Independence Day - F e b 2 7DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispan-iola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean re-gion. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation ofHaiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that areshared by two countries. Both by area and population, the Do-minican Republic is the second largest Caribbean nation (afterCuba), with 48,442 square kilometres (18,704 sq mi) and an es-timated 10 million people.Taínos inhabited what is now the Dominican Republic since the7th century. Christopher Columbus landed on it in 1492, and itbecame the site of the first permanent European settlement inthe Americas, namely Santo Domingo, the country's capital andSpain's first capital in the New World. Santo Domingo can boastof some of the firsts in the Americas, including the one of theoldest universities (the oldest being Colegio de Santa Cruz deTlatelolco in Mexico, the first cathedral, and castle, the latter two in the Ciudad Colonial area, a UNESCO WorldHeritage Site.After three centuries of Spanish rule, with French and Haitian interludes, the country became independent in 1821under the rule of a former colonial judge who maintained the system of slavery and limited rights for the mostly mu-latto and black population. The ruler, José Núñez de Cáceres, intended that the Dominican Republic be part of thenation of Gran Colombia, but he was quickly removed by the Haitian government and "Dominican" slave revolts.Victorious in theDominican War of Independence in 1844, Dominicans experienced mostly internal strife, and alsoa brief return to Spanish rule, over the next 72 years. The United States occupation of 1916–1924, and a subsequent,calm and prosperous six-year period under Horacio Vásquez Lajara, were followed by the dictatorship of RafaelLeonidas Trujillo Molina until 1961. The civil war of 1965, the country's last, was ended by a U.S.-led intervention,and was followed by the authoritarian rule of Joaquín Balaguer, 1966–1978. Since then, the Dominican Republichas moved toward representative democracy, and has been led by Leonel Fernández for most of the time after1996.The Dominican Republic has the second largest economy in the Caribbean and Central American region. Thoughlong known for sugar production, the economy is now dominated by services. The country's economic progress isexemplified by its advanced telecommunication system. Nevertheless, unemployment, government corruption, andinconsistent electric service remain major Dominican problems. The country also has "marked income inequality".International migration affects the Dominican Republic greatly, as it receives and sends large flows of migrants. Hait-ian immigration and the integration of Dominicans of Haitian descent are major issues; the total population of Haitianorigin is estimated at 800,000. A large Dominican diaspora exists, most of it in the United States, where it numbers1.3 million. They aid national development as they send billions of dollars to their families, accounting for one-tenthof the Dominican GDP.The Dominican Republic has become the Caribbean's largest tourist destination; the country's year-round golfcourses are among the top attractions. In this mountainous land is located the Caribbean's highest mountain, PicoDuarte, as is Lake Enriquillo, the Caribbean's largest lake and lowest elevation. Quisqueya, as Dominicans oftencall their country, has an average temperature of 26 °C (78.8 °F) and great biological diversity.Music and sport are of the highest importance in Dominican culture, with merengue as the national dance and songand baseball the favorite sport.

HistoryThe Taínos:The Arawakan-speaking Taínos moved into Hispaniola, displacingearlier inhabitants, c. AD 650. They engaged in farming and fish-ing, and hunting and gathering. The fierce Caribs drove the Taínosto the northeastern Caribbean during much of the 15th century.The estimates of Hispaniola's population in 1492 vary widely, in-cluding one hundred thousand, three hundred thousand, and fourhundred thousand to two million. Determining precisely how manypeople lived on the island in pre-Columbian times is next to impos-sible, as no accurate records exist. By 1492 the island was dividedinto five Taíno chiefdoms. The Spanish arrived in 1492. After ini-tially friendly relationships, the Taínos resisted the conquest, ledby the female Chief Anacaona of Xaragua and her ex-husbandChief Caonabo of Maguana, as well as Chiefs Guacanagarix,Guamá, Hatuey, and Enriquillo. The latter's successes gained hispeople an autonomous enclave for a time on the island. Neverthe-less, within a few years after 1492 the population of Taínos haddeclined drastically, due to smallpox and other diseases that ar-rived with the Europeans, and from other causes discussed below.The decline continued, and by 1711 the Taínos numbered just21,000. The last record of pure Taínos in the country was from 1864. Still, Taíno biological heritage survived to animportant extent, due to intermixing. Census records from 1514 reveal that 40% of Spanish men in the colony hadTaíno wives, and many present-day Dominicans have Taíno ancestry. Remnants of the Taino culture include theircave paintings, as well as pottery designs which are still used in the small artisan village of Higüerito, Moca.

Spanish rule:Christopher Columbus arrived on Hispaniola on December 5, 1492, during the first of his four voyages to America.He claimed the island for Spain and named it La Española. In 1496Bartholomew Columbus, Christopher's brother,built the city of Santo Domingo, Europe's first permanent settlement in the "New World". The Spaniards created aplantation economy on the island. The colony was the springboard for the further Spanish conquest of America andfor decades the headquarters of Spanish power in the hemisphere. Christopher was buried in Santo Domingo uponhis death in 1506.The Taínos nearly disappeared, above all, from European infectious diseases to which they had no immunity. Othercauses were abuse, suicide, the breakup of family, starvation, enslavement, forced labor, torture, war with theSpaniards, changes in lifestyle, and miscegenation. Laws passed for the Indians' protection (beginning with the Lawsof Burgos, 1512–1513) were never truly enforced. Yet as stated above, the Taínos did survive. Some scholars believethat las Casas exaggerated the Indian population decline in an effort to persuade King Carlos to intervene, and thatencomenderos also exaggerated it, in order to receive permission to import more African slaves. Moreover, censusesof the time omitted the Indians who fled into remote communities, where they often joined with runaway Africans(cimarrones), producing Zambos. Also, Mestizos who were culturally Spanish were counted as Spaniards, someZambos as black, and some Indians as Mulattos.Santo Domingo's population saw a spectacular increase during the 18th century, as it rose from some 6,000 in 1737to about 125,000 in 1790. Approximately, this was composed of 40,000 white landowners, 25,000 black or mulattofreedmen, and 60,000 slaves.After its conquest of the Aztecs and Incas, Spain neglected its Caribbean holdings. French buccaneers settled inwestern Hispaniola, and by the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, Spain ceded the area to France. France created the wealthycolony Saint-Domingue there, with a population 90% slave, and overall four times as populous (500,000 to 125,000)as the Spanish area at the end of the 18th century.

French rule:France came to own the island in 1795, when by the Peace of Basel Spain ceded Santo Domingo as a consequenceof the French Revolutionary Wars. At the time, Saint-Domingue's slaves, led by Toussaint Louverture, were in revoltagainst France. In 1801 they captured Santo Domingo, thus controlling the entire island; but in 1802 an army sentby Napoleon captured Toussaint Louverture and sent him to France as prisoner. However, Toussaint Louverture'slieutenants, and yellow fever, succeeded in expelling the French again from Saint-Domingue, which in 1804 therebels made independent as the Republic of Haiti. Eastwards, France continued to rule Spanish Santo Domingo.In 1808, following Napoleon's invasion of Spain, the criollos of Santo Domingo revolted against French rule and,with the aid of Great Britain(Spain's ally) and Haiti, returned Santo Domingo to Spanish control.

Ephemeral independence and Haitian occupation:After a dozen years of discontent and failed independence plots by various groups, Santo Domingo's former Lieu-tenant-Governor (top administrator), José Núñez de Cáceres, declared the colony's independence as Spanish Haiti,on November 30, 1821. He requested the new state's admission to Simón Bolívar's republic of Gran Colombia, butHaitian forces, led by Jean-Pierre Boyer, invaded just nine weeks later, in February 1822.As Toussaint Louverture had done two decades earlier, the Haitians abolished slavery. But they also nationalizedmost private property, including all the property of landowners who had left in the wake of the invasion; much Churchproperty; as well as all property belonging to the former rulers, the Spanish Crown. Boyer also placed more emphasison cash crops grown on large plantations, reformed the tax system, and allowed foreign trade. The new system waswidely opposed by Dominican farmers, although it produced a boom in sugar and coffee production. All levels of ed-ucation collapsed; the university was shut down, as it was starved both of resources and students, with young Do-minican men from 16 to 25 years old being drafted into the Haitian army. Boyer's occupation troops, who were largelyDominicans, were unpaid, and had to "forage and sack" from Dominican civilians. Haiti imposed a "heavy tribute"on the Dominican people. Many whites fled Santo Domingo for Puerto Rico and Cuba (both still under Spanish rule),Venezuela, and elsewhere. In the end the economy faltered and taxation became more onerous. Rebellions occurredeven by Dominican freedmen, while Dominicans and Haitians worked together to oust Boyer from power. Anti-Haitianmovements of several kinds — pro-independence, pro-Spanish, pro-French, pro-British, pro-United States — gath-ered force following the overthrow of Boyer in 1843.

Independence:In 1838 Juan Pablo Duarte founded a secret society called La Trinitaria, which sought the complete independenceof Santo Domingo without any foreign intervention. Matías Ramón Mella and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, despitenot being among the founding members of La Trinitaria, were decisive in the fight for independence. Duarte, Mella,and Sánchez are considered the three Founding Fathers of the Dominican Republic. On February 27, 1844, theTrinitarios (the members of La Trinitaria), declared the independence from Haiti. They were backed by Pedro San-tana, a wealthy cattle rancher from El Seibo, who became general of the army of the nascent Republic. The Domini-can Republic's first Constitution was adopted on November 6, 1844, and was modeled after the United StatesConstitution. The decades that followed were filled with tyranny, factionalism, economic difficulties, rapid changesof government, and exile for political opponents. Threatening the nation's independence were renewed Haitian in-vasions occurring in 1844, 1845–49, 1849–55, and 1855–56.Meanwhile, archrivals Santana and Buenaventura Báez held power most of the time, both ruling arbitrarily. Theypromoted competing plans to annex the new nation to another power: Santana favored Spain, and Báez the UnitedStates.

The voluntary colony and the Restoration republic:In 1861, after imprisoning, silencing, exiling, and executing many of his opponents and due to political and economicreasons, Santana signed a pact with the Spanish Crown and reverted the Dominican nation to colonial status, theonly Latin American country to do so. His ostensible aim was to protect the nation from another Haitian annexation.But opponents launched the War of the Restoration in 1863, led by Santiago Rodríguez, Benito Monción, and Gre-gorio Luperón, among others. Haiti, fearful of the re-establishment of Spain as colonial power on its border, gaverefuge and supplies to the revolutionaries. The United States, then fighting its own Civil War, vigorously protestedthe Spanish action. After two years of fighting, Spain abandoned the island in 1865.Political strife again prevailed in the following years; warlords ruled, military revolts were extremely common, andthe nation amassed debt. It was now Báez's turn to act on his plan of annexing the country to the United States,where two successive presidents were supportive. U.S. President Grant desired a naval base at Samaná and alsoa place for resettling newly freed Blacks. The treaty, which included U.S. payment of $1.5 million for Dominican debtrepayment, was defeated in the United States Senate in 1870 on a vote of 28–28, two-thirds being required.Báez was toppled in 1874, returned, and was toppled for good in 1878. A new generation was thence in charge,with the passing of Santana (he died in 1864) and Báez from the scene. Relative peace came to the country in the1880s, which saw the coming to power of General Ulises Heureaux."Lilís", as the new president was nicknamed, enjoyed a period of popularity. He was, however, "a consummate dis-sembler", who put the nation deep into debt while using much of the proceeds for his personal use and to maintainhis police state. Heureaux became rampantly despotic and unpopular. In 1899 he was assassinated. However, therelative calm over which he presided allowed improvement in the Dominican economy. The sugar industry was mod-ernized, and the country attracted foreign workers and immigrants, both from the Old World and the New.From 1902 on, short-lived governments were again the norm, with their power usurped by caudillos in parts of thecountry. Furthermore, the national government was bankrupt and, unable to pay Heureaux's debts, faced the threatof military intervention by France and other European creditor powers.

U.S. interventions and occupation:U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt sought to prevent European intervention,largely to protect the routes to the future Panama Canal, as the canal wasalready under construction. He made a small military intervention to ward offthe European powers, proclaimed his famous Roosevelt Corollary to theMonroe Doctrine, and in 1905 obtained Dominican agreement for U.S. ad-ministration of Dominican customs, then the chief source of income for theDominican government. A 1906 agreement provided for the arrangement tolast 50 years. The United States agreed to use part of the customs proceedsto reduce the immense foreign debt of the Dominican Republic, and assumedresponsibility for said debt. After six years in power, President RamónCáceres (who had himself assassinated Heureaux) was assassinated in1911. The result was several years of great political instability and civil war.U.S. mediation by the William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson administra-tions achieved only a short respite each time. A political deadlock in 1914was broken after an ultimatum by Wilson telling Dominicans to choose a pres-ident or see the U.S. impose one. A provisional president was chosen, andlater the same year relatively free elections put former president (1899–1902)Juan Isidro Jimenes Pereyra back in power. To achieve a more broadly sup-ported government, Jimenes named opposition individuals to his Cabinet.But this brought no peace and, with his former Secretary of War DesiderioArias maneuvering to depose him and despite a U.S. offer of military aidagainst Arias, Jimenes resigned on May 7, 1916.Wilson thus ordered the U.S. occupation of the Dominican Republic. U.S.Marines landed on May 16, 1916, and had control of the country two monthslater. The military government established by the U.S., led by Rear AdmiralHarry Shepard Knapp, was widely repudiated by Dominicans. U.S. naval of-ficers had to fill some cabinet posts, as Dominicans refused to serve in the administration. Censorship and limits onpublic speech were imposed. The guerrilla war against the U.S. forces was met with a vigorous, often brutal re-sponse.But the occupation regime, which kept most Dominican laws and institutions, largely pacified the country, revivedthe economy, reduced the Dominican debt, built a road network that at last interconnected all regions of the country,and created a professional National Guard to replace the warring partisan units.Opposition to the occupation continued, however, and after World War I it increased in the U.S. as well. There, Pres-ident Warren G. Harding(1921–23), Wilson's successor, worked to end the occupation, as he had promised to doduring his campaign. U.S. government ended in October 1922, and elections were held in March 1924.The victor was former president (1902–03) Horacio Vásquez Lajara, who had cooperated with the U.S. He was in-augurated on July 13, and the last U.S. forces left in September. Vásquez gave the country six years of good gov-ernment, in which political and civil rights were respected and the economy grew strongly, in a peaceful atmosphere.

The Trujillo Era:In February 1930, when Vásquez attempted to win another term,opponents rebelled, in secret alliance with the commander of theNational Army (the former National Guard), General RafaelLeonidas Trujillo Molina, by which the latter remained 'neutral' inface of the rebellion. Vásquez resigned. Trujillo then stood for elec-tion himself, and in May was elected president virtually unopposed,after a violent campaign against his opponents.There was considerable economic growth during Trujillo's long andiron-fisted regime, although a great deal of the wealth was takenby the dictator and other regime elements. There was progress inhealthcare, education, and transportation, with the building of hos-pitals and clinics, schools, and roads and harbors. Trujillo also car-ried out an important housing construction program and instituteda pension plan. He finally negotiated an undisputed border withHaiti in 1935, and achieved the end of the 50-year customs agree-ment in 1941, instead of 1956. He made the country debt-free in 1947, a proud achievement for Dominicans fordecades to come.This was accompanied by absolute repression and the copious use of murder, torture, and terrorist methods againstthe opposition. Moreover, Trujillo's megalomania was on display in his renaming after himself the capital city SantoDomingo to "Ciudad Trujillo" (Trujillo City), the nation's—and the Caribbean's—highest mountain Pico Duarte (DuartePeak) to "Pico Trujillo", and many towns and a province. Some other places he renamed after members of his family.By the end of his first term in 1934 he was the country's wealthiest person, and one of the wealthiest in the world bythe early 1950s; near the end of his regime his fortune was an estimated $800 million.In 1937 Trujillo (who was himself one-quarter Haitian), in an event known as the Parsley Massacre or, in the Do-minican Republic, as El Corte (The Cutting), ordered the Army to kill Haitians living on the Dominican side of theborder. The Army killed an estimated 17,000 to 35,000 Haitians over six days, from the night of October 2, 1937through October 8, 1937. To avoid leaving evidence of the Army's involvement, the soldiers used machetes ratherthan bullets. The soldiers of Trujillo were said to have interrogated anyone with dark skin, using the shibboleth perejil(parsley) to tell Haitians from Dominicans when necessary; the 'r' of perejil was of difficult pronunciation for Haitians.As a result of the massacre, the Dominican Republic agreed to pay Haiti US$750,000, later reduced to US$525,000.On November 25, 1960 Trujillo killed three of the four Mirabal sisters, nicknamed Las Mariposas (The Butterflies).The victims were Patria Mercedes Mirabal (born on February 27, 1924), Argentina Minerva Mirabal (born on March12, 1926), and Antonia María Teresa Mirabal (born on October 15, 1935). Minerva was an aspiring lawyer who wasextremely opposed to Trujillo's dictatorship since Trujillo had begun to make rude sexual advances towards her. Thesisters have received many honors posthumously, and have many memorials in various cities in the Dominican Re-public. Salcedo, their home province, changed its name to Provincia Hermanas Mirabal (Mirabal Sisters Province).The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is observed on the anniversary of their deaths.For a long time, the US and the Dominican elite supported the Trujillo government. This support persisted despitethe assassinations of political opposition, the massacre of Haitians, and Trujillo's plots against other countries. TheUS believed Trujillo was the lesser of two or more evils. The U.S. finally broke with Trujillo in 1960, after Trujillo'sagents attempted to assassinate the Venezuelan president, Rómulo Betancourt, a fierce critic of Trujillo. Trujillo wasassassinated on May 30, 1961.

Post-Trujillo:In February 1963, a democratically elected government under leftistJuan Bosch took office but was overthrown in September. In April1965, after 19 months of military rule, a pro-Bosch revolt broke out.Days later, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, concerned that Commu-nists might take over the revolt and create a "second Cuba", sent theMarines, followed immediately by the Army's 82nd Airborne Divisionand other elements of the XVIIIth Airborne Corps in Operation Power-pack. "We don't propose to sit here in a rocking chair with our handsfolded and let the Communist set up any government in the westernhemisphere", Johnson said. The forces were soon joined by compar-atively small contingents from the Organization of American States. Allthese remained in the country for over a year and left after supervisingelections in 1966 won by Joaquín Balaguer, who had been Trujillo'slast puppet-president. Balaguer remained in power as president for 12 years. His tenure wasa period of repression of human rights and civil liberties, ostensibly tokeep pro-Castro or pro-communist parties out of power. His rule wasfurther criticized for a growing disparity between rich and poor. It was,however, praised for an ambitious infrastructure program, which in-cluded large housing projects, sports complexes, theaters, museums,aqueducts, roads, highways, and the massive Columbus Lighthouse,completed in a subsequent tenure in 1992.

1978 to present:In 1978, Balaguer was succeeded in the presidency by opposition candidate Antonio Guzmán Fernández, of theDominican Revolutionary Party (PRD). Another PRD win in 1982 followed, under Salvador Jorge Blanco. Under thePRD presidents, the Dominican Republic experienced a period of relative freedom and basic human rights. Balaguerregained the presidency in 1986, and was re-elected in 1990 and 1994, this last time just defeating PRD candidateJosé Francisco Peña Gómez, a former mayor of Santo Domingo. The 1994 elections were flawed, bringing on in-ternational pressure, to which Balaguer responded by scheduling another presidential contest in 1996. This timeLeonel Fernández achieved the first-ever win for the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), which Bosch founded in1973 after leaving the PRD (also founded by Bosch). Fernández oversaw a fast-growing economy, with growth av-eraging 7.7% per year, a drop in unemployment, and stable exchange and inflation rates.In 2000 the PRD's Hipólito Mejía won the election. This was a time of economic troubles, and Mejía was defeatedin his re-election effort in 2004 by Fernández, who won re-election in 2008. Fernández and the PLD are creditedwith initiatives that have moved the country forward technologically, such as the construction of the Metro Railway("El Metro"). On the other hand, his administrations have also been accused of corruption.

