Jordanians call for ouster of PM Bakhit

By ABDUL JALIL MUSTAFA | ARAB NEWS
Jul 8, 2011

AMMAN: Jordanians demonstrated on Friday for the fifth week in a row in several cities calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit’s government, the dissolution of the lower house of parliament and taking serious moves to punish corrupt officials, witnesses said.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets after Friday prayers in the city of Tafileh, 180 km south of Amman, to press their demand for Bakhit’s ouster.

They issued a statement rejecting last week’s reshuffle of Bakhit’s cabinet as a fresh evidence of the government’s “weak will” to carry out the needed political reforms and a move designed to “kill the public mobility.”

“The decision-makers have to stop their procrastination, piracy and the cover-up they provide for corrupts,” the statement said.

In the reshuffle, Bakhit appointed nine new ministers, including replacements for the ministers of the Interior, Justice and Health who resigned in connection with the fleeing of the convicted tycoon Khalid Shahin.

Shahin, who was serving a three-year jail term when he fled to London on Feb. 25, is now in Frankfurt under the pretext of seeking medical treatment that he says he could not find locally.

Jordanian authorities said they were in contact with the German government seeking to ensure Shahin’s extradition to Jordan.

Scores of activists demonstrated for the first time in the city of Mafraq, 50 km east of Amman, urging King Abdallah to sack the cabinet and dissolve the House of Representatives. They also called for Bakhit’s trial over his role in the so-called 2007 casino deal, when his government then allowed a London-based investor to build a casino on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea.

Samir Rifai, who succeeded Bakhit as premier, sought to annul the agreement in 2008, contending that it harmed Jordan’s interests and involved taboos because Islamic teachings prohibit gambling.

The lower house voted recently to clear Bakhit of wrongdoings, but implicated former Tourism Minister Osama Dabbas.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article468761.ece.

Sudan's president congratulates independent South

By REUTERS
Jul 9, 2011

JUBA: Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir congratulated South Sudan on its independence on Saturday and called for good neighborly relations at a ceremony to mark the south’s split from Sudan in the north.

Sudan became the first nation to recognize the south on Friday, hours before the birth of the new state, a gesture of goodwill from the north which fought against secessionist forces for decades.

“We congratulate our brothers in the south for the establishment of their new state,” said Bashir, addressing thousands of southerners who cheered after he spoke.

“We share their joy and celebration,” he said. “The will of the people of the south has to be respected.”

“Despite our belief that Sudan’s unity would have been better ... the gains achieved over the last years from the shared conviction of the feasibility of peace ... must be protected,” Bashir said.

The president of Sudan, who lost almost a third of his country’s territory and about three quarters of its oil reserves with the split, said gains could be secured with “positive” ties and by maintaining joint economic and trade interests.

He called for support from the international community. “We call on US President Barack Obama to deliver on his commitment he announced to lift the unilateral sanctions on Sudan to open to way to normalize his country’s relations with Sudan.”

Obama recognized the south in a statement earlier on Saturday but stopped short of announcing any immediate changes in longstanding US sanctions on Sudan itself that Khartoum has been hoping will be lifted.

Addressing the crowd, Bashir said: “We have a joint and continuing responsibility to build and strengthen confidence to complete the agreement on outstanding issues.”

Northern and southern leaders have still not agreed on a list of issues, most importantly the line of the border, the ownership of the disputed Abyei region and how they will handle oil revenues, the lifeblood of both economies.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article469116.ece.

Leader of S. Sudan offers peace to rebels, hotspots

Jul 9, 2011

JUBA: South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir promised to bring peace to troubled border areas and offered an amnesty to armed groups fighting his government, hours after his state declared independence from the north on Saturday.

South Sudan seceded on Saturday — a separation won in a January referendum that was the climax of a 2005 peace deal which ended decades of civil war with the north.

“I want to assure the people of Abyei, Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan that we have not forgotten you. When you cry, we cry. When you bleed, we bleed,” Kiir said at the independence ceremony in the southern capital Juba, watched by world leaders.

“I pledge to you today that we will find a just peace for all,” he said, adding he would work with north Sudan’s President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir to attain that.

All the areas he mentioned are on the ill-defined border the south shares with the north — all of them hotspots that analysts fear could reignite violence after the separation

Abyei is a fertile area, with some oil reserves, claimed by both sides. Darfur is the scene of an eight-year insurgency against Khartoum.

Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile are both in north Sudan but include large populations which sided with the south during the civil war. Kiir’s statement may have been intended to connect with those groups who have since felt left behind by Juba.

Armed groups in Southern Kordofan have been fighting northern government troops since early June.

“I would like to take this opportunity to declare amnesty for all those who have taken up arms against Sudan,” Kiir added.

At least seven rebel militia are fighting government forces in remote parts of South Sudan.

Many of them say they are fighting against what they see as corruption and ethnic discrimination in the south’s government, charges denied by the state. Kiir has offered pardons before with limited success.

Kiir told the crowd he would also fight the “cancer of corruption” in the south.

“This new nation shall strive to live in peace with its neighbors north, south, east and west,” Kiir said.

He later said that having lived with war for so long, South Sudanese would never allow themselves to be categorized as “aggressors or troublemakers.”

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article469120.ece.

S America species endangered: Study

Sat Jul 9, 2011

Some important animal species are in danger of extinction in 92 percent of South America's protected areas, a new study suggests.

According to the study by the Institute of Natural Resources Analysis of Argentina, over 80 percent of the 1511 protected areas in South America are being threatened by the advancement of agriculture and other land use, a Press TV correspondent reports.

One of the species deeply affected is the magnificent jaguar, the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, which lives in the north of Argentina.

Director of the Wild Life Foundation Diego Romero says that there are not enough protected areas to secure the jaguar population in the South American country.

"Protected areas cover a small part of Argentina. Following the advancement of land management practices, they've become sort of islands that only protect a small population," Romero said.

The study concludes that big mammals in South America must be technologically assisted to avoid their extinction, and there should be plans to create centers where the animals receive reproductive and alimentary supplements.

Romero considers the protected areas in South America as the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation.

"Protected areas are important for scientific and research purposes. They also play an important role in tourism. Sixty percent of foreign tourists come to Argentina to visit these areas," he said.

Other experts believe it is also important to protect fragile ecosystems that surround protected areas going through a process of degradation, and facing fauna and flora extinction.

"We must also protect the areas surrounding them, such as the forests in the center and the northern region that are in danger [of deforestation]," Climate and Forests Campaign Coordinator of Greenpeace Hernan Giardini said.

He added that Argentina has lost two million hectares of forests due to the spread of soybean and stockbreeding activities.

"The devastation of millions of hectares of native forests led to the loss of biodiversity and the [destruction of the] habitat of endangered species, like jaguar," he pointed out.

Experts say that pressures and lobbying from domestic and international corporations prevent Argentina and other Latin American countries from carrying out comprehensive state policies on key environmental issues affecting their economic interests.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/188234.html.

DRC wants to avoid Ivorian election crisis

STRASBOURG, France, July 7 (UPI) -- European aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo must be spent wisely to avert a crisis such as the one that struck Ivory Coast, an official said.

Rival claims to the Ivorian presidency following November elections pushed the country to the brink of civil war. Medard Mulangala, leader of the opposition Union for a Republican Majority, told the EUobserver that aid from the European Union must be spent correctly.

"We have to make sure that EU taxpayers' money will be used to support a proper process," he was quoted as saying. "We want to have a fair and democratic process but access to public media is restricted to candidates from the ruling party."

The EU in 2006 sent a military mission to DRC to help secure the political process there. Clashes between rival groups have already escalated, however. Police in Kinshasa used tear gas to break up protests and arrested several opposition figures Monday.

Mulangala said now was the time to make sure foreign aid was spent correctly in the DRC.

"We would like to avoid having a situation like the one in the Ivory Coast after the election," he said from Strasbourg, France. "This is something we cannot afford."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/07/07/DRC-wants-to-avoid-Ivorian-election-crisis/UPI-44101310049766/.

Breakaway general tells Saleh to step down

SANAA, Yemen, July 7 (UPI) -- Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh should make the honorable move of stepping aside, a military leader who joined the opposition said.

Yemeni Gen. Ali Mohsen bolstered opposition forces when he joined their ranks after pro-government forces killed more than 50 protesters in March. He was reportedly training members of the youth movement in the country to attack infrastructure in Sanaa.

He told the Yemen Post he didn't join the opposition to back the emerging power center in the country.

"I did not join the revolution to gain power," he was quoted as saying. "I was very powerful even before I joined the revolution."

He said Saleh should make an honorable exit from power after serving as the country's president for more than 30 years.

Saleh, recovering from wounds suffered during a June 3 attack on his presidential compound, hasn't signed on to a deal for his exit that was brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council.

The government wants Saleh to stay in power for six months if he signs the GCC deal. Opponents say that's unreasonable considering the deal would usher the president out of the political arena.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/07/07/Breakaway-general-tells-Saleh-to-step-down/UPI-36511310047900/.

Algerians question FLN future

An increasing number of Algerians are calling for the FLN to be disbanded.

By Fidet Mansour for Magharebia in Algiers – 08/07/11

As revolutions and popular uprisings sweep across the Arab world, Algerians are debating their own political order and the future of the National Liberation Front (FLN).

The FLN should "be wound up as a party, because it belongs to all Algerians", according to Omar Bouacha, president of the Movement for Openness. He believes that the state should keep its distance from political parties such as the FLN "so that they can be impartial".

The socialist party was founded during the war of independence and remained Algeria's only party for three decades. Now led by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Secretary-General Abdelaziz Belkhadem, the FLN is the largest party in the country's elected assemblies and maintains a strong presence in the government.

However, many observers feel that the group is unable to keep up with a changing Algeria. Former Minister Kamel Bouchama was once a national commissioner for the party but he now believes that the FLN is faced with a choice of abandoning its old ways or being consigned to the dustbin. However, he maintains that "the FLN can still be saved" if reforms are implemented.

"All it will take is for a handful of honest activists armed with courage and a great deal of willpower to set about re-establishing the FLN", Bouchama said. He criticized the modern day party for having become "a springboard for all sorts of opportunists".

Bouchama added that restoring the party would "require the involvement of young people".

The question of what should be done with the FLN is higher on the agenda than ever before, according to L'Expression journalist Noreddine Merdaci.

"The crisis within the former national independence movement, which is recurrent and ongoing, even gives one the impression that it is intensifying," he wrote in an article published in the paper. Since independence, he believes, the party has "above all served as a smokescreen for all of the manipulation and exploitation for special purposes."

Despite the introduction of multiparty politics, he argued, "the FLN is continuing to behave like a state within a state."

Three opposition parties – the Socialist Forces Front (FFS), Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) and the Republican Patriotic Assembly – are all calling for the FLN to be wound up.

"No legitimacy other than constitutional legitimacy may be invoked or used to justify interference in matters that relate to personal beliefs and affect the personal freedom of citizens," retired general Khaled Nezzar said. His statement referenced the FLN policy of relying on its history during the war of independence for legitimacy.

Algerian citizens, and young people in particular, shared the view of politicians who called for the FLN to be disbanded.

"The role of the FLN ended in 1962 but this party is still hiding behind its historical legitimacy in order to impose itself as a political force," commented 25-year-old Marwa Boufatah.

Aymen, 32, said that the FLN made mistakes since independence, adding that they were "detrimental to what it has achieved and the just cause that was defended during the war of independence."

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/07/08/feature-03.