The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Divided Egypt opposition attacks Mursi on election call
- Abe vows to revive Japanese economy, sees no escalation with China
- Uruguay's Supreme Court rules against dictatorship trials
| Divided Egypt opposition attacks Mursi on election call Posted: 22 Feb 2013 07:42 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's opposition attacked President Mohammed Mursi on Friday for calling elections during a national crisis, but face a test of unity in challenging Islamists who have won every poll since the 2011 revolution.
No sooner had Mursi called the parliamentary polls on Thursday than liberals and leftists accused him of deepening divisions between Islamists and their opponents. Some threatened to boycott voting which starts on April 27th and finishes in late June. Voting is held in stages due to a shortage of election monitors and Mursi's choice of dates upset the Christian minority, which makes up about 10 percent of the population. AlKalema, a Christian Coptic group, criticised the presidency for setting the first round to fall on the community's Easter religious holiday. "This is total negligence of the Coptic community but an intentional move to exclude them from political life," AlKalema said in a statement. Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris made similar statements criticising the vote timing. Egypt's state TV Channel One and Nile TV said later in separate scrolling news headlines that the presidency would change the date of the parliamentary vote because it falls on Coptic Easter holidays, in an effort to appease the Coptic minority. But no official statement was issued by the presidency to that effect. Islamists, including the Muslim Brotherhood which backs Mursi, dominated the old lower house, which was dissolved last year by court order. The new parliament will face tough decisions as Egypt is seeking an IMF loan deal which would ease its financial crisis but demand unpopular austerity. Mursi called the elections, to be held in four stages around the country, hoping they can conclude Egypt's turbulent transition to democracy which began with the overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak by popular protests. Islamists hailed elections as the only way out of Egypt's political and economic crisis. However, liberal politician Mohamed ElBaradei said holding polls without reaching a national consensus would further "inflame the situation". "The insistence on polarisation, exclusion and oppression along with ... the deteriorating economic and security situation will lead us to the abyss," ElBaradei, a former United Nations agency chief, said on his Twitter feed. Egypt is split between the Islamists, who want national life to observe religion more closely, and opposition groups which hold a wide variety of visions for the future. Across Egypt there were scattered protests in Alexandria and Port Said, while a demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square was muted as a sandstorm enveloped the capital. Like the fractious opposition, the demonstrators had widely varying demands. Some called on Mursi to step down while others pressed for the military, which long backed Mubarak and his predecessors, to step back in to run Egypt. BOYCOTT DECISION The National Salvation Front (NSF), which groups a number of parties opposed to the Islamists, said it would hammer out its stand on the elections. "We will meet early next week to decide on whether we will boycott or go ahead with elections. But as you can see, the opposition overall is upset over this unilateral decision on part of the presidency. This was a rushed decision," said NSF spokesman Khaled Dawood. Dawood said Egypt should have other priorities such as changing the controversial new constitution produced last year by an assembly dominated by Islamists. "Solve these issues first then talk about elections," added Dawood. While the opposition can agree on attacking Mursi, previous boycott threats have fizzled out. It remains fractured and disorganised, unlike the well-financed and efficient Islamist election machines which have triumphed in votes for the presidency and parliament. "We face a difficult political decision and time is running out. The opposition faces a test of its ability to remain united," said Amr Hamzawy, a professor of politics at Cairo University and former liberal lawmaker. ISLAMISTS READY FOR VOTE Islamist parties and groups welcomed the new elections and dismissed the boycott threat. "Elections are the only way out of the crisis. The people must be able to choose those they see fit. The majority of political forces will not boycott the elections," said Tarek al-Zumor of the Building and Development Party. Essam Erian, member of the Muslim Brotherhood's ruling Freedom and Justice Party, said parliament would unite Egypt's political life. "The coming parliament will hold a variety of national voices: Islamist, conservative, liberal and leftist. Everyone realises the importance of the coming period and withholding one's vote is a big mistake," Erian said on his Facebook page. Islamists are likely to form coalitions and dominate the new parliament as they did in the previous short-lived lower house, which was dissolved after the Constitutional Court struck down the law used to elect it. Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Abe vows to revive Japanese economy, sees no escalation with China Posted: 22 Feb 2013 07:13 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Americans on Friday "I am back and so is Japan" and vowed to get the world's third biggest economy growing again and to do more to bolster security and the rule of law in an Asia roiled by territorial disputes.
Abe had firm words for China in a policy speech to a top Washington think-tank, but also tempered his remarks by saying he had no desire to escalate a row over islets in the East China Sea that Tokyo controls and Beijing claims. "No nation should make any miscalculation about firmness of our resolve. No one should ever doubt the robustness of the Japan-U.S. alliance," he told the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "At the same time, I have absolutely no intention to climb up the escalation ladder," Abe said in a speech in English. After meeting U.S. President Barack Obama on his first trip to Washington since taking office in December in a rare comeback to Japan's top job, he said he told Obama that Tokyo would handle the islands issue "in a calm manner." "We will continue to do so and we have always done so," he said through a translator, while sitting next to Obama in the White House Oval Office. Tension surged in 2012, raising fears of an unintended military incident near the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. Washington says the islets fall under a U.S.-Japan security pact, but it is eager to avoid a clash in the region. Abe said he and Obama "agreed that we have to work together to maintain the freedom of the seas and also that we would have to create a region which is governed based not on force but based on an international law." Abe, whose troubled first term ended after just one year when he abruptly quit in 2007, has vowed to revive Japan's economy with a mix of hyper-easy monetary policy, big spending, and structural reform. The hawkish leader is also boosting Japan's defence spending for the first time in 11 years. "Japan is not, and will never be, a tier-two country," Abe said in his speech. "So today ... I make a pledge. I will bring back a strong Japan, strong enough to do even more good for the betterment of the world." 'ABENOMICS' TO BOOST TRADE The Japanese leader stressed that his "Abenomics" recipe would be good for the United States, China and other trading partners. "Soon, Japan will export more, but it will import more as well," Abe said in the speech. "The U.S. will be the first to benefit, followed by China, India, Indonesia and so on." Abe said Obama welcomed his economic policy, while Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said the two leaders did not discuss currencies, in a sign that the U.S. does not oppose "Abenomics" despite concern that Japan is weakening its currency to export its way out of recession. The United States and Japan agreed language during Abe's visit that could set the stage for Tokyo to join negotiations soon on a U.S.-led regional free trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In a carefully worded statement following the meeting between Obama and Abe, the two countries reaffirmed that "all goods would be subject to negotiations if Japan joins the talks with the United States and 10 other countries. At the same time, the statement envisions a possible outcome where the United States could maintain tariffs on Japanese automobiles and Japan could still protect its rice sector. "Recognizing that both countries have bilateral trade sensitivities, such as certain agricultural products for Japan and certain manufactured products for the United States, the two governments confirm that, as the final outcome will be determined during the negotiations, it is not required to make a prior commitment to unilaterally eliminate all tariffs upon joining the TPP negotiations," the statement said. Abe repeated that Japan would not provide any aid for North Korea unless it abandoned its nuclear and missile programs and released Japanese citizens abducted decades ago to help train spies. Pyongyang admitted in 2002 that its agents had kidnapped 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s. Five have been sent home, but Japan wants better information about eight who Pyongyang says are dead and others Tokyo believes were also kidnapped. Abe also said he hoped to have a meeting with new Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who takes over as president next month, and would dispatch Finance Minister Taro Aso to attend the inauguration of incoming South Korean President Park Geun-hye next week. (Additional reporting by Jeff Mason and Doug Palmer; Editing by David Brunnstrom and Paul Simao)
Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Uruguay's Supreme Court rules against dictatorship trials Posted: 22 Feb 2013 04:53 PM PST MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Uruguay's Supreme Court said on Friday that a law allowing fresh investigations of dictatorship-era human rights crimes violates the constitution, a ruling that puts dozens of cases into doubt.
About 200 Uruguayans were kidnapped and killed during the 1973-1985 dictatorship, and the small South American nation remains divided over how to deal with former military officers accused of rights abuses. Congress passed legislation in 2011 that made new rights trials possible in spite of a 1986 amnesty law shielding most officers from prosecution. It contradicted the amnesty law by saying rights crimes cannot be subject to a statute of limitations. Friday's Supreme Court ruling said two articles of the 2011 law were unconstitutional, a decision that effectively re-establishes the amnesty. It drew swift criticism from human rights activists. "What the Supreme Court has done is protect state-sponsored terrorists," said Irma Leites from the Memory and Justice Assembly group. The Communist Party said the court was "responsible for defending the impunity of the worst criminals in the nation's history." Despite the amnesty law, dozens of dictatorship officials have been jailed for rights abuses committed during the dictatorship, including late former President Juan Maria Bordaberry and Gregorio Alvarez, who headed the military government from 1981 and 1985. Friday's ruling was issued in one particular case, but a magistrate linked to the court called it "a clear signal from the upper echelons of the justice system," suggesting it will serve as a precedent. Jorge Puente, head of the Centre for Retired Armed Forces Officials, gave a cautious welcome to the verdict. "We're not satisfied, but we're reassured that things seem to be getting back on track," he said. Uruguay's moderate leftist president, Jose Mujica, spent more than a decade behind bars for his activities as a member of the Tupamaros guerrilla group in the 1960s and 1970s. He has urged Uruguayans not to dwell on the brutality of military rule, but he backed scrapping the amnesty as part of his 2009 election platform. (Additional reporting by Felipe Llambias; Writing by Helen Popper; Editing by David Brunnstrom) Copyright © 2013 Reuters |
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