Media Horisont

US vs UN on Israeli settlements (alla dessa veto..roten till muslimsk terrorism?)

2011-02-18T11:12:00.000-08:00

US vs UN on Israeli settlements

Vetoing UN resolutions condemning Israeli settlements violates broader US interests.
MJ Rosenberg on Aljazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/2011215115925859109.html

Anyone who thought that the United States has learned anything from the various revolutions upturning the Arab world has another think coming. We didn't.
On Thursday, as the Egyptian revolution was culminating with the collapse of the Mubarak regime, the Obama administration announced that it intends to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution, sponsored by 122 nations, condemning Israeli settlement expansion.
This is from AFP's report on what Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"We have made very clear that we do not think the Security Council is the right place to engage on these issues," Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg told the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee.
"We have had some success, at least for the moment, in not having that arise there. And we will continue to employ the tools that we have to make sure that continues to not happen," said Steinberg.
There is so much wrong with Steinberg's statement that it is hard to know where to start.
First is the obvious. Opposition to Israeli settlements is perhaps the only issue on which the entire Arab and Muslim world is united. Iraqis and Afghanis, Syrians and Egyptians, Indonesians and Pakistanis don't agree on much, but they do agree on that. They also agree that the US policy on settlements demonstrates flagrant disregard for human rights in the Muslim world (at least when Israel is the human rights violator).
Accordingly, a US decision to support the condemnation of settlements would send a clear message to the Arab and Muslim world that we understand what is happening in the Middle East and that we share at least some of its peoples' concerns.
The settlement issue should be an easy one for the United States. Our official policy is the same as that of the Arab world. We oppose settlements. We consider them illegal. We have repeatedly demanded that the Israelis stop expanding them (although the Israeli government repeatedly ignores us). The administration feels so strongly about settlements that it recently offered Israel an extra $3.5bn in US aid to freeze settlements for 90 days.
It is impossible, then, for the United States to pretend that we do not agree with the resolution (especially when its language was carefully drafted to comport with the administration's official position). So why will we veto a resolution that expresses our own views?
Steinberg says that "We do not think the Security Council is the right place to engage on these issues."
Why not? It is the Security Council that passed all the major international resolutions (with US support) governing Israel's role in the occupied territories since the first one, UN Resolution 242 in 1967.
He then adds, with clear pride that:
"We have had some success, at least for the moment, in not having that [the settlements issue] arise there."
Very impressive. The United States has had no success whatsoever in getting the Netanyahu government to stop expanding settlements — to stop evicting Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem to make way for ultra-Orthodox settlers — and no success in getting Israel to crack down on settler violence, but we have had "some success" in keeping the issue out of the United Nations.
The only way to resolve the settlements issue, according to Steinberg, "is through engagement through the parties, and that is our clear and consistent position". Clear and consistent it may be. But it hasn't worked. The bulldozers never stop.
Of course, it is not hard to explain the Obama administration's decision to veto a resolution embodying positions that we support. It is the power of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which is lobbying furiously for a US veto (actually not so furiously; AIPAC doesn't waste energy when it knows that its congressional acolytes — and Dennis Ross in the White House itself — will do its work for them).
The power of the lobby is the only reason we will veto the resolution. Try to come up with another one. After all, voting for the resolution (or, at least, abstaining on it) serves US interests in the Middle East at a critical moment and is consistent with US policy.
But it would enrage the lobby and its friends who will threaten retribution in the 2012 election.
Simply put, our Middle East policy is all about domestic politics. And not even the incredible events of the past month will change that.
That is why US standing in the Middle East will continue to deteriorate. We simply cannot deliver. After all, there is always another election on the horizon and that means that it is donors, not diplomats, who determine US policy.
MJ Rosenberg is a Senior Foreign Policy Fellow at Media Matters Action Network. The above article first appeared in Foreign Policy Matters, a part of the Media Matters Action Network.
Follow MJ's work on Facebook or on Twitter.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

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Tunisia and the IMF's Diktats: How Macro-Economic Policy Triggers Worldwide Poverty and Unemployment

2011-01-31T04:39:00.000-08:00

Tunisia and the IMF's Diktats: How Macro-Economic Policy Triggers Worldwide Poverty and Unemployment

by Michel Chossudovsky

General Zine el Abidine Ben Ali , the defunct and deposed president of Tunisia is heralded by the Western media, in chorus, as a dictator.

