"Chávez nosso que estais no céu"

CARACAS — A busca do chavismo pela mitificação do ex-presidente morto Hugo Chávez continua a todo vapor na Venezuela. Na segunda-feira, foi apresentada a versão partidária do Pai Nosso, chamada “Oração do delegado”, que começa com a frase “Chávez nosso que estais no céu”.
A oração foi lida no fim da “1ª Oficina do Projeto de Sistema de Formação Socialista” do Partido Socialista Unido da Venezuela (PSUV), na presença do presidente Nicolás Maduro, em um teatro de Caracas. Também participaram da cerimônia ministros, governadores chavistas e outros funcionários do governo.
“Chávez nosso que estais no céu, na terra, no mar e em nós, delegados e delegadas. Santificado seja teu nome. Venha a nós teu legado para levá-lo aos povos daqui e de lá”, diz a primeira parte da oração lida pela delegada do partido María Estrella Uribe.
“Dai-nos hoje tua luz para que nos guie a cada dia e não nos deixes cair na tentação do capitalismo, mas livrai-nos da maldade da oligarquia, do crime do contrabando. Porque nossa é a pátria, pelos séculos e séculos. Amém. Viva Chávez”, termina a oração.
Além da oração, cantores e poetas dedicaram suas obras a Chávez e à chamada revolução bolivariana. Em seu discurso, Maduro afirmou que a revolução encontra-se em uma fase que “exige cada vez mais a formação de valores” e que se deve seguir os valores de Chávez.
Desde a morte do ex-presidente, em 5 de março de 2013, sua memória está imersa a um processo de quase santificação pelo chavismo. Maduro já o comparou a figuras religiosas, além de dizer, em diversas ocasiões, que Chávez teria aparecido em forma de passarinho.

Read more: http://oglobo.globo.com/mundo/chavismo-estreia-seu-proprio-pai-nosso-chavez-nosso-que-estais-no-ceu-13803843#ixzz3EjSbSwiS

Frente Nacional representada no Senado francês

France's far-right National Front (FN) party has won its first two seats in the upper house of parliament, in what party leader Marine Le Pen has described as a "historic victory".

Partial results show right-wing parties are gaining control of the Senate, with final results expected on Monday.

It comes after a strong showing by the far right in European elections in May.

It will be seen as another blow for President Francois Hollande, whose popularity has hit record lows.

Half of the Senate's 348 seats are elected by regional officials across the country every three years.
Gains on the right
"There is only one door left for us to push and it is that of the Elysee [presidential palace]," said Stephane Ravier, one of the two newly elected FN senators.

National Front leader Marine Le Pen hailed the party's unprecedented winning of Senate seats

Meanwhile, FN leader Marine Le Pen said the results were "beyond what we hoped for".

Partial results indicate that the UMP party of former President Nicolas Sarkozy and its centre-right ally, the UDI party, may have gained a majority of between 10 and 20 seats.

President Hollande's Socialist party still controls the National Assembly, or lower house.

But the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Paris says this result could add further delays and obstacles to his economic plans for the nation.

It could add pressure on him to prove that those plans - which have already divided his own party - can bring results, she adds.

Recent opinion polls suggest President Hollande has become the most unpopular French president in modern times.

He has been hit by a recent cabinet revolt over austerity measures and criticised in a book by former first lady Valerie Trierweiler, who claimed the Socialist leader despised the poor, labelling them "the toothless ones".

The president has vehemently denied the allegation.  BBC

O Afganistão tem um novo Presidente

Ashraf Ghani has been sworn in as Afghanistan's president in a ceremony at the presidential palace in Kabul.

It comes after six months of deadlock amid a bitter dispute over electoral fraud and a recount of votes.

Under a US-brokered unity deal Mr Ghani takes over the presidency and runner-up Abdullah Abdullah can nominate a figure with prime-ministerial powers.

The Taliban have described the deal as a "US-orchestrated sham" but Mr Ghani hailed it as a "big victory".

Mr Ghani took an oath to abide by the constitution at the swearing-in ceremony attended by up to 100 dignitaries.

He said he would work for long-term peace, promised to tackle corruption and said constitutional changes were needed.

Analysis: David Loyn, BBC News, Kabul
In his long first speech after being sworn in as the new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani promised reform, development, an end to poverty, measures against corruption, and a clean-up of the judiciary.

But he knows that he can do nothing without security. In a year when the Taliban are conducting their biggest offensives since they fell from power in 2001, he said Afghan people were tired of war and wanted peace.

He talked about the crisis in Syria and Iraq, and said that Afghanistan was an Islamic country that understood about jihad after Islamic guerrillas defeated the Russians in the 1980s. He said the country did not need any lessons from foreign fighters.

The former World Bank economist has ambitious plans for change, but now needs to make his coalition work, with his defeated election rival Abdullah Abdullah.

He has praised the country's "first democratic transfer of power" and has also spoken warmly of his rival, and now partner in government, Dr Abdullah.

Dr Abdullah, who takes on the newly created role of chief executive, said the two leaders would work together "for a better future with trust and honesty".

Earlier outgoing President Hamid Karzai, who has been leader since the US-led invasion in 2001, called for people to support the new government.

The BBC's David Loyn in Kabul says security in the capital is tight, with few people on the streets and shops closed.  BBC

Bissau: Dois dias de luto nacional

O excesso de bagagens associado à superlotação de passageiros terá sido uma das causas que provocou  sexta-feira a morte de 22 pessoas na sequência da detonação de mina anti-tanque por uma viatura de transporte público “Mercedes – Gri-Gri” na localidade de Nkagha, a 15 quilómetros da cidade de Bissorã, no norte da Guiné-Bissau.
Conforme os dados avançados pelas autoridades setoriais, cerca de 15 pessoas morreram no local do acidente e duas outras que não conseguiram resistir aos ferimentos acabaram por morrer já no Centro de Saúde do setor.
Os repórteres do Jornal “O Democrata” deslocaram-se este sábado à localidade onde ocorreu o acidente. De acordo com diferentes testemunhas recolhidas no local, a viatura pisou a mina quando tentava fazer a ultrapassagem com uma outra viatura no sentido contrário. Devido as condições da estrada em terra batida, o condutor da viatura acidentada desviou-se do caminho e acabou por ativar o engenho que ali se encontrava desde a época da guerra da libertação nacional.
A mina, além de ceifar vidas dos passageiros, destruiu totalmente a viatura e deixou 19 feridos que foram evacuados para o Hospital Nacional “Simão Mendes” em Bissau.
Um ancião da povoação de Nkagha, a localidade onde ocorreu o acidente – entre Bissorã e N’cheia – contou aos repórteres d’O Democrata que antes do acidente, algumas viaturas haviam passado com passageiros no mesmo troço inclusive a própria viatura sinistrada.
O diretor do Centro de Saúde de Bissorã, Enço Severino Mendes da Costa explicou a nossa reportagem que o Centro não tem a capacidade de resposta da situação daquele género, pelo que optou-se pela evacuação dos feridos para Bissau.
A nossa reportagem constatou em Bissorã a presença de seis sobreviventes que, de acordo com o médico, estão fora de perigo de vida. Das seis pessoas internadas no Centro de Saúde de Bissorã, encontram-se duas crianças (uma de cinco meses e a outra de seis anos), três mulheres e um homem que estava sentado na cadeira ao lado do condutor. O Democrata apurou que o condutor saiu ileso do incidente.
Segundo um dos elementos do Sindicato de Motoristas de Bissorã, o facto de a viatura sinistrada não se ter passado na estação do embarque não permitiu determinar o número exato de passageiros que se seguiam naquela viatura. As autoridades setoriais não conseguiram igualmente determinar o número total  dos passageiros.
A viatura, de acordo com uma fonte junto da Polícia do Setor, se encontrava estacionada frente ao Comissariado e foi ali onde os passageiros embarcaram.
O governador da região de Oio, Domingos Martinho Brandão numa declaração a nossa reportagem lamentou o sucedido e aproveitou a ocasião para endereçar as condolências às famílias. Informou que as autoridades decidiram decretar três dias de luto regional em homenagem às vítimas da tragédia.
Entretanto, o governo central acaba de decretar dois dias de luto nacional, domingo e segunda-feira.