MartisorROMANIA - M a r 0 1

Mărțișor (Romanian pronunciation: [mərtsiʃor]) is a traditionalcelebration of the beginning of spring, on March 1. It is a tradi-tion in Romania, Moldova, and all territories inhabited by Ro-manians and Aromanians. Almost the same custom can befound in Bulgaria (see Martenitsa), while similar ones exist inAlbania, Greece and Italy.The name Mărțișor is the diminutive of marț, the old folk namefor March (Martie, in modern Romanian), and thus literallymeans "little March". It is also the folk name for this month.Mărțișor, marţ and mărțiguș are all names for the red and whitestring from which a small decoration is tied, and which is of-fered by people on the 1st day of March. The string can alsobe black and white, or blue and white) Giving this talisman topeople is an old custom, and it is believed that the one whowears the red and white string will be strong and healthy forthe year to come. It is also a symbol of the coming spring. Usu-ally, women wear it pinned to their clothes for the first 12 days of the month, until other spring celebrations, or until the bloomof certain fruit-trees. In some regions, a gold or silver coin hangs on the string, which is worn around the neck. After wearingit for a certain period of time, they buy red wine and sweet cheese with the coin, according to a belief that their faces wouldremain beautiful and white as cheese, and rubicund as the red wine, for the entire year.In modern times, and especially in urban areas, the Mărțișor lost most of its talisman properties and became more of a symbolof friendship or love, appreciation and respect. The black threads were replaced with red, but the delicate wool ropes are stilla ‘cottage industry’ among people in the countryside, who comb out the wool, dye the floss, and twist it into thousands oftassels. In some areas the amulets are still made with black and white ropes, for warding off evil.

HistorySome ethnologists consider Mărţişor to have a Roman origin, while others believeit to have a Daco-Thracian origin.In ancient Rome, New Year's Eve was celebrated on March 1 - 'Martius', as themonth was called in the honour of the god Mars. Mars was not only the god ofwar but also an agricultural guardian, who ensured nature's rebirth. Therefore,the red and white colours of Mărţişor may be explained as colours of war andpeace.The Thracians also used to celebrate the New Year's Eve on the first day ofMarch, a month which took the name of the god Marsyas Silen, the inventor ofthe pipe (fluier, traditional musical instrument), whose cult was related to the landand vegetation. Thracian spring celebrations, connected to fertility and the rebirthof nature, were consecrated to him.In some areas, Daco-Romanians still celebrate the agrarian New Year in spring,where the first days of March are considered days of a new beginning. BeforeMarch 1, women choose one day from the first nine of the month, and judging bythe weather on the chosen day, they would know how the new year will go forthem. Similarly, in other areas, young men find out what their wives are going tobe like. The first 9 days of March are called Baba Dochia's Days, Baba Dochiabeing an image of the Great Earth Goddess. The tradition says that you must picka day from 1 to 9 March, and how the weather in that day will be, so it will be foryou all year long.

ColoursInitially, the Mărțișor string used to be called the Year's Rope (‘’funia anului’’, in Romanian), made by black and white woolthreads, representing the 365 days of the year. ‘'The Year's Rope'’ was the link between summer and winter, black and whiterepresenting the opposition but also the unity of the contraries: light and dark, warm and cold, life and death. The ‘’Mărțișor’’is the thread of the days in the year, spun by Baba Dochia, or the thread of one's life, spun at birth by the Fates (Ursitoare).White is the symbol of purity, the sum of all the colours, the light, while Black is the colour of origins, of distinction, of fecundationand fertility, the colour of fertile soil. White is the sky, the Father, while black is the mother of all, Mother Earth.According to ancient Roman tradition, the ides of March was the perfect time to embark on military campaigns. In this context,it is believed that the red string of Mărțișor signifies vitality, while the white one is the symbol of victory. Red is the colour offire, blood, and a symbol of life, associated with the passion of women. Meanwhile, white is the colour of snow, clouds, andthe wisdom of men. In this interpretation, the thread of a Mărțișor represents the union of the feminine and the masculine prin-ciples, the vital forces which give birth to the eternal cycle of the nature. Red and white are also complementary colours presentin many key traditions of Daco-Romanian folklore.George Coşbuc stated that Mărțișor is a symbol of fire and light, and of the Sun. Not only the colours, but also the traditionalsilver coin hung from the thread are associated with the sun. White, the colour of silver, is also a symbol of power and strength.The round form of the coin is also reminiscent of the Sun, while silver is associated with the Moon. These are just a few of thereasons why the Mărţişor is a sacred amulet.In Daco-Romanian folklore, seasons are attributed symbolic colours: spring is red, summer is green or yellow, autumn is black,and winter is white. This is why one can also say that the Mărţişor thread, knitted in white and red, is a symbol of passing, fromthe cold white winter, to the lively spring, associated with fire and life.

Relation to the Bulgarian MartenitsaRomanian ethnographers consider Mărţişor and Martenitsa to be clearly related, and of Thracian origin. According to one ofthe several proposed legends about the Martenitsa in Bulgaria, the custom has roots in the late seventh century. This legend,first attested in the 20th century, says that the Bulgar Khan Asparukh wanted to send a message to Bulgars across the Danube.He tied his letter with a white string to the leg of a white pigeon. The Byzantines saw the pigeon flying and shot it with anarrow. The message was delivered but the white string was stained with the red of the pigeon's blood. The Bulgars then startedto wear this thread.

A sample generic Mărţişor

Alcázar de Colón, located in SantoDomingo, is the oldest Viceregal res-idence in America.

Juan Pablo Duarte is widelyconsidered the architect ofthe Dominican Republic andits independence from Hait-ian rule in 1844.

U.S. Marines during the 1916 occu-pation

Rafael Leónidas Trujillo ruled theDominican Republic from 1930 to1961.

Baba MartaBULGARIA - Mar 01

Baba Marta (Bulgarian: Баба Марта, "Grandmother March") isthe name of a mythical figure who brings with her the end of thecold winter and the beginning of the spring. Her holiday of thesame name is celebrated in Bulgaria on March 1 with the ex-change and wearing of martenitsi.

Baba MartaBaba Marta is seen as an old lady who has very contrastingmoods. This is related to the weather during the month of March,which is traditionally extremely variable in Bulgaria – warm andsunny weather means that Baba Marta is happy; when she isangry, the winter frost returns. The majority of the customs con-nected to Baba Marta aim to make her happy and so bring aboutspring all the fickers faster.

Baba Marta DayAll Bulgarians celebrate on March 1 a centuries-old tradition and exchange martenitsi on what is called the day ofBaba Marta, which this year dawned with a shy sun, spelling relatively nice weather ahead. Eagerly followed onMarch 1 every single year, the tradition of giving your friends red-and-white interwoven strings brings health andhappiness during the year and is a reminder that spring is near.Celebrated on March 1, Baba Marta (Grandma March) is believed to be a feisty lady who always seems to be grudg-ing at her two brothers, while the sun only comes out when she smiles. As folklore often goes there are different ver-sions of the Baba Marta tale. One says that on that day she does her pre-spring cleaning and shakes her mattressfor the last time before the next winter - all the feathers that come out of it pour on Earth like snow - the last snow ofthe year. The martenitsa tradition is thought to have been inspired by Bulgaria's first Khan Asparuh, who sent a whitestring to his wife to tell her he survived a battle.

Martenitsi"Martenitsi" are red and white coloured wristbands, or figurines, that symbolise health and happiness. They are givenaway to friends and family. People are supposed to take off their martenitsi when they see the first signs that springhas already come - a blooming tree or a stork. When the martenitsa is taken off some tie it to a tree - one that they'dlike to be especially fruitful. Others place it under a rock and based on what they find there the next morning guesswhat kind of a year this one would be. The martenitsa now comes in all shapes and sizes - from Guiness-worth giantbuilding packages to two tiny simple strings gently placed on a newborn's arm. Children usually compete who willget the most and often walk around more ornate than a Christmas tree. However, it always bears the same meaning- a lucky charm against the evil spirits of the world, a token for health and a sign of appreciation.Baba Marta folklore is present in southern and eastern Serbia where it is a usual reference as to the sudden andunexpected freezing weather change after a spring break.

Heroes' DayPARAGUAY - Mar 01

Every year, Paraguay (Officially, Republic of Paraguay), one ofthe landlocked countries in South America, celebrates Heroes’Day on the 1st of March. It is also known as the Paraguay’s Na-tional Defense Day. The holiday commemorates the bravery ofthe country’s army and famous leader Marshal Francisco SolanoLópez. Moment before his death as he sees his country is over-taken by insurmountable alliance of Argentina, Brazil, andUruguay, he said, “I die with my country!”

HISTORYJust like any other country in South America, Paraguay was oneof Spain’s colonies starting on mid 16th century. Asunción, thecountry’s capital was founded on August 15, 1537 after the ar-rival of Juan de Salazar y Espinoza’s fleet. The Jesuits also op-erated in the landlocked nation lasting for more than one and ahalf century until the arrival of the Spanish Crown in 1767. After waging a fierce battle with Spain, Paraguay obtainedits independence on May 14, 1811. Paraguay enjoyed years of independence but is marred by serious political in-stability and wars with neighbour countries especially Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia. The War of the Triple Alliance,also known as Paraguayan War that happened between 1864 and 1870, caused so much death on the part ofParaguay. Before the war, the country was estimated to have around 500,000 to 525,000 people; when the warended, the country’s population was reduced to more than 200,000. The cause of the War of Triple Alliance variesfrom historians to historians and country to country. Also, the relocation of Paraguay’s archive by Brazilian forces toRio de Janeiro during the war made history (both Colonial and National) learning difficult. Paraguayan’s also wagedwar against Bolivia in Chaco War between 1932–1935 as part of Paraguay’s quest for expansion and control to nat-ural resources of neighbour countries. Indeed, the history of Paraguay is filled with disputes, conflicts, and inconsis-tencies as each country and politicians have their own version of history. In the end, Paraguay was defeated bycombined forces of the above countries which also led to the death of its leader Solano Lopez on March 1, 1870.The celebration of Heroes’ Day is disputed between the commemoration of Paraguayan forces that fearlessly foughtin the battle of wars to which Paraguay started or the death of Solano López who never surrendered but fought thecountry’s enemies till his death.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS AND ACTIVITIESParaguay’s Heroes’ Day is marked with public celebration such as parade, public speeches, concerts, cultural shows,among others. Various political groups may also hold demonstrations to remember those who perished in the war.Because it is a national holiday, it is work free and serves as a time for families for get-togethers.

St. David's DayUK - M a r 0 1

Saint David's Day (Welsh: Dydd Gŵyl Dewi) is the feast day of Saint David,the patron saint ofWales, and falls on 1 March each year. The date of 1March was chosen in remembrance of the death of Saint David. Traditionholds that he died on that day in 589. The date was declared a national dayof celebration within Wales in the 18th century.Cross-party support resulted in the National Assembly for Wales voting unan-imously to make St. David's Day a public holiday in 2000, a stance supportedby the Wales TUC. A poll conducted for Saint David's Day in 2006 found that87% of people in Wales wanted it to be a bank holiday, with 65% preparedto sacrifice a different bank holiday to ensure this. A petition in 2007 to makeSt. David's Day a bank holiday was rejected by office of the then BritishPrime Minister, Tony Blair.

The significance of St. David's DaySt. David (Welsh: Dewi Sant) was born towards the end of the fifth century.He was a scion of the royal house of Ceredigion, and founded a Celticmonastic community at Glyn Rhosin (The Vale of Roses) on the westernheadland of Sir Benfro, at the spot where St David's Cathedral stands today.David's fame as a teacher and ascetic spread throughout the Celtic world.His foundation at Glyn Rhosin became an important Christian shrine, andthe most important centre in Wales. The date of Dewi Sant's death isrecorded as 1 March, but the year is uncertain – possibly 588. As his tearfulmonks prepared for his death St David uttered these words: 'Brothers be yeconstant. The yoke which with single mind ye have taken, bear ye to the end;and whatsoever ye have seen with me and heard, keep and fulfil'.For centuries the first of March has been a national festival. St David wasrecognised as a national patron saint at the height of Welsh resistance tothe Normans. St David's day was celebrated by the diaspora from an earlyperiod: the 17th century diarist Samuel Pepys noted how Welsh celebrations in London for St David's day would spark widercounter celebrations amongst their English neighbours: life-sized effigies of Welshmen were symbolically lynched, and by the18th century the custom had arisen of confectioners producing 'Taffies' –gingerbread figures baked in the shape of a Welshmanriding a goat - on St David's Day.In 2003 in the United States, St. David's Day was recognised officially as the national day of the Welsh, and on 1 March theEmpire State Building was floodlit in the national colours, red, green and white. It is invariably celebrated by Welsh societiesthroughout the world with dinners, parties, recitals and concerts.To celebrate this day, people wear a symbol of either a leek, or daffodil. The leek arises from an occasion when a troop ofWelsh were able to distinguish each other from a troop of English enemy dressed in similar fashion by wearing leeks. An al-ternative emblem developed in recent years is the daffodil.In the poem Armes Prydain, composed in the early to mid-tenth century AD, the anonymous author prophesises that the Cymry(the Welsh people) will unite and join an alliance of fellow-Celts to repel the Anglo-Saxons, under the banner of St David: Alluman glân Dewi a ddyrchafant (And they will raise the pure banner of Dewi).

St. David's Day eventsCardiff:Every year parades are held in Wales to commemorate St.David. The largest of these is held in Cardiff.To mark St. David's Day, and their return from a six-month tourof Afghanistan, soldiers from the Royal Welsh Regiment pro-vided The Changing of the Guard ceremony at Cardiff Castle’ssouth gate on 27 and 28 February 2010.On 1 March 2010, the seventh National St David’s Day Paradetook place in Cardiff city centre. Celebrations included con-certs, a parade and a food festival. The food festival ran from26 February with the third annual Really Welsh Food Festivalin Queen Street, featuring all Welsh produce. Following the pa-rade, a number of Welsh entertainers performed from a bandstand and in the evening Cardiff Central Library provided freeentertainment and food.St David's Hall staged its traditional St David’s Day concert in the evening of 1March with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC National Chorus of Walesand youth choruses.

Other locations:Public celebrations of St. David's Day are becoming more commonplace. In manytowns an annual parade through the centre of town is now held. Concerts areheld in pubs, clubs, and other venues.In the town of Colwyn Bay in north Wales, an annual parade through the centreof town is now held with several hundred citizens and schoolchildren taking part.Other events are centred around the parade.Swansea inaugurated a St David's Week festival in 2009 with a range of musical,sporting and cultural events held throughout the city to mark the national day.

TraditionsChildren in Wales take part in school concerts or eisteddfodau, with recitation andsinging being the main activities. Formerly, a half-day holiday was afforded toschool children. Officially this custom does not continue, although the practicecan vary on a school-to-school basis.Many Welsh people wear one or both of the national emblems of Wales on theirlapel to celebrate St. David: the daffodil (a generic Welsh symbol which is in sea-son during March) or the leek (Saint David's personal symbol) on this day. Theassociation between leeks and daffodils is strengthened by the fact that they havesimilar names in Welsh, Cenhinen (leek) and Cenhinen Pedr (daffodil, literally"Peter's leek"). Younger girls sometimes wear traditional Welsh costumes toschool. This costume consists of a long woollen skirt, white blouse, woollen shawl and a Welsh hat.The flag of Saint David often plays a central role in the celebrations and can be seen flying throughout Wales.Cawl is frequently prepared and consumed on St. David's Day.

St David

Water in Swansea Castle SquareFountain dyed red for St. David'sday

Battle of AdowaETHIOPIA - M a r 0 2

The Battle of Adwa (usually known as Adowa, or sometimesby the Italian name Adua) was fought on 1 March 1896 be-tween Ethiopia and Italy near the town of Adwa, Ethiopia, inTigray. It was the climactic battle of the First Italo-EthiopianWar, securing Ethiopian sovereignty and ending Italian at-tempts at its conquest for another three and a half decades.

BackgroundAs the 20th century approached, most of 19th-century Africahad been carved up among the various European powers. Thetwo independent exceptions were the tiny Republic of Liberiaon the west coast of the continent and the ancient EthiopianEmpire in the strategic Horn of Africa. The Kingdom of Italywas a relative newcomer to the colonial scramble for Africa.Italy had only two recently-obtained African territories, both lo-cated near Ethiopia on the Horn of Africa: Eritrea and Somalia.Both were impoverished. Italy sought to improve its position in Africa by conquering Ethiopia, which would join its two territo-ries.In 1889, the Italians signed the Treaty of Wuchale with Emperor Menelik II. A disputed article of the treaty made the EthiopianEmpire a protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy. As a result, Italy and Ethiopia faced off in what was later to be known as theFirst Italo-Ethiopian War.In late 1895, after advancing deep into Ethiopian territory, a small Italian-led unit was defeated by a much larger Ethiopiangroup at the Battle of Amba Alagi. The Italians were forced to withdraw to more defensible positions in Tigray, where the twomain armies faced each other.By late February 1896, supplies on both sides were running low. General Oreste Baratieri, commander of the Italian forces,knew the Ethiopian forces had been living off the land, and once the supplies of the local peasants were exhausted, Emper-orMenelik's army would begin to melt away. However, the Italian government insisted that General Baratieri act. On the eveningof 29 February, Baratieri met with hisbrigadiers Matteo Albertone, Giuseppe Arimondi, Vittorio Dabormida, and GiuseppeEllena, concerning their next steps. He opened the meeting on a negative note, revealing to his brigadiers that provisionswould be exhausted in less than five days, and suggested retreating, perhaps as far back as Asmara. His subordinates arguedforcefully for an attack, insisting that to retreat at this point would only worsen the poor morale. Dabormida exclaiming, "Italywould prefer the loss of two or three thousand men to a dishonorable retreat." Baratieri delayed making a decision for a fewmore hours, claiming that he needed to wait for some last-minute intelligence, but in the end announced that the attack wouldstart the next morning at 9:00.His troops began their march to their starting positions shortly after midnight.

