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Friday, April 22, 2011

Uyghur Refugee In Kazakhstan Faces Extradition To China

April 20, 2011

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A Uyghur refugee who fled to Kazakhstan after ethnically charged clashes in China's northwest Xinjiang province is facing extradition to China, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

Arshiddin Israil, 39, who fled China in 2009 in the wake of the deadly violence between Uyghurs and Han Chinese, is currently in a detention center in Almaty.

Almaty-based lawyer Denis Dzhivaga told RFE/RL that Kazakh authorities arrested Israil at Beijing's request last summer, even though the UN office in Almaty granted him refugee status in 2009 and Swedish officials agreed last year to grant him asylum.

Dzhivaga said that Israil would probably be tortured and jailed, or even sentenced to death, if he were extradited to China.

Qaharman Qozhamberdiev and Alizhan Tilivaldi, both prominent members of the Uyghur diaspora in Kazakhstan, declined to comment on Israil's plight.

Israil's lawyer, Yury Sukhanov, also refused to discuss the case, saying that his client does not want it to be made public.

Zhanna Dosova of the UN Office in Almaty told RFE/RL that for reasons of confidentiality the UN office does not comment on individual cases.

Sweden's charge d'affaires in Kazakhstan, Manne Wangborg, confirmed to RFE/RL that Sweden granted Israil asylum last year. He said he therefore attends all hearings in the case.

China's Xinhua news agency reported in 2009 that 197 people were killed and 1,721 were injured during clashes between Uyghurs and Han Chinese and the subsequent intervention by Chinese security forces.

Uyghur rights organizations abroad claim that the number of Uyghurs killed was much higher.

Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.
Link: http://www.rferl.org/content/uyghur_refugee_kazakhstan_faces_extradition_to_china/9499649.html.

Sudan bucks nomination of ex-Egyptian official for Arab League SG

April 19, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government has officially declared objection to the nomination of a former Egyptian official to succeed Amru Musa in the position of secretary-general of the Arab League, citing the candidate’s “hostile” attitude towards Sudan.

In an official letter submitted to the Arab League through Sudan’s ambassador in Egypt, the government said that its reservation over Mustafa El-Fiqy, who was a leading figure of Egypt’s deposed National Democratic Party, is predicated on his “hostile attitude” towards Sudan, as reported by the country’s official news Agency SUNA on Tuesday.

El-Fiqy, who chaired the foreign relations committee at the Egyptian parliament, last December made a surprisingly overt criticism of the current Sudanese government, saying it was the “worst” in the country’s history.

As quoted by the English Language Al-Ahram newspaper, El-Fiqy said it was known to him many years ago that Khartoum was working towards letting South Sudan, which voted earlier this year to secede in July, go away even before the 2005’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed, ending decades of north-south civil war.

El-Fiqy said that he was “extremely sorry that matters have reached the point they have in Sudan, where the very term referendum only appeared during this regime, and its expected result is separation, which will be met with separation in other parts, from Darfur to the east to Kordofan"

“Egypt is the only country that will pay the price of what happens in Sudan from separation threats, the damage to it will be more so than to Northern Sudan," he added.

SUNA cited an anonymous government source as saying that El-Fiqy had been iterating “false accusations” that the Sudanese government had jeopardized the country’s unity and pushed the south to separate by seeking to execute “narrow religious agendas.”

The Sudanese source said that El-Fiqy had refused to apologize or retract his claims which he maintained during the sessions of the Egyptian parliament’s foreign relations committee, as published in December by Al-Masry al-Youm newspaper.

According to the source, Sudan has no negative position towards Egyptian nominees in general but was rather opposing the nomination of El-Fiqy in particular due to his “negative” stance towards Sudan.

Egyptian officials in the past have shyly blamed Bashir’s NCP party for the likely split of Sudan. Last February, Egyptian president reportedly criticized Khartoum for lacking the will to preserve the unity.

Source: Sudan Tribune.
Link: http://www.sudantribune.com/Sudan-bucks-nomination-of-ex,38629.

Turkey: the reinvigorated man of Europe

AMANDA PAUL
20 April 2011, Wednesday

Turkey is no longer the sick man of Europe. As recently described by Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, these days Turkey is the robust man of Europe. As Turkey heads towards the June 12 parliamentary elections, the country is in pretty good shape compared to many other nations, including a number of EU member states.

At the nation’s helm stands Erdoğan. He must be feeling pretty cheery these days. There are not many leaders (other than dictators) who are heading towards a third election knowing they are almost certain to win. To achieve this is quite an accomplishment but to achieve it comfortably is impressive indeed. With election fever sweeping the nation Erdoğan is at his most flamboyant, rolling up his sleeves and performing for the crowds. I still find it incredible that after almost nine years of Justice and Development Party (AK Party) rule Turkey’s opposition parties have failed to evolve themselves into constructive and serious parties. Frankly, they seem to be their own worst enemy almost giving the AKP a third victory on a plate.

Turkey is flourishing with a growing economy and a proactive, dynamic and envied foreign policy. However, not all in the garden is rosy as Ankara’s relationship with the EU continues to deteriorate with strong opposition persisting from key member states France and Germany and the Cyprus problem also blocking the road.

This negative trend was reflected in Prime Minister Erdoğan’s speech at the European Council Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg on April 13. Erdoğan took a real swing at the EU, and in particular France, following the ratification by the French Senate of a law to ban women wearing the burqa, a law which Erdoğan considers to be inappropriate and a violation of freedom of religion. France is not the first country to adopt such a law. Belgium was the first EU country to initiate legislation banning Islamic veils that completely cover a woman’s face, although the process has not been fully completed as Belgium is still being without a government. (Though it had elections in June 2010, the country still fails to form a government).

Erdoğan was also prickly on criticism of his government responding to tricky questions by declaring that those asking them (members of the European Parliament) did not have a clear picture of what was happening in Turkey. While I believe this is not the smartest way to answer questions I also sometimes think that some people working in EU institutions often don’t fully appreciate the changes that have taken place in Turkey over the last few years. Turkey has evolved from being a closed and somewhat inward looking country with numerous issues branded as taboo to being far more open and ready to tackle its not inconsiderable historical baggage. The days when it was considered dangerous to discuss the so-called Armenian genocide, the Kurdish issue, etc. are long gone. Yes, there are still many problems. Freedom of religion and minority rights are still far from perfect, yet at the same time the situation has greatly improved. Of course the EU is right to press Turkey on issues that are of concern, including freedom of the media, but at the same time we should also remember that Turkey is not France or Switzerland which have century’s old democracy.

