Just Foreign Policy News
March 4, 2011
Action: Urge President Obama and Members of Congress to oppose a unilateral U.S. military intervention in Libya
Unilateral U.S. military action without UN Security Council authorization would be a grave violation of the UN Charter. As U.S. military officials have pointed out, the imposition of a "no-fly zone" would not be "bloodless": it would be preceded by extensive bombing of Libya’s anti-aircraft facilities. Such bombing would almost certainly cause civilian casualties. As Defense Secretary Gates has said, the last thing the U.S. needs is a war in another Muslim country. Urge the White House and your representatives to oppose a unilateral U.S. military intervention.
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/nobombsforlibya
In Libya, Diplomacy Could Save Lives and the World Economy
Hillary Clinton defended the State Department budget in Congress this week by pointing out that diplomatic interventions can prevent expensive wars. Now she can demonstrate her argument by example in Libya. A Venezuelan proposal for a diplomatic resolution calmed oil markets when it was reported that the Libyan government had accepted the proposal and the Arab League was considering it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/in-libya-diplomacy-could-_b_830886.html
*Action: Lee bill for military withdrawal from Afghanistan
"H.R.780 – To provide that funds for operations of the Armed Forces in Afghanistan shall be obligated and expended only for purposes of providing for the safe and orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan of all members of the Armed Forces and Department of Defense contractor personnel who are in Afghanistan."
Check to see if your Rep. has co-sponsored; ask them to co-sponsor if they haven’t. You can reach your Rep. through the Congressional switchboard: 202-225-3121.
You can view the cosponsors here (recent: Velazquez, 3/3/2011; Nadler, 3/3/2011; Hirono, 3/3/2011):
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HR00780:@@@P
You can ask your Rep. to co-sponsor here:
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/hr780
U.S. Religious Leaders Call for Aristide’s Return
http://rainbowpush.org/news/single/an_open_letter_to_our_brother_president_jean-bertrand_aristide
Pro-peace Jews Debate BDS
There was a panel on the campaign for "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions" at the J Street conference. Some documents:
Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director, Jewish Voice for Peace: "Remarks at J Street’s BDS panel"
http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/blog/remarks-at-j-streets-bds-panel
Reflection on the panel by Mitchell Plitnick: "See? We Can Talk About BDS"
http://mitchellplitnick.com/2011/03/02/see-we-can-talk-about-bds/
And the "Magnes Zionist" advocates for "targeted BDS":
To BDS or not to BDS? If You’re a Liberal Zionist, Try TBDS
http://www.jeremiahhaber.com/2011/03/to-bds-or-not-to-bds-if-youre-liberal.html
Help Support Our Advocacy for Peace and Diplomacy
The opponents of peace and diplomacy work every day. Help us be an effective counterweight.
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Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) Former U.S. military officers are warning against any direct military action in Libya, the Washington Times reports. Retired Air Force Gen. Charles Horner, who ran the 1991 Operation Desert Storm air war, said he would advise the president against everything except some type of humanitarian relief. The U.S. does not know the rebels or their ultimate objectives, he said. "I don’t think you want to get involved in a civil war in Libya," Gen. Horner said. "The no-fly zone, all you’re doing is taking away the Libyan air force’s ability to attack insurgents from the air. When you don’t know what’s going on, you don’t stick your nose in it. I wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole." James Carafano, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation and a retired Army officer, said the administration should remember the lessons of Somalia, where a humanitarian mission in 1993 ballooned into a futile military battle to subdue tribal rebels and resulted in an embarrassing U.S. withdrawal.
2) President Obama said he had ordered plans giving the U.S. military "full capacity to act, potentially rapidly," in Libya if the situation there deteriorates, the Washington Post reports. But Obama stressed that the US must act only "in consultation . . . with the international community." As with Egypt and Tunisia, he said, U.S. interests were best served if the US was not seen as engineering or imposing a particular outcome. Meanwhile, at least some international leaders appeared chastened by warnings from their military forces that intervention would be complicated and fraught with uncertainty. Although the US, Britain, France, Canada and others have indicated they would participate, if conditions warranted, Italy and Germany, among others, have said they would not.
