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Friday, February 11, 2011

Hamas claims elections without national consensus "serves Israeli interests"

Thursday, 10 February 2011

The Islamic Resistance Movement has renewed its refusal to hold local elections without a national consensus. Describing such a "unilateral decision" as being in the interests of the Israeli occupation authority, Hamas said it would weaken the Palestinian people.

In a statement issued on 9 February, the Palestinian faction which won the previous elections in the occupied territories said: "The attempt to hold elections under the internal terrorism and exclusion of the government of Abbas-Fayyad carried out against their political opponents will ensure that they will lack legitimacy and credibility."

The Hamas spokesman continued, "Following the scandal of the leaked documents regarding the shameful negotiations with the Zionist state, Abbas and Fayyad are trying to provide cover for their crimes against the rights and national concerns of the Palestinian people." The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority is, Hamas claims, "acting as if nothing has happened while thinking that such non-national movements will deceive the Palestinians and distract them from the PA's illegal behavior."

Hamas called upon Abbas and Fayyad to retract the election decision and review their "oppressive" policies. The PA President and Prime Minister in Ramallah, and their Fatah movement, will be held accountable, says Hamas, for the "serious repercussions which will reflect negatively on Palestinian unity and the future of Palestine".

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2042-hamas-claims-elections-without-national-consensus-qserves-israeli-interestsq.

Iran's Air Force to Test Military Power in Joint Drills with Allies

2011-02-10

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Air Force Commander Brigadier General Hassan Shah Safi announced that the country plans to test its experience and capabilities outside the country's borders by staging joint military exercises with allies.

"The Air Force is set to test its experience and capabilities outside the borders of Iran next [Iranian] year in joint and compound military maneuvers with allies, employing new schemes," Shah Safi said on Wednesday.

He also outlined the main operations of the Air Force in the current year, including shooting down two Western spy planes in the Persian Gulf, controlling speedboats in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, supporting other sectors of the Armed Forces, and carrying out military exercises.

The Iranian commander praised achievements and new productions of the Air Force.

"The successful test firing of precision-guided smart bombs has been a great development in the Air Force and the 'Sofreh Mahi' radar-evading stealth drone's technical and aerodynamic design and test flights has been completed so far," he told Air Force commanders.

General Shah Safi also noted that the Air Force has equipped its unmanned drones with cameras capable of taking photographs in day and night time and has also upgraded them.

Describing all sanctions against Iran as ineffective, he said, "I proudly announce that thanks to the sanctions, the zealous employees of the IRIAF have overhauled and refurbished all types of aircraft, from 747's to F-14 fighter jets."

The commander reiterated that the Iranian military has also improved its counterattack capabilities by conducting various maneuvers.

Tehran launched an arms development program during the 1980-88 Iraqi imposed war on Iran, to compensate for a US weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and fighter planes.

Yet, Iranian officials have always stressed that the country's military and arms programs serve defensive purposes and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country.

Iran successfully tested a home-made radar-evading Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with bombing capabilities in June. Also in 2008, the country's Defense Industries launched production lines of two well-known home-made fighter jets, namely Saeqeh (Thunderbolt) and Azarakhsh (Lightening).

The country displayed the first squadron of Saeqeh fighter jets produced by its defense industries in an air show staged during military parades at the beginning of the Week of Sacred Defense in late September.

The Iranian Air Force produced a new training fighter jet named 'Kosar' in September which is a joint production of the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces' Aviation Industries.

Source: FARS News Agency.
Link: http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8911210856.

Russians embrace Islam for better armed struggle against the regime, KGB says

7 February 2011

A KGB government "Islamic researcher" Roman Silantyev, officer in the terrorist gang KGB-FSB and member of an "advisory council for state religious expertise at the Russian ministry of justice", told what the KGB thugs think about the growing number of ethnic Russians who embrace Islam:

"A large part of people embrace Islam in order to be engaged in terrorism and to overthrow the government. People tell, write about it in their livejournals, many of them come from Nazi organizations, many of them are now leaving Nazi organizations and join Islam. They have a simple logical goal: to cause maximum damage to authorities", Silantev complained in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda TV.

According to the KGB officer, "one hundred years ago such people took part in anti-Tsarist city guerillas groups engaged in terrorism", and now citizens with similar ideas believe that "terrorist activities should be carried out by means of Islam" which they consider to be "the most reliable instrument for the armed struggle".

"Last summer's Russian Far-East guerrillas may not have been Muslims, but they actively used computer discs with sermons by a Russian Islamic preacher Sayeed al-Buryati. Islam has become a refuge for people who want at any cost to blow up the situation in the country and to make a new Revolution afterwards", Silantev pointed out.

He cited statistics according to which ethnic Russian Muslims who are supposedly amount to "less than 10 thousand people" gave Russia "more terrorists than the Tartars with 4 million Muslims".

"It's very unpleasant statistics for Russian Muslims (it depends for whom - KC). Both Russian imams were put in jail under article # 282 of the Russian criminal code, for incitement. Russian Mufti Evteyev, a former mufti of North Ossetia, has been deported with a scandal from Saudi Arabia for his extremist statements.

Incidentally, one of ethnic Russoan imams was a mentor for a presumed Moscow airport bomber Razdobudko. It was the well-known Pyatigorsk mosque imam Abdullah Stepanenko, he was imprisoned for one year under the "incitement" article, and he was charged with many of other crimes", the KGB officer said.

The KGB officer claimed that there was less than a half of reported true ethnic Russians among Russian Muslims:

"These are mostly people with Ukrainian and southern Russian surnames (Ukrainians who live on Russian-occupied Ukrainian lands in so-called "southern Russia" - KC)", and "they now form the terrorist elite, plan terrorist attacks and are engaged in ideological propaganda".

According to Silantyev, newly converted Muslims are being also afraid of in Europe and the U.S., because they are actively engaged in guerrilla activities there. Some recent Hollywood movies, including a film called "Unthinkable", also tell about concerns in regard to newly converted Muslim guerrillas.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2011/02/07/13478.shtml.

Stratfor: Egyptian scenario could be repeated in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan

8 February 2011

"As unrest in Egypt continues to unfold there has been speculation in the mainstream media that similar developments could occur across the former Soviet Union", stated in the article by Eugene Chausovsky published on the website of the American Research Center Stratfor.

According to the author, the repetition of Egyptian events in the post-Soviet countries are unlikely to happen for many reasons as there are simply too many differences, from political to cultural, between Egypt and these countries.

"However, there are a few states that are at risk for political and social instability for their own reasons unrelated to Egypt, especially Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan", said in the article.

Before get to the specific conditions in each of these countries the author makes note of some of their general differences with Egypt.

"Politically, the power of the regime in most FSU countries is rooted in the security and intelligence apparatus as opposed to the military in Egypt. Also, many countries in the former Soviet Union are not pro-Western and therefore do not need to prove the legitimacy of their regimes to the West", says Chausovsky.

