SRI LANKA
After a prolonged period of relative calm and post-tsunami cooperation,
a full-scale war has once again erupted in Sri Lanka. For 23 years,
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been fighting the
Sri Lankan government for an independent country for the predominantly
Hindu Tamil minority. (The majority of Sri Lankans are Sinhalese
and Buddhist). It is a struggle that has been brutal, credited with
the creation of the suicide bomb—the first of which was used
against India’s former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991—and
the deaths of more than 65,000 people.
In April, tensions flared again after an unsuccessful attempt to
assassinate Sri Lanka’s top general and the LTTE pulled out
of talks, all but nullifying a 2002 peace agreement. More than 1,000
people have been killed and 200,000 people displaced in the northeast,
where
fighting is most contentious. But even the capital, Colombo, has
seen two bomb blasts and the shutting of all schools.
Since spring, many countries have tried to persuade the two sides
to restart negotiations. But each party says the other is violating
the terms of the previous agreement, with the Tigers accusing the
government’s military of killing civilians.
While the Tigers were dominant in the earlier skirmishes, the government
appears to have the upper hand in the current battles. However,
a threat by donor countries to stop aid led the government to finally
agree to negotiate again, although the end to the country’s
troubles is not yet in sight.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
While the battles rage in Sri Lanka, there is tentative hope for
peace in the Congo, which has been embroiled in one of the worst
humanitarian disasters since World War II. In 1998, Rwanda and Uganda
invaded Congo. From 1998-2003, Congo’s civil war involved
six neighboring countries, displaced millions of people, and killed
over 4 million people. But for the first time in more than 40 years,
Congo held open presidential elections.
Joseph Kabila, the current president, won the first round last July
with 45 percent of the votes. Former rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba
came in second, forcing a runoff. Tensions have been high between
the candidates’ supporters, and security forces for the two
faced off in the country’s capital, Kinshasa, in mid-August,
killing at least 30 people.
The two candidates met in September after a nudge from the EU and
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who helped broker a 2003 peace
accord. That accord established a power-sharing arrangement, but
violence, particularly in the east, continued. During the election
process, Kabila and Bemba have agreed to ban “hate media,”
but they have yet to disband the private armies that support them.
Kabila, who took office after his father Laurent Kabila was assassinated
in 2001, is expected to win, but perhaps only narrowly.
The next round of elections was expected sometime in late October,
as BeE WOMAN was going to press. No matter who is elected, there
must be mutual confidence and a desire to maintain a lasting peace.
FRANCE
Although the election is not until April, France’s presidential
hopefuls have been making the rounds and demonstrating how last
year’s tumult in the country has affected the playing field.
In 2005, the French citizenry voted against adopting the European
constitution. There were extended riots in the suburbs over racism
and immigration, and student-led protests led to the repeal of a
labor law and the political demise of the current prime minister.
During the last elections, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the extremist leader
of the right-wing National Front party, came in a surprising second.
He is not expected to do as well this time, his fifth run at the
presidency. Le Pen’s platform calls for giving native-born
French citizens priority for housing and welfare and for the deportation
of all illegal immigrants.
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is the leading candidate for the
ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). He has ramped up his
anti-terror and anti-immigrant rhetoric, which is particularly interesting
given that his father was Hungarian. Sarkozy is also courting support
in the United States, distancing himself from president Jacques
Chirac. So far, he has received a far bit of criticism back home
for his policies and pro-American stance.
Which brings us to Ségolène Royal, the Socialist Party’s
likely candidate. If the polls are accurate, Royal could be the
first woman president of France. She is less-than-specific about
her position on unemployment, crime, immigration, and even the suburban
riots. But she is seen as a fresh alternative to the declining appeal
of UMP. And most citizens polled favor her over the right-wing candidates.
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