The Obama administration and its European allies have indicated that they would not act without authorization from the U.N. Security Council. Arab and African governments have expressed serious reservations about granting the authority to use force, as has Russia. China’s U.N. envoy said Beijing wants the dispute to be resolved through dialogue.
Defense Secretary Gates warned against what he called "loose talk" about the ease of establishing a no-fly zone. "Let’s just call a spade a spade," Gates said. "A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya." Several senior administration officials said they read Gates’s comments, and similar statements by Adm. Mullen, as aimed at blocking a military role in Libya.
3) Libya now looks less like a Facebook-fueled rebellion and more like an African civil war of the kind that the US has tried to avoid, the New York Times says. There are few realistic – let alone attractive – military options for the US, the Times says. Obama is getting uneven political pressure from Congress, the Times notes. Two early proponents of military action in Libya, Senators McCain and Lieberman, muted their comments Thursday. "We are not advocating military at this time," said McCain. "We are not calling for military assistance to a provisional government at this time." On Sunday, Lieberman said the US should provide the rebels with weapons. But on Thursday, he said that was merely one thing on a "menu of things."
4) The Obama administration is preparing for the prospect that Islamist governments will take hold in North Africa and the Middle East, acknowledging that the popular revolutions there will bring a more religious cast to the region’s politics, the Washington Post reports. An internal assessment identified large ideological differences between such movements as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and al-Qaeda. The study also concludes that the Brotherhood criticizes the US largely for what it perceives as America’s hypocritical stance toward democracy – promoting it rhetorically but supporting leaders such as Mubarak. "If our policy can’t distinguish between al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, we won’t be able to adapt to this change," a senior administration official said.
Paul Pillar, a longtime CIA analyst, said, "Most of the people in the intelligence community would see things on this topic very similarly to the president – that is, political Islam as a very diverse series of ideologies." "The main challenge President Obama will face is a political challenge from across the aisle, and one reinforced by Israel," said Pillar.
5) A lawyer for Bradley Manning has complained that his client was stripped and left naked in his cell for seven hours on Wednesday, the New York Times reports. "This type of degrading treatment is inexcusable and without justification," David Coombs wrote. "No other detainee at the brig is forced to endure this type of isolation and humiliation."
Iraq
6) Protesters, human rights workers and security officials say the Iraqi government has responded to Iraq’s demonstrations in much the same way as many of its neighbors: with force, the Washington Post reports. Witnesses in Baghdad and Kirkuk described watching last week as security forces attacked protesters, rounded up others from cafes and homes and hauled them off, blindfolded, to army detention centers. Entire neighborhoods were blockaded to prevent residents from joining the demonstrations. Journalists were beaten. 29 people were killed.
Last Friday, the U.S. Embassy issued a statement saying that security forces appeared to have followed Maliki’s directive to allow peaceful protests. As reports emerged Saturday of the beaten journalists, the White House issued a statement saying that U.S. officials were "deeply troubled." The U.S. Embassy has declined to comment further.
Egypt
7) Egypt’s new prime minister Essam Sharaf addressed protesters in Tahrir Square Friday, the New York Times reports. Demonstrators seized the opportunity to demand Sharaf undertake far deeper change than the largely cosmetic reforms Egypt’s military rulers have parceled out since taking power from President Mubarak on Feb. 11. But demands such as dismantling more odious police forces to freeing thousands of political prisoners may be beyond his purview in a landscape where the military makes the decisions, the Times says.
Libya
8) Security forces have used teargas and live ammunition to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters who marched in the Tajura area of Tripoli after Friday prayers, the Guardian reports. It was not clear if the shots had been fired in the air or at the marchers, the Guardian says. Officials tried to stop foreign journalists from covering the protests. In protests last Friday, pro-regime militiamen opened fire immediately on the marchers, killing and wounding a still unknown number.
9) Many foreign workers in a work camp were left behind in Libya as international companies closed up shop and embassies evacuated their employees, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Since reports circulated that Qaddafi hired black African mercenaries to kill opposition forces, several suspected mercenaries have been caught, beaten, and even killed, and many black Africans are afraid to leave the work camp. Libyan volunteers have evacuated 600 workers from the camp to the Egyptian border.