But at the same time they are more prone to Western political influence as was seen in the wave of color revolutions that swept the region in the early to mid-2000s. "That being said there are a few states that are at risk of instability for their own reasons", the author notes.

The article says that the situation in Tajikistan has deteriorated especially since the August high-profile prison break in the eastern part of the country. The government and security forces have since then been cracking down on what it calls Islamist militants.

In fact these may be opposition elements. The government has also been cracking down on religious movements by shutting down mosques, banning Islamic dress and preventing students from traveling abroad to Islamic schools.

"Azerbaijan is yet another country to watch as the government has faced pressure even before the uprising in Egypt began. This was caused by the decision of the government to ban hijabs from being worn in secondary schools, which caused a lot of discontent from the religious communities in the country".

The author notes that the question of religion has remained a controversial topic and one that has dominated public discourse.

Another country that is threatened by instability, the author considers Kyrgyzstan, which recently has been a revolution. He notes that the protests are commonplace throughout the country, there are also ethnic tensions between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. In combination with the weakness of the security apparatus it may be the reason that even the slightest flash may lead to another uprising.

Kyrgyzstan is another country that is at risk of instability as it is the only country in Central Asia that has actually succumbed to revolution, most recently last year. He notes that protests are common throughout the country and they are also simmering ethnic tensions between Krygyzs and Uzbeks in the country. Combined with the weakness of the security apparatus another uprising in the country can occur from even the most minor flare up.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2011/02/08/13490.shtml.

WikiLeaks: West fears of possible Islamization of Turkish armed forces

9 February 2011

Anti-Islamic forces in Turkey are concerned about their problem of "how insidiously and cunningly Erdogan's government has slipped Islamic fundamentalists into various ministries". We would like to mention in this context that the term "Islamic fundamentalist" here means a person who makes prayers, i.e., prays regularly.

The U.S. State Department secret cables published by WikiLeaks show, in particular, the concern of the British government in connection with the internal situation in Turkey.

The Brits' contacts also said the Turkish military feared they would be targeted next by the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government, a 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable published by the Daily Telegraph indicates.

"If this were to occur, the British government believes the military would face an internal power struggle with unknown consequences for NATO and the [European Union], but it would almost definitely lead to a hard-line position on Cyprus," wrote an American diplomat in Ankara.

According to the cable, British officials were tired of "hitting their heads against the brick wall" of Turkey's refusal to separate the Cypriot question from Turkey's NATO role.

"The U.K. government is very concerned that the Turkish military is not as confident as it used to be, the threat from the fundamentalists is sparking self-doubt within the military, and the fallout from the Ergenekon investigations have tainted the military's reputation".

The only lever of influence on Turkey, the British believe, is the United States, wrote an American diplomat, but "devoid of the traditional self-confidence and weakened the latest trends, the Turkish army may not be able to respond positively to American influence."

The cable said the U.K. government believed the U.S. government was the only power that possessed sufficient leverage with Turkey, but, "without its traditional confidence, and weakened by both of these related developments, the Turkish military's ability to respond positively to the U.S. government leverage is weakened"

It is to be mentioned in this context that Turkey has always been under a special control of the Western alliance, because the historical experience of the Ottoman Islamic Caliphate that existed for 600 years, is capable, according to the experts, to awaken Muslims to revive any time their lost Islamic state.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2011/02/09/13507.shtml.

NKorea: No military talks with 'traitor' SKorea

By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press – Thu Feb 10

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea's abandonment of military talks with South Korea is merely the latest feint in a long duel between the two rivals, according to analysts who see further provocative actions from Pyongyang coming next.

The communist country refused to hold further talks Thursday after walking out of their first discussions in months the day before, blaming the South for insisting on putting the deadly sinking of a warship on the agenda.

Ties between the two Koreas plunged to their lowest point in decades last year in the wake of two of the worst attacks since their 1950-53 war: the March sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors and a November artillery barrage on a front-line South Korean island that left four dead.

Talks this week had raised hopes in some quarters for improved inter-Korean ties and eventual discussion about North Korea's nuclear program.

But after opening on an optimistic note on Tuesday, the meetings inside the Demilitarized Zone ended abruptly Wednesday afternoon, with both sides accusing the other of walking out. At the heart of the impasse: the sinking of the Cheonan warship, which Seoul wants Pyongyang to acknowledge and which Pyongyang denies attacking.

South Korea wants to put both incidents on the agenda for any higher-level defense talks between the two Koreas that would be their first three years. The North seems intent on avoiding any discussion of the Cheonan — the sinking of which an international investigation blamed on the North. Pyongyang called Seoul's insistence a sign of Seoul's insincerity.

"The army and people of (North Korea) do not feel any need to deal with the group of traitors any longer now that they do not wish to see the North-South relations improved but totally reject the dialogue itself," the North Korean military said in a statement Thursday.

Analysts in Seoul, however, characterized Pyongyang's dismissal as a tactic designed to put pressure on South Korea to gain more concessions. They said the communist country would eventually return to dialogue with the richer South — after perhaps gaining more leverage with another provocation.

"North Korea is sending the message that North Korea wants to take the initiative and doesn't want be dragged along by South Korea," said Baek Seung-joo of the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul. "It's not the first time they've done this."

He said it's unlikely North Korea will apologize for the attacks, particularly the warship sinking, as the South wants.

Minor provocations could be ahead as a way to step up pressure, said Jeung Young-tae, an analyst with the South Korean government-funded Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul. He cited possible short-range missile tests or artillery firing drills near the disputed western sea border.

Seoul says the talks collapsed over the question of the Cheonan. It also wants to discuss an attack on Yeonpyeong Island.

The North also blamed South Korea for instigating that barrage by firing shells into disputed waters, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.

Pyongyang accused the South of hewing to "unreasonable" demands that Pyongyang take "sincere, responsible measures" in addressing the island attack and the ship sinking.

South Korea said Thursday it remains open to talks but won't back down over the two attacks.

"Our people suffered because of those two attacks, so we cannot just put them aside," Col. Moon Sang-kyun, the chief South Korean delegate, told South Korean reporters, according to the Defense Ministry.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley called the talks a "missed opportunity" for North Korea to demonstrate its sincerity on dialogue and reducing tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Talks between the two Koreas and an improvement in their relationship must happen before broader nuclear disarmament-for-aid discussions with other regional powers can proceed, a senior South Korean government official said recently. He said an apology wasn't a prerequisite to the inter-Korean talks, but that Seoul would judge North Korea's actions as a whole. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing government policy.

That timeline puts a premium on getting the two Koreas to the negotiating table, especially since concerns are growing about the North's expanded nuclear capability. South Korea says the North's newly disclosed uranium enrichment program — which would give it a second, easier way to manufacture atomic bombs — violates disarmament pacts and U.N. resolutions.

