13 December 2007 Edition

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International News in Brief

Cracks in EU-Africa summit

AS EU and African leaders signed a declaration promoting free trade and democracy at a summit in Lisbon, rows between European and African countries over trade deals and Zimbabwe left observers wondering whether, behind the paperwork and the official photos, they had simply agreed to disagree.
Senegal’s president railed against new EU-African trade deals proposed by the EU while Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe accused Europe of arrogance in criticising his human rights record.
Angry words also flew over trade deals – known as Economic Partnership Agreements – proposed to replace existing agreements due to expire at the end of the year, with Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade saying that there will not be more talks about EPAs. “We’ve rejected them.”
Although some east African nations have already agreed to the deals – which demand that African countries open their markets to European goods in order to keep tariff-free EU access for their own exports – many other countries argue that they will damage their fragile economies.
The summit was seen by many as an EU attempt to regain lost ground in Africa and combat growing Chinese influence in the continent.

South Korea oil spill

THE South Korean Government has declared a ‘state of disaster’ along a stretch of coastline affected by the country’s worst-ever oil spill.
The tanker Hebei Spirit was hit and holed by an industrial barge, causing the spill. Although the tanker was finally sealed, and despiye the presence of a fleet of 100 ships fighting to contain the 10,000-ton spill, emergency workers have been unable to prevent the oil washing ashore.
The 17km (10.6-mile) slick threatens wildlife and valuable sea farms.
 

New draft constitution for Bolivia

A SPECIAL Bolivian constituent assembly has approved a new draft constitution which would give indigenous peoples more autonomy and allow consecutive presidential terms. Bolivians will vote on the changes in a national referendum in the New Year.
The main opposition party boycotted the ratification process, leaving 164 deputies out of the total of 255 spending 13 hours voting on each article of the new constitution.
The controversy around the new constitution highlights the division between opponents of President Evo Morales, who are based in the richer east, and his supporters in the poorer mountainous west of Bolivia. Morales proposed on Wednesday, 5 December, that he would step down if ‘No’ votes in the upcoming referendum exceed the 54 per cent of the total vote which marked his election as president in December 2005.

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