Niger, the world’s second largest uranium exporter, is in the midst of a Constitutional crisis. Niger’s ruling party said it is pressing ahead with a referendum to allow President Mamadou Tandja to run for a third term. The country’s constitutional court opposes the move.
President Tandja wants to change Niger’s constitution to extend his time in office beyond the end of his second term later this year.
The country’s constitutional court has said that would be unlawful. In turn, President Tandja’s political party said the court’s decision is not binding. Tamboura Issoufou directs communications for the ruling party’s political office. Then at the end of May, President Tandja dissolved the country’s Parliament.
Niger is facing a revolt by Tuareg nomads in the north who want greater autonomy and a bigger cut of profits from uranium mines in their area. The French firm Areva is developing what is expected to be africa’s largest uranium mine. Niger has also signed exploratory deals with China and South Korea.
Al-Shabaab (aka the Harakat Shabaab al-Mujahidin, al-Shabab, Shabaab, the Youth, Mujahidin al-Shabaab Movement, Mujahideen Youth Movement, Mujahidin Youth Movement), is an Islamic organization that controls much of southern Somalia, excluding the capital, Mogadishu. It has waged an insurgency against Somalia’s transitional government and its Ethiopian supporters since 2006. Originally the militant wing of the Islamic Courts Union, the group that controlled Somalia prior to the country’s invasion by Ethiopian forces, Shabaab leaders have claimed affiliation with al-Qaeda since 2007. Though most analysts believe Shabaab’s organizational links to al-Qaeda are weak, in February 2008 the United States added the group to its list of foreign terrorist organizations. Shabaab’s strength has growth since then, but many experts say the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces from Somalia in January 2009 could diminish the group’s basis for popular support.
Shabaab is nominally led by Sheikh Mohamed Mukhtar Abdirahman “Abu Zubeyr,” though experts say a core group of senior leaders guide its actions. The group is divided into three geographical units: Bay and Bokool regions, led by Mukhtar Roobow “Abu Mansur,” the group’s spokesman; south-central Somalia and Mogadishu; and Puntland and Somaliland. A fourth unit, which controls the Juba Valley, is led by Hassan Abdillahi Hersi “Turki,” who is not considered to be a member of Shabaab, but is closely aligned with it. These regional units “appear to operate independently of one another, and there is often evidence of friction between them,” according to a December 2008 UN Monitoring Group report.
Jeffrey Feltman, acting assistant secretary at the US State Department and a former US Ambassador to Lebanon, spoke to Al Jazeera’s Maryam Nemazee on the parliamentary elections in Lebanon and what they mean both for the nation and the region.
The Arab world is said to be facing serious problems in finding enough work for its young people in the coming years.
The Arab regions have some of the youngest populations in the world – about 100 million people between 15 and 29 years old.
It is a subject under discussion at an international summit in Qatar; current projections suggest that eventually there won’t be enough jobs to go around. Dan Nolan reports.
In Syria, victory for the March 14 coalition was not the result most wanted.
They hoped for a win for the Hezbollah-led coalition, an alliance that, while not entirely friendly to Syria, promised to end the enduring hostility towards them following almost 30 years of Syrian occupation.
North Korea has convicted two U.S. journalists of illegal entry and crimes against the nation, sentencing them to 12 years in a labor camp. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were detained in March along North Koreas border with China.
Meanwhile, following North Koreas recent nuclear testing and missile launches, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told ABCs This Week that the United States could potentially reinstate North Korea on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. Leon Sigal, a project director at the Social Science Research Council, joins Martin Savidge to discuss the Obama administrations approach to North Korea and how the two journalists factor into the equation.
The official results of Lebanons parliamentary elections were announced on Monday, confirming that Lebanon has voted to maintain its pro-western government majority. That coalition beat out another one led by Hezbollah, the party backed by Iran and Syria, which will nonetheless remain an important influence in Lebanon.
Mohamad Bazzi, an adjunct senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a professor of journalism at New York University, joins Martin Savidge to discuss what the results mean for Hezbollah, for the stability of Lebanon and for American foreign policy in the region.
Gordon Brown, the UK’s prime minister, has reshuffled his government and refused to resign despite the current MP’s expenses scandal. But how long can one man hang on when his ministers are resigning, his government is crumbling, and public opinion is increasingly turning against him?