Por: Assana Sambú, no jornal O Democrata

Bissau: O narcotráfico intensifica-se

O aviso foi feito pela polícia judiciária deste país africano usado como plataforma pelo narcotráfico colombiano. O número de pessoas a passar pela Guiné-Bissau como correio de droga está a aumentar, denunciou ontem o director nacional adjunto da Polícia Judiciária da Guiné-Bissau.

Apesar de a PJ ter feito apenas dez apreensões desde o início do ano a pessoas que transportavam estupefacientes no aeroporto de Bissau, para Faustino Aires dos Reis, citado pela Lusa, as evidências apontam para uma tendência.

"Com a dificuldade de transporte de droga de outras partes do mundo para chegar ao destino real", em grandes quantidades e passando pela Guiné-Bissau, "aumentou a percentagem dos correios" que levam quantidades mais reduzidas, referiu.

Segundo explicou, o narcotráfico de grande escala está inibido devido à vigilância crescente, que envolve autoridades internacionais e ganhou mediatismo em 2013, com a detenção do antigo chefe da marinha guineense, Bubo na Tchuto, apanhado ao largo de Cabo Verde por uma brigada de combate ao tráfico de droga dos Estados Unidos.

O contra-almirante era considerado pelo Departamento do Tesouro dos Estados Unidos como o principal narcotraficante na Guiné-Bissau. Em Abril de 2010, os EUA congelaram os bens de Bubo Na Tchuto e do chefe de Estado-Maior da Força Aérea da Guiné-Bissau, Ibrahima Papa Camará, por "desempenharem um papel significativo no tráfico de drogas".

"Se houvesse" grandes quantidades traficadas, a PJ já teria actuado, reforça Faustino Aires dos Reis. "Nós estamos atentos, embora com imensas dificuldades" ao nível dos recursos disponíveis, reconheceu o director nacional adjunto. A Polícia Judiciária mostrou hoje mais de um quilo de cocaína apreendida a três jovens que, na terça-feira, entraram no país pelo aeroporto de Bissau.

A droga estava enrolada em pequenos casulos de plástico: um dos suspeitos ingeriu 29, os outros dois traziam no corpo cerca de 80 cada um. Também esta semana, uma outra pessoa foi detida com 27 quilos de liamba em plena capital, com a erva carregada em fardos também hoje exibidos. O mesmo homem, oriundo do sul do país, para além de negociar liamba, levava cocaína para a área de residência. Os três estão sujeitos a prisão preventiva, anunciou a PJ.

Já esta semana, o Ministério da Administração Interna (MAI) da Guiné-Bissau anunciou a detenção de uma pessoa e a apreensão de 47 quilos de liamba e viaturas pertencentes a uma rede de tráfico de droga que operava por terra. Há meses que as autoridades norte-americanas de luta antidroga vêm advertindo que a guerrilha colombiana está envolvida no narcotráfico na Guiné-Bissau.

Estas acusações foram reiteradas recentemente por responsáveis norte-americanos durante uma audiência na Comissão de Negócios Estrangeiros do Senado dos Estados Unidos. Durante uma audiência sobre este tema, diversos peritos afirmaram haver a necessidade de os países europeus darem uma maior contribuição para o combate a esse tráfico.

Michael Braun, que até recentemente foi director de operações da Agência de Combate à Droga (DEA), disse que a Europa "está à beira de uma catástrofe de abuso e tráfico de drogas semelhante àquela que os Estados Unidos sofreram há 30 anos atrás".

Braun e outros peritos que compareceram perante a comissão disseram que a situação se deverá deteriorar. Os riscos de traficar cocaína para Europa são agora menores do que para os Estados Unidos, os lucros maiores e a procura futura deverá aumentar, acrescentaram.

O actual chefe de operações da DEA, Thomas Harrigan, declarou que "traficantes colombianos e venezuelanos" estão "enraizados" na África ocidental e cultivaram relações de longo prazo com redes criminosas africanas para facilitar as suas actividades na região. Ionline com Agência Lusa

Bissau: Mina anti-colonial mata numerosos guineenses

Dezasseis mortos é o balanço provisório do número de vítimas da explosão de um viatura de transporte misto, que efectuava a ligação entre Bissorã e Encheia, no norte da Guiné-Bissau.

Segundo testemunhos locais, a viatura foi "pulverizada", quando circulou sobre um engenho explosivo (provavelmente uma mina anti-tanque, a que também chamávamos de anti-carro), do período da guerra colonial, que ficou exposta na sequência das chuvas torrenciais que assolam a região.

Em 2007, o Centro de Acção de Anti-Minas (CAMI), responsável pelas operações de desminagem, baseado nos mapas das zonas minadas durante a Guerra de 7 de Junho de 1998, anunciara que as 103 409 minas anti-pessoais tinham sido desactivadas, alertando, todavia, para a existência no interior do país de milhares de minas anti-pessoais e engenhos explosivos que remontam à guerra da independência que decorreu entre 1963 e 1974.

SET2014; DO BLOGUE BISSAU RESISTE, com a devida vénia.

Mina A/C TM-46, em metal, de origem russa. que eram das mais utilizadas pelos guerrilheiros do PAIGC

Quarenta anos após o final da guerra que opôs as Forças militares portuguesas ao PAIGC, uma mina A/C (muito provavelmente colocada numa zona por onde transitavam os militares portugueses) fez vítimas.

Destruída uma igreja arménia na Síria

DER ZOR, Syria (A.W.)—The Islamic State (also known as ISIS) destroyed the Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in Der Zor, Syria—considered the Auschwitz of the Armenian Genocide—news agencies in the Middle East reported.

The first photos of Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in Der Zor blown up by ISIS emerged on Sept. 24.

Armenians commemorating the genocide at the Memorial Church on April 24, 2004. (Photo by Studio Ashnag)

The reports surfaced as Armenia was celebrating the 23^rd anniversary of its independence on Sept. 21.
Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian issued a statement condemning the destruction of the church, which housed the remains of victims of the Armenian Genocide, calling it a “horrible barbarity.”
Nalbandian called on the international community to cut the Islamic State’s sources of supply, support, and financing, and eradicate what it referred to as a disease that “threatened civilized mankind.”
The church was built in 1989-90, and consecrated a year later. A genocide memorial and a museum housing remains of the victims of the genocide was also built in the church compound.
Thousands of Armenians from Syria and neighboring countries gathered at the memorial every year on April 24 to commemorate the genocide.
Hundreds of thousands of Armenians perished in Der Zor and the surrounding desert during the genocide. In the summer of 1916 alone, more than 200,000 Armenians, mostly women and children, were brutally massacred by Ottoman Turkish gendarmes and bands from the region.

Commemorating the genocide at the Memorial Church in Der Zor. (Photo by Studio Ashnag)

 
 

Três anos de guerra contra Estado Islâmico

MPs will vote later on whether the UK should join US-led air strikes on Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.

The Tories, Liberal Democrats and Labour all back action, which the coalition says is legal because it was requested by the Iraqi government.

In an interview with political magazine The House, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the campaign could be a "long haul" of "two to three years".

IS has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria in recent months.

The group, also known as Isis or Isil, has used tactics that have included beheadings of soldiers, Western journalists and aid workers.

It could have as many as 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria, according to the CIA.

The UK government is not proposing any involvement in air strikes on Syria.

On Thursday, about 250 people protested outside the gates of Downing Street against the possibility of military action in Iraq.

Some MPs also oppose the military action.

Labour's Diane Abbott, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell signed a letter to the Guardian which said bombing Iraq would "only exacerbate the situation".

"We urge the government to rule out any further military action in Iraq or Syria," they said.

The Commons has been recalled from its four-week break for the Scottish independence referendum and party conferences to deal with the developing situation.

Prime Minister David Cameron will open the debate at 10:30 BST (09:30 GMT) - it is expected to last seven hours.

The government does not have to seek the approval of MPs to commence military action, but it has become customary to do so since this first happened over the Iraq war in 2003.

Analysis
by Jonathan Beale, defence correspondent

Six RAF Tornados in Cyprus have been ready to carry out air strikes for weeks. Their laser-guided bombs and missiles will be loaded and armed soon after Parliament gives the green light.

The Tornados have already been flying reconnaissance missions over Iraq and will have identified potential targets. But some of the obvious ones, like command and control centres, will have already been hit by US war planes which have been launching strikes for the past month.

The focus of their attacks have now switched to Syria itself. So the RAF will also be looking for targets of opportunity - such as IS fighters and vehicles on the move.

