COTE D'IVOIRE: President Ouattara request an investigation by the ICC

The Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara has asked the prosecutor to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate "the most serious crimes" committed in Côte d'Ivoire since November 28, 2010, in a letter dated May 3, published on Wednesday the site of the Court.

"By this I mean I wish to confirm that your office leads in Côte d'Ivoire independent and impartial investigations on the most serious crimes committed since 28 November 2010 on the entire Ivorian territory," saysOuattara's letter.

He wants the prosecutor's office "should ensure that those who bear the greatest criminal responsibility for serious crimes are identified, prosecuted and brought before the International Criminal Court."

The Ivorian Minister of Justice has already "taken steps to shed light on a number of offenses," saysOuattara, but he adds, "the Ivorian justice is, to date, not best placed to handle the most serious crimes committed in recent months."

The Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara, in power since the April 11 arrest of Laurent Gbagbo, had said in mid-April that he would ask the ICC to "initiate investigations" into the massacres that occurred in Western countries.

The ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo for his part said on May 3 in New York that his services were preparing an application to open a judicial investigation in Côte d'Ivoire on the massacres.

The Conservatives narrowly won the Nationalists are making inroads

AFP - The Conservative members of the alliance outgoing government won a narrow victory in Sunday's parliamentary Finland, where nationalists have achieved a historic breakthrough by becoming the third political force.

Of the 200 parliamentary seats, the Election Commission has granted 44 to the National Coalition (Conservative), 42 Social Democratic party (SDP) which was in opposition and 39 to right-wing nationalist True Finns who are much better though what they had been led to expect the polls.

In terms of votes, the National Coalition won 20.4%, 19.1% before the SDP and the True Finns 19.0%, according to the electoral commission has registered a high turnout of 70.4% against 67.9 % during the 2007 legislative elections.

The fourth largest party, the Center led by outgoing Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi, won 35 seats with 15.8% of votes.

"My dear friends, we wrote the story!" Ignited the head of the National Coalition Jyrki Katainen, which should become the next prime minister.

The True Finns won them 34 seats compared to the outgoing Parliament. From the smallest parliamentary party, they become the third largest.

This result is a personal victory for their charismatic leader Timo Soini has proposed a populist, eurosceptic who has managed the controversial debate on immigration.

"Sometimes it pays to keep his conviction, even if it runs into an obstacle and if it is mocked," he told Mr.Soini his supporters.

"The True Finns have now a deputy in every riding!", He was welcomed.

The True Finns are the only party to have improved over the last legislative elections.

The decline most cooking is the center becomes the fourth political force in the new Parliament, losing 16 seats.

"Of course it's a disappointment, but people have told us what they wanted and we must listen," said Ms Kiviniemi."The conclusion is obvious, with such results, we find ourselves in the opposition," she lamented on air on national television YLE.

She will probably leave the head of government to his Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen because "traditionally, training agree that the leader of the party best represented in terms of seats forms the government," he told AFP political analyst Ilkka Ruostetsaari , University of Tampere.

The National Coalition has been at the helm of several governments in Finland, but until then she has never represented the first force in Parliament.

Mr.Katainen focused during the campaign a very pro-European, particularly on financial aid to members of the EU hit by the crisis. However, the True Finns have made this topic an impassable barrier, insisting that "everything else was negotiable," but not this.

If he becomes Prime Minister, Mr Katainen must therefore be a coalition government, including the SDP would be for business.

For the Socialist leader Jutta Urpilainen, which was so disparaged because of a lack of image and difficulty to appear natural and sincere in public, this result also constitutes a victory.She had been instructed to straighten a party losing ground after he slipped into opposition in 2007.

"I am pleased that our message on employment and justice has been heard by the voters," she said.

"Let's all have fun tonight because tomorrow we go back to work, Finland needs of the Social Democrats!", She proposed to his followers.

The new government should be formed before the end of May.

PAKISTAN: Taliban claim deadly attack twice in a Sufi shrine

AFP - Two suicide bombers killed Sunday at least 41 people by detonating bombs at the entrance of a Sufi shrine in central Pakistan, a country gripped by a wave of deadly attacks extremely Taliban allied with al-Qaeda police said.

The attack targeted the pilgrims who came to pray at the tomb of Sultan Ahmed, a Sufi saint of the 13th century, more known as Sakhi Sarwar in Dera Ghazi Khan district where the Taliban and other groups their allies are relatively active.

"Two suicide bombers blew up the bombs they were carrying when police tried to prevent them from entering," he told AFP Zahid Hussain Shah, a police officer contacted by phone on the scene.

"For now, we counted 41 dead," he said, adding that more than 70 people were injured.The victims are mostly pilgrims and people from, like every Sunday in many holy shrines of Islam in Pakistan, spend a day with family.

It was the fifth suicide attack in five days in Pakistan.

"Holy War" against Islamabad and Washington

Nearly 4,200 people were killed in three and a half years throughout Pakistan by a wave of more than 450 attacks - suicide for the most part - mostly perpetrated by the Taliban allied with al-Qaeda.

In the summer of 2007, they said - in unison with Osama bin Laden himself - jihad, "holy war" to Islamabad for its support since 2001 to end the "war against terrorism" in Washington .

Their targets are the institutions and security forces but Sunni insurgents multiplied in recent times, attacks against civilians, especially minorities, including Shiites (20% of the population), and symbols of Sufism, two schools of thought in Islam they see as impious and heretical.

Many attacks that targeted Shiites and Sufis (a mystical doctrine which are both followers of Sunni and Shia) have been in recent months by the Taliban or allied groups.

Sunday, two suicide bombers failed to enter the mausoleum, where the crowd is usually very compact every Sunday, prevented by the police now keep all places Sufi saints in the country, confirmed Ahmed Mubarak The police chief in the region.

A senior local official of the security forces told AFP on condition of anonymity, that those responsible for the sanctuary had received threats from militant fundamentalists.

Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab province, is located not far from some tribal areas of north-west frontier with Afghanistan, a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban, the main sanctuary of Al Qaeda worldwide and a rear base for Afghan Taliban .

Pakistani Taliban and their allies claim generally those attacks that target security forces in retaliation, they say, the Pakistani army offensives and the regular shooting of missiles from unmanned drones American CIA to executives of Al-Qaeda and Taliban Pakistani and Afghan tribal areas.

LIBYA: Tripoli regime announced a new cease-fire

AFP - The regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has announced a cease-fire from 1900 GMT on Sunday in response to the call Saturday by the African Union to "the immediate cessation of hostilities," said a door- Word of the army.

"In respect of the statement issued by the Committee of the African Union on Saturday in Nouakchott and resolutions 1970 and 1973 of the UN military command has given orders for a cease-fire on Sunday from 9:00 p.m." local (1900 GMT), said the spokesman, Milad Fokehi reading a brief statement.

Tripoli had already announced on Friday a cease-fire it did not comply, according to the international community which launched Saturday night's first military operation in Libya.

Libya has also seen Saturday night like no resolution 1973 imposing a no-fly zone after the military operation in western and requested an emergency meeting of the Security Council of the UN.

Resolution 1970 adopted in February provides an arms embargo, a ban on travel to Muammar Gaddafi and 15 of his relatives and the freezing of assets of Colonel Qaddafi and his family.

The committee of the AU on Sunday called on Libya to Nouakchott to "the immediate cessation of all hostilities" in Libya.

The committee, composed of African heads of state, issued a statement in which they also call "the cooperation of the Libyan authorities concerned to facilitate the delivery of diligent humanitarian assistance to populations in need."

They also seek "protection of foreigners including African migrant workers living in Libya" and that "the adoption and implementation of political reforms needed to eliminate the causes of the current crisis."

BAHRAIN: Important deployment of security forces in the capital Manama

The Bahrain Police dismantled by force during the night of Wednesday to Thursday, a camp of protesters demanding political change in the kingdom, during an operation that killed two people, witnesses and opposition.

The Ministry of Interior wrote on Twitter that security forces had "emptied the place of the Pearl" in Manama and a grand avenue of the capital was partially closed.

Fifty armored vehicles were sighted Thursday morning trying to move towards the Place de la Perle.

More than a dozen tanks, military vehicles and army ambulances were seen in central Manama.

Inspired by revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, thousands of Bahrainis, mainly from the Shiite majority, protested since Monday to demand political and social reforms in the kingdom ruled by a Sunni family.

Hundreds of them had begun to camp on the Place de la Perle, hoping to transform it into a rallying point of protest to the image of what the Egyptians did on Tahrir Square in Cairo until the fall of "Hosni Mubarak.

"They are killing us"

"The police are to intervene, she launched tear gas," said one demonstrator reached by telephone in the night by Reuters.

Another said: "I am wounded, I bleed.They are killing us. "

One protester said he evacuated two wounded by car by rubber bullets.

"I was there (...) The men fled but women and children could not run as fast," said Ibrahim Mattar, a member of Wefaq, the main Shiite opposition.

"Two people are dead, it's confirmed," he added. "Others are in serious condition."

About 200 people gathered in a major city hospitals.

Place de la Perle, on which lay a strong smell of tear gas, seemed deserted in the early hours of Thursday.Abandoned tents, blankets and trash littered the ground.

Two ambulances were seen trying to leave suddenly in the night.

Poverty and unemployment

"There was no any warning. We had the impression of an offensive against the enemy. People were sleeping quietly, "said a protester who requested anonymity.

The Wefaq, which suspended its parliamentary activities, Wednesday called for adopting a new constitution more democratic.

"We do not want to establish a religious state.We want a civil democracy (...) in which the people are the source of power, and for this we need a new constitution, "said party secretary general, Sheikh Ali Salman, during a press conference.

The protesters' main demand is the resignation of Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa, who ruled the country since its independence in 1971. Uncle of King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa, he is seen as a symbol of wealth the ruling family.

The demonstrators also denounced poverty and unemployment.They were also concerned about the benefits accorded to foreign Sunni from settling in the small kingdom (citizenship, employment in the security forces, housing) that tend to alter the demographic balance.

In the 1990s, Bahrain has already been the scene of unrest.The adoption in 2002 of a new constitution and organize elections had helped restore calm, but the opposition considers these reforms now insufficient.

The angry demonstrators had been pronounced dead Wednesday by two of them on Monday and Tuesday in clashes with security forces.

"The people calling the fall of the regime," shouted protesters Wednesday, beating his chest, a gesture of mourning for Shiites.

EGYPT: Washington believes that the Egyptian government's efforts are insufficient

The tone rose Wednesday between Washington and Cairo, the White House saying that the changes incurred by the Egyptian government remained inadequate, while the Egyptian foreign minister accused the Americans of wanting to "impose" their will on his country.

In the sixteenth day of unprecedented revolt against the regime of Hosni Mubarak's ally, Washington has had to defend itself from any interference in the affairs of Egypt, but again claiming the reforms that meet the protestors in Tahrir Square.

"Clearly, what the government has put on the table so far has not completed the minimum threshold of what is required by the Egyptians," he observed to the press spokesman of the White House Robert Gibbs.

Mr.Gibbs attacked particularly the Vice-President of Egypt Omar Suleiman, appointed by Mr. Mubarak to negotiate a political transition with the opposition.

"The transition process does not seem to expect the Egyptians," added the spokesperson for Barack Obama, warning against a new outbreak of protest in Egypt if the power does not give enough ground.

A senior State Department, Jake Sullivan, for his part stressed that "the United States has never said that Vice-President Suleiman was the appropriate person (to lead the transition) or delivered for trial who should be in control. "

"We are not interested persons (...) but concrete results," he said during a media teleconference.

The Egyptian regime has previously hinted his temper against pressure from Washington.

"When you talk about quick and immediate change to a great country like Egypt, with which you have always maintained the best relationships, you impose your will", denounced the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, in a Service in the U.S. television network PBS.

"We are already changing," shouted Mr. Gheit, referring to discussions with the protesters.

Mr.Gheit also warned that "the army would intervene in case of chaos to take things in hand," according to comments reported by the official MENA news agency.

Asked about the statements, the spokesman for the State Department, Philip Crowley, urged the Egyptian army to "continue to exercise the same moderation that in recent days."

On Tuesday, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called Mr. Suleiman for him to claim an immediate end to the state of emergency in force for nearly 30 years.

On PBS, Mr. Gheit said he was "truly astonished" by this request: "As we speak, there are 17,000 prisoners loose in the streets because the prisons were destroyed.How can you ask me to abolish the state of emergency while I'm in trouble? "

Mr. Gheit told he had been "often angry, angry" face to the American response in the initial events in Cairo, although the relationship has since subsided.

Asked about the Egyptian minister, Mr. Crowley has assured that Washington was not seeking "to dictate anything." He defended the call to immediately lift the state of emergency is an "interference" and stressed that the solution to the crisis should be found by the Egyptians themselves.

HAITI: Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly the second round of presidential

Reuters - The second round of presidential elections in Haiti will oppose Mirlande Manigat Michel Martelly March 20, according to members of the Provisional Council election which partially reversed the provisional results of the first round.

Organized as the country is still recovering from the earthquake a year ago, the first round was held in the utmost confusion on Nov. 28 last. Charges of fraud and street protests following the consultation.

According to preliminary results, the second round should oppose the government candidate, Jude Celestin, the former first lady, Mirlande Manigat.

But these results were criticized by the international community, and an expert mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) had held that Jude Celestin had to be discarded in favor of the second round of Michel Martelly, popular singer originally given in third place with less than 7,000 votes behind the candidate backed by outgoing President, Rene Preval.

TUNISIA: Opposition Islamist Ghannouchi in Tunis after 20 years of exile

AFP - The Tunisian Islamist opposition Ghannouchi was scheduled to return Sunday afternoon in London after his country for over 20 years of exile, through the fall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who had harshly mate Islamists in the early 90s.

A spokesman for the old opponent, aged 69, said that this return, feared by some sectors of Tunisian society, including feminists and secular circles, will not be "triumphant" and on the contrary Rached Ghannouchi who wants to hand over to young people in the lead, simply wants to return as a "free man".

During a demonstration, hundreds of women screamed Saturday at Tunis their determination to defend the emancipation gained over half a century on the eve of the return of Rached Ghannouchi.

"We are here to affirm the rights acquired by women and prevent any backsliding, to say that we are not prepared to negotiate our freedom with the Islamists," said Amel Betaib, a lawyer.

Rached Ghannouchi founded in 1981 Nahda (Renaissance), with intellectuals inspired by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and said today represent a moderate form of Islam close to the AKP in Turkey.

Tolerated, including the coming to power of Ben Ali in 1987, the party was suppressed after the 1989 elections, which he claimed the list had received at least 17% of the vote.

Mr. Ghannouchi had then left Tunisia to Algeria, then to London. In 1992 he was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment with other religious leaders for a plot against the president.

The Tunisian government transition, set up after the fall of Ben Ali on January 14, adopted a draft amnesty law that will concern the Islamists, and must be voted by Parliament.What is not yet done but should not however be an obstacle to his return.

Ghannouchi, who no longer president of the Islamist movement, says he also will not be a presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections and wants to transform his movement into a legal political party to participate in upcoming legislative transition team in power since the fall of Ben Ali's task was to organize.

A law still in effect prohibited from forming a political party on a strictly religious.