Britain urges nationals to leave Yemen

Sat Jun 4, 2011

The British Foreign Office has called on Britons in Yemen to exit the country while they can as London cannot provide them with emergency flights back home.

Foreign Secretary William Hague warned the few hundred British nationals still in the Persian Gulf country that they “should not plan for nor expect” the government to be able to evacuate them from the conflict-torn country.

Yemen has been gripped in violent clashes over the past months between the regime forces and pro-democracy protestors who want an end to the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Yemeni capital Sana'a saw one of its most violent days on Friday as the opposition hit the presidential palace with a barrage of rockets which left seven guards killed and the president and eight of his top officials wounded.

Hague repeated his last week warnings saying anyone with British relatives or friends in Yemen should tell them to get out of the country as soon as possible.

"This extremely serious escalation of violence in Yemen underscores our clear message that British nationals in Yemen should leave immediately while commercial flights are still operating," Hague said.

"Given that we cannot expect forewarning of any airport closures, British nationals should not wait to leave,” he added.

Hague stressed there will be no guarantee that the government in London can launch emergency flights to evacuate its nationals from Yemen.

"The British Government has been advising British nationals to leave Yemen since March 12 and we will not be in a position to evacuate those who do not leave on commercial airlines while these are still flying,” Hague said.

"I ask those in the UK with friends and relatives in Yemen to pass this message on and tell them to leave now. You should not plan for nor expect the British Government to be in a position to assist you to reach safety," he warned.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183136.html.

The Syrian regime's crimes against children is met by silence in the Arab world

WARNING: Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

2011-06-03

By Nehad Ismail

Most Arab States and Arab media have chosen to remain silent about the brutal crackdown by the Syrian regime against the unarmed civilian protesters. The international stance has been disappointing but the shameful Arab silence is baffling. The impotent Arab League had given the green light for the no-fly zone over Libya and supported the UN Security Council Resolution 1973 which called for the protection of civilians in Libya. Yet the same Arab League has not taken any steps to protect the civilians in Syria.

If we exclude Alarabiya, Aljazeera and Asharq Alawsat, most Arab media kept quiet about the crimes of the Damascus regime.

Silence of the Jordan opposition

Even activists who instigate weekly protests in Jordan to demand reforms are very quiet about the massacres in the Syrian city of Dera’a which is a few kilometers away across the northern border of Jordan.

Well-known so-called vociferous opposition figures in Jordan who demand reforms and more democratization are in denial about the mayhem in neighboring Syria. Why when it comes to Syria have they suddenly transmogrified into Trappist Monks? This silence is explained by the fact that the Syrian regime has for decades been able to portray itself as the last citadel of Pan-Arab Nationalism projecting itself at the forefront of the so-called “rejectionist front”. This sort of stuff has been swallowed whole by the gullible Arab Street.

Crimes against children

The mutilated body of Hamza al-Khateeb, the 13 year old boy was returned by Bashar al Assad’s security forces to his family last week in Saida near Dera’a. The body was subjected to brutal beatings and extreme forms of physical torture such as cuts, burns, laceration, bruises as a result of whipping by cable and electrocution. The London Sunday Times reported on Sunday May 29th that “his eyes were swollen and black; there was a deep, dark burn mark on his chest. His neck was broken and his penis cut off”. The pictures of Hamza sent shock waves throughout the Middle East.

To add insult to injury, the Syrian Security thugs arrested Hamza’s father Ali al-Khateeb and forced him to tell the state media that his son was tortured and killed by Islamic extremists. The regime recruited doctors in government hospitals to say they had not seen any signs of physical abuse. How low can a frightened regime stoop to hide its crimes?

Last week the body of Murshed Aba Zaid, 18 was returned to his family. News Agencies reported that Murshed was shot in the face by Bashar’s thugs outside his home in Izraa north of Dera’a, he was taken to hospital for treatment but the security forces snatched him from his hospital bed. When his body was returned to his family last week, they found his neck and nose were broken and showed signs of burns. His abdomen had a huge scar.

Human Rights Watch reported that Syrian detention centers are the worst in the world for the mistreatment of detainees where torture is routine. Amnesty International reports that detainees were forced to lick blood off the prison floor and some were forced to drink from the lavatory bowls.

