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Sunday, December 27, 2009

Gaza marks anniversary of Israeli offensive

The Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip are marking the first anniversary of the deadly Israeli offensive against the coastal sliver.

Sirens were to wail throughout the Palestinian territory at 11:20 a.m. (0920 GMT), the time of the first rain of Israeli bombs on the Gaza Strip as "Operation Cast Lead" was launched.

Several demonstrations will be held during the day, with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya scheduled to make a television address this evening, AFP reported.

Hamas plans to hold events for 22 days, the length of the offensive.

"The goal of these events is that this war and its massacres, which have no precedent, should remain before the eyes of the world," said Ihab al-Ghussein, a spokesman for the Hamas interior ministry.

"This is so that the leaders of this Zionist war will be judged," AFP quoted al-Ghussein as saying on Sunday.

On Saturday, December 27, 2008, Israeli warplanes launched a simultaneous strike on the Gaza Strip and killed at least 225 people.

The attacks twisted the day into one of the single bloodiest days in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

On December 31, an estimated 1,300 people from 43 countries will join 50,000 Palestinians on the Gaza Freedom March to the Gaza-Israel Erez crossing, a Press TV correspondent said.

The marchers plan to walk from Rafah in Egypt to Gaza where they will join Palestinians from Gaza in a march to the Erez crossing.

The move is aimed at urging Israel to lift its blockade on the coastal sliver.

The already impoverished Gaza Strip has been under a complete Israeli siege, with full cooperation of the Cairo government, ever since the Hamas resistance movement, which does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state, won parliamentary elections in a surprise victory in 2007.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114748§ionid=351020202.

Nasrallah: Israel's greed, brutality have no borders

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has urged Muslims to be vigilant against the "borderless Israeli greed and brutality."

"Israel is an entity that has stolen Palestine and Jerusalem Al-Quds. This entity's greed, terrorism and brutality have no borders," said Nasrallah who was addressing thousands of people in Beirut on Sunday as part of ceremonies held to mark the Ashura anniversary.

"Millions of refugees in Palestine and outside Palestine have been living far away from their homes for decades. More than 11,000 prisoners and detainees are living in very harsh conditions in Israeli prisons," he noted.

"[Palestinian] houses are being demolished and agriculture is being destroyed in order to force Palestinians to flee," Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah also condemned the "US hegemony" in the Middle East.

He said that "threats against Arabs and Muslims are presented by the American hegemony and its plan to take control of the region."

"We call on the [Islamic] Ummah to show vigilance against the real nature of the hegemony and not be tricked by the rhetoric and pledges of freedom, democracy and human rights," the Hezbollah chief added.

"We condemn the American plots and the crimes committed by the US administration in Iraq and Afghanistan and we condemn the US participation in Israeli crimes in Palestine and Lebanon," Press TV quoted Nasrallah as saying.

The Hezbollah Secretary General went on to add that the oppressed nations will achieve victory against the "American hegemony."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114749§ionid=351020203.

Millions of Muslims commemorate Ashura

Millions of Muslims in Iran and around the world are mourning in commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (PBUH), the grandson of the Prophet of Islam.

Imam Hussein and 72 of his companions and family members were martyred at the hands of the forces of the caliph Yazid at Karbala, Iraq, over 1400 years ago.

The occasion is widely commemorated in Iran and many other Muslim countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Lebanon.

The martyrdom of Imam Hussein has evolved into a symbol of the struggle against injustice and tyranny among Muslims and many non-Muslims all over the world.

During annual Ashura commemorations, mourners, generally dressed in black, take to the streets or gather in mosques to grieve again the slaying of Imam Hussein (PBUH).

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114741§ionid=351020101.

Somalia: Islamists to form administration in central Somalia

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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MOGADISHU (Mareeg)—Ahlu Sunnna Waljama’a moderate Islamist organization said Saturday they would form an administration under their control in central Somalia.

The group has been holding a conference in Abudwaq town in Galgadud region in central Somalia.

More moderate Islamist clerics attended the meeting in Abudwaq.

In their meeting they produced articles including to form administration and to continue their fighting against al Shabaab militants.

Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a organization fought al Shabaab in the region for several times and liberated from the region.

Sheikh Omar Mohamed Farah, the group’s representative in central Somalia expressed hope that the results of the conference would be fruitful to the Somali people.

A statement from the group said the conference was facilitated by Somalis and no other group was involved.

Mareeg Online

Source: Mareeg Online.
Link: http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.php?sid=14726&tirsan=3.

Turkey concerned about Cambodia's expulsion of Uighurs

Turkey has spoken out against Cambodia’s deportation of 20 ethnic Uighur asylum seekers who had fled violence in China, while stating that it expects Chinese authorities to treat the deported Uighurs fairly and in line with international human rights norms.

The asylum seekers had escaped China in recent months following the July clashes between Uighurs and ethnic Han in Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, which, according to government figures, claimed more than 150 lives.

In a written statement released on Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed concern over the fact that the deportation order for the Uighurs, including a woman and two children, came before they had learned the results of asylum applications they had conveyed through the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“This unfortunate decision, which was made without taking humanitarian considerations into account, doesn’t comply with Cambodia’s obligations under international law, and it also constitutes a negative precedent in regard to the responsibilities of contemporary states vis-à-vis people who seek the right to be protected within the framework of international law,” the ministry said.

“We are now expecting Cambodian authorities to inform the international public about the fate of the returned Uighurs, and we expect that they will be treated in line with international human rights norms and fairly,” it concluded.

