Bashir warns of unstable south

Sudan's president says the south's desire for secession is understandable, but warns it will not solve its problems. Last Modified: 07 Jan 2011 20:22 GMT Sudan's president has warned that south Sudan would struggle as an independent nation were it to vote to secede from the north. Speaking just days before a referendum, which is expected to see southerners vote to establish a separate country, Omar al-Bashir told Al Jazeera that he was concerned about possible instability in the south following the vote. "The stability of the south is very important to us because any instability in the south will have an impact on the north. If there is a war in your neighbour's house, you will not be at peace," he said on Friday. "The south suffers from many problems. It's been at war since 1959. The south does not have the ability to provide for its citizens or create a state or authority." The referendum is a result of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in 2005, that ended near three decades of civil war between north and south Sudan. Under the terms of the CPA, a quorum of 60 per cent of the 3.8 million voters are required to take part in the referendum for its outcome to become binding, but most believe the south will be in favour of succession. The mood in Juba, south Sudan's capital, and elsewhere was jubilant on Friday as the final pro-secession rallies were held with many apparently already celebrating independence. Southern suffering Speaking to Al Jazeera, al-Bashir suggested the south's desire for independence was understandable, but was far from being a cure-all. "Most southerners are separatists because the south has been at war for a long time and this war has affected every southern citizen in a very negative way," al-Bashir said. "It has either caused them to become refugees or be harmed in some way ... They believe that the cause of all this suffering is that the south is under the control of the north and they think that they can only end this suffering by separating the north from the south." Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in the Darfur region, has earned rare praise from the United Nations Security Council for his stance on the referendum. In recent weeks he has several times said he will respect and support the south's wishes if it chooses independence. Beyond the referendum, several issues covered in the CPA remain unresolved, including the situation in Darfur, border delineation between the north and south and the division of Sudan's national debt. But Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president and the chairperson of the African Union (AU) panel on Sudan, has said he expects these issues to have been resolved by the time the CPA expires on July 9. Returning home Mbeki made his comments in Juba, the southern capital, on Friday. Also in the south was George Clooney, the Holywood star, who was due to travel to the disputed region of Abyei. The oil-rich Abyei region, a sticking point in what is otherwise being viewed as a successful build up to the landmark vote, had been due to hold a simultaneous vote on its future on Sunday, but that has now been indefinitely postponed. The delay has prompted fears of clashes between the district's settled pro-southern Ngok Dinka population and Misseriya Arabs from the north who use its waters for seasonal pasture. The United Nation's refugee agency has said that an average of 2,000 southerners are crossing back into south Sudan from the north every day ahead of the January 9-15 vote. "The number of southerners who are leaving the North ahead of this week's landmark Sudan referendum to return to their ancestral homes in the South has doubled since mid-December and now stands at 120,000," the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement on Friday. Some reports say that hundreds more southerners have been stranded south of Khartoum, the northern capital, waiting for transport back to the south. Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Israeli troops shot on Gaza border

At least two armed men breached the buffer zone near Khan Younis, opening fire and injuring four Israeli soldiers. Last Modified: 07 Jan 2011 18:27 GMT

At least four Israeli soldiers have been wounded after two armed men breached the buffer zone between the Gaza Strip and and opened fire Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Gaza City, said there was no confirmation of how seriously the four Israeli soldiers in Kibbutz Nirim, east of Khan Younis, were injured or who carried out the attack. "But certainly, it's not very common that the buffer zone is breached," Dekker said. "It is a very tightly, security-controlled area, so we're surprised that the militants have been able to cross it." She reported that after the incident, more Israeli soldiers appeared at the scene and opened fire, but what happened to the armed men remains unclear at the moment. The buffer zone is made up of 300 metres of Palestinian land - within the Gaza border - which Palestinians are not supposed to enter, even though the area contain farmland.

Source: Al Jazeera

Thousands head south for Sudan vote

An average of 2,000 southerners a day are returning home ahead of landmark referendum as campaigning comes to a close. Last Modified: 07 Jan 2011 18:17 GMT

