More bodies found in Mexico mass graves

Hand of Zetas gang suspected as toll rises in gruesome find in San Fernando in Tamaulipas state, near the Texas border. Last Modified: 13 Apr 2011 01:40

The interior secretary has promised to step up troop and police presence in the area where the latest killings occurred The toll of murder victims buried in a series of mass graves in northern Mexico has risen to 116, according to Mexico's attorney general who blames the atrocity on the Zetas drug cartel. Soldiers found the corpses last week in San Fernando in Tamaulipas state near Texas and initially unearthed 59 bodies, but the toll has since risen steadily in one of the most gruesome finds so far in Mexico's escalating drug war. "Today we can confirm the discovery of a total of 116 people killed in this criminal act ... by the Zetas," Marisela Morales, the attorney general, announced on Tuesday in Mexico City. The body count could still rise and Mexican media said 128 corpses had now been recovered in San Fernando. Authorities in Tamaulipas declined to comment on the figure. San Fernando is a town about 145km south of Brownsville, Texas, on a well-travelled stretch of highway that runs near the Gulf Coast. It is an area regularly patrolled by the Mexican military. Francisco Blake Mora, the Mexican interior secretary, pledged to step up the presence of troops and federal police in the area where the killings occurred and not leave the area until the killers and drug gang members there have been caught. "Organised crime, in its desperation, resorts to committing atrocities that we can't and shouldn't tolerate as a government and as a society," Blake said. Tarnished image More than 37,000 people have been killed since Felipe Calderon, the president, sent in the army to fight the drug gangs in 2006, worrying the US and some investors and tarnishing Mexico's international image as a favoured tourist destination. The victims in Tamaulipas, one of the drug war's worst flash-points, may have been killed after refusing to work for the Zetas, according to media reports. The gang is increasingly making a name for itself as the most violent of Mexico's powerful cartels. Morales said 17 suspects had been arrested in the government's investigation, but she declined to give more details about any possible motives for the massacre or the identities of the victims. The graves were near a ranch where 72 Central and South American migrants were killed last year by the Zetas preying on undocumented migrants heading north in search of work in the US. Guatemala's foreign ministry said this week one of its citizens was among the dead in Tamaulipas. It is unclear how many were illegal immigrants, who are being targeted for kidnap by drug gangs seeking to hold them to ransom. The Zetas and rival Gulf Cartel are fighting in Tamaulipas over lucrative drug transit routes to the US. Authorities are working to identify the bodies, one of which may belong to a US citizen, through DNA samples and other techniques. Mexico and the US have accused each other of hindering progress, straining diplomatic relations to the point where the US ambassador to Mexico resigned last month.

Source: Agencies

Syrian security forces attack village

Witnesses say security forces opened fire in Baida while an opposition delegation has met the vice-president. Last Modified: 13 Apr 2011 03:05

