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November 2008, Vol. 27 No. 461
The General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) selected the next five non-permanent members of the Security Council on 17 October for a two-year term starting on 1 January 2008. The five are Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and Uganda and will replace Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama, and South Africa on 31 December. Bolivia will have a new constitution if voters approve it in a referendum on 25 January. After a near-crisis and demonstrations against the opposition, both sides agreed on a compromise—essentially that the president will give up on a third term--and Congress approved the draft constitution on 21 October. Under the new constitution a new bill of rights will give autonomy to indigenous groups over ancestral lands and grant them a share in national natural resources. The presidential election will be held one year earlier, in December 2009, and the new presidential term is lengthened by one year to five years. The National Assembly of the Serb Republic (RS) of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted a non-binding resolution on 15 October expressing the conviction that it has the right to secede. The continuing challenges to the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords are intensifying since Kosovo declared its independence. The High Representative has rejected those moves and pointed out that the Serb Republic is not a state but a component of B&H and that nationalist maneuvers are blocking the country’s path to the European Union (EU). The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is again tackling the issue of agriculture and the income gap between farmers and urban dwellers. At the 3rd plenary session of the 17th Central Committee on 9-12 October in Beijing a land reform plan was approved which emphasizes the creation of large-scale industrial farms to safeguard self-sufficiency of grain production, allows farmers to trade and mortgage their land rights, and double per capita rural income by 2020. The plan will be submitted to the next session of the National People’s Congress in March 2009 and is expected to be approved. UN warns coastal cities of future threat of submergence International organizations, governments, and scientists are increasingly concerned with a threatening side effect of climate change: submerging of coastal cities. Urban centers not physically affected by global warming would still suffer when thousands of “environmental refugees” arrive and overburden communities. The term used to locate the vulnerable cities is low elevation coastal zones (LECZ) which account only for two percent of the earth’s landmass but contain 10 percent of the world’s population or about 634 million people. More than half of the vulnerable cities lie in Asia, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean (27 percent), and Africa (15 percent). Two-thirds of the cities are in Europe and nearly one-fifth are in North America. The United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT) headquartered in Nairobi released its “State of the World’s Cities 2008/09” on 14 October in which it details the threat, names cities, and notes protective measures taken. The overall action required is of course the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions of 50 to 85 percent by 2050 in order to avoid a 2-degree Celsius increase in global mean temperature. HABITAT says that during the 1900s, sea levels rose by an estimated 17 cm; global mean projections for sea level rise between 1990 and 2080 range from 22 cm to 34 cm. One of the most vulnerable cities is Dhaka at an elevation between 2 and 13 meters. Aside from floods caused by glacial melt from the Himalaya range feeding the two rivers embracing the city, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, a slight rise in sea level would engulf large parts of the city. Other urban populations which can be confronted by the threat by 2070 live in Kolkata, India; Rangoon, and Hai Phong (Vietnam). African coastal cities that could be affected include Abidjan, Accra, Alexandria (Egypt), Algiers, Cape Town, Casablanca, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Durban (South Africa), Freetown, Lagos, Nigeria, Libreville, Lome, Luanda, Maputo, Mombasa, Kenya, Port Louis (Mauritius) ,and Tunis.
The second annual survey tracking the quality of government in 48 African countries places Mauritius (2007: no. 1), Seychelles (no. 2), Cape Verde (no. 4), Botswana (no. 3), and South Africa (no. 5) in the top five places. Except for a slight drop in ratings for the Seychelles, the other four all show improvements in human rights. At the bottom of the 2008 survey are Angola (no. 44; 2007: no 42), Sudan (no. 45; no. 45), Chad (no. 46; no. 46); Congo (DR) (no. 47; no. 47); and Somalia (no. 48; no. 48). Guinea-Bissau which ranked 44th last year jumped to 30th place and others that improved the most were Liberia, Burundi, Uganda, and Madagascar. The so-called Ibrahim Index of African Governance runs from a combined high grade of 85.1 to 18.9 (2007:86.2 to 28.1). There are 28 countries in mid-range, incl. Cameroon, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia but Nigeria ranks 39th out of 48, a drop of two places since last year and Mauritania dropped 11 places. The index, named after the founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation of Cape Town and London, is divided into five broad categories of safety and security; rule of law, transparency, and corruption; participation and human rights; sustainable economic opportunity; and human development, 15 sub-criteria, and 58 measurements. The Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University directed preparation of the index. Viewing the World The financial crisis is still with us and when other events become the day’s prominent news, drops in stock prices and takeover of banks in a number of countries around the world bring back the problems of credit and stability. For Americans especially, the significant event was the outcome of the presidential election on 4 November with