Karzai to visit Qatar for talks on Taliban office

President Hamid Karzai's Qatar trip would represent the first time the Afghan president has discussed the Taliban peace process in Qatar. (AFP)

Afghan President Hamid Karzai will travel to Qatar within days to discuss peace negotiations with the Taliban, the Afghan Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, as efforts intensify to find a negotiated solution to the twelve year war.

Karzai's trip to Qatar would represent the first time the Afghan president has discussed the Taliban peace process in Qatar, and comes after years of stalled discussions with the United States, Pakistan and the Taliban.

The announcement was made only hours after another thorny issue in the U.S.-Afghan relationship -- the transfer to Afghan control of the last group of prisoners at the Bagram military complex held by U.S. forces - appeared to be resolved. The Pentagon announced on Saturday that a deal had been clinched.

Karzai's Qatar trip was announced by Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai.

"President Karzai will discuss the peace process and the opening of a (Taliban) office for the purposes of conducting negotiations with Afghanistan," he said.

Karzai was expected to travel to Qatar within a week, a senior Afghan official speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters.

The United States has said it would support setting up an office in the Gulf state where peace talks between the Taliban and Afghanistan could take place.

"We welcome and fully support President Karzai's visit to Qatar as a sign of improved relations between the two U.S. allies," said Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council. "The president and other world leaders continue to call on the Afghan armed opposition to join a political process."

Tensions flare

The announcement comes several weeks after Karzai delivered a fiery speech during the first visit to Afghanistan by new U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, in which he accused Washington of holding peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar without him.

Karzai also accused the Taliban of colluding with America to keep foreign troops in the country, marking a fresh low point in the relationship between the Afghan president and his most powerful backer.

Mosazai confirmed the agreement reached on the transfer of detainees held at the military detention facility at Bagram in Parwan province north of Kabul.

The issue of detainees at Bagram had become another stress point in Karzai's relations with Washington. A ceremony formally transferring the last prisoners to Afghan custody collapsed two weeks ago after Karzai rejected part of the deal.

American forces control an area of the prison adjacent to the Bagram military complex, which holds several dozen Taliban fighters considered by the United States to pose the most severe threat.

Washington is concerned the Afghans may release some of these men when control of the prison is handed over.

That concern was reinforced during Karzai's outburst this month, in which he said the United States had been dragging its heels on prisoner transfers and said he would release those detainees that were "innocent".

Under the terms of agreement, all Afghans detained by forces of the U.S.-led coalition would now have to be handed over to Afghan control within 96 hours of capture, Mosazai said. Any decision to release them after that would be made only by the Afghan government.

The United States last year agreed to hand over responsibility for most of the more than 3,000 detainees at the prison to Afghanistan and held a transfer ceremony in September.
 

25 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/25/Karzai-to-visit-Qatar-for-talks-on-Taliban-office.html
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Iran denies link to group arrested in Saudi Arabia over espionage

Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast. (Reuters)

Iran's foreign ministry denied on Sunday the alleged accusation Saudi Arabia made last week of the country's involvement in a linked group of alleged spies who were arrested by the kingdom's police.

Saudi Arabia said that it arrested 18 people last Tuesday, including an Iranian, Lebanese, and 16 Saudis who were accused of being involved in espionage activity.

An interior ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday that 16 of those arrested were Saudi, one Lebanese and one Iranian, adding they were captured in four different areas of the kingdom.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, denied that an Iranian national was involved in the alleged spying and called the allegations a "repetitive scenario," according to Iran's English-language Press TV on Sunday.

"Raising such baseless issues at the media level is merely for domestic consumption," he said, according to Press TV.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, the suspects were found in Mecca, Medina, Riyadh and Eastern Province – where the country's Shi'ite minority is concentrated.

The General Intelligence presidency and the Saudi interior ministry caught the men in a joint operation, said the report, adding the ministry "received information on Saudis and expats spying for another country."

However, the report did not disclose the name of the country the suspects were allegedly working for.
The men were collecting data on "vital installation," said the state news agency.

In an interview with Al Arabiya, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said most of those arrested were from one sect, adding that they were spying for the Islamic Republic of Iran.

"Among those involved is a doctor and another is a Shi'ite cleric," he said. "Others were working at [the Saudi oil company] Aramco."

There are an estimated two million Shi'ites in the Sunni-dominated kingdom of about 27.5 million people.

