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Monday, August 29, 2011

Egypt releases Iranian diplomat after spying investigation: MENA

CAIRO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Egypt released on Sunday an Iranian diplomat arrested over spying charges after the Foreign Ministry confirmed his diplomatic status, state news agency MENA reported. The Iranian diplomat, identified as Qassem al-Husseini, was released by the Higher State Security Prosecution where he was questioned earlier on Sunday.

Husseini was arrested by Egyptian security authorities a few days ago in Cairo on charges of spying. He worked at the Iranian diplomatic mission in Egypt.

Initial investigation showed that he has been gathering and sending to Tehran the economic, political and military intelligence information of Egypt after the political unrest, in addition to that of other Gulf countries and Yemen, according to MENA.

He was part of a spy network that was trying to recruit agents in Arab Gulf countries, the official Al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

Egypt and Iran have had no normal diplomatic relation since 1979 when Cairo signed the peace treaty with Israel and offered asylum to Iran's deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

After 30 years of strained ties, Egyptian and Iranian officials voiced their hope for normalization and improving long-frozen relations between the two Islamic countries after the anti- government protests ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year ruling in Egypt.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil el-Arabi met his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi last week on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Indonesia, and discussed the possibility of exchanging ambassadors with Iran.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/29/c_13900107.htm.

French ex-Minister in Libya, would defend Gaddafi

By Peter Graff
TRIPOLI | Sun May 29, 2011

(Reuters) - Former French foreign minister Roland Dumas visited Libya as a lawyer to prepare a legal case on behalf of victims of NATO bombing and said he was prepared to defend leader Muammar Gaddafi if he is sent to The Hague.

Dumas, who served as foreign minister under socialist President Francois Mitterrand, said he had seen several civilian victims of NATO bombing in a hospital and had been told by a doctor there that there were as many as 20,000 more.

NATO says it has struck only military targets. Despite repeated promises by Gaddafi's media officials, Western journalists based in Tripoli have been shown no evidence of large numbers of civilians killed or injured by NATO bombing.

"This is brutal, brutal aggression against a sovereign country," Dumas told a news conference in a Tripoli luxury hotel on Sunday, attended by people introduced as family members and supporters of relatives of civilian casualties.

"At the moment we have been retained, we have a mandate on behalf of the victims of the military bombardment of NATO, who carried out their military action against civilians with the artificial -- very artificial -- cover of the United Nations," Dumas said.

"Following an approach by the government of Libya, we have decided to make this trip to see for ourselves the condition of the victims and the situation," he said.

"UNMASK THOSE ASSASSINS"

Dumas was accompanied by prominent French defense lawyer Jacques Verges, who said his goal was to "unmask those assassins" responsible for NATO air strikes. Verges said he had wept in hospital upon meeting civilians wounded "solely because they are Libyans."

Verges -- whose clients have included Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie -- and Dumas had been among lawyers expected to defend ousted Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo, who is being investigated for alleged human rights abuses during the conflict sparked by the disputed 2010 presidential election.

Their names were dropped from the most recent list of Gbagbo's lawyers.

Dumas was not able to describe the exact nature of the case he intended to launch on behalf of the wounded victims, but told Reuters he would make a more detailed announcement after returning to France and studying the case in more depth.

The Western alliance is leading an air campaign against Libya under a United Nations resolution permitting force to prevent Gaddafi's forces from killing civilians.

Human rights groups say scores of people were killed by Gaddafi's forces cracking down on demonstrators before the air strikes began, and hundreds have since died as a result of government troops' siege of the rebel-held city of Misrata.

Dumas, long an opponent of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said he would be prepared to defend Gaddafi if the Libyan leader were forced to appear before the International Criminal Court in The Hague, although he described such a scenario as unlikely.

"If he asked me, yes, of course. Yes of course. (But) I don't think it is going to happen," he told Reuters.

The court's prosecutor has called for indictments against Gaddafi, one of Gaddafi's sons and the head of Libyan intelligence, for killing civilians and other offenses.

