British media revel in 1 April traditions with stories attempting to straddle line between incredulity and plausibility It’s that day again; the one that gave us the annual spaghetti harvest , fiesta on the charming island of San Seriffe , and the left-handed burger. This year, gorillas discovered the joy of iPads; BMW launched its royal wedding special edition M3 Coupe in Windsor white, badged in red, white and blue; a unicorn skeleton was found at the Tower of London; and Radio 4 forced the august John Humphrys to take a walk on the wild side and investigate the wonders of 3D radio. The Sun’s exclusive , with a comment from wildlife expert Terry Nutkins, has delightful photographs of gorillas frolicking in the sun with iPads. Nutkins doubts we’ll ever see them on Twitter or Facebook, but I don’t know, there’s always next year. Radio 4′s Today programme could soon be broadcast in 3D sound , promising to create the effect of John Humphrys inside your head. The report has the essential 1 April quality of plausible dullness, with interviews with the Tubular Bells sound engineers, and Evan Davis demonstrating a simple but effective technique for tuning out hiss. Google offers a touching interview with Michael, its autocompleter , a geeky soul who began as a spellchecker but has now graduated to completing those awkward polysyllabic words faster than you can type. “My friends and family always say Michael, how come you always know what we’re going to say?” He manages 34,000 words on a good day, and has been such a success that Google is now recruiting some colleagues for him. Metro – which also reported the discovery of the unicorn at the Tower , with video so it must be true – launched its edible edition , using corn starch, vegetable oil and citric acid among other delicious ingredients: “Printing takes a few hours overnight – several seconds to print each page and slightly longer to dry. The finished products are even given a light vanilla scent. Charles Bouquet, of the Edible Paper Company, said the project would encourage recycling. He added: ‘We hope it adds flavour to the stories and presents readers with a colourful menu of current affairs.’” The Mail has Kate Middleton checking out baby clothes and – in its online version – propping up a bar . The Telegraph has Labour apparatchiks ordering the party faithful to celebrate the joyful union of Ed Milliband and Justine Thornton with street parties and bunting. The Independent’s page 3 boy is Cristiano Ronaldo : it reports that the footballer has agreed to “act like a patriot” and be sold to Spain for €160m, to help reduce his country’s disastrous national debt. Funnily enough the Mirror also has a Spanish football related story : Fernando Torres is so gutted at his goal free performance at Chelsea since he transferred from Liverpool that he has called on team-mates to join him in an ancient Iberian curse-breaking ceremony involving a defecating goat, called the Dia de los Innocentes, which can only be performed on the first day of the fourth month. Goats, stop reading now, this might upset you: the first 12 fans who turn up at Stamford Bridge will be rewarded with choice cuts to take home. On the BBC business news website , a special correspondent bylined Tok Enmale reports that a federation of men’s groups is to take legal action against Mumsnet. Melvin Footlong, a dad from Weymouth, reflected the widely held views of many men when he complained: “Because I don’t have access to Mumsnet’s Am I being Unreasonable boards, I never know if I’m being reasonable or not. It puts me and other dads at a huge disadvantage.” “It’s not fair, I want to write EastEnders storylines too,” he added.” The Radio Times website broke the appalling news that Jeremy Paxman is to quit University Challenge in outrage over the quiz being dumbed down. And quite right too. Multiple choice questions? Three lives, and “phone a professor”? Shocking. The flight comparison site Skyscanner announced the maiden flight of Urchin Airways, such a terrifyingly plausible idea it should probably be kept from Michael O’Leary: the first child-passenger only plane took off from Heathrow, it reports. “Cabin crew on Urchin Airways will all be dressed as clowns and will oversee the library of video games and supervise a ball pit area. Activities such as egg-and-spoon races will be held along the aisle and targets woven into seating upholstery will offer youngsters the chance to hone their seat kicking skills. Whereas on regular flights children are scolded for making noise, screaming will be encouraged in ‘who can scream loudest?’ challenges.” Actually I’m not sure this is an April Fool, I’m pretty certain I’ve been on that flight – many, many times. Newspapers Newspapers & magazines guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
