of workers and stop engaging through courts and ultimatums while ignoring the real issues on the table. It is about time that leadership in government must prevail and resolve the impasse.

Nehawu will continue to mobilize all its members to continue to join the growing picket lines in different departments. We also further appreciate the participation of our members in the department of social development national strike throughout the province. Our members will continue to intensify the strike and maintain the total shutdown in all social development offices in the province in pursuance of our demands.

Issued by NEHAWU Secretariat Office

For further information, please contact:
Jacob Adams @ 082 558 5966 or
Calvin Tshamano @ 081 558 1988 or
email: khaya@nehawu.org.za

Visit NEHAWU website: www.nehawu.org.za

- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=12585#sthash.n84lG2XK.dpuf


POPCRU mourns the death of Isithwalandwe Ahmed Kathrada

28 March 2017

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) mourns the passing away of Isithwlandwe Ahmed Kathrada.

We can best honour this revolutionary through our continued commitment to fight the curse of racism, unemployment, inequality and poverty.

Hamba kahle Uncle Kathy.

Issued by POPCRU

For more information contact:

Richard Mamabolo
Address: 01 Marie Road, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, 2092
Tel: 0112424600/4615 Fax: 0866253054
Cell: 0720737959
Email: normanm@popcru.org.za

- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=12590#sthash.rL8vSTLP.dpuf

We Have Lost a Leader Whose Service to His Country Will Forever Be Inscribed Hamba Kahle Comrade Kathy

28 March 2017

The African National Congress dips its revolutionary banner in mourning on the passing of Isithwalandwe/Seaparankoe Comrade Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada, fondly known as Uncle Kathy. Comrade Kathy passed away today following a short period of illness. He was 87 years old.

The title of Isithwalandwe/Seaparankoe is the highest honour that can be bestowed by the African National Congress (ANC) and the people of South Africa on those who have made an outstanding contribution and sacrifice to the liberation struggle. With the passing of Comrade Kathy the nation has lost a titan, an outstanding leader and a great patriot - a man who stands apart for his service to the people of South Africa, and to the country.

The knowledge that Uncle Kathy was in his twilight years has done little to lessen the blow we have been dealt this sad day. Uwile umthi omkhulu.

His life is a lesson in humility, tolerance, resilience and a steadfast commitment to principle, even when taking a principled stance would place him at odds with his comrades. Uncle Kathy, despite disagreement with the ANC leadership from time to time, never abandoned nor turned his back on the ANC and always affirmed that the ANC and the ANC alone was the only political organization that reflected the values and aspirations of all South Africans.

Until his hospitalization Uncle Kathy was an active and vocal participant in the work of the elder statesmen of the African National Congress (ANC) towards keeping our great revolutionary movement on course. His was a constant, steady and moral voice, and we are all the poorer to have lost him.

From his early days Uncle Kathy was involved in the politics of this country. Born in the rural town of Schweitzer-Reneke in 1929 the first seeds of political consciousness were sown when he was still a teenager. He was only 17 when he participated in the Passive Resistance Campaign of the South African Indian Congress, for which he was later arrested.

After being introduced to Cdes. Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela and IC Meer in the 1940's his political activities against the apartheid regime intensified, culminating in his being banned in 1954. Two years later he was amongst the 156 Treason Trialists together with Cdes Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, for which they were acquitted. A number of years of house arrests and bannings followed, after which Comrade Kathy joined the political underground.

He was one of the eight Rivonia Trialists of 1963, after being netted in a police swoop of the Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, and was sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island.

Uncle Kathy spent 26 years in prison, 18 of which were on Robben Island. The experiences of his incarceration are poignantly conveyed in three memoirs he penned upon his release. These books have been an invaluable historical record opening a window into the harsh realities of life in Robben Island for political prisoners, and are prescribed reading in a number of South African schools.

His writings, that serve to educate future generations on the horrors of the past, but also the promise of the future, are amongst the finest of the political literature of that era. He was a man dedicated to lifelong learning, earning a number of degrees whilst incarcerated.

Given the magnitude of his imprisonment, it would have been easy for Uncle Kathy to retire from political life upon his release, but he continued to work tirelessly for the betterment of the lives of all South Africans. He was elected to the ANC's National Executive Committee (NEC) in 1989 and headed the organization's Public Relations Department until 1994 when he was elected to Parliament. He served as a Parliamentary Counsellor to his longtime friend and confidante, Cde. Nelson Mandela, with whom he was incarcerated on Robben Island.