The expected intervention of the UK will not be a game-changer. During military intervention against Libya in 2011, the RAF had three times as many war planes involved. But the fight against IS will be more like a marathon than a sprint.

And the longer it goes on, IS will adapt its tactics, and airstrikes will inevitably become less potent.

Black market
Its motion specifically rules out any attacks on IS in Syria, following the Commons' rejection of joining in air strikes in that country last year. Any action there would require a separate vote.

Downing Street said UK forces could join the bombing of targets in Iraq after the Iraqi minister of foreign affairs wrote to the United Nations seeking international assistance.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: "The plan is to provide air support to the Iraqi government, alongside our allies - the US, France and an increasing number of Arab countries who are going to take part."

On Thursday, Mr Hammond had reiterated that any ground campaign against IS would not involve UK troops.

The US began a series of air strikes in Iraq last month, and on Monday it began attacks on targets in Syria.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said the purpose of the Syria strikes was "not necessarily to kill militants" but to destroy the facilities - including oil refineries - which were funding IS through the black market.

Jets from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have joined US forces in the attacks, and the US says more than 40 countries have offered to join the anti-IS coalition.  BBC

Boko Haram: Terror no Nordeste da Nigéria

Gunmen shot at traders and customers as they raided the busy market for food supplies on Friday.

The number of casualties is not yet clear, with some reports suggesting as many as 30 people were killed.

Boko Haram has taken control of a series of towns and villages in north-eastern Nigeria in recent weeks.

Authorities have struggled to defeat the militant Islamist group, which has been waging an insurgency in Nigeria since 2009.

The BBC's Will Ross, in Lagos, warns that parts of north-eastern Nigeria are slipping further and further out of the government's control, creating a growing humanitarian crisis.
'Pandemonium'
Many residents fled Mainok after the attack, making it difficult to obtain accurate information.

Reuters news agency quotes two security sources as saying that at least 36 people, including 13 gunmen, were killed in the gun battle, which continued into Saturday.

"Thirteen of the terrorists... were killed, some of them fled with gunshots and our colleagues are already on their trail. Unfortunately, 23 civilians died in the attack," one source is quoted as saying.

The militants are well-armed and often wear military uniforms

Eyewitnesses described scenes of pandemonium as the busy market came under attack in broad daylight on Friday, our correspondent says.

One resident said that some of those running for safety were killed after being hit by cars speeding away from the area.

He said that many soldiers and civilians ran away into the bush.

Mainok is located some 56 km (35 miles) outside of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

In May 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan imposed a state of emergency in the northern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, vowing to crush the Islamist insurgency.

Thousands of people are displaced every week by violence in the north-east of Nigeria

But Boko Haram, which translates as "Western education is forbidden", has stepped up attacks against civilian targets ever since the Nigerian military offensive began last year.

It frequently attacks schools and colleges, which it sees as a symbol of Western culture, and was behind the kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state.

Earlier this week gunmen stormed a teacher training college in the northern city of Kano in a suspected Boko Haram attack, killing at least 14 people.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch says more than 2,000 civilians have been killed this year. BBC

Doze anos de intervenção norte-americana no Iraque

On Sept. 18, 2002, CIA director George Tenet briefed President Bush in the Oval Office on top-secret intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, according to two former senior CIA officers. Bush dismissed as worthless this information from the Iraqi foreign minister, a member of Saddam’s inner circle, although it turned out to be accurate in every detail. Tenet never brought it up again.
Nor was the intelligence included in the National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002, which stated categorically that Iraq possessed WMD. No one in Congress was aware of the secret intelligence that Saddam had no WMD as the House of Representatives and the Senate voted, a week after the submission of the NIE, on the Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq. The information, moreover, was not circulated within the CIA among those agents involved in operations to prove whether Saddam had WMD.
On April 23, 2006, CBS’s “60 Minutes” interviewed Tyler Drumheller, the former CIA chief of clandestine operations for Europe, who disclosed that the agency had received documentary intelligence from Naji Sabri, Saddam’s foreign minister, that Saddam did not have WMD. “We continued to validate him the whole way through,” said Drumheller. “The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming, and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy, to justify the policy.”
Now two former senior CIA officers have confirmed Drumheller’s account to me and provided the background to the story of how the information that might have stopped the invasion of Iraq was twisted in order to justify it. They described what Tenet said to Bush about the lack of WMD, and how Bush responded, and noted that Tenet never shared Sabri’s intelligence with then Secretary of State Colin Powell. According to the former officers, the intelligence was also never shared with the senior military planning the invasion, which required U.S. soldiers to receive medical shots against the ill effects of WMD and to wear protective uniforms in the desert.
Instead, said the former officials, the information was distorted in a report written to fit the preconception that Saddam did have WMD programs. That false and restructured report was passed to Richard Dearlove, chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), who briefed Prime Minister Tony Blair on it as validation of the cause for war.

Bissau: Não basta a saída de Indjai

Não é a simples saída de Indjai que resolve os problemas da Guiné-Bissau Jorge Heitor Claro que foi muito bom saber que o general golpista António Indjai tinha deixado de ser esta semana Chefe do Estado-Maior General das Forças Armadas da Guiné-Bissau, mas a sua simples exoneração, e substituição pelo brigadeiro Biaguê Nan Tan, não resolve os múltiplos e antiquíssimos problemas do país. Os antigos Combatentes da Liberdade da Pátria têm sido um empecilho para uma Guiné-Bissau inteiramente nova, que nada tenha a ver com as questiúnculas do tempo em que foi gerada e das suas primeiras décadas como país independente. Sendo o brigadeiro general Biaguê Nan Tan um antigo vice-chefe do Estado-Maior do Exército, que entretanto passara efemeramente por chefe da Casa Militar do Presidente José Mário Vaz, não é de forma alguma uma personalidade alheia à oficialidade que nestes últimos anos tem estado na mó de cima, sempre pronta a interferir nos assuntos políticos. Antigo Combatente da Liberdade da Pátria, portanto pessoa que há umas boas quatro décadas anda fardada, de armas na mão, não representa de forma alguma o sangue novo do que o país precisaria; uma classe castrense que fosse altamente profissionalizada e que não eivasse dos vícios que tanto prejuízo têm causado aos guineenses. Chefe das brigadas operacionais das Alfândegas quando o actual Presidente, José Mário Vaz, era ministro das Finanças, o brigadeiro general Biaguê Nan Tan não será o oficial impoluto, relativamente jovem, de que o seu país precisaria para dar uma grande reviravolta nas estruturas militares, que se encontram absolutamente caducas. Ao escolher um amigo, e um homem da etnia balanta, maioritária, o Presidente da República terá julgado proceder bem, mas é ainda muito cedo para se dizer se o escolhido tem condições para ficar muito tempo no cargo, antes de que a médio prazo surja uma daquelas intentonas em que a Guiné-Bissau é tão pródiga. Antes de optar por este elemento da velha guarda, de uma velhíssima guarda que vem dos idos de 1973 e 1974, José Mário Vaz ouviu um Conselho de Defesa em que pontificam figuras tão pouco recomendáveis como o Chefe do Estado-Maior da Força Aérea, general Papá Camará, cujo lugar deveria ser talvez atrás das grades, uma vez que já foi acusado a nível internacional de se encontrar implicado no narcotráfico. Outro dos homens com assento no Conselho da Defesa é o vice-chefe do Estado-Maior General das Forças Armadas, general Mamadu Turé, "Nkrumah", tal como Papá Camará alvo de sanções da União Europeia, por ao longo dos anos não ter sabido respeitar o poder civil, mas antes alinhado em conjuras e em manobras golpistas. Por tudo isto e por muito mais é que não deito foguetes quando leio que o general António Indjai foi finalmente exonerado da chefia do Estado-Maior General das Forças Armadas guineenses para dar o lugar a outro oficial general balanta, que não é jovem nem nos dá grandes garantias de se comportar de uma forma substancialmente diferente da de um qualquer Papá Camará, Mamadu Touré ou Daba Na Walna. Para se salvar, a Guiné-Bissau precisa de reformas muito mais profundas, de há muito prometidas e de há muito adiadas. Esperemos que o Presidente José Mário Vaz e o primeiro-ministro Domingos Simões Pereira ainda tenham a oportunidade de as promover, antes de que novos Indjais se lhes atravessem no caminho.

