A 75 ans, dont trente années de pouvoir au compteur, le président soudanais a perdu la partie malgré sa détermination à rester au pouvoir.Au lendemain des premières manifestations contre son régime au Darfour, dans l’ouest du pays, il s’était rendu le 14 janvier à Nyala, capitale du Darfour du Sud, où il faisait une première apparition publique depuis le début de la contestation populaire, le 19 décembre 2018.Faisant valser sa canne comme à son habitude face à ses partisans venus l’acclamer, il avait réaffirmé, comme il l’avait fait à Khartoum deux jours auparavant, que “cette contestation n’aboutirait pas à un changement du pouvoir”. “Il y a une seule voie vers le pouvoir et c’est celle des urnes. Le peuple soudanais décidera en 2020 qui doit les gouverner”, a-t-il prévenu, oubliant sans doute qu’il s’était lui-même emparé du pouvoir par un coup d’Etat.Du paysan modeste au colonel putschisteNé le 1er janvier 1944 à Hosh Bonnaga au Soudan, dans une famille paysanne modeste, Omar el-Béchir a rejoint l’armée soudanaise à l’adolescence. Formé à l’académie militaire égyptienne du Caire, il gravit rapidement les échelons et devient parachutiste. Il servira même dans l’armée égyptienne, durant la guerre de Kippour en 1973.De retour au pays, il est chargé des opérations contre l’Armée populaire de libération du Soudan, dans le sud. Parvenu au grade de colonel, il s’allie au dirigeant islamiste Hassan al-Tourabi pour renverser, le 30 juin 1989, le gouvernement démocratiquement élu.Sous son commandement, le pays passe sous une gouvernance militaire, qui interdit tous les partis politiques. Il écarte son ancien allié al-Tourabi, qu’il mettra en résidence surveillée et instaure la charia, la Constitution islamique, au niveau national.Autoproclamé président en 1993, il se fait élire en 1996, puis réélire en 2010 et fait annoncer, en août 2018, par le Parti du congrès national (au pouvoir) sa candidature pour 2020, même si la Constitution de 2005 limite en principe à deux le nombre de mandats présidentiels. “Nous avons décidé d’engager les démarches nécessaires pour lui permettre de se présenter à la présidentielle”, a expliqué à la presse le chef du Conseil consultatif du parti, Kabashor Koko, sans plus de précisions sur ces démarches, écrit Jeune Afrique.Outre la guerre menée au nom du “djihad” (guerre sainte) pour l’islamisation des populations chrétiennes ou animistes du sud du pays et la répression des populations de l’est réclamant une meilleure distribution des richesses, il déclenche en 1995 une opération d’arabisation de la région du Darfour dans l’ouest. Peuplé de tribus non arabes telles les Zaghawa, les Massalit et surtout les Four qui donnent leur nom à la région (Dar Four, la maison des Four), ce territoire va subir une répression meurtrière pour avoir reproché au pouvoir de Khartoum de la maintenir à l’écart de tout développement.Crimes de guerre et génocide au DarfourEl-Béchir donne carte blanche à la milice des Janjawids, souvent des repris de justice montés à cheval ou à dos de chameaux, et à son armée pour mater la contestation. Une guerre, “toujours en cours”, selon une tribune publiée par trois spécialistes du Soudan dans Le Monde, qui a fait plus de 300 000 morts et près de trois millions de déplacés, et qui vaut au maître du pays deux mandats d’arrêt internationaux émis en 2009 et 2010 par la Cour pénale internationale (CPI) pour crimes de guerre, crimes contre l’humanité et génocide.Des mandats qui n’ont eu jusque là aucune incidence sur les déplacements d’Omar el-Béchir. Il a pu visiter la Libye, le Qatar, l’Egypte, le Tchad, Djibouti, le Kenya, la Chine et l’Afrique du sud, sans être inquiété.Le 17 décembre 2018, deux jours avant le déclenchement de la contestation à Khartoum et dans plusieurs autres villes, il a pu en toute impunité se rendre en Syrie où il a été reçu par le président Bachar al-Assad, lui-même engagé depuis 2011 dans un châtiment collectif de la population, pour s’être révoltée contre son régime.Premier chef d’Etat étranger à se rendre à Damas depuis cette date, el-Béchir aurait, selon Libération, déclaré à al-Assad qu’il espérait que la Syrie allait retrouver son rôle important dans la région dès que possible. Il a également affirmé que le Soudan était prêt à fournir tout ce qui était en son pouvoir, pour soutenir l’intégrité territoriale de la Syrie. Une manière de préparer le terrain au retour de ce pays au sein de la Ligue arabe, après près de huit années de répression ininterrompue et d’isolement diplomatique.La tentation du modèle de Bachar al-AssadDes promesses que le président soudanais aurait été bien en mal de tenir alors que son pays, privé de la manne pétrolière depuis l’indépendance du Soudan du Sud est plongé dans une grave crise économique. C’est le triplement du prix du pain qui a mis le feu aux poudres. Les manifestations contre le coût de la vie se sont rapidement transformées en soulèvement contre le régime à l’appel de membres de la société civile et de corps de métiers, notamment par le biais des réseaux sociaux.Face à une contestation inédite et insaisissable reprenant le slogan des printemps arabes de Tunis à Damas – “Le peuple veut la chute du régime” – et malgré le soutien fiancier des pétromonarchies du Golfe, la tentation d’Omar el-Béchir était grande de mettre en œuvre la politique de son homologue syrien. Mais le soulèvement de la population et la pression des militaires auront coupé la voie à ce choix.

