Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas 'agree to end rift'

WARNING: Article contains propaganda!

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27 April 2011

The Fatah party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, which governs Gaza, have agreed a reconciliation deal, officials say.

Under the Egyptian-brokered deal, an interim government will be formed and a date fixed for elections.

The groups have been divided for more than four years, with Hamas in power in Gaza and Fatah running the West Bank.

Israel immediately said that the Palestinian Authority could not have peace with both Hamas and Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "I hope the Palestinian Authority will make the right choice - peace with Israel."

Hamas has carried out bombings and rocket attacks against Israel for years and does not recognize its right to exist.

The US responded to the news by saying that any Palestinian unity government would have to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

Thousands of Palestinians protested in Gaza this month, calling for reconciliation.

The protests were inspired by uprisings elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa.

The split between Fatah and Hamas occurred when violence erupted a year after Hamas won Palestinian elections in 2006. Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Cairo says that if the deal goes ahead, it will end the bitter hostility between the two sides and remove a significant barrier to the Palestinian campaign for statehood.

But he says there are many difficult issues to resolve - such as how the two factions will share security, how Gaza and the West Bank, separated by Israeli territory, will be governed, and whether the international donors will be willing to recognize Hamas.

Signing ceremony

At a news conference in Cairo, Fatah delegation head Azzam al-Ahmad said: "We are proud that we now possess the national will to end our divisions so we can end the occupation of Palestine... the last occupation in history."

Hamas's deputy leader, Moussa Abu Marzouk, said: "Our rift gave the occupation a chance. Today we turn a new page."

Mr Ahmad rejected Mr Netanyahu's opposition to the deal, saying: "[Mr Abbas] has said we want Hamas, Hamas is part of the Palestinian national fabric."

Hamas spokesman Tahir al-Nounou said Israel was "not concerned with Palestinian reconciliation and has been an impediment to it in the past".

He said: "The final signing will be in a week from now. Cairo will invite Mahmoud Abbas and [Hamas leader] Khaled Meshaal, and representatives from all Palestinian factions, to attend the signing."

Mr Ahmad said: "We have agreed to form a government composed of independent figures that would start preparing for presidential and parliamentary elections.

"Elections would be held in about eight months from now," he said.

Fatah and Hamas had been close to a deal last year but Hamas withdrew, saying the terms had been revised without its agreement. Mr Abbas has since been pushing for reconciliation.

The BBC's Wyre Davies in Jerusalem says the Netanyahu government has repeatedly said it will not sit down and talk about a two-state solution if Hamas is any way involved.

Mr Netanyahu told the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday: "There cannot be peace with both [Israel and Hamas] because Hamas wants to destroy Israel and says so openly. It shoots missiles at our cities, it fires anti-tank missiles at our children.

"I think that the idea of reconciliation shows the weakness of the Palestinian Authority and raises the question whether Hamas will take over Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] as it has taken over the Gaza Strip."

US National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said: "The United States supports Palestinian reconciliation on terms which promote the cause of peace.

"Hamas, however, is a terrorist organization which targets civilians. To play a constructive role in achieving peace, any Palestinian government must... renounce violence, abide by past agreements, and recognize Israel's right to exist."

Violence between Israel and militant groups in Gaza escalated this March following a rocket attack on an Israeli school bus that killed a teenage boy.

Israel also launched a full-scale ground operation - named Cast Lead - in the Gaza Strip that began in December 2008 and ended in January 2009.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13215062.

Palestine condemns attack on embassy in Algeria

By Nasouh Nazzal, Correspondent
April 27, 2011

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) issued a statement on Wednesday strongly condemning the attack on the Palestine Embassy in Algeria.

Ramallah: The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) issued a statement on Wednesday strongly condemning the attack on the Palestine Embassy in Algeria, in which the Palestinian Ambassador sustained knife injuries.

The Palestinian authorities have said they are monitoring the situation in Algeria and coordinating with the authorities there to ensure that justice is done and the three attackers are punished as per Algerian law.

According to the statement issued by the MoFA, the Palestinian Ambassador to Algeria, Hussain Abdul Khaleq, sustained injuries while he was in his office at the embassy on Monday.

