Saleh quits Yemen presidency

Saturday, 23 April 2011

By MUNA KHAN
Al Arabiya with Agencies

President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen has agreed to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days, and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution, Yemen’s state TV said on Saturday evening.

His imminent departure from office made Mr. Saleh the third key Arab leader to step down in the face of social and political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. The other leaders are Presidents Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia. Mr. Mubarak is under detention at a military hospital in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh; Mr. Ben Ali is reported to be gravely ill in Saudi Arabia.

There were unconfirmed reports early Sunday morning that members of President Saleh’s immediate family have left Sana’a for the United Arab Emirates. It is not inconceivable that an informal arrangement has been made to ensure safe passage for the president’s family to nearby countries.

The protest movement demanding Mr. Saleh’s immediate departure from office said Saturday it also has agreed to the mediators’ proposal but with reservations. It objects to an article that gives parliament the right to reject the president’s resignation.

Members of the 68-year-old Mr. Saleh’s party, the General People’s Congress, dominate the parliament. Mr. Saleh, who has been in power for the last 32 years, steadfastly refused to resign from the presidency in the face of more than two months of massive street protests against his authoritarian rule.

State TV said Saturday evening that Yemen’s foreign minister delivered the government’s acceptance to mediators from the Gulf Cooperation Council earlier on Saturday.

Hours after the government officially accepted the GCC new proposal to tackle the Yemeni crisis, the Joint Meeting Parties, representing the opposition coalition, said it had accepted the Gulf initiative too. 
The coalition held a meeting to discuss the proposal; it backed down from an earlier insistence that Opposition leaders lead a new government.

Instead, a spokesman for the coalition, Muhammad Qahtan, said: “We agreed that the General People’s Congress, the governing party, forms the national unity government from the government, the opposition and other political forces on condition the protests continue on the streets.” Sultan Al-Atwani, Secretary General of the Nasserite Unionist People’s Organization, said that the proposal was to be welcomed in general, but he added that his group needed further clarification regarding the GCC-brokered deal. 


President Saleh seemed predictably bitter in accepting the deal. He warned on Saturday of civil war unless the current crisis was tackled. In a speech to deans, commanders and students of Yemen’s military and security colleges, Mr. Saleh accused his foes of receiving funds from unnamed countries “to incite chaos and oust the regime.”

“The Joint Meeting Parties receive dirty money to topple the government, and those who joined them from the ruling party were agents for the opposition,” Mr. Saleh said. “We are very interested in preventing bloodshed because the Yemeni blood is very precious and the opposition can’t drag us to killing each other. Civil war will not only affect Yemen, but also the whole region and the international security. Change is necessary but through peaceful means and without destruction or sabotage. The demands of the youths, who are on the streets, are the people’s demands and I truly support these demands and suggest that the youth form their own political party.”

The Wall Street Journal broke the story of his resignation on Saturday evening. It quoted a presidential aide, Tariq Shami, as saying, “Though President Saleh has constitutional rights to stay in power, he is willing to leave office willingly.”

In the end, President Saleh had little choice but to yield to pressure from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the two Gulf States most vigorously involved in diplomatic efforts concerning the Yemen crisis. Although Mr. Saleh remained defiant in speeches on Friday, vowing to complete his term until 2013, backdoor diplomacy by Gulf states—worried at the possible gains made by Al-Qaeda network in Yemen—was able to convince Mr. Saleh that he would be accorded a dignified exit, according to The Journal.

Analysts will now eagerly await the opposition’s reaction to this deal as various groups are divided on the controversial clause of the president and his aides receiving any form of immunity from prosecution. While some have agreed to President Saleh handing over power to the vice-president in 30 days and his son and nephew, who hold key positions in the military and national security, handing over their posts within 60 days, it is the youth movement that remains adamant in their stance, The Journal said.

“We the youth of revolution reject any proposal that does not hold Saleh accountable for the killing of more than 140 revolutionary protesters during the street demonstrations this year,” said a statement released by the students’ organizing committee.

Earlier in the day on Saturday, Yemenis boarded up their shops and businesses across the country in protest against the president’s rule.

According to a Reuters witness, up to 90 percent of shops, markets and schools were closed in the southern port city of Aden. There were few pedestrians in the streets and hardly any traffic.

Many businesses were also closed for the day in Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city and an epicenter of opposition to the 69-year-old-president, and Hodeida on the Red Sea.

Yemenis flooded the streets of Sana’a and Taiz on Friday in rival demonstrations for and against Mr. Saleh, who offered guarded approval to a Gulf Arab plan for a three-month transition of power.

The proposal of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) called for Mr. Saleh to hand power to his vice president, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, one month after signing an agreement.

He would appoint an opposition leader to lead an interim cabinet charged with preparing presidential elections two months later, a Yemeni official said on Friday.

The plan, presented on Thursday, also gives immunity from prosecution to Mr. Saleh, his family and aides—anathema to his foes, who would also have to end protests under the proposal.

“We stress that we will hold on to the constitutional legitimacy, in loyalty to our people, as we categorically reject the attempted coups on freedom, democracy, and political pluralism,” Mr. Saleh told regime supporters in Sana’a.

As on past Fridays, a huge rival rally by anti-regime protesters kept up the pressure for Mr. Saleh’s immediate departure on what they branded a “Last Chance Friday.”

A correspondent of Agence-France Presse said the gathering covered a four-kilometer stretch, in what appeared to be the largest anti-Saleh rally since protests erupted in late January.

Yemeni army and police were deployed in force to prevent clashes between the two camps.

Parliamentary opposition groups are still studying the GCC plan, but the spokesman of the Common Forum coalition said that “forming a national unity government while the president is still in office is not accepted.”

“The president’s departure is essential to any solution,” he told AFP.

Many protesters on the streets on Friday dismissed the proposal out of hand.

“Neighboring countries: no negotiations, no dialogue,” read posters carried by demonstrators.

Mr. Saleh has since January faced anti-regime protests calling for his ouster in which more than 130 people have been killed in clashes with security forces and rival demonstrators.

Meanwhile al-Qaeda militants and tribesmen gunned down 13 soldiers in separate attacks in the eastern Marib province.

Another soldier was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the restive southern province of Abyan.

Mr. Saleh’s long-time Gulf and Western allies, concerned that the chaos in Yemen will open more opportunities for ambitious al-Qaeda militants, are trying to broker an orderly transition to the president’s 32-year rule.

Source: al-Arabiya.
Link: http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/04/23/146477.html.

Ankara on alert over escalating tension in Syria

Monday, April 25, 2011

Turkey is alarmed at the escalating tension in neighboring Syria, where security forces’ deadly crackdowns on protesters threaten to trigger a flood of refugees across the border, Turkish officials have said.

“Syria is the top priority for us,” a senior Turkish Foreign Ministry official told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Monday. “We have already taken measures considering all sorts of scenarios, including massive migration and other potential complications.”

Turkey has called its ambassador to Damascus, Ömür Önhon, to Ankara for routine consultations, sources said, adding that Önhon has met with newly appointed Syrian Prime Minister Adel Safar and he will brief Ankara about those discussions.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu briefed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about the developments in Syria on Monday. The Syria issue is also expected to top the Turkish Cabinet meeting Tuesday, while developments will be further assessed Thursday at a routine National Security Council, or MGK, with the participation of military and civilian authorities.

Turkey released its last official statement on the matter late Saturday, calling on the Syrian regime to stop the killings of demonstrators as the death toll neared 350 since the beginning of popular revolts last week. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s reluctance to heed Turkey’s calls to heed the demands of his people has diminished Ankara’s support for his regime.

“The reason for our relatively silent position is not to give the impression that we are backing a regime that suppresses democratic protests,” an official said, adding that the continuation of the reform process was still Turkey’s expectation from Damascus.

“But those reforms cannot be performed while people’s demands are responded to violently,” the official said.

Erdoğan already urged al-Assad at a meeting in February to urgently implement reforms if he does not want to see his reign ended. “But he did not listen to us then. He delayed many reforms, which caused today’s situation,” the Foreign Ministry source said. “If he had acted adequately at that time, perhaps he would not be at this point now.”

Syria, not Libya

Underscoring that Turkey shares an 877-kilometer border with Syria and has close economic, cultural and historical ties with the country, Foreign Ministry officials dismissed analogies between the situations in Libya and Syria.

“Syria has critical importance for us. Turmoil in Syria could spark intersecting clashes and regional instability through exporting the tension to neighboring countries like Lebanon,” an official said.

Noting that an international campaign to impose sanctions against al-Assad’s regime has already been launched, Turkish officials warned that such moves will not be helpful at the moment.

“The mistakes committed during the first days of Libyan crisis should not be repeated,” an official said. “This effort allowed some countries to change the regime in Libya, something the United Nations resolutions did not impose.”

Northern border quiet

Despite the growing tension in southern Syria, Turkish officials said they have been observing silence in northern Syria, where the majority of the population is of Turkish or Kurdish descent.

An official from the Customs Directorate said measures have been prepared but not implemented because they are not needed for the time being. Mayors of Turkish cities on the Syrian border have also taken some steps to deal with a massive potential influx of refugees.

“The only thing we see is that there is a growing concern on this side of the border as many of our people have relatives in Syria,” one official said.

Turkey and Syria abolished visa requirements last year in a move to boost economic and trade ties.

Source: Hürriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=ankara-on-alert-for-syria-2011-04-25.

476 inmates escape from Afghan prison, Taliban claims responsibility

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Over 470 inmates escaped from a prison in Kandahar, south of Afghanistan early Monday, an official said.

"Some 476 inmates made their good escape from the Kandahar jail early today," chief of the Kandahar jail Ghulam Dastgir Mayar told Xinhua.

He also admitted that the prisoners made their escape after digging a hole.

Meantime, deputy to Kandahar provincial police chief Shir Shah Yusufzai told Xinhua that so far eight escaped prisoners had been re-arrested.

Some 1,000 inmates, according to an official who declined to give his name, had been held in the Kandahar jail. This is the third time that the Kandahar jail has been attacked over the past few years and the detainees have been able to escape.

On the other hand, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi who claims to speak for the Taliban outfit stressed that over 500 Taliban detainees have escaped from the jail.

In talks with media via telephone from an undisclosed location, the Taliban purported spokesman emphasized that militants, after digging a 360-meter long tunnel, enabled 541 militants including 106 commanders to escape.

Kandahar, the former stronghold of Taliban, is the second major base of the NATO and U.S. troops after Bagram, in Afghanistan.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/25/c_13844690.htm.

Turkey backs independent Palestine

NEW YORK, April 23 (UPI) -- Turkey, historically one of Israel's few allies in the Middle East, has declared its support for a unilateral Palestinian independence declaration.

Ertugrul Apakan, the Turkish ambassador to the United Nations, said Thursday during a Security Council debate other countries must not "turn a blind eye" to Palestinians' legitimate claims, Today's Zaman reported.

"Through their state-building efforts, the Palestinian Authority has proven to all the skeptics that they deserve to attain their decades-long target of internationally recognized statehood, even though they continue to suffer under occupation," he said.

Palestinian leaders have said if the peace process remains unresolved in September they will seek U.N. recognition as an independent country.

Relations between Turkey and Israel became strained when several Turks participating in a humanitarian convoy to Gaza were killed in a confrontation with the Israeli military.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Thursday in an op-ed piece in The New York Times the future of the movement for democracy in the Middle East depends on creating a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace and a broader peace between Israel and its neighbors in the region.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/04/23/Turkey-backs-independent-Palestine/UPI-54681303594672/.

Iraqi Shiites fear Sunni power in Syria

Monday, 25 April 2011

By MUSTAPHA AJBAILI
Al Arabiya

Despite their dreadful experiences with the Baath party, Iraq’s Shiite religious political blocs are concerned over the possible collapse of the party in Syria and fundamentalist Sunnis coming into power, experts told Al Arabiya.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, said that “tyranny” and “oppression” justify the popular protests sweeping the Arab world from Morocco to Syria.

But other Shiite political figures in Iraq have been more cautious in their support for demonstrators calling for freedom and democracy in the Arab world.

Sheikh Jalal Eddin Al-Saghir, a top leader in the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (SCIRI), explained the differences between the ruling Baath party in Syria and the Baath party of Saddam Hussein.

“Syria has stood with the opposition [in Iraq]…and we cannot talk about the two in the same manner. There is a difference between the criminal regime that used to rule in Iraq in the name of a party and the Baath party in Syria,” he said.

Mr. Saghir added, “We have to take into consideration that Iraq would be the most affected by instability in Syria.”

Meanwhile, Khalid al-Asadi, a member of the National Alliance, said foreigners instigated the unrest in Syria; he denied the protests were motivated by a genuine demand for reform and freedom.

“The unrest in Syria is a very sensitive issue for Iraq and we must not compare it to other Arab uprisings,” Mr. Asadi said.

Latif al-Amidi, a scholar at the Islamic School in Najaf, said he was “afraid of [Sunni] fundamentalists reaching power in Syria if President Bashar al-Assad's Baath party is overthrown.”

Hamid Fadil, a political science professor at Baghdad University said that the Shiites, who waited for 80 years to reach power in Iraq, “are afraid to be surrounded by Sunni regimes in the region.”

Michel Aflaq, a Christian, and Salah al-Bitar, a Muslim, established Syria’s Baath party in 1947. The secular party, which combines Arabic nationalism and socialism, came to power in Syria in 1963 and in Iraq in 1968.

Source: al-Arabiya.
Link: http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/04/25/146715.html.

'Fueled by Viagra' Gaddafi forces using rape as weapon against rebel children, women

Tripoli, Apr 26: Fueled by Viagra, the forces of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, are reportedly using rape as a weapon of war against rebels, including children as young as eight years.

The Daily Mail quoted aid workers as describing how Gaddafi''s forces are carrying out widespread sexual abuse, including an incident in which a group of girls was abducted and held hostage for four days.

Some of these children were too traumatized to speak about the incident after their release, while others said they were being forced to watch as their fathers were murdered and their mothers raped.

Harrowing stories of sexual assaults against women and children have emerged from those who have fled the besieged cities of Misrata, Ajdabia and Rus-Lanuf.

Michael Mahrt, child protection adviser of Save The Children, said the reports of sexual violence against children are unconfirmed but they are ‘consistent and were repeated across the four camps we visited’.

“Children told us they have witnessed horrendous scenes. Some said they saw their fathers murdered and mothers raped. They described things happening to other children but they may have actually happened to them and they are just too upset to talk about it - it''s a typical coping mechanism used by children who have suffered such abuse,” the paper quoted her, as saying.

“What is most worrying is that we have only been able to speak to a limited number of children - what else is happening to those who are trapped in Misrata and other parts of the country who do not have a voice?” Mahrt said.

Earlier, 28-year-old Iman al-Obeidi had claimed that she was assaulted for two days by 15 men after being abducted at a checkpoint. She was arrested after trying to tell her story to foreign journalists and has subsequently been charged with slander.

Source: New Kerala.
Link: http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-196857.html.

Bahrain soccer players detained, clubs shut

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Three players from Bahrain's national soccer team have been detained and six clubs have withdrawn from domestic leagues following widespread anti-government protests, the country's governing soccer body said Monday.

Meanwhile, the pro-democracy group Youth of Feb. 14 Revolution has launched a Facebook campaign urging Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone not to reschedule the Bahrain Grand Prix until "until basic human rights and freedoms are restored." Bahrain has until May 1 to decide if it wants to reschedule the auto race, which was called off March 13 because of the unrest.

The turmoil surrounding soccer and Formula One are the latest illustrations of just how badly sports in the Gulf nation have been hit since the protests began Feb. 14 and left 30 people dead.

The moves against the soccer players are part of a government crackdown on dissent following protests that have resulted in journalists, bloggers, doctors, lawyers and activists being detained. More than 150 athletes, coaches and referees also have been suspended since April 5 for their alleged involvement in protests against the country's Sunni rulers.

Sheik Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the vice president of the Bahrain Football Association, acknowledged the three players have been detained but could provide no further information. He said the clubs — two in the top division and four in the second — have withdrawn from the league, which resumed two weeks ago because of "pressure from Shiite political groups."

Al Khalifa said all could be fined for refusing to play and possibly face other sanctions, including relegation to a lower division.

"Some of the clubs during the problems refrained from participating," Al Khalifa said. "We haven't suspended anyone. They are just not participating. There is a fine and punishment, of course."

A human right group, however, says the clubs from mostly Shiite villages were suspended last week from the league for two years and fined $20,000. Along with soccer teams, the clubs sponsor a range of sports in their communities.

Mohammed al-Maskati, president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, said clubs had stopped playing during the protests partly because they felt it was too dangerous and also to acknowledge the deaths of protesters.

But he said that when the clubs announced they were ready to resume playing, the authorities imposed suspensions and fines.

"They could not work normally when protesters are killed in their villages," Al-Maskati said.

"The authorities want to tell them that you are supporting the protests and this is the punishment. It's not fair," he added. "Just because you are a sportsman doesn't mean it's wrong to be political. Everyone in the world has ideas about something. Everyone has the right to get involved."

Officials from three of the clubs — Al Malkiya, Al Ittihad and Sitra — confirmed the six had been fined for refusing to participate in the league and that the top two clubs, Al Malkiya and Al Shabab, were relegated and drew additional fines for refusing to take part in the GCC Club Championship.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.