Bertie Ahern will step down as Ireland’s Prime Minister on May 6, bowing to pressure for him to go early following a series of embarrassing appearances in the witness stand at an anti-corruption tribunal. Ahern, flanked by his Cabinet colleagues, announced his intention to resign to reporters in Dublin.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday declared the birth of an Anglo-French axis as a force for progress in Europe and the world, on issues ranging from climate change and nuclear power to United Nations reform and the war in Afghanistan.
Northern Ireland’s largest Protestant party scrambled on Wednesday to secure a seamless transfer of power after its firebrand leader, Ian Paisley, announced his departure, drawing tributes from all sides. Paisley said on Tuesday he would step down as Democratic Unionist Party head in May.
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/ 18 January 2008
South African President Thabo Mbeki met his Zimbabwean counterpart on Thursday after local media reports that he was stepping in to break a deadlock in talks aimed at ending Zimbabwe’s political and economic crises. Mbeki met with Robert Mugabe at a hotel for four hours and also met with members of the political opposition.
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/ 17 January 2008
South African President Thabo Mbeki travels to Zimbabwe on Thursday to meet officials of the ruling Zanu-PF and main opposition parties after reports that a deal to end a political crisis was imminent. Mbeki has been mediating talks between Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s government and the Movement for Democratic Change for nearly a year.
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/ 16 January 2008
Zimbabwe’s main opposition said on Wednesday it planned a protest next week to demonstrate against a crumbling economy and press for a new Constitution it says will guarantee free and fair elections scheduled for March. Opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said earlier this month the party might boycott elections scheduled for March.
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/ 15 January 2008
Zimbabwean parties engaged in negotiations are within days of finalising a political document that would cover all the important issues needed to ensure a free and fair election. This emerged from a meeting at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Tuesday between President Thabo Mbeki, who is facilitating the talks, and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.
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/ 14 January 2008
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern expressed ”great concern” over the economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe at the outset of a visit to South Africa on Monday.
”I would like to thank President [Thabo] Mbeki for his work as the SADC [Southern African Development Community] mediator in Zimbabwe,” Ahern said.
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/ 14 January 2008
The Irish government has approved a €5-million grant (about R50-million) for building township houses in South Africa. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern announced details of the grant in Cape Town on Monday during an official visit aimed at, among other things, monitoring projects funded by Irish Aid, a government development agency.
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/ 23 October 2007
It was a ghoulishly rapid chronicle of a death foretold. One of the Irish republic’s most infamous criminals was shot dead less than 12 hours after his death was predicted in a local tabloid. Dublin bank robber John Daly was killed as he sat in a taxi with three other men in the north of the city on Sunday night.
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/ 13 September 2007
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who admits receiving a string of cash payments from businessmen, denied doing anything wrong when he began testifying on Thursday to an anti-corruption judge probing his foggy financial past. At stake are the reputation and legacy of Ahern, Ireland’s popular leader since 1997.