Just Foreign Policy News
March 3, 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:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h780/show
You can ask your Rep. to co-sponsor here:
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/hr780
Beverly Bell: In Haiti, Land Reform as a Pillar of Reconstruction
Bev talks to Ronel Thelusmond, director of the technical division of the National Institute for the Application of Agrarian Reform (INARA), part of the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beverly-bell/in-haiti-land-reform-as-pillar-reconstruction_b_830878.html
Amplification re Pete Seeger and BDS:
In yesterday’s JFP News, we included a Haaretz article that reported that Pete Seeger had endorsed the BDS movement. An associate of Seeger’s wrote JFP to say that he thought the Haaretz article misrepresented Seeger’s position; the associate says Seeger opposes Israeli settlements in the West Bank and supports economic campaigns against them but is conflicted about the BDS call. The associate says he has requested a clarification from Ha’aretz; if there is one, we will link to it in this space.
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Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) What you read of events often close to Tripoli, filtered through opposition voices, is frequently equally as misleading as Libyan government propaganda, writes Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor at the Observer, in the Guardian. Pitched battles are described breathlessly as if they were major confrontations. Beaumont says he has read of helicopter attacks on civilians in neighborhoods of the capital and the bombing of outlying towns, but so far has not found evidence of it. Gaddafi can no more quickly attack Benghazi with his armour than the rebels can advance on Tripoli in sufficient numbers to force the issue decisively, he writes. This matters, he writes, because the threat of military intervention is being driven by what the media is reporting from Libya, and that is being driven largely by reports from the opposition, some of which are true, some of them dubious.
2) U.S. officials are beginning to talk about the possibility of keeping some troops in Iraq beyond 2011, complicating the Pentagon’s plans to rein in military spending, the Wall Street Journal reports. The administration’s budget request assumed a full military withdrawal, the Journal notes.
Charles Knight of the Project on Defense Alternatives said "overseas contingency operations" funds for special wartime spending are "an under-budgeted hole in the budget projections." Knight noted that the administration’s budget forecasts through 2021 include a "placeholder" war-spending figure of $50 billion per year, suggesting budget planners expect some kind of U.S. military involvement overseas for some time to come. "It could remain above $50 billion for quite a while, especially considering the way things are going in Afghanistan," he said.
3) Veteran Israeli diplomat Ilan Baruch quit the Israeli government, saying he could no long represent Israel because of its policies towards the Palestinians, Ynet reports, citing Yedioth Ahronoth. He criticized the tendency in Israel to characterize "the objection expressed by global public opinion to the occupation policy as anti-Semitic," saying "experience shows that this global trend won’t change until we normalize our relations with the Palestinians."
4) The Army has brought new charges – including one that carries the death penalty – against Bradley Manning, the Washington Post reports. Prosecutors would not seek Manning’s execution if he were convicted of the capital offense of "aiding the enemy," officials said. The decision means Manning would face life in prison if convicted of all charges, the Post says.
Libya
5) Experts say Qaddafi retains enough support among critical tribes and institutions that he might be able to retain power in Tripoli for some time to come, the New York Times reports. They suggest that eastern Libya, which was first to fall to the opposition, was always considered the most rebellious part of the country. But tribes in the other important areas of Libya remain nominally loyal to the regime. "Qaddafi has retained significant elements of the army and lost the elements he was always afraid he could lose, those affiliated with tribes he had targeted," one expert said.
6) The head of the UN refugee agency said it was proving a "logistical nightmare" to help tens of thousands of migrant workers fleeing Libya in a desperate crush on the Tunisian border, the New York Times reports. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the number of refugees leaving Tunisia – 5,000 on Wednesday – were dwarfed by the numbers still pouring in from Libya, estimated on Wednesday at almost 10,000. "We are far from guaranteeing minimum conditions for these people," he said.
The World Food Program said it was launching a $38.7 million operation to feed up to 2.7 million people in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, calculating that some 600,000 people in Libya may need extra food in the weeks to come, along with 150,000 in Tunisia and Egypt. A spokesman for the WFP said the crisis could have a "knock-on effect" in Egypt since many migrant workers fleeing Libya came from poor places. As they returned home, they would have a "double impact on households with an extra mouth to feed" and without the remittances that migrant workers customarily send to their families.
