The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Turkey tells Syria's Assad: Step down!
- Egypt generals promise civilian rule
- Libya's NTC unveils new government
| Turkey tells Syria's Assad: Step down! Posted: 22 Nov 2011 03:18 PM PST ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey bluntly told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down for the sake of his people, tightening regional pressure on Damascus while the wider world condemned Syria's violent crackdown on protests in a vote at the United Nations.
Activists said Syrian forces killed 21 civilians and five army deserters on Tuesday. Among those killed were four children shot dead by troops near a school in the central region of Houla and a 12-year-old killed at a protest in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It was not possible to independently confirm the killings as Syrian authorities, who blame the unrest on "armed terrorist groups," have barred most independent media from the country. The United Nations says 3,500 people have been killed since the protests erupted in March, triggered by Arab uprisings which toppled the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. "Without spilling any more blood, without causing any more injustice, for the sake of peace for the people, the country and the region, finally step down," Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, in his first direct call for Assad to go. In a further sign that Turkey was stepping up pressure on Syria, Turkish media reported that Turkeys' land commander inspected troops near the border. "Bashar al-Assad comes out and says 'I will fight to the death'. For the love of God, who are you fighting with?" asked Erdogan. "Fighting your own people until the death is not heroism. It's cowardice. If you want to see someone who fights his people to the death, look at Nazi Germany, look at Hitler, look at Mussolini," he told his ruling AK party. "If you cannot learn a lesson from them, look at the killed Libyan leader who turned his guns on his own people and only 32 days ago used the same expressions as you." But, echoing the stance of Arab League foreign ministers who suspended Damascus and have threatened economic and political sanctions, he said his criticism did not mean Turkey was calling for international military action. "We do not have eyes on any country's land, we have no desire to interfere in any country's internal affairs," Erdogan said. "SYSTEMATIC VIOLATIONS" Highlighting Syria's growing isolation, 122 countries voted for a resolution at the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee condemning the government crackdown. Only 13 countries voted against and 41 abstained. The resolution says the committee "strongly condemns the continued grave and systematic human rights violations by the Syrian authorities, such as arbitrary executions, excessive use of force and the persecution and killing of protesters and human rights defenders." It also demands an immediate end to "arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill treatment of detainees, including children" in Syria. Russia and China, which vetoed a European-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution last month that would have condemned Syria and threatened possible future sanctions, abstained according to an official U.N. tally, which diplomats said could indicate a shift in their positions. Countries that voted against the resolution included Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Vietnam. Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said the resolution, drafted by Britain, France and Germany, had no meaning for Damascus. "Although the draft resolution is submitted primarily from three European countries it is not a secret that the United States of America is the mastermind and main instigator of the political campaign against my country," Ja'afari said. "This draft resolution definitely has nothing to do with human rights; it is only a part of the typically hostile policy by the United States against Syria," he said. Ja'afari held up for delegates what he said were documents naming terrorists arrested while smuggling arms into Syria. He said the documents offered clear proof of a U.S.-led plot to topple Assad. German Ambassador Peter Wittig said it was time to move the issue back to the 15-nation Security Council, which has been deadlocked on Syria due to Russian and Chinese opposition. "The Security Council cannot fall behind the region," he said, referring to the Arab League suspension of Syria. "We would encourage the ... council to come back to this issue." British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement that the resolution "sends a signal of united condemnation of the Syrian regime's systematic human rights abuses." "As long as the crisis in Syria continues the international pressure on the Assad regime will only intensify," he said. U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice also welcomed the committee's adoption of the resolution, which will be confirmed by a new vote in a plenary meeting of the General Assembly next month. "By overwhelmingly adopting its first-ever resolution on Syria's human rights abuses, the ... Third Committee has sent a clear message that it does not accept abuse and death as a legitimate path to retaining power," she said in a statement. (Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman and Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Jon Hemming) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. | ||
| Egypt generals promise civilian rule Posted: 22 Nov 2011 03:02 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Under fierce pressure from street protests in which 36 people have been killed, Egypt's army chief promised to hand over to a civilian president by July and made a conditional offer for an immediate end to army rule.
Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the military council that has ruled Egypt since Hosni Mubarak's overthrow on February 11, told the nation the army did not seek or want power. "The army is ready to go back to barracks immediately if the people wish that through a popular referendum, if need be," the 76-year-old said in a surprising segment of a televised speech on Tuesday. But demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square, braving clouds of tear gas, derided the offer, calling the referendum a stalling tactic and chanting "Leave, leave." After midnight, people were still joining the thousands occupying the area. Looking far from confident, Tantawi said parliamentary polls would begin on time, starting this coming Monday, and that a presidential vote would take place in June, far sooner than the military's previous plans that would have kept it in power until late 2012 or early 2013. Tantawi, trying to defuse a surge of popular anger reminiscent of the movement that toppled Mubarak, also said the council had accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's cabinet, which would be replaced with a national salvation government to steer Egypt to civilian rule. A military source said Tantawi's referendum offer would come into play "if the people reject the field marshal's speech," but did not explain how the popular mood would be assessed. Tantawi may calculate that most Egyptians, unsettled by dizzying change, do not share the young protesters' appetite for breaking from the army's familiar embrace just yet. "He is trying to say that, despite all these people in Tahrir, they don't represent the public," said 32-year-old Rasha, one of dozens huddled around a radio in the nearby Cafe Riche, a venerable Cairo landmark. "He wants to pull the rug from under them and take it to a public referendum." The concessions, agreed in a meeting between the army and some politicians, have been wrenched from the military by five days of protests in Tahrir Square and elsewhere, amid violence that has killed 36 people and wounded more than 1,250. CONCESSIONS SPURNED The response from some protesters was crisp and dismissive, some comparing the speech to Mubarak's final, despairing attempts to save himself by offering belated concessions. "Not enough of course," Shadi el-Ghazali Harb, a leader of the Revolutionary Youth Coalition, told Reuters. "The military council is fully responsible for the political failure Egypt is going through now. We demand a solution that strips the military council of all its powers immediately." It is unclear who or what institution might carry out the functions of head of state if the council were dissolved. Anger against the generals exploded this month after a cabinet proposal to set out constitutional principles that would permanently shield the army from civilian oversight. The demonstrators, who again braved clouds of tear gas to occupy Tahrir Square, said the army must relinquish power now. "We demand a full purge of the system and the removal of the military council," said Fahmy Ali, one protester in Tahrir. Protesters earlier hanged from a lamp post an effigy of Tantawi, who was Mubarak's defence minister for two decades. In Egypt's second city of Alexandria, hundreds of protesters marched to a military base waving their shoes in disgust at Tantawi's speech, chanting: "Where is the transfer of power?" "Tantawi's speech is just like Mubarak's. It's just to fool us," said 27-year-old Youssef Shaaban. Clashes between police and demonstrators angry at the speech erupted in the eastern city of Ismailia, a witness said. Protesters also took to the streets in Nile Delta cities north of Cairo, angry at the deaths and injuries in and around Tahrir, witnesses said. About 3,000 gathered in the industrial city of Mahalla al-Kubra. Some threw petrol bombs at a police building. People also demonstrated in Tanta, and some also threw petrol bombs another police building there. The unrest has knocked Egypt's markets. The benchmark share index has fallen 11 percent since Thursday, hitting its lowest level since March 2009. The Egyptian pound fell to its weakest against the dollar since January 2005. The United States, which gives Egypt's military $1.3 billion (831.0 million pounds) a year in aid, called for an end to the "deplorable" violence in Egypt and said elections there must go forward. "We are deeply concerned about the violence. The violence is deplorable. We call on all sides to exercise restraint," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. MEETING WITH POLITICIANS The Muslim Brotherhood, which anticipates a strong showing in the election, was among five parties at the crisis talks with the military council. Three presidential candidates were also there. Others, including Mohamed ElBaradei, stayed away. "The revolutionary youth are not holding dialogue with the military council. The dialogue is going on in Tahrir Square, not behind closed doors with the generals," said Khaled Mardeya, a spokesman for the January 25 Revolution Coalition. Beyond Cairo, violence has accompanied protests in some big cities but nationwide demonstrations against army rule have yet to match the vast numbers that turned out to topple Mubarak. In Tahrir, activists tried to control access to the square. Volunteers on motorbikes ferried casualties from clashes with security forces firing tear gas near the Interior Ministry. The mood among protesters was determined. "The real revolution begins from today," said Taymour Abu Ezz, 58. "Nobody will leave until the military council leaves power." Political uncertainty has gripped Egypt since Mubarak's fall, while sectarian clashes, labour unrest, gas pipeline sabotage and a gaping absence of tourists have paralysed the economy and prompted a widespread yearning for stability. Several banks in central Cairo were closed on Tuesday as a precaution against looting, the state news agency said. In a stinging verdict on nine months of army control, rights group Amnesty International accused the military council of brutality sometimes exceeding that of Mubarak. It said the military had made only empty promises to improve human rights. Military courts had tried thousands of civilians and emergency law had been extended. Torture had continued in army custody. Consistent reports spoke of security forces employing armed "thugs" to attack protesters. (Reporting by Peter Apps in London, Marwa Awad, Omar Fahmy, Dina Zayed, Shaimaa Fayed, Tom Perry, Tamim Elyan, Patrick Werr and Edmund Blair in Cairo, Abdel Rahman Youssef in Alexandria and Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia; Writing by Alistair Lyon in Cairo; Editing by Alastair Macdonald in Cairo) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. | ||
| Libya's NTC unveils new government Posted: 22 Nov 2011 02:31 PM PST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) named a new government Tuesday with a line-up that dropped several seasoned officials in favour of appointees who will soothe rivalries between regional factions.
On a visit to Tripoli, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor conceded that the captured son of Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, may be tried in Libya rather than in The Hague, meaning he faces the death penalty if convicted. The NTC faced the tricky task of forming a government which would reconcile regional and ideological interests whose rivalry threatens to upset the country's fragile stability, three months after the end of Gaddafi's 42-year rule. "All of Libya is represented," Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib told a news conference as he unveiled the line-up. "It is hard to say that any area is not represented." Western countries, which backed the revolt against Gaddafi and have a big stake in seeing his replacements succeed, welcomed the new government, saying it would guide the oil exporting country towards democracy. The NTC's choices to fill ministerial posts appeared to have put regional affiliation ahead of experience or a track record. Foreign diplomats had been expecting the foreign minister's job to go to Libya's deputy envoy to the United Nations, Ibrahim Dabbashi. A respected diplomat, he had rallied other Libyan officials to turn against Gaddafi soon after the revolt erupted against his rule. Instead, the job was given to Ashour Bin Hayal, a little-known diplomat from the eastern city of Derna, a long-standing anti-Gaddafi stronghold. "Until the prime minister made his announcement, every diplomat in Tripoli was expecting Dabbashi as foreign minister. It's a big surprise," said one diplomat. "We don't know him (Bin Hayal) at all. We are trying to find out where he is." Ali Tarhouni, a U.S. academic who returned from exile to manage the oil and finance portfolios in the rebellion against Gaddafi, had no role in the new government. Hassan Ziglam, an oil industry executive, was named as finance minister, and Abdulrahman Ben Yezza, a former executive with Italian oil major ENI, was made oil minister. The new cabinet will include as defence minister Osama Al-Juwali, commander of the military council in the town of Zintan. Juwali appeared to have staked his claim to the job after his forces captured Saif al-Islam at the weekend and flew him to their hometown, instead of transferring him to the capital. A spokeswoman for the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said after the Cabinet was named that the EU was "confident that the interim leadership now in place will enable the country to embark on the political transition ahead." In a symbolic step for Libya, a deeply conservative Muslim society, the cabinet included two women, heading the ministries of health and social affairs. El-Keib said those appointments showed women enjoyed more equality than ever before. Absent from any strategic jobs in the government were the Islamists who were persecuted under Gaddafi but have been gaining in power since his downfall. Their rise has worried secularist Libyans, and some neighbouring countries. LIBYAN PROSECUTION A month after Muammar Gaddafi was captured and killed, Libya is wrestling with the task of building new institutions out of the wreckage of his one-man rule, when corruption was rampant and state institutions were left to decay. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the last of the former Libyan leader's sons whose whereabouts were still unknown, was captured Saturday in an ambush deep in the Sahara desert. An NTC official called his arrest "the last chapter in the Libyan drama." The Hague-based ICC has indicted Saif al-Islam for crimes against humanity, but chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said on a visit to Tripoli that Saif al-Islam could be tried inside Libya as long as the trial complies with ICC standards. "Saif is captured so we are here to ensure cooperation. Now in May, we requested an arrest warrant because Libyans could not do justice in Libya. Now as Libyans are decided to do justice, they could do justice and we'll help them to do it, so that is the system," he told reporters on his arrival in Tripoli. "Our International Criminal Court acts when the national system cannot act. They have decided to do it and that is why we are here to learn and to understand what they are doing and to cooperate." Libyan officials have promised a fair trial but the country still has the death penalty on its books, whereas the severest punishment the ICC can impose is life imprisonment. "The law says the primacy is for the national system. If they prosecute the case here, we will discuss with them how to inform the judges and they can do it. But our judges have to be involved," said Moreno-Ocampo. An official in Zintan told Reuters steps were already underway for Saif al-Islam's prosecution. "A Libyan prosecutor met with Saif (on Monday) to conduct a preliminary investigation," said Ahmed Ammar. (Additional reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian in Tripoli, Alastair Macdonald in Cairo, and Oliver Holmes in Zintan; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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