#deploy troops

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YEREVAN, Armenia | AP Interview: Pashinian warns Armenia not to deploy troops

YEREVAN, Armenia — The opposition leader spearheading weeks of protest in Armenia warned the government Wednesday not to deploy troops and said the country’s political crisis can’t be solved by force.

Nikol Pashinian told The Associated Press that the ruling party effectively was suicidal for rejecting his bid to become prime minister in a parliamentary vote a day earlier.

He said the rejection of his bid to lead the country had only galvanized the opposition and that if the government brings troops to the capital to quell protests “all the soldiers will come to us and join us.”

Pashinian’s comments came as opposition protesters blocked the road leading from Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, to its airport, as well as several subway stations and government ministries. The actions were in response to his call for a national strike, intensifying the political turmoil that has gripped the country since mid-April.

Mass demonstrations forced Serzh Sargsyan to resign last week as prime minister just days after he was named to the post. Sargsyan was Armenia’s president for 10 years before stepping down because of term limits. He became prime minister amid a change in government structure that boosts the post’s powers, and opponents said the shift would allow him to remain the country’s leader indefinitely.

“Today, our actions are much bigger and there is a big crowd reaction from society and from the people,” Pashinian said in an interview.

Because of the blockade of the road to Zvartnots Airport by about 300 young demonstrators and their cars, many travelers were forced to take long walks with their luggage to reach their flights.

Pashinian and about 3,000 of his supporters marched to the center of Yerevan in the morning.

Although the vote against Pashinian in the parliament on Tuesday dashed the opposition’s hopes for a quick resolution of the tensions, there were no immediate signs that tempers would boil over into clashes. Pashinian insisted that the demonstrations would continue to be peaceful.

“Police and security services are neutral and if they (government) will bring for example the army to Yerevan, all soldiers will come to us and they will join us. And there is no way for any solution by force,” Pashinian said in English.

The parliament, where Sargsyan’s Republican Party has a majority of seats, is to hold another vote on naming a prime minister next Tuesday.

But Pashinian said that by rejecting his bid candidacy for prime minister on Tuesday, the party had dealt itself a fatal blow.

“I think that the Republican Party yesterday have made a suicide pact, as a party, as a whole,” he said.

Acts of disobedience took place elsewhere in the small former Soviet republic on Wednesday, including protesters occupying the mayor’s office in Gyumri, Armenia’s second-largest city.

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Jim Heintz In Moscow contributed to this story.

By DAVID KEYTON and YURAS KARMANAU, By Associated Press – published on STL.News by St. Louis Media, LLC (A.S)

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Rajapakse tried to 'press' army after it became clear he lost in poll

COLOMBO, Jan 10, 2015:

Mahinda Rajapakse tried to persuade the army chief to deploy troops when it became clear he had lost Sri Lanka’s election, a spokesman for the country’s new president said on Saturday.

Rajapakse has been widely praised for conceding defeat early on Friday, even before the last votes had been counted, when he realised that his rival Maithripala Sirisena had an unassailable lead.

But in a press conference on Saturday, a top aide to Sirisena said that Lt-Gen Daya Ratnayake, who is the head of the armed forces, had come under pressure to intervene shortly before the concession.

“The army chief was under pressure to deploy but he did not. He declined to do anything illegal,” Rajitha Senaratne, the chief spokesman for the new president, told reporters in Colombo.

“Even in the last hour, he (Rajapakse) tried to remain in office. Only when he realised that he had no other option, he decided to go.”

There was no immediate comment from the military.

Senaratne, who is tipped to become health minister, declined to say whether the deposed president himself tried to contact the military chief or used his younger brother Gotabhaya.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse has often been accused of meddling in his officially neutral role as defence secretary.

“There was a defence ministry conspiracy for Rajapakse to remain in office. Gotabhaya had openly defied election laws and addressed election rallies,” Senaratne said, adding the new administration would put a stop to public servants dabbling in politics.

Senaratne said the defence ministry had also tried to deploy troops in the island’s former war zone and stage explosions in a bid to discourage ethnic Tamils from voting.

Despite two explosions that caused no harm, the northern region voted overwhelmingly to support Sirisena.

Rajapakse was reviled by many members of Sri Lanka’s largest ethnic minority for allegedly ordering the brutal military suppression of a separatist insurgency in which thousands of civilians died.

Senaratne said the new Sri Lankan government had guaranteed the safety of Rajapakse and his family after the vote, but vowed to pursue members of the former administration for human rights abuses.

“We don’t believe in revenge, but that does not mean we will not prosecute those accused of wrongdoing,” he said.

Sri Lanka has been largely immune from military meddling in politics except for a 1962 coup that failed to topple the government. Since then, there had been no direct military role in the army.