Iran
7) Secretary of State Clinton was challenged by Congressional Republicans on her December statement that the US could accept a verifiably peaceful enrichment program in Iran if the country allays international concerns about its nuclear program, NIAC reports. She reiterated the Administration’s position. Non-proliferation experts have warned that a return to the Bush Administration’s zero enrichment position would pose unrealistic obstacles to a resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue and have supported the Obama Administration’s stance, NIAC notes.
Several Republicans also challenged the State Department’s designation of the Iranian MEK as a terrorist organization. Iran’s Green Movement has publicly denounced the MEK, NIAC notes.
Yemen
8) A coalition of Yemeni opposition groups has proposed a plan to end the country’s political crisis that would involve embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh stepping down by the end of the year, AP reports. A Yemeni human rights group said authorities have detained several police officers in the southern city of Aden because they refused to open fire on protesters.
Afghanistan
9) President Karzai said the Afghan government and its Western backers are in contact with Taliban insurgents but it could take one to three years to reach a resolution, Reuters reports. Karzai said he had told his allies the military surge should be scaled back to permit negotiations. "The military is less inclined to accept it (this argument). The political side, the civilian side, is more inclined to it," he said.
Egypt
10) Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, who was appointed by Mubarak, resigned on Thursday, bowing to one of the demands of Egypt’s opposition movement, the New York Times reports. Other demands which have yet to be met include an end to Egypt’s state of emergency, the dismantling of the country’s feared state security service, and the release of political prisoners jailed during the tenure of former President Mubarak.
Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) Libya is not helped by this prism of propaganda
Media talk of tank battles and swooping bombers is inflating an already serious situation – with dangerous consequences
Peter Beaumont, Guardian, Thursday 3 March 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/03/libya-prism-propaganda-media-talk-battles
[Peter Beaumont is foreign affairs editor at the Observer.]
Sitting in Tripoli is to be disconnected from reality. There is the propaganda effort from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime that sometimes would verge on the ridiculous if the situation were not so tragic. This is a phenomenon that has been well documented by the media camped here at the regime’s invitation.
But there is another disconnect. What you read of events often close to the city, filtered through opposition voices, is frequently equally as misleading, creating an impression that has crept its way inexorably into the international media. Pitched battles are described breathlessly as if they were major confrontations – tanks on tanks, brigade on brigade, with the buzz of aircraft always in the air, swooping in to bomb.
In the town of Zawiyah last week – "the key town of Zawiyah", as it has become – a few hours of skirmishes that left a handful of dead was transformed via this prism into a confrontation between two sides armed with tanks. I have read of helicopter attacks on civilians in neighbourhoods of the capital; the bombing of outlying towns. Yet – for now at least – I have not found evidence of it. What I have found is serious enough. Opposition supporters in a government-controlled town who say they are fearful of their lives if they speak out, and the graves of those killed fighting in Zawiyah.
[…] So here is the reality. Gaddafi can no more quickly attack Benghazi with his armour than the rebels can advance on Tripoli in sufficient numbers to force the issue decisively. For either side to move the hundreds of kilometres to come into contact would require a huge logistical operation using tank and armour carriers which could not drive the long distances and still be ready to fight.
Why this matters is simple. Foreign policy – including the increasing threat of military intervention – is being driven by what the media is reporting from Libya, and that is being driven largely by reports from the opposition, some of which are true, some of them dubious. The Libyan government says that. But for once, in the midst of all the regime’s evasions, lies and fantastical notions, it may just have a point.
We are being drawn into a crisis where credible information about so much of what is happening is not simply at a premium, it is often impossible to mine from among all the exaggerations and misinformation. If proof of this were necessary, it was provided by the foreign secretary, William Hague, when he announced he had information that suggested Gaddafi had flown to Venezuela.
The reality is that we are rushing to make policy on Libya without knowing precisely what is happening here. That is not to say we do not know some of the broad details. Yes, people are being killed for demonstrating against the regime. People, too, are being taken from their homes amid a widespread policy of intimidation. Human rights abuses are unquestionably being committed. But it is a question of scale. And there is a requirement for a response that fits the reality of what is happening and does not exacerbate the country’s problems, or the region’s.
We should admit our ignorance and own it as we try to determine what is happening in Libya. When we have determined the reality of what we are dealing with then perhaps, and only then, can we talk seriously about appropriate measures to respond to it.
2) Longer Iraq Stay To Crimp Savings
Nathan Hodge, Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703610604576158462229510324.html
U.S. officials are beginning to talk about the possibility of keeping some troops in Iraq beyond 2011, complicating the Pentagon’s plans to rein in military spending.
Under a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement, all troops are to be withdrawn by the end of the year, leaving only 157 uniformed and civilian military personnel and several hundred contractors to oversee arms sales. At present, almost 50,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq.
In a recent congressional hearing, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the U.S. government was "very open to a continuing presence that would be larger where we could help the Iraqis for a period of time." The Iraqis have not made such a request, but Mr. Gates said that Iraqi forces will not be completely self-sufficient by year’s end and may need help in defending their air space and running intelligence and logistics.
The Pentagon did not provide details about how many troops Mr. Gates believes should remain. "There have been a number of informal conversations with the Iraqis about this," he said.
The administration’s budget request assumed a full military withdrawal. For the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, the president is seeking just $11 billion for military operations in Iraq, out of total war funding of around $118 billion, most of which is for operations in Afghanistan.
That reflects a sharp reduction from previous years. At the height of the U.S. military "surge" that began in 2007, the annual budget for the Iraq war alone was around $148 billion.
As U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq, the administration plans to hire a large private security force to protect around 1,000 diplomats and civil servants stationed at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and in regional offices around the country. A senior State Department official said last month that the cost of hiring those guards represented a "large portion" of an anticipated $5.2 billion budget for diplomatic operations in Iraq in fiscal 2012.
[…] The Pentagon is already under pressure to arrest growth in military spending, which has doubled over the past decade. But budget experts question whether the Department of Defense can realize those savings, especially when officials are talking about a longer stay in Iraq.
[…] Charles Knight, co-director of the Project on Defense Alternatives, a group that advocates reduced military spending, said "overseas contingency operations" funds for special wartime spending are "an under-budgeted hole in the budget projections."
Mr. Knight noted that the administration’s budget forecasts through 2021 include a "placeholder" war-spending figure of $50 billion per year, suggesting budget planners expect some kind of U.S. military involvement overseas for some time to come. "It could remain above $50 billion for quite a while, especially considering the way things are going in Afghanistan," he said.
3) Diplomat: I can no longer represent Israel
Veteran diplomat Ilan Baruch quits, says he can no longer represent government; Israel’s foreign policy is ‘wrong,’ he says, adds that blaming global anti-occupation views on anti-Semitism is ‘simplistic, artificial’
Ynet, 03.02.11
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4036889,00.html
Foreign Ministry earthquake: A veteran diplomat says he has resigned from his post because he had a hard time defending the policies of Israel’s current government, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday.
Ilan Baruch says he quit because "Israel’s foreign policy is wrong," pointing to the Palestinian issue. Should this trend continue, he warned, Israel will turn into a pariah state and face growing de-legitimization.
Baruch told Israel TV Wednesday that Israel’s standing was in danger because of its policies, which he said were "difficult to explain."
"I can no longer honestly represent this government," he said earlier. "As (Foreign Minister) Lieberman was elected by a large public in a legitimate manner, I cannot question him – but I don’t have to serve him, and therefore I’m quitting."
"I have nothing against Lieberman the person," Baruch added. However, he said he had a problem with the diplomatic messages conveyed by the Jewish state at this time and its dismissal of former understandings pertaining to the Road Map and the Palestinians.
Baruch sent a personal letter to all Foreign Ministry employees Tuesday to explain the motives for his decision. "Identifying the objection expressed by global public opinion to the occupation policy as anti-Semitic is simplistic, provincial and artificial," he wrote. "Experience shows that this global trend won’t change until we normalize our relations with the Palestinians."
A more than 30-year veteran, Baruch resigned a few years before the usual retirement age. His last overseas posting was ambassador to South Africa last year. He quit several months ago. The longtime diplomat lost an eye during the War of Attrition and joined the Foreign Service in 1974.
[…]
4) Alleged Leaker Manning Faces 22 New Charges
Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post, Wednesday, March 2, 2011; 8:52 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/02/AR2011030206272.html
The Army has brought new charges – including one that carries the death penalty – against Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, a former intelligence analyst accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents to the anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks.
But prosecutors would not seek Manning’s execution if he were convicted of the capital offense of "aiding the enemy," officials said Wednesday in a statement that outlined the 22 charges.
[…] The decision means that Manning, if convicted of all charges, would face a maximum punishment of life in prison, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, a reduction in rank to the lowest enlisted pay grade, E-1, and a dishonorable discharge, officials said.
