SOUTH AFRICA: Municipal elections in a test for the ANC

AFP - South Africans voted Wednesday for their fourth city since the end of apartheid, a test for the African National Congress (ANC), which is struggling to overcome growing frustration towards his performance after 17 years in power.

Polling stations officially closed at 19.00 pm (1700 GMT), but voters who were still queuing at this time have been able to deposit their ballots in the ballot box, according to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The results arriving only a very partial, it was still impossible to identify a trend towards midnight (2200 GMT). The final results must be published Friday.

Pansy Tlakula, the owner of the IEC, said she thought the turnout exceeded 40%.She had reached 48.4% in the previous municipal 2006.

Apart from some delays due to delays in delivering ballots, failures scanners identity cards of voters, power cuts or the presence of crocodiles preventing tellers to access a remote polling station, the election went well, according to the IEC.

23.6 million South Africans renewed the elected eight cities, 226 municipalities and 44 districts ordinary.

The ANC, still basking in the glow of his image as a liberator, remains the favorite in the poll.But discontent against the failures of public services could lead some voters to the opposition or abstention.

"I'm very optimistic because we've made great progress," however, said the South African President and ANC leader Jacob Zuma, by voting mid-day in his village of Nkandla in Zululand ( is).

"We're going to surprise a lot," he said while acknowledging that more work to improve drinking water, electricity and roads.

Since the advent of multiracial democracy in 1994, marked progress has been made. Some 93% of households have a water point near their homes, against 62% last seventeen years, 84% are electrified as against 36% ...

But rural areas and former black townships have been left on the sidelines or equipped with failed installations, giving the impression to the poorest being left-nots.

These frustrations have led to a resurgence of protests demanding better public services.

Electorally, this discontent could undermine the dominance of the ANC. In a poll released Monday, the party captured 58.3% of the vote, 8 points lower than his score for the 2006 municipal.

The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) that controls the city of Cape Town, expects this to continue growing discontent.The party won nearly 15% of the vote in 2006 and 17% in the 2009 parliamentary and could reach almost 20% this time.

The DA plans to take the ANC mayors, especially in the west and south.

"Our democracy is maturing and people are beginning to understand that we must vote on the parties' ability to act in their favor," said its leader Helen Zille, before dropping his ballot into the ballot box."No party owns the voters for eternity," she added.

During the campaign, the ANC has played its past as liberator, the president Zuma even calling on voters to vote for the party in memory of deceased heroes of the anti-apartheid struggle.

Tuesday, he also visited the bedside of the country's first black president, Nelson Mandela, 92 years, still recovering from a hospitalization in January for an acute respiratory infection.

In a country that still bears the scars of decades of racial segregation, the message is still fly with some of the black population.

The ambassador of Syria off the list of guests at royal wedding

The British Foreign Minister, William Hague, announced Thursday the withdrawal of the invitation by the Syrian ambassador to the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton, said it was "unacceptable" after the repression of demonstrations in the country.

"In light of attacks against civilians this week by Syrian security forces, which we have condemned the Minister of Foreign Affairs has decided that the presence of the Syrian ambassador to the royal wedding would be unacceptable and that it should not take part, "said the Foreign Office in a statement.

Questioned by AFP, the royal service said they "share" this opinion.

The invitation to the Syrian ambassador had generated considerable controversy in the United Kingdom, after the violent suppression of demonstrations in Syria against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Since their beginning March 15, at least 453 people were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.

Buckingham Palace, in charge of invitations with the Foreign Office pointed out that all the representatives of countries with which London has "normal diplomatic relations" were among the 1,900 guests at royal wedding.This explained why Libya was not invited to the UK conducting military operations.

But the presence of Syrian diplomat in royal wedding on Friday became all the more incongruous that he had been summoned Tuesday to the Foreign Ministry to be told that London considered "unacceptable" use of force by the government against the demonstrators.

This meeting was conducted as part of a joint effort by several European countries including France, Italy and Germany.

The EU underlines the role of women in the recent revolutions in Arab

AFP - Women played a "crucial role" in the changes taking place in Tunisia and Egypt, said Tuesday the head of European diplomacy and Ashton's Vice-President of the European Commission, Viviane Reding, on the occasion of International Women's Day.

