European Commission welcomes abolition of the death penalty in Rwanda

European Comission, Brussels - July, 26 2007

European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, and Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, today welcomed the formal abolition of the death penalty in Rwanda.

Commissioner Michel congratulated the Rwandan government and the Rwandan people on this important decision: "It is with great satisfaction that I have learnt that Rwanda has formally adopted the law abolishing the death penalty. This important decision confirms the political and democratic commitment of the country towards national reconciliation. This significant step sends an important signal to the international community, showing Rwanda's commitment and respect for human rights. I hope that this decision will encourage other countries in Africa to follow".

Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner said: "I warmly welcome Rwanda’s decision to join the ever-increasing number of abolitionist countries in the world. Rwanda’s remarkable decision makes a significant contribution towards the abolition of the death penalty on the African continent and in the world at large. When a country like Rwanda, with the terrible violence it has known in its recent past, has chosen to break the cycle of violence that the death penalty represents, it should be a compelling example to other countries around the world."

The European Union campaigns across the world for abolition of the death penalty. This stance is rooted in the belief in the inherent dignity of all human beings and the inviolability of the human person, regardless of the crime committed. The European Commission is an active advocate for abolition through all instruments at its disposal. Initiatives at the political level include formal demarches and declarations. In addition, the EU also provides support on a more practical level through projects funded under the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights.

Rwanda, a country marked by the legacy of genocide, has made impressive progress since 1994. National and local elections were held in 2003 and 2006 respectively. Basic human rights and fundamental freedoms are formally protected by the 2003 constitution, which also provides for institutions to monitor and protect these rights. Unity and reconciliation activities have increased with the nationwide roll-out of the Gacaca process in 2006 and the acceleration of the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Both are scheduled for completion in 2008. Rwanda's improving governance environment is reflected in its recent African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) report, endorsed by African Heads of State in 2006.

EC co-operation with Rwanda has evolved significantly over the past 15 years in order to adapt to the country’s circumstances. In the pre-genocide period, the focus was on projects in the areas of rural development and transport. In the aftermath of the genocide and civil war, EC Cooperation took the form of humanitarian aid, emergency aid and physical rehabilitation, along with some support to the judicial system. The emphasis was on mobilising resources for discrete projects rather than building a coherent and structured programme.

Since 2000, Rwanda has been a partner in the European Development Fund (EDF). This has served as a transition between post-conflict relief/reconstruction and long term development aid focused on poverty reduction. Over the last 5 years, a total of over €215 million has been provided through the EDF, in close alignment with the Rwandan Government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. In coordination with other donors, EC co-operation has focused on macroeconomic support linked with social sectors (health, education), rural development (including infrastructure) as well as some support to governance initiatives and regional integration. The EC will continue its co-operation with Rwanda under the 10th EDF for the period 2008-2013.

Human Rights Policy on the European Comission for more press here

UK expulsion of Russian diplomats political: Russia

Britain is more interested in playing politics than solving the poisoning murder of ex-Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, senior Russian prosecutors said on Monday.

The prosecutors hit back at British claims that Moscow was blocking efforts to solve the crime, saying the British investigation was flawed and had been too hasty in naming a Russian man as the chief suspect.

"I do not think our friends should criticize our justice system. I think their efforts would be better spent improving their own system," Alexander Zvyagintsev, Russia's deputy Prosecutor-General, told a news conference.

"Sometimes it seems to us that Britain is not so much interested in the supremacy of the law as it is in the ambitions of certain officials."

The murder of Litvinenko, who died from radioactive poisoning in a London hospital last November, has brought relations between Britain and Moscow to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.

British prosecutors want to try Russian Andrei Lugovoy for the murder, but Moscow has refused to hand him over, citing a constitutional ban on the extradition of Russian citizens.

London earlier this month expelled four Russian diplomats in protest at Moscow's refusal to extradite Lugovoy. In a tit-for-tat response, Moscow threw out four British diplomats.

Britain's decision to expel the diplomats was "plainly groundless, inappropriate, unjustified and lies exclusively in a political framework," said Zvyagintsev. "We refused extradition on the basis of the law."

He said it was also "discourteous" of the British government to expect Russia would amend its constitution to clear the way for Lugovoy's extradition.

PEOPLE "PUT AT RISK"

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown denied his country was politicizing the Litvinenko case.

"We cannot tolerate a situation where all the evidence is that not only was one person assassinated but many other people were put at risk," he told a news conference in London.

"We want the Russian authorities even at this stage to recognize that it is their responsibility to extradite for trial the Russian citizen who has been identified by prosecuting authorities," Brown added.

The case is politically charged because Litvinenko's associates -- who include vocal critics of the Kremlin now living in London -- accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his murder. The Kremlin denies involvement.

Another senior prosecutor said British detectives investigating the Litvinenko murder seemed to have decided from the outset that Lugovoy was guilty.

Britain was displaying "a one-sided approach to the investigation and a desire not to see the contradictions," said Andrei Mayorov, deputy head of the Prosecutor-General's serious crimes department.

Russia was open to requests from Britain to try any suspect in Russia, but only if sufficient proof of guilt was provided, said Zvyagintsev.

"Unfortunately, without documentary material and expert testimony we do not have enough the information to open a prosecution here in Russia," he said.

REUTERS

Turkish Markets Rise After Erdogan Is Re-Elected

Turkey's benchmark stock index surged to a record and the lira hit a six-year high after voters re- elected Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, strengthening his mandate to pursue European Union talks and budget discipline.

The ISE National 100 Index rose as much as 5.6 percent, the lira increased 1.8 percent against the dollar and benchmark bond yields dropped 29 basis points to a 13-month low.

Turkish assets have been among the world's best performers this year on expectations that a victory for Erdogan would extend a record 21 consecutive quarters of economic growth that have helped double average income to $5,500, creating a boom in demand for loans and consumer goods. Erdogan won entry talks from the EU in 2005, which has helped fuel investor optimism.

``This is the most market-friendly outcome,'' said Peter Bodis, who manages $1.1 billion in emerging Europe equities at Pioneer Investments in Vienna. ``People voted about the economic direction. The Turkish population wants changes, and this government's reforms were very positively received.''

Erdogan's Justice and Development Party took 47 percent of the vote, up from 34 percent in 2002, according to the state-owned Anatolia News Agency. That's likely to give the party 340 lawmakers in the 550-seat parliament in Ankara, CNN Turk television said.

Fivefold Increase

The ISE index has surged fivefold since 2002, when Justice was first elected. The ISE National 100 Index today rose 5.1 percent, closing at 55,625.4. The lira traded at 1.250 to the dollar. Yields on lira-denominated bonds closed at 17.17 percent, according to ABN Amro benchmark prices. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

Leading today's stock market rally were lenders Akbank TAS and Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS. Akbank rose 6.5 percent to 9.80 liras while Garanti climbed 7.9 percent to 9.55 liras.

``The election outcome portends a renewed effort to modernize the Turkish economy,'' Moody's analyst Kristen Lindow said in an e-mailed report today. ``Proceeding with stalled economic reforms could ultimately provide favorable ratings momentum.''

Turkish foreign debt is rated Ba3 by Moody's Investors Service and BB- by Standard & Poor's, three levels below investment grade.

Bond yields had fallen 3.7 percentage points since the start of the year and the lira had gained 11 percent against the dollar.

State Sales

Justice has pledged to overhaul Turkey's social security system, revive a sale of state-run electricity grids that was delayed until after the elections and seek buyers for state-owned lender TC Ziraat Bankasi AS, the country's highways and the national lottery.

Since taking power in 2002, Justice has found buyers for state-run companies such as phone operator Turk Telekomunikasyon AS that previous governments failed to sell. Inflation slowed to 8.6 percent in June from more than 70 percent at the start of 2002. The government cut the budget deficit to 0.7 percent of economic output last year from 14.7 percent in 2002 as part of a $10 billion International Monetary Fund accord designed to fight inflation.

Erdogan called the balloting after the secularist military and courts blocked the election of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as the party's candidate for president. Gul, like Erdogan, was a member of the Welfare Party, which was forced from power in 1997 and later banned for Islamic activities.

Presidential Compromise

Erdogan's second-term majority won't be enough for him to pick the next president, who is elected by parliament, without support from other parties, opening the way for a compromise that might defuse the dispute between the government and army.

The secularist Republican People's Party won 21 percent of the vote and is likely to take 112 seats in the assembly. The Nationalist Action Party drew 14 percent, which may translate into 71 seats. The remaining 27 lawmakers will be independents, most of them from the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country.

Justice ``may lose some of the trust they've been accumulating'' if the party fails to win broader support for its presidential nominee, said Jean-Dominique Butikofer, who helps manage about $725 million in emerging-market debt at Union Bancaire Privee in Zurich.

The process for electing the next president is likely to begin in mid-August and last for about a month.

Justice will seek ``consensus'' over the presidency, and will try to persuade opposition parties to support its candidate, which may still be Gul, Justice lawmaker and Erdogan adviser Egemen Bagis said in a telephone interview.

Army Influence

Under Justice, Turkey has taken steps to curb the influence of the army in politics and reduce human rights abuses, measures which were demanded by the EU.

Erdogan's victory may help the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate, which has held at 17.5 percent for a year.

Bank Governor Durmus Yilmaz said on June 28 he wouldn't cut interest rates until the slowdown in inflation is sustained and ``uncertainties'' surrounding the elections are resolved.

`There's an expectation in the market that interest rates are high and after there's stability they'll go down,' said Berrin Onder, chief executive of Istanbul-based brokerage Ak Yatirim, in a phone interview.

Lower rates may revive a boom in consumer borrowing that's slowed in the past year and boost profits at lenders such as Akbank and Garanti.

Turkey attracted $11 billion in foreign direct investment in the first five months, on course to surpass the record $19.8 billion that came in last year as companies such as Citigroup Inc. and Vodafone Group Plc bought into the $400 billion economy.