Last weekend, the UNHCR said the forced return of the asylum seekers on Saturday took place a day after the agency had communicated its concern to the Cambodian government regarding the imminent deportation of the 20 Uighurs, which took place before their asylum claims had been assessed. The agency noted that “a disturbing pattern of such cases is increasingly evident around the world.”

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-196675-102-turkey-concerned-about-cambodias-expulsion-of-uighurs.html.

Hamas marks 1 year after war, but many stay home

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer

JEBALIYA, Gaza Strip – Hamas loyalists marked the one-year anniversary of Israel's devastating war against Gaza's Islamic militant rulers with defiant protests and a moment of silence on Sunday — even as most of the territory's residents ignored commemoration events and some even criticized the militant group for not attending to their needs.

The sparse turnout appeared to be an informal vote of discontent by Gaza residents over Hamas' attempt to turn the day into a victory march for the militant group.

Around 3,000 Hamas supporters milled around a square in the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya, waving their group's green flags and holding up pictures of family members slain in the Israeli offensive that began on Dec. 27, 2008. Some 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including hundreds of civilians, along with 13 Israelis.

"We are the victors! We are the fighters! We are the steadfast!" thundered senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Haya.

But a year later, al-Haya's bold calls rang hollow. After days of heavy advertising through Hamas Web sites, text messages and radio announcements, only a trickle of Hamas loyalists turned up to a commemoration in the heavily damaged legislative building in downtown Gaza City, the territory's largest urban area.

Cars whizzed by and pedestrians kept walking, ignoring a siren meant to call for a minute's silence.

"I wish they had commemorated the war by opening a factory. That would have been better than this," said Gaza resident Rami Mohammed, 30.

Al-Haya's Jebaliya protest did not even fill the sandy square where Israeli aircraft dropped bombs onto the house of senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayyan, killing him and about a dozen more of his family and neighbors.

It is not clear to what extent the apathy suggested nascent discontent of Hamas' rule. Tens of thousands of Gaza residents turned up to recent Hamas' founding anniversary just weeks ago, indicating the group still enjoys strong support.

Israel launched the relentless, pounding, three-week long offensive in what it said was a bid to end years of rocket fire from Gaza toward Israeli border towns and to punish the territory's militant Hamas rulers. Both sides have claimed victory: Israel's southern communities are now prospering because rocket fire has largely halted.

"For the first time in years, the children of southern Israel can grow up without the constant fear of an incoming rocket and running to the nearest bomb shelter," said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.

Gaza's Hamas rulers claim victory by mere survival, and have grown only stronger since: They have eliminated local rivals, bullied human rights and aid groups that appear to act independently, squeezed taxes out of businesses to prop up their rule and banned residents from leaving the territory without Hamas permission.

But Gaza itself remains badly broken. Hundreds of families are mourning loved ones, and hundreds more are disabled by severe injuries. Thousands of homes were destroyed or badly damaged, while a strict Israeli and Egyptian blockade has blocked most reconstruction since glass, concrete and other building materials are banned.

Anger still simmers. "The war made us aware of how much the Jews hate us," said Khadija Omari, 45. "But we also hate the Jews even more. Now the children beg us to fight them, that's what the war taught us."

Much of Gaza's economy, meanwhile, has been driven underground by the blockade, and is conducted through underground tunnels straddling the border with Egypt, which serve as a conduit for food and commercial goods. To Israel's dismay, they also serve as a channel for weapons.

In Israel, there were no official observances of the war. Atara Orenbuch, a 37-year-old resident of the rocket-battered Israeli town of Sderot, said life has definitely improved since the war, but the impact of eight years of rocket fire still resonates. The mother of seven said her two youngest children still sleep inside a shelter because of their lingering fears of attack. Nonetheless, she said the war has raised morale in Sderot.

"The war helped morally ... we feel that we are not alone, which is very important," she said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn't even mention the offensive, launched by the previous government, in prepared remarks at the start of Israel's weekly Cabinet meeting. But he warned that Israel would retaliate "forcefully" against any Palestinian attacks and praised Israeli security forces for gunning down three militants accused of killing a Jewish West Bank settler. The military raid took place early Saturday.

Netanyahu told Cabinet ministers from his Likud Party that one of the militants had been freed from an Israeli prison — highlighting the risks of a prisoner swap deal Israel is negotiating with Gaza militants in a bid to free a long-held Israeli soldier.

He later told his Cabinet he would fly on Tuesday to Egypt, which has mediated the swap talks along with Germany, to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Hamas is seeking 1,000 prisoners in exchange for the soldier.

"At this point there is no deal, and it's not clear there will be a deal," Netanyahu said.

The Israeli army said Sunday that ballistic evidence showed that weapons confiscated in Saturday's raid were used to kill the Israeli settler.

Reform, women's rights energise Libyan blogosphere

Arab world governments "have dealt in a variety of ways with ... blogging, and the aim has always been to undermine the experiment", according to Libyan blogger Mohammed Sahli.

By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis – 16/12/09

Libyan bloggers recently hit the keyboards to tackle issues including the power of blogs in the Arab world, gender equality, reforms and democratization.

The author of the blog "elekomm" wonders if the members of Libyan society are "living in the second Jahiliyah (the pre-Islamic Age of Ignorance)", writing that his compatriots' habits are "marred by many aspects of backwardness and Jahiliyah which contradict religion, especially when it comes to the marriage of women, and their right to education and inheritance".

