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Sunday, May 15, 2011

Ahmadinejad's tenure threatened

TEHRAN, April 29 (UPI) -- Several Iranian lawmakers announced they were calling for the impeachment of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad amid Cabinet disputes.

Twelve members of the Iranian Parliament called for Ahmadinejad's impeachment, reports Radio Zamaneh, a Persian-language broadcaster in the Netherlands. Parliamentary laws stipulate that at least 10 members must sign a demand for impeachment before the matter is processed by the speaker.

Conservative members of the Iranian Parliament said Ahmadinejad wasn't following the orders of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The ruling cleric is said to have opposed a move by the president to accept the resignation of the country's intelligence minister.

Ahmadinejad issued a presidential order dismissing Manouchehr Mottaki from the position of foreign minister while Mottaki was on an official trip to Senegal in December.

Khamenei reportedly tried to block Ahmadinejad from firing Mottaki, though he had long been on the president's list of potential replacements.

The Wall Street Journal as far back as November cited unspecified "reports of challenges" to Ahmadinejad's tenure.

The reports said some lawmakers think his Cabinet "must be held accountable" to Iranian lawmakers for a "lack of transparency" that is hurting the Islamic republic.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/04/29/Ahmadinejads-tenure-threatened/UPI-11001304097630/.

Jordan king welcomes Palestinian reconciliation

May 4, 2011

AMMAN — Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday hailed a unity accord between Fatah and Hamas movements, offering his country's support for the creation of a Palestinian state.

"The king welcomed the reconciliation agreement, which should end division and unite the Palestinian people," the state-run Petra news agency quoted the monarch as telling a Palestinian delegation from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"Jordan will always support the Palestinians politically and economically, particularly in the coming stage, until an independent Palestinian state is created on Palestinian land."

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal buried the hatchet at a Cairo ceremony on Wednesday, ending a nearly four-year feud between the administrations in the West Bank and Gaza, and restoring the unity shattered by deadly infighting in June 2007.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

No displaced Syrians in Jordan - gov't

By Taylor Luck

AMMAN - The government on Monday denied the presence of displaced Daraa residents in Jordan as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was unable to confirm the death of a Jordanian citizen in the besieged Syrian city.

Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications and Government Spokesperson Taher Odwan denied media and eyewitness reports that Syrians are currently being hosted by families in northern Jordan.

“To our knowledge, a handful of Syrians arrived in Jordan on Thursday, took supplies and returned to Daraa on Friday,” Odwan told The Jordan Times over the phone yesterday.

“There are no displaced Syrians in Jordan.”

Authorities are not preparing any centers to receive potential families fleeing violence in Daraa, Odwan said, stressing that security services have stepped up monitoring at the Kingdom’s borders.

According to eyewitnesses, schools in the villages of Thneiba and Shajara were equipped with mattresses, milk and water on Thursday due to an influx of up to 20 Syrian families who crossed into Jordan on foot.

Meanwhile, the government enforced yesterday a one-kilometer exclusion zone around the Ramtha border crossing, restricting the area to designated passenger movement.

The move was aimed at the growing number of international media outlets gathering at the border gates, which Odwan claimed was disrupting the flow of Jordanian military vehicles and border police.

Also on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it was following up on the fate of Abdul Latif Washahi, a Jordanian citizen residing in Daraa who allegedly was killed during protests last month.

Washahi’s family learned of his death after viewing photographs of his body on a Syrian opposition group website, which claimed that the 36-year-old died at the hands of the Syrian police during clashes in the city on April 25.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammed Al Kayed said the government has contacted Syrian authorities and the embassy in Damascus regarding Washahi’s fate.

If confirmed, the death would mark the first Jordanian fatality in the ongoing violent crackdown in the Syrian city, located five kilometers from the border city of Ramtha.

According to Odwan, the potential death of a Jordanian citizen will not affect the relations between the two countries, stressing that the Kingdom has no stance on its northern neighbor's “internal matters”.

“We support a secure and stable Syria and wish them success in their reform process,” Odwan said.

3 May 2011

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=37086.

Jordanian Islamist endorses Syrian protest wave

By REUTERS
Apr 29, 2011

BEIRUT: A prominent Jordanian Islamist who inspired Al-Qaeda in Iraq has endorsed protests in Syria, saying the overthrow of President Bashar Al-Assad would be a step toward implementing Sharia law.

Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi, spiritual mentor of the late Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi who led Al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq, said all Muslims had a duty to join protests against Assad’s 11-year authoritarian rule.

“Just as the fall of the regime is necessary for someone calling for democracy, it is also necessary for someone calling for application of Sharia,” Maqdisi said in a statement on the website Pulpit of Tawhid and Jihad.

Maqdisi, currently in jail in Jordan, was responding to a question about the legitimacy of Muslims joining demonstrations which have focused on demands for greater democratic rights rather than on an Islamist agenda.

“The fall of this regime could lead to the establishment of a democratic regime as many of the demonstrators are demanding. But this could lead to opening up freedom to preach... and then demanding implementation of Sharia,” he said.

“As for participating in these protests, it is a duty for every Muslim who is able to do so.”

Maqdisi was a major influence on Zarqawi, who led Al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq before he was killed by a US bombing in 2006. But Maqdisi distanced himself from the indiscriminate killing of Shiite civilians committed by Zarqawi’s supporters. Syria’s exiled Muslim Brotherhood has called on Syrians to take to the streets on Friday and help the besieged southern city of Daraa.

Unlike the jihadist ideologue Maqdisi, the Brotherhood says it is committed to “pluralism and the ballot box.” Its leader Mohammad Riad Shaqfa told Reuters this month he sought “civic rule with Islam as a reference.”

The Brotherhood and pro-democracy activists deny accusations by authorities that militant Islamists were behind the unrest.

A Syrian rights group said on Thursday at least 500 people had been killed in the protests against Assad, whose minority Alawite family has ruled over Syria — a mainly Sunni Muslim country — for 41 years.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article377163.ece.

Lower House panel approves construction of military academy

By Hana Namrouqa

AMMAN - Jordan's main environment watchdog on Wednesday decried a Lower House panel’s decision to approve the construction of a military academy in Bergesh Forest although the site has been relocated.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) said the project will entail the uprooting of 300 centennial trees and the destruction of ecosystems and wildlife habitats.

The RSCN said the Lower House committee looking into the construction of the academy in Bergesh, located some 90 kilometers northwest of the capital in Ajloun Governorate, has approved construction of the project.

But MP Saleh Wreikat, who heads the House Water and Agriculture Committee, said the project had been relocated and no centennial trees would be uprooted in the new site.

Confirming yesterday that the panel approved the project, he said the plot of land contains no trees, “except for a passage that includes less than a hundred non-centennial forest trees".

"The Jordan Armed Forces proposed several locations in Bergesh… but the committee rejected them because they involved the uprooting of several trees," Wreikat told The Jordan Times yesterday.

Following several deliberations, a plot of land that is not state-owned or planted with centennial trees was agreed upon, and thus the project has been approved, he added.

According to the RSCN, the project would violate several laws.

"If the project continues, it will be in clear violation of Article 35, paragraph B of the Agriculture Law, which forbids uprooting, damaging or violating any centennial or rare forest trees and threatened wild plants," said the statement that was e-mailed to The Jordan Times yesterday.

In addition, the project will also be in violation of Article 13 of the Environment Protection Law, which in paragraph A, obliges all under construction projects that could affect the environment to prepare an environment impact assessment (EIA) and refer it to the concerned ministry, the statement said.

Paragraph B of the same article stipulates that the minister has the right to ask any institution whose activities could affect the environment to carry out an EIA for its projects if required.

According to Wreikat, an EIA had been conducted on the new site and was in the project’s favor.

The RSCN said it is aware of the benefits of investments in generating job opportunities.

"But we are also aware of what it means to leave issues unregulated or governed by ambiguous conditions which do not satisfy the demands of parties that consider the protection of the environment as their main priority," the statement indicated.

The UN has declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests with the aim of spreading awareness and achieving sustainable management of forests around the world, the RSCN said.

"Would our first initiative in the International Year of Forests be demolishing and damaging our forests?" the statement said.

The RSCN warned against environmental consequences if the project is implemented and called on the project supervisors to select a different location within Ajloun Governorate to avoid cutting down even one tree.

According to Wreikat, a written commitment between the Lower House committee and the Jordan Armed Forces ensures that no forest trees will be uprooted during the construction process and that in return for every uprooted tree, 100 trees will be planted around the construction site.

The green cover in Bergesh is 90 per cent, according to the RSCN, which noted that the forest represents an integrated ecosystem and is home to over 100 plant species, 13 per cent of them rare, 4 per cent locally and internationally threatened and 13 per cent with medicinal value.