The country's gross domestic product expanded at annual 6.8 percent in the first quarter, driven by record exports to the EU and increased government spending on roads and water supplies. The economy has grown at an annual average pace of about 7 percent since 2002.

Bloomberg News

UN Security Council welcomes planned continuation of Western Sahara talks

The Security Council today welcomed news that United Nations-sponsored talks on Western Sahara between Morocco and the Frente Polisario, along with neighbours Algeria and Mauritania, are set to resume next month, voicing hope that “substantial negotiations” will take place.

In a statement to the press read out by Ambassador Wang Guangya of China, which holds the rotating Council presidency this month, the 15-member body said it was very pleased that the two parties and the neighbouring States had met for talks outside New York on 18-19 June.

“The members of the Security Council support the agreement by the parties that negotiations will continue in the second week of August under UN auspices and expresses their hope the parties will use the next round of negotiations to engage in good faith in substantial negotiations on the way forward,” Mr. Wang said.

In a communiqué issued after last month’s talks, the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Peter van Walsum, said the parties had agreed to continue their negotiations, which were held at the Greentree Estate in Manhasset, in the second week of August.

Mr. van Walsum briefed the Council in a closed session this morning on the latest developments in Western Sahara and on the most recent report of the Secretary-General on the status and progress of negotiations.

Speaking to reporters after today’s Council meeting, Mr. van Walsum said the recent talks had been “a positive first step” towards resolving the situation in Western Sahara, where the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has been in place since September 1991 to monitor the ceasefire between Morocco and the Frente Polisario, which contest the territory.

More information on UN Security Council Docs:

http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/

More than 1 700 suspects arrested in Europe in 2005: Commission’s second report confirms effectiveness of European arrest warrant

The Commission has published its second evaluation report on the state of transposition of the Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. The report highlights the high rate of recourse to this instrument and identifies Member States’ good practices as well as the difficulties still remaining in the transposition of the European arrest warrant into some national laws.

Vice-President Franco Frattini, the Commission member responsible for justice, freedom and security, expressed his satisfaction in the following terms: "The European arrest warrant is the first practical manifestation of the principle of mutual recognition of judicial decisions. The success enjoyed by this instrument can be seen from the appreciable reduction in the length of procedures for transferring wanted persons, and is measurable in terms of the use made of the instrument by national authorities.” He added: "It is nevertheless important that the shortcomings which remain in the area of the implementation of the Framework Decision be rectified as soon as possible".

In most countries, one of the most remarkable advances achieved by the European arrest warrant has been the considerable reduction in the length of surrender procedures compared with extradition. On average, where the person concerned does not consent to his or her surrender, a surrender request takes less than six weeks to process. Where the person does consent to his or her surrender, the average surrender period is 11 days, whereas under the old extradition arrangements such requests could take over a year to process.

The instrument’s success is also illustrated by the growing number of European arrest warrants issued in any given year. In 2005 the number of European arrest warrants issued (more than 6 900[1]) was twice as high as in 2004, resulting in the location and arrest of 1 700 people, of whom 1 532 were surrendered.

The constitutional difficulties which arose in Cyprus, Germany and Poland during the transposition of the Framework Decision have all been resolved. They concerned the surrender of persons possessing the nationality of the implementing State. Although the surrender of nationals by those States is still subject to certain conditions, the European arrest warrant is now once more applicable in all 27 Member States.

However, the first evaluation by the Commission of the Framework Decision’s transposition by the Member States revealed a number of shortcomings in implementation by Member States which remain today.

To find out more about Vice-President Frattini's work, please visit his website:

http://www.ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/frattini/index_en.htm

EU to observe Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Sierra Leone

The European Commission is deploying an EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) for the Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Sierra Leone scheduled to take place on 11 August 2007. The EOM is a European Commission contribution to supporting peace and democracy in Sierra Leone.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, said: “The second post-conflict elections are crucial for sustaining peace and furthering democracy in Sierra Leone. In line with the UN Peace Building Commission, for which Sierra Leone is a priority country in its efforts to build sustainable peace in Africa, I believe that the country deserves every support contributing to genuine elections. I have therefore decided to deploy an EU EOM led by the Member of the European Parliament Marie Anne Isler Béguin.”

The EOM Core Team of seven people and 28 Long Term Observers (LTOs) will be deployed during July to assess the campaign period and pre-election preparations around the country and, in addition, 42 Short Term Observers (STOs) will be deployed over the election-day period to observe voting, counting and the tabulation of results. It is planned that the EU EOM will remain in country in case of a second round of the Presidential election. The EU EOM will continue its operations for a number of weeks after the election-day in order to assess the post-election period.

The European Commission is one of Sierra Leone’s most important development cooperation partners and is providing funds to assist the country in implementing its development and socio-economic reform agenda. The European Commission supports the organisation of Sierra Leone’s elections with €7.5 million. For additional information, see also:

For more information on this project, please visit EU Commission website http://ec.europa.eu/comm/europeaid/projects/eidhr/index_en.htm