A large number of southerners live in Khartoum, the northern capital [Reuters] Thousands of southerners have returned to south Sudan from the north ahead of the independence referendum that could see the south split from the north to form a separate state. International envoys including Jimmy Carter, the former US president, Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president, and Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary-general, also arrived in the region on Friday to monitor the vote. The United Nation's refugee agency said on Friday that an average of 2,000 people were crossing back into the south each day, with the total figure in recent weeks at more than 120,000. "The number of southerners who are leaving the North ahead of this week's landmark Sudan referendum to return to their ancestral homes in the South has doubled since mid-December and now stands at 120,000," the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement on Friday. Some reports say that hundreds more southerners have been stranded south of Khartoum, the northern capital, waiting for transport back to the south. The UNHCR said that it expected many more people would return in the months following the January 9-15 referendum. "Many of the returnees who have lived in the north for years say they have left for fear of the unknown and the opportunity to start afresh in their native South," the UN refugee agency said. Turnout crucial The Carter Center, founded by the former US president, is deploying at least 75 observers to the monitor the referendum, while China, which has large investments in Sudan's oil sector, is also sending observers, as is the European Union. Asked by Al Jazeera what his message was to people in the north and the south, Carter said: "Just accept the decision of the southerners in the referendum peacefully, no matter whether it is to stay part of Sudan or to form a new nation. "Then after that, devote full time to the complete implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement provisions dealing with Abyei, dealing with the borders and and divisions of wealth, in particular oil." The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which brought an end to civil war between the north and south, stipulates a quorum of 60 per cent of the 3.8 million registered voters, meaning that while there has been little apparent opposition to southern independence, voter turnout will be crucial. Mbeki, who is chairperson of the African Union (AU) High Level Implementation Panel for Sudan, was upbeat about the referendum and other issues arising from the 2005 peace deal, saying that he expected them to be resolved before the CPA expires on July 9. Speaking in Juba on Friday Mbeki said that under his AU initiative the Doha peace process on Darfur would be broadened and that other unresolved issues like border delineation, citizenship and the division of Sudan's national debt will taken up in a "framework document" of post-referendum issues. Also in Sudan for the referendum is George Clooney, the Holywood star. He arrived in Juba, the southern capital on Thursday and was due to travel to the disputed region of Abyei on Friday. The oil-rich Abyei region had been due to hold a simultaneous vote on its future on Sunday, but that has now been indefinitely postponed. The delay has prompted fears of clashes between the district's settled pro-southern Ngok Dinka population and Misseriya Arabs from the north who use its waters for seasonal pasture. Abyei is the sticking point in what is otherwise being viewed as a successful build up to the landmark vote. 'Preparations complete' On Friday, the election commission organising the referendum said that preparations were complete. "Preparations are absolutely complete - the ballots arrived at all of the centres all over the south," George Mater Benjamin, the commission spokesman, said. "We have co-ordination with the United Nations. They are giving us small planes to distribute the ballots." Earlier, in a rare act of praise for Omar al-Bashir, the Sundanese president, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, the UN Security Council said its members "appreciate" his stance on the referendum. Al-Bashir has said he will respect and support the south's wishes if it chooses independence. David Gressly, the southern head of the United Nations Mission to Sudan, expressed optimism that calm would be maintained for the referendum. "For the last several weeks - several months probably - we have seen the lowest level of insecurity in southern Sudan since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement has been signed," he said. "It has been a very conducive environment for the registration, and we expect the same to continue for the polling period." But aid agency Oxfam took issue with the peacekeeping mission's focus, saying it should have devoted fewer resources to the referendum and more to the protection of civilians from persistent low-intensity violence that has claimed nearly 1,000 lives over the past year. "The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Sudan has so far failed to prioritise the protection of local people," it said.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Civilians killed in Afghan blast

Taliban claim attack targeting a police commander inside a public bathhouse in a town close to the Pakistan border. Last Modified: 07 Jan 2011 09:40 GMT

[EPA] A suicide attack in a public bathhouse in southern Afghanistan has killed at least 16 civilians and a police commander, officials have said. More than 20 others were injured in the blast, which occurred on Friday in the town of Spin Boldak in Kandahar province, on the border with Pakistan. "A suicide bomber blew up explosives strapped to his chest at a public bath in Spin Boldak," General Abdul Razaq, a border police official, said. Zalmai Ayoubi, a spokesman for the governor, said the target of the attack had been a border police commander who was inside the bathhouse at the time of the attack. "This brutal and inhumane act was the work of the enemies of Islam and humanity," he said. 'Brutal' bombing Mujebullah, a local shopkeeper whose cousin was wounded in the attack, told the AFP news agency that the baths were in a crowded market and used by people to wash before attending prayers. "The public baths were destroyed. Lots of dead bodies were picked out of the rubble at the beginning and afterwards," he was quoted as saying. "Different people were killed in this explosion - old people, even children." A Taliban spokesman said the group had carried out the attack and confirmed it had targeted the second-in-command of a border patrol force in the area. It was not immediately clear if he was the police officer killed in the blast. The south has traditionally been the Taliban's stronghold but suicide attacks targeting civilians in public places are relatively rare. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, called the bombing "brutal". "Those behind this attack should know once again that the blood of the Muslim people has been spilled. It will not have any other result," he said in a statement. The US embassy and NATO in Afghanistan also issued statements condemning the bombing, with the US describing it as a "callous terrorist act". Violent year Also on Friday, NATO announced that three of its service members were killed in two separate roadside bombings in southern Afghanistan. The attacks come after the end of the bloodiest year of a war that has now dragged on for more than nine years. The United Nations has said 2,412 civilians were killed and 3,803 wounded between January and October last year, a 20 per cent increase on 2009. A record 711 foreign troops were killed in 2010, according to monitoring website www.iCasualties.com , compared to 521 for 2009. Afghan security forces have been hit even harder than foreign troops. A total of 1,292 Afghan police and 821 Afghan soldiers were killed in 2010, according to the Afghan government.