Yet despite the grisly murders by the Syrian regime; the Arab League remained silent. The Arab regimes remained silent. In the meantime, Walid al-Muallem, the Syria Foreign Minister had the chutzpah to chide the Arab ambassadors in Damascus for not condemning the US and EU for imposing sanction against certain individuals in Syria. None of the Ambassadors dared to remind the Foreign Minister of the Syrian regime’s crimes against the Syrian people. I haven’t heard a single condemnation from any Arab government or official.

Arab and international response has been slow and feeble. With a few exceptions (Qatar and Saudi Arabia) most Arab regimes and media remained silent. There has been no official protest about the collective punishments meted out such as the cutting off water supplies and electricity.

On May 16th the London Financial Times reported that Nick Harvey the UK Armed Forces Minister said it was “highly likely” that the ICC, the International Criminal Court would seek the arrest of BASHAR AL-Assad over his role in the violent crackdown on protesters. Whereas Hamas remained embarrassingly silent, Iran and Hezbollah decided to defend the Syrian regime. The Arab League’s silence is interpreted by many as backing a murderous regime and giving it the green light to continue with its brutal abuse of the Syrian people. We should not expect much from the international community either.

Russia and China are known apologists to the Damascus murderous regime. President Barack Obama has issued a mild reprimand which the Syrian brushed aside with contempt.

Source: Ammon News.
Link: http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=12191.

Saudi Arabia gives $400 mln cash grant to Jordan

June 04, 2011

AMMAN: Saudi Arabia gave Jordan a $400 million cash grant that will improve the country’s fiscal stability after extra social spending earlier this year widened the budget deficit, Jordan’s finance minister said.

Mohammad Abu Hammour told Reuters the cash grant will be channeled to infrastructure projects and capital expenditure which had been curtailed in a 6.369 billion dinar ($8.98 billion) revised budget last February that allocated more funding to a $650 million social package.

The Saudi grant would help Jordan consolidate its finances to ensure a robust upturn and maintain a 2011 budget deficit target at 5.5 percent of gross domestic product despite a soaring oil import bill and extra social costs.

Protests that have swept across North Africa and the Middle East reached Jordan and pushed the authorities earlier this year to introduce a social safety net to mitigate the impact of food inflation that many blame for the eroding standard of living among lower and middle class Jordanians.

“This will reflect positively on the level of services granted to Jordanians and will help to overcome some of the difficulties faced by the budget,” Abu Hammour said.

Jordan hoped to cut the budget deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2013, Abu Hammour said.

Jordan was also hoping its future alignment with the Gulf Cooperation Council which last month welcomed Amman’s future membership could bring financial benefits for its struggling economy.

The kingdom has traditionally had close business and economic relations with the oil rich region and businessmen hope better access to Gulf markets could boost Jordanian exports while easing labor restrictions could reduce unemployment.

The economy relies heavily on aid and remittances from a large expatriate labor force working in the Gulf.

Despite uncertainty from current unrest in the region, Abu Hammour said that he was confident and the outlook for the economy was “very positive” with more investment and tax incentives in the pipeline to attract higher foreign direct investment and regional capital inflows.

The government still maintained a 3.5 percent growth target his year, in line with IMF projections, seeing economic recovery gathering momentum, Abu Hammour said.

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Middle-East/2011/Jun-04/Saudi-Arabia-gives-$400-mln-cash-grant-to-Jordan.ashx.

Turkish activists demand government call off nuclear plans

Friday, June 3, 2011
ERISA DAUTAJ ŞENERDEM

Turkish environmental activists have set up camp in Istanbul’s central Taksim Square, announcing they will not leave until the Turkish government calls off its plans to build nuclear power plants.

The 40-odd activists from Greenpeace Mediterranean called for all “sensible” people to join their peaceful resistance.

“Our aim is to raise awareness among Turkish people on the nuclear issue and its risks, as well as to make politicians take related action,” Uygar Özesmi, the director-general of Greenpeace Mediterranean, told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview at the square.

“As the general elections approach, we more and more understand political parties consider every one of us a number, a vote. However, we are not just a vote,” Özesmi said, noting that the group had been struggling for a long time against Turkey’s nuclear plans.

Some 64 percent of Turkish people are against the construction of a nuclear power plant in the country, according to a survey Greenpeace conducted in cooperation with the A&G research company that was published April 29. The survey also found that 86 percent of Turks do not want to live near a nuclear power plant.