Turkey is going through a process and it will be a process of dips and bends which sometimes seems like the country is going one step forward and two steps back. Time and patience are required. And yes, sometimes Erdoğan’s erratic hot and cold behavior is out of tune with others in the party. His sporadic outbursts mean he will certainly not be voted European leader of the year, as he once was, and he certainly no longer has the same level of credibility he once did. And while the sort of statements Erdoğan made in Strasbourg are not going to win him any new fans in the EU, this is not his purpose. Nowadays he only wants to win more votes in Turkey. Furthermore, Erdoğan has a tendency to contradict himself. In a recent article in Newsweek he said, on the one hand, that Turkey would no longer wait at the EU’s door like a docile supplicant, but yet at the same time he admitted that Turkey needs the EU as much as the EU needs Turkey. He also repeated this phrase during his Strasbourg speech.

Yes, it is true that Turkey is no longer the sick man of Europe. But it is also clear that Turkey did not regain its current state of good health all by itself. Being anchored to the EU process has helped Turkey considerably. I therefore doubt that Ankara is in a hurry to pull up the EU anchor any time soon. As I have said before, politicians change and so do policies and both sides need to take steps to change the current status quo.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-241499-turkey-the-reinvigorated-man-of-europe.html.

12 Kurdish politicians barred from running for Turkish parliament

Apr 18, 2011

Istanbul - Turkey's elections board ruled on Monday that 12 Kurdish politicians who had registered as independent candidates in national elections set for June were ineligible to run for parliament because of their prior terrorism-related convictions, the semi-official Anatolia Agency reported.

Dozens of Kurdish politicians who support the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) had announced that they would run as independent candidates in the upcoming elections in an attempt to get over the 10 percent threshold in Turkey for parties to enter parliament.

Turkey's board of elections ruled that 12 of the candidates were ineligible to run because they had previously been convicted of taking part in or supporting terrorist activities.

The politicians include Leyla Zana, who caused an uproar when she attempted to make a speech in Kurdish after being sworn into the Turkish Parliament in 1991.

Zana was convicted of membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - considered a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States - and spent 10 years in prison.

The European Court of Human Rights later ruled that Turkey had violated Zana's right to freedom of expression and ordered the government to pay her compensation.

Selahattin Demirtas, chairman of the BDP, called the election board's decision 'a political operation; a political purge' that would benefit the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the elections.

'The state has decided to hand over [Turkey's south-eastern] region to the AKP,' Demirtas told broadcaster CNNTurk.

Turkey has long suppressed attempts at autonomy by Kurds in the east of the country, leading to a three-decade long insurgency in which thousands have died.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1633749.php/12-Kurdish-politicians-barred-from-running-for-Turkish-parliament.

Erdogan Sees Kurdish Party Sole Southeast Rival, Milliyet Says

By Steve Bryant - Apr 18, 2011

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he sees the Peace and Democracy Party, the country’s main Kurdish party, as his party’s sole rival in parliamentary elections in the southeast, Milliyet reported.

The ruling Justice and Development Party has selected prominent locals as its candidates in the mainly-Kurdish southeast for the June 12 elections, Erdogan told the Istanbul- based newspaper in an interview. There’s "no question of ignoring the southeast" and only two parties stand a chance of election there, he said.

He said Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek had been moved from his Gaziantep constituency to campaign in the city of Batman, closer to the village where he was born.

Source: Bloomberg.
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-18/erdogan-sees-kurdish-party-sole-southeast-rival-milliyet-says.html.

PM Erdoğan says opposition's candidates represent junta

19 April 2011, Tuesday / KAZIM CANLAN, ANKARA

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has lashed out at three political parties -- the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) -- for nominating several suspects who are standing trial on charges of terrorism as deputy candidates in the June 12 parliamentary elections, saying the candidates represent the pro-coup junta and not the nation itself.

“Are you representing the will of the nation or the will of Silivri [Prison]? Do you derive your legitimacy from the nation or from gangs, criminal organizations and the junta?” the prime minister asked when hitting back at the three political parties for their decision to nominate terror suspects as candidates for the post of deputy in the elections. Erdoğan's remarks came on Monday during a Justice and Development Party (AK Party) meeting to promote his party's candidates. The CHP included four suspects in the Ergenekon case -- former Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) President Sinan Aygün, former Başkent University Rector Mehmet Haberal, former chief prosecutor İlhan Cihaner and journalist Mustafa Balbay -- in its list of candidates for deputy. The MHP nominated retired Gen. Engin Alan, a suspect in the Sledgehammer coup case, as a candidate while the BDP nominated six suspects in the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) trial as candidates for deputy in the approaching parliamentary elections. Haberal, Balbay and Alan are currently in jail, while Aygün and Cihaner were released from prison in the past after a brief period of arrest pending trial.

The nominations of the suspects kicked off a debate as to whether they are hoping to win seats in Parliament to avoid trial. If elected, the suspects will likely evade trial for the next four years thanks to parliamentary immunity.

Referring to earlier remarks by CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Erdoğan said: “Some said they would like to become members of Ergenekon. We told them to go to Silivri [Prison] and become members of the [terrorist] organization. They wondered how to become members of Ergenekon and finally decided to become members of the group by nominating suspects in the case. They were unable to find deputy candidates from outside, so they transferred candidates from inside the prison.” Dozens of suspects in the case against Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal network accused of working to topple the government, are under arrest in Silivri Prison in İstanbul. Among them are members of the military, businessmen and journalists.

The nomination of the suspects sparked a debate as to whether they will be eligible for parliamentary immunity. While some are saying they will be eligible, others say the courts hearing these cases may allow for the suspects’ release pending trial, but it is not a legal obligation. They say the suspects cannot enter Parliament without a court decision for their release.

According to Erdoğan, the AK Party’s candidates represent the entire Turkey. “Those we present to you today represent a big picture of Turkey. Among them are all the colors of Turkey. In this picture, there are 550 people who hold deep feelings for Turkey. Our [candidate] list is made up of people who favor peace and love,” he said. He also noted that the AK Party refused to nominate candidates who are accused of cooperating with gangs and criminal organizations.

Some other suspects in the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer cases will also run in the June elections, but as independent candidates. Among these are journalist Tuncay Özkan, former Police Chief Hanefi Avcı, Workers’ Party (İP) leader Doğu Perinçek, retired Gen. Çetin Doğan and retired Col. Atilla Uğur.

In addition, Erdoğan said the governing AK Party is set to launch its election campaign in the Black Sea province of Bayburt on April 22.