Uncle Kathy will be remembered as a man of deep and abiding faith. He undertook the Muslim pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in 1992 and was attached to his community for whom he was a mentor, elder statesman and inspiration. He embodied the strength of the human spirit to rise above adversities.

Islam's Holy Book, the Qur'an, is instructive with regards to the life of Comrade Kathy, a man who put country and countrymen before self.

"It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces to the East and the West, but righteousness to believe in God and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the God-fearing." (Surah Al Baqarah: 177).

We mourn this great Son of Africa, we salute his life.

To the Kathrada family and Comrade Kathrada's wife Comrade Barbara Hogan, the African National Congress extends our heartfelt condolences.

We have lost a leader whose service to his country will forever be inscribed.

To God we belong and Unto Him is our Return.

Hamba Kahle Mkhonto.

Issued by
Gwede Mantashe
Secretary General
African National Congress

Enquiries
Zizi Kodwa 082 330 4910

South African Anti-apartheid Icon Ahmed Kathrada Dies Aged 87

AFP
Tuesday 28 Mar 2017

Celebrated South African anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, a Robben Island prisoner and one of Nelson Mandela's closest colleagues in the struggle against white rule, died early Tuesday aged 87.

Kathrada was among those tried and jailed alongside Mandela in the Rivonia trial in 1964, which drew worldwide attention to the brutalities of the apartheid regime.

He died in hospital in Johannesburg after a short illness following brain surgery, his charity foundation said.

Kathrada spent 26 years and three months in prison, 18 of which were on Robben Island, the notorious jail off the coast of Cape Town.

After the end of apartheid, he served from 1994 to 1999 as parliamentary counsellor to President Mandela in the first African National Congress (ANC) government.

Retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu described Kathrada as "a man of remarkable gentleness, modesty and steadfastness," hailing him a moral leader of the anti-apartheid movement.

"These were people of the highest integrity and moral fibre who, through their humility and humanity, inspired our collective self-worth -- and the world's confidence in us," Tutu said in a statement.

Kathrada's activism against white-minority apartheid rule started at the age of 17, when he was one of 2,000 "passive resisters" arrested in 1946 for defying laws that discriminated against Indian South Africans.

The ANC party was banned in 1960, and two years later Kathrada was placed under "house arrest".

Soon afterwards, he went underground to continue the struggle as a member of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).

In July 1963, the police swooped on Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, a Johannesburg suburb, where Kathrada and other senior activists had been meeting in secret.

At the famous Rivonia trial, eight of the accused were sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour on Robben Island.

His fellow prisoners included Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Denis Goldberg.

"The nation has lost a titan, an outstanding leader and a great patriot," the ANC said in a tribute to Kathrada on Tuesday.

"His life is a lesson in humility, tolerance, resilience and a steadfast commitment to principle.

"Uncle Kathy, despite disagreement with the ANC leadership from time to time, never abandoned nor turned his back on the ANC."

The Nelson Mandela Foundation lauded him as "the embodiment of promise" during the apartheid years, saying Kathrada was "a comrade, associate and close friend of Nelson Mandela's through seven decades."

Released from prison in 1989, the softly-spoken Kathrada belonged to the golden generation of freedom fighters untainted by later corruption scandals.

In jail, he had been a teacher for fellow prisoners and a strategic thinker who formed part of the ANC delegation in the negotiations that finally ended apartheid.

Derek Hanekom, a fellow veteran activist and now a government minister, said he had lost a "revolutionary mentor and dear friend".

"Comrade Kathy was a gentle, humane and humble soul. He was a determined revolutionary who gave his entire life to the liberation struggle in our country," Hanekom said.

Fellow Robben Island prisoner Laloo "Isu" Chiba said Kathrada was a figurehead to anti-apartheid colleagues.

"He has been my strength in prison, my guide in political life and my pillar of strength in the most difficult moments of my life," Chiba, 89, said in a statement issued by the Ahmad Kathrada Foundation.

Kathrada will be buried according to Muslim religious rights on Wednesday, the foundation said.

He choose not to pursue a political career, but remained an activist and was critical of the current ANC government under President Jacob Zuma.

He was survived by his wife, Barbara Hogan, also an ANC stalwart.

"This is great loss to the ANC, the broader liberation movement and South Africa as a whole," said Neeshan Balton, head of Kathrada Foundation.

"'Kathy' was an inspiration to millions in different parts of the world."

