Former dictator Duvalier breaks silence, asks Haitians for forgiveness

Ousted Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier apologized Friday to the victims of his 15-year regime and said he had returned to work for national reconciliation.

By News Wires (text)

AP - Former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier ended his silence, telling Haitians he returned after 25 years in exile because he wanted to participate in the reconstruction of the earthquake-shattered country.

The 59-year-old ex-strongman, speaking in a faint voice in his first public comments since arriving in Haiti on Sunday, told Haitians and reporters that he was ready to face “persecution” and had timed his return to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake.

“When I made the decision to come back to Haiti to commemorate this sad anniversary with you, in our country, I was ready for any kind of persecution,” Duvalier said Friday. “But I believe that the desire to participate by your side in this collaboration for the national reconstruction far outweighs any harassment I could face.”

Since his stunning return to Haiti, the man known as “Baby Doc” had largely remained holed up in a luxury hotel and in a private residence, his isolation feeding speculation as to exactly why he had come home.

He did not field any questions during Friday’s address, leaving that to three American consultants, including former U.S. congressman and presidential candidate Bob Barr, and one of his Haitian lawyers.

The former leader, who ruled Haiti from 1971 to 1986 through terror and the regime he inherited from his father, returned to the shattered nation. He soon found himself facing an investigation by a Haitian court for corruption, embezzlement, torture, arbitrary imprisonment, crimes against humanity and other allegations.

His motives for returning have been a source of debate and confusion. Some believe he had a desire to unlock Swiss bank accounts that contain the last remnants of his squandered fortune. Others speculate that he is gravely ill, or that he is a pawn in someone else’s game, Haiti’s current president, the United States or France to influence Haiti’s current electoral crisis.

Duvalier did not address any of those topics, other than to say it was his choice to return. He appeared to be in imperfect health, slurring his speech at times in a near-whisper, apparently unable to move his neck and walking with a shuffle.

Much of the speech was a throwback to earlier times. He spoke in French, the colonial language used by presidents until after his ouster, dropping in only occasional words of Haitian Creole.

He referred to his arrival Sunday at “Francois Duvalier International Airport”, which carried his father’s name until his fall from power. It is now Touissant Loverture International Airport, named for the leader of Haiti’s late 18th Century revolution.

About Haiti’s past, Duvalier expressed sympathy primarily for his partisans “killed, burned, grilled, tortured by ‘Pe Lebrun” the Haitian slang term for placing a tire around someone’s neck and setting it on fire or who lost their property in revenge against his regime following his ouster.

“And all under the glare of cameras around the world,” he added.

As for those tortured, imprisoned, killed and exiled under his rule he offered “my profound sadness toward my countrymen who consider themselves, rightly, to have been victims of my government.”

He ended with a declaration “imitating Martin Luther King” in which he envisioned a day when “all Haiti’s children, men and women, old and young, rich and poor, from the interior and from the Diaspora, can march hand in hand without exclusion to participate together in Haiti’s rebirth.”

As he shuffled off, the Americans, Barr, longtime Duvalier family adviser and attorney Ed Marger and Snellville, Georgia, attorney Mike Puglise arrived with Haitian lawyer Reynold Georges to take questions while a band waving Duvalier’s red-and-black party flag played outside.

Barr called Duvalier’s speech “profoundly moving.”

Marger, who handled most of the queries, said they were there to help

Duvalier collect undelivered reconstruction funds promised by the United States and other countries at the March 31, 2010, U.N. donors’ conference. He said Duvalier could manage them more effectively than former U.S. President Bill Clinton and distribute them more justly than current Haitian President Rene Preval.

The men said they would be paid if Duvalier is able to collect those funds.

On the ex-dictator’s health, Marger said he appeared to be suffering from a “stiff neck.”

As for the accusations about the abuses under his regime, Marger said:

“Are there atrocities in Haiti? You bet your life. Is (Duvalier) responsible for them? I don’t know.”

Amnesty International reiterated Friday that Duvalier should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of Haitian law.

“There is no statute of limitations for crimes against humanity. Jean-Claude Duvalier therefore must be brought to justice for these acts,” said researcher Gerardo Ducos. “He must remain in the country as long as the investigation is taking place.”

But many Haitians, too young to remember his time in power, reacted more favorably to the ex-dictator’s speech.