Tens of thousands of protesters are demanding reforms to Syria''s political system [AFP] Syrian security forces have fired upon people in the village of Baida, near the coastal town of Baniyas in the country's northeast, injuring at least one person, witnesses tell Al Jazeera. Security forces have so far arrested 200 residents in Baniyas as challenges to the rule of Bashar al-Assad continued to spread, according to a human-rights lawyer. "They brought in a television crew and forced the men they arrested to shout 'We sacrifice our blood and our soul for you, Bashar' while filming them," the lawyer, who was in contact with residents in Baida, said. The lawyer, who did not want to be further identified, said the events occurred on Tuesday. Syrian secret police and soldiers surrounded Baida and went into houses, arresting men up to 60 years old, activists said. Gunfire was heard earlier in the day and one man was killed, they said. They said Baida was targeted because its residents participated in a demonstration in Banias last week in which protesters shouted "The people want the overthrow of the regime" - the rallying cry of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolts. One activist said some residents of Baida had weapons and it appeared that an armed confrontation had erupted. But Sheikh Anas Airout, an imam in nearby Banias, said Baida residents were largely unarmed and that they were paying the price for their non-violent quest for freedom. "Security forces and armed men are firing machine guns indiscriminately at [Baida]," a witness said on Tuesday. "The gunfire against Baida is intense like the rain. At least one person was injured," another witness said, describing the violence in the village, which is 10km south of Baniyas. "What we are hearing from residents [in Baida] is that there has been a campaign of arrests, those who have been detained are taken to the main square ... and eyewitnesses say they are being brutally beaten," reported Al Jazeera's Rula Amin from Damascus. "The goal of the attack is probably the arrest of Anas al-Shukri [one of the leaders of the opposition movement]," a human rights activist, who wished to remain anonymous, said. Al-Shukri told the AFP news agency that security forces and the army were "continu[ing] to assault Baniyas". The AP news agency reported that pro-government armed men were also attacking the village of Beit Jnad, near Baida, on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, Ghiyath Oyun al-Sood, secretary-general of the Democratic People's Party (a banned communist party), was arrested while shopping near his home in southern Damascus, the AFP news agency reported quoting Khalil Matouk, a human-rights lawyer. In another development, about 600 Kurds held a one-hour long peaceful protest demonstration in the village of Ain Arab in the northern part of Syria, Radif Mustapha, head of the Rased Kurdish human rights group, told AFP. The protesters were calling for reforms and the release of political prisoners. Meeting with opposition Against this backdrop of political tensions, Al Jazeera's Amin reported that an opposition delegation from the city of Daraa - where protests against the government first began several weeks ago - met a high-level government official on Tuesday. "The people of Daraa had a delegation led by the imam of the Omari mosque [where protests started] ... met Syria''s vice-president Farouk al-Shara. This is a very significant step," she said. "The people we spoke to, including this imam, told us that they met the vice-president, they gave him their list of demands, some have to do with Daraa - like pulling out the heavy security that's stationed there, releasing all prisoners - and some demands have to do with all of Syria, like lifting the state of emergency law, giving them more political freedoms and to stop the heavyhandedness of security forces in their daily lives." Click here for more of Al Jazeera''s special coverage The opposition also demanded that the status of those who are still missing after the protests were broken up by security forces be revealed, and that the families of those who were killed during protests in Daraa be provided a monthly salary. "What the government wants of course is for the protests to stop, and so far, of course, there is no conclusion. But according to the delegation ... preparations are underway to arrange a meeting between a delegation from Daraa and the president himself. Maybe as soon as tomorrow," our correspondent said. The official Sana news agency said nine soldiers, including two officers, were killed on Sunday when their patrol was ambushed outside Baniyas, 280km northwest of Damascus. Residents of Baniyas say there is a shortage of bread in the city, and that electricity and communications services are intermittent, if not cut entirely. Abdelbasset, an electrician, told AFP that the situation was "extremely bad". "The army was redeployed outside the city and the security forces and shabbiha [government agents] conducted a number of arrests. The town is dead, shops are closed," he said. "Baniyas is surrounded by tanks, no one can get in or out. It is like a prison," said Yasser, a shopkeeper. Sheikh Mohammed, a preacher, said: "Several families evacuated women and children [to the outskirts of the town], because we are in the Ras Al-Nabee neighbourhood which was targetted by gunfire from Al-Quz neighbourhood." The interior ministry on April 9 warned that the government would deal harshly with "armed groups" who "shoot indiscriminately" on "both demonstrators and security forces". The state media criticised on Tuesday "those sowing trouble, disorder and discord when Syria has already begun to address the problems and pave the road for change and reform". US condemnation The White House on Tuesday condemned what it called Syria's repression of protests, terming it "outrageous" in a statement where it expressed concern about the reports of wounded people being denied medical care. The British government, meanwhile, has urged Syrians to remain "cautious" when in public places. "We recommend those in Syria exercise caution and maintain a high level of security awareness, particularly in public places and on the roads, and avoid large crowds and demonstrations," Alistair Burt, the Foreign Office minister for the Middle East, said in a statement on Tuesday. The UN has called for a halt to the "use of force against peaceful protesters" in the country. "The [UN High Commissioner for Human Rights] has emphasised to the Syrian authorities that the use of force against peaceful protestors has not quelled discontent anywhere in the region and to take immediate action to stop the excessive use of force, particularly the use of live ammunition against peaceful protestors," said Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner. Iran's foreign ministry, on the other hand, termed anti-government protests in Syria a Western plot to undermine a government that supports "resistance" in the Middle East. "What is happening in Syria is a mischievous act of Westerners, particularly Americans and Zionists," Ramin Mehmanparast, a spokesman, said on Tuesday. Protests that erupted in Syria more than three weeks ago have steadily grown, with tens of thousands of people calling for sweeping reforms to the country's political system. The Associated Press news agency said the Damascus Declaration, Syria's leading pro-democracy group, had urged leaders of the Arab League to impose sanctions on al-Assad's government, and put the death toll from the unrest at more than 200.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Suicide attack kills Afghan tribal elder

At least 10 dead as bomber blew himself up after approaching Malik Zarin, an influential tribal elder, to greet him. Last Modified: 13 Apr 2011 09:30

Kunar is among Afghanistan's most restive provinces and it borders Pakistan A suicide attack has hit a gathering of tribal elders in the Asmar district of eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province, killing 10 people, including a top tribal leader, the country's interior ministry has said. "A suicide attacker targeted a gathering of tribal elders in the Asmar district of Kunar today," Zemarai Bashary, interior ministry spokesman, told the AFP news agency. "Ten people have been martyred and seven others have been injured." The spokesman said the slain tribal leader was a key local pro-government elder. Mohammad Shoaib, the district police chief, said the bomber blew himself up after approaching Malik Zarin, an influential tribal elder and a former military commander, to hug him in greeting. "The suicide attacker approached them (elders), hugged Malik Zarin and then detonated the explosives strapped to his body," Shoaib said. The Taliban has denied that it was behind the attack. But its fighters frequently target pro-government figures as part of their near 10-year campaign against government forces and the roughly 130,000 international troops in Afghanistan. Kunar is among Afghanistan's most restive provinces and is on the border with Pakistan, where insurgents are thought to have rear bases. The mountainous province of Kunar is one of the main strongholds of the Taliban and their al-Qaeda-linked allies in their battle against the government in Kabul and its international NATO allies. Suicide attacks and roadside bombings are the main weapons of choice for the insurgents. The accidental deaths of civilians in international military operations in Kunar in recent months have triggered a wave of protests in Afghanistan.

Source: Agencies

Clinton urges Arab states to embrace reform

US secretary of state tells US-Islamic World Forum in Washington that Arab youths will not "accept the status quo". Last Modified: 13 Apr 2011 09:08

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton praised Arab youth for rising up against 'false narratives' [AFP] Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, has urged Arab leaders to embrace the "spirit of reform" that has swept the region and move swiftly to respond to the growing demands of their citizens. "The long Arab winter has begun to thaw," said Clinton on Tuesday, at the opening day of the US-Islamic World Forum being held in Washington. She praised Arab youth for rising up against "false narratives" that she said had choked political and economic reform for generations. "All the signs of progress we have seen in recent months will only be meaningful if more leaders in more places move faster and further to embrace this spirit of reform," she said. Before an audience that included representatives of more than 30 Muslim nations, the top US diplomat said that "for the first time in decades there is a real opportunity for change" following the historic unrest in the region. Arab youth, she added, will no longer "accept the status quo" and "know a better life is within reach - and they are willing to reach for it". Officials from Muslim majority nations including Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan and Afghanistan are attending the annual meeting, which aims to build greater understanding between the United States and Muslim countries. Earlier on Tuesday, while opening the forum, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), called for the United States to be more active in solving conflicts in the Muslim world. Ihsanoglu called for a resumption of the Middle East peace process so that it can be the cornerstone of US-Muslim world relations. He said that it was "high time" for talks to resume to find a two-state solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Middle East conflict dominates Meanwhile, US senator John Kerry, called at the three-day forum for "anyone here who can intervene and play a role to do so" in reviving the peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis. Muslim officials insisted that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains at the heart of relations between the United States and the Islamic world. Even as the meeting opened in Washington, diplomats at the United Nations said the United States had blocked a bid to break the deadlock in the Middle East peace process by not agreeing to a meeting in Berlin on Friday. In that meeting, Britain, France and Germany wanted to outline a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "We all know that if one wants to advance peace in the Middle East you don't put the Palestinian question on the back burner, you put it on the front burner, " the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, told the AFP news agency. "There has to be a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians." Direct peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel collapsed last year. In its eighth year, the forum is being held at a time of unprecedented change in the Arab world, with uprisings against autocratic leaders across the Middle East and North Africa.

Source: Agencies

Libya contact group meets in Qatar

Rebels tell world leaders that Gaddafi's exit is the only way out of crisis as arming them becomes a contentious point. Last Modified: 13 Apr 2011 10:04 Video

Libyan rebels seeking international recognition told world powers at a meeting in the Qatari capital Doha that Muammar Gaddafi's removal from power is the only way out of their country's deepening crisis as allies disagreed on whether to arm the rebels. Wednesday's conference of the "International Contact Group on Libya" is expected to focus on the future of Libya after an African Union attempt to broker a peace deal between rebel groups and Gaddafi collapsed. On the eve of the meeting, a spokesman for the rebel Transitional National Council (TNC) said it will accept nothing short of the removal of Gaddafi and his sons from the country. Mahmud Shammam, whose group seeks international recognition as the legitimate government of Libya, also stressed: "We want to move from the de facto recognition of the council to an internationally-recognised legitimacy." Opposition officials also hope to convince the international community to lift sanctions on eastern Libya. This would free up money in Libyan bank accounts abroad and allow banks in eastern Libya to obtain foreign currency and transfer payments to banks overseas, in order to import basic commodities and other goods. Shammam said the contact group is comprised of high-level international diplomats, and was set up at a conference in London last month. Arming the rebels As allies scramble to finalise a strategy to deal with the crisis, arming the rebels became a flashpoint. Italy wants the international community to consider arming Libyan rebels under the UN resolution authorising the use of all means to defend civilians, the Italian foreign ministry spokesman said. "The discussion about arming the rebels is definitely on the table ... to defend themselves," Italy's Maurizio Massari said on the sidelines of the meeting in Doha. Click here to follow our Libya live blog "The UN resolution ... does not forbid arming" the rebels fighting Gaddafi's forces, he told reporters, while adding that a decision was unlikely to be taken at the meeting in the Qatari capital. "We need to provide the rebels all possible defensive means," he said, singling out communication and intelligence equipment. However, in an apparent rift between EU partners on Libya, Steven Vanackere, the Belgian Foreign Minister said his country was opposed to the idea. "The UN resolution speaks about protecting civilians, not arming them," he said. The Libyan government has dismissed the talks and Qatar's role in the ongoing conflict. "We are very hopeful that the American people and the American government will not buy into the Qatari lies and Qatari schemes," a spokesman of the Libyan regime told reporters in Tripoli on Tuesday. "Qatar is hardly a partner of any kind. It's more of an oil corporation than a true nation," the spokesman said. Among those expected to come to the Doha talks is Moussa Koussa, Libya's former foreign minister, who fled to Britain last month after he defected. He has reportedly arrived in Qatar to meet Libyan rebels. Koussa, a long-time top aide to Gaddafi, will not formally participate in the meeting but is expected to hold talks on the sidelines, British sources said. "He's not connected to (the rebel) Transitional National Council in any way or shape," Mustafa Gheriani, a media liaison official of the rebels, said. Gheriani added that he was personally surprised to learn that Koussa was leaving Britain to attend the Qatar talks, and suggested that British officials should explain why he was going and in what capacity. 'Free individual' Koussa, the most prominent Libyan government defector, sought refuge in Britain on March 30. A friend said he quit in protest at attacks on civilians by Gaddafi''s forces. The former spy chief was questioned by Scottish police over the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing, which killed 270 people, but the British government said he was now free to travel. Click here for more on our special coverage "We understand he is travelling today to Doha to meet with the Qatar government and a range of Libyan representatives to offer insight in advance of the contact group meeting," a Foreign Office spokesman said. No Gaddafi representatives are expected to attend. "Moussa Koussa is a free individual who can travel to and from the United Kingdom as he wishes," the spokesman said. British government sources said they expected Koussa to return to Britain after his talks, although others questioned the wisdom of letting him leave. "It is very important that our country doesn't become a transit lounge for alleged war criminals," Robert Halfon, a Conservative member of parliament, told BBC radio. "We have to give a signal to the rest of the world that we cannot tolerate this." Koussa may be looking to see if he can play a role in the rebel movement fighting Gaddafi, according to some reports. Koussa is believed to be no longer under the supervision of British security agencies who had questioned him at a secret location after his defection to Britain. In his first public statement since arriving in Britain, Koussa told the BBC on Monday his country could become "a new Somalia" unless all sides involved in the conflict stopped it from descending into civil war.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Japan hopes to minimise nuclear fears

With the level of nuclear crisis raised to the maximum, Japanese government has to focus on maintaining public trust. Last Modified: 13 Apr 2011 06:29

Edano and comedian Shizu-chan eat produce in Fukushima in a bid to show that foods grown in the area are safe [AFP] With the nuclear crisis at the earthquake-damaged Daiichi plant in Fukushima being upgraded to a level 7 - on par with the Chernobyl nuclear disaster - the Japanese government moved on the defensive. Naoto Kan, the country's prime minister, held a press conference early Tuesday afternoon, trying to assure the public that the amount of radiation leaking from the unstable plant, where workers have been struggling to cool fuel rods and failing to contain radioactive water, is decreasing. Then, later on the same day, the man many consider to be the government's front man for the crisis, Yukio Edano, the Japanese chief cabinet secretary, held a second press conference. "The upgrade was not due to a new emergency," said Edano. "It is based on the latest analysis of data for the international nuclear event scale." Edano on Monday vehemently denied that fear of leaking radiation had prompted his family to leave the country. The Japan Times newspaper reported that according to rumours, Edano's wife and twin kindergarten-age sons had flown overseas, but vehemently denied those rumours. "I have not been telling the people of Japan and those in Tokyo that there is something for them to be worried about and that goes for my family as well," Edano said in a press conference on Monday. Mistrust of government Still, despite the denials, there is a sense among the Japanese public that they're not being presented with all of the facts. Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett, reporting from Tokyo, said that the Japanese government has had to repeatedly state that it "has not been suppressing any information, they haven't been hiding anything". Fawcett said that Edano, who has been holding news conferences on an almost daily basis, specifically addressed the international media on Tuesday, when the questions focused on the elevated crisis level. "He said it was just an analysis of the data, that more radiation than initially thought had been pumped out of the plant or had been spewed out of the plant and that's why the event level had been raised to its maximum," said Fawcett. But our correspondent said Edano insisted that there was "no new emergency, and ... there was no need for any new measures and people shouldn't be in any way more worried that the situation was worse now than it was before." And that, said Fawcett, was a "difficult message to sell to people who are extremely concerned about what's happening at that plant." The Fukushima Daiichi plant, operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Co, was badly damaged by the March 11 earthquake, which also resulted in a tsunami. So far, over 13,000 people have been confirmed dead, over 14,000 are missing and about 140,000 are still in emergency evacuation centres.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Yemen violence claims more lives

Five people killed in Sanaa and two more in the southern city of Aden as protesters push for president's ouster. Last Modified: 13 Apr 2011 09:55

Protesters have rejected a Gulf Co-operation Council mediation initiative as it gives Saleh immunity [AFP] At least five people have been killed in the Yemeni capital Sanaa as forces loyal to a defected army general and pro-government fighters clashed, Al Jazeera's correspondents have said. Two more people were killed on Wednesday in the southern city of Aden in clashes between security forces and anti-regime demonstrators, who are pushing for the ouster of long-serving president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The defected general, Ali Mohsen, a kinsman of Saleh who has thrown his weight behind the opposition and whose military units are protecting protesters in Sanaa, has welcomed a mediation proposal by the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) to end the unrest. But on Tuesday tens of thousands of Yemenis staged protests against the proposal, with many saying it offers Saleh, in power since 1978, an immunity from prosecution. Protesters in Yemen have for months been calling for Saleh to step down over the country's lack of freedoms and extreme poverty. Up to 100 people have been killed in the unrest which shows no sign of subsiding. The mediation proposal calls on Saleh to transfer power to his deputy, but gives no specific timeframe for him to leave office. It also includes immunity from prosecution for Saleh and his family. "The initiative does not clearly mention the immediate departure of the head of the regime and it did not touch on the fate of his relatives who are at the top military and security agencies that continue killing the peaceful protesters," the anti-government Civil Alliance of the Youth Revolution said in a statement. The alliance, which includes 30 youth groups, said the GCC proposal was an attempt to abort the revolution. Saleh has accepted the Gulf framework as long as it's carried out "constitutionally," but state media had initially suggested the government would reject it.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies