Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2008.
Constanza Vieira
BOGOTA, Nov 4 (IPS) – General Mario Montoya stepped down as Colombia’s army chief, putting an end to his career Tuesday. The general is under investigation by the attorney general’s office, although he has not yet been charged.
”I have been in the service of my country for 39 years and today I can say that the journey has come to an end,” Montoya said in a brief statement to reporters.
The annual announcement of armed forces officers who are retiring is due Wednesday, and local analysts believe Montoya wanted to quit before he was forced into retirement, to preserve his image.
Montoya was widely regarded as a hero for the successful Jul. 2 operation in which the army managed to rescue former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three U.S. military contractors and 11 members of the police and military who were held hostage for years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.
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EGYPT: Ruling Party in Free Fall
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2008.
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
CAIRO, Oct 29 (IPS) – A high-ranking member of Egypt’s ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) is facing trial on charges of arranging the murder of a Lebanese pop singer. The case, along with a host of other public grievances, has badly tarnished the NDP’s reputation ahead of an upcoming party conference.
”On the eve of its annual party congress, popular perceptions of the NDP have never been worse,” Amr Hashem Rabie, expert on Egyptian party politics at the semi-official Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies told IPS.
On Oct. 18, construction magnate Hisham Talaat Moustafa, a member of the NDP’s powerful Policies Committee, pleaded not guilty to accusations that he financed the killing of Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim, found brutally murdered in her Dubai apartment three months ago. Fellow defendant Mohsen Al-Sukkary — a former police officer charged with carrying out the crime in return for a two-million dollar payoff — also pleaded not guilty.
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