Work on the project was halted earlier this year when the Ministry of Environment requested an EIA after several environmental NGOs objected to the original site of the academy, which entailed uprooting 2,200 trees including oak, pistachio, hawthorn and strawberry.

28 April 2011

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=36939.

Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood Asks Assad to Stop Violence in Syria

By Nayla Razzouk - Apr 27, 2011

Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop using force against protesters and to listen to their pro-democracy demands.

“We strongly condemn the use of violence that has left hundreds of martyrs and injured people among the heroic Syrian protesters,” it said in a statement posted on its website. “We ask the Syrian president to respond to the demands of the people for real and serious political reform.” The Syrian regime should “stop monopolizing power in the hand of a single party and one group and move toward a multiparty political system.”

Syria’s government has deployed tanks in cities where rallies have continued to take place and clashes have left hundreds of people dead and scores detained, according to rights groups including Human Rights Watch.

The regime has accused “terrorist gangs,” Islamists and foreign forces that it didn’t identify of seeking to destabilize the rule of the secular Baath party. Government officials and the state-run media say Syria has been targeted because of its anti-Israel stand.

Syrian officials have accused local “armed gangs” of receiving foreign weapons and money from places such as near the flash-point southern city of Daraa, close to the Jordanian border. While Jordanian officials said yesterday that Syria had shut their common border crossings, the Syrian government and foreign reporters on the Jordanian side said the crossings were open, though vehicles rarely venture into the area.

In 1982, Assad’s father, then-President Hafez al-Assad, crushed a rebellion led by Sunni Muslim militants in the city of Hama, killing as many as 10,000 people, according to estimates cited by Human Rights Watch. The current outbreak of unrest is the most serious since then.

Source: Bloomberg.
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-27/jordan-s-muslim-brotherhood-asks-assad-to-stop-violence-in-syria.html.

W.A.S.H. Keeps Communities Clean

By Naimul Haq

DHAKA, Apr 23, 2011 (IPS) - One sunny afternoon, 19-year-old Sufia Aktar presides over a courtyard gathering of housewives discussing the use of safe water, a hygienic environment, and personal cleanliness. It is the last of such gatherings for Sufia, who will soon leave, knowing it was "mission accomplished."

Sufia is a full-time program assistant for WASH, short for "water, sanitation and hygiene," a campaign to get people to adopt hygienic practices, ensure their access to safe drinking water, and bring their homes under sanitation coverage.

Over a period of five years since the program started in May 2006, Sufia has been attending six meetings every day, six days a week. She has covered 33,000 cluster meetings for housewives, 600 for adolescents and 300 for children.

"Everyone shows tremendous enthusiasm as they experience the benefits of the discussions," said Sufia, sitting next to a clay home in Kholapara village in Kaliganj sub-district, about 50 kilometers north of Bangladesh capital Dhaka.

WASH was designed by the world’s biggest non-government organization, the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee, referred to simply as Brac. It comes to an end this month, achieving close to 98 percent coverage in sanitary latrine and access to safe drinking water in the 150 sub-districts or upazilas selected for inclusion in the program.

In Kaliganj, the program succeeded in altering people’s sanitation and hygiene behavior. Before WASH, people got drinking water from contaminated sources like ponds and lakes. There were those who even defecated in the bushes, creating an unsanitary environment that bred diseases.

WASH managed to change that by employing what is considered Brac’s unique method: it trained community leaders of various ages to get people to listen, involving and convincing the community on the wisdom of regular hygiene practices.

"The idea is a bottom-up approach. No one, not even from Brac or the government imposes or forces anyone to obey anything. The changes in improvement in the village environment, better sanitation and higher drinking water coverage come as a result of better sense of understanding," said Mohammed Shafiuddin Mirza, a local mosque imam and also one of the key members of the Village Wash Committee (VWC) in Kaliganj.

WASH worked with different segments of the population, such as those Sufia has been meeting with. The groups are known as clusters, with different categories catering to different age groups. There are "male clusters" for heads of households, "female clusters" for housewives, and separate clusters for adolescent boys and girls as well as children.

Meanwhile, a group of 11 men and women form one VWC for every 50 to 300 households, and ensure improvement in coverage of sanitation and access to safe drinking water by recommending hardware and loan support where needed.

Each VWC is represented by all classes of people from the community - teachers, religious leaders, local NGO representatives, school girls, young women, and even very poor individuals who have never before been recognized as potential leaders.