"In some families, relatives are still giving girls in marriage without even consulting them," adds the blogger. "Moreover, there are some people who deny education to their girls, and more importantly, deny them the right to inheritance."

According to the "elekomm" post, the right to inheritance is ordered by God and laid out in the "An-Nisa" (Women) section of the Quran as "… and women shall have a portion of what the parents and the near relatives leave, whether there is little or much of it".

"In spite of that," notes the post, "the phenomenon of denying women the right to inheritance does exist. There are several ways to prevent them from having their legitimate right, …if the bequeather of the inheritance is still alive, and has a daughter at the age of marriage. In this case, he would make her choose between marrying the cousin whom she rejects, or being deprived of her inheritance if she marries a person from outside the tribe."

"Unfortunately, this phenomenon is prevalent in our Libyan society, especially in small remote areas that look at the woman as someone who brings in outsiders to take possession of some of the tribe's property," laments the blogger. "Therefore, they insist on consanguineous marriages and deprive their girls of inheritance in cases where they marry strangers. This is because they don't observe the rules of religion. Everyone is familiar with the first Jahiliyah; are we, then, in second Jahiliyah?"

Change is on other bloggers minds, as well. "There's no question that we need reform", writes blogger Ramadan Jarbou, adding that "In order to remedy the previous setbacks, the reform must be comprehensive, but also gradual."

"This shall not be confined to outlining the qualities of people who would be charged with making the reform, or holding the people who had a role in disrupting the process of development accountable," continues the blogger. "Rather, it will also include the enforcement of law; a requirement for verified transparency; provision of means of success in terms of communication with citizens (who are mostly poverty-stricken) by budgeting a fund for combating poverty and meeting the requirements of the needy (who are too many); provision of opportunity for unrestricted expression of the feelings in people's chests; a reconsideration of fears that govern decisions on security matters; and putting an end to ... the hegemony of those who claim 'allegiance' in all matters, large or small, especially as some of them have joined the convoy of reform, so that they may not ruin it for us again".

"All these measures necessitate expanding citizens' participation in sharing the responsibility and forming a clearer picture for public opinion through civil society organizations that conform to international standards, and which would be allowed to practice control and urge compliance with basic human rights [standards]," concludes Jarbou.

Meanwhile, blogger Mohammed Sahli takes issue with the accepted wisdom that blogs are a way to spread democracy. "With the spread of blogs in the Arab world, the axiom that these blogs will bring democracy to the Arab countries also appeared! However, six years after the launch of Arab blogs, I believe that this axiom is completely untrue. It's democracy that makes blogs, rather than blogs that make democracy."

The governments of Arab countries "have dealt in a variety of ways with the culture of blogging, and the aim has always been to undermine the experiment", according to Sahli. "Tunisia and some other countries dealt with the issue from angle of censorship, blocking many of the websites and curbing their potential impact domestically. ... However, it is difficult to confirm whether the restrictions imposed on bloggers are because of their blogging activities or because of their links with human rights groups. Morocco, meanwhile, just completely ignored the blogs on purpose; something that reduced the ability of blogs to spread and prevented their issues from reaching the press and citizens."

"The result is that some [bloggers] came to behave as if they were tilting at windmills, and there has been no one to be influenced by them or even listen to them," adds the blogger. "Some other bloggers chose the policy of the ostrich, burying themselves in issues that have nothing to do with citizens' needs. Some of them just focused on themselves, writing the details of their days, while some others started writing about issues of technology and began relaying and translating English blogs."

The disconsolate blogger is not without hope, however, adding "[T]his doesn't mean that there aren't some distinguished cases in the Arab blogosphere".

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/blog/2009/12/16/feature-01.

Swiss minaret ban looms over Tunisian bloggers

Bloggers in Tunisia are struggling to make sense of the Swiss vote to stop minaret-building, as other writers are tackling issues much closer to home.

By Mona Yahia for Magharebia in Tunis – 16/12/09

Tunisian bloggers covered the Maghreb's political and cultural terrain in recent weeks, analyzing issues ranging from violence against women to the role of the press. But some bloggers strayed farther afield to reflect on the Swiss vote to ban the building of minarets.

Arabasta discusses the immediate consequences of the Swiss decision in his "Ban on Building Minarets in Switzerland" post. "Fifty-seven percent of the Swiss people voted in favor of a law banning the building of mosque minarets. The result of this vote came as a major surprise across Europe and opened the door for lengthy and broad debates in several countries. Meanwhile, rightist extremist groups took advantage of this opportunity to pass some of their racist and reactionary proposals."

Providing data on Swiss Muslims, the blogger asks: "Do Swiss Muslims have to be the natives of other Muslim countries? Aren't there large numbers of Swiss Muslims who were born in Switzerland and don't know any other countries? Aren't there 'Muslim' countries that allow the building of churches, such as Tunisia, Morocco and the Philippines? Is it logical that Muslims in Switzerland should be punished for a mistake made by Muslims in Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan?"

Antikor is similarly puzzled by the Swiss vote. "Why did the Swiss people say 'No' to the building of minarets? Is this rejection an expression of the 'fear of the other'? Or is it the result of the Swiss people's ignorance? Is this 'No' a racist one?"

Focusing on the Maghreb, the RevolutionTunisie blogger writes about the demarcation of the maritime borders between Tunisia and Algeria. The blogger gives a historical overview of the topic, writing that "negotiations between the two countries on this agreement started as early as December 1995 with the aim of closing the borders file between the two countries once and for all. Tunisia and Algeria had earlier signed an agreement on the demarcation of land borders ... in 1983".