Libyan officials said Dumas and Verges had offered their services "as volunteers" to represent the civilian victims of NATO bombing. Dumas declined to say whether they planned to accept payment from Gaddafi's government for their services.

Asked if he had received money from Gaddafi's government, Dumas told Reuters: "No, no. Nothing for the moment."

Asked if that implied he would accept money from Gaddafi's government in the future, he said: "We are working as a lawyer. Like the English lawyer or the American lawyer. Okay?"

(Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/29/us-libya-france-dumas-idUSTRE74S2UA20110529.

Libyan opposition's treasury almost empty

BENGHAZI, Libya, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan opposition's financial and oil representative said Sunday the rebel is running out of cash to fund its war economy and some friend countries have not realized the urgency of the situation.

Ali Tarhouni, who is in charge of the finance for the opposition's National Transitional Council, said finding sources of income is really a tough challenge although he believes the opposition would finally win.

"I don't have any resources. Not a single dinar came in to the treasury on Sunday," the former economics lecturer at the University of Washington told a press conference, adding "we only exported one shipment (of oil) and got 150 million U.S. dollars for that. So far we've spent 408 million dollars on fuel. It's not a good number."

He told Xinhua that the top priority of his job now is to help the besieged areas and the refugees in Tunisia. However, the oil export, which was expected to be a major source of income, would not be resumed until the safety of the oil fields is ensured.

In a complaint that many countries that pledged aids actually do not understand the urgency of the situation, Tarhouni said, "we are besieged. People are dying every day. I'm not sure that this simple straight message is even reaching our friends."

But he singled out Qatar and Kuwait, saying he appreciated the aid from the Gulf friends and is expecting more help from them.

Asked whether the donated money would be used to spent on armament, Tarhouni said the mechanism has safety measures and transparency to make sure the assets would be used to buy fuel, food and medicine, not arms, "although I wish we have the money to buy arms."

Tarhouni has recently returned to the opposition bastion Benghazi from a trip to Europe and the United States seeking financial aids.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/30/c_13900131.htm.

Shuttle Endeavor prepares to leave space station

By Kerry Sheridan (AFP) – May 29, 2011

WASHINGTON — The US space shuttle Endeavor on Sunday prepared to undock from the International Space Station and jet back to Earth, wrapping up its final journey before entering retirement, NASA said.

Endeavor's last mission is the penultimate flight for the 30-year US shuttle program, which will end for good after the Atlantis mission to the orbiting research lab in July.

The six-member crew of the Endeavor bid farewell to three astronaut colleagues on board the space station (ISS) and closed the hatches between the shuttle and station at 7:23 am (1123 GMT), NASA said.

The astronauts were to spend the afternoon sleeping in preparation for the late night undocking set for 11:55 pm (0355 GMT), NASA said.

Endeavor's 16-day mission began with the shuttle's launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida on May 16 and will conclude when the shuttle lands back on Earth early on June 1.

The team spent a total of 10 days, 23 hours, and 45 minutes at the space station.

During that time, the crew delivered and installed a massive physics experiment, the Alpha-Magnetic Spectrometer-2, that will be left at the space station to scour the universe for clues about dark matter and antimatter.

They also brought up a logistics carrier with spare parts for the orbiting lab and performed some maintenance and installation work during four spacewalks, the last to be done by an American shuttle crew.

A spacewalk is planned during Atlantis's mission in July but it will be done by space station crew, not astronauts who arrive aboard the US shuttle.

Endeavor is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center at 2:35 am (0635 GMT) on Wednesday, carrying its crew of five US astronauts and Italian Roberto Vittori.

The shuttle commander is Mark Kelly, whose lawmaker wife Gabrielle Giffords is recovering from a bullet wound to the head. The Arizona congresswoman was shot by a lone gunman during a meeting with local voters in January. Six people were killed.

Giffords was granted leave by her rehabilitation doctors to watch the launch from Kennedy Space Center along with other astronaut family members two weeks ago, but is not expected to return for the middle-of-the-night landing.

After the final shuttle missions, the three spacecraft in the flying fleet and the prototype Enterprise will be sent to different museums across the country.

Discovery, the oldest in the group, was the first shuttle to retire after its final journey to the ISS ended in March. Endeavor is the youngest, and flew its first space mission in 1991. STS-134 marks its 25th and final mission.

Endeavor is the sixth US space shuttle ever built, and was commissioned after the Challenger exploded in 1986.

The other original members of the fleet include Enterprise, a test model that never flew in space, and Columbia which disintegrated on its return to Earth in 2003.

A total of 14 astronauts were killed in the Columbia and Challenger disasters.

With the US shuttle program closing, the world's astronauts will rely on Russia's space capsules for transit to the ISS at a cost of $51 million per seat until a new American spacecraft can be built by private enterprise, possibly by 2015.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Bahrain renames former Pearl Roundabout

Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
May 29, 2011

Manama: Bahrain has renamed the area of the former Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Roundabout, popularly known as the Pearl Roundabout, as the Al Farooq Junction.

The 300-foot monument, six swords representing the six GCC countries holding a pearl at the top, erected in 1982 in tribute to the GCC as Bahrain hosted, for the first time, the annual Gulf summit, was turned into the epicenter of demonstrations and protests in February and March.

However, the authorities on March 18 demolished the monument and removed the huge roundabout, replacing it with a crisscross of roads where the movement of vehicles is to be controlled by traffic lights.

In comments about the demolition of the roundabout, Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, Bahrain's foreign minister, said that the monument had been brought down because "it was a bad memory."

"We are not waging war, we are restoring law and order," Shaikh Khalid said.

The roundabout was used initially as a symbol of Manama, the capital, but was superseded in 2008 by the Bahrain World Trade Center, the first skyscraper in the world to integrate wind turbines into its design.

Source: Gulf News.
Link: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/bahrain/bahrain-renames-former-pearl-roundabout-1.814302.

Malaysia's new rare earth plant provokes radiation fears

By Julia Yeow
May 29, 2011

Kuala Lumpur - In the quiet town of Gebeng in Malaysia's central state of Pahang, a new rare earth plant has evoked fears of radiation contamination as residents desperately seek to stop the construction of the world's largest such refinery.

The plant is expected to meet up to 30 per cent of the world's demand for rare earths outside China.

Rare earth elements, a group of 15 metals, are used in electronic devices for the defense, alternative energy and communications industries.

The 700-million-ringgit (233 million dollars) refinery is being constructed by Australia's Lynas Corp, which plans to ship rare earth ore mined from Western Australia's Mount Weld to the Gebeng plant by September.

News of negotiations between the Malaysian government and Lynas began surfacing in 2008, but it was only earlier this year that public outcry peaked after it was discovered that construction had already begun on the 20-hectare plant.

The main concern is the possibility of contamination from low-level radioactive waste from the rare earth refining process.

Gebeng is an industrial town of 10,000 people located 265 kilometers from Pahang's capital of Kuantan.

While the Malaysian government and Lynas have stressed that the facility will have state-of-the-art technology for contamination control, opponents claim crucial questions remain unanswered especially regarding the safe disposal of radioactive waste.

'We have read the facts, we know about the risks, and we have simply decided that this is not what the people of Pahang want in our backyards,' said Jonathan Wong, the spokesman for the Stop Lynas citizen's movement.

'Lynas itself has not seen the people, they have not even come up with a solid plan to manage the waste, and they expect us to just accept that they know best,' Wong told the German Press Agency dpa.

Those opposing the Gebeng plant have pointed to the Asian Rare Earth plant built in the northern state of Perak in the 1980s by Japan's Mitsubishi Corp as an example of the refinery being a 'disaster in the making.'

That facility was blamed for the unusually high number of birth defects and leukemia cases among the 11,000-strong population living nearby. It ceased operation in 1992 after protests from locals and environmentalists.

The owners were never sued and no compensation has been paid to the plant's alleged victims.

Almost a decade later, Mitsubishi is still cleaning up the radioactive waste from the area in a project estimated to cost at least 300 million ringgit.