Source: Agencies

Weak job market plagues US economy

New US jobless figures suggest that while the unemployment rate has dropped, the economy is still in for tough times. Last Modified: 07 Jan 2011 19:07 GMT

US employers hired far fewer workers than expected in December, showing the world's biggest economy was still struggling to gain momentum, despite the unemployment rate dropping to a more than 18-month low. Unemployment fell to 9.4 per cent, the lowest since May 2009, on Friday down from 9.8 per cent in November. But part of the decrease was due to jobless giving up the search for work. The disappointing jobs growth figure reported by the US labour department suggested the federal reserve would likely stay the course with its effort to support the economy with the purchase of $600bn in government bonds. Non-farm payrolls increased 103,000, below economists' expectations of 175,000. Private hiring rose 113,000, while government employment fell 10,000. Overall employment for October and November was revised to show 70,000 more job gains than previously reported, with temporary hiring, seen as a harbinger of permanent employment, increasing 15,900 after 31,100 in November. Also, the service sector is growing at its fastest pace in more than four years. 'Accelerate hiring' Barack Obama, US president, said the report shows a trend in the right direction even though the numbers are fluctuating and hiring and growth must still accelerate. "Our mission has to be to accelerate hiring and accelerate growth," Obama said during remarks at a window manufacturing plant in suburban Maryland on Friday. "That depends on making our economy more competitive." The labour department report was released one day after Obama appointed William Daley as his new chief of staff. Obama said that the Williams, a former commerce secretary, has a "deep understanding of how jobs are created". Although the labour market recovery remains very slow, the broader economy is showing signs of strengthening, with data on consumer spending and manufacturing improving. Those upbeat figures had led to calls for the US central bank to scale back its widely criticised government bond-purchasing programme, which is aimed at keeping interest rates low to boost demand. 'Reluctant employers' Ben Bernanke, US federal reserve chairman, sketched a more optimistic outlook for the US economy, but said the bond-buying programme is needed because it will take up to five more years to bring unemployment back to healthy levels. He told the senate budget committee that there is increasing evidence that a "self-sustaining" recovery is taking hold. He said he expects stronger economic growth because consumers and businesses will boost spending this year. However, there are risks - namely a weak job market. "Notwithstanding these hopeful signs ... employers reportedly still reluctant to add to payrolls, considerable time likely will be required before the unemployment rate has returned to a more normal level," said Bernanke. "Persistently high unemployment, by damping household income and confidence could threaten the strength and sustainability of the recovery."

Source: Agencies

Algeria police on guard after riots

Security forces reinforced and football matches cancelled following fresh unrest on Thursday night. Last Modified: 07 Jan 2011 13:18 GMT

Top-level football matches scheduled in Algeria on Friday and Saturday have been scrapped in wake of the riots [EPA] Police have been deployed outside mosques and a university in the Algerian capital after fresh rioting erupted overnight following days of protests over rising prices and unemployment. About 40 youths armed with swords attacked several shops in the El Biar area of Algiers late on Thursday, looting a restaurant and emptying a jewellery store before security forces arrived, local reporters and witnesses said. Rioting rocks Algerian capital There was a second night of clashes in the volatile Bab el Oued suburb, with police firing tear gas to disperse demonstrators, a witness said. One witness said youths had hurled Molotov cocktails and another said they carried swords. Police were positioned around mosques in Bab el Oued, Belcourt and Bachjarrah, poorer areas of the city, in case of more unrest after Friday prayers, according to reporters at the scene. There was also extra security at a police station, a new shopping mall and a major hotel in an area near Bab Ezzouar airport, while a nearby university was surrounded by security forces. Social trauma Salima Ghezali, a leading Algerian journalist and human rights activist, told Al Jazeera in a phone interview that the outbreak of protests is "both very local and very global". Algerians have followed protests over economic dissatisfaction not only in neighbouring Tunisia, but also in Europe. At the same time, she said the rioting is a consequence of years of economic and political mismanagement. Although hardly a week goes by without geographically-specific protests over particular incidents, she said that the nationwide movement that has sprung up this week is very different. "This is affecting a large part of the Algerian territory," she said. Asked if this week's rioting is comparable to the October 1988 demonstrations that forced the government to grant wider media freedom and hold the country's first democratic elections (which were subsequently halted by the military), she said the current political situation is far grimmer. "Unlike in 1988, the country today is deeply traumatised," she said, refering to the "dirty war" of the 1990s that left 200,000 people dead and an estimated 20,000 forcibly disappeared. There has never been any investigations into the alleged war crimes committed by all sides during this civil war. Despite coming in the context of monoparty rule by the FLN, the 1988 uprising found political leadership in both the "Islamist" and the left-wing opposition movements, Ghezali told Al Jazeera. Algeria is now a democracy, but the FLN remains in power. Opposition parties argue there is little space for them to participate in the political sphere. Those movements have been severely weakened over the past two decades and have been "targeted by repression". She said that the government led by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, meanwhile, is ignoring the social and economic woes endured by most Algerians. "We are heading towards a social disaster," she said. "They don't seem to realise this." "I hope with all my heart that I am wrong." Football matches scrapped All top-level football matches scheduled in Algeria on Friday and Saturday have been scrapped, the national football league has announced. Travellers said a road between the capital and eastern suburbs on the coast had been blocked since Thursday afternoon after youths set up barricades, also clashing with security forces. Authorities cleaned up the debris on Friday after the overnight unrest in Algiers, removing damaged cars at dawn, a journalist for the AFP news agency said. In the Annacer-Diar el Afia suburb, a Renault-Dacia car dealership showed signs of fire and residents said a public bus was also torched, although only burn marks on the road were visible by morning. "Why are they doing this?" an elderly woman said. "Yesterday I cried at home. Young people have a reason but they shouldn't be reacting like this," she said. Unemployment anger Protests led by small groups of young men have flared in several towns this week, linked to anger about a spike in the costs of basic food items by about 30 per cent this month, unemployment and a lack of social housing. Similar protests have rattled neighbouring Tunisia since mid-December. The Algerian daily El-Watan newspaper reported that several people had been wounded in the Algerian clashes, but the official media has made no comment and authorities have only assured that they are tackling the spike in costs. Commerce Minister Mustapha Benbada said after meeting with producers and importers of cooking oil and sugar - which have seen the steepest price hikes - that his ministry "is beginning to control the crisis" and it would be resolved by next week, national radio reported Thursday. About 75 per cent of Algerians are under the age of 30, and 20 percent of the youth are unemployed, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Pakistan coalition on the mend

The MQM reverses its decision to leave government saying it had "decided to sacrifice" itself for democracy. Last Modified: 07 Jan 2011 13:28 GMT

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani welcomes the MQMs decision to rejoin the governing coalition [EPA] The second largest political party in Pakistan's governing coalition reversed its decision to join the opposition, restoring the alliance's parliamentary majority and saving the government from possible collapse. Raza Haroon, a senior leader in the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), said at a news conference with Yousuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister, on Friday that his party had made the decision for the sake of democracy and the country. Haroon said that the party had "decided to sacrifice" itself again and join the government in view of the "deteriorating law and order situation and economic conditions of our people". The move came a day after the government announced it would reverse recent fuel price hikes the MQM had pointed to as one of the key reasons for leaving the coalition. Despite agreeing to return to the the government coalition, the MQM has not, however, rejoined the federal cabinet. Decision 'welcomed' "We welcome the MQM decision and appreciate their sentiments for democracy in Pakistan and hope our association will last long in the larger interest of the people of Pakistan," Gilani said. He told reporters he had discussed all MQM's "issues and reservations" in detail by telephone with its leader, Altaf Hussain, who lives in exile in London, and promised to work together on all future decisions. Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said that when the MQM initially quit the cabinet seats "it was seen to be manoeuvering for more positions, because the MQM had been complaining that it didn’t have enough ministries". "[The decision] was more for the perks and the privileges and therefore it was expected that the two would come back together,” he said. However, Hyder said that the move was likely only "a temporary respite" for the government. "The government is a sinking ship,” he said. "It’s already got a hole in it, the economy is mismanaged and recently the price hike that was taken back is going to be felt somewhere else." The MQM walked out of government last Sunday, taking its 25 MPs to opposition benches. The move saw Gilani lose his majority in parliament and raised fears of the possibility of a no-confidence vote being brought against him, possibly forcing an early election in the country. On Monday, Gilani said he was confident the government could maintain its majority, as he scrambled to meet with key politicians in attempts to prevent a deepening leadership crisis. With the MQM legislators off the opposition benches, Gilani again leads a coalition that controls a slender majority of around 185 seats in the 342-member lower house of parliament.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies