| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa North |
| Mali coup leader apologises for 'mistakes' |
| 2013-06-28 |
| [Pak Daily Times] The Malian army captain who led a coup last year that plunged the West African nation into crisis and allowed al Qaeda-linked fighters to seize half the country has apologised to the nation for his actions. Addressing a ceremony meant to reconcile army factions, Captain Amadou Aya Sanogo said events that led to former colonial power La Belle France dispatching thousands of troops to halt the bad turban advance were "an accident". Once portrayed as a model democracy, Mali imploded last year when the president was ousted and a mixture of Tuareg separatists and rebels occupied its desert north. Though a French-led offensive launched in January broke the bad turbans' grip on northern Mali, the wider region now faces a threat that has been scattered across the Sahel. "Above being soldiers, we are humans and we make mistakes without meaning to," Sanogo said late on Wednesday in comments addressed to interim President Dioncounda Traore, dozens of members of the government, religious leaders and the heads of the Mali's most important families. "We dare to hope that our apologies will be accepted," the US-trained officer said. Separatist rebels launched attacks on Mali's army in early 2012. But shortly after Sanogo's coup, the rebels seized Mali's three northern regions in as many days as the thin line of resistance crumbled alongside the chain of command. Sanogo, who drew support from Malians who said years of elections had failed to deliver concrete progress to the poor nation, handed over power soon after the March 22 coup. But soldiers kept on meddling in politics and fighting among themselves, stalling national and regional efforts to retake the north. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Sarc on mark ! Paula Deen, Tell ‘Em All To Go To Hell” is the current column, now on WND. An excerpt: “…Blaming Old-South culture—as the prototypical knaves of conservatism are doing— is … unlikely to help exculpate Paula Deen in the minds of the morons who judge her for her words, rather than for her deeds. The bad old South macro-narrative is as ineffective in mitigation as is pointing out that Deen misspoke because of a near-death experience. ‘A black man [once] burst into the bank that I was working at and put a gun to my head,’ recounted Deen. ‘I didn’t feel real favorable towards him.’ It is for the same reason that the young mother, seen here in a video gone viral being kicked and punched repetitively and mercilessly by a burly black man, should watch her words in the future. The home of the mom was invaded by the man, who delighted in brutalizing her in front of her toddler. Instead of sticks and stones that break bones, there can be no doubt that the mother from Millburn, N.J., would have settled during that terrifying attack for the kind of cuss words that ‘will never hurt me’—’cracker,’ to quote Trayvon Martin, RIP. But those who watched the persecution of the mom from Millburn and the tycoon from Georgia took away a different lesson than the one implied by that wise old adage. Mind your mouth, mom! The hate crime you endured will not mitigate or explain any future slip-of-the-tongue. You may stereotype an elderly, highly successful white woman, based on her tribe’s past wrongdoing; but you dare not attach statistical significance to the misdeeds of a black man, because of his group’s considerable contribution to crime. …” |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-06-28 11:03 |
| #1 In today's world, an apology ought to be enough unless you are Paula Dean (sarc). |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2013-06-28 10:44 |