18 de Setembro de 2014   (Análise feita para o ÁfricaMonitor)

Bissau: Finalmente exonerado António Indjai

segunda-feira, 15 de Setembro de 2014

Exonerado

O Presidente da República da Guiné-Bissau, José Mário Vaz, exonorou hoje o general António Indjai do cargo de Chefe de Estado-Maior General das Forças Armadas, de acordo com um decreto presidencial.

O líder militar esteve à frente do golpe de Estado de 2012 e a sua substituição era admitida por círculos políticos e militares na sequência da eleição de novas autoridades, que tomaram posse em junho e julho.

"É o general António Indjai exonerado do cargo de Chefe de Estado-Maior General das Forças Armadas. Este decreto entra imediatamente em vigor", referem os dois únicos artigos do decreto presidencial lido às 21:30 locais (22:30 em Lisboa) na Rádio Nacional.

Soldados do Califado na Argélia

A new African jihadist group has broken off from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and pledged loyalty to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria (IS or ISIS).
The splinter group is called 'Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria', and AQIM central region commander Khaled Abu Suleimane, whose real name is Gouri Abdelmalek, claimed leadership of the new group and said in a statement: "You have in the Islamic Maghreb men if you order them they will obey you. The Maghreb has deviated from the true path."
This is the latest blow to al-Qaeda in the rise of ISIS at the expense of al-Qaeda, thanks to a generational split between the two organizations, pitting the drawing power of older terrorists like Ayman al-Zawahiri running al-Qaeda versus the youthful al-Baghdadi running ISIS. Even worse for al-Qaeda, the organization hasn't been able to pull off anything anywhere near as devastating as the 9/11/2001 attacks in the years since. But ISIS has been devastating in a different way, taking over large areas in Syria and Iraq and decapitating Western journalists. Reuters and Al Jazeera

Mediterrâneo, Mar da Morte

About 500 migrants are feared dead after their ship was rammed by another boat near Malta last week, a migration body said.

Two Palestinian survivors told the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) that the boat had been intentionally sunk by traffickers.

They said the boat had left Damietta in Egypt in early September.

The IOM says that more than 2,500 people are now believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean this year.

News of the sinking near Malta emerged as another vessel carrying 250 people sank off the coast of Libya.

Over 200 people are feared to have drowned in that incident.
'Violent confrontation'
IOM spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said that the two survivors from the Malta sinking were rescued on Thursday, the day after their boat sank.

They said traffickers rammed the boat after a "violent confrontation" on board. The IOM said there were nine known survivors in total.

The boat had been carrying Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians and Sudanese, the survivors said.

The passengers, who included women and children, were reportedly told to move to a smaller, less safe boat. When they refused, the traffickers sank the larger vessel, the eyewitnesses said.

The Maltese authorities have not yet commented on the incident.

The UN says more than 130,000 migrants have arrived in Europe by sea this year, compared with 80,000 this year. Italy has received more than 118,000 migrants, the UN said.

Many attempt to cross from North Africa and the Middle East in unsafe and overcrowded vessels.

The UN's Andrej Mahecic told the BBC that more than half of those arriving by boat were refugees from Syria and Eritrea.  BBC

Morreu ontem José Soares Martins

José Soares Martins (José Capela), 1932-2014

In memorium

José Soares Martins nasceu em Arrifana, Santa Maria da Feira, no dia 25 de Março de

1932, faleceu esta noite num hospital do Porto. Depois da escola primária ingressou no

Seminário dos Grilos, no Porto. Terminou o Curso de Teologia em 1954. Em 1956 foi

para a cidade da Beira, Moçambique, onde o seu tio era Bispo. Na colónia a

desempenhar várias funções. Em Outubro foi nomeado chefe da redacção do Diário de

Moçambique, e em Agosto de 1959, director-adjunto do mesmo jornal. A 2 de Junho de

1962 lançou o semanário Voz Africana (na Beira), em 1963, fundou em Lourenço

Marques a revista Economia de Moçambique, jornais que dirigiu até 1968. No ano

seguinte viajou pelo Brasil de regresso à Europa. Em 1 de Janeiro de 1970 iniciou,

como editor, a publicação do jornal Voz Portucalense, no Porto. Nesta cidade

desenvolveu intensa actividade no domínio cooperativista e na luta anti-facista e anticolonial.

É dessa altura a criação da Confronto, e depois da Afrontamento. Da publicação

também dos cadernos anticoloniais. De 1978 a 1996 foi Adido Cultural na Embaixada

de Portugal na capital moçambicana. De regresso ao Porto passou a colaborar no Centro

de Estudos Africanos, da Universidade do Porto. Foi condecorado com uma Comenda

pela presidência portuguesa.

José Soares Martins foi desde jovem colaborador de imprensa periódica e especializada.

Mas foi sobretudo com o pseudónimo literário José Capela que publicou várias obras e

apresentou comunicações em congressos e conferências sobre as relações coloniais e

sobre história de Moçambique.

José Capela ofertou-nos um importante acervo de textos sobre a história de

Moçambique, sobretudo sobre o comércio de escravos, de que a seguir se fará um

inventário embora não exaustivo. O conjunto das suas obras sobre Moçambique pode

agrupar-se em três grandes eixos:

a) Abordagem aos processos da formação do incipiente capitalismo português em

Moçambique que moldaram as políticas assumidas na colonização e, como tal, as

interacções com as populações locais;

b) Pesquisa exaustiva sobre o tráfico internacional de escravatura do e pelo actual

território moçambicano. Durante o período pré-colonial e mesmo durante as primeiras

décadas do efectivo colonialismo, até à sua erradicação no início de XX, apesar da do

anúncio de uma de uma precoce proibição efectiva do tráfico nos territórios africanos

reclamados em XIX por Portugal, bem como a ideia de que o referido tráfico

esclavagista ter sido um fenómeno totalmente exógeno;

c) Olhar atento sobre a especificidade e complexidade histórica das formações sociais

na bacia do Zambeze, desde o estabelecimento do regime dos “Prazos”.

Textos assinados por José Soares Martins (lista não exaustiva)

Martins, José Soares - Subsídios para a História da CUF. Porto, Afrontamento, 1974.

Martins, José Soares e Eduardo da Conceição Medeiros - A história de Moçambique

antes de 1890. in: Revista Internacional de Estudos Áfricanos / dir. Jill R. Dias. Lisboa,

Nº 1 (1984), p. 201-216

Martins, José Soares - Centro Cultural de Maputo, in: Revista Elo: cooperação e

desenvolvimento. - Ano 3, n.º 16 (Julho-Setembro 1993), p. 38

Martins, José Soares - Minorias etnicas e identidade, in: Pos-colonialismo e identidade

/ orgs. Victor Pereira Da Costa, Susan Castillo. Porto, Universidade Fernando Pessoa,

1998, p. 105-116

Martins, José Soares – Escravos e escravatura em Moçambique. Problemas identitários.

In: Africana Studia (CEASUP), n.-º 3, 2000, p. 33.48.           ----       O Dr. Soares Martins foi a pessoa que me aguardou no aeroporto e me levou até ao hotel na madrugada de Outubro de 1978 em que cheguei a Maputo, como delegado da ANOP. Depois, ao longo dos anos, teve a gentileza de me enviar alguns dos seus livros, sobre os quais cheguei a escrever.

Sudão do Sul: Uma independência problemática

Regional officials are finally running out of patience with obfuscation from both warring parties and could impose sanctions next month

This time the deadline for a peace and power-sharing agreement is serious, runs the message from regional and international officials. On 25 August, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which is mediating between government and rebels, gave the warring parties 45 days to settle before imposing sanctions.

The balance of opinion in IGAD has tilted towards President Salva Kiir Mayardit's government and is more sceptical about Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon's position. This means that the most frenetic manoeuvring is among oppositionists, both armed and unarmed. Some of Riek's supporters say privately that the former Vice-President's group is far readier to compromise than it appears.  Africa Confidential

Dezenas de espiões israelitas arrependidos

Dozens of veterans of an elite Israeli military signals intelligence unit have said they will no longer serve in operations against Palestinians.

Forty-three past and present reservists signed a letter about Unit 8200, which carries out electronic surveillance.

They said the intelligence it gathered - much of it concerning innocent people - was used to "deepen military rule" in the Occupied Territories.

Israel's military said it held the unit to ethical standards "without rival".

Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem, since 1967. It pulled its troops and settlers out of Gaza in 2005, though the UN still regards Gaza as under Israeli occupation.
'Serious doubt'
Unit 8200 is the Israeli military's central intelligence gathering body and is often likened to the US National Security Agency (NSA).

The protest letter signed by the veterans of the unit was sent to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and armed forces chiefs.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Intelligence allows ongoing control over millions of people, thorough and intrusive monitoring and invasion into most aspects of life”

End Quote Letter by Unit 8200 veterans

The newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted the letter as saying that unlike in other countries there was "no oversight on methods of intelligence or tracking, and the use of intelligence information against the Palestinians, regardless of whether they are connected to violence or not".

"We refuse to take part in actions against Palestinians and refuse to continue serving as a tool for deepening military rule in the Occupied Territories," the letter added.

"Intelligence allows ongoing control over millions of people, thorough and intrusive monitoring and invasion into most aspects of life. All of this does not allow for normal living, fuels more violence and puts off any end to the conflict."

The names of the signatories were not published, but they include officers, former instructors and senior NCOs.

Several told Israeli media that hey had been tasked with gathering private information - including sexual preferences and health problems - that could be "used to extort people into becoming informants".

They also claimed that some intelligence was collected in pursuit of the "agendas" of individual Israeli politicians.

The Israeli military spokesman's office said in a statement that Unit 8200 personnel were held to ethical standards "without rival in the intelligence community in Israel or the world", and had internal mechanisms for filing misconduct complaints, Reuters news agency reported.

That the letter writers went first to the media "raises serious doubt as to the seriousness of their claims", the statement added.

Former Israeli military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin dismissed the signatories as a "fringe percentage" of those working for Unit 8200.  BBC

Al-Sisi conta com a simpatia de Israel

It was once the heart of the Arab world, playing a central role in Middle Eastern politics. The largest Arab country, populated by 86 million people, and with a record of being at the forefront in playing the role of mediator in conflicts within the region, particularly those relating to Palestine. In Egypt today, there is little of the traditional Arab solidarity towards Palestinians to be found; there is, though, the emergence of anti-Hamas, anti-Palestinian sentiments among Egyptians.
The Gaza Strip, whose almost 2 million people live in less than 360 square kilometres, affects Egypt, but is affected more by the internal affairs of its mighty neighbour. This is primarily due to the fact that Gaza's leadership, Hamas, is part of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation which was overthrown in Cairo by a bloody coup one year ago.

Relationship issues

Whilst struggling under a siege which has been imposed by Israel and Egypt, Gaza is now also being attacked by the world's fourth largest army, the so-called Israel Defence Forces; Cairo remains silent. Gaza has experienced different relationships with Egypt over the past four years, from absolute hostility, to neutrality, to absolute support. Currently, the besieged land gets no help from the government in Cairo; it gets only unequivocal hostility.
It was in Cairo in 2008 that Israel's Tzipi Livni announced the start of "Operation Cast Lead" against Gaza, one year after the siege was put in place, helped by the Mubarak regime.
When the 25 January Revolution came along in 2011, Mubarak's regime claimed that it was Hamas which was responsible for killing protesters in Tahrir Square. Following Mubarak's overthrow, things took a turn for the better under the interim SCAF (Supreme Council of the Armed Forces) government; the blockade on Gaza was eased, with the Rafah crossing, the only border not controlled by Israel, allowing Palestinian women, children and men aged over 40 to pass into Egypt.
During SCAF rule, Egypt mediated the deal between Israel and Hamas for the release of Sergeant Gilad Shalit in exchange for the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.
After the first post-revolution elections, Egypt had its first democratically-elected civilian president, Dr Mohamed Morsi, a candidate for the Muslim Brotherhood. He supported Hamas.
When Israel launched its attack on Gaza in November 2012 – "Operation Pillar of Defence" – Egypt gave Gaza it's full support. Prime Minister Dr Hisham Qandeel went to visit Gaza during the onslaught. Egypt also managed to broker a ceasefire and truce between the Israelis and Palestinians which ended the offensive.

Incitement of hatred

Following the military coup in July 2013, and in the footsteps of Mubarak's regime, Egypt went back to having a completely hostile attitude towards Gaza, at an unprecedented level. It closed the Rafah crossing once again and destroyed the tunnels which were considered a life-line for the Palestinians in the Strip.
With the current heinous Israeli military offensive on Gaza which has claimed the lives of over 740 Palestinians to-date, with more than 5,000 injured (the figures are rising by the minute), Egypt is playing the role of spectator and refers to the offensive as an exchange of fire by both sides. Al-Sisi's government ignores the fact that Israel's army is attacking a densely populated strip of land whose people possess no army, navy or air force. In the new Egypt, the aggressor and the victim are the same, equating the Palestinian resistance and Israel. This is a position that not even Mubarak took.
Whilst the children of Gaza are bidding farewell to their childhood and their lives, and homes are obliterated and entire families annihilated, the Arab world is silent. Even Gaza's closest, once intimate, neighbour; the neighbour that was always looked to for comfort and support, if not from its leaders, then at least from its people, has made no condemnation of Israeli brutality.
The incitement of hatred in Egypt against the Muslim Brotherhood since Morsi was elected led to the bloody coup and the largest massacre seen in Egypt against his supporters. This has been redirected over the past year against Hamas on a governmental, military, judicial and media level.
As a result, Egyptian fervour for the Palestinian cause has subsided. The Egyptian viewer is constantly told that Hamas is a terrorist group; it is the Muslim Brotherhood: "We must not forget that Hamas is the armed branch of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist movement," Egyptian TV presenter Amany Al-Khayat told viewers.
"The support for Palestinians has waned dramatically," said one Egyptian journalist. "The Egyptian silence in the face of Israel's latest offensive is expected amid an unprecedented and coordinated media smear campaign against Hamas."

The emergence of Egyptian Zionists

The dehumanisation and gloating seen amongst the Egyptian people when peaceful anti-coup protesters were annihilated, is the same now being witnessed towards Gaza, with several television presenters praising and supporting the Israeli military operation against Hamas. Some salute Israel and encourages it to wipe out Hamas and the people of Gaza.
"Thank you Netanyahu and may God give us more people like you to destroy Hamas!" tweeted Azza Sami of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram. Another Egyptian wrote: "May God make the State of Israel victorious in its war against the terrorist movement Hamas during this holy month of Ramadan."
Hamas and the Palestinians are shocked by this reaction to the Israeli military operation. One Hamas spokesman said: "It's disgraceful to see that some Egyptians are publicly supporting the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip while Westerners are expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and condemning Israel." Since the Israeli offensive, there has been an immense worldwide public uproar with many countries seeing tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets to condemn the atrocities and call on their governments to put pressure on Israel to stop its crimes.
This sort of incitement towards Palestinians has never been seen before in Egypt; some of the state mouthpieces go so far as to claim, ridiculously, that what is happening is not a war, but an agreement between Israel and Hamas to embarrass Egypt. According to presenter and staunch mouthpiece of the Al-Sisi regime, Tawfik Okasha, "Hamas has made an agreement with Israeli intelligence and planned for the firing of Hamas rockets into Tel Aviv." Another, obviously ignorant, TV personality claimed that the people of Gaza were better off under the Israeli occupation than under the Hamas-led government.

The forgotten child

In May during his presidential campaign, Al-Sisi said that should any Arab nation be threatened in its national security, then Egypt would be there straight away and that Egypt will "not accept any threat to any Arab country." Gaza appears to be exempt from this promise. Not only is the onslaught against Gaza taking place with the blessing of the new coup government in Egypt, but it has also been co-ordinating with Israel in Sinai to destroy the tunnels and close the Rafah crossing.
Wounded Palestinians have been refused entry, and convoys carrying much-needed medical aid have been turned away, strengthening the siege on this open-air prison and putting more pressure on Hamas on behalf of Israel. Atallah Eid, a 24 year old Palestinian who managed to make it through Rafah was among the very few wounded allowed to do so. "I was so happy when I was told that I was going to Egypt to complete my treatment, but what I heard with my ears and saw with my own eyes made me wish I had died in Gaza and never come to Egypt," he said.
Another injured Palestinian said that he wants to return to Gaza as soon as possible. "I don't want to finish the treatment. I wish they didn't bring me to Egypt... Its image would've stayed rosy in my eyes."

Mutual enemy

Israel has not publically admitted its alliance with Egypt over its operation against Gaza. However, Israeli journalist and political analyst Danny Rubenstein, speaking on Al-Jazeera, admitted that there is some kind of understanding between the two countries on the Gaza onslaught agenda and that both have mutual interests in attacking Hamas.
Operation Protective Edge was the first test for Al-Sisi on foreign affairs since officially taking the presidency, and he has failed miserably. While the attack on neighbouring Gaza was making headlines worldwide, Al-Sisi failed to mention anything in the speech he made to the Egyptians on 10 Ramadan, corresponding to the second day of the onslaught. The Rafah border has remained largely closed in the face of the wounded and injured Palestinians, and not a word of condemnation has been made by the president of the largest country of the Arab world. If Egypt was once known as the "mother of the world", this mother seems to have disowned its closest child as the killings next door continue unabated.

Loyalty from behind bars

In a country where over 1,000 of its own people were massacred in one day - shot, beaten, burnt and gassed - and the perpetrators were praised and saluted, it doesn't seem so surprising that the same people would allow more massacres to occur in a neighbouring country.
Without doubt there are still many Egyptians and Arabs who sympathise with Gaza and are outraged. Indeed Egypt has seen many protests under banners proclaiming, "To you we come Gaza!" though they do not receive airtime and the calls for Gaza are drowned by the new Egyptian Zionist voices.
The Arab world is largely silent, with no condemnation from any leaders, apart from the ousted democratic President of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, from his prison cell: "To you we come Gaza! To you we come Gaza! To you we come Gaza!" And he means it.  Walaah Ramadan

Al-Sisi, filho de uma judia

The Greater Israel Project – a long-standing Zionist scheme to steal all the land between the Nile and the Euphrates – is halfway there.
They just stole the Nile.
The problem is not that Egypt’s new thug-in-chief, General Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi, is a Jew. (His mother, Malikah Titani, is a Moroccan Jew from Asefi, which makes al-Sisi a Jew and an automatic citizen of Israel.)
If the Egyptian people want to elect a Jew president in a free and fair election – like they elected the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) to the Lower House with 73% of the vote, the Upper House with 80% of the vote, the presidency with 52% of the vote, and approved the MB Constitution with 64% of the vote – that’s fine with me.
The problem is that al-Sisi has concealed his Jewish identity and Israeli connections from the Egyptian people…and destroyed their nascent democracy through deception and mass murder.
An even bigger problem: al-Sisi is almost certainly a Mossad agent. That means al-Sisi’s Egypt is not just a brutal, banana-republic-style dictatorship. It is Israeli-occupied territory: The newest and largest province of ever-expanding Greater Israel.
No wonder the Israeli ambassador called al-Sisi “a national hero for all Jews.”
Al-Sisi’s uncle, Uri Sibagh (sometimes spelled as Sabbagh) served in the Jewish Defense League (Hamagein) from 1948 to 1950, made his aliyah to Israel, and became a bigwig in Ben Gurion’s political party, serving as the secretary of the Israeli Labor Party in Beersheba from 1968 to 1981. Uri’s sister – al-Sisi’s mother – presumably emigrated to Egypt on a mission from the Mossad. That mission culminated when the Mossad overthrew President Morsi and installed its agent al-Sisi in the coup d’état of July 3rd, 2013.
The implication: Al-Sisi has been a lifelong Mossad agent. His mission: infiltrate the highest levels of power in an Arab Muslim country. Al-Sisi is today’s version of Elie Cohen, who infiltrated the highest levels of power in Syria under the name Kamal Amin Thabet before he was exposed and hanged in the public square in Damascus.

George H.W. Bush’s famous line, “If the people knew the truth, they would chase us down the street and lynch us” applies – in spades – to al-Sisi.
It has been widely reported in the mainstream media, as well as by more reliable sources, that al-Sisi has long served as the Egyptian military’s liason with Israel. During the coup d’état of July 3rd, al-Sisi was in permanent liason by telephone with the Israeli and American militaries. (Israel promised its full support, and guaranteed that US aid would not be cut off, while the US waffled.)
The Egyptian coup, especially its propaganda component, had all the earmarks of an Israeli black op. A massively financed campaign run through Egypt’s Israeli-linked mainstream media (yes, the same folks own big media there as here) repeatedly compared President Morsi to Adolf Hitler! The fact that “Morsi = Hitler” was the number one talking point of the forces behind the coup reveals that those forces were Zionists, not Egyptians. Apparently the Zionists couldn’t stop themselves from making reflexive Dr. Strangelove-style anti-Hitler salutes while they were orchestrating the al-Sisi coup – thereby giving their game away.
Since the coup, Israel has been lavishing praise, money, and support on al-Sisi.  Mossad agent al-Sisi has virtually declared war on Palestine by going all-out to close the Gaza border tunnels that keep the people of Gaza alive. Meanwhile, al-Sisi has taken billions of dollars from the Rothschild puppets and likely donmeh crypto-Jews who call themselves the “House of Saud.”
Obviously the Zionist-dominated West and its Middle Eastern puppets will not allow Muslims to elect relatively honest leaders in free elections. Instead, they will use deception and violence to pursue their schemes for regional and global domination.
The Egyptian people – who elected the Muslim Brotherhood by a greater landslide than any US political party has won in all of American history – need a real Islamic revolution to create a genuine democracy. Without it, Egypt will indefinitely remain “a boot stamping on a human face – forever”…and a permanent province of Greater Israel, ruled by a Jewish-Zionist thug who has appointed himself pharaoh, while hiding his real background and loyalties.

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Um novo Estado da Palestina?

The Palestinian Authority and Egypt on Monday strongly denied a report that claimed that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had offered PA President Mahmoud Abbas land in Sinai for a Palestinian state.

Israeli politicians, however, welcomed the reported offer.

Army Radio reported that the offer provided a 1,600 square kilometer area near the Gaza Strip, an area that would make the Strip five times its size.

The new territory, composed of Gaza together with the extra land in Sinai, would be a demilitarized state that would serve as a home to which Palestinian refugees would return, Army Radio said.

In addition to the “greater Gaza state,” the Palestinian cities in the West Bank would be under the autonomous rule of the PA, the report added. In exchange, Abbas would give up claims to a state within the pre-1967 lines.

Army Radio said that Sisi tried to appeal to Abbas to accept the offer, arguing that at his age (80), if he does not take this offer, those who come after him will take it.

It said that Abbas was not convinced and rejected the offer.

The report about the Egyptian offer first appeared in a number of Arab media outlets two weeks ago and was then denied by both the PA and Egypt.

On Monday, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, spokesman for the PA presidency, again denied the report, saying Sisi had never made such an offer.

Abu Rudaineh said that the idea of expanding the Gaza Strip toward Sinai was completely unacceptable to the Palestinians, Egyptians and Arabs.

Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a senior aid to Abbas, also denied the report, dubbing it a “fabrication.”

Abdel Rahim noted that this was an old idea that had been proposed by former national security adviser Giora Eiland.

The Palestinian official accused the Israeli media of publishing “fabricated stories” in order to distort the positions of the Palestinians and Egyptians.

A spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said that the report was “completely baseless and untrue.”

Israeli politicians, meanwhile, responded enthusiastically to the report.

Science, Technology and Space Minister Yaakov Peri, a former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief, said he’s surprised by Sisi’s generosity, calling the reported proposal “worth discussing seriously.”

He added: “This could solve problems that weren’t given a response in talks between Israel and the Palestinians so far.”

Peri also pointed out that Sisi’s “proposal” suits Egyptian interests, since there are problems with terrorism in Sinai.

Bayit Yehudi faction chairwoman Ayelet Shaked said that the Egyptian president “discerned what the Israeli Left has refused to understand” for decades: “The solution to the Palestinian problem must be regional and cannot fall on Israel’s shoulders alone.”

She called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to meet with Sisi and examine whether the reported initiative is possible.

According to coalition chairman Yariv Levin, Sisi’s reported plan is a “very generous offer,” but Abbas’s reported rejection of it proves that Palestinians “refuse to accept Israel’s existence,” he told Army Radio.

Scotland or not Scotland

Royal Bank of Scotland has confirmed it will relocate its registered headquarters to London if Scotland votes for independence next week.

The bank said in a statement that it believed it would be "necessary to re-domicile the bank's holding company".

In a letter to staff, the bank's chief executive said there was no intention to move operations or jobs.

Meanwhile, Scotland's largest fund manager's boss said an independent Scotland would be a huge success.

Martin Gilbert, chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management said: "I think an independent Scotland would be a big success, but it is a secret ballot and I will abide by that.

"Most sensible people now accept that Scotland would be prosperous with either outcome in the current constitutional debate."

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond told BBC Scotland he had been given a letter which was sent to RBS staff on Thursday morning by the bank's chief executive Ross McEwan.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

This is a technical procedure regarding the rotation of our registered head office based on our current strategy and business plan. It is not an intention to move operations or jobs”

End Quote Ross McEwan RBS chief executive

Mr Salmond said the letter had stated: "It is my view as chief executive that any decision to move our registered headquarters would have no impact on our everyday banking services used by our customers in Scotland.

"This is a technical procedure regarding the rotation of our registered head office based on our current strategy and business plan. It is not an intention to move operations or jobs".

The bank has been based in Scotland since 1727.

Companies are increasingly setting out their post-referendum contingency plans.

Lloyds Banking Group said it could also shift its legal home to its headquarters, which is already in London.

However, Lloyds said this was just a legal procedure and "there would be no immediate changes or issues".
'Brass plaques'
The statement from Lloyds said: "Lloyds Banking Group has seen an increased level of enquiries from our customers, colleagues and other stakeholders about our plans post the Scottish referendum.

"While the scale of potential change is currently unclear, we have contingency plans in place which include the establishment of new legal entities in England. This is a legal procedure and there would be no immediate changes or issues which could affect our business or our customers.

"There will be a period between the referendum and the implementation of separation, should a Yes vote be successful, that we believe is sufficient to take any necessary action."

Lloyds, in which the UK government has a 25% stake, owns Bank of Scotland and Halifax.

The move of what Lloyds describes as "legal entities" indicates that the banking group is not suggesting there will be a mass relocation of its 16,000 Scottish-based staff. The move would simply mean that the bank would remain protected and regulated by the Bank of England.

Responding to the announcements by RBS and Lloyds, Mr Salmond said: "We know the moves both from Lloyds and the Royal Bank of Scotland will have no impact on operations or jobs. They are about brass plaques.

"These are contingency plans and they make it quite clear in the statements that they make.

"And the way to avoid any uncertainty in the financial markets is for the United Kingdom to say, following the Edinburgh agreement which they signed, that they will sit down reasonably with the Scottish government after people in Scotland vote Yes in the referendum, and discuss these matters in the best interests of Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom."
Commercial presence
Mr Salmond also denied uncertainty in the markets was caused by the Scottish government's stance on a shared currency.

He added: "Any uncertainty we have seen in the financial markets over the last two days is caused by two things. One is the unreasonable posture of the UK government who have refused to discuss this at any stage throughout the last two years.

"And secondly, the remarkable statement from Downing Street on Monday when they were facing stock market moves, where they said they had no contingency plans for Scottish independence."

Elsewhere, John Lewis chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield claimed shoppers in Scotland could face higher prices if the country votes in favour of independence.

Sir Charlie said the retailer had no intention of reducing its commercial presence north of the border, where it has nine shops, a contact centre and employs more than 3,000 people.

But he cautioned that firms were unlikely to continue sharing the burden of higher operating costs in Scotland across all UK customers in the event of the break up of the Union.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "From a business perspective there will be economic consequences to a Yes vote, not just in uncertainty but some of the turmoil we are hearing about.

"And it is also the case that it does cost more money to trade in parts of Scotland and therefore those hard costs, in the event of a Yes vote, are more likely to be passed on."

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Lloyds would move its legal home to its head office, which is already in London - and that's unlikely to have much impact on Scottish employment”

End Quote Robert Peston BBC economics editor

But he added: "On the day after the referendum the shops are going to open on time, nothing will change."

Angus Grossart, chairman of merchant bank Noble Grossart, said that people should "not panic" following the decisions made by the two banks. He told the Financial Times that the impact of a Yes vote was "severely overstated".

BBC economics editor Robert Peston said that that if RBS, 81%-owned by the UK government and which owns 11,500 people in Scotland, moved its head office and registered office to London it "would involve some jobs moving south".

However, he said the situation with Lloyds was different: "Lloyds would move its legal home to its head office, which is already in London - and that's unlikely to have much impact on Scottish employment."

A Treasury source told the BBC that it had discussed the plans with RBS.

On Wednesday, insurance and pensions giant Standard Life said it was "planning for new regulated companies in England to which we could transfer parts of our business if there was a need to do so".

Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander told BBC2's Newsnight: "When a company like Standard Life says that it would, unfortunately, sadly, have to relocate its business to London that is not some sort of decision that they make lightly.

"They make it on the basis that they regard that as the best way to protect their customers under the new circumstances.

"When we hear Lloyds and other banks making clear that they would have to do the same, again that is not something that they say lightly. They say it having thought about it, having talked to their board and to the senior people in those companies."

And Mr Grossart, one of the most senior figures in Scotland's financial establishment, said people were "overreacting" to the threats of exodus of firms.

"I think it is getting out of hand," he told the Financial Times. "To hear some of the comments you almost expect people to be predicting a plague of locusts or mice next."  BBC

Luanda vai ter um Metro de superfície

A notícia não é propriamente nova. A foto da maquete que anuncia a grande novidade, estimula a imaginação. Os mais optimistas já visualizam a paisagem futura. Luanda vai ter um metro de superfície. Ou seja, um sistema de transporte de massas eficiente, rápido e isolado. Fantástico!
O projecto, segundo os sites noticiosos, insere-se no Plano Nacional de Desenvolvimento 2012/2017. O Plano vai ainda estabelecer e implementar um programa de reordenamento do sistema de transportes nas outras províncias e inclui a extensão da rede de táxis a todo o país.
Projecto interessante. Simpatizo com ele. A problemática dos transportes, uma das mais arreliantes do país e, particularmente, de Luanda, tem parte da solução esboçada. Engarrafamentos monumentais, esperas desesperantes em paragens apinhadas de gentes, longas caminhadas e todos transtornos em torno da maka dos transportes vão diminuir consideravelmente.
Habituada a noticiários onde o anúncio de grandes projectos se sobrepõe à realidade, muito embora esses também se possam considerar factos, no âmbito do “vai acontecer”, confesso que não prestei muita atenção aos detalhes relativos ao metro de superfície. Tudo por causa do entusiasmo.
Bastarão apenas duas chuvadas, com as conhecidas consequências destruidoras, para refrear a minha simpatia e aguçar a objectividade. Intrigada, procurei na net mais detalhes sobre o projecto divulgado há sensivelmente três meses. A informação é escassa.
Uma rápida reflexão dá lugar a dezenas de perguntas. Quantas pessoas vai servir e que garantias existem para o funcionamento desse meio de transporte numa cidade que é também sinónimo de problemas recorrentes como a falta de energia. Ou vai funcionar a vapor? A pergunta pode parecer absurda, mas não entendo nada de metros, sejam eles de superfície ou subterrâneos.
Em todo caso, indiscutivelmente, o nosso metro de superfície vai contribuir para colmatar deficiências mil. Quando é que isso vai aconteceu é algo que não se sabe porque nem sempre os prazos de execução são cumpridos à risca. Dito de outro modo. Vamos só esperar tranquilamente pelo tão sonhado dia.
Porque a vida é hoje, os verdadeiros metros de superfície de Luanda têm o azul como tom predominante. Tão necessários quanto abominados, quebram todas as regras de trânsito e de civismo. Contribuem para que a circulação rodoviária em Luanda seja esse cenário dantesco de quebrar os nervos de aço.
Os veículos que garantem o transporte de boa parte dos luandenses circulam a pouquíssimos metros de distância das outras viaturas. Provocam, riscam carros alheios, exasperam e colocam em risco a segurança de passageiros e transeuntes. Enriquecem o linguajar angolano com os seus “termos técnicos” como “emagrece” (afasta, dá espaço a mais um passageiro). Mas, ao fim do dia servem vários milhares de pessoas. São eles. Os candongueiros. Aliás, táxis.
Os metros de superfície da actualidade passam por lugares esquecidos desta cidade que se constrói a altos contrastes. As suas rotas incluem buracos “normais” e crateras que são ponto único de passagem para pessoas que, de outro modo, teriam como única forma de locomoção as próprias pernas.
Geralmente vencem percursos intransitáveis para automobilistas comuns. Vários troços desafiam a imaginação. Num deles, em determinado momento, o carro dá a impressão de ter sido engolido pela terra, tão grande é a inclinação. É mesmo só impressão porque alguns segundos depois a parte da frente emerge. Coragem dos passageiros que correm riscos, perícia do motorista, necessidade de apresentar contas certas ao patrão ou tudo isso?
A luta pela sobrevivência é diária. Ninguém a ganha em casa. Enquanto o projecto não sai do papel, a operação tapa buracos poderia mudar o retrato de Luanda. Em tempo de chuvas que transformam as estradas esburacadas em passarelas para a “dança” de carros com prazo de validade precocemente encurtado, o azulinho continua a ser o metro de superfície para os luandenses. Luísa Rogério

Primeiro satélite angolano em 2017

“”(…)  A construção do satélite, avaliada em 37 mil milhões de kwanzas (294 milhões de euros), decorre em Angola, a cargo de um consórcio russo liderado pela RSC. Envolve também um financiamento russo, conforme anunciado em 2013.
O atraso no financiamento do projeto tem vindo a fazer derrapar o lançamento do Angosat, que já esteve previsto para 2015 e depois para 2016.

O executivo angolano prevê, com a entrada em funcionamento deste satélite, que o país possa fornecer serviços de suporte às telecomunicações eletrónicas, incluindo a prestação de banda larga e de televisão.
O Angosat terá um período de vida de 15 anos e 22 ‘transponders’, dispositivos de comunicação eletrónica. Incluirá a construção de duas estações de rastreio, em Angola e na Rússia.

Para o responsável pela pasta das telecomunicações no Governo angolano, Aristides Safeca, o Angosat marca a entrada do país "numa nova era das telecomunicações, o que pressupõe a condução de um programa espacial que inclua, futuramente, o lançamento de satélites subsequentes". “” – FONTE : NOTÍCIAS  AO  MINUTO

Mugabe esteve de visita à China

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L front) holds a welcome ceremony for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe before their talks in Beijing, China, Aug. 25, 2014. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- China and Zimbabwe pledged to strengthen friendship and all-round cooperation as Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe visited Beijing on Monday.
The pledge came out of the talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mugabe in the Great Hall of the People.
Calling Mugabe an old friend of China, a renowned leader of Africa's national liberation movement and promoter of Africa's integration, Xi said the traditional friendship between both countries was forged during the two countries' anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism and anti-hegemony wars.
Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 34 years ago, the two countries understood and supported each other on issues regarding each other's core interests and major concern, and helped one another in their development, Xi said.
He said China will continue to adhere to its principles, uphold justice and support Zimbabwe's efforts to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests.
"We believe the Zimbabwean people have wisdom and capabilities to handle their affairs very well," Xi added.
The Chinese president urged both sides to maintain high-level exchanges, share experience in inter-party exchanges, governance, reform and opening-up.
China will continue to help train Zimbabwean talents, teach and transfer agricultural technologies to Zimbabwe and help the country to increase food production and agricultural income, he said.
Xi also expressed willingness to participate in Zimbabwe's construction of economic and industrial zones, and vowed to encourage more Chinese companies to invest in the country.
As Zimbabwe will hold rotating presidency of the African Union next year, Xi vowed joint efforts with the country to push China-Africa strategic partnership up to a new stage.
Mugabe, who is on a state visit as Xi's guest, expressed appreciation for China's support and help during his country's anti-colonialism war and struggle for national liberation and independence.
He praised China's fairness in global affairs, as well as its respect and help for African countries.
Zimbabwe is committed to speeding up its economic development, said the 90-year-old, expressing his hope to strengthen cooperation with China and boost Africa-China ties.
After their talks, the two presidents witnessed the signing of several cooperation deals in such areas as food, finance and tourism.
Mugabe is visiting China from Aug. 24-28.

O complexo assassínio de Amílcar Cabral

Praia (Lusa, 8 de Setembro de 2014) – O investigador e professor universitário cabo-verdiano Daniel Santos lança sexta-feira, na Cidade da Praia, o livro “Amílcar Cabral – Um Novo Olhar”, defendendo que Sékou Touré, antigo presidente da Guiné-Conacri, terá sido o “provável mandante” do assassinato.
“O livro veio confirmar que os portugueses nada têm a ver com a morte de Amílcar Cabral. Pelos dados que reúnem, tudo se encaminha para que tenha sido Sékou Touré, antigo presidente da Guiné-Conacri, o mais provável mandante do crime”, revelou Daniel dos Santos, indicando que a obra será apresentada pelo antigo ministro das Infraestruturas de Transportes cabo-verdiano, Armindo Ferreira.
Numa entrevista à agência Lusa, o investigador recordou que no dia em que o “pai” das independências da Guiné-Bissau e de Cabo Verde foi assassinado, Sékou Touré preparou um jantar no seu gabinete para os “40 cabecilhas” que estiveram envolvidos na morte de Cabral, a 20 de janeiro de 1973, em Conacri.

Amílcar Cabral e Sékou Touré

“As pessoas já estão identificadas. Só falta oficializar quem mandou matar Amílcar Cabral”, prosseguiu o investigador cabo-verdiano, dizendo que a obra, de 600 páginas e sem prefácio, serve para “reavivar a memória” e fazer uma “rotura” de tudo o que já se escreveu sobre Cabral.
A morte de Cabral nunca foi devidamente esclarecida, havendo dúvidas sobre os mandantes do crime que o vitimou, reinando também o silêncio dos antigos companheiros no Partido Africano de Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC), cuja sede durante a luta de libertação (1963/74) estava precisamente em Conacri.
Vários livros já deram pistas sobre o contexto que levou à morte de Cabral, como os do jornalista e investigador português José Pedro Castanheira, do historiador guineense Julião Soares Sousa, dos escritores são-tomense Tomás Medeiros e angolano António Tomás, mas todos são inconclusivos sobre um envolvimento de Portugal ou do PAIGC.
Sabe-se apenas que o autor dos disparos que o vitimaram foi Inocêncio Kani, guerrilheiro do PAIGC entretanto falecido, alegadamente a mando de outro alto dirigente do então movimento independentista, Morno Touré, em conluio com Mamadou Ndjai, chefe da guarda de Cabral.
Daniel Santos recordou que o livro lhe ocorreu em 2001, quando começou a pensar em escrever uma dissertação de mestrado, que veio a coincidir com Amílcar Cabral e tinha como título “A Questão Colonial – O Contributo de Amílcar Cabral”.
“Quando fui defender a minha dissertação de mestrado, dei conta que havia a necessidade de se fazer um livro como este, porque todo o debate que se centrou durante a arguição da tese foi sobre a vida de Amílcar Cabral. Houve a necessidade de se aprofundar mais”, indicou, dizendo, porém, que o livro, escrito há dois anos, tem pouco a ver com a dissertação de mestrado.
Segundo Daniel Santos, a obra é diferente de tudo o que já se escreveu sobre Cabral e, em termos de metodologia, faz uma “rotura completa”, uma vez que se afasta do “individualismo metodológico” para se centrar no “pluralismo metodológico”, ou seja, cruza várias fontes, deixando o público tirar as suas próprias conclusões.
Para o investigador, que reivindicou ser o primeiro cabo-verdiano a escrever um livro sobre Amílcar Cabral, a obra servirá também para promover um “debate cívico, franco, pedagógico, académico, muito humilde e sem amarras” sobre Cabral, sem perder de vista o contexto em que viveu e se moveu.

Amílcar Cabral e o seu presumível assassino Cani à direita na Rússia

“Valeu a pena fazer esta caminhada e apresentar aos cabo-verdianos, partidos políticos, investigadores, jornalistas e professores um livro que não foi feito a pensar em agradar a este ou aquele, mas que seja útil a quem o leia”, mostrou.
Para o autor, Amílcar Cabral continua uma “figura marcante e emblemática” na história da Guiné-Bissau e de Cabo Verde, uma pessoa com “defeitos e virtudes”, defendendo ser necessário colocá-lo “no lugar que conquistou por mérito próprio”.
O investigador cabo-verdiano diz que tem “muitas coisas na gaveta” e que já escreveu 90% de outro livro sobre a história das ideias políticas do fundador do Partido Africano para a Independência de Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC).
Daniel dos Santos, 57 anos, nasceu na Cidade da Praia, é jornalista – não está em exercício -, politólogo e professor nas universidades Lusófona de Lisboa, Jean Piaget e Instituto Superior de Ciências Jurídicas e Sociais (ISCJS), as duas últimas em Cabo Verde.