Category Archives: Blog

Urgent call to help the Libyans, February 2011

HELP THE LIBYANS!

© C. T. ten Dam, February 2011
Caspar ten Dam, chairperson ICHI
26 February 2011, Groningen, the Netherlands
Addition, 14 March 2011

As in Bosnia, Rwanda and other places in the 1990s, the United Nations, NATO, the European Union and other international bodies once again dither, are too slow to keep up with developments, and do not seem to have the blueprints and rapid-reaction forces in place to even implement a no-flight zone over Libya.

At least France andGreat Britain seem ready to intervene, and the Arab League has just called for a no-flight zone – though again making it dependent on a UN Security Council resolution.

However, such steps and financial sanctions (Qaddafi has enough cash and valuables left to finance his armed forces), may be too little and too late. If the ‘international community’ really means what they say, i.e. that Qaddafi and his regime have lost all legitimacy and must go, then ALL member states should follow France and recognise the opposition’s Libyan National Council in Benghazi as the new government and state of Libya.

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18 February 2010: debating forum on ‘Kosovo: 2 years after the declaration of independence – Reason to celebrate?’

Organised by IKV Pax Christi (www.ikvpaxchristi.nl) at its main office in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Time & Location:

IKV Pax Christi, Godebaldkwartier 74 (‘Hoog Catharijne’; includes central station), Utrecht, from 18:30 till 20:30 hours.

Speakers:
Dr. Henk Voskamp, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Kosovo, as main speaker.
Dr. Christa Meindersma, vice-director of The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies.
Milos Milovanovic, coordinator of ‘Enclavia’, a self-advocacy project for Serbs in Kosovo, for the NGO Fractal in Belgrade.
Valdete Idrizi, director of the multi-ethnic NGO ‘Community Building Mitrovica’ (CBM) sponsored by IKV Pax Christi.

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17 February 2010: reception on the occasion of Independence Day of the Republic of Kosovo

With the Ambassador of Kosovo to theNetherlands, H.E. Mr. Nexhmi Rexhepi.
Time & Location: Golden Tulip Bel Air, Johan de Wittlaan 30, 25 17 JR, The Hague, the Netherlands, from 18:00 to 20:00 hours.

NB: the ceremony of the embasy’s opening is planned to take place sometime in April 2010.
Caspar ten Dam, in his capacity as ICHI-chairman as well as PhD researcher on Chechen and Albanian separatist movements (and as former chairman of Political Committee ‘Stari Most’; www.starimost.nl), was one of the few dozen people who received a special invitation.

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