The Agonist - Africa: North

Libyan Leader in Italy Seeks Tall, Leggy and Pious

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:32:03 -0800

Rachel Donadio | Rome | November 16

NYT - The 200 women who answered a Rome modeling agency’s advertisement for tall, attractive party guests thought they would be attending an elegant soirée on Sunday. They were — only the host turned out to be the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, and instead of hors d’oeuvres he offered them copies of the Koran and urged them to convert to Islam, the Italian news media reported Monday.

The women, all between the ages of 18 and 35, assembled in a Rome hotel before being screened by both metal detectors and the fashion police, who turned away anyone in a miniskirt or provocative clothing, according to Paola Lo Mele, a journalist for the ANSA news agency, who answered the modeling agency’s request and went undercover to the event. The women were each paid $75 to attend.

Colonel Qaddafi and other world leaders are in Rome for the World Summit on Food Security of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The women who made the cut were bused to a villa in Rome, ANSA reported, where they waited an hour, unsure of what was to follow, before the famously late Libyan leader arrived.

“All the girls expected a party with a gala dinner,” Ms. Lo Mele reported. Instead, Colonel Qaddafi “made a 45-minute speech on Islam and women’s role in Islam.” He gave the women a copy of the Koran and said that he would pay for them to visit Mecca, the duty of every Muslim, if they converted.

Nuclear terror suspect is top physicist

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:51:09 -0700

John Lichfield | Oct 11

The Independent - The scientist suspected of plotting terrorist attacks on nuclear sites in France is a brilliant, internationally known physicist who has worked on research projects in Britain and the US, it emerged yesterday.

Adlène Hicheur, 32, who currently works on the "Big Bang" Large Hadron Collider experiment on the Swiss-French border, was once a research fellow at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Chilton, Oxfordshire. His name is attached to dozens of research papers presented at universities and nuclear research centres all over the world.

Mr Hicheur, and his brother, Zitouni, or Halim, also a highly qualified scientist, were arrested at their parents' home on a suburban council estate at Vienne, south of Lyons, on Thursday. French investigators say that advanced, internet "bugging" equipment allowed them to read, in "real time", emails exchanged between the brothers and the North African branch of al-Qa'ida. The messages are alleged to have contained, in recent days, suggested targets for attacks on nuclear sites in France and other countries "allied with the United States".

Britain offered Gaddafi £14m to stop supporting the IRA

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:09:38 -0700

Robert Verkaik | Oct 5

The Independent - The deal, worth £500m today, was part of a package of compensation measures to appease the Libyan leader and help open up trade with the North African state during the late 1970s.

Discovery of the secret offer, detailed in a letter sent by the then Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, raises fresh questions about whether Britain has ever paid Gaddafi compensation.

Jason McCue, the lawyer currently negotiating with the Libyans on behalf of victims of IRA bombings, said he was astonished that Britain was prepared to agree to such a pay off. "This all goes to support why our peace and reconciliation delegation is keen to meet and discuss matters in Tripoli. We believe that Anglo-Libyan relations should be flourishing but that certain human tragedies in the past have been overlooked and never reconciled."

Daniel Kawczynski MP, the chairman of the Libyan all-party group, accused the former Labour government of breaching the trust of the British people. "We should never entice other states away from terrorism by offering them taxpayers' money," said the Conservative MP for Shrewsbury.

Belatedly, Egypt Spots Flaws in Wiping Out Pigs

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:40:46 -0700

Michael Slackman | Cairo | Sept 20

NYT - It is unlikely anyone has ever come to this city and commented on how clean the streets are. But this litter-strewn metropolis is now wrestling with a garbage problem so severe it has managed to incite its weary residents and command the attention of the president.

“The problem is clear in the streets,” said Haitham Kamal, a spokesman for the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs. “There is a strict and intensive effort now from the state to address this issue.”

But the crisis should not have come as a surprise.

When the government killed all the pigs in Egypt this spring — in what public health experts said was a misguided attempt to combat swine flu — it was warned the city would be overwhelmed with trash.

The pigs used to eat tons of organic waste. Now the pigs are gone and the rotting food piles up on the streets of middle-class neighborhoods like Heliopolis and in the poor streets of communities like Imbaba.

SAS trains Libyan troops

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:05:15 -0700

Thomas harding | Sept 11

The Telegraph - The SAS has been ordered by the Government to train Libyan special forces despite the country having armed the IRA, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

For the past six months Britain’s elite troops have been schooling soldiers working for Col Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, which for years provided Republican terrorists with the Semtex explosive, machine-guns and anti-aircraft missiles used against British troops during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Sources within the SAS have expressed distaste at the agreement, which they believe could be connected to the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

Britain’s relationship with Libya has been under the spotlight since Abdelbaset al Megrahi was freed from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds last month after being diagnosed as suffering from terminal prostate cancer and given three months to live.

