Africa

In all Morrocan cities against popular demonstrations of the “20th of February Movement… The People want change” which is raising political, economic and social demands.
Plain clothes police supported by other kinds of response and auxiliary forces used batons to disperse demonstrators who were protesting peacefully.

The Preparatory Committee for the establishment of the “Democrates Liberaux” party, which is the unique Tunisian Humanist Party in the political arena, expressed deep concern and puzzlement about the overreaction of the national security forces towards the citizens and journalists and political activists who were present in the capital Tunis.

People who have suffered the impact of unjust practices and those who have been victims of abuse from corporate impunity will heave a sigh of relief the day directors of such companies are brought to court from behind their corporate shields. The spins and the twists in legal tangos that play out so impassively will become a thing of the past.

According to a report, forces loyal to embattled Ivory Coast leader, former president Laurent Gbagbo, have reportedly dwindled to less than 1,000 fighters.

Some 200 armed men are said to be protecting Gbagbo’s presidential palace, which is surrounded by forces loyal to internationally recognized president Alassane Ouattara.

NATO has intensified its air campaign against Gaddafi regime amidst ongoing clashes on the ground. NATO warplanes flew around 200 missions in Libyan airspace after rebel leaders accused international forces of failing to protect the city of Misurata. The US has said that success has been slowed in part by the Gaddafi regime’s use of human shields near military positions.

Over 200 people, Africans fleeing Libya by boat, drowned on Wednesday before reaching safety in Italy. It is just one of many tragedies resulting from North Africa’s refugee crisis, one of the world’s worst, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres. Many of the refugees who were fleeing Libya in fact came from Somalia, Eritrea and Ivory Coast.

The South African government demanded that outgoing Cote d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo hand over power to Alassane Ouattara, recognized by the UN as the winner of the November elections.

South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane asked Gbagbo to step down for peace in Cote d’Ivoire, said South African Journal Business Report.

Intentional or not, as there are no documents to support this hypothesis, the attack on Libya has served as a diversion to hamper a possible “second wave” of popular revolts in the Arab world. These are the thoughts of the political analyst Immanuel Wallerstein in Znet, published on 2 April by Rebelión and we circulate it because it is a different – and possible – view.

The White House-massaged media spin portrays President Barack Obama’s decision to go to war in Libya as a triumph for a triumvirate of liberals — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Ambassador Susan Rice, and Obama adviser Samantha Power — who have well-established records of advocating the use of U.S. military force for “humanitarian” purposes.

The world team of the humanist organism Convergence of Cultures denounces the growing violence that the non-resolved post-electoral crisis is causing in Ivory Coast, and demands a non-violent solution that lets the country overcome the social fracture. There have been many victims of indiscriminate violence, among them the humanists Lacina, Drissa and Moumouni.