Yemen
10) Witnesses said soldiers opened fire at anti-government protesters Friday in northern Yemen, killing four people, AP reports. Soldiers in an army post opened fire with heavy machine guns, believing the protesters were trying to attack the post, according to the witnesses.
Saudi Arabia
11) Demonstrators protested in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province on Friday to demand the release of Shiite prisoners, CNN reports. A Shiite prayer leader who demonstrators say was arrested last Friday was a focal point of the protest, said the president of the Human Rights First Society. Sheikh Tawfeeq Al-Amer was arrested Friday after a sermon stating that Saudi Arabia should become a constitutional monarchy.
Tunisia
12) Tunisia’s interim president said an election will be held July 24 to appoint a council charged with rewriting the constitution, Reuters reports.
Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) Retired Brass Oppose Libya Action
Pentagon rushes to draw up options for president’s review
Rowan Scarborough, The Washington Times, Thursday, March 3, 2011, 8:07 p.m.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/3/retired-brass-oppose-libya-action/
Former U.S. military officers are warning against any direct military action in Libya and other unsettled Arab nations, as the Pentagon works furiously on a list of options to give the president.
One insider said the Pentagon was "asleep" until about a week ago, when the White House took political heat for dispatching a ferry to pick up stranded Americans in Libya while Britain sent a warship for its citizens. "At least the halls are no longer sleepy in the Pentagon," this official said.
The Pentagon is working on a way to set up a "no-fly" zone to keep Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi from bombing his own people. There is also talk of a humanitarian airlift that would not put any, or a limited number of, U.S. troops on the ground. Also under discussion is whether to advise the rebels controlling eastern Libya.
Retired Air Force Gen. Charles Horner, who ran the 1991 Operation Desert Storm air war, said he would advise the president against everything except some type of humanitarian relief. The U.S. does not know the rebels or their ultimate objectives, he said.
"I don’t think you want to get involved in a civil war in Libya," Gen. Horner said. "The no-fly zone, all you’re doing is taking away the Libyan air force’s ability to attack insurgents from the air. When you don’t know what’s going on, you don’t stick your nose in it. I wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole."
He said the military could have sent cargo jets from Europe instead of a ferry to evacuate Americans. "The danger is the administration has been accused of screwing everything up with wishy-washy, and probably what they’re doing is desperately flailing trying to appear to be decisive," said the retired four-star general.
James Carafano, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation and a retired Army officer, said the administration should remember the lessons of Somalia, where a humanitarian mission in 1993 ballooned into a futile military battle to subdue tribal rebels and resulted in an embarrassing U.S. withdrawal.
The fear is, he said, "this administration will do something not because it necessarily makes sense in a credible, feasible, suitable standpoint, but because the pressure is so intense that they do something for the sake of doing something, which is a huge mistake."
"I’m not yet convinced that a no-fly zone makes sense," Mr. Carafano said. "They look at this no-fly zone as some sort of easy button, but are you encouraging people who are going to be as bad as Gadhafi to rise up?
"This, to me, is looking more and more like Somalia. You get people who are very conservative saying, ‘Well, we should jump in there because, if we don’t, it will make America look weak-kneed.’
"But the problem with these guys [in the Obama administration] is they’ll respond to that and jump in and then they’ll get a black eye like Lebanon or Somalia and then they’ll pull out. And then that’s even a bigger damage to U.S. prestige," he said.
[…]
2) Obama Open To Military Role In Libya If Crisis Worsens
Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, Friday, March 4, 2011; 6:58 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/03/AR2011030305420.html
President Obama said Thursday that he had ordered plans giving the U.S. military "full capacity to act, potentially rapidly," in Libya if the situation there deteriorates.
"I don’t want us hamstrung," Obama said. He cited the possibility of a humanitarian crisis, or "a situation in which defenseless civilians were finding themselves trapped and in great danger," or "a stalemate that over time could be bloody" if Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi continues to resist international demands that he step down.
Gaddafi "has lost legitimacy to lead, and he must leave," the president said.
But in his first public statement on Libya since the outbreak of widespread armed conflict between opposition forces and those loyal to Gaddafi, Obama expressed several notes of caution, stressing that the United States must act only "in consultation . . . with the international community."
