Gaddafi's hold on Libya weakens

Leader appears on state TV briefly to signal defiance in the face of mounting revolt against his 41-year rule. Last Modified: 22 Feb 2011 00:58 GMT

Protesters in Libya have called for another night of defiance against Muammar Gaddafi's government [Reuters] Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has appeared on state television to signal his defiance in the face of a mounting revolt against his 41-year rule. "I am in Tripoli and not in Venezuela. Do not believe the channels belonging to stray dogs," Gaddafi told Libyan state TV, which said he was speaking outside his house on Tuesday Reports on Monday said Gaddafi had fled to Venezuela. Gaddafi, in his first televised appearance since protests to topple him started last week, was holding an umbrella in the rain and leaning out of a van. "I wanted to say something to the youths at the Green Square (in Tripoli) and stay up late with them but it started raining. Thank God, it's a good thing," Gaddafi said in a 22-second appearance. State TV reported earlier that pro-government demonstrations were taking place in Green Square in the capital. Libyan forces loyal to Gaddafi have fought an increasingly bloody battle to keep the veteran leader in power with residents reporting gunfire in parts of the capital Tripoli and one political activist saying warplanes had bombed the city. Scores of people have been reported killed in continuing violence in Tripoli amid escalating protests across the north African nation. Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, said "in a sense this is a pariah regime that will not have any chance of governing anymore and the international community could come to terms on whether this is a genocide and whether there should be international intervention to protect the Libyan people from the militias of the regime". "We've heard even a NATO spokesman saying that the Libyan regime should stop committing war crimes against its people so I think there is momentum out there but certainly it's not quick enough." Deep cracks were showing and Gaddafi seemed to be losing vital support, as Libyan government officials at home and abroad resigned, air force pilots defected and major government buildings were targeted during clashes in the capital. At least 61 people were killed in the capital city on Monday, witnesses told Al Jazeera. The protests appeared to be gathering momentum, with demonstrators saying they have taken control of several important towns and the city of Benghazi, to the east of Tripoli. Protesters called for another night of defiance against the Arab world's longest-serving leader, despite a crackdown by authorities A huge anti-government march in Tripoli on Monday afternoon came under attack by security forces using fighter jets and live ammunition, witnesses told Al Jazeera. "What we are witnessing today is unimaginable. Warplanes and helicopters are indiscriminately bombing one area after another. There are many, many dead," Adel Mohamed Saleh said in a live broadcast . "Anyone who moves, even if they are in their car, they will hit you." US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was "time to stop this unnacceptable bloodshed" in Libya. A group of army officers issued a statement urging fellow soldiers to "join the people" and help remove Gaddafi. The justice minister resigned in protest at the "excessive use of violence" against protesters and diplomats at Libya's mission to the United Nations called on the Libyan army to help overthrow "the tyrant Muammar Gaddafi". Both Libya and Venezuela denied reports that Gaddafi had fled to the South American country. Libyan state television said Gaddafi would give a speech shortly. Two Libyan fighter jets landed in Malta, their pilots defecting after they said they had been ordered to bomb protesters, Maltese government officials said. Libyan authorities have cut all landline and wireless communication in the country, making it impossible to verify the report. With reports of large-scale military operations under way in Tripoli, a spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon said the UN chief held extensive discussions with Gaddafi on Monday, condemned the escalating violence in Libya and told him that it "must stop immediately”. UN Council, Arab League to meet The UN Security Council will hold a closed-door meeting on Tuesday to discuss the crisis in Libya, diplomats said. They said the meeting, known as consultations, had been requested by Libyan deputy ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi and would start at 1400 GMT. Dabbashi and other diplomats at Libya's mission to the UN on Monday said they sided with protesters in Libya. Earlier, Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani, Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, called for an extraordinary meeting of the Arab League to take place on Tuesday. The aim is to discuss the current crisis in Libya and to put additional "pressure" on the government, Al-Thani told Al Jazeera. He said the international community must act now. "I feel a big sympathy for the Libyan people. We don't accept using force in this way or any way against the people or against any nation from their governments.," he said. The comments came just hours after Ahmed Elgazir, a human-rights researcher at the Libyan News Centre (LNC) in Geneva, Switzerland, told Al Jazeera that security forces were "massacring" protesters in Tripoli. Elgazir said the LNC received a call for help from a woman "witnessing the massacre in progress who called on a satellite phone". Earlier, a privately run local newspaper reported that the Libyan justice minister had resigned over the use of deadly force against protesters. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Ahmad Jibreel, a Libyan diplomat, confirmed that the justice minister, Mustapha Abdul Jalil, had sided with the protesters. Jibreel further said that key cities near Libya's border with Egypt were now in the hands of protesters, which he said would enable the foreign media to enter the country.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Pakistani intelligence claims US gunman was undercover CIA agent

An American citizen arrested last month for fatally shooting two Pakistani men “was working for the CIA”, Pakistani intelligence officials said Monday. US claims the man should be given diplomatic immunity have caused outrage in Pakistan.