La police du Sri Lanka a découvert, lundi 22 avril, 87 détonateurs dans une gare de bus de la capitale Colombo, au lendemain d’une vague d’attentats-suicides qui ont fait au moins 290 morts dans le pays, et qui ont été attribués par le gouvernement à un mouvement islamiste local. Ces détonateurs “ont été découverts dans la gare de bus privée Bastian Mawatha de Pettah”, un quartier de la capitale sri lankaise situé à mi-chemin des hôtels et d’une église attaqués dimanche, ont annoncé les forces de l’ordre.>> Ce que l’on sait de la série d’attentats qui a fait 290 morts au Sri Lanka“La police a trouvé 12 [de ces détonateurs] éparpillés sur le sol et a plus tard fouillé une décharge où 75 détonateurs supplémentaires ont été trouvés, ont précisé les forces de l’ordre. Aucun suspect n’a été arrêté. La police de Pettah poursuit son enquête.”Le Sri Lanka a décrété lundi l’entrée en vigueur de l’état d’urgence à partir de minuit au nom de la “sécurité publique” et déclaré une journée de deuil national mardi. Click Here: brisbane lions guernsey 2019

Huit hommes, tout de noir vêtus, sous le drapeau de l’État islamique. C’est avec ces images des supposés kamikazes que le groupe terroriste a revendiqué mardi 23 avril les attentats du Sri Lanka. Une revendication qui tombe au moment où le pays pleure et enterre ses morts. 321 personnes sont mortes, donc 45 enfants.Les services de sécurité dans le viseur du pouvoirDans le même temps, l’enquête se poursuit. 40 personnes ont été arrêtées. Des perquisitions ont eu lieu aux domiciles des kamikazes. La police analyse également des images de vidéosurveillance. On y voit notamment l’un des suspects, sac sur le dos, pénétrer dans l’une des églises attaquées. Les autorités ont attribué ce carnage à deux groupes islamistes locaux, sans confirmer leurs liens avec l’État islamique. Le président srilankais vient d’annoncer une profonde réforme des services de sécurité.Le JT

• Grand Soir 3 du mardi 23 avril 2019 L’intégrale

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  Emplois fictifs : le couple Fillon renvoyé en correctionnelle

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  ENA : zoom sur cette haute administration à la française

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  Duel éco : supprimer l’ENA, une bonne idée ?

• 5
  

  Algérie : une arrestation qui inquiète la France

• 6
  

  Eurozapping : les anti-Brexit créent un parti pour les élections européennes

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  Pays-Bas : retour en arrière sur les référendums

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  Climat : faut-il culpabiliser à tout prix ?

• 9
  

  Louvre Lens : des enfants sur les traces d’Ulysse

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L’acteur et réalisateur américain Sean Penn, qui avait présidé le Jury en 2008, sera présent au Festival de Cannes le 18 mai, pour une soirée de collecte de fonds en faveur d’Haïti.

L’acteur et réalisateur américain Sean Penn, qui avait présidé le Jury en 2008, sera présent au Festival de Cannes le 18 mai pour une soirée de collecte de fonds en faveur d’Haïti, pays pour lequel l’artiste s’est beaucoup investi depuis le séisme de janvier 2012. Cette soirée, baptisée “Carnaval in Cannes”, soutiendra trois associations humanitaires : celle de Sean Penn lui-même, J/P Haitian Relief Organization, Artists for Peace and Justice et Happy Heart’s Fund. Dans un communiqué, le Festival de Cannes déclare être “heureux de s’associer au combat de Sean Penn en faveur d’Haïti et de ses habitants”, le Président Gilles Jacob saluant par ailleurs, à propos de la mobilisation de l’artiste, “cet engagement discret, humain et moral de bienfaiteur altruiste… (…)”

Clément Cuyer

EU-Africa strategy and education

How students can help make education a more central part of the EU’s relationship with Africa.

It is lamentable that higher education is not on the agenda of the Joint EU-Africa Strategy, in spite of the large opportunities offered by European-African student mobility (“Developing a brain trade,” 30 September-6 October). Student organisations from both continents should join hands to redress this policymaking gap and advocate for higher education to be, pardon the word play, ‘higher’ on the agenda.

In 1987, it was the European students forum AEGEE that persuaded François Mitterrand, the then French president, to throw his backing behind the Erasmus exchange programme initiated by the European Commission. In 2010, AEGEE established a partnership with two student organisations in South Africa with the aim of exploring the contribution that young people could make to the Millennium Development Goals. Strengthening student networks between Europe and Africa should be one element in bottom-up advocacy for the inclusion of higher education in the Joint EU-Africa Strategy.

 

From:

Mario Giuseppe Varrenti

Brussels

Increasing carbon-market security

The cyber-attacks on the emissions-trading system highlight the need for a rapid strengthening of the security of national registries.

The European Commission’s decision last week to suspend transactions in the EU carbon market registries system following a series of cyber-attacks has understandably received a great deal of news attention.

These unauthorised transfers of allowances caused substantial economic losses to some companies: our best estimate today is that roughly two million allowances – worth, at current prices, a total of around €30 million – were illegally transferred out of certain accounts.

The attacks also highlight real security issues that the EU needs to deal with by adjusting the structure of the system.

First, though, these problems need to be set in perspective. The allowances that were transferred amounted to fewer than 0.02% of those in circulation. The losses compare with an average asset value of around €30 billion in the system. And the suspension only affects the spot market, which accounts for less than one-fifth of carbon-market trades; the futures market – the biggest segment of the market – remains unaffected.

Nor does the suspension undermine the rationale of the system as a whole. The EU set up the emissions-trading system (ETS) for a good reason – to cut greenhouse-gas emissions at the lowest cost possible. The power stations and industrial plants covered by the system must surrender one emission allowance, from a fixed and declining pool, for each tonne of carbon dioxide they emit.

That these allowances can be traded gives companies flexibility, helping ensure that emissions are cut where it costs least. And over the past few years, emissions have dropped significantly (though the economic crisis has also played a role since 2008).

The system is therefore fulfilling its allotted strategic role. What these attacks show are two things: firstly, that the success of the ETS in putting a price on carbon and developing a liquid market makes it an attractive target for crime; and, secondly, that some criminals have identified the weakest link in the system that records transfers of ownership.

Trades in allowances are tracked and authorised by the ETS registries system, a decentralised system composed of national electronic registries that is co-ordinated through a centralised log.

These attacks affected the national electronic registries. This is where the system is weakest.

This had been known to be the case for some time. As EU legislation requires member states to take all necessary steps to ensure the security of their registry, the Commission had therefore been working closely with member states to strengthen the security of all national registries. These efforts were then stepped up in early 2010, after the first, isolated ‘phishing’ attacks – online attempts to steal confidential data such as passwords.

Fortunately, the issue of national registries’ security is now only a temporary one: from next year there will be a single, centralised registry operated by the Commission. Recent events show that the move to a single registry is timely.

With three attacks on national registries this year, and other registries known to be vulnerable, the Commission had to take action to secure the registry system.

That is why, on 19 January, we temporarily suspended all spot transactions in the system for at least seven days. The suspension means that physical delivery of allowances cannot be executed.

Member states’ governments have now agreed with the Commission on a set of minimum security requirements that will need to be met by each registry before it can become fully operational again.

Some member states already have a high level of security in place and should be able to resume operations quickly. Others may need longer.

These steps should be seen as part of a broader pattern. As the carbon market matures and expands, its infrastructure is being simplified and strengthened. Business has been benefiting from the efficiency of the EU cap-and-trade system; what the EU’s member states and the Commission are currently doing is working to ensure that the market environment is as secure as possible.

Jos Delbeke is director-general for climate action in the European Commission.

EU leaders hope to make minor changes

National leaders hope to avoid referendum.

If the European Council does succeed in making what it promises will be a “limited change” to the Lisbon treaty, it will be by relying on article 48(6).  That article spares the EU leaders the trouble of a convention and intergovernmental conference. It allows treaty articles on internal EU competences to be amended by a unanimous decision of the European Council, followed by ratification by the member states. The national leaders are hoping that the change will be deemed so small that it will not have to be put to a referendum.

The part of the Lisbon treaty that the leaders want to change is article 122, which currently allows member states to provide economic assistance to member states in the event of natural disasters or exceptional circumstances.

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Legal worries

In May, at the height of the eurozone’s debt crisis, the European Commission proposed that article 122 should be used as the basis for providing loans to stricken countries. But the Commission’s proposal was unacceptable to some member states, notable Germany, which feared that the use of the un-amended article might be challenged legally.

Instead, ministers decided on an intergovernmental approach, creating a European Financial Stability Facility, a special-purpose vehicle set up under Luxembourg law.

The most likely approach will be to insert one or two sentences into article 122, saying that member states can receive economic assistance in exceptional circumstances, including where there is a risk of “economic contagion”.

The European Council’s agreed conclusions state that article 125, the no bail-out clause, will remain – a point stressed by Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council.

Article 125 says that the EU or a member state “shall not be liable for or assume the commitments of central governments, regional, local or other public authorities”.

Renewed commitment required

Lessons the EU must learn from the report.

The criticism meted out this year by the European Court of Auditors is politically containable. The damage could have been much worse. When the European Union is embarking on a discussion of its spending levels after 2013 and when the negotiations on the 2011 budget are in full swing, a more damning report from the EU’s auditors would be seized upon by those wanting to cut back the budget. Rightly so. If, in times of austerity, the EU is to command public support for its budget, it has to demonstrate that money is spent wisely, well and within the rules.

The auditors’ report shows instead that not all the money is being spent in strict compliance with all the rules. The reflex in the European Commission and the European Parliament is to blame the national administrations for not managing EU money effectively. There is something in that: the auditors find disturbing weaknesses in the agencies paying out to farmers: only one state (Latvia) out of eight met the required standards. Some of the failures – keeping an adequate database of farmland, for instance – are basic. Improvements have been made in the management of cohesion money, but it is still the area of spending with the greatest problems.

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But blaming the national administrations will not explain away everything. The auditors also find an unacceptable error rate in research, energy, transport, external aid, development and enlargement, policy areas where less responsibility lies with the member states. More generally, the auditors still find fault with most of the supervisory and control systems.

The EU administrations should draw two principal lessons from this report. The first (not new) is that until the rules for claims and payments are simplified, the errors will persist. The second is that without renewed political and administrative commitment, of the sort that José Manuel Barroso proclaimed back in 2004, the Commission will not win a positive verdict from the auditors. The current trend is not good enough.

John Achterberg gets to work with the former Roma goalkeeper on a daily basis at Anfield and has explained what makes him so good

Alisson is one of the finest goalkeepers on the planet because the Liverpool star has “no fear” and is capable of making the difficult look “easy”, says Reds coach John Achterberg.

Jurgen Klopp invested heavily in a new No.1 during the summer transfer window of 2018, with a record-breaking £65 million ($78m) deal done with Roma for Brazil international Alisson.

The 27-year-old won the Premier League Golden Glove and Champions League crown during his debut campaign at Anfield.

A reliable last line of defence has also helped Liverpool to close in on a first domestic title in 30 years during the 2019-20 season.

Given the struggles the Reds had endured between the sticks prior to Alisson’s arrival, the South American has proved to be a final piece in the puzzle.

Achterberg gets to work with a world-class talent on a daily basis and considers him to boast all of the qualities required to sit at the top of the global game.

Liverpool’s goalkeeping coach told the club’s official website of Alisson: “He is a goalie who has no fear – if he does something, he sticks to his decision.

“In his mind, he knows what to do and he doesn’t hesitate. That is natural goalkeeping, having no fear, reading the game and deciding.”

Alisson has kept 31 clean sheets through 58 Premier League appearances, while also contributing one assist.

Achterberg added on a man who is considered to embody everything that a modern-day goalkeeper should be: “If Ali receives the ball, he is always looking to counter and restart the game quickly, in keeping with our way of playing.

“Mo [Salah] and Ali have had eye contact, they’re looking at each other, and Ali knows he has made the move and then has the quality to put the ball out into his path. When Ali cuts a corner or cross out, the first thing he is looking at is if there is the possibility of a quick restart with a throw or a side-volley. 

“One of his big strengths is to stay calm in the high-pressure moments and making what look like natural, easy decisions, but they’re not easy because you always need perfect solutions and decisions. It’s a quality he has.

“Some reactions of a goalkeeper are instinctive, of course. It can be a split-second decision, but the main thing is your mind always has to be in an attacking mode, never take it off deciding whether you can reach the ball before anyone else, for example. 