"The region will be watching carefully to make sure we’re on the right side of history," Obama said at a White House news conference with visiting Mexican President Felipe Calderon. As with Egypt and Tunisia, he said, U.S. interests were best served if the United States was not seen as engineering or imposing a particular outcome.
[…] Meanwhile, at least some international leaders appeared chastened by warnings from their military forces that intervention would be complicated and fraught with uncertainty. Although the United States, Britain, France, Canada and others have indicated they would participate, if conditions warranted, Italy and Germany, among others, have said they would not.
At the United Nations and at NATO headquarters, diplomats and officials said that no decisions were pending and that no meetings were scheduled to discuss options on Libya. "We’re not proposing a no-fly zone. We’re simply proposing the planning," British Foreign Secretary William Hague told the BBC. "None of these options are pain-free or simple."
"If there’s a debate, it’s over to what extent we should now decide how we’re going to make a decision, if, in fact, we’re going to decide," said a NATO official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.
The Obama administration and its European allies have indicated that they would not act without authorization from the U.N. Security Council. Last weekend, that body unanimously adopted tough economic sanctions against Libya and warned it would not tolerate human rights abuses.
Arab and African governments have expressed serious reservations about granting the authority to use force, as has Russia. China’s U.N. envoy, Li Baodong, told reporters Wednesday that Beijing wants the dispute to be resolved through dialogue.
Also Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned against what he called "loose talk" about the ease of establishing a no-fly zone. "Let’s just call a spade a spade," Gates said. "A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya."
[…] Although there were no reports of outright dissension among policymakers, several senior administration officials said they read Gates’s comments, and similar statements by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as aimed at blocking a military role in Libya.
[…]
3) Obama Tells Qaddafi To Quit And Authorizes Refugee Airlifts
Mark Landler, New York Times, March 3, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/world/africa/04president.html
Washington – President Obama demanded Thursday that the embattled Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, "step down from power and leave" immediately, and said he would consider a full range of options to stem the bloodshed there, though he did not commit the United States to any direct military action.
In his most forceful response to the near-civil war in Libya, Mr. Obama said the United States would consider imposing a "no-flight zone" over the country – a step his defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, warned a day earlier would carry major risks, requiring the United States to destroy Libya’s air defenses.
[…] The president’s remarks illustrate the dilemma confronting the White House: Libya now looks less like a Facebook-fueled rebellion and more like an African civil war of the kind that the United States has tried to avoid. With forces loyal to Colonel Qaddafi staging a desperate counterattack to seize rebel-controlled cities, Mr. Obama acknowledged that Libya could descend into a bloody stalemate.
In such a situation, there are few realistic – let alone attractive – military options for the United States, which is already entangled in two other wars. Even limited options, like a no-flight-zone intended to prevent Libyan planes from shooting at their own people, are drawing opposition from some European allies, and would be unlikely to win the approval of the United Nations Security Council.
[…] For Mr. Obama, the lack of good options may also be reflected in the uneven political pressure he is getting from Congress. Two early proponents of military action in Libya, Senators John McCain and Joseph I. Lieberman, muted their comments in a joint appearance on Thursday at the Brookings Institution. "We are not advocating military at this time," said Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona. "We are not calling for military assistance to a provisional government at this time."
On Sunday, Mr. Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, said the United States should provide the rebels with weapons. But on Thursday, he said that was merely one thing on a "menu of things."
[…] "There is a danger of a stalemate that over time could be bloody," Mr. Obama said. "And that is something that we’re obviously considering. So what I want to make sure of is, is that the United States has full capacity to act – potentially rapidly – if the situation deteriorates in such a way that you had a humanitarian crisis."
Mr. Obama said the United States would work with other countries in any broader effort. And he said he said had told the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies to examine all the options, adding, "I don’t want us hamstrung."
Still, the president made it clear that he would prefer to stick to relief efforts and keep American troops outside the borders. "One of the extraordinary successes of Egypt was the full ownership that the Egyptian people felt for that transformation," Mr. Obama said. "That has served the Egyptian people well; it serves U.S. interests well."
4) U.S. Prepares For Possible Rise Of New Islamist Regimes
Scott Wilson, Washington Post, Friday, March 4, 2011; 12:00 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/03/AR2011030305531.html
The Obama administration is preparing for the prospect that Islamist governments will take hold in North Africa and the Middle East, acknowledging that the popular revolutions there will bring a more religious cast to the region’s politics.
The administration is already taking steps to distinguish between various movements in the region that promote Islamic law in government. An internal assessment, ordered by the White House last month, identified large ideological differences between such movements as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and al-Qaeda that will guide the U.S. approach to the region.
"We shouldn’t be afraid of Islam in the politics of these countries," said a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal policy deliberations. "It’s the behavior of political parties and governments that we will judge them on, not their relationship with Islam."
[…] Paul Pillar, a longtime CIA analyst who now teaches at Georgetown University, said, "Most of the people in the intelligence community would see things on this topic very similarly to the president – that is, political Islam as a very diverse series of ideologies, all of which use a similar vocabulary, but all quite different."
"The main challenge President Obama will face is a political challenge from across the aisle, and one reinforced by Israel," said Pillar, whose portfolio included the Middle East.
As the Arab revolutions unfold, the White House is studying various Islamist movements, identifying ideological differences for clues to how they might govern in the short and long term.
The White House’s internal assessment, dated Feb. 16, looked at the Muslim Brotherhood’s and al-Qaeda’s views on global jihad, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the United States, Islam in politics, democracy and nationalism, among others.
The report draws sharp distinctions between the ambitions of the two groups, suggesting that the Brotherhood’s mix of Islam and nationalism make it a far different organization than al-Qaeda, which sees national boundaries as obstacles to restoring the Islamic caliphate.
The study also concludes that the Brotherhood criticizes the United States largely for what it perceives as America’s hypocritical stance toward democracy – promoting it rhetorically but supporting leaders such as Mubarak.
"If our policy can’t distinguish between al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, we won’t be able to adapt to this change," the senior administration official said. "We’re also not going to allow ourselves to be driven by fear."
[…]
5) Soldier In Leaks Case Was Jailed Naked, Lawyer Says
Charlie Savage, New York Times, March 3, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/us/04manning.html
Washington – A lawyer for Pfc. Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst accused of leaking secret government files to WikiLeaks, has complained that his client was stripped and left naked in his cell for seven hours on Wednesday.
The conditions of Private Manning’s confinement at the Marine brig in Quantico, Va., have drawn criticism in recent months from supporters and his lawyer, David E. Coombs.
The soldier’s clothing was returned to him Thursday morning, after he was required to stand naked outside his cell during an inspection, Mr. Coombs said in a posting on his Web site.
"This type of degrading treatment is inexcusable and without justification," Mr. Coombs wrote. "It is an embarrassment to our military justice system and should not be tolerated. Pfc. Manning has been told that the same thing will happen to him again tonight. No other detainee at the brig is forced to endure this type of isolation and humiliation."
[…] Private Manning is being held as a maximum security detainee under a special set of restrictions intended to prevent self-injury, even though supporters say there is no evidence that he is suicidal.
[…] Also, earlier on Thursday, one of Private Manning’s friends, David House, said in a conference call with reporters that he had visited the soldier the previous weekend and that his mental condition was severely deteriorating as a result of being confined to his cell 23 hours a day, with one hour to exercise in an empty room, and largely isolated from human contact. But Mr. House said that Private Manning did not seem suicidal and contended that he was being pressured to cooperate.
[…]
Iraq
6) Protesters say Maliki is using special security forces to shut down demonstrations in Iraq
Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post, Friday, March 4, 2011; 12:00 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/03/AR2011030304953.html
Baghdad – Among the revolts sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, Iraq’s has been an exception: Here, protesters are seeking to reform a democratically elected government, not to topple an autocrat.
But protesters, human rights workers and security officials say the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has responded to Iraq’s demonstrations in much the same way as many of its more authoritarian neighbors: with force.
Witnesses in Baghdad and as far north as Kirkuk described watching last week as security forces in black uniforms, tracksuits and T-shirts roared up in trucks and Humvees, attacked protesters, rounded up others from cafes and homes and hauled them off, blindfolded, to army detention centers.
Entire neighborhoods – primarily Sunni areas where residents are generally opposed to Maliki – were blockaded to prevent residents from joining the demonstrations. Journalists were beaten.