OFT investigation finds that vehicle buying service’s inspectors were given target to reduce initial quote by 25% The Office of Fair Trading has taken enforcement action against used car buying company webuyanycar.com for misleading online valuations after finding 96% of customers received less for their vehicle than the original quote offered online by the firm, sometimes by hundreds of pounds. Webuyanycar.com’s vehicle buying service allows customers to input the details about their vehicle and its condition online to obtain a free valuation. If customers are happy with the online valuation they then arrange an appointment at a local webuyanycar.com branch for their vehicle to be inspected. At the appointment, the vehicle is given an examination and a purchase price is offered to the customer. An OFT investigation found that customers were given the impression that they would be paid the online valuation if the company’s on-site inspection matched the condition entered by the seller online. But once at the appointment, some customers found that a range of factors reduced the final price. Webuyanycar.com vehicle inspectors were set targets to meet, including reducing the valuation offered by up to 25% upon reappraisal. Sellers were also given the impression that the online quote was valid for seven days, so were encouraged to make an appointment quickly. But the OFT was concerned that, once at webuyanycar.com’s premises, consumers might accept a reduced valuation even if they were unhappy with it, because of the time and expense already incurred, or because they needed a quick sale. The company, which co-operated with the OFT’s investigation, told the OFT it thought it was acting legally but has agreed to make changes in light of the OFT’s investigation. Webuyanycar.com and its directors have agreed to make clear that the website valuation is not a price at which the company is offering to buy the consumer’s car and that a range of other factors may be taken into account. It has also agreed to stop setting targets for vehicle inspectors that have the potential to encourage them to reduce the valuation offered for inappropriate reasons. They will no longer deduct from the final price the amount of any refund available to the customer from the DVLA for the road tax remaining on the car and will now make it clear to customers that the next working day payment service (which incurs an additional charge of £24.75) is optional. Cavendish Elithorn, the senior director of the OFT’s Consumer Group, said: “Selling personal possessions through the internet is increasingly popular, especially in these tough economic times. “But it’s important that the headline figure isn’t chipped away at by the buyer, because it makes it very difficult for consumers to shop around and find the best deal. “This action makes clear that online businesses offering to purchase cars or other goods must provide clear upfront information on pricing and about how their service operates and company staff should not be incentivised to cut the valuation that has attracted the customer to the business. “The growth of new business models on the internet can bring major benefits for consumers, businesses and the UK economy. But for this to work, people need to be able to trust the deals they are offered.” Motoring Consumer affairs Mark King guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Guyana and Norway in the second stage of a deal whereby Norway would make annual payments to Guyana to keep its forests This week a further historic step is taken in the battle to hang on the world’s remaining tropical rainforests. It is unlikely to make too many headlines, but on Friday two countries will take forward the kind of arrangement that many have talked about but few have had the boldness to actually do. Guyana and Norway’s leadership is seen in the second stage of a ground-breaking deal through which one (Norway) makes annual payments to the other (Guyana) to keep its forests. The amount of money to change hands is calculated on the basis of how well Guyana has done in holding back deforestation, and the value of that in terms of avoided carbon dioxide emissions. A complex calculation is made to determine how well the recipient country has done but this year $40m is being transferred. Guyana spends the money paid by Norway – a total of $250m spread over a period of years – on projects that will help with environmentally sound development, for example through funding solar panels on all the houses belonging to the indigenous people. In remote rainforests these are no fashion accessories. They are the means for children to read books at night and mark the end of the kerosene lamps and candles which cause indoor air pollution and fire hazards. There is also money to connect remote settlements to the internet, again powered with solar electricity. There is money to pay for the costly job of legally demarking Amerindian lands and there are plans for health, education and business support. The overall strategy is geared to keeping the forest intact, and thus the priceless services they provide for the entire world. Any rational economic calculation must conclude the world is getting the bargain of the century. Without this kind of support from Norway, the pressures on the forests might become irresistible. Guyana