“The Turkish government is silent like a wall [despite all these figures], and has not yet given up its nuclear plans. This is not how the people’s voice is heard in a democratic state,” Özesmi said. On the contrary, he added, the government had finished a contract for building a nuclear plant in Mersin’s Akkuyu district, something he said violates domestic and international law.

“Although two-thirds of Turkish people are against nuclear, we see nuclear [plans] are still among the promises in the parties’ electoral programs,” Ümit Şahin, the co-spokesman of Turkey’s Green Party, told the Daily News on Friday at Taksim Square.

He added that he was surprised how the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, had been unable to directly oppose the nuclear plans. “They say they will go to a referendum [on the issue] if they become the ruling party, but they do not express an official position pro or against nuclear [power],” Şahin said.

Environmental activists decided to hold their open-ended protest in Taksim Square ahead of the June 12 general election so that the political parties would become sensitive toward the issue, according to Şahin. “The prime minister has to at least say publicly he is aware of the fact that the majority of Turkish society does not want the nuclear [plants], and [the government] must give up its nuclear plans,” he said.

“We want the government to withdraw from its nuclear plans. It is a difficult target, but we will not give up,” said Nuran Yücel, an activist with the Global Action Group, which has also joined the protest in Taksim.

Many countries have announced a scaling back of their nuclear plans, following the nuclear reactor disaster in Fukushima, Japan.

According to Greenpeace Mediterranean, Japan has canceled the construction of 14 new reactors, while Switzerland has canceled its plans for three new nuclear reactors and announced it will close all its nuclear power plants by 2034. The German government has closed seven plants and plans to gradually inactivate all its plants by 2022. The Chinese government has also temporarily suspended its nuclear power plant plans, while the nuclear issue was brought to a referendum in Italy.

The Turkish government is meanwhile moving ahead with plans to construct a nuclear power plant about 20 to 25 kilometers away from the Ecemiş earthquake fault line in the southern district of Akkuyu.

Source: Hürriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=activists-ask-the-government-to-quit-nuclear-plans-2011-06-03.

Turkish president to visit Poland

04 June 2011, Saturday

Turkish President Abdullah Gül is set to pay a formal visit to Poland next week at the invitation of his Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski, Gül's press office said on Friday.

Gül is scheduled to leave on Sunday for his three-day trip in Warsaw where he will meet Komorowski, Polish Parliament's Chairman Grzegorz Schetyna, Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Polish Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz.

Gül’s talks in Poland will also cover bilateral relations and cooperation as well as Turkey's European Union membership bid recent regional and international developments.

The turkish president is also expected to deliver a speech on "Turkish Vision on Europe's Future" at the European College in Natolin.

Poland is set to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union on July 1.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-246162-turkish-president-to-visit-poland.html.

Egypt, Israel rift over gas cut escalates

CAIRO, June 3 (UPI) -- Egypt's cutoff of natural gas supplies to Israel is escalating a dispute over resources that is wrecking the Jewish state's relations with its Arab neighbor, which, until the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in February, were the linchpin of the Middle East peace process.

Israel has found major natural gas fields off its coast under the eastern Mediterranean, but none is likely to come on-stream before 2013, leaving Israel facing a serious energy crisis.

The military-led interim government in Cairo has been distancing Egypt from the historic peace treaty that Mubarak's predecessor, Anwar Sadat, signed with Israel in March 1979, reflecting the deep and abiding opposition to the pact felt by most of Egypt's 80 million people.

The dispute has been complicated by the fact the new rulers in Cairo have to be seen getting tough with Israel on this issue because they have to show Egyptians they're serious about unraveling the high-level corruption within the former regime.

The gas supplies to Israel from Egypt have been cut off since April 27, when an explosion damaged a gas terminal at El Arish in the Sinai Peninsula. It's a key link in the pipeline that carried the gas from Egypt's Nile Delta.

The pipeline was damaged in a Feb. 5 bombing. Another sabotage attempt was reportedly thwarted March 27. The attacks were apparently carried out by Bedouin tribesmen in the long-neglected Sinai demanding a bigger share of pipeline revenues, rather than opponents of Israel.

But whoever the perpetrators were, the 20-year gas deal negotiated in 2005 has become highly politicized.

The Egyptians had repaired the pipeline by mid-May but refused to resume deliveries until Israel agreed to pay double for the gas. Israel refuses.

Cairo says the gas was sold at preferential, below-market prices by officials close to Mubarak and his family who allegedly pocketed millions of dollars from the deal.

Former Energy Minister Sameh Fahmi and five other ministry officials were detained in Egypt April 21 on charges of cheating the state out of $700 million from the gas deal.

Officials in Cairo said authorities had stepped up efforts to detain Egyptian tycoon Hussein Salem, who had business dealings with Mubarak and his sons and is suspected by the prosecutor general's office of managing transactions for lining their pockets, including the gas agreement.

Mubarak and his sons face corruption charges and are to go on trial in August, underlining the interim military government's drive to recover plundered state assets.

Salem, believed to be in Switzerland or Israel, was a major shareholder in East Mediterranean Gas, the company that built the $460 million gas pipeline from El Arish in northern Sinai to the port of Ashkelon in southern Israel.

That EMG facility extended a pipeline that ran across Sinai from the Nile Delta. Deliveries to Israel began in May 2008.

By 2010, Egypt was supplying 40 percent of Israel's gas requirements, used to fuel the country's power stations.

U.S. shareholders of the Ampal-American Israel Corp., which has a 13.5 percent interest in EMG, have threatened to sue Egypt for $8 billion on the grounds that politics lie behind the cutoff of gas to Israel.

Ampal's chairman and chief executive officer is Yosef Maiman, who owns the Israeli company Merhav, which also has a stake in the EMG operation.

Under the 2005 deal, Egypt agreed to supply Israel with 60 million cubic feet of gas per year. In 2009, that was increased to 74.13 mcf.

"By pushing for a revision of the gas deal, the Egyptian military aims to both increase its revenue to help pay Egypt's budget deficit and debt, which could make the Egyptian economy even more vulnerable while it is trying to recover from the ongoing political turmoil, and to legitimize itself in the eyes of the Egyptian public by distancing itself from the former regime," the U.S. global security consultancy Stratfor observed.

In May, Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper quoted Israel Radio as saying the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar had offered to sell liquefied natural gas to Israel to help its energy crisis.

"Though Qatar's offer does have long-term potential to make Israel less dependent on Egyptian energy supplies, in the near term, Israel will have little choice but to accede to Cairo's demands," Stratfor noted.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/06/03/Egypt-Israel-rift-over-gas-cut-escalates/UPI-88091307116942/.

Egypt's youth revolutionaries to observe Turkey's polls

Friday, June 3, 2011

Representatives of Egypt’s “January 25 Revolution Youth Coalition,” which pioneered Egypt's recent uprising, will visit Turkey between June 3 and 8, the Egyptian Embassy to Turkey said in a statement Friday.

A delegation of 56 young activists, journalists and bloggers will meet President Abdullah Gül, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Deputy State Minister Ali Babacan and representatives of political parties in order to observe the election process of Turkey.

They will “closely observe the political and economic system of Turkey,” the statement said.

The ambassador of Egypt to Turkey, Abderahman Salaheldin, welcomed Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s invitation to the Egyptians youths, said the statement.

The visit, organized by The Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research, or SETA, comes ahead of Egypt’s September elections, said the statement, and was decided during Gül’s trip to Egypt.

Source: Hürriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=egypt8217s-8220youth-revolution8221-is-up-to-observe-turkey-2011-06-03.

Ahmadinejad predicts collapse of Israel, US in near future

Jun 3, 2011

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday predicted the disappearance of Israel and its main ally, the United States, in the near future.

'I am certain that the region will soon witness the collapse of Israel and the US,' Ahmadinejad said in a speech at the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late supreme leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

June 4 marks the 22nd anniversary of the takeover by the ayatollah, who was subsequently replaced in June 1989 by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran's supreme leader.

Ahmadinejad accused Israel of being the main factor in regional and global insecurity and blamed the administration of US President Barack Obama for supporting the Jewish state.

The Iranian president caused international condemnation in 2005 when he said that Israel should be eliminated from the Middle East map and transferred to Europe or North America.

International isolation of the Islamic republic escalated after Ahmadinejad held a Holocaust conference in 2006 in which he questioned that the killing of 6 million Jews in Europe during World War II had ever happened.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1643405.php/Ahmadinejad-predicts-collapse-of-Israel-US-in-near-future.

