· April, 2006

Stories about Governance from April, 2006

DRC: T.I. Petition & Elections Debate

  30 April 2006

“Master of the Universe,” a threat to Kabila? By Etienne Ngandu Today UDPS Liege echoes an AFP article announcing the presidential election will take place July 30. The election was postponed for a year last June and the July 30 date is later than the June 30 deadline mandated by...

Belarus: Support for Jailed Opposition Leaders

  29 April 2006

Minsk, March 2006 – by anonymous: “One young woman was arrested while standing outside an internet cafe near October Square on Monday, as the tent camp was formed. She was released after three days, and returned on Friday to the prison walls to hand out letters from other detainees she...

China: Blogger still held

  29 April 2006

With help from her father and friends, Nina Wu—older sister of illegally-detained Beijing or Bust blogger Hao Wu—has become a one-woman lobbying force as seen in today's post ‘contact‘.

Russia: Protes in Ufa Ignored by Media

  28 April 2006

As a discussion of media ownership and censorship in Russia is taking place at Russia Blog, Daut of Ufa Blog writes about a recent protest rally in Bashkortostan's capital that no local media have covered and no one seems to be aware of: “A demonstration in America will probably also...

Taiwan: A Chinese Africa

  28 April 2006

In ‘Hu charms Africa‘, Taiwan-based American blogger Richard at The Peking Duck links to a story on China's “efforts to create a new world order ” evidenced by president Hu Jintao's recent visit to Africa. “Score another one for Mr. Bush,” Richard writes. “His inane ‘War on Terror’ is chasing...

Trinidad & Tobago: Press statement on aluminum smelter

  28 April 2006

The Rights Action Group T&T blog pulls no punches in the press statement outlining the group's views on the aluminium smelter project proposed for south Trinidad: “What is at stake for Trinidad and Tobago is not only the giving away of our natural gas, which accounts for 20% of our...

DRC: Blogger Wants to Petition T.I.

  28 April 2006

Blogger Tony Katombe proposes (FR) on Prince du Fleuve du Congo that he and compatriots from the country and abroad petition Transparency International to “investigate the allegations of the implication of Louis Michel, William Lacy Swing, Aldo Ajello and other international officials in the illicit exploitation of mining resources in...

Turkmenistan: 30K Buckets

  27 April 2006

Peter writes at neweurasia about the televised confession of Turkmenistan's former General Prosecutor Gurbanbiby Atajanova who was, until recently, the only public official with considerable stature besides the president.

48 Missing Detainees Wrongly Identified

  27 April 2006

“Courtyard 29” is a communal grave place, located in the General Cemetery (ES) of the capital, Santiago. In 1991, 124 missing detainees from the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, were found and 96 were identified. After 20 years, 96 families had the chance to properly bury their relatives. Last week, 10 years...

DRC: UDPS Predicts “Electoral Comedy”, “Terror”

  27 April 2006

UDPS Liege discourages (FR) the Congolese from taking part in the upcoming “electoral comedy” unless of course certain conditions are met. They predict that “Joseph Kabila will be elected on the first round with 72%. He will be protected by European Union and MONUC [UN Mission to the DR of...

Egypt: Judicial System

While the judicial system in Egypt is facing a hard time with the government, the civilian support for the beaten judges are also treated harshly. Baheyya writes about the latest developments and has a link to a video which shows the security forces’ disbanding of the peaceful vigil in support...

Iraq: Where is the opposition?

While the Iraqi government is still under-establishment, Omar remind us that he once was offended when he heard that although the democratic elections toke place, yet democratic government is not established. Omar began to see a lot of truth in these words. But, what about the opposition? For healthy democracy...

Belarus: Milinkevich Arrested and Sentenced

  27 April 2006

Belarus bloggers react to the news of Aleksandr Milinkevich's arrest: Andrei Khrapavitski points out that “today practically all the key names of the Belarusian oppositions have appeared on prison rolls;” TOL's Belarus Blog sees this as “the biggest test for Belarusian people after the falsified presidential election;” and br23 blog...

Cuba: Female dissident beaten

  27 April 2006

Pondblog links to an Aljazeera news piece reporting that Cuba's most prominent female dissident, 60 year-old Marta Beatríz Roque, was beaten at her home by a pro-government mob this past Tuesday. The article states that Roque, who leads the Assembly for Promoting Civil Society, was about to leave her home...

Zimbabwe: Squatter camps destroyed

  27 April 2006

The Bearded Man reports that once again armed police have destroyed squatter camps in Zimbabwe, this time in the town of Masvingo. The police “burnt down the plastic shacks and chased away more than 200 people including children who lived at the camp.”