Blogger Hshosh Alnabbar reflects on Tunisia's National Day of Solidarity, held every year on December 8th, while relaying one of his memories of the holiday.

"As soon as I arrived at the university, I found a large crowd. I wondered what the matter was. I said to myself that it might be a conscription campaign. However, I found two people setting up a donation table for the National Solidarity Fund 2626. I wondered if this meant that I would be allowed in only if I made a donation to the fund."

Meanwhile, female blogger Wallada devotes a post to the ongoing issue of violence against women. She writes: "Although I don't like occasion-based writing that raises the issue only on its anniversary day and then forgets about it until the next year's anniversary, I find myself forced to write about violence against women in spite of my work pressures and family obligations. It was enough to type the words 'violence against women' into Google to receive these statistics and figures. It would suffice to just present them without any 'comment', because they are self-explanatory."

Wallada cites statistics showing that up to 61% of all acts of violence committed against women are carried out by family members.

"Thousands of women and girls were killed for family honor in the West Asian, North African and South Asian regions," adds the blogger. "These statistics represent proof that violence against women and girls has become an epidemic that breaks out in all environments, cultures and societies."

Boudouru, a Tunisian blog that follows media issues, publishes a letter from al-Sareeh editor-in-chief Saleh Hajja after Sofiene Chourabi, a young reporter at the opposition newspaper Attarik el-Jadid, attacked him for allegedly doing a poor job.

"'Play near your own house,' ... Sofiene, is a simple and, at the same time, expressive sentence. It's neither a Western nor an Eastern sentence; rather, it was expressed in our eloquent Tunisian slang", the letter reads. "You can hardly see any similar line elsewhere in the Arab, African or Asian press … It's a sentence to be added to Tunisia's huge stock of unique press innovations. It summarizes the experience of the pioneer of the Tunisian press and head of the long-standing al-Sareeh institution".

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/12/16/feature-01.

France grants 40m euros for Morocco irrigation

2009-12-17

French development agency AFD has allocated 40 million euros for the development of agricultural irrigation projects in Morocco, ANSA reported on Tuesday (December 15th). The program is aimed at the construction of an irrigation network to benefit some 20,000 farmers. Funds will also be directed toward improving water resources management. Moroccan Economy Minister Salaheddine Mezouar told reporters on Tuesday at a signing ceremony in Rabat that AFD had loaned 1.5 billion euros to his country in recent years, benefiting education, healthcare, agricultural and solar energy projects.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2009/12/17/newsbrief-02.

Algeria seeks freer migration in EU energy deal

2009-12-17

Algeria has put a precondition on the signing of a strategic energy agreement with the EU, insisting on the facilitation of free movement of people between the two sides, local media reported on Wednesday (December 16th). "Algeria will give other conditions. What is most important for us is not to sell gas but to obtain the free movement of persons between Algeria and the EU," Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said in a statement. Under the deal, Algeria would supply the EU countries with liquid natural gas.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2009/12/17/newsbrief-01.

Moroccan schools improving access for disabled children

Civil society partnerships and new specialist centers may increase school enrollment rates for disabled children.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 17/12/09

Morocco is working to improve services for Down's syndrome and other handicapped children, many of whom have no access to local primary schools.

Halima, 45, lives in Sidi Kacem with her husband and four children, including an 8-year-old boy with Down's syndrome. For years, Halima hoped her son would be able to attend school in spite of his disability, but no schools in the region cater to children with special needs.

"Othmane is a Moroccan citizen, even though he has a disability," she said. "The state should think about all children like him. To send him to school, I'd have to move to Casablanca or Rabat, but it wouldn't be easy for my husband to move to either of those two cities," she said.

According to a survey conducted in 2004, only 32% of all disabled children attended school. This figure is one-third the rate of school enrollment for other children.

Morocco has only been paying particular attention to children with special needs over the past few years, according to sociologist Samira Kassimi. "The High Commission for the Disabled was only established in 1995, and the State Secretariat for the Disabled was created in 1998," she said.

In addition to creating special classrooms and institutions for these children, Kassimi continued, "we must not neglect their families, who are the primary source of support for these children."

Minister of Social Development, Family and Solidarity Nouzha Skelli said her department is trying to overcome the lack of infrastructure to provide for handicapped children, but emphasized the enormous strides made in the last year.

While only 15 special integrated classrooms were set up last year to provide for special needs children with mild disabilities, a "record number" of 400 classrooms were created in 2009, the minister said.

The Ministry of Social Development is also devoting a budget of 11 million dirhams so that 1,427 children with severe disabilities can receive an education at 48 specialist education centers. The Ministry also gives priority to organizations that are able to teach children in suburban and rural areas, where the cost of teaching is high.

Down's syndrome children have also been placed in integrated classrooms, said Fatima Serhane, who serves as president of the Moustaqbal Association for special needs education.

"Thanks to the National Human Development Initiative, carpentry and hairdressing workshops have been created for people with special needs," she added.

Minister Skelli encouraged civil society organizations to assist the state in providing education for disabled children, to overcome the lack of facilities and instructors.

Abdallah Cheddadi, who heads the Mohammed VI National Center for the Disabled, echoed this view. He said that organizations that operate in this field need to adopt a clear view of their role, and devise a strategy to accomplish local-level objectives as well as large-scale goals.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/12/17/feature-02.

Algeria vows to prosecute corrupt bureaucrats

The Algerian government plans to use the 2006 Anti-Corruption Law to stem the tide of state funds now allegedly flowing into bureaucrats' pockets.

By Walid Ramzi for Magharebia in Algiers – 17/12/09

Algeria is probing corruption cases in the wake of public outrage over the alleged misappropriation of billions of dinars and other manipulation of government projects for personal gain.

"The corruption cases revealed lately are just the tip of the iceberg," financial journalist Slim Abdulrahman said last week. "What lies under wraps is far greater."

The government estimates that $1.7 billion in public-sector funds have been lost to corruption.

Finance Minister Karim Djoudi has unleashed investigations into the scandal-plagued agriculture, water resources and transportation ministries, among others, to snuff out fraudulent contracts and exchanges of funds.

"The investigations squads conducted 128 monitoring operations across the concerned sectors in 2009 to look into some of the scandals. Also, 154 reports were issued on the reported transgressions," he told Magharebia on Monday (December 14th), adding that hundreds of similar monitoring operations and investigations were conducted in the general directorates of customs and taxes.

The investigations were set in motion by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who on October 28th called for the creation of a National Anti-Corruption Committee at the start of the new legislative year, setting in motion compliance with an article in the 2006 Anti-Corruption Law.

The president also pledged the fair use of several legislative and regulatory mechanisms in order to bring to justice all those involved in corruption cases.

The new anti-corruption measures also mean that more than 70% of the projects currently under way have been reassessed by the National Fund for Preparation for Development, which monitors funding for 72% of all public projects.

New projects will also face a heightened level of scrutiny. "All acts of reassessing the cost of achieving major projects [must] be submitted to the cabinet for review," Djoudi told Magharebia, relaying the words of the president.

Addressing Parliament on December 11th, Justice Minister Tayeb Belaiz announced that 5,086 people have been convicted and sentenced to prison for corruption since the passage of the 2006 Anti-Corruption Law. In the first half of 2009 alone, 673 people were convicted and sentenced for corruption.

Algerians expressed outrage over the misuse of funds, pointing out that oil revenues should not be used to line bureaucrats' pockets.

"It makes no sense to see some employees basking in affluence, without being held accountable, or even asked where they got that wealth from over such a short period of time," said Mohamad, who works as a civil servant.

Omar, who at 27 is unemployed, criticized how corruption cases are prosecuted.

"How can they prosecute an official or a small number of civil servants for committing major crimes, while turning a blind eye to the higher authorities who shoulder the biggest responsibility?" he asked.

Over the past few years, Algerians have watched as government ministries have misappropriated public funds for corrupt practices.

By far the biggest scandal to hit the government so far is the misuse of Ministry of Public Works funds for a 1,200-km highway intended to link Algeria's borders with Tunisia and Morocco. Several high-ranking ministry officials were found guilty of corruption, while the chief financial officer in the ministry will face charges, as reported on December 10th by the daily El Watan.

Another scandal erupted after a high-ranking official in the Fisheries Ministry was found guilty of orchestrating illegal business deals with foreign parties.

Along with misuse of public funds, Algerians have also been besieged by accounts of bank scandals.

A spate of financial malfeasance in private banking firms led the Algerian government to revoke the licenses of all private banks. Several banking officials were convicted of corruption, while the former head of Union Bank fled the country. An authority whose duty it was to monitor national banks was charged with corruption after a 3-trillion dinar deficit was posted at the Algerian National Bank.

These latest banking scandals came on the heels of the Khalifa Bank collapse, which is considered the largest case of financial fraud in Algerian history.

As a result of these recent misdeeds, Algeria has seen its ranking by the watchdog Transparency International fall 19 spots to 111, despite the passage of the 2006 Anti-Corruption Law and a rising rate of corruption convictions.

Abdulrahman believes the government waited too long to address the problem.

"Facts disclosed the lack of any in-depth field action to combat corruption and bribery, especially on the local level," he said, adding that fighting corruption "calls for activating existing legal measures ... and mustering enough courage to prosecute all those involved in corruption cases".

The financial journalist said that all guilty parties must be pursued under the law. "It doesn't make sense to prosecute some of those involved in a case and hand down sentences against them, while others get away with what they did."

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/12/17/feature-01.

Yemen: Pentagon's War On The Arabian Peninsula

by Rick Rozoff
Global Research, December 15, 2009
Stop NATO

Yemen will become a battleground for a proxy war between the United States and Saudi Arabia - whose state-to-state relations are among the strongest and most durable of the entire post-World War II era - on one hand and Iran on the other.

It is perhaps impossible to determine the exact moment at which a U.S.- supported self-professed holy warrior - trained to perpetrate acts of urban terrorism and to shoot down civilian airliners - ceases to be a freedom fighter and becomes a terrorist. But a safe assumption is that it occurs when he is no longer of use to Washington. A terrorist who serves American interests is a freedom fighter; a freedom fighter who doesn't is a terrorist.

Yemenis are the latest to learn the Pentagon's and the White House's law of the jungle. Along with Iraq and Afghanistan which counterinsurgency specialist Stanley McChrystal used to perfect his techniques, Yemen is joining the ranks of other nations where the Pentagon is engaged in that variety of warfare, fraught with civilian massacres and other forms of so-called collateral damage: Colombia, Mali, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia and Uganda.

BBC News reported on December 14 that 70 civilians were killed when aircraft bombed a market in the village of Bani Maan in northern Yemen.

The nation's armed forces claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, but a website of the Houthi rebels against whom the bombing was ostensibly directed stated "Saudi aircraft committed a massacre against the innocent residents of Bani Maan."

The Saudi regime entered the armed conflict between the (eponymous) Houthis and the Yemeni government on behalf of the latter in early November and since has been accused of launching attacks inside Yemen with tanks and warplanes. Even before the latest bombing scores of Yemenis have been killed and thousands displaced by the fighting. Saudi Arabia has also been accused of using phosphorous bombs.

Moreover, the rebel group known as Young Believers, based in the Shi'ite Muslim community of Yemen which comprises 30 percent of the country's population of 23 million, claimed on December 14 that "US fighter jets have attacked Yemen's Sa'ada Province" and "US fighter jets have launched 28 attacks on the northwestern province of Sa'ada."

The previous day's edition of Britain's Daily Telegraph reported on discussions with U.S. military officials, stating "Fearful that Yemen is in danger of becoming a failed state, America has now sent a small number of special forces teams to improve training of Yemen's army in reaction to the threat."

One unnamed Pentagon official was quoted as saying "Yemen is becoming a reserve base for al-Qaeda's activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan."

The conjuring up of the al-Qaeda bogey, however, is a decoy. The rebels in the north of the nation are Shi'ites and not Sunnis, much less Wahhabi Sunnis of the Saudi variety, and as such are not only not linked with any group of groups that could be categorized as al-Qaeda, but instead would be a likely target thereof.

In service to American designs in the region, the British and American press lately has been referring to Yemen as the "ancestral homeland" of Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden comes from a prominent billionaire Saudi Arabian family, of course, but as his father had been born in what is now the Republic of Yemen over a century ago the Western media are exploiting an insignificant historical accident to suggest Osama bin Laden's active role in the nation and to establish a tenuous link between the South Asian war in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Saudi and American armed intervention in a civil conflict in Yemen.

In 2002 the Pentagon dispatched an estimated 100 soldiers, by some accounts Green Beret special forces, to Yemen to train the country's military. In that instance, coming as it did two years after the suicide bombing attack against the Navy destroyer USS Cole in the southern Yemeni port of Aden, attributed to al-Qaeda, and accompanied by drone missile attacks against identified leaders of the same, Washington justified its actions as retaliation for that incident as well as the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. the year before.

The present context is different and a U.S.-backed counterinsurgency war in Yemen will have nothing to do with combating alleged al-Qaeda threats, but will in fact be an integral part of the strategy to expand the Afghan war into yet wider concentric circles taking in South and Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia and the Gulf of Aden, the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The eagerly awaited departure of President George W. Bush may have led to the end of the official global war on terror, now referred to as overseas contingencies operations, but nothing except the name has changed.

On December 13 the top commander of the Pentagon's Central Command in charge of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, General David Petraeus, told the Al Arabiya television network that "that U.S supports Yemen's security in the context of the military cooperation provided by America for its allies in the region" and "stressed that U.S. ships in the territorial waters of Yemen [are there] not only to control but to impede the infiltrations of weapons to Houthi rebels."

To be recalled the next time the al-Qaeda/bin Laden canard is used to justify expanding U.S. military involvement on the Arabian Peninsula.

The Yemen Post of December 13 wrote that the Houthi media office "accused the U.S. of participating in the war against Houthis" and released photographs of what were identified as U.S. warplanes "involved in bombing operations in Sa'ada province [in] Northern Yemen."

The source estimated there have been twenty U.S. bombing raids coordinated with satellite surveillance.

The Western press is again leading the charge in linking the Houthis, whose religious background of Zaydi Shi'ism is quite distinct from the Iranian version, to sinister machinations imputed to Tehran. Even U.S. government officials have to date acknowledged no evidence that Iran is supporting much less arming the Yemeni rebels. That will change if the script goes according to precedent as is indicated by Petraeus' comment above, and Washington will dutifully echo the Yemeni government's claim that Iran is arming its Shi'ia brethren in Yemen as it is accused of doing in Lebanon.

Yemen will become a battleground for a proxy war between the United States and Saudi Arabia - whose state-to-state relations are among the strongest and most durable of the entire post-World War II era - on one hand and Iran on the other.

In an editorial of five days ago the Tehran Times accused all parties to the Yemeni conflict - the government, the rebels and Saudi Arabia - of recklessness and issued a warning: "History provides a good example. Saudi Arabia funded extremist groups in Afghanistan and still, two decades since the withdrawal of the Soviet army from the country, the flames of war in Afghanistan are overwhelming the allies of Saudi Arabia.

"And a similar scenario is emerging in Yemen."

The comparison between Yemen and Afghanistan alluded in particular to Riyadh, in the second case hand-in-glove with the United States, exporting Saudi-based Wahhabism to expand its political influence.

Saudi Arabia is attempting to promote its own version of extremism in Yemen as it did earlier in Afghanistan and Pakistan and is currently doing in Iraq. Far from the U.S. and its Western allies expressing any objection, the Saudis and their fellow Persian Gulf monarchies will be in the forefront of what is estimated to be $100 billion worth of Middle East arms purchases from the West over the next five years. "The core of this arms-buying spree will undoubtedly be the $20 billion U.S. package of weapons systems over 10 years for the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council - Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain." Saudi Arabia is also armed with state-of-the-art British and French warplanes as well as U.S. missile defense systems.