Chief South Korean nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac was in China, North Korea's main ally, to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said.

___

Associated Press writers Jean H. Lee in Seoul and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

Moderate Saudi scholars form kingdom's first party

Thu Feb 10

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ten moderate Saudi scholars say they've formed the kingdom's first political party and have asked the king for recognition.

After the turmoil in Egypt and Tunisia, there have been demands for reforms in Saudi Arabia, which follows strict Islamic rule.

Sheik Mohammed bin Ghanim al-Qahtani said on Thursday he is on the coordination committee of the newly formed Umma Islamic Party. He says the party sent a letter to the Royal Palace on Wednesday requesting recognition.

His statement says it's time to endorse political rights, including the right to elect a government, promote the role of women in society and preserve women's rights.

The party's nine other founding members are university teachers, political activists and businessmen.

Egypt's Mubarak stays in post, hands powers to VP

By HAMZA HENDAWI and SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press – Thu Feb 10

CAIRO – Egypt's Hosni Mubarak refused to step down or leave the country and instead handed his powers to his vice president Thursday, remaining president and ensuring regime control over the reform process. Stunned protesters in central Cairo who demand his ouster waved their shoes in contempt and shouted, "Leave, leave, leave."

The rapidly moving events raised the question of whether a rift had opened between Mubarak and the military command. Hours earlier, a council of the military's top generals announced it had stepped in to secure the country, and a senior commander announced to protesters in Tahrir Square that all their demands would soon be met, raising cries of victory that Mubarak was on his way out.

After Mubarak's speech, protest organizers called for the army to take action to oust him, and they vowed increased protests on Friday. Several hundred thousand had packed into Tahrir Square, ecstatic with expectation that Mubarak would announce his resignation in his nighttime address. Instead, they watched in shocked silence as he spoke, slapping their foreheads in anger and disbelief. Some broke into tears.

Around a 1,000 marched on the state television headquarters several blocks away, guarded by the military with barbed wire and tanks. "They are the liars," the crowd shouted, pointing at the building, chanting, "We won't leave, they will leave."

Prominent reform advocate, Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, whose supporters were among the organizers of the 17-day-old wave of protests, issued a Tweet calling on the military to act.

"The army must save the country now," he said. "I call on the Egyptian army to immediately interfere to rescue Egypt. The credibility of the army is on the line."

Mohammed Mustapha, a protest spokesman, said, "We are waiting for a strong reaction from the army to Mubarak's speech." He said "huge numbers" of protesters were expected Friday and that many wanted to march on the Oruba palace, Mubarak's main presidential palace several miles away from Tahrir.

Immediately after Mubarak's speech, Vice President Omar Suleiman called on the protesters to "go home" and asked Egyptians to "unite and look to the future."

In his 17-minute speech on state TV, Mubarak spoke as if he were still in charge, saying he was "adamant to continue to shoulder my responsibility to protect the constitution and safeguard the interests of the people." He vowed that he would remain in the country and said he was addressing the youth in Tahrir as "the president of the republic."

"I saw fit to delegate the authorities of the president to the vice president, as dictated in the constitution," said Mubarak, who looked frail but spoke in a determined, almost defiant voice.

Suleiman was already leading the regime's efforts to deal with the crisis. The constitution allows the president to transfer his powers if he is unable to carry out his duties "due to any temporary obstacle," but it does not mean his resignation. Even in that case, the vice president still cannot request constitutional amendments or dissolve parliament.

Mubarak insisted on the continuation of a government-dominated process for reform that Suleiman drew up and that protesters have roundly rejected because they fear it will mean only cosmetic change and not real democracy. Under that system, a panel of judges and lawyers put together by Suleiman recommends constitutional changes, while a separate panel monitors to ensure that state promises are carried out.

Suleiman has also offered dialogue with the protesters and opposition over the nature of reforms. He has not explained how the negotiations fit in if the judges panel, which is led by Mubarak supporters, is recommending amendments. In any case, the protesters and opposition have resolutely refused talks until Mubarak goes.

Mubarak said that on the recommendation of the panel, he had requested the amendment of five articles of the constitution to loosen the now restrictive conditions on who can run for president, to restore judicial supervision of elections, and to impose term limits on the presidency.

Calling the protesters' demands legitimate, he annulled a constitutional article that gives the president the right to order a military trial for civilians accused of terrorism. He said that step would "clear the way" for eventually scrapping a hated emergency law but with a major caveat — "once security and stability are restored."

The emergency law, imposed when Mubarak came to power in 1981, gives police virtually unlimited powers of arrest.

Before the night's dramatic developments, protests had gained a spiraling momentum, fueled by labor strikes that erupted around the country. Protesters had been gearing up for even more massive demonstrations on Friday, when they planned to march from squares around Cairo into Tahrir.

After the speech, some protesters drifted out of Tahrir, tears of disappointment and anger in their eyes. But the majority of the crowd remained, planning to camp for the night and vowing to continue their campaign.

"The speech is a provocation," said Muhammed Abdul Rahman, a 26-year-old lawyer who had joined the protesters for the first time Thursday. "This is going to bring people together more, and people will come out in greater numbers."

Hazem Khalifa, a young chemist in the crowd, vowed protests would continue. "He's tried to divide people before, now the people understand him and they've learned his ways," he said.

Hisham Bastawisi, a pro-reform judge, called on the military to take power.

"The president has lost his legitimacy long time ago," he said. "The ball now is the army's court. The armed forces must interfere and oust him before it is too late, today before tomorrow."

There was no immediate reaction from the military.

Hours before Mubarak's speech, the military made moves that had all the markings of a coup — without Mubarak or Suleiman on board.

The military's Supreme Council, headed by Defense Minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, announced on state TV that it was in permanent session, a status that it takes only in times of war. It said it was exploring "what measures and arrangements could be made to safeguard the nation, its achievements and the ambitions of its great people." That suggested Tantawi and his generals were now in charge of the country.

The statement was labeled "Communique No. 1," language that also suggests a military coup — and raised anticipation of a "Communique No. 2," though there was no sign of one after Mubarak's speech.

Footage on state TV showed Tantawi chairing the council with around two dozen top stern-faced army officers seated around a table. Mubarak and Suleiman, a former army general and intelligence chief named to his post after the protests erupted Jan. 25, were not present.

"All your demands will be met today," Gen. Hassan al-Roueini, military commander for the Cairo area, told thousands of protesters in central Tahrir Square.

The protesters lifted al-Roueini onto their shoulders and carried him around the square, shouting, "the army, the people one hand." Some in the crowd held up their hands in V-for-victory signs, shouting "the people want the end of the regime" and "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," a victory cry used by secular and religious people alike.