The battleThe Italian army comprised four brigades totaling17,878 troops, with fifty-six artillery pieces. However,it is likely that even fewer men fought in this battle onthe Italian side: Harold Marcus notes that "severalthousand" soldiers were needed for support and toguard the lines of communication to the rear, so heestimates the Italian army to have consisted of 14,923effectives. One brigade under General Albertone wasmade up of Eritrean askari led by Italian officers. Theremaining three brigades were Italian units underBrigadiers Dabormida, Ellena and Arimondi. Whilethese included elite Bersaglieri, Alpini and Cacciatoriunits, a large proportion of the troops were inexperi-enced conscripts recently drafted from metropolitanregiments in Italy into newly formed "di formazione"battalions for service in Africa.As Chris Prouty describes:They [the Italians] had inadequate maps, old modelguns, poor communication equipment and inferior footgear for the rocky ground. (The newer Carcano Model 91 rifles werenot issued because Baratieri, under constraints to be economical, wanted to use up the old cartridges.) Morale was low as theveterans were homesick and the newcomers were too inexperienced to have any esprit de corps. There was a shortage ofmules and saddles.Estimates for the Ethiopian forces under Menelik range from a low of 73,000 to a high of 100,000, outnumbering the Italiansby an estimated five or six times. The forces were divided among Emperor Menelik, Empress Taytu Betul, Ras Welle Betul,Ras Mengesha Atikem, Ras Mengesha Yohannes, Ras Alula Engida, Ras Mikael of Wollo, Ras Makonnen WoldeMikael,Fitawrari Gebeyyehu, and Negus Tekle Haymanot Tessemma. In addition, the armies were followed by a similar numberof traditional peasant followers who supplied the army, as had been done for centuries. Most of the army was composed of ri-flemen, a significant percentage of which were in Menelik's reserve; however, the army was also composed of a significantnumber of cavalry and infantry only armed with lances. Also, in the Ethiopian Army there was a small team of Russian advisersand volunteers of the officer the Kuban Cossack army N.S. Leontiev. On the night of 29 February and the early morning of 1March three Italian brigades advanced separately towards Adwa over narrow mountain tracks, while a fourth remained camped.David Levering Lewisstates that the Italian battle plancalled for three columns to march in parallel formation to the crests of three mountains — Dabormida commanding on theright, Albertone on the left, and Arimondi in the center — with a reserve under Ellena following behind Arimondi. The supportingcrossfire each column could give the others made the… soldiers as deadly as razored shears. Albertone's brigade was to setthe pace for the others. He was to position himself on the summit known as Kidane Meret, which would give the Italians thehigh ground from which to meet the Ethiopians.However, the three leading Italian brigades had become separated during their overnight march and at dawn were spreadacross several miles of very difficult terrain. Their sketchy maps caused Albertone to mistake one mountain for Kidane Meret,and when a scout pointed out his mistake, Albertone advanced directly into Ras Alula's position.Unbeknownst to General Baratieri, Emperor Menelik knew his troops had exhausted the ability of the local peasants to supportthem and had planned to break camp the next day (2 March). The Emperor had risen early to begin prayers for divine guidancewhen spies from Ras Alula, his chief military advisor, brought him news that the Italians were advancing. The Emperor sum-moned the separate armies of his nobles and with the Empress Taytu beside him, ordered his forces forward. Negus TekleHaymanot commanded the right wing, Ras Alula the left, and Rasses Makonnen and Mengesha the center, with Ras Mikaelat the head of the Oromo cavalry; the Emperor and his consort remained with the reserve. The Ethiopian forces positionedthemselves on the hills overlooking the Adwa valley, in perfect position to receive the Italians, who were exposed and vulnerableto crossfire.Albertone's askari brigade was the first to encounter the onrush of Ethiopians at 6:00, near Kidane Meret, where the Ethiopianshad managed to set up their mountain artillery (so Menelik's adviser colonel Leonid Artamonov testifies, it was 42 Russianmountain guns with a team of fifteen advisers, but Britannic historians prefer another version about Hotchiss and Maxim pieceseither captured from the Egyptians or purchased from French and other European suppliers). His heavily outnumbered askarisheld their position for two hours until Albertone's capture, and under Ethiopian pressure the survivors sought refuge with Ari-mondi's brigade. Arimondi's brigade beat back the Ethiopians who repeatedly charged the Italian position for three hours withgradually fading strength until Menelik released his reserve of 25,000 Shewans and swamped the Italian defenders. Two com-panies of Bersaglieri who arrived at the same moment could not help and were cut down.Dabormida's Italian brigade had moved to support Albertone but was unable to reach him in time. Cut off from the remainderof the Italian army, Dabormida began a fighting retreat towards friendly positions. However, he inadvertently marched his com-mand into a narrow valley where the Oromo cavalry under Ras Mikael slaughtered his brigade, while shouting Ebalgume!Ebalgume! ("Reap! Reap!"). Dabormida's remains were never found, although hisbrother learned from an old woman living in the area that she had given water toa mortally wounded Italian officer, "a chief, a great man with spectacles and awatch, and golden stars".The remaining two brigades under Baratieri himself were outflanked and de-stroyed piecemeal on the slopes of Mount Belah. Menelik watched as Gojjamforces under the command of Tekle Haymonot made quick work of the last intactItalian brigade. By noon, the survivors of the Italian army were in full retreat andthe battle was over.According to UNESCO General History of Africa - VII Africa under Colonial Dom-ination 1880-1935, the battle of Adowa was a remarkable victory for Menelik, Kingof Shoa and Emperor of Ethiopia:"During the battle, 261 Italian officers, 2918 Italian non-commissioned officers andmen, and about 2000 askaris, or local troops, were killed. In addition, 954 Italiansoldiers were permanently missing; and 470 Italians and 958 askaris werewounded. Total Italian casualties amounted to over 40 percent of the fighting force,which was almost completely routed and lost all its artillery, besides 11000 rifles.As a result of Menelik's victory, the Italians agreed, on 26 October, to the PeaceTreaty of Addis Ababa, which annulled the Treaty of Wuchale and recognized theabsolute independence of Ethiopia".

Immediate aftermathThe Italians suffered about 7,000 killed and 1,500 wounded in the battle and subsequent retreat back into Eritrea, with 3,000taken prisoner; Ethiopian losses have been estimated around 4,000–5,000, but with 8,000 wounded. In their flight to Eritrea,the Italians left behind all of their artillery and 11,000 rifles, as well as most of their transport. As Paul B. Henze notes, "Baratieri'sarmy had been completely annihilated while Menelik's was intact as a fighting force and gained thousands of rifles and a greatdeal of equipment from the fleeing Italians." The 3,000 Italian prisoners, who included General Albertone, appear to have beentreated as well as could be expected under difficult circumstances, though about 200 died of their wounds in captivity. However,800 captured askaris, regarded as traitors by the Ethiopians, had their right hands and left feet amputated. Augustus Wylderecords when he visited the battlefield months after the battle, the pile of severed hands and feet was still visible, "a rottingheap of ghastly remnants." Further, many had not survived their punishment, Wylde writing how the neighborhood of Adwa"was full of their freshly dead bodies; they had generally crawled to the banks of the streams to quench their thirst, wheremany of them lingered unattended and exposed to the elements until death put an end to their sufferings." There does not ap-pear to be any foundation for reports that some Italians were castrated and these may reflect confusion with the atrocioustreatment of the askari prisoners.Baratieri was relieved of his command and later charged with preparing an "inexcusable" plan of attack and for abandoninghis troops in the field. He was acquitted on these charges but was described by the court martial judges as being "entirely un-fitted" for his command. Chris Prouty offers a panoramic overview of the response in Italy to the news:When news of the calamity reached Italy there were street demonstrations in most major cities. In Rome, to prevent these vi-olent protests, the universities and theatres were closed. Police were called out to disperse rock-throwers in front of PrimeMinister Crispi's residence. Crispi resigned on 9 March. Troops were called out to quell demonstrations in Naples. In Pavia,crowds built barricades on the railroad tracks to prevent a troop train from leaving the station. The Association of Women ofRome, Turin, Milan and Pavia called for the return of all military forces in Africa. Funeral masses were intoned for the knownand unknown dead. Families began sending to the newspapers letters they had received before Adwa in which their menfolkdescribed their poor living conditions and their fears at the size of the army they were going to face. King Umberto declaredhis birthday (14 March) a day of mourning. Italian communities in St. Petersburg, London, New York, Chicago, Buenos AiresandJerusalem collected money for the families of the dead and for the Italian Red Cross.The Russian support for Ethiopia led to the advent of a Russian Red Cross mission. The Russian mission was a militarymission conceived as a medical support for the Ethiopian troops. It arrived in Addis Ababa some three months after Menelik'sAdwa victory.

Ethiopian failure to follow up victoryOne question much asked – both then and long afterward – is why did Emperor Menelik fail to follow up his victory and drivethe routed Italians out of their colony? The victorious Emperor limited his demands to little more than the abrogation of the de-ceptive Treaty of Wuchale. In the context of the prevailing balance of power, the emperor's crucial goal was to preserveEthiopian independence. In addition, Ethiopia had just begun to emerge from a long and brutal famine; Harold Marcus remindsus that the army was restive over its long service in the field, short of rations, and the short rains which would bring all travelto a crawl would soon start to fall. At the time, Menelik claimed a shortage of cavalry horses with which to harry the fleeing sol-diers. Chris Prouty observes that "a failure of nerve on the part of Menelik has been alleged by both Italian and Ethiopiansources." Lewis believes that it "was his farsighted certainty that total annihilation of Baratieri and a sweep into Eritrea wouldforce the Italian people to turn a bungled colonial war into a national crusade" that stayed his hand.As a direct result of the battle, Italy signed the Treaty of Addis Ababa, recognizing Ethiopia as an independent state. Almostforty years later, on 3 October 1935, after the League of Nations's weak response to the Abyssinia Crisis, the Italians launcheda new military campaign endorsed by Benito Mussolini, the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. This time the Italians employedvastly superior military technology such as tanks and aircraft, as well as chemical warfare, the Ethiopian forces were soundlydefeated by May 1936. Following the war, Italy occupied Ethiopia for five years (1936–41), before eventually being driven outduring World War II by British Empire and Ethiopian patriot forces.

Significance"The confrontation between Italy and Ethiopia at Adwa was a fundamentalturning point in Ethiopian history," writes Henze. "Though apparent to veryfew historians at the time, these defeats were the beginning of the declineof Europe as the center of world politics." On a similar note, the Ethiopianhistorian-anglophile Bahru Zewde observed that "few events in the modernperiod have brought Ethiopia to the attention of the world as has the victoryat Adwa;".The Russian Empire enthusiastically paid victory compliments to theEthiopian army. One of the documents of that time states, "The Victory im-mediately gained the general sympathy of Russian society and it continuedto grow." The unique outlook which polyethnic Russia exhibited to its allyEthiopia disturbed many supporters of European nationalism during thetwentieth century. The Russian Cossack captain Nicholas Leontjev withteam of volunteers of participated in the battle as an advisor to Menelik.This defeat of a colonial power and the ensuing recognition of African sov-ereignty became rallying points for later African nationalists during theirstruggle for decolonization, as well as activists and leaders of the Pan-African movement. As the Afrocentric scholar Molefe Asante explains,After the victory over Italy in 1896, Ethiopia acquired a special importancein the eyes of Africans as the only surviving African State. After Adowa,Ethiopia became emblematic of African valour and resistance, the bastionof prestige and hope to thousands of Africans who were experiencing thefull shock of European conquest and were beginning to search for an answer to the myth of African inferiority.On the other hand, many writers have pointed out how this battle was a humiliation for the Italian military. One student ofEthiopia, Donald N. Levine, points out that for the Italians Adwa "became a national trauma which demagogic leaders stroveto avenge. It also played no little part in motivating Italy's revanchist adventure in 1935". Levine also noted that the victory"gave encouragement to isolationist and conservative strains that were deeply rooted in Ethiopian culture, strengthening thehand of those who would strive to keep Ethiopia from adopting techniques imported from the modern West - resistances withwhich both Menelik and Ras Teferi/Haile Selassie would have to contend".

The landscape of Adwa.

Ethiopian painting depicting thebattle of Adwa.

Negus Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam.

National DayBULGARIA - Mar 03

In Bulgarian historiography, the term Liberation of Bulgariais used to denote the events of theRusso-Turkish War of1877-78 that led to the re-establishment of Bulgarian statewith the Treaty of San Stefano of 3 March 1878, after thecomplete conquest of the Second Bulgarian Empire, whichfinished in 1396. According to this treaty, the Ottoman Em-pire was deprived of a big part of its territory, which weregiven to the client state - Bulgaria.In the same year, at Berlin congress, Treaty of Berlin (1878)was adopted, according to which, the territories of the Bul-garian state, created as of San Stefano's treaty were dividedinto three parts: the first part was the Principality of Bulgariawhich functioned independently but nominally within the Ot-toman Empire, this was limited to Moesia and neighbouringareas of the capital Sofia; the second part created was tobe an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire - Eastern Rumelia; the third and the largest part - Mace-donia and Lozengrad were given back to the Ottoman Empire, also some outlands were given to Serbia andRomania. The seized territories from Bulgaria after Berlin congress - most of Macedonia, Thrace, etc. werewith an ethnic Bulgarian majority. On September 6, 1885, Eastern Rumelia became part of Princiapality ofBulgaria after a bloodless unification, though still de jure within the Ottoman Empire.The third Bulgarian state gained full sovereignty from the Ottoman Empire on 22 September 1908 when de-claring independence.The term is, however, partially inaccurate, as it only refers to the liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule,the second liberation of Bulgaria. After the conquest of the First Bulgarian Empire in 1018, the first liberationof Bulgaria, led to the establishment of the Second Bulgarian Empire, happened in the year 1185 as a con-sequence of the Uprising of Asen and Peter against the Byzantine Empire.

Texas Independence Day US - Mar 02

The Texas Declaration of Independence wasthe formal declaration of independence of theRepublic of Texas from Mexico in the TexasRevolution. It was adopted at the Convention of1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2,1836, and formally signed the following dayafter errors were noted in the text.

BackgroundIn October 1835, settlers in Mexican Texaslaunched the Texas Revolution.However, within Texas, many struggled with un-derstanding what was the ultimate goal of theRevolution. Some believed that the goal shouldbe total independence from Mexico, while oth-ers sought the reimplementation of the MexicanConstitution of 1824 (which offered greaterfreedoms than the centralist government de-clared in Mexico the prior year). To settle the issue, a convention was called for March 1836.This convention differed from the previous Texas councils of 1832, 1833, and the 1835 Consultation. Manyof the delegates to the 1836 convention were young men who had only recently arrived in Texas, althoughmany of them had participated in one of the battles in 1835. Most of the delegates were members of theWar Party and were adamant that Texas must declare its independence from Mexico. Forty-one delegatesarrived in Washington-on-the-Brazos on February 28.

National Unity Day SUDAN - Mar 03

Sudan celebrates Unity Day yearly every 3rd of March.It is a celebration of peace and unity in all regions ofSudan, particularly the North and parts of South whichsuffered heavy strife during the civil war. Although theAddis Ababa Agreement made in Ethiopia slightly endedthe civil war, the signing of the accord was instrumentalin the establishment of the present day Unity Day cele-bration in the country.The two-decade war between North and South Sudanended in 2005, ultimately forming a unity government.But at present, the United Nation has become waryabout the increasing tensions happening between theNorth and autonomous south after the latter calls for atotal independence from the North through a separationreferendum happening in 2011. A referendum is under-way which will decide on the faith of the two sides and the nation as a whole.

HISTORYSudan has long been under the rule of Britain until its formal independence in 1956. The independence is aproduct of an agreement between Britain and Egypt to give Sudan the opportunity for self-governance andnational identity in 1953.The start of the first parliament in 1954 concentrated most of the development and progress in the Northwhile neglecting most parts of the South. This unequal distribution of development interest in the region laterformed a lasting cancer dividing Sudan into an Arab-laden north and mainly Christian and ethnic Nilotic peo-ple of South.The 17 year long war ended on 1972 (1955-1972) after the South was given autonomy on its internal affairsafter the signing of Addis Ababa agreement in Ethiopia. However, another war broke out in 1983 after thetwo regions once again suffered from another political and military tension.The newly drafted constitution in 2005 temporarily ended the civil war while waiting for final referendum in2005. Currently, the International Criminal Court (ICC) charged the current president Omar al-Bashir oncharges of crimes against humanity and war particularly due to widespread genocide on the Southern regionof Sudan. The country has severed international and diplomatic relations with its neighbouring African coun-tries including Chad.Sudan is member to the some international organizations including the United Nations (UN), African Union(AU), the Arab League, and Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), among others.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS AND ACTIVITIESSudan celebrates Unity Day with public cultural shows, parades, and events. Public and private companiesincluding students from various schools participate in cultural shows and parades in the street which com-memorates the unity of the entire region and the preservation of peace and fuelling progress. Since UnityDay is a national holiday, government offices do not operate and while some private offices may choose toclose.

Hina Matsuri JAPAN - Mar 03

The Japanese Doll Festival (雛祭り Hina-matsuri), or Girls' Day, is held on March3.Platforms covered with a red carpet areused to display a set of ornamental dolls (雛人形hina-ningyō) representing the Em-peror, Empress, attendants, and musiciansin traditional court dress of the Heian pe-riod.

Origin and customsThe custom of displaying dolls began dur-ing the Heian period. Formerly, people be-lieved the dolls possessed the power tocontain bad spirits. Hinamatsuri traces itsorigins to an ancient Japanese customcalled hina-nagashi (雛流しlit. "doll float-ing"), in which straw hina dolls are setafloat on a boat and sent down a river tothe sea, supposedly taking troubles or badspirits with them. The Shimogamo Shrine(part of the Kamo Shrine complex in Kyoto)celebrates the Nagashibina by floatingthese dolls between the Takano and KamoRivers to pray for the safety of children.People have stopped doing this now be-cause of fishermen catching the dolls intheir nets. They now send them out to sea,and when the spectators are gone theytake the boats out of the water and bringthem back to the temple and burn them.The customary drink for the festival is shi-rozake, a sake made from fermented rice.A colored hina-arare, bite-sized crackersflavored with sugar or soy sauce depend-ing on the region, and hishimochi, a dia-mond-shaped colored rice cake, areserved. Chirashizushi (sushi rice flavoredwith sugar, vinegar, topped with raw fishand a variety of ingredients) is often eaten.A salt-based soup called ushiojiru contain-ing clams still in the shell is also served. Clam shells in food are deemed the symbol of a united and peacefulcouple, because a pair of clam shells fits perfectly, and no pair but the original pair can do so.Families generally start to display the dolls in February and take them down immediately after the festival.Superstition says that leaving the dolls past March 4 will result ina late marriage for the daughter.

PlacementThe Kantō region and Kansai region have different placement or-ders of the dolls from left to right, but the order of dolls per levelare the same.The term for the platform in Japanese is hina dan (雛壇). Thelayer of covering is called dankake (段掛) or simply hi-mōsen (緋毛氈), a red carpet with rainbow stripes at the bottom.

First platform, the top:The top tier holds two dolls, known as imperial dolls (内裏雛 (だいりびな) dairi-bina). These are the Emperor (御内裏様 Odairi-sama) holding a ritual baton (笏 shaku) and Empress (御雛様Ohime-sama) holding a fan. The words dairi means "imperial palace", and hime means "girl" or "princess".The dolls are usually placed in front of a gold folding screen byōbu (屏風) and placed beside green Japanesegarden trees.Optional are the two lampstands, calledbonbori (雪 洞 ), and the paper or silklanterns that are known as hibukuro (火袋), which are usually decorated with cherryor ume blossom patterns.Complete sets would include accessoriesplaced between the two figures, known assanbō kazari(三方飾), composing of twovases of artificial peach branch kuchibana(口花).The traditional arrangement had the maleon the right, while modern arrangementshad him on the left (from the viewer's per-spective).

Second platform:The second tier holds three court ladiessan-nin kanjo (三人官女). Each holds sakeequipment. From the viewer's perspective,the standing lady on the right is the long-handled sake-bearerNagae no chōshi (長柄の銚子), the standing lady on the left isthe backup sake-bearer Kuwae no chōshi(加えの銚子), and the only lady in the mid-dle is the seated sake bearer Sanpō (三方).Accessories placed between the ladies aretakatsuki (高坏), stands with round table-tops for seasonal sweets, excluding hishi-mochi.

Third platform:The third tier holds five male musiciansgonin bayashi (五人囃子). Each holds amusical instrument except the singer, whoholds a fan.Left to right, from viewer's perspective,they are the:1. Small drum Taiko (太 鼓 ),seated,2. Large drum Ōtsuzumi (大鼓), standing,3. Hand drum Kotsuzumi (小鼓), standing,4. Flute Fue (笛), or Yokobue (横笛), seated,5. Singer Utaikata (謡い方), holding a folding fan sensu (扇子), standing.

Fourth platform:Two ministers (daijin) may be displayed on the fourth tier: the Minister of the Right (右大臣 Udaijin) and theMinister of the Left (左大臣Sadaijin). The Minister of the Right is depicted as a young person, while the Min-ister of the Left is much older. Also, because the dolls are placed in positions relative to each other, the Min-ister of the Right will be on the viewer's left and the Minister of the Left will be on the viewer's right. Both aresometimes equipped with bows and arrows.Between the two figures are covered bowl tables kakebanzen (掛盤膳), also referred to as o-zen (お膳), aswell as diamond-shaped standshishidai (菱台) bearing diamond-shaped ricecakes hishimochi (菱餅). Hishidaiwith feline-shaped legs are known as nekoashigata hishidai(猫足形菱台).Just below the ministers: on the rightmost, a mandarin orange tree Ukon no tachibana (右近の橘), and onthe leftmost, a cherry blossom tree Sakon no sakura (左近の桜).

Fifth platform:The fifth tier, between the plants, holds three helpers or samurai as the protectors of the Emperor and Em-press. From left to right (viewer's perspective):1. Maudlin drinker nakijōgo (泣き上戸),2. Cantankerous drinker okorijōgo (怒り上戸), and3. Merry drinker waraijōgo (笑い上戸)

Other platforms:On the sixth and seventh tiers, a variety of miniature furniture, tools, carriages, etc., are displayed.

Sixth platform:These are items used within the palatial residence. tansu (箪笥) : chest of (usually five) drawers, sometimes with swinging outer covering doors. nagamochi (長持) : long chest for kimono storage. hasamibako (挟箱) : smaller clothing storage box, placed on top of nagamochi. kyōdai (鏡台) : literally mirror stand, a smaller chest of drawer with a mirror on top. haribako (針箱) : sewing kit box.

ElsewhereThe Hinamatsuri is also celebrated in Florence (Italy), with the patronage of the Embassy of Japan, theJapanese Institute and the historical Gabinetto Vieusseux.

Song of HinamatsuriThe song is sung as a celebration of the festival. Its lyrics are as follows:

Ākyāri o-tsuke māsho bonboriniO-hānā o-agemasho momo no hanaGonin-bayashi no fue taikoKyō wa tano shi hinamatsuri

CollectorsJoseph Alsop, in his pioneering work on the history of art collection provides, the following definition: “Tocollect is to gather objects belonging to a particular category the collector happens to fancy; and art collectingis a form of collecting in which the category is, broadly speaking, works of art.” (Scott, 2008). Japanese dolls,Hina are broken down into several subcategories. Two of the most prominent are Girl’s Day, hina-ningyo,and the Boy’s Day musha-ningyo, or display dolls, sagu-ningyo, gosho-ningyo, and isho-ningyo (Scott, 2008).Collections can be categorized by the material they are made of such as wood dolls kamo-ningyo and nara-ningyo and, clay forms such as fushimi-ningyo and Hakata ningyo.In the nineteenth century ningyo were introduced to the West. Doll collecting has since become a popularpastime in the West (Scott, 2008). Famous well known collectors from the West include individuals such asJames Tissot (1836–1902), Jules Adeline (1845–1909), Eloise Thomas (1907–1982), and Samuel Pryor(1898–1985). James Tissot was known to be a religious history painter. In 1862, after attending a LondonExhibition, he was drawn to Japanese Art. During the 1860s Tissot, was known as one of most importantcollectors of Japanese art in Paris. His collections included kosode-style kimonos, paintings, bronze, ce-ramics, screens and a number bijan-nigyo (dolls from late Edo period) (Scott, 2008). Adeline was known asa working artist and he is also known as “Mikika”. Adeline produced many works throughout his career as aworking artist. He is best known for his “etchings” and received the Cross of the Legion of Honor for hisVieuex-Roven “Le Parvis Notre-Dame”. Unlike Tissot, Adeline is recognized as a true collector. A majority ofAdeline’s collection consisted of ningyo, and only a few prints.During the Meiji Era, three men became pioneers in collecting ningya, Kurihara Sokosut (1851-113),Nishizawa, Senko (1864–1914), and Tsuboi Shogoro (1863–1913). The three men are referred to as “Gangusan Ketsu” (The Three great toy collectors). They introduced a systematic approach to collecting ningyo, inan effort to preserve and document the various forms of ningyo (Scott, 2008). Shimizu Seifu, an artist andcalligrapher, put his artistic ability to use by creating an illustrated catalog of his own collection of 440 ningyodolls. The illustration was published in (1891) under the title “Unai no tomo”. Nishizawa Senko, a banker,gathered a significant collection on hina-ningyo. He was an active researcher, collector of stories, documents,and information relating to the development of hina-ningyo during the Edo period. Senko’s son Tekiho (1889–1965) inherited his collection but, a great portion of the collection was lost in the Kanto earthquake of 1932.(Scott, 2008). Tsuboi Shogoro, the first appointed Professor of Anthropology at the Tokyo Imperial University(Yamashita, Bosco, & Seymour, 2004), was the most trained of the three, and he brought a scientific elementto the collecting of ningyo. Dolls have been a part of Japanese culture for many years; and the phenomenonof collecting them is still practiced. Many collections are preserved in museums including thePeabody EssexMuseum, Kyoto National Museum, and the Yodoko Guest House.

Seven-tiered Hina doll set

Hinamatsuri store display in Los Angeles, Cali-fornia featuring all 7 tiers.

Independence Movement DaySOUTH KOREA - Mar 01

The March 1st Movement, or Samil Movement, was one ofthe earliest public displays ofKorean resistance during theoccupation of the Korean Empire by Japan. The name refersto an event that occurred on March 1, 1919, hence themovement's name, literally meaning "Three-One Move-ment" or "March First Movement" in Korean. It is also some-times referred to as the Manse Demonstrations (만세운동;Manse Undong).

BackgroundThe Samil Movement came as a result of the repressive na-ture of colonial occupation under its military rule of the Ko-rean Empire following 1905, and the "Fourteen Points"outlining the right of national "self-determination" proclaimedby President Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Confer-ence in January 1919. After hearing news of Wilson’s speech, Korean students studying in Tokyo publisheda statement demanding freedom from colonial rule.Adding to this was the death of former Emperor Gojong on January 21, 1919. There was widespread sus-picion that he had been poisoned, credible since previous attempts (the "coffee plot") were well-known.

EffectsThe March 1st movement resulted in a major change in imperial policy towards Korea. Governor-GeneralHasegawa Yoshimichi accepted responsibility for the loss of control (although most of the repressive meas-ures leading to the uprising had been put into place by his predecessors) and was replaced by Saito Makoto.Some of the aspects of Japanese rule considered most objectionable to Koreans were removed. The militarypolice were replaced by a civilian force, and limited press freedom was permitted under what was termedthe 'cultural policy'. Many of these lenient policies were reversed during the Second Sino-Japanese War andWorld War II.Women also found new opportunities after the movement to express their views for the first time in Korea.Ideas of female liberation were allowed to be printed after the rebellion. Such journals as the Sin Yoja (NewWoman) and Yoja Kye (Women's World) were printed.The March 1 Movement was a catalyst for the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republicof Korea in Shanghai in April 1919 and also influenced nonviolent resistance in India and many other coun-tries.On May 24, 1949, March 1st was designated a national holiday in South Korea.

International reactionA delegation of overseas Koreans, from Japan, China, and Hawaii, sought to gain international support forindependence at the ongoing Paris Peace Conference. The United States and Imperial Japan blocked thedelegation's attempt to address the conference.In April 1919, the State Department told the ambassador to Japan that "the consulate [in Seoul] should beextremely careful not to encourage any belief that the United States will assist the Korean nationalists incarrying out their plans and that it should not do anything which may cause Japanese authorities to suspect[the] American Government sympathizes with the Korean nationalist movement."

Peasants' Day - M a r 0 2MYANMAR/BURMA

Myanmar, also known as Burma, celebrates Peasants’ Day yearly every 2nd of March. It is incidentally the General Ne Win’s seizure of powerin 1962.Ne Win is a military commander and politician of Myanmar. He served two terms as the country’s Prime Minister from 1958 to 1960 and anotheron 1962 to 1974. He was also the country’s head of state from 1962 to 1981. He also head one of the country’s powerful political party SocialistProgramme Party from 1964 until 1988. The party was the only party allowed to exist during Ne Win’s strict military rule until he was ousted asa result of social unrest happened on 1988 known as the 8888 Uprising.During this day, various talks and development programs are laid down, discussed, and revealed for the improvement of the peasant sectorwhich is the country’s flagship economy.

HistoryThe peasant sector occupies around 70 percent of Myanmar’s population and undoubtedly the most productive workforce in the country. Becauseof this, Myanmar recognizes the powerful role of farmers in driving the country’s economic output. However, it is the farming sector which usuallysuffers whenever a power struggle happens in the country because rebels usually flew to the jungles of Myanmar to avoid prosecution and seekprotection.The country has long been wanting to transform its country into a developed nation with plans of improving the industrial sector of the society,however, inadequate funding, corruption, and political instability halts the region from realizing its truest potential.The entire peasantry before 1965 experienced usury and inappropriate use of agricultural land. Farming lands were rented and many of thefarmers cannot keep up with the rising cost of land rent. During this time, laws were passed to protect the farmers against this practice and ledto massive land reformation and among them is the passing of protecting farmers against land renting. These acts were all made under themilitary administration of Ne Win and continue until today. Most of monumental reformation happened during Ne Win’s term and continued untilhis resignation on 1988 after a popular uprising.Today, Myanmar still focuses on the development of new technologies and laws to protect farmers from unfair land treatment and support theirvarious causes as the whole country’s economy depends heavily on this sector.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS AND ACTIVITIESDuring the holiday, Myanmar’s local leaders organize talks about reforms in peasantry around the country and present issues that challengesthe development of the agricultural field. Since this is a national holiday, public companies are closed while some private companies may remainopen.Families and individuals may choose to remain inside home or visit the local parks, pagodas and temples in the area. Also, trade and culturalshows organized around the country showcasing traditional crafts, culture, and arts.

Pakistan urges Afghan Taliban to enterpeace talks

(Online Feb-ruary 25,2012) Pak-istan urgesleaders ofthe AfghanT a l i b a nmovement toenter directpeace nego-tiations withKabul, a pos-sible signthat Islam-abad is step-ping upsupport forreconci l ia -tion in neigh-b o r i n gAfghanistan.Both Afghanand U.S. offi-cials have long accused Pakistan ofusing militant groups as proxies inAfghanistan to counter the influenceof rival India, allegations Islamabaddenies.Regional power Pakistan is critical toefforts to bring the Afghan Taliban tothe negotiating table because of itshistorical ties to the group.Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilanisaid in a statement that Pakistan was"prepared to do whatever it takes" tohelp the Afghan reconciliationprocess succeed. He called on Hizb-i-Islami -- one of Afghanistan's mostnotorious insurgent factions -- andother militant groups to negotiatepeace.The United States is attempting tostabilize the country before foreigncombat troops withdraw at the end of2014.The Afghan government has estab-lished some contacts with the Tal-iban, who have made a strongcomeback after being toppled by aU.S. invasion in 2001, but there areno signs that full-fledged peace talks

will happen anytime soon.U.S. diplomats have also been seek-ing to broaden exploratory talks thatbegan clandestinely in Germany inlate 2010 after the Taliban offered toopen a representative office in theGulf emirate of Qatar, prompting de-mands for inclusion from Kabul.Afghan President Hamid Karzai hasfrequently urged Pakistan to advancethe peace process."IT'S IMPORTANT"Rahimullah Yusufzai, an expert on re-gional affairs, said Gilani's commentsmarked a shift in Pakistani policy."It's important because I am hearingthis for the first time, that the Pak-istani prime minister or somebodythat important is urging the Taliban ...to talk directly to the Afghan govern-ment," he said.Afghan officials are holding talks withthe Afghan Taliban in Pakistan, thehead of a provincial peace council inthe insurgency's heartland Kandaharsaid on Tuesday.Kandahar peace council head AtaMohammad Ahmadi told Reuters theofficials had been meeting for "some

time" with mid-level Talibancommanders inthe southwestPakistani city ofQuetta, wherethe leadership ofthe militantgroup is said tobe based.It is unlikely thatany meetingsbetween Afghanofficials and Tal-iban command-ers could takeplace in Quettawithout theknowledge ofPakistan's per-vasive intelli-gence agencies.Pakistan may

have stepped up its cooperation withthe Afghan government by allowingthe meetings in Quetta.Afghanistan is known to want accessto Taliban leaders belonging to theso-called Quetta Shura, or council,named after the city where they arebelieved to be based. Kabul believesthey would be the decision makers inany substantive peace negotiationsaimed at ending the war now in itseleventh year.Pakistan has consistently denied giv-ing sanctuary to insurgents and saysno Taliban leaders are present inQuetta.Ties between Pakistan andAfghanistan were strained for monthsafter the assassination in Septemberof Afghan peace envoy and formerpresident Burhanuddin Rabbani.Afghan officials blamed Pakistan's in-telligence agency, allegations angrilydenied by Islamabad.But Pakistani Foreign Minister HinaRabbani Khar said after a recent tripto Kabul that a lot of the illwill be-tween the neighbors had faded.

PAKISTAN

Senate elections: ECP rejects papers of 18candidates

(Online February 25, 2012) Sittingover a huge surplus wheat stockand having increased supportprice to encourage more produc-tion and votes, Pakistan has foundan opportunity to export one mil-lion tons of wheat to Iran, and thattoo under a barter trade deal.The two sides agreed on Friday dur-ing a meeting between Water andPower Minister Syed Naveed Qamarand visiting Iranian Deputy Com-merce Minister Abbas Ghohadi thatTehran would import not only one mil-lion tons of wheat but also 200,000tons of rice to promote barter traderelations. Tehran is also expected toimport sugar from Islamabad.In return, Pakistan will import fertiliserand iron ore for state-run PakistanSteel Mills, which is suffering fromhuge financial losses because of ex-treme shortage of raw material andother problems. Despite rains andfloods for two consecutive years,Pakistan’s major crops — wheat,sugarcane and rice — have yielded abumper output and now supply ex-ceeds demand. Pakistan has beenlooking for export avenues to offloadsurplus stocks to reduce mainte-nance cost and pay off interest to thecentral bank, but with limited successowing extremely low internationalprices.The decision came in the wake of themeeting last week between PresidentAsif Ali Zardari and President Mah-moud Ahmadinejad in Islamabad inwhich the two leaders decided toraise bilateral trade to $10 billion ayear through the barter trade. Pak-istan had assured the Iranian sidethat it would also fast track imple-mentation of gas and electricity im-port projects from Iran.

Mr Naveed Qamar was assisted bythe chairman of Trading Corporationof Pakistan (TCP) and the ManagingDirector of Pakistan Agricultural Stor-age and Services Corporation(Passco). They were directed to holdseparate talks with the Iranian deputyminister and his aides to work outmodalities for the export of rice andwheat and import of fertiliser and ironore.Pakistan has faced a big fertilisershortage during outgoing crop sea-son and was forced to import morethan half of its domestic requirementmainly because of massive gasshortfalls. The Pakistan Steel Mills’sproduction capacity had also plum-meted to less than 20 per cent in re-cent months mainly because ofshortage of iron ore and other rawmaterials as international prices haveincreased.Mr Qamar and Mr Abbas Ghohadialso agreed that Passco would pres-ent samples of wheat and negotiatethe price for its exports. Passcowould also be responsible for exportof wheat and sugar while TCP woulddeal with import or fertiliser and ironore.The two sides expressed the hopethat export of wheat would startwithin two months.According to a press release, MrAbbas Ghohadi said that Pakistanirice was very popular in Iran and itwas used during every festival andon special occasions. He said thedelegation wanted to visit the storagefacilities of wheat in the country to ex-amine its quality and specificationsand assured of facilitating wheat ex-ports through simplified administra-tive procedures for better traderelations.

Officials said that more than five mil-lion tons of wheat was currently lyingin official stores and open placesmostly in Punjab and with Passco.The recent increase in support pricefor wheat by about 10 per cent toRs1050 per ton announced by thefederal government to win over farm-ers ahead of elections was also ex-pected to yield higher output eventhough Punjab would financially suf-fer because of huge involvement ofsubsidy and central bank overdraft.Punjab’s attempts to offload its sur-plus stock to pay off banking loanshad been badly affected due to sub-stantial sales by Russia and Australiaat much lower rates as comparedwith Pakistan prices. Two recentdeals by Russia with Egypt and Iranhad brought down prices to less than$225 per ton compared with $350 perton at which Islamabad exportedabout 1.7 million tons of wheat and1.3 million tons of wheat products.Over the last three years, Pakistanhas become a net wheat exporterafter decades of relying on wheat im-ports, mainly because of increase insupport prices from about Rs650 in2008 to Rs1050 per ton this season.Even though Islamabad’s wheatprices are still higher than those inthe international market, both Iranand Pakistan would benefit from thedeal through lower transportationcost.The government hopes to harvestmore than 25 million tons of wheatthis season while domestic consump-tion stood at 22 million tons. Mainlybecause of support price, the govern-ment was forced last year to injectover Rs400 billion into commodityoperations.

Afghanistan Quran protests spread toPakistan, India

(Online February 25, 2012) Hun-dreds of activists took to thestreets on Friday as the protestsover desecration of Holy Quran atthe Nato military base inAfghanistan spread to Malaysia,Indonesia and India.Holding banners inscribed with sev-eral anti-US slogans including ‘DamnYou US Army’, and ‘Quran Our Soul,You Burnt Our Soul’, protesters gath-ered at public places to express theiranger at the desecration of HolyQuran at the Bagram military base.Up to 300 people blocked the GTRoad in Peshawar, stomped on andset fire to the US flag, and kicked thedummy representing America andbeat it with sticks while it was burn-ing.

“The ugly face of America has beenrevealed with the desecration of HolyQuran,” a banner read. The ForeignMinistry strongly condemned the des-ecration, stressing that ‘utterly irre-sponsible and reprehensible things’do not happen again.“On behalf of the government and thepeople of Pakistan, we condemn instrongest possible terms the dese-cration of Holy Quran in Afghanistan,”spokesman Abdul Basit told re-porters.In Islamabad, the general secretaryof the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI)told the crowd that the Islamic worldshould review its relations with theUnited States.“We will not allow Americans toridicule our religion and our Holy

Quran,” Maulana Abdul GhafoorHaideri told the crowd, asking the Or-ganisation of Islamic Conference(OIC) to convene a special session tocondemn the incident.In Karachi, hundreds of activists ofJamaatud Dawa chanted ‘Death toAmerica’. “There is just one remedyfor America — Jihad and only Jihad,”the crowd shouted. “Death to Amer-ica, death to America’s friends,”echoed slogans.“We do not accept Obama’s apology.The Muslims do not accept his apol-ogy, as it is nothing but a farce,” saidNaveed Qamar, the head of JuD inKarachi. “The Americans are deliber-ately provoking us through shame-less sins,” he added.

Pasha said military could not ignorememo: Ijaz

(Online February 25, 2012) The intel-ligence chief, General Ahmad ShujaPasha, therefore visited him in Lon-don with the consent of Army chiefGeneral Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Ijazsaid, while apprising the commissionon his meeting with Pasha in London.He was concluding his testimony, viaa video link from London, on the thirdday of hearing before a three-mem-ber commission headed by ChiefJustice Balochistan High Court(BHC) Justice Qazi Faez Isa.Turn of eventsFormer ambassador to US HusainHaqqani ‘abused’ the whistle-blowingarticle published in the FinancialTimes in October 2011, and at-tempted to persuade Ijaz through‘common friends’ to keep the memounder wraps, the Pakistani-originAmerican businessman, Ijaz, told thecommission.Haqqani also changed his Black-Berry handsets twice, in an attemptto delete the exchanges betweenhimself and Ijaz stored on the de-vices, Ijaz alleged. But Haqqani wasnot aware that I had already trans-ferred the exchanges on my com-puter, he added.All was not sour between the two atall times, though. After his first articleappeared in Newsweek, Haqqani ap-

preciated it, and stayed in touch withhim till June 22, Ijaz said.In fact, both were cordial until earlySeptember when Haqqani told Ijazhe was going back to Pakistan, andthe latter asked him why, given thathe had done ‘a good job.’If you think I’ve done a good job, theninform your contacts in Washingtonthat if they want their problems inPakistan resolved, I am their man toget that done, Ijaz quoted Haqqani assaying.Meeting PashaWhat was the rationale for disclosingthe memorandum?The wide condemnation that AdmiralMike Mullen received for his revela-tion that the ISI was supporting theHaqqani network, which was al-legedly behind the attacks on Natoforces in Afghanistan, Ijaz said.Ijaz said he wrote the article in reac-tion to that, and mentioned the exis-tence of the memorandum, sent by asenior Pakistani diplomat with thebacking of Islamabad, in the fourthparagraphWithin 30 minutes of the article’s pub-lication, Ijaz said, he received a callfrom Haqqani, asking him if he knewany other Pakistani diplomat so thatthe blame could be shifted.“I replied that he knows who I knew,

and he then abused my article, andhung up the phone,” Ijaz said.He said he subsequently received acall from a senior staff officer of GenPasha on October 13 or 14, request-ing for a meeting regarding thememo.The day he was leaving for meetingGen Pasha, Haqqani called him froman unknown number and expressedfear that the intelligence chief mightmeet the editor of Financial Timesand obtain a copy of the memo.Haqqani did not know that Pashawas coming to meet me, Ijaz added.Earlier, Haqqani’s counsel had ob-jected to the four-page telephone billprovided by Ijaz, saying it was not inhis name, and not original.Ijaz said he had provided 4 out of 39pages of the bill and his name wasprinted on the first page.He said he cannot provide the entirebill because it contains contacts offamily, friends and business associ-ates that he does not wish to makepublic. He agreed to provide the en-tire bill to the judges of the commis-sion though, for their verification.Tempers also flared at the hearingafter an altercation between Ijaz andHaqqani’s counsel, Zahid Bukhari.The commission adjourned the hear-ing till March 1.

Pak-US ties: Sherry called back to updateIslamabad

(Online 25 Feb 2012) Pakistan’senvoy to the United States SherryRehman has been called to Islam-abad to brief the civilian leader-ship on bilateral ties as thecountry prepares for a joint ses-sion of parliament to review rela-tions with the US.Rehman is expected to arrive in thecapital on Saturday (today), said agovernment official.This will be her first visit since shewas appointed as the country’s am-bassador to Washington after herpredecessor, Husain Haqqani, wascompelled to step down over theMemogate scandal.Another official familiar with the de-

velopment said the ambassador willdiscuss and update the governmentabout her engagements with US offi-cials, aimed at reviving cooperationbetween the two fragile allies.Sources say the government is likelyto convene a joint session of parlia-ment to review ties with the US fol-lowing the briefing from AmbassadorRehman.The US is believed to be pushingPakistan to complete the reviewprocess at the earliest.“The US is certainly quite keen tomove beyond the [November 26]Nato incident,” said a Pakistani diplo-mat posted in Washington.The joint session is unlikely to take

place before the Senate electionsdue on March 2 though.A visiting US Congressional delega-tion also urged the government totake a decision on the resumption ofNato supplies sooner than later.Speculations were rife that Rehmanhas been summoned by PresidentAsif Ali Zardari to discuss the memoissue but that notion remains unsub-stantiated.The president’s spokesperson wasnot available for comment.“It has nothing to do with the memoissue,” an official added, speaking oncondition of anonymity.

On the campaign trail: PTI holds Umerkotrally today

(Online 25 Feb 2012) The PakistanTehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) heads back toSindh on Saturday for a rally, andplans to focus on the province’smajor political concerns in themonths ahead.The party’s February 25 rally inUmerkot is being organised by theGhousia Jamaat, followers of PTIvice chairperson Shah MehmoodQureshi, a former Pakistan PeoplesParty (PPP) leader who has servedas foreign minister.“We are coordinating with them,” PTISindh General Secretary Dr HasanRaza told The Express Tribune.Qureshi chose Ghotki – instead of hisbase of Multan – to formally an-nounce that he was joining PTI at aNovember 27 rally that largely com-prised Ghousia Jamaat members,who consider Qureshi their spiritualleader.

The PTI’s efforts to build a niche foritself in the province have not yieldmuch yet. Despite the success of itsrallies in Ghotki and Karachi, noprominent Sindh-based politicianshave jumped ship to the party.Qureshi met several political leadersduring his visits to Karachi, includingSindh United Party president JalalMehmood Shah, but the nationalistsare still wary of the PTI.Qureshi also attended the funeral ofPir Pagaro VII last month.The party believes the Umerkot rallywill show “those who hold claim toSindh” that the Imran Khan-led partyhas a visible presence in theprovince.“The people of Sindh have no facili-ties, there is inflation,” Raza said.“The area that we have chosen forthe rally, Tharparkar, is one of theleast developed.”

According to the PTI, chairpersonImran Khan will be taking a more ac-tive role in promoting the party in theprovince in the months ahead.Khan told a delegation of journalistsfrom the Sukkur Press Club earlierthis week that the party will be travel-ling across Sindh to persuade peoplethat they need to support the “waveof change”.A press release issued by the partyquoted Khan as saying that his “trav-els through Sindh made him realisethat interior Sindh was as backwardas Balochistan with feudals and Sar-dars holding sway” and that “noleader had really done anything forthe poor people of these regions.”Qureshi and Khan are scheduled toarrive in Mirpurkhas and will reachUmerkot by 1 pm for the rally.

HUNGARYParliament supports Hungary’s member-

ship of the EU Fiscal Compact(Online Febru-ary 22, 2012)On MondayParliament ap-proved Hun-g a r y ’ smembership ofthe new EUFiscal Com-pact, by adopt-ing a proposalfrom Minister ofForeign AffairsJ á n o sMartonyi. Thecontent of theCompact wasagreed by EUheads of stateand govern-ment, and thetreaty relatedto it will be signed by leaders of par-ticipating Member States at a ses-sion of the European Council on 1-2March. The Compact will come intoforce on 1 January 2013.A week ago in Parliament, PrimeMinister Viktor Orbán said that allthe elements of the Compact are ac-ceptable for Hungary. He stressedthat last December the Hungariangovernment did not automaticallyagree to the ‘crude, vaguely defineddraft,’ but in the meantime the coun-try’s aims had been achieved: com-mon budgetary rules are to be madecompulsory for eurozone countries,but for other states only after theyhave joined the eurozone. Anotherimportant achievement he men-tioned was that the Compact makes

no reference to tax harmonization,which he said would not be in thecountry’s interests. The Government submitted the fulltext of the final treaty with the parlia-mentary proposal. According to thisthe signatories (the seventeen euro-zone countries and other MemberStates agreeing to the Compact),must not allow their annual struc-tural deficits to exceed 0.5% of nom-inal GDP. There will be an automaticcorrection mechanism, triggered if acountry deviates significantly fromits medium-term objective or its ad-justment path (the treaty only allowsthis in extraordinary circumstances). A rule related to the above will alsobe introduced into the legal systemsof Member States, at constitutionallevel or equivalent. All signatories

shall recog-nise the juris-diction of theE u r o p e a nCourt of Jus-tice in ensur-ing that therule is applied,and its powerto impose fi-nancial penal-ties forinfringements. The Compactobliges Mem-ber Statessubject to ex-cessive deficitprocedure tosubmit ane c o n o m i cpa r tne rsh ip

programme to the Commission andthe Council for approval. Such aprogramme will detail the structuralreforms necessary to ensure an ef-fective and long-lasting correction ofsuch an excessive deficit. The im-plementation of the programme, andthe related annual budgetary planswill be monitored by the Commis-sion and the Council. For better coordination in issuinggovernment securities, signatorieswill announce in advance to theCouncil and the Commission theirplans to issue them. The Govern-ment will ask the ConstitutionalCourt to rule on whether ratificationof the new EU Compact requires atwo-thirds or a simple majority inParliament.

The position of the Government of Hungary on theproposal adopted by the European Commission today(Online Febru-ary 22, 2012)The EuropeanCommiss iontoday issued aproposal tosuspend in partthe commit-ments from theCohesion Fundfor Hungary in2013. Our gov-ernment re-gards it as anunfounded andunfair pro-posal.It is unfath-omable whythe EuropeanCommiss ionhas ignored thefacts: Hun-gary’s budget deficit was, for the firsttime since we joined the EuropeanUnion in 2004, below 3% in 2011and will remain so this year as well,which makes it the country with theeighth lowest deficit in the EuropeanUnion. In response to the EuropeanCommission’s forecast of a 3.25%budget deficit in 2013 we took fur-ther steps to reduce next year’sdeficit by 0.4% of GDP so that it re-

mains below 3% again. Our PrimeMinister duly informed the Presidentof the European Commission aboutthese measures.Consequently, the Hungarian gov-ernment adopted all the necessarydecisions to meet the expectationsand requirements of the EuropeanUnion.The proposal adopted by the Euro-pean Commission today is also con-

troversial froma legal point ofview: it contra-dicts the spiritof the Treatiessince it im-poses sanc-tions inresponse to apresupposedfuture event.The facts andf i g u r e sdemonstratethat the eco-nomic policyof the Hungar-ian govern-ment hastaken ourcountry in theright direction- for example,

economic growth of 1.7% last yearsurpassed the growth rate of the EUas a whole and of the euro zone asa whole. At the same time Hungaryhas been able to decrease its Gov-ernment debt, which was the legacyof past governments.Nevertheless, the government re-mains ready for continued consulta-tions with the institutions of theEuropean Union.

János Martonyi’s visit to Prague(Online February 21, 2012) On 21February 2012 János Martonyi paidan official visit to the Czech Repub-lic. The Hungarian Foreign Ministerparticipated in discussions withCzech Foreign Minister KarelSchwarzenberg and was receivedby President Václav Klaus andMiroslava Nemcová, Chairperson ofthe Lower House of the Parliament.In the conversation with ForeignMinister Karel Schwarzenberg, theparties discussed the most signifi-cant EU and international issues.

They devoted special attention tothe EU enlargement in the WesternBalkans, the advancement of theEastern Partnership, the noteworthydevelopments in energy and secu-rity policy.In the meetings, the parties pointedout that the Hungarian-Czech rela-tions were excellent, open, andfriendly. It is an important interest ofthe Visegrád countries to furtherstrengthen their cooperation and en-force Central European solidarity onthe level of the European Union as

well. After the discussion with hispartner, János Martonyi said theeconomies of the region were notperforming poorly even in the cur-rent difficult situation.Concerning the criticism of the workof the Hungarian Government, theCzech Foreign Minister emphasisedthat opinions might differ on the sit-uation in Hungary, but it wasgroundless to doubt the Hungarianpeople’s commitment to democracy.

János Martonyi’s meeting with the dele-gation of the Venice Commission

(Online February 22, 2012) conver-sation the parties discussed the leg-islative intent and backgroundbehind the cardinal laws regulatingchurches and courts, and ex-changed views on the legal and pro-fessional concerns as well as on the

critical comments concerning theselaws.On 20-21 February the delegation ofthe Venice Commission composedof independent experts on constitu-tional law participates in discussionsin Budapest about the laws on the

legal status and remuneration ofjudges, on the structure and admin-istration of courts, and on thechurches. The Venice Commissionis expected to have issued its opin-ion on the above-mentioned laws bythe middle of March.

State Secretary Endre Kardeván holds talkswith Saudi Arabian Minister of Agriculture

(Online February 19, 2012) TheMinister of Agriculture of the King-dom of Saudi Arabia will visit Hun-gary in the near future – this wasone of the agreements concludedbetween Endre Kardeván and Dr.Fahd Bin Abdulrahman Balghunaim-mal during their meeting in Riyadh.At another important meeting, theState Secretary for Food ChainControl Supervision of the Ministryof Rural Development discussedwhat criteria Hungarian businessmust meet in order to export theirfood products to Saudi Arabia.During the course of the official visit,State Secretary for Food ChainControl Supervision of the Ministryof Rural Development Dr. EndreKardeván met Minister for Agricul-ture Dr. Fahd Bin Abdulrahman Bal-ghunaim in his Riyadh office on

February 18, 2012.The meeting may be considered amilestone in Hungarian-Saudi rela-tions, as this is the first time thatsuch high-level talks have been or-ganised between the two Ministries.Minister Balghunaim and his en-tourage listened with great interestto the various presentations on thestate of the Hungarian agricultureand its food industry, and on oppor-tunities for investment in Hungary. Adelegation of businessmen also ac-companies the State Secretary onhis three-day official visit to thecountry.The Minister expressed his recogni-tion of what he has heard andstressed that he had accepted theinvitation of Minister for Rural Devel-opment Sándor Fazekas and wouldbe visiting Hungary in the near fu-

ture.Both parties at the cordial andfriendly meeting agreed that the dis-cussion had laid the foundations forlong-term Hungarian-Saudi agricul-tural cooperation.Dr. Endre Kardeván also held ameeting with his Saudi counterpart,Deputy Director of the Saudi Foodand Drug Authority Dr. Ibrahim BinSaad Al-Mohaizea, on Saturday.This was the first opportunity for theleaders of the Hungarian and SaudiArabian food safety authorities todiscuss and clarify exactly what cri-teria and regulations Hungarianbusinesses must comply to in orderto begin exporting their foods andfood products to the Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia.

Presidential medal to teachers at MOGYE(PR) President Pál Schmitt pre-sented the Medal of the President ofthe Republic to Béla Szabó, thedeputy dean of the Medical andPharmaceutical University inMarosvásárhely/Targu Mures(MOGYE), in recognition of his workpromoting Hungarian languagemedical training in Transylvania andthe future thereof.

Teachers at the university havebeen fighting for one year for estab-lishment of a Hungarian languagedepartment at the university, in com-pliance with current law, saidZsuzsanna Répás, Deputy StateSecretary for Hungarian communi-ties abroad in her address. As al-ready known, the new RomanianEducation Act published in January

2011 recognises the university as amulticultural institution, in addition tothe Kolozsvár-based Babes-BolyaiUniversity and the University of FineArts in Marosvásárhely. It also di-rectly ordains the setting up of aHungarian department. The Presi-dent underlined that the honour alsobelongs to all those who took part inthis outstanding achievement.

Council of Europe monitors minority is-sues in Ukraine

(PR) The Advisory Committee ofthe Council of Europe (COE)paid a visit to Ukraine in the lastweek of January to pursue con-sultations with authorities andminority stakeholders over theimplementation of the Frame-work Convention for the Protec-tion of National Minorities.The meeting with leaders of na-tional minorities took place inLemberg/Lviv. Gábor Szarvas,leader of the Hungarian CulturalAssociation in Lemberg, re-ported on the situation of Hun-garians dispersed across theregion. Mr. Szarvas called theCommittee’s attention to the factthat organisations supporting

the culture and mother tongue ofsmall minority communities re-ceive little or no financial supportfrom state and local governmentbodies. This often threatens thevery existence of these organi-sations. The local representativealso brought this up, as sinceUkraine’s independence per-sons representing minorities –such as Russians, Polish, Jewsand Hungarians – have not be-come members of representa-tive bodies of cities.In the capital, Mihály Tóth, hon-orary president of the Demo-cratic Alliance of Hungarians inUkraine, briefed the COE dele-gation on the Hungarian minor-

ity. Mr. Tóth voiced criticism overthe failure to fulfil the informationcommitment laid down in theConvention. Related documentsare not only not accessible inminority languages, but not evenin Ukrainian. The honorary pres-ident was concerned aboutgrowing anti-Hungarian senti-ment, including contempt for his-torical names and the use ofsymbols, and the violation ofmonuments. He also noted thatthe state commission dedicatedto representing minority policy atgovernmental level had beenabolished.

Opportunities for social inclusion for thoseliving in deep poverty, and in segregation

(Online February 23, 2012) TheHungarian Government is launchinga comprehensive 4.7 billion-forintsettlement rehabilitation programmeusing EU funds, for which local gov-ernments may submit their applica-tions by 31 March 2012. Thesub-measure coded 5.3.6.-11-1within the Social Renewal Opera-tional Programme (SROP, in Hun-garian: TÁMOP) providesopportunities for social inclusion forthose living in disadvantaged settle-ments, in deep poverty, and in seg-regation.The EU funding allocated for thisapplication is higher than the totalbudget of all programmes for similaraims over the past six years. Thisprogramme, launched by the StateSecretariat for Social Inclusion atthe Ministry of Public Administrationand Justice (KIM), is a new basis forRoma integration policy, and part ofthe National Social Inclusion Strat-egy of Hungary (adopted last year).The latter aims, among other things,to involve those concerned, and en-courage them to participate in pro-grammes. We can only achieve realresults through comprehensive pro-grammes such as this. The EU call for applicationslaunched today contains numerousnew elements compared to previousprojects with similar aims and top-ics. In the comprehensive settle-ment rehabilitation programme, thesocial inclusion and integration ofparticipants is assisted with comple-

mentary measures: social, commu-nal, educational, healthcare, trainingand employment interventions. Oneof the most important new elementsof the application is that both duringthe tendering process and when im-plementing the project applicantsmay obtain professional help fromthe background institute of the StateSecretariat: the Türr István Trainingand Research Institute (Türr IstvánKépző és Kutató Intézet, TKKI). Pro-fessional assistance is availablefrom today, atbizalomesmunka@tkki.hu. This service may be provided tothose local governments registeringat this address by 7 March 2012;consortia may be developed up to16 March, and the finalization of pro-gramme plans must be achieved by25 March. In previous years therehave been similar procedures re-lated to slum clearance, but pro-gramme elements aimed atindividual and human developmentwere absent or ineffective. This programme aims to give achance of social inclusion to thosepeople living in inadequate condi-tions or slums; it also provides em-ployment opportunities and learning− on the basis of personal develop-ment plans − and the alteration orcreation of community spaces forsocial services (e.g. nursing care,consultancy, day-care facilities etc.).In many cases services will be avail-able on a local basis − includingearly childhood development, med-

ical services, administration of offi-cial papers, and promoting peacefulco-existence between majority andthe minority populations. This willenable more successful inclusion. Atthe same time, the programme ben-efits settlements, since positive re-sults from development of run-downneighbourhoods will soon be felt byless deprived areas. Total funding available is4,679,914,745 forints; the amountwhich can be requested per appli-cant ranges from 45 to 150 million.Submissions will take place in twostages: the first stage is a submis-sion period of ten days from the an-nouncement of the application (up to31 March 2012); in the secondstage, submissions may be madefrom 1 to 31 August 2012. The num-ber of successful applications willprobably be between 30 and 50.Contracts with winners may besigned in September 2012; imple-mentation of projects is planned tobe between 24 and 36 months. The application launched now is acontinuation of the nationally-fundedproject with the working title “Com-prehensive labour market pilot pro-gramme linked to housing andtraining elements for people living insegregation and in extremepoverty.” This had a budget of 410million forints, and was realized infour locations: Ózd; Tiszaroff andSzolnok; Komló and Vajszló; andNyíregyháza.

Hungary welcomes the new Chairpersonof the African Union

(Online February 22, 2012) At themeeting of its Assembly on 31 Jan-uary 2012, the African Union electedBoni Yayi, President of the Republicof Benin as its new Chairperson.Boni Yayi has been appointed at ahistoric moment, when the African

Union faces serious challenges increating peace and security on thecontinent, solving crisis situations inAfrica, and easing poverty affectingbroad layers of society. Boni Yayi’scommitment to democracy has al-ready been acknowledged by the in-

ternational community. We are con-vinced that the African Union underhis leadership gains new impetus inthese areas.Hungary assures the African Unionand the AU’s new Chairman of itssupport.