Lynas has been quick to distance itself from that disaster by stating that different ores of lower radioactivity would be used in Gebeng, but critics complained of the apparent lack of transparency in the mining company's dealings with Malaysian authorities.

'There has been no full public disclosure of this proposed project,' said SM Mohamed Idris, president of the Friends of Nature environmental group.

'A detailed environmental impact assessment was not required due to a loophole in our law,' he said.

The government is keen to continue with the Lynas project as the refinery is expected to generate up to 5 billion ringgit (1.67 billion dollars) a year in exports as well as hundreds of jobs.

Protesters insist that radiation contamination is too high a price to pay for any economic gain.

'If the government failed to regulate the Asian Rare Earth plant, what makes us believe it will be different now?' said Wong.

'They are asking us to take a gamble with our lives and those of our children.'

Authorities eager to allay public fears said last month that the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was assessing the threat of contamination from the planned plant.

The government assured the public it would only approve the operation based on the findings of the agency's nine-member panel scheduled to visit the proposed site on Sunday for six days.

But the move has failed to win over the critics, who claim that officials from the nuclear watchdog would be pro-nuclear and therefore fail to produce a fair assessment of the Lynas plant.

Calls for local and environmental groups to be represented in the monitoring team have also gone unheeded, critics said.

'While it is agreed that IAEA scientists are experts in many fields, we believe their findings will be a biased report and on that ground, we reject it,' Wong said.

'Whatever their findings, our final agenda - which is our ultimate goal - is to stop Lynas.'

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1642157.php/Malaysia-s-new-rare-earth-plant-provokes-radiation-fears.

Al-Qaida declares Yemen's southern city as capital of its "Islamic Emirate": residents

SANAA, May 28 (Xinhua) -- The Yemen-based al-Qaida wing on Saturday declared the provincial capital city of southern Abyan province as the capital city of its "Islamic Emirate" in a statement the group read in front of local residents.

The al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has almost taken over all parts of Abyan province after it seized the province capital city of Zinjibar on Friday, according to the residents.

A local government official told Xinhua that the "fighters of AQAP took over the whole city of Zinjibar on Friday and on Saturday the group seized 30 police cars after two police camps surrendered to AQAP."

"They (AQAP) transported the 30 police cars to the neighbor city of Jaar, which is believed to be the stronghold of the group, " he added, requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, a doctor of al-Razi Hospital in Jaar told Xinhua that the death toll among al-Qaida militants from the Friday's clashes with government forces rose to four as dozens of the militants were still suffering serious injuries.

Residents from several cities of Abyan said blackouts have hit the majority part of the province since earlier Friday.

An aid to the Abyan governor said the governor was not available to reach for security reasons.

Late on Friday, the AQAP militants gunned down five Yemeni policemen, including a high-ranking officer, hours after they took over several government buildings and two state-run banks in Abyan, according to a local security official.

Since the eruption of the four-month-long anti-government protests aimed at ousting Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power since 1978, the AQAP has launched sporadic heavy attacks on Zinjibar.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/28/c_13899125.htm.

Bahrain's mercenary security forces hound protesters in villages

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Bahrain’s mercenary security forces backed by Saudi troops on Friday hounded protesters in villages across the country.

The forces physically attacked the anti-regime protesters. Witnesses say regime troops used tear gas and concussion bombs to disperse protesters in Diraz, Bani Jamrah and some other villages on Friday.

The protesters called for an end to the Al Khalifa rule and the immediate release of detained anti-government protesters.

According to witnesses, Bahraini protesters in recent days have their faces covered to avoid recognition by regime forces.

Saudi-backed Bahraini troops have arrested hundreds of anti-government protesters during overnight operations after identifying them based on pictures taken from opposition rallies.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or arrests on Friday.

Since the beginning of anti-regime protests in Bahrain in mid-February, Manama has launched a harsh crackdown on anti-government protesters, rounding up senior opposition figures and activists in dawn raids and arresting doctors, nurses, lawyers and journalists who have voiced support for the protest movement.

