8, December 2024
Russia says President Assad left Syria, gave orders for peaceful power transition 0
Russia says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued orders for a peaceful transition of power before he resigned and departed from the country.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that President Assad decided to step down after negotiations with “a number of participants in the armed conflict on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic.”
Assad, Russia said, gave “instructions for a peaceful transfer of power.”
The ministry did not provide further information regarding Assad’s whereabouts.
According to the statement, Moscow “did not participate in these negotiations,” but it calls on all “parties involved to refrain from the use of violence and to resolve all issues of governance through political means.”
“In that regard, the Russian Federation is in contact with all groups of the Syrian opposition.”
Moscow said Russia’s military bases in the Arab country had been put on a state of high alert, but that there was no serious threat to them at the current time.
On Saturday evening, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urged “political dialogue” between the Syrian government and militant groups after a meeting with foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey in the Qatari capital of Doha on Saturday evening.
Araghchi said there was a consensus among all the participants that hostilities in Syria must end immediately and the country’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty must be respected based on the UN resolution.
The meeting was also attended by United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, who had urged all parties “to spare bloodshed and focus on a political solution in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2254.”
The conflict began when Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group launched a large-scale attack in Aleppo and Idlib provinces in the northwest of Syria on November 27, seizing several areas.
The group took control of parts of the country’s second-biggest city, Aleppo, and advanced southward toward the city of Hama. Earlier on Sunday, the armed group declared that they had captured the capital, Damascus.
Source: Press TV
8, December 2024
Ghana: Historic election comeback for John Mahama 0
Former president John Mahama, Ghana’s main opposition leader, tried twice before to win back the country top post.
Now he has secured a huge comeback on his third attempt for the presidency after tapping into the country’s economic frustrations to win Saturday’s election.
His win marks a historic victory, making him the first president in the three decades of Ghana’s Fourth Republic — since the 1992 return to multi-party democracy — to reclaim the presidency after being voted out.
Mahama, of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, beat out Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who represented the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and who conceded defeat on Sunday.
The economy became a major election issue after Ghana defaulted on its debt and entered into a $3 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund.
Mahama, 66, who served as president from 2012 to 2017, promised to “reset” Ghana, renegotiate parts of the IMF deal and introduce a “24-hour” economy to create jobs, a major concern for many younger voters.
– Writer and music fan –
A writer and devotee of Afrobeat music, Mahama wrote in his memoir “My First Coup d’Etat — And Other True Stories from the Lost Decades of Africa” that he was changed by his boyhood experiences during a 1966 military coup.
He was born in northern Ghana as a child of privilege, his house being the only one in the village with a diesel generator.
His father, who served as junior minister, was briefly detained and interrogated by the 1966 coup leaders but was later released unharmed.
Mahama was also a Member of Parliament and chairman of the West Africa Caucus at the Pan-African Parliament in Pretoria.
On corruption, Mahama says he will create a new office tasked with scrutinising government procurement above a $5 million threshold.
He says unchecked procurement processes are a major source of corruption.
Mahama voiced support for the anti-LGBTQ bill passed by Ghana’s parliament in February but which is yet to be signed into law and has sparked international criticism.
But Mustapha Gbande, a spokesperson for Mahama’s campaign, had expressed confidence in the candidate’s chances.
“People are looking for change and they trust Mahama to steer the country in a better direction,” he said.
But Mahama’s tenure as president was marred by a severe energy crisis that led to persistent power cuts, known locally as “dumsor”, which dented his reputation.
Corruption allegations also plagued his administration, although no charges were formally filed against him.
Mahama’s campaign sought to counter criticism by emphasising his experience in international leadership, including his role in combating the Ebola crisis as chairman of regional West African bloc ECOWAS.
Source: AFP