Jordan, Syria call for Israeli pullout from all Arab lands - Summary

Mon, 06 Sep 2010

Amman - Jordanian King Abdullah II and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday stressed the need for Israel to pull out from all Arab territories it occupied in the 1967 war, if peace with the Palestinians is to be achieved.

Abdullah made a whirlwind visit to Damascus to brief the Syrian leader on the outcome of his talks in Washington last week with United States President Barack Obama, Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a royal court statement said.

The monarch had attended the six-way meeting on the eve of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians being relaunched Thursday.

Abdullah and al-Assad "emphasised that resolving the Palestinian- Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state vision requires the regaining of all Arab rights in accordance with ... the Arab peace initiative," the statement said.

The Arab peace initiative offered Israel recognition by all Arab states if it pulled out from all Arab territories it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, including East Jerusalem.

Turkish-brokered peace talks between Syria and Israel had faltered in 2008, reportedly after Damascus insisted on the restoration of the entire Golan Heights, one of the Arab territories the Jewish state captured in the 1967 war.

Abdullah and al-Assad also agreed to continue "coordination and consultation" on all bilateral and regional issues and discussed means of boosting pan-Arab action "to cope with common challenges".

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/342977,arab-lands-summary.html.

Two Spaniards killed in Afghan 'terrorist' shooting - Summary

Wed, 25 Aug 2010

Kabul/Madrid - An Afghan police driver shot dead two Spanish police trainers and an interpreter before being killed by NATO security forces inside a base in north-western Afghanistan, Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Wednesday.

Rubalcaba described the killing as a premeditated terrorist attack. He said he was unable to confirm reports that the Taliban were behind it.

The driver fired at the police officers with an assault rifle when they were instructing their Afghan colleagues in the capital of Badghis province, Qala-I-Naw.

Rubalcaba identified the killer as the driver of one of the slain police officers. The interpreter who was also killed was identified as a Spaniard of Iranian origin.

The killer was gunned down by Spanish police officers who witnessed the shooting.

Deputy Governor Haji Abdul Qami Sabir confirmed that two Spanish soldiers were killed when an Afghan policeman opened fire on the troops.

The Spanish victims were members of the paramilitary police force Civil Guard. Their names were given as captain Jose Maria Galera Cordoba and second lieutenant Abraham Leoncio Bravo Picayo. Both were 33 years old, according to Spanish government sources.

NATO confirmed the incident later on Wednesday, saying that an Afghan policeman, two international service members and a civilian had been killed.

The incident sparked angry reactions from hundreds of demonstrators who attempted to storm the Spanish-manned NATO camp, witness reports said.

The residents protested at the Provincial Reconstruction Team's base after allegations that foreign troops had shot and killed an Afghan policeman, Mohammed Rahim told the German Press Agency dpa.

"Firing is continuing in the city, everyone is escaping, and thousands of people are trying to attack the Spanish PRT base," he said.

Spanish government sources initially denied that the demonstrators tried to storm the base, but Rubalcaba said the Afghan army had repelled such an attempt.

The protestors wanted the body of the slain Afghan police officer, Spanish government sources said, explaining that an Afghan judge had entered the base in order to authorize the handover of the remains.

Spain has about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of ISAF. Ninety-two Spaniards who were sent to Afghanistan have been killed, including 62 who died in a plane crash in Turkey in 2003.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/340973,terrorist-shooting-summary.html.

Spanish demonstrators arrested by Moroccan police in West Sahara

Sun, 29 Aug 2010

Madrid - A group of Spanish demonstrators were arrested in the West Saharan city of El-Aiun in an unauthorized protest demonstration, Spain's state broadcaster RNE reported Sunday.

The report said that Moroccan security forces moved in to break up the demonstration which was staged to protest against human rights violations in Morocco.

El-Aiun is the capital of the West Sahara, the former Spanish colony which Morocco annexed after Spain's pullout in 1975.

The RNE report said 11 Spaniards were arrested, while three others fled to a hotel. Later, the 14 demonstrators, members of a West Sahara initiative based on the Canary Islands, were being detained in a Spanish cultural centre in El-Aiun.

The group members charged that they were brutally mistreated by the Moroccan police.

A Spanish diplomat was en route to the West Sahara to gain their release and arrange for their return to Spain, the report said.

The incident threatened to add further to Spanish-Moroccan tensions after the recent dispute over border controls in Spain's exclave of Melilla. Morocco accused Spanish border guards of mistreating African travelers.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/341547,moroccan-police-west-sahara.html.

At least 3 Russian soldiers killed in Dagestan bombing - Summary

Sun, 05 Sep 2010

Moscow - At least three Russian soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing at a military base in restive Dagestan republic in the North Caucasus region early Sunday, media reports quoting the defence ministry said.

The ministry said five of the 32 people injured in the attack were in a critical condition, according to the Interfax news agency. The injured were flown to a hospital in the southern city Rostov-on-Don.

The suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into a gate at the base, located about 2 kilometres north-east of Buinaksk city. Reports said around 50 kilograms of the explosive TNT was used in the bombing.

Guards had reportedly prevented further fatalities by blocking the entrance. Another bomb exploded on the roadside when investigators arrived at the scene, without causing injuries, authorities said.

President Dmitry Medvedev, who had been informed of the incident by Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, offered support to the victims and their families.

Authorities have stepped up security at military bases in southern Russia in the wake the attack.

The suicide bombing came a day after an attack on Dagestan's Minister National Policy, Foreign Relations and Information, Bekmurza Bemurzayev. The minister escaped with light injuries when a bomb that had been planted under his car exploded but his driver was killed. Two bodyguards were injured.

Meanwhile, Dagestan police found the body of a police officer who was abducted on Friday.
Elsewhere in the North Caucasus, in Karbardino-Balkaria, a man killed a police officer who had stopped him.

Islamist separatists in the region have been fighting forces loyal to the Kremlin, hoping to establish an independent emirate.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/342764,dagestan-bombing-summary.html.

Spanish parties reject ETA ceasefire as insufficient - Summary

Mon, 06 Sep 2010

Madrid - The Spanish government and the main political parties Monday rejected a ceasefire declared by the militant Basque separatist group ETA as insufficient, insisting that ETA must definitively lay down its arms.

ETA said Sunday it would carry out no more "offensive military actions," without giving the duration of the truce or other details.

ETA described the ceasefire as forming part of attempts to launch a "democratic process" involving negotiations so that the Basques could freely decide their future.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba described the truce as "insufficient," insisting that ETA "must leave violence completely and forever."

ETA was making a "technical pause" because it was no longer able to carry out attacks, and needed to rebuild its structure, Rubalcaba said.

The government would not change its hardline anti-terrorism policy "one iota," the minister vowed.

ETA, which has killed about 850 people in its campaign for a Basque homeland, had not carried out significant attacks in Spain for over a year.

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega stressed the unity of the democratic forces in demanding a military surrender which was "the only way out" for ETA.

Infrastructure Minister Jose Blanco attributed the ceasefire to police and judicial pressure that had weakened ETA.

Jose Antonio Alonso, a spokesman for Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Party, said the truce was probably a "purely tactical" move ahead of the 2011 municipal elections.

ETA's political wing Batasuna had called for a ceasefire in the hope that such a move would persuade Spanish courts to lift a 2003 ban on the party's activities which prevents it from contesting elections.

ETA's credibility was "zero" after the group broke its previous, nine-month ceasefire with a car bombing that killed two Ecuadorians at Madrid airport in December 2006, Alonso said.

That attack shattered an attempt at peace talks. Alonso said the government would not talk to ETA again.

Dolores de Cospedal from the main opposition conservative People's Party said the only move expected from ETA was surrender without getting any political concessions in return.

Even during previous attempts at negotiations, Spanish governments have refused to discuss ETA's key demand, a sovereign Basque state created out of northern Spain and southern France.

The ceasefire did not even meet the expectations of Batasuna, Basque regional Prime Minister Patxi Lopez said. Batasuna had said the truce needed to be permanent and under international supervision.

ETA's violence is opposed by the vast majority of Basques. The group had come under increasing pressure from its sympathizers to switch from a military to a purely political strategy in the quest for independence.

ETA is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/342941,ceasefire-insufficient-summary.html.

Al-Qaeda releases Spaniards after 'requests were met' - Summary

Tue, 24 Aug 2010

Madrid - Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb released two Spaniards who spent nearly nine months in captivity after "some of our requests" were met, the North African branch of the group said in a statement quoted by the Spanish daily El Pais on Tuesday.

Sources close to Burkina Faso negotiators who mediated in the deal earlier said Spain may have paid up to 7 million dollars for Albert Vilalta and Roque Pascual, who arrived in Barcelona overnight.

Some reports put the sum at 7 million euros instead of dollars (8.9 million dollars).

There was also speculation that the release of the Spaniards was linked to an alleged deal between Mali and Mauritania to free an al-Qaeda collaborator whom a Mauritanian court had sentenced to 12 years in prison for organizing the kidnapping.

Omar Ould Sidi Ould Hamma, known as Omar the Saharan, was extradited to Mali which freed him shortly before Vilalta and Pascual were released.

The two aid workers were abducted in Mauritania on November 29 with a woman, Alicia Gamez, and taken to northern Mali. Gamez was released in March.

The way Spain had dealt with the case of Pascual and Vilalta was "a lesson for the French secret services," al-Qaeda said in an apparent reference to French hostage Michel Germaneau, who was killed in July.

Al-Qaeda then announced it killed Germaneau in retaliation for a French-supported raid by the Mauritanian military in northern Mali.

Moustapha Shafi, a Mauritanian advisor to Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore who mediated between Spain and al-Qaeda, told El Pais that the kidnappers "came close to killing" the Spanish hostages in the aftermath of the raid.

Shafi said he managed to convince al-Qaeda that Madrid opposed the raid, in which several terrorists were killed.

Spain had earlier promised Algeria that it would not pay a ransom for the hostages, the daily ABC said.

Unlike France and Britain, Spain had "given in to blackmail by fundamentalists," a commentator wrote in the daily El Mundo. Generally, however, there was little criticism of the fact that the government may have paid a ransom to save the lives of the hostages.

Pascual and Vilalta flew to Barcelona from the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou on board a Spanish air force plane.

Al-Qaeda treated its hostages well "within (the limits imposed by) the harsh conditions of the desert," said Vilalta, who walked with the help of a crutch after being injured by gunshots during his abduction.

The two Spaniards were the hostages held the longest so far by al-Qaeda in the Sahel region.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/340749,were-met-summary.html.

10 politicians among at least 42 dead in Mogadishu clashes

Tue, 24 Aug 2010

Nairobi/Mogadishu - At least 42 people, including ten lawmakers, have died in fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu after Islamist insurgents declared "a final war" against African Union peacekeepers.

Radical Islamist group al-Shabaab is battling to oust the weak Western-backed government, which is penned into small enclaves in Mogadishu protected by around 6,000 AU peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi.

On Tuesday, insurgents dressed in army fatigues entered a hotel popular with parliamentarians near the presidential palace and shot dead ten lawmakers.

"Three armed men stormed the hotel and killed 10 members of parliament," a police official told the German Press Agency dpa. "Our troops killed two of the attackers while another committed suicide."

Fighting broke out on Monday after an al-Shabaab spokesman said insurgent forces from across Somalia would take part in a drive to sweep the AU out of Mogadishu.

"I order all Somali Muslims and al-Shabaab forces to wage war and destroy the apostate troops and Christian soldiers in Mogadishu," Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Rage told reporters in Mogadishu late Monday.

Witnesses said the clashes were the heaviest in months as the two sides clashed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and automatic weapons.

"As we were coming back from the market in the evening, the battle intensified and a heavy shell slammed down ... five women died on the spot," Rowda Abdullahi Hersi, a shopkeeper in the insurgent stronghold Bakara Market told dpa.

The government accused al-Shabaab of firing mortars into heavily populated areas, saying the group showed a lack of respect for the holy month of Ramadan.

AU troops and government forces are regularly accused of causing heavy civilian casualties by firing at insurgent positions in civilian areas.

"The casualties are increasing minute by minute and the battle is intensifying," Ali Muse, head of Mogadishu's ambulance service, told dpa. "So far, we have collected 29 dead bodies and 97 injured."

The AU has also vowed to kick al-Shabaab out of Mogadishu with the help of several thousand reinforcements.

The AU's Deputy Special Representative for Somalia, Wafula Wamunyinyi, told journalists in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Monday that an extra 2,000 troops recently pledged by East African grouping IGAD had begun arriving.

He said an unspecified number of additional troops from Uganda had already been deployed, and that Guinea and Burundi were expected to send more soldiers, although he refused to reveal a timescale of when the deployment would be complete.

Al-Shabaab, which claims links to the al-Qaeda network, recently carried out its first attack outside Somali soil, targeting the Ugandan capital Kampala with twin blasts that killed 76.
The insurgents said they carried out the bombing in retaliation for the actions of Ugandan peacekeepers in Mogadishu.

Somalia has been immersed in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The current insurgency, which has claimed more than 20,000 lives, kicked off in early 2007, following Ethiopia's invasion to oust the ruling Islamist regime.

The ongoing chaos has attracted militants from Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are now as many as 2,000 foreign fighters operating from bases in Somalia, training and financing local militants, Wamunyinyi said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/340746,clashes-2nd-update.html.