Libya congress meets to debate law amid high tensions

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The Libyan congress meeting in November 2012. (AFP)

Libya's General National Congress met Sunday ahead of a vote on a controversial law to exclude former Qaddafi-era officials from government posts amid pressure from armed militias to pass the bill.

"The bill on political exclusion is on today's agenda. Depending on how the sitting goes, we will decided whether the vote goes ahead or not," independent GNC member Abdelfattah Sheloui told AFP.

"They are leaning towards a vote today," he added.

The Congress, Libya's highest political authority, has been studying proposals for a law that would see top figures from the regime of late dictator Muammar Qaddafi sacked from their posts in government.

Gunmen in Tripoli have encircled the foreign ministry for a week and the justice ministry since Tuesday, to demand the speedy adoption of the bill, adding to pressure on the GNC.

Proposals for the law have caused a stir among Libya's political elite, as several current senior members of the government could be affected.

The GNC has debated the law in several sessions, but has failed to reach an agreement, although vice president Salah al-Makhzum said a compromise had been reached among the political blocs by adding "exceptions" in the bill in order to retain key individuals.

Some Libyans have objected to the gunmen's siege of the ministries pushing for the exclusion law, and on Friday, demonstrators against the militias clashed with a rival protest in support of the law in the capital Tripoli.
 

05 May, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/05/Libya-congress-meets-to-debate-law-amid-high-tensions.html
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U.N. urges Abyei to stay calm after death of peacekeeper

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U.N. urges Abyei to stay calm after death of peacekeeper

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urges both Sudanese governments to avoid any escalation as a result of Majok's death. (AFP)

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for calm after the top Dinka tribal chief and an Ethiopian peacekeeper were killed in an "attack" by a Misseriya tribesman in the disputed Abyei region.

Ban "urges the governments of Sudan and South Sudan and the Ngok Dinka and Misseriya communities to remain calm and avoid any escalation of this unfortunate event," a statement from his spokesperson said late Saturday, condemning the killings.

Leaders of both rival tribes earlier confirmed to AFP that Kual Deng Majok, paramount leader of the Ngok Dinka in Abyei, a region disputed by Sudan and South Sudan, had been killed on Saturday.

The U.N. said one peacekeeper from its Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA) was also killed and two seriously wounded "in an attack by a Misseriya assailant on a UNISFA convoy".

Majok's death can only inflame tensions in the Dinka-dominated area whose status has not been resolved despite steps which Sudan and South Sudan have taken since March to normalise their relations, after months of intermittent clashes along their undemarcated frontier.

Abyei's status was the most sensitive issue left unresolved when South Sudan separated in 2011.

A Misseriya leader, based just outside Abyei in Sudan's South Kordofan state, said Majok was heading north from Abyei town with UNISFA peacekeepers, who are the only authority in the area.

"A group of Misseriya stopped the convoy and started negotiations. Then a clash happened when a UNISFA soldier shot one of the Misseriya who was readying his weapon," said the Misseriya chief who asked to remain anonymous.

During the resulting clash, "the Dinka leader's car was hit by an explosion and he and his driver were killed".

Majok was travelling in the late afternoon with UNISFA commander Yohannes Tesfamariam "to see the situation on the ground", an Abyei resident familiar with the incident said.

Nomadic Arab Misseriya, who migrate through Abyei with their cattle, surrounded the small convoy when it entered a Misseriya area, the resident said, declining to be named.

They wanted to know why a Dinka was being taken through their zone, and negotiations continued "for a long time", with UNISFA calling for reinforcements, the resident said.

At some point gunfire broke out, "and they shot the car of the Dinka chief", he added, without specifying who opened fire.

"They are saying there are many casualties," including several dead Misseriya, said the resident, adding a curfew took effect after the killings.

A Dinka leader also confirmed the death of Majok, saying "he was attacked by Misseriya" in the incident which also killed another Dinka.

05 May, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/05/05/U-N-urges-Abyei-calm-after-death-of-peacekeeper.html
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FSA brigade pledges to fight Hezbollah's Qusayr advances

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Hezbollah has held regular funerals for its fighters, who it said were killed serving their "jihadist duties" in Syria. (Al Arabiya.net)

A Free Syrian Army brigade on Sunday pledged to defend the flashpoint town of Qusayr and fend off attacks from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The pledge, from the FSA's al-Farouq brigade, came after violence in the town triggered the Syrian National Council (SNC) to sound the alarm and issue a statement urging the FSA to increase its reinforcements in Qusayr.

The SNC also warned of the "responsibility" that will befall on the FSA if Hezbollah raids Qusayr.

The al-Farouq brigade is considered to be one of the strongest rebel armed groups in the country's center. Although it first operated in Homs where it was established, it is now deployed in a number of Syrian governorates.

Battles are fierce in Qusayr between the FSA and Hezbollah, as the Lebanese Shiite group's fighters are being aided by the regime's warplanes and tanks.

Hezbollah – an ally of the Assad regime – has repeatedly denied taking part in Syria's two-year conflict – which has killed at least 70,000 people, according to the U.N.

However, the group has held regular funerals for Hezbollah fighters, who – it said – were killed serving their "jihadist duties."

On Saturday, FSA spokesman Louay al-Mokdad said some residents in Qusayr have said Hezbollah was using artillery shells containing fatal Mustard Gas in the area.

His statement follows reports by activists that Hezbollah, along with forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have been using chemical weapons against the armed opposition and residents in Syria.

Al-Mokdad added that the FSA is still "investigating the reports" before it makes an official announcement, noting however, that there have been cases of asphyxiation, a symptom of Mustard Gas inhalation, which may indicate the use of chemical weapons.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said earlier this week that Syria's friends would not let Assad's embattled regime fall.

"Syria has true friends in the region who will not allow Syria to fall into the hands of the United States, Israel and 'takfiri' groups," Nasrallah said, referring to Sunni Muslims fighting to overthrow Assad.
The Hezbollah chief's comments were the strongest indication yet that his group was ready to get more substantially involved to rescue Assad's government.

Nasrallah also said that his fighters had a duty to protect the holy Shiite shrine of Sayida Zeinab in southern Damascus.

"If the shrine is destroyed, things will get out of control," Nasrallah said, citing the 2006 bombing of the Shiite al-Askari shrine in the Iraqi city of Samarra.

In response to the Hezbollah chief's recent statements, al-Mokdad said that Shiites and the Sayida Zeinab shrine have existed in Syria for hundreds of years without the Lebanese group's protection.

"No one tasked Hezbollah, Iran or Assad to protect the Shiite shrine. Hezbollah is using these sectarian excuses to drag Lebanese youth into the Syrian conflict," Almokdad said.
 

05 May, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/05/FSA-brigade-pledges-to-fight-Hezbollah-s-Qusayr-advances.html
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