The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Deal with ex-rebels ends crisis at Libya's Foreign Ministry
- Bulgarians vote in election unlikely to soothe anger
- Sudan says South Sudan helped rebels attacking major town
| Deal with ex-rebels ends crisis at Libya's Foreign Ministry Posted: 11 May 2013 05:58 PM PDT TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Gunmen ended a nearly two-week siege of Libya's Foreign Ministry in the capital after reaching a deal with the government, its Supreme Security Committee said late on Saturday. In the oil-rich east, meanwhile, hundreds of leaders agreed to join forces to defend their territory against similar armed attacks.
A commander of an SSE group stationed at the gates of the vacant Foreign Ministry said it had been handed over to a committee made up of members of parliament and leaders connected to the armed protests. The SSE is a group of ex-rebel fighters under the Ministry of Interior, now better armed and more powerful than the police. "The protesters had retreated because (some of) their demands were realised," he told Reuters. Foreign Ministry officials were not immediately available to comment on the details of the deal. Other media outlets quoted the justice minister as saying the Foreign Ministry and the Justice Ministry had been handed over to a government committee. Armed groups surrounded the ministries in the capital late last month to press parliament to pass a law banning anyone who held a senior position under late strongman Muammar Gaddafi from the new administration. Rights groups and diplomats criticized the measure, saying its terms were too sweeping and could cripple the government. They also argued it was unfair because it made no exception for those who had spent decades in exile and had been instrumental in the toppling of Gaddafi nearly two years ago. Parliament caved in and approved the legislation a week later, leading the armed groups - who say they are revolutionaries and not militia - to expand their list of demands, including the resignation of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan. The growing tension between the groups and the government has alarmed federalists and other factions in the east, prompting their leaders to unite to defend their territory from a similar assault. Representatives from these groups pledged on Saturday to revive the Cyrenaica Congress. Formed about a year ago to demand greater autonomy for the east, it sets out a manifesto for a federal Libya. "We will not let Cyrenaica be ruled by the power of force," said Ahmed Zubair al-Senussi, a distant relative of King Idris, who was deposed in a military coup led by Gaddafi in 1969. Senussi will remain the symbolic head of the congress. In addition to selecting a head and combining military forces, the leaders moved to start a television channel for the region. The eastern congress agreed to start work on June 1, when it will hold its first assembly in the city of Al Baida. For about 10 years after Libya became an independent state in 1951, the country was run along federal lines with three regions. Power was devolved to Cyrenaica, to the southern province of Fezzan and to Tripolitania in the west. (Reporting by Ghaith Shennib and Jessica Donati in Tripoli, and by Feras Bosalum in Benghazi; Editing by Xavier Briand) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Bulgarians vote in election unlikely to soothe anger Posted: 11 May 2013 04:03 PM PDT SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarians vote on Sunday in an election forced by protests over poverty and corruption, with expectations of a close result that could leave the poorest EU country without a working government.
The rightist GERB party, which resigned after violent demonstrations in February, is running neck-and-neck with the Socialists. GERB pledges to keep debts under control, while the Socialists say they will spend more and create jobs. But six years after Bulgaria joined the European Union, disaffection with the political elite as a whole is widespread in a country of 7.3 million where unemployment is close to an eight-year high. The activists who brought down the GERB government plan more protests for polling day and a fifth of voters are still undecided which party to back in the parliamentary election. "People are poor, people are discouraged," said Rumen Blagoev, 62, a retired policeman in Sofia who plans to vote Socialist and complained that Bulgaria had been badly governed for 20 years. While the euro zone has been preoccupied by its debt crisis, the troubles in Bulgaria show the risks of growing political and economic upheavals on the European Union's fringes. Under GERB, Bulgaria has kept one of the lowest debt levels in the EU to maintain a currency peg to the euro, but the economy is expected to grow at only about 1 percent this year and the average monthly wage is 400 euros (338.4 pounds). Led by heavily built former bodyguard Boiko Borisov, GERB has also suffered political damage from a wiretapping scandal. Bulgarian state security officers also seized 350,000 fake ballot papers from a printing house belonging to a GERB local councillor, prosecutors said on Saturday. But with a recent opinon poll giving it 24 percent to 23.6 percent for the Socialists, GERB could still emerge as the Balkan country's largest party. That would give it first chance to form a government, possibly in alliance with nationalist Attack and the pro-business Bulgaria for the Citizens, led by former EU commissioner Meglena Kuneva. The Socialists have previously partnered with the ethnic Turkish MRF and could also seek Kuneva's backing. But an election characterised more by mud-slinging than policy debate could make it harder for anyone to form a coalition. Although business is deeply unhappy with corruption in Bulgaria, Borisov's record of keeping borrowing in check wins him favour from investors. The last time a Socialist government was in power, between 2005 and 2009, Bulgaria went through a credit boom, bust and deep recession. Whoever wins, there is little room for any government to spend more. "An undercurrent of discontent persists. So far, the major demands of the protesters - for lower energy prices - have not been fully addressed and unemployment, low incomes, and political corruption are also being highlighted," said Otilia Simkova, an analyst with political risk consultancy Eurasia. (Writing by Sam Cage; Editing by Matthew Tostevin) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Sudan says South Sudan helped rebels attacking major town Posted: 11 May 2013 03:45 PM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan accused South Sudan of having supported rebels who launched a major assault two weeks ago, warning this could derail recent oil and security agreements between the African neighbours, state media said on Saturday. The two countries agreed in March to resume cross-border oil flows and end tension that has plagued them since South Sudan's secession in 2011. Since then ties have improved with Sudan receiving last week the first oil exports from the landlocked South, which had shut down its production in January 2012 in a dispute over pipeline fees. But in a new setback, Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) said South Sudan had helped rebels who two weeks ago attacked the central city of Um Rawaba. It was the worst assault since a raid on Khartoum in 2008. "The support for the (rebel) forces ... included fuel supplies and the opening of military hospitals in the South to receive wounded Sudanese rebels," SUNA said, quoting NISS. South Sudan also had recently supported rebels from the western region of Darfur and two border states with vehicles, SUNA said, adding South Sudan also has provided weapons, ammunition and training at several camps in its Unity state to form a "another force" to send into Sudan. "NISS has confirmed that Juba has supported rebels against Khartoum since the cooperation agreement (to resume oil flows)," SUNA said. South Sudan also had issued emergency travel documents for wounded rebels to receive medical treatment in some African countries and hosted some of their leaders in the capital Juba, SUNA said. The security services "urged the South's government to stop any involvement in support of Sudanese rebels which threatens the implementation of all cooperation deals between Khartoum and Juba," SUNA said. REBEL ALLIANCE There was no immediate comment from Juba, which has long denied it was supporting rebels on Sudanese territory. Khartoum had since the March deal stopped accusing Juba of backing any rebels but mistrust runs deep between the two sides, which fought one of Africa's longest civil wars before a 2005 peace deal. The Um Rawaba attack, a normally placid commercial hub, was conducted by an alliance of three rebel groups from Darfur, scene of a decade-long rebellion of non-Arab tribes, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North). The SPLM-North is made up of fighters who sided with the south during civil war and ended up with southern secession in Sudan. They complain like the Darfur rebels of marginalisation in a country controlled by an Arab elite in Khartoum. Sudan and South Sudan came close to war in April 2012 when border skirmishes broke out over oil exports fees, rebel support and disputed territory. Under international pressure, both agreed in March to set up a buffer zone on both sides of their border, a condition for Sudan to allow through South Sudan's oil exports. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Bill Trott) Copyright © 2013 Reuters |
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