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| UN says 14,000 flee Ivory Coast for Liberia Posted: 25 Dec 2010 05:47 PM PST  United Nations peacekeepers stand guard at their headquarters in Abidjan. — Reuters pic The standoff after the November 28 presidential election between incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and challenger Alassane Ouattara, has killed nearly 200 people and threatened to rekindle a 2002-03 civil war which could destabilise the west African region. "The humanitarian needs are increasing for the mostly women and children refugees as well as for the villagers hosting them," the UNHCR said on its website, adding the number of refugees were growing. UNHCR said food supplies were running short despite efforts by the Liberian government and aid agencies to bring in more. The UN refugee agency said it was concerned about reports that some members of the Forces Nouvelles, which controls the north of Ivory Coast since the civil war, are preventing people from crossing freely into Liberia, causing refugees to deviate their route by up to 80 kilometres southward. "UNHCR is calling for the protection of civilians and respect for the right to seek asylum without hindrance," it said. — Reuters |
| Former Venezuela leader Perez dies at 88 Posted: 25 Dec 2010 05:38 PM PST  Former Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez celebrates his release from house arrest in Caracas in this file picture. — Reuters pic The 88-year-old served as the South American country's president between 1974 and 1979, and again between 1989 and 1993. Independent Venezuelan broadcaster Globovision said he died at Miami's Mercy Hospital of a heart attack. "(His death) came as a surprise. He woke up today in very good spirits," his daughter Maria Francia told Globovision. Perez's first term in power was marked by a massive inflow of petrodollars that saw the OPEC member nicknamed "Saudi Venezuela" by some, while his second was marred by corruption scandals, coup bids and the violent suppression of protests. He became the first leader in Latin America to be convicted of graft and was forced out of office in May 1993, seven months before completing his second term. He was sentenced to 28 months for the misappropriation of US$17 million (RM57. Million) in public funds. He served the first few months at a low security jail in the capital Caracas, then was allowed to spend the rest of his term under house arrest due to his age. In his last years, he lived in Miami and was an occasional but fierce critic of the leftist policies of Venezuela's current president, Hugo Chavez, who once tried to topple him. Perez had been elected by a landslide for his second term, but his presidency was rocked by price riots and two coup attempts as he tried to push through tough economic reforms. The so-called Caracazo riots in 1989, which were triggered by a package of strict International Monetary Fund-backed fiscal measures, became a landmark human rights case after Perez sent troops into the streets who fired indiscriminately on crowds of demonstrators. In 1992, Chavez — then a young paratroop officer — led a botched but bloody coup attempt against the president. Chavez was jailed for two years as a result, but his brief televised surrender speech in which he took responsibility for the insurrection made him famous. Since winning a presidential election in 1998, Chavez has often cited the Caracazo riots as providing the political roots for his own socialist "revolution" to help Venezuela's poor. — Reuters |
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