25 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/24/Iran-denies-link-to-group-arrested-in-Saudi-Arabia-over-espionage-.html
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Mursi warns of imminent measures to ‘protect the nation’

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi (C), Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sissi (L) and Central Military commander Gen. Tawhid Tawfiq listening to the national anthem at the Central Military headquarters on March 22, 2013. (AFP)

Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi warned Sunday of taking unspecified measures to "protect the nation" following violent clashes two days earlier between opposition demonstrators and Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Cairo.

"I am president of all Egyptians and I will not allow anyone to tamper with the nation," President Mursi said in statement posted on Twitter, adding: "If I am obliged to do what is necessary to protect this nation, I will do, and I fear I am about to do that."

On Friday an office branch of the Brotherhood in Cairo was torched and ransacked in the clashes, while the Justice and Freedom Party (JFP) building in Alexandria was also looted. The party is the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Opposition activists had called for the protest a week after they battled with the Islamists near the same building in Cairo. The movement vowed on Thursday it would protect its headquarters and bused in hundreds of supporters.

"I urge all to maintain order and keep calm, and i repeat that the right to peaceful demonstration is guaranteed to all," Mursi said.

The Islamist president added that the "law must be applied when the security of the nation is in danger." He accused opposition media of inciting violence and warned of punishment.

"Some people are using the media to incite violence, and whoever is found involved will not escape punishment. Whoever participates in incitement is a participant in crime," he said.

He said, "the attempts that seek to portray the country as a weak state are failed attempts [because] the state institutions are recovering and are able to deter anyone who oversteps the law."

The Brotherhood has seen about 30 of its offices across the country attacked in widespread protests against President Mursi, the Islamists' successful candidate in last June's election.

25 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/24/Mursi-warns-of-imminent-measures-to-protect-the-nation-.html
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Egypt to extradite two Qaddafi-era officials to Libya

Former Libyan ambassador Ali Maria (pictured) and Mohammed Ibrahim, the brother of senior Qaddafi-era official Ahmed Ibrahim, were arrested in Cairo on March 19 along with Muammar Qaddafi's cousin Ahmed Qaddaf al-Dam. (Photo courtesy Al-Masry Al-Youm)

The Egyptian state prosecutor decided on Sunday to extradite to Libya two former regime officials wanted on charges of corruption, a judicial source told AFP.

Former Libyan ambassador Ali Maria and Mohammed Ibrahim, the brother of senior Qaddafi-era official Ahmed Ibrahim, were arrested in Cairo on March 19 along with Muammar Qaddafi's cousin Ahmed Qaddaf al-Dam.

The prosecutor general had ordered Qaddaf al-Dam detained for 30 days pending investigations into "several charges."

The Libyan prosecutor's spokesman, Taha Baara, told AFP at the time that Tripoli had issued an international arrest warrant for Qaddaf al-Dam for "forging documents" while the other two were wanted for "financial crimes."

Egyptian prosecutor Talaat Abdallah decided to hand Maria and Ibrahim to the Egyptian branch of Interpol who would then extradite them to Libya, the judicial source said.

Abdullah took the decision after wrapping up the legal procedure for their extradition, the source added.

 

25 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/24/Egypt-to-extradite-two-Qaddafi-era-officials-to-Libya.html
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Al-Qaeda names Djamel Okacha its new leader in the Sahara

Algerian Djamel Okacha has replaced Abdelhamid Abou Zeid as leader of al-Qaeda-linked group AQIM in the Sahara region. (Photo courtesy Mon Journal)

Algerian Djamel Okacha has replaced Abdelhamid Abou Zeid as leader of al-Qaeda-linked group AQIM in the Sahara region, Algerian Ennahar TV said on Sunday.

Abou Zeid was killed by Chadian soldiers in northern Mali a few weeks ago.

Okacha, also known as Yahia Abu El Hamam, joined AQIM northern Mali in 2004, a security source with knowledge of AQIM told Reuters.

"He was present at the attack against a military barracks in Mauritania in 2005, and he was also present in the killing of an American in 2009," the source said, referring to aid worker Christopher Leggett.

Okacha, 34, is close to AQIM's leader Abdelmalek Droukdel as they belong to the Group of Algiers, a reference to militants born in the capital region.

"Okacha is Droukdel's right hand. They have spent 12 years together in the north, before Okacha joined the south," the security source told Reuters.

Okacha's priority is to reorganize AQIM after it registered the losses of two heavyweight leaders, Abu Zeid and Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the source said.

France launched a joint military campaign with some African armies in Mali in January to break Islamist rebels' hold on the region, saying the militants posed a risk to the security of West Africa and Europe.

