Manama responds to pro-democracy protests by spending 5.32 billion dollars on housing project. | |||||
| Middle East Online | |||||
By W.G. Dunlop - MANAMA | |||||
Bahrain's housing minister on Monday announced plans to build 50,000 homes at a cost of at least two billion dinars ($5.32 billion), in the government's latest response to protests gripping the kingdom. Majid al-Alawi announced that "it has been decided that 50,000 residences will be built over a five-year period in cooperation with the private sector of the kingdom of Bahrain, in different provinces of the kingdom," the official BNA news agency said. "The initial cost is estimated to be at least two billion Bahraini dinars," BNA quoted Alawi as saying, adding that he expressed "hope that this order helps to contribute to forwarding the national dialogue." Anti-government protests in Shiite-majority Bahrain, which is ruled by a Sunni dynasty, entered their 22nd day on Monday, amid a wave of pro-democracy unrest that has gripped the region for weeks and toppled autocratic regimes in Egypt and Tunisia. King Hamad has tasked Crown Prince Salman with opening a dialogue with the opposition. Housing in the kingdom is available, especially for poorer people, for low prices with payments over a long period, which Alawi announced has now been extended from 25 to 30 years, according to BNA. BNA said that according to Alawi, there are over 46,000 people on the waiting list for housing, but "the ministry plans to reduce the waiting period to a maximum five years by 2016." Bahrain's rulers have announced various other economic and political initiatives aimed at assuaging protesters' anger. On Saturday, the interior ministry announced a plan to recruit 20,000 employees. "The interior ministry has today unveiled ambitious plans to speed up the recruitment of 20,000 people to meet its needs in all sectors," BNA said. "The massive recruitment scheme will benefit job-seekers who meet employment terms," it quoted Interior Minister Sheikh Rashed bin Abdullah al-Khalifa as saying. "The initiative follows directives from His Majesty King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa to boost employment in all ministry departments," BNA added. On February 26, King Hamad changed five of his ministers, in a move that saw Alawi, who was formerly minister of labour, appointed to the housing portfolio. And on February 22, the king ordered the release of Shiite political prisoners, in another bid to ignite talks to end the standoff with anti-regime protesters. An MP said the following day that authorities had released 23 Shiite activists held on terrorism charges and pardoned two others abroad, including opposition leader Hassan Mashaima, who subsequently returned to Bahrain. However, the various initiatives have yet to dissuade demonstrators, who continue to keep vigil in hundreds of tents in the capital Manama's Pearl Square, the focal point for the protest movement. |
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Bahrain to build 50,000 homes in face of protests
Kuwait demonstrators call on prime minister to quit
AFP - Hundreds of young Kuwaitis demonstrated for reform in the oil-rich Gulf emirate on Tuesday and the replacement of the current prime minister.
Around 1,000 people gathered in a square near government offices on the seafront amid tight security with a helicopter hovering overhead.
The venue for the rally had been changed at the last minute after authorities cordoned off Safat Square in the centre of the capital Kuwait City.
The demonstrators carried banners calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, a nephew of the emir who has had repeated run-ins with parliament since he took office in 2006.
"Mr. Prime Minister, you have done your job, but Kuwait deserves better. Please leave," shouted female activist Mariam al-Ajmi.
Five of the six governments Sheikh Nasser has formed as premier have been forced to resign and parliament has been dissolved three times.
"A prime minister who formed six governments without achievements must leave ... We want a new government, a new premier and a new strategy," said youth activist Hamad al-Alyan.
Another activist, Bader al-Enezi charged that "corruption has become widespread under Sheikh Nasser's governments."
Kuwait is one of the richest countries in the Middle East thanks to its huge oil resources, with surpluses topping $300 billion
But development projects have been stymied by disputes between the government and parliament.
Addressing the gathering, veteran politician Ahmad al-Khateeb said Kuwait was witnessing the worst period in its 250-year history and warned members of the ruling family not to play with the nation's future.
"We will not allow members of the ruling family to meddle with Kuwait's future for personal ambitions... They are damaging Kuwait," said Khateeb, one of the architect's of the country's 1962 constitution.
The demonstration in Kuwait comes amid a wave of protests across the Arab world that has seen the veteran rulers of Egypt and Tunisia swept from power and threatened the regimes of Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.
The rally was organised by three youth groups called the Fifth Fence, Kafi (Enough) and Nureed (We Want).
Over the past two weeks, liberal, Islamist and nationalist opposition groups have heaped pressure on Sheikh Nasser to resign.
They have also called for reform of Kuwait's political system to make it a Western-style multi-party democracy, with political parties legalised and a prime minister drawn from outside the ruling family.
Coptic Christian killed in Cairo sectarian clashes
AFP - A Coptic Christian was killed in clashes with Muslims in Cairo on Tuesday, the same day at least 1,000 Christians gathered there to protest the burning of a church last week, a hospital official said.
The death of Mina Fares Hanna occurred in the poor working-class district of Moqattam, but no further details were immediately available.
Fighting broke out mid-afternoon when dozens of Muslims showed up in Moqattam, inhabited by Copts who work as garbage collectors and who had blocked a main north-south artery in the capital.
People threw rocks from both sides and witnesses said soldiers at the scene fired shots into the air to disperse the crowds.
Earlier on Tuesday, Copts had protested in central Cairo against the burning of a church south of the capital after deadly clashes between Christians and Muslims, state television said.
The protest outside the radio and television building in central Cairo came a day after at least 2,000 angry Christians demanded the re-building of the torched church, and that those found guilty be brought to justice.
The Shahedain (Two Martyrs) church, in the Helwan provincial city of Sol, was set fire on Friday after clashes between Coptic Christians and Muslims that left two people dead.
The violence was triggered by a feud between two families, which disapproved of a romantic relationship between a Christian man and a Muslim woman in Sol.
"Problems escalated in the village when a group of Muslims headed to the burned out church and conducted a mass Islamic prayer there," Maged Ibrahim, a Christian resident told Egyptian state television.
On Monday, Egypt's ruling military council vowed to have the church rebuilt and to prosecute those behind the arson attack.
There is a long history of animosity between Copts and Muslims in Egypt, though there were indications of a rapprochement following a deadly New Years's Day bombing of a church in Alexandria and during the recent revolt that unseated long-time president Hosni Mubarak.
Twenty-one people died and dozens more were wounded when what was believed to be a suicide bomb blew himself up just after midnight on New Year's as worshippers left a church in Alexandria.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which came two months after an Al-Qaeda-linked group said it was behind a deadly Baghdad church hostage-taking and threatened Coptic Christians as well.
Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million population, complain of systematic discrimination and have been the target of several sectarian attacks.
There are around 7,000 Christians in Sol, out of a total population of 50,000.
12 rights groups in Syria demand end to emergency
AFP - Twelve Syrian human rights organisations called on the government on Tuesday to scrap the state of emergency which has stifled civil society for almost 50 years.
"The state of emergency affects human rights and public freedoms which are the subject of continuous violations in Syria," said the human rights advocates, some of them from Syria's Kurdish minority.
As the regime entered its 48th year in power, the rights groups called for the release of political prisoners, a new law governing the formation of political parties, protection of Kurdish rights and reform of the judiciary.
"We call for the lifting of the state of emergency and the release of political prisoners," their joint statement said.
The state of emergency, was one of the first acts of the ruling Baath party when it seized power on March 8, 1963. It grants extraordinary powers to security forces and special tribunals while also banning all opposition groups.
Human rights advocates have repeatedly criticised the tight controls imposed on civil society through arbitrary detention, restrictions on freedom of expression and other forms of repression.
The group's statement called for the "amendment of all laws that prevent human rights organisations from working openly and freely, and civil society from playing its role effectively."
The organisations also called on the government to "enact a law on political parties to enable citizens to exercise their right to participate in managing the affairs of the country."
They also asked the authorities to "urgently take all necessary steps to cancel all forms of discrimination against the Kurdish people" who form nine percent of the Syrian population.
"The Kurds are entitled to enjoy their culture and use their language in accordance with their civil, political, cultural, social and economic rights," the statement said.
And it called for judicial reforms.
"It is necessary to carry out legal reforms with the participation of non-governmental organisations which would help strengthen judicial independence," the statement said.
