Missile Destroys Civil Car, Kills Two People In Eastern Sudan: Police

April 06, 2011

KHARTOUM, April 6 (Bernama) -- An unknown missile, which was fired from the Red Sea on Tuesday evening, destroyed a civil car and killed two people onboard in Port-Sudan city in eastern Sudan, Xinhua news agency reported Sudanese police as saying in a statement.

The statement, a copy of which was obtained by Xinhua late Tuesday, said that "a civil vehicle was destroyed on the main road leading to Port-Sudan city with unknown missile fired from inside the Red Sea. Two roasted bodies were found inside the car."

The police said a specialized team had been sent to investigate the incident.

Earlier, eyewitnesses said an unidentified military plane bombarded a civil vehicle in Port-Sudan city in eastern Sudan and killed two civilians.

According to a report by the Sudanese Media Center (SMC), the incident took place at 9:00 p.m. local time (1800 GMT), and the airplane was a "foreign" one.

"The air defenses responded to the plane with intensive fire forcing it to escape from the Sudanese airspace. The air defense could not identify the plane, but affirmed that it was a foreign plane," added the report.

The SMC quoted Mustafa Minder, a member of parliament from Port-Sudan, as saying that "the aircraft kept pursuing the vehicle until it bombarded it."

He further explained that eyewitnesses were following the plane until it bombarded the vehicle.

-- BERNAMA

Source: Bernama.
Link: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=576715.

Sudan: South's Draft Constitution Finalized - Minister

5 April 2011

Juba — The technical committee that was tasked with reviewing South Sudan's interim constitution of 2005, ahead of the region's independence in July, has successfully completed the process, with the draft report expected in a week or so, its chairperson said.

Addressing the media in the regional capital, Juba on Tuesday, John Luk Jok said the next phase of the process, expected to commence after the July independence declaration, will be transitional in nature.

"We expect the committee's draft report either by end of this week or next week. The next phase of the process to take place after the country's independence will be all inclusive. We shall embark on nationwide consultations with the entire population," said Jok, also South Sudan's minister for legal and constitutional development.

South Sudan is due to become independent after the population overwhelming chose separation in the region's self-determination referendum held in January. The vote was a key part of the Sudan's 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended over two decades of a bloody civil war between north and south.

The technical committee, which comprised of members from the south's ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), representatives from other political parties, civil society groups and the religious fraternity was initiated to transform the current interim law, through amendment, into an independent state constitution, address gaps within the legal framework and provide a road map that will guide the new nation.

Among the key issues within the draft, Jok said, is a section that addresses the South Sudan's foreign policies and legal frameworks that will handle matters related to its dealing with both neighboring nation and the outside world.

"We shall embark on a broad-based constitutional review process after the July independence declaration. This process will involve the active participation of all stakeholders including other political parties," the minister said, adding that, "there is no cause for alarm. What we are doing is in the interest of all the people of South Sudan."

His remarks come almost a month after the review process suffered a serious setback, following a boycott from nine members of the 11 political parties on the technical committee. Those who withdrew accused the SPLM member violating the procedures that had been established for the review. The SPLM has 41 members on the committee.

However, the chairperson of the committee rubbished these claims as "baseless and lacking ground". He accused the members who boycotted the committee interfering in the constitutional review process.

"Rules of procedures were not changed at all during the process of reviewing the interim constitution. As members, we were all required to vote and come to consensus. What members of these political parties were alleging was not true," said Jok, who was accompanied by Barnaba Marial Benjamin, the information and broadcasting minister.

The draft constitution, Sudan Tribune has learnt, will later be made public for various inputs, taken to the legislative assembly for debate, before it is finally forwarded to the president for endorsement.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201104060786.html.

Sudan: South Cabinet Approves 'Sovereignty Symbols' for Emerging Nation

22 March 2011

Juba — South Sudan's cabinet has approved the proposed sovereignty symbols including the name of the would-be independent state, including its flag, national anthem and its new currency, after long deliberations.

In an extraordinary Council of Ministers meeting on Tuesday chaired by the Vice President, Riek Machar Teny, the cabinet confirmed that the Republic of South Sudan, abbreviated as RoSS, would be the name of the country when it becomes independent in July. The name was initially approved last month during a meeting with participation of leaders from various political parties which included members of the executive.

The current flag of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS), which was borrowed from the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) since 2005, was also approved by the cabinet to remain the flag for the independent country.

South Sudan received autonomy from Khartoum in a 2005 peace deal, which also granted the region to right to self determination in a referendum in which the south voted overwhelmingly to secede from the north.

The cabinet also approved the proposed national anthem in its current form, without amendments after it received approval last week by the Southern Sudan 2011 Taskforce, a group set up to prepare the region for independence.

Minister of information and official spokesman of the government, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said the cabinet would now refer the issues to the parliament for further deliberations and final endorsement.

The cabinet also approved the name of the new country's currency, which is to be called the South Sudan Pound. Discussions on its design were deferred for next meeting when a sample design can be made available to the cabinet for reference by the minister of Finance and Economic Planning, David Deng Athorbei.

Citizens who spoke to Sudan Tribune expressed their reactions on the proposed features in the design of the new currency. While it was suggested by members of the committee working on the design of the currency that the face of the first chairman of the SPLM, the late John Garang de Mabior, should appear on the face of the note of the currency, others from the public say it should instead be the current President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, who is also the would-be first President of the Republic of South Sudan in July 2011 that should have his face featuring on the currency.

Some others argued that the first politicians and leaders in South Sudan who initiated the struggle for freedom since 1947 should instead be the ones deserving the honor of appearing on the currency.

However, the majority of citizens in the public who expressed their views said they rejected faces of individual leaders, whether past and present and preferred only historical or cultural symbols to be printed on both sides of the notes of the proposed currency.

"Why go for faces of individual leaders in the nation's currency?" asked a student of the University of Juba, who wanted to remain anonymous.

"Historical symbols, cultural heritages and sources of our livelihood plus our beautiful rivers, mountains and forests are the common symbols that unite us as the people of South Sudan and should be the only ones featuring in the currency," argued Thomas Laku, who works as an official in the government.

"Faces of individual leaders are not stable choices also because they would every time be subjected to replacements with new faces, depending on who comes to power and wants his or her face inserted in the currency," he further argued.

The future of the Sudanese Pound, and what will happen in the transition before the new currency come into circulation, is one of the issues that still need to be resolved in negotiations between Juba and Khartoum ahead of the South's independence in July.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201103230882.html.

Yemen mourns, buries democracy martyrs

SANA'A, March 20 (Saba) - Hundreds of thousands walked in the funeral procession of the protesters who were killed on Friday outside Sana'a University in regrettable events.

The bodies of the 52 protesters were covered by the national flag and buried near the incident site at noon after the people prayed upon them.

Yemen mourned today the democracy martyrs, wishing their souls rest in peace.

The national flag was flown at half-mast at the public institutions in various governorates.

The National Defense Council at his meeting on Friday formed a panel to investigate the killings and bring those involved to justice.

Source: Saba Net.
Link: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news238097.htm.

PM Erdoğan criticizes Gaddafi, calls for swift end to operation

21 March 2011, Monday

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has criticized Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for ignoring Turkey's advice that he hand over leadership and said Western attacks on Gaddafi forces should end as soon as possible so that stability could be restored in Libya.

Erdoğan, addressing a gathering in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, appeared to agree on the necessity of foreign military intervention -- which he once fiercely opposed -- lamenting that a revolt against Gaddafi has not resulted in a peaceful transition, similar to what happened in Tunisia and Egypt. “I wish the situation could have been resolved without getting to this point,” Erdoğan told the Jeddah Economic Forum on Sunday.

“We have given advice [to both Gaddafi and the rebels]. We wanted Libya to decide on its fate without bloodshed. We wish Libya had transitioned its reform process like Tunisia and Egypt did. Unfortunately, this has not happened and the situation has come to a highly undesirable point.”

The prime minister appeared to put the blame on Gaddafi for this, saying the Libyan leader ignored Turkey’s advice to listen to the demands of his people and withdraw from leadership. “We told him that he should respect the people’s will and that this [conflict] should end. Unfortunately, he brought the situation to this point,” Erdoğan said, referring to his conversation, apparently with Gaddafi, which he said took place on March 1. “Unfortunately, we could not succeed. Now, I hope the latest developments will bring a swift end to this era of brothers killing each other and the will of the Libyan people will rule Libya.”

Erdoğan earlier rejected the idea of foreign intervention in Libya and called a possible NATO role as “nonsense,” insisting that the Libyan people should decide their own future. As a way to end the crisis through change within Libya, he advised Gaddafi to appoint a political figure who has broad public support.

Asked whether Gaddafi should step down from leadership, Erdoğan said: “We have passed that point. Gaddafi is contradicting himself. He said he was not officially the leader of Libya. What is expected of a person who is not officially in charge is to hand over [the administration of] Libya to a person who has an official leadership position.”

“Of course, now we want the military intervention to end and stability to be restored as soon as possible in Libya,” the prime minister said.

“We are not pessimistic. We should never lose hope. We can stop the unending bloodshed and tears in this region. Believe me, we can do this,” he added.

Opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu also endorsed strikes on Libya, saying the operation is legitimate due to a UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force against Gaddafi forces. “Libya should become a democracy as soon as possible,” said the Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader, adding that he agreed with the government’s position on Libya.
Joining the operation

European and US forces unleashed warplanes and cruise missiles against Gaddafi’s troops on Saturday following a UN resolution on Thursday authorizing the use of force on Gaddafi’s forces and a no-fly zone over Libyan airspace to protect civilians. The operation is the biggest Western military intervention in the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Turkey, which earlier opposed foreign military intervention and insisted that transformation in Libya should be result of an internal process like in Egypt and Tunisia, called for an immediate ceasefire after the UN resolution, which is binding on all countries. But now that the Western operation has begun, it says it may consider participating in the Libya operation if circumstances require it.

In a statement released late on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said Turkey will make the necessary and appropriate national contribution to implementing the no-fly zone over Libya and measures to protect civilians. “Within that framework the necessary preparations and studies are being made by civil and military authorities in co-ordination,” the statement added, giving no further detail.

Foreign Ministry officials declined to comment on what contributions Turkey would be willing to make. But there are speculations in the Turkish media that Turkey could provide one or two frigates to support an international naval force deployed off the Libyan coast, or it could open its airspace for aerial strikes on Libya. Officials told Today’s Zaman that it was too early to discuss what actions could be taken, emphasizing that Ankara would make its decisions based on the situation, which at the moment is still very fluid.

In an attempt to prevent foreign military action, Gaddafi declared a ceasefire after the UN resolution and invited observers from Turkey, China, Germany and Malta to monitor the ceasefire. Germany, which abstained from a vote on the UN Security Council resolution, dismissed the invitation on Saturday, saying that only the UN should carry out the task, while Turkey declined to respond publicly.

How Turkey decides to act is important especially given prospects that NATO might agree to get involved. Ankara is not against implementing a no-fly zone -- its opposition is limited to a ground operation which is not mandated by the UN resolution anyway -- and says it will not block any NATO decision to use the alliance’s assets to implement the no-fly zone decision. But it is reluctant at the moment to join any NATO operation to this end.

NATO’s top decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, was to meet later on Sunday to discuss whether the alliance will join strikes on Libya. NATO’s military planners were reportedly due to present final action plans to the North Atlantic Council at the meeting. The council should then decide whether the alliance will join the coalition operation or just provide logistical, intelligence and other support to the nations taking part in the intervention.

Turkish officials declined to comment on whether and how Turkey would join a possible NATO intervention, saying the extent of the NATO action is not yet clear. Several NATO members have indicated they would not participate in aerial attacks, pointing out that the alliance is already heavily engaged in the war in Afghanistan.

Strikes by French, US and British forces began hours after a meeting in Paris of the US, European Union and Arab League countries on Saturday. Turkey was not invited to the meeting, hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary William Hague phoned Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to discuss the meeting’s results.

Meanwhile, Davutoğlu met late on Friday with Nasser al-Mani, a member of the interim administration formed in Benghazi after the popular uprising against Gaddafi. Al-Mani, who left after his talks, said he had meetings with Turkish officials at the invitation of the Turkish government and informed them about the current situation in Libya and the ordeal faced by the Libyan people in the eastern and western regions of the country. “We saw Turkey’s will to help the Libyan people. Talks are still underway. I hope we can find a practical solution at the end of these talks and we can see positive steps for a solution to the tragedy in Libya,” he said.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-238760-pm-erdogan-criticizes-gaddafi-calls-for-swift-end-to-operation.html.

Activists in Turkey, Cyprus protest Turkish plans to build nuclear plant

By Erol Israfil, The Associated Press – Mar 19, 2011

ISTANBUL — Activists in Turkey and Cyprus on Saturday protested against Turkish government plans to build the country's first nuclear reactor.

Turkey has reached a deal with Russia's Rosatom agency for the construction of a nuclear plant in Akkuyu, in the Mediterranean coastal province of Mersin. It is also holding talks with Japanese companies for a second plant on the Black Sea coast.

Environmental groups warn that since Turkey is prone to earthquakes, building nuclear plants would be too dangerous, especially since a massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami caused a nuclear havoc in Japan.

In Istanbul, hundreds of demonstrators marched along a pedestrian street holding up banners that read: "Don't let Akkuyu become Fukushima," in reference to the troubled Japanese reactor. In Mersin, some 1,000 people demonstrated, holding up a symbolic coffin marked: "Radiation kills," the Dogan news agency reported.

About 50 Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots wearing masks and white overalls warned the plant could also threaten the Cyprus, an island some 100 kilometers (62 miles) away.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has downplayed threats and said the government would not abandon plans to build three nuclear power stations over the next few years to reduce Turkey's energy dependence. Energy Minister Taner Yildiz has said Turkey was seeking the latest technology and would request additional safety guarantees.

"We cannot believe how Prime Minister Erdogan can just ignore what happened in Japan," Greenpeace activist Hilal Atici said in Istanbul. "There have been so many nuclear disasters like Chornobyl and now Fukushima. Such need to be avoided at all cost."

Cyprus government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said the government would raise its concerns over Akkuyu at an European Union summit next week.

On Friday, Turkey's neighbor Greece asked Turkey to halt plans for the construction of the Akkuyu plant.

Copyright © 2011 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Afghan teen skaters yearning for peace

WARNING: Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

By Farid Behbud, Abdul Haleem

KABUL, March 19 (Xinhua) -- In a bubble-like sport compound hundreds of the war-weary Afghan children are leaping on skateboards to say no for war and yearn for the durable peace in their conflict-ridden country.

"I love skating because I think by skating and other sports, one day we would re-define our nation and demonstrate that Afghanistan is not a land of war, rather a land for peace," a joyful 14-year-old skater Noorzai whispered when his opinion was sought towards sport.

"One day it will become a reality that Afghanistan is land for peace," pointing his finger to a signboard hanged on the wall and inscribed with local word "Skateistan" which means "land of skate".

The signboard also shows a skateboarder crashing a gun by his skateboard before leaping on track, said Noorzai who like many Afghans goes only by one name.

A total of 350 kids including dozens of street children frequently come to Skateistan, set up by an Australian national Oliver Percovich in 2008, to learn how to ride a skateboard in the only skateboarding school in the country, a coach in Skateistan, Shams Razi told Xinhua on Saturday.

The goal of Skateistan, according to Razi, is to "build trust and understanding" among children from all ethnics and elimination of gender discrimination as well in the ethnically divided and conservative nation.

Some girls cannot attend the skateboarding school in the conservative and traditionalist Afghanistan as teenage girls often wear Burka or veil and avoid working or playing jointly with men outside their homes.

The hardliner Taliban regime during its six-year reign collapsed in late 2001 had confined women to their houses and outlawed education for girls.

Many Afghans particularly in rural areas still believed that sport and exercising is the right of boys and not for girls.

Besides teaching Skateboarding to the boys and girls ages ranging from five to 19, the Skateistan also provide children with classes in English and Dari language -- one of the two official Afghan languages -- Dari and Pashtu, painting, photography, poetry, journalism and even filmmaking, according to Razi.

"Our aim is to educate and build trust among young Afghans of different tribes, ethnics from all walks of life, from rich families to poor street children," Razi stated.

Economic problems, continued war and displacement of people have forced many children to work on the streets in order to support their families.

Although there is no official statistics, Mohammad Yusuf the director of Aschiana -- a non-government organization provides shelter to street children believes there are between 60,000 to 70, 000 street children only in the capital city Kabul.

According to Razi, fund has been raised to build an 800-square- meter Skateistan ground and officials with the Afghan National Olympic Committee have donated a piece of land to build the ground.

The bubble-like sport compound is located in Afghanistan's only Sport complex -- the Ghazi Stadium in Kabul that had seen chopping hands, flogging and executing people on charge of involvement in criminal activities during Taliban reign in 1996-2001.

"Several Afghan and international agencies including Germany, Norway, Sweden and Canada embassies in Kabul have been supporting Skatesitan," said Razi.

According to Razi a leading Afghan telecommunication company -- Roshan has provided free Internet service to Skateistan giving an opportunity for children, teachers and coaches to communicate via internet with children around the globe.

The Internet has been a useful mean to master support from children and aid agencies in developed countries and so far dozens of essential equipment including skateboards have been contributed to Skateistan in Kabul.

He said currently a total of 13 coaches and teachers including five volunteer trainers from Australia, Canada, the United States. and Germany have been teaching the children in Skateistan.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-03/19/c_13787807.htm.

Top Qatari diplomat to be nominated as Arab League chief

By Claire Ferris-Lay
Tuesday, 5 April 2011

Qatar is planning to nominate one of its top diplomats to become the next Arab League Secretary General, it was reported on Tuesday.

The Gulf state will propose that Abdul Rahman Bin Hamad Al Attiyah replace the outgoing Egyptian Amr Moussa, The Press Association has said, quoting an unnamed source from the Arab League.

Official nominations have yet to be announced, said the newswire. Moussa, whose tenure at the Arab League is due to end May 15, plans to run in Egypt’s presidential election following a wave of popular uprisings that forced Hosni Mubarak to resign in February.

Al Attiyah headed the Gulf Cooperation Council until Friday, when his term expired.

The post of Secretary General of the Arab League has always been filled by an Egyptian national. The only exception has been when its headquarters were moved to Tunisia in 1990 and Tunisian diplomat Shazili Al Qulaiby took over for a period of one year.

Source: Arabian Business.
Link: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/top-qatari-diplomat-be-nominated-as-arab-league-chief--392172.html.

Muslim Brotherhood Urges Syria Freedoms

Wednesday, 06 April 2011

Damascus – While condemning the excessive use against protesters demanding more freedoms, Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood reiterated support for popular protests for democratic changes in the Arab country.

“The Muslim Brotherhood reiterates its full support for the uprising and demands of the Syrian youths for freedom, dignity and better living conditions,” the group said in a statement obtained by OnIslam.net on Wednesday, April 6.

Syria has been drawn over the past month into a wave of youth-led massive protests that have been sweeping the Middle East since the beginning of the year.

Protesters have called for an end to the emergency law, imposed after the 1963 coup which elevated Assad's Baath Party to power.

At least 60 people have been killed in the protests.

“We see an excessive use of force, the application of tough measures and violation of human rights enshrined in laws and agreements,” the Muslim Brotherhood said.

“We see insistence from the regime to go far with this bloodshed.”

Last month, Syrian officials accused Islamists of orchestrating the unrest with the aim of to destroy Syria’s “religious coexistence”.

Syria's Muslim Brotherhood has been outlawed since the secular Baath party seized power in 1963.

The group led a revolt in Syria in1982, prompting the government to launch a bloody crackdown on the town of Hama, leaving tens of thousands of people dead.

The majority of Syria's 22.5 million population are Sunni Muslims. The country is also home to Christians and a minority Alawite Muslim community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, which controls the ruling Baath party for close to 50 years.

The Brotherhood rejected accusations that the uprising was a “conspiracy” to harm the country’s social fabric.

“The group denounces all statements which aim to tarnish this glorious uprising by describing it as sedition and conspiracy plots.”

Last month, Syrian President Bashar Assad blamed foreign and domestic "conspirators" for being behind the unrest.

More Freedoms

The Muslim Brotherhood called on the Syrian government to take urgent steps to fulfill the popular aspirations for more freedoms.

“The opportunity is still open to declare a national initiative to close ranks and join hands,” the group said in the statement.

“This initiative should not be based on promises, but rather on effective practical steps.”

The opposition group said freedoms and democracy do not need “promises, studies or committees” in reference to a decision by Assad to form a legal committee to study lifting the emergency law and his promises of reform.

It called for lifting media censorship and respecting the rights of speech and gathering.

It also called for releasing all political prisoners as well as all prisoners of conscience.

Among the demands listed in the statement were also allowing exiled figures to return back home and nullifying a notorious 1980 law that sentences to death any one proven affiliate to the Muslim Brotherhood.

“These urgent measures will give credibility to the promises of reform and help create a favorable environment for constructive dialogue.”

Source: OnIslam.
Link: http://onislam.net/english/news/middle-east/451750-syria-brothers-back-uprising-urge-freedoms.html.

Six dead in port city as Syrian crisis grows

DERAA, Syria | Sat Mar 26, 2011

(Reuters) - Syrian security forces have killed six people in two days of anti-government protests in the key port city of Latakia, reformist activists living abroad told Reuters on Saturday.

President Bashar al-Assad, facing his deepest crisis in 11 years in power after security forces fired on protesters on Friday in the southern town of Deraa, freed 260 prisoners in an apparent bid to placate a swelling protest movement.

But the reports from Latakia, a security hub in the northwest, suggested unrest was still spreading.

There were reports of more than 20 deaths in protests on Friday, mainly in the south, and medical officials say dozens have now been killed over the past week around Deraa alone.

Such demonstrations would have been unthinkable a couple of months ago in this most tightly controlled of Arab countries.

Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to Assad, told the official news agency that Syria was "the target of a project to sow sectarian strife to compromise Syria and (its) unique coexistence model."

Syrian rights activist Ammar Qurabi told Reuters in Cairo: "There have been at least two killed (in Latakia) today after security forces opened fire on protesters trying to torch the Baath party building."

"I have been in touch with people in Syria since last night, using three cell phones and constantly sitting online. Events are moving at an extremely fast pace."

Exiled dissident Maamoun al-Homsi told Reuters by telephone from Canada: "I have the name of four martyrs who have fallen in Latakia yesterday."

The state news agency quoted a government source as saying security forces had not fired at protesters but that an armed group had taken over rooftops and fired on citizens and security forces, killing five people since Friday.

In Damascus and other cities, thousands of Assad's supporters marched or and drove around, waving flags, to proclaim their allegiance to the Baath party.

GRAFFITI

The unrest in Syria came to a head after police detained more than a dozen schoolchildren for scrawling graffiti inspired by pro-democracy protests across the Arab world.

President Assad made a public pledge on Thursday to look into granting greater freedom and lifting emergency laws dating back to 1963, but failed to dampen the protests.

On Saturday a human rights lawyer said 260 prisoners, mostly Islamists, had been freed after serving at least three-quarters of their sentences.

Amnesty International put the death toll in and around Deraa in the past week at 55 at least. In Sanamein, near Deraa, 20 protesters were shot dead on Friday, a resident told Al Jazeera.

One unidentified doctor told CNN television that snipers had been shooting people in Deraa from atop government buildings.

"We had 30 people got shot in the head and the neck and we had hundreds of people got wounded," he said.

"We put two wounded in an ambulance sending them to the hospital. We had security forces stop the ambulances, get the wounded outside the ambulance and shoot them, and said: 'Now you can take them to the hospital'."

Some of the dead protesters were buried on Saturday in Deraa and nearby villages, residents said.

Several thousand mourners prayed over the body of 13-year-old Seeta al-Akrad in Deraa's Omari mosque, scene of an attack by security forces earlier in the week.

Police were not in evidence when they marched to a cemetery chanting: "The people want the downfall of the regime," a refrain heard in uprisings from Tunisia to Egypt and Yemen.

Emboldened by the lack of security presence, the mourners also chanted: "Strike, strike, until the regime falls!"

Abu Jassem, a Deraa resident, said: "We were under a lot of pressure from the oppressive authority, but now when you pass by (the security forces), nobody utters a word. They don't dare talk to the people. The people have no fear any more."

ALAWITES

In nearby Tafas, mourners in the funeral procession of Kamal Baradan, killed on Friday in Deraa, set fire to Baath party offices and the police station, residents said.

There were also protests on Friday in Damascus and in Hama, a northern city where in 1982 the forces of president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, killed thousands of people and razed much of the old quarter to put down an armed uprising by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

Syria's establishment is dominated by members of the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, a fact that causes resentment among the Sunni Muslims who make up some three-quarters of the population. Latakia is mostly Sunni Muslim but has significant numbers of Alawites.

Edward Walker, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt, said sectarian friction made many in the establishment wary of giving ground to demands for political freedoms and economic reforms.

"They are a basically reviled minority, the Alawites, and if they lose power, if they succumb to popular revolution, they will be hanging from the lamp posts," he said.

"They have absolutely no incentive to back off."

EXISTENTIAL STRUGGLE

Asked if there could be a crackdown on the scale of Hama, Faysal Itani, deputy head of Middle East and North Africa Forecasting at Exclusive Analysis, said this was a "real risk."

"For a minority regime this is an existential struggle," he said. "If the unrest continues at this pace, the Syrian army is not going to be able to maintain cohesion."

Many believed a tipping point had been reached.

"The Syrian regime is attempting to make promises such as a potential lifting of the state of emergency, which has been in place since 1963, a record in the Arab world," Bitar said.

"But if this happens it will be the end of a whole system, prisoners will have to be released, the press will be free ... when this kind of regime considers relaxing its grip, it also knows that everything could collapse."

Central Bank Governor Adeeb Mayaleh said the central bank was ready to supply the market with foreign currency liquidity, hinting at rising demand for U.S. dollars.

Syria has a close alliance with Iran and links to the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas and the Lebanese Shi'ite political and military group Hezbollah. Its allies in the region have yet to comment on the unrest.

"Syria is Iran's main ally in the Arab world. A fall of the regime would have consequences for Hezbollah and Hamas ... I'm not sure that the region's big powers would allow such a big shock," said Karim Emile Bitar, research fellow at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations in Paris.

Syrian border police were stopping a number of Syrians entering from Lebanon, a Lebanese security source said.

(Reporting by a Reuters correspondent in Deraa, Yara Bayoumy in Beirut, Arshad Mohammed in Washington, Lionel Laurent in Paris, William Maclean in London; Dina Zayed in Cairo; Writing by Peter Millership and Kevin Liffey; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/26/us-syria-idUSTRE72N2MC20110326.

Lebanon plans to evacuate citizens from Ivory Coast

BEIRUT | AFP - April 04, 2011

Lebanon is considering a plan to evacuate its citizens from war-torn Ivory Coast, Prime Minister Saad Hariri's office reported on Monday.

Hariri held talks with Jordan's King Abdallah II with a view to enlisting the help of the Jordanian contingent in the UN force in the troubled west African state "to protect the Lebanese community and help evacuate those who want to leave," a statement said.

The Lebanese population in Ivory Coast is estimated at around 80,000 and plays an important role in the country's economic life. On Saturday, Hariri contacted UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over ways of protecting the population in a country where looting is rife as forces loyal to the rival presidents fight it out.

The French authorities have also reassured Hariri that its troops, stationed at Abidjan airport, were "ready to take the necessary measures to ensure that Lebanese planes could land with a view to transporting those Lebanese who want to leave the country", and were "ensuring the safety of Lebanese citizens", a statement from the French embassy in Beirut said. Already 167 foreign nationals, including French and Lebanese, have left the country, fearing for their safety and bound for Dakar and Lome.

On Sunday, 400 relatives of Lebanese living in Ivory Coast demonstrated outside the foreign ministry in Beirut criticizing what they called the government's "negligence."

"Those Lebanese who have a refrigerator have been looted, people are stealing food from houses, it is an indescribable tragedy in Abidjan," Ghassan Sbeiti, who left Abidjan five days ago, told AFP. "The Lebanese government should have sent us planes much sooner."

Source: iloubnan.info.
Link: http://www.iloubnan.info/politics/actualite/id/59298/titre/Lebanon-plans-to-evacuate-citizens-from-Ivory-Coast.

Third Intifada page regains 27,000 fans in first day

31-03-2011

Al Qassam website- Occupied Jerusalem- The organizers of the third Palestinian intifada page on Facebook have gained over 27,000 fans in one day after the Facebook administration removed the page in response to official calls in Israel.

The page now includes opening statements condemning the Facebook administration and founder Mark Zuckerberg after they responded to pressure from Israel to close the page calling the Palestinians to take to the streets for a third intifada against Israel on May 15, which marks the anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.

Facebook said it removed the page, which picked up a fan base of 350,000 in less than a month, claiming that it ”incites and contains calls for the use of violence against Jews.”

Israeli minister Yuli Eidelstein wrote the site's founder Mark Zuckerberg calling for the page's removal.

According to the Israeli daily Yediot Ahranot, the fear of a popular Palestinian revolution similar to what happened in the past, as popular uprisings continue in several Arab countries, has increased after the emergence of the page.

Source: Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades - Information Office.
Link: http://qassam.ps/news-4354-Third_Intifada_page_regains_27000_fans_in_first_day.html.

Arab League ready to host Palestinian unity talks: Moussa

CAIRO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said here on Tuesday that his pan-Arab organization is ready to host Palestinian reconciliation talks, Egypt's state MENA news agency reported.

His remarks came after meeting with Mahmoud al-Zahar, a prominent leader of the Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement in Arab League's Cairo headquarter.

"The Arab League is willing to host any meetings that may contribute to pushing forward the national reconciliation efforts," Moussa told reporters.

"There is no justification for the continued division among Palestinians," he said, stressing the necessity of achieving reconciliation and unifying the Palestinian ranks.

A Hamas delegation led by al-Zahar is visiting Egypt for the first time since former President Hosni Mubarak resigned on Feb. 11.

Al-Zahar affirmed that Hamas insists on resuming the reconciliation process as soon as possible to reach an agreement.

After a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil el-Arabi earlier Tuesday in Cairo, Al-Zahar said that he expected Egypt will have a positive policy change regarding the Rafah crossing and the siege on Gaza Strip.

He said Hamas and Egypt reached an agreement on all points related to negotiating with Fatah to end inter-Palestinian friction and achieve reconciliation.

"They back us on the reconciliation issue. We agreed on all points, even the practical steps that Hamas and Fatah are going to take in order to reach reconciliation," said al-Zahar.

Al-Zahar said he also discussed with el-Arabi the issues of opening border crossings and providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.

He added an Egyptian viewpoint will be crystalized within the coming few days regarding the Rafah crossing and achieving the Palestinian reconciliation.

"we are going to witness an Egyptian vision on handling the Rafah border crossing and the Palestinian case over the next week or the upcoming days," al-Zahar said.

Egypt's efforts of brokering inter-Palestinian reconciliation talks in the past two years failed to finalize an agreement between the rival Fatah and Hamas groups, partly due to tensions between Mubarak's government and Hamas, who is ruling the Gaza Strip.

The Rafah border crossing with Gaza remains largely closed-off to both goods and people since Egypt shut down the crossing in 2007 after Hamas took over the coastal enclave by routing security forces loyal to Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but it opens the crossing two days a week for humanitarian cases.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/30/c_13804003.htm.

Palestinian official accuses Israel of working to thwart unity

March 28, 2011

A Palestinian official on Sunday accused Israel of working to thwart President Mahmoud Abbas' initiative to visit the Gaza Strip that aims to restore national unity.

"Israel is interested in blocking Abbas' choices regarding the reconciliation," said Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior leader of Abbas' Fatah party.

Abbas said recently that he would go to Gaza to declare a unity government with its rival the Hamas movement which has been controlling Gaza since it routed pro-Abbas forces in 2007.

An Israeli newspaper reported on Sunday that Abbas was likely to cancel his visit, which has not yet been scheduled, after the military wing of the Hamas said they could not secure his safety once he arrives in Gaza.

"Abbas will head for Gaza as soon as Hamas accepts his initiative," al-Ahmad said, urging the Hamas not to indirectly aid Israel by putting obstacles on Abbas' plans.

Abbas wants to form a government of independents to take care of the Palestinian affairs until national elections take place after six months, while the Hamas, which won last parliamentary elections, said it wants to negotiate with the Fatah and reach an agreement on controversial issues before forming any government and going to new polls.

Ismail Haneya, the head of the Hamas government, invited Abbas to visit Gaza earlier this month. Abbas accepted the invitation, but said he would go only to announce the formation of the government.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90854/7333166.html.

Abbas meets Hamas officials in West Bank on unity

RAMALLAH, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday said internal political division between the Palestinian territories makes it difficult to make peace with Israel.

"There would be no peace achieving the aspirations of our people without ending the split," Abbas said during a rare meeting with Hamas officials, the rival of his Fatah party, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The split widened in June 2007, when the Hamas overran pro- Abbas forces, ousting Fatah party and taking over the Gaza Strip. Since then, Abbas' rule has been confined to the West Bank.

Abbas discussed with the Hamas officials his recent vision to end the split, which includes visiting Gaza to form a technocratic government preparing for elections within six months, according to Wafa, the official news agency.

Abbas also urged the Hamas to restore calm in Gaza, following a week of violence and military escalation with Israel, in which six Palestinian civilians and four militants were killed.

Aziz Al-Dewaik, a Hamas leader attending the meeting, described it "positive and deep." He promised to reveal steps being taken to achieve unity within the coming few days.

Al-Dewaik, the head of the Palestinian parliament that has been disabled since 2007, said that Abbas' visit to Gaza "would be a practical implementation to end the split."

On March 15, Ismail Haneya, the head of the Hamas government, invited Abbas for dialogue in Gaza. Abbas, who unexpectedly accepted the invitation, said he can go to Gaza only to declare the formation of the unity government that would prepare for elections.

Haneya and Abbas were responding to public pressure for reconciliation.

However, the Fatah sees the Hamas not serious in inviting Abbas to visit Gaza, noting that it had prevented a delegation representing Abbas from entering Gaza to prepare for the visit.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/26/c_13799576.htm.

Al-Zahar: Egypt engages Hamas, setting positive note for Palestine reconciliation

Hamas FM Al-Zahar details to Ahram Online meeting with Egypt FM regarding Rafah border crossing, Palestinians detained in Egypt without charges and confirms will base reconciliation talks on Egypt plan.

Ahmed Eleiba, Wednesday 30 Mar 2011

Mahmoud Al-Zahar, Hamas’ minister of foreign relations, told Ahram Online after meeting with Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nabil El-Arabi that he sensed there is a tangible change in Cairo’s position towards Hamas. “We feel there is a new attitude, new mechanisms and every time we discussed an issue with Minister El-Arabi we are surprised to know that Cairo is already studying the issue before we bring it up,” Al-Zahar revealed.

The main issues on the table are inter-Palestinian conciliation and detainees in Egypt, whose exact number is unknown. The Foreign Ministry will look into Al-Zahar’s report on political detainees in Egypt who are held without charges, which was previously the responsibility of Egypt’s State Security apparatus. Egypt’s FM stated that those arrested for alleged felonies will not be on the list that the Egyptian authorities are reviewing.

Al-Zahar added that the Egyptian Foreign Ministry is considering opening offices in the Gaza Strip to consult with the more than 1.3 million Palestinians who see the Rafah border crossing as their only source of relief in light of the siege on the Gaza Strip.

He added that Cairo promised to facilitate matters and that it responded pragmatically to the all the issues under discussion. Next week, he said, steps will be taken to address these requests.

In reference to the Egyptian proposal prepared under the previous regime, which had been unsuccessful in gathering Palestinian ranks, Al-Zahar said: “The Egyptian proposal is the basis for conciliation, but there are some items which will be amended, especially where there is no consensus, such as the issue of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) – which was taken out altogether.”

He added that the condition against Hamas, unless it signs the Egyptian plan without reservations, has now changed.

Regarding the visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Gaza Strip, which Hamas postponed, Al-Zahar would not say how Abu Mazen (as Abbas is also known) will be received in Gaza: as an official or an ordinary Palestinian citizen.

The Hamas leader answered there were security concerns about Abbas’ visit as there are angry families who want to avenge their loved ones’ killed by the Preventive Security Service of Fatah’s leading figures, Mohamed Dahlan and Abbas.

El-Arabi told reporters after the meeting that he listened to the opinions of the Hamas delegation to reassure them and expressed his hope that within a week the siege will be entirely different – noting that at no point did Egypt impose a blockade of supplies to the Gaza Strip. “What will change is the manner of dealing with humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip and at the Rafah border crossing,” he said.

When asked about the steps Egypt will take to reconcile the Palestinian internal political conflict, the minister said: “We are starting to make contact. We have talked on the phone with Khaled Mishaal, the head of Hamas’s political bureau; Ismail Haneyya, the head of the ousted cabinet in Gaza; and Al-Zahar, aside from the meeting held today with the Hamas delegation – the first of its kind. We talked with them and are still at the beginning of the road; the former policy of leaping forward, then stopping, then retreating is no longer. We want to move forward one step at a time.”

“We first reassured the Hamas delegation that the Egyptian government will turn over a new leaf with all Arab states, which is what occurred with Sudan during the visit to there by a ministerial delegation headed by the prime minister. The outcomes were positive.”

Speaking at his first news conference as Foreign Minister, El-Arabi discussed the future of relations between Egypt and Iran. “Iran is a neighboring state with whom we share historical ties across many ages. The Egyptian government does not consider Iran a hostile or enemy state,” he said. “We are turning over a new leaf with all states, including Iran.”

El-Arabi revealed that Iran contacted him in 1988 when he was Egypt’s ambassador in Switzerland and asked him to reconsider relations. After 18 months of negotiations, “on 24 January, 1991, we signed a memoranda which allowed opening special interests offices headed by an ambassador who is assisted by five diplomats.” This continues to be the case and an ambassador has been there since April, 1991.

“Raising the level of representation in an embassy depends on their positions,” he stated. “We are offering to turn over a new leaf and await their response.”

Speaking about Hezbollah in Lebanon, El-Arabi welcomed any contact by the group with Egypt, but refused to describe openness by Egypt towards Palestinian Hamas as a sign of conciliation between Cairo and Hezbollah. “There is a big difference between Hamas and Hezbollah,” he explained. “Hamas is located in occupied territories, but Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese composition, which we consider a domestic issue. We welcome anyone from Lebanon to make contact with us, and welcome contact by any party in any Arab country.”

Source: Ahram.
Link: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/8909.aspx.

Freedom Flotilla II launched with Canadian Boat for Gaza

Tariq Jeeroburkhan
March 28, 2011

The humanitarian relief effort to support Palestinians in Gaza got a boost at an event in Montreal on Thursday afternoon which confirmed the participation of a Canadian ship as part of the 15-vessel international flotilla, Freedom Flotilla II.

Quebecers from all political, cultural, social and religious backgrounds launched a united call to join the flotilla to protest the restriction of Gazans to imported goods and resources by the Israeli blockade, which is deemed illegal by a wide international community.

Stephan Corriveau, coordinator for the Quebec branch of the project, said: "The Israeli government wants to starve the people of Gaza and we must stop them; English and French, separatist and federalist, Jew, Muslim, Christian we all agree on the immorality of the Illegal Gaza Blockade."

Corriveau added that the number of places available on the boat will be known once the boat has been selected, and plans for this boat's purchase are under way while the fundraising effort taking place.

Despite not being able to officially announce who would be going on the boat to Gaza until the number of spaces can be confirmed, there were an impressive number of candidates present, representing Quebec and wider Canadian participation in the Freedom Flotilla II.

Gil Courtemanche, the Quebec author and critical thinker, declared that "a blockade is an act of illegal war. It is a crime against dignity and a crime against humanity; it is more then just a crime against an enemy."

Warren Allmand, former Solicitor-General of Canada under Pierre Trudeau and longtime MP summed it up clearly. "When people are in distress we have an obligation to respond."

Pascale Montpetit, a Quebec actress and winner of the Artist for Peace Prize, pointed to the problem that "a lot of people don't know how life works in Gaza. This has to stop and people have to be shown so they can learn and teach others."

Dr. Bachar ElSohl, of the Canadian Muslim Federation, said "the degrading conditions for Gazans leave no one indifferent and was proud to be part of this civil action. Finally justice will be brought to the Palestinian people."

Christian Martel, of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, explained how he had visited the West Bank village of Bi'lin three times, and had seen firsthand the oppression of the Palestinian people. He also realized that the situation with the blockade in Gaza was even worse.

"It is unbelievable that in 2011 there are people who are treated like the Palestinians by the Israeli government," he said.

Raymond Gravel, former Bloc Quebecois MP for Repentigny and a Catholic Priest said "the blockade is an attack against justice and dignity of the human being that has made of Gaza an open-air prison which contravenes all Christian values."

Yakov Rabkin, representing Independent Jewish Voices, described how "Israel claims to talk and act in the name of all Judaism, yet the blockade of Gaza contravenes all Jewish traditions."

Questioned as to how important Canadians should prioritize the Gaza Blockade Crisis, Rabkin responded in kind. "Just as we must not confuse Israeli values with Jewish values, this represents Canadian values and is important for all Canadians. Canada was the first government to boycott the Hamas government in Gaza after their election. It may not be the greatest injustice in the world but it is the most important injustice for Canadians to overcome because of the Harper government's supporting the blockade and Israel."

Ellen Gabriel, an experienced Indigenous representative of Kanesatake said that "when UN nations arbitrarily decide to whom and when the UN Charter applies it results in problems of colonization and assimilation. These are common struggles for not just the Indigenous, but all human beings."

Brian Barton, a representative of AQOCI, a group of 65 NGOs in Quebec, said that "as representative of a group which distributes humanitarian aid worldwide, it enables recognition of global crisis which require our support and the Palestinian people require our support now because of their oppression by the Israeli State."

Francoise David, of the Quebec Solidaire, concluded that "There is no other solution to the Middle East conflict other then good faith negotiations between supported and accepted representatives from two equally represented sides."

Corriveau closed the meeting by explaining how Canadian "political parties don't feel comfortable talking about this situation as they are still too afraid of being labeled "anti-Semites"."

So, while all the big French Canadian news outlets made sure to cover the announcement and were fully present, it appears as if the English news outlets in Montreal are living in the same paranoid fears as our politicians, because rabble.ca was the only English media outlet to have coverage. Even the Montreal-based non-national outlets from the English side didn't make the effort.

Therefore while it will be up to the Canadian people to support the Freedom Flotilla II and spur on their politicians, it appears as if the Canadian people have been saddled with another responsibility as well: to wake the media up and out of their fear in dealing with this situation!

Source: Rabble.
Link: http://rabble.ca/news/2011/03/freedom-flotilla-ii-launched-canadian-boat-gaza.

Morocco accuses Algerian army of manipulating the mercenaries in Libya

07 April, 2011

The Moroccan authorities once again lead their dirty war against Algeria, this time they attempt to involve it in the civil war in Libya. The latter accuses Algeria of supporting mercenaries and manipulating them.

These surprising accusations by the Moroccan authorities, supposedly citing security sources, are the result of other previous accusations against Algeria at the beginning of the war in Libya, according to which the mercenaries would be transported in Algerian aircraft to Libya, in an attempt by Morocco to hold the public opinion view on Algeria and Libya instead of Morocco where the people are threatening the throne of King Mohammed VI.

The Moroccan site "Maghreb Intelligentsia" accuses the Algerian army to support and manipulate the mercenaries in Libya, according to the site, adding that the doomsday scenario feared by Algeria, begins to unfold on the Algerian-Libyan border. It questioned the possibility of manipulating leaders of the Algerian army by mercenaries after they have been manipulated by the latter.

The site continues the accusing the Algerian military to mount international opinion against her, when the Algerian diplomacy has denied all allegations that certain parties want to focus on Algeria. Algeria, which is, according to the Makhzen, no longer able to control the Tuareg mercenaries in the south since the civil war in Libya, mercenaries supported by the Algerian regime in Algeria returned without worry as the Algerian authorities turned a blind eye to their activities. The Moroccan site adds that after the bombing of the Libyan army, the mercenaries had fled and left their arms to the Algerian army in order to return to their country, Mali, Niger and Mauritania, while others have managed to keep their weapons which they sold in the south.

Ennahar / Dalila B.

Source: Ennahar.
Link: http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/news/6215.html.

Libya wounded describe siege hell, Turkey seeks peace

By Maria Golovnina and Tarek Amara
TRIPOLI/SFAX, Tunisia | Mon Apr 4, 2011

(Reuters) - Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are staging a "massacre" in the besieged city of Misrata, evacuees said on Monday, as Turkey said it was trying to broker a ceasefire to halt the bloodshed.

A government spokesman said Libya was ready for a "political solution" with world powers. He said the country was ready to discuss political reform, but Gaddafi had to stay.

Libyan TV showed Gaddafi saluting supporters outside his fortified compound in Tripoli late on Monday. But some residents of the capital, angered by fuel shortages and long queues for basic goods, began openly predicting his imminent downfall.

With Libya in chaos, an official in neighbouring Algeria told Reuters that al Qaeda was exploiting the conflict to acquire weapons, including surface-to-air missiles.

The U.S. State Department said it had raised concerns with the Libyan rebels about the Islamist group obtaining arms in the east of the country, where they are battling Gaddafi's forces.

Evacuees from Misrata, the rebels' last major stronghold in western Libya, described the city as "hell." They said Gaddafi's troops were using tanks and snipers against residents, littering the streets with corpses and filling hospitals with the wounded.

"You have to visit Misrata to see the massacre by Gaddafi," said Omar Boubaker, a 40-year-old engineer with a bullet wound to the leg, brought to the Tunisian port of Sfax by a French aid group. "Corpses are in the street. Hospitals are overflowing."

Misrata rose up with other towns against Gaddafi last month but is the only major one in western Libyan left in rebel hands.

"I could live or die, but I am thinking of my family and friends who are stranded in the hell of Misrata," said tearful evacuee Abdullah Lacheeb, who had serious injuries to his pelvis and stomach and a bullet wound in his leg.

"Imagine, they use tanks against civilians. He (Gaddafi) is prepared to kill everyone there ... I am thinking of my family."

GADDAFI GREETING

State TV showed live footage of Gaddafi briefly waving to supporters through the roof of a Jeep outside his compound while bodyguards tried to prevent them from mobbing him.

But in the maze-like lanes of Tripoli's medieval market, some openly forecast his fall as rebels based in eastern Libya battle his forces.

"People from the east will come here. Maybe in two weeks," said one entrepreneur who asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisals. "But now, people are afraid."

Stalemate on the frontline of fighting in eastern Libya, defections from Gaddafi's circle and the plight of civilians caught in fighting, or facing food and fuel shortages, have prompted a flurry of diplomacy to try to end the civil war.

Turkey said it was seeking to broker a ceasefire as an envoy from Gaddafi's government arrived in Ankara from Athens.

"Turkey will continue to do its best to end the sufferings and to contribute to the process of making a road map that includes the political demands of Libyan people," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said after the arrival of Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi from earlier talks in Greece.

Turkey also expected officials of the rebel National Council to visit Ankara soon, Davutoglu told a news conference. A Turkish Foreign Ministry official said both sides had "conveyed that they have some opinions about a possible ceasefire."

Obeidi later also held talks in Malta.

ITALY SAYS GADDAFI MUST GOT

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, who had spoken to Greek officials after Obeidi's talks in Athens, dismissed the Libyan message. "A solution for the future of Libya has a pre-condition: that Gaddafi's regime leaves and is out and that Gaddafi himself and his family leave the country," he said.

In Washington, the U.S. Treasury said it had lifted sanctions against former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa in the hopes that other senior officials would defect.

Koussa fled to Britain last week and Scottish police want to question him over the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing, for which Libya accepted responsibility and paid compensation to relatives of the 270 dead.

U.N.-mandated air strikes to protect civilians have so far failed to halt attacks in Misrata by the Libyan army.

At least five people died when Gaddafi forces shelled a residential area of Misrata late on Monday, a doctor said, warning the death toll was likely to keep rising.

"The reception in the hospital is full. Five people were confirmed killed in the last two hours and five more are in critical condition," the doctor, who gave his name as Ramadan, told Reuters by phone from the city.

Libyan officials deny attacking civilians in Misrata, saying they are fighting armed gangs linked to al Qaeda. Accounts from Misrata cannot be independently verified as Libyan authorities are not allowing journalists to report freely from there.

A Turkish ship that sailed into Misrata to rescue 250 wounded was protected by Turkish warplanes and warships and had to leave in a hurry after thousands pressed forward on the dock, pleading to be evacuated. Another ship operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres docked in Sfax with 71 wounded from Misrata.

AL QAEDA CONVOY

In Algiers, a senior security official said that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Islamist group's regional wing, was getting hold of weapons in Libya.

The Algerian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a convoy of eight Toyota pick-up trucks had left eastern Libya and headed via Chad and Niger to northern Mali, where in the past few days it had delivered a cargo of weapons.

"We know that this is not the first convoy and that it is still ongoing," the official said. "Several military barracks have been pillaged in this region (eastern Libya) with their arsenals and weapons stores, and the elements of AQIM who were present could not have failed to profit from this opportunity."

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States had raised concerns with the Libyan rebels.

"We are aware of these reports too and it has been one of the topics of our conversation with ... the opposition forces," Toner told reporters. "We have made very clear our concerns and they have ... pledged that they will look into it."

Gaddafi says the uprising is fueled by Islamist radicals and Western nations who want to control Libya's oil. The rebels, whose stronghold is in the eastern city of Benghazi, want nothing less than the removal of Gaddafi and his circle.

The U.N.-mandated military intervention, in which warplanes have attacked Gaddafi's armor, radar and air defenses, began on March 19 and was intended to protect civilians caught up in fighting between pro-Gaddafi forces and the rebels.

After chasing each other up and down the coast road linking the oil ports of eastern Libya with Gaddafi's tribal heartland further west, the two sides are stuck around Brega, a sparsely populated settlement spread over more than 25 km (15 miles).

(Additional reporting by Angus MacSwan in Benghazi, Tulay Karadeniz and Simon Cameron-Moore in Ankara, Lamine Chikhi and Christian Lowe in Algiers, Ibon Villelabeitia and Tom Pfeiffer in Cairo, Joseph Nasr in Berlin, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels, Karolina Tagaris in London; Writing by Peter Millership/David Stamp; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/04/us-libya-idUSTRE7270JP20110404.

Jordan's Islamist leader says France's ban on face veil is war on Muslims

AMMAN, Jordan — The head of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood says France's ban on the Islamic face veil is a war against Muslims.

Hammam Saeed claims the move is a violation of French civil liberties and underlines a "new crusader behavior" against Muslims.

Saeed said in a statement on Tuesday that it "marks the beginning of a dangerous war" between cultures. The Brotherhood's political arm, the Islamic Action Front, is Jordan's largest opposition group.

The Brotherhood advocates the introduction of strict Islamic Sharia laws in the country. Jordan is a key U.S. ally in the Mideast and along with Egypt is the only nation in the region with a peace treaty with Israel.

The first government-imposed ban on the face veil took effect in France on Monday.

Copyright © 2011 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to Rejoin Protests

APRIL 6, 2011

By MATT BRADLEY

CAIRO—After two months of working closely with Egypt's new military rulers, the country's most powerful Islamist group said it will join demonstrations this Friday—a move that could reinvigorate a revolutionary movement damped since protesters ousted the country's president in February.

Muslim Brotherhood members have said the group will throw its official weight behind demonstrations against the country's provisional military leadership, which many youth protest leaders complain has been too slow to purge and prosecute lingering elements of the former regime.

Its participation in Friday's protests calls into question the perceived alliance between the military and Islamist politicians, whose support has formed an essential political ballast in the military's hasty transition to democratic rule.

If this Friday's protests succeed in pressuring the military to purge what is left of ex-President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party, they could help the 83-year old Islamist group reclaim its revolutionary bona fides before parliamentary elections scheduled for September.

"I think they're afraid of losing momentum and [that the protesters may] think that they are strong without the Brotherhood," said Abdullah Helmy, a member of the Revolutionary Youth Union, one of the political groups formed in the wake of Egypt's revolution. "Whatever you protest for at this time, the most political gain is for parliamentary elections. They are preparing themselves on the ground for the real battle."

The group's return to Tahrir Square, the nerve center of recent protests, could also help mend an unprecedented internal division. Younger Brotherhood members, emboldened by their role in the demonstrations that ousted Mr. Mubarak, have openly criticized the group's top-down leadership structure and its reluctance to challenge the Egyptian military.

Some youth members have demanded more inclusion in the organization's decision-making process as well as the right to form and join political parties other than the Brotherhood's recently convened Freedom and Justice Party.

The group's leadership last month said no member may join a party other than Freedom and Justice. To many Brotherhood youth, that smacked of the same kind of autocratic decision-making that protesters had fought to overcome.

"The youth don't like the guidance bureau's decisions," said Ibrahim al Zaafarani, who was a prominent member of the Brotherhood before he resigned last week to form his own youth-oriented Islamist party. "They are still strongly committed, but they are definitely not satisfied."

The Muslim Brotherhood has been officially illegal since the 1950s. For most of its history, the organization's members have faced routine arrest and torture because of their defiance to successive autocratic Egyptian leaders.

But since the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces assumed power after Mr. Mubarak stepped down Feb. 11, the Brotherhood's cooperation with the new military rulers has sparked rumors of backroom collusion.

Since the Mubarak-appointed prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, was forced to resign in early March, the group has largely complied with the military's orders to cease public protests.

The Supreme Council chose a top Brotherhood legislators to participate in a controversial military-appointed committee to amend the country's constitution in secret and without outside assistance. The group then urged its massive popular base to accept the amendments—over the objections of pro-democracy activists and many protest leaders—in a referendum last month.

Egyptians voted overwhelmingly for the amendments, which were also seen as fast-tracking a parliamentary vote, a move that would give an edge established groups.

But the Brotherhood's cheerleading for the military and the amendments upset secular protesters who had just begun to accept the Brothers as among their own.

"We tell our friends in the Muslim Brotherhood, 'Where are you? You are not working with us, you are here to gain, not to work,' " said Mr. Helmy, who isn't connected with the Brotherhood. "I think that created pressure from the young Brothers to the leaders, and they called them again to go into the streets."

Young Brotherhood members, many of whom cut their teeth in Tahrir Square's violent demonstrations, found themselves caught between the largely secular protest youth and their allegiance to the Brotherhood, whose strict edicts seemed to belie the spirit of the revolution.

The disillusionment led to a rare public rift in the secretive organization. Brotherhood youth called a press conference two weeks ago to demand more democracy within the organization. Prominent members of the group, including Mr. Zafaarani and Abdel Moneim Abdul Fotouh, openly criticized the Brotherhood's draconian rules and demanded more political freedoms. Both men have said they will start their own political parties.

For their part, the organization's leadership has sought to play down the internal rift, insisting that only a slim minority of its membership is dissatisfied and that internal reforms are continuing.

"We have different opinions which are now louder after this freedom wave," said Mohsen Rady, who was a member of the Brotherhood's parliamentary bloc until he lost his seat in December elections. "The desire to participate [on Friday] was not the desire of the youth. It was not a response to a youth demand. This is a social, national responsibility, which we believe is crucial."

Source: The Wall Street Journal.
Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704587004576244922383434098.html.

Muslim Brotherhood wants officials tried

CAIRO, April 11 (UPI) -- All Egyptian officials left in office from the regime of Hosni Mubarak should be sacked and brought to trial, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood said.

Muslim Brotherhood leader Sobhi Saleh complained there were more than 50,000 local council members and 29 governors left over from the Mubarak era, Egypt's al-Masry al-Youm newspaper reports.

"They have to be replaced and brought to trial," he said.

Mohammed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and presidential contender, told al-Masry al-Youm that revolution in Egypt meant a new set of faces in Cairo.

Mubarak bowed to growing public anger and resigned from office in February after three decades in power. Several key officials, including members of the Interior Ministry, are accused of using deadly force against unarmed demonstrators at the height of the unrest early this year.

Egyptian prosecutors summoned Mubarak and sons Alaa and Gamal to Cairo from Sharm el-Sheik to answer to charges of corruption.

Critics say Mubarak and his family members allegedly abused their political power to accumulate personal profits, though the former president broke his silence during the weekend to deny the allegations.

Mubarak said he agreed to let prosecutors contact foreign governments to determine whether he and his family own properties or bank accounts abroad.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/04/11/Muslim-Brotherhood-wants-officials-tried/UPI-92771302534346/.

Muslim Brotherhood to launch newspaper and satellite channel

Wed, 30/03/2011

The Muslim Brotherhood has announced its intention to venture into mass media, according to a statement from the group's leader, General Guide Mohamed Badie.

“The group will soon launch a newspaper and a satellite channel,” said Badie on Tuesday.

Inaugurating a new branch for the group in Alexandria, Badie also said that Copts should not fear Islam, and called on all Islamic groups to treat Copts and Jews with respect, as was the case in the time of Prophet Mohamed.

In a related development, a source close to the group said there was discord within the committee tasked with devising a platform for the group’s political party. The issue of contention was whether the party should approve of Coptic or female candidates for Egypt's presidency.

Source: al-Masry al-Youm.
Link: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/380721.

Secular forces prepare to confront Islamists in election

Ahmed Zaki Osman
Wed, 30/03/2011

Secular groups in Alexandria are rallying to confront predominant Islamist forces in the coastal city ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for September.

On Thursday, the Wafd Party will host all the secular parties and opposition groups in an effort to establish a coalition and develop strategies for contending with both the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis.

“We’ve agreed on some major points such as putting aside the ideological differences since we all agree on the secularism of the state, and on not handing the revolution to dogmatic forces. We are thinking of a plan not to have two candidates from the secular bloc in the same constituency so that they don’t compete with each other,” said Rashad Abdel-Al, a Wafd Party spokesman in Alexandria.

In the meantime, the main challenge for those secular groups is a prevalent Islamic trend in Alexandria, with mainly Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi manifestations.

Alexandria is Egypt's second largest city with a population of 4.1 million. In the last two parliamentary elections in 2005 and 2010, it was one of the main battlegrounds for the National Democratic Party's campaign to sweep the elections, edging out lawmakers affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Amid allegations of election fraud by the former regime, the Brotherhood failed to garner any of the city’s 22 seats.

In the 2005 elections, the Brotherhood won eight seats, making Alexandria its third most influential parliamentary stronghold after the Delta governorate of Gharbiya, where it had ten seats, and Cairo, where it had nine.

For some political leaders, the past dominance of the Brotherhood over the coastal city is no indicator of a landslide victory in the upcoming elections.

“Any starting point for thinking about the next parliamentary elections should bear in mind the results of the last referendum on constitutional amendments in Alexandria,” said al-Sayed Ghazi, head of the Alexandria office of the left-leaning Tagammu Party.

Alexandria had the highest voter turnout of any governorate during the 19 March referendum, with around 1.5 million voting on whether to accept or reject the constitutional amendments. With 32 percent opposing the changes, Alexandria also had the fourth-highest percentage of "no" votes.

“These figures simply give us an indicator that despite the heavy campaign marred with religious propaganda by the Brotherhood and the Salafi groups to convince people to back the referendum, one third of the voters said 'no',” said Ghazi. “Don’t overestimate the power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria.”

The Brotherhood and Salafis held campaigns to convince people to vote for the constitutional amendments, presumably because the group wanted early elections, for which they are perceived as the most prepared contenders.

“A third of the voters saying 'no' is not a small number. This number highlighted the power of the secular forces in the city that could be translated easily into parliamentary gains,” said Abdel-Al.

Abdel-Al argued that secular forces, which consist of old parties and the new opposition groups, could win at least half of the seats of Alexandria and maybe more in any electoral system.

In the 2010 elections, the Tagammu Party fielded ten candidates in Alexandria, while the liberal Wafd Party, the biggest formal opposition party in terms of membership, fielded 13 candidates but did not win any seats.

Previous elections have been based on candidates themselves rather than a system or proportional representation in which voters choose a party and the parties receive a certain number of seats accordingly. Opposition parties have criticized this system, saying it encourages candidates to spend vast amounts of money on their campaigns and also that it allows many non-political factors to influence a candidate's popularity.

Some have advocated for proportional voting, which they hope would shift the focus to party platforms and positions and away from personalities and flashy campaigns. This is being used as a winning card for the seculars.

“Changing the electoral system will turn the electoral battle into a political contest over programs and ideas and this will be a major threat to the Muslim Brotherhood,” argued Ghazi.

Moreover, the candidate-based system is the “only means for the former ruling NDP to have the ability to compete with the Brotherhood and win some seats of the governorate’s 22 seats,” said Abdel Haleem.

As for the Salafis, conservative Islamists who have long abstained from politics but recently announced they would begin participating, secular opposition politicians believe they have no chance of winning seats in Alexandria.

Alexandria is a major stronghold for the Salafi movement, which adopts a literal interpretation of Islam and Sharia Law.

In the working class area of Karmooz in Alexandria, Salafi Abu Abdel Rahman, was hanging posters against “indecently-dressed women” on the fences of a school. The posters, featuring a non-veiled woman surrounded by insects, were put up over other Salafi posters that had been torn or removed.

“We are inviting people to return to God and adhere to the true teachings of Islam,” said Abdel Rahman, who was in the middle of a heated discussion with area residents.

Some of the Salafi banners were covered in graffiti denouncing their content or accusing followers for being extremist. In the meantime, posters reading “yes for a secular state” were also found on the streets of the city.

Tension in the city between Salafis and Copts abounds.

Joseph Malak, the coordinator of the Free National Coalition Party, the secular party dominated by Copts, said, “There are strong fears within the Coptic community in Alexandria that the Salafis are preparing to attack unveiled women. We do not know whether these rumors are related to news about the Brotherhood possibly conducting a dialogue with Coptic youth.”

Recently, an estimated 16 historic Sufi mosques were targeted by members of the Salafi movement, who believe mosques that contain shrines to the dead do not conform to Islam, Sheikh Gaber Kasem al-Kholy, the highest Sufi Sheikh in Alexandria, told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

“They have made fatal mistakes by attacking people in mosques that have tombs. They are simply causing public panic and by such attitude they are not going to achieve any success in the next elections if they decide to run,” argued Abdel-Al.

Ghazi said the “Brotherhood activists are hesitant to confront the Salafis, fearing the latter would accuse them of compromising religion. I think that they are both falling.”

According to Malak, the founding members of the Free National Coalition Party will not apply to register their party yet. "Instead we will use our platform to support candidates who believe in the secularism of the state," he said.

With an estimated 1 million Copts living in Alexandria, the city has one of the largest Coptic communities in the nation, said Malak.

“We have seen the impact of the Coptic population in the referendum. I think that the Copts are now more determined in taking part in shaping the political landscape of the new Egypt by supporting secular voices,” said Malak.

Source: al-Masry al-Youm.
Link: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/380751.

Students continue protests against university administrations

Wed, 30/03/2011

Student protests against university administrators continued on Wednesday at universities across Egypt, with clashes erupting at a number of sites.

At Cairo University’s School of Medicine, students organized a protest to denounce an attack on fifth-year student Amr Ibrahim by an assistant lecturer who had slapped him. The protest ended after the assistant lecturer apologized to Ibrahim.

At Cairo University’s main campus, students accused members of the university’s administrative campus security team of attacking them during a sit-in outside the university's dome on campus, where they called for the resignation of the university president. The students accused one of the security members of injuring a disabled student and tearing his clothes.

The students were protesting to demand the removal of University President Hossam Kamil and the Faculty of Information Dean Sami Abdel Aziz. They also criticized the interference of the military police in university affairs. A group of Journalists’ Syndicate members, along with members of the 9 March Movement and the 25 Revolution Youth Coalition, joined the protest in support of students’ demands.

Meanwhile, clashes broke out between candidates running in student union elections at Ain Shams University’s Faculty of Commerce, causing the elections to be halted for over two hours. The clashes resulted in a number of injuries and fainting among the students.

Students at Helwan University decided to halt their ten-day protest for a period of three days. The students were protesting to demand the resignation of university administrators and the election of a new administration.

Protests also continued at Mansoura University’s Damietta branch as students demanded that their dean resign and that studies resume.

Dozens of Nile University students organized a protest on Wednesday outside the cabinet building to demand that classes resume after their second-semester classes were disrupted.

Source: al-Masry al-Youm.
Link: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/380754.

Labor protests continue in Cairo and other governorates

Wed, 30/03/2011

Labor protests, primarily centered on demands for better wages, were staged again in Cairo and other governorates on Wednesday.

Accusing the minister of ignoring their financial demands, 1000 employees of the Ministry of Housing continued protests in Cairo for the third day in a row.

Hundreds of temporary workers of the Suez Canal Authority staged protests demanding permanent contracts. They have been working on a temporary basis for more than 20 years.

Some 500 employees of public service outlets in Cairo also demanded better wages, while workers of the Natural Gas Company in Beheira went on hunger strike, demanding medical care, housing benefits, and higher bonuses.

Similar protests were staged in the governorates of New Valley, South Sinai and Damietta.

Source: al-Masry al-Youm.
Link: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/380803.

Reformist Islamist denies resigning from Muslim Brotherhood

Wed, 30/03/2011

Reformist Islamist Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh denied earlier reports that he had resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood, according to a statement posted Tuesday on his official website.

To show Abouel Fotouh still maintains cordial relations with the group’s leadership, the website said he had called Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie on Tuesday to check on him after his house in Upper Egypt was raided.

Abouel Fotouh has criticized the Muslim Brotherhood's outlook in recent weeks, and Brotherhood members contended that he was no longer representative of the group.

Reports that Abouel Fotouh would found his own political party exacerbated the strain between him and the organization. Earlier this month, Badie stated that no Brotherhood member would be allowed to join political parties other than the group’s Freedom and Justice Party.

In recent years, Abouel Fotouh has risen to the foreground as a liberal voice within the 83-year-old conservative Islamist group. His moderate discourse has attracted many liberals and secularists.

But in early 2010, he was completely sidelined within the organization after being excluded from the Guidance Bureau, the group's most influential power structure. Since then, the group has been dominated by hardliners.

Source: al-Masry al-Youm.
Link: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/380197.

Burglars strike Muslim Brotherhood leader

BENI SUEF, Egypt, March 28 (UPI) -- Important documents have been stolen from the home of a top Muslim Brotherhood leader, the Egyptian group said Monday.

Burglars tore down doors, smashed windows and broke furniture in the home of "supreme guide" Mohamed Badie in Beni Suef, south of Cairo, his spokesman told the Middle East News Agency.

Badie and his family had been visiting Cairo and found the break-in when they got home Sunday night, spokesman Waleed Shalabi said.

Badie accused two officers from deposed regime's secret police of being behind the crime.

Ikwanweb.com, the Brotherhood's site, said vital documents, CDs and a flash drive were taken.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/03/28/Burglars-strike-Muslim-Brotherhood-leader/UPI-98401301332238/.

Egyptair omits Israel from maps

TEL AVIV, Israel, March 23 (UPI) -- Egyptair, Egypt's largest airline, reportedly has erased Israel from the map on its Web site, showing instead Jordan stretching to the Mediterranean Sea.

Ynetnews.com reported Wednesday passengers seeking to fly to Tel Aviv will have a hard time finding it as there is no mention of Israel at all on the airline's Web site.

Jordan is shown as stretching to the Mediterranean Sea, the report said.

Egyptair flies to Israel four times a week and subsidiary Air Sinai flies to Israel more often, Ynetnews.com said.

Other airlines based in Muslim countries that fly to Israel such as Royal Jordanian and Turkish Airlines stipulate Israel and the city of Tel Aviv on their maps and sites, the report said.

There was no official comment of the omission either from Israeli or Egyptian officials.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/03/23/Egyptair-omits-Israel-from-maps/UPI-17541300883274/.

Egypt Backs Constitutional Changes That May Aid Brotherhood, Mubarak Party

By Mariam Fam - Mar 20, 2011

Voters in Egypt’s first referendum after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak backed a set of constitutional changes that some critics say may favor established groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood in future elections.

More than 18 million valid ballots were counted, with 77.2 percent of voters approving the changes, Mohammed Attia, the head of the judicial commission overseeing the referendum, said today at a press conference in Cairo.

“This is the first referendum after the people regained Egypt,” said Attia. “The citizen felt after the January 25 revolution that his vote counts.” Turnout was about 41 percent, he said.

Voters cast their ballots yesterday, many for the first time, to approve measures including term limits for presidents and fuller judicial oversight of voting. The changes, drafted by a committee appointed by the military council running the country since last month’s ouster of Mubarak, are aimed at paving the way for parliamentary and presidential elections later this year.

Backers such as the Muslim Brotherhood, banned under Mubarak, say the amendments will help speed up the transition to civilian rule, free the army for duties like guarding national security and end turmoil that is hurting the economy.

Opponents say the proposals aren’t enough to advance democracy and that a rushed transition will let established forces -- the Brotherhood, and Mubarak’s former ruling party -- dominate parliament at the expense of young activists who led the popular uprising.

Muslim Brotherhood

“The support of the Islamic currents and of the Brotherhood for the amendments has complicated the referendum and increased the state of polarization,” Amr el-Choubaki, director of the Alternatives Forum for Political Studies, an independent research organization, said by telephone in Cairo before the results were announced. “If the changes are accepted, then the power of the Brotherhood will increase.”

The Brotherhood and members of the former ruling party are “well organized and are experienced in contesting elections,” said Nabil Abdel Fattah, director of Al-Ahram Center for Social and Historic Studies. “This alliance may try to decrease the ability of the new youths’ groups to influence the makeup of the upcoming parliament and the nature of the new president.”

Opponents advocated rewriting the constitution from scratch and called for more time to prepare for legislative elections. That’s the reverse of the timetable set out in one of the amendments, which says that after elections parliament will create a constituent assembly to write a new constitution.

Elections, Reservations

“We have to double our efforts to contest the upcoming elections,” said Nasser Abdel Hamid, a member of The Alliance of the Youths’ Revolution, a coalition of protesting groups that campaigned for a “no” vote. “We have to accept that the people have said their word despite the reservations.”

Ali Abdel Fattah, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, said the results “do not reflect the victory of one group over another or the strength of one current more than the others. They reflect the desire of the people for stability.”

Outside some polling stations yesterday, lines snaked as voters, some leaning on canes, waited to cast their ballots. Animated debates broke out among supporters and opponents. Outside a polling station at a school in Cairo’s Saida Zeinab district, 49-year-old Sumaia Shaker, who works for the National Research Center, lobbied for a “yes” vote.

Polling Debate

“Vote ‘yes’ so that we can have some stability and have a new parliament,” she told a group of people queuing to vote. “It’s your duty to spread the word. Otherwise, chaos will reign.”

“You want us to build on a constitution that is flawed?” responded merchant Ali Talaat, 22, who rejects the changes.

Inside, Samah Emad, a 32-year-old housewife, stood in line to cast ballots for the first time.

“Before, we had no elections,” she said. “Everything was rigged. Now, I am determined to say ‘no’ so that I can feel that I am in a democratic country. I don’t want the former ruling party or the Brotherhood to be in charge.”

Egypt’s political transition is still “fraught with uncertainty” that is damaging the “fiscal position and broader economic performance,” Moody’s Investors Service said on March 16, justifying its decision to cut the debt rating one level. Yields on benchmark 10-year dollar bonds, at about 6.8 percent, have jumped more than 160 basis points this year.

Economic Impact

Egypt’s stock market has been shut for seven weeks, many tourists have stayed away and factory output has been hit by strikes. Sharaf said yesterday Egypt’s stock exchange may open “within days” after remaining closed since Jan. 27. Finance Minister Samir Radwan has forecast economic growth of 4 percent this fiscal year, down from a pre-crisis estimate of 6 percent.

The amendments would limit presidents to two four-year terms, ease restrictions on who can run for the post, and let judges scrutinize the balloting when elections are held. Opponents say they fail to curb the powers of the president, a measure they say is necessary to prevent Mubarak-era abuses.

Those campaigning against the changes included potential presidential candidates Amr Moussa and Mohamed ElBaradei, prominent businessman Naguib Sawiris and the Alliance of the Youths’ Revolution.

Restrictions Eased

Restrictions on forming political parties will be eased after the referendum and parliamentary elections will probably be in September, allowing new parties time to organize and promote their platforms, Major General Mamdouh Shahine, the assistant defense minister for legal and constitutional affairs, told Al Masry Al Youm newspaper.

The Brotherhood has been seeking to assuage fears its influence is growing, saying it will not field a presidential candidate or seek a majority in a new parliament.

“We are seeing huge numbers of voters. We are seeing many, many first time voters and that is very significant,” said Ghada Shahbender, a member of the board of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, which monitored the vote. “I’m beyond thrilled with the participation rate. Our silent majority is finally out.”

Shahbender said there were “procedural errors” like unstamped ballot cards -- which was dealt with by having members of the judiciary sign the cards -- but “I didn’t see intent on fraud.” Voting under Mubarak was regularly overshadowed by low turnout, violence and widespread allegations of rigging.

Attia said the committee supervising the vote received about 10 “minor” complaints about the process and prosecutors were informed to take legal action against offenders. “Before Jan. 25, results were known and prepared beforehand,” he said.

Source: Bloomberg.
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-20/egypt-backs-constitutional-changes-that-may-aid-brotherhood-mubarak-party.html.