“He came to do good things for us. This country doesn’t function anymore,” said Kevins Felicie, a motorcycle driver born four months after Duvalier boarded a U.S. plane for exile. “It wasn’t me that was hurt by him, or even my dad but my grandfather. He didn’t do anything to me.”

France rejects Bin Laden's threats, reiterates commitment to Afghanistan

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Friday that France is committed to the use of international force in Afghanistan. His reaction follows the release of an audio tape where Bin Laden warned France of a 'high price' for its policies.

By News Wires (text)

AFP - France is "determined" to keep troops in Afghanistan despite a threat from Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden linking their mission to the fate of French hostages, the foreign ministry said Friday.

"We are determined to pursue our action in favour of the Afghan people with our allies" in the NATO-led ISAF force that is fighting the ousted Taliban rulers in Afghanistan, ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told reporters.

In a tape broadcast on Al-Jazeera television on Friday, bin Laden said the release of French hostages depends on a pullout of French soldiers from Afghanistan and warned Paris of a "high price" for its policies.

Two French journalists were seized along with three Afghan colleagues in December

Who are al Qaeda’s French hostages? Intelligence agent Denis Allex (probably not his real name), was captured on 14 July 2009 in Somalia, possibly Mogadishu, by al Qaeda-linked militant group al Shabaab. Five French nationals, a Togolese and a Malagasy – most of them employees of energy group Areva – have been held hostage since 16 September 2010, when they were kidnapped at a uranium enrichment site in Arlit, north Niger. They’re being held somewhere in the Sahel, possibly in Mali, by the al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb movement (AQIM).

2009 east of Kabul. Several other French hostages were seized last year in Niger in a kidnapping claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked group AQIM.

On the tape bin Laden, addressing the French people, said: "The refusal of your president to withdraw from Afghanistan is the result of his obedience of America, and this refusal is a green light to kill your prisoners."

He warned that French President Nicolas Sarkozy's stand would "cost him and you a high price on different fronts, inside and outside France."

Valero said the authenticity of the message was being checked.

"We are working without cease for the freeing of our two countrymen held hostage in Afghanistan and for other French hostages in the world," Valero said.

On October 27 bin Laden warned in a video that France's security depended on it pulling

NORTH AFRICA Exclusive footage gives rare insight into life in al Qaeda insurgency

out of Afghanistan and an end to what he called its "injustices" against Muslims.

And in a video broadcast in April, the Taliban threatened to kill the French journalists, cameraman Stephane Taponier and reporter Herve Ghesquiere of France 3 television, unless their own prisoners were released.

Tunisian prime minister pledges to quit politics after elections

Tunisia's prime minister has pledged to quit politics after elections that he says will be held as soon as possible, amid protests by citizens still angry at officials linked to their deposed president's regime.

By News Wires (text)

AFP - Tunisian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi vowed to quit after holding the north African country's first fair polls since independence, following the ouster of veteran ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

"After the transition, I will retire from political life," Ghannouchi said in an interview with Tunisian television and promised to stage "transparent and democratic elections -- the first since independence" from France in 1956.

"All undemocratic laws will be scrapped" during the transition to democracy, he added, mentioning electoral, anti-terrorism and media laws.

The prime minister, who occupied the same post in the previous government before the

Ministers quit RCD party By Catherine VIETTE

downfall of Ben Ali exactly a week ago, was speaking as protesters Friday called for all old regime figures to be removed from government.

"Like all Tunisians, I was afraid" under Ben Ali, he said in the interview, his ever first direct address to the nation.

Ghannouchi, who earlier said in an interview with a French radio station that he had the impression that the North African country was run by Ben Ali's unpopular wife Leila, stressed on Friday that "there is no going back.

"We have done a 180-degree turn," a visibly moved Ghannouchi said, adding: "We have enough capable and competent men" to run the country.

What not to call Tunisia’s revolution Used by a number of international media and governments to describe current events in Tunisia, the term “Jasmine Revolution” calls to mind a very different episode for most Tunisians. The name was given to the “medical coup d’état”, carried out by Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 1987, when he took power from then president Habib Bourguiba by declaring him “too senile” for office. FRANCE 24 has therefore decided not to use the term in reference to the current situation in Tunisia, which brought about the downfall of Ben Ali on 14 January.

Ben Ali resigned and fled in disgrace to Saudi Arabia after 23 years in power, felled by a populist uprising against unemployment, corruption and poverty that quickly spiralled out of control despite a bloody crackdown.

