Didn't know whether to put this in East/Subsaharan Africa or Arabia, Fred - reassign as you please
EFL
A SAUDI Arabian with close connections to Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, the desert kingdomâs defence minister, was among five people who were arrested in Malawi on suspicion of channelling money to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.
The five are believed to have been on a CIA watch list since the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in which more than 200 people died and thousands more were injured.
The men were arrested two weeks ago in an early-morning operation carried out in Blantyre, Malawiâs commercial centre, involving the countryâs National Intelligence Bureau and the CIA.
Two days later they were deported in defiance of an order by a high court judge who had instructed the authorities to bring them to court instead.
They are believed to have been flown on a charter aircraft to another African country en route for Guantanamo Bay in Cuba or to another American detention centre.
The Saudi, who was named as Fahad Ral Bahli, is a director of Prince Sultanâs Special Committee for Relief, a charity set up by the minister which has offices in a number of African countries. Now that's gotta be embarrassing lol
The other detainees were two Turks, a Kenyan and a Sudanese.
The organisationâs Malawi office, based in Limbe, was registered in March last year when Dr Faisal bin Jafar Bali, the manager of religious affairs in the Saudi army and who has the rank of major-general, was nominated as chairman. He also chairs the charitable committees in Mali and Nigeria. Another of the directors is a Saudi colonel.
Nobody at the Saudi embassy in London was available for comment. Tap tap....whotta surprise?....er, nope. No PR spin from Al-Jubeir (AKA Atom Ant)?
The other four men, all of whom lived in Blantyre, have been identified as Ibrahim Itabaci, the Turkish executive director of the Bedir international school; Arif Ulusam, owner of the Istanbul takeaway restaurant; Mahmud Sardar Issa, a Sudanese director of the Islamic Zakaat Fund and Khalifa Abdi Hassan, a Kenyan teacher at the Blantyre Islamic Mission. Islamic teachers involved in terrorism? Tap Tap...nope...
Three of the five detainees are also said to be connected to Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, an Al-Qaeda operative and leading suspect in last Novemberâs attacks on an aircraft and an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, and the 1998 Nairobi attack.
According to local reports, President George W Bush called Bakili Muluzi, Malawiâs president, on the day of the arrests and spoke to him for seven minutes.
âThe president assured Bush that Malawi would continue to help in the fight against terrorism,â said one source in Malawi.
âThat is the reason why Muluzi agreed to have the five suspected Al-Qaeda suspects flown out of the country despite the case being in the High Court.â
The deportations prompted violence by some Muslims, who make up 20% of Malawiâs 11m people. Rioters burnt and looted seven churches and also ransacked the offices of Save the Children USA. Muslims tearing up a charity that feeds all Malawi children? Where's the backlash from the rest of the people? too cowed?
Police opened fire on a demonstration last Monday, injuring several people. Yesterday hundreds of protesters threatened to disrupt elections if the suspects were not returned.
Noel Chalamanda, a lawyer acting for some of the suspects, attacked the move. âIf government officials acted against the orders of the court, they should have answered for their contempt,â he said.
âThe government should not be in the forefront of defying court orders.â
too bad they're gone. Wonder who's paying the lawyers?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2003 12:17:16 PM ||
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Hat tip to Instapundit. A bit OT, so severely edited.
BBC newsgirl Jane O'Brien has dumped her fiance and run off to marry an FBI agent she met while reporting the Gulf War. Jane, in her thirties, became embedded with the spy while sending back reports for the flagship 6 and 10 O'clock News programmes. Just HOURS before her scheduled return to Britain at the end of the war, she stunned colleagues by saying she wasn't coming back. Jane then resigned her £50,000-a-year job, flew to the States with her FBI loverâand married him in a secret ceremony in New York. I must have tried that "I'm an FBI agent (Female Body Inspector)" line a hundred times and failed miserably. Guess I need to work on my delivery!