"Women have played a crucial role in triggering the changes taking place in North Africa. In a climate of violence, they are engaged in the struggle for change," said the two European officials.

"We hope that the crucial role that women have played so far will be taken fully into account the institutional changes that are already discussed in the region.Women must be central to discussions on the new order that will be implemented, "they added.

Women defying stereotypes and taboos, have emerged as essential actors in the various uprisings that have shaken the Arab world's autocratic regimes.Whether in jeans and T-shirt or draped in black, tens of thousands of women have made their voices heard in the streets of Tunis, Cairo, Manama and Sana'a, demanding reforms in these countries.

In Bahrain, where thousands of demonstrators calling for the mainly Shiite dynasty fell of the Sunni Al-Khalifa, women have participated in mass mobilization, their traditional black abayas forming an ocean in events where men and women marched separately.

In conservative countries like Libya or Yemen, women have defied social norms to join the protest, marching through the streets and speaking openly to reporters in front of the camera.

Asma Mahfouz, a young Egyptian whose blog video calling for the mobilization was a huge success, is considered one of the voices that triggered the unprecedented revolt that led to the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak on February 11.

"Only by taking decisive action now we will ensure that women and girls for a future without discrimination or violence in a world with equal opportunities for all and all," felt especially Mrs Ashton Reding.

LIBYA: The challenge wins Tripoli, ransacked several government buildings in the capital

The seat has a TV and radio public were ransacked by demonstrators Sunday in Tripoli where police stations and local revolutionary committees were set on fire, reported the AFP witnesses reached by telephone.

"A room that housed the television station Al-Jamahiriya Radio 2 and Al-Shababia was ransacked," said a witness told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The diffusion of television was suspended Sunday night, resumed Monday.

Al-Jamahariya 2 second public channel, and radio Al-Shababia had been launched by a son of Libyan leader Muammar, Seif al-Islam in 2008, before being nationalized in the future.

Moreover, according to several testimonies gathered by the AFP, public buildings were burned in the capital Sunday night, including police and local revolutionary committees in several neighborhoods, including near the square in downtown Green where violent confrontations took place at night between pro-and anti-regime.

The "Hall of the People", a building located near downtown and where are often organized events and formal meetings, was also burned, told AFP Tripolitan who lives nearby.

This building is located not far from downtown, at the entrance of the residential district of Hay al-Andalus.

In the night, heavy gunfire were heard in several neighborhoods of Tripoli and clashes between opponents and supporters of the Libyan leader had taken place including the Green Square Tripoli, witnesses said.

Violence during demonstrations against the power of Libya Muammar Gaddafi took at least 233 deaths since February 15, HRW said Monday, following a warning from the leader's son Seif al-Islam against the risks of " civil war "in the country.

Benghazi, the second largest city 1,000 km east of Tripoli, is the center of the revolt for six days and for Sunday alone 60 people were killed, according to Human Rights Watch.

The protests have won the capital Sunday.

"Libya is at a crossroads.Either we are hearing today on reforms, or we do not mourn 84 deaths but thousands and there will be rivers of blood throughout Libya, "said Seif al-Islam during a televised speech on the night Sunday to Monday, saying the country is on the verge of "civil war".

He repeated several times the figure of 84 dead in violence in Libya and said the balance sheets provided by "foreign media" were "greatly exaggerated".

Since the beginning of the protest movement in Libya, his father, Colonel Gaddafi, who has for 42 years without a power-sharing in this oil-rich country, made no public intervention.

ITALY: Four children die in a fire at an encampment of Roma

Four children aged three, five, seven and eleven years died Sunday in a fire in a camp of Roma in the Italian capital, told AFP spokesman Fire of Rome.

"The bodies were charred and half it could be that there is a fifth victim," he said."Checks are under way, the fire has just been extinguished," he added.

ANSA news agency reported, four others are missing.

The fire broke out, for reasons still unknown, around 8:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) in a hut in a camp located along the Appia Nuova, one of the great arteries from the Porta San Giovanni, in the east of the city towards the airport of Ciampino.

According to NGOs, ten thousands of Roma living in the Italian capital and its suburbs.Most live in illegal settlements whose next closure was announced last year by the city of Rome.

Three new legal settlements, as there are already seven around the Italian capital, must be built by late 2011 with the aim to host 6000 Roma.