Ahmadinejad blames West for regional unrest

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the West for unrest bubbling throughout the Middle East and North Africa in a speech Monday on Iran's National Army Day.

"They are trying to foment discord in the region. They are trying to cause destruction and provoke wars between nations and governments in order to sell their weapons," Ahmadinejad said in a speech translated into English by state-run Press TV. "They are seeking destruction and a reinforcement of their evil dominance in the region."

The Iranian president's accusations come as NATO planes are enforcing a U.N.-approved no-fly zone over Libya and also are launching airstrikes on Libyan government troops as opposition forces battle them.

Ahmadinejad also warned of what he said are Western efforts to trigger sectarian strife between Shia and Sunni Muslims, while calling for cooperation between nations in the region.

Unrest has spread across parts of the Middle East and North Africa since January when popular uprisings began in Tunisia and Egypt, which eventually unseated the governments there. The political unease has spread in varying degrees to more than a dozen other nations.

Iran helping Syria quell protests

The U.S. State Department accuses Iran of helping the Syrian government's efforts to suppress protests that have taken place there in recent weeks.

Department spokesman Mark Toner said "We believe that there is credible information that Iran is assisting Syria" in quelling the protesters.

U.S. officials said the Iranian assistance includes gear used to suppress crowds, as well as equipment and technical advice for monitoring and blocking e-mail, cell phones, text messaging, and internet postings by and among activists.
Syria's Foreign Ministry told the nation's official news agency, SANA, that the claim is "absolutely untrue."

An official at Iran's mission to the United Nations said Iran "categorically rejects" the accusation as "totally baseless and unfounded."
He added, "This and similar allegations are in line with the mainstream anti-Iranian propaganda masterminded and propagated by known circles in the United States to tarnish the image of Iran and Syria."

But Toner said of the Iranians, "They continue to play a meddling role in the region."
American officials said Iran's government is also sharing with Syria the best practices it developed during Tehran's crackdown on the "green movement" protesters in 2009.

One security tactic Iran has developed, according to former Pentagon intelligence analyst Michael Rubin, is arresting protesters days later, rather than in the middle of heated street protests.
"What Iran does is, they take photos" of anti-government protesters, Rubin said. "Then they come, over the next two or three weeks, and they will round up people in the middle of the night, where you won't create a spark, where you won't create a backlash.
"That may be what they're trying to teach Syria right now."

Who is Alassane Ouattara

Alassane Dramane Ouattara's long battle for the presidency of Ivory Coast has mirrored some of the problems the world's largest cocoa producer has faced over the past decade or so.

• Nickname: Ado
• Age: 69
• Northerner, Muslim
• Economist and former prime minister

 

Ouattara's History

    * 1968: Begins work at the International Monetary Fund
    * 1983: Becomes vice-governor of the Central Bank of West African States
    * 1990: Becomes Ivory Coast's prime minister under President Felix Houphouet-Boigny
    * 1995: Barred from running as a presidential candidate
    * 2000: Again barred from running because of disputes over his nationality
    * 2010: Wins presidential run-off against Laurent Gbagbo, according to the UN

He was twice barred from running in presidential elections because he was regarded as a foreigner - as his mother was from neighbouring Burkina Faso.

He has a reputation as a hard-worker, keen on transparency and good governance.

But his rivals criticise him for being too Western, and say he backed the 2002 attempted coup d'etat - something he denies.

However, those rebels now form the bulk of his fighting forces.

Arguments over his nationality came to symbolise the marginalisation felt in the mainly Muslim north, where many migrants from neighbouring countries have settled since independence to work on cocoa farms and plantations.

Following the 2002 civil war, which split the country between the north and south, the constitution was amended to remove the stipulation that both a presidential candidate's parents be Ivorian.

This opened the way for Mr Ouattara to take on President Laurent Gbagbo in November 2010 - in polls the UN peacekeeping mission in the country says he won.

But Mr Gbagbo's supporters have reacted with outrage, after years of seeing Mr Ouattara demonised on state media as a foreigner and stooge of France, the former colonial power.

Soft-spoken economist

"Ado", as Mr Ouattara is known to his supporters because of his initials, did not start out as a career politician.

The 69 year old is an economist by training - studying in the United States - and has spent much of his career at the International Monetary Fund - where he rose to be deputy head - and the West African Central Bank.

When Ivory Coast's founding father Felix Houphouet-Boigny called him to help rescue Ivory Coast from economic stagnation, he was seen locally as an international technocrat.

He then had a brief taste of power when he served as prime minister between 1990 and 1993 under Mr Houphouet-Boigny.

After Mr Houphouet-Boigny died in 1993, Henri Konan Bedie succeeded to the presidency and played the nationalist card, exploiting Mr Ouattara's links to neighbouring Burkina Faso to sideline him from presidential contests.

Months of instability sparked by attempts to discredit Mr Ouattara culminated in Ivory Coast's first coup in December 1999, by General Robert Guei.

At first the coup appeared to be good news for Mr Ouattara, and several of his supporters assumed senior positions in the military government.

But it became clear that Gen Guei planned to run for the presidency himself and he began employing similar tactics to Mr Bedie.

Mr Ouattara was excluded from the December 2000 poll but Gen Guei's attempts to rig the outcome were defeated by massive street protests by supporters of Mr Gbagbo - then a veteran opposition leader.

Mr Ouattara may again have hoped that a change of regime would be good news for him but it was not to be.

Like his two predecessors, Mr Gbagbo found it useful to shore up his new position of power by using nationalism to attack his main rival, a Muslim with a French wife.

  

Xenophobic attacks on Burkinabes in Abidjan by supporters of Mr Gbagbo were a sign of things to come.

After the 2002 uprising, Mr Gbagbo portrayed himself as under attack from foreign powers.

Mr Gbagbo has followed similar tactics since December - and some had worried they might prove too nasty for the soft-spoken economist.

But from his blockaded hotel in Abidjan, where he has been since being declared presidential winner in December, he has squeezed Mr Gbagbo financially - cutting off his access to vital cocoa funds and international finance.

The banking system has all but collapsed and cocoa beans have been piled up in warehouses in the country's ports.

He did show a steely side - long calling for military action to oust Mr Gbagbo, before finally unleashing the former rebels, who backed him, from their northern strongholds to sweep down towards the seat of power in Abidjan.

With former rebel leader Guillaume Soro as his prime minister, Ado looks set to finally become Ivory Coast's leader after being thwarted for so many years.