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PARIS: Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, a key accuser of former president Nicolas Sarkozy in the case over alleged illegal campaign financing from late Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, died Tuesday aged 75, two days before the verdict in the ex-head of state’s trial, his lawyer said.
Takieddine died in the morning in the Lebanese capital Beirut, his French lawyer Elize Arfi told AFP.
Takieddine, a key figure in the case, had claimed several times that he helped deliver up to five million euros ($6 million)in cash from Qaddafi to Sarkozy and the former president’s chief of staff in 2006 and 2007.

But in 2020, Takieddine suddenly retracted his incriminating statement, prompting accusations that Sarkozy and close allies paid the witness to change his mind, something they have always denied.
Both Sarkozy and his wife, the singer and model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, have been charged on suspicion of putting pressure on a witness over these allegations in what is now a new legal case.
In the Libya investigation, prosecutors argued that the former conservative leader and his aides devised a pact with Qaddafi in 2005 to illegally fund Sarkozy’s victorious presidential election bid two years later.
Sarkozy, who was president from 2007-2012 and has been convicted twice in other cases, denies the charges.
Prosecutors have demanded a seven-year jail term for Sarkozy when the court delivers its verdict on Thursday.
Takieddine, had himself been targeted by an arrest warrant in the Libya case and had been convicted in another graft case in France. Sarkozy had always rubbished his claims calling him a “great manipulator.”

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he ended seven wars since returning to the White House earlier this year, making the inaccurate claim again during a Tuesday speech at the UN General Assembly.
“In a period of just seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars,” Trump said.
Below, AFP examines the US president’s mixed record on the conflicts between the seven pairs of countries he named in his UN speech.

- Cambodia and Thailand -

Five days of hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand left dozens dead in July after a territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border combat.
A truce began after phone calls from Trump, as well as mediation from Malaysia’s prime minister — chair of the ASEAN regional bloc — and a delegation of Chinese negotiators.
Cambodia’s prime minister subsequently said he nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, crediting the US president with “visionary and innovative diplomacy.”

- Kosovo and Serbia -

Serbia and Kosovo have not signed a final peace treaty, and NATO-led peacekeeping forces have been stationed in the latter area since the end of the 1998-1999 war between ethnic Albanian guerillas and Serbian forces.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008 — a move that Belgrade has not recognized.
While Trump did not forge a peace between Kosovo and Serbia, his administration did broker an economic normalization agreement between them during his first term.

- Congo and Rwanda -

Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo signed a peace accord in late June, but intense clashes between Rwandan-backed anti-government M23 fighters and Congolese forces have taken place in the eastern part of the country despite the agreement, which Trump took credit for at the time.
The M23 and the Congolese army accused each other in weekend statements of “trampling” on peace efforts or “violating” the accord’s principles.

- Pakistan and India -

India and Pakistan fought an intense four-day conflict in May that left more than 70 people dead on both sides before Trump announced a ceasefire between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
But Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in late July that no world leader had pushed his country to stop fighting Pakistan, without specifically naming Trump.
The government of Pakistan, however, has said it would recommend Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize “in recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership” during the conflict.

- Israel and Iran -

Israel launched an unprecedented 12-day air campaign targeting Iranian nuclear sites, scientists and top military brass in June in a bid to end the country’s nuclear program — an effort later joined by Washington’s forces, which carried out strikes on three nuclear sites as well.
Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran — which he later accused both countries of violating.
He worked to maintain it, seeking to turn around Israeli planes that were in the air, while the Israeli premier’s office said the country had “refrained from further strikes” after a call from Trump.

- Egypt and Ethiopia -

Tensions between Ethiopia and its downstream neighbor Egypt are heightened over the former country’s inauguration of a massive dam earlier this month.
Egypt, dependent on the Nile for 97 percent of its water, has long decried the project, with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi calling it an “existential threat” to the country’s water security.
During his first term in office, Trump publicly mused that Egypt could bomb the dam — leading Ethiopia to accuse the then US leader of trying to provoke a war.
Trump has demanded credit for “keeping peace” between Egypt and Ethiopia, but he has not ended a war between them.

- Armenia and Azerbaijan -

Armenia and Azerbaijan have feuded for decades over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other’s territories, and went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in 2023.
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have praised US efforts to settle the conflict, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said he would back Trump’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

- Other conflicts -

Trump’s efforts to broker a peace in Gaza have been unsuccessful and he has singularly failed to end the conflict in Ukraine — a war he had boasted he could resolve in a single day once he became president.