Signatories of the statement included the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Syrian League for the Defence of Human Rights, the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria and the Kurdish Committee for Human Rights in Syria.
Japan issues tsunami warning after 7.2 quake
AFP - Japan issued a tsunami warning Wednesday after a major 7.2-magnitude quake struck 160 kilometres (100 miles) east off the main Honshu island at 0245 GMT, swaying buildings in the capital Tokyo.
The tremor struck 10 kilometres below the sea floor, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, which issued a tsunami warning for Honshu's Pacific coast, warning of waves 50 centimetres (20 inches) high.
Saudi Arabia urged to permit peaceful protests
- Amnesty International decries "outrageous restriction" of peaceful protests
- Protesters were detained last week
- "Prolonged detention" without trial denounced
(CNN) -- Amnesty International is urging Saudi Arabia to stop the "outrageous restriction" of peaceful protests, a call that comes after a crackdown last week on protesters in the country's Shiite region.
About 24 protesters were detained in the eastern city of Qatif last week as they denounced "the prolonged detention" of nine Shiite prisoners held without trial for more than 14 years, the human rights group said.
Police kicked and used batons to beat three protesters in what was an apparent peaceful demonstration, Amnesty said in a statement dated Monday.
"The Saudi Arabian authorities have a duty to ensure freedom of assembly and are obliged under international law to allow peaceful protests to take place," said Philip Luther, deputy director of the human rights group's Middle East and North Africa program.''
"They must act immediately to end this outrageous restriction on the right to legitimate protest."
There was no immediate reaction from the Saudi government to the Amnesty statement.
The protests in the majority Sunni kingdom occurred Thursday and Friday, and they've accompanied the calls across the Arab world for more freedom and democracy.
Rights activists have been urging the right to protest for months in the kingdom, which prohibits all kinds of public demonstrations, and they have been denied permission to assemble.
Lately, grass-roots ferment mirroring the unrest across the Middle East and North Africa has emerged, with a Facebook group calling for days of rage and Shiites taking to the streets. Activists have been calling for reform and the release of people jailed without charge or trial.
Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry warned Saturday that its security forces will be "authorized to take all measures against anyone who tries to break the law and cause disorder," the ministry said, according to the country's state-run news agency.
Amnesty said the recent detentions came a week after a prominent Shiite cleric, Sheikh Tawfiq Jaber Ibrahim al-'Amr was arrested after a sermon calling for reforms in Saudi Arabia. He was released without charge Sunday.
Most of the protesters are believed to be held in a police station in Dhahran, an eastern city. Among them are activists who have protested arrests and discrimination against the minority Shiites.
"The Saudi authorities must investigate reports of beatings of protesters by security forces. They should also ensure that those detained are either charged with recognizable offences and tried fairly or released," Luther said.
"While in detention they must be protected from torture and other ill-treatment and given regular access to their family, lawyers and medical staff."
The Shiite activists in "prolonged detention" have been held in connection with the deadly 1996 bombing of a U.S. military complex in Khobar in which 20 people were killed and hundreds injured.
"According to reports, they were interrogated, tortured and denied access to lawyers together with the opportunity to challenge the legality of their detention," Amnesty said.
Moussavi website: Tear gas fired to disperse Iran protesters
- Protests called for International Women's Day
- There was a large security presence on squares across Tehran
- Opposition to the ruling clerics has simmered since '09 election
(CNN) -- Security forces in Iran's capital used tear gas to disperse protesters near Revolution Square Tuesday, according to the website of opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi.
Iran's opposition movement called for demonstrations to mark International Women's Day, and the security presence and car honking was widespread throughout Tehran.
Thousands of Basij security forces were patrolling Revolution Square and other major squares and intersections in Tehran Tuesday.
Cars honked in an apparent show of protest and security agents ripped off the license plate of a car that was honking. The driver apologized and the plate was returned.
Two young women in a car said something to several members of the Basij. The agents took out cell phones and photographed their license plate before they drove off.
Opposition to the ruling clerics has simmered since the 2009 election, when hundreds of thousands of people filled Tehran streets to denounce President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election as fraudulent.
Iranian authorities began rounding up many government opponents in February amid calls for protests like those that have swept across North Africa and the Middle East.
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