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The Irish referendum, Greece's election, Guinea massacre and Rio gets the Games

by Tony Cross

Article published on the 2009-10-09 Latest update 2009-10-12 13:54 TU

Irish yes voters celebrate
(Photo: Reuters)

Would other Europeans have voted as the Irish did if they'd had referendums on the Lisbon Treaty? is one of the questions in our inbox this week. Will Greece's new Prime Minister deliver on his promises or is he genetically disposed to disappoint? Is Guinea doomed and does its opposition fight fair? And a US citizen congratulates Rio de Janeiro on winning the right to host the Olympics Games.

Daniel Finnan’s coverage of last week’s Irish referendum on the EU’s Lisbon Treaty attracted plenty of attention. The yes won the day, reversing the voters' previous rejection.

The Irish were voting for the second time, while most EU member states did not hold referendums at all on the treaty. France was one of the countries which refrained from doing so, having seen the rejection of a proposed EU constitution in 2005.

“Having spoken this summer to a vineyard owner in Pouilly sur Loire, I got the distinct impression that the French electorate would have voted against the Lisbon Reform Treaty as they did against the fated Constitutional treaty had they been given the opportunity,’’ comments Grahame Turner from Britain. “Similarly, in the UK, the mood of the people is for devolution of power from the centre (restoration of the Scottish Parliament and the setting up of a Welsh Assembly) not for ceding sovereignty to the largely unaccountable. The people of Europe have not been properly consulted and the Treaty lacks proper democratic foundation. The Irish electorate have been confused by economic issues that seem to be little related to the substance of the constitutional changes that they rejected the first time.’’

Voters in Greece elected a new government this week. The election result was a major reversal for the right-wing New Democracy who lost power to the socialist party, Pasok, led by George Papandreou.

He was sworn in on Tuesday and has pledged to fight corruption and cronyism and open the country to the rest of the world. But Paris resident Constantin Skoutarides doesn’t believe him.

“I'm afraid Papandreou will do as badly as his late father and grand father did,” he writes. “The later succeeded in sinking the country in dictatorship for 7 years, resulting in the occupation of Cyprus by the Turcs since 1974.

“The former sent Greece back 50 years instead of using the european union's help to modernise and develop the country. These guys really act and behave as if they where foreign agents working against the Greek people... ’’

“Is Guinea a doomed country?’’ asks Ousmane Moreau from Senegal, in response to our second interview with military ruler Moussa Dadis Camara.

“Fifty years after the bold and emphatic ‘no’ to French [President] General De Gaulle, Guinea is still dabbling in troubled and bloody waters: tyranny, dictatorship, and a grinding poverty,” he writes. “The country’s history is replete with grim recollections of tortures, executions, and killing spree by the military. Yet, the country is rich with mineral ores and well endowed by nature. Guinea is rich, but the Guineans are poor, literally lacking of anything, especially of a good leadership.

‘‘To the international community, all Guineans are asking in one voice: ‘Please, Do not sit there and watch while Guinea is being torn apart just by the folly of one man and his clique. Please, don’t let it happen again!’.”

But “really bad news” is the response to Hamidou Ly, also in Senegal, to our report that France is threatening to cut off aid and the opposition is planning more protests.

A claim by opposition leader Jean-Marie Doré that Liberian troops were involved in the Conakry massacre strikes Henry Barduway in the US as dubious.

‘‘Did you ask him why it took him so long to reveal this?” he asks. “How he was able to differential whose liberian rebels were those two guys origin? What I will tell you, this not the first time for him to accuse [ULIMO.] He did the same accusation in mid- 1990. He is not a good opposition leader he is a big traitor ,he deceived the other oppositions by taking part in an election that suppose to be boycotted by all guinean parties. He is not a credable person.’’

On a brighter note, Donna Bradshaw of Sandy Utah in the US, is delighted by the International Olympic Committee’s choice of host for the 2016 games.

‘‘Way to go Rio!’’ she exclaims. ‘‘I'm really glad that Chicago did not get it. More than half the people in Chicago didn't want the games. Just goes to show that Obama does not have as much sway as he thinks he has.’’

News about RFI

Orange subscribers in Niger and the Central African Republic can now listen to RFI on their mobile phones by dialling 734.

An extension of RFI's deal with Audionow in the US means that New Yorkers can now hear RFI by dialling 212.401.4554.

Most read on RFI this week:

• Ireland votes on Lisbon Treaty;
• Greeks vote in snap elections;
• Treaty referendum passes with large majority;
• I'm a hostage of the army, says Guinean leader;
• Paris pulls an artsy all-nighter.

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