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/261759.aspx

UN Chief Urges Divided Arab States to Come Together on Syria

AP
Tuesday 28 Mar 2017

The U.N. secretary-general has appealed to Arab nations to set aside differences and help end Syria's six-year-old civil war.

Antonio Guterres made the appeal while visiting the Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan on Tuesday, a day ahead of attending a key annual Arab summit hosted this year by Jordan.

He says Arab divisions over Syria have inadvertently given a boost to terror groups by allowing "others to intervene or manipulate situations, creating instability, breeding conflict, and facilitating the life of terrorist organizations."

Turkey, Russia and Iran have become major players in the conflict that has displaced millions of Syrians.

Guterres says more doors are now being closed to the displaced. He says in not helping refugees, the world is inadvertently boosting terror groups and increasing global security risks.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/261776.aspx

Arab Leaders Set to Oppose Trump Mideast Policy Shifts

AFP
Tuesday 28 Mar 2017

Jordanian capital Amman picture taken on March 27, 2017 shows a general view of the preparatory meeting of Arab Foreign Ministers during the 28th Summit of the Arab League at the Dead Sea, south of the Jordanian capital Amman. (AFP)

A draft statement to be put to an Arab summit Wednesday opposes plans by President Donald Trump to move Washington's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and consider alternatives to a Palestinian state.

The draft, which was drawn up by the Palestinian delegation, was approved by Arab foreign ministers at an eve-of-summit meeting in the Jordanian Dead Sea resort of Sweimeh.

Arab League member states "reaffirm their commitment to the two-state solution and to the right of the State of Palestine to restore its sovereignty over the territories occupied in 1967, including east Jerusalem," the draft says.

It calls on "all countries to respect UN Security Council resolutions that reject Israel's annexation of occupied east Jerusalem" and "not to move their embassies" from Tel Aviv to the Holy City.

Since taking office in January, Trump has indicated he is willing to break with decades of US policy by moving the embassy and being open to a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if both sides agree it.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is to join other Arab leaders at Wednesday's summit. Next month, he heads to the White House for his first meeting with Trump.

Coptic Pope Tawadros II Attempts to Reassure Egyptians After Attacks on North Sinai Christians

Ahram Online
Tuesday 28 Mar 2017

Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II attempted on Monday to reassure Egyptians after the recent attacks on Copts in North Sinai, stressing that the Coptic families that have fled the governorate out of fear of terrorist violence will return to the city "when the time is right."

At the start of this month, the Coptic Orthodox Church announced that 143 Christian families had fled North Sinai to Ismailiya after a spate of killings of Christians by Islamist militants in the governorate.

"What happened in El-Arish is a pressure card aimed at dividing the country. These criminal acts of terror are temporary and will be solved soon," the pope said during a Monday interview with TV host Lamis El-Hadidy on CBC channel.

"The state is taking care of the El-Arish issue," the pope said, adding that "it was wise of the families who felt danger to leave... during the 1967 war, entire governorates were displaced."

The series of killings in North Sinai came after the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State militant group called on its supporters to attack Christians across the country, in a video in which it claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a church in Cairo in December.

Several days after the video was released, three Christians were murdered in El-Arish, bringing the number of Christians killed in North Sinai in the last month to seven.

Several of the killings were claimed by Islamic State-affiliated militants.

The pope stressed during the Monday interview that the Egyptian church is one of the main pillars of Egypt, and any act against it or against the police, the army, or the mosque is an act targeting Egypt.

Christians are estimated to make up around 10 percent of Egypt’s population.

When asked about the possibility of protests being held by Copts living in America during President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's upcoming visit to the US over the pope's friendly relations with the state, Tawadros said that this positive relationship is "not shameful."

The pope said that Egyptian Christians do face problems, but that they are "minor" and should be dealt with case by case.

He said that a sectarian attack in one village out of 5,000 villages is a "small wound," but "the body is healthy."

"There is anger, and I understand it, but the problem is the media presents the news in an exaggerated and harmful way, and this makes Copts, especially abroad, more anxious," the pope said.

"However, we always tell them that we can deal with our own problems, and we constantly try to reassure them through our churches abroad."

Tawadros said that the state is doing its best to secure churches, and that he could ask no more of the government in this regard. He also pointed to the fact that the president attended the funeral of the victims of last year's church bombing in Cairo.

At least 25 people were killed and 49 were injured on 11 December in a suicide bomb attack on the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, which is attached to Cairo's main Coptic cathedral in Abbasiya.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights – alocal human rights watchdog – reported in August 2016 that in the first eight months of that year, 10 incidents of sectarian violence took place in the governorate of Minya, which has a high proportion of Christian residents.