By News Wires (text)

AFP - Pakistani intelligence considers that an American in custody nearly a month for killing two Pakistani men on motorcycles, was working undercover for the CIA, an official said Monday.

Washington insists Raymond Davis has diplomatic immunity and acted in self-defence when he shot two men in a busy street in the eastern city of Lahore on January 27, fearing that he was about to be robbed.

His detention has sparked a diplomatic crisis between the United States and Pakistan, where an anti-American population of 167 million is ruled by a weak and unpopular government closely allied in the US war in Afghanistan.

"It is beyond any shadow of a doubt that he was working for CIA," an official from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The official said the shooting in broad daylight at a busy junction on January 27 in the eastern city of Lahore and Pakistan's subsequent arrest of Raymond Davis had damaged relations with the Central Intelligence Agency.

"He's on contract. He's not a regular CIA guy, but he's working for CIA. That's confirmed," the Pakistani official said.

The government in Islamabad is under enormous domestic pressure not to be seen as kowtowing to US demands for Davis' release and has come under fire over how American officials are seemingly free to drive around with loaded weapons.

The United States has postponed a round of high-level talks with Afghanistan and Pakistan following failed attempts to get Davis out, and some US lawmakers have threatened to cut payments to Pakistan unless he is freed.

The Pakistani intelligence official said relations between ISI and the CIA had also taken a knocking.

"Our relations with the CIA are now sort of pretty dicey. It has affected our relationship," the official told AFP.

"He was sort of working behind our backs. Normal CIA guys -- we know who they are. We interact with them regularly. We know they're CIA, but in this particular case we had no knowledge of him," the official added.

A court last week deferred any judgement on whether Davis has diplomatic immunity and gave the foreign ministry until March 14 to determine his status.

Leading US Senator John Kerry visited Pakistan last week to express regret and promise that Davis would face a criminal investigation at home.

But in Pakistan, few are convinced that Davis was a normal diplomat. Police shortly after the arrest told AFP they recovered a Glock pistol, four loaded magazines, a GPS navigation system and a small telescope from his car.

A third Pakistani died when struck by a US diplomatic vehicle that came to Davis's assistance. Pakistani police say the Americans have refused them access to that vehicle or to the occupants inside.

Further suspicion was aroused when the US embassy on January 28 identified him as a "staff member of the US consulate general in Lahore" but the next day as a diplomat assigned to the embassy in Islamabad.

Under international laws, embassy diplomats have full diplomatic immunity whereas consulate officials are liable to detention in case of grave crimes.

The US embassy has since said that was a simple mistake

Court upholds death penalty for Mumbai attacker

India’s High Court has upheld the death sentence for the sole surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people and brought relations between India and Pakistan to a new low.

By News Wires (text)

REUTERS - India's High Court on Monday upheld the death sentence for the only surviving gunman in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people and strained ties between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani national, was one of ten gunmen who carried out the coordinated attacks on key landmarks in India's financial capital, including two luxury hotels, the main train station and a Jewish centre.

In May, Kasab was found guilty of more than 80 charges, including murder and waging war on India, and was sentenced to death by hanging by an Indian court but that sentence needed approval from the High Court.

"The High Court confirmed the lower court's decision to sentence Kasab to death by hanging," public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said on live television on Monday.

Earlier this month, India and Pakistan agreed to resume formal peace talks after New Delhi broke off negotiations between the two nuclear-armed nations following the Mumbai attacks.

India had paused the talks, saying Islamabad must first act against groups operating from its soil, including Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, or LeT, said to be behind the attacks and of which Kasab was convicted of being a member.

Pakistan has acknowledged the attacks were plotted and partly launched from its soil, and has put on trial seven suspects linked to LeT, which has been fighting Indian forces in disputed Kashmir since the early 1990s.

Kasab was filmed walking through Mumbai's main train station carrying an AK-47 rifle and a knapsack on his back. Nearly 60 people were gunned down in the crowded station.