Manning’s supporters reacted to the new charges with dismay. "I’m shocked that the military opted to charge Pfc. Bradley Manning today with the capital offense of ‘aiding the enemy,’ " said Jeff Paterson, project director of Courage to Resist, which has raised money for Manning’s defense. "While the military is downplaying the fact, the option to execute Bradley has been placed on the table."
Paterson added that "it’s beyond ironic that leaked U.S. State Department cables have contributed to revolution and revolt" in the Middle East, "yet an American may be executed, or at best face life in prison, for being the primary whistleblower."
[…] In the wake of releases of classified documents by WikiLeaks, some lawmakers have called for the death penalty for Manning. But the prosecution’s decision not to seek the death penalty makes such a sentence highly unlikely.
Libya
5) Even A Weakened Qaddafi May Be Hard To Dislodge
Steven Erlanger, New York Times, March 1, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/world/africa/02tribes.html
Paris – The regime of the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, has been badly undermined, but he retains enough support among critical tribes and institutions, including parts of the army and the air force, that he might be able to retain power in the capital, Tripoli, for some time to come, say experts on Libya and its military.
They caution that the situation on the ground is both fluid and confusing. But they emphasize that tribal loyalties remain an important indicator, and that there is no clear geographical dividing line between the opponents to Colonel Qaddafi and his supporters.
They suggest that eastern Libya, which was first to fall to the opposition, was always considered the most rebellious part of the country and had been starved of funds and equipment by Colonel Qaddafi. The region, known as Cyrenaica, was an Italian colony and the heartland of the Senussi tribe that produced the monarch, King Idris I, who was overthrown by Colonel Qaddafi and his army colleagues in 1969.
But they suggest that tribes in the other important areas of Libya – Tripolitania and Fezzan – remain nominally loyal to the regime. The revolutionaries of 1969 came largely from three tribes – the Qadhadhfa (the colonel’s own ), the Maghraha and the Warfalla – which had been subservient to the Senussis.
The Warfalla are now wavering, with its leaders supporting the opposition, having been implicated in coup attempts in the 1990’s, but its other members split. The other two tribes "still seem loyal so far to the regime, in which they have vested interests," said George Joffé, a scholar of North Africa at Cambridge University in England.
Other tribes in the areas of Fezzan and Tripolitania are "watching and waiting," Mr. Joffé said.
[…] Colonel Qaddafi mistrusted the army and monitored its behavior carefully. He paid particular attention to the units in the rebellious east of the country, starving them of the best equipment and training, which he reserved to more loyal tribes and paramilitary units, said Shashank Joshi, an Associate Fellow at London’s Royal United Services Institute, which specializes in the military.
"The situation is more fluid than we imagine, with Qaddafi capable of launching military operations outside Tripoli," including air force sorties, "and retaining his grip on Sirte," Mr. Joshi said. "Qaddafi has retained significant elements of the army and lost the elements he was always afraid he could lose, those affiliated with tribes he had targeted."
[…] While the colonel is thought to be delusional, he and his commanders have proved capable so far of using their forces with some care, Mr. Joshi said. "There have been no large massacres, air power is being used in a calculated way and he is launching probing attacks" while "making constant efforts in the suburbs of Tripoli to check small gestures of dissent." The struggle in Libya "could go on a long time," Mr. Joshi said. "Tripoli is not a bunker. And this is not the decision-making of a man totally out of touch with reality."
6) Libya Refugee Crisis Called a ‘Logistical Nightmare’
Nadia Shira Cohen and Alan Cowell, New York Times, March 3, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/world/africa/04refugee.html
Ras Ajdir Border Crossing, Tunisia – As an international airlift organized by European nations got underway on Thursday, the head of the United Nations refugee agency said it was proving a "logistical nightmare" to help tens of thousands of migrant workers fleeing Libya in a desperate crush on the Tunisian border.
As the refugees wait – some as long as four days – many are sleeping on dusty concrete and hard-packed dirt, shielded against the cold in blankets handed out by the Tunisian government and aid groups; others have hung the blankets from trees to create makeshift tents.
Britain and France said Wednesday that they would send planes to airlift stranded Egyptians – a majority of the refugees, along with Bangladeshis, sub-Saharan Africans and others – from the Tunisian border. Many Egyptians have headed to the Tunisian border because it is closer to Tripoli, Libya’s capital, where most had worked.
British officials said on Thursday that 800 Egyptians had been flown out of Tunisia on planes chartered by the British government and the plan was to raise that number to 2,000 a day.