Posted by: Dar ||
07/06/2003 7:14:52 PM ||
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One of the two Britons facing terrorism changes - and, possibly, the death penalty before a US military court in Guantanamo Bay was arrested three years ago by Special Branch and MI5 officers investigating Islamic terrorism. Moazzam Begg, who is among nine Britons detained in Camp Delta at the base in Cuba, was arrested under anti-terrorism laws in 2000 during a raid on the Maktabah Al Ansar bookshop in Birmingham. He was released without charge. This newspaper has also learnt that Mr Begg, whose family vehemently deny that he has any connection with Islamic terrorists, was found to have night-vision goggles and a flak jacket at his home when he was arrested in 1994 by police investigating an alleged benefits fraud. Fraud charges levied against Mr Begg as a result of that investigation were later dropped. However, a friend, Shahid Akram Butt, was jailed for 18 months after admitting obtaining money by deception; in 1999, Butt was jailed in Yemen on terrorism charges. Last week's announcement that Mr Begg would be one the Britons in Guantanamo Bay to face charges has caused a storm of protest in the UK. Storm in a teacup, from all I've noticed. Baroness Symons, the Foreign Office minister, said that she had "serious reservations" about the principle of Mr Begg and Feroz Abbasi, another Briton accused of terrorism, being tried by a military tribunal without an independent appeals process. Lady Symons added that she would have a "very vigorous discussion" with her American counterparts over the nature of the trial.
Bitch and be damned, madam!
Mr Begg's relatives have also protested at the nature of the judicial process and repeated their claim that he is a simple, cricket-loving family man whose arrest by US forces in Pakistan 18 months ago was a case of mistaken identity.
"Nope. Nope. Wudn't me."
Azmat Begg, his father, said last week: "My son was never involved in al-Qaeda. He is a proper family man. He is peace-loving and law-abiding and night-vision-goggles-and-flak-jacket-wearing and benefit defrauding and he went to Afghanistan because he wanted to help children, puppies and kittens with their literacy. I know he is a jihadi innocent."
"Shuckin's, no! Dat boy's pure as the driven snow..."
This newspaper has learned that Moazzam Begg had his first brush with the law in 1994 when he was arrested as he showed up for work at a benefits office at Small Heath, Birmingham. When Mr Begg's home was searched, detectives found the night-vision goggles and a bullet-proof vest as well as extremist Islamic literature. Mr Begg was initially charged with conspiracy to defraud the Department of Social Security along with Butt. Bank statements found at Mr Begg's house linked him to Butt and officers found a photograph of the pair together in Afghanistan. At Butt's home they found a picture of him in Afghanistan brandishing an AK47 machinegun. D'oh, Telegraph, I expect better of you!
The charges against Mr Begg were later dropped for lack of evidence but the case against Butt proceeded. After his release, Butt travelled abroad and in 1999 he was jailed for five years after being convicted of terrorism in Yemen along with Mustapha Kamil, the son of Abu Hamza, the hook-handed cleric fighting deportation from Britain. If you go touring foreign jails, who better to hook up with?
Last night Azmat Begg confirmed that his son had been arrested and charged in 1994 but insisted that this meant nothing, saying: "He was just suspected: the case was dropped. The items they [the police] took had nothing to do with al-Qaeda or anybody. Aliens, perhaps?
They were entirely innocent. If I have night-vision goggles does that make me a suspected member of al-Qaeda?" In your case, Sir?
When asked about the flak jacket that was seized, Mr Begg said that his son was merely indulging a "hobby" — which included collecting weapons.
And killing infidels...
"He liked to collect things like that since his childhood. Once upon a time I had a cellar and he had a lot of arms and things like that." Mr Begg confirmed that his son knew Shahid Butt, although he was not "a close friend". Mr Begg also confirmed that his son had been arrested in the 2000 raid on the Al Ansar bookshop by MI5. "He was a partner of the shop, or something, and had all sorts of books. He was accused of making a rifle in a shop. They [MI5] went to his shop and the house," said Azmat Begg. "'They suspected him because they all had beards. It was circumstantial - there was so much suspicion of him and then they started doing things to him." Poor guy! All this hastle because he wore a beard! And some other stuff.
He added, however, that the investigations into his son came to nothing, saying: "They couldn't do anything. They didn't find anything. He was arrested. They thought that he was doing something funny. Who was laughing?
"They knew he had a computer and thought what he was doing was stored in the computer so they took it away. He was laughing. Oh, he was laughing.
They tried to get him to reveal the code on his computer. They took him to court and the judge said he could not compel him to reveal it." WTF?
Moazzam Begg travelled to Afghanistan in April 2001 to study how to gas dogs and somersault through burning hoops work as a teacher. He was snatched by the US and Pakistani authorities after a money order allegedly bearing the name Moazzam Begg was found at an al-Qaeda base.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
07/06/2003 8:17:40 AM ||
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Things far from rosy in the Eurozone...
The European Commission has predicted an even gloomier outlook for the eurozone than its previously cut growth forecasts. "It is unlikely that our former estimate of 1% economic growth for the euro zone in 2003 can be reached, "said Pedro Solbes, Economic and Monetary Affairs commissioner. In April, the European Commission revised downwards its forecasts for the eurozone's gross domestic product (GDP) growth, from 1.8% to 1%. Mr Solbes said growth in the 12-nation zone could now be as low as 0.7%, depending on how the second half of the year develops.