What the earlier cited Iranian commentary warned about regarding "the flames of war" in Afghanistan is perfectly confirmed by the Commander's Initial Assessment of August 30, 2009 issued by top American and NATO military commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal and published by the Washington Post on September 21 with the redactions demanded by the Pentagon. The 66-page document served as the blueprint for President Barack Obama's December 1 announcement that 33,000 more American troops are headed to Afghanistan.

In the report McChrystal stated, "The major insurgent groups in order of their threat to the mission are: the Quetta Shura Taliban (05T), the Haqqani Network (HQN), and the Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (HiG)."

The last two are named after their founders and current leaders, Jalaluddin Haqqanni and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the Mujahideen darlings of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the 1980s when the Agency's deputy director (from 1986-1989) was Robert Gates, now U.S. Secretary of Defense in charge of prosecuting the war in Afghanistan. And in Yemen.

In his 1996 book From the Shadows, Gates boasted that "CIA had important successes in covert action. Perhaps the most consequential of all was Afghanistan where CIA, with its management, funneled billions of dollars in supplies and weapons to the mujahideen...."

The New York Times in 2008 divulged these details:

"In the 1980s, Jalaluddin Haqqani was cultivated as a 'unilateral' asset of the CIA and received tens of thousands of dollars in cash for his work in fighting the Soviet Army in Afghanistan, according to an account in 'The Bin Ladens,' a recent book by Steve Coll. At that time, Haqqani helped and protected Osama bin Laden, who was building his own militia to fight the Soviet forces, Coll wrote." Coll is also the author of the 2001 volume Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001.

Haqqani's colleague Hekmatyar "received millions of dollars from the CIA through the ISI [Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence]. Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin received some of the strongest support from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and worked with thousands of foreign mujahideen who came to Afghanistan."

This past May the (superlatively) pro-American president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, told the American NBC news network that Taliban is "part of our past and your past, and the ISI and CIA created them together....It (the Taliban) was (a) monster created by all of us...."

On September 11, 2001 there were only three nations in the world that recognized Taliban rule in Afghanistan: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. U.S. President George W. Bush immediately afterward singled out seven so-called states supporting terrorism for potential retaliation: Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. Only Sudan, which expelled Osama bin Laden in 1996, had any conceivable connections to al-Qaeda. Of the nineteen accused September 11 airline hijackers, fifteen were from Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates, one from Egypt and one from Lebanon.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia remain highly-valued American political and military allies and the United Arab Emirates has troops serving under NATO command in Afghanistan.

It is perhaps impossible to determine the exact moment at which a U.S.-supported self-professed holy warrior - trained to perpetrate acts of urban terrorism and to shoot down civilian airliners - ceases to be a freedom fighter and becomes a terrorist. But a safe assumption is that it occurs when he is no longer of use to Washington. A terrorist who serves American interests is a freedom fighter; a freedom fighter who doesn't is a terrorist.

For decades the African National Congress of Nelson Mandela and the Palestine Liberation Organization of Yasser Arafat were at the top of the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist groups. No sooner had the Cold War ended than both Mandela and Arafat (and Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams) were invited to the White House. The first shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and the second in 1994.

If a hypothetical self-styled jihadist left Saudi Arabia or Egypt in the 1980s for Pakistan to fight against the Afghan government and its Soviet ally, he was a freedom fighter in the U.S.'s eyes. If he then went to Lebanon he was a terrorist. In the early 1990s if he arrived in Bosnia he was a freedom fighter again, but if he showed up in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank a terrorist. In the Russian North Caucasus he was a reborn freedom fighter, but if he returned to Afghanistan after 2001 a terrorist.

Depending on how the wind is blowing from Foggy Bottom, an armed Baloch separatist in Pakistan or a Kashmiri one in India is either a freedom fighter or a terrorist.

Contrariwise, in 1998 U.S. special envoy to the Balkans Robert Gelbard described the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) fighting the government of Yugoslavia as a terrorist organization: "I know a terrorist when I see one and these men are terrorists."

The following February U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright brought five members of the KLA, including its chief Hashim Thaci, to Rambouillet, France to offer an ultimatum to Yugoslavia that she knew would be rejected and lead to war. The next year she escorted Thaci on a personal tour of the United Nations Headquarters and the State Department and invited him as a guest to the Democratic Party presidential nominating convention in Los Angeles.

This November 1st Thaci, now prime minister of a pseudo-state only recognized by 63 of the world's 192 nations, hosted former U.S. President Bill Clinton for the unveiling of a statue honoring the latter's crimes. And vanity.

Washington supported armed separatists in Eritrea from the mid-1970s until 1991 in their war against the Ethiopian government.

Currently the U.S. is arming Somalia and Djibouti for war against independent Eritrea. The Pentagon has its first permanent military base in Africa in Djibouti, where it stations 2,000 troops and from where it conducts drone surveillance over Somalia. And Yemen.

In the words of Balzac's character Vautrin, "There are no such things as principles, there are only events; there are no laws, there are only circumstances...."

Yemenis are the latest to learn the Pentagon's and the White House's law of the jungle. Along with Iraq and Afghanistan which counterinsurgency specialist Stanley McChrystal used to perfect his techniques, Yemen is joining the ranks of other nations where the U.S. military is engaged in that variety of warfare, fraught with civilian massacres and other forms of so-called collateral damage: Colombia, Mali, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia and Uganda.

Source: Global Research.
Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16571.

