Japan launches probe of secret pacts with US

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA, Associated Press Writer

TOKYO – Japan's new government launched an investigation Friday into whether previous administrations entered secret security pacts with Washington, including one said to endorse U.S. nuclear-armed ships despite a policy of barring such weapons.

The Democratic Party of Japan, which unseated the long-ruling Liberal Democrats in parliamentary elections last month, has vowed to improve transparency in government as well as review military ties with the U.S.

Japan's previous governments have always denied secret deals, but some bureaucrats have recently said that long-standing speculation that they existed is correct, prompting new Foreign Minister Katsuya Okadato to launch an inquiry.

"We will reveal everything we find," Okada told reporters in New York, according to Kyodo news agency.

Four alleged pacts are subject to the investigation, including one between the two allies in 1960 giving tacit approval of port calls by U.S. military aircraft and warships carrying nuclear weapons.

Nuclear arms are a sensitive topic for Japan, the world's only country to have suffered nuclear attacks. Tokyo since 1967 has maintained principles of not possessing, producing or allowing nuclear weapons into the country.

Okada has assigned a 15-member team to sift through more than 3,200 files at the Foreign Ministry, as well as 400 files stored at the Japanese Embassy in Washington. The team will report their findings in late November, the ministry said.

They will also look into an alleged secret deal in 1960 regarding the use of U.S. military bases if there is war on the Korean peninsula. The other two pacts are related to the entry of nuclear weapons onto the southern island of Okinawa in times of emergency and the cost burdens associated with the 1972 handover of Okinawa back to Japan from U.S. control.

Okada has said that if the secret pacts are confirmed, he does not intend to punish Foreign Ministry officials who may have been involved in any cover-up.

But any new revelations are likely to spark new debate about Japan's relationship with the United States, which the Democrats hope to modify. Okada supports more equal relations between Tokyo and Washington, and has said he wants to review the status of the nearly 50,000 U.S. troops deployed across Japan under a post-World War II bilateral security pact.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government also wants to end Japan's naval refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of the U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Separated Koreans prepare for family reunions

By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea – Lee Sun-ok fled from North to South Korea to escape chaotic fighting during the Korean War, boarding a ship along with thousands of other people in December 1950. There was no time to say goodbye to her loved ones.

Now, the 80-year-old widow will return to North Korea on Saturday to meet two younger sisters and one younger brother for the first time in 60 years.

"I never thought I could see them again," an emotional Lee said in an interview Wednesday. "I can die after visiting the North with no regrets."

Lee is among about 200 families from both sides scheduled to hold six days of reunions with relatives they have not seen since the war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, in 1953, leaving the countries divided.

Millions of families remain separated following the Korean peninsula's division in 1945 and the ensuing civil war. There are no mail, telephone or e-mail exchanges between ordinary citizens from the two Koreas. Nor can they travel to the other side of the peninsula without government approval.

Family reunions began in 2000 following a landmark inter-Korean summit, but North Korea cut off most such programs after South Korea's conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office last year with a get-tough policy of holding North Korea accountable to its nuclear disarmament pledges.

North Korea agreed last month to resume the reunions as part of moves to reach out to South Korea and the United States after months of tension over its nuclear and missile programs.

The meetings will take place at the North's Diamond Mountain resort on the peninsula's east coast. So far, more than 16,200 Koreans have held temporary face-to-face reunions with relatives since they began. Some 3,740 others have seen relatives in video reunions.

The reunions come amid growing international pressure on the communist regime in Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programs and return to stalled disarmament talks.

North Korea boycotted the six-nation nuclear talks in April to protest world criticism of a rocket launch it carried out, but its leader Kim Jong Il has reportedly expressed interest in "bilateral and multilateral talks," indicating the North could rejoin the nuclear negotiations involving the U.S., China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

President Barack Obama told a U.N. General Assembly session Wednesday that North Korea "must be held accountable" if it continues to put its pursuit of nuclear weapons ahead of international security.

The reunions last through Oct. 1 and it remains unclear when they may be held again.

The meetings are a highly emotional issue in the Koreas. Most of those applying for the chance to see their long lost loved ones are in their 70s or older, and are eager for a reunion before they die.

Of 127,400 South Koreans who have applied over the year, nearly 40,000 have already died, according to South Korea's Red Cross.

South Korea wants to stage more family reunions on a regular basis and allow divided families to confirm whether their long-lost kin are still alive, but the North has balked at the request.

Lee Sun-ok married in South Korea, had two children and worked selling clothes in her own small shop. Still, she longed to see her loved ones in the North.

"I am fortunate to meet (my brother and sisters) before I die," she said. "They are always in my heart."

Flash floods kill five in Turkey

Flash floods and landslides caused by heavy rain have killed five people in northeastern Turkey overnight, according to local media reports.

The casualties included three members of one family who died when their house was crushed by a landslide on Wednesday night near the border with Georgia, Anatolia news agency reported.

A five-story building in the town of Kale collapsed and several buildings and a mosque in Demiciler were heavily damaged, DPA reported.

The flash floods come only two weeks after more than 30 people were killed in flooding around Istanbul, when Turkey experienced its worst flooding in over 80 years.

The Governor of Artvin province Mustafa Yemlihalioglu said the number of casualties were not high because many areas had already been evacuated as rain began to pour.

Dialogue key to resolving Kashmir issue: Pakistan

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani says dialogue is the only way that can resolve all outstanding issues between Islamabad and New Delhi.

Speaking to reporters in the eastern city of Multan, Gilani said that Kashmir is the core issue and without resolving it no durable peace can be achieved in the region, local NNI news agency reported on Thursday.

The Pakistani premier pointed out that he will focus on the Kashmir issue during the next round of talks with Indian officials.

According to Gilani, the world has recognized Pakistan's capability in dealing with terrorists. He said that the onus was on the international community to come forward and provide support to Pakistan to completely eradicate terrorism.

Gilani referred to the water and energy crises as other outstanding issues that his government has to deal with. He said efforts were underway to overcome these issues in the minimum possible time.

Israel planning new settlement in al-Quds

Despite mounting international pressure, Israel is planning to construct yet another settlement in Ras Amud, in east Jerusalem (al-Quds).

The Ras Amud settlement plan has been submitted to Jerusalem Municipality's Planning Department for approval, said Ir Amin, an Israeli NGO, on Thursday. Ras Amud is a Palestinian neighborhood that borders Mount Olives cemetery.

The plan aims at linking Maale Adumim settlements with east Jerusalem (al-Quds) by annexing Palestinian lands in that area, Ir Amin said. He added that 104 "luxurious" housing units, including other facilities such as a kindergarten, a synagogue, a country club with swimming pool and a huge parking lot, are planned for the settlers.

It would later be connected to the existing Maale Zeitim illegal settlement in east Jerusalem (al-Quds). The two settlements would bring comfort to 1,000 Israeli families at the expense of Palestinian homes.

The settlements are usually constructed on Palestinian land illegally confiscated by the Israeli government.

Ir Amin concluded that said that such issues are a threat to any possibility for achieving peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Israeli settlers, troops break into Ibrahimi Mosque

Around 150 Israeli settlers, backed by Israeli soldiers, break into the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Ishakiyya area in al-Khalil (Hebron), in the West Bank.

Zeid al-Ja'bary, Head of the Waqf and Endowment department, said on Thursday that this was the first time the settlers had entered the mosque since the massacre carried out by Baroach Goldstein in 1994, killing 29 Muslim worshipers and wounding 150 others.

Al-Ja'bary warned that extremist settlers are trying to bar the Muslims from entering the Ibrahimi Mosque and are trying to transform it into a synagogue.

He added that since last week, the Israeli authorities have prohibited the Muslims from using loud speakers to call for prayers.

Israeli authorities had also closed the mosque on Saturday and Sunday, which was Eid al-Fitr, barring Muslims from performing prayers following a month of fasting in Ramadan.

Rival Islamist rebels face off in Somalia

September 25, 2009

Al-Shabaab, Hizbul Islam battle for control of southern port

Abdi Guled

Reuters

MOGADISHU: Rival Islamist insurgents are squaring up for a fight over southern Somalia’s strategic port of Kismayu after hardline Al-Shabaab rebels unilaterally named a new administration to run the area. Animosity has been growing between Al-Shabaab, which the United States says is Al-Qaeda’s proxy in Somalia, and another rebel militia, Hizbul Islam.

The growing rift between the south’s two main rebel groups – which both oppose the fragile UN-backed government – only points to more violence in the country, where fighting has killed more than 18,000 civilians since the start of 2007. Another 1.5 million have been driven from their homes. Aid officials say at least 60 percent of those in need of help live in areas controlled by the insurgent militias.

Both groups want to control Kismayu, which is a lucrative source of taxes and other income for their fighters, and until this week they controlled the port in an uneasy alliance.

Then on Wednesday, Al-Shabaab named its own local governing council, excluding all their Hizbul Islam rivals.

Residents say both sides are rushing in reinforcements in anticipation of battle, and on Thursday a senior Hizbul Islam leader said they would not recognize the new authority.

“The men who call themselves Al-Shabaab have formed an administration with disregard to the other mujahideen,” Sheikh Hassan Turki, Hizbul Islam’s deputy leader and the commander of southern Somalia’s Ras Kamboni militant group, told reporters.

“No one should claim total control of the city. There should be mediation before there is bloodshed … they broke a promise about forming the town’s administration and should fear Allah.”

Leaflets denouncing the Al-Shabaab militants, widely thought to have been printed by the Kamboni group, have been circulating in Kismayu in recent weeks, locals say, raising fears of a confrontation.

Security experts say Somalia is a safe haven for wanted militants, including foreign jihadists. On Wednesday the European Union’s aid chief warned it risked becoming “the new Afghanistan” unless Western donors helped its government stop Al-Qaeda gaining a foothold in the region.

In the latest violence in the capital Mogadishu, clashes killed at least 12 people on Wednesday after insurgents attacked government forces and peacekeeping troops from a 5,000-strong African Union peacekeeping mission, AMISOM.

In their biggest attack on the peacekeepers so far, the rebels hit AMISOM’s headquarters in the city with twin suicide car bombs a week ago, killing 17 soldiers from Burundi and Uganda, including the force’s deputy commander.

Al-Shabaab said it carried out the strike in revenge for the killing days earlier of one of Africa’s most wanted Al-Qaeda suspects by US special forces in the rebel-held south.

Hizbul Islam’s leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, justified the use of suicide bombings and called for more such attacks on Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmad’s government.

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/Sep/25/Rival-Islamist-rebels-face-off-in-Somalia.ashx.