On 24 March 2016, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentenced Radovan Karadzic, the former President of the Republic Srpska - still part of current Bosnia and Herzegovina - in prison for 40 years. He was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity. He was found guilty of this during the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992-1995, as he gave orders related to these crimes to his military commanders.
New Zealand has voted to keep its current flag following a referendum that cost the country 25 million New Zealand dollars (64 million Zloty). 1,200,003 (56.6%) of voters wanted to keep the Union flag-centred emblem. Only 915,008 (43.2%) opted for the proposed new design by Kyle Lockwood featuring a silver fern. Prime Minister John Key was accused of politicizing the debate when he expressed a preference for the proposed new design. Following the result Key said that while disappointed, it's time to respect the decision.
The new government led by Robert Fico has been sworn in on 23 March 2016. Robert Fico managed to finish coalition talks following the troubled Parliamentary elections on 5 March that splintered the political landscape. This means the Prime Minister and leader of the social democrat Smer-SD party will be able to continue his third term in office. The coalition partners surprisingly include both the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS) that disrespects minority rights as well as the liberal conservative Most HíD that fights for the rights of the Hungarian minority. Furthermore the small and new centrist party SIET is part of the coalition.
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Palau President Tommy Remengesau declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, after severe drought continues to affect the island nation. The President said that rainfall in the capital Koror over the past four months was the lowest recorded in 65 years and the city's only dam had dried up. Koror's only other source of drinking water, the Ngerikiil River, is down to 19 percent capacity.
On 22 March 2016, judge Teori Zavascki of the Supreme Court ordered that the corruption investigation of former President Lula da Silva should be done by the Supreme Court. The move effectively prevents Federal Judge Sérgio Moro to further prosecute Lula da Silva, as the move is suggested to shield Lula da Silva. Supreme Court Judge Teori Zavascki had been appointed before by Lula da Silva and current President Dilma Rousseff. It implies a new step in the legal battle between judges in Brazil. Federal Judge Sérgio Moro had been playing a crucial role until now in investigating the Petrobras corruption scandal, in which Lula da Silva is supposed to be involved.
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The Movement for Democracy (MpD) party has won the Cape Verde parliamentary elections, taking back power from former ruling African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) after 15 years. With five of the 72 seats remaining undeclared at the moment, the MpD took 38 seats versus 26 seats for the PAICV. The other opposition party, the Democratic and Independent Cape Verdean Union (ICID) received three seats. But PAICV has come under attack for running up the public debt on expensive infrastructure projects and failing to tackle rampant youth unemployment.
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Although official results have not yet been published, provisional voting counts for the presidential elections show a very clear victory for 57-year-old former entrepreneur Patrice Talon. Estimations give Talon 65% of the votes compared to a 35.2% for outgoing Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou who has already congratulated him with the result. After the first round of voting on the 6th of March, Zinsou won 27.1 percent of the votes with Talon coming in second on 23.5 percent. Since then however, 24 of the 32 other candidates from the first round have come out in support of Talon, including third-placed Sebastien Ajavon, who had won 22 percent of the votes.
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The conviction of former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has been a historic moment for legal proceedings in war crime cases involving sexual violence as a weapon or military strategy. Bemba’s long-running trial was the first at the ICC where a senior politician has been convicted of using sexual violence as a weapon of war. For his actions as leading official of Congolese troops in the Central African Republic between 2002 and 2003, Bemba was convicted of both crimes against humanity in the form of murder and rape as well as internationally legally recognized war crimes of murder, rape and pillaging. More than 5,000 victims were granted the right to participate in the hearings and 77 witnesses were heard. While Bemba’s lawyers say that he had no control over his troops, the ICC’s prosecutors said Bemba knew, or should have known that his soldiers were committing the crimes.
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On the 20th of March, the people of Senegal took part in a constitutional referendum, consolidating the already significant progress in democratic governance made by Senegal and making it a model for the West African region. A 62% majority of the Senegalese population voted in favour of constitutional changes although the voter turnout was low (38%). The chances consisted among others of shortening the presidential term from seven years to five years from the next presidential election in 2019 onwards, having constitutional recognition for the Leader of the Opposition, enhanced powers for local authorities, rights to a healthy environment and changes to the rights of land ownership and natural resources.
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The final results of the presidential elections which were held on 20 March have become clear following publication by the Congolese Electoral Commission on 24 March 2016. Current President Denis Sassou Nguesso has been elected for a third term, winning over 60% of the vote. The third term for the sitting President was made possible by an earlier referendum, during which the people voted in favour of giving the current President the possibility to run for a third term. The elections were criticized for not being transparent and independent.
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