Bad image

The statement said the attack gave a bad image to the Palestinian cause and the diplomatic work put in by the occupied Arab state. However, the attack would not impact the strong brotherly relations between Palestine and Algeria, the statement added.

The ministry and the Palestinian Embassy in Algeria considered the attack as attempted murder against Abdul Khaleq and his embassy crew.

Hired assassins

The ministry alleged the attackers were three hired assassins and said they came to the Embassy premises ostensibly on some official business but, once inside, drew out long knives and went straight to the office of the Ambassador.

The Ambassador was with guests and embassy officials who all tried to overpower his attackers. Abdul Khaleq was injured and later rushed to hospital for treatment.

The ministry said the incident was immediately reported to the Algerian and Palestinian authorities and the attackers would be punished for their crime.

Source: Gulf News.
Link: http://gulfnews.com/news/region/palestinian-territories/palestine-condemns-attack-on-embassy-in-algeria-1.799913.

Morocco: Bomb that killed 15 set off remotely

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Apr 29, 2011

MARRAKECH, Morocco: Morocco’s interior minister said Friday that initial results show that the bomb that killed 15 people in a square popular with foreigners was packed with nails and was set off remotely.

While the Interpol, the international police agency, had called Thursday’s attack on a crowded tourist cafe in a historic Marrakech square a suspected suicide bombing, the minister Taieb Cherqaoui dispute this.

“This was not a suicide attack ... and it appears the bomb was set of remotely,” Cherqaoui told a meeting of government commission in Rabat.

He said the bomb contained aluminum nitrate among other components.

Cherqaoui’s remarks were carried by the official MAP news agency.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement earlier that the death toll from Thursday’s bombing was 15, and that seven of the dead have been identified. More than 20 people were wounded. Most of those killed were foreigners.

No one has claimed responsibility for Morocco’s deadliest attack since 2003.

The powerful blast at the Argana cafe struck the heart of the central Moroccan city’s bustling old quarter, in Djemma el-Fna square, one of the top attractions in a country that depends heavily on tourism.

Government spokesman Khalid Naciri has told the AP it was too soon to lay blame, but he noted that that Morocco regularly dismantles cells linked to Al-Qaeda and has disrupted several plots.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article377579.ece.

Thousands of Moroccans abandon their citizenship and flee to Algeria

28 April, 2011

Thousands of people in the Moroccan region of "M'hamid El Ghozlane", located on the border strip near the province of Bechar, began to travel in groups to Algeria, leaving their Moroccan citizenship before being surrounded by the royal army and gendarme a few meters from the Algerian border.

According to information in our possession, these residents had already appealed to the government and the king for their social and political demands are taken into consideration, such as corruption, social justice and regional balance in development operations. A group of activists of human rights and former politicians have joined them in M'hamid El Ghozlane to support them.

Pictures and videos, of which Ennahar detains copies, show hundreds of families consisting of elderly women, youth and children, who had traveled the night of the day before in the region of M’hamid el Ghozlane, in the Zakoura region near the province of Bechar, waving banners and chanting slogans expressing their abandonment of their Moroccan citizenship and desire to go into exile in Algeria.

According to the latest reports from the region, Moroccan military vehicles and police surrounded Laribia area where these people were grouped in order to prevent them from joining the Algerian territory.

A great tension is prevailing in the border area between Algeria and Morocco.

The movement of February 20, instigator of the protests which call for reforms and a change of regime in Morocco has expressed its solidarity with the people of M’hamid El Ghozlane. Note that the "Caravan of Travelers" is some tens of meters of the Algerian territory.

Ennahar / Ismail Fellah

Source: Ennahar.
Link: http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/international/6394.html.

Libyan youth find new voices in the media

Tuesday, 03 May 2011

By MUNA KHAN
Al Arabiya with Agencies

Benghazi is more than just the de facto capital of Libya’s rebel forces. It is the nerve center of the newspapers and magazines that are mushrooming here as a new generation of entrepreneurs enjoys the freedom of airing their voices long suppressed by Muammar Qaddafi’s regime.

Ahmed Al-Jahmy, 27, is one example of that voice. The son of a prominent pro-democracy activist who died after falling into a coma while jailed in solitary confinement, Mr. Jahmy is a political reporter at Panorama, a multilingual weekly newspaper.

