Turkish PM visits Tunisia

2011-09-15

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Tunis on Wednesday (September 14th), accompanied by a large delegation of government officials and business leaders, TAP reported. Erdogan's two-day visit includes meetings with Interim Prime Minister Béji Caïd Essebsi, President Fouad Mebazaa and political party representatives. Erdogan's North African tour began in Egypt. The next stop is Libya.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/09/15/newsbrief-05.

Maghreb youth adopt new approach to UMA

With little progress from Maghreb governments on regional unity, young activists are taking the issue into their own hands.

By Jemal Oumar for Magharebia in Nouakchott – 15/09/11

Members of the Euro-Maghreb Youth Union (UJEM) wrapped up a three-day visit to Nouakchott on Wednesday (September 14th), in which they pressed their call for a united, democratic Maghreb.

Members of the UJEM Follow-up Committee said the visit was in part to help plan for the group's general conference this December in Nouakchott, as well as a chance to explain their hopes for a united Maghreb and review recommendations made at last April's UJEM conference in Tunis.

UJEM is based on a new and different approach to build a unified and democratic Maghreb Union (UMA) in which borders and visas between the countries of the Maghreb disappear and in which intellectual, political and cultural pluralism is respected," said the group's Morocco representative, Rabaii El Ouafoudi.

El Ouafoudi, said that the association was founded "with consensus and the participation of youth organizations from the Maghreb countries and a number of political officials, academics and Maghreb citizens, after the organization of many round tables and brainstorming workshops".

"The Arab Maghreb Union is obsolete and moribund," El Ouafoudi said in explaining why the youth movement was founded. He said civil society took the initiative to push for a Maghreb Union after "official failure".

Abdessamad Filali, the head of the Tunis Conference Follow-up Committee, said that current situation in the region with democratic revolutions serves the youth movement's purpose and fits with their goals.

"We realize we are still in the framework of building the Maghreb Union and still have a lot of work to do, because things remain ambiguous in the countries changed by revolutions," Filali said. "This is what we are working to guide and to rectify its course through our community youth work."

Ahmed Ould Mouhamedou, with the Mauritanian Youth Movement Party, said that his group backed the idea of a Maghreb Union.

"We recognize that the founding fathers of the Arab Maghreb Union were advocating the same thing we are calling for today, with different circumstances and facts, but the veteran political class that came thereafter abandoned that approach," Ould Mouhamedou said. "This prompted us to call for getting rid of that political class, because we believe its ideas are what prevented formation of a unified Maghreb Union based on democracy, human rights and economic integration."

Abdullah Ould Sid Mohamed, a member of the February 25th Youth Movement, said he attached high hopes to the UJEM Nouakchott conference set for December.

"We appreciate this initiative for Arab Maghreb unity as long as its source is independent of the current Maghreb governments, because those governments do not seek to achieve unity for fear of compromising their own narrow interests," Ould Sid Mohamed said. "Meanwhile, the youth of Arab Maghreb countries share in the daily concern of searching for work and making a living, and they also share ambitions and aspirations."

Mohamed Vall, an independent youth, does not stray far from that proposition, saying that "young people can achieve what official governments have failed to do, because there are facts helping that, such as a unified sense of belonging, facing the same challenges and the intersection of contemporary culture, all of which encourage unity. But the role of governments is still necessary to overcome other obstacles."

"Economic integration can only be achieved with the desire of the rulers, as well as open borders and abolition of the visa," Vall added. "There thus must be pressure on governments to respond to such demands."

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/09/15/feature-04.

Libya refugee flow persists

Though Libyan rebels liberated most cities from Moamer Kadhafi's grip, tough living conditions continue to force masses of people to flee.

By Monia Ghanmi for Magharebia in Tunis – 15/09/11

More than 9,000 refugees from Libya cross the Ras Jedir border into Tunisia every day, according to customs and security officials.

Rebel victories in the conflict-ridden country have not helped ease the refugee flow. Due to the war basic supplies are running low, essential services are intermittent and food costs are on the rise.

Most Libyans come to Tunisia for medical treatment, especially after the National Transitional Council (NTC) pledged last month to help Libyan families by bearing treatment expenses.

"Hospitals suffer from shortage of medical crews after all foreign employees left the country," said Abdel Majid Buerriche, who arrived from Tripoli. "Hospitals also suffer from shortage of medical supplies and scarcity of medicines. In addition, the existing medical crews now direct most of their attention to emergencies and ignore the rest of sicknesses that we suffer from."

Tunisian hospitals are overflowing with patients from Libya. The health sector is facing a crisis, Buerriche added, and is no longer capable of meeting the needs of people wounded in war as well as regular patients.

Salim Fkih, a commercial manager of a private clinic in Sfax, confirmed that about 90% of visitors to his clinic these days were Libyan patients. They mostly suffer from injuries from missiles and shrapnel from bombs that were used in the conflict. This is in addition to some other chronic diseases, such as diabetes and renal failure, he added.

To spare Libyan patients the troubles of travel, Tunisia's health ministry on Thursday (September 8th) sent a medical team of 15 doctors and paramedics, along with a supply of medicines and medical devices to the central hospital in the Libyan city of Gharyan. The move aims to help Libyan doctors perform surgeries and treat patients, affected by the war.

Others leave Libya to escape exorbitant food prices and a continued shortage of basic supplies.

"The condition is still bad," Om Radhouane told Magharebia. "Getting some food items is an extremely difficult thing. Unfortunately, this tough condition will need several weeks to return to what it was before the war."

Milk, gas and bread are in short supply and costly, she added. Still, optimism prevails among some citizens.

"Now that we have removed the main obstacle that has so far hindered the development of our country, we have a chance to change our country and put it on the right path," said Khaled Nassar. "In spite of all the difficulties that we’re facing, I’m sure that the Libyan people will succeed in building the new, real Libyan state that we are dreaming of."

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/09/15/feature-01.

Virgin aims for first space launch within 12 months

Washington (AFP)
Sept 15, 2011

British business magnate Richard Branson hopes to launch a vessel into space within the next 12 months, kicking off an era of commercial space travel.

"The mother ship is finished... The rocket tests are going extremely well, and so I think that we're now on track for a launch within 12 months of today," he told CNN's Piers Morgan late Wednesday.

"This could be the beginning of a whole new era of space travel, which will be commercial space travel."

His company, Virgin Galactic, hopes to one day send people into space and launch satellites for a fraction of the cost of government-run programs, as well as eventually offering high-speed intercontinental flights.

"About an hour between Los Angeles and London is not completely out of the question," Branson said, adding that it will likely take many years before the company can offer such a service.

In the meantime, Virgin has sold some 430 tickets for space travel -- at $200,000 a pop -- for an estimated $86 million.

"It's not a cheap thing to build a spaceship company and it's been fantastic to have people all over the world sign up," Branson said.

The company plans to begin by taking tourists on sub orbital flights before eventually soaring higher. Branson has said in the past he hopes to one day build a hotel in space.

A number of private companies are rushing to fill the gap left by NASA, which ended its 30-year shuttle program in July with the completion of the final Atlantis mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Earlier this year, the US space agency distributed nearly $270 million in seed money to four companies -- Boeing, SpaceX, Sierra Nevada and Blue Origin -- to boost their bids to be first in the new space era.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Virgin_aims_for_first_space_launch_within_12_months_999.html.

Opposition launches 140-member National Council

By Duraid Al Baik
September 16, 2011

United front will work with people within the country and with international community to stop the killings.

Dubai: Syrian opposition figures marked the start of the seventh month of the people's uprising against the rule of President Bashar Al Assad's regime by forming a 140-member Syrian National Council. The group includes 70 exiled opposition figures and 70 from inside the country, according to Paris-based Dr Basma Kodmani, secretary of the council.

She said the council will act as a united front against the brutality of the regime and will work with people inside Syria and with the international community to stop the killings. The council consists of various political groups with different ideological backgrounds. It has a majority of secular representatives in addition to Islamists and leftists. Sources close to the steering committee of the council told Gulf News that hectic efforts were invested for the formation of the group. "Meetings were held in Turkey, Egypt, Belgium and in the UK to come up with a unified front capable of representing Syrians inside the country and abroad. The council would hopefully be a turning point in the struggle against the regime which has killed more than 3,500 people and injured 20,000 in its full-scale war against civilians," Dr Ammar Qurabi, head of the Council for Change in Syria, told Gulf News.

Meanwhile, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Syrian opposition members were meeting in Paris with French officials on Thursday and Friday.

Source: Gulf News.
Link: http://gulfnews.com/news/region/syria/opposition-launches-140-member-national-council-1.867533.

Shut Israel Embassy, Jordanians demand

ABDUL JALIL MUSTAFA
Thursday 15 September 2011

AMMAN: About 2,000 Jordanians demonstrated outside the Kaluti Mosque in Rabia neighborhood here Thursday night urging the closure of the Israeli Embassy and the abrogation of the peace treaty with Israel.

The security authorities cordoned off the area and set up metal barricades outside the mosque to prevent protesters from proceeding to the Israeli mission which was earlier evacuated of its staff by the Israeli government.

Participants, mainly belonging to the Islamic-led opposition, trade unions and Pan-Arab groups, chanted slogans and raised placards urging the government to cancel the peace pact Jordan signed with the Zionist state in 1994.

Activists earlier called on Facebook for a demonstration of one million participants, but the call apparently failed possibly because of unprecedented security measures taken by the authorities.

One of the slogans during the protest was: “The Qur’an is our constitution and Jihad is our path.”

Another slogan was: “No to the alternative homeland and we are going to burn Israel.”

The slogan referred to suggestions by extremist Israeli politicians for the setting up of a homeland for Palestinians in Jordan instead of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

“The grudge against Israel is rapidly building up in the country because of its crimes in Palestine and elsewhere,” said Hamzeh Mansour, secretary-general of the Islamic Action Front, the country’s main opposition party.

“The Jordanian people are against the establishment of normal ties with this enemy,” he told Arab News.

Responding to Israel’s decision to evacuate the embassy in Amman, Mansour said: “The Zionist enemy is feeling further isolation as a result of the Arab Spring.”

“It also feels that its existence is no longer safe and stable, particularly after what happened in Cairo last week,” he added.

Thursday’s rally found inspiration from a demonstration in Cairo that ended last Friday when the Israeli diplomatic mission was stormed and the staff was evacuated by commandos.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://www.arabnews.com/node/391152.

World backs Syrian opposition

Thursday 15 September 2011

ISTANBUL: Syrian opposition activists meeting in Istanbul announced on Thursday the members of Syrian National Council to provide an alternative to President Bashar Assad’s government as a brutal crackdown continued in their homeland.

Addressing a news conference at the end of four days of talks, Basma Kadmani, a Syrian exile living in France, said the council aimed to help topple Assad’s dictatorship within six months and form an interim government thereafter.

“The political vision of the council will give a push to the escalation of the revolutionary work we are seeing,” she said.

“This group, based on previous initiatives, and on what the street is demanding, is calling for the downfall of the regime with all of its limbs.” While condemning the Syrian government’s repressive response to pro-democracy protests, the international community has bemoaned the lack of a unified opposition that it could talk to.

By finalizing names of its members, drawn from Syria’s various political, religious and ethnic groups, the council hopes to fill that gap. “The next step will be international recognition, and the council will act in accordance with the wishes of the Syrian people,” Adip Shishakly, a member of a prominent Syrian political family, said at the end of the Istanbul meeting.

While not ruling out foreign military intervention in Syrian as more protesters call for international protection, Kadmani said the focus for now was on stepping up diplomatic and economic pressure on Assad.

Some 140 people were chosen as council members, of whom 40 percent were based outside Syria, but more could be appointed later.

A list of 72 members was circulated but the names of those inside Syria were mostly withheld to protect them from reprisals by Assad’s security forces.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon called Thursday for “coherent” new international action over the deadly crackdown.

“When he has not been keeping his promises, enough is enough and the international community should really take coherent measures and speak in one voice,” the UN secretary general told a press conference.

Members of the European Parliament called Thursday for the immediate departure of Assad who they said had lost all legitimacy.

In a resolution adopted in Strasbourg, Parliament called on Assad and his regime to “relinquish power immediately.” “The Syrian regime is calling its legitimacy into question by choosing a path of repression instead of fulfilling its own promises on broad reforms,” the resolution said.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://www.arabnews.com/node/391153.