UN Security Council extends Ivory Coast sanctions

The United Nations Security Council voted unianimously on Thursday to extend the arms embargo on the Ivory Coast (otherwise known as Côte d’Ivoire) for a year.

In addition, the 15-member council renewed a ban on exporting diamonds and foreign travel, as well as an asset freeze for persons who are discovered to have violated human rights or disrupting the peace. “[...] the situation in the Ivory Coast continues to pose a threat to international peace and security in the region,” the council said.

Ireland and Norway donate emergency aid relief to Ethiopia

Ireland has pledged €1.35 million in emergency aid to Ethiopia, in order to help quell the ongoing food crisis in the country.

According to figures by the Ethiopian government released on Friday, the number of people needing food aid in the country is 6.2 million.

Irish Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Power said that he was “deeply concerned” about the figures.

Tunisia to hold elections

Tunisians were to vote on Sunday in a presidential election, largely expected to be another landslide victory for the incumbent president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Elections will also be held to select members of parliament.

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali زين العابدين بن علي

There are three opposition candidates on the ballot, among them Mohamed Bouchiha, the general secretary of People’s Unity Party, and Ahmed Inoubli for the Unionist Democratic Union, and Ahmed Brahim, the head of Ettajdid Movement.

The 73-year-old president has run the North African country for more than two decades. He won the last presidential election in 2004 with more than 94 percent of the vote.

Some international rights groups have accused the government of ensuring victory for Ben Ali by harassing the opposition.

In a televised address on Saturday, however, the president responded to critics, saying actions will be taken against those spreading doubts or accusations about the integrity of the election without providing proof.

“I am convinced that when you go to the polls and exercise your right to choose, you will place, with freedom and conviction, Tunisia’s interest and future above all other considerations,” he said.

Niger’s ruling party wins majority

According to Niger’s election commission, President Mamadou Tandja’s party won a large majority in the parliament after recent elections held on Tuesday.

76 of 113 total seats were taken by Tandja’s party, and a further 21 seats were taken by smaller parties supportive of the president. Twelve independents also received seats in the parliament. Opposition parties boycotted the ballot after Tandja altered the constitution to allow him to extend his time in office past the limit of ten years, and seek a third term.

Kenya accepts APRM review

Kenya has agreed to be reviewed by a team of African Union (AU) experts in November to assess the country’s political reform record. The review is to be conducted by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).

The review, which was sanctioned by the African Union Heads of States, will determine the Kenyan unity government’s performance since it was created last year, following a disputed election and resulting violence.

APRM Prime Minister Wycliffe Oparanya launched the preparatory activities for the assessment on Thursday. “The exercise will have particular emphasis on the institutions and stakeholders charged with carrying out the envisaged reforms,” Oparanya said.

On this day October 23, 1911

An Italian pilot takes off from Libya to observe Turkish army lines during the Turco-Italian War setting the first use of aircraft in war.

Italian dirigibles over Libyan Territory

The Italo-Turkish War saw numerous technological advances used in warfare; notably the plane and the first use of military radio telegraph communications.

As a result of this conflict, Italy was awarded the Ottoman provinces of Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica.

These provinces together formed what became known as Libya. During the conflict, Italian forces also occupied the Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean Sea.

Italy had agreed to return the Dodecanese Islands to the Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of Ouchy in 1912 as it was signed at the Ouchy Castle in Lausanne, Switzerland); however the vagueness of the text allowed a provisional Italian administration of the islands, and Turkey eventually renounced all claims on these islands in the Article 15 of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

On this day October 21, 1969

A coup d’état in Somalia brings Siad Barre محمد سياد بري to power.

Siad Barre - محمد سياد بري

In 1969, during the power vacuum that followed the assassination of Somalia’s second president, Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, the military staged a coup on October 21, 1969 (the day after Shermarke’s funeral), and took over office.

Barre was installed as president of the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC), the new government of Somalia.

The SRC arrested members of the former government and banned political parties. The National Assembly was also abolished and the constitution suspended.

The country was renamed the Somali Democratic Republic, and Barre became the spokesman and leader of the new revolutionary government. In 1971, he announced the regime’s intention to phase out military rule.

Barre’s first and second vice presidents, Jaama Ali Qoorsheel and Mahammad Ainanche, were both arrested and imprisoned in 1970 and 1971 for attempting to overthrow the SRC regime.

Zimbabwe’s MDC pulls out of unity government

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Zimbabwean Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the country’s Prime Minister, has pulled out of the coalition government, accusing Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe of being “dishonest and unreliable”.

Morgan Tsvangirai

Tsvangirai and his MDC party said that they would pull out from the government until outstanding issues in a power-sharing agreement between Tsvangirai and Mugabe were resolved.

He made the announcement following a crisis meeting that was called after the MDC treasurer general was indicted on charges of terrorism.

Tsvangirai said that “this party, for now, cannot renege on the people’s mandate.

However, it is our right to disengage from a dishonest and unreliable partner.”