“My father had many principles that I hope to advance,” the young man, dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt, told Agence-France Presse. He appeared nervous as he looked around during the interview, not wholly convinced that the new freedom actually existed.

“Don’t speak so loudly, you just don’t know,” he reprimanded his colleague Ziad who was discussing whether fundamentalism could gain ground in Libya’s moderate Muslim society.

“There was no freedom of expression before,” Mr. Jahmy told AFP with an apologetic smile.

“Under Mr. Qaddafi there was no way of starting a newspaper without security clearance, and every newspaper had to have [the leader’s] Green Book slogans at the top of the front page,” he said.

The two main newspapers during Colonel Qaddafi’s regime in Benghazi were the state owned Akhbar Benghazi and Al-Qurayna, which were under the grip of Mr. Qaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam.

“The press before was all by Qaddafi and [made] him look like an angel,” said 20-year-old Miehad Mahana, an engineering and architecture student turned English editor.

“Now we can say whatever we want and we want the world to hear us: we don’t want Mr. Qaddafi. We win or we die. We want to show the world the brave Libya that is willing to die to be free,” she told AFP.

Panorama will release its second edition on May 3 and is the labor of love of 22 young Libyans, all under 30, “who worked countless hours to produce a publication containing articles in Arabic, English, French and Italian” according to AFP.

The first 2,000 copies cost them “575 dinars exactly” [$947.5] which the team financed themselves but they will soon have to put a price on the publication or find funding as it may prove difficult to sustain it.

“We want to show the real Libya... the poverty despite oil profits and all the problems that are a fall-out from Qaddafi: the high unemployment, the corruption, our polluted coastline,” said Ziad.

“The collapse of censorship,” he added, “opened many doors.”

However, social mores still set some barriers “with values such as women’s modesty pushing their female colleagues to return home early or women to refuse being photographed,” reported AFP.

“When a woman is taking the picture it is more comfortable for women because of our culture and religion but some still do not accept to be photographed and we respect that,” said 21-year-old Rona Issam Quleissa, the team’s photographer.

The newly liberated Libyan media entrepreneurs are, however, still learning on the job about the mechanisms of the media—be it printing costs or distribution issues to fact-checking and media ethics.

But their efforts are not going un-noticed. An older generation of intellectuals—“who still recall their own secretive student meetings underscored by the fear that Mr. Qaddafi’s revolutionary committees would eavesdrop or barge in to blow them up”—appreciates the efforts.

“Anyone can start a newspaper now, but most people doing this are young, and that’s a real pleasure to see,” said Ramadan Jabrou, a Benghazi-based lawyer and writer.

“There is a sense of initiative, a new mindset. Never mind the materials—they are doing it,” said writer and diplomat Idris Tayeb Lamin.

“Before the revolution I don’t think I saw my son read a newspaper once, but now he leaves home at eight in the morning and comes back at one the next morning because he’s working on a magazine,” he added.

Mr. Lamin’s son, Yussef works for Ashab (Friends), a 32-page magazine which covers an array of topics—from the serious to the light-hearted—written in a dialect “by young people for young people” reports AFP.

“We write in dialect and slang so that people can relate to it because people were sick of the formal language of the regime,” said Yussef.

Most of the magazine’s 16 staff is aged 17 to 24 years.

“There's a blast of motivation and ambition to meet our goals,” said the 23-year-old Mohammed Bozeid editor.

What is the one headline Ashab hopes to publish next?

“The fall of Qaddafi.”

Source: al-Arabiya.
Link: http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/05/03/147699.html.

Car explosion hits Libyan rebel city of Benghazi

BENGHAZI, LIBYA, May 3 (Xinhua) -- A car explosion occurred near the Tahrir square of the Libyan rebels' stronghold of Benghazi on Tuesday. No casualties during the explosion.

The wreckage of the exploded car scattered around the scene, and several pick-up trucks and cars nearby suffered severe damage, Xinhua correspondent witnessed.

Local security forces were dismantling and clearing the wreckage when Xinhua correspondent arrived at the scene. While hundreds of local citizens still gathered at the scene, taking photos and videos by their mobile phones.

