Latest news with #democratic reforms
News24
6 days ago
- Politics
- News24
Chad: Little hope for democracy after Masra verdict
Chad's former PM Succes Masra was sentenced to 20 years, seen as political silencing by President Deby. Masra's conviction reflects political suppression, undermining democratic reforms and fueling potential unrest in Chad. Masra's party continues grassroots activism, unifying opposition against Deby's government amid appeals for Masra's release. The sentencing of Chad's former prime minister Succes Masra to 20 years in prison is widely seen as a deliberate move by President Mahamat Idriss Deby to quieten opposition voices. Masra, who briefly served in Deby's transitional government before returning to the opposition, was convicted of illegal possession of ammunition and incitement of violence linked to unrest in the southwestern Logone Occidental region in May this year, which resulted in the deaths of 42 people. Masra has denied the charges and has vowed to appeal the decision, telling his supporters: 'I'll be back soon.' Claudia Hoinathy, the vice president in charge of leadership and women's engagement within Masra's Les Transformateurs party, said to DW that the conviction was completely unjust, having witnessed the three days of the hearings for herself. In her view, it is merely an attempt for Deby to tighten his grip on power ahead of the next electoral cycle - even at the risk of triggering instability in an already precarious transition. The only way out, she believes, is a unified front. 'There are many opposition parties who have come to see us, to support us at our headquarters, who have sent out communiques,' Hoinathy said. 'And I think that's the ultimate solution we have left, to unite.' 20-year verdict on trumped up charges? Political analyst Nixon Katembo meanwhile echoed similar sentiments, saying that the trial was never really about the charges to begin with, but rather about silencing a political rival who had already proven that he could disrupt Chad's order. This is more of a political message rather than about charges or equivalent to the charges that were brought against him. Nixon Katembo Katembo argued that the heavy prison term was intended to make sure that 'the opposition is curtailed'. After spending years in exile in the Central African Republic, Masra was invited back to Chad to help form a transitional government and was appointed prime minister under Mahamat Idriss Deby. 'Immediately after Deby tried to form a government of national unity leading up to the elections, Masra was placed at the heart of power,' Katembo recalls, highlighting the young politician's popularity. But the honeymoon between the two politicians was short-lived, as within five months Masra broke ranks, contested the presidency and ultimately lost, which Katembo believes sealed his fate. The verdict against Masra comes less than three months after Deby secured his victory in an election which the opposition claims was neither free nor fair. Masra: A threat to Chad's dynastic rule Critics say the sentence strikes at the heart of the already fragile credibility of a transition process which began when Deby took power in 2021 after the death of his father, Idriss Deby Itno, in battle. Chadian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Analysts like Katembo argue that the conviction against Masra serves two main purposes: Removing a powerful opposition figure capable of galvanising nationwide protests while also sending a stark warning to anyone tempted to defy the country's ruling elite. Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, stressed in a statement that 'the sentence given to Succes Masra sends a chilling message to critics and demonstrates the Chadian government's intolerance of criticism and political opposition parties.' 'The courts should not be used for such political purposes,' Mudge added, highlighting that the conviction had 'upended hopes for a meaningful political opposition and an independent judiciary in Chad'. Various human rights groups have warned that the ruling could reignite pockets of unrest similar to the October 2022 protests, when security forces killed scores of demonstrators. 'Chad's regional and international supporters should denounce this politically motivated judgment and urge the country's leaders to make good on promises for democratic reform,' Mudge underlined. With Chad remaining a key military partner in counterterrorism operations across the Sahel, it is unlikely that major regional players like the African Union will publicly comment on the goings-on, though it is likely that concern for Chad's future is not limited to local voices. Fighting to galvanise opposition For Masra's supporters, the verdict confirms fears that the transition in Chad is shifting from a carefully stage-managed facade of democracy to a dynastically entrenched reality of one-man rule. Hoinathy says the party had prepared for the scenario of Masra's detention by pre-emptively putting a new leadership structure in place. 'The president of the party has appointed our dean, Bedoumra Kordje, to lead a collegial leadership team. This means that together with the vice presidents already in place, the work of the president's chief of staff and of the secretary-general will carry on while we continue to fight for his release,' she told DW. 'Our offices are open every day, and every weekend, we organise large gatherings that call on activists to come and show their disagreement with what is happening,' she added, highlighting the party's ongoing efforts to translate Masra's detention into a grassroots momentum bringing together various opposition groupings. Whether the ruling succeeds in silencing dissent in the long-run or rather fuels a broader resistance will likely depend on how far Deby will continue to push restrictions in the political space, and also whether international partners choose stability over democratic accountability. Either way, even without his arrest and detention, Masra's options appear limited, as he now has a previous conviction which automatically bars him from running for office - something even a pardon cannot erase. 'It would not allow him to come back and interact or to act as president of the party,' Hoinathy explained. Instead, Les Transformateurs are considering giving Masra amnesty, while lawyers continue to appeal the decision. If they eventually succeed with their appeal, the previous conviction could be expunged.
CNA
6 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Bangladesh interim leader Yunus vows clean, acceptable elections
Bangladesh's caretaker government is racing to complete democratic and economic reforms deemed necessary conditions for a free and fair election next February. It will be the first polls since violent protests plunged the country into political turmoil more than a year ago. CNA's Loke Wei Sue asks interim leader Muhammad Yunus, the man charged with steering those reforms, whether enough has been done to achieve a smooth democratic transition.
The Guardian
10-08-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ion Iliescu obituary
Ion Iliescu, who has died aged 95, served three terms as the elected president of Romania, setting one of the best examples in Europe of how former communist leaders could support democratic reforms and maintain social stability in their countries when the old system of repressive one-party rule crumbled. Iliescu had revealed himself as a progressive during the harsh dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu. He was appointed head of the Communist party's agitation and propaganda department in 1965, the year that Ceaușescu became party leader. For more than a decade Iliescu served him loyally but gradually became disillusioned by Ceaușescu's megalomania. Iliescu did not hide his views and he was forced to accept a series of minor jobs in provincial cities, though he was able to remained a member of the party's central committee. In 1984 he suffered his final demotion by being given the post of running a technical publishing house. There he could have remained, in obscurity, like many other minor party officials from modest backgrounds. Iliescu was born in Oltenita, a small southern town on the Danube. His father, Alexandru, was a railway worker who supported the banned Romanian Communist party and was imprisoned for four years during the second world war. His mother, Maria, was a Roma who left when Ion was an infant, and he was brought up by his stepmother and grandparents. He studied engineering for four years at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute. Back in Romania he joined the Union of Communist Youth in 1944 and the Communist party in 1953. The revolutionary year of 1989 changed the landscape of eastern European politics and gave Iliescu a chance to shine. The collapse of communism in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland in 1989 produced similar demonstrations for change in Bucharest and other Romanian cities, but unlike the behaviour of the authorities in those countries, the security forces in Romania were ordered to shoot protesters. In the turmoil and bloodshed, Iliescu emerged as a leader of the pro-reform forces. He founded a broad-based National Salvation Front (FSN). With the army beginning to split, Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena, fled the capital in a helicopter. They were captured, held at an army base and then shot. Iliescu went on national TV to 'salute the popular movement' and promise free elections, political pluralism and market reforms. As leader of the FSN, Iliescu had authorised the execution of the Ceaușescus. He admitted it in his memoirs, saying he later regretted it. The hope had been, he said, that it would end all resistance to the revolution. Iliescu was named Romania's interim president in December 1989. Apparently shocked by the Ceaușescus' death, his new government abolished capital punishment. In the chaos of the unexpected collapse of the old system, class tensions were high, and there were fierce debates over whether to reprivatise state enterprises and put former communists on trial, or at least bar them from public leadership roles. The Communist party was dissolved and Iliescu left the FSN. He founded the Social Democratic party in a clear sign that he hoped to replace traditional Romanian authoritarianism with Scandinavian-style politics. It was an uphill struggle. In the days after the Ceaușescus' execution more than a thousand people were killed in clashes with the security forces. Street protests against Iliescu's government were constant and in May 1990 Iliescu called on hundreds of leftwing miners to be bussed to Bucharest to break up the protests. The bloody clashes that ensued were called the Mineriads. In spite of the violence, Iliescu remained popular and in June 1990 he won a staggering result, securing 85% of the vote for the presidency. The issue of blame for the post-revolutionary violence continued to fester for decades. In 2018 prosecutors indicted Iliescu for 'crimes against humanity' over the deaths in the clashes that followed the Ceaușescus' execution. In a separate case he was charged with orchestrating the miners' violence in 1990. Both sets of charges were ultimately dropped. In 1996 Iliescu narrowly lost the presidential election to Emil Constantinescu, a professor of mineralogy who had been a leader of the street protests in 1990 that the miners broke up. He represented the centre-right of Romania's new politics, which favoured the rapid privatisation of the country's state-run economy. He had come second to Iliescu in the presidential race of 1992. His promises of rapid economic progress won more support from voters in 1996. Iliescu lost the election but stepped down with dignity. It was the first time in eastern European politics that a former communist leader had accepted electoral defeat. But Constantinescu's period in power disappointed his supporters. His promises of economic advancement came to nothing, and in the 2000 election Iliescu made a comeback. Constantinescu's legacy on foreign affairs was more successful than his policies on domestic issues. He pressed for Romania's membership of the European Union and Nato. This pleased western governments who remained wary of Iliescu. But Iliescu had changed his views and when he resumed power in 2000 he continued the movement towards Romania's membership of the Euro-Atlantic club of Nato and the EU. His term in power ended in 2004 and he largely retired from public life. In a brief statement in May this year he congratulated Nicușor Dan, Romania's new centre-right president, on his election victory. He is survived by his wife, Elena (nee Șerbănescu), whom he married in 1951. Ion Iliescu, statesman, born 3 March 1930; died 5 August 2025
BBC News
05-08-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Global News Podcast UN says 'children reduced to skin and bones' and El Fasher facing starvation
The UN's food agency says people trapped in the Sudanese city of El Fasher for more than a year are facing starvation and that malnutrition is rife across the country, with many children "reduced to skin and bones". The interim leader of Bangladesh has been setting out plans for democratic reforms, a year after a student-led revolt toppled the authoritarian prime minister Sheikh Hasina. How one secret centre in Ukraine is trying to help traumatised children whose parents have been lost in the war with Russia. The latest on the migrant swap deal between France and the UK and Dolly Parton adds a 'Guinness World Record Icon' award to her trophy cabinet. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: globalpodcast@