The Tunisian protest movement is casually described as the consequence of an undemocratic and authoritarian regime, which defies the norms of the "international community".

But Ben Ali was not a "dictator". Dictators decide and dictate. Ben Ali was a servant of Western economic interests, a faithful political puppet who obeyed orders, with the active support of the international community.

Foreign interference in Tunisia's domestic affairs is not mentioned in the media reports. The food price hikes were not "dictated" by the Ben Ali government. They were imposed by Wall Street and the IMF.

The role of Ben Ali's government was to enforce the IMF's deadly economic medicine, which over a period of more than twenty years has served to destabilize the national economy and impoverish the Tunisian population.

Ben Ali as head of state did not decide on anything of substance. National sovereignty was foregone. In 1987, at the height of the debt crisis, the left nationalist government of Habib Bourguiba was replaced by a new regime, firmly committed to "free market" reforms.

Macroeconomic management under the helm of the IMF was in the hands of Tunisia's external creditors. Over the last 23 years, economic and social policy in Tunisia has been dictated by the Washington Consensus.

Ben Ali stayed in power because his government obeyed and effectively enforced the diktats of the IMF, while serving the interests of both the US and the European Union.

This pattern has occurred in numerous countries.

Continuity of the IMF's deadly reforms requires "regime replacement". The installation of a political puppet ensures the enforcement of the neoliberal agenda while also creating conditions for the eventual demise of a corrupt and unpopular government which has been draw upon to impoverish an entire population.

The Protest Movement

It is not Wall Street and the Washington based international financial institutions which are the direct target of the protest movement. The social implosion was directed against a government rather than against the interference of foreign powers in the conduct of government policy.

At the outset, the protests were not the result of an organized political movement directed against the imposition of the neoliberal reforms.

Moreover, there are indications that the protest movement was manipulated with a view to creating social chaos as well as ensuring political continuity. There are unconfirmed reports of armed militias conducting acts of repression and intimidation in major urban areas.

The important question is how will the crisis evolve? How will the broader issue of foreign interference be addressed by the Tunisian people?

From the standpoint of both Washington and Brussels, an unpopular authoritarian regime is slated to be replaced by a new puppet government. Elections are envisaged under the supervision of the so-called international community, in which case candidates would be pre-selected and approved.

Were this process of regime change to be carried out on behalf of foreign interests, the new proxy government would no doubt ensure the continuity of the neoliberal policy agenda which has served to impoverish the Tunisian population.

The interim government led by acting president Fouad Mebazza is currently in an impasse, with fierce opposition emanating from the trade union movement (UGTT). Mebazza has promised to "break with past", without however specifying whether this signifies a repeal of the neoliberal economic reforms.

Historical Background

The media in chorus have presented the crisis in Tunisia as an issue of domestic politics, without a historical insight. The presumption is that with the removal of "the dictator" and the instatement of a duly elected government, the social crisis will eventually be resolved.

The first "bread riots" in Tunisia date back to 1984. The January 1984 protest movement was motivated by a 100 percent hike in the price of bread. This hike had been demanded by the IMF under Tunisia's structural adjustment program (SAP). The elimination of food subsidies was a de facto condition of the loan agreement with the IMF.

President Habib Bourguiba, who played a historical role in liberating his country from French colonialism, declared a state of emergency in response to the riots:

While gunfire sounded, police and army troops in Jeeps and armored personnel carriers fanned out through the city to quell the "bread riot." The show of force finally brought an uneasy calm, but only after more than 50 demonstrators and bystanders were killed. Then, in a dramatic five-minute radio and television broadcast, Bourguiba announced that he was reversing the price hike. (Tunisia: Bourguiba Lets Them Eat Bread - TIME, January 1984)

Following president Bourguiba's retraction, the hike in the price of bread was reversed. Bourguiba fired his Minister of the Interior and refused to abide by the demands of the Washington Consensus.

The neoliberal agenda had nonetheless been instated, leading to rampant inflation and mass unemployment. Three years later, Bourguiba and his government were removed in a bloodless coup d'Etat, "on the grounds of incompetence", leading to the instatement of General Zine el Abidine Ben Ali as president in November 1987. This coup was not directed against Bourguiba, it was largely intended to permanently dismantle the nationalist political structure initially established in the mid-1950s, while also privatizing State assets.

The military coup not only marked the demise of post-colonial nationalism which had been led by Bourguiba, it also contributed to weakening the role of France. The Ben Ali government became firmly aligned with Washington rather than Paris.

Barely a few months following Ben Ali's November 1987 instatement as the country's president, a major agreement was signed with the IMF. An agreement had also been reached with Brussels pertaining to the establishment of a free trade regime with the EU. A massive privatization program under the supervision of the IMF-World Bank was also launched. With hourly wages of the order of Euro 0.75 an hour, Tunisia had also become a cheap labor haven for the European Union.

Who is the dictator?

A review of IMF documents suggests that from Ben Ali's inauguration in 1987 to the present, his government had faithfully abided by IMF-World Bank conditionalities, including the firing of public sector workers, the elimination of price controls over essential consumer goods and the implementation of a sweeping privatization program. The lifting of trade barriers ordered by the World Bank was conducive to triggering a wave of bankruptcies.

Following these dislocations of the national economy, cash remittances from Tunisian workers in the European Union became an increasingly important source of the foreign exchange earnings.

There are some 650,000 Tunisians living overseas. Total workers' remittances in 2010 were of the order of US$1.960 billion, an increase of 57 percent in relation to 2003. A large share of these remittances in foreign exchange will be used to service the country's external debt.

The Speculative Hike in World Food Prices

In September 2010, an understanding was reached between Tunis and the IMF, which recommended the removal of remaining subsidies as a means to achieving fiscal balance:

Fiscal prudence remains an overarching priority for the [Tunisian] authorities, who also see the need for maintaining a supportive fiscal policy in 2010 in the current international environment. Efforts in the last decade to bring down the public debt ratio significantly should not be jeopardized by a too lax fiscal policy. The authorities are committed to firmly control current expenditure, including subsidies,... IMF Tunisia: 2010 Article IV Consultation - Staff Report; Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Tunisia http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2010/cr10282.pdf

It is worth noting that the IMF's insistence on fiscal austerity and the removal of subsidies coincided chronologically with a renewed upsurge in staple food prices on the London, New York and Chicago commodity exchanges. These price hikes are in large part the result of speculative trade by major financial and corporate agribusiness interests.

These hikes in food prices, which are the result of outright manipulation (rather than scarcity) have served to impoverish people Worldwide. The surge in food prices constitutes a new phase of the process of global impoverishment.

"The media has casually misled public opinion on the causes of these price hikes, focusing almost exclusively on issues of costs of production, climate and other factors which result in reduced supply and which might contribute to boosting the price of food staples. While these factors may come into play, they are of limited relevance in explaining the impressive and dramatic surge in commodity prices.

Spiralling food prices are in large part the result of market manipulation. They are largely attributable to speculative trade on the commodity markets. Grain prices are boosted artificially by large scale speculative operations on the New York and Chicago mercantile exchanges. ...

Speculative trade in wheat, rice or corn, can occur without the occurrence of real commodity transactions. The institutions speculating in the grain market are not necessarily involved in the actual selling or delivery of grain.

The transactions may use commodity index funds which are bets on the general upward or downward movement of commodity prices. A "put option" is a bet that the price will go down, a "call option" is a bet that the price will go up. Through concerted manipulation, institutional traders and financial institutions make the price go up and then place their bets on an upward movement in the price of a particular commodity.

Speculation generates market volatility. In turn, the resulting instability encourages further speculative activity.

Profits are made when the price goes up. Conversely, if the speculator is short-selling the market, money will be made when the price collapses.

This recent speculative surge in food prices has been conducive to a Worldwide process of famine formation on an unprecedented scale." (Michel Chossudovsky, Global Famine, Global Research, May 2, 2008, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8877)

From 2006 to 2008, there was a dramatic surge in the prices of all major food staples including rice, wheat and corn. The price of rice tripled over a five year period, from approximately 600$ a ton in 2003 to more than 1800$ a ton in May 2008.

(Michel Chossudovsky, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9191, For further details, see Michel Chossudovsky, Chapter 7 Global Poverty and the Economic Crisis in Michel Chossudovsky and Andrew Gavin Marshall, editors, The Global Economic Crisis, The Great Depression of the XXI Century, Global Research, Montreal 2010, http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20425 )

The recent surge in the price of grain staples is characterized by a 32 percent jump in the FAO's composite food price index recorded in the second half of 2010.

"Soaring prices of sugar, grain and oilseed drove world food prices to a record in December, surpassing the levels of 2008 when the cost of food sparked riots around the World, and prompting warnings of prices being in "danger territory".

An index compiled monthly by the United Nations surpassed its previous monthly high – June 2008 – in December to reach the highest level since records began in 1990. Published by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the index tracks the prices of a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, and has risen for six consecutive months." (Jill Treanor, World food prices enter 'danger territory' to reach record high, The Guardian, January 5, 2011)

Bitter irony: Against a background of rising food prices, the IMF recommends the removal of the subsidies with a view to reaching the goal of fiscal austerity.

Manipulating the Data on Poverty and Unemployment

An atmosphere of social despair prevails, people's lives are destroyed.

While, the protest movement in Tunisia is visibly the direct result of a process mass impoverishment, the World Bank contends that the levels of poverty have been reduced as a result of the free market reforms adopted by the Ben Ali government.

According to the World Bank's country report, the Tunisian government (with the support of the Bretton Woods institutions) was instrumental in reducing the levels of poverty to 7 percent (substantially lower than that recorded in the US and the EU).

Tunisia has made remarkable progress on equitable growth, fighting poverty and achieving good social indicators. It has sustained an average 5 percent growth rate over the past 20 years with a steady increase in per capita income and a corresponding increase in the welfare of its population that is underscored by a poverty level of 7% that is amongst the lowest in the region.

The steady increase in per capita income has been the main engine for poverty reduction. ... Rural roads have been particularly important in helping the rural poor connect to urban markets and services. Housing programs improved the living conditions of the poor and also freed up income and savings to spend on food and non-food items with resulting positive impacts on poverty alleviation. Food subsidies, which have been targeted to the poor, albeit not optimally, have also helped the urban poor. (World Bank Tunisia - Country Brief)

These poverty figures, not to mention the underlying economic and social "analysis", are outright fabrications. They present the free market as the engine of poverty alleviation. The World Bank's analytical framework is used to justify a process of "economic repression", which has been applied Worldwide in more than 150 developing countries.

With a mere 7 percent of the population living in poverty (as suggested by the World Bank "estimate") and 93 percent of the population meeting basic needs in terms of food, housing, health and education, there would be no social crisis in Tunisia.

The World Bank is actively involved in cooking the data and distorting the social plight of the Tunisian population. The official rate of unemployment is 14 percent, the actual level of unemployment is much higher. Recorded youth unemployment is of the order of 30 percent. Social services, including health and education have collapsed under the brunt of the IMF-World Bank economic austerity measures.

Tunisia and the World

What is happening in Tunisia is part of a global economic process which destroys people's lives through the deliberate manipulation of market forces.

More generally, "the harsh economic and social realities underlying IMF intervention are soaring food prices, local-level famines, massive lay-offs of urban workers and civil servants and the destruction of social programs. Internal purchasing power has collapsed, health clinics and schools have been closed down, hundreds of millions of children have been denied the right to primary education." (Michel Chossudovsky, Global Famine, op cit.)

WikiLeaks and Julian Assange on Al Jazeera

2010-12-28T08:45:00.000-08:00

Julian Assange, the co-founder of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks - which is currently releasing over 250,000 confidential American diplomatic cables - is in the UK fighting extradition to Sweden where he is wanted on charges for sexual assault.

He joins Sir David to talk about a host of issues