? Arab League says it will maintain sanctions on Syria
? Hillary Clinton to meet Syrian opposition leaders
? Egypt's Salifists mull coalition with Muslim Brotherhood
? Read the latest summary
The Libyan government has vowed to disarm Tripoli by the end of the year, AFP reports:
"The government has promised us to disarm Tripoli by December 31," Abdul Razzak Buhajar, whose city has been inundated by former rebel fighters who ousted Muammar Gaddafi, told reporters.
"They have assured the Tripoli council that the entire city will be disarmed," the council president said after a meeting with Kib and members of the National Transitional Council (NTC) ruling Libya.
Earlier on Tuesday, dozens of protesters blocked off several main roads in Tripoli to demand that fighters from other parts of the country pull out of the capital, which the rebels seized from Gaddafi's forces in August.
On October 5, Libya's new leaders ordered all heavy weapons to be removed from Tripoli, warning that their prolonged presence risked giving a bad image of the revolution which ousted Gaddafi.
Here's video of Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, visiting the Golan Heights and expressing his certainty that the Assad regime will fall.
Barak said:
The Assad regime is losing its grip and is fated to fall whether it takes a few weeks or a few months. This regime that is slaughtering its own people should not survive.
When it falls it will be a serious blow to the radical axis and will alos weaken Hezbollah in Lebanon.
As Clinton meets the Syrian opposition in Geneva, the US state department has explained why the US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, is returning to Damascus:
He will continue the work he was doing previously; namely, delivering the United States' message to the people of Syria; providing reliable reporting on the situation on the ground; and engaging with the full spectrum of Syrian society on how to end the bloodshed and achieve a peaceful political transition. We believe his presence in the country is among the most effective ways to send the message that the United States stands with the people of Syria.
Hillary Clinton has arrived in Geneva for a meeting with Syrian opposition members and has said they will be discussing how ensure minorities are protected.
Sitting across a table from six members of the opposition Syrian National Council, she said:
Obviously, a democratic transition is more than removing the Assad regime. It means setting Syria on the path of the rule of law
We will discuss the work that the council is doing to ensure that their plan is to reach out to all minorities to counter the regime's divide-and-conquer approach, which pits ethnic and religious groups against one another ...
The Syrian opposition that is represented here recognises that Syria's minorities have legitimate questions and concerns about their future and that they need to be assured that Syria will be better off under a regime of tolerance and freedom
.
Human Rights Watch has called on the Bahraini authorities to act quickly to address the "systematic and egregious rights violations" documented by the Bahrain Independent Commision of Inquiry:
As a first step, the government should immediately release hundreds of people wrongfully detained or convicted following unfair trials. And it should investigate high-level officials responsible for serious human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said.
Authorities should void all verdicts issued by the special military courts and drop all charges brought solely because people exercised their right to freely express political opinions and assemble peacefully. Authorities should only try civilians for legitimate criminal offences, before a civilian court meeting international fair trial standards. These standards include the right of defendants to examine the evidence and witnesses against them, and the exclusion of all evidence obtained by torture or ill-treatment, Human Rights Watch said.
"The independent commission's report gives Bahraini authorities an opportunity to remedy some of their gross abuses by releasing all persons convicted or held for exercising their rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "It is crucial for Bahrain to send a strong message that there will be no impunity for the human rights crimes documented by the Bassiouni commission."
Syria claims its border guards blocked 35 "armed terrorists" from crossing into the country from southern Turkey after a gun battle.
The state news agency Sana has this unconfirmed account of what happened:
Border security forces clashed with an armed terrorist group composed of 35 gunmen and prevented them from entering the Syrian territories and wounded a number of them as the rest of the group fled into the Turkish territories.
Sources added that cars were heard taking the wounded gunmen away on the Turkish side, while the Syrian border security forces suffered no losses at all.
The report is sure to worsen already frayed relations between Damascus and Ankara. The Turkish website Zaman reports:
Relations between Syria and Turkey have disintegrated since the government of President Bashar al-Assad began using force to suppress a popular revolt.