Gordon Brown has faced claims that his Government helped engineer Megrahi’s release to promote Britain’s commercial interests, particularly energy, in Libya.

Downing Street has denied the allegations, but Jack Straw, the Justice Minister, has admitted that trade was a factor in deciding to include Megrahi in an earlier prisoner transfer agreement with Libya. Megrahi was the only person convicted for the murder of 270 people killed in the bombing in 1988 of Pan Am flight 103.

The disclosure that members of the SAS are training their Libyan counterparts will further raise suspicions about exactly what has been agreed behind the scenes between Tripoli and Britain.

** Government has sold its soul to the devil over SAS deal with Libya

Gabon French oil staff evacuated

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:37:40 -0700

Sept 5

BBC -

French oil firm Total has evacuated its expatriate staff from Gabon's second city as clashes continue following the release of poll results on Thursday.

Two people have died in the violence, much of which has been aimed at French interests in Port Gentil.

Protesters accuse the former colonial power of helping fix the election of Ali Bongo as president - allegations denied by the French government.

His father died in June after ruling the oil-rich nation for 41 years.

Reports from the industrial city of Port Gentil say demonstrators have attacked public buildings, and sports and social clubs belonging to Total.

Looting continued in the city through Friday night, despite a curfew.

France has about 1,000 troops in the country.

** Gabon troops outside stadium as unrest continues
** Gabon hit by new clashes, football fails to bring relief
** Ali Bongo: Like father, like son?

The winners and losers of 40 years under the Colonel's watchful gaze

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:17:50 -0700

Daniel Howden | Tripoli | Sept 5

The Independent - Tripoli's makeover is really only one street deep. Behind the white-washed avenues and carnival lights lie the same jumbled streets of shattered pavements where pedestrians vie for space with cars and street-hawkers.

All this under a warm, stale drizzle that falls from the city's relentless air conditioners.

In the absence of shopping malls, neighbourhoods are still defined by trade. On Kanady Street the business is car accessories and business is good. "For a Libyan, 70 per cent of the money you spend on a car goes on buying the car," Khaled explains. "The rest is to pimp it up," he says with a smile, pleased with his up-to-the-minute English.

Swiss president apologises over Gaddafi son's arrest

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:54:16 -0700

Tripoli | Aug 21

AFP - Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz apologised to the Libyan people on Thursday over the arrest in Geneva a year ago of a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"I express to the Libyan people my apologies for the unjust arrest of a Libyan diplomat by Geneva police," Merz said at a joint news conference in Tripoli with Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi.

Hannibal Gaddafi and his pregnant wife were arrested in a luxury Geneva hotel on July 15, 2008 after two servants claimed they had been mistreated.

The couple were freed after two days in custody on bail of 500,000 Swiss francs (312,500 euros, 444,000 dollars).

In October, Libya responded by suspending oil deliveries to Switzerland, withdrawing assets worth an estimated five billion euros from Swiss banks, ending bilateral cooperation programmes and placing restrictions on Swiss companies.

Well I guess it is just Gaddafi's day. Hannibal, what a son to be proud of..

Anger at Lockerbie bomber welcome

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:34:59 -0700

Aug 21

BBC - Britain and the US have strongly condemned the jubilant welcome given in Libya to the man convicted of the bombing of a US plane over Lockerbie.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband described the scenes as "deeply distressing".

Crowds greeted Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi off the plane in Tripoli after he was freed from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds.

Many relatives of the victims of the 1988 bombing are angry at his release.

Most of the 270 people who died when Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie were Americans.

US President Barack Obama said Megrahi's release, eight years into his life sentence, was "a mistake".

He said his administration had told the Libyan government that Megrahi, who has terminal cancer, should not receive a hero's welcome and should be placed under house arrest.

Clinton threatens Eritrea action

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:19:37 -0700

Aug 6

BBC - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns the US will "take action" if Eritrea continues to back militants in Somalia.

What the hell does that mean?

Mali ex-rebels to tackle al-Qaeda

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:30:49 -0700

July 20

BBC -

The main group of Tuareg ex-rebels in Mali has agreed to help the army tackle al-Qaeda's North African branch.

Both groups roam across the Sahara Desert and so correspondents say the deal could prove significant.

The agreement was brokered by Algeria's ambassador to Mali. Algeria is where al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb stages most of its attacks.

Last month, the group killed a British hostage who was being held in Mali after being seized in Niger.

Two weeks later, the army said it had seized an al-Qaeda base near the border with Algeria.

However, the group remains active in the region and has also staged attacks in Niger and Mauritania.

German firms set sights on energy from the Sahara

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:22:48 -0700

Christine Schultze | Munich | July 9

DPA - An ambitious plan to harness the sun's energy in the Sahara desert and turn it into electricity for European households has raised eyebrows among experts.

