UN: Over 200,000 Somalis flee fighting since May

By SALAD DUHUL, Associated Press Writer

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Much of Somalia's capital has become a ghost town as more than 200,000 residents have fled intensified clashes between Islamist insurgents and government troops, the U.N. and a medical charity said Tuesday.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) announced it had been forced to close a pediatric hospital and three health clinics in the north of Mogadishu — the first time it has done so for 17 years.

The organization is one of the few charities remaining in the country.

"MSF staff working in north Mogadishu have had to flee for their lives," it said.

The charity has struggled to deliver health care to hundreds of thousands of desperate Somalis, continuing to operate even after staff have been kidnapped or killed.

No one knows how many remain trapped between Mogadishu's shifting front-lines since clashes intensified in May and no precise casualty figures for the latest fighting are available. The U.N. refugee agency says 204,000 Somalis have fled Mogadishu since May.

The northern suburbs are virtually deserted apart from fighters who have taken over buildings that include medical facilities, the charity said. Mogadishu was believed to have 2 million residents in 2007, but up to half that number have since fled.

Residents usually leave at dawn, seeking a lull between the fighting. Those who can't afford overloaded minibuses set off down the streets on foot, possessions on their heads and babies in blankets slung over their fronts and backs.

Some Somalis have moved several times. Families face an agonizing choice: stay in streets where men fire mortars and machine-guns that have killed children asleep in their beds, or head out of town, where camps for the displaced are severely overstretched.

MSF said half a million people are already camping along the main road that links Mogadishu to the nearby town of Afgoye. Most are sleeping outside under plastic strung over twigs. It is freezing at night and sweltering by day. There is very little food or water. Attacks are common.

Insurgents have been battling the government since an Islamist administration was overthrown in 2006. The latest round of fighting began when an exiled Islamist leader returned to the country to challenge the new president, a former ally elected by Parliament in January. It had been hoped the election of Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed would help undercut support for the Islamists, but instead the often-competing insurgent factions have temporarily coalesced and have seized much of the capital.

The Horn of Africa nation has not had a functioning government for 18 years since clan warlords overthrew a brutal socialist dictator then unleashed their militias on each other.

Iran president declares new era for country

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday sought to put the turmoil over the disputed presidential elections behind him and declared on national television that the contests were clean, fair and marked the start of a new era.

His speech came as the country's top three reformist leaders sought to rekindle their opposition movement, demanding that ruling clerics end the heavy "security atmosphere" imposed after the elections and free those detained in the unrest, according to an opposition Web site.

It was Ahmadinejad's first national speech since the supreme leader declared the election results valid despite outcry from the other candidates and weeks of street protests claiming that the results were fraudulent.

"This is a new beginning for Iran ... we have entered a new era," the president said, explaining that the 85 percent turnout and overwhelming win had given his government a new legitimacy.

"It was the most clean and free election in the world," he said, adding that during the re-count "no fault was discovered. The whole nation understood this."

"This election has doubled the dignity of the Iranian nation," he said.

During the half hour speech, Iranians in many parts of the capital Tehran could be heard shouting from their rooftops, "death to the dictator" and "God is great" — actions that have become a symbol of defiance since the elections.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims to have won the June 12 election, is struggling for a way to channel the widespread discontent since the vote but which has since been shattered by the harsh crackdown by police, Revolutionary Guards and Basij militia.

Mousavi hinted on Monday that he may move away from the tactic of protests and create a political party to work in what he called "a legal framework." Late Monday, he met with the other top stars of the reform movement — former president Mohammad Khatami and Mahdi Karroubi, another election candidate — in a show of unity.

The three warned Iran's clerical leadership that if the security crackdown continues, it "will only lead to radicalization of political activities," Mousavi's Web site reported on Tuesday.

But it is not clear how much margin the opposition will have for political action. Many of the top reform figures — including Khatami's former vice president and one-time members of his Cabinet — are in detention and could face charges of fomenting riots. Earlier this week, the head of the Revolutionary Guards warned that the elite force would take a major role in defending the country's system of clerical rule.