PM rules out ethnic nationalism

According to Erdoğan, the AK Party’s candidate list is not made up of people who promote “ethnic nationalism.” “The AK Party has embraced all of Turkey once again with its candidate list. People who claim that the AK Party will lose the race in some regions are mistaken. Those putting forward such claims do not know who our candidates are. They do not know the AK Party’s decisiveness in elections, either,” he stated.

The prime minister also said his party will stand against any plan or policy to promote nationalism based on one’s race. “We say ‘no’ to ethnic nationalism, regional nationalism and religious nationalism. Turkey suffered much due to nationalism in the past. This is why the AK Party introduced a project to strengthen national unity.”

According to Erdoğan, no element of the Turkish Republic should dare dream about the establishment of a second state within the boundaries of Turkey. “We will never think about a second state or a second flag in Turkey. We will never allow such separation. I have never defended the use of a single language in Turkey. But I have defended the use of a single official language. These are two different things,” he said, and stated that the AK Party allows all ethnic groups of Turkey to protect their identities. “We believe that all ethnic elements are worth showing respect to. Any ethnic group may call itself Turk, Kurd, Laz, Georgian, Roma, Albanian or Arab. We respect all of them. All of them are precious to us. We do not discriminate against any ethnic group. We will not allow Turkish nationalism or Kurdish nationalism. But everyone will be free to call themselves a Turk or a Kurd,” he added.

In addition, the prime minister pledged decisiveness in Turkey’s fight against gangs and clandestine groups, implicitly referring to the Ergenekon case. “We will not retreat from our fight against gangs. We will not bow to gangs, and will continue our fight until the very end. Gangs will no longer find a chance to develop,” he noted.

‘I am closely following cheating claims in YGS’

The prime minister also spoke about claims of cheating in the Transition to Higher Education Examination (YGS) in late March. He said he is “closely following the claims.” “I am a follower of all claims related to the YGS as the prime minister of this country. I advise our youth to feel relieved, and continue studying for the second examination. I also advise them to closely know who is abusing their sensitivities and seeking to turn their dismay into an advantage for themselves,” Erdoğan stated.

Claims emerged in early April that coded question booklets were distributed to some test takers in the YGS. According to claims, the answers in those booklets were coded to reveal the correct answer if read in a certain way. The Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM) acknowledged that there indeed was such a booklet, but said the only copy that included the coded answers was the one given out to the press after the examination.

According to the prime minister, the opposition parties are engaged in efforts to derive political gain over YGS claims. “The CHP, the MHP and the BDP are working to abuse our youth over claims about the YGS. They have turned the dreams, hopes and futures of 1.7 million young people into political elements and are working to derive political gain from them. What we are talking about are the dreams of 1.7 million young people. It is immoral to turn the feelings of young people who spend their days and nights studying for many years into a source for political gain. If anything illegal took place during the test, I would be the first person to react,” he said.

An investigation by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office is under way to look into claims of cheating. High school students have been participating in demonstrations held across the country to denounce cheating claims since the YGS. Members of the CHP and the MHP joined the demonstrations in İstanbul over the weekend.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-241436-pm-erdogan-says-oppositions-candidates-represent-junta.html.

Afghanistan: Iran engineers 'kidnapped in Farah'

18 April 2011

At least nine Iranian engineers have been kidnapped in a remote area of western Afghanistan, officials say.

The men had been working on a road-building project in Farah province when they were taken by gunmen, an official quoted by AFP news agency said.

Provincial spokesman Naqibullah Farahi blamed Taliban militants, although the group has denied involvement.

Afghan criminal gangs and insurgents have previously carried out kidnappings of foreign workers.

Most are released unharmed following negotiations.

Last year, British aid worker Linda Norgrove was kidnapped in northern Kunar province and died during a failed rescue attempt.

French journalists Herve Ghesquiere and Stephane Taponier remain in captivity after being abducted in Kapisa province east of Kabul in 2009 by suspected insurgents.

Farah province borders Iran and has seen significant Taliban activity.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13119324.

Czech Rep offers Iraq L-159 aircraft, modernization of helicopters

18.04.2011

Prague - Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas will offer Iraq subsonic L-159 assault planes and the upgrading of helicopters during his visit to Iraq in May, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said after a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari today.

Schwarzenberg said the Czech Republic is also interested in closer economic cooperation with Iraq. It would like to participate in the modernization of Iraqi oil mining equipment.

That is why Necas is to be accompanied on his trip to Iraq by the industry and trade minister.

Schwarzenberg and Zebari also spoke today about the situation in Arab countries where protests against the ruling regimes have been held in the past months.

Necas is to go to Iraq on May 23-24 and sign there an agreement on mutual protection of investments.

The Defense Ministry announced in January that it wants to sell this year 36 subsonic L-159 ALCAs that the Czech military does not need.

Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra said previously Iraq is one of the countries with which the Czech Republic is discussing the sale.

Source: www.ceskenoviny.cz.
Link: http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/zpravy/czechrep-offers-iraq-l-159-aircraft-modernisation-of-helicopters/625280.

Holy city Najaf on the rise

By Rania El Gamal, Reuters Life!
April 20, 2011

BAGHDAD - Millions of Shi’ite pilgrims pour into the streets of Iraq’s holy city of Najaf every year, hypnotized by its ability to survive decades of oppression and emerge as a center of religion and authority.

With its gold-domed shrine, where Imam Ali, a central figure of Shi’ite Islam, is buried, its mystical Hawza seminary, and its powerful clergy, Najaf has been revived as the epicenter of Shi’ism — a status held for years by its rival, Iran’s Qom.

Najaf’s rising clout as a Shi’ite hub is a threat to Iran’s clerics, who enjoyed unchallenged sway over Iranian politics and other Shi’ite groups in the region for years while Najaf was shackled by Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.

Iraq is slowly flexing its muscle in regional diplomacy, by pushing to host an Arab League summit in May and by pressing the United States to mediate Bahrain’s unrest after pro-democracy protests by majority Shi’ites against their Sunni royal rulers.

“Since Saddam Hussein’s fall, Iraq’s Shi’ites have begun to reclaim their historic role as leaders of the Shi’ite world,” said Gala Riani, an analyst with IHS Global Insight.

“Qom had risen in prominence since (Iran’s) Islamic Revolution, in part because of Iraq’s gradual isolation since then and in part because of the Islamic Republic’s religious doctrine,” she said.

“However, the Shi’ite population and the religious leadership in Iraq are quietly staking their claim.”

The rise of Iraq’s majority Shi’ites to political supremacy was made possible by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam and led to a Shi’ite-dominated government. Najaf has since become a magnet for millions of Shi’ites around the world.

For years, Iraqi Shi’ites complained of living under the thumb of Saddam. Shi’ite religious rites were banned and his forces persecuted thousands of Shi’ites.

Now Baghdad wants to show Tehran it can be an influential player in Middle East politics, and having Najaf as the seat of Shi’ite religious authority can strengthen such a claim.

“Shi’ite-led Iraq is a rising regional power, just now beginning to find its muscle. It has historically played a key role in Gulf geopolitics and security — the war left a vacuum that Iran filled, but Iraq is now back in the space it vacated,” said Cliff Kupchan, an analyst at risk consultant Eurasia Group.

Thousands of Iraqi Shi’ites took to the streets last month to protest the arrival of troops from Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states in Bahrain.

Iraq’s Shi’ite ruling bloc and senior clerics denounced the Saudi deployment to Bahrain, where the Sunni royal family called for help to quell an uprising by mainly Shi’ite protesters.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most revered Shi’ite leader, who rarely intervenes publicly in politics, has called on Bahrain to stop using force against peaceful demonstrators.

The Iraqi government has asked the United States and other players to get more involved in Bahrain to try to resolve the conflict, U.S. ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey said, adding that Washington was working toward that end.

Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon are the only Arab nations where Shi’ites outnumber Sunnis. Iraq, like Bahrain, has a Shi’ite majority that complained of oppression under Sunni rulers.

“Iraq’s reaction to Saudi intervention in Bahrain is one of the clearest examples of Iraq’s slow but steady rise on the regional stage ... The reaction of Iraq’s Shi’ites to events in Bahrain was the strongest in the region,” Kupchan said.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Through a thousand-year history, Najaf weathered a plague of wars, oppression by Sunni leaders and rivalry with Iran.

But Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the rise of Saddam, who persecuted and executed Shi’ite clerics and political leaders, allowed Qom to eclipse Najaf.

“Saddam tried to blow out the candle of Najaf. He fought its religious scholars and clerics and drove them away,” said Shi’ite cleric Sayyed Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum, who fled Iraq in 1969 after he was sentenced to death by Saddam’s Baath party.

Now, Najaf draws millions of Shi’ites from Iraq, Iran and Muslim communities in Bahrain, Kuwait, India and elsewhere. Swarms of pilgrims, many dressed head-to-toe in black, march through its narrow streets during major rites.

Reborn after the fall of Saddam, Najaf’s Hawza seminary has attracted thousands of new students.

Iranians, barred under Saddam, flood the streets, singing for Imam Ali in Persian and bringing newborns to his shrine for blessing, jostling to touch the silver poles around its green protective glass.

The burial place of Imam Ali — a son-in-law and cousin of Prophet Mohammed seen by Shi’ites as the rightful heir to the Muslim Caliphate — gives Najaf its sanctity.

Najaf is home to Iraq’s Marjaiya — which refers to the senior Shi’ite clergy and often means Iranian-born Sistani, 83, who is seen as a force of unity among most of Iraq’s Shi’ites. Since 2003, his decrees have had the gravity of law.

Sistani says he does not intend to become involved in politics and, in contrast to clerical leanings in Iran, his teachings have advocated separation of religion and state.

Riani says Sistani is “unquestionably more powerful, more popular and more widely revered” than Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“Sistani’s position within Iran is very strong and could potentially pose a considerable challenge to Khamenei’s religious authority,” Riani said. “Certainly if Sistani ever chose to openly challenge the Iranian political system, Khamenei’s rule would be in trouble.”

Baghdad’s deals with international oil companies, which could power it into the big league of global producers, could also shake the power balance in the Middle East, giving Iraq more political clout and eventually threatening Iran’s years of uncontested authority over the Shi’ite world, analysts say.

“Iraq is rising on soft power and political-cultural appeal. Over the short-term, Iran will remain the dominant regional power,” Kupchan said. “Over a significantly longer term, Iraq potentially has great promise, and could reemerge as a balancer to its traditional regional competitor — Iran.”

Source: London Free Press.
Link: http://www.lfpress.com/travel/2011/04/14/17990871-reuters.html.

Bahrain security forces 'tortured patients'

By Patrick Cockburn
Friday, 22 April 2011

Bahrain’s security forces stole ambulances and posed as medics to round up injured protesters during a ferocious crackdown on unarmed demonstrators calling for reform of the monarchy, an investigation by a rights group reveals today.

The first major report on repression of the medical profession during the country’s crisis details how a doctor was abducted during an operation and injured patients lying in hospital were tortured and threatened with rape.

The investigation by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) followed a report by The Independent yesterday detailing threats faced by medical staff who treated victims of the repression. More than 30 medics have been taken away by security forces and have had little or no contact with their families.

The report said it found that security forces targeted Shia doctors in particular. The crackdown has created such a climate of fear that wounded people were too frightened to go to hospital to seek treatment.

The Bahraini monarchy responded to calls for reform by massed demonstrations starting on 14 February by calling in 2,000 troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Over the next two days, Bahraini security forces, backed by the Saudis, drove protesters from the streets, made arbitrary arrests of at least 500 people, systematically tortured detainees and sacked anybody who had shown sympathy for protests.

The group’s investigators said they received witness evidence that security forces stole at least six ambulances. “Police forcibly removed ambulance medics from the vehicles, made them remove their uniforms at gunpoint, and then posed as medics, reportedly to get closer to injured protesters to detain them,” the report said. It also related how “armed security forces abducted Dr Ali El-Ekri from the operating room while he was performing surgery at Salmaniya Hospital on 17 March.”

Patients and detainees have been targeted according to the report which says that methods used against them include “torture, beating, verbal abuse, humiliation, and threats of rape and killing.”

In one case a Bahraini called Ali was shot in the face with bird shot and was taken while unconscious to Salmaniya hospital in the capital Manama where he remained for five days. On his second day there “three armed security forces handcuffed Ali and a dozen other wounded men behind their backs with plastic wrist ties and began to beat them.”

Ali and the other patients were thrown from their beds onto the floor where they lay face first and were then dragged, leaving trails of blood, into a hallway of the hospital. An Indian nurse told the security men: “Don’t hurt them. They are our patients.”

The report by the Cambridge, Massachusetts group, said that one of the Bahraini security forces shouted back: “They are not your patients - they are criminals!”

One of the armed men with a Saudi accent hurled insults at the patients on the floor and cursed: “Grave worshipers! Sons of whores! Sons of Muta!" (derogatory references to Shia Muslims). Another armed man in black shouted, “We’re going to hang you. We're going to kill you,” the report said.