The dramatic developments capped 17 days of mass anti-government protests, some drawing a quarter-million people, to demand Mubarak's immediate ouster. What began as an Internet campaign swelled into the stiffest challenge ever to Mubarak's nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule, fueled by widespread frustration over the regime's lock on power, government corruption, rampant poverty and unemployment.

The protests escalated in the past two days with labor strikes and revolts by state employees that added to the chaos.

Somalia: 87 Killed As Puntland Warns Somaliland 'Not to Attack Civilians'

9 February 2011

A Cabinet minister in Somalia's Puntland government has warned the separatist region of Somaliland 'not to attack civilians' after heavy fighting Monday killed at least 87 people, Radio Garowe reports.

A Puntland delegation led by Fisheries Minister Mohamed Farah Aden told Radio Garowe on Wednesday that the delegation is in Buhodle town to assess the drought and the impact of Monday's fighting.

Somaliland troops fought against local clan militias in Kalshale village, which is located near Buhodle, part of Cayn region of Puntland.

Local sources reported that the fighting started between two local clans -- Habar Jelo sub-clan of Isaaq clan and Dhulbahante sub-clan of Harti clan.

But Somaliland troops intervened with full force. At least 65 people were killed on the Somaliland side while the local clans lost 22 men.

Somaliland President Ahmed Silanyo belongs to Habar Jelo sub-clan, which is directly involved in the fighting with Dhulbahante clan militia over control of territory.

Puntland's Fisheries Minister Aden warned Somaliland to "stop the aggression" and appealed for peaceful co-existence between Puntland and Somaliland.

"The people of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn regions are Puntlanders by blood and we urge Somaliland to stop the aggression," Fisheries Minister Aden said.

Somaliland's Information Minister Ahmed Abdi Habsade told the BBC Somali Service during a Tuesday interview that the death toll was 5 Somaliland soldiers killed and 12 Dhulbahante clan fighters killed.

However, local sources confirmed the massive casualties on both sides and the especially the heavy casualties inflicted upon the Somaliland troops, who lost control of the fighting area.

Somaliland has now amassed more troops in the region and there are fears that more fighting could spark. Somaliland officials, including President Silanyo and Information Minister Habsade, claimed that Puntland is "supporting" the local clans.

But Puntland Fisheries Minister Aden denied the allegations, telling the BBC Somali Service and Radio Garowe during separate interviews that Puntland has the "right to defend its people."

Sool and Sanaag regions, which Isaaq-dominated Somaliland administration claims based on defunct colonial-era borders, is home to Harti clan of Puntland. Observers say this is the reason why Somaliland troops are seen as aggressors in Buhodle, also home to Harti clan.

Since his election in June 2010, Somaliland President Silanyo's administration has come under the strong influence members of the Isaaq-based SNM rebel faction that used to fight against former Somali military dictator Gen. Siyad Barre regime in the 1980s.

Somaliland, located in northwest Somalia, unilaterally declared independence from the rest of the country in 1991 but has not been recognized internationally. Somaliland and Puntland enjoy relative stability compared to the rest of the country.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201102091083.html.

Iraqi Artist Becomes World's First Human Camera

By Dalila Mahdawi

NEW YORK, Feb 7, 2011 (IPS) - Wafaa Bilal hasn't had a decent night's sleep in about two months. After becoming the first person to have a camera surgically implanted into the back of his head, the Iraqi- American artist is learning the hard way just how much of a headache modern technology can be.

"It's still painful," he tells IPS, pointing to the three titanium bolts that have been inserted into his cranium to hold the camera in place.

Bilal undertook the dramatic operation as part of a year- long project entitled 3rdi. The camera takes photographs every minute of the view behind Bilal's head. The images, comprising everything from uninspiring shots of his kitchen cupboards to unnerving angles of objects and passers-by, are then uploaded onto the 3rdi website and streamed to Qatar's newly inaugurated contemporary art museum, Mathaf.

3rdi is, in many ways, a reflection of Bilal's own traumatic experiences of loss. Having been raised in a conservative family under Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule, the soft- spoken artist was forced to flee during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait after publicly rejecting his conscription into the army. He spent two years living in a makeshift refugee camp in the Saudi Arabian desert before being granted asylum in the United States.

"It was one of the toughest experiences of my life," recalls Bilal, who is also an assistant professor of photography at New York University's Tisch School of The Arts. In the camp, "We were subjected to very harsh treatment by Saudi soldiers and many people lost their lives. Art became a way to remind myself I was still alive."

With little to remind him of the places and faces he had to abandon so abruptly, 3rdi has become Bilal's way of recording chaotic, poignant and yet often banal moments of departure. "Individually, they might not look significant," he says of the images, but when taken together, they form "quite a nice mosaic of someone's life."

Since unveiling the project, 3rdi has evolved to speak about many other aspects of modern life, such as government surveillance of its citizens (the camera tracks Bilal's whereabouts via GPS) and the aggressive intrusion of technology.

"There is no such thing as a private life anymore," says Bilal. "Instead of creating something to serve us, these machines have enslaved us."

Although the camera's physical presence leaves the artist susceptible to infection and sleepless nights, he insists the pain is an integral part of the 3rdi project. "Performance is about endurance," he explains. "It's a physical reminder of what you are doing."

It's not the first time Bilal has used his own body as his canvas. Physical intervention has been a central, and often controversial, feature of much of his work.

In 2010, Bilal held a 24-hour performance in which he had the names of Iraqi cities tattooed on his back. More than 100,000 dots marking Iraqi casualties were also tattooed on with invisible ink, symbolizing the anonymous victims of a war that most Americans feel so far removed from. Bilal also has plans to tattoo on some 5,000 dots in homage to the U.S. soldiers also killed in the U.S.-led war.

For an earlier project, called "Shoot an Iraqi/Domestic Tension", Bilal confined himself in a prison-like cell for 30 days and was subjected to the whims of his audience, who could shoot a remote-controlled paintball gun at him from the internet or gallery. Following newspaper articles about the project, hackers infiltrated the software and programmed the gun to shoot at Bilal once every minute.

"The hope is you build a platform not to engage those already engaged in political dialogue," but to attract those who typically shy away, he says. It seemed he succeeded in that attempt: by the end of the exhibition, over 65,000 people from more than 130 countries had fired at Bilal.

His work became more overtly political following the killing of his younger brother by a U.S. drone missile in Iraq in 2004. Bilal says he wanted to bring people living in "the comfort zone" into the realm of the "conflict zone", Iraq.

With that goal in mind, the artist has also subjected himself to water boarding, the simulated-drowning torture technique former U.S. president George W. Bush notoriously admitted to using in Iraq.

"My work is driven from within as a concerned person, as someone who has been directly affected by his surroundings," Bilal says. "My job has to become a mirror to reflect that social condition."

It may be another 10 months before Bilal can enjoy a proper night's rest again, but if having eyes at the back of his head has taught the artist anything, it is to savour the present more.

