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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

EU ramps up aid to famine-stricken Sahel

Mon, 22 Nov 2010

Brussels - European Union aid for the famine-stricken region of the Sahel in Africa is to reach 74 million euros (136 million dollars) in 2010, the bloc's executive said Monday.

The increase is the result of the European Commission's decision to double funding for humanitarian and food assistance from 20 to 40 million euros.

"People living in the Sahel region need our support to survive. This financial engagement shows that Europe cares," EU humanitarian aid commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement.

The EU executive said that food insecurity was affecting over 10 million people in the Sahel - a semi-desert region that cuts across the continent, through Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The situation was most acute in Niger and Chad, with northern Nigeria, Burkina Faso, eastern and northern Mali and northern Cameroon also hard hit, the EU commission indicated.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/354689,eu%C2%A0ramps-aid-famine-stricken-sahel.html.

Two jailed for war crimes in Bosnian conflict

Mon, 22 Nov 2010

Belgrade- Serbia's War Crimes Court sentenced Monday two former officials to prison terms for their role in torturing and killing some 700 Muslims in eastern Bosnia during the 1992-95 conflict in that country.

Branko Grujic and Branko Popovic were found guilty of involvement in the killings in the town of Zvornik, near the Bosnian-Serbian border from May to July 1992.

Grujic, a municipal official in Serb-controlled Zvornik during the war, was sentenced to six years' imprisonment and Popovic, a former territorial defense commander, was given 15 years.

The prosecutor's office said that the sentence was "inadequate" because of the number of victims and the brutality of the crimes. They said they would appeal but did not specify what prison sentence would be satisfactory.

Serbia has prosecuted dozens of people for crimes committed during the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

However, the most-wanted war crimes suspects - Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic - remain on the run. Failure to capture them has blocked Serbia's path towards European Union membership.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/354695,war-crimes-bosnian-conflict.html.

Socrates defends robustness of Portugal's economy - Summary

Mon, 22 Nov 2010

Lisbon/Madrid - Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates on Monday defended the robustness of his country's economy, saying its problems were smaller than those of many other European countries and had "no relation" with Ireland.

European Union finance ministers announced on Sunday that Dublin had applied for financial aid from the International Monetary Fund and from the rescue mechanisms EU set in place in May after the bailout of Greece, the first such bailout in the eurozone.

There has been concern that Portugal and Spain might need similar assistance.

Socrates said he hoped the aid measures for Ireland would "normalize" markets and prevent the Irish problems from affecting Portugal.

Portugal's financial system turned out one of the strongest during the economic crisis in 2008 and 2009, Socrates said.

Portugal also had no property bubble, and its public debt was in line with the EU average, the premier pointed out.

Portugal's expected 2010 public deficit of 7.3 per cent was below those of France or Britain, and an austerity budget which has been given the green light by parliament will reduce it to 4.6 per cent in 2011, Socrates said.

On Wednesday, the government is facing a general strike over the austerity budget which cuts public sector wages, freezes pensions and raises value added tax.

Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos has also stressed the differences between Ireland and Portugal, which he said had a "modern, sophisticated, well regulated and supervised, resilient and well capitalized banking system."

Portuguese economist Antonio Nogueira Leite warned, however, that the Irish bailout would only calm markets in the short term and would not eliminate Portugal's woes.

Meanwhile in neighboring Spain, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero stressed the differences between Spain and Ireland.

Stress tests had proven the solidity of the Spanish banking sector, Zapatero's Socialist Party's organizational secretary Marcelino Iglesias quoted the premier as saying.

Spain's debt was below the European average, and the public deficit - of 11.1 per cent - would be reduced through austerity measures over the next few years, according to Zapatero.

In Brussels, a spokesman for EU economy commissioner Olli Rehn also ruled out the risk of a wider fallout from Ireland.

"There are no analogies to be made, the Irish case is very specific," Amadeu Altafaj told reporters.

"The decisions concerning Ireland are also meant to stop any possible tension and contagion to other economies," he added.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/354697,portugals-economy-summary.html.

Ireland's Cowen to dissolve parliament in New Year

Mon, 22 Nov 2010

Dublin - Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen announced Monday that he would dissolve the Irish parliament in the New Year after December's austerity budget has been enacted.

Cowen has said he will seek a dissolution of the Dail (the Irish parliament) after "the current budgetary process is complete."

Speaking at government buildings, Cowen said it was "a matter of importance that the Dail and government should continue to discharge its obligations to bring forward solutions to the current economic position."

He said the government would publish its four-year plan this week, present a budget to the Dail in December, and continue discussions with the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Cowen's shock decision came under unprecedented pressure Monday after both his coalition partners in the Green Party and the opposition Labor and Fine Gael parties demanded an early election in the wake of the country's bailout.

There had been feverish expectation that Cowen would announce his department Monday evening as support for the government which has a majority of three appeared to be crumbling.

The terms of the European Union/International Monetary Fund (IMF) rescue package for Ireland were still being negotiated in Dublin, and with protesters on the streets of the capital.

Ireland's formal request for aid to bailout its troubled banking sector and tackle its sovereign debt problems had been approved by eurozone ministers Sunday night.

The precise amount of the funding has not been revealed, but it is reported to be between 80 billion and 90 billion euros (111.6 to 122.8 billion dollars).

The government is to publish a four-year economic plan on Wednesday.

In a fast-moving political situation, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny had said earlier Monday: "What is needed now is an immediate general election so that a new government, with a clear parliamentary majority, can prepare the four-year economic plan, complete negotiations with the EU and IMF, and frame a budget for 2011."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/354729,dissolve-parliament-new-year.html.

Algeria gets good rainfall in grain sowing season

Mon Nov 22, 2010

By Lamine Chikhi

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's grain-growing regions had good rainfall during the sowing season, a vital ingredient for a strong harvest, official figures obtained by Reuters showed.

Algeria, with a population of about 35 million, is the world's fifth biggest importer of grain. The volume of imports fluctuates according to the size of its domestic harvest, which depends heavily on good rains.

Figures collated by the Agriculture Ministry's National Institute for Soils, Irrigation and Drainage (INSID), showed that rain levels between September 1 and November 7 compared favorably to conditions at the same time last year.

"We have had a lot of rain, and a lot of rain now is never a bad thing," INSID Director-General Mohammed Habila told Reuters in an interview.

Reuters calculations based on the INSID figures for the period showed that the average minimum rainfall for all Algeria's main agricultural areas was 81.3 millimeters, compared to 78.3 mm for the same period last year.

Last season's grain harvest was 4.56 million tonnes. This was below the record 6.1 million tonnes in 2009, but it was comfortably above the average for the past decade.

Algeria has in the past experienced poor harvests when grain-growing regions have not received the necessary minimum of rainfall, as most land under cultivation is not irrigated.

Agronomists say the Algerian grain crop requires rain during two periods: the sowing season, where moisture is needed to create the right soil conditions for the seed to develop, and in March-April to ensure the plants mature properly.

Algeria has 3.3 million hectares of land under cereals cultivation. It has a strategy to reduce dependence on rainfall, and this year will implement a series of new measures which it hopes will increase the grain yield. These include:

* Seed varieties supplied to farmers are currently of good quality, according to INSID Director-General Habila. In previous years, Algeria had problems with seed quality.

* Habila said that the country already had sufficient stocks of fertilizer to treat one million hectares of land -- more than in previous years -- and would continue to acquire more during the season.

* Officials say irrigation will be more extensive and better organized. Habila said 500,000 hectares of land will be covered by a coordinated system of back-up irrigation, under which the ministry will issue alerts to start irrigation when conditions require it.

* The Agriculture Ministry has created a "Club of 50" which will reward farmers who achieve yields of 50 quintals (5 tonnes) or more per hectare. Only 17 farmers reached this level last season.

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE6AL0CP20101122?sp=true.

Iran, Algeria to expand economic cooperation

TEHRAN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Algeria on Monday vowed to expand economic cooperation between the two countries.

In a meeting with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Monday, visiting Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia called for new initiatives to promote the economic ties between the two Islamic states, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"Despite the many steps taken for the development of all-out cooperation between the two countries, efforts should be made to develop a new plan to promote the level of economic ties between Iran and Algeria," Ouyahia was quoted as saying.

He called for the establishment of a council for the two countries' businessmen and a joint investment fund, and underlined the necessity for supporting private companies' participation in the two countries' economic projects, the report said.

"Algiers welcomes the presence and activity of Iranian companies in different economic fields," he added.

