Iranian parliament approves Salehi as new foreign minister

Sun, 30 Jan 2011

Tehran - The Iranian parliament on Sunday approved Ali-Akbar Salehi as new foreign minister.

As expected, the 61-year-old Salehi was approved by more than 60 per cent of the parliament deputies.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad surprisingly fired then-minister Manouchehr Mottaki last month and appointed Salehi as interim chief of the portfolio.

Salehi will maintain his other positions as vice president of the country and head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization. He plays key technical and political roles in nuclear policy and in talks with world powers over the nation's program.

No breakthrough was achieved in the talks held earlier this month in Istanbul, but Salehi and Ahmadinejad hope to continue the negotiations.

Analysts do not expect major changes under Salehi on other international issues, as the basic framework of Iran's foreign policy is determined by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad. The Foreign Ministry basically implements the relevant decisions.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/364955,salehi-new-foreign-minister.html.

PROFILE: Iran Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi

Sun, 30 Jan 2011

Tehran - Technocrat Ali-Akbar Salehi has become Iran's foreign minister after a confirmation vote of parliament Sunday.

Born in 1949 in the southern Iraqi city of Kerbala, Salehi came to Iran at the age of nine and after completing high school, he attended the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering.

Salehi continued his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, where he gained a doctorate in nuclear engineering and learned to speak English fluently. He also speaks Arabic fluently.

Back in Iran, he mainly lectured at the technical university of Tehran before being appointed envoy at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, a post he held from 1997-2005.

After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president in 2005, Salehi was expected by some to become foreign minister, but Manouchehr Mottaki got the job.

Salehi continued his academic career until 2008 when Ahmadinejad appointed him vice president and head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, a position he still holds despite his appointment as foreign minister.

Ideologically, Salehi is not on the same wavelength as the president and does not follow Ahmadinejad's harsh rhetoric. He is widely known as a technocrat and a stickler for detail.

Unlike his predecessor Mottaki, Salehi is not a man of long speeches but is said to get directly to the point in talks with international officials.

With regards to the nuclear dispute, Salehi is considered a better interlocutor by the West as he is one of the architects of the nuclear talks with world powers in recent years.

Unlike Mottaki, he is familiar with the technical as well as the political aspects of the dispute. He is said to favor a resolution through the talks, although he stresses the right to pursue peaceful nuclear technology.

No major changes are expected under Salehi on other international issues, as the basic framework of Iran's foreign policy is determined by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the president, while the foreign ministry basically implements the relevant decisions.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/364956,foreign-minister-ali-akbar-salehi.html.

Protesters in Cairo call for sixth day of protests

Sun, 30 Jan 2011

Cairo - A strong military presence remained on the streets of some parts of Cairo Sunday morning, as Egyptian protesters called for a sixth day of demonstrations across the country.

Reports on broadcaster al-Jazeera, citing organizers, said larger protests were expected to begin again after noon prayers, to demand the ouster of key political figures, including the minister of interior and President Hosny Mubarak.

Small numbers of activists were gathered in central areas in the morning hours, but fewer than the previous day.

An effort was being made to tie Sunday's demonstrations to the funerals of people killed over the weekend in the unrest. Dozens have died so far, medics reported.

Parts of major cities were, however, without security forces, after a long night which saw looting and reports of other violent acts, including attacks on clinics and prisons.

Citizens in various areas, from Suez to Cairo, gathered into neighborhood defense groups overnight, in an effort to protect their families and property from looters.

Some of these groups even arrested vandals, with police again failing to make an appearance.

German Press Agency reporters on the streets were told by residents that some of those found looting and destroying shops were from the police. It was not known, however, whether these were acting on their own, or whether they were possibly following orders.

Thousands of prisoners were said to have escaped detention facilities in different areas of the country and at least one high ranking prison official was dead.

The death toll in the violence since Friday had risen to about 100, though some of the incidents were unconfirmed while new reports of violence were pouring in from remote areas of the vast and largely poor country of 80 million people.

On Saturday, Mubarak fired his cabinet and appointed two close confidants to key roles.

Omar Suleiman, his spy chief, is now vice president - the first time that role has been filled in nearly 30 years - and Ahmed Shafiq, tied to the president from their days in the army, is prime minister.

It remained to be seen if the shifts at the top combined with the impact of looting and street violence would affect the demonstrations or if angry crowds would continue to demand radical economic and political reforms.

Meanwhile, Western governments and human rights groups are urging Egypt not to use live fire and harsh tactics against demonstrators, amid concern in Washington and elsewhere for the stability of a key Middle East ally.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/364957,protesters-cairo-call-protests.html.

EXTRA: Muslim Brotherhood: national unity, without Mubarak

Sun, 30 Jan 2011

Cairo - The banned Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group, told the German Press Agency dpa they are in talks with other anti-government figures to form a national unity government without President Hosny Mubarak and his ruling party.

Gamal Nasser, a spokesman for the Brotherhood, told dpa that his group was in talks with Mohammed ElBaradei - the former UN nuclear watchdog chief - to form a national unity government without the National Democratic Party of Mubarak.

The group is also demanding an end to the draconian Emergency Laws, which grant police wide-ranging powers The laws have been used often to arrest and harass the Islamist group.

Nasser said his group would not accept any new government with Mubarak.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/365000,brotherhood-national-unity-mubarak.html.

Ban pledges to help AU solve Ivory Coast crisis at summit - Summary

Sun, 30 Jan 2011

Addis Ababa - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon pledged to help the African Union resolve Ivory Coast's political crisis as leaders from the 53-nation bloc gathered in Addis Ababa amid the equally pressing troubles facing Egypt and Tunisia.

Ivory Coast - along with the looming splitting up of Sudan - was high on the official agenda of the two-day meeting, although the crises in Tunisia and Egypt also cast their shadow over proceedings.

November's presidential election in Ivory Coast provoked a violent crisis in which over 270 people have died, according to the UN, with both incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and his internationally-recognized rival Alassane Ouattara laying claim to the presidency.

The AU has agreed to set up a panel comprising five heads of states to deliver "legally binding conclusions" on the West African nation within a month - a further step away from earlier threats from African leaders to use force to oust Gbagbo.

Ban, in comments made during a closed-door meeting in Addis Ababa late Saturday, promised to provide a senior official to work with the panel.

"We must preserve our unified position, act together, and stand firm against Mr Gbagbo's attempt to hang on to power through the use of force," Ban said.

AU Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra said that military action threatened early on in by West African bloc ECOWAS was not on the table at the moment.

"ECOWAS has never said that the military option is for tomorrow," he said. "They have always said it would be the final resort."

Violent protests in Tunisia that ended the reign of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and a similar uprising in Egypt aimed at removing President Hosny Mubarak were not on the official agenda.

But Ban still touched on the issues, particularly Egypt - where dozens are believed to have died in clashes between protesters and security forces over the last few days.

"With respect to Egypt, I once again make a call for restraint, non-violence, and respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights," he said in a speech to the summit.

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, addressing African leaders, said France "stands in all friendship and respect alongside the Tunisians and the Egyptians at this crucial moment."

"Violence, from whichever source, is never a solution, because violence only breeds more violence," he said.

African leaders were more cagey on the subject, with AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping only prepared to say the AU was observing the "worrying" situation in Egypt.

Equatorial Guinea's strongman leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema was named the new chairman of the AU, taking over from Malawi's president, Bingu wa Mutharika at the summit in a move sure to enrage human rights' campaigners.

Obiang seized control of the central African nation from his uncle in a 1979 coup and has long faced criticism for his authoritarian rule. He has also been accused of siphoning off funds from the oil- rich country.

The AU is also expected to deliver backing for Kenya's efforts to defer for one year an International Criminal Court probe into top politicians accused of bearing the most responsibility for post-election violence that claimed over 1,300 lives following disputed presidential elections in December 2007.

Foreign ministers have already backed Kenya's stance, and the heads of state are expected to rubber-stamp this decision as the summit wraps up on Monday.

Ping told journalists Africa was not opposed to the criminal court, but accused Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of targeting only Africans for prosecution and ignoring crimes committed in elsewhere.

"We are against Ocampo, who is rendering justice with double standards," he said.

The future of Sudan, where on Sunday preliminary results from the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission revealed almost 99 per cent voters chose to split from the north in a January referendum, is expected to be discussed at a special meeting Monday.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and southern Sudan president Salva Kiir are expected to attend the meeting.

EXTRA: ElBaradei says 'historic day' that cannot be turned back

Sun, 30 Jan 2011

Cairo - Mohammed ElBaradei told protesters Sunday in Tahrir Square in central Cairo that Egypt was witnessing an "historic day" and that the process of change would move forward.

"What we have begun today cannot go back," the opposition figure said.

Broadcaster al-Jazeera quoted ElBaradei as saying "we are beginning a new era in Egypt."

Tens of thousands are gathered in Cairo in the sixth day of anti- government protests, defying a curfew. Other protests are taking place in cities across the country.

But some of those in Tahrir Square were split over the opposition figure.

Many in the liberal camp see the Nobel Peace Prize winner as a leader for their country who has the ear of the West and can push through democratic and economic reforms - but the view is not universal.

"We are disappointed in ElBaradei, we expected more of him, to better organize the opposition," said medical student Abdullah Sahrani. He would be accepted as a temporary leader but "he has to prove himself" as capable of guiding the country.

"I would not accept him to be president because he is not of this country, but he could take temporary control," said another protester, referring to ElBaradei's many years abroad, including time at the helm of the UN's nuclear watchdog.

Others felt only a military man could take the helm of Egypt, a poor country of 80 million people.

"I reject ElBaradei as a leader. The leader must come from the armed forces," said Abu Bakr, a worker from Cairo.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/365013,cannot-be-turned-back.html.

EXTRA: Egypt speaker: Government failed to follow parliament

Sun, 30 Jan 2011

Cairo - Egyptian Parliamentary Speaker Fathi Sorour said Sunday that the new government had met the previous night to discuss the problem of corruption and high unemployment in the country.

"The former government failed to implement the recommendations of parliament," said Sorour, one of the ruling National Democratic Party's most high-profile figures.

The main priority now was "to retain the stability of the nation," he said, and to "stand up to any attempts" to destabilize it.

"Games" had been played by the ruling party and some of the security forces which had caused unrest during the last elections in November, he said.

According to the constitution, Sorour would lead an interim government should President Hosny Mubarak become incapacitated.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/365015,government-failed-follow-parliament.html.