Our weekly round-up of must-read stories you might have missed. In focus this week: Paris makes Nelson Mandela honorary citizen, Brigade will join UN peacekeeping force to help defend against rebels in eastern Congo, and Zanu PF Vows to Resist Security Sector Reform.
Paris makes Mandela honorary citizen, refuses honour for Chavez – March 25, 2013
The city of Paris on Monday made anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela an honorary citizen but refused to grant an honour to Venezuela’s late leftist firebrand leader Hugo Chavez. Mandela was “an emblematic and historic human rights figure,” deputy mayor Pierre Schapira said in a speech to a meeting of the city council that bestowed the title on the Nobel peace prize winner. But the council refused a request from communist councillors for a place in Paris to be named after Chavez. Schapira noted that the mayor of the Venezuelan capital Caracas had been stripped of any real power because he was an opponent of Chavez, who died earlier this month. He said poverty had declined and access to education improved in the Latin American state under Chavez but that it was too early to agree on his legacy…
UN authorizes sending military force to Congo – March 28, 2013
The UN Security Council authorized a new “intervention brigade” for Congo on Thursday with an unprecedented mandate to take military action against rebel groups to help bring peace to the country’s conflict-wracked east. The resolution, which the council adopted unanimously, gives the brigade a mandate to carry out offensive operations alone or with Congolese army troops to neutralize and disarm armed groups. The intervention brigade is unprecedented in UN peacekeeping because of its offensive mandate. The resolution however states clearly that it would be established for one year “on an exceptional basis and without creating a precedent” to the principles of UN peacekeeping…
Zanu PF Vows to Resist Security Sector Reform – March 29, 2013
Zimbabwe’s State Security Minister, Sydney Sekeramayi, says the push for security sector reform ahead of elections is an attempt by western nations to recolonize the country, vowing the government will push back against such efforts. Sekeramayi, one of the security chiefs who have publicly declared they would resist a transfer of power to the Movement for Democratic Change if Morgan Tsvangirai were to win, says those pushing for reforms want to destabilize the country. His statements came just days after Zimbabwe and Western countries met in London, where the issue of security sector reform was raised, among other governance issues. “That is a project by the country’s enemies who want to weaken the state,” Sekeramayi told state radio Friday. “So this is a mere project to destabilize the country and it is not acceptable…”