Mr Solbes said stagnant growth in the first three months of the year had continued into an "anaemic" second quarter. "When we predicted 1% growth in April, we warned of risks to the downside and the upside," he told reporters at a news conference with the Italian economy minister Giulio Tremonti. "The downside risks have materialised." Italy took over the rotating presidency of the European Union this week, amid growing concern about the weakness of economic recovery in the eurozone. Figures for the first three months of 2003 showed the worst quarterly economic performance since the last three months of 2001. Only growth in France and Spain managed to offset contractions in Italy and Germany, preventing shrinking in the zone as a whole.
Last week, the European Commission warned that a strong euro, which recently hit record peaks against the dollar, could hurt exports in the coming months as they become more expensive to overseas markets. And last month, the European Central Bank president Wim Duisenberg cut back the ECB's forecasts for eurozone growth to 0.4-1.0% in 2003 from the 2% he had previously predicted. "Economic growth in the first half of 2003 is likely to have been weak, very weak, and expectations for annual average growth of this year and 2004 have had to be scaled down," Mr Duisenberg said.
Italy is hoping to boost growth among the 12 nations with a "New Deal", similar to the deal which boosted the US economy after the Great Depression in the 1930s. The current plan would see infrastructure projects such as new transport links funded by raising money via European Investment Bank bonds. But some ministers have warned the fund-raising would be difficult to structure.
Sorry, al-Aqsa Nederlands...no stroopwaffel for you!
The EU placed the Dutch arm of the Islamic organisation al-Aqsa on its list of banned terrorist groups on Monday in response to allegations that it collected funds for violent attacks in the Middle East. The Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry froze the organisation's finances in April and its inclusion on the EU's list of terrorist organisations means that the group's finances in other nations will also be frozen. Al-Aqsa Nederland unsuccessfully battled the ministry's decision by lodging legal action in April. The foundation claimed it is a Dutch-Palestinian assistance organisation with "a humanitarian mission" and asserted that it assists Palestinian projects which aim to reduce the injustice committed against Palestinian civilians.
Projects such as blowing people up...
The Dutch secret service, AIVD, alleged that al-Aqsa collected funds for the Palestinian Hamas movement, which has regularly claimed responsibility for gun and suicide bomb attacks against Jewish soldiers and civilians. Hamas probably crossed its fingers behind its back when it declared a three-month cease-fire at end of June in its atacks on Israeli civilians.
Posted by: seafarious ||
07/06/2003 1:33:49 AM ||
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Right now, the movie Three Kings about Gulf War 1 is screening on Australian TV.
It depicts US troops as undisciplined, greedy looters who will happily shoot any Iraqi with little regard for life. It gives a stirring platform for an angry Iraqi to demand: how would you feel if I dropped a bomb on your wife and child? my child is dead now! (no reference to the millions Saddam's thugs killed).
It shows the US troops as lying to the Iraqis who wanted to rebel against Saddam telling them they would be supported by the US. The movie of course pretends that the US has no interest at all in helping them, it's just a lie of convenience.
But it doesn't mention that the UN refused to extend their mandate from liberating Kuwait to removing Saddam. Never does George Clooney say: 'We can't help them because the UN won't let us.'
It doesn't reference the hysterical protestors screaming 'no blood for oil' who didn't want the US even to kick Saddam out of Kuwait let alone out of power.
This movie is an insult to the disciplined, professional United States military.
With Hollywood churning out only critical pieces that slander the US there will be no combating the anti-American flavour of youth culture: after all, loads of young people get their opinions influenced by movies.
Just once I'd like to see a movie about a oil-money-rich Saudi religious school in Java that takes a poor but moderate Indonesian and turns him into a Wahhabist terrorist. After all, it's not like it hasn't happened in real life. Where's that movie playing?
Three Kings explains in one movie the reason so many people (especially the young) in western societies are embracing the 'hate america' culture of self-loathing, and why so many of the ill-informed turned up to the pro-Saddam rallies.
Because the movie is critical of the US it gets extra kudos from the critics and an extra aura of being true-to-life. Goebbels must be grinning now.
Feh!