"Most of the time we don't exist in the present, and I think in the process we fail to exist in the place we are in," he says. "I think this is a call to slow down, look at these corners of our lives and live in the moment we are in."

3rdi is online until December 2011.

Source: IPS.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54385.

Tunisia Speaks Up, Shakily

By A.D.McKenzie

PARIS, Feb 7, 2011 (IPS) - Freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press are the big gains of Tunisia’s so-called Jasmine Revolution, according to a top Tunisian economist, writer and opposition figure. But he warns that dark days still lie ahead.

"Not even political scientists could have imagined people’s deep hunger for democracy," says Mahmoud Ben Romdhane, author of the just published ‘Tunisie: Etat, économie et société’ and one of the keynote speakers at the 17th Maghreb Literary Fair (Maghreb des Livres) that ended here Sunday night.

"Tunisians have shown that democracy is not a foreign value," Romdhane told IPS. "They have shown that our need for freedom and international human rights values is no less important that it is in the established democracies."

Romdhane was one of the invited writers at the literary fair, which took place within the grand, gilded halls of the Paris Hôtel de ville. It drew more than 5,000 people who came to buy books and to listen to North African writers discussing the revolutions taking place in their region.

The two-day annual fair focuses each year on one particular country in the Maghreb. This year, coincidental to current political events, the chosen country was Tunisia, giving the event an added layer of significance because of the growing upheavals that began with the revolution there and that have since spread to Egypt and other countries.

Some 30 of the 132 authors who participated came from Tunisia while others represented Morocco, Algeria and the Maghrebi communities in France. At the last moment, the fair’s organizers added a session to the program titled ‘Tunisia: Regaining the Word’ that was widely attended.

"You can see on television and know from what you read in the newspapers that freedom has arisen again," Romdhane said, as the public crowded around tables piled with books and as debates unfolded in the background.

"The revolution succeeded in the destruction of a tyrannical regime, which was thought impossible to destroy, and we’ve had the release of every political prisoner, including writers," he said.

He added, however, that Tunisia’s problems will not go away any time soon as the national unemployment rate among the country's university graduates is more than 30 percent. It will near 60 this year in Sidi Bouzid, where the protests began after a young street vendor set himself on fire Dec. 14.

"Thousands of graduates are leaving the universities and there is no work for them," Romdhane said.

He and other writers stressed that solid economic growth will be among the factors needed to help the new government to succeed and to shore up civil liberties. He told IPS that lasting press freedom will also have to form part of the changes for any new regime to be accepted by the people.

Already human rights groups have accused the security authorities under the interim government of continuing to take sporadic repressive actions against the press. Romdhane’s opposition Tajdid party has a minister in the new administration but he says this does not "imply we support the current government."

The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has noted assaults on media workers since the fall of the administration of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. These include the roughing up of a French photographer when he filmed the police clubbing and kicking a youth.

On Saturday, even as the writers in Paris discussed the revolution, police in northwestern Tunisia fired into a crowd that was attacking a police station, reportedly killing two people and injuring several others.

"I think it’s too early to say that things have changed fully," Ernest Sagaga, IFJ human rights and information officer, told IPS. "On the ground, yes, there have been changes, including promises by the new regime to respect press freedom and to refrain from interfering in media affairs. But this government is still very shaky."

PEN, the international organization of writers, said it welcomed "the release of all Tunisian journalists, bloggers and other political prisoners, following the protests which ended 23 years of President Ben Ali's rule."

The group, which has campaigned for many years on behalf of detained writers and journalists, said it hoped for a "full recognition of free speech and the right to assembly in Tunisia."

"This is one of those extraordinary moments when there is an opening up because the president and his family have left," PEN International’s president John Ralston Saul told IPS by telephone.

"But the country is still in an interim phase where people of goodwill are working for change, while there are others who would like to keep elements of the old regime. Tunisian writers know that they are going to have to be vigilant to make sure that the end result is not going to be a similar regime. We can’t be romantic about it."

Separately, PEN said it was also alarmed and concerned by "the trampling on the rights of citizens to transparency, information, knowledge and freedom of assembly elsewhere, most recently in Egypt over the past several days."

The group said it feared that opposition activists, writers and journalists in Yemen and Syria were at increased risk of arrest.

While these countries are not part of the Maghreb, their future and that of the Middle East in general was an unavoidable topic at the Maghreb literary fair here.

"History is a question of chance," said Georges Morin, president of Coup de soleil, the civic group that organizes the fair in association with the Paris mayor’s office. "It’s just coincidence that the fair is taking place at the same time as the revolutions, but it meant more people came out to listen."

France is home to Western Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish populations (estimated at five million and 600,000 respectively), and Morin’s Coup de soleil group works to strengthen links among those from the Maghreb, whether they are "Arab-Berbers, Jews or Europeans". The literary fair is one such initiative.

Source: IPS.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54386.

Muslims and Christians Protest as One

By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani

CAIRO, Feb 9, 2011 (IPS) - Over recent years, Egypt has witnessed mounting tension between its Muslim majority and its sizable Coptic Christian minority. But in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the site of ongoing mass protests against the ruling regime, members of both faiths chant in unison: "Muslim, Christian, doesn't matter; We're all in this boat together!"

Since Jan. 25, Egyptians countrywide have hit the streets in the hundreds of thousands - even millions - to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak and his 30-year-old regime. The first week of demonstrations was marked by almost daily clashes between police and protesters, in which hundreds were killed and thousands injured.

The demonstrations were initially organized by online activist groups of no particular religious affiliation, such as the 6 April protest movement and the Youth Movement for Freedom and Justice. Nevertheless, some commentators have attempted to paint the uprising as a would-be "Iran-style" Islamic revolution.

In statements that would later be parroted by much of the western media, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Jan. 31: "Our real fear is of a situation that could develop and which has already developed in several countries including Iran itself - repressive regimes of radical Islam."

But according to protesters arrayed in Tahrir Square, which on Tuesday was home to hundreds of thousands of protesters, Muslim-Christian unity remains a central feature of the almost daily rallies.

"There's an overwhelming sense of solidarity here between Muslims and Christians," 32-year-old Muslim protester Ahmed al-Assy told IPS. "Practically all of the protesters' rallying cries, and all the sermons led by Muslim sheikhs, stress the importance of national unity."

Violent clashes between police and protesters that took place nationwide in the first week of the uprising were accompanied by particularly moving displays of interfaith camaraderie. On several occasions, Christian demonstrators shielded their Muslim compatriots - who had paused to pray in the midst of the conflict - from attacks by aggressive police.

"During the fiercest clashes on January 28, I found a guy about my age guarding my back, who I later found out was a Christian," Yahia Roumi, a 24- year-old protester from Cairo, told IPS. "Now we're best friends; we never go to the demonstrations without one another."