During the Monday interview, the pope also praised the recently approved law reforming regulations surrounding the issuing of permits to build churches in the country.

Before the law was passed in August 2016, Christians faced heavy restrictions on building churches in Egypt.

"We were living without a law [addressing this issue]… the law is an achievement," the pope said.

"It used to take up to 15 years to approve the building of a church, and it required the approval of the president. But according to the new law, the local governor is the one who gives approval, and should respond [to a request for a permit] within four months, [and give justification if he denies the request]."

Tawadros stressed, however, that if there are any problems with the law, they should become evident within the first year after its passing.

Due to the restrictions that existed on building churches, some congregations have been forced to build unlicensed churches or carry out their religious practices in buildings that have not been designated for religious use.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/261794.aspx

Egypt's Sisi Arrives in Jordan for Arab League Summit 

Ahram Online
Tuesday 28 Mar 2017

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi arrived in Jordan Tuesday afternoon to attend this year's Arab League summit, which will see the attendance of a much larger number of Arab leaders than last year's gathering.

Taking part in the Arab League's 28th session, scheduled to take place on Wednesday, is part of Egypt's "continued efforts to boost mutual Arab cooperation in a way that protects Arab national security in the face of the current troubles in the region," a statement by El-Sisi's office said on Tuesday.

Arab leaders are set to discuss counter-terrorism cooperation as well as economic and social collaboration, the statement by presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef added.

The spokesman added that the summit will see the announcement of the 'Declaration of Amman,' which will outline joint Arab cooperation in the near future.

El-Sisi will hold bilateral talks with a number of Arab leaders on the sidelines of the gathering.

Some 16 presidents, kings and princes from the Arab world are expected to attend Wednesday's summit.

Last year's summit, which was held in Mauritania, saw the attendance of only seven leaders from the 22 member countries.

The 2016 summit saw the absence of El-Sisi, Saudi King Salman and his son Deputy Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, Jordan's King Abdullah II, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, all of whom will be present at this year's summit.

El-Sisi was represented at last year's summit by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail.

The Arab leaders will look at developments in a number of regional issues, including the Palestinian issue, the crises in Syria, Libya, Yemen and Somalia, as well as the peace process in Sudan's Darfur.

Egypt hosted the Arab League's 2015 summit in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh, where El-Sisi proposed the creation of a joint Arab military force.

Jordan was designated as host of the Arab League’s 28th session after Yemen declined to serve as host.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/261800.aspx

Russian General Criticizes US-led Coalition's Bombing of Syria Dam

Tue Mar 28, 2017 12:22PM
presstv.ir

This file photo shows General Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff speaking during a briefing at the Russian Defense Ministry's headquarters in Moscow, Russia. (Via AP)

A high-ranking Russian military figure has leveled strident criticism against the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group over pounding a major dam held by the extremists in Syria’s embattled northern province of Raqqah.

Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff argued on Tuesday that the military contingent was trying to “completely destroy critical infrastructure in Syria and complicate post-war reconstruction as much as possible.”

He added that US-led military aircraft had destroyed four bridges over the Euphrates River in Syria and hit the Tabqa Dam that lies 40 kilometers west of Daesh’s main stronghold of Raqqah.

Rudskoi further warned that the collapse of the dam, most commonly known as the Euphrates Dam, would create an “ecological catastrophe” and lead to “numerous” civilian deaths.

The remakes came as a spokeswoman for the US-backed fighters from Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – a Kurdish-dominated and anti-Damascus alliance – said on Monday that the Tabqa Dam is not damaged or malfunctioning and engineers fully inspected its operations.

“We permitted a team of engineers to enter the dam to verify the process of its operations. They checked it fully. And there is no malfunction or damage to the dam or its operations as was rumored,” Jihan Sheikh Ahmed, the SPF's spokeswoman, said in a statement.

She accused Daesh terror group of spreading rumors aimed at causing panic among civilians.

Daesh, in a statement released on Sunday, announced that Tabqa Dam was out of service due to airstrikes being carried out by the US-led coalition, and could collapse.

The statement said pressure on the dam’s compromised structure was building up rapidly as more water flows into the reservoir, bringing it up to its maximum capacity, while the sluice gates normally used to relieve that pressure are jammed shut.