Posted by: Anon1 ||
07/06/2003 8:09:43 AM ||
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Breaking Fox news - Greg Palkot - Turkish special forces were detained on a mission to assassinate the (Kurdish) Mayor of Kirkuk! Turks deny it, but can't explain why they were there. The Turks were released
breaking news
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2003 4:38:30 PM ||
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An American soldier has been shot at Baghdad University as students were gathering for lunch. According to eyewitnesses two soldiers were chatting to students at a university faculty when a man walked up behind them, drew a pistol and shot one of the Americans in the head at close range. The students scattered and, in the confusion, the gunman fled on foot. The BBC's Peter Greste, who heard a single shot, arrived at the scene to see US troops clearing the area and loading their wounded comrade into a vehicle to take to a field hospital. His condition is not yet known but a US military spokeswoman said he had been critically wounded. US troops maintain tight security at the university, searching people and vehicles before entering the grounds. Most students appeared stunned by the shooting. But our correspondent says there is some animosity towards the occupying forces and as the American drove off with the injured soldier, some shouted Allahu Akbar - God is Great. And this is how the BBC reports it...
A British journalist was shot dead in the capital on Saturday outside the Iraqi National Museum - where a sniper had shot dead a US soldier guarding the building a few days earlier.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
07/06/2003 7:49:17 AM ||
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Giving in to public pressure, he makes concessions on three key provisions of proposed national security law
By Mary Kwang
BOWING to massive public pressure, Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa yesterday backed down on three of the most controversial provisions of a proposed national security law.
The decision came after more than half a million people took to the streets last week in protest against the anti-sedition law and the Hong Kong administration, posing the biggest political challenge so far to Mr Tung's stewardship of the territory.
Surrounded by members of his Cabinet and top aides, Mr Tung announced at a news conference yesterday that he would:
Withdraw police powers to carry out searches and seizures without a warrant
Allow journalists to cite public interest as a defence for publishing classified information, and
Delete a provision that would lead to groups that have been outlawed on the mainland getting the same treatment in Hong Kong
But the concessions failed to appease critics who continued to demand that the government defer, or shelve entirely, this Wednesday's final debate on the legislation.
Mr Edward Chan, chairman of the Bar Association, said the draft legislation was still flawed and the administration's hasty and piecemeal approach would only fuel more suspicions about the intent behind the law.
A national security law is required under Article 23 of Hong Kong's Constitution. Critics say they fear the authorities are framing the law in such a way that it will kill off existing civil rights.
Said Mr Chan : 'The impression is that the government is slowly restricting freedoms. Which sections it can go ahead on, it will do so. Where the people kick up a fuss, the government hands out candy to keep them, and it will take the next step when opportune.' Pretty astute observation
Both the Catholic and Protestant churches have also called for more public consultation.
At the press conference yesterday, Mr Tung noted that the issue was already highly politicised and delaying it would split Hong Kong society further.
Stressing that the Article 23 law was needed to safeguard China's national security, he said: 'If the country does well, Hong Kong will do better. It's vital for us to consider the mainland's interests.
'The Chinese market is the biggest in the world, with great potential,' he said, rattling off statistics to emphasise Hong Kong's heavy economic dependence on the mainland.
China yesterday signalled its support for Mr Tung's moves to water down the bill, but said the legislation should now be passed.
It remains uncertain how voting will go on Wednesday. At present, 23 are firmly opposed and 17 for the measure in the 60-member legislature. At least 10 independent legislators remain undecided.
Tension is high as both supporters and opponents of the law plan to hold rallies around the Legislative Council building on the day of the vote.
China won't stand for freedom in HK, or Taiwan - they threaten the Old Guys In Power⢠too much. By threatening, clamping down, they will ineveitably harm china's trade/business interests....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2003 12:08:19 PM ||
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The subcaption reads, "Outrage over plight of Guantanamo detainees." I dunno who's outraged, but it isn't me.
The two British terrorist suspects facing a secret US military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay will be given a choice: plead guilty and accept a 20-year prison sentence, or be executed if found guilty. Execution only if all judges agree.
American legal sources close to the process said that the prisoners' dilemma was intended to encourage maximum 'co-operation'. Just as soon as their testicles re-descend.
The news comes as Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, prepares to urge US Secretary of State Colin Powell to repatriate the two Britons. He will say that they should face a fair trial here under English law. Backed by Home Secretary David Blunkett, Straw will make it clear that the Government opposes the death penalty and wants to see both men tried 'under normal judicial process'. A military tribunal of illegal combatants is a normal judicial process.