Ghannouchi has promised parliamentary and presidential elections within six months, but no dates have been set and the country's constitution says the vote should be held in less than two months.

However protestors have called for the premier -- an old regime figure -- to quit.

"You stole the wealth of the country but you're not going to steal the revolution! Government resign! We will stay loyal to the blood of the martyrs!" protesters chanted, marching down central Tunis.

Some waved Tunisian flags, others the flag of the main UGTT trade union, which played a key role in the protests that forced Ben Ali from power.

Abid Briki, deputy head of the powerful UGTT, told AFP: "The executive committee of the UGTT met today and called for the dissolution of the government and the formation of a new government for national salvation."

The union has refused to recognise the new government announced on Monday, in which key figures from the Ben Ali regime hold powerful posts, withdrawing its three appointees.

On Friday, flags flew at half-mast and state television broadcast prayers from the Koran as Tunisia began national mourning for the 78 people who officials say were killed when security forces cracked down on the wave of social protests that began last month.

The government has declared three days of mourning and major democratic reforms such as the release of all political prisoners, complete media freedom and the registration of previous banned political movements -- including the Islamist Ennahdha.

Tunisian interim government releases political prisoners

But one protestor held up a sign reading "Our President" next to a photograph of Mohammed Bouazizi, the 26-year-old fruit vendor who inspired the uprising against Ben Ali by setting himself on fire last month.

Dissident journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, who lives in Paris, said he would run in the planned presidential election.

Moncef Marzouki, another dissident who returned to Tunisia this week after years of exile in Paris, has also said he wants to run.

Public anger has been directed at the main symbols of the authoritarian regime and particularly the former president's family.

Officials said Thursday that 33 members of Ben Ali's family had been arrested.

Three shot dead in Albania clashes

Three people killed and dozens injured in extensive anti-government clashes with police outside PM's office in Tirana. Last Modified: 22 Jan 2011 07:52 GMT

At least three people were killed during the protests in the capital Tirana [AFP] Three people have been killed and dozens injured in extensive anti-government clashes outside the prime minister's office in Tirana, the Albanian capital. State health officials confirmed three people had died from gunshot wounds during the clashes between opposition supporters and riot police. About 30 civilians and 25 policemen and national guard officers were also hurt, the officials said. The violence follows months of tension between the government of Sali Berisha, the prime minister, and opposition Socialists. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Karolina Risto, chief editor at Albania's Vision Plus TV, said: "Albania is finally calm now after more than six hours of violent clashes. "Three people are reported dead, all of them young men among the demonstrations in Albania's capital. "The whole purpose of this gathering is because the opposition is accusing the government of stealing their votes in the last election." 'Tunisia-style uprising' Berisha called the protests an opposition attempt to foment a Tunisia-style uprising. "The bastard children of Albania's own Ben Alis conceived Tunisian scenarios ... for you citizens of Albania," he said, comparing his Socialist political opponents with the ousted Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali The violence was the worst since the storming of the government building after the death of a politician in 1998. "Albania is not in a state of emergency and will not pass into a state of emergency. But scenarios of violence will not be tolerated," Berisha said. More than 20,000 people took to the streets on Friday to demand that Berisha call early elections after Ilir Meta, the country's deputy prime minister, resigned over an alleged corruption scandal earlier this week. The scandal broke after a private TV station aired a video allegedly showing Meta asking a colleague to influence the awarding of a contract for building a power station. Clashes broke out when several hundred protesters broke away from the main group and started attacking a riot police cordon. Chanting "Get out, Get Out," some of the protesters overturned and torched cars, smashed paving stones and hurled them at riot police and reached the steps of the government building. Violent protest Police responded with tear gas, plastic bullets and water canons. As the night fell, hundreds of riot policemen and national guard officers swept through the centre of the capital, beating protesters with batons and detaining dozens of youths. Police did not say how many people were arrested. In a statement, the US, OSCE and European Union expressed "deep regret" at the violence "Violence and excessive use of force cannot be justified and should be avoided.We urgently appeal for calm and restraint on all sides and to abstain from provocations," the text read. The statement also renewed a call for "constructive dialogue and compromise to resolve the existing political differences". Bamir Topi, the president, urged rival political leaders to start an urgent dialogue to defuse the tension. Edi Rama, an opposition leader, also called for calm, but said Berisha should also heed the message from the mass protest. He also appeared to suggest that protests will continue. "I assure all of you, we shall continue our struggle in a determined way, because the way out is clear: Either a free Albania for all, or keep the people subdued under the boot or barbaric power," he said. The Socialists have accused Berisha's conservative Democratic Party of rigging the 2009 general election, which it won by a narrow margin. The next general election is scheduled for 2013. Albania, one of Europe's poorest countries, is a NATO member, and is also seeking EU membership, but corruption is believed to be pervasive and there is widespread unemployment.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Tunisia protesters press for change

Upheaval continues in North African nation as hundreds of demonstrators, including police officers, take to the streets. Last Modified: 22 Jan 2011 09:44 GMT

Hundreds of demonstrators, including around 400 police officers, have taken to the streets of Tunisia's capital in another day of upheaval in the North African country. While many protesters are continuing to demand the dissolution of the interim government, police who have also joined the protests are seeking better working conditions and an improvement to what they call unfair media portrayal. Saturday's protests come in the wake of a month of turmoil that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's longstanding ruler. While the police gathered in front of the office of Mohamed Ghannouchi, the prime minister, hundreds of other protesters were marching towards the headquarters of the UGTT union after being blocked from reaching the offices of the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD), Ben Ali's former ruling party. The police say they have been held accountable for the policies of a repressive government that has acted against its people for years, Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reported from Tunis, the capital. "What you see here is quite unprecedented, extraordinary, something never seen before in the Arab world," our correspondent said. "They are saying that they were victims, that they were used by the former dictator, that those who have to be held accountable and brought before justice are the senior members of the government and the ministry of the interior." They are asking for their own union, to better represent their views to the media and public, our correspondent said. Protests have continued in Tunisia even after Ben Ali fled the country, since many are angry over the inclusion of several prominent members of his regime in the new interim government. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets on Friday, seeking the dissolution of the interim administration. A pledge aimed to placate In an effort to dampen continued anger, Ghannouchi, a former ally of Ben Ali, has pledged to quit politics after elections that he says will be held as soon as possible. In an interview on Tunisian television on Friday, Ghannouchi said he will leave power after a transition phase that leads to legislative and presidential elections "in the shortest possible timeframe". Ghannouchi was a member the RCD. Despite resigning his membership in the party, he has been struggling to restore calm under a new multiparty government that the opposition complains retains too many RCD members. Follow Al Jazeera's coverage of the turmoil in Tunisia "My role is to bring my country out of this temporary phase and even if I am nominated I will refuse it and leave politics," Ghannouchi said. Ghannouchi did not say why he is leaving politics or specify when the elections would be held. He said the elections must be a success "to show the world that our country has a civilization". The prime minister also said that all of the assets held abroad by Ben Ali's regime had been frozen and would be returned to Tunisia after an investigation. Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyedin reporting from the capital, Tunis said that Ghannouchi announced the state would provide compensation to those who died during the uprising, as well as their families. He ordered the army and the justice department to preserve any documents and evidence that can be gathered so the old regime can be implicated throughout the investigation. US calls for elections Tunisia began three days of mourning on Friday, lowering flags to half-mast and broadcasting recitations of the Quran to mourn dozens who died in the protests that drove the Ben Ali from power. Central Tunis has seen near-daily demonstrations in the past week by those who say the caretaker government is still too dominated by allies of the ousted president, but security forces and the army have not opened fire since Ben Ali's ouster. The United States, meanwhile, has voiced support for the will of the Tunisian people. "It is very important that we have a broad dialogue with civil society, some important steps have already been taken by authorizing opposition parties and liberalising media coverage," PJ Crowley, the US state department spokesman, told Al Jazeera. "These are important steps by clearly it needs to be more to satisfy the Tunisian people." The US ambassador to Tunisia, Gordon Gray, told Al Jazeera earlier in his first public remarks on the uprising that the democratic transition remained "a work in progress" and represented "a new phenomenon."

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Lebanon's Jumblatt backs Hezbollah

Druze leader's decision deals a blow to caretaker PM Saad Hariri's effort to form a new government. Last Modified: 21 Jan 2011 17:03 GMT

Saad Hariri, centre, has said he will seek to form a new government despite mounting opposition pressure [Reuters] Walid Jumblatt, a Druze leader from Lebanon's opposition camp, has announced his support behind Hezbollah in a move that could give the group and its allies a veto over who becomes the country's next prime minister. Hezbollah, which has a parliamentary bloc as well as a powerful military wing, commands overwhelmingly support among Lebanon's Shia Muslim community. Jumblatt said the aim of his decision on Friday was to preserve Lebanon's stability. "I am announcing the right political stand ... by assuring the steadfastness of the group [Progressive Socialist Party] alongside Syria and the resistance [Hezbollah]," he said. Jumblatt leads a bloc of 11 parliamentarians and his support is crucial to decide who forms the new government out of the two rivals: Hezbollah or Saad Hariri, the caretaker prime minister. Hariri announced on Thursday in a televised speech that he would seek to form a new government despite strong pressure from Hezbollah for him to step down. His speech comes after talks to try to end the stalemate over the formation of a new government in Lebanon came to a complete halt. The Hezbollah-led opposition brought down Hariri's government last week after he rejected their demands to repudiate a UN-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 killing of his father, Rafiq al-Hariri. "We have said Hariri should not come back, and yes he should not come back," said Michel Aoun, a Christian leader allied with Hezbollah. Open to different outcome Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Beirut, said Hariri made it clear in his speech that he will accept any outcome from political consultations expected to be launched by Michel Suleiman, the country's president, on Monday. Suleiman has called parliamentarians for consultations to name a new prime minister after which he will ask the candidate with most backing to form a new government. "He seems to feel that he might lose the battle with the Hezbollah-led opposition if they get enough votes to nominate their own prime minister and form the next government without him," our correspondent said. She said Hariri blamed the opposition for the failure of his effort to preserve Lebanon's stability and security. He also appealed for calm, saying: "Any drop of blood that falls from any Lebanese citizen is more important to me than any post." Hezbollah and its allies are widely expected to nominate the veteran Omar Karameh, who has already served twice as prime minister. In Lebanon's power-sharing political system, the prime minister must be Sunni Muslim, the president Maronite Christian, and parliamentary speaker a Shia Muslim. It was not clear whether Hariri will get enough support on Monday.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Obama urged to condemn settlements

US academics and ex-government officials ask US president to support UN resolution against illegal Israeli settlements. Last Modified: 22 Jan 2011 09:41 GMT

The letter said the number of Israelis living beyond the 1967 line complicates the realisation of two-state solution [AFP] Several US policy practitioners, academics, former government officials and journalists have in a letter to Barack Obama urged the US president to support the upcoming United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution condemning illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land. "The time has come for a clear signal from the United States to the parties and to the broader international community that the US can and will approach the conflict with the objectivity, consistency and respect for international law required if it is to play a constructive role in the conflict's resolution," read the letter published in the Washington Note, a popular political blog, on Wednesday. It went on to say that "while a UNSC resolution will not resolve the issue of settlements or prevent further Israeli construction activity in the Occupied Territory, it is an appropriate venue for addressing these issues and for putting all sides on notice that the continued flouting of international legality will not be treated with impunity." The signatories to the letter advised that if the US believes that the text of the resolution is flawed, that it could set forth additional US views on settlements and related issues in an accompanying statement. "The alternative to a Resolution - a consensus statement by the President of the UNSC - would have no stature under international law, hence this option should be avoided," the letter warned. Cairo address The letter urged the president to follow through on the commitment he made in his landmark Cairo speech of June 2009, in which he said: "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. "This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop." The letter also states that settlements are illegal according to article 49 of the Fourth Geneva convention - a status recognised in an opinion issued by the US State Department's legal advissr on April 28, 1978, a position which has never since been revised. "That official US legal opinion describes the settlements as being "inconsistent with international law. "US policy across nine administrations has been to oppose the settlements, with the focus for the last two decades being on the incompatibility of settlement construction with efforts to advance peace." It also says that the resolution will have a defining effect on the credibility of the US as a broker in Middle East peace, as well as its "seriousness as a guarantor of international law and international legitimacy ... in a region in which hundreds of thousands of our troops are deployed and where we face the greatest threats and challenges to our security. "This vote is an American national security interest vote par excellence. We urge you to do the right thing." Among those who signed the letter are former US Trade Representative and Council on foreign Relations Chair, Carla Hills, journalist and former New Republic editor Peter Beinart, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Thomas Pickering, former Assistant Secretary of State, James Dobbins, former Assistant Secretary of State, Robert Pastor, former New Republic editor and Atlantic Senior Editor and Daily Dish publisher, Andrew Sullivan, former US Secretary of Defence, Frank Carlucci and former US Ambassador to Israel Edward Walker.

Source: Washington Note