is poor. The country needs jobs, foreign exchange and tax revenues. And there are plenty of takers for the natural resources that await plunder in delivering these benefits. Since Brazil has cracked down on deforestation, the loggers, ranchers and soya farmers there have been looking for other places to expand their industries. Guyana is next door, connected by a new road and a prime target. I wrote about this in 2009 , but fortunately there has so far been no major incursion. Part of the reason is because Guyana’s President Jagdeo has been able to hold the line politically, in part because Norway has delivered money on a different basis. But even with the best will, Guyana needs to undertake some forest clearance. There are plans for a new hydropower dam that will flood 45 square kilometres of forest. It will lead to the loss of 0.05% of the country’s forest and is by any standard a major project. There has also been forest loss to gold mining. In the last year forest clearance has nearly tripled, mainly because of an expansion of this industry, from about 40 square kilometres to about 110. It is important, however, to put this change into the context of a tiny original deforestation rate – at six hundredths of 1% per annum, Guyana’s present rate of forest loss is about 95% below the global average. With forest nearly the size of England and Scotland combined, the total loss from the dam and mining will lead to the equivalent of 10% of Norfolk being deforested. And the very fact that we know this is a major step forward. Both the low deforestation rate and the rapid rate of change were revealed by satellite monitoring funded from the first tranche of Norwegian money paid last year. Guyana has sent a signal – and it is being heard. One consequence is seen in the fact that land-hungry natural resource companies looking for space in which to expand agriculture and logging are heading toward neighbouring Surinam. That country has no such deal with Norway, or anyone else for that matter, and unfortunately business as usual prevails there. History is being made; and not just history in human affairs. It is about the history of life on Earth and whether we will find the means to co-operate in arresting the destruction of our planet’s verdant lifebelt of tropical rainforests. Forests Deforestation Conservation Endangered habitats Wildlife Tony Juniper guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
When he was asked to be guest director for a festival dedicated to films based on books, Jonathan Coe set out to disprove the adage that great literature makes terrible movies In the course of their famous book-length interview, François Truffaut once asked Alfred Hitchcock about his approach to literary adaptation, and Hitch’s response was as magisterial, worldly and mischievous as one would expect: “What I do is to read a story only once, and if I like the basic idea, I just forget all about the book and start to create cinema. Today I would be unable to tell you the story of Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds . I read it only once, and very quickly at that.” Hitchcock’s comment was the first thing that occurred to me when, towards the end of last year, I was approached with an interesting proposition. “From Page to Screen” is the name of a small film festival which takes place in Bridport, Dorset. It’s now in its third year and, as its title suggests, is dedicated exclusively to films which are adapted from literary sources. This year, for the first time, the organisers decided that they wanted to invite a guest director to oversee the programme. I accepted the offer at once, and then almost immediately wondered what I’d let myself in for: because the truth is that 99 times out of 100, I’m with Hitchcock on this one. Draw up one of those faintly ludicrous but fascinating lists of the 20 greatest novels, and then do the same for movies: do they match up, at all? Of course not. Joyce’s Ulysses might well be on the first list, but Joseph Strick’s Ulysses (1967) certainly won’t be on the second. Pride and Prejudice could possibly be on the first, but neither Robert Z Leonard’s nor Joe Wright’s adaptations will make the second. And none of these examples is a travesty, exactly, although we could all name some of those if we wanted to: film history – especially recent film history – is littered with examples where a good novel has been transformed, not into an average movie, but an outright disaster: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and The Bonfire of the Vanities spring immediately to mind. Looking a little more closely at what Hitchcock said gives us a clear explanation of why this is so often the case. The question Truffaut specifically put to him was whether he would ever consider making a screen adaptation of a great novel such as Crime and Punishment . To which the director answered: “Well, I shall never do that, precisely because
Continue reading …
