Dioncounda Traoré

Dioncounda Traoré (born 23 February 1942) is a Malian politician who has been President of Mali in an interim capacity since April 2012. He has been President of the National Assembly of Mali since September 2007, as well as President of the Alliance for Democracy in Mali-African Party for Solidarity and Justice (ADEMA-PASJ) since 2000. He was also President of the Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ADP), an alliance of parties that supported the re-election of President Amadou Toumani Touré in 2007.

Political Career

Traoré was born in Kati. After studying abroad in the Soviet Union, at the University of Algiers, and at the University of Nice, he taught in Mali at the Teachers' College (ENSUP) from 1977 to 1980. He was then arrested for trade union activities and sent to Ménaka in northern Mali. Subsequently, he became director-general of the National School of Engineering. He participated in the struggle for democracy that culminated with the overthrow of President Moussa Traoré in March 1991. He was a founding member of ADEMA, and at its constitutive congress, held on 25–26 May 1991, he was elected as its Second Vice-President, while Alpha Oumar Konaré was elected as the party's President and Mohamed Lamine Traoré was elected as its First Vice-President.

After Konaré was elected as President of Mali in the 1992 presidential election, Traoré was appointed Minister of the Civil Service, Labor, and the Moderization of Administration on 9 June 1992, in the first government under Konaré's presidency. He was then named Minister of State for Defense on 16 April 1993, holding that position until he became Minister of State for Foreign Affairs on 25 October 1994. At ADEMA's first ordinary congress, held in September 1994, Traoré was elected as the First Vice-President of the party, while Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta‎ was elected as its President.

He was elected as a Deputy in the National Assembly from Nara in 1997 and resigned as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs on 24 August 1997 to take his seat. In the National Assembly, he became President of the ADEMA Parliamentary Group, and following the resignation of Keïta‎ as ADEMA President in October 2000, Traoré was elected as ADEMA President at the party's first extraordinary congress, held on 25–28 November 2000. In the 2002 parliamentary election, he was defeated in Nara and lost his seat.

In the July 2007 parliamentary election, Traoré ran again at the head of an ADEMA list in Nara, where three seats were at stake. In the first round, his list won 39.59% of the vote, and in the second round it prevailed with 58.41% of the vote. When the new National Assembly held its first meeting on 3 September 2007, Traoré was elected as President of the National Assembly, receiving 111 votes against 31 for Mountaga Tall of the National Congress for Democratic Initiative (CNID), another member of the ADP.

Following the March 2012 military coup, which precipitated economic sanctions and a blockade by ECOWAS against Mali, a deal, brokered in Burkina Faso by President Blaise Compaoré under the auspices of ECOWAS, was signed on 6 April 2012 that would see the head of the military junta, Captain Amadou Sanogo, cede power to Dioncounda Traoré to assume the presidency in an interim capacity until an election could be held. Traoré had left the country following the coup, but returned on 7 April.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Leonid Tibilov

Leonid Tibilov (born 28 March 1952 in Verkhny Dvan, Znaur district) is a South Ossetian politician who is the President-elect of South Ossetia after winning the 2012 South Ossetian presidential election.

Leonid Tibilov is a former head of the KGB in South Ossetia from 1992 to 1998. He was then a first deputy prime minister and co-chaired a Georgian-Ossetian peacekeeping commission. Tibilov stood at the 2006 presidential election losing to Eduard Kokoity, who won 98% of the vote.

Before the 2012 election Tibilov distanced himself from the outgoing President Eduard Kokoity. Tibilov is reported to be loyal to Russia and pledged to consult Russia before appointing a government if he was successful at the election.

In the first round of the 2012 Presidential election, Tibilov received 42.5% of the vote to lead David Sanakoyev. In the second round Tibilov was elected president with 54% of the vote.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Joyce Banda

Joyce Hilda Banda (born 12 April 1950) is the President of the Republic of Malawi. An educator and grassroots gender rights activist-turned-politician who was Vice-President of Malawi from May 2009 to April 2012, and has been President since April 7, 2012, she is Malawi's first female president and was the country's first female vice-president. She is also Africa's second woman head of state, the first being Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Previously she was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2009. She was also Member of Parliament and Minister for Gender, Children's Affairs and Community Services. Prior to an active career in politics she was the founder of the Joyce Banda Foundation, founder of the National Association of Business Women (NABW), Young Women Leaders Network and the Hunger Project. She was listed in Forbes Magazine 2011 as the third most powerful woman in Africa.

She is the founder and leader of the People's Party created in 2011, and prior to Bingu wa Mutharika's death was considered likely to contest the Presidency of Malawi in the 2014 general election. The People's Party is scheduled to have a convention later this year, with Joyce Banda likely to be confirmed as party leader.

Early Life

Banda comes from Malemia, a village in the Zomba District of Malawi. She has a Cambridge School Certificate. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Early Childhood Education from Columbus University, and a Diploma in Management that she received in Italy. By age 25, she had three children and was living in Nairobi, Kenya. In 1975, a growing women's movement in Kenya provided Banda the spirit she needed to take her children and leave an abusive marriage. Between 1985 and 1997 Banda managed and established various businesses and organisations including Ndekani Garments, (1985), Akajuwe Enterprises (1992), and Kalingidza Bakery (1995). Her success moved her to help other women achieve financial independence and break the cycles of abuse and poverty.

She is sister to Anjimile Oponyo, CEO of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls founded by Madonna.

She is married to Richard Banda, former Chief Justice of the Republic of Malawi.

 

From : www.wikipedia.org

The World’s Highest Paid Political Leaders

Top 10 Political Leaders Salary by Country (2010):

1. Lee Hsien Loong (Singapore): $2,183,516

2. Donald Tsang (Hong Kong): $513,245

3. Raila Odinga (Kenya): $427,886

4. Barack Obama (United States): $400,000

5. Nicolas Sarkozy (France): $302,435

6. Stephen Harper (Canada): $296,400

7. Mary McAleese (Ireland): $287,900

8. Julia Gillard (Australia): $286,752

9. Angela Merkel (Germany): $283,608

10. Yoshihiko Noda (Japan): $273,676

Moussa Dadis Camara

Captain Moussa Dadis Camara (born 1 January 1964 or 29 December 1968) now called Moïse Dadis Camara is an ex-officer of the Guinean army who served as the President of the Republic of Guinea's National Council for Democracy and Development (Conseil National de la Démocratie et du Développement, CNDD), which seized power in a military coup d'état on 23 December 2008 after the death of long-time President and dictator Lansana Conté. He has been out of office since the assassination attempt on him on 3 December 2009.

Early Life

Moussa Dadis Camara was born in 1964 in the remote town of Kouré, Lola Prefecture, in the Guinée Forestière region of southeastern Guinea, near the border with Ivory coast and Liberia. He is a member of the Kpelle ethnic group (known in Guinea as Guerze). Dadis’ ethnic group are primarily found in Guinée Forestière region of Guinea, near Liberia. Dadis attended primary and secondary school in Nzérékoré, about 24 miles (40 km) away from his birth-town of Kouré. He studied law and economics at Abdel Nasser University in the capital, Conakry. He is a Christian convert from Islam. Dadis speaks five languages: French, Kpelle, Susu, Maninka and German.

He joined the Army of Guinea in 1990 as a corporal and was later appointed as the Chief of Fuels at the Guinean army base in Kindia, about 60 miles northeast of Conakry. From 2001 to 2002, Dadis was sent to Sierra Leone as a member of the United Nations' peacekeeping troops. In 2004, President Conté sent Dadis, along with several other Guinean soldiers, to Bremen, Germany, for 18 months’ military training. In November 2008, he was named head of the Guinean army's fuel supplies unit, a branch of the Guinean Minister of Defense's cabinet. He was one of the leading mutineers in the 2008 Guinean military unrest. Prior to the December 2008 coup, he was not well known by the general population.

Christmas coup

In the early hours of 23 December 2008, Aboubacar Somparé, the President of the National Assembly, announced on television that Conté had died because of illness on 22 December. According to the constitution, the President of the National Assembly was to assume the Presidency of the Republic in the event of a vacancy, and a new presidential election was to be held within 60 days.

Six hours after Somparé announced Conté's death, a statement was read on television announcing a military coup d'état. This statement, read by Captain Camara on behalf of the CNDD, said that "the government and the institutions of the Republic have been dissolved". The statement also announced the suspension of the constitution "as well as political and union activity". According to Camara, the coup was necessary because of Guinea's "deep despair" amidst rampant poverty and corruption, and he said that the existing institutions were "incapable of resolving the crises which have been confronting the country." Furthermore, Camara said that someone from the military would become President, while a civilian would be appointed as Prime Minister at the head of a new government that would be ethnically balanced. The National Council for Democracy and Development would, according to Camara, include 26 officers as well as six civilians.