Turkey has said a buffer zone may be required on its 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria if the violence causes a mass exodus of Syrians fleeing the cities.
A rebel Free Syrian Army of defectors and Assad opponents is believed to be smuggling fighters and weapons into Syria from Turkey to launch attacks on Assad's forces.
The violence in Homs is becoming increasingly sectarian, according to AP.
Homs-based activist Mohammed Saleh said there was a spate of kidnappings and killings in the city earlier Monday.
Homs and other areas have seen an increasing number of tit-for-tat attacks pitting majority Sunnis against members of President Bashar Assad's minority Alawite sect, fearsome violence that evokes the seething conflicts that have bedeviled neighbouring Iraq and Lebanon.
"It was an insane escalation," Saleh told The Associated Press by telephone from Homs after Monday's violence. "There were kidnappings and killings in a mad way. People are afraid to go out of their homes."
Meanwhile, Reuters has confirmed that US ambassador Robert Ford is due to return to Damascus tonight.
"Ambassador Robert Ford has completed his consultations in Washington and is returning to Damascus this evening," a senior State Department official told reporters.
It points out that the announcement came as Hillary Clinton was due to meet opposition leaders in Geneva.
Activists claim 31 people have died so far in Syria today - all but one in the volatile city of Homs.
The Local Co-ordiantion Committees of Syria said a child was among 30 people killed in the city amid reports of heavy shooting the city's south-east district of Bab Amro.
The claim, which cannot be verified, comes as a series of gruesome videos showed body parts of victims strewn on the streets and pavements of a northern district of the city. The footage showed arms, feet, and heads in the Khalidiya area.
Alaa Abd El Fattah, the prominent Egyptian activist who has been in jail since being arrested on October 30, has become a father.
His wife has given birth to their first child, the Egyptian blogger Zeinobia writes.
Abd El Fattah had an appeal against his detention rejected by the north Cairo court of appeal on Monday. His friends said at the time that it would probably mean him missing the birth. His next appeal hearing is due to take place on Sunday.
Abd El Fattah, and his wife, Manal Hassan, have called their son Khaled, after Khaled Said, whose death at the hands of two police officers helped inspired the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak.
Abd El Fattah is being held pending investigation. He was arrested on charges of inciting violence against the military relating to the bloodshed at a march of Coptic Christians on 9 October after he spoke out against the army's involvement in the violence.
Human Rights Watch has said he should be freed, calling it "a blatant effort to target one of the most vocal critics of the military".
Robert Ford, the outspoken US ambassador to Syria is to be sent back Damascus, according to AP.
It cites a senior administration official. Ford was withdrawn from Syria in October for his own safety after a number of attacks against him by pro-Assad supporters. The state department had said it was hoping to send him back before Thanksgiving.
Ford infuriated the government by visiting an anti-government protests in Hama at the height of the demonstrations during the summer.
The Free Syrian Army is sticking to an agreement to stop launching attacks on the regular army, the opposition Syrian National Council claims.
Amid continuing reports of clashes between defected troops and the regular army, council member Ausama Monajed insisted that FSA was simply trying to defend civilians.
Follow talks with the SNC last week in Turkey the FSA agreed to change tactics by focusing on the protection of civilians.
Speaking to Sky News, Monajed said: "The fire is coming from one side - which is the regime's forces. The FSA is defending the protesters ... it is not launching offensive operations as far as we know. The Syrian National Council is in contact and liaison with the Free Syrian Army and we have agreed that the Free Syrian Army will make sure that all their operations will remain defensive not offensive."
In its latest Facebook update the FSA said it killed 22 troops by bombing two buses carrying troops in Hama. It said the attack was launched in retaliation for the kidnapping of civilians by the security forces.
Monajed, who is an adviser to the SNC leader Burhan Ghalioun, said the council was "studying" the idea of setting up humanitarian buffer zones inside Syria to protect civilians. There is currently no need for foreign troops on the ground, he said.