the Barack Obama-Joe Biden team claiming a substantial majority of votes. The supporters of the new US president were jubilant while others sighed in relief that eight years of disastrous conduct and policy of the administration were about to end. While the election of a black president is certainly a historical feat, regrettably it does not end racial prejudice. Abroad, diplomatic behavior may hide relations with a leader of another color but even with plenty of good will many Asians and Europeans are inexperienced in entering into positive race relations and the cultural gap remains. One of the pieces of advice offered to Western leaders after the Russian invasion of Georgia was to find ways, incentives, to keep the Russian government from bullying its way onto the world stage without serious consequences. The advice obviously has not yet been put into action and did not deter the Russian president from announcing the planned deployment of missiles in the Russian enclave in the Baltic region. The move follows Vladimir Putin’s course. It should also be noted that George Bush’s great Italian friend, Silvio Berlusconi, who was in Moscow at the time of the missile announcement, reportedly did not publicly reject the move and furthermore ‘played nice’ with the Kremlin in regards to the situation in the Caucasus for which the Russian pro-government press is commending him. With the average life span of the earth’s population getting longer, the longevity of political leaders is no exception, aside from violent changes. Today, there are at least 39 living former presidents or prime ministers of major countries leaving aside differences in length of terms. They are Brazil: Fernando Henrique Cardoso, 77; Itamar Franco, 78; Fernando Collor de Mello, 59; and José Sarney, 78. Canada*: Paul Martin, 70; Jean Chrétien, 74; Ms. Kim Campbell, 61; Brian Mulroney, 69; and John Turner, 79. China: Jiang Zemin, 82. France: Jacques Chirac, 75, and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 82. Germany*: Gerhard Schröder, 64; Helmut Kohl, 78; and Helmut Schmidt, 89. India*: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, 83; Inder Kumar Gujral, 88; and H.D. Deve Gowda, 75. Italy: Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, 87; Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, 90; and Francesco Cossiga, 80. Japan*: Yasuo Fukuda, 72; Shinzo Abe, 54; Junichiro Koizumi, 66; Yoshiro Mori, 71; Tomiichi Murayama, 84; Tsutomu Hata, 73; Morihiro Hosokawa, 70; Toshiki Kaifu, 77; and Yasuhiro Nakasone, 90. Russia: Vladimir Putin, 56. South Africa: Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki, 66; and Nelson Mandela, 90. United Kingdom*: Tony Blair, 55; John Major, 65; and Ms. Margret Thatcher, 83. United States of America: Bill Clinton, 62; George H. W. Bush, 84; and Jimmy Carter, 84. *Prime minister/chancellor Bio Briefs [see printed issue] Deaths—Korea (DPRK): Pak Song Ch’ol, 95, died of unannounced causes on 28 October. He served as North Korea’s foreign minister (1959-1970) and prime minister (1976-77). While in Japan in the early 1930s he joined the Japan Communist Party (JCP) and after 1936 fought the Japanese in Manchuria where he met Kim Il-song, according to the South Korean Wolkan Kyonghyang journal. He commanded a division during the Korean War and in August 1956 rose to Director of the International Bureau of the Central Committee of the Korean Worker’s Party (KWP). In September 1961 he became a full member of the Central Committee and in June 1964 joined the Political Committee to which he still belonged in September 1992. In December 1977 he became one of the two vice presidents under Kim and remained honorary vice president until at least the end of 2003.
updates new leaders Azerbaijan: Ilham Aliyev, re-elected President, on 24 October. Azerbaijan: Artur Rasizade, re-appointed Prime Minister, on 28 October. Congo (DR): Adolphe Muzito (PALU), Prime Minister, on 10 October, succeeding Antoine Gizenga (PALU) who resigned on 25 September. Georgia: Grigol Mgaloblisvili (born 1973), Prime Minister, on 27 October, replacing Lado Gurgenidze who was dismissed. Peru: Yehude Simon (born 1947), Prime Minister, on 11 October, succeeding Jorge Del Castillo Galvez who resigned on 9 October. San Marino: Ernesto Benedettini (born 5 March 1948) (PDCS) and Ms. Assunta Meloni (born 21 April 1951) (AP), elected Captains General, on 1 October. Swaziland: Barnabas Sibusio Dlamini (born 15 May 1942), Prime Minister, on 23 October, succeeding acting Prime Minister Bheki Dlamini (18 September-23 October) who replaced Abasalom Themba Dlamini. Zambia: Rupiah Banda (MMD), President, on 30 October, succeeding Levy Mwanawasa who died on 19 August. Zimbabwe: Ms. Joyce Mujuru (ZANU-PF) and Joseph Msika (ZANU-PF), reappointed Vice Presidents, on 13 October. * Austria: Dr. Martin Graf (born 11 May 1960) of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), elected 3rd President of the National Council and installed on 28 October, succeeding Dr. Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek (GREENS) (30 October 2006-27 October 2008). France: Gérard Larcher (born 14 September 1949) (UMP), President of the Senate, re-elected on 1 October. Rwanda: Dr. Rose Mukantabana (RPF), President, Chamber of Deputies, on 6 October. elections Canada—Parliament: Governing Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), 143 of 308 seats, on 14 October.
Czech Republic-Senate: Major opposition Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD), 23 of 27 contested seats (one-third of the 81-seat body), on 17/18 and 24/25 October. Although the CSSD gained most seats in this election, the governing Civic Democratic Party (ODS) retains the overall plurality with 35 seats. Kazakhstan—Senate: Governing OTAN party, 16 of 16 available seats (one-half of 47 indirectly elected seats), on 4 October. Lithuania—Parliament: Homeland Union (TS-LK), 44 of 141 seats, followed by the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) with 26 seats, on 12 and 26 October.
literature Surveys and Documentation: Government & Leader Changes Country Notes 2008 Cabinet Directory: Canada Cabinet Directory: United Kingdom (Issue contains 36 pages.) |