In most cases, regular soldiers and police officers simply stood aside, with one saying the matter was "beyond us." In all, 29 people were killed.
"Maliki is starting to act like Saddam Hussein, to use the same fear, to plant it inside Iraqis who criticize him," said Salam Mohammed al-Segar, a human rights activist who was among those beaten during a sit-in. "The U.S. must feel embarrassed right now – it is they who promised a modern state, a democratic state. But in reality?" He shook his head.
Last Friday, the U.S. Embassy here issued a statement saying that security forces appeared to have followed Maliki’s directive to allow peaceful protests. As reports emerged Saturday of the beaten journalists, the White House issued a statement saying that U.S. officials were "deeply troubled." The U.S. Embassy has declined to comment further.
[…] In a news conference this week, Maliki denied detaining any protesters, apart from four journalists who were beaten and released. He said the violence would be investigated, blaming some of it on other journalists, former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party and al-Qaeda operatives. He questioned the motives of some demonstrators, saying that security forces were deployed to prevent suicide bombings.
But those who were targeted say Maliki is increasingly using special security forces to punish critics and political opponents.
Segar and his colleagues said they were attacked on the night of Feb. 20. A group of journalists and human rights activists who were inspired by events in Egypt, they had set up a tent in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square and planned to stay until the government acknowledged demands that included an end to corruption and better services. They sang songs and recited poetry.
About midnight, Segar and others said, the Iraqi army and police officers who had been guarding the group – and with whom the protesters had become friendly – suddenly withdrew. The lights shining on the square dimmed.
About 15 minutes later, Segar said, several trucks and sport-utility vehicles arrived with 60 to 70 men, some wearing T-shirts, others in tracksuits, and many in military boots. "I told one of them, ‘We received permission, orally, from the military force,’ " Segar said, referring to the soldiers who had been protecting them. "And he said, ‘There is no army here. Where is the army?’ Only Allah could protect us."
The security forces began attacking the protesters, many of whom were asleep. They stabbed them in the buttocks, legs and faces with knives, beat them with sticks, plastic chairs and boots, and chased them into the darkened alleys and streets, Segar said.
Later in the week, at least two Humvees delivered a similarly clad force to the office of the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, which advocates for press freedoms. The men ransacked the office, carting off computers and files.
On Thursday, residents from a predominantly Sunni area of Baghdad known as Dora said that army and police officers who usually protect their area withdrew from their posts and that members of an unfamiliar security force wearing black uniforms and plain clothes arrived and began knocking on doors. "They were telling people, ‘You are prohibited from going to the demonstration,’ " said Nidhal al-Azawi, a local organizer for Allawi’s party. "They took peoples’ identification to prevent them from going."
[…]
Egypt
7) New Premier Speaks in Cairo Square
Anthony Shadid, New York Times, March 4, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/world/middleeast/05egypt.html
Cairo – Carried on the shoulders of protesters who claimed him as their own, Egypt’s new prime minister waded into a crowd of tens of thousands in Tahrir Square on Friday, delivering a speech bereft of regal bombast that illustrated the reach of Egypt’s nascent revolution and the breadth of demonstrators’ demands that remain unanswered. "I am here to draw my legitimacy from you," Prime Minister Essam Sharaf told the raucous, flag-waving assembly. "You are the ones to whom legitimacy belongs."
Even some protesters dismissed the speech as the savvy move of an ambitious politician in a time fraught with anxiety. Yet it was perhaps the symbolism itself that said the most about Friday’s moment when, just a day after his appointment, an Egyptian leader chose to make his first stop the square that helped topple his predecessor.
The burst of euphoria that greeted uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt has faded somewhat, amid the bloodshed in Libya and the retrenchment of governments in Yemen and Bahrain. But protesters said Mr. Sharaf’s appearance illustrated the new, if hesitant calculus in the Arab world: the power of protests – or, simply, the expression of popular demands – to bring about change long left to a clique of officials around Arab strongmen.
The sentiment coursed through the protest Friday, which rivaled some of the more modest days of the 18-day Egyptian uprising. In a celebratory atmosphere that was tinged with anger and resolve, the demonstrators seized the opportunity to demand Mr. Sharaf undertake far deeper change than the largely cosmetic reforms Egypt’s military rulers have parceled out since taking power from President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11.