Ali and the other patients lay on the floor for four hours until they were transferred to another ward. Later that night, police in blue uniforms and men in civilian dress wearing black masks stormed the ward and beat Ali and the other patients with the butts of their rifles and kicks to the groin, stomach, and bottom. One policeman with a Jordanian accent threatened to rape Ali.

Small groups of armed men took turns beating each patient in the ward hurling insults at them. The patients were subjected to constant beating.

The aim of the interrogation was to force people to admit that they had carried arms during the protest and intended to go to Iran for military training. Ali finally confessed to stop the beating, the report said.

One of the complaints of pro-democracy demonstrators prior to the all-out army and police attack was that the ruling al-Khalifas were trying to change the demographic balance in Bahrain by importing Sunni from Pakistan, Jordan and Yemen who were rapidly made Bahraini citizens.

The 30,000 strong army and 30,000-strong security forces recruited many officers from Sunni countries and have almost no Shia members.

According to one 20-year-old witness interviewed by a team from Physicians for Human Rights, riot police attacked a Shia wedding ceremony taking place on 13 March.

The witness said “tens of riot police in blue uniforms and white helmets attacked unarmed civilians during a wedding ceremony taking place in his town’s Ma’tam (a Shi’a congregation hall).

They launched tear gas inside the enclosed building and fired 40mm hard rubber bullets at the wedding party causing guests to flee outside where they met more armed police.

Elderly men and women collapsed to the ground. The groom’s father tried to speak with the riot police to say that this gathering was just a wedding. The police yelled in broken Arabic to move back, which made clear to the father that they were not from Bahrain.”

Source: The Independent.
Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/bahrain-security-forces-tortured-patients-2272618.html.

Bahrain's secret terror

By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Thursday, 21 April 2011

Desperate emails speak of 'genocide' as doctors who have treated injured protesters are rounded up.

The intimidation and detention of doctors treating dying and injured pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain is revealed today in a series of chilling emails obtained by The Independent.

At least 32 doctors, including surgeons, physicians, pediatricians and obstetricians, have been arrested and detained by Bahrain's police in the last month in a campaign of intimidation that runs directly counter to the Geneva Convention guaranteeing medical care to people wounded in conflict. Doctors around the world have expressed their shock and outrage.

One doctor, an intensive care specialist, was held after she was photographed weeping over a dead protester. Another was arrested in the theater room while operating on a patient.

Many of the doctors, aged from 33 to 65, have been "disappeared" – held incommunicado or at undisclosed locations. Their families do not know where they are. Nurses, paramedics and ambulance staff have also been detained.

Emails between a Bahraini surgeon and a British colleague, seen by The Independent, describe in vivid detail the threat facing medical staff as they struggle to treat victims of the violence. They provide a glimpse of the terror and exhaustion suffered by the doctors and medical staff.

Bahraini government forces backed by Saudi Arabian troops have cracked down hard on demonstrators since the unrest began on 15 February – and the harshness of their response has now been extended to those treating the injured.

The author of the emails, a senior surgeon at the Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain's main civil hospital, was taken in for questioning at the headquarters of the interior ministry in Manama. He never re-emerged. No reason has been given for his arrest, nor has there been any news of his condition.

In a series of emails, passed on in the hope of drawing attention to the plight of he and his colleagues, the surgeon describes appalling scenes at Salmaniya hospital, with staff being threatened and detained in increasing numbers for treating injured democracy protesters.

"Interrogation committees question me about our role in treating the injured protesters, who are considered now criminal for protesting against the government," he said, shortly before being detained. "We said we were there to treat patients and have nothing to do with politics.

"I don't have good feeling about things going on in Bahrain. So many of our consultant surgeon and physician colleagues been arrested at pre-dawn raids and disappear."

On 17 February, at the start of the demonstrations, he wrote: "It has been a long day in the theatre with massively injured patients equivalent to a massacre. Things are still volatile and [I] hope there will be no more death."

By mid-March the situation had deteriorated rapidly: "Right now I am in the hospital exhausted and overwhelm by number of youth lethally injured casualty, it's genocide to our people and our hospital doctor and nurses are targeted for helping patients by pro government militia, so many doctors and nurses been physically attached for just attending injured one. ambulances smashed or targeted by military.

"I well leave know, marshal law imposed just few hours ago. I am grateful for what [name cut] taught me, it make it possible for me to help and save allot over the last days."

There followed a long silence before he wrote again: "Three weeks of hell. The military took control of the Salmaniya Hospital, doctors, nurses, paramedics and patients treated as suspects by soldiers and policemen. Daily interrogation and detention to some of our colleges." He added: "Very much intimidated and frighten."

The surgeon's British colleague said yesterday: "My friend is a very nice, very hardworking surgeon and totally apolitical. He was taken in for interrogation and hasn't been seen since.

"He and his colleagues have had a dreadful time. They have been proper doctors treating whoever turned up. His detention is appalling. Doctors are supposed to treat patients whoever they are, not locked up because they are caring for supposed dissidents."

John Black, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: "These reports of harassment of medical staff in the ongoing unrest in Bahrain, including surgeons trained in the UK, are deeply disturbing. The protection and care of people wounded in conflict is a basic right guaranteed by the Geneva Convention and one that every doctor or medical institution should be free to fulfill."

Michael Wilks, vice-president of the British Medical Association and a former chair of the ethics committee, said: "The Geneva Convention and international medical ethical standards are absolutely clear – punishing doctors because they are perceived to be treating patients of whom the regime disapproves is completely unacceptable."

The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Baroness Ashton, has expressed concern about the killings and beatings in Bahrain, ahead of a visit there.

Extracts from one doctor's emails

Thur 17 Feb 2011 at 9.24pm

It has been a long day in the theatre with massively injured patients equivalent to a massacre. Things are still volatile and hope there will be no more death.

Tue 1 Mar 2011 at 8.43am

I have been very busy with so many injured patients some of them very serious one.

Tue 15 Mar 2011 at 4.05pm

Right now I am in the hospital exhausted and overwhelm by number of youth lethally injured casualty, it's genocide to our people and our hospital doctor and nurses are targeted for helping patients by pro government militia, so many doctors and nurses been physically attached for just attending injured one. Ambulances smashed or targeted by military. I well leave know, marshal law imposed just few hours ago.

I need to see the kids.

I am grateful for what [name cut] taught me, it make it possible for me to help and save allot over the last days.

Fri 8 Apr 2011 at 6.42am

3 weeks of hell.

The military took control of the Salmaniya Hospital, doctors, nurses, paramedics and patients treated as suspect by soldiers and policemen daily interrogation and detention to some of our colleges.

Interrogation committees question me about our role in treating the injured protester, who are considered now criminal for protesting against the government, we said we where there to treat patients and have nothing to do with politics. I don't have good feeling about things going on in Bahrain so many of our consultant surgeon and physician colleges been arrested at pre-dawn raids and disappear.

Not only doctors, nurses paramedics, football players, university academics, dean of colleges... everybody is a suspect not sure but very much intimidated and frighten.

I have just walk up and felt of sending you this email to you, I hope this well not disturb you knowing how much you care about us.

Source: The Independent.
Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/bahrains-secret-terror-2270675.html.

Bahrain Minister Says Gulf Troops to Stay as Counter to Iran

By Vivian Salama and Camilla Hall - Apr 19, 2011

Troops from Persian Gulf nations will remain in Bahrain as a counter to Iran, the Bahraini foreign minister, Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, said in a posting on Twitter.

Bahrain declared a three-month state of emergency on March 15 after troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states arrived to help quell protests led by majority Shiite Muslims, who are calling for more democracy and civil rights.

“They are there for a mission protecting our vital institutions against foreign threat,” Sheikh Khalid told reporters yesterday in Dubai when asked about how long the Gulf troops would stay. “I cannot give you a timetable but indefinite is not in the picture now.”

Some groups have escalated their demands since protests began two months ago to include the overthrow of the Sunni Muslim rulers, the Al-Khalifa family, and the creation of a republic.

“The situation is developing positively, that may not require an extension,” the minister said yesterday when asked whether a state of emergency would continue. The law stands for three months before an extension is needed.

The minister also said yesterday that he has sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon regarding Iran’s involvement in the country’s unrest. Iran is ruled by Shiite Muslims.

Source: Bloomberg.
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/bahrain-minister-says-gulf-troops-to-stay-as-counter-to-iran-1-.html.

Gazans to hold 'state funeral' for slain Italian

Hamas government: body of Italian journalist, Arrigoni will pass through Egypt after his friends and family arrive in Gaza for his funeral.

AFP, Monday 18 Apr 2011.

Palestinians in Gaza are to hold a "state funeral" for a murdered Italian activist, Hamas said on Sunday, adding it was close to arresting all those involved in his death.

Hamas foreign affairs and planning minister Mohammed Awad told reporters that slain activist 's body would be moved to Egypt via the Rafah border crossing on Monday after a funeral in Gaza.

"We're waiting for his friends and relatives to arrive in Gaza. Some are already here but there are others we are waiting for, and then there will be a state funeral," Awad said.

"We expect afterwards that his body will be taken to the Rafah crossing and then on to Cairo, according to the wishes of his family."

Arrigoni was found hanged in an abandoned house in the north of the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, hours after he was kidnapped by a fringe, radical Salafist group.
Security forces of the Islamic movement Hamas which rules Gaza have arrested four people in connection with his murder, but Awad said some suspects remained at large in the coastal strip.

"Some suspects have been arrested but there are still some people with ties to the operation in the Gaza Strip," he said.

Awad said Hamas expected to arrest all those linked to the killing "shortly" and that security forces had set up roadblocks to ensure those tied to Arrigoni's death could not slip out of Gaza.

Arrigoni, 36, was a long-time member of the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian organization, and had been living and working in the Gaza Strip for much of the past three years.

His kidnapping marked the first of a foreigner in the Gaza Strip since the 2007 kidnap of BBC journalist Alan Johnston, who was released unharmed.

Hamas has vowed to bring Arrigoni's killers to justice, and Awad said on Sunday that the group planned to rename a street in Gaza City in the activist's honour.

Source: Ahram.
Link: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/10239.aspx.

US launches first drone attacks to break deadlock with Gaddafi

By Kim Sengupta, Defense Correspondent and Rupert Cornwell in Washington

Friday, 22 April 2011

The US is now using armed Predator drones over Libya to help the rebels in their seemingly deadlocked insurgency against the forces of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

This enlarged US involvement was disclosed yesterday by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. It follows the decision of Britain, France and Italy to send military trainers and a State Department announcement that Washington will provide $25m of equipment – not arms – for the rebels.

Mr Gates said last night that the unmanned Predators, with their ability to operate with extraordinary accuracy in urban areas, would allow for "some precision capability" against the better-equipped Gaddafi forces, and offer a "modest contribution" to NATO support for the Libyan rebels.

However, the project got off to a bad start as the first mission was scrubbed due to bad weather.

Predator drones are already used to target militants along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Their use of has been criticized by the United Nations and the Pakistani government has made repeated protests as strikes often result in civilian deaths.

Mr Gates insisted, however, that President Obama continued to be against sending US ground forces into Libya, even in the shape of trainers, to assist NATO forces. From the outset Washington, anxious not to give the impression it was leading a third war against a Muslim country, has made clear there would be no American "boots on the ground" in Libya.

"There's no wiggle room in that," the Defense Secretary added.

David Cameron echoed these concerns yesterday, insisting there is no prospect of British forces becoming part of an "occupying army" in Libya. The Prime Minister said: "We're not allowed, rightly, to have an invading army, or an occupying army."

The news comes as the British Government, growing increasingly frustrated at the reluctance of some European allies to contribute, is turning to the US for military help in its efforts to drive Colonel Gaddafi's resurgent forces out of Misrata.

The rebels in Misrata, the only significant western city still in their hands, despite an eight-week onslaught, have voiced their skepticism about the level of Western commitment. A rebel commander in the city, Amar Ahmed Husseini, said yesterday: "NATO keeps saying they will do more, but the Gaddafi men still keep firing rockets every day and our people are dying."

As loyalist forces renewed attacks on the city – with least 17 people dying yesterday, including women and children – Whitehall sources expressed frustration at the level of involvement from fellow NATO members in Europe. They said some countries had failed to make good on promises of involvement.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy nonetheless insisted the alliance was ready to step up operations in Misrata. Mr Sarkozy, who won approval in Benghazi for his early support, told the head of the opposition's provisional government, Mustafa Abdel Jalil: "We are going to intensify the attacks and respond to the request. We will help you."

But in Brussels, a NATO official, Brigadier General Mark van Uhm, stressed: "There is a limit to what can be achieved by air power to stop fighting in the city."

After a week touring European capitals to drum up support, the UK Defense Secretary, Liam Fox, is preparing to head to Washington on Monday with David Richards, Chief of the Defense Staff, in an attempt to persuade US officials that they should relax the strict limitations on their involvement.

The decision by Western powers to send military advisers was criticized by Russia, which charged that this far exceeded the mandate of the UN Security Council.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that the move could worsen the violence, resulting in "hundreds of people dying on both sides". The 17 deaths yesterday followed the deaths 24 hours earlier of the British photojournalist Tim Hetherington and US photographer Chris Hondros. The remains of the two journalists were ferried out of the city in an aid ship, along with hundreds trying to escape the violence.

The bodies will be taken to Benghazi, before being repatriated. Mr Hetherington, 41, was killed a day after he tweeted: "In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Gaddafi forces. No sign of NATO."

The revolutionaries appeared to have made an unexpected and rare advance at Libya's western frontier, where they took over the checkpoint at Wazin.

This followed dozens of regime troops, including a general, turning themselves in to Tunisian authorities.

Misrata, meanwhile, is counting the cost of defiance. At a clinic run by the Red Crescent, Dr Ibrahim Mahmoudi said: "We are getting casualties, some with severe trauma, coming in every day and this has been the pattern for quite a while.

"Even the best-equipped facilities would find it extremely difficult to cope with this, so a place like this is under intense pressure."

Regional round-up

Egypt: An Egyptian court ordered the name of the ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his wife Suzanne to be removed from all public facilities and institutions, the latest step in dismantling the legacy of the former leader's 29 years in power.

Hundreds of schools, streets, squares and libraries bear the name of the former leader or his wife, as well as a major subway station in central Cairo. Now all those will have to go, in a new blow to Mr Mubarak, who was ousted on 11 February and last week was put under detention in a hospital while he is investigated on charges of corruption and the deadly shooting of protesters.

Yemen: Yemen's embattled President could hand over power to a successor of his choice and leave within a month to resolve the country's political crisis, according to a new plan from a group of Gulf Arab nations. President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's leader of 32 years, has been clinging to power in the face of two months of massive street protests.

The proposal, revealed by a senior government official, was a second attempt to mediate the crisis by the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council. Mr Saleh's opponents called for him to step down immediately.

Syria: President Bashar al-Assad ended Syria's state of emergency yesterday in an attempt to defuse mass protests.

His announcement came ahead of what activists described as "Great Friday" protests in several Syrian cities when more people are expected to take to the streets after Friday prayers.

Thousands of Syrians have demonstrated to demand greater freedom in their police-controlled country, presenting Mr Assad with the most serious and sustained challenge of his 11-year rule. AP

Source: The Independent.
Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/us-launches-first-drone-attacks-to-break-deadlock-with-gaddafi-2272616.html.

Indonesian Navy successfully tests Russian anti-ship missile

21/04/2011

The Indonesian Navy has successfully tested a Russian-made anti-ship missile for the first time, the Antara national news agency reported on Thursday.

The Yakhont anti-ship missile was launched on Wednesday from the Van Speijk class frigate, Oswald Siahaan, during naval exercises in the Indian Ocean. Russian observers oversaw the drills, which involved 12 ships and over 1,000 personnel.

It took six minutes for the missile to cover 250 kilometers and destroy a designated target.

"The target ship was hit [by the missile] and sank," Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Iskandar Sitompul said. "We bought these missiles a long time ago, and have finally tested them."

Indonesia bought an undisclosed number of Russian SS-N-26 Yakhont supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles for $1.2-million apiece in 2007 to replace Harpoon missiles on its frigates.

The missile has a maximum range of 300 kilometers when cruising at high altitude. It flies at low level during the terminal phase, and between 5 and 15 meters in altitude.

MOSCOW, April 21 (RIA Novosti)

Source: RIA Novosti.
Link: http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20110421/163634028.html.

Libya vows to fight any foreign troops, rebuffs EU proposal

TRIPOLI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan government on Tuesday firmly rebuffed a proposal by the European Union (EU), saying it would fight any foreign troops that landed on its soil, even if they were supposedly there to escort humanitarian aid convoys, according to state-run JANA news agency.

The EU has drawn up a "concept of operations" that could include sending European troops to the besieged Libyan city of Misrata to protect aid deliveries if approved by the United Nations, although U.N. officials said they want to explore civilian options first.

The situation in Misrata is worsening day by day as the city is surrounded on all sides by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who pummeled the city with rockets, artillery, shells and cluster bombs on daily basis.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/20/c_13836538.htm.

Russia says Western support for Libyan rebels 'dangerous'

19/04/2011

The backing of Libyan rebels by Western powers could lead to further conflict in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

Speaking during a visit to the Serbian capital of Belgrade, Russia's top diplomat argued that the opposition in Yemen "refuses to sit at the negotiating table because they hope that the West will help them. This is a dangerous position and one that may lead to conflict."

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya on March 17, paving the way for a military operation against embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, which began two days later. The command of the operation was shifted from a U.S.-led international coalition to NATO in late March.

Lavrov also reiterated statements by Russia's NATO envoy, Dmitry Rogozin, who said on Monday that the actions of Western states in Libya were in contravention of the UN resolution on the North African state.

"The U.N. Security Council never aimed to topple the Libyan regime," Lavrov said. "All those who are currently using the U.N. resolution for that aim are violating the U.N. mandate."

"We urge the Security Council to encourage not confrontation, but the immediate start of talks," he went on.

Yemen has been in a state of conflict since February, when protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule broke out amid unrest across the Middle East. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds injured in a violent crackdown on protesters by security forces.

BELGRADE, April 19 (RIA Novosti)

Source: RIA Novosti.
Link: http://en.rian.ru/world/20110419/163596524.html.

Italy urges recognition of Libyan rebels

ROME, April 19 (UPI) -- Italy's foreign minister said Tuesday more nations should follow his country's lead in recognizing the anti-Gadhafi Libyan National Council.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini made the comment following talks in Rome with the council's leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Frattini said the Libyan National Council "wants to go from a Libya where you get power sitting on a tank to a Libya where you get power through the vote."

"That's what we expected and why we are convinced we were right when we recognized the CNT," he said.

According to Frattini, the CNT estimates that Gadhafi loyalists have killed 10,000 people and wounded another 55,000 since the start of the rebel uprising in February.

"The NATO air strikes are not enough to protect them," he added.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/04/19/Italy-urges-recognition-of-Libyan-rebels/UPI-36021303220446/.

French FM "totally hostile" to ground force deployment to Libya

PARIS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Tuesday that he was "totally hostile" to the idea of deploying ground force to Libya, stressing it's the responsibility of the rebels to guide the NATO bombards against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"For my part I remain totally opposed to deployment of forces on the ground," he was cited by local media as saying.

He made the statement at a meeting with local press association in Paris when asked to comment on a recent proposal by some French lawmaker that a 200-300-men special troop was in need on the ground to help Libyan rebels and to guide the coalition operation in targeting Gaddafi's force.

On Sunday, French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet estimated longer period of the foreign military operation in Libya as limited information on the objectives identified in the ground made the situation too complicated to have a quick ending.

The top French diplomat insisted that the National Transitional Council (NTC) and its troops should take the charge to do the ground job. "They can play this role without the need to deploy ground forces," Juppe said.

On March 19, France initiated the foreign intervention to create a no-fly zone in Libya backed by a UN resolution, which clearly ruled out the legitimacy of sending foreign ground troops in the African oil exporter's territory.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet Wednesday with the president of Libyan Council of National Transition, Moustapha Abdeljalil, at the Elysee Palace, the presidency said earlier in a statement.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/19/c_13836485.htm.

UN agencies provide humanitarian assistance to Libya

UNITED NATIONS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- UN agencies are providing humanitarian assistance to the people in Misrata, Libya's third- largest city, and other parts of the North African country, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said here Tuesday.

According to UN estimates, nearly half a million people had fled Libya since the beginning of hostilities in the nation in mid- February, and around 330,000 people have been internally displaced.

To ease the suffering of civilians in Libya, the World Food Program (WFP), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are trying to provide assistance in the country, particularly in areas heavily-ravaged by fighting, Haq said.

After managing to open a humanitarian corridor into western Libya, a WFP convoy of eight trucks with enough food for 50,000 people for 30 days arrived in western Libya on Monday, he said.

On Wednesday, UNICEF is expected to provide supplies including first aid kits, drinking water, water purification tablets, hygiene material and recreational material for children to 15,000 to 25,000 people in conflict-torn Misrata, the only city still partly held by rebels in government-controlled western Libya, Haq said.

Synthesizing the reports from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the WHO, the number of Libyan refugees in Tunisia was growing and the hospital in Misrata was overwhelmed, Haq added.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/20/c_13836578.htm.

Britain to fund evacuation of refugees from besieged Misrata

By Kim Sengupta in Benghazi and Oliver Wright, Whitehall Editor

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

After rescue workers were forced to turn desperate refugees away from ships in rebel-held Misrata, the British government has stepped in to fund the evacuation of another 5,000 people from the besieged Libyan city.

The International Organization of Migration, which has been organizing the evacuation ships, took another 1,000 foreign workers and wounded Libyans out of Misrata yesterday. But, amid reports that EU military forces were ready to be deployed to secure aid supplies into the country, the IOM estimates that thousands more are still stuck in the port area, among them women and children, many living in the open without access to food, water or medicine.

"We wanted to be able to take more people but it was not possible," said Jeremy Haslam, who led the IOM mission, which has been going on for days but is still far from clearing the city of civilians. "Although the exchange of fire subsided while we were boarding ... we had a very limited time to get the migrants and Libyans on board the ship and leave."

Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, said yesterday that the UK would play a leading role in getting those left behind out of Misrata, which has become the scene of the most relentless Gaddafi assault in the country. Pro-Gaddafi forces have made serious incursions into the city in recent days, although the rebels were reported to have regained a small chunk of the center yesterday.

"[The refugees] find themselves at terrible risk from incoming fire, with no way to get out," Mr Mitchell said on a visit to New York to discuss the aid mission at the United Nations. "These evacuations will take them to safety and help reduce the demand in Misrata for the very limited supplies of food, water and medical supplies available."

Migrant workers are reported to be converging on Misrata from nearby cities in the hope of escaping from the relentless bombardment. But in Benghazi yesterday Baroness Amos, the British head of the UN's humanitarian operation, admitted that, while Muammar Gaddafi's government had promised access for an aid mission during earlier talks in Tripoli, there had been no guarantee that attacks would cease in order to allow the delivery of supplies.

Libyan officials in Tripoli said that a humanitarian corridor would be set up but did not specify whether such a move would include a cessation of the violence which they characterize as defensive. Any EU force in Libya, even if designed simply to protect aid supplies, would represent a marked change in approach from the international coalition that is attempting to oust Col Gaddafi. No such force has yet been authorized by the UN. But British government sources said last night that proposals to arm the rebels had not gone away – so long as it could be done in such a way that would appear to comply with Resolution 1973.

They were skeptical about whether there was any realistic prospect of a new resolution, as mooted by French government officials at the end of last week. "We've pushed the Security Council as far as it's willing to go already," said one. "We think it is very unlikely that there will be a third resolution."

There is also pessimism over the prospects of resolving the impasse in Libya by finding a country that would be prepared to take Col Gaddafi. Reports at the weekend suggested that the allies were looking for a country in Africa which is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, and where he would be safe from extradition to face prosecution at the International Criminal Court.

A US diplomatic source said that any such deal would have to be acceptable to the rebel leadership in Benghazi. Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, chair of the Libyan Revolutionary Council, has discussed the matter with the Qatari authorities but did not have the authority to sanction any such move. Among the countries to have been informally sounded out are Chad and Mauritania.

Source: The Independent.
Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/britain-to-fund-evacuation-of-refugees-from-besieged-misrata-2269611.html.

Libya's oil company protests to OPEC about Qatar

* Libya's NOC protests to OPEC about Qatar's help for rebels
* Qatar is marketing Libyan crude on behalf of rebels
* OPEC has track record of working together despite disputes

(OPEC no comment)

LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - Libya's National Oil Corporation has protested to OPEC about help fellow member Qatar is giving to Libyan rebels, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The complaint by Shokri Ghanem, the chairman of NOC, hints at rising political tension as a result of the Libyan crisis within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps more than a third of the world's oil.

His letter to OPEC described the Qatari action as "very unfortunate," said one of the sources, who declined to be identified because the source is not authorized to speak to journalists.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 earlier this month rose above $127 a barrel, the highest in more than two and a half years, partly as a result of the conflict in Libya and resulting loss of most of its crude oil exports.

Qatar is marketing Libyan crude oil and buying fuel on behalf of the rebels -- throwing a lifeline to the forces fighting Muammar Gaddafi.

A second source familiar with the matter said NOC had complained to OPEC about Qatar, asking not to be named because of the political sensitivity of the issue. No-one from OPEC's Vienna headquarters was available to comment on Monday. OPEC has a track record of working together to limit oil supplies when it considers it necessary to support prices, even during times of political tension or war between members, such as following Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Although Saudi Arabia unilaterally adjusted supplies, the 12-member OPEC has yet to take any formal action in response to the loss of Libyan oil supplies.

The group is not scheduled to meet to reassess output policy until June.

Libya's oil output has fallen to less than 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 1.6 million bpd before the crisis, or almost 2 percent of world supply.

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE73H1LS20110418?sp=true.