Nieuws

On April 14th a legal adviser of Abdel Fatah al-Sisi submitted 200.000 signatures in favour of al-Sisi’s presidential candidacy to the election commission, which is eight times the number required. Although al-Sisi’s election manifesto has not been published yet, he already enjoys support from these 200.000 persons.

The Libyan parliament, the General National Congress (GNC), has instructed interim Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thinni to form a new cabinet. Al-Thinni replaced former Prime Minister Ali Zeidan who was removed by parliament in March 2014. The new government faces a lot of difficulties, primarily with a haltering economy and a lot of political unrest.

Afgelopen donderdag, 27 maart, debatteerde de Tweede Kamer met minister Ploumen voor Buitenlandse Handel en Ontwikkelingssamenwerking over de Meerjarige Strategische Plannen (MJSP’s). In deze MJSP’s worden de plannen van de Nederlandse ambassades voor de vijftien OS-partnerlanden en voor de Grote Meren regio en de Hoorn van Afrika verder uitgewerkt. Het werd een stevig debat, waarin Roelof van Laar (PvdA) beleidscoherentie sterk onder de aandacht bracht.

The Arab Summit took place on 25 and 26 march in Kuwait, where 22 members attended.

Egypt’s army chief and Field Marshall, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, resigned as head of the military and defense minister to declare his candidacy for the Egyptian presidential elections. Sisi ousted Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in July 2013 and is widely believed to win the presidential vote.

Afgelopen weekend (20-22 maart) organiseerden wij twee trainingen in Jordanië. Beiden waren jongerentrainingen georganiseerd samen met onze lokale partners in Jordanië, Jordanian Commission for Democratic Culture (JCDC) en het Al-Sindyan Institute.

An Egyptian judge, in the town of Minya, sentenced 529 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death on Monday 24 March. 16 suspects were acquitted. The court issued its ruling after only two sessions and defence lawyers said they had no chance to present their case. The ruling was the biggest mass death sentence handed out in Egypt’s modern history.

Afgelopen weekend (21-23 maart) organiseerden wij in samenwerking met onze lokale partner Ettakatol een mediatraining in Tunesië. De training vond plaats in Tunis voor leden van Ettakatol, met hoge functies in de partij.

On April 17th presidential elections are scheduled in Algeria. The current president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has been in power for the last fifteen years, will run again. His candidature has caused a lot of resistance by opponents, which have staged several protests. Next to the current president, eleven candidates have registered for the elections. The Constitutional Council have examined all applications and approved those of six candidates. Despite this number, changes that Bouteflika will win again are huge.

Libya’s Prime Minster, Ali Zeidan, was ousted by parliament, the General National Congress, after a vote of no confidence on Tuesday 11 March. Zeidan was blamed for letting an oil tanker, laden with rebel sold oil, escape naval forces. Zeidan will be temporarily replaced by Defence Minister Abdallah al-Thinni.