The family of Zhao Wei, 23, were told he jumped to his death at a railway station, but they believe he was murdered This much is certain: on a freezing January evening, a 23-year-old student boarded a train to inner Mongolia, to spend the Chinese new year with his family. Zhao Wei never reached home. By early next morning, he was dead. Police said he had jumped to his death from a building at a railway station halfway along the line. But an online letter signed in his parents’ names offers another, chilling version of events. It alleges he was led away by railway police after a petty dispute with train staff; that his corpse was covered in unexplained injuries; that officials had “left a hundred questions unanswered” and that he was murdered. Perhaps it was the letter’s anguish that spoke to its readers. Perhaps it was Zhao’s ordinariness. Perhaps it was underlying distrust of officials, fuelled by a series of death in custody scandals . Whatever the reason, it seized attention: within a few days internet users had forwarded two posts about the case more than 100,000 times on the country’s most popular microblog. But shortly afterwards the appeal disappeared from the Chinese website hosting it and the news report on the case was deleted from most sites. This week, state news agency Xinhua issued the official verdict. A careful investigation had found conclusive evidence that Zhao got off the train at Daqing in Heilongjiang “due to his own reasons; fell off the building while he was climbing over a fence and died from severe brain injury”. There had been no dispute with the train crew or passengers. With no further details forthcoming, the findings raise more questions than they answer. Why did Zhao climb off the train at an unknown station hundreds of miles from home in the middle of the night? What was he doing on the building when he fell and why was he climbing its fence? “So Zhao Wei committed suicide … the statement chills the heart of those who still have hope for this society,” wrote one person. Another declared his suspicion more bluntly: “They killed you because they knew that if they did, they wouldn’t be held accountable.” According to the online letter, Zhao moved carriages at about 10pm, telling a fellow student that he seemed to have upset the conductor by complaining that an attendant had ridiculed him in a disagreement over a seat change. It went on: “At around 3am, the railway police came and asked Zhao Wei to come with them. “When this classmate next saw Zhao Wei, [his] eyes were already black and blue, and his life was gone.” Photographs purportedly of Zhao showed a young man with a blackened, swollen right eye and marks on his jaw and by his ear. “There were three wounds inside and outside his left ear … wounds in two places on his right lower jaw … a large purple bruise on his right hip and buttock, and a wound in the middle … five wounds on his right groin, and his scrotum had swollen up to the size of a pear. There were many wounds on both hands, and his left wrist bore purplish red marks that suggested he had been handcuffed,” the letter added. It begged leaders for a full investigation, warning: “If we cannot get to the bottom of Zhao Wei’s death, there is a risk the same kind of thing could happen to a Qian Wei, a Sun Wei or a Li Wei. “Deal with the murderers, return justice to this harmonious society, and hand justice back to this simple peasant couple who raised Zhao Wei these 23 years.” The Xinhua article published this week said all Zhao’s injuries resulted from his fall. It added that his family had witnessed a re-examination of his body, which had subsequently been cremated, and had no objection to the investigation’s results. The Guardian has been unable to contact his family directly, despite repeated attempts over several weeks. An Oriental Morning Post article said a relative confirmed that Zhao’s parents wrote the online letter. The Hebei University of Technology, where Zhao studied, said it “didn’t know anything” about the case. The ministry of railways and the railway police did not respond to faxed requests for more information. “From the brief glimpse we were given in China’s microblogs and a single mainstream media report, it seems the Zhao Wei case epitomised many issues of concern to ordinary Chinese. Most importantly, though, I think it spoke to the desire for real answers and for real justice,” said David Bandurski of the China Media Project, which has archived much of the deleted material relating to the case. He added: “This was a tragedy that might befall any Chinese family. Would this family be able to find justice against vested political interests determined to cover up the truth and avoid responsibility? “Unfortunately, this single Xinhua release, claiming against a background of complete silence that justice has been served, suggests that the answer to that question is no.” China Internet Social media Digital media Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Hammond says High Speed Two could provide 160 extra services a day as roadshow attempts to win over opponents Commuters in towns and cities on the High Speed Two rail route will benefit from 160 extra services a day into the capital if a new London-to-Birmingham line is built, the government has claimed. In the latest attempt to win over sceptical home counties residents about the £17bn project, the transport secretary, Philip Hammond, has launched a sound simulation of the 225mph route and is seeking to convince passengers who live near the line that extra space will be created on the nearby West Coast and Chiltern lines. According to the Department for Transport, the biggest beneficiaries could be Milton Keynes, which could see services increase by 90%, Northampton, with a near-50% rise, and Tamworth and Lichfield, with 80% increases. None of these will have a station on the line, and Lichfield residents have expressed concerns about the route’s proximity to the town. Having admitted that the environmental case is weaker than expected, and ratcheted down the business benefits of the line, the government is now targeting commuters in an attempt to overcome strong local opposition. Hammond said: “Our proposed new high-speed rail network would free up a huge amount of space on current railways for more trains to operate. Building a whole new line would create scope for people who live near the current stations to get more frequent services that are less crowded – I would also hope that this additional competition could mean cheaper fares as well.” He said commuters in some towns, such as Milton Keynes, could see a near doubling in the number of trains from their station to London. “The reality is that many of our current trains are full and too many people have to stand – we desperately need the extra trains and capacity that a new high-speed rail network would bring.” The HS2 roadshow will include sound booths that play simulations of the route in four locations: Northolt in west London; Great Missenden and Wendover in Buckinghamshire; and Ladbroke in Warwickshire. The 3D system, created by the engineering firm Arup, uses sound recordings taken from French TGV high-speed services and lays them over background recordings taken from the four locations. Arup stressed that the clip given to the Guardian is a reduced and simplified version of the roadshow recordings. However, opposition to the line remains fierce in the countryside sections of the 140-mile route. Julian Smyth-Osbourne, spokesman for HS2 Action Alliance, said: “How loud or quiet the high-speed train may be is an issue for the poor people who live and work near the line. “What is becoming increasingly clear is that HS2 will be a white elephant costing billions that will be a millstone round all of our necks for generations to come and that is an issue for every single one of us.” Rail transport Transport policy Transport Rail travel Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …WaPo Columnist Hates the Press? Finds It ‘Unseemly’ for Fed to ‘Kiss Up to the Public’ with Press Conferences
April 1, 2011 No Comment
Isn't it weird when journalists come about against press conferences? But that's what Washington Post columnist Allan Sloan did on Thursday. He claimed to be in favor of “plain old citizens” getting news from the Federal Reserve System.
Continue reading …Unlike Hamas and Hezbollah, the young want peace and progress in our region The Middle East has to make a historic choice: to join the new global age of democratic peace and liberal economy, or to stay clinging to its history of closed societies and autocracy. A great revolt has been initiated by young people and women , to gain freedom, bread and hope. Israel is watching with great expectation. These events are both unprecedented and unplanned. The internet, Facebook and Twitter have created mass communications and social spaces that regimes cannot control. These developments allowed young people to compare notes with their contemporaries in other countries, and to see clearly how their own governments wasted wealth and time to enhance their own power while ignoring the needs of their people. It opened their eyes. The upheaval we see today in our region is driven by a clash of generations rather than a clash of civilisations. The older generation had greater respect for land than science. But we live in an age when science, more than soil, has become the provider of growth and abundance. Living just on the land creates loneliness in an age of globality. Israel is an example of that today: technology and not territory are the drivers of wealth. We have shown that with a small piece of land, little water and no oil, it is possible to create a thriving economy and a sustainable democracy. Israel welcomes the wind of change, and sees a window of opportunity. Democratic and science-based economies by nature desire peace. Israel does not want to be an island of affluence in an ocean of poverty. Improvements in our neighbours’ lives mean improvements to the neighbourhood in which we live. Israelis understand that this is no less true of the Palestinians . That is why successive Israeli governments have given their full support to the efforts of Palestinians in the West Bank to build their own economy, their own institutions, and their own security forces. Economic growth in the West Bank is now close to 10% annually. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians see the tangible fruit of this co-operation. Knowledge, freedom and peace are inseparable. Peace is needed and can be achieved by direct negotiations. This was the case with Egypt and Jordan, and can happen with the Palestinians. The gap between ourselves and the Palestinians is more psychological than material. Bringing an end to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians may help the young Arab generation to realise their aspirations. Israel is more than willing to offer our experience in building a modern economy in spite of limited resources to the whole region. We seek only the acceptance from our neighbours and the opportunity to play a full role in the life of the region. Israel was born under the British mandate. We learned from the British what democracy means, and how it behaves in a time of danger, war and terror. We thank Britain for introducing freedom and respect of human rights both in normal and demanding circumstances. It was a great lesson and a necessary one for a country such as Israel, which has been attacked seven times in the 63 years of its existence without compromising democracy and without giving up our quest for peace. However, there are other forces in our region that want to resist the spread of these values. They are ready to abuse democratic institutions to gain power, but without the commitment to maintain the integrity of those institutions once they are in power. Hamas and Hezbollah, backed by Iran, are representatives of these forces. Those reactionary forces, that would hijack their countries back down the path of radicalism, are also the enemies of peace with Israel. That is why we hope our neighbours will choose to join the family of democratic nations. Shimon Peres is president of Israel Palestinian territories Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Israel Social media Digital media Shimon Peres guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Tremor of 2.2 magnitude topples traffic lights, cracks railway bridge and prompts fears of burglary A small earthquake has shaken Blackpool and the Fylde coast – toppling traffic lights, cracking a railway bridge and making some residents think they were being burgled as they woke in the early hours to loud noises. Several householders called police at around 3.30am to report they had felt the ground shaking. Some thought it was an April Fools’ Day prank. The British Geological Survey recorded a tremor with a magnitude of 2.2 – rated as a minor earthquake. The epicentre was located between Carelton and Poulton industrial estate. Residents reported wardrobe doors being flung open while staff at Blackpool’s Bonny Street police station felt the building shake. Officers were sent to Lytham Road in South Shore after reports that cracks had started to appear in the railway bridge. A spokesman for Blackpool police said: “We started to get calls at around 3.35am. Some may have thought it was an April fool prank, but staff here felt the building move. “We had a number of calls from residents. A woman in Grange Park rang up as she had been woken and thought her house was being broken into. Temporary traffic lights in Thornton Gate fell over while a man reported his motorbike had been knocked down. “CCTV cameras on Lytham Road picked up superficial cracks on the road surface of the railway bridge near to the zebra crossing. “We sent out officers to check it out. It’s known as a weak bridge anyway. It was deemed to be safe. A surveyor will be looking at it today.” The bridge was closed to buses in February because its condition had begun to deteriorate. In 2008 Blackpool was one of several centres to feel the strongest tremors in the UK in 25 years . Natural disasters and extreme weather Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Forces loyal to elected leader Alassane Ouattara hold 80% of country as incumbent president braces for fight to bitter end Rebel forces in Ivory Coast have laid siege to the presidential residence in Abidjan as the incumbent leader, Laurent Gbagbo, makes a desperate last stand to cling to power. There was also fierce fighting around the state TV building which, after showing senior military officers pledge allegiance to the government, went off air on Thursday night. Forces backing presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara have overrun nearly 80% of the country as soldiers fled and towns fell in quick succession. They look set for a final push but are encountering strong resistance at the fortified presidential residence. Ouattara’s spokesman, Patrick Achi, told Reuters: “His house is under attack. That’s for sure. There is a resistance, but it’s under attack. “[Gbagbo] hasn’t shown any signs of giving up. I don’t think he will see the game is up, because he really believes God will save him … Gbagbo is in his house. I’m certain. He hasn’t gone anywhere.” The regular army put up