Modern Sinbad

Saturday, 9 April 2011

Two protesters killed in Cairo Tahrir square clash

Protests turned violent overnight

CAIRO (Agencies)

Two men died from bullet wounds in central Cairo after the army tried to disperse protesters overnight, two medical sources said on Saturday, although the army denied firing any live rounds.

The sources at a Cairo hospital said the two were among 18 who were injured by shots.

State television said one person was killed and 71 were wounded in acts of rioting, without giving details.

It was not clear if there were any other armed people in the square when the shots were fired.

The sound of gunshots rang out across the area around Tahrir Square in Cairo overnight. Protesters said the army had fired shots in the air. It was not clear if there were other armed people in the square when the shots were fired.

An army spokesman denied the report to Reuters, saying the army fired blanks, not live rounds to warn protesters. The army had said in an earlier statement that it had "confronted acts of rioting and implemented a curfew" without loss of life.

"Elements from the interior ministry along with some noble citizens confronted the riotous actions and enforced the curfew without any losses," the armed forces statement carried by the official MENA news agency.

Military police moved in after tens of thousands, who rallied on Friday to demand the prosecution of ousted president Hosni Mubarak and other leading figures from his regime, were joined by dissident army officers.

Breaking out crowds

But after the curfew, set from 2 am to 5 am, military police and state security officers surrounded the square, fired shots in the air, used tasers and batons and arrested protesters to break up the crowd, a witness told Reuters by telephone.

A separate statement posted on the military's Facebook page blamed "remnants" of the formerly ruling National Democratic Party for the demonstration and said it had ordered the arrest of four party members it accused of "thuggery" during the sit-in.

The military has enjoyed broad support since it took control of the country on Feb. 11, but complaints against its rule are growing. Attention is now focused on the perceived tardiness of legal measures against Mubarak and his entourage.

Mubarak and his family have been living in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh since he left Cairo. The military has said the 82-year-old president, himself a former military officer, is banned from leaving the country.

"The corrupt perpetrators must be held accountable for what they have done, that is why we are here," Fahmy said.

Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo was the focal point of 18 straight days of mass protests that brought down Mubarak's regime after three decades in power, leaving the army led by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi in charge.

The old regime must be prosecuted

Hassan Nafaa

Sat, 09/04/2011 - 05:21

The Egyptian people know the 25 January revolution sought to bring down a powerful regime that had developed deep roots in Egyptian society over the course of many years. The Egyptian people also understand that while they succeeded in removing the head of the former regime, ex-President Hosni Mubarak, the regime's roots are still entrenched and it awaits an opportune moment to reemerge. Egyptians paid a high price to oust Mubarak: 830 martyrs and tens of thousands of injured, including more than 1,000 people who have permanently lost their sight. Despite this, however, Egyptians continue to insist on expunging the roots of the old regime at any cost, lest it undermine the revolution.

The old regime had a huge network of interests that included National Democratic Party leaders, administrative officials, security figures, and corrupt businessmen. Given this extensive network, it’s naïve to assume that removing the regime’s roots will be an easy task. Egyptians understand their revolution is not yet over, and that the battle they're now embarking on is more dangerous than was the fight to remove Mubarak. Well aware of the fact that beneficiaries of the old regime are now driving the counter-revolution and will not give up that easily, Egyptians know they must be patient, extremely alert, and ready for a great deal of maneuvering.

Naturally, the battle to purge the old regime must begin with the prosecution of those ex-officials accused of murder, torture, and stealing public funds. This will require all kinds of pressure in order to establish a judicial committee to investigate those suspected of violations — the first step in a large-scale cleansing campaign. The Egyptian people will not accept the sacrifice of a few scapegoats for the sake of saving the real criminals. It’s imperative that Mubarak, his family and all the former regime’s main figures also be investigated.