Twenty Pakistani co-conspirators, including LeT founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, were also found guilty. A spokesman for LeT has denied the leader or the organisation was involved.

Islamist groups like LeT see India and the United States as foes against whom they must wage holy war. They also support independence for Kashmir, the Himalayan region claimed in full but controlled in part by both India and Pakistan.

The two countries have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two over Kashmir.

Officials to 'nip social conflict in the bud' after police prevent protests

China's top security official has urged the government to devise new ways to defuse social strife, a day after police stamped out attempts to organise streets protests mirrored on events in the Middle East.

By News Wires (text)

REUTERS - China's domestic security chief said the government must find new ways to defuse unrest, underscoring Beijing's anxiety about control even after police squashed weekend calls for gatherings inspired by Middle East uprisings.

Zhou Yongkang, the ruling Communist Party's top law-and-order official, told cadres they had to "adapt to new trends and imperatives in economic and social development", official newspapers reported on Monday.

"Strive to defuse conflicts and disputes while they are still embryonic," he told an official meeting on Sunday, the China Police Daily and other papers reported.

Over the weekend, Chinese police and censors showed the Communist Party has little to fear from protesters hoping to emulate the unrest that has swept the Middle East, unseating Egypt's long-time president, Hosni Mubarak, and now threatening Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

Police dispersed dozens of people who gathered in central Beijing and Shanghai on Sunday after calls spread on overseas Chinese websites urging "Jasmine Revolution" gatherings. The police and foreign reporters outnumbered aspiring participants and curious passers-by caught up in the crowd.

There were no signs of further protests in Beijing on Monday.

"I don't think this was ever a serious plan. It was more like a performance or a stunt," said Cui Weiping, a Beijing-based scholar who said she was not allowed outside by authorities on Sunday. "In fact I'd never even had any involvement. They seem to have just confined anyone they could think of," she added.

"Jasmine" still unsearchable

The words "jasmine" and "jasmine revolution" remained blocked Monday on the search functions of China's Twitter-like website Sina.com, and on Tianya.cn, a popular chatroom.

Chinese state media has been largely silent on the planned protests, although state news agency Xinhua published two short articles that described how police dispersed the crowds that had gathered in Beijing and Shanghai.

"There is no collective will for revolution in China," said an English-language opinion piece from The Global Times, a popular tabloid published by China's Communist Party.

China's fast economic growth has undercut discontent that could challenge the government. That growth has also enabled sharply higher funding for domestic security forces, which bristle with surveillance equipment and intimidating hardware.

But a flurry of speeches and official statements since last week has underscored that China's leaders are worried about longer-term challenges to their rule.

Despite harsh restrictions on independent political activity, China has many local riots, protests and strikes, often sparked by anger over corruption, land disputes and job losses.

The central government fears those tensions could accumulate. Provincial and ministerial level officials have been meeting in Beijing to discuss how to cope with these worries through stronger "social management", and President Hu Jintao himself told them that they should be worried.

"The problems remain of development that is unbalanced, ill-coordinated and unsustainable," Hu said in a speech on Saturday. He urged the officials to "strengthen governance to nip social conflicts in the bud".

The Communist Party's zeal in smothering dissent to maintain stability at all costs has created a domestic security system so expensive that it is sapping funds needed elsewhere to maintain the country's economic health. .

Critics say the Communist Party's reluctance to embrace political reforms will ultimately doom its efforts to create a more "harmonious society", particularly if it can't control officials who are the target of discontent.

"The Chinese government is extremely powerful vis-a-vis society," said Pei Minxin, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College in California. "But this is a government that is very weak at disciplining or policing its own agents."

Japan to set up new spy agency

Japan is setting up a brand new espionage unit designed to keep an eye on China and North Korea, according to a classified US cable disclosed by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.

By News Wires (text)

AFP - Japan is setting up its first fully-fledged post-war foreign spy service, modelled on the CIA and Britain’s MI6, according to a classified US cable obtained by WikiLeaks, a report said Monday.

The new intelligence service aims to spy on China and North Korea and to gather information to prevent terrorist attacks, said Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald, citing a US cable WikiLeaks exclusively provided to the daily.

The espionage unit is being created under the wing of Japan’s top intelligence agency, the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office (Naicho), which reports to the prime minister, the Herald said.

Then-Naicho director Hideshi Mitani revealed in 2008 that a “human intelligence collection capability” was a priority, in talks with then head of the US State Department’s bureau of intelligence and research, Randall Fort.

Two former Japanese prime ministers of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, Yasuo Fukuda and Taro Aso, had kicked off the project, according to a secret cable to Washington from the US embassy in Tokyo.