Common European action for the creationof the missing energy infrastructure

(Online Febru-ary 20, 2012)Tamás IvánK o v á c sDeputy StateSecretary forE u r o p e a nUnion and In-ternational Af-fairs outlinedHungary’s po-sition in issuesrelated to Eu-ropean energyinfrastructuredevelopmentand energy ef-ficiency im-provement atthe EuropeanUnion’s Trans-port, Telecom-m u n i c a t i o nand EnergyCouncil meeting held on 14 Febru-ary, 2012 in Brussels.The Energy Council discussed thedraft regulation on trans-Europeaninfrastructure at first reading. In hisaddress, Mr Kovács stated thatHungary welcomed support to build-ing the missing infrastructure as amajor step on the way towards cre-ating a single internal energy mar-ket. The Member States must begiven a pivotal role in the selectionand control of the projects of com-mon interest and the actions pro-moting their implementation, TamásIván Kovács stressed.The Hungarian Government agreeswith the approach that during theselection and implementation of theprojects of common interest, prima-rily those alternatives must be givenpreference that are also feasible ona market basis. However, when thedecisions are made the social andeconomic impacts should not bedisregarded, and the option ofusing, should the need arise, EUfunds must be maintained, MrKovács added.The draft regulation determines ninestrategic trans-European energycorridors and sets three priority hor-izontal objectives: the deployment ofsmart networks, the electricity “high-way” and the development of cross-border networks. Hungary isincluded in four priorities: electricity

interconnections in Central, Easternand South-eastern Europe, thenorth-south gas connections in Cen-tral, Eastern and South-eastern Eu-rope, oil pipelines in Central andEastern Europe, and the southerngas corridor.The North-South energy corridor re-gional working team, initiated by theEuropean Commission, has identi-fied numerous projects affectingHungary. These are unlikely to beestablished on a purely marketbasis, but may become projects ofcommon interests pursuant to theregulation. The southern gas corri-dor is one of the pillars of supply toHungary and the Central Europeanregion. As the affected countriesshare the interest of importing natu-ral gas from the Caspian region, pri-ority treatment of the relatedprojects is justified.During discussion of the energy ef-ficiency directive, the Hungarian del-egation considered it useful tocreate a uniform, common method-ology for monitoring progress inorder to make the 20% targeted for2020 feasible. The largest potentialin maintaining the level of primaryenergy, reducing dependence onimported energy, and the creation ofnew and stable jobs lies in the im-provement of energy saving and en-ergy efficiency. A massiveprogramme for improving building

services canhelp cut heatdemand by avolume corre-sponding toten percent ofthe current pri-mary energydemand inHungary by2030. Basedon Hungarianexperts’ esti-mates, morethan 40,000new jobs canbe created inconstruct ionindustry if theplanned levelof buildingservices pro-grammes isimplemented.

Due to the slowdown in investmentsand the underlying bank lending inthe wake of the economic crisis, theachievement of appropriate effi-ciency improvement is a seriouschallenge for the industry as well asthe agriculture. In the Hungarianrepresentatives’ opinion the suc-cessful practical implementation ofthe directive requires higher stresson the creation of new financial andfinancing means, Tamás IvánKovács stated.In summary of the most importantconclusions of the informal ministe-rial meeting held on 10 February2012 on the peaceful use of nuclearenergy, Mr Kovács confirmed, onbehalf of the Hungarian Govern-ment, that the common Europeanenergy policy must be build on fourclosely interconnected pillars: thesafety of stocks, consumers’ pur-chasing power, industrial competi-tiveness and cutting greenhousegas emission. The simultaneousachievement of these objectives re-quires the analysis of the utilisationof all available low-carbon technolo-gies, leaving Member States’ free-dom to choose unaffected. Thecompetent leaders and experts ofthe 16 European countries delegat-ing representatives to the meetingplan to regularly consult and ex-change their experiences in thisissue.

Commemoration of the anniversary ofthe murders of Roma in Tatárszentgyörgy(Online February 23, 2012) Threeyears ago, a child died in Hungary –he and his father were killed be-cause they were Roma. This un-speakable crime was later followedby further murderous attacks onmen, women and children of Romaorigin in other towns.In 2008 and 2009 a series of nineattacks were committed againstpeople of Roma origin; six peoplewere murdered and five were seri-ously injured. The attack inTatárszentgyörgy took place on 23February 2009, when a house in aRoma district was attacked withMolotov cocktails. Róbert Csorbaand his five-year-old son Robikawere shot as they fled their home. A delegation from the State Secre-

tariat for Social Inclusion laid awreath at the grave of the two vic-tims, one day prior to the anniver-sary of the murders. We commemorate the anniversaryof the Tatárszentgyörgy murdersevery year. We shall not forget thevictims and we express our firm re-solve to stamp out hate crime inHungary, whoever the victim maybe. Lest anyone claim that onehuman life is more valuable than an-other, we consider such words to bea justification for hatred, and declarethose killed in Tatárszentgyörgy andother settlements to be the victimsof such hatred. Those victims wereour equals, and they deserve thesame justice as all of us. Every human life is equally impor-

tant, and the taking of any life is acrime – whether Roma as inTatárszentgyörgy or Nagycsécs, ornon-Roma as in Olaszliszka. Thestandard should be the same. Vic-tims of hate must be defended, re-gardless of their age, their past, theirethnicity or nationality. The guiltymust be punished under the law. On 21 August 2009 four men werearrested in connection with the se-ries of attacks, and on 25 March2011 criminal proceedings werelaunched. The trial is still ongoing.The shock and public concern re-sulting from these atrocities is ameasure of their unprecedented andexceptional nature in Hungary; alldemocratic forces in Hungary un-equivocally condemned the crimes.

There must be acknowledgement of the past– we remember the victims of communism

(Online February 23, 2012) On Sat-urday 25 February across the coun-try there will be commemorationevents for the victims of commu-nism. On this day in 1947 BélaKovács, the Secretary General ofthe Independent Smallholders’Party, was unlawfully arrested anddeported to the Soviet Union. Fol-lowing a decision adopted by thefirst Orbán government in 2000, allsecondary education institutionsmark this anniversary. The Govern-ment of Hungary’s official commem-oration event will take place thisSaturday afternoon outside theHouse of Terror Museum at An-drássy út 60; this institution is tenyears old this year.From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdaythe Government welcomes all thosewho wish to place remembrancecandles and lampions outside An-drássy út 60, to honour victims ofthe communist dictatorship. At 4p.m. a memorial event will also take

place at this location, in which thefollowing speakers will take part:László Balás-Piri, President of theBoard of Trustees of the PublicFoundation for the Research ofCentral and East European Historyand Society; Gábor Tallai, Pro-gramme Director of the House ofTerror Museum; Mária Schmidt, Di-rector of the House of Terror Mu-seum; Csaba Hende, Minister ofDefence. Singer Eszter Váczi willperform, and the new video bysinger-songwriter Ákos will also beshown. The House of Terror Museum, whichhas had more than four million visi-tors in the past decade and has be-come a place of nationalremembrance, can be visited forfree on Remembrance Day for theVictims of Communism. The victims of communist regimesworldwide are estimated at 100 mil-lion. In Eastern Europe, the numberof those who died in famine, in

labour camps or were executed onpolitical grounds was around onemillion. The number of those physi-cally and psychologically crippled bythe everyday reality of dictatorshipwas much higher, however. Parliament adopted a resolution on13 June 2000 which made 25 Feb-ruary Remembrance Day for theVictims of Communism. On this daywe remember the tens of thousandsof people who were separated fromtheir families and taken to labourcamps, our fellow Hungarians whowere executed on the basis oftrumped-up charges, and resistanceheroes who died martyrs’ deaths. On this day we remember all thosewho became victims of a system ofviolence, their families and lovedones slandered by the communistregime. We can also look back withpride on the nation's perseveranceand unquenchable desire for free-dom, which buried the sins of afailed system.

PACE condemns any form of enforcedpopulation transfer

(PR) In a resolution adopted on 27January on the basis of a report byLithuanian Egidijus Vareikis (Euro-pean People’s Party), the Parlia-mentary Assembly of the Council ofEurope (PACE) expressly con-demned any form of enforced pop-ulation transfer in Europe andelsewhere in the world, a practicewhich involves moving persons intoor out of an area, either within oracross an international border, orwithin, into or out of an occupied ter-ritory, without their free consent. TheAssembly pointed out that enforcedpopulation transfer violates interna-tional human rights law and also in-ternational criminal law andinternational humanitarian law, as

well as principles of public interna-tional law, and called on the Councilof Europe member States to con-demn any such practice – includingin their international relations withStates outside Europe. PACE alsoasked the member states to pro-mote in international fora the adop-tion of an international, legallybinding instrument consolidating theexisting standards set out in differ-ent instruments of international law.The Assembly also reminded of theneed expressed in 2006 for the es-tablishment of a memorial centre ofenforced population transfer and forvictims of ethnic cleansing.Ferenc András Kalmár, Hungary’sChristian-Democratic deputy, said

that in 1920, after the Treaty of Tri-anon, more than 350,000 Hungari-ans fled from annexed regions tothe reduced territory of Hungary.After the Second World War Hun-garians were deported in large num-bers from Czechoslovakia, said Mr.Kalmár. He referred to the opinion ofthe Council of Europe related to Slo-vakia’s application for COE mem-bership. Although the Europeanorganisation has taken a standagainst the Benes Decrees thatsought to justify deportations on theprinciple of collective guilt, Slovakiahas still not revoked them – indeed,their legal status was strengthenedin 2007.

Most-Híd members allegedly involved inGorilla case

(PR) The ‘Gorilla case’ seems to bea hard nut to crack in Slovakiatoday. The wire-tapping scandalcode-named ‘Gorilla’ that came tolight a few weeks ago indicates ex-tensive links between political par-ties and the country's largestfinancial groups (Penta), involvingcorruption during MikulášDzurinda's second government(2002-2006). Among the parties in-volved, the Gorilla case featuresAnna Bubeníková, the former top of-ficial at the National Property Fund(FNM), who has been at the centreof corruption allegations related tothe transfer of huge commissionsfrom privatisation in 2006.On Sunday Jan Rejda, former headof the special operations depart-ment of the Anti- Corruption Officesaid that copies of surveillancerecordings and transcripts from theSlovak Intelligence Service (SIS)supporting the authenticity of the

Gorilla documents probably exist.Mr. Rejda also confirmed that evenbefore he was appointed , formereconomy minister Jirko Malcharekmade several visits to the flat on Va-zovova Street, Bratislava (whichwas wiretapped), during which hemet the Penta financial group's co-owner Jaroslav Haščák. Mr. Rejdaalso stated that former prime minis-ter Mikuláš Dzurinda must have hadinformation concerning the Gorillaoperation. ‘All output from SIS goesthrough the Prime Minister,’ he said.According to the wiretapping tran-scripts, Béla Bugár, former Hungar-ian Coalition Party leader, wasconfident in 2006 that his partywould get into the ruling coalitionafter Smer won in that year’s elec-tions, as ‘They were in the VazovovaStreet business’ in the two yearsprior to the elections, and certainsenior members of MKP were re-sponsible for allocating ‘Penta com-

missions’ among coalition parties inthe Dzurinda government. The MKPexperienced a period of division in2007, and those mentioned in theGorilla dossier left the party in 2009to form Most-Híd under BélaBugár’s leadership. Mr. Bugár re-jected accusations in the Slovakianmedia, but he admitted that he hadbeen in charge of the privatisation ofTranspetrol at that time. DušanKováčik is the special prosecutor,who is now supervising the 'Gorilla’investigation.The politicians’ alleged corrupt prac-tices were condemned by thou-sands of people at a so-called'Gorilla' protest in Bratislava last Fri-day, which expressed dissatisfactionwith the current political situation inthe country. A second event is ex-pected this Friday in Bratislava, withas many as 10,000 predicted to at-tend.

Election programme of the MKP(PR) The election programme of theHungarian Coalition Party (MKP)presented by party leader JózsefBerényi in Komárom/Komarno lastTuesday offers solutions for Slova-kia’s social, economic, regional andminority problems. ‘The Hungarianminority in Slovakia does not belongto the winners of the last twentyyears: the degree of assimilationand migration is great,’ said Mr.Berényi. He added that South Slo-vakia, populated mainly by Hungar-ians, was lagging behind in many

fields, and so the MKP is seeking toboost the region in every way possi-ble. The party chairman rated theprogramme ‘Talk about it’ during De-cember and January as a greatersuccess than expected. It revealedthat people primarily expect job cre-ation from parties, and therefore theMKP has placed economic and so-cial matters to the fore. The eighthpoint of the MKP’s ten-point pro-gramme deals with the assertion ofthe rights of the nearly half a million-strong Hungarian community in Slo-

vakia. The party is convinced thatthere is a need for an ethnic party.In the first place, they aim to legisla-tively endorse the sustenance andadvancement of the Hungarian lan-guage, culture and ethnic con-sciousness. The MKP stands forcollective minority rights in the longrun. The election programme alsotouches upon the need for nurturinginstitutionalized relations amongHungarians living in the CarpathianBasin.

Most-Híd looking to implement long-termminority policy strategy

(PR) According to the Hungarian-Slovakian Most-Híd's election pro-gramme, the State’s most importantroles towards minorities should beconstitutionally codified. Most-Hídalso intends to ensure legislativeprotection and development of mi-norities’ culture, as well as ensuringthat their financing reaches thesame level as in other Visegrád 4

countries. In their election pro-gramme, Most-Híd vow to supportco-operation projects within thefields of culture, art and science, aswell as intercultural programmes.These should, according to Most-Híd, contribute to bringing national-ities within Slovakia closer to eachother. Informal education is anothertool that Béla Bugár’s party views as

helpful in improving communicationbetween the majority population andminorities in Slovakia.According to its election pro-gramme, the party also wants tomore strongly enforce students'rights to education in their mothertongues, including the language ofthe Roma.

KMKSZ wants Hungarian constituency inTranscarpathia

(PR) The Cultural Associationof Hungarians in Tran-scarpathia (KMKSZ) has ap-proached the UkrainianCentral Election Committee(CVK) with a request to createan individual constituencymainly inhabited by citizens ofHungarian nationality for theparliamentary elections due inOctober. According to theKMKSZ proposal, the futureconstituency would embracethe region where Hungarianslive in a block, and the electoral

area could be complementedwith municipalities of mixedpopulation, said KMKSZ chairMiklós Kovács.The desired constituencywould have around 150,000voters, of which 90,000 wouldbe Hungarians. According tothe modified Electoral Act inUkraine, each of the total 225individual constituencies wouldhave an average of 160,000voters. 2002 was the last yearwhen voters could vote for in-dividual candidates, the con-

stituency with a Hungarian ma-jority centred onBeregszász/Berehove being alarger one, with 180,000 con-stituents. ‘The KMKSZ seesthe so-called Hungarian con-stituency as being in the funda-mental interest ofTranscarpathian Hungarians.Until now, no other politicalpowers have expressed theirviews on this question, soKMKSZ had to come forwardwith its conception,’ said Mr.Kovács.

Independence Day - Mar 01BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

Bosnia and Herzegovina sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southeastern Eu-rope, on the Balkan Peninsula. Its capital andlargest city is Sarajevo. Bordered by Croatia tothe north, west and south, Serbia to the east,and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia andHerzegovina is almost landlocked, except forthe 20 kilometres (12 miles) of coastline on theAdriatic Sea surrounding the town of Neum. Inthe central and southern interior of the countrythe geography is mountainous, in the north-west it is moderately hilly, and the northeast ispredominantly flatland. The inland is a geo-graphically larger region and has a moderatecontinental climate, bookended by hot sum-mers and cold and snowy winters. The south-ern tip of the country has a Mediterraneanclimate and plain topography.The country that is now Bosnia and Herzegov-ina is a region that traces permanent humansettlement back to the Neolithic age. Culturally,politically and socially, the country has one ofthe richest histories in the region, having been first settled by the Slavic peoples that populate the area today fromthe 6th through to the 9th centuries AD. They then established the first independent Banate in the 12th century uponthe arrival and convergence of people that would eventually come to call themselves Dobri Bošnjani(literally "GoodBosnians"). This evolved into the Kingdom of Bosnia in the 14th century, after which it was annexed into the OttomanEmpire, under whose rule it would remain from the mid 15th to the late 18th century. The Ottomans brought Islam tothe region, and altered much of the cultural and social outlook of the country. This was followed by annexation intothe Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which lasted up until the end of World War I. Following the dissolution of the SocialistFederal Republic of Yugoslavia, the country, like most other in the region, proclaimed independence in 1992, whichwas followed by a long and bloody civil war, which lasted for more than four years.Today, the country maintains high literacy, life expectancy and education levels and is one of the most frequently-vis-ited countries in the region. Bosnia and Herze-govina is regionally and internationallyrenowned for its natural beauty and heritageinherited from six historical civilizations thathave ruled in the country, its cuisine, wintersports, its eclectic and unique architecture andthe Sarajevo Film Festival and Sarajevo JazzFestivals, both the largest and most prominentof their kind in Southeastern Europe.The country is home to three ethnic groups or,officially, constituent peoples, a term uniquefor Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosniaks are thelargest group of the three, with Serbs secondand Croats third. Regardless of ethnicity, a cit-izen of Bosnia and Herzegovina is often iden-tified in English as a Bosnian. The termsHerzegovinian and Bosnian are maintained asa regional rather than ethnic distinction, andthe region of Herzegovina has no precisely de-fined borders of its own. Moreover, the countrywas simply called "Bosnia" (without Herzegov-ina) until the Austro-Hungarian occupation atthe end of the nineteenth century.Formerly one of the six federal units constitut-ing the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu-goslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina gained itsindependence during the Yugoslav Wars ofthe 1990s. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a par-liamentary republic, which has a bicamerallegislature and a three-member Presidencycomposed of a member of each major ethnicgroup. However, the central government's power is highly limited, as the country is largely decentralized and com-prises two autonomous entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, with a third region,the Brčko District, governed under local government. The country is a potential candidate for membership to the Eu-ropean Union and has been a candidate for NATO membership since April 2010, when it received a Membership Ac-tion Plan at the summit in Tallinn. Additionally, the country has been a member of the Council of Europe since 24 April2002 and a founding member of the Mediterranean Union upon its establishment on 13 July 2008.

EtymologyThe first preserved mention of the name "Bosnia" is in De Administrando Imperio, a politico-geographical handbookwritten by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII in the mid-10th century (between 948 and 952) describing the"small country" (χοριον) of "Bosona" (Βο-σωνα). The Chronicle of the Priest of Dukljafrom 1172-1196 of Bar's Roman CatholicChristian Archbishop Grgur names Bosnia,and references an earlier source from the yearof 753 - the De Regno Sclavorum (Of theRealm of Slavs). The name "Bosnia" probablycomes from the name of theBosna riveraround which it has been historically based,which was recorded in the Roman era underthe name Bossina. More direct roots of theriver's names are unknown. Philologist AntonMayer proposed a connection with the Indo-European root *bos or *bogh, meaning "run-ning water". Certain Roman sources similarlymention Bathinus flumen as a name of the Il-lyrian Bosona, both of which would mean "run-ning water" as well. Other theories involve therare Latin term Bosina, meaning boundary,and possible Slavic origins.The origins of "Herzegovina" can be identifiedwith more precision. During the Early MiddleAges the region was known as Hum, fromtheZachlumoi tribe of southern Slavs which inhabited it. In the 1440s, the region was ruled by the powerful noblemanStefan Vukčić Kosača. In a document sent to Friedrich III on January 20, 1448, Stefan Vukčić Kosača called himself"Herzog of Saint Sava, Lord of Hum and Primorje, Grand Duke of Bosnia". Herzog is the German for "duke", and sothe lands he controlled later became known as Herzegovina ("Dukedom", from the addition of -ovina, "land"). The re-gion was administered by the Ottomans as the sanjak and then pashaluk of Hersek. The name Herzegovina was firstincluded in the official name of the then Ottoman province in the mid-19th century.On initial proclamation of independence in 1992 the country's official name was the Republic of Bosnia and Herze-govina but following the 1995 Dayton Agreement and the new constitution that came with it the name was officiallychanged to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

HistoryEarly history:Bosnia has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic age. The earliest Neolithic population became known in theAntiquity as the Illyrians.Celtic migrations in the 4th century BC were also notable. Concrete historical evidence forthis period is scarce, but overall it appears that the region was populated by a number of different peoples speakingdistinct languages. Conflict between the Illyrians and Romans started in229 BC, but Rome did not complete its an-nexation of the region until AD 9.It was precisely in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina that Rome fought one of the most difficult battles in its historysince the Punic Wars, as described by theRoman historian Suetonius. This was theRoman campaign against the revolt of indige-nous communities from Illyricum, known in his-tory as the Great Illyrian Revolt, and also asthe Pannonian revolt, or Bellum Batonianum,the latter named after two leaders of the rebel-lious Illyrian communities, Bato/Baton of theDaesitiates, and Bato of the Breuci.The Great Illyrian revolt was a rising up of Il-lyrians against the Romans, more specificallya revolt against Tiberius' attempt to recruitthem for his war against the Germans. The Il-lyrians put up a fierce resistance to the mostpowerful army on earth at the time (the RomanArmy) for four years (AD 6 to AD 9), but theywere finally subdued by Rome in AD 9.The last Illyrian stronghold, of which their de-fence won the admiration of Roman historians,is said to have been Arduba. Bato of Daesiti-ates was captured and taken to Italy. It is al-leged that when Tiberius asked Bato and theDaesitiates why they had rebelled, Baton wasreputed to have answered: "You Romans are to blame for this; for you send as guardians of your flocks, not dogs orshepherds, but wolves." Bato spent the rest of his life in the Italian town of Ravenna.In the Roman period, Latin-speaking settlers from the entire Roman Empire settled among the Illyrians, and Romansoldiers were encouraged to retire in the region.The land was originally part of Illyria up until the Roman occupation. Following the split of the Roman Empire between337 and 395 AD, Dalmatia and Pannonia became parts of the Western Roman Empire. Some claim that the regionwas conquered by the Ostrogoths in 455 AD. It subsequently changed hands between the Alans and the Huns. Bythe 6th century, Emperor Justinian had reconquered the area for the Byzantine Empire. The Illyrians were conqueredby the Avars in the 6th century.