There was no sign of a let-up in the clampdown imposed since Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared the official election results valid and Ahmadinejad the victor.

Police say 20 people were killed in post election violence and more than 1,000 arrested, though they say many have been released.

Authorities this week closed universities and dormitories, apparently because of Web site calls for new protests on Thursday, the anniversary of a 1999 attack by Basij and police on protesting students. It is unclear if anyone will attempt a march — not only because of the security measures but also because of heavy dust clouds and pollution hanging over the capital and other parts of the country the past two days, forcing the closure of government offices.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile, demanded the release of a young French academic detained after taking photos of Iranian protests and accused of espionage.

Clotilde Reiss, 23, was arrested last week at Tehran's airport as she was about to leave Iran after a five-month stay during which she taught French at Isfahan University.

"These accusations of espionage are high fantasy," Sarkozy said at a news conference Tuesday.

Iran's hard-line leaders have been trying to erase any lingering doubts about the legitimacy of Ahmadinejad's government by portraying the unrest as sparked by foreign meddling.

In his speech Tuesday, the president criticized his election rivals and accused them of working with Iran's enemies.

"Unfortunately, some people inside Iran collaborated with them. They repeated the remarks made by certain Western countries," Ahmadinejad said, as he accused the West of interfering in the country's politics.

"The result of their childish acts of interference in Iran's internal affairs is that the Iranian nation and government will enter the global stage several times more powerful," he said.

Also Tuesday, six U.N. human rights experts issued a statement expressing "grave concern about reports of killings, ongoing arrests, use of excessive police force and the ill-treatment of detainees." They questioned the legality of the arrests of journalists and demonstrators, saying they face "arbitrary detentions."

Ten Nobel Peace Prize winners including Archbishop Desmond Tutu sent a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Tuesday asking him to send a special envoy to Iran to investigate allegations of human rights abuses.

"We deplore the violence and crackdown on peaceful protesters, the increasing restrictions on civil liberties and the imprisonment of ... civic leaders," the letter said.

Despite the regime's rhetoric, a number of top clerics have continued to question the election — a rare defiance of the supreme leader from the ranks of the religious establishment.

This week, a party close to one of the most politically powerful clerics — former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani — issued a statement rejecting Ahmadinejad's victory. It was one of the strongest hints yet on the powerful cleric's stance. He is the head of two major clerical ruling bodies and is a bitter enemy of Ahmadinejad, but has kept his distance from the post election turmoil.

"Due to the unhealthy trend of the election, widespread irregularities and the support extended by a majority of Guardian Council members to a specific candidate, the result of this election is not acceptable," the Kargozaran party said in its statement, published on Mousavi's Web site.

Indonesia votes in presidential poll

by Stephen Coates

JAKARTA(AFP) (AFP) – Indonesia voted in only its second direct presidential election since the fall of the Suharto dictatorship with ex-general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono tipped to win a second term.

Opinion polls suggest Yudhoyono could avoid a run-off in September by beating opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri and outgoing Vice President Jusuf Kalla with a clear majority in the first round.

Victory will give the mild-mannered 59-year-old -- who likes to write love songs in his spare time -- a clear mandate to speed up bureaucratic reform and fight corruption in the most populous Muslim-majority nation.

He would also be the first president to serve consecutive terms at the helm of the world's third-biggest democracy behind India and the United States, after its violent birth at the end of three decades of dictatorship in 1998.

The first polls to open were in the eastern province of Papua and voting was set to follow across the country with the final ballots closing at 0600 GMT.

"I voted for a president who will bring wealth and health to the people, and that person is SBY," 31-year-old shop assistant Laica said after casting her ballot in Papua, using Yudhoyono's nickname.

Almost 250,000 police have been deployed across the vast archipelago of 234 million people to safeguard polling stations, especially in restive Papua where violence marred legislative polls in April.

Security forces opened fire on a group of people who attacked a police post and set three vehicles on fire before dawn near the massive US-owned Freeport mine in Papua, police said.

"We suspect that this group wanted to disrupt the elections but we are still investigating who they are," Mimika town police chief Godhelp Mansnembra told AFP, adding no one was injured.

Megawati, who has complained over incomplete voter lists and a shortage of polling stations, was the first of the three candidates to cast her ballot.

Appearing with her husband at a polling booth in Jakarta, the ex-president and daughter of independence hero Sukarno dipped her little finger in blue ink and posed for photographers but said nothing to reporters.

Speaking to provincial governors on Tuesday, Yudhoyono called for a "smooth presidential election that is truly honest, fair, direct, free and secret."

Yudhoyono's popularity is based on five years of steady economic growth in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, slow but even-handed reform of the bureaucracy and security forces, and a tough anti-corruption drive.

He has weathered the global financial meltdown, with strong domestic demand underpinning growth at around four percent this year.

Despite his popularity, Yudhoyono has been criticized for caving in to Islamist extremists over tolerance issues such as a controversial anti-pornography law and restrictions on the minority Ahmadiyah sect.

But his government has worked closely with the United States and Australia to crack down on Al-Qaeda inspired fanatics who launched the 2002 Bali bombings and other atrocities.

Three of the Bali bombers were executed by firing squad last year and hundreds of other terrorist suspects have been rounded up.

Security issues have barely rated in the election debate, which has been fought over issues such as corruption, food prices and Indonesia's response to the pressures of globalization.

Megawati and Kalla have both touted a brand of economic nationalism in response to what they have called Yudhoyono's "neo-liberalism," vowing to protect jobs from foreign competition and investment.

The presence of Suharto-era generals on all three tickets shows the lingering power of the old military elite in Indonesia, analysts said.

Megawati teamed up with notorious special forces ex-commander Prabowo Subianto as her running mate, while Kalla chose former military chief Wiranto, who has been indicted by United Nations prosecutors for crimes against humanity over East Timor's bloody independence referendum in 1999.

Yudhoyono, who was a senior general under Suharto but emerged from that regime with his reputation intact, chose Western-educated economist and former central bank chief Boediono as his vice-presidential candidate.

Mullen: Strike on Iran an option, but a bad one

By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer

WASHINGTON – A military strike to thwart Iran's nuclear weapons capability remains on the table but could have grave and unpredictable consequences, the top U.S. military officer said Tuesday.

"I worry a great deal about the response of a country that gets struck," said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "It is a really important place to not go, if we can not go there in any way, shape or form."

Iran is perhaps one to three years away from getting the bomb, leaving a small and shrinking opening for diplomacy to avert what he said could be a dangerous nuclear arms race in the Middle East, Mullen said.

"I think the time window is closing."

Mullen said President Barack Obama's diplomatic outreach to Iran holds promise, despite political upheaval and deadly protests following Iran's disputed presidential election.

Obama told The Associated Press last week that persuading Iran to forgo nuclear weapons has been made more difficult by the Iranian government's handling of claims that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole re-election.

Mullen pointedly said "the strike option" — is one possible outcome. He suggested that a strike, meaning missile or other attacks to blow up Iran's known nuclear facilities, is a last resort. It would be "very destabilizing," Mullen said.

Mullen was referring to Iran's response should it be attacked by either the United States or Israel, although he was careful to say that Israel can speak and choose for itself. His remarks made clear that the Obama administration wants to avoid a strike by either country.

Mullen, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said it is critical to find a solution "before Iran gets a nuclear capability, or that anyone ... would take action to strike."

On Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden had suggested that the new U.S. administration would not stand in the way of an Israeli strike. That is not the message U.S. officials have been trying to deliver in public and private, but spokesmen insisted Biden was not speaking out of turn.

The United States would join European nations, Russia and China in negotiations over Iran's disputed nuclear program, if Iran agreed to terms for beginning the talks. Obama has also said he would hold direct talks with Iran's leadership if it would help. leaders of Group of Eight countries have yet to forge a common position on Iran's violent crackdown on post-electoral protests, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Tuesday on the eve of the summit.

Berlusconi, who chairs the gathering of world leaders opening Wednesday, noted that some countries, such as France, were calling for tougher action against Tehran, while others, such as Russia, favored a softer stance to keep dialogue open.

Iran claims its fast-track nuclear development project is intended only for the peaceful production of electricity. Mullen, like other U.S. officials, said he is sure Iran intends to develop weapons and is working hard and fast to do so.

China president hurries home from G8 after rioting

By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer

URUMQI, China – Sobbing Muslim women scuffled with riot police, and Chinese men wielding steel pipes and meat cleavers rampaged through the streets as ethnic tensions worsened in China's oil-rich Xinjiang territory, prompting President Hu Jintao to cut short a G8 summit trip Wednesday.

The new violence in Xinjiang's capital erupted Tuesday only a few hours after the city's top officials told reporters the streets in Urumqi were returning to normal following a riot that killed 156 people Sunday. The officials said more than 1,000 suspects had been rounded up since the spasm of attacks by Muslim Uighurs against Han Chinese, the ethnic majority.

In a rare move, Hu cut short a trip to Italy to take part in a Group of Eight meeting later Wednesday to travel home to deal with the outbreak of violence, the Foreign Ministry said on its Web site.

The chaos returned Tuesday when hundreds of young Han men seeking revenge began gathering on sidewalks with kitchen knives, clubs, shovels and wooden poles. They spent most of the afternoon marching through the streets, smashing windows of Muslim restaurants and trying to push past police cordons protecting minority neighborhoods. Riot police successfully fought them back with volleys of tear gas and a massive show of force.

Uighurs have said this week's rioting was triggered by the June 25 deaths of Uighur factory workers killed in a brawl in the southern Chinese city of Shaoguan. State-run media have said two workers died, but many Uighurs believe more were killed and said the incident was an example of how little the government cared about them.

There was a heavy security presence in Urumqi on Wednesday morning after an overnight curfew in the city of 2.3 million was lifted. Two helicopters flew over the city watching the scene.

The ugly scenes over the last several days highlight how far away the Communist Party is from one of its top goals: Creating a "harmonious society." The unrest was also an embarrassment for the Chinese leadership, which is getting ready to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Communist rule and wants to show it has created a stable country.

But harmony has been hard to achieve in Xinjiang, a rugged region three times the size of Texas with deserts, mountains and the promise of huge oil and natural gas reserves. Xinjiang is also the homeland for 9 million Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gers), a Turkic-speaking group.

Many Uighurs believe the Han Chinese, who have flooded into the region in recent years, are trying to crowd them out. They often accuse the Han of prejudice and waging campaigns to restrict their religion and culture.

The Han Chinese allege the Uighurs are backward and ungrateful for all the economic development and modernization the Han have brought to Xinjiang. They also complain that the Uighurs' religion — a moderate form of Sunni Islam — keeps them from blending into Chinese society, which is officially communist and largely secular.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called the violence a "major tragedy" and said all sides should "exercise great restraint so as not to spark further violence and loss of life."

The authorities have been trying to control the unrest by blocking the Internet, including social networking sites such as Facebook, and limiting access to texting services on cell phones. At the same time, police have generally been allowing foreign media to cover the tensions.

In a sign the government was trying to address communal grievances after the factory brawl in southern China, the official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday that 13 people had been arrested, including three from Xinjiang. Two others were arrested for spreading rumors on the Internet that Xinjiang employees had raped two female workers, the report said, citing a local police official.

Chinese officials dismiss claims that the Urumqi rioting was caused by long-simmering resentments among the Uighurs. They said the crowds were stirred up by U.S.-exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer and her overseas followers, who used the Internet to spread rumors.

"Using violence, making rumors, and distorting facts are what cowards do because they are afraid to see social stability and ethnic solidarity in Xinjiang," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in Beijing during a blistering verbal attack on Kadeer. She has denied the allegations.

In Washington, D.C., Kadeer accused China of inciting the ethnic violence, saying peaceful Uighur demonstrators have been targeted as part of the continuing repression in the region by the Chinese government.

"I'm not responsible," Kadeer, president of the Uyghur American Association said, during a rally. "The Chinese authorities instigated the violence."