But he added: "The minute there is a co-ordinated effort by the international community to impose this safety zone and start to guard it, we will start to see major defections at senior levels".
Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah has backed the Assad regime in a TV address after a rare public appearance in Lebanon.
He accused the United States of seeking to destroy Syria "to make up for its defeat in Iraq," AP quoted him saying.
He accused some in the Syrian opposition of catering to US agendas in Syria and the region, and called on protesters to realize that they were being "used" for the wider aim of striking at Assad's regime for its support for Hezbollah and other anti-Israel groups in the region.
Lebanon's Daily Star quoted Nasrallah saying Lebanon would "stand by a regime that has stood by the resistance for a long time."
Syria's state news agency, Sana, gave a approving account of Nasrallah's speech. It quoted him saying "what is required in Syria is dialogue and calm handling of matters."
Here's a summary of events so far today:
Syria
? The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that the Assad regime has lost control of about a tenth of Syria. Rami Abdulrahman, head of the UK-based group, told the Guardian a "civilian war" was now a reality in the country.
? At least 34 people have been abducted and killed by pro-government militias in the city of Homs. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted witnesses as saying the bodies had been found dumped in a square in the restive city. The observatory said Monday was one of the bloodiest days since the uprising began with 50 people killed.
? Syria has said it will only release political prisoners it judged not to be "involved in crimes of murder or acts of sabotage", leaked details of its negotiations with the Arab League reveal. The Lebanese news site al-Akhbar confirmed that Damascus is also demanding an end to its suspension from the bloc and sanctions, that the deal be signed in the Syrian capital, not Cairo, and that the League inform the UN security council of the "positive" agreement.
? The Arab League said it will maintain sanctions imposed on Syria, after Bashar al-Assad's government demanded the removal of the measures as a condition for admitting observers, Bloomberg reports. The League secretary general Nabil al-Arabi suggested he was not prepared to bargain on the issue. The League "will not lead to suspending Arab sanctions on Syria," he said.
? US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is to meet Syrian opposition leaders in Geneva later today.. She is expected to give a speech on human rights in the city.
Egypt
? Voting is continuing in the run-offs in the Egyptian elections but turnout has been low according to media reports. Radio Masr put the turnout at 20% compared to 52% in last week's first round. The run-offs are taking place for seats in which no individual won 50% or more of the vote in the first round. Voting on Monday was marred by violence by thugs, including gunfire, as well as scuffles between different Islamist groups.
? The Muslim Brotherhood's leader, Mohammed Badei, said the group would take to the street if there was any poll fraud. One district in Cairo has already had its results cancelled after 15 ballot boxes went missing and 75 others were damaged. Badie also sought to quell fears of the Islamisation of the country and said the Brotherhood is prepared to compromise with the military on the formation of a new government.
? The Salafist al-Nour party, is considering forming a coalition with the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party, al-Masry al-Youm reports. "It would be an expansive national coalition, not purely Islamic," Abdel Ghafour, chairman of the Nour party, told the paper. The FJP, and its partners in the Democratic Alliance, may win as many as half of the seats up for grabs in the first round of the elections, according to Bikyamasr.
Yemen
? The United Nations called on all factions to cease attacks on civilians and urged the government to allow access for aid supplies and UN human rights monitors. In co-ordinated statements, the UN human rights office, the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) and the Yemen Humanitarian Co-ordinator voiced concern about the deteriorating situation despite the signing of a peace deal nearly two weeks ago. They condemned "continuing attacks on civilians", particularly in Yemen, where the death toll since Thursday has been put at 30 by medical officials.
Secularists worried about the influence Salafis might have in the new Egyptian parliament will not be reassured by the following two stories.
The first, on al-Masry al-Youm's Arabic website, reports that Salafists stopped a woman from voting in Alexandria ....because she was wearing her wedding dress.