"Before we begin working in any selected areas we first conduct a survey with the help of local government. Such a joint initiative enables us to understand the real needs of the community," said Aminul Islam, WASH upazila manager in Kaliganj.

WASH leaders encouraged people to invest their money in hardware that would translate to cleaner environments. Before WASH, less than 37 percent of households in Kaliganj used sealed and properly installed latrines. After five years, that number has grown to 93 percent, translated to more than 50,000 households.

Before WASH, only 55 percent of Kaliganj was covered by safe and clean water. Now, that number has risen to 87 percent, with tube wells installed throughout the Kaliganj. There is roughly one tubewell for every three or four families.

"When we visit door to door to inspect progress after certain number of cluster meetings, house owners themselves often show appreciation for having changed their lifestyle," said Shahabuddin Ahmed, chairman of local government council in Kaliganj.

"Many poor families would have never invested in buying a latrine set but since their better sense of understanding, people now realize the need for a healthy environment," he added.

The program targeted a population living below the poverty line and already, some 38.5 million such poor and hardcore poor have benefited from this program. WASH is considered the single largest sanitation program among the developing nations.

"WASH program’s biggest strength is its mobilization strategy where we act as catalyst while the real beneficiaries play vital roles," said Subash Barai, one of thousands of WASH program organizers who worked relentlessly to achieve the program’s targets.

Due to low literacy in villages, it is still very hard to convince people why they should invest in healthy living. Traditionally, rural people still believe that it is the government’s responsibility to provide latrines and tube wells for free.

It is the VWC leaders who help break the barriers, convincing the community of the need for healthy lifestyle and environment.

Affluent members of society are expected to improve access to drinking water and sanitation on their own. For the majority of the poor and hardcore poor, WASH coordinates to offer interest-free loans of 1000 taka or 13.5 dollars to each poor family capable of repaying loans.

So far, 157,824 poor families have received loans worth 1.798 million dollars. A total of 3,350,748 traditional latrine sets have been installed throughout the 150 sub-districts. Individual households have installed some 24,500 deep and shallow tubewells while 1,622 water points have been constructed from five major community-based piped water supply systems.

After this month, Brac will be handing over the WASH program to the local government, with local NGOs continuing the work that Sufia and other WASH advocates have started.

Source: Inter Press Service (IPS).
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55362.

Hundreds of Islamic activists clash with Police in Bangladesh, 200 detained

WARNING: Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

Saleem Samad
Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh
May 1, 2011

Hundreds of Islamic activists, wearing the traditional white Muslim dress, wearing skull caps and sporting copies of the Koran, marched in Dhaka on Sunday, where the police imposed a ban on political rallies.

Riot police wearing bullet-proof vest and armed with batons, tear gas and shot guns, clashed with the protesters who vowed to besiege the city center on Sunday for 48 hours.

A police spokesperson said nearly 200 protesters were wounded during the class with riot-police. An estimated 150 Islamic activists were detained, whisked away in prison vans.

Eyewitnesses said police lobbed tear gas canisters and used a water cannon to flush the agitating Islamic activists when they refused to vacate the area prohibited for assembly of people.

The protesters threw brickbats and chanted “Allah O’Akbar” (God is great) and fought a pitch battle with police. Scores of police and a few journalists were wounded during the fighting. None of the victims were wounded from police firing, a senior police officer Krisnapada Roy said.

The supporters and activists of Islami Andolan Bangladesh (Movement for Restoration of Islam in Bangladesh) are opposing secular policies of the government, especially recently proposed gender equality and education policies.

Earlier, the Islamist leader Mufti Muhammad Rezaul Karim declared on Saturday that if the government thwarts their planned protest rally, they would call for general strike in a bid to paralyze the country.

Prime minister Shiekh Hasina slammed the Islamists and argued that despite her government adhered to secular policies, but does not contradict the basic tenants of Islam. The Islamists, however, accuses the democratically elected government two years ago as anti-Islamic and vows to overthrow and establish controversial Sharia laws and Islamic constitution.

Source: All Headline News (AHN).
Link: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90047029?Hundreds%20of%20Islamic%20activists%20clash%20with%20Police%20in%20Bangladesh%2C%20200%20detained.

Indonesia welcomes reconciliation between factions in Palestine

May 03, 2011

The government of Indonesia welcomes the reconciliation between factions in Palestine that was facilitated by the government of Egypt, the Foreign Ministry said in a press statement on Tuesday.

It said that the reconciliation is a principal element for Palestinians' struggle to build an independent state of Palestine.

For years, Indonesia has been consistently calling on and promoting unity between people and factions in Palestine.

"And, Indonesia is always ready to provide help," the statement said.

Indonesia reiterated its view that the final solution of conflicts between Palestinians and Jewish people could only be formed with the establishment of independent state of Palestine that lives side-by-side in secured and peaceful environment with neighboring countries.

Related to the matter, Indonesia called on the recommencement of negotiation process for peace framework in the Middle East.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7368113.html.

Unity among North Waziristan groups crumbles

WARNING: Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press – Thu Apr 28

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Crumbling unity among militants could provide the Pakistan army an opening to conduct a limited offensive against a particularly vicious Taliban group in a strategic tribal region, according to analysts and a senior military official.

The target of such an operation in North Waziristan would be the most violent factions within the so-called Pakistani Taliban. Their leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, is believed to be increasingly isolated after executing a prominent former Pakistani official over the objections of senior militant leaders.

Although Mehsud has been linked to attacks in neighboring Afghanistan, his main focus appears to be in plotting carnage elsewhere in Pakistan. And that makes him a prime target for the army.

Washington has long urged the Pakistanis to launch an operation in North Waziristan, a region overrun by an assortment of militant groups including al-Qaida. Most U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan take place in North Waziristan.

Already there are more than 30,000 soldiers in North Waziristan, and some analysts say the Pakistani army could quickly redeploy to the area. The army has 140,000 soldiers in the tribal regions that border Afghanistan

The Pakistanis, however, are unlikely to target the Haqqani group, which the U.S. considers its greatest enemy in Afghanistan. U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, complained last week that Pakistan's secret service maintains links to the Haqqani network. The Haqqanis are Afghan Taliban who control parts of eastern Afghanistan and have bases in North Waziristan.

If the Haqqanis and other militant groups in North Waziristan cooperate with a military assault against the Pakistani Taliban, that would give the army more options.

The fissures among the militants were laid bare in February, when Mehsud released a gruesome video that confirmed the shooting death of former Pakistani spy Sultan Amir Tarar, better known as Col. Imam, according to a senior Pakistan army officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

As Pakistan's consul general in Afghanistan's Kandahar province during the Taliban's rule, Imam was the conduit for money and weapons to the religious movement. A former Pakistani intelligence officer, Imam met regularly with Afghan Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Imam was known to have kept contact with leading Taliban in hiding in Pakistan since the U.S.-led coalition ousted them from power in Afghanistan in 2001.

Mehsud's group had held Imam for 10 months. The killing confounded Pakistani military officials. They had long believed the Haqqanis held sway over the myriad of groups — including militants from Uzbekistan, Chechnya and the Middle East — operating in North Waziristan.

"We always thought that the Afghan Taliban had a sway over these groups, but Col. Imam's killing shows that no one is in control of anyone there," he said. "His death was a shock for us."

Taliban members who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they feared being arrested said Mullah Omar made a personal plea for Imam's life. Also requesting that Imam's life be spared was Sirajuddin Haqqani, a key leader of the Haqqani group.

The senior military official said Mehsud defied Mullah Omar and Sirajuddin Haqqani and went ahead with the execution after the government and army refused his demands to free several of his imprisoned men.

Not only that, Mehsud boasted on a jihadi website about the killing, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. The same website carried an Urdu language condemnation of Mehsud's organization, calling those behind the execution "beasts" and "ignoble killers," SITE said.

The divisions that Imam's death revealed among the militant groups could provide an opportunity for the army to hit hard at insurgents in the North Waziristan town of Mir Ali, where Mehsud set up bases after fleeing last year's military assault on his headquarters in neighboring South Waziristan, according to Mahmood Shah, a retired army brigadier and former security point-man for the government in the tribal regions.

Mir Ali is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the town of Miram Shah, where the Haqqanis are based.

Tribal elders from North Waziristan, all of whom were too afraid to talk on the record, fearing retribution from militants, said the landscape in their home region has undergone massive upheavals since the army operation in South Waziristan.

They said Mehsud and his men were among the most troublesome of the militants, largely because of their affiliation with criminal gangs.

Mehsud and his followers are also among the richest, having accumulated wealth through kidnappings for ransom, thefts and extortion, said a tribal elder from Shawal district of North Waziristan.