The German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, announced that Berlin would send three naval vessels to transport 4,000 Egyptians back to their country, joining the broader European effort to defuse a humanitarian crisis in an area that has often been a springboard for illegal immigration into southern Europe.
[…] After days of chaos at the border, international agencies also seem to be drawing up plans for long-term efforts to deal with the fallout from Libya’s turmoil.
The World Food Program said on Thursday that it was launching a $38.7 million operation to feed up to 2.7 million people in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya itself, calculating that some 600,000 people in Libya may need extra food in the weeks to come, along with 150,000 in Tunisia and Egypt.
Additionally, said Greg Barrow, a spokesman for the World Food Program in Rome, said the crisis could have a "knock-on effect" in Egypt itself since many migrant workers fleeing Libya came from poor places. As they returned home, they would have a "double impact on households with an extra mouth to feed" and without the remittances that migrant workers customarily send to their families.
In a telephone interview, Mr. Barrow said that food aid sent to Libya would arrive in the rebel-held port of Benghazi if shipping companies believed it was safe to dock there. He said Benghazi had been chosen as a likely entry port because the World Food Program already had staff there, while it did not have an office in the capital, Tripoli, which is seen as the stronghold of Col. Muammer el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader. "There is no sense that we are trying to take sides in this," he said.
António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said 40 flights would leave the small Tunisian resort of Djerba on Thursday to take Egyptians home, around 10 more than were reported on Wednesday.
But, he said in an interview with BBC radio, the numbers leaving – 5,000 on Wednesday – were dwarfed by the numbers still pouring in from Libya, estimated on Wednesday at almost 10,000. "It’s a logistical nightmare," he said. "We are far from guaranteeing minimum conditions for these people."
He also said that the latest influx included large numbers of Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans facing much longer journeys to go home. After wealthier nations evacuated their citizens, Mr. Guterres said, "it’s time to help the poor countries bring their nationals back."
[…]
Iran
7) Clinton Testifies on Iran Sanctions, Nuclear Enrichment, and the MEK
NIAC, Thursday, March 3, 2011
http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7111&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1
Washington, DC – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared before separate Congressional panels Tuesday and Wednesday to testify on the State Department’s budget and priorities. The hearings featured a series of pointed exchanges regarding Iran’s nuclear program, US sanctions, and the terrorist designation of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK).
Clinton reiterated the Obama Administration position, first made explicit in an interview with the BBC in December, that the United States, as well as the international community, could accept a verifiably peaceful enrichment program in Iran if the country allays international concerns about its nuclear program.
Responding to Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), Clinton said, "It has been our position that, under very strict conditions, Iran would sometime in the future, having responded to the international community’s concerns and irreversibly shut down its nuclear weapons program, have a right [to enrichment] under IAEA inspection."
Chabot, who is the Chairman of the House Middle East Subcommittee, suggested the US should return to the "zero-enrichment" stance towards Iran adopted under the Bush Administration. He highlighted a Senate letter demanding that the US reject any solution to the Iran nuclear issue that allows a civilian enrichment in Iran. Non-proliferation experts have warned that such a position would pose unrealistic obstacles to a resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue and have supported the Obama Administration’s stance.
Several House Representatives also questioned Clinton regarding the MEK, an organization designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) since the inception of the terrorist list in 1997. Top Democrat on the Terrorism subcommittee, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), was among several Representatives who endorsed removing the group from the list. Sherman has previously said the MEK, which enjoys little support among Iranians because of attacks its carried out against civilians and its allegiance with Saddam Hussein, should not be considered a terrorist organization because "they are enemies of enemies of the United States."
[…] Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), who has introduced a resolution calling for the MEK to be removed from the terror list, compared the organization to other historical opposition movements in the Middle East. Iran’s Green Movement has publicly denounced the MEK and leaders of the opposition like Mehdi Karroubi have warned that the Iranian government seeks to "revive this hypocritical dead organization" to undermine Iran’s Green Movement.
House Foreign Affairs Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) also asked for "US protection of the many residents of Camp Ashraf," the organization’s base in Iraq. While Ros-Lehtinen emphasized an Iranian and Iraqi government role in abuses at Camp Ashraf, Human Rights Watch has reported that MEK leadership actually commits abuses within the camp, including forced separation from family and physical abuse that has led to death. The RAND Corporation has also reported that the MEK is "cult" and that up to 70% of the individuals at Camp Ashraf are held by MEK leadership against their will.
[…]
Yemen
8) Yemeni opposition suggests way out of crisis for President Saleh
Ahmed al-Haj, Associated Press, Thursday, March 3, 2011; 12:30 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/03/AR2011030302847.html
Sanaa, Yemen – A coalition of Yemeni opposition groups has proposed a plan to end the country’s political crisis that would involve embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh stepping down by the end of the year, a spokesman for the group said Thursday.
Mohammed al-Sabri said the opposition sent Saleh the five-point plan, which presents an outline for a peaceful transition of power, through religious scholars on Wednesday. He said the opposition is waiting for a response.
Yemen has been rocked for weeks by daily protests – inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia – against Saleh’s government. Tens of thousands protested in several cities Thursday, including the capital Sanaa, Aden and the central city of Bayda. Security officials said four protesters were wounded in Bayda when government supporters opened fire at their opponents.
Saleh, a key ally in the U.S. campaign against the al-Qaida terror network, has promised to step down after national elections in 2013, an offer rejected by protesters.
[…] Also Thursday, a Yemeni human rights group said authorities have detained several police officers in the southern city of Aden because they refused to open fire on protesters. The Yemeni Organization for the Defense of Rights and Democratic Freedoms quoted the families of the police officers as saying they were told they have been transferred to Sanaa.
[…]
Afghanistan
9) Afghans, Western Backers In Contact With Taliban: Karzai
Adrian Croft, Reuters, Wed Mar 2, 7:41 pm ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110303/wl_nm/us_afghanistan_karzai_1
London – The Afghan government and its Western backers are in contact with Taliban insurgents but it could take one to three years to reach a resolution, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday.
[…] Karzai said his government was in direct conversation with some members of the Taliban, who are waging an increasingly bloody insurgency in Afghanistan. "The contacts are going on. The contacts don’t get to a fixed address unfortunately, because that address is not there," he said, speaking during a visit to Britain where he held talks with Prime Minister David Cameron.
Karzai said contacts were being increasingly channeled through the High Peace Council, set up last year to seek a negotiated end to decades of violence. "At the same time there are contacts by our international partners," he said. Asked if the United States and Britain were talking to the same people the Afghan government was talking to, Karzai said: "There are contacts, but they will not be with the same people."
He said negotiations were just beginning although he hoped they would reach an end point soon. Asked to be more precise, he said: "Unfortunately it doesn’t mean weeks. I wish it did. It doesn’t mean months. It probably will be one or two or three years."
Violence across Afghanistan is at its worst since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 and the insurgency has grown in the past year despite the presence of about 150,000 foreign troops.
The New Yorker magazine reported this month that the United States had entered direct talks with leaders of the Taliban in Afghanistan, but contacts were exploratory and not yet a peace negotiation.
[…] Admitting that there was "friction" with his Western allies over strategy in Afghanistan, Karzai said he had told his allies the military surge should be scaled back to permit negotiations. "The military is less inclined to accept it (this argument). The political side, the civilian side, is more inclined to it," he said.
[…]
Egypt
10) Bowing to Opposition, Egypt Premier Resigns
Liam Stack, New York Times, March 3, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/world/middleeast/04egypt.html
Cairo – Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq resigned on Thursday, bowing to one of the main demands of Egypt’s opposition movement which has demanded his ouster for days from its informal headquarters in a resurrected tent city in Tahrir Square.
Egypt’s transitional military government, which has ruled since the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak on February 11, announced its decision to replace Mr. Shafiq on a Facebook page.
The new prime minister will be Essam Sharaf, who served as transportation minister from 2004 to 2006.
Mr. Shafiq’s resignation was one of several demands protesters said had to be met by the military and comes one day before a planned major demonstration in Tahrir Square to call for the removal all Mubarak-era ministers, including Mr. Shafiq and Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
Other demands which have yet to be met include an end to Egypt’s decades-old state of emergency, the dismantling of the country’s feared state security service, and the release of political prisoners jailed during the 30-year tenure of former President Mubarak.
Mr. Shafiq was appointed prime minister in the final days of Mr. Mubarak’s tenure after anti-government demonstrations forced him to dismiss the entire cabinet on January 29.
Many protesters and opposition figures viewed Mr. Shafiq as tainted by his association with the former president and feared that Mr. Mubarak, who has not been publicly seen or heard from since stepping down, would continue to rule through him.
[…]
–
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