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Arab News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
2026 election: Djibouti president leaves door open to sixth term
ADDIS ABABA: Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh, in power since 1999, did not rule out running for a sixth term in next year's election despite a constitutional ban on doing so, in an interview published on Friday. Asked about a potential candidacy in April 2026 in the interview with The Africa Report, the 77-year-old said: 'I won't answer that.' 'What I can say is that I love my country too much to lead it into a reckless venture or sow division,' he added. Running in the 2026 race would require changing the constitution, which prohibits candidates older than 75. Guelleh won 97 percent of the vote in the 2021 election, and his UMP party currently holds a majority in parliament. Ismail Omar Guelleh won 97 percent of the vote in the 2021 election, and his UMP party currently holds a majority in parliament. Guelleh, known as 'IOG,' succeeded Hassan Gouled Aptidon — who led Djibouti to independence from France in 1977 — after serving as his chief of staff for 22 years. Djibouti is a stable state in a troubled region that has become a key strategic base for major powers, with the US, France, and China all maintaining a military presence there. The Horn of Africa country, bordering Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea, is one of the least populated on the continent, with around one million inhabitants.
Local France
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Local France
Anti-immigration minister becomes leader of French conservatives
Retailleau won 74 percent of the vote from party members against 25 percent for Laurent Wauquiez, the head of the party in the French national assembly. Although LR and its allies hold only 60 seats in France's 577-member national assembly and the party candidate barely registered in the 2022 presidential vote, experts predict a better run in 2027 when President Emmanuel Macron must step down. The party is the successor of the UMP, which traces its origins to postwar leader Charles de Gaulle and was the party of former presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. These days, however, it is much diminished - in the 2022 presidential election its candidate Valérie Pecresse scored just 4.78 percent of the vote, below the threshold required to get state funding for election expenses. In the 2017 election its candidate François Fillon was felled by a last-minute expenses scandal and scored 20 percent, failing to make it through to the second round of voting. Advertisement Previously seen as a centre-right party, LR has moved sharply to the right as it struggles to find a place for itself within the current political landscape. Its previous leader Eric Ciotti quit the party last year after calling for an alliance with the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) in the 2024 parliamentary election, leading to memorable scenes in which he barricaded himself in his office to avoid being removed by furious party members. It has wrangled ever since over its stance but has adopted a tougher line on issues such as immigration, with Retailleau echoing far-right talking points on immigration, integration and crime. National opinion polls currently suggest the RN would perform well in the 2027 election, despite being shaken by legal woes for its figurehead Marine Le Pen. Retailleau, previously the LR leader in the Senate, was brought into government as interior minister in 2024 by Michel Barnier. Current PM François Bayrou kept him in post when he formed his government, where he has emerged as one of the most high-profile ministers in the centrist-led coalition government. Following Sunday's result, he said he would stay in the government but he is likely to use his victory to press his case for the presidency. "Our political family is now able to carry our project forward for the presidential election," Retailleau told broadcaster TF1 after the results were announced. Some 80 percent of the 120,000 LR party members took part in the weekend vote for the leader. The LR membership had increased from 43,859 to 121,617 in the two months before the leadership election.
The Citizen
21-04-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
UMP to lead advance in research leadership and education
The University Of Mpumalanga (UMP) aims to strengthen research leadership and higher education strategies by bringing together research leaders from different institutions to discuss the evolving landscape of higher education. ALSO READ: MER urges members of the public to be responsible during Easter The university hosted the Deputy Vice Chancellor Forum Seminar on April 10. The outgoing vice chancellor, Prof Thoko Mayekiso, highlighted the role of the university in national and international research collaboration, noting that UMP has partnered with 42 higher education institutions across Europe, North America, Australia, Asia and Africa. 'Our emphasis is on research impact, not just productivity. Our focus is on how research contributes to solving real world problems. We aim to develop and sustain the research capacity of staff and students while fostering research collaborations that contribute to national and global challenges,' she said. A theoretical physicist and former CEO of Universities South Africa, Prof Ahmed Bawa, discussed the strategic plan in higher education and the role of research leadership. He also noted in his presentation that China and India are dominating the global research landscape, surpassing the United Kingdom and the United States. ALSO READ: University of Mpumalanga explores digital transformation in higher education 'Universities must also grapple with the effects of politicisation, democratisation and decolonisation, reshaping how knowledge is produced and shared. These forces are transforming higher education from elite institutions, to massify education systems leading to debates on social ownership and the role of universities in society,' Bawa said. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Local France
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Local France
French court to rule in September in Sarkozy Libya funding case
Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, has denied the charges. He is already serving a one-year sentence with an electronic bracelet in a separate influence-peddling case. Prosecutors argue that the former conservative leader and his aides devised a pact with Kadhafi in 2005 to illegally fund his victorious presidential election bid two years later. They have requested the 70-year-old serve a seven-year prison sentence, pay a fine of €300,000 and be handed a five-year ban on holding office. As the trial ended on Tuesday, Sarkozy described the prosecution's demand as 'political and violent' in a 'hateful media and political context'. 'I am not here to do politics but to defend my honour and for the truth to be established,' he said, refusing to comment further. His trial closed soon after another Paris court sentenced far-right leader Marine Le Pen to a jail term and a five-year ban on running for office for embezzling European Union funds. The move has thrown into doubt her bid to stand for president in 2027 and infuriated her supporters, who have criticised the judiciary. Prosecutors allege that Sarkozy and senior figures pledged to help Kadhafi rehabilitate his international image in return for campaign financing. The West has blamed Tripoli for bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, and UTA Flight 772 over Niger in 1989, killing hundreds of passengers. Sarkozy and 11 others have been on trial since January. Advertisement They include Sarkozy's former right-hand man, Claude Gueant, his then-head of campaign financing Eric Woerth, and former minister Brice Hortefeux, all of whom deny the charges. The prosecution's case is based on statements from seven former Libyan dignitaries, trips to Libya by Gueant and Hortefeux, financial transfers, and the notebooks of the former Libyan oil minister Shukri Ghanem, who was found drowned in the Danube in 2012. Defence attorney Christophe Ingrain on Tuesday urged the court to acquit the ex-president. He argued Sarkozy, head of the UMP party at the time, did not need Libyan funding for his presidential campaign. 'Why would he feel the need for another means of funding?' he said. 'How much did he ask for? How would this money have arrived in France? How was it used in the campaign? The prosecution does not say, as this funding does not exist,' he said. Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, a key figure in the case and a fugitive in Lebanon, claimed several times that he helped deliver up to €5 million from Kadhafi in 2006 and 2007. But in 2020, Takieddine retracted his statement, raising suspicions that Sarkozy and close allies may have paid the witness to change his story. Tristan Gautier, another defence lawyer, also argued Takieddine did not withdraw €670,000 in cash from Libya to fund Sarkozy's campaign, as alleged by the prosecution. Advertisement Instead he 'systematically used this money for his personal spending' – 'astronomical bills in luxury hotels', 'yacht cruises', or even 'work on villas', Gautier said. He argued another alleged funding route via Kadhafi's chief of staff made 'no sense' as it involved the purported role of a man who was close to one of Sarkozy's rivals. Sarkozy's career has been shadowed by legal troubles since he lost the 2012 presidential election. But he remains an influential figure and is known to regularly meet with President Emmanuel Macron.
Local France
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Local France
French interior minister bids to lead party ahead of 2027 polls
Retailleau, in his post since last year, has emerged as one of the most high-profile ministers in the government, with his tough stances on issues ranging from immigration to relations with Algeria striking a chord with voters. Taking the leadership of his right-wing Les Républicains (LR) and launching a bid for the presidency would replicate the tactics of Nicolas Sarkozy, who won the 2007 elections after serving as interior minister under the late former president Jacques Chirac, and then leading the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party. "I invite each of you to join me, to build this great movement of hope that the right must embody, for the French people we serve and for the France we love," Retailleau, 64, wrote on social media. "Together, in the midst of accelerating events, let us embody this desire for recovery and unity, so that the right can write a new page in the history of our country." The LR, the successor to the UMP and which traces its origins to postwar leader Charles de Gaulle, was the party of both Chirac and Sarkozy. It sees itself as the natural party of power in France. But it has been out of power since Sarkozy lost the 2012 elections to Socialist François Hollande. "Today, I want to do for my party what I do at the head of my ministry: speak the truth and act quickly," Retailleau wrote in a message to members, confirming that he would stand at a spring party congress, a copy of which was obtained by AFP. He now risks a head-on clash with Laurent Wauquiez, the head of LR deputies in parliament, who is also eyeing a presidential run in 2027. Retailleau was taking the "heavy responsibility of opening a war of chiefs", a source close to Wauquiez told AFP. But Retailleau had said in his message: "I do not want new fissures and new wounds in our party." The seat of the chief of the LR has been vacant since Eric Ciotti was pushed out after he agreed a controversial alliance with the far right in last summer's legislative elections. With centrist President Emmanuel Macron unable to stand again after serving the maximum two terms, the 2027 presidential polls are set to be a major turning point in modern French history. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen is seen as having her best ever chance of winning the presidency after three unsuccessful attempts. But her hopes of even standing could be blocked if she is convicted in a fake jobs trial at the end of March on charges she denies. Other figures who could challenge her on the right and centre-right include former premier Edouard Philippe and Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin. Darmanin said on Sunday that a primary could be needed to select the best candidate on the pro-Macron centre right to prevent too many hopefuls taking part in the first round.
