The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Mali prime minister arrested as he tries to leave country
- Mexican president confident of key reforms in 2013
- Clinton cancels Middle East trip because of ill health
| Mali prime minister arrested as he tries to leave country Posted: 10 Dec 2012 08:50 PM PST BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian soldiers arrested Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra late on Monday, accusing him of blocking efforts to stabilise a nation divided by a coup in the capital and the Islamist takeover of the desert north. "He was arrested ... as he tried to leave for France," said Bakary Mariko, a spokesman for the group of soldiers who seized power in a March coup. The group remains powerful despite officially handing power back to civilians earlier this year. Diarra's arrest was confirmed by a diplomat in Mali. The move will complicate efforts to stabilise the West African nation, where soldiers and politicians remain divided since the coup in March and where the north of the country is occupied by al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters. Residents in Bamako said the town was quiet in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Mariko said Diarra had been taken to Kati, the military barracks town just outside the capital which still serves as the former junta's headquarters. "The country is in crisis but he was blocking the institutions," Mariko said. "This is not a coup. The president is still in place but the prime minister was no longer working in the interests of the country." Officials from Diarra's office were not available for comment. There have been divisions for months between the former junta, interim President Diouncounda Traore and Diarra, a former NASA scientist and Microsoft chief for Africa. Diarra was made prime minister in April after the military officially handed power back to civilians. As the son-in-law of Moussa Traore, a former Malian coup leader and president, he appeared to have good ties with the military. However, tensions became particularly acute in recent weeks, with analysts saying Diarra, a relative newcomer to Malian politics after years abroad, seemed keen to establish a political base of his own ahead of any future elections. West African leaders and Western nations have warned that Mali's north has become a safe haven for terrorism and organised crime, but they have struggled to draw up plans to help the country because of the deep divisions in the capital. Some of Mali's politicians support the idea of a foreign-backed military operation to retake control of the north. Others, including much of the military, say they need only financial and logistical support and insist that Mali can carry out the operation itself. (Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo in Bamako and David Lewis in Dakar.; Writing by David Lewis; editing by Christopher Wilson) Copyright © 2012 Reuters | ||
| Mexican president confident of key reforms in 2013 Posted: 10 Dec 2012 08:13 PM PST MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Monday he is confident that reforms to shake up state oil giant Pemex and the country's tax regime, key planks of his drive to accelerate economic growth, will be approved in 2013. "Next year will be the time for all of it to happen from scratch: presenting the initiative, the necessary consensus to back it up and make them happen, and get the required approval," Pena Nieto, who took office on December 1, told Reuters in an interview.
Mexico depends on income from state oil giant Pemex to fund nearly a third of the federal budget, and it has struggled for years to get major tax reforms through a divided Congress. The country has one of the smallest tax takes in Latin America, collecting revenues worth only about 11 percent of gross domestic product, excluding oil income. Pemex has struggled to make the most of Mexico's crude oil reserves, and Pena Nieto has pledged to open up the company to more private investment. To make it worthwhile for investors, Pena Nieto believes a constitutional change is needed. Mexico's constitution stipulates that the right to exploit crude oil belongs to the state, and the new government must find a way of allowing private investors to help find the crude without surrendering control of its natural resources. "I believe constitutional reform is what enables us to generate the legal certainty for the opportunities of getting Mexico more private investment to develop its energy infrastructure," Pena Nieto added. He believes the tax and energy reforms are vital to his goal of growing the economy by around 6 percent per year. That would be virtually triple the average growth rate Mexico saw in the years the conservative National Action Party (PAN) was in power between 2000 and 2012. Created when Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, nationalized the oil industry in 1938, Pemex became a symbol of Mexican self-sufficiency, and many attempts to reform the company have foundered in the past. Pena Nieto's predecessor, Felipe Calderon of the PAN, failed to win support in Congress for a major reform of Pemex, but did take the first steps towards opening the company up to outside investment, putting out contracts to private firms. Output at Mexico's largest oil fields fell sharply between 2004 and 2009, although it has since stabilized. (Reporting by Dave Graham, Ana Isabel Martinez; Editing by Kieran Murray and Eric Walsh) Copyright © 2012 Reuters | ||
| Clinton cancels Middle East trip because of ill health Posted: 10 Dec 2012 08:12 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has cancelled her trip to Morocco this week for a meeting on the future of Syria's opposition because of a stomach virus, the State Department said on Monday. Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns will travel to the meeting in her place. "Since she's still under the weather, we'll be staying put this week instead of heading to North Africa and the Middle East as originally planned," State Department spokesman Philippe Reines said in a statement. "In her place, Deputy Secretary Burns will travel to Marrakech for the Friends of the Syrian People meeting. We will let you know when she shakes this bug and resumes a public schedule," he said. Clinton had been due to join foreign ministers from allied nations in Morocco to discuss the 20-month old Syria crisis as rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad push forward on the battlefield and move to unify the political opposition. The so-called Friends of Syria group is expected to focus on new moves to strengthen and legitimize the recently formed Syrian opposition coalition. Clinton had planned to continue from Morocco to Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. (Reporting By Mohammad Arshad; editing by Christopher Wilson) Copyright © 2012 Reuters |
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