The prevailing sense of national unity follows two years of steadily mounting tension between the two communities, exacerbated by occasional flare-ups of violence.

Last November witnessed clashes between Coptic demonstrators and security forces after authorities halted renovation work on a church in Cairo's Omraniya district. Along with under-representation in the top echelons of government, Egypt's Copts have long complained of stringent government restrictions on church building.

On January 1, more than 20 Christians were killed when a Coptic church in Alexandria was bombed by unknown perpetrators. While Egyptian officialdom blamed the crime on an alleged "Al-Qaeda" offshoot, the incident served to further aggravate tensions between the nation's Muslims and Christians.

The largest concentration of Christians in the Middle East, Egypt's Coptic community is thought to account for some ten percent of the country's roughly 82 million people. The rest of the population is almost entirely Muslim.

Christian participation in the ongoing wave of protests comes despite statements by Coptic leader Pope Shenouda III, in which he threw his support behind the ruling regime.

"I called the president and told him that 'all of us are with you'," Shenouda said on state television on January 30. Five days later, the pope reiterated his support for the embattled president, calling on demonstrators "to end their protests and listen to reason."

According to one Coptic priest, quoted anonymously by independent daily Al- Shorouk, Shenouda "lost a good deal of legitimacy among his flock by essentially barring Copts from joining the uprising." But despite the church's official stance on the matter, the priest added, "we nevertheless encouraged young Copts to participate."

"I don't know why Pope Shenouda wants to keep Copts from joining the uprising," said Boutros, a Copt who has been demonstrating in Tahrir Square since January 30. "Is it merely to pander to Mubarak? Or is it to isolate us from our Muslim compatriots, about whom many Copts have the wrong impression?

"In Tahrir, I've met many young Muslim activists - even some from the Muslim Brotherhood," Boutros, who preferred not to give his last name, told IPS. "They explained how Islam commands Muslims to protect Christians and Christian places of worship. I learned from them that the Muslims don't have any beliefs that threaten our rights or should frighten us as Copts."

Unlike Shenouda, some prominent Christian figures have actively supported the two-week-old uprising.

"Demonstrations and sit-ins constitute a legitimate means of expression, according to the law and constitution," read a February 1 statement signed by several Egyptian Catholic and Anglican clergymen and a handful of Coptic intellectuals. In reference to Shenouda's stance on the issue, the statement added: "We reject the church leadership's servile position calling on Copts not to join the uprising."

The ongoing wave of popular protests, the statement concluded, "has revived the Egyptian spirit despite recent attempts to snuff it out through the promotion of sectarian strife between the Egyptian people."

Rami Kamel, a member of Egypt's Coptic Youth Movement, was quoted as saying in independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm on February 4: "From the beginning, we've been participating in the demonstrations to call for the ouster of the ruling regime, which we blame for the country's economic and social decline."

The spirit of national unity, meanwhile, has hardly been confined to Tahrir Square.

Following the withdrawal of police from the streets of Cairo on January 28, Abdulla Rageb, a 42-year-old Muslim government employee from Old Cairo, has led an ad-hoc "popular committee" mandated with guarding churches in his neighborhood.

"I'm protecting these churches as if they were mosques, because, according to Islam, we should respect Christian places of worship," Rageb told IPS. "As an Egyptian Muslim, I have no reason to hate Christians. We've always been neighbors here, and our relations are excellent."

Amgad Bishay, a 26-year-old Coptic middle school teacher from north Cairo, told a similar story.

"On the 'day of terror' (January 29, following the withdrawal of police) my mother was terrified," he told IPS. "So she asked our Muslim neighbor, an old friend of the family, to stay with her and my young sisters until me and my father could come home from work.

"There are no deep-seated problems between Egypt's Christians and Muslims; we were raised together," Bishay added. "Even if we might have occasional arguments, these are never religion motivated."

Many of those now supporting the uprising - of both faiths - say they the blame the regime for most if not all recent sectarian tension.

"The regime is responsible for the sectarian problems suffered by Copts," Kamel was quoted as saying. "Proof of this is that no church was attacked during the unprecedented absence of security (following the police withdrawal)."

"This corrupt government was behind 90 percent of the problems between Egypt's Christian and Muslim communities, which had coexisted in harmony for hundreds of years," agreed Rageb.

Boutros said: "This uprising won't only bring freedom to Egypt; it will also do much to dispel sectarian tension - of which the ruling regime was the only beneficiary."

Source: IPS.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54416.

Hungry Gazans Feed Egyptian Troops

By Mohammed Omer

RAFAH, Feb 9, 2011 (IPS) - Mustapha Suleiman, 27, from J Block east of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, crosses through gaps in the iron fence on the border carrying bread, water, meat cans and a handful of vegetables for Egyptian soldiers stationed on the other side.

"Whatever you offer on Saturday you will receive on Sunday," Suleiman says. "I am ready to help with what I have, for all the work they do."

Egyptian troops have run short of essential supplies, caught up in clashes involving Bedouin groups. Serious clashes have erupted between riot police and Bedouin groups over the past two weeks.

Supplies sent for Egyptian troops have not got through to them. The troops have appealed to people living in El-Arish town on the Egyptian side for help. And for troops on the Gaza border, help has come from Gazans – themselves on small rations as a result of the Israeli blockade.

"We heard the Egyptian soldiers calling out to us, saying they had run out of food," a policeman in Gaza told IPS. Gazans are now "sharing their limited food with Egyptian soldiers."

Many people can be seen crossing the ‘Philadelphia Corridor’ that separates Egypt from the Gaza Strip, carrying food and essential supplies. They find enough gaps in the fence and wall built before the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.

Some of the supplies being offered to Egyptian troops have earlier come in from the Egyptian side to Gaza through the underground tunnels. "We overcome our Gazan hurdles under the ground, and when Egyptians need us we will overcome their hurdles above the ground," Wael Al-Nasri who owns a tunnel tells IPS.

Most tunnels have a shared ownership between Egyptian and Gazan partners. The tunnels are now beginning to see a movement in the opposite direction. Al-Nasri says he recently sent bags of flour back to his partner on the Egyptian side. In the face of clashes, it isn’t just the Egyptian army that is running short of food.

"They have always been there for us these past five years during the Israeli siege of Gaza," says Al-Nasri. "They help us to stand tall, so we help them."

Al-Nasri picked up the bags from a shop owned by Mohammed Qishta, to whom he had sold them earlier. Qishta parted with them readily. He has relatives on the Egyptian side, and says there is a scarcity on that side because of "new road blocks set up by violent thugs and armed groups." Many other dealers are sending goods back to Egypt through the tunnels, he says.

The Palestinian government in Gaza is trying to restrict the outflow of essential goods such as flour and oil, says Qishta. If the flow of Egyptian goods through Sinai on the other side of Gaza comes to a halt, Gaza itself will be hit.