While the whereabouts of many detainees are still unknown, Bahraini authorities have begun to try a number of detained activists in what the opposition calls kangaroo courts.

Protesters have been charged with several counts such as attempting to overthrow the monarchy, and they are being tried in a special security court set up under martial law.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have criticized the Bahraini government for its brutal crackdown on civilians.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which visits detainees in conflict situations, has been trying to see and contact Bahraini detained activists since mid-March. But so far Manama has refused to grant it permission.

Meanwhile, Bahrain's state news agency says that military prosecutors have asked the country's highest court to review death penalties issued against two anti-regime protesters.

Human Rights Watch as also called on the country to stop trying civilians in military courts.

Source: Tehran Times.
Link: http://old.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=241583.

Hundreds of women raped by Gaddafi militia

Sunday, 29 May 2011
By Michelle Faul in Benghazi

Answers to a doctor's questionnaire reveal the attacks that have left their victims in fear of shame, Aids and abandonment.

At first, the responses to the questionnaire about the trauma of the war in Libya were predictable, if tragic: 10,000 people suffering post-traumatic stress, 4,000 children with psychological problems. Then came the unexpected: 259 women said they had been raped by militiamen loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.

Dr Seham Sergewa had been working with children traumatized by the fighting in Libya, but soon found herself being approached by troubled mothers who felt they could trust her with their dark secret.

The first victim came forward two months ago, followed by two more. All were mothers of children whom the London-trained child psychologist was treating, and all described how they were raped by militiamen fighting to keep Col Gaddafi in power. Dr Sergewa decided to add a question about rape to the survey she was distributing to Libyans living in refugee camps after being driven from their homes. The main purpose was to try to determine how children were faring in the war; she suspected many were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

To her surprise, 259 women came forward with accounts of rape, which has been a common weapon of war throughout the ages, most recently in conflicts in the Balkans, Sri Lanka and in sub-Saharan Africa, where Congo has been described as the epicenter of sexual crimes.

Across the world, rape carries a stigma. But it can be a deadly one in conservative Muslim societies such as Libya, where rape is considered a stain on the honor of the entire family. Victims can be abandoned by their families and, in some cases, left in the desert to die. Speaking to a journalist is out of the question.

Dr Sergewa's questionnaire was distributed to 70,000 families and drew 59,000 responses. "We found 10,000 people with PTSD, 4,000 children suffering psychological problems and 259 raped women," she said, adding that she believes the number of rape victims is many times higher but that woman are afraid to report the attacks. The women said they had been raped by Col Gaddafi's militias in numerous cities and towns: Benghazi, Tobruk, Brega, Bayda, Ajdabiya (where the initial three mothers hail from) and Saloum in the east; and Misrata in the west.

Some just said they had been raped. Some did not sign their names; some just used their initials. But some felt compelled to share the horrific details of their ordeals on the back of the questionnaire. Reading from the scribbled Arabic on the back of one form, Dr Sergewa described an attack in Misrata in March, while it was still occupied by Col Gaddafi's forces. "First they tied my husband up," the woman wrote. "Then they raped me in front of my husband and my husband's brother. Then they killed my husband." Another woman in Misrata said she was raped in front of her four children after pro-Gaddafi fighters burned down her home.

Doctors at hospitals in Benghazi, the rebel stronghold, said they had heard of women being raped but had not treated any. However, a doctor in Ajdabiya, 100 miles south of Benghazi, said he had treated three women who said they were raped by fighters loyal to Col Gaddafi in March, when the town was invaded. "These women were terrified their families would find out – two were married, one was single," Dr Suleiman Refadi said. "They only came to me because they were terrified that they may have been infected with HIV." He added that the women had tested negative, but doubted they would return for follow-up tests.

Earlier this month, the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said he had "strong evidence" of crimes against humanity committed by Col Gaddafi's regime, including allegations of "women arrested and gang-raped". One of Libya's leading psychiatrists, Dr Ali M Elroey, told the Associated Press that he has set up three mobile teams to treat trauma victims of the war in their homes or in temporary shelters: one for PTSD, one for other psychological problems and one for rape survivors.

Dr Sergewa said she has interviewed 140 of the rape survivors in various states of mental anguish, and has been unable to persuade a single victim to prosecute. None would speak to the AP about their ordeal, even with a promise to hide their identity. "Some I diagnosed with acute psychosis; they are hallucinating," Dr Sergewa said. "Some are very depressed; some want to commit suicide. Some want their parents to kill them because they don't want their families to bear the shame."

Some have already been abandoned by their husbands and fear that seeking treatment could get them ostracized or cast out of their communities. Others have kept their rape a secret for fear of retribution from spouses. "They fear their husbands will take them out to the desert and leave them there to die," Dr Sergewa said. She added that it is likely more rapes could occur as the conflict drags on.

"They are using rape not just to hurt women but to terrorize entire families and communities," Dr Sergewa said. "The women I spoke to say they believed they were raped because their husbands and brothers were fighting Gaddafi. "I think it is also to put shame on the tribes or the villages, to scare people into fleeing, and to say: 'We have raped your women'."

Dr Sergewa says women will continue to be targets of the militiamen, and this makes it all the more urgent to finish her study. "We must throw light on what is really happening in Libya and fight to bring justice for these women, to help heal them psychologically," she said.

Source: The Independent.
Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/hundreds-of-women-raped-by-gaddafi-militia-2290609.html.

Benghazi palace offers up refuge, history

By Kate Thomas
May 29, 2011

Benghazi, Libya - On the eastern edge of Benghazi, the Abdu Ismail palace sprouts from the earth like a fantasy wedding cake, nestled between expensive villas.

Skinny date palms rise from its grounds, towering above long-rusted lamp posts and towards the turrets of whitewashed pagodas. This was once the home of one of Benghazi's wealthiest families, decorated with antique furniture and three-tier fountains.

Now it is a refugee camp, a temporary home for people displaced from Misurata and Ajdabiya. On the rungs of the steps that lead to the empty swimming pool, their washing dries in the sun - long dresses, fuschia hijabs and soft white jalabiyas.

As fighting continues in Misurata - and near the outskirts of Ajdabiya and Brega - Benghazi has been flooded with hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Libyans.

Most are staying with relatives or host families, while some are housed inside former construction sites, schools and university dorms. Others, like Mohammed Al Hussein, have found more unusual accommodation.

The retired customs officer and his family left their home in Ajdabiya three weeks ago, when a stray bullet ricocheted into their garden.

'Though our house was untouched, we drove to Benghazi and registered with the Libyan Red Crescent, who offered us a choice of places to stay,' he says. 'I chose the palace even though other families said it was frightening for the children at night. There were rumors of wild dogs roaming the grounds.'

He smiles, wringing his roughened, wrinkled hands together. 'After the things the children saw, I knew they wouldn't be afraid of this place.'

The children, it turns out, saw tanks and Grad missiles and spent cartridges and, on the road that winds east, corpses by the side of the road. 'Now it's just dried up fountains, stagnant ponds and overgrown palace gardens,' he says.

Ahead of him, a boulevard stretches towards the palace gates, flanked by elm trees and juniper bushes. In the muddy shell of what was once a fish pond, discarded belongings languish. A pair of three-inch black heels. A can of deodorant. A child's jumper.

The site is a far cry from the original intentions of the Abdu Ismail family. Commissioned in 1994 by Yusuf Abdu Ismail, the son of a successful textile factory owner, it was supposed to be a family base for generations to come.

'I envisaged my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren growing old here,' says Abdu Ismail, now 55 and gently greying.

Instead, in 1995, Abdu Ismail and his wife were woken at 4:30 am by the night guard. Pulling on a cotton gown, he was met at the main door by government soldiers, who demanded the keys to the palace and the rights to everything inside.

'They said I had no right to live in a palace,' he says, smoothing the silk handkerchief in the pocket of his blazer. 'They said only the Gaddafi family could have a palace like this.'

The family left and were not able to return until six months before the revolution began, when they bought back the palace from regime officials. Over the years, everything had been taken.

'They took the cars, the vases and two Renoir portraits,' he says. 'There was a metal sculpture of a lion by the swimming pool and a rhino horn. Those disappeared too. The regime was cruel to everyone - not only the poor but to the so-called velvet families too.

'Ever since I was young, I had everything I wanted,' he says. 'I realized that others did not, so when I continued my father's business after his death, I started to give money away.'

The palace, he says, became known among families who were struggling to make ends meet.

'Every morning I would find a few people waiting outside the gates. I used to give them 100 or 200 dinars to buy food and things. But the government found out and accused me of running a social security center. They said, you are trying to be like the brother leader of this country, with your palace and your handouts. Six months later they took the palace from me,' he says.

'I think the Gaddafi family was jealous of my success. They wanted Libyans to pretend to be simple and humble, while they rolled around in wealth. But if they can enjoy their money, why couldn't I? He's going to go down in history, which is what he wants, but in the worst way and through the darkest door.'

Abdu Ismail is now completing an adjacent property, designed to resemble the Alhambra Palace in Spain, and says he plans to house more displaced families from Misurata inside. A project to build a mosque is also nearing completion.

Inside the grounds, Al Hussein's three daughters chase each other around the empty swimming pool. He sits on the edge, his legs dangling freely over the abyss.

Still, he never expected to one day be moving his belongings into a palace. 'Growing up, my friends and I daydreamed about life in Al Kufra or Ajdabiya,' he says. A good job. A car. Opening a bank account and the front door of a flat in the city.

'Nobody dared dream of palaces,' he says. 'But nobody thought about war in Libya either.'

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/africa/news/article_1642156.php/Benghazi-palace-offers-up-refuge-history.

Libyan Rebels Offer Amnesty to Pro-Gadhafi Soldiers

MAY 28, 2011
By SAM DAGHER

BENGHAZI, Libya – The political leader of Libya's rebels offered amnesty on Saturday to those ready to abandon Col. Moammar Gadhafi and rejected all peace initiatives that were not predicated on the departure of the Libyan strongman, his family and senior regime figures.

"Those still betting on Moammar Gadhafi's regime should wake up to reality and abandon it and join the righteous and just cause," said Mustafa Abdel-Jalil head of the rebels' National Transitional Council reading from a prepared statement during a press conference.

Mr. Abdel-Jalil, a former judge and justice minister in Col. Gadhafi's regime who joined the rebel movement in its early days, explained that defectors guilty of crimes before the start of the uprising on Feb. 17 would be guaranteed "a fair trial."

He said those who committed crimes after this date would be forgiven if they left the regime now.

A senior Western diplomat stationed in Benghazi said on Friday that such an amnesty was crucial to encourage pro-Gadhafi troops and officers to stop fighting thereby hastening the regime's collapse.

Libyan rebel fighters stand next to a destroyed fighter plane belonging to forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi during a patrol at Misrata's airport.

Apart from high profile figures like the head of the National Oil Co. Shorkri Ghanem, who left Libya earlier this month and was believed to have defected, it has been more difficult to assess loyalty in the ranks of the military and security forces still fighting alongside Col. Gadhafi and their willingness to switch sides.

Mr. Abdel-Jalil also welcomed the shift in Moscow's position toward Libya and the rebels. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said at the Group of Eight summit in Deauville, France on Friday that his country was ready to mediate an end to the Libyan crisis and for the first time called on Col. Gadhafi to leave power.

The Kremlin said on Saturday that its special envoy to the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Margelov has left for Benghazi but Mr. Abdel-Jalil said he did not know when the Russian official was expected to arrive telling reporters it would be sometime in the coming week.

Mr. Abdel-Jalil avoided mention of an African Union initiative to end hostilities in Libya but made sure he sent an unequivocal message to South African President Jacob Zuma, who was expected this weekend in the Libyan capital Tripoli this weekend.

"For the last time, we would like to stress that the goals of any initiative to resolve the crisis in Libya should be to get rid of the root cause of this crisis," he said referring to Col. Gadhafi.

—Greg White in Moscow contributed to this article.

Source: The Wall Street Journal.
Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576351492261311076.html.

Senegal grants diplomatic recognition to Libya rebels

May 28, 2011

DAKAR — Senegal announced Saturday it was granting diplomatic recognition to Libya's rebels, saying it regarded the Benghazi-based National Transitional Council as the country's legitimate representative.

The decision by President Abdoulaye Wade comes after he held talks with a top envoy of the Benghazi-based NTC rebels, his office said.

After consultations with the presidents of the two house of parliaments, Wade has decided to "recognize the NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people and grants it authorization to open a representative bureau in Dakar," said a statement from the president's office.

The move comes after Wade met in Paris on Friday with Ali Zeidan, a special envoy of the NTC's supremo Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the statement added.

Abdul Jalil spoke last week by telephone with Wade ahead of a key African Union meeting on the conflict in Libya when he asked for the support of Senegal and promised to "respect democratic principles, human rights and to pursue good relations with the AU and the states of Africa".

He also invited Wade to Benghazi, the headquarters of the rebels.

Senegal's neighbor Gambia was one of the first countries to recognize the NTC, along with France, Italy and Qatar.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Activists plan solidarity trip to Bergesh Forest

By Hana Namrouqa

AMMAN - Environmentalists and activists will go on a solidarity trip next month to Bergesh Forest, the site selected for the construction of a military academy.

The activists are calling for the relocation of the academy, the construction of which could entail uprooting hundreds of centennial trees in one of Jordan's few forests.

The solidarity trip, organized by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) and the Save Bergesh Forest from Execution Campaign, is one form of objecting to the construction of the project. Over the past five months, activists have held several sit-ins in different locations.

"Participants will come with their families to highlight that Bergesh Forest is one of Jordan's last remaining breathing spaces. It is another stand against the construction of the project at the expense of our trees," Omar Shoshan, head of the RSCN’s environmental policies section, told The Jordan Times yesterday.

Construction work on the military academy started in early January but was halted after several environmental NGOs and MPs objected to the site, situated in the heavily wooded Bergesh Forest.

If the project had gone ahead in the original site, located 90 kilometers northwest of the capital in Ajloun Governorate, it would have resulted in the uprooting of 2,200 oak, pistachio, hawthorn and strawberry trees, each over a century old, according to environmentalists.

Following deliberations between the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) and a Lower House committee probing the academy’s construction, the project was relocated to another site where fewer trees would be cut.

Earlier this month, the JAF issued a statement announcing that the blueprints for the academy had been altered to limit the number of uprooted trees to 200 non-centennial trees.

The statement said that for each uprooted tree, 20 saplings will be planted in the area, and that 2 per cent of the 1,200-dunum area slated for use by the academy includes forest trees and will only be used for training purposes.

“The JAF has worked to ensure that the project does not include any industrial elements that could potentially harm the environment and [the project] meets green building requirements,” added the statement, which was carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

But environmental NGOs, activists, MPs and local residents say they want to avoid cutting down a single tree - pointing to the Kingdom’s rapidly depleting green cover.

Forests constitute less than 1 per cent of the Kingdom’s area, while the green cover in Bergesh stands at 90 per cent, according to the RSCN.

The forest represents an integrated ecosystem that houses over 100 plant species - 13 per cent listed as rare, 4 per cent as locally or internationally threatened and 13 per cent as holding medicinal value.

Shoshan said an alliance of environmental NGOs operating in Jordan will this week send a letter to all decision makers involved in the project, including the JAF, the ministries of environment and agriculture and MPs among others.

"The letter will again clarify our point of view that we don’t oppose the project, but call for its relocation to avoid cutting down Bergesh trees. The letter will remind decision makers of the laws that will be violated if the project continues," he added.

If the project goes ahead, 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, according to the RSCN.

29 May 2011

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=37940.