Mehsud's close affiliation with Lashkar-e-Janghvi, a Punjabi-based Sunni Muslim militant group blamed for dozens of attacks against minority Shiite Muslims, has also provided him with a reservoir of suicide bombers. They have carried out dozens of attacks throughout Pakistan and in Afghanistan.

U.S. officials who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject said the Jordanian suicide bomber who killed six CIA operatives in Afghanistan's Khost province in December 2009 was trained by Lashkar-e-Janghvi's Qari Hussain, who was also a member of Mehsud's group. Hussain was killed in a drone attack but was quickly replaced by a cousin and fellow tribesman of Mehsud's.

Mehsud has overseen the Pakistani Taliban ever since his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a CIA missile strike on Aug. 5, 2009. Hakimullah Mehsud is affiliated with the Taliban's most violent factions and has survived U.S. and Pakistani attempts on his life.

In recent years the United States has identified Mir Ali as the site of a reconstituted al-Qaida. Also on the run in Mir Ali is Ilyas Kashmiri, a confidante of Mehsud's. The United States this month put a $5 million bounty on Kashmiri's head.

___

Gannon is The Associated Press special regional correspondent for Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Somali pirates free Indonesian cargo ship

* Pirates say paid $4.5 mln in ransom
* Ship yet to sail away

MOGADISHU, April 30 (Reuters) - Somali pirates have freed an Indonesian bulk carrier after the ship's owner paid a ransom, pirates and a maritime source said on Saturday.

The Sinar Kindus was captured by pirates on March 16 approximately 320 miles north of east Socotra in the Somali basin, with its crew of 20.

Pirates said they released the ship after a ransom payment was airdropped to them.

"We received the cash of $4.5 million early this morning. We have abandoned the ship and it is preparing to sail away," a pirate who gave his name as Geney told Reuters from El-Dhanane coastal village.

Andrew Mwangura, a Kenya-based former maritime official and now the maritime editor of The Somalia Report confirmed the ship had been freed, adding it had not started to sail away yet.

Pirate gangs are making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms as international navies patrolling the Gulf Of Aden struggle to contain piracy in the Indian Ocean due to the vast distances involved. (Reporting by Mohamed Ahmed; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Matthew Jones)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://af.reuters.com/article/somaliaNews/idAFLDE73T08Y20110430.

Somalia: Seven Apprehended in Central Region Security Crackdown

27 April 2011

Galk'ayo — The security forces of Somalia's Gal-mudug state in Mudug region have apprehended Wednesday at least seven people accused of being gangs.

Moallim Isaq Ali Salad, the judge of Bandiradley court in Mudug region says that the gangs were arrested while they had been involved in robbing people and buses shuttling between the town of Galka'yo and parts of Mudug region in country's central region.

Mr. Salad has added that they were taken to the central jail in the region, noting that they would be put on trial as soon as possible.

Though, Gal-mudug administration is trying to assure the security of roads, in the night, gangs come to streets with the aim of robbing people and passenger buses.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201104271150.html.

Pakistan tests nuclear-capable cruise missile

BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Pakistan has successfully conducted a flight test of its homegrown air launched cruise missile.

The Pakistani military says the missile can deliver nuclear and conventional warheads with pinpoint accuracy.

The Cruise Missile has a range of 350 kilometers and has been developed exclusively for launch from aerial platforms.

The missile has low detection probability due to stealth design and the materials used in creating it. Analysts say the weapon gives the country much improved defensive capabilities.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/video/2011-04/30/c_13853017.htm.

Uyghur Leader Barred from Travel

2011-05-01

Airport officials in Kazakhstan block an exile Uyghur leader from attending a political conference in the United States.

Authorities in Kazakhstan have blocked Uyghur exile leader Kahriman Ghojamberdi from traveling to Washington D.C. for a meeting of the World Uyghur Congress, underscoring Chinese pressure on the central Asian state.

Ghojamberdi, 60, vice president of the World Uyghur Congress, was stopped by customs officials at the Almaty airport on Sunday and told that his passport was not valid for travel.

“I had gone through all the procedures at the airport, and just at the last step, when I handed my passport to the customs officer, he returned the passport to me after approximately five minutes and said ‘You cannot not travel with this passport, because two pages are ripped out,’” Ghojamberdi said in an interview.

But no pages had been missing from his passport earlier, he explained.

“I have traveled with this passport twice to Washington and twice to Europe with no problems,” he added.

He had previously traveled to the United States several times since the 1990s, including his most recent visit for a World Uyghur Congress meeting in 2009.

International conference

Ghojamberdi was scheduled to attend a week-long meeting of Uyghur groups from around the world beginning Monday in Washington, on the theme “The Future of Uyghur People in East Turkestan.”

Many Uyghur activists use the term “East Turkestan” to refer to an independent state they are struggling for in the present-day Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China.

Several U.S. lawmakers are scheduled to address the Washington conference. There are also plans to hold protests in front of the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C.

Kyrgyzstan attendees blocked

In another development, four Uyghur activists from Kyrgyzstan planning to attend the conference were also prevented from boarding a plane to Washington.

“The four were taken off of the airplane by police on Sunday, and were not given any explanation for why they cannot travel,” said Omer Kanat, spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress.

Chinese pressure?

“Obviously, it is a slander to block me from the conference by orders from China. The Central Asian countries are acting as one of the provinces of China since the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established,” Ghojamberdi said.

Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, along with Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and China, are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security grouping in which Beijing wields great influence.

Ghojamberdi explained that several other Uyghur activists had also been pressured not to attend the conference.

“In the past 30 days most of my friends who received invitations from Washington to attend the congress were ‘investigated’ by Kazakh police and ‘persuaded’ not to attend the conference."

“Three Uyghur artists whose visas were already approved gave up attending because of threats by police,” he said.

Rebiya Kadeer, president of the World Uyghur Congress, accused the two Central Asian states of bowing to Chinese demands.

“Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan not only abuse Uyghur activists’ rights, they also abuse the rights of their own citizens,” she said.

“I know that both countries need help from China, so to some extent, I can understand why they are not allowing Uyghur political activists against China in their country."

“But I am surprised at why they are involved in Uyghur activities in other countries and how they can follow China’s orders like they are a part of China.”

Uyghurs in Xinjiang say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

Source: Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Link: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/worlduyghurcongress-05012011173228.html.

Egypt Presidential Candidates to Visit Khartoum

Wednesday, May 04

Cairo – A high level delegation, including three presidential candidates, from the Egyptian political forces will arrive in Khartoum next Friday.

The visiting Egyptian delegation includes the following nominees for the post of President of Egypt in the upcoming Egyptian elections; Dr. Al-Sayed Al-Badawi, the Chairman of Al-Wafd Political Party, Hamadain Subahi from Al-Karama, Dr. Ayman Nour from Egyptian Al-Ghad party and Hisham Al-Bastaweesi who is the Appeal Court Chief, according to National Congress Party (NCP) office in Cairo official, Dr. Waleed Al-Sayed.

The NCP official in Cairo said that the visiting delegation will meet President Al Bashir and a number of political parties' leaderships, adding that the visit comes in coordination with the Sudanese Embassy under the direct supervision of the Sudanese Ambassador in Cairo, Lt. Gen. Abdul Rahman Sir Al Khatim.

The delegation is accompanied by prominent Egyptian businessmen under the chairmanship of Najib Fisawris, Abdul Hakim Jamal Abdul Nasir, Dr. Omer Hamzawi and others.

The visit expresses the strong bilateral relation between Khartoum and Cairo.

Source: Sudan Vision.
Link: http://www.sudanvisiondaily.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=74025.

Abyei dispute threatens Sudan's peace deal

KHARTOUM, Sudan, April 28 (UPI) -- Sudan won't recognize its southern neighbor's independence if it lays claim to the oil-producing region of Abyei, the Sudanese president said Thursday.

A comprehensive peace agreement reached in 2005 gave South Sudan the right to vote to form an independent state. Voters in January backed a referendum for independence, though the de facto region of Abyei was left out of the process because of voter issues.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir broke earlier promises Thursday by saying he wouldn't recognize South Sudan's independence in July if Abyei broke away from the north.

"If there is any attempt to secede Abyei within the borders of the new state we will not recognize the new state," he was quoted by al-Arabiya as saying.

Atul Khare, the U.N. assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, told the U.N. Security Council last week that progress was slow on implementing key provisions of the 2005 comprehensive peace deal.

He said the situation in the disputed region of Abyei and internal tensions in the south were getting in the way of broad reconciliation.

The Security Council agreed to extend the mandate for the U.N. peacekeeping mission until South Sudan's proposed independence day July 9.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/04/28/Abyei-dispute-threatens-Sudans-peace-deal/UPI-23841304007080/.