Bahrain police disperse Shiite-led march: activist

Jun 3, 2011

DUBAI — Bahraini police dispersed a small group of Shiites who marched Friday towards Pearl Square, focal point of protests which the regime demolished during a crackdown on protesters in mid-March, activists said.

"Some protesters tried to march Friday towards the Pearl Square, but the police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them," said Nabil Rajab, a Shiite rights and opposition activist, reached by telephone.

The square had been the epicenter of protests inspired by uprisings that have swept the Arab world until it was demolished.

Other rallies Friday were dispersed in several Shiite villages surrounding the capital Manama but no casualties were reported, Rajab said.

The protests came after Bahrain lifted a state of emergency that was enacted on March 15.

Shiite-majority Bahrain was rocked by a month of street protests from mid-February which the Sunni-dominated authorities crushed with the help of the military intervention of its Arab neighbors in the Gulf.

Authorities said 24 people, including four policemen, were killed in the unrest.

Under the state of emergency, security forces cracked down on Shiite villages, arresting hundreds of people, many of whom have been referred to special courts.

Activists had called for the protests on the "February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition" page of Facebook.

The upheavals caused the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix which had been due to be staged in March.

But Formula One's ruling body the FIA's World Motor Sport Council announced on Friday that the race had been reinstated and would now take place in Manama on October 30.

The green light was given after a visit by an FIA delegation to assess conditions in Bahrain this week.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Egypt's businessmen not shy to enter politics

June 3 2011

Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris is leading businessmen back into politics after the revolt that toppled president Hosni Mubarak also brought the downfall of several wealthy entrepreneurs.

The head of cellphone network Orascom Telecom is blunt about his aims. His newly founded Free Egyptians Party would promote capitalism, “attract honest businessmen who create jobs” and challenge the Muslim Brotherhood, the frontrunner in September’s election, Sawiris said last month.

“We don’t agree that the word businessmen should be an insult,” said Sawiris, who is worth $3.5 billion (R24bn) according to Forbes magazine.

Millions of Egyptians who took to the streets demanding Mubarak’s removal blamed the country’s tycoons as well as its president for corruption and poverty. After Mubarak’s February 11 overthrow, graft investigations, labor and political disputes brought many businesses to a standstill, sent Egyptian shares plunging and reduced foreign investment to a trickle.

The economy shrank 7 percent in the first quarter from the previous three months, as exports and tourism revenue slid and firms went bankrupt, Finance Minister Samir Radwan said on April 20.

That is the backdrop for what contestants say will be Egypt’s first free election, for which Sawiris’s party and rivals are handing out leaflets and placing ads in the media.

Sawiris is not the only business leader to get involved.

Hisham el-Khazindar, the co-founder of private equity firm Citadel Capital, is among the financiers of the Justice Party, and Nabil Deabis, whose family business ranges from education to the media, is forming a party called Modern Egypt.

Their shared problem is “how to rebuild the image of wealthy entrepreneurs”, says Moustafa el-Husseini, the author of Egypt on the Brink of the Unknown. “Part of this is to portray themselves as the last line of defense against Islamists and chaos.”

It’s a theme that Sawiris hammers on. On May 14 he said like-minded parties should form a coalition to face the Brotherhood, the biggest opposition group under Mubarak. Ten days later in Rome, he said he would give a “large part” of his time to politics in Egypt “so it’s not hijacked by extremists”.

While that may appeal to some voters, Sawiris still needs to promote policies that do not widen the gap between the rich and poor or feed the suspicion they are using politics for personal gain, say analysts.

It’s a goal that eluded the millionaires-turned-politicians who shaped the economic policies of the past decade. The government of Ahmed Nazif, who is now in prison pending a trial on corruption charges he denies, attracted record investment from companies such as BP and Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo.

Egypt’s benchmark EGX 30 stock index, which has dropped 23 percent this year as revolts swept the Middle East, gained about 400 percent between July 2004, when Nazif took office, and the end of 2010.

That boom under Nazif, though, was not matched by rising living standards for most Egyptians. Data show that 40 percent of Egypt’s 80 million people live at or below the UN poverty line of $2 a day.

Critics of the Nazif government, including the Brotherhood, say it doled out cheap land to property firms to build luxury homes, and failed to protect the poor from inflated food prices, which have risen 20 percent in the past year.