[…] His challenges, though, remain vast, not least in choosing new figures as foreign, interior and justice ministers. Other demands – from dismantling more odious police forces to freeing thousands of political prisoners – may be beyond his purview in a landscape where the military, in almost uncontested fashion, makes the decisions.
[…]
Libya
8) Libya protests break out after Friday prayers
Clashes as demonstrators gather in Tajura area of Tripoli
Peter Beaumont, Guardian, Friday 4 March 2011 18.35 GMT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/04/libya-protests-gaddafi-tripoli
Security forces have used teargas and live ammunition to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters who marched in Tripoli after Friday prayers, as Muammar Gaddafi’s regime launched a fightback on several fronts.
[…] In Tripoli, several hundred demonstrators gathered in Tajura, chanting: "Gaddafi is the enemy of God."
Protesters tore down posters of the Libyan leader and spraypainted walls with graffiti reading: "Down with Gaddafi" and "Tajura will dig your grave."
Scores of police cars descended on the area, forcing journalists from the scene, and at least one person was detained.
Soon after the march began, officers fired teargas at the crowd. The protesters scattered, but quickly regrouped before security forces fired live ammunition, scattering the protesters again. It was not immediately clear if the shots had been fired in the air or at the marchers.
"I am not afraid," one marcher told Associated Press. The 29-year-old said one of his relatives had been shot dead in protests a week ago – not by militias, but by a pro-Gaddafi infiltrator at the demonstrations. "There are many spies among us. But we want to show the world that we are not afraid," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fears of retaliation.
Earlier, security officials set up checkpoints in Tripoli backed by tanks and armoured personnel carriers. The checkpoints blocking many of the routes into Tajura, where demonstrations took place last week, were manned by well-trained forces who subjected vehicles to thorough searches.
Officials tried to stop foreign journalists leaving their hotel in Tripoli, claiming it was for their protection, but later allowed them out, although they were not permitted to go to Tajura.
The opposition called for protesters to march out of mosques after noon prayers in demonstrations against Gaddafi, who has vowed to fight to the "last man and bullet". In protests last Friday, pro-regime militiamen opened fire immediately on the marchers, killing and wounding a still unknown number. Since then, Gaddafi forces have seized suspected dissidents in night raids. Bodies of people who disappeared have been left in the street and militiamen have searched hospitals for the wounded to take away.
[…]
9) Mistaken for mercenaries, Africans are trapped in Libya
African workers left behind as international companies evacuate and African embassies close are trapped in a Benghazi camp, too afraid to take the trek to Egypt’s border.
Clare Morgana Gillis, Christian Science Monitor, March 3, 2011 at 5:37 pm EST
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/0303/Mistaken-for-mercenaries-Africans-are-trapped-in-Libya
Benghazi, Libya – Up a muddy clay road next to the University of Gar Younis in Benghazi lies a work camp, with some 52 rows of white prefabricated housing surrounded by a fence. Dozens of Africans greet visitors eagerly, "Are you from the UN? Are you here to help us? Please help us, we need help."
These foreign workers, left behind as international companies close up shop and embassies evacuate their employees, are in a double bind.
Libyans don’t trust them, and they don’t trust the Libyans. Since reports circulated that Qaddafi hired African mercenaries to kill opposition forces, several suspected mercenaries have been caught, beaten, and even killed, and many of the Africans in this camp fear stepping foot outside the compound.
"We can’t go out on the street here," says Salu Abdulyakini, an electrician from Ghana who has worked for a Turkish construction company for more than two years. The managers of his company left the country on Feb. 19, after violent attacks in Benghazi left around 100 dead and over a thousand injured.
After the managers of the work camp left, looters attacked. They destroyed offices and broke open safes. "They shot in the air to make us afraid, they took everything. They even took our food!" says Mr. Abdulyakini, adding that it was no safer in the streets of Benghazi. "One friend of ours went to town at 10 in the morning to buy something, and two Libyans attacked him with knives and took all his money. Other people have been threatened, ‘We’ll kill you.’ "
Between 2,500 and 3,000 African and South Asian guest workers and illegal migrants are staying in the Gar Younis camp waiting to get out of the country.
[…] The Libyan volunteers evacuated approximately 600 people on a recent night in a bus convoy with armed drivers. This is the third such trip from the camp at Gar Younis. No security incidents have been reported, and so far everyone has been able to cross the border into Egypt.
[…]
Yemen
10) Witnesses: Army kills 4 in northern Yemen protest
Ahmed al-Haj, Associated Press, Friday, March 4, 2011; 7:43 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/04/AR2011030401080.html
Sanaa, Yemen – Soldiers opened fire at anti-government protesters Friday in northern Yemen, killing four people and wounding seven as demonstrations against longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh again turned deadly.
Yemen has been rocked by weeks of daily anti-government protests, inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and tens of thousands turned out in cities across the country calling for the ouster of Saleh, a key U.S. ally in the campaign against the al-Qaida terror network. He has promised to step down after national elections in 2013, an offer rejected by protesters.
Witnesses said the shootings in the town of Harf Sofyan occurred as soldiers tried to disperse thousands who took to the main street for Friday prayers.
Soldiers in an army post opened fire with heavy machine guns, believing the protesters were trying to attack the post, according to the witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal.
Protesters threw rocks at the troops and called for Saleh to step down, shouting: "Leave! Leave!"
The town, located in Amran province, is a significant base for the Hawthi Shiite tribesmens who have waged an on-and-off struggle against the government for the last six years.
In the capital of Sanaa, tens of thousands assembled near Sanaa University to urge Saleh’s ouster. Security forces watched the gathering closely, but it was not violent. For the first time, the protesters included hundreds of women, filling a square and nearby streets.
In the southern city of Aden, tens of thousands of people carried the coffins of three people killed last week. Speakers at Friday prayers focused on the fall of the regime.
The main speaker during prayers at Sanaa University, Yahia Hussein al-Deilami, told the gathering that "deposing a tyrant is a religious duty." Al-Deilami, a leader of the Shiite Hawthis, was sentenced to death three years ago but was pardoned by Saleh after the government reached agreement with the Hawthi rebels.
[…] Al-Deilami praised the youth revolution in Libya "against the tyrant Moammar Gadhafi" while crowds chanted for Saleh to resign – just like former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. "Ali, Ali before (the fall of) Moammar! Ali, Ali after Mubarak’s fall!"
[…]
Saudi Arabia
11) Demonstrators in Saudi Arabia demand prisoners’ release
CNN, March 4, 2011
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/03/04/saudi.arabia.protest/
Demonstrators protested in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province on Friday to demand the release of Shiite prisoners they feel are being held unjustly.
An outspoken Shiite prayer leader who demonstrators say was arrested last Friday was a focal point of the "day of rage" protest, said Ibrahim al-Mugaiteeb, president of the Human Rights First Society.
Sheikh Tawfeeq Al-Amer was arrested Friday after a sermon stating that Saudi Arabia should become a constitutional monarchy, al-Mugaiteeb said.
[…] The protest comes on the heels of two similar demonstrations held in the province Thursday, al-Mugaiteeb said, when about 200 protesters in the city of Qatif and 100 protesters in the city of Awamiyya called for the release of Shiite prisoners.
Al-Mugaiteeb said authorities arrested 22 people who participated in Thursday’s protest in Qatif. "We deplore this action by the Saudi security forces," he said.
Another protest took place in Riyadh after Friday prayer, according to two Saudi activists. The sources asked not to be identified because of concerns for their safety.
According to the activists, as many as 40 anti-government demonstrators gathered outside Al-Rajhi Mosque for a short protest. At least one man involved in organizing the protest was arrested by Saudi police, the activists said.
Tunisia
12) Tunisia interim president Fouad Mebazaa calls for election
Reuters, Thursday, March 3, 2011; 8:31 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/03/AR2011030305422.html
Tunis – Tunisia’s interim president said Thursday that an election will be held July 24 to appoint a council charged with rewriting the constitution after the ousting of the country’s longtime leader.
In a televised speech, interim President Fouad Mebazaa said he and the caretaker government will stay in power until the election is held.
A source close to the president’s office said that once elected, the constitutional council could either appoint a new government or ask the current executive to carry on until presidential or parliamentary elections are held.
[…]
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