I disagree with those who claim the on-going mass rallies in Egypt are unnecessary and negatively affect the country’s economic and security situation. These demonstrations are likely to continue until the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) meets the full demands of the revolution. These demonstrations are a necessary tool to exert pressure on the authorities in charge of managing the transitional period. They do not disrupt production, as some claim, since they’re held on Fridays, a non-working day. And they do not adversely affect public security because their organizers are keen on maintaining their peaceful nature.

Counter-revolutionary forces are doing their best to disrupt production, threaten public security, and push people to long for the pre-revolution days. Absent the kind of pressure exercised through weekly demonstrations, it will be difficult for the caretaker government and the SCAF to move forward with the radical changes demanded by the Egyptian public: the complete removal of the old regime and the creation of one that is untainted by corrption and authoritarianism.

It’s impossible to achieve these goals without first trying those officials responsible for massacring protesters and without recovering stolen public funds. The Egyptian street will not be put to rest until Mubarak and his family are put on trial. Only then will the forces of counter-revolution be compelled to retreat into a defensive position.

Army disperses Tahrir sit-in

Sat, 09/04/2011 - 15:40

Photographer:

Fouad Elgarnousy

A burnt armed forces truck at Tahrir Square, Cairo, April 9, 2011 following clashes in which two people were killed and at least 18 wounded, when Egyptian military police stormed the capital's iconic square to disperse protesters demanding the departure of Egypt's interim military rulers.

Thursday, 7 April 2011

Egypt to announce Arab League candidate within days

DPA

Thu, 07/04/2011 - 13:05

Photographed by Mohamed Maarouf

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Egypt will officially announce within days a candidate to succeed Amr Moussa as head of the Arab League when his term ends in May.

Sources told German news agency DPA that three Egyptians are nominated for the post including Mostafa al-Fiqqi, former head of Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee, economist Hazem al-Beblawy and Vice Prime Minister Yehia al-Gamal.

Qatar has nominated former Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Abdul-Rahman al-Attiyah for the post.

Egyptians have held the post since the Arab League's establishment because of the country's traditional leadership role in the region, as well as its position in the world. However, the league's charter does not require the post to be held by an Egyptian.

Amr Moussa's term will end on 15 May, and the potential presidential candidate had earlier announced that he would not seek another term.

The Arab League sent a memorandum in February to member countries asking them to nominate candidates.

Mamdouh: The Baghdad Tiger on Broadway

Bengal tigers such as Mamdouh at their enclosure at the Baghdad zoo (File)

BAGHDAD (AFP)

The tiger whose death after the US invasion of Iraq inspired a play that is garnering roaring reviews on Broadway is still remembered at the Baghdad zoo, where he was born and raised.

Six months after the March 2003 invasion, when the big cat was shot and killed by a drunken US soldier, the news made international headlines.

Playwright Rajiv Joseph's "Bengal tiger at the Baghdad zoo," which opened last week on Broadway with Robin Williams in the lead role, is based on that incident.

"The tiger was named Mamdouh, and for us at the zoo he was special not only because he was a rare Bengal tiger and the zoo's prized possession, but also because we raised him from birth and remember him as a cub," said Adel Salman Musa, the 54-year-old director of the zoo.

He recalled that in the immediate aftermath of the US invasion hundreds of animals were killed, stolen or died of hunger and thirst in their cages.

"But Mamdouh, who was about 14 at the time, was very strong. He survived the hunger and thirst, only to die senselessly a few months later," said Musa.

"Among zoo staff there were tears in our eyes when we heard Mamdouh had died," said Abubakr Farouq, a zoo veterinarian. "Together we had endured so many things -- wars, sanctions and difficult times when the animals were starving and we had no food."

Roaring review

The New York Times called the play, a "smart, savagely funny and visionary new work of American theater."

In life, as in the play, it was a time when the popular jubilation of seeing Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein overthrown was turning into a nightmare of surging violence. The invasion had unleashed an Al-Qaeda insurgency targeting US soldiers, and every day somewhere in Iraq innocent civilians were getting caught in the crossfire and losing lives. The streets were then patrolled by young American soldiers who did not understand the language of the natives, nor their ways.

One victim of the violence was the Bengal tiger, a dwindling species that is internationally protected. He was killed during a drinking party at the zoo, when a US soldier decided to share his food with the cat. The serviceman reached inside the cage with a piece of meat, and the hungry tiger lunged forward and mauled his arm. Another soldier shot the tiger.

On stage, Mamdouh's ghost resurrects as a foul-mouthed tiger witnessing the violence of Baghdad, haunting the soldier who caused his death and pondering the existential mysteries of life.

"I am surprised and delighted that Mamdouh is still remembered, especially in this way," said Farouq, 39, when told about the play.

From the grimness of Baghdad, the bright lights of Broadway can only be imagined. The replenished, modest zoo remains one of the leisure-starved city's very few attractions

"It's nice to see people still caring about such a thing, and it is an original way of portraying the nightmare that all Iraqis lived through -- and are still enduring."

Remembered, replaced

On the Muslim weekend last Friday, cars packed with families lined up in a two-kilometre (1.2-mile) queue to get into the sprawling grounds of Baghdad's Zawra Park, a favourite family picnic spot with a zoo and rides.

Inside the zoo, Mamdouh has been replaced by Riley and Hope -- two Bengals donated by the United States, which also paid a $23,000 compensation for the dead tiger.

At frequent intervals, taxis and buses disgorged parents and kids overloaded with picnic baskets and giant-size bottles of fizzy drinks, ready to escape the daily routines of waiting in traffic at security checkpoints, scrambling for scarce food rations, or enduring daily power cuts of eight hours or more.

Watching Riley and Hope feeding on their daily ration of freshly-slaughtered donkey flesh, Akeel Mukarram pondered the lives of ordinary Iraqis like himself, as his three kids gawked excitedly at the frisky beasts.

"In Iraq, it is better to be an animal at the zoo than a human being," complained Akeel Mukarram, a civil engineer, who is in his 40s. "At least you are protected by a cage and someone feeds you every day."
Violence in Iraq has plunged since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but bomb attacks and kidnappings are still common.

In the streets, the Americans have become nearly invisible after officially ending combat operations at the start of September. The nearly 50,000 US troops remaining until a full pullout at the end of the year now rarely venture outside their bases.

Israel to Germany: drop Palestinian statehood plan

Germany, Britain and France endorse a proposal of a Palestinian state in all of West Bank, Gaza Strip and E Jerusalem

NABLUS/OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Agencies)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will ask Germany's leader in a meeting this week to drop a proposal to endorse a Palestinian state in virtually all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem as the end point of Mideast negotiations, Israeli officials said Wednesday.

Germany, Britain and France support that position, and are expected to bring it up at a meeting of Mideast mediators next week as a way of restarting long-stalled talks. The Palestinians have said they won't resume talks with the hardline Netanyahu unless there's a clear framework and Israel halts all settlement construction in Israeli-occupied lands they want for their state.

Netanyahu argues that spelling out the end point would limit Israel's negotiating room and that endorsing Palestinian positions on borders would remove a key incentive for them to restart talks.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war.

Netanyahu has said he would not give up east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital, and has not said how much of the West Bank he is prepared to give up. He has said Israel needs to keep West Bank areas with large Jewish settlements or those close to major Israeli population centers.

Israel withdrew from Gaza, now under the control of the Islamic militant Hamas, in 2005.

Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, confirmed this week that Britain, France and Germany believe negotiations should be based on "1967 borders, with land swaps, a just settlement for refugees and Jerusalem as the shared capital of both states."

Officials close to Netanyahu said he would raise Germany's position with Chancellor Angela Merkel at a meeting in Berlin on Thursday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a sensitive diplomatic matter.

Israeli fears

Israel fears the "Quartet" of Mideast peacemakers - the European Union, United Nations, Russia and United States - will endorse the European initiative when it meets in Germany later this month.

It remains unclear whether the full Quartet - especially the U.S. - supports the proposal. In Washington, a U.S. official said the administration is cool to the idea but had not ruled it out.

Two of Netanyahu's predecessors conducted talks with the Palestinians based on those guidelines, but no agreement was reached.

Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Thursday's talks with Netanyahu would be "politically intense," but said "the chancellor speaks to Israel explicitly as a friend."

At the same time, Palestinians are proceeding with plans to get the United Nations to endorse a Palestinian state, with or without a peace agreement, in September.

Israeli officials say the international community should not take a stand on key issues like borders while remaining vague on matters of concern to Israel. These include security arrangements and the fate of Palestinian refugees and their millions of descendants who Palestinians publicly insist must be allowed to move to Israel.

A survey published Wednesday by Israeli and Palestinian pollsters showed that a third of Palestinian respondents supported an attack last month in which five members of an Israeli family - parents and three of their children, ages 11, 4 and 3 - were stabbed to death in their home in a West Bank settlement. The March 11 attack, which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called "despicable, immoral and inhuman," is assumed to have been carried out by Palestinian militants.

The poll found 63 percent opposed the attack and 32 percent backed it.

The pollsters, from Hebrew University and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research surveyed 1,270 Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. The margin of error was 3 percentage points.

Also Wednesday, the Israeli military indicted a soldier for unbecoming conduct, abuse and illegal use of a weapon, the military said. The daily Haaretz reported that military investigators discovered photos on the soldier's cell phone showing him and his comrades humiliating blindfolded Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank.

Army arrests 100 women

Israeli troops stormed a village near Nablus early Thursday, arresting more than 100 women as they hunted the killers of an Israeli family, local officials said.

Hundreds of troops entered Awarta shortly after midnight and imposed a curfew after which they began rounding up the women, local council head Tayis Awwad told AFP.

They continued to conduct house-to-house searches through the night, he said. Palestinian security sources confirmed the same information.

The army has been conducting frequent raids on the village for the past four weeks, arresting scores of villagers following last month's murders of a family living in the nearby settlement of Itamar.

But Thursday's raid marked the first time they had arrested any women, Awwad said.

Since March 11, the village, which lies just south of Nablus, has been the centre of a massive manhunt in the aftermath of the grisly stabbing of a Jewish couple and their three young children, one of them a baby, as they slept in their beds in the nearby settlement of Itamar.

Following the murders, troops entered Awarta and imposed a curfew for five straight days, conducting house-to-house searches for the killers, who are believed to be Palestinian.

Last week, they entered the village again and imposed a curfew, but so far no one has been charged, with the military refusing to comment on the operation.

Gulf states expect Yemen’s Saleh to quit: Qatari PM

According to sources the deal would hand power in Yemen to interim council

DOHA/LONDON/DUBAI (Agencies)

Gulf states leading mediation efforts to end a political crisis in Yemen hope to reach a deal by which embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh would quit, Qatar's prime minister said on Thursday.

Members of the Gulf Cooperation Council "hope to reach a deal with the Yemeni president to step down," Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said according to QNA state news agency.

Foreign ministers of the GCC agreed Sunday to begin contacts with the Yemeni government and the opposition "with ideas to overcome the current situation".

Brokering deal

Qatar daily Alarab said the Gulf proposal which was presented to Yemeni parties calls on Saleh to step down and pass power to an interim national council comprising tribal and key political figures.

Both sides have received invitations to hold talks in the Saudi capital Riyadh, but a date of such talks has not been disclosed.

The GCC groups Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia with Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Gulf states are trying to broker a deal to have Yemen's president step down and hand over power, possibly to an interim council of tribal and political leaders, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Ali Abdullah Saleh's at times bloody response to protests, inspired by those in Egypt and Tunisia, against his 32-year rule has tried the patience of his U.S. and Saudi backers.

A variety of official sources say they are now ready to push aside a long-time ally against Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the hope of staving off a chaotic collapse of the poorest Arab state.

Though diplomats familiar with the negotiations question whether a deal is anywhere close to being struck, the proposal by the Gulf Arabs involves Saleh finally agreeing to stand down and handing his powers for a short time to a national council.

"The proposal is to have a governing council grouping all the various political parties and tribes for a period that would not exceed three months," one Gulf official told Reuters on Wednesday of a plan to be presented to Saleh and his opponents at talks to take place soon in Saudi Arabia. A date is not set.

"The council will set the way for elections," the Gulf official added, echoing other sources in the region and beyond.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which groups Saudi Arabia with its small neighbors Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, made the invitations on Monday.

Saleh told GCC envoys on Tuesday that he would come to the talks in Riyadh. The ambassadors were waiting for a response from opposition leaders who they met in Yemen on Wednesday.

Suggested caretakers

"The talks in Saudi Arabia will discuss the modalities and mechanism for transition of power," another source close to the discussions told Reuters. "There are some names being circulated to head a transitional council."

These included Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, a leading figure among Yemen's powerful tribes, Abdulkarim al-Iryani, a U.S.-educated former prime minister and currently an adviser to Saleh, and another former premier Abdulaziz Abdul-Ghani.

It is not clear whether any of these could win a consensus among the opposition, which includes the Islamist Islah party, socialists, Arab nationalists and others. Nor is it clear they would be acceptable to Saleh, who wants a say in the matter.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and key ally of Saleh, fears that its neighbor could fragment along tribal or regional lines if a way is not found out of the crisis soon -- something Saleh has warned of in recent speeches.

Washington has long seen Saleh as a pivotal ally in its fight against al-Qaeda, which has used its Yemen base to stage attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United States. In return for billions of dollars in military aid, Saleh has pledged to fight militants and allowed unpopular U.S. air strikes on their camps.

The opposition accuse him of playing fast and loose with his Washington ally, making deals with Islamists and militants at the same time as assuring the United States of his commitment.

Recent talks between Saleh and the opposition, some held in the presence of the U.S. ambassador, yielded little. Sources close to the talks in Sanaa say the United States gave Saleh an ultimatum to accept a deal and has since lost patience.

The sources said talks had most recently bogged down over Saleh's demand for assurances that he and members of his family will not face prosecution, particularly for the corruption that is a particular grievance of many of the thousands of protesters who have been camping out at Sanaa University for two months.

Opposition sources have said they would be prepared to accept Saleh's vice-president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, as interim head of state and to discuss removing some of Saleh's sons who have key positions once Saleh has stepped down. They want Saleh to leave the country during the transition period.

125 people killed

According to medics and witnesses, about 125 people have been killed in Yemen's crackdown on protesters, who launched nationwide demonstrations in late January to unseat Saleh, in power since 1978.

The deaths of 52 protesters on March 18, apparently at the hands of gunmen supporting Saleh, have been a turning point in the conflict, turning allies both within Yemen and abroad against the veteran head of state.

Again on Wednesday, tens of thousands of Yemenis rallied as police shot dead one demonstrator and wounded 30 others even after calls mounted for Saleh to stand down over the bloodshed.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said: "The United States strongly condemns the use of violence by Yemeni government forces against demonstrators in Sanaa, Taez and Hudaydah in the past several days".

"We call upon the government of Yemen to conduct full investigations into these events and to hold those responsible accountable for their actions," Carney added.

In a further sign of ebbing support for Saleh, the statement called on him to resolve the political deadlock so that "meaningful" political change could take place in an orderly and peaceful manner.

Washington, which has expressed fears of al-Qaeda taking advantage of a prolonged crisis, is now pressing him to negotiate a transition of power.

The veteran political survivor has seen a string of top generals, ambassadors and some tribes announce their backing for the protesters since the March 18 massacre of protesters.