Conflict of interest is another issue. “The presence of businessmen in political life is legitimate,” says Moustapha Kamel el-Sayyed, a political science professor at Cairo University. “But in the past period you had people in charge of ministries” who also owned companies in the same line of work.

Without measures to prevent that, “the door is open to use wealth to get political influence illegally”.

Rules for forming political parties drawn up in March by Egypt’s interim military rulers do not limit donations, adding to concerns that wealthy Egyptians may influence decisions.

The sharpest disagreements between the Brotherhood and business-backed parties may be over social policy rather than the economy. The Brotherhood calls for a free, competitive economy in its draft platform. It counts some wealthy members among its top leadership.

Sawiris’s Free Egyptians Party and similar groups are appealing to voters who see the Brotherhood’s refusal to endorse the candidacy of women and Christians to the presidency as a sign that it would try to impose Islamic lifestyles.

Mohamed Talaat, a corporate executive, has backed Sawiris. “The problem in the past was corruption, not capitalism,” he says. “I am a liberal and a capitalist and there is nothing wrong with that.”

Sawiris shares his view. “Busy writing the economic program of the party,” he tweeted on May 22. “Not sure left-wingers will like it.” – Bloomberg

Source: IOL.
Link: http://www.iol.co.za/business/international/egypt-s-businessmen-not-shy-to-enter-politics-1.1078451.

Lebanon Palestinians scrap border march

June 04, 2011
By Mohammed Zaatari

KFAR KILA, Lebanon: Palestinian officials announced Friday the cancellation of a mass march to the Blue Line following a refusal by the Lebanese Army to allow Sunday’s planned demonstration along the southern border.

The authorities’ decision to turn the area next to the Blue Line into a “closed military zone” prompted organizers to postpone Lebanon’s next large-scale pro-Palestinian protest, party officials said.

“There won’t be anything for Sunday. There won’t be a protest march Sunday,” Yasser Azzam, a Hamas official and organizer of the march, told The Daily Star.

Azzam said the decision had been made by the “preparatory committee of the return [to Palestine] march” after it received word that the army wanted to avoid a repeat of the May 15 Nakba march, which saw Israeli forces kill 11 protesters and wound hundreds more at Maroun al-Ras, next to the Blue Line. “We have been informed by official Lebanese sides that the Lebanese Army has a desire to maintain peace in the south and keenness to avoid a repeat of Nakba Day. That is why the Lebanese Army declared the border area a ‘closed military zone,’” Azzam said.

“Palestinian refugees, who insist on the border as a protest site, have refused to select an alternative venue for the event,” he added.

It had been suggested that protesters might instead descend on Khiam, a small southern town which housed a notorious Israeli prison during the occupation of the south, although this now appears unlikely.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, whose mandate includes monitoring the cessation of hostilities along the Blue Line but who were not invited by the Lebanese Army to help prevent violence on May 15, said that it was ready to assist in keeping the peace during any future protest march.

“At this time we have no official confirmation about such a demonstration in our area of operations.

Moreover, any questions on security of public demonstrations should be addressed to [the Lebanese Army] as they have primacy on security and law and order matters,” UNIFIL spokesperson Neeraj Singh told The Daily Star.

“We are in constant contact with [Lebanese Army] on this matter. They keep us informed and we welcome the steps taken by army to ensure peace and security in the area.”

Israel had stepped up its border patrols in anticipation of Sunday’s march and began harsh talk warning protesters against approaching the Blue Line a second time. Lebanon’s Army also beefed up security in the south ahead of the weekend.

“We always urge the parties to be very cautious in any activities along the Blue Line because of its sensitivity and we ask that they exercise utmost restraint in responding to any developments along the Blue Line and that they should use UNIFIL’s good offices to address any potentially escalatory situation,” Singh said.

The peacekeeping force has launched an investigation into last month’s deadly incident, the worst of its kind since the end of fighting in August 2006.

Both Hamas and Fatah representatives in Lebanon have vowed to continue protesting their right for return, including rallies Sunday inside refugee camps.

Abu Ramez Mustapha, PFLP-GC official in Lebanon, claimed that the march had been postponed for just one week and that the step to delay was taken for “merely Lebanese necessities.”