Some see it as publicity stunt, others call it unrealistic, while many wonder where the 400 billion euros (552 billion dollars) needed to finance the mammoth venture will come from.

On Monday, the Desertec project is set to be launched by leading German companies, among them utilities giants RWE and E.ON, Deutsche Bank and electro-engineering group Siemens.

'Of course it is still a long way off, but the enormous interest in the scheme shows we are on the right path,' said a spokesman for another member of the consortium, insurer Munich Re.

The Desertec Foundation has long been obsessed with the idea of using the inexhaustible power of desert sun to solve the world's growing energy problems.

'Within six hours deserts receive more energy from the sun than humankind consumes within a year,' says Gerhard Knies, chairman of the Desertec supervisory board.

New evidence may solve mystery of decapitated monks

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:25:37 -0700

John Lichfield | Paris | July 9

The Independent - One of the most troubling and mysterious episodes in recent French history – the brutal death of six French monks in Algeria in 1996 – is to be re-investigated with the co-operation of the French state.

Rumours have swirled for years around the kidnapping and decapitation of the Cistercian monks, which was blamed by authorities in Algiers and Paris on Islamist radical terrorists. New evidence presented to an investigating judge in France by a French general suggests that the kidnapped monks may have been killed by accident by airborne Algerian soldiers who were trying to rescue them.

Their bodies were then decapitated by the Algerian soldiers to make their deaths look like an act of terrorism, according to General François Buchwalter, who was French military attaché in Algeria at the time. In a leaked interview with a French judge, the general also suggests that it may have been the Algerian authorities, not Islamist terrorists, who assassinated the French bishop of Oran, three months later, because he had embarrassing information on the monks' fate.

To the fury of the Algerian government, President Nicolas Sarkozy has decided to lift the French state secrecy which has surrounded the monks' death for 13 years. "Relations between great countries must be built on truth, not lies," he said. President Sarkozy announced that all possible assistance would be given to the investigating judge, Marc Trevidic. He called on the Algerian authorities – with whom the French President has acutely strained relations – to re-open their own investigation into the case.

Judge Trevidic is also at the heart of another sensitive "terrorist" investigation which recently took a dramatic turn. He and another judge let it be known last month that a bomb attack in Karachi which killed 11 French submarine engineers and four Pakistanis in May 2002 was not – as previously suggested – the work of Islamist terrorists. Instead, the two judges told families of the victims that it seemed likely that the bombing was planned by unknown Pakistani government figures who had been denied promised "commissions" on a large submarine contract with France.

The re-opening of both cases within three weeks may, or may not, be a coincidence. The Pakistani affair could reflect badly on President Sarkozy who was part of the French government which approved the legal "commissions" in 1994. After a change of government, they were blocked by President Jacques Chirac in 1995 because he suspected that kick-backs had been paid to his French political rivals. The scandal surrounding the deaths of the French monks could yet reflect badly on the former President Chirac, who was in power at the time.

Algeria sponsors Sufism to fight extremism

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:16:10 -0700

Lamine Chikhi | July 8

Reuters -

After using police raids, arrests and gun battles in its fight against Islamist insurgents, Algeria is now deploying a new, more subtle weapon: a branch of Islam associated with contemplation, not combat.

The government of this North African oil and gas producer is promoting Sufism, an Islamic movement that it sees as a gentler alternative to the ultra-conservative Salafism espoused by many of the militants behind Algeria's insurgency.

The authorities have created a television and radio station to promote Sufism and the "zaouias" or religious confraternities that preach and practise it, in addition to regular appearances by Sufi sheikhs on other stations. All are tightly controlled by the state.

** Sahara gas pipeline gets go-ahead
** EU, Russia struggle for stake in trans-Saharan gas pipeline
** Nigerian militants threaten proposed Trans-Sahara gas line
** Niger Delta Militants Threaten Trans-Saharan Pipeline
** Nigeria: Trans-Saharan Gas Project 'Not For Sale' - Ministers

Egyptians look to military 'saviour'

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:23:00 -0700

Magdi Abdelhadi | Cairo | June 23

BBC -

Nearly 60 years since the Egyptian army overthrew the monarchy, some Egyptians may be looking to the army again for a successor to 80-year-old head of state and former air force chief Hosni Mubarak.

Not far from the podium where President Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981 while watching a military parade stands a huge frieze.

The gilded triptych glorifies the military and places it at the heart of Egyptian society from the time of the Pharaohs.

The central scene portrays soldiers, together with farmers, workers and students, carrying a plaque inscribed with 1952 - the year a group of army officers overthrew King Farouk and declared Egypt a republic.

The message is clear: the military injects dignity and pride into Egypt and deserves its privileged status - a status the officers have enjoyed since 1952.

The military has also been transformed into a veritable business empire, whose exact size, turnover and profit no-one is allowed to know. Not even parliament can scrutinise its affairs.