Yearender: ASEAN integration process moving forward in 2009

by Li Xiaoyu

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has gained significant headway in many areas. With the ASEAN Charter and the Roadmap for the ASEAN Community, the 10-member regional group succeeded in making achievements in its 14thsummit and 15th summit respectively in this March and October, which brought the ASEAN integration process into a new stage.

At the 14th summit, ASEAN leaders signed the Second Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) Work Plan II for the period 2009-2015 and noted that the Work Plan, together with the three Community Blueprints, would help move forward the community-building process in a more balanced, inclusive and sustainable manner.

Meanwhile, the leaders also discussed the international economic and financial crisis and the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) and the Protocol of the 7th Package of the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) commitments, which, together with other economic cooperation documents, will facilitate liberalization in the goods trade sector, service sector, investment sector and labor force sector.

And at the 15th summit, ASEAN leaders deliberated the progress made in the implementation of the ASEAN Charter particularly the operationalization of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR) in Jakarta, and welcomed the establishment of the ASEAN Political-Security Community, the ASEAN Economic Community and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Councils which will help coordinate ASEAN cooperation in all the three pillars.

As mandated by the ASEAN Charter, the inauguration of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) is a highlight and reflects ASEAN's determination to realize a truly people-centered community by 2015.

The leaders emphasized that the successful building of an ASEAN Community that is truly people-oriented by 2015 requires the cooperation and contribution of all sectors of ASEAN society and the participation of ASEAN peoples in all aspects of community-building.

As for the ASEAN, the two summits are meaningful as they were the first two most important conferences after the ASEAN Charter entered into force in Dec. 15, 2008. The Charter provides the legal and institutional framework for the ASEAN to be a more rules-based, effective and people-centered organization paving the way for realizing an ASEAN Community by 2015.

With the Charter, the ASEAN leaders recognized that enhancing intra-regional connectivity would benefit all ASEAN member states and their peoples, contribute to promoting ASEAN centrality in the regional architecture, facilitate the building of an ASEAN Community that is competitive and increasingly interlinked with the wider Asia-Pacific region and the world, and serve as a foundation for a more enhanced East Asian connectivity.

Through the two summits, the ASEAN member countries began to implement the Charter jointly, which will guide the construction of ASEAN community. Meanwhile, to respond effectively to the financial crisis, the ASEAN member countries not only reached a series of economic and trading cooperation agreements, but also agreed to continue domestic stimulus packages to ensure sustained recovery, to support the G-20 Statement to implement the transparent and efficient management reforms of the International Financial Institutions, and to support that the ASEAN Chair and the Secretary-General of ASEAN should be invited to participate in future G-20 Summits.

These agreements showed the collective views of ASEAN members on global economic issues, which is a sign that the ASEAN economic integration is processing to reality step by step. This was also approved by an ASEAN document issued later in November, which said six ASEAN countries, including Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore will cancel taxation of most products since Jan. 1, 2010, and the other four will do the same by 2015.

Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of the organization, said that the becoming operational of ASEAN free-trade agreements is a fruit of all ASEAN members' efforts, which shows ASEAN's correctness during the world's trend against protectionism.

Apart from that, Surin also said that the would-be enacted ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) pact would pave the way for more efforts to build the community in the ASEAN. The pact is scheduled to take into effect on January 1, 2010.

One of the ways to strengthen ties between ASEAN nations is to create the ASEAN Community. Being an ASEAN Community is advantageous since it can lead to international collaborations in mitigating and preventing problems such as terrorism, migrant workers, transnational crime, energy and territorial disputes.

However, the ASEAN integration still sees some obstacles on its way. On one hand, ASEAN member countries have an inconsistency in terms of security, economy and social culture. On the other hand, the construction of ASEAN Economic Community is also in trouble, because some ASEAN countries are trying to postpone the operation of the ASEAN free trade zone so as to protect their domestic industry. Aria Bima, an Indonesian parliament member, said on Nov.30 that the free trade zone would harm 10 of the country's industrial sectors.

Later in December, Indonesia's Vice President Boediono and some other senior officials also said that they were discussing with industrial associations to readjust the exception list for the free trade zone and may try to change the free trade zone opening schedule. As the largest economy in the ASEAN bloc, Indonesia has a non-ignorable influence in the ASEAN Economic Community construction. If the country shows any tendency to protectionism, the future of this community will be affected.

At present, analysts say that these troubles still have no clear solutions and are fragile to the nationalism feelings. There are new problems and new challenges for ASEAN member countries to consider and overcome the uncertainty to seek for trustworthiness.

Source: People's Daily Online.
Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90856/6853033.html.

China passes law to better protect islands

China's top legislature adopted a new law Saturday to better promote development and protection of the nation's sea islands.

The National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee endorsed the law of island protection at the end of a five-day legislative session after several revisions since it was submitted for the first reading in June this year.

According to the law, China will strengthen protection of eco-system, rational utilization of natural resources and sustainable development on the country's sea islands.

The law bans coastal reclamation to quarry stone or sand in both inhabited and uninhabited sea islands, and bans all construction projects, tree felling and tourism activities on uninhabited sea islands.

It also prohibits activities that could damage coral and coral reefs in the sea.

All development projects on inhabited islands will be subject to strict environmental impact assessments, and vegetation and indigenous species will be strictly protected, said the law.

The State Oceanic Administration and its branches would be responsible for inspecting work concerning islands protection, according to the law.

China has more than 6,900 islands that each has an exposed area out of water larger than 500 square meters and more than 10,000 smaller isles.

Source: Communist Party of China (CPC).
Link: http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/66102/6852992.html.