A statement was read over the radio on 24 December 2008, announcing that Captain Camara was the President of the CNDD. Later in the day, Camara and thousands of soldiers loyal to him paraded through the city, surrounded by large numbers of civilian supporters. According to Camara, he "came to see if the terrain is favorable to us", declaring that the large crowds indicated that the people were indeed supportive of the coup. Also on 24 December, Camara said in a radio broadcast that the CNDD did not want to stay in power indefinitely and that it intended to lead the country for two years, promising "credible and transparent presidential elections by the end of December 2010". This contradicted an earlier statement which promised an election within the constitutionally mandated period of 60 days.

Speaking on the radio on 25 December, Camara said that he did not plan to run for President at the end of the two year transitional period. He also declared that the CNDD was not susceptible to bribes. According to Camara, people had "start[ed] to show up with bags of money to try to corrupt us. They’ve tried to give money to our wives and cars to our children." He warned that he would "personally go after anyone that tries to corrupt us".

The Associated Press reported that Camara's tenureship was quickly challenged by soldiers of Sekouba Konate, in one of the capital's barracks. Camara, Konate, and a third unknown officer then drew lots, twice, to determine who would lead, with Camara winning both times. (note that Konate now runs the country, after a nearly successful assassination attempt on Camara)

On 25 December 2008, the Prime Minister under the previous régime, Ahmed Tidiane Souaré, pledged loyalty to Camara, thus further consolidating the latter's rule. On 22 March 2009, Souaré was arrested and held in a military prison, along with two Mines Ministers (recalling that Guinea is the world's largest exporter of bauxite, the necessary ore for aluminum).

From : www.wikipedia.org

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed (Urdu: حافظ محمد سعید; born 1950) is the amir of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, a charity organization that is widely considered to be a cover organization for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), one of the largest and most active Islamic terrorist organizations in the world, operating mainly from Pakistan. The organization is banned as a terrorist organization by India, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Russia and Australia.

India considers him one of its most wanted terrorists because of his alleged ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba and his involvement in attacks against India. The United Nations declared Jama'at-ud-Da'wah a terrorist organization in December 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader.[8] According to Hafiz Saeed, he has no links with LeT. United States of America has announced a bounty of $10 million on Hafeez Saeed's head, for his alleged role in 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Background

In 1950, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was born in Sargodha, Punjab. His family lost 36 of its members when migrating from Shimla to Lahore during the Partition of India. He is married and his wife's name is Maimoona.

General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq appointed Hafiz Muhammad Saeed to the Council on Islamic Ideology, and he later served as an Islamic Studies teacher at the University of Engineering and Technology (Lahore), Pakistan. He was sent to Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s by the university for higher studies where he met Saudi Sheikhs who were taking part in the Afghan jihad.[citation needed] They inspired him to join his colleague, Professor Zafar Iqbal, in taking an active role supporting the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. There he met some youth who later became his companions.

In 1987 Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, along with Abdullah Azzam, founded Markaz Dawa-Wal-Irshad, a group with roots in the Jamait Ahl-e-Hadis.

This organization spawned the jihadist group Lashkar-e-Taiba in 1990, with the help of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence officers.

Lashkar's primary target is the disputed Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. He is also quoted as saying, "There cannot be any peace while India remains intact. Cut them, cut them so much that they kneel before you and ask for mercy."

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed holds two masters degrees from the University of Punjab and a specialization in Islamic Studies & Arabic Language from King Saud University.

US Bounty

In 2012, United States announced a bounty of $10 million on Hafeez Saeed's head, for his alleged role in 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Saeed stated that he had nothing to do with the Mumbai attacks and also condemned the attacks. When asked about the bounty, Saeed replied "I am living my life in the open and the US can contact me whenever they want."  He subsequently stated that he is ready to face "any American court" to answer the charges which he denies, adding that if Washington wants to contact him they know where he is: "this is a laughable, absurd announcement.Here I am in front of everyone, not hiding in a cave." Saeed identified his leading role in the Difa-e-Pakistan council and United States attempts to placate India as reasons behind the bounty.

From : www.wikipedia.org