The Agonist - Africa: North

Libya hits back after arrest of Gadafy's son

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:03:17 -0700

Eliane Engeler | July 24

The Guardian - Libya has been taking "worrying retaliatory measures" against Switzerland since the arrest of the youngest son of the Libyan leader, Muammar Gadafy, for allegedly beating two of his servants, the Swiss foreign ministry said yesterday.

It said Swiss citizens should cease travel to the country immediately. Libya has recalled some of its diplomats in Switzerland, suspended the issuing of visas for Swiss citizens, reduced flights to Switzerland and detained two Swiss nationals on various charges, the ministry said.

"Swiss companies in Libya have received orders to close, and some company offices have been sealed," it added.

Hidden famine' in Horn of Africa puts 14m at risk

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:55:06 -0700

Steve Bloomfield | Nairobi | July 23

Independent - The entire Horn of Africa, including Ethiopia, Djibouti and parts of Kenya, is gripped by a food crisis. A deepening drought and rocketing food prices have put about 14 million people at risk – three million more than in 2006 when the last major drought hit the region.

But the situation is most severe in Somalia. A continuing conflict, pitting Ethiopian and Somali government forces on one side and a variety of Islamist militias on the other, is having a devastating effect on relief operations.

Twenty aid workers have been killed this year, most of them in the past two months, in what humanitarians fear is an "orchestrated campaign" of terror.

Some aid groups have suspended operations and many are considering pulling out altogether. "What we are seeing is alarming," said Mike Fark, head of mission in Somalia for Médecins sans Frontières (MSF). "But at a time when the population's needs are increasing, our ability to provide assistance is being diminished."

Arrest warrant likely for president of Sudan

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:28:16 -0700

Lydia Polgreen & Marlise Simons | Dakar | July 11

IHT - When Luis Moreno-Ocampo, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, reported to the United Nations Security Council last month, he painted a dire tableau of death, rape and dispossession in Darfur, saying the entire state apparatus was involved in a five-year campaign of terror there. His target, it seemed, was Sudan's president.

On Thursday, the prosecutor's office said it had prepared its second case involving war crimes in Darfur, a region of Sudan. Now analysts, diplomats, aid workers and United Nations officials are bracing for the increasing likelihood that Moreno-Ocampo will ask the judges for an arrest warrant for the president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Egypt's Israel/Palestine mediation: Running against the clock

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:34:16 -0700

Dina Essat | Cairo | July 3

Al-Ahram - President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian Monarch King Abdullah met this week in Sharm El-Sheikh to synchronise diplomatic and intelligence efforts on the Palestinian-Israeli front.

According to diplomatic sources, the prime objective of both Egypt and Jordan at this point is to sustain the fragile truce between Hamas and Israel. The second objective, the same sources add, is to move on to phase two of their mediation and secure the release, in return for the release of a few hundred Palestinian prisoners, of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit captured two years ago by an Islamist resistance movement loyal to Hamas.

The third objective is to support Palestinian-Israeli negotiations that aim to lay down the outlines of a final status agreement -- even if not fully developed -- before US President George W Bush exits the White House later this year.

Egyptian sources say that Egypt is keener to work on the first two objectives and doubts the ability of Palestinian and Israeli negotiators to deliver the third.

much more at link

Egypt uses water cannon as Palestinians try to storm border

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:52:25 -0700

El-Arish, Egypt | July 2

AFP - Egyptian security forces on Wednesday used water cannon to keep thousands of Palestinians from storming across the border between Gaza and the Sinai peninsula, a security official said.

Witnesses on the Gaza side of the border said hundreds of Palestinians had stormed the border terminal in Rafah as Israel was set to ease a blockade of the impoverished territory.

Six members of Egyptian security forces were lightly injured when Palestinians threw rocks at them, the official said, adding that Egypt later gave security forces an order "not to respond to Palestinian provocation."

"This was done in agreement with Hamas in the Gaza Strip who have taken control of the situation," the official told AFP.

With a Word, Egyptians Leave It All to Fate

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:03:35 -0700

Michael Slackman | Cairo | June 20

NYT - The McDonald’s here has golden arches, the same golden arches as anywhere else in the world. The food is prepared the same assembly-line way, too. But there is an invisible, or more precisely, divine, element in bringing that burger to the plate that the uninitiated may not be prepared for.

“Inshallah,” or “God willing,” the counterman said as he walked off to see about a burger without onions at the McDonald’s on the Alexandria Desert Road, 30 miles from the center of Cairo.

Egyptians have always been religious, from Pharaonic times to the present. Any guidebook to Egypt alerts tourists to Egyptians’ frequent use of inshallah in discussing future events, a signal of their deep faith and belief that all events occur, or don’t occur, at God’s will. “See you tomorrow,” is almost always followed by a smile and, “inshallah.”

Egypt bans 92-year-old's marriage

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:48:52 -0700

Frances Harrison | June 14

BBC - The Egyptian authorities have banned a 92-year-old man from marrying a 17-year-old girl, the Egyptian al-Akhbar newspaper has reported.

The ministry of justice invoked a law which says the age gap between spouses should not exceed 25 years.

Egypt brought in the law prohibiting the marriage of elderly men to very young girls during the Gulf oil boom.

It was an effort to prevent wealthy men from the Gulf states seeking young poor brides from the Egyptian countryside.

Two dead in Djibouti-Eritrea border clash-witness

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:23:20 -0700

Omar Hassan | Djibouti | June 11

Reuters - Two Djiboutian soldiers were killed and 21 wounded when troops clashed with Eritrean forces along their border overlooking strategic Red Sea shipping lanes, Djibouti said on Wednesday.

The first fighting since 1996 between Eritrea and Djibouti broke out on Tuesday after a nearly two-month standoff. Djibouti hosts French and U.S. military bases and is the main route to the sea for Eritrea's arch-foe Ethiopia.

Djibouti said the clash began after Eritrean soldiers deserted and the Eritreans fired on them, prompting return fire. A second outbreak came when Eritrean soldiers later demanded their deserters back.

Eritrean officials declined to comment and there was no independent confirmation.

Food crisis creates an opening for Muslim fundamentalists

Sun, 18 May 2008 03:02:49 -0700

Borzou Daragahi | Amman | May 18

LA Times - In the Middle East, Islamist charity programs fill a gap by feeding the hungry as prices soar - and their political allies gain ground.

The smell of freshly baked bread calms the room filled with women in frayed cloaks and worn slippers. Grateful for the assistance, they walk out of a Muslim Brotherhood social service center into the trash-strewn alley, clutching plastic bags packed with flat bread loaves.

For five years, the Jordanian government has clamped down on the Islamist group's electoral ambitions and its charity programs, suspicious it was using good deeds to win political support.

But the global food crisis has carved out new opportunities for the Brotherhood and other hard-line groups across the Muslim world. Increasingly unaffordable prices underscore criticism of autocratic governments and drive more people toward fundamentalist groups. Though the Brotherhood fared poorly last year in municipal elections, it has been steadily gaining ground in recent months, sweeping votes for the leadership of Jordan's professional associations.

Pope appeals for peace in Somalia, Darfur, Burundi

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 05:15:43 -0700

Gavin Jones edited by Janet Lawrence | Vatican City | April 27

Reuters - Pope Benedict on Sunday appealed to the world not to forget the "tragic" conflicts in Somalia, Darfur and Burundi and called on authorities to honour their commitments to bring an end to the violence. "The news from several African countries continues to give reason for deep suffering and acute concern," the Pope told the crowd in St Peter's square after his weekly Sunday address.

He said violence in Somalia was making the situation "more and more dramatic" for a population which has "been oppressed for too many years under the weight of brutality and misery". Darfur, despite some brief hopes of peace, "remains a tragedy without end for hundreds of thousands of defenceless and abandoned people," Benedict said.

Open Letter to HRH, Hamad Bin Khalifa al Thani, Emir of Qatar, on Abyssinia (Fake ´Ethiopia´)

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 03:53:30 -0700

Open Letter to HRH, Hamad Bin Khalifa al Thani, Emir of Qatar, on Abyssinia (Fake ´Ethiopia´)

Your Highness,

As your government expressed astonishment at the ´Ethiopian´ decision to break off diplomatic ties with your country, I am writing to express my indignation for the improper and inconsistent attitude of the tyrannical administration of Meles Zenawi.

Before expanding on the real reasons hidden behind the undiplomatic manner and the uncivil language used in the email statement diffused by the ´Ethiopian´ government, I find the occasion propitious to express my profound admiration for the constructive role played by your government in various regions, Africa, Middle East, and the Gulf to name a few, and my great esteem for Qatar´s worthwhile commitment to the diffusion of the lofty values of Islam, the fundamental principles of the modern democratic societies, and the universal standards of the Human Rights.

A city where you can't hear yourself scream

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:59:11 -0700

Michael Slackman | Cairo | April 13

IHT - Egyptians in this capital city say it is harder and harder to be heard and to have a voice, but they are not talking politics. Well, not only politics.

What they are talking about, or rather yelling about, is noise, the incredible background noise of a city crammed with 18 million people, and millions of drivers who always have one hand on the horn and a rules-free way of thinking.

"Whenever I talk to people, they always say, 'Why are you screaming?' " said Salah Abdul Hamid, 56, a barber whose two-chair shop is on the corner of a busy street on the north side.

Hamid was, of course, screaming.

US vessel 'shoots at Suez boat'

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:16:25 -0700

March 25

BBC - A US container ship approaching the Suez Canal has opened fire on a small Egyptian motorboat, killing one man and wounding two others, reports say.

The Global Patriot, carrying used US military equipment, was in the Gulf of Suez when it was approached by a motorboat selling local merchandise. Its crew apparently fired after the boat failed to heed warnings to stop when asked, the US navy said.

It added that it was in contact with Egypt through the US embassy in Cairo.

It is not clear why those on board the Global Patriot opened fire.
Al-Qaeda militants have in the past used small motorboats to attack US military and other foreign vessels in waters off the coast of Yemen.

Egypt holds talks with Hamas on truce with Israel

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:37:30 -0800

Nidal al-Mughrabi | Cairo | March 6

Reuters - Egypt launched talks on Thursday with Hamas and Islamic Jihad on a truce between the Palestinian militant movements and Israel, officials in the groups said.

An end to rockets attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip and suspension of Israeli raids into the Hamas-run territory would make it easier for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to continue to negotiate peace with the Jewish state.

What did this little chat cost us?: U.S. waived congressional restriction on Egypt aid

U.S. waived congressional restriction on Egypt aid

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:46:26 -0800

Cairo | March 4

Reuters - The Bush administration has released $100 million in military aid to Egypt after telling the U.S. Congress the money was necessary for national security reasons.

At a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Cairo, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters she had waived the congressional restrictions that had withheld the amount.

"I have exercised on behalf of the United States the waiver in terms of Egyptian assistance ... The Bush administration sought to have that flexibility. We believe that this relationship with Egypt is an important one and that the waiver was the right thing to do," Rice said.

Congress had withheld the sum until the administration certified Egypt had done enough to protect the independence of the judiciary, curb police abuses and put a stop to arms smuggling from Egypt to Gaza.

But it also gave the administration an option to waive the restrictions "in the national security interest of the United States".

Why do we have a Congress? Watch for the FISA cave today too