Libya has been witnessing nation-wide unrest for more than two months after the anti-government protests broke out in mid February, which demand leader Muammar Gaddafi to end his 42-year rule.

The ground fighting between insurgents and the Libyan government troops has immersed in a stalemate for weeks, and the frontline is now between Brega and Ajdabiyah, some more than 100 kilometers west to Benghazi.

Thousands of people usually rally at the square every day and night since the anti-government protests broke out in the city firstly. The courthouse, the headquarters of the rebels, is also located on the square.

The cause of the explosion is unknown up to now, according the rebel official sources.

However, some witnesses claimed that the huge blast was a car bombing made by Gaddafi supporters. Meanwhile, some other local citizens told reporters that it was just an accident due to the home-made explosive for fishing in the car.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/04/c_13857659.htm.

Libyans panic over expired gas masks

Monday, 2 May 2011
By Daniel Howden in Benghazi

An urgent appeal for gas masks to be sent to the residents of Misrata has been delayed after supplies in Benghazi were found to have expired and be useless. Unconfirmed reports yesterday that pro-Gaddafi forces who are surrounding the port city have been seen wearing masks prompted an urgent appeal to Libya's interim government in Benghazi.

But a source who has been shipping food, medicine and weapons to Misrata said stocks of masks in Benghazi were out of date. “They have been asking for them but the ones here are useless, they have expired,” said the source.

The scramble to find gas masks comes after forces loyal to Col. Gaddafi issued an ultimatum to the rebels defending the city to surrender by midnight tonight. There have been fears that the regime will commit further atrocities in the wake of the alleged death of one of Col. Gaddafi's sons – Saif al-Arab - in a NATO airstrike on Tripoli on Saturday.

“We know he has chemical weapons and he is capable of anything,” said Jalal al-Gallal, a spokesman for the provisional national council in Benghazi, last night. “We will send anything we have but right now we don't have enough masks for even a fraction of people in Benghazi.”

Meanwhile a vessel carrying humanitarian aid was forced to wait outside Misrata yesterday while NATO ships swept the approach to the port for mines. NATO minesweepers searched the approaches of Misrata harbor yesterday for a drifting mine that has blocked aid supplies to the besieged Libyan city and halted evacuation of foreigners and wounded Libyans.

The alliance destroyed two of three mines on Friday but fears remain that more may have been laid. "A third mine drifted free before specialized ships could arrive," NATO said in a statement. "NATO mine hunters are now working to locate and destroy this mine and to scan the area for any further possible threats."

The International Organization for Migration, which has been evacuating people from the port said at least one mine was still visible between its ship and the harbor. "We will wait until Tuesday noon," IOM spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy. "We are still hoping that things will improve."

Witnesses in the city where hundreds of people have been killed by indiscriminate shelling said that sporadic rocket fire continued until yesterday afternoon. Coalition airstrikes and a fierce Libyan resistance force on the ground have force Gaddafi loyalists from the city center.

However, concentrated fire on the port area has succeeded in temporarily cutting Misrata's lifeline to the outside world.

Source: The Independent.
Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/libyans-panic-over-expired-gas-masks-2278115.html.

UN humanitarian operations continue in Libya: spokesman

UNITED NATIONS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- UN humanitarian operations are continuing in Libya after 12 UN international staff fled Tripoli due to unrest in the capital, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said here Monday.

The 12 staffers were redeployed to support operations in western Libya from Tunisia. "The UN is exploring ways to re-enter the Libyan capital as soon as possible," said Nesirky.

According to the spokesman, the UN compound in Tripoli was ransacked. While some UN vehicles were taken, no staff were hurt.

More than 665,000 people have now fled Libya and as of Sunday, more than 12,000 people were evacuated from the rebel-held city of Misrata, reports the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy for Libya Abdulilah Al-Khatib is expected to brief the UN Security Council on the situation in Libya later this week.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/03/c_13855739.htm.

Libyan refugees flee fighting by land and sea

By Lin Noueihed
TRIPOLI | Tue May 3, 2011

(Reuters) - Fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi is forcing thousands of refugees to flee western Libya on foot to the Tunisian border and by boat to Europe, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Rebels said they expected billions of dollars in credit soon from Western governments to feed and supply their territories in the east and support their campaign against Gaddafi.

Refugees fleeing western Libya have said the danger of starvation is growing in some besieged towns. Zintan has been heavily shelled, and aid deliveries to the port of Misrata have been hindered by artillery fire and a mine near the harbor entrance.

Rebel spokesmen said fighting had flared again in Misrata's eastern suburbs, near the port that provides the besieged city with a lifeline to the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

"Fighting is taking place in the area of Bourouia. The (pro-Gaddafi) brigades are trying to enter the Tamina area, east of the city," one spokesmen, Reda, told Reuters by telephone.

Gaddafi, who seized power in a 1969 coup, has not been seen in public since a NATO missile attack on Saturday on a house in Tripoli which officials say he survived but which killed his youngest son and three grandchildren.

U.S. intelligence officials believe Gaddafi is still alive. "(The) best intelligence we have is that he's still alive," CIA Director Leon Panetta told NBC television.

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said an exodus from the Western Mountains region had resumed, with Libyan families fleeing into southern Tunisia.

"This past weekend, more than 8,000 people, most of them ethnic Berbers, arrived in Dehiba in southern Tunisia. Most are women and children," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news briefing in Geneva. Tens of thousands have already fled.

A violent sandstorm that battered the area had made the situation more difficult.

The Dehiba crossing point has changed hands several times in the last week, with fighting spilling over onto Tunisian soil.

"UNHCR and our partners are struggling to maintain nearby camps. The storm has destroyed hundreds of tents and two huge portable warehouses," Edwards said.

ECONOMY IN TATTERS

"Most of the Libyan refugees are leaving Libya in tribal groups. Many are choosing to stay in the camps for a few days before moving on to stay with Tunisian families," he said.

Meanwhile, more people have been fleeing Libya by sea to Italy, after a 10-day break due to bad weather. Some 3,200 have arrived on the island of Lampedusa over the past five days, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa, according to the UNHCR.

Ali Tarhouni, head of the rebel national council's finance committee, said he expected France, Italy and the United States to extend credit secured against frozen Libyan state assets. Money should arrive in a week to ten days.

"I need about $2-3 billion and we are hoping to get most or all of this," Tarhouni told reporters in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

With Libya's economy in tatters after more than two months of civil war, funds to pay for food, medicine and the state salaries on which most people depend are running low.

The insurgents had been hoping for a swift overthrow of Gaddafi but his better-trained and better-equipped militias halted the rebel advance west and forced a stalemate in the fighting that could last for months.

"We are still discovering different segments that need to be paid that we thought were paid," said Tarhouni. "At every single moment another need arises in terms of food, medicine and in terms of people who are injured."

Supplies of fuel vital to keeping eastern towns supplied and maintain the military campaign against Gaddafi are also tight.

Like anti-Gaddafi groups in other parts of Libya, rebels in the Western Mountains want more help from Western warplanes, empowered by a U.N. resolution to attack government forces to protect civilians.

Critics say NATO has already overstepped its mandate with Saturday night's attack on the Tripoli house. NATO insists it targets only military installations and was not attempting to assassinate the Libyan leader.

NATO minesweepers searched the approaches of Misrata harbor

on Monday for a drifting mine blocking aid supplies.

A NATO statement said the alliance had destroyed two of three mines laid by government forces. It said the mines were small and hard to detect but capable of doing serious damage.

The International Organization for Migration said an aid ship was still waiting off Misrata for bombing to stop and mines to be cleared before it tried to deliver supplies and evacuate some 1,000 foreigners and wounded Libyans.

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Tarek Amara and Abdelaziz Boumzar in Dehiba, Deepa Babington and Michael Georgy in Benghazi, Maher Nazeh and Larbi Louafi in Tripoli, Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers, Mariam Karouny in Beirut, and Missy Ryan in Washington; writing by Andrew Roche and Ralph Boulton; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/03/us-libya-idUSTRE7270JP20110503.