The second, from Ahram online, has prominent Sailfist leader Yasser Burhami arguing that Coptic Christians should not be allowed to run for political office in Egypt:
He also said Salafists would not allow Egypt's Baha'i community to hold religious festivals or mark their religion on National ID cards if they took power.
Speaking to journalist Hussein Abdel Ghani on El-Nahar channel Monday evening, Burhami also said a Salafist government would transform all banks into Islamic banks and prevent lenders from charging riba (interest), which is banned by Sharia law.
Burhami reiterated Salafists conditional support for a democratic transformation in the country. "Salafists accept democracy according to Islamic rules as long as it is not incompatible with the demands of the people and of Islamic Sharia law," Burhami said.
When asked about Salafist plans for Egypt's tourism industry, Burhami said tourism need not violate Sharia law. "Tourism is not all about nudity and alcohol," Burhami said. "These things are rejected by Sharia law."
The Assad regime has lost control of about a tenth of Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Rami Abdulrahman head of the UK-based group told the Guardian a "civilian war" was now a reality in the country.
Asked how much of the country had escaped the grip of the Syrian army he said "around 10%".
He added: "In Daael in [in the southern province of Deraa] and many areas in As Suwayda [in the south] they don't control it. The Syrian army just stands by and watches the demonstrations. In the Idlib area many of the small towns are out of the control of army."
Last month a report [pdf] by the International Crisis group claimed armed opposition groups had gained control of significant parts of Syria.
It said:
There no longer is a permanent loyalist military presence in parts of Idlib, Hama and Homs governorates, a situation that enables the armed opposition to further regroup and organise. The governorates of Dayr Zor and Deraa appear on the verge of following a similar path. As defections mount and the army is under ever greater stress, there is reason to doubt that the regime can muster sufficient military resources to reverse the trend. Talk about creating safe-havens on the Turkish and Jordanian borders could soon be moot; in many ways, Syrians appear on their way to doing that on their own.
Abdulrahman said: "I see a civilian war in Syria now and in the future. What the Syrian security forces and the Syrian regime did in places like Baniyas, Latakia and Homs the people will not forget."
He said the Syrian Observatory estimated that 301 member of the Syrian security forces were killed in last month's violence. Up to 65 defected troops also died, he said.
There were clashes between defected troops and the regular army on Monday in Deraa and the the northern town of Ma'arrat an Numan, Abdulrahman said. Further clashes occurred north of Hama this morning, he added.
It is unclear whether the defected troops were member of the Free Syrian Army. "I know many people who have defected but I don't know the Free Syrian Army," Abdulrahman said.
Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party (FJP), and its allies in the Democratic Alliance, may gain as many as half of the seats up for grabs in the first round of the elections, according to predictions from the Egyptian website Bikyamasr.
Its analysis makes a number of assumptions about how exactly the party list system will work (which it says is currently unclear) and about who will win the various individual seats in which run-offs are currently taking part. It gives the following estimates of the overall number of seats parties will have gained:
FJP: 76-85 seats
Al-Nour (Salafist) and its allies: 33-38 seats
Egyptian Bloc (Liberal): 16-18 seats
Al-Wafd (Liberal): 12
Revolution Continues alliance (includes the Revolutionary Youth Commission): 5 seats
Wasat (moderate Islamist): 4 seats
National Democratic party (Hosni Mubarak's old party): 9 seats
Meanwhile, the Brotherhood has warned it will take to the streets to demonstrate if there is any poll fraud, AFP reports.
The group's leader Mohammed Badei has sought to quell fears of the Islamisation of the country and said it is prepared to compromise with the military on the formation of a new government, AP reports.
CNN Turkey is reporting that Libya's chief consulate building in Istanbul has been "raided" by 25 people believed to be supporters of the late Muammar Gaddafi (link in Turkish).
There are no further details at present.
A Libyan gunman opened fire in a tourist area of the Turkish capital last week. Samir Salem Ali Elmadhavri was shot dead at the end of a 90 minute confrontation with police. His motives remain unclear but his father suggested that he had mental health problems.