Lawyers acting for Moazzam Begg, 35, from Sparkbrook, Birmingham, and Feroz Abassi, 23, from Croydon, said that any confessions gathered while the men were kept without charge or access to lawyers in Bagram airbase in Afghanistan and Camp Delta in Cuba would have no status in international law and would be inadmissible in British courts. Since it's an American tribunal, thanks counselors, anything else? Gareth Peirce, who acts for Moazzam Begg, said: 'Anything that any human being says or admits under threat of brutality is regarded internationally and nationally as worthless. It makes the process an abuse. Moazzam Begg had a year in Bagram airbase and then six months in Guantanamo Bay. If this treatment happened for an hour in a British police station, no evidence gathered would be admissible,' she said. Once again Gareth demonstrates that she's missed the point: this isn't a civilian judicial court. Stephen Jakobi of Fair Trials Abroad, which is leading the campaign for the two men, said: 'Our concern is that there will be no meaningful way of testing the evidence against these people. The US Defence Department has set itself up as prosecution, judge and defence counsel and has created the rules of trial. This is patently a kangaroo court.' The evidence will be laid out in an open tribunal. Try showing up, Stephen, and you can see for yourself.
Begg's family believe he was kidnapped in Pakistan by US authorities. They also believe he was in Afghanistan for religious studies.
He was taken to Bagram on suspicion of passing funds to al-Qaeda and later transferred to Camp Delta. He has not seen a lawyer since he was seized. In a clear signal of the high levels of concern within the Government, the acting British ambassador in Washington, Tony Brenton, will raise 'official concern' with the White House. According to US legal and constitutional experts that none of us would recognize, the Final Rule, the regulations that will govern the military commissions, has rendered a fair trial almost impossible. Among those representing the two British men in the United States is Michael Ratner, of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, who believes the tribunals are weighted in favour of securing guilty verdicts. 'The trial system in Guantanamo Bay allows a whole series of serious breaches of defendant rights that would mean that they could never come to trial in the US. Tribunal, Gitmo, illegal combatant: they just don't get it, do they?
'First, it allows the wiretapping of attorney-client meetings, although those wiretaps cannot actually be used in evidence. So that sonny-boy can't send info to the boys back home.
Then there is the fact that the Pentagon "Appointing Authority" - probably US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld - has the ability to remove a judge at any time without giving any reason.' Not that he's planning on wholesale changes during the proceedings.
Among other concerns about the 50-page Final Rule, which was published by the Department of Defence last week for governing the trials, are:
that rules of evidence are so broad that it is left at the discretion of the trial's presiding officer whether to allow any evidence he believes would be convincing to a 'reasonable person' and that that would appear to allow the admission of hearsay evidence;
that evidence can be admitted by telephone and by pseudonym; Since some of the troops are still on duty in Afghanistan.
that it is insisted that only security-screened civil attorneys be allowed to appear before the court and they can also be removed at any time. We don't want the lawyers passing info back to the boys in Peshawar.
The concerns follow allegations by Amnesty International and other human rights groups that US detainees in Guantanamo Bay have suffered severe abuse, including beatings that may have led to the death of two men held at the US detention facility at Bagram. These jokers gain weight in prison, have their religious beliefs respected, get three squares a day, and are interrogated â vigorously â without physical violence. But AI might be right, so perhaps we should ask the Egyptians to interrogate them for us and send us a tape.
In March, Amnesty wrote to President Bush to complain about the treatment of detainees after US military officials reportedly confirmed that post-mortem reports in the cases of the two men who died at Bagram gave cause of death as 'homicide' and 'blunt force injuries'.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2003 1:18:24 AM ||
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Look in the dictionary under "anarchy" - there's a map of Somalia
(Reuters) - Mediators trying to end more than a decade of anarchy in Somalia said on Sunday they hoped a new government would be chosen this month to take on the formidable task of reuniting the country. And my daughter's hoping for a new car. Bet she gets her hope fulfilled first
Faction leaders agreed at talks in Kenya on Saturday to set up a new transitional government by choosing a parliament with a four-year term, a move mediators hailed as a breakthrough after months of wrangling. months of wrangling to settle on a four year term for parliament??? Jeebus, too much Qhat?
While Somalia's history of failed peace initiatives is reason for caution, delegates at the talks said the inclusion of more faction leaders than ever before in the deal would help heal divisions in the country of seven million.
The agreement aims to introduce a federal system to reunite Somalia, divided by feuding warlords in a law and order vacuum that some counterterrorism experts fear might provide a potential haven for militants.
Delegates agreed to choose a 351-member parliament, which will in turn elect a president from among more than 30 candidates -- a process that mediators hope will be complete by the end of July.
"We hope that everything will be concluded before the end of this month," said Mohamed Abdullahi, a spokesman for mediators at the talks. "Once parliament has been formed...then everything else will fall in place very quickly."
Somali leaders are due to consult with elders to produce a list of parliamentarians representing various clans, with a quota of 12 percent women in the unicameral assembly.
The talks have repeatedly slipped behind timetables given by mediators, leading some participants to caution that choosing a parliament may take longer than planned.
The agreement signed on Saturday gave no deadline for the establishment of the new government, which will be chosen at the talk's venue in Nairobi before moving to the capital Mogadishu.
"STEP FORWARD"
"It was a success and a step forward for the Somali people," said prominent Somali warlord Hussein Aideed, chairman of faction leaders forming the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council, who signed the agreement.
"The next step is to submit the list for parliament, then we will form the first parliament. I believe that we will do this before the end of July," he told Reuters.
Mediators said they hoped the breakaway republic of Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991, will eventually rejoin a federal Somalia, although there was no official Somaliland delegation at the Kenya talks.
Somalia already has a shaky transitional government (TNG), whose term is due to expire in August, and which only controls patches of territory. The TNG said it had signed the deal and would be willing to hand over to a new administration. Shouldn't the acronym for a "shaky transitional government" be STG?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2003 11:54:05 AM ||
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KINSHASA - Fighting erupted on Thursday in Butembo, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), between a Mayi-Mayi militia and the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Kisangani/Mouvement de liberation (RCD-K/ML), a rebel group allied to Kinshasa. "Fighting with heavy weaponry broke out yesterday and restarted early this morning," Rubain Lukambaka, a reporter for Radio Graben Butembo, told IRIN on Friday from the embattled town. RCD-K/ML authorities said that it was simply a matter of certain elements resisting a disarmament operation being conducted, and that the town remained fully under their control. Other reports said, however, that the Mayi-Mayi militia had taken control of Butembo. "Well armed and naked Mayi-Mayi fighters are roaming around town," Lukambaka said.
"Huh huh! I'm naked! Wanna see me shoot somethin'?"
"We do not yet have information on who the belligerents are, so we cannot say who is fighting," Hamadoun Toure, the MONUC spokesman, said in Kinshasa, capital of the DRC.
"I have my clothes on. Wanna see me be ineffectual?"
Speaking over local radio, RCD-K/ML operations commander Sivi Tshomwa called on all armed elements to lay down their weapons "because a military agreement had just been signed among [Congolese] belligerents for a unified national army".
"You're gonna be the 1st Regiment of Naked Fussiliers!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/06/2003 11:50 ||
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JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli cabinet set tough terms on Sunday for the release of Palestinian prisoners in a move that could rattle a cease-fire declared by militants and the U.S.-backed peace plan the truce has bolstered. Typical Reuters spin - not releasing convicted terrorists and criminals to be free to strike again at Israeli civilians = "rattling a cease-fire"
"There is no way prisoners with blood on their hands will be released," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told his cabinet as he read from a list of terms it approved by a vote of 13-8, a senior government official said.
Under the criteria, Palestinians jailed for sending others to attack Israelis and members of militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad will remain locked up, the official said. Sounds like common sense is the rule here
The number of prisoners to go free was not announced by the cabinet, but Israel Radio said 400 met the cabinet criteria. The figure falls far short of Palestinian demands for the release of all of the estimated 6,000 to 8,000 Palestinians held by Israel. "demands" huh? how about ...no?
Palestinian officials declined immediate comment, saying they first wanted to see a release roster that an Israeli ministerial committee is drawing up for possible presentation to Palestinians later this week.
A major prisoner release would boost the popularity among Palestinians of their reformist Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and help shore up a three-month cease-fire that militants declared a week ago in a nearly three-year-old uprising for statehood. Bet the Paleos can't wait to get these thugs, gangsters, and criminals back in their "society"
But a limited release could jeopardize the truce. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, groups that have killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings, have said the suspension of their attacks was conditional on freedom for all Palestinian prisoners. start up and let the hammer fall asshats
At least 2,130 and 760 Israelis have been killed since the uprising began.
The cabinet session was followed by talks about the prisoners between Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Palestinian Security Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan.
"We will request the release of all prisoners. It is impossible to end the conflict even if one prisoner remains behind bars," Palestinian Minister of Prisoner Affairs Hisham Abdel-Raziq told Reuters. well hokay then
FURTHER WITHDRAWALS HANG IN BALANCE
After the truce was declared, Israel released 53 Palestinian prisoners and pulled troops back from areas in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Bethlehem, confidence-building measures in the peace plan known as the "road map."
Mofaz and Dahlan were also expected to discuss Palestinian demands for further Israeli troop pullbacks in the West Bank, which a senior Palestinian official said would take place in the cities of Ramallah and Hebron.
But Israeli officials said such withdrawals would not happen quickly. "These (moves) will not occur for several weeks, depending on Palestinian performance in the meantime," one official said.
Sharon's government has demanded that Abbas begin dismantling militant factions before it broadens the pullbacks. Abbas has sought to avoid a confrontation with militants, saying it could lead to civil war.
Palestinian sources said Abbas and Sharon would meet again on Wednesday. At talks last Tuesday, both leaders affirmed their commitment to the peace plan endorsed at a June 4 summit they attended with President Bush in Aqaba, Jordan.
The "road map" charts confidence-building measures leading to creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
keep on building that wall. It'll be the only thing that'll work..oh, you might wanna rethink the employment of Paleos in Israel proper - asking for boomers to sneak thru
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2003 11:41:03 AM ||
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President Charles Taylor said on Friday he would bow to US demands that he step down from power and leave Liberia, but only after a US-led peacekeeping force arrived in the war-torn country.
"How long after?"
"'Bout fifteen years..."
Demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Monrovia for the second day running to demand that Taylor quit immediately. Soldiers opened fire on the group of more than 500 protestors, wounding one of them, but they continued their march on the US embassy, chanting "Taylor kingdom must come down. Satan Taylor must go."
That's Liberian for "The jig's up, Chuck! Pack your shit and get out!"
The embattled president told Church leaders at a meeting in the Executive Mansion that he wanted international peacekeepers to arrive in Liberia before he left to allow for "a smooth transition of power". The Church leaders had presented him with a statement calling for peace in Liberia, which has suffered near constant civil war for the past 14 years. "It makes a lot of sense for peacekeepers to arrive in this city before I transit. I am not fighting to stay in power," Taylor said. "What I am fighting for right now is that there be a normal transition so that anger, frustration, deceit and other things don't creep in."
I you leave, Chuck, anger, frustration, and deceit will creep out with you.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/06/2003 11:45 ||
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It's a Reuters report, so pass the salt.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is exploring the possibility of a visit to North Korea in September, a major Japanese daily reported on Sunday. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) said talks were going on behind the scenes to arrange what would be Koizumi's second visit to the reclusive communist state, after a trip in September 2002. Be sure to bring a housewarming gift — edible flowers are always nice.
A Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman said he was unaware of such a possibility. "There is no such plan whatsoever, as far as I know," ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima said. "However, we have had communications through various channels with an eye to re-opening normalisation talks and also resolving the abduction and the nuclear issues." Good diplomat — classic non-denial!
He declined to give further details or say how recently the last talks had been. The Nikkei said Koizumi's visit would aim to break the stalemate in international negotiations over North Korea's nuclear program as well as resolve issues over its abduction of Japanese. Japan would have to coordinate its actions with the United States and consider a number of domestic and international issues before any such visit could take place, it added, however. Like whether it delays what we all want to see happen.
Any pre-visit negotiations with the reclusive communist state would prove difficult, it said. Nothing that a big bag of Doritos and some dip couldn't fix!
Koizumi made a historic visit to North Korea last September and met with its leader Kim Jong-il, who apologized and admitted that Pyongyang did kidnap Japanese in the 1960s and 1970s to help train spies. His admission led to talks on resuming ties, but negotiations have since stalled, largely over the handling of five abductees who returned to Japan in October and remain separated from their North Korean-born children. The crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions has also hampered progress. China, communist Pyongyang's nearest "don't call us their friend, hosted an initial round of talks on the nuclear issue that included China, North Korea and the United States in April, but the meeting ended with no evident agreement and no date set for another round. Washington has pressed for Pyongyang to agree to expand future talks to include South Korea and Japan, but the North wants direct two-way talks with the United States.
You know — Great Power to Great Power...
Some Japanese analysts, though, have said it was possible that, if the situation became completely deadlocked, Koizumi could attempt to break this through "bold diplomatic moves" such as visiting North Korea. So long as it doesn't delay what has to happen.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2003 1:51:56 AM ||
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EFL President Bush says he will not accept any outcome that allows Liberian President Charles Taylor, a one-time warlord wanted on war crimes charges, to remain in power in his embattled country. African leaders have asked Bush to decide whether to send American troops to help bring stability to Liberia before he departs Monday for his trip to the continent. The White House said Bush did not feel bound by the deadline. In the region, negotiations continued to persuade Taylor to relinquish power, as Bush and a growing number of world leaders are demanding.
"Whether" isn't open to discussion anymore. "How" seems to be, for the time being. My personal opinion is that we should recognize LURD and/or MODEL as the legit government of Liberia and then if they don't behave when Chuck's gone, kick them over while they're still weak. Let 'em keep trying until they get it right. But that would be hegemonistic of us, even though it would be a good "learning experience" for them...
Talks also were under way about the makeup of any international peacekeeping force to watch over a cease-fire between Taylor's government forces and rebel insurgents who have him cornered in his capital. White House officials said the president was still listening to advisers before he makes the final call on whether American troops should be a part of any peacekeeping effort. Key in that process is the team of 10-15 experts being sent to Monrovia, Liberia's capital, to determine the most effective U.S. contribution. Lt. Cmdr. Rick Haupt, a spokesman for the U.S. European Command, said the assessment team was being organized to deploy, but he said nothing about when they would leave or how long they would stay. A Department of Defense spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the assessment team was to leave Sunday for the Liberian capital. Doesn't sound like we'll have an announcement on Monday.
Bush said in a television interview that information from separate meetings between U.S. officials and the 15-country Economic Community of West African States also would be crucial to his decision. That bloc said Friday it would contribute 3,000 troops. "That's very important information for me, the decision-maker on this issue, to understand what the recommendations might be," Bush said in an interview with the Voice of America, conducted Thursday and aired Saturday. Bush leaves Monday for a five-day African trip, which includes a meeting with Obasanjo next Saturday during his stay in Nigeria. Bush won't visit Liberia, but his first stop is in nearby Senegal. In the Voice of America interview, Bush stressed - again - that Taylor must abandon the presidency and said "I suspect he will" eventually agree to do so. I'm not going to take 'no' for an answer," he said. Time's up, Chuckles, you're outta there!
Meanwhile, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson added his voice to the many in the region, in Europe and at the United Nations pleading for American military intervention. He said Washington has an obligation to the country founded by freed American slaves, and the need for U.S. involvement in Liberia is more clear-cut than in past situations in other African countries, such as Somalia. "Both parties, both the rebels and the Taylor forces, are inviting us in. That's different from an occupying relationship," said Jackson, who served President Clinton as a special envoy to Africa. You're not serving now, Jesse, so sit down!
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2003 1:41:46 AM ||
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They're doomed!
MONTEGO BAY - Caribbean leaders agreed to establish a commission like the European Union to oversee their 15-member, single market economy, allowing the free movement of goods, services and professional workers. Leaders adopted the plan at the end of the annual summit of the Caribbean Community which ended Saturday. It would create the regional bloc by 2005. ``We have to get a firm foothold in a changing world environment,'' Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said at the end of the four-day summit in Jamaica's northern Montego Bay resort. Leaders decided on the bloc after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick refused their appeals for more time to prepare their fragile economies to join the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Hmmm: how much time do they need? If they need a year, fine.
Some countries led by Barbados had been pushing for a stronger agreement allowing free movement of all citizens, however Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur acknowledged the region wasn't ready. The Bahamas, for example, struggling to control an influx of Haitian boat people, has refused to join the single market saying it cannot absorb any more foreign workers. Arthur said officials will discuss the framework of the union in detail during a November meeting in Barbados. ``We are about to embark on what is for us uncharted waters,'' Arthur said. ``It's very important as we set out on this endeavor that we get things right.'' Er, following the route of regulation, the welfare nanny state and a Brussels-style bureauocracy isn't getting things right.
They're trying to do capitalism with training wheels, I think...
The leaders also agreed to establish a regional security pact to compensate for the loss of millions in aid cut Tuesday by the United Sates to countries that failed to meet a Tuesday deadline for exempting Americans from prosecution before the new U.N. international war crimes tribunal. The Bush administration fears the court could leave Americans subject to false, politically motivated prosecutions.
Like we've seen coming from Belchium...
In the Caribbean, the U.S. aid was used mainly to fight drug and migrant trafficking. Countries affected are Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Caribbean governments reiterated their support for the international court, with jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. But Belize said it was planning to grant the exemptions, and the Bahamas said it would ask the United States for a special waiver. No.
Leaders also agreed to work together to sustain tourism, the lifeblood of many small island-economies, and join forces to fight AIDS, the single biggest killer of Caribbean citizens aged 15-44. Governments will lobby for cheaper AIDS drugs and conduct a study to determine the economic impact on the region, which has the highest AIDS infection rate after sub-Saharan Africa.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2003 1:31:12 AM ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