Red Cross flies home five Libyans released by rebels

* Rebels release five Libyans it says were Gaddafi soldiers
* ICRC says they were civilians who it flew home to Tripoli

GENEVA, April 30 (Reuters) - Rebels freed five Libyans on Saturday, who they said were soldiers loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which said the five were civilians, flew them home to Tripoli.

Libyan rebels in Benghazi announced the move on Wednesday, saying their release was a goodwill gesture aimed at boosting their credibility internationally.

"To the best of our knowledge these five were not members of the Libyan armed forces. As far as we are concerned, they are civilians," ICRC spokeswoman Anna Nelson told Reuters.

"They are Libyan civilians who were arrested by the armed opposition and visited by the ICRC in the framework of the detention visits carried out in Benghazi," she said. "They were met by their families in Tripoli and able to go home with them."

The neutral humanitarian agency, which said it had visited more than 200 detainees in the rebels' custody over the past two months, renewed its appeal to be able to visit prisoners held by Libyan government forces.

"We hope that the ICRC in Tripoli will soon be able to start visiting detainees in the western part of the country," said Samuel Emonet, in charge of its detainee-welfare activities in Libya.

The Geneva-based ICRC shares its confidential findings on the treatment of prisoners and their conditions of detention only with detaining authorities, in exchange for access to prisoners caught up in conflicts worldwide.

"The ICRC stands ready to continue acting as a neutral intermediary between the National Transitional Council and the Libyan government to provide humanitarian services such as transferring released detainees and delivering emergency aid for civilians across frontlines," it said in a statement. (Editing by Louise Ireland)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE73T07X20110430.

Evacuees flee Misrata for Benghazi

BEIJING,April 29 (Xinhuanet) -- International efforts are continuing to evacuate people stranded in Libya's conflict. On Thursday, dozens of wounded and over 850 displaced workers fled shelling from Misrata and arrived in Benghazi.

An international aid ship carrying migrant workers and wounded civilians from Misrata docked in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Migrant workers, mostly from Niger, were taken to the Egyptian border for repatriation.

Libyan government troops resumed shelling overnight in the besieged rebel city of Misrata, where aid ships bring in emergency supplies and evacuate the wounded.

This boat was grounded for almost a day after coming under fire from Gaddafi's troops.

Dr. Jibril Al-Howeidi, said, "The boat waited around 24 hours in the port because of shelling by government forces. We were not even able to move the wounded. But thankfully, doctors were able to deliver all of the wounded safely to Benghazi, where they are being treated in hospitals."

Among the wounded was a young man whose leg had been broken from the shelling.

Injured victim Salah said, "Gaddafi's forces struck Misrata with tank shells, and rockets. A tank shell hit us. My brother and my friend were both killed, and I was hit with shrapnel here. The situation there is awful."

Aid agencies and human rights groups have warned of a growing humanitarian crisis in Misrata, while NATO has publicly acknowledged it needs to do more to protect civilians in the city.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/video/2011-04/29/c_13851647.htm.

UN special envoy travels to Benghazi to meet with Libyan opposition officials: UN spokesperson

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon's special envoy to Libya has traveled to Benghazi, an opposition stronghold in the east of the country, to meet with representatives of the Libyan opposition, a UN spokesperson said here on Friday, without giving any further details.

"On Thursday, the special envoy (Abdul Ilah Al-Khatib) met in Ankara with the Turkish foreign minister and in Rome with the Italian foreign minister to discuss the ongoing crisis in Libya in the framework of the implementation of Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973," Martin Nesirky, the UN spokesperson, said at a daily press briefing.

UN Security Council Resolution 1970 imposed an arms embargo against Libya and slapped sanctions on members of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's inner circle. Resolution 1973 authorized a no- fly zone over Libya.

Next week, Al-Khatib will brief the Security Council about his activities in support of a peaceful solution for the Libyan conflict, Nesirky said.

Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has said it remains " very concerned" that people fleeing Libya could be caught in the crossfire, as government and opposition forces fight for control in the border area with Tunisia, Nesirky added.

Clashes have escalated at the Dehiba border crossing between Libya and Tunisia, stopping the outflow of refugees from Libya's western mountains, UNHCR reported.

On Thursday, the World Food Program (WFP) warned that Libya is at risk of a full-blown food security crisis within the next 45 to 60 days.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/30/c_13852426.htm.

Amr Moussa: Palestinian reconciliation will pressure Israel

Wed, 04/05/2011

Palestinian reconciliation leaves Israel with no excuse for not engaging more seriously in peace negotiations, outgoing Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said Wednesday.

In an interview published in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, a London-based newspaper, Moussa said the Arab League will support the implementation of the Palestinian reconciliation on the ground.

Palestinian factions yesterday signed a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah that Hamas had signed last week. Egypt helped broker the agreement, which was signed in Cairo.

Moussa said he thinks Israel does not welcome the agreement because it will unify Palestinian negotiators and prevent Israel from claiming that all Palestinians are not properly represented in negotiations.

After the agreement, Hamas can no longer be labeled a terrorist organization, he said.

Moussa said he hopes the reconciliation is genuine, saying it is the quickest way to establish a Palestinian state. He said the will of the Palestinian people resisting Israel will guarantee Palestinian unity.

Moussa also told the paper that an upcoming emergency meeting for Arab foreign ministers will emphasize the need to recognize the legitimate demands of Arab nations to develop their countries and to avoid violence against protesters.

He also said he hopes the Libyan conflict between the government and rebels will not lead to the disintegration of the country.

Demands from both sides are preventing a resolution to the conflict, he said.

The upcoming Arab Summit will likely be postponed because protests in Arab countries will keep many Arab leaders at home, making any potential resolution less powerful, Moussa said.

Source: al-Masry al-Youm.
Link: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/423351.

Egypt Testing Solar Power Plant

- Amal Hasson
Tuesday, 03 May 2011

Global Arab Network - Experimental operation of Egypt’s solar-thermal power plant in Kuraimat, about 90 km south of Cairo, starts this week in preparation for getting it to work at full capacity by the end of 2011, the undersecretary of the ministry of electricity said Tuesday 26/4/2011.

The 2 billion EGP plant, the fourth of its kind in the world, is scheduled to generate 140 megawatts.

In order to face up to growing demand on electricity, the ministry plans to generate an additional 58,000 megawatts by 2027, he remarked.

The government plans to use clean energy resources to contribute by 20 percent to the country's generated power, he added.

Energy Cooperation

Egyptian Electricity and Energy Minister Dr. Hassan Younis said that a number of procedures have been taken for activating cooperation with the Nile Basin countries and maintaining joint interests that serve the development process in the basin member-states. These procedures include establishing joint companies in the field of producing, transforming and distributing electricity.

He confirmed that the power linking with the Nile Basin countries, utilizing renewable energies especially the solar energy, is one of the fruits of joint cooperation between the Nile Basin countries.

Power Network

Electricity and Energy Minister Dr. Hassan Younis confirmed that the power network in the north and south of Sinai is stable and that it is a part of the national grid, so it was not affected by an attack against a gas pipeline in Arish.

He also confirmed that all power plants are operating with high efficiency as they depend in their operation on natural gas as a main source, and diesel and fuel oil as a reserve source.

Source: Global Arab Network.
Link: http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/2011050310890/Energy/egypt-testing-solar-thermal-power-plant-fuelling-energy-sector.html.

Bedouins block Sinai highway to demand prisoners' release

Tue, 03/05/2011

Dozens of armed Bedouins on Wednesday blocked a Sinai highway to call for the release of their imprisoned relatives, a security source has said.

Armed Bedouins in cars blocked an intersection on the Ras Sudr-Sharm el-Sheikh highway near the city of Abu Zneen to push for the release of their relatives, the source said.

Authorities had promised to release the protesters' relatives a few days ago, the source said. Security and military authorities are currently trying to disperse the protesters and reopen the road to traffic.

During former President Hosni Mubarak's reign, Bedouins voiced concerns about random arrests and a lack of development projects in the Sinai.

Egyptian police have consistently accused Bedouins of smuggling arms into Gaza and African migrants across Israeli border.

Tens of thousands of Bedouins staged protests during the 25 January revolution to call for solutions to unemployment in North Sinai and the release of Bedouins arrested four years ago without trial.

Source: al-Masry al-Youm.
Link: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/422200.