almost no opposition during a four-day offensive, including in the ruler’s hometown, where rebels said they broke into Gbagbo’s compound and slept in his bed. Some 50,000 soldiers, police and gendarmes have abandoned Gbagbo, according to the head of the UN mission, Choi Young-jin. “Only the Republican Guard and his special forces have remained loyal, guarding the palace and residence,” he told France-Info. Gunfire could be heard throughout Abidjan on Thursday, along with the concussive boom of heavy artillery. Reporters saw soldiers in camouflage race across the waterside highway in pickup trucks mounted with machine guns. UN and French peacekeepers moved to secure Abidjan airport by sending armed elements and additional personnel there, a UN official in New York said. Sources said Gbagbo’s forces requested the UN support to allow their withdrawal. An internal UN report, seen by Reuters, also said pro-Gbagbo forces had abandoned a blockade of a hotel where Ouattara and his supporters have been camped for months. It said peacekeepers had exchanged fire with Gbagbo loyalists in several parts of the city. As his forces amassed on the outskirts of Abidjan, Ouattara made a final appeal to Gbagbo to step down, and called on the rest of the army to defect. “[My fighters[ have come to restore democracy and ensure respect of the vote by the people,” Ouattara said in an address broadcast on his private TV station. “Today they are at the doorstep of Abidjan. “To all those who are still hesitating, whether you are generals, superior officers, officers, sub officers, rank and file … there is still time to join your brothers in arms.” As the columns of pro-Ouattara forces advanced, the head of the army, general Phillippe Mangou, sought refuge at the home of the South African ambassador in Abidjan with his wife and five children, according to South Africa’s foreign ministry. Ouattara was declared the winner of last November’s presidential election by the country’s election commission in results verified by international observers. But after a decade in power, Gbagbo, a Sorbonne-educated history professor, refused to accept his loss. He has used the military to attack pro-Ouattara areas with heavy artillery and is accused of arming citizen militias and recruiting foreign mercenaries to cling to power. Up to a million people have fled the fighting and at least 490 people have been killed since the election, most of them supporters of Ouattara. The true figure is believed to be far higher, with the Red Cross warning that casualties run into thousands. Gbagbo has not been seen in public since this week’s military offensive began, even though state TV announced on Wednesday that he was preparing to address the nation. Those who know him well say even an armed onslaught will not make Gbagbo cede power. “He has no intention of resigning,” said one of his advisers in Europe, Toussaint Alain. “He will not resign in the wake of this attack. He is not going to abdicate. He is not going to lay down his arms. He will stay in power to lead the resistance to this attack against Ivory Coast.” However, a senior diplomat who has been in contact with members of Gbagbo’s inner circle told the Associated Press that a standoff appeared to be building between hardliners who want Gbagbo to fight to the end and others who are urging him to step down. It is not clear what the pro-Ouattara fighters will do if they manage to reach the presidential palace. Ouattara’s spokesman refused to speculate, but said the use of force was necessary because Gbagbo has frustrated all attempts to find a diplomatic solution. “The end is almost here,” Achi said. “It’s a matter of hours. We issued our ultimatum yesterday … If Gbagbo does not want the fighting to happen in Abidjan, he should surrender. If he doesn’t, we have no choice.” Ouattara’s “government” announced a three-day overnight curfew and ordered the closure of land, air and sea borders. There were widespread reports of looting. On Thursday, the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, reiterated his demand that Gbagbo immediately cede power to Ouattara “to enable the full transition of state institutions to the legitimate authorities,” said spokesman Farhan Haq. In Washington, the leading US diplomat for Africa, Johnnie Carson, said Gbagbo needed to seize this last opportunity to step aside. “There is a clear indication that the military forces of Gbagbo have started to disintegrate,” he said. “The rapid pace at which Alassane Ouattara’s forces have been able to move across the country from east to west and up to Abidjan suggests that there have been widespread desertions in the Gbagbo forces.” Ouattara’s fighters are drawn largely from a rebel group based in the north of the country that launched a 2002 rebellion against Gbagbo. For more than three months, Ouattara refused to allow them to march on Abidjan. The advance was a last resort after all other diplomatic means had failed, Ouattara’s supporters claim. Ivory Coast David Smith guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …