LETTER N° 16

From 15 to 21 APRIL

15

Japan

(Akita)

Akita Prefecture (Japan), Gubernatorial election. Results :

Incumbent Akita Gov. Sukeshiro Terata, 60, was reelected for a second term in the Akita gubernatorial election, defeating two challengers, one of which was backed by the ruling coalition. Sukeshiro Terata had 450,146 votes, while Kaneyuki Muraoka had garnered 226,506 and Junji Okui 23,806. Voter turnout was 73.34 percent, which surpassed the 69.52 percent turnout in the previous election four years ago.

16

Afghanistan

The head of the Supreme Council, Mullah Mohammad Rabbani, dies.

Burhanuddin Rabbani, son of Muhammed Yousuf, was born in 1940 in Badakhshan, a province of Afghanistan. Rabbani started school in 1947, in Faizabad, the capital of Badakshan. By his ninth year of school, he had become an outstanding student. He enjoyed Islamic studies, but his teachers always encouraged him to choose other fields of studies. After finishing school in his native province, he went to Darul-uloom-e-Sharia (Abu-Hanifa), a religious school in Kabul. When he graduated from Abu-Hanifa, he went to Kabul University to study Islamic Law and Theology. During his four years at Kabul University he became well known for his works on Islam. Soon after his graduation in 1963, he was hired as a Professor at Kabul University. In order to enhance his knowledge, Rabbani went to Egypt in 1966. In Egypt, he entered the University of Al-Azhar in Cairo, and in two years, he received his masters degree in Islamic Philosophy. In 1968, Rabbani returned to Afghanistan, where the High Council of Jamiat-i-Islami of Afghanistan gave him the duty of organizing the University students. At Kabul University, Rabbani was also a member of the Research Department, where in 1970, they sent him to Ankara University in Turkey for further research. Due to his knowledge, reputation, and active support for the cause of Islam, in 1972, a 15-member council selected him as head of Jamiat-i-Islami of Afghanistan; the founder of Jamiat-i-Islami of Afghanistan, Ghulam M. Niyazi was also present. In the spring of 1974, police cars came to Kabul University to arrest Rabbani for his pro-Islamic stance, but with the help of his students the police were unable to capture him, and he managed to escape to the country side. In short, Rabbani has a Bachelors degree from Kabul University. He received his Masters degree in Islamic philosophy from Al-Azhar University in Egypt. He taught at Kabul University as a Professor for many years until 1974. He speaks and writes in Pushto, Persian (Dari-Afghan Persian), and Arabic. He can also speak English, Urdu, and some Turkish. Currently he is President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan. His biggest achievement was his well planned organization of the resistance which fought against the Russians.

17

United States

(Mississipi)

Referendum on retaining Confederate symbol in the state flag. Result :

488,630 voters, or 65 percent, favored keeping the old flag and 267,812 voters, or 35 percent, wanted to replace it. Mississippi's 1894 flag, with its controversial Confederate emblem, will likely continue its outcast role in the city of Jackson despite a victory to become the official state flag over an alternative.

17

Bangladesh

Parliament dissolved.

17

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic has a new finance minister, the third in less than three years. Jiri Rusnok officially joined the cabinet, just a week after his predecessor, Pavel Mertlik, resigned. Mr. Rusnok until now worked as the deputy labor and social affairs minister.

17

Irak

Saddam Reshuffles Cabinet

Tariq Aziz is appointed acting foreign minister. Naji Sabri Ahmed al-Hadithi - the Iraqi ambassador to Austria - was appointed state minister for foreign affairs. Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, who has served as foreign minister since 1993, was reassigned as information minister. Information Minister Humam Abdul-Khaleq Abdul-Ghafur has been named Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, it added.

19

Bulgaria

Bulgaria dissolved parliament ahead of a June 17 general election, expected to be a three-way race between the ruling reformist government, opposition Socialists and a group led by former king Simeon II.

19

Ukraina

Ukraine's parliament condemned Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko's economic policies and threatened a no-confidence vote which could topple the reformist premier. Deputies voted 283 to 65 in the 450-seat house to voice their dissatisfaction with the government's policies and, amid lively debate, were expected later on Thursday to set a time for the no-confidence vote.

19

Moldova

Vasile Tarlev, 37, was approved by 75 votes in the 101-member parliament to lead the tiny agricultural state sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania. Tarlev, who is not a member of Parliament, will lead a government comprised mainly of independents and Communists.

19

United States

Former New Hampshire governor (1973-79) Meldrim Thomson, Jr., dies.

Meldrim Thomson was born in Pittsburgh (PA). He graduated from Miami (FL) High School (1930), spent two years at the University of Miami, and graduated from Washington & Jefferson College (PA). He received his LL.B. degree from the University of Georgia Law School and was admitted to the State of Florida Bar in 1936. Thomson served on the Orford school board (1959/62), and ran for the legislature in 1964. In the 1972 Republican primary, Thomson narrowly defeated former governor Peterson . He went on to win the general election and repeated his wins in the next two elections.

20/22

Summit of the Americas

Heads of state gather for III Summit of the Americas.

The American heads of state will create a first draft of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. The FTAA expands the scope of the North America Free Trade Agreement to include 34 countries of the Americas. FTAA proponents say it will bring the benefits of economic integration, deregulation and privatization to the entire hemisphere.

From April 20 to April 22, 2001, 34 chiefs of state -democratically elected- of the Americas and the Caribbean gathered in the historical city of Québec for the Third Summit of the Americas. The summit will be the highest point of a preparatory process over these past three years with the participation of the member states, international organizations, Financial institutions and organizations stemming from the civil society.

During Quebec Summit, the heads of government focused on common issues and challenges in the hemisphere which they have outpointed in the preparatory sessions. Among the issues at stake, a better access to education, the complete eradication of poverty, the reinforcement of Human Rights and democracy and the economic integration. The concern about such issues and the Political Declaration of Quebec and a Program of Actions emerging from the Summit will define the priorities and aims in the forthcoming years.

This week :

VIPS-GOV.

- MOLDOVA - List of the new government

- CONGO, Democratic Republic - List of the new Government

- YEMEN - Biographies of Ministers

VIPS-FEDS.

- SWITZERLAND - Political Responsible of the cantons

THIS WEEK'S STORY

1946

April 18

The League of Nations dissolved itself and all its assets were handed over to the United Nations.

League of Nations, former international organization, established by the peace treaties that ended World War I. Like its successor, the United Nations, its purpose was the promotion of international peace and security. The League was a product of World War I in the sense that that conflict convinced most persons of the necessity of averting another such cataclysm. But its background lay in the visions of men like the duc de Sully and Immanuel Kant and in the later growth of formal international organizations like the International Telegraphic Union (1865) and the Universal Postal Union (1874). The Red Cross, the Hague Conferences, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (Hague Tribunal) were also important stepping-stones toward international cooperation.

At the close of World War I, such prominent figures as Jan Smuts, Lord Robert Cecil, and Léon Bourgeois advocated a society of nations. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson incorporated the proposal into the Fourteen Points and was the chief figure in the establishment of the League at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The basis of the League was the Covenant, which was included in the Treaty of Versailles and the other peace treaties.

The original membership of the League included the victorious Allies of World War I (with the exception of the United States, whose Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles) and most of the neutral nations. Among later admissions to membership were Bulgaria (1920), Austria (1920), Hungary (1922), Germany (1926), Mexico (1931), Turkey (1932), and the USSR (1934). Through the efforts of Sir Eric Drummond, the first secretary-general of the League, a truly international secretariat was created. Geneva, Switzerland, was chosen as the League headquarters.

In 1940 the League secretariat in Geneva was reduced to a skeleton staff ; some of the technical services were removed to the United States and Canada. The allied International Labor Organization continued to function and eventually became affiliated with the United Nations. In 1946 the League dissolved itself, and its services and real estate (notably the Palais des Nations in Geneva) were transferred to the United Nations. The League's chief success lay in providing the first pattern of permanent international organization, a pattern on which much of the United Nations was modeled.

FRANCOPHONIE

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