The enthusiasm for the Egyptian elections appears to have dropped off somewhat.
Egypt's Radio Masr claims the turnout in the run-offs has been 20% compared to 52% in last week's first round. However, the run-offs, taking place in seats where no individual got 50% or more of the vote last week, continue today (they started on Monday) so there is time for that figure to rise.
The Arab Studies Institute's Jadaliyya website, an invaluable resource on the Egyptian elections, also says turnout was low on Monday. It adds that the day was marred by a series of reported violations, involving thugs and gunfights:
Cairo's low-income Dar El-Salam district was the first to witness ?thugs plying their trade since polling began on 28 November, ?when a group of unknown assailants broke the windows of a car ?belonging to a judge tasked with observing the elections. They ?also stole documents related to Monday's runoff vote. ? No political party or group has thus far been accused of ?instigating the incident. ?
In Luxor, polling was temporarily suspended due to two ?gunfights that erupted for reasons unrelated to the polling. Members of the El-Holail and El-Taraki families exchanged fire ?in Esna's village of El-Zonika, south of Luxor, reportedly due to a ?quarrel between the two rival clans. Three people were injured ?and six polling stations were temporarily shut until security ?forces were able to contain the situation.?
According to a judge tasked with supervising the electoral ?process, another gunfight broke out in central Luxor on Monday ?between security forces and infamous outlaw Yasser El-Hamboli ?and his gang. "No polling stations were closed in Luxor due to ?the gunfights, but many locals were dissuaded from casting ?ballots," the judge, speaking on condition of anonymity, told ?Ahram Online.?
Meanwhile, elections observers dispatched by the Muslim ?Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) reported the ?presence of thugs in Cairo's Azbakia district. ?
Jadaliyya also carries the news that the first round of parliamentary elections in the el-Sahel district of Cairo has been cancelled by the supreme administrative court because of major violations. It says 15 ballot boxes went missing and 75 more were damaged.
Details of negotiations between the Arab League and Syria over monitoring missions have been leaked to the Lebanese news site al-Akhbar.
Amendments proposed by the Assad regime include:
? Only releasing political prisoners who Syria judged not to be "involved in crimes of murder or acts of sabotage."
? Monitoring visits to be made in "Co-ordination with the Syrian authorities".
? Imposing a time limit on an immunity deal for witnesses prepared to give testimony to the monitors.
? Demanding that Syria will not have to pay for the visits.
As Enduring America notes Al-Akhbar has also published three new demands from the Syrian authorities before it allows the monitoring visits to go ahead. They are:
? Immediate scrapping of sanctions and reinstatement of Syria's membership of the League
? Signing the deal in Damascus not Cairo
? Arab League to inform the UN Security Council of the "positive" agreement
These conditions were confirmed by the Syrian state news agency Sana.
It quotes a foreign ministry spokeman Jihad Makdissi claiming that Syria was committed to the original Arab League peace plan.
"We are committed to the Arab initiative signed in Doha and we implemented a number of its articles. We pulled out all of our army from the centers of cities and released arrested people who haven't been convicted for murder," he said.
Activists continue to circulate videos showing a heavy army presence in and around Syria's city. The latest include this footage from Hama.
Monday saw one of the bloodiest days in Syria since the start of the uprising in March according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The death toll of civilians has risen to 50 martyrs today Monday 5 December 2011.
An activist from the neighbourhood of Al-Zahraa has told the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that he saw the bodies of 34 people, who were originally kidnapped earlier today by 'Shabeeha', from the neighbourhoods uprising against the regime.
Meanwhile, a group around 20 members of the security forces, from the north west province of Idlib, have declared their defection to the Free Syrian Army.
There have been scores of defection videos from regular army recruits, but this this is one of the first videos to show defection among the police.
Welcome to Middle East Live. Syria and Egypt remain the focal points.
Syria says it will conditionally allow in observers to monitor the crackdown against dissent as part of the Arab League plan. But the move is being seen as another stalling tactic by Damascus and the League has said it will maintain sanctions against Syria.