“The decision has been made to go very slowly with this process as the Japanese realise that they lack knowledge, experience, and assets/officers,” the US embassy cable said, according to the Herald.

“A training process for new personnel will be started soon.”

Japanese officials had told Fort that Japan’s most pressing intelligence priorities were “China and North Korea, as well as on collecting intelligence information to prevent terrorist attacks”.

Fort had urged Japanese officials to tap “underutilised assets” in the worldwide network of Japanese businesses and trading companies.

An expert on intelligence issues in Japan, who asked not to be named, told AFP that Japan does not yet have an operational “human intelligence branch”.

Japan does not seek to recruit foreign nationals as agents or informants, the expert said, instead relying on Japanese businessmen and journalists abroad to gather intelligence, paying them out of “secret funds” controlled by the foreign ministry and cabinet office.

Sudanese president 'will not seek re-election'

Sudan's long-time President Omar al-Bashir (pictured) will not seek a new term when elections are due in four years, his party has announced in a move opposition members say belies the fear of contagion from unrest sweeping the Arab world.

By News Wires (text)

REUTERS - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will not stand at the next election as part of a package of reforms aimed at democratising the country, a senior official of the ruling party said on Monday.

Bashir took power in a bloodless coup in 1989. In April 2010 he won presidential elections which many opposition parties boycotted, citing fraud.

"(Bashir) announced that he will not enter the coming elections to compete for the presidency," Rabie Abdelati, a senior National Congress Party official, told Reuters.

The next presidential elections are due in four years.

Bashir is the only sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court, for war crimes and genocide in the war-torn Darfur region. He denies the charges.

Last week Bashir hinted to youth members of his party that he would retire if the NCP adopted a retirement age of 60 for political posts.

The opposition belittled the move, saying the NCP was trying to head off mass protests and feared contagion from popular uprisings which have ousted the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents.

Abdelati said Bashir had also offered to step down as head of the NCP, a move he said was part of a wider strategy to democratise the country.

"This is an NCP strategy to let different generations fill different positions within the party and government," he said, adding that the NCP was also planning to allow freedom of expression for other political parties.

"This will create a democratic environment for the whole of society."

Sudanese security forces have used force to break up dozens of small protests throughout the north since January as an economic crisis began to bite and the oil-producing south voted to secede and become independent in July.

Protests throughout the Arab world have led to offers of political reform by long-term, often autocratic rulers. Sudan's opposition has so far refused to enter talks with the NCP on such reforms.

Suicide bomber targets police in Samarra

A suicide bomber blew up a car laden with explosives outside a police station in the volatile city of Samarra in northern Iraq Monday, killing at least 10 police officers and wounding several more.

By News Wires (text)

AP - A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb Monday morning at a police station north of Baghdad, killing at least 10 police officers, police and health officials said.

Monday’s attack in Samarra, 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of Baghdad, comes less than 10 days after a suicide bomber targeted Shiite pilgrims returning from a religious ceremony at the city’s al-Askari mosque. Thirty-six were killed in that attack.

Two police officers said the Monday morning suicide bombing also wounded at least 22 people. A hospital official confirmed the casualty figures.

Samarra has been a flashpoint spot ever since a 2006 attack by al-Qaida destroyed part of the golden-domed mosque in the city revered by Shiites. The event sparked a vicious bloodbath between the country’s Shiite majority and Sunni minority that swept through the country.

Shiite pilgrims flocked to the site earlier this month to celebrate an important religious holiday, the death of the imam for whom the mosque is named, and extra forces were brought in to beef up security in the city.

Also Monday, police and hospital officials in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah said a teenager died and 47 were wounded during overnight protests.

A Sulaimaniyah police official said that around 2,000 people took part in scattered demonstrations around the city, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, late Sunday. Many Kurds are frustrated by the tight grip with which the two ruling parties control the Kurdish autonomous region.

The official said Kurdish security forces opened fire in the air to disperse the crowd.

Hospital officials said around 20 people were shot, including a 17-year-old who later died of his wounds. The others were hit by flying stones.

All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The Kurdish region has been spared much of the violence that has consumed the rest of Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion, and the area attracts many foreign businesses looking to make a foothold in the country. But Kurds have become fed up by the lack of jobs and economic opportunity for people not affiliated with the two main political parties.

Last Thursday, two people were killed and nearly 50 injured in a protest at the Sulaimaniyah headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Since then, demonstrators have thronged the city’s streets.