Some tunnel traders are reporting a surge in the demand for light weapons in the face of the worsening security situation on the Egyptian side. Few are prepared to talk about this openly. But this has continued in the past, and many cases have been reported of Egyptian authorities confiscating arms being smuggled through these tunnels.

There seems no indication at present of light weapons being sent to the Egyptian side. But the market price for some weapons is said to have risen. "A Kalashnikov used to cost 400-500 Jordanian dinars (560-700 dollars) before the unrest," says Al-Nasri. "The price has now doubled. In the lack of security many families who trade through tunnels on the Egyptian side need extra weapons.

Clashes are meanwhile continuing. Firing is heard every now and then in the Sinai area. There have been reports of heavy bombing as well, and of an attempt to blow up a gas pipeline that supplies Israel. There is little detail because media are unable to reach most of Sinai area from Cairo to the West, or from Gaza in the east.

Source: IPS.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54407.

Ennahda Movement returns to Tunisian politics

Islamic party leader Rachid Ghannouchi pledged his commitment to democracy and women's rights, but some Tunisians remain unconvinced.

By Houda Trabelsi for Magharebia in Tunis – 09/02/11

The Ennahda Movement, banned under former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, held a press conference in Tunis on Monday (February 7th).

"The movement is committed to democracy and to the people's right in choosing their president through elections," said party leader Rachid Ghannouchi, who returned to Tunisia on January 30th after 22 years of exile.

"On the agenda of the movement are: building on the gains achieved by women, as manifested in the Personal Status Code (CSP), improving women's lives and underscoring their positive role on the political, social and cultural arena, so they could effectively take part in advancing society," he said.

The party speech focused on modernism, respect for human rights and the need to preserve the gains of freedom achieved by Tunisia. According to Ennahda, these values are in line with the Islamic precepts.

The Islamic party showcased their structures, made up of a president, a founding council and an executive office. They also presented their statute, which was registered a week ago at the Interior Ministry to secure a permit for engaging in legal work. Engineer Ali Laaridh was selected as head of the founding council and engineer Hammadi Jbeli as secretary-general.

"The movement will be holding its conference within a month. Abdel Latif Al-Mekki, a student leader, was charged with heading the conference," Ghannouchi said.

Asked about the prerequisites for membership in the party, the leader explained that "they include being at least 18 years of age, not belonging to any other party and obtaining the recommendation of three members in the party."

Ghannouchi also emphasized that "the movement is currently seeking to expand the makeup of its founding institution, so it would include qualified resources from across the country".

Sahbi Atig, professor of Islamic sciences and member of the party executive office, said during the conference, "Some are striving to dress us in a non-Tunisian guise. That is not acceptable. We are a national Tunisian movement that combines the values of Islam and those of modernism. We adopt a moderate line of thinking."

For his part, Hammadi Jbeli responded to the charges leveled against the movement, accusing it of burning down the headquarters of the former ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally, in which one person was killed. "What happened then was because of individual violations and the Movement condemned the incident," he said.

"We cannot deny that we made mistakes," said Ghannouchi. "Who does not? But we are learning from those mistakes so we could build a better homeland for all of us."

According to Ettajdid Movement member Adel Chaouch, "Fear of the Islamic movement in Tunisia goes back to twenty years ago, particularly that during that time, the movement had two types of discourse, one that was decidedly hard-line and the other ambiguous."

"At present, it is in their best interest to change the tone of their discourse, and that they are convinced of. They are also learning from their mistakes and want to reassure Tunisians. Further, their support of the CSP is another reassurance," he said.

Chaouch added that "in an Islamic state, there must be a form of expression that represents the Islamic trend. It does not make sense to alienate a large proportion of the Tunisians. All opinions must be accepted. So why can't the Islamic Ennahda Movement have a role to play on the political arena? But, admittedly, the movement is still feared by the elite in Tunisia."

Some, however, consider the Ennahda modernist discourse too good to be true.

"Frankly, I am still having doubts about the Ennahda Movement as there are no guarantees. But surely the movement has a right to practice their political ideas through a legally recognized party," said Bochra Bel Haj Hmida, a member of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD).

"ATFD, now more than ever, are demanding that the Tunisian constitution recognize the rights women gained so all political powers in Tunisia would be committed to implementing them," she said.

Hedia ben Amor, a young veiled woman, told Magharebia, "Though I wear a veil and observe all religious obligations, I fear the Ennahda Movement because we often hear they are hard-line fanatics and so are likely to drag us to the way things were hundreds of years ago."

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/02/09/feature-03.

Tunisian judiciary seeks fresh start

Members of Tunisia's legal community hope a post-revolution court system will be free of any corruption or undue influence.

By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis – 09/02/11

Lawyers in Tunisia are calling on Justice Minister Lazhar Karoui Chebbi to ensure the country's judiciary is free from the influence of members of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's regime.

"There is a need to cleanse the judiciary," said Tunisian Bar Association (CNOA) chief Abderrazak Kilani Friday (February 4th), at a meeting in the group's offices in the capital.

Kilani added that lawyers made many sacrifices to maintain their independence. "There are lawyers who were deprived of their livelihoods," he noted. "There are also some others who were targeted by the tax authorities in order to punish them."

"The interior minister took the initiative and removed the symbols of corruption from the interior ministry," lawyer Mohamed al-Habib al-Redifi said.

"However, the justice minister still hesitates to go that route and didn't dare to make the necessary purge. The purges must include all sectors, such as the legal profession and media sectors," he added.

Stressing the need for a clean slate, lawyer Abdulaziz al-Almazoughi said that "now the real revolution has been launched, and we, the lawyers, are its real leaders."

Meanwhile, the Association of Tunisian Magistrates (AMT) issued a statement Friday in which they called for "adopting the general trend in the country to settle grievances in order to deal with corruption and remove the parties that are responsible for perpetuating the policy of corruption".

The statement also called for ridding the judiciary of all the current restrictions on justice "so as to give room for perpetuating the state judiciary versus the administration judiciary."

The judiciary is still controlled by institutions managed from within the justice ministry and through the High Judicial Council whose members are elected in a way lacking in transparency, AMT President Ahmed al-Rahmuni confirmed.

Members of the executive bureau of AMT met with Justice Minister Chebbi, himself a former bar association president. According to al-Rahmuni, the minister promised to solve judges' problems and that "he would work to enforce full respect for the independence of judiciary authority".

According to al-Rahmuni, the minister stressed the principle of consulting with judges, adding that "The ministry will work hard to liquidate the former system, especially the penalties that were imposed on the members of the AMT under Ben Ali's rule".

Scores of citizens have turned to the "commission to expose corruption" seeking justice for wrongs under the old regime. The committee was established after the revolution to provide for a fair settlement of grievances.

"After I brought my case to the judiciary, I came out empty-handed because of the conspiracy of a judge with the defendant," Naima Belhaj said. Belhaj said she suffered greatly after a member of the old regime usurped some of her agricultural land.