US General Admits US Airstrike Killed Hundreds of Civilians in Mosul

Tue Mar 28, 2017 8:45PM
presstv.ir

Relatives react near the bodies of civilians killed in an airstrike, during a battle against Daesh terrorists, in Mosul, Iraq March 17, 2017. (Photos by Reuters)

A high-ranking US commander has admitted that there was a “fair chance” that a coalition airstrike in western Mosul killed a large number of Iraqi civilians.

“We probably had a role in those casualties,” said Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend while talking to reporters on Tuesday.

He noted that the reason for the high number of casualties was Daesh’s repulsive practice of using civilians as human shields.

On March 17, Iraq's Kurdish-language Rudaw television network reported that 237 people had been killed in US-led coalition airstrikes on a Daesh-held neighborhood in western Mosul.

“The enemy had a hand in this,” he added, stressing that “It sure looks like” the civilians has been forced to gather in the building by the terrorists. “What I don’t know is why they [the civilians] gathered there by the enemy?"

Despite admitting to the US’s involvement in the incident, Townsend noted that the munitions used by US-led coalition forces in densely-populated urban areas were not designed to cause such a level of destruction.

Last week, a senior Iraqi military official announced that a US-led coalition airstrike on a Daesh truck carrying explosives resulted in the civilian deaths in Mosul incident.

On Monday, the Pentagon announced that it was analyzing over 700 video feeds from airstrikes on west Mosul following the increasing number of reports of civilian causalities.

A spokesman for the US Central Command, Colonel J.T. Thomas, stressed that high priority was being given to the reports. He added that the US was aware they were dropping bombs in the “immediate vicinity" of areas with a high civilian population but their bombs were "quite precise."

The US had previously admitted to having launched airstrikes in Mosul on the day of the deadly tragedy.  

UN cautions US-led cotillion to avoid civilian casualties

Meanwhile, the UN has called on the US-led coalition in Iraq to take further measures towards protecting civilians while noting that Daesh was sending residents into buildings and areas which were the targets of airstrikes.  

In a report, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, also called on all forces engaged in anti-terror operations in Iraq to “avoid the trap” of hitting buildings in which Daesh had placed explosives and sent locals to take shelter in.

He added that the terrorists "strategy of using children, men and women to shield themselves from attack is cowardly and disgraceful. It breaches the most basic standards of human dignity and morality."

On Monday, Amnesty International also voiced its concerns over the number of civilian casualties in Mosul, suggesting the US-led coalition may not be doing enough to avoid such casualties.

Iraqi army soldiers and allied fighters launched an offensive to retake Mosul in October 2016. The forces took control of eastern Mosul in January and launched the battle in the west on February 19.

Russia Can Use Iran Bases for Anti-terror Battle in Syria: Zarif

Tue Mar 28, 2017 9:24AM
presstv.ir

In this August 16, 2016 frame grab provided by Russian Defense Ministry press service, a Tu-22M3 jet flies over Syria’s Aleppo during an airstrike against terrorists. (Via AP)

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran could, if necessary, allow Russia to use its military bases on “a case by case basis” for missions against terrorists in Syria.

“Russia doesn’t have a military base (in Iran), we have good cooperation, and on a case by case basis, when it is necessary for Russians fighting terrorism to use Iranian facilities, we will make a decision,” Reuters quoted Zarif as saying in Moscow on Tuesday.

The top Iranian diplomat, who is accompanying President Hassan Rouhani on his two-day visit to Moscow, further said that regional issues, including the crisis in Syria, would be discussed at the upcoming meeting in the Kremlin with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Last August, Russia announced that its planes had used a base in western Iran to carry out counter-terrorism air raids in Syria.

“On 16 August [2016], Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers, flying with a full bomb load from the Hamedan air base, conducted a group airstrike against targets of” Daesh and Jabhat Fath al-Sham terrorist groups in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Dayr al-Zawr and Idlib, a Russian Defense Ministry statement said back then.

Just days later, Moscow confirmed that all warplanes based in Iran had returned to Russia.

At that time, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said that as long as Iran agreed, Russia could use the air base again “depending on the situation” in Syria.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said at the time that Russian airstrikes on militants in Syria were “temporary, based on a Russian request.”

Last month, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani stressed that Russia continues to use Iran’s airspace as part of a strategic cooperation between the two countries.

Iran and Russia have been assisting the Syrian government in its fight against foreign-backed terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the Arab country since 2011.

Moscow launched its campaign against Daesh and other terror outfits in Syria at the Damascus government’s request in September 2015. Its airstrikes have helped Syrian forces advance against militant groups fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad's government.

Putin and Rouhani: Russia and Iran Are Cooperating in Combating Terrorism and Resolving the Crisis in Syria

28 March، 2017

Moscow, SANA – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stressed the necessity of pooling efforts to counter terrorism and resolving the crisis in Syria.

During a joint press conference Moscow on Tuesday, the Russian president said “we believe it is important to further expand cooperation in combating international terrorism,” affirming that Russia and Iran are coordinating their steps to exterminate ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra and to promote Syrian settlement, adding that the ceasefire has been established in most of Syria thanks to joint efforts.

He noted that the participation of Russia and Iran, along with Turkey, as guarantor countries in the Astana talks is a major contribution to the progress of peaceful political settlement in Syria and in promoting intra-Syrian talks and the corresponding United Nations-mediated process in Geneva.

For his part, Rouhani said that the two sides discussed the political process in Syria and the cooperation of counter terrorism, affirming that Iran will continue cooperation with the other guarantor countries to resume the Astana process.

Presidents Putin and Rouhani also issued a joint statement after their talks in Moscow in which they exerted their strong support for the efforts exerted by the Syrian government in fighting terrorism represented by ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra, and other terror groups affiliated to them.

The statement underlined the efforts exerted by Russia, Iran, and Turkey to create suitable conditions for intra-Syrian dialogue in Astana and to allow for establishing an effective and sustainable cessation of combat activities in Syria, adding that the two sides view this cooperation as an important step towards the success of the Geneva talks.

Shaza / Hazem Sabbagh

The Syrian Arab Republic Delegation Meets Gatilov and Iran’s UN Representative

28 March، 2017

Geneva , SANA_ The Syrian Arab Republic delegation headed by Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari met Tuesday with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov and Director of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Vershinin and the accompanying delegation.

Both sides exchanged viewpoints on the process of the intra-Syrian dialogue during Geneva 5 meetings.

The two sides agreed on continuing consultations in a way that helps achieving advance in the talks.

” We presented a number of papers and waiting for the seriousness of the other parties in interacting with those papers,” the Syria delegation said.

Syrian Arab Republic delegation meets Iran’s Permanent Representative to UN in Geneva

The Syrian Arab Republic delegation also the Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations Office in Geneva Mohsen Naziri Asl.

The meeting was held at the headquarters of the Permanent Syrian Mission to the United Nations in the Swiss city.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed the fifth round of the Syrian-Syrian dialogue, which is currently being held, stressing the continuation of consultation and coordination between the two sides.

M. al-Frieh/H. Said

Syrian Arab Republic Delegation to Geneva Talks Presents to Ramzy Paper on How to Discuss Constitutional Process

27 March، 2017

Geneva, SANA- The Syrian Arab Republic delegation headed by Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari arrived at the UN HQ in Geneva on Monday to hold talks with UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy in the framework of the fifth round of the intra-Syrian dialogue.

According to SANA’s representative in Geneva, the session discussed the constitution basket, and during it the Syrian Arab Republic delegation presented a paper of basic principles for properly beginning any debate regarding the constitutional process to Ramzy for him to pass to the other sides.

On Saturday, The Syrian delegation held the second session of talks with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura at the UN headquarters.

A source close to the UN said that the delegation presented a paper on combating terrorism during the talks.

In a press conference on Friday, al-Jaafari asserted that there’s no division of the four baskets of the Geneva talks, but there are necessities that will be resorted to such as starting discussing the counter-terrorism basket because the main and prevailing issue on the Syrian scene now is terrorism.

H. Zain/ Ghossoun

Syrian Army Destroys a Tunnel for Jabhat al-Nusra in Damascus Countryside

28 March، 2017

Provinces, SANA-An army unit destroyed a tunnel for Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists in Harasta area in Damascus Countryside.

A military source said an army unit seized during its operations on fortifications and infiltration points of Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in Harasta area a tunnel extending from Chery Car Company towards Harasta highway that was used by terrorists to transport ammunition and terrorists to attack military points and target nearby residential areas with rockets and various weapons.

The source added that engineering units worked on “destroying the tunnel and its branches”.

Daraa

An army unit operating in Daraa carried out a military operation targeting a hideout for Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists in Daraa al-Balad area.

A military source said that an army unit destroyed a position of Jabhat al-Nusra in Tarik al-Sad ( the Dam road) neighborhood in Daraa al-Balad area, killing and injuring all terrorists in it.