“If it’s a 50/50 or a 60/40, am I fast enough to get there to win it? That’s a mindset, but also a quality he has too, because he has the speed and reacts for it. It is a combination of everything in this moment.”

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The Serbia forward has been threatened with jail time after breaking quarantine to return to his homeland amid a forgettable first season in Spain

Despite the lack of football, Real Madrid forward Luka Jovic has been in the news this week after being accused of breaking quarantine protocol during the coronavirus crisis.

Sadly for the Serbia striker it is one of the few times he has been able to capture the public’s attention this season.

He arrived in June 2019 as something of a coup, with Madrid swiftly and efficiently sealing his signing to beat an array of suitors after a fine season with Eintracht Frankfurt.

Jovic helped the Bundesliga side to the Europa League semi-finals, scoring 27 goals in all competitions and attracting many suitors before Madrid tied him down with a six-year deal.

Madrid paid €65 million (£58m/$73m) before add-ons, making him their most expensive acquisition since James Rodriguez from Monaco in 2014, although they later brought in Eden Hazard from Chelsea for €100m (£88m/$112m).

Jovic knew he would be battling with Karim Benzema for a starting spot, and despite the Frenchman’s elite form in the second half of last season, many in Germany believed he would go on to thrive at Madrid.

“I would say he’s like Luis Suarez, but with a lot more quality,” Jovic’s former Frankfurt team-mate Omar Mascarell told AS last season. “You can compare (Jovic to Benzema), they hold up the ball well, but I see Jovic as being stronger in the air, he’s very good with his head. He’s practically two-footed, he’s quick, strong. Every ball he gets in the air is a danger for opponents.”

Jovic has not been able to show any of those abilities since arriving in the Spanish capital, however.

Coach Zinedine Zidane does not appear to trust the Serb, leaving him out of the squad for El Clasico at the start of March, with Mariano Diaz on the bench instead. Mariano scored after coming on as a substitute.

Jovic has only played 770 minutes this season, with two goals to his name, and Wolves’ Raul Jimenez has already been linked as a potential replacement. Napoli have enquired after Jovic, while Chelsea have been mentioned as a potential destination too, with few expecting him to succeed at Madrid.

The current indefinite stoppage in Spanish football because of the coronavirus health crisis could, though, help Jovic find himself. It might mean he can master the language, via online classes, or find the right mindset; something to take him back to the confident, bullish forward that terrorised defences last season. Maybe he will feel less pressure with global attention fixed on more important things.

It took the 22-year-old 10 games to get his first Madrid goal, the fifth in a 5-0 rout of Leganes. He hoped that it would serve as a springboard.

“It was not easy because so much was expected of me, it was difficult,” Jovic told Serbian sports newspaper Sportski zurnal after that game. “I suffered under great pressure, but I was aware of my quality and I knew it was a matter of time (until scoring).

“I was motivated above all by the desire to show the leaders of the biggest club in the world that they were not wrong to bring me here. And also by the support of the people closest to me, who are with me every day. The goal was a great relief.”

Unfortunately it only provided brief respite. Jovic continued to struggle, looking a fish out of water, with his only other goal coming 13 games later, in a 4-1 win at Osasuna. Like against Leganes, it came after the 90 minutes was up.

His lowest ebb at Madrid came in the 4-0 Copa del Rey win at Zaragoza on January 29. Despite being handed a rare start for his team’s emphatic victory, he was disconnected from his team-mates with only 14 touches in the game. He was replaced after 73 minutes, frustrated.

“Jovic knows he has to work, he has to adapt, these difficult moments will make him come good,” said Zidane, but the Frenchman’s actions speak louder than his words.

Jovic is not in the good books in Serbia either, and not just because he has been threatened with a potential jail spell for coming to his homeland from coronavirus hotspot Madrid and allegedly being pictured out and about.

Serbia national team manager, Ljubisa Tumbakovic, hit out at the forward in January. “Luka Jovic’s problem is Luka Jovic,” he told Blic Sport having not called up the striker into his squad after falling out with him in September.

Encouragingly, Jovic has recognised he has a problem, which is the first step to remedying it.

“Honestly, I’m not happy with the season because I know I can improve. Sometimes I watch videos of my games last year and I think: ‘What’s gone wrong?’” he told YouTube channel ‘Sports Afternoon with Kristina’ in February.

“But we all know that Real Madrid is a huge club and difficult even for experienced players to get used to. Even more so for a 21-year-old they paid €65m for. The pressure is massive, I’m battling at the moment but without success.”

Few would disagree. When the season resumes Jovic likely has 11 league games left to prove himself a useful piece of the puzzle for Zidane or he may be shuffled on as quickly as he arrived.