"I will present my case again through the commission to expose corruption," Belhaj said, carrying a large file in her hand.

According to Judge Kalthoum Kennou, a member of the AMT executive bureau, most of the judges are honest. "However, a few of them have tarnished the image of justice," she said.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/02/09/feature-02.

Algeria, South Korea to sign nuclear accord

2011-02-09

Algeria and South Korea will likely sign a nuclear technology agreement, Liberte quoted Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci as saying on Wednesday (February 9th). Speaking in Algiers after meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Kim Sung Hwan, Medelci also invited South Korean firms to "permanently" settle in Algeria, APS reported. Algeria's development programs represent "opportunities for South Korean companies to participate in their implementation and get a foothold in the Algerian market", Medelci said.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/02/09/newsbrief-05.

Media industry faces challenges in Morocco

As newspapers struggle to adapt to the digital age, authorities in Morocco are exploring ways to reinvigorate the press.

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 09/02/11

The first conclusions of Morocco's national dialogue on the future of the press were presented at a press briefing on Monday (February 7th) in Rabat. Reporters, editors and officials discussed ways in which the media can operate in the face of a changing business climate.

Morocco's national press dialogue kicked off last year with a parliamentary commission. The panel held 21 sessions, 15 study days and two press conferences with the main players in the press sector, according to Jamal Eddine Naji, co-ordinator of the National Media and Society Debate Authority.

Naji said the aim of the commission was to improve competition between press organisations and enable journalists to work under favorable conditions.

There was a noticeable reduction in newspaper advertising, with a move towards radio, according to Aziz Boucetta, a former sales director at Tel Quel. He said that advertisers do not really believe in the printed media. He said that now is the time for newspapers to move towards an industrial approach with attention to be paid to market studies.

There is a need to adopt a new economic model based on production and distribution costs, according to Abdelmajid Fadel, a professor of media economics. He suggested reforming the current economic model, particularly with regards to distribution and sales, as well as the use of new technologies.

"We need to reinvent the newspaper business and consider operational solutions such as the introduction of a system of mutualising distribution to reduce costs," he said. He also called for reviewing public funding for the press.

Naji agreed, saying that public support should be approached less as a means of providing subsidies, and more on the basis of investing in the media.

"The state must set out the purposes behind the public assistance being given to the media. It must encourage press businesses to buy new technology and fully equip themselves," he said.

Journalist Maria Moukrim said that particular attention should be paid to training journalists so they produce better content. Those working in the profession should be offered training and there must be a greater focus on teaching languages and covering legal and ethical considerations, according to Naji.

Also at the Monday press conference, Rachid Jankari presented a study stressing the need to take advantage of developments in the Moroccan market through the introduction of new communication technologies, saying that now is the time to think about retraining journalists for the internet.

"Online media do exist in Morocco, but there is a lot of duplication and they are not media in the full sense of the word. Investment in this field is still cautious. We have yet to see a viable economic model," he said.

Sociologist Mokhtar El Herrass, meanwhile, presented a study looking into the relationship between young people and the national media, stressing the problem of the small readership.

"Only 9% of young people read the press on a regular basis. Several reasons for this have been put forward, including the price of newspapers, particularly in the farthest-flung rural areas where people's purchasing power is very low, a lack of confidence in the national press, and a focus on political issues when young people are not interested in politics," El Herrass said.

A final report from the commission is expected to be submitted to Parliament next April.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/02/09/feature-04.

Protest to go ahead despite ban by Algerian authorities

Thursday, February 10, 2011

RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC

ALGERIA: ALGERIA’S OPPOSITION has said it will go ahead with a planned protest on Saturday despite a ban by authorities.

Hoping to build on the momentum generated by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the march’s organizers – including trade unions, youth groups and opposition politicians – said they would demand the immediate end of president Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s regime.

The Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), an umbrella group of the regime’s critics, said it would defy a ban by the authorities in Algiers and go ahead with the march. Protests in the Algerian capital have been banned since June 2001 after protests by Berber activists in the Kabylie region left eight dead and hundreds injured.

The government promised last week that Algeria’s 19-year-old state of emergency would be lifted “in the very near future” and called on state-owned broadcasters to provide fair coverage of authorized political parties – two key demands of the opposition. But the RCD dismissed the president’s pledge to lift martial law as a political maneuver.

Unsettled by events elsewhere in north Africa, the Algerian government has lowered the price of cooking oil and sugar and said it would subsidize other staples such as wheat and milk.

The lifting of the state of emergency has been a rallying point for protesters who staged demonstrations across the country last month. The measure was imposed after the cancellation of Algeria’s first multi-party elections that Islamists were set to win in 1992.

Riots over the rising cost of living resulted in five deaths and left more than 800 injured in early January, while three Algerians have died after setting themselves on fire in recent weeks – mimicking the act of the 26-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi, whose self-immolation is seen as the spark that set off the Tunisian revolution.

Thanks to Algeria’s considerable oil wealth and record foreign exchange reserves of up to $150 billion, Mr Bouteflika, the country’s president since 1999, has ample funds at his disposal to subsidize food staples.

However, the government’s failure to relieve problems in housing and unemployment for the population of 35 million have undermined the regime’s credibility.

A diplomatic cable sent from the US embassy in Algiers in December 2007, published by WikiLeaks, described a regime that was “fragile in ways it was not before, plagued by a lack of vision, unprecedented levels of corruption and rumblings of division within the military rank and file.”

In February 2008, another US dispatch pointed to “long-standing political alienation and social discontent”. Housing was “woefully short” while unemployment was “endemic”.

Source: Irish Times.
Link: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0210/1224289432646.html.

Jordan PM names Islamist, leftists to new cabinet

09/02/2011

AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) -- Jordanian Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit named a new cabinet including an Islamist and five leftists Tuesday following the dismissal of the previous government by King Abdullah II earlier this month.

The new line-up, which was sworn in, includes independent Islamist Abdelrahim Akur, who is a former leader of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, as head of the ministry of Islamic affairs and awqaf (endowments).

It also includes five ministers who are considered close to the left. They take the justice, political development, culture, agriculture and information portfolios.

But the outgoing ministers for foreign affairs, the interior, planning, water and finance all maintain their posts.

The opposition Islamic Action Front -- political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood -- gave the new government a cautious response after rejecting an offer at the weekend to join the new government.

Its leader Hamzeh Mansur said the new line-up was "just like its predecessors."

"But we will wait and see what it does before making a judgment," Mansur told AFP.

Bakhit had made a point of consulting widely on the formation of his new government after the king dismissed his predecessor Samir Rifai in the face of weeks of street protests fanned by the examples of Tunisia and Egypt.

But Mansur said on Sunday that his party had decided not to take up an offer to join the new government, despite initially promising talks with the authorities.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358565.