A senior Fatah official, Munir al-Maqdah, called for March 14 to lend its support to future protest marches.

“Let this group help us because we reject settling [Palestinians in Lebanon]. We don’t agree to live in the diaspora; the suffering of 63 years is enough.”

Maqdah added that demonstrators sought no confrontation with the Lebanese Army. – With additional reporting by Patrick Galey

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Jun-04/Palestinians-scrap-march-after-Lebanese-Army-bans-border-protest.ashx.

Lebanon bans vegetable imports from Europe

June 04, 2011

BEIRUT: Lebanon ceased vegetable imports from all European countries Friday, following a recent outbreak of the deadly E. coli virus, which has led to the death of at least 19 people so far.

“I’m announcing the halt of vegetable imports from Europe temporarily until the picture is clearer, and I have signed the decree this morning,” said caretaker Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan Friday.

The new strain of E. coli virus, mainly found in cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce has been linked with kidney failures.

Hamburg, Germany is said to be the place where the virus first broke out.

The European Union Friday slammed the Minister’s decision.

“Any total embargo on European vegetables is disproportionate,” Frederic Vincent, the spokesman for health at the European Commission, told AFP.

Hajj Hasan said the ban posed “no risk of shortages on the local market,” as Lebanon could count on its own production and that of neighboring Jordan and Syria. He added that Lebanon actually imports very little vegetable produce from Europe.

An adviser to the minister, Salah Hajj Hassan, told The Daily Star that European vegetable imports made up only one or two percent of the local vegetable market.

European vegetables are usually found in high-end supermarkets and restaurants, Salah Hajj Hasan said.

Lebanon is considered to be a net-exporter of fruits and vegetables, only importing the produce during times of unseasonably dry weather.

“Each shipment that arrives to Lebanon after this decision will not be allowed to enter because we still do not know the severity of the disease or how much it has spread,” said Hussein Hajj Hasan. The minister said that despite Europe’s high level of inspection, the source of the virus remains unclear.

Salah explained that after some painstaking deliberations yesterday about the issue, ministry members decided that the best way to clamp down the still unknown sources of the virus would be to impose a total embargo.

Zuheir Berro of the consumer watchdog group, Consumers Lebanon, lauded the ministry decision, endorsing the ministry’s choice to take “pre-emptive action” against a possible outbreak.

Europe repeatedly stops Lebanese produce from entering its ports, he points out, so Lebanon should be allowed to do the same.

Regarding a vegetable shipment which arrived yesterday, Hussein Hajj Hasan said that the ministry has taken samples to be tested for any bacteria.

In an interview with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, he called on citizens to make sure that vegetables are thoroughly cleaned with fresh water.

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Jun-04/Lebanon-bans-all-vegetable-imports-from-Europe.ashx.

Uganda warns troop withdrawal if Somalia's govt tenure is not extended for a year

Abdi Hajji Hussein
Kampala, Uganda
June 3, 2011

The Ugandan president on Thursday warned his troops will be withdrawn from the horn of African nation if Somalia’s current government tenure is not extended for 12 months. Yuweri Museveni made the statement while addressing at the International Contact group on Somalia meeting in the Ugandan capital of Kampala.

Talking about holding parliamentary and presidential elections which the United Nations pushes, Museveni spelled out such steps may allow the extremists to re-organize and cause problems, and also undermine the battlefield gains the AMISOM forces and Somali army have made so far.

“If the current system collapses, or if it is seriously undermined, we can have no justification to stay in that situation—we will leave Somalia,” Museveni said at the conference.

Augustine Mahiga, the U.N. special representative to Somalia, reiterated it is needed elections to be held in war-decimated Somalia. Mahiga accused the transitional government of not living up to its mandated issues in the last two years.

Yet, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the president of Somalia's fragile U.N.-backed government agreed with the Ugandan leader calls, saying the country is at war against al Qaeda linked militants and that the current government should crate an environment conducive to hold election.

African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which is made up by 9,000 troops mainly from Uganda and Burundi, arrived in Somalia early in 2007 to protect the internationally backed transitional federal government that controls only small parts of the capital Mogadishu.

Source: All Headline News (AHN).
Link: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90050423?Uganda%20warns%20troop%20withdrawal%20if%20Somalia%26%23146%3Bs%20govt%20tenure%20is%20not%20extended%20for%20a%20year.

UN envoy proposes setting benchmarks to move Somalia to next political phase

3 June 2011 – The United Nations envoy for Somalia has proposed the setting up of benchmarks and a monitoring mechanism to encourage the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFI) to abide by obligations requiring them to prepare the country for a new political phase beyond August, when the current interim arrangement expires.

“I have flagged to the Security Council and I also wish to propose to this meeting that in order to secure compliance from the future TFIs on implementing transitional tasks we, together with the TFIs should agree on a set of implementable benchmarks, timelines, a monitoring mechanism and mutual obligations in achieving the transitional tasks,” said Augustine Mahiga, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia.

“I agree with the proposal that in addition to a coordination and monitoring mechanism, we need a collective political undertaking in the region to ensure accountability of the TFIs to a regional political body,” said Mr. Mahiga in his opening remarks at the two-day 19th meeting of the International Contact Group (ICG) on Somali in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, yesterday.

Political divisions between Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and interim Parliament have undermined the momentum of the country’s peace process.

The Parliament voted in February to extend its term for three years after the end of the transitional period, a move rejected by the TFG, which has instead proposed extending the interim period for one year, saying it wanted to try to enhance political stability and security.

A planned consultative meeting of Somalia’s leadership in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, later this month is expected to result in an agreement on a schedule for elections in the Horn of Africa country.

“I am requesting this ICG meeting to lend its full support to the position of the Security Council and to use the rare joint presence of the President and the Speaker [of parliament] at this meeting to muster their political will to arrive at an understanding to make the Mogadishu meeting a landmark success in the Somali peace process.

“It can be an opportunity to strike a win-win compromise between the executive, Parliament and above all, the Somali people,” said Mr. Mahiga.

Source: UN News Center.
Link: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38607&Cr=somali&Cr1=.

Algeria refuses to free Salafist prisoners

The Algerian government refuted rumors that the president would release thousands of Islamists.

By Walid Ramzi for Magharebia in Algiers – 03/06/11

Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia "categorically" denied that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was planning to pardon thousands of Islamists to mark the anniversary of independence in July.

A number of Islamist leaders, including Hachemi Sahnouni, a founder of the banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), claimed in mid-May that Bouteflika would "sign a presidential decree releasing Islamist prisoners on the next suitable national occasion, especially those who were detained in early 1990s".

"The news is being confirmed day after day," Sahnouni stated, adding that the amnesty would not apply to those who were involved with mass murders, rapes, or planting explosives in public places. He said that July 5th, the 49th anniversary of Algeria's independence, was likely the best occasion to announce such a decision.

The prime minister on May 29th dismissed "this rumor", all the while maintaining that "the state's hand is still extended to the people who are still outside the right path". Ouyahia also denied that there were 4,000 Islamists imprisoned in connection with charges of terrorism, saying that their number doesn't exceed 400.

Algerian Justice Minister Tayeb Belaiz said at a May 25th parliamentary session that no pardon was being considered for prisoners convicted in connection with terrorist cases.

In response to these statements, Sahnouni and known Islamist figure Abd El Fattah Zeraoui Hamadache sent a message to the president urging him to go ahead with his planned release of Islamist prisoners, which the message called a "historical achievement of reconciliation".

In their address, the two sheikhs expressed their belief that the solution to the long-standing crisis in Algeria cannot rely on security measures alone. "If it had been so, problems would have been solved a long time ago," they said, pointing to "ideological issues, ethnic disputes and political conflicts".

"The crisis is deeply-rooted and … partial, patched-up solutions are not a comprehensive solution; rather, they are only temporary sedatives to clam souls," they wrote.

Former FIS leaders decided a while ago to form a committee under the name, "Initiative and Proposal Committee for National Reconciliation". The committee received many messages from Islamist prisoners in which they vowed never to return to armed action and demanded pardon from the president of republic. Some of these messages were forwarded to the presidency in an attempt to convince him to comprehensively pardon prisoners who were not involved in mass murders and rapes.

Marwan Azzi, head of the legal assistance unit for implementing the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, noted that a comprehensive pardon would need extremely complex procedures. According to him, they would deal with the outstanding conditions of many groups, including children who were born in the mountains, raped women, victims of preventative imprisonment, and those who were acquitted but didn't receive financial compensation, as well as desert detainees.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/06/03/feature-01.