For his part, Larijani said the relations between the two countries are "stable" and the two sides enjoy common stances in regional and international issues.

Iran and Algeria have vast capacities and capabilities in different fields, which should be utilized in line with the expansion of economic and trade cooperation, he was quoted by Fars as saying.

Also on Monday, the Algerian prime minister met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ouyahia said that Iranian and Algerian officials are resolute to strengthen their all-out bilateral relations and to participate actively in the global scene, according to the presidential website.

He said that he had successful talks with Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, adding "during the talks, we could take big steps to deepen the bilateral, especially economic and cultural, relations."

Ahmadinejad also said that independent nations should work out their development plan according to their own potentials and their own local patterns.

On Sunday, the Iranian first vice president said at a meeting with Ouyahia that the two countries enjoy great potentials to expand their bilateral economic ties.

Rahimi said the volume of trade transactions between the two countries is not very high. He also expressed his hope that the current meeting would help strengthen the bilateral economic relations, the local satellite Press TV reported.

For his part, Ouyahia said Algeria wants to expand economic cooperation with Iran and is interested in adopting Iran's expertise in science, technology, and economic affairs, according to the report.

On Sunday, during a meeting between Iranian Economy Minister Shamseddin Hosseini and Algerian Minister for Maghreb and African Affairs Abdelkader Messahel, the two ministers stressed the need for drawing a road map to reinvigorate the two countries' bilateral relations.

During the meeting, Hosseini called for further expansion of mutual economic cooperation, according to Fars.

Tehran is ready to set up an independent Iranian bank in Algeria, he was quoted as saying.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-11/23/c_13617612.htm.

Sudan: NCP Threatens Not to Recognize the Referendum Outcome

20 November 2010

Khartoum — The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) on Saturday expressed its dissatisfaction with the voter registration process for the South Sudan referendum in the North saying there were clear violations that undermines the credibility of the process.

Mandoor Al-Mahdi, a senior NCP official, told the government sponsored Sudanese Media Center (SMC) that the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM), in control of the South, is exercising intimidation against potential voters in the capital and also those urging Southerners to register.

The official alleged that SPLM members are present at polling stations to persuade Southerners not to register. He added that these incidents were reported to the South Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC) to rectify the situation but no action was taken.

The presidential adviser and NCP figure Al-Sheik Beesh told SMC that they will not recognize the outcome of the referendum if the registration process continues in this non-transparent manner.

Voter registration began on Monday for the January 2011 referendum on whether oil-producing southern Sudan should secede from the north. It is widely expected that Southerners will choose independence.

In Khartoum, registration centers were empty as many southerners who live in the Sudanese capital made the trip south to enroll or abstained from registering altogether for fear of intimidation by the ruling party in the North.

The presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie toured the registration centers in Khartoum this week and appeared visibly angry on TV saying that the low turnout was a result of SPLM instructions. He has also reportedly clashed with poll workers after they turned away a prospective voter who did not have the required documentation to register.

However, the SPLM made similar accusations to the NCP that it is seeking to pressure Southerners in the North to vote for unity through "citizens' committees" by collecting the phone numbers of those who registered.

The SPLM's Atem Garang said southerners were being told: "You must vote for unity when you come and vote next time."

"It is intimidation. It is against the law," Garang told a news conference in Khartoum. He also denied that they had asked Southerners in the North to boycott the registration process.

"The southern Sudanese, we never urged them not to register because we want them to be free. When we talk about a free and fair referendum, it means when you are going to registration you must be free. We did not to talk to them to boycott the registration," Garang said.

Around five million southerners, living in both north and south Sudan and abroad, are eligible to sign up for the referendum which could result in the African continent's largest country being split into two.

For the south to secede in a valid referendum, there must be an absolute majority of a minimum of 50 percent for independence plus one vote, and 60 percent of those eligible must also have cast their ballots.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201011220006.html.

Tunisia to host Arab Children's Theater Festival

2010-11-22

The 9th Arab Children's Theater Festival will open December 19th in Hammam-Sousse, TAP reported. Troupes from Morocco, Oman, Jordan, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and host nation Tunisia are set to perform at the one-week event.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/11/22/newsbrief-06.

Mauritania to help Soninke, Wolof communities

2010-11-22

Mauritanian political groups and civil society organizations banded together Sunday (November 21st) in Nouakchott to launch a new human rights body aimed at eradicating racism, slavery and exclusion, ANI reported. "FLERE-Mauritanie" will dedicate particular attention to the plight of the Soninke, Wolof, Bambara, Hratin and other marginalized black populations. The Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) assumed the rotating presidency of the new formation.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/11/22/newsbrief-03.

Algeria confronts child abuse crisis

2010-11-22

Algeria marked World Day of Children's Rights with an Algiers forum on Sunday (November 21st), APS reported. National Foundation for Health Promotion and Research Development (FOREM) chief Mustapha Khiati told attendees that approximately 10,000 cases of child abuse are recorded every year in Algeria. According to Khiati, the number could be as high as 50,000, since many cases go unreported. He called on citizens to end their "passivity" regarding the crisis.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/11/22/newsbrief-04.

Morocco aims to reduce maternal mortality

Policy-makers and civil society groups call for action on rising deaths in childbirth in Morocco.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 22/11/10

The Moroccan government seeks to curb the rising maternal mortality rate by implementing a variety of measures throughout the country. With 132 deaths per 100,000 live births, the country is facing a real crisis as many women give birth without medical supervision, particularly in rural areas.

At a November 7th meeting organized by the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) in Rabat, parliamentary adviser Zoubida Bouayad said that the lack of infrastructure and human resources made the problem worse. She stressed the importance of boosting efforts to address the problem, notably by recruiting qualified doctors and setting up mobile maternity units.

Nadia Belkari, who oversees health provision in the Gharb-Chrarda-Beni-Hssen region, said that deaths among mothers and infants were also due to socio-cultural factors, particularly the close family circle.

"Poverty and distance to the nearest hospitals mean that many Moroccan women do not have any access to medical care or supervision during pregnancy and labor. Many of them continue to give birth at home, calling on the services of the traditional midwives, who have received no formal training," said sociologist Samira Kassimi.

According to Kassimi, there has certainly been progress in Morocco in terms of developing the hospital infrastructure. Still, there is a lot to do to reduce the maternal and infant mortality rates. For her, the fight to combat poverty is a key part of achieving the goal.

Samira Rouhani has painful memories of her sister Souad's death during labor. "It was her first pregnancy. She didn't receive any medical check-ups because she was living in a remote douar in Beni Mellal. Her husband could not get her to the hospital. She had to rely on the midwife, who could do nothing to help her. She should have had a Caesarean. She died at the peak of her age in front of her mother's eyes," she said.

"Of course we need to fight poverty and improve the hospital infrastructure. But we must also combat a fatalistic attitude where pregnant women are concerned. In some circles, there is the feeling that medical supervision is of no consequence, given that everything is in God's hands. So they don't make much of an effort to get their women to a medical center," said Soraya Adimi of the "Hand in Hand" association.

She added that civil society is making a considerable effort to support women, particularly in rural areas, through both education and the provision of resources.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Yasmina Baddou admitted that there is still a great deal of work to be done to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates and to improve levels of medical care for mothers and new-born infants.

According to Baddou, Morocco has managed to provide medical supervision of more than 455,000 women in labor in the public sector, which is a 19% increase since 2007. The aim for 2012 is to have 500,000 births taking place within a properly monitored environment. In the longer term, the national plan is to reduce maternal mortality to 50 deaths per 100,000 live births.

"There has been a very significant rise in the number of Caesarean sections, and the target of 7% for this procedure has been reached," Baddou said.

The Health Ministry has already waived charges for medical care during labor, Caesarean sections and transport to maternity units. Special obstetrics care by the Emergency Medical Assistance Service (SAMU) will be extended to 24 provinces by the end of the year.

"This new scheme should help us reduce delays in care access in more than 1,500 localities. In rural areas, 143 mobile maternity units have been put on the road," Baddou said.

Furthermore, there will be additional programs to train midwives. Since 2007, only 700 midwives and 63 obstetricians have been appointed. The minister promised to reduce maternal mortality by more than 75% and infant mortality by around two-thirds.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/11/22/feature-01.

EU: Despite Promises, Israel Never Eased Gaza Blockade

Still Blocking Construction Materials, Exports
by Jason Ditz, November 22, 2010

Israel has expressed outrage tonight following complaints from European Union Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton that they had failed to live up to their commitments to ease the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Israel grudgingly announced the easement of the blockade in the wake of the May attack on a Gaza bound aid ship, an attack which killed a number of aid workers. Despite the pledge successfully calming criticism of the blockade for a time, Israel kept the system largely in place, including blocking the UN from building schools in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Information Minister Yuli Edelstein slammed the complaints, saying that Israel has done all they intend to do but that “there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” a claim which Israeli officials have been making since the blockade began.

Israel’s blockade has included a number of bizarre restrictions, including a blanket ban on chocolate and cardamom. Though Israel appears to have eased these bans somewhat, the more pressing issues of construction material, still banned after Israel destroyed half the strip in 2009, and a blanket ban on all exports, remain in place.

Source: Antiwar.
Link: http://news.antiwar.com/2010/11/22/eu-despite-promises-israel-never-eased-gaza-blockade/.

Departure Preps For ISS Crew Members

by Staff Writers
Houston TX (SPX) Nov 23, 2010

After some time off over the weekend, the Expedition 25 crew aboard the International Space Station began another work week Monday with a focus on the departure of three of its crew members.

Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineer Shannon Walker continued ongoing training and preparations for their departure with Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin, who will serve as Soyuz commander during their descent. The trio is set to depart the station and return to Earth Nov. 25 at 11:46 p.m. EST (Nov. 26 at 10:46 a.m. Kazakhstan time) aboard the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft, landing in Kazakhstan a few hours later.

The Soyuz undocking will mark the beginning of Expedition 26 led by Commander Scott Kelly, currently an Expedition 25 flight engineer. Flight Engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka will continue their stay aboard the station with Kelly.

Skripochka continued the process of unloading cargo from the ISS Progress 40 cargo craft that docked to the Pirs docking compartment in October. Once emptied, Progress 40 will be filled with trash and station discards and deorbited to burn in the Earth's atmosphere like its predecessors.

Kelly conducted cooling loop maintenance on the U.S. spacesuits in preparation for spacewalks scheduled to be performed during the STS-133 mission next month.

Kaleri and Skripochka conducted a session with the Russian behavioral assessment TYPOLOGY, which measures a crew member's psychophysical state and ability to withstand stress, to perform and to communicate. An electroencephalogram measures and records the electrical activity of the brain.

Walker answered questions about life on the station and her daily activities during an in-flight interview with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson of the "StarTalk Radio" program.

Source: Space Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Departure_Preps_For_ISS_Crew_Members_999.html.

Brazil unveils massive navy buildup plans

by Staff Writers
Rio De Janeiro (UPI) Nov 22, 2010

Brazil's plans for a massive naval buildup, which would include nuclear-powered submarines, were greeted with concern that the country's huge defense outlay would trigger copycat actions in neighboring Latin American countries.

Brazil's outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva justified the spending, financed by the country's commodity exports bonanza, as part of a strategy to secure
Brazil's regional pre-eminence.

Brazil is campaigning for permanent membership of the U.N. Security Council as part of its strategy to assert its leadership on the continent. The initiative has already led to neighboring countries instigating programs to rival Brazil's military and nuclear expansion plans. Argentina announced a revival of its nuclear development program this month.

Officials said the navy was working on plans to build or incorporate in its fleet at least 26 submarines, six of them fueled by nuclear power. Last year Brazil signed strategic cooperation contracts with France that includes joint production of nuclear-powered submarines.

Despite chronic poverty and poor urban development for most of its population, Brazil boasts a highly developed and sophisticated minority community of highly qualified scientists and technicians active in the country's defense industry.

Lula revived defense manufacturing that was left moribund when the military was replaced by democratic rule in the 1980s and after setbacks received when the Iraq-Iran war's end decimated Brazil's arms industry.

The new procurement plan is likely to be completed in three decades and, once implemented, officials said, it will make Brazil's navy the most dissuasive of maritime military forces in South America.

Brazil hasn't spelled out the source of the threat it faces, except to say it feels justified in building up its defenses to protect newly discovered offshore hydrocarbon resources.

About $2 billion of government spending has already been set aside for the naval expansion.

What remains unclear is if President-elect Dilma Rousseff agrees with Lula on the vast military spending while Brazil faces huge problems of poverty, narcotics abuse and urban violence.

Officials said Brazil's home-grown manufacturers will build the conventional submarines in two batches with the first batch of 15 new ones likely to include some vessels modeled after the French Scorpion class submersible. The Brazilian version is likely to be larger than the French vessel, officials said.

Brazil also plans to refurbish and recommission submersibles it commissioned earlier, including the Tupi class based on German technology and Tikuna class developed by the Brazilian navy.

Alongside the naval development program, Brazil has announced ambitious plans for uranium enrichment, a program the United States tried to control when it first started in the 1980s.

Brazil, active in nuclear research since the 1930s, conducted a covert nuclear weapons program under military dictatorship in response to Argentina's nuclear program, also run under military rule.

Early Brazilian initiatives led to a limited reprocessing capability, opposed by successive U.S. administrations, a missile program, a uranium mining and processing industry and fuel processing on facilities.

Defiant Brazil bought nuclear materials and equipment from West Germany in the 1980s. Brazil has two nuclear power plants in operation and one under construction.

The inclusion of nuclear powered submarines means Brazil will redouble its uranium enrichment effort. Officials are confident Brazil can produce up to 40 tons of enriched uranium a year.

The naval and nuclear developments are meant to run side by side as part of an overall defense strategy.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Brazil_unveils_massive_navy_buildup_plans_999.html.

Jordan's king reshuffles his Cabinet; prime minister retains post

The Associated Press
22/11/2010

AMMAN, Jordan - Jordan's official news agency says King Abdullah II has reshuffled his Cabinet.

The Petra News Agency says Prime Minister Samir Rifai is retaining the post he assumed nearly a year ago.

No other details were immediately available.

Monday's reshuffle precedes the inauguration of the newly elected 120-seat parliament, scheduled for Sunday.

Abdullah will outline his policies in a speech to lawmakers.

Pro-government politicians won a majority of parliamentary seats in the Nov. 9 election. The result ensures Abdullah will encounter little opposition to his central foreign policy goals: continuing his strong alliance with the United States and limiting criticism of Israel for its stalled negotiations with the Palestinians.

Source: Winnipeg Free Press.
Link: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/breakingnews/jordans-king-reshuffles-his-cabinet-prime-minister-retains-post-109902694.html.

Taliban Leader in Secret Talks Was an Impostor

By DEXTER FILKINS and CARLOTTA GALL

November 22, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan — For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the repeated appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement.

But now, it turns out, Mr. Mansour was apparently not Mr. Mansour at all. In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel, United States and Afghan officials now say the Afghan man was an impostor, and high-level discussions conducted with the assistance of NATO appear to have achieved little.

"It’s not him," said a Western diplomat in Kabul intimately involved in the discussions. "And we gave him a lot of money."

American officials confirmed Monday that they had given up hope that the Afghan was Mr. Mansour, or even a member of the Taliban leadership.

NATO and Afghan officials said they held three meetings with the man, who traveled from across the border in Pakistan, where Taliban leaders have taken refuge.

The fake Taliban leader even met with President Hamid Karzai, having been flown to Kabul on a NATO aircraft and ushered into the presidential palace, officials said.

The episode underscores the uncertain and even bizarre nature of the atmosphere in which Afghan and American leaders search for ways to bring the nine-year-old American-led war to an end. The leaders of the Taliban are believed to be hiding in Pakistan, possibly with the assistance of the Pakistani government, which receives billions of dollars in American aid.

Many in the Taliban leadership, which is largely made up of barely literate clerics from the countryside, had not been seen in person by American, NATO or Afghan officials.

Doubts were raised about the man claiming to be Mullah Mansour — who by some accounts is the second-ranking official in the Taliban, behind only the founder, Mullah Mohammed Omar — after the third meeting, held in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. A man who had known Mr. Mansour years ago told Afghan officials that the man at the table did not resemble him. "He said he didn’t recognize him," said an Afghan leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Western diplomat said the Afghan man was initially given a sizable sum of money to take part in the talks — and to help persuade him to return.

While the Afghan official said he still harbored hopes that the man would return for another round of talks, American and other Western officials said they had concluded that the man in question was not Mr. Mansour. Just how the Americans reached such a definitive conclusion — whether, for instance, they were able to positively establish his identity through fingerprints or some other means — is unknown.

As recently as last month, American and Afghan officials held high hopes for the talks. Senior American officials, including Gen. David H. Petraeus, said the talks indicated that Taliban leaders, whose rank-and-file fighters are under extraordinary pressure from the American-led offensive, were at least willing to discuss an end to the war.

The American officials said they and officials of other NATO governments were helping to facilitate the discussions, by providing air transport and securing roadways for Taliban leaders coming from Pakistan.

Last month, White House officials asked The New York Times to withhold Mr. Mansour’s name from an article about the peace talks, expressing concern that the talks would be jeopardized — and Mr. Mansour’s life put at risk — if his involvement were publicized. The Times agreed to withhold Mr. Mansour’s name, along with the names of two other Taliban leaders said to be involved in the discussions. The status of the other two Taliban leaders said to be involved is not clear.

Since the last round of discussions, which took place within the past few weeks, Afghan and American officials have been puzzling over who the man was. Some Afghans say the man may have been a Taliban agent sent to impersonate Mr. Mansour. "The Taliban are cleverer than the Americans and our own intelligence service," said a senior Afghan official who is familiar with the case. "They are playing games."

Others suspect that the fake Taliban leader, whose real identity is not known, may have been dispatched by the Pakistani intelligence service, known by its initials, the ISI. Elements within the ISI have long played a "double-game" in Afghanistan, reassuring United States officials that they are actively pursuing the Taliban while at the same time providing support for the insurgents.

Publicly, at least, the Taliban leadership is sticking to the line that there are no talks at all. In a recent message to his followers, Mullah Omar denied that there were any talks unfolding at any level.

"The cunning enemy which has occupied our country, is trying, on the one hand, to expand its military operations on the basis of its double-standard policy and, on the other hand, wants to throw dust into the eyes of the people by spreading the rumors of negotiation," his message said.

Despite such statements, some senior leaders of the Taliban did show a willingness to talk peace with representatives of the Afghan government as recently as January.

At that time, Abdul Ghani Baradar, then the deputy commander of the Taliban, was arrested in a joint C.I.A.-ISI raid in the Pakistani port city of Karachi. Although officials from both countries hailed the arrest as a hallmark of American-Pakistani cooperation, Pakistani officials have since indicated that they orchestrated Mr. Baradar’s arrest because he was engaging in peace discussions without the ISI’s permission.

Afghan leaders have confirmed this account.

Neither American nor Afghan leaders confronted the fake Mullah Mansour with their doubts about his identity. Indeed, some Afghan leaders are still holding out hopes that the man really is or at least represents Mr. Mansour — and that he will come back soon.

"Questions have been raised about him, but it’s still possible that it’s him," said the Afghan leader who declined to be identified.

The Afghan leader said negotiators had urged the man claiming to be Mr. Mansour to return with colleagues, including other high-level Taliban leaders whose identities they might also be able to verify.

The meetings were arranged by an Afghan middleman with ties to both the Afghan government and the Taliban, officials said.

The Afghan leader said both the Americans and the Afghan leadership were initially cautious of the Afghan man’s identity and motives. But after the first meeting, both were reasonably satisfied that the man they were talking to was Mr. Mansour. Several steps were taken to establish the man’s real identity; after the first meeting, photos of him were shown to Taliban detainees who were believed to know Mr. Mansour. They signed off, the Afghan leader said.

Whatever the Afghan man’s identity, the talks that unfolded between the Americans and the man claiming to be Mr. Mansour seemed substantive, the Afghan leader said. The man claiming to be representing the Taliban laid down several surprisingly moderate conditions for a peace settlement: that the Taliban leadership be allowed to safely return to Afghanistan, that Taliban soldiers be offered jobs, and that prisoners be released.

The Afghan man did not demand, as the Taliban have in the past, a withdrawal of foreign forces or a Taliban share of the government.

Sayed Amir Muhammad Agha, a onetime Taliban commander who says he has left the Taliban but who acted as a go-between with the movement in the past, said in an interview that he did not know the tale of the impostor.

But he said the Taliban leadership had given no indications of a willingness to enter talks.

"Someone like me could come forward and say, 'I am a Talib and a powerful person,’ " he said. "But I can tell you, nothing is going on."

"Whenever I talk to the Taliban, they never accept peace and they want to keep on fighting," he said. "They are not tired."

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m72089.