 

25 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/24/Qaeda-names-Algerian-Okacha-as-its-new-leader-in-Sahara-region-.html
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U.S. embassy in Khartoum to re-open after six month closure

U.S. embassy in Khartoum to re-open after six month closure

Sudanese demonstrators attack the U.S. embassy in Khartoum September 14, 2012. (Reuters)

The United States embassy resumes full service to the public on Monday, six months after the compound was damaged in a deadly demonstration sparked by a U.S.-made film that mocked Islam.

"The consular section of the U.S. embassy Khartoum, Sudan will resume full consular services," said a statement from Washington's mission in the Sudanese capital.

From Monday, the embassy will again offer visitors' visas and is to re-open its Information Resource Centre, a library.

An embassy official said the mission had essentially offered only emergency services since September 14 when thousands of protesters attacked the American, British and German embassies in Khartoum.

A medic said at the time that one demonstrator was killed when a police vehicle charged a group of stone-throwing protesters outside the US mission. A second protester was later found dead outside the embassy but it was not immediately clear how he died.

Guards on the embassy roof fired warning shots as demonstrators breached a security perimeter.

Protests spread around the Muslim world over the low-budget anti-Islam film, "Innocence of Muslims".

The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans died when heavily-armed militants attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

25 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/24/-U-S-embassy-in-Khartoum-to-re-open-after-six-month-closure.html
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Israel must ease new Gaza restrictions: rights groups

A Palestinian man waits to cross to Egypt at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip June 1, 2010. (Reuters)

Two Israeli rights groups demanded on Sunday that Israel lift fishing restrictions imposed on Gaza after militants fired two rockets across the border, slamming them as "collective punishment."

Israel on Thursday halved the area in which Palestinian fishermen are permitted to work, closed the Kerem Shalom goods terminal and imposed restrictions on people wanting to leave the territory after two rockets hit southern Israel, causing damage but no casualties.

The move, which saw the fishing zone cut from six nautical miles to three, was condemned by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem as well as by Gisha, which campaigns for Palestinian freedom of movement.

"The decision to once again reduce the fishing range in response to missile fire by armed groups constitutes collective punishment imposed on fishermen for the actions of others," said a statement from B'Tselem.

It said Israel's duty to protect its citizens "cannot justify the harsh damage to fishermen who have done nothing wrong".

"B'Tselem calls on the military to rescind its latest decision and the restrictions imposed on fishermen in the Gaza Strip in the past years, and to permit fishing in the 20 (nautical) miles range, as was set under the Oslo agreements."

In a letter to Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, Gisha director Sari Bashi said it was "the second time in less than a month" Israel had blocked civilian travel and goods transfer in response to rocket fire and urged him to lift the restrictions.

"In the last month, there appears to be a new policy toward the Gaza Strip, in which Israel is openly restricting civilian movement to and from Gaza, not because of a concrete security necessity, but rather as a punitive step taken against the civilian population in direct response to fire by combatants," she wrote.

The group condemned the rocket fire as "a blatant violation" of international law, but also noted Israel's obligation to avoid harming civilians, saying the recent steps were "entirely unacceptable."

Israel on Friday resumed full diplomatic ties with Turkey after apologizing for a deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza aid flotilla which left nine Turkish activists dead.

As part of the deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged "to work on improving the humanitarian situation" in the Palestinian territories in a phone call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan brokered by US President Barack Obama on a landmark visit.

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/24/-Israel-must-ease-new-Gaza-restrictions-rights-groups.html
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'Mossad spy' spilled secrets to Hezbollah: report

Australian-Israeli Mossad agent found hanged in a Tel Aviv jail passed secrets to Hezbollah before his death. (Reuters)

A man identified by media as an Australian-Israeli Mossad agent and found hanged in a Tel Aviv jail had passed secrets to Hezbollah before his death, an influential German magazine reported Sunday.

News weekly Der Spiegel said Ben Zygier, a man known as "Prisoner X" who died in 2010 in an allegedly suicide-proof cell, had handed tips to the Lebanese militant group that led to the arrest of at least two people spying for Israel.

After conducting its own "internal investigations", the report found that Zygier had started working for Mossad in 2003, investigating European companies doing business with Iran and Syria.

It said Zygier -- who was raised in Melbourne but moved to Israel about a decade before his death -- was ordered back to Israel in 2007 because his bosses were unhappy with his work.

In 2008 he took a leave of absence, Spiegel said, and returned to Melbourne to finish his studies after trying to recruit new agents for Israel in a bid to restore his standing with his bosses.

In the process he came in contact with Hezbollah supporters, Spiegel said, and while trying to convince them to work for Mossad, disastrously spilled highly sensitive information.

