LETTER N° 14

From 01 to 07 APRIL

01 Belarus		Second round of repeat parliamentary elections takes place in 11 constituencies. Results : not available.
01 San Marino	Lonfernini Berardi	Luigi Lonfernini (Christian Democrat) and Fabio Berardi (Socialist) are installed as captains-regent. Luigi Lonfernini was born on August 31, 1938 and is the father of 3. He already held the position of Reggente in 1971. In 1962 he graduated with a Law degree from Bologna. From 1964 to 1983 he was a member of the Great General Council , a post he held again in 1998. From 1964 to 1978 he was also a member of the State Congress. During a period of time between 1988 and 1995 he was chairman of the assembly for freelances and chairman of the Lawyers' Bar. Fabio Berardi was born on May 26,1959 and is the father of 2. He graduated with a degree in Geology Sciences from the university of Bologna in 1983. As for politics, since the end of 1970 he was elected to the Great General Council until the 1998 meetings. Currently he is a member of the secretary's office of the Socialist Party. He is a member of the Interparliamentary Union, of the Health, Territory and Finance Commission. Before his election to the Great General Council he was appointed for two consecutive terms chairman of the Geologists' Order of San Marino. He currently serves as the head of the exercise administration for State productions.
01 Switzerland (Aargau)		Kurt Wernli becomes Landammann of Aargau.
01 Central African Republic		President Ange-Félix Patassé fires Prime Minister Anicet Georges Dologuélé and names Martin Ziguélé as new prime minister.
02 Montserrat		Legislative Council elections. Results : In parliamentary elections, the New People's Liberation Movement of former chief minister John Osborne wins 7 of 9 seats in the Legislative Council and the National Progressive Party of former chief minister Reuben Meade 2.
03 United States (Missouri)		General municipal elections. Results : The Democratic mayoral candidate took a large early lead in a city so tilted toward his party that many residents consider the general election a formality. Francis Slay declared victory after receiving 41,472 votes, or 87.5 percent, to Republican candidate Michael Chance's 5,917 votes.
04 Moldova		Parliament elects Communist Party leader Vladimir Voronin as president with 71 votes against 15 for Prime Minister Dumitru Braghis and 3 for another communist candidate, Valerian Cristea.
04 Yemen		President Ali Abdullah Saleh passed a republican decree on Saturday appointing Mr Abdulqader Abdulrahman Ba-Jammal as the prime minister. Mr Ba-Jammal is expected to form the new government. He has replaced Dr. Abdulkareem Al-Iryani who resigned on health reasons. Wahiba Fare, a university professor, will be the new government's only female member as minister of state for human rights, a new cabinet post. SEE NEW GOVERNMENT
04 Congo, Democratic Republic of		President Joseph Kabila has sacked his entire cabinet in a bid to improve management of the country's affairs. According to the statement, the ministers would continue to perform their day-to-day functions on a limited scale until a new cabinet was appointed.
05 New Caledonia		Pierre Frogier is elected president. Pierre Frogier was born on November 16,1950 in Nouméa (New-Caledonia). Profession : Real estate broker. political party : RPR(Rally for the Republic). local mandates: Municipal Council of Mont-Dore (New-Caledonia) Mayor from 25/06/1995 to 18/03/2001.National Mandates : Territorial Assembly of Overseas Territorial Assembly of New Caledonia from 01/07/1995 to 05/07/1997. Overseas Territorial Assembly territoriale of the Southern Province Assemblyof Naw Caledonia since 01/05/1999. National Assembly elected on 21/03/1993, reelected on 01/06/1997.
05 Liechtenstein		Parliament elects Otmar Hasler head of government. Born in 28 September 1953 Otmar Hasler president of the conservative Progressive Citizens' Party of wins the parliamentary elections in 9 and 11 february 2001.
05 North Korea		The People's Supreme Congress, Pyongyang parliament opens up.
07 India (Uttar Pradesh)		Byelections to Haidergarh and Sadadad assembly constituencies. Results : not available.

Two new State Secretaries : Paulette Guinchard-Kunstler, State Secretary to the Aged People and the Disabled and Marie Noelle Liemann, State Secretary to the minister of Equipement, Transportation and Housing, responsible with Housing. See Biographies This week there are updatings on the following web pages : VIPS 2000 - Africa and VIPS Foreign Affairs - Africa VIPS GOVERNMENTS : AUSTRIA

THIS WEEK'S STORY

1948 April 3 George C. Marshall

The Marshall Plan Signed into Law Marshall Plan or European Recovery Program, project instituted at the Paris Economic Conference (July, 1947) to foster economic recovery in certain European countries after World War II. The Marshall Plan took form when U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall urged (June 5, 1947) that European countries decide on their economic needs so that material and financial aid from the United States could be integrated on a broad scale. In Apr., 1948, President Truman signed the act establishing the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) to administer the program. The ECA was created to promote European production, to bolster European currency, and to facilitate international trade. Another object was the containment of growing Soviet influence (through national Communist parties), especially in Czechoslovakia, France, and Italy. Paul G. Hoffman was named (Apr., 1948) economic cooperation administrator, and in the same year the participating countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States) signed an accord establishing the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (later called the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) as the master coordinating agency. The ECA functioned until 1951, when its activities were transferred to the Mutual Security Agency. Over $12 billion was dispersed (1948&endash;51) under the program. From the start the Soviet Union strongly opposed the Marshall Plan while the various countries in Eastern Europe denounced or ignored it. The Marshall Plan, completed in 1952, was one aspect of the foreign aid program of the United States and greatly contributed to the economic recovery of Europe.

EUROPE