In Egypt the ultra-conservative Salifists are reported to be considering a coalition with the Muslim Brotherhood after both group's political parties dominated the first round of the elections.
Here's a round up in a bit more detail:
Syria
? The Arab League said it will maintain sanctions imposed on Syria, after Bashar al-Assad's government demanded the removal of the measures as a condition for admitting observers, Bloomberg reports. The League secretary general Nabil al-Arabi suggested he was not prepared to bargain on the issue. The League "will not lead to suspending Arab sanctions on Syria," he said.
? US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is to meet Syrian opposition leaders in Geneva later today, the Daily Telegraph reports. She is expected to give a speech on human rights in the city.
? At least 34 people have been abducted and killed by pro-government militias in the city of Homs, the BBC reports. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted witnesses as saying the bodies had been found dumped in a square in the restive city.
? Syria has flexed its muscles with live-fire exercises involving long-range missiles, armoured units and helicopters at a time of rising regional tensions over the repression of its uprising. Analysts suggested the timing may have been chosen to underline Syria's strategic capabilities to Israel, which is concerned about Syria's relationship with Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Egypt
? The Salafist al-Nour party, is considering forming a coalition with the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party, al-Masry al-Youm reports. "It would be an expansive national coalition, not purely Islamic," Abdel Ghafour, chairman of the Nour party, told the paper. Figures published in the state-owned Al-Akhbar newspaper said that the FJP won 44 seats and Nour Party 28 seats out of a total of 112 up for grabs during the first phase of the elections.
? But runoff ballots for the first-round have exposed tensions between competing Islamist groups, AP reports. In southern Assiut province, there were scuffles and even allegations of death threats against Muslim Brotherhood candidates by supporters of Gamaa Islamiya, a former militant group that is part of the Salafist al-Nour bloc.
? The results of the elections are being viewed with increasing alarm in Israel, the Independent reports.
The Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, described initial polling as "very, very disturbing", a view that will strike a chord with many in his country.
A senior Israeli security official told the Yedioth Ahronot newspaper the results were "even worse than we predicted".
The Finance Minister, Yuval Steinitz, admitted: "We are worried", and hoped Egypt "won't become an extremist Islamist state, because that would put the whole region in danger".
? The leader of Tunisia's successful moderate Islamist an-Nahda party has urged Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to form a coalition with Copts and secularists. Speaking to Foreign Policy magazine, Rached Ghannouchi said:
I think the Muslim Brotherhood [in Egypt] should govern by coalition that includes the people from secular parties and the Copts.These minorities are small. But they are extremely influential. For them to succeed it's very important to bring all these people together into a coalition.
?�The al-Nour party should have been banned before coming second in the first round of the elections, writes Issandr al-Amrani.
They should have never been legalised, on the same grounds that far-right parties are often forbidden in European countries ... Among my Egyptian friends (most decidedly on the liberal side) there is now tremendous worry about a future in which politics is ruled on the one hand by identitarian Islamist politics and on the other by a populist, hyper-nationalistic army.
The concern of Amrani's friends can be heard on the latest edition on his Arabist podcast.
Journalist Ashraf Khalil tells the programme:
Let's see what they do when they get into power. We can't just judge them because they are scarey bearded people, although some of the people who are getting into the Egyptian parliament are in fact slightly scarey bearded people.
Those of you out there who are inclined to panic at the thought of an Islamist controlled Egyptian parliament ... early signs are that you may officially start panicking. Let the freak out commence [but] I'm not moving.
Israel and the Palestinian territories
? Around 20 bedouin communities on the West Bank are to be forcibly relocated from the land on which they have lived for 60 years under an Israeli plan to expand a huge Jewish settlement. The Israeli authorities plan to relocate 2,300 members of the bedouin Jahalin tribe to a site close to a municipal rubbish dump on the edge of Jerusalem.
Equality Family finances Gordon Brown European debt crisis Nepal Poland
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento