Egypt: Hosni Mubarak dismissed the government under pressure from the street

At a brief speech broadcast on the night of Friday to Saturday by the Egyptian national television, President Hosni Mubarak announced the sacking of the government of Ahmed Nazif and announced the formation of a new cabinet on Saturday.

While the day was chaotic for power, the Head of State also dropped ballast and promised "further measures" to democracy, without giving further details.Hosni Mubarak has finally reaffirmed its determination to ensure the stability of the country, noting that the boundary between democracy and chaos was thin and that the difficulties should not be solved by violence.

Deadliest day in the Egyptian streets

The statements by Egyptian President intervene after a day of demonstrations - violently repressed - unprecedented in the country. The latest assessment shows that at least twenty dead in the different cities of Egypt, on Friday.Five people were killed and hundreds injured in Cairo to Suez, clashes with police left 13 dead and 75 wounded when six people and Alexandria regrets Mansoura two.

"The streets are delivered to the protesters. (...) It all civil society that manifests here in Cairo," says Karim Hakiki, a FRANCE 24 special correspondents in the Egyptian capital. On Friday, the fourth day of protests, hundreds of thousands of people were in the streets. The police used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets to try to disperse the protesters.

Protesters set fire to the headquarters of the National Democratic Party (NDP in power).Earlier in the day, two police stations in the capital were torched. In the evening, demonstrators and security forces continued to clash in the main streets of Cairo transformed into a battlefield, despite the introduction of a curfew in the evening. Young or old, protesters demanding the departure of President Hosni Mubarak.

The army in the streets of Cairo

The authority has appealed to the army to support police, overwhelmed by the protesters. Yigal Saadoun, also special envoy FRANCE 24 in Cairo, confirms "having seen the units in the Egyptian army at a short distance from Tahrir Square, where the movement began.""We saw military armored vehicles enter Cairo," he added.

The curfew was imposed in three major cities of Egypt: Cairo, Alexandria and Suez.

The opponent Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), took part in demonstrations. He said he was prepared to ensure the political transition in the event of departure of Hosni Mubarak. Since Thursday, it was forbidden to leave Cairo.Some sources report that it would be under house arrest.

Internet and telephone connections were still cut on Friday evening, while the international community, including the European Union and the United States, called Cairo to show "restraint" and respect the rights of Egyptians.

Find below the liveblogging by FRANCE24.com insisted Friday.

Four complaints against "Baby Doc" for crimes against humanity

Haitian journalist Michele Montas, a former spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and three others, filed suit Wednesday for crimes against humanity against former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier announced Montas told AFP.

"We have complaints of crimes against humanity before the government commissioner," Michele Montas said, adding that the case would be forwarded to a judge.

The other plaintiffs are two former political prisoners, Alix Fils-Aime and Claude Rosiers, imprisoned for 10 years during the dictatorship, and Nicole Magloire.

Michele Montas, whose late husband, journalist Jean Dominique, was intimidated and exiled under the Duvalier regime had itself been sent into exile after the destruction of Radio Haiti, where she worked, by the Duvalier family.

"We complained to false imprisonment, exile, destruction of private property, physical and moral torture, violation of civil and political rights," she listed, after meeting with the commissioner of the government (Attorney General) Augustus Aristides.

Others are preparing to file complaints against the former dictator income in Haiti Sunday after 25 years of exile in France and charged Tuesday for bribery, embezzlement and conspiracy, before being released on bail by Haitian justice.

"Baby Doc" under four complaints for crimes against humanity

Haitian journalist Michele Montas and three other activists Haitian human rights complaint filed on Wednesday, with the Haitian justice for crimes against humanity against Jean-Claude Duvalier, aka "Baby Doc", the ex- Haitian dictator who made a surprise return to Port-au-Prince last Sunday.

"I considered his comeback as a slap, Michele Montas told France24.com, reached by telephone in the Haitian capital.Many Haitians have been affected by the regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier ... He thought he could return to Haiti and get away with it! "

Michele Montas was a journalist at Radio Haiti-Inter in the first ten years of the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier (1971-1986). She and her husband - Jean Dominique, a prominent Haitian journalist murdered in 2000 - had to flee the country in November 1980 when they adopted a tone very critical of the government.They could not return until 1986, after the departure of Duvalier's son.

Asked about the "crime against humanity" which is the subject complaint, Ms. Montas said that "in the late 1980s, there were widespread raids activists in human rights and journalists. people were tortured, they took everything that moved. And Radio Haiti was destroyed. " Jean-Claude Duvalier became famous for the many atrocities that were committed under his regime, thousands of opponents are arbitrarily detained and tortured.Some were even murdered.

Tuesday night, "Baby Doc" has already been indicted by a Haitian court for criminal conspiracy, embezzlement and corruption in public administration.

Claude Rosiers, 11 years in prison Duvalier

Asked about the complaint by the special correspondent for FRANCE 24 in Port-au-Prince, Alexandra Fox, a lawyer Jean-Claude Duvalier has denounced "a fanciful action.Earlier, another adviser to the former dictator had explained that it would remain "forever" in Haiti, where he wanted to "play politics".

Furthermore Michele Montas, three other prominent Haitians have filed complaints against "Baby Doc" for crimes against humanity: the president of the National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (NCDDR), Alix Fils-Aime, the former political prisoner Claude roses, and feminist activist Nicole Magloire.

Under the title "The Triangle of Death" (2003), Claude Rosiers has published an account of his ten years in the jails of Francois and Jean-Claude Duvalier, between 1966 and 1977, when he was a Party activist People's National Liberation (PPLN), a Marxist party.

The four complaints will be heard by Judge John Carver, who is shortly to convene the complainants and especially examine the documentary evidence of the charges against Jean-Claude Duvalier.

"Widespread and systematic violations of fundamental rights"

Since the return of the former dictator in Haiti, many voices were raised to demand his arrest, including Amnesty International, the National Network of Human rights (RNDDH-Haiti), or the rights of the Ecumenical Centre Rights (ECHR) of Haiti.

Yesterday, Haitian France24 Observers demanded that "he be tried for his crimes."

In a statement released Wednesday morning, Amnesty International calls on what is brought to justice "a leader whose security services [were] engaged in widespread and systematic violations of fundamental rights" and the Haitian authorities to "investigate Jean-Claude Duvalier and other persons who may have been responsible for such crimes, some of which amount to crimes against humanity. "

France24.com joined Wednesday by Amnesty International says the International Criminal Court (ICC) can not be seized of the case Duvalier, the facts alleged against him being prior to its creation in 1998.

Hu Jintao conceded that there is "much to do" on human rights

AFP - Human Rights were invited Wednesday to the state visit of Hu Jintao to Washington, which saw the president and his Chinese counterpart, Barack Obama displayed the determination to overcome the "friction" commercial on the bottom of juicy contracts.

"China recognizes, but also respects the universality of human rights but at the same time we believe that we must take into account different national circumstances in terms of human rights," saidHu during a joint press conference with Bush.

"China is a developing country with a very large population and also a developing country which is undergoing crucial reforms," he added, while admitting, after being repeatedly asked by American journalists, that " much rest (has) to China "on it and promising to improve the situation.

For his part, Obama has ensured he was "very open" to signify to Mr. Hu's American views "on the universality of certain rights, freedom of expression, religion and association."He also wanted "dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama to resolve differences while preserving the religious identity of the Tibetan people," while hundreds of activists demonstrating in front of this because the White House.

However, the name of jailed Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Liu Xiaobo was not pronounced during the press conference.

45 billion worth of contracts

Obama, who met Hu for the eighth time in two years and participated with him at a summit with leaders of major American companies, said he hoped the two countries could put behind them the "friction" of the past and "We remove the old stereotypes."

Mr.Hu, for his part promised that his country would boost its domestic demand and consumption, treating American companies duly registered in China on an equal footing, and praised the "bright future" of trade between the two countries.

Washington has also announced the signing of contracts in China valued at $ 45 billion with U.S. companies, including an order for 200 Boeing aircraft with a total value estimated at 19 billion responding to the desire to see Obama Americans enjoy more of the economic expansion of China, which could have been a double-digit growth in 2010, according to unofficial statistics.

The apple of discord currency, intellectual property, nuclear

At the press conference, Mr.Obama did not ignore the points of contention, as the undervaluation of the Chinese currency, again claiming an "adjustment". However, he praised the "flexibility of China's currency" and layout of Beijing in the fight against intellectual property theft.

But MM.Hu and Obama have also said their points of convergence, especially on nuclear issues of North Korea and Iran, saying the Chinese president also hoped for more cooperation between Chinese and American militaries.

Leaders must be found in the evening for a very formal state dinner, only the third in two years of President Obama.

Invited, on ABC, to say if the two giants of the early twenty-first century were friends or foes, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that "if we are rolling out the red carpet for President Hu, is that we feel that we can better answer this question, advancing. "

"My hope is that we have a normal relationship," she added, while the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate and an ally of Mr. Obama, Harry Reid, left reflected the distrust of many Americans toward China in calling Hu a "dictator", before retracting.

Former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide prepared to return home

Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide said on Wednesday ready to return home, three days after Jean-Claude Duvalier, aka "Baby Doc", has ended his exile, returning to Port-au-Prince to everyone's surprise.

Aristide, a former priest in exile in South Africa since 2004, has long claimed that he was ousted under pressure from the United States and France.

"Since my arrival forced on the African continent there are six and a half years, the Haitian people have stopped asking my return to Haiti," Aristide wrote in a statement sent to AFP.

"In my case, I'm ready.Again, I'm ready to go today, tomorrow, anytime, "he says.

This statement comes as the spokesman Jean-Claude Duvalier, Henri-Robert Sterlin said that the former dictator hoped to regain power.

Haiti is mired in a political crisis arising from the disputed first round of presidential elections on 28 November.

Aristide was the first Haitian president to be elected democratically.He was ousted in a revolt.

The purpose of his return, he assures, "is clear: to help serve my brothers and sisters in Haiti as a private citizen in the field of education."

"This return is also required for medical reasons: I have been strongly advised not to spend the next winter (Southern, ed), South Africa, for in six years I was operated eye six times," said yet Jean-Bertrand Aristide, 57.

On Tuesday, a lawyer based in the U.S. in contact with him indicated that the former president had asked to renew his Haitian passport, but that request was refused by the Haitian authorities.

"Aristide has the right to return to Haiti, but was forbidden," said Brian Concannon.