Medieval Bosnia:Modern knowledge of the political situation in the west Balkans during the Early Middle Ages is unclear. Upon theirarrival, the Slavs brought with them a tribal social structure which probably fell apart and gave way to Feudalism onlywith Frankish penetration into the region in the late 9th century. The Slavic tribes also brought their mythology andpagan system of beliefs, the Rodovjerje. In particular, Perun / Перун, the highest god of the pantheon and the god ofthunder and lightning is also commonly found in Bosnian toponymy, for instance in the name of Mount Perun (Pe-runova Gora / Перунова Гора). Along with the Slavic settlers, the native Illyrians were Christianized. Bosnia andHerzegovina, because of its geographic position and terrain, was probably one of the last areas to go through thisprocess, which presumably originated from the urban centers along the Dalmatian coast. Thus, Slavic Bosnian tribesremained pagans for a longer time, and finally converted to the Bogumil Christian faith.The principalities of Serbia and Croatia split control of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 9th and 10th century, but bythe High Middle Ages political circumstance led to the area being contested between the Kingdom of Hungary andthe Byzantine Empire. Following another shift of power between the two in the early 12th century, Bosnia found itselfoutside the control of both and emerged as an independent state under the rule of local bans.The first Bosnian monarch was Ban Borić. Thesecond was Ban Kulin whose rule marked thestart of a controversy with the Bosnian Church,because he allowed an indigenous Bogomil-ism sect considered heretical by the RomanCatholic Church. In response to Hungarian at-tempts to use church politics regarding theissue as a way to reclaim sovereignty overBosnia, Kulin held a council of local churchleaders to renounce the heresy and embracedCatholicism in 1203. Despite this, Hungarianambitions remained unchanged long afterKulin's death in 1204, waning only after an un-successful invasion in 1254.Bosnian history from then until the early 14thcentury was marked by a power struggle be-tween the Šubić and Kotromanić families. Thisconflict came to an end in 1322, when StephenII Kotromanićbecame Ban. By the time of hisdeath in 1353, he was successful in annexingterritories to the north and west, as well as Za-humlje and parts of Dalmatia. He was suc-ceeded by his nephew Tvrtko who, following aprolonged struggle with nobility and inter-fam-ily strife, gained full control of the country in1367. Tvrtko crowned himself on 26 October1377 as Stephen Tvrtko I the King of Rascia,Bosnia, Dalmatia, Croatia, the Seaside.Based on archaeological evidence, he wascrowned in the in Mile near Visoko in thechurch which was built in the time of StephenII Kotromanić's reign, where he was alsoburied alongside his uncle Stjepan II. Follow-ing his death in 1391 however, Bosnia fell intoa long period of decline. The Ottoman Empirehad already started its conquest of Europe andposed a major threat to the Balkans through-out the first half of the 15th century. Finally, after decades of political and social instability, the Kingdom of Bosniaceased to exist in 1463.

Ottoman Era (1463–1878):The Ottoman conquest of Bosnia marked a new era in the country's history and introduced drastic changes in thepolitical and cultural landscape. The Ottomans allowed for the preservation of Bosnia's identity by incorporating it asan integral province of the Ottoman Empire with its historical name and territorial integrity — a unique case amongsubjugated states in the Balkans.Within Bosnia the Ottomans introduced a number of key changes in the territory's socio-political administration; in-cluding a new landholding system, a reorganization of administrative units, and a complex system of social differen-tiation by class and religious affiliation.The three centuries of Ottoman rule also had a drastic impact on Bosnia's population make-up, which changed severaltimes as a result of the empire's conquests, frequent wars with European powers, forced and economic migrations,and epidemics. A native Slavic-speaking Muslim community emerged and eventually became the largest of the ethno-religious groups due to the restriction imposed by the Ottoman Empire, and conversions-for-gain.The Bosnian Christian communities also experienced major changes. The Bosnian Franciscans (and the Catholicpopulation as a whole) were to a minor extent protected by official imperial decree, while the Bosnian Church disap-peared altogether.As the Ottoman Empire continued their rule in the Balkans (Rumelia), Bosnia was somewhat relieved of the pressuresof being a frontier province, and experienced a period of general welfare. A number of cities, such as Sarajevo andMostar, were established and grew into regional centers of trade and urban culture and were then visited by Ottomantraveler Evliya Çelebi in 1648. Within these cities, various Ottoman Sultans financed the construction of many worksof Bosnian architecture such as the country's first library in Sarajevo, madrassas, a school of Sufi philosophy, and aclock tower (Sahat Kula), bridges such as the Stari Most, the Tsar's Mosque and the Gazi Husrev-beg's Mosque.Furthermore, some Bosnians played influential roles in the Ottoman Empire's cultural and political history during thistime. Bosnian recruits formed a large component of the Ottoman ranks in the battles of Mohács and Krbava field,while numerous other Bosnians rose through the ranks of the Ottoman military to occupy the highest positions ofpower in the Empire, including admirals such as Matrakçı Nasuh; generals such as Isa-Beg Isaković, Gazi Husrev-beg and Telli Hasan Pasha; administrators such as Ferhat-paša Sokolović and Osman Gradaščević; and GrandViziers such as the influential Mehmed Paša Sokolović. Some Bosnians emerged as Sufi mystics, scholars such asAli Džabič; and poets in the Turkish, Albanian, Arabic, and Persian languages.However, by the late 17th century the Empire's military misfortunes caught up with the country, and the conclusion ofthe Great Turkish War with the treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 once again made Bosnia the Empire's westernmost province.The following century was marked by further military failures, numerous revolts within Bosnia, and several outburstsof plague. The Porte's false efforts at modernizing the Ottoman state were met with distrust growing to hostility inBosnia, where local aristocrats stood to lose much through the proposed reforms.This, combined with frustrations over political concessions to nascent Christian states in the east, culminated in anunsuccessful revolt byHusein Gradaščević, in 1831 after the Turkish Sultan Mahmud II slaughtered and abolishedthe Janissary. Related rebellions would be extinguished by 1850, but the situation continued to deteriorate. Lateragrarian unrest eventually sparked the Herzegovinian rebellion, a widespread peasant uprising, in 1875. The conflictrapidly spread and came to involve several Balkan states and Great Powers, a situation which eventually led to theCongress of Berlin and the Treaty of Berlin in 1878.

Austro-Hungarian rule (1878–1918):At the Congress of Berlin in 1878, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Gyula Andrássy obtained the occupationand administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he also obtained the right to station garrisons in the Sanjak ofNovi Pazar, which remained under Ottoman administration. The Sanjak preserved the separation of Serbia and Mon-tenegro, and the Austro-Hungarian garrisons there would open the way for a dash to Salonika that "would bring thewestern half of the Balkans under permanent Austrian influence." "High [Austro-Hungarian] military authorities desired[an...] immediate major expedition with Salonika as its objective."On 28 September 1878 the Finance Minister, Koloman von Zell, threatened to resign if the army, backed by the Arch-duke Albert, were allowed to advance to Salonika. In the session of the Hungarian Parliament of 5 November 1878the Opposition proposed that the Foreign Minister should be impeached for violating the constitution with his policyduring the Near East Crisis and by the occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The motion lost 179 to 95. The gravestaccusations were raised by the opposition rank and file against Andrassy.Although an Austro-Hungarian side quickly came to an agreement with Bosnians, tensions remained in certain partsof the country (particularly the south) and a mass emigration of predominantly Slavic dissidents occurred. However,a state of relative stability was reached soon enough and Austro-Hungarian authorities were able to embark on anumber of social and administrative reforms which intended to make Bosnia and Herzegovina into a "model colony".With the aim of establishing the province as a stable political model that would help dissipate rising South Slav na-tionalism, Habsburg rule did much to codify laws, to introduce new political practices, and to provide for modernisation.The Austro-Hungarian Empire built the three Roman Catholic churches in Sarajevo and these three churches areamong only 20 Catholic churches in the state of Bosnia.Within three years of formal occupation of Bosnia Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary, in 1881, obtained German, andmore importantly, Russian, approval for the annexation of these provinces, at a time which suited Vienna. This man-date was formally ratified by the Dreikaiserbund (Three Emperor's Treaty) on June 18 of that year. Upon the accessionof Czar Nicholas II, however, the Russians reneged on the agreement, asserting in 1897 the need for special scrutinyof the Bosnian Annexation issue at an unspecified future date.External matters began to affect the Bosnian Protectorate, however, and its relationship with Austria-Hungary. Abloody coup occurred in Serbia, on June 10, 1903, which brought a radical anti-Austrian government into power inBelgrade. Serb attempts to foment agitation followed, advocating a unified South Slavic state, ruled from Belgrade.This gained little support amongst most of the population of Bosnia Herzegovina, and only found fertile ground withdisaffected portions of the Orthodox minority. Also, the revolt in the Ottoman Empire in 1908, raised concerns thatthe Istanbul government might seek the outright return of Bosnia Herzegovina. These factors caused the Austrian-Hungarian government to seek a permanent resolution of the Bosnian question, sooner, rather than later.On July 2, 1908, in response to the pressing of the Austrian-Hungarian claim, the Russian Imperial Foreign MinisterAlexander Izvolsky offered to support the Bosnian Annexation in return for Vienna's support for Russia's bid for navalaccess through the Dardanelles Straits into the Mediterranean. With the Russians being, at least, provisionally willingto keep their word over Bosnia Herzegovina for the first time in 11 years, Austria-Hungary waited and then publishedthe annexation proclamation on October 6, 1908. The international furor over the annexation announcement causedIzvolsky to drop the Dardanelles Straits question, altogether, in an effort to obtain a European conference over theBosnian Annexation. This conference never materialized and without British or French support, the Russians andtheir client state, Serbia, were compelled to accept the Austrian-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia Herzegovina inMarch 1909.Political tensions culminated on 28 June 1914, when Serb nationalist youth Gavrilo Princip, a member of movementYoung Bosnia,assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo – anevent that proved to be the spark that set off World War I. Although some Bosnians died serving in the armies of thevarious warring states, Bosnia and Herzegovina itself managed to escape the conflict relatively unscathed.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941):Following the war, Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the South Slav kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (soon re-named Yugoslavia). Political life in Bosnia at this time was marked by two major trends: social and economic unrestover property redistribution, and formation of several political parties that frequently changed coalitions and allianceswith parties in other Yugoslav regions. The dominant ideological conflict of the Yugoslav state, between Croatian re-gionalism and Serbian centralization, was approached differently by Bosnia's major ethnic groups and was dependenton the overall political atmosphere. The political reforms brought about in the newly established Yugoslavian kingdomsaw few benefits for the Bosniaks; according to the 1910 final census of land ownership and population according toreligious affiliation conducted in Austro-Hungary, Muslims (Bosniaks) owned 91.1%, Orthodox Serbians owned 6.0%,Croatian Catholics owned 2.6% and others, 0.3% of the property. Following the reforms Bosnian Muslims had a totalof 1,175,305 hectares of agricultural and forest land taken away from them.Although the initial split of the country into 33 oblasts erased the presence of traditional geographic entities from themap, the efforts of Bosnian politicians such as Mehmed Spaho ensured that the six oblasts carved up from Bosniaand Herzegovina corresponded to the six sanjaks from Ottoman times and, thus, matched the country's traditionalboundary as a whole.The establishment of the Kingdom of Yu-goslavia in 1929, however, brought the re-drawing of administrative regions into banatesor banovinas that purposely avoided all histor-ical and ethnic lines, removing any trace of aBosnian entity. Serbo-Croat tensions over thestructuring of the Yugoslav state continued,with the concept of a separate Bosnian divi-sion receiving little or no consideration.The famous Cvetković-Maček Agreement thatcreated the Croatian banate in 1939 encour-aged what was essentially a partition of Bosniabetween Croatia and Serbia. However the ris-ing threat of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany forcedYugoslav politicians to shift their attention. Fol-lowing a period that saw attempts at appease-ment, the signing of the Tripartite Treaty, anda coup d'état, Yugoslavia was finally invadedby Germany on 6 April 1941.

World War II (1941–45):Once the kingdom of Yugoslavia was con-quered by Nazi forces in World War II, all of Bosnia was ceded to the Independent State of Croatia. The Croat leadersembarked on a campaign of extermination of Serbs, Jews, Roma, communists and large numbers of Josip BrozTito'sPartisans by setting up a number of death camps.Many Serbs themselves took up arms and joined the Chetniks; a Serb nationalist movement that conducted operationscoordinated with Nazi forces against the partisans. The Chetniks were also known to persecute and murder non-Serbs and communist sympathizers. They committed many war crimes against Bosnian Muslims in Eastern Bosnia.On October 12, 1941 a group of 108 notable Muslim citizens of Sarajevo signed the Resolution of Sarajevo Muslimsby which they condemned the persecution of Serbs organized by Ustaše, made distinction between Muslims whoparticipated in such persecutions and whole Muslim population, presented informations about the persecutions ofMuslims by Serbs and requested security for all citizens of the country, regardless of their identity.Starting in 1941, Yugoslav communists under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito organized their own multi-ethnic re-sistance group, the partisans, who fought against both Axis and Chetnik forces. On 29 November 1943 the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia with Tito at its helm held a founding conference in Jajce whereBosnia and Herzegovina was reestablished as a republic within the Yugoslavian federation in its Habsburg borders.Military success eventually prompted the Allies to support the Partisans, but Tito declined their offer to help and reliedon his own forces instead. All the major military offensives by the antifascist movement of Yugoslavia against Nazisand their local supporters were conducted in Bosnia-Herzegovina and its peoples bore the brunt of fighting. Morethan 300,000 people died in Bosnia and Herzegovina in World War II. At the end of the war the establishment of theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with the constitution of 1946, officially made Bosnia and Herzegovina oneof six constituent republics in the new state.

Socialist Yugoslavia (1945–1992):Because of its central geographic position within the Yugoslavian federation, post-war Bosnia was selected as a basefor the development of the military defense industry. This contributed to a large concentration of arms and militarypersonnel in Bosnia; a significant factor in the warthat followed the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. However,Bosnia's existence within Yugoslavia, for the large part, was peaceful and prosperous. Though considered a politicalbackwater of the federation for much of the 1950s and 1960s, in the 1970s a strong Bosnian political elite arose,fueled in part by Tito's leadership in the Non-Aligned Movement and Bosnians serving in Yugoslavia's diplomaticcorps.While working within the communist system, politicians such as Džemal Bijedić, Branko Mikulić and Hamdija Pozderacreinforced and protected the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina Their efforts proved key during the turbulent pe-riod following Tito's death in 1980, and are today considered some of the early steps towards Bosnian independence.However, the republic did not escape the increasingly nationalistic climate of the time. With the fall of the Soviet Unionand the start of the break-up of Yugoslavia, the old communist doctrine of tolerance began to lose its potency, creatingan opportunity for nationalist elements in the society to spread their influence.

Bosnian War (1992–1995):On 18 November 1990 the first multi-party parliamentary elections were held (with a 2nd round on 25 November),which resulted in a national assembly dominated by three ethnically based parties, which had formed a loose coalitionto oust the communists from power. Croatia and Slovenia's subsequent declarations of independence and the warfarethat ensued placed Bosnia and Herzegovina and its three constituent peoples in an awkward position. A significantsplit soon developed on the issue of whether to stay with the Yugoslav federation(overwhelmingly favored amongSerbs) or seek independence (overwhelmingly favored among Bosniaks and Croats).The Serb members of parliament, consisting mainly of the Serb Democratic Party members, abandoned the centralparliament in Sarajevo, and formed the Assembly of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 24 October 1991,which marked the end of the tri-ethnic coalition that governed after the elections in 1990. This Assembly establishedthe Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 9 January 1992, which became Republika Srpska in August1992.On 18 November 1991, the party branch in Bosnia and Herzegovina of the ruling party in the Republic of Croatia, theCroatian Democratic Union (HDZ), proclaimed the existence of the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, as a sep-arate "political, cultural, economic and territorial whole", on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Croat DefenceCouncil (HVO) as its military part. The Bosnian government did not recognize it. The Constitutional Court of Bosniaand Herzegovina declared Herzeg-Bosnia illegal, first on 14 September 1992 and again on 20 January 1994.A declaration of Bosnia and Herzegovina sovereignty on 15 October 1991 was followed by a referendum for inde-pendence from Yugoslavia on 29 February and 1 March 1992 boycotted by the great majority of the Serbs. Theturnout in the independence referendum was 63.4 per cent and 99.7 per cent of voters voted for independence.Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence on 3 March 1992. Following a tense period of escalating tensionsthe opening shots in the incipient Bosnian conflict were fired when Serb paramilitary forces attacked Bosnian Croatvillages around Capljina on 7 March 1992 and around Bosanski Brod and Bosniak town Gorazde on 15 March. Theseminor attacks were followed by much more serious Serb artillery attacks on Neum on 19 March and on BosanskiBrod on 24 March. The killing of a Bosniak civilian, woman (Suada Dilberović), on 5 April 1992 by a sniper, while shewas demonstrating in Sarajevo against the raising of barricades by Bosnian Serbs, is widely regarded as markingthe start of warfare between the three major communities.Secret discussions between Franjo Tuđman and Slobodan Milošević on the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina be-tween Serbia and Croatia were held as early as March 1991 known as Karađorđevo agreement. Following the dec-laration of independence of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbs attacked different parts of the country.The state administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina effectively ceased to function having lost control over the entireterritory. The Serbs wanted all lands where Serbs had a majority, eastern and western Bosnia.The Croats and their leader Tuđman also aimed at securing parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Croatian. The policiesof the Republic of Croatia and its leader Franjo Tuđman towards Bosnia and Herzegovina were never totally trans-parent and always included Franjo Tuđman's ultimate aim of expanding Croatia's borders. Bosnian Muslims, the onlyethnic group loyal to the Bosnian government, were an easy target, because the Bosnian government forces werepoorly equipped and unprepared for the war.International recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina increased diplomatic pressure for the Yugoslav People's Army(JNA) to withdraw from the republic's territory which they officially did. However, in fact, the Bosnian Serb membersof JNA simply changed insignia, formed the Army of Republika Srpska, and continued fighting. Armed and equippedfrom JNA stockpiles in Bosnia, supported by volunteers and various paramilitary forces from Serbia, and receivingextensive humanitarian, logistical and financial support from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Republika Srpska'soffensives in 1992 managed to place much of the country under its control.Initially, the Serb forces attacked the non-Serb civilian population in Eastern Bosnia. Once towns and villages weresecurely in their hands, the Serb forces – military, police, the paramilitaries and, sometimes, even Serb villagers –applied the same pattern: Bosniak houses and apartments were systematically ransacked or burnt down, Bosniakcivilians were rounded up or captured, and sometimes beaten or killed in the process. 2.2 million refugees were dis-placed by the end of the war (of all three nationalities).Men and women were separated, with many of the men detained in the camps. The women and indeed some children,as young as twelve years of age, were kept in various detention centres where they had to live in intolerably unhygienicconditions, where they were mistreated in many ways including being raped repeatedly. Serb soldiers or policemenwould come to these detention centres, select one or more women, take them out and rape them.In June 1992 the focus switched to Novi Travnik and Gornji Vakuf where the Croat Defence Council (HVO) efforts togain control were resisted. On 18 June 1992 the Bosnian Territorial Defence in Novi Travnik received an ultimatumfrom the HVO which included demands to abolish existing Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions, establish the authorityof the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia and pledge allegiance to it, subordinate the Territorial Defense to theHVO and expel Muslim refugees, all within 24 hours. The attack was launched on June 19. The elementary schooland the Post Office were attacked and damaged.Gornji Vakuf was initially attacked by Croats on 20 June 1992, but the attack failed. The Graz agreement causeddeep division inside the Croat community and strengthened the separation group, which led to the conflict with Bosni-aks. One of the primary pro-union Croat leaders,Blaž Kraljević (leader of the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) armedgroup) was killed by HVO soldiers in August 1992, which severely weakened the moderate group who hoped to keepthe Bosnian Croat alliance alive.The situation became more serious in October 1992 when Croat forces mattacked the Bosniak population in Prozor.According to Jadranko Prlić indictment, HVO forces cleansed most of the Muslims from the town of Prozor and severalsurrounding villages.By 1993, when an armed conflict erupted between the predominantly Bosniak government in Sarajevo and the Croa-tian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, about 70% of the country was controlled by Republika Srpska. Ethnic cleansing andcivil rights violations against non-Serbs were rampant in these areas. DNA teams have been used to collect evidenceof the atrocities committed by Serbian forces during these campaigns. One single most prominent example is theSrebrenica Massacre, ruled genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. An estimated7,000 Bosnians were killed by the Serbian political authorities.In March 1994, the signing of the Washington Accords between the leaders of the republican government and Herzeg-Bosnia led to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which absorbed the territoryof the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and that held by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.The Federation soon liberated the small Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia.A NATO bombing campaign began in August, 1995, against the Army of Republika Srpska, after the Srebrenica mas-sacre. Meanwhile, a ground offensive by the allied forces of Croatia and Bosnia, based on the treaty in Split by Tudj-man and Izetbegović, pushed the Serbs away from territories held in western Bosnia which paved the way tonegotiations. In December 1995, the signing of the Dayton Agreement inDayton, Ohio by the presidents of Bosniaand Herzegovina (Alija Izetbegović), Croatia (Franjo Tuđman), and Serbia (Slobodan Milošević) brought a halt to thefighting, roughly establishing the basic structure of the present-day state. A NATO-led peacekeeping force was im-mediately dispatched to Bosnia to enforce the deal.The number of identified victims is currently at 97,207, and the recent research estimates the total number to be lessthan 110,000 killed (civilians and military), and 1.8 million displaced. This is being addressed by the InternationalCommission on Missing Persons.According to numerous International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) judgments the conflict involvedBosnia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later Serbia and Montenegro) as well as Croatia.The Bosnian government charged Serbia of complicity in genocide in Bosnia during the war at theInternational Courtof Justice (ICJ). The ICJ ruling of 26 February 2007 effectively determined the war's nature to be international, thoughexonerating Serbia of direct responsibility for the genocide committed by Serb forces of Republika Srpska. The ICJconcluded, however, that Serbia failed to prevent genocide committed by Serb forces and failed to punish those whocarried out the genocide, especially general Ratko Mladić, and bring them to justice. Ratko Mladić was arrested in avillage in northern Serbia on 26 May 2011, being accused of directly orchestrating and overseeing the slaughter of8,000 Muslim men and boys, amongst other genocide and war crime charges.The judges ruled that the criteria for genocide with the specific intent (dolus specialis) to destroy Bosnian Muslimswere met only in Srebrenica or Eastern Bosnia in 1995. The court concluded that the crimes committed during the1992–1995 war, may amount to crimes against humanity according to the international law, but that these acts didnot, in themselves, constitute genocide. The Court further decided that, following Montenegro's declaration of inde-pendence in June, 2006, Serbia was the only respondent party in the case, but that "any responsibility for past eventsinvolved at the relevant time the composite State of Serbia and Montenegro".

Walls of ancient Daorson, Ošanići near Stolac,Bosnia and Herzegovina, 3rd century BC.

Tvrtko I of Bosnia ruled in 1353–1366 and again in1367–1377 as ban and in 1377–1391 as the firstKing of Bosnia.

The railway bridge over the Neretva river, was de-stroyed twice during the battle of the Neretva.

Monument commemorating the Battle of Sutjeskain eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The parliament building in the centre of Sarajevoburns after being hit by tank fire during the siege in1992.

Gravestones at the Srebrenica Genocide memorial.

Martyr's DayMALAWI - M a r 0 3

Every year, Malawi, formerly known as Nyasaland, a land-locked country in Southeast Africa, celebrates Martyr’s Dayevery third day of March yearly to commemorate the pop-ular uprising in Malawi protesting British colonial rule. Thisresistance has caused the lives of more than forty menduring the revolution. It is this day when the countrymourns those whose lives were perished just to liberatethe country from the foreign rule.

HistoryIn 1953, Malawi and its neighbour country Nyasaland (pre-sent day Malawi), formed a confederation called Federa-tion of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, in an effort to halt thediscriminatory policy applied against the African populationin Rhodesia and for fear that it may also spread and even-tually be adopted in Nyasaland. Dr. Hastings KamuzBanda became one of the prominent figures of the revoltwho immediately became the first president of Malawi in 1966, two years after the declaration of Independence ofMalawi.The popular revolt started when John Chilembwe, a US trained Malawian soldier, revolted against the British in 1915when African soldiers were forced to serve the British colonial army. Chilembwe, along with other brave men duringthat time, began taking offensives against the British colonial government forces during that time. The war ended onlywhen Chilembwe was assassinated along the borders of the Portuguese-controlled African republic Mozambique andthe country in the same year.Numerous wars and power struggles happened in the Nyasaland and Rhodesia region after the initial war ensuedwhich led to the then Queen of England in 1959 declaring state of emergency on these African protectorate territoriesin an effort to finally put an end to the rebellion. The first president installed during that time was sent for exile in Zim-babwe and put behind bars during the rebellion.One of the most momentous incidents during the rebellion is the massacre that happened in northern lakeshore inNkhatabay where, more or less, 30 people have died. The British colonial army gunned down and killed unarmedAfrican natives who were peacefully demanding negotiations for the eventual independence of the Nyasaland. Therather peaceful negotiation turned out to be a bloody massacre of people who were killed by riffle bullets and somedrowned in Lake Malawi.After the dissolution of The Federation (1963), Nyasaland finally gained independence from the government of Britainand was renamed Malawi. The country prospered during Banda’s rule until he was deposed in 1994 after a new pres-ident was elected (Bakili Muluzi) under the new multiparty system.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS AND ACTIVITIESMartyrs’ Day is considered as a national holiday in Malawi. During the celebration, public offices including schools andsome private companies are closed. The government conduct ceremonial speeches to commemorate those whoselives were lost during the rebellion leading to the independence of the state. The president and other public officialsattend local gatherings remembering the fallen heroes including the laying of wreaths on monuments dedicated to thepopular personalities of the liberation.

Memorial DayMARSHALL ISLANDS - Mar 01

Marshall Islands celebrates Memorial Day or Nuclear Victims’ Me-morial Day every 1st of March every year. The holiday serves tocommemorate those who perished in the nuclear done in MarshallIslands. The holiday was used to be called Decoration Day.The Marshall Islands were named after British navigator JohnCharles Marshall when he arrived in the Islands in 1788. Severalcountries managed to invade the Island, from Spain, Germany,Japanese, and later the United States of America after the latter’sinvasion on the Island against Japanese Imperial forces in WorldWar II.

HISTORYFrom 1946 to 1958, motivated by exploring the potential of nu-clear weapons in warfare, the US made Marshall Islands as testsite for its various nuclear tests. The US approximately conductedaround 67 nuclear tests in the Island which contaminated most of the Island country’s territory.The Bikini Island, known previously as Escholtz Atoll during the Second World War, became a test site for various nu-clear tests by the US (Operation Crossroads). The US conducted atomic bomb tests in the area to determine radioactivefallout’s effects on naval vessels. Bikini and Enewetak, two of the country’s major atolls, were sites for this nuclear ex-periment.The Castle Bravo, the largest atomic bomb test ever made by the US in the island caused so much damage and con-tamination in the surrounding Islands with health effects lingering until today. Marshall Island and the US are in a dia-logue for nuclear claims that had happened in the area during the Nuclear test era.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS AND ACTIVITIESPeople in the Marshall Islands celebrate Memorial Day by visiting memorials and cemeteries to honor those who diedin the nuclear tests in the country. Public speeches are conducted along with parade and cultural events.

Pakistan MPs call for strengthening of tieswith India

(Online February 25, 2012) Morethan diplomatic relations betweenthe two neighboring countries, itwas dream come true for GulMohmmad Khan Jakharani andRamesh Lal, the members of par-liament from Pakistan when theytook samadhi darshan at Sai BabaSansthan here.While paying obeisance at samadhi,the two parliamentarians from acrossthe border minced no words of theirwish about further strenthening ofcordial ties between two counties."We had been hearing about ShriSaibaba through various medias, es-pecially the TV serials. Secondly,Baba's message of Sabka Malik ek.categorically indicates towards valu-

ing the relationships, hence this at-tracted us. Insha allah, our dream ofvisiting the Sai Baba's Samadhi hascome true now", the two parliamen-tarians said.Conversing in Hindi and English,while interacting with media personsafter taking darshan at samadhimandir, the parliamentarians categor-ically insisted on more efforts to bemade in strengthening the ties be-tween two countries. Ramesh Lal,the MP from Pakistan said, "India isnot only a good neighbor but also agood commercial hub so far as busi-ness ties are concerned. We look for-ward towards India as the best place,so far as commercial openings areconcerned. And, this shall help both

the neighboring countries in strength-ening their economies as well."Meanwhile, referring to following ofShri Sai Baba, the two MPs informedabout setting up a special Sai Baba'sswaroop in a Shiv mandir of Karachitown where not just Hindus but mus-lims also visit to pay the obeisence.Accompanied by Dr YashwantraoMane, the deputy chief executive of-ficer of Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust(Shirdi) and officials from sansthan,the two parliamentarians visitedDwarkamayee where they took dar-shan of Dhuni and museum to seethe robes, vessels and beds used byShri Shirdi Saibaba during his lifetime.

Lok Sabha speaker prays for India-Pak-istan peace

(Online February 25, 2012) An In-dian delegation led by Lok Sabhaspeaker Meira Kamar spent a busyday in the provincial metropolis.Talking to the media, she said shewas ‘pleasantly shocked’ to seethe love of Pakistanis for Indians.The delegation visited the Punjab As-sembly and witnessed for some timeits proceedings. Ms Kamar also helda meeting with Speaker RanaMuhammad Iqbal who hosted aluncheon in the honour of the visitingteam.She later paid a visit to Data Dabar topay homage to Lahore’s patron saintand also went to Minar-i-Pakistan as

well as the Samadhi of MaharajaRanjit Singh.Talking to the media at the assemblybuilding and later at the Data Darbar,she said she was ‘pleasantlyshocked’ to see the love of Pakistanisfor Indians. She prayed for the cordialrelations and peace in India and Pak-istan.At the luncheon meeting, SpeakerRana Iqbal said interference couldnot be tolerated in the internal affairsof the country. He called for resolvingall issues through dialogue.He said: “We want peace in theworld, however, we cannot compro-mise on integrity and solidarity of the

country.”He said both Pakistan and Indiashould fight poverty and unemploy-ment as these were common prob-lems of the people across theborders.Expressing her good wishes forprogress and wellbeing of Pakistanand its people, Ms Kamar said it wasa historical occasion for her as shewas the first Indian speaker to visitPakistan.She said parliamentary exchangeswould bring the people of both coun-tries closer.

Voting for 10 constituencies continue(Online Feb-ruary 25,2012) By-elections for10 seats ofNational andp r o v i n c i a lassembliescontinued onS a t u r d a yacross thecountry. Withthe exceptionof formerPML-N leaderJ a v e dHashmi, mostof the seatshave been va-cated bymembers ofruling parties,mainly to jointhe Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf.The election commission has set up980 polling stations where voterswere casting there ballots for six na-tionals and four provincial seats.Polling would continue till 5pm.Of six seats of the National Assem-bly, only one fell vacant because ofthe death of MNA Azeem Daultana,who died in a road accident lastmonth.Azeem Daultana, the grandson ofPunjab’s former chief minister Mum-taz Daultana, had won the seat in the2008 general elections from NA-168(Vehari) on the PPP ticket, defeatinghis aunt Tehmeena Daultana of PML-N and Ishaq Khakwani of PML-Q.Due to election alliance betweenPPP and PML-Q, the odds on thisseat are reported to be in favour ofNatasha Daultana of PPP whoserival candidate is PML-N’s Bilal AkbarBhatti.All other five seats fell vacant be-cause of resignation of MNAs be-longing to PPP, PML-F, PML-N andANP, who later joined the PTI.For by-election on NA-149 (Multan–II) seat vacated by Makhdoom Javed

Hashmi, there were 10 candidates,seven of them independents.Sheikh Muhammad Tariq Rashid ofPML-N, Malik Liaquat Ali DogarPPP’s and Sardar Safdar AbbasKhan Baloch of MMA-Pakistan, areprominent among 10 candidates.By-election is also being held for Mul-tan-I (NA-148) seat which fell vacantbecause of resignation MakhdoomShah Mehmood Qureshi who joinedthe PTI. Syed Ali Musa Gilani, son ofPrime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, ofPPP and Malik Abdul Ghaffar doggarof PML-N are among 17 candidatesvying for the seat.For NA-195 (Rahim Yar Khan) seatvacated by Jahangir Khan Tareen ofPML-F after having joined the PTI,there were 10 candidates.For NA-140 (Kasur-III) by-election,there were 15 candidates and SardarMuammad Sarwar Dogar of PPP isthe only candidate backed by a polit-ical party because other 14 con-tenders in arena will fight electionsindependently.The seat fell vacant after the resigna-tion of Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali ofPPP.Similarly, by-election on NA-9 (Mar-

dan-I) is beingheld becauseN a w a b z a d aK h a w a j aM u h a m m a dKhan Hoti quitthe ANP andjoined PTI.Before joiningthe ANP, he wasa senior mem-ber of the PPPand was alsothe provincialpresident ofPPP. He wasalso generalsecretary ofPPP during thePPP govern-ment in 1996.By-election onPP-18 (Attock-

IV) is being held because of resigna-tion of Malik Kurrum Ali Khan of PPPwho later joined the PTI.For PS-57 (Badin-I) seat by-election,besides 16 independent candidates,Hasnain Ali Mirza of PPP, the son offormer Sindh home minister ZulfiqarMirza, Ghazi Salehuddin of MQMand Mir Manzoor Ahmed Talpur ofPML-N are other candidates.The seat fell vacant after the resigna-tion of Zulfiqar Ali Mirza from thePPP.For PS-53 (Hyderabad-XI) by-elec-tion, Mr Waheed of PPP is the onlycandidate backed by a political party.Ten other candidates are contestingas independent candidates. The seatfell vacant because of the death ofSyed Mohsin Shah Bukhari.On PP-44, (Mianwali-II), there werefive candidates. Of them two are in-dependents. Mr Adil Abdullah KhanRokhari of PML-N, Muhammad Sar-dar Bahadur Baber Khan of PPP andTahir Javed Khan Salar of PML-F arecandidates backed by political par-ties.The seat fell vacant on the death ofAmir Hayat Khan Rokhari of PML-N.

Balochistan killings: SC asks ISI, MI againto submit reports

(Online 25 Feb 2012) The SupremeCourt repeated on Friday its earlierdirective to the Inter Services Intel-ligence and the Military Intelli-gence (MI) to submit their reportson ‘senseless and indiscriminate’killings in Balochistan.The directive to submit reports on thedeteriorating law and order in theprovince was issued after a three-judge bench headed by Justice MianShakiurullah Jan decided to consideron March 7 the government’s requestto hear premier intelligence agencieson the Balochistan situation in cam-era.The bench had taken up a petition offormer President of Balochistan HighCourt Bar Association (BHCBA) HadiShakeel on the breakdown of lawand order, target killings and rampantcases of kidnapping for ransom in theprovince.On Jan 27, a different bench headedby Chief Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry had also ordered top intel-ligence agenciesto submit reports on the indiscrimi-nate killings in Balochistan.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik hadannounced on Wednesday the gov-ernment’s willingness to withdrawcases against Baloch leaders livingabroad in exile.The minister said that cases againstthe founder of the Baloch RepublicanParty, Brahamdagh Bugti, Balochis-tan Liberation Army leaderNawabzada Harbayar Marri andother leaders would be quashed inline with the government’s policy ofreconciliation.When the Supreme Court resumedthe hearing of the case on Friday, At-torney General Maulvi Anwarul Haqsubmitted a written statement on be-half of intelligence agencies, request-ing the court for an in-camera hearingon the Balochistan situation similar tothe earlier hearing on Karachi killings.The AG said the situation in Balochis-tan was very complex and, therefore,agencies had been seeking moretime to compile a comprehensive re-port.The AG also told the bench that hehad already conveyed the directive ofthe court to the ISI and MI to submit

their reports, but they were seekingmore time due to the sensitivity of thesituation in the province.The court rejected a report submittedby Sindh’s additional advocate gen-eral on the killings of members of theDomki family, and termed the findingsequivalent to “zero”.Meanwhile, the additional advocategeneral told the court that police hadlaunched a search operation and in-spected a 500 Suzuki Alto and a 108Dahatisu Cuore, which according towitnesses, had been allegedly usedin the killing of the members of theDomki family.The court observed that it had or-dered the provincial police to carryout investigations with their “eyeswide open”, whereas findings sug-gested otherwise.“The police have failed to producetangible results,” the court said.The court summoned Sindh’s IG onMarch 7 with a direction to inform thecourt why supervision in the case hadnot been carried out properly.

Salala air raid: US plans to apologisestymied by protests

(Online 25 Feb 2012) The UnitedStates planned to move past thedeadly airstrike in Pakistan, andre-boot diplomatic relations, butthe plan was stymied this week byriots in Afghanistan set off aftercopies of the Holy Quran wereburned at a Nato base on Mondaynight.Pakistan-US relations plunged to anew low following the November2011 airstrike on Pakistani borderposts in the Salala area of MohmandAgency that killed two dozen Pak-istani border guards. The US refusalto aplogise over the deadly attack fur-ther infuriated Pakistanis and threat-ened their decade-long partnership inthe war against terror.Under a carefully coordinated plan,the military had planned for GeneralMartin E Dempsey, Chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff, to make a formalapology via telephone to Pakistan’sArmy chief Gen Ashfaq ParvezKayani, on Thursday, NYT reportedquoting a Defence Department offi-

cial.Secretaryof StateH i l l a r yC l i n t o nwas also tohave am-plified onthat apol-ogy in herm e e t i n gwith herPakistanic o u n t e r -part HinaR a b b a n iKhar, theo f f i c i a ladded.But theplan was upset by the explosion of vi-olent rioting in Afghanistan.Obama administration officialsquickly calculated that too many re-grets at once would hand fresh am-munition to Republican presidentialcandidates, the official added.

A senior Pakistani official said hisgovernment also wanted the Ameri-can apology to be delayed until atleast mid-March, when the PakistaniParliament is due to hold a specialsitting to debate the country’s policytoward America.