This included the names of Lebanese nationals Ziad al-Homsi and Mustafa Ali Awadeh, who were arrested in May 2009 on charges of spying for Israel and later sentenced to several years of hard labor.

The report said Israeli security authorities had told Zygier after his arrest that they wanted to make an example of him and demanded a prison sentence of at least 10 years.

Zygier was found dead in his cell in December 2010 at the age of 34.

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/24/-Mossad-spy-spilled-secrets-to-Hezbollah-report.html
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Nobel Prize should be snatched away from Egypt’s Baradei: Islamist opposition figure

Nobel Prize should be snatched away from Egypt's Baradei: Islamist opposition figure

ElBaradei, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work at the International Atomic Energy Agency, has participated in the recent protests. (Reuters)

An Egyptian opposition figure on Sunday blamed Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed el-Baradei for clashes which took place in the country on Friday, demanding that his peace prize be rescinded on the basis of the allegations.

 Essam Sultan, deputy head of the moderate-Islamist Wasat Party, issued a statement which was posted on Facebook, saying his bloc had requested from the Nobel Prizes administration that Baradei's award be reconsidered.

"Following discussions with several legal experts, we decided to submitting popular memorandum for the Nobel Prizes administration in Sweden to send a delegation [to review the] Moqattam incidents which took place on Friday, and to be informed about the violence that was managed from the Dostour Party's headquarters, run by ElBaradei."

However, local newspaper Egypt independent noted that "Sultan's request is noteworthy because it is actually the Norweigen Nobel Institute, not the Swedish Academy, that decides the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize."

Sultan said that Baradei used the prize "as a moral obstacle" to hinder investigations into the violence, saying that the memorandum would be reviewed by the public once it is written in order to collect signatures.

On Friday, four buses belonging to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood were torched and at least 120 people were injured in clashes between opposition protesters and the group's loyalists near the Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo.

The violence erupted after activists marched to the building guarded by police and Brotherhood members.

Shots were heard as hundreds of opposition activists and the Islamists battled in the streets of the Mokattam neighborhood where the headquarters are situated, but there were no immediate reports of gunshot casualties.

In recent months, Baradei has staunchly shown opposition to Islamist president Mohammed Mursi, repeatedly rejecting Mursi's call for national dialogue amid continued political instability and civil disobedience in the country.
 

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/24/Nobel-Prize-should-be-snatched-away-from-Egypt-s-Baradei-Islamist-opposition-figure.html
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Arab League yet to decide on whether to grant Syria’s seat to opposition

Secretary General of the Arab League, Nabil Al-Arabi, says the Syrian National Coalition is not qualified to have a seat in the Arab body. (AFP)

The Arab League is mulling over a decision to allow Syria's seat to the country's official opposition bloc, ahead of a meeting in Qatar on Tuesday.

Syrian opposition leaders are to address an annual summit of the Arab League for the first time in Doha, but the bloc's members remain divided over whether to give them Damascus's vacant seat.

The Qatari hosts are vocal champions of the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime and said leaders of the armed opposition would definitely be joining Arab heads of state in Doha.

But they did not specify whether the Syrian National Coalition would be given Syria's seat which has been vacant since its suspension from the 22-member bloc in November 2011.

"Arab foreign ministers will decide on the issue of the seat" during a preparatory meeting in Doha on Sunday, an Arab League official told AFP news agency.

The Arab League called on the National Coalition on March 6 to form an executive body to take up Syria's seat and take part in the summit.

But Lebanon distanced itself from the decision, while Algeria and Iraq expressed reservations.

In all, nine of the bloc's other 21 members retain diplomatic missions in Damascus -- Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Sudan and Yemen -- despite its decision last November to recognize the National Coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

The opposition alliance has begun steps to form an executive body to administer rebel-held territory inside Syria, electing Ghassan Hitto as interim premier at a meeting in Turkey on Tuesday.

But a League official said the National Coalition needed to go further. Hitto's election "is important but is not enough," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We are still waiting for the formation of the interim government."

Hitto will be among the opposition delegates addressing the Doha summit, National Coalition member Ahmed Ramadan told AFP.

"We will be represented by interim Prime Minister Ghassan Hitto, National Coalition head Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, and the chief of staff of the (rebel) Syrian Free Army, General Selim Idriss," Ramadan said.

"For the first time ever, the delegation should be addressing the Arab summit."

The Arab League suspended Syria's membership in November 2011 after Damascus rejected a peace plan proposal calling for an end to the violence but demanding that Assad step down.

The bloc also imposed a raft of other sanctions, including suspending trade with the government, freezing its bank accounts abroad, and suspending air links.

The Damascus government accuses Qatar and its heavyweight neighbor Saudi Arabia of fanning the conflict by arming the rebels with Western connivance.

The Syrian conflict has killed more than 70,000 people since March 2011, prompted more than a million to flee abroad, and displaced four million more inside the country.
 

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/24/Arab-League-yet-to-decide-on-whether-to-grant-Syria-s-seat-to-opposition.html
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Opposition fighters seize Jordan-Syria border area: watchdog

Syrian opposition fighters took control of Al-Rai military checkpoint Sahem al-Golan town in Daraa. (AFP)

Rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime have seized a 25-kilometre (15 miles) strip of land stretching from the Jordan border to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a watchdog said on Sunday.

"Fighters loyal to Al-Nusra Front, Al-Yarmuk Brigade, Al-Mutaz Billah Brigade and others took control of Al-Rai military checkpoint," east of Sahem al-Golan town in the southern province of Daraa, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The fighters seized the site after regime forces retreated. The 25-kilometre area located between the towns of Muzrib (near the Jordanian border) and Abdin (in the Golan) is now out of regime control."

The Britain-based Observatory said the rebels seized in the past few days several army checkpoints in the area and captured weapons and vehicles.

The rebels on Saturday seized a key air base Daraa after two weeks of fierce battles with loyalist troops, it added.

The report came as Israel's new Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon on Sunday vowed an "immediate" answer to all Syrian gunfire onto the Golan Heights.

Yaalon issued the warning shortly after Israeli troops on the strategic plateau shot at an Syrian army post after coming under fire for the second time in 12 hours, according to the Israeli army.

"We see the Syrian regime as responsible for every breach of sovereignty. We shall not allow the Syrian army or any other body to violate Israeli sovereignty firing into our territory," Yaalon said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear whether the shooting was from the Syrian army or from rebel forces in the area.

The rebel advances came days after insurgents seized a border crossing on the frontier with Jordan, said the Observatory.

A security source in Damascus told AFP this week that Jordan was allowing jihadist fighters and arms bought by Saudi Arabia from Croatia to be smuggled into Syria.

The source said that around 2,500 trained and heavily equipped rebels have entered Daraa in recent weeks, following reports that American instructors were training rebels in neighbouring Jordan.

Jordanian Information Minister and government spokesman Samih Maaytah said earlier this month that his country "rejects interfering in Syrian affairs."

"The Jordanian army is exerting a lot of efforts to control the border and prevent infiltrations," he said.

Louay Moqdad, a spokesman and coordinator for opposition forces, acknowledged that several Arab and Western nations had started training rebels forces, but declined to provide further details.

Earlier this month, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported rebels were being trained in Jordan by American specialists, a claim U.S. officials have refused to comment on.

The United Nations estimates that violence across Syria has killed at least 70,000 people since the conflict erupted in March 2011.

The Observatory said that 108 people were killed in violence across Syria on Saturday.

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/24/Opposition-fighters-seize-Jordan-Syria-border-area-watchdog-.html
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Disbanding regime’s authoritarian structure is a must: Syrian Alawite opposition

Disbanding regime's authoritarian structure is a must: Syrian Alawite opposition

Syrian opposition fighters stand on a mat depicting Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez. (AFP)

Opposition campaigners from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect said disbanding the regime's authoritarian structure and not only toppling the regime was required.

The Alawite opposition added that it was also required to build a state of citizenship and law, and called for confronting sectarian problems the regime is fueling.

"The last card the regime can play is civil war and dividing the country," it said.

Alawite opposition figures are meeting this weekend in Cairo to support a democratic alternative to Assad's rule and try to distance the community from wholesale association with the government's attempts to crush a two-year uprising.

The two-day meeting is the first by Alawites supportive of the revolt.

As the war takes on an increasingly sectarian bent, severing the Alawite fate from that of Assad could be crucial for the survival of the community, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that comprises about 10 percent of Syria's population.

Bassam Yussuf, one of the conference's organizers, told Al-Arabiya that more than 80 figures will on Sunday discuss ratifying the Syria declaration that will address the country's future after Assad's regime falls.

The conference participants will also discuss the possibilities of the regime's attempt to ignite a civil war and will emphasize that the components of the Syrian people are of one social fabric and that a sectarian war poses a threat to everyone.

Yussuf also accused the Syrian regime of involving the Alawite sect's sons in the ongoing war and said that Assad forced them to fight alongside the regime troops.

He also called for keeping away from the "criminal" regime of Assad.

Alawite opposition figures who represent Alawite activists in support of the revolution said the meeting in Cairo will come out with important messages.

The most important of these messages is calling on Alawites in Syria to quit supporting the Assad regime and to get involved in the revolution.

Another message is that Assad's regime does not represent the Alawite sect but only represents itself.

The meeting will also address the international community with the message that guarantees to the Alawite sect are guarantees to the entire Syrian people.

The Alawite opposition has emphasized that there is no future for a democratic Syria unless Assad exits power and unless a pluralistic democratic system is established.

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/24/Syrian-Opposition-Alawites-Disbanding-regime-s-authoritarian-structure-is-a-must.html
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Kerry in Iraq to press for Syria cooperation

John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State, made his first trip to Iraq since taking office to push Iraq for more help over the conflict in Syria. (AFP)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made a surprise trip to Baghdad on Sunday to push Iraq for more help over the conflict in Syria amid claims of waning American clout barely a year after US troops left.

The visit, his first to Iraq since taking office, will also focus on concerns in Washington that months of protests in the country's Sunni-majority provinces will give militant groups including Al-Qaeda room to maneuver.

It comes just days after the 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq that ousted Saddam Hussein and sought to establish a stable democratic ally in the heart of the Middle East, but has instead left a country still grappling with deadly violence and endless political disputes.

Kerry will meet Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi and press Iraqi officials for greater cooperation on isolating the regime of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Washington has accused Baghdad in particular of turning a blind eye as Iran sends military equipment through Iraqi airspace, flights which Tehran insists transport only humanitarian supplies.

Kerry "will talk about the importance of Iraq participating (in meetings about the future of Syria), but at the same time it would not be appropriate for Iraq to participate so long as it is facilitating Iranian over flight of fighters and weapons that support Assad," a US State Department official said.

"The key here is to discuss the political future of Syria -- Iraq should be part of that -- but it should be on (the) basis that Assad has to go, not on the basis of permitting continued Iranian support for Assad," the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A US official this month called on Iraq to resume unannounced inspections of Iranian flights bound for Syria, after Baghdad stopped two planes in October.

"They are suspending their disbelief, looking the other way, and averting their gaze," the official said.

Iran has remained a steadfast ally of Assad's regime despite the conflict in his country which according to the United Nations has killed more than 70,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.

America's top diplomat will also push for Iraq's Shiite-led government to better engage with its Sunni Arab minority, which has been holding ongoing protests since December over the alleged targeting of their community by the authorities.

In particular, Kerry will push for Maliki to reconsider a decision to postpone provincial elections, scheduled for April 20, in two large Sunni-majority provinces, which the State Department official said was a "serious setback".

"Secretary Kerry will be talking with Prime Minister Maliki about the importance of engaging with all elements of Iraqi society, with the Sunnis, to work out how best to counter the very serious terrorist threat that is (of) deep concern to Iraqis," the official said.

A Western diplomat warned last week that Washington was concerned by "the vacuum that it (protests in Sunni provinces) creates for Al-Qaeda to come in and play a role."

Kerry's visit comes amid claims of declining American influence in Iraq, in particular following the December 2011 withdrawal of US forces, and concerns that Baghdad's Shiite neighbor Iran wields greater clout.

The American mission to Iraq, however, remains the biggest in the world with 10,500 staff at its embassy in Baghdad as well as its consulates and other smaller sites, and US officials have consistently disputed arguments that Washington's influence is waning.
 

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/24/Kerry-in-Iraq-to-press-for-Syria-cooperation-.html
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U.N. Myanmar envoy visits ruined city after violence

U.N. Myanmar envoy visits ruined city after violence

Refugees at a stadium amidst riots in Meikhtila on March 22, 2013. Myanmar declared martial law in four central townships on Friday after unrest between Buddhists and Muslims stoked fears that last year's sectarian bloodshed was spreading into the country's heartland. (Reuters)

The United Nations' top envoy to Myanmar on Sunday toured a central city that was destroyed in the country's worst explosion of Buddhist-Muslim violence this year, visiting some of the nearly 10,000 people forced from their homes after unrest left dozens of corpses in the streets, some of them charred beyond recognition.

The visit to Meikhtila of Vijay Nambiar, the U.N. secretary-general's special adviser on Myanmar, came one day after the army took control of the city to enforce a tense calm after President Thein Sein ordered a state of emergency here.

The bloodshed marked the first sectarian unrest to spread into the nation's heartland since two similar episodes rocked western Rakhine state last year. It is the latest challenge to efforts to reform the Southeast Asian country after the long-ruling military ceded power two years ago to a civilian government led by retired army officers.

There are concerns the violence could spread, and the bloodshed has raised questions about the government's failure to rein in anti-Muslim sentiment in a predominantly Buddhist country where even monks have armed themselves and taken advantage of newfound freedoms to stage anti-Muslim rallies.

As in Rakhine, minority Muslims again appeared to have borne the brunt of the violence. At least five mosques were set ablaze in Meikhtila, the majority of homes and shops burned in the city belonged to Muslims, and most of the displaced were Muslim.

During his trip, Nambiar visited some of the thousands of Muslim residents at a city stadium where they have huddled since fleeing their homes. He later visited around 100 Buddhists at a local monastery who have also been displaced.

No new violence was reported overnight, but residents remain fearful.

"The city is calm and some shops have reopened, but many still live in fear. Some still dare not return to their homes," said Win Htein, an opposition lawmaker from the town.

Late Saturday, the government put the death toll at 32, according to state television, which reported that bodies had been found as authorities began cleaning up the area.

Muslims, who make up about 30 percent of Meikhtila's 100,000 inhabitants, have stayed off the streets since their shops and homes were burned and Buddhist mobs armed with machetes and swords began roaming the city.

Residents complained that police had stood by and done little to stop the mayhem. But "calm has been restored since troops took charge of security," said Win Htein.

Little appeared to be left of some palm tree-lined neighborhoods, where the legs of victims could be seen poking out from smoldering masses of twisted debris and ash. Broken glass, charred cars and motorcycles and overturned tables littered roads beside rows of burned-out homes and shops, evidence of the widespread chaos that swept the town.

Local businessman San Hlaing said he counted 28 bodies this week, all men, piled in groups around the town.

The struggle to contain the violence has proven another major challenge to Thein Sein's reformist administration, which has faced an upsurge in fighting with ethnic Kachin rebels in the north and major protests at a northern copper mine where angry residents - emboldened by promises of freedom of expression - have come out to denounce land grabbing.

The devastation was reminiscent of last year's clashes between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya that left hundreds of people dead and more than 100,000 displaced - almost all of them Muslim. The Rohingya are widely perceived as illegal migrants and foreigners from Bangladesh; the Muslim population of Meikhtila is believed to be mostly of Indian origin.

This week's chaos began Wednesday after an argument broke out between a Muslim gold shop owner and his Buddhist customers. Once news spread that a Muslim man had killed a Buddhist monk, Buddhist mobs rampaged through a Muslim neighborhood and the situation quickly spiraled out of control.

Residents and activists said the police did little to stop the rioters or reacted too slowly, allowing the violence to escalate. "They were like scarecrows in a paddy field," San Hlaing said.

Khin Maung Swe, a 72-year-old Muslim lawyer who said he lost all his savings, complained that authorities did nothing to disperse the mobs.

"If the military and police had showed up in force, those troublemakers would have run away," he said, inspecting the remains of his damaged home.

San Htwe, a 39-year-old housewife, said she could see police and soldiers "everywhere" in Meikhtila on Saturday but did not feel at ease. "I'm afraid that the situation will be like in Rakhine" - where sectarian tensions have split an entire state and Buddhist and Muslim communities live in near-total segregation, constantly fearing more violence.

Occasional isolated violence involving Myanmar's majority Buddhist and minority Muslim communities has occurred for decades, even under the authoritarian military governments that ruled the country from 1962 to 2011.
 

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/24/U-N-Myanmar-envoy-visits-ruined-city-after-violence.html
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Pakistan’s Musharraf due to return home

Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf (C) arrives at the Dubai international airport before his departure to Karachi, in the Gulf emirate of Dubai on March 24, 2013. (AFP)

Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf is expected to fly home on Sunday after more than four years in exile, defying a Taliban death threat to contest historic general elections.

The 69-year-old ex-dictator says he is prepared to risk any danger to stand for election on May 11, billed to mark the first democratic transition of power in the history of a nuclear-armed country dominated by periods of military rule.

He seized power in a bloodless coup as army chief of staff in 1999 and left the country after stepping down in August 2008, when Asif Ali Zardari was elected president after the murder of his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

His office said he would arrive in Karachi on a commercial flight at 1:00 pm (0800 GMT) and address a rally at the heavily secured airport, instead of at the tomb of Pakistan's founding father Mohammad Ali Jinnah as originally intended.

His All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) switched venue after the Pakistani Taliban threatened to dispatch a squad of suicide bombers to assassinate Musharraf and police withdrew permission for the rally over security fears.

Karachi, a city of 18 million, is already in the throes of record political and ethnic violence. On March 3, a huge car bomb killed 50 people in a mainly Shiite Muslim area of the city, the worst single attack in the city for years.

Dressed in an off-white shalwa kameez, the traditional dress in Pakistan, Musharraf told reporters at his office, before heading to Dubai airport, that he was "not feeling nervous" but admitted to some concerns.

"I am feeling concerned about the unknown... there are a lot of unknown factors of terrorism and extremism, unknown factors of legal issue, unknown factors of how much I will be able to perform (in the elections)," he said.

Musharraf Saturday told Der Spiegel he wanted to free his homeland from terrorism when he returned.

"I want to put Pakistan on the road to prosperity and free it from terrorism," he said in the interview with the German magazine.

As ruler of Pakistan, he escaped three Al-Qaeda assassination attempts. He became a prominent target for Islamist extremists after becoming a key US ally in the "war on terror" after the 9/11 attacks.

In July 2007, he ordered troops to storm a radical mosque in Islamabad. The operation left more than 100 people dead and opened the floodgates to Islamist attacks in Pakistan, which have killed thousands since then.

When Bhutto returned to Karachi from eight years in exile on October 18, 2007, bomb attacks killed at least 139 people in what remains the deadliest single terror attack on Pakistani soil.

She was later assassinated in a gun and suicide attack at an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007. Her son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, has accused Musharraf of her murder.

Musharraf is wanted by the courts over Bhutto's death, the 2006 death of Akbar Bugti, a Baluch rebel leader in the southwest, and for the 2007 sacking and illegal arrest of judges.

Human Rights Watch called on the Pakistani government to hold Musharraf accountable for widespread and serious human rights abuses under his rule.

"Only by ensuring that Musharraf faces the well-documented outstanding charges against him can Pakistan put an end to the military's impunity for abuses," said Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan director at HRW.

Under Musharraf's watch, the military and intelligence agencies committed widespread rights violations, including the enforced disappearances of thousands of political opponents and tortured hundreds of terrorism suspects, HRW said.

On Friday a court in Karachi granted him protective bail for at least 10 days on charges of conspiracy to murder and illegally arresting judge.

But analysts say there is a real danger to his life, which outweighs his political future in a country where his power base is evaporated.

"I don't know why he is taking the risk when he has not a bright future in Pakistan," said retired lieutenant general Talat Masood.

Last year he delayed a planned homecoming after being threatened with arrest. Commentators believe he can only secure, at most, a couple of seats at the polls.
 

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/24/Pakistan-s-Musharraf-due-to-return-home.html
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Radical Islamists attack Malian city of Gao

Tuareg rebels and and al-Qaeda linked militant groups took advantage of a coup in Mali last March to seize control of a vast chunk of territory where the Islamists have since imposed a brutal form of Islamic law. (AFP)

Islamic extremists infiltrated and attacked the northern Malian city of Gao, the mayor and residents said late Saturday. It was the third major attack on the town since it was liberated by French forces in January.

The assault indicates that the radical Islamists remain entrenched and able to attack despite the thousands of French troops who have liberated most of northern Mali's towns from control by the extremists.

Reached by telephone, Gao Mayor Sadou Diallo said the Islamic fighters launched their attack inside the Quatrieme Quartier, or Fourth District, a neighborhood inside the city which is divided into a numbered grid. The mayor said Malian forces engaged the fighters and they retreated, but a second column of Islamists then attacked from across the Niger River. He said that by evening the situation appeared to be under control, though residents said they still heard shooting.

"There was heavy gunfire. The situation is under control now. The Islamists entered via Quatrieme Quartier, and the army went to meet them and was able to push them back," said Diallo. "There is another group that entered via the river, but they too were pushed back. It's under control," he repeated.

For nearly 10 months, Gao was occupied by the Movement for the Oneness of Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO, one of three al-Qaida-linked groups which invaded northern Mali a year ago. MUJAO was among the most brutal, amputating the limbs of so many accused thieves that the public place where they meted out their version of justice became known as "Shariah Square." In January, the city along with much of the rest of northern Mali was liberated by French troops, who used Mirage and Rafalle jets to bombard rebel positions before launching a ground assault.

The euphoria following the city's liberation was short-lived, however. Gao was the first town to be attacked by a suicide bomber on Feb. 8, a style of attack that was previously unknown in Mali and which has now been repeated in several other northern cities. Also in February, the city was twice attacked by extremists, who again crossed the river from villages that have long practiced the Wahabi form of Islam, a far stricter interpretation of the religion than what is practiced in most of Mali. Extra French troops have been brought in to reinforce the city's defenses, but the frequency of the attacks has many worried that extremism has taken root in Gao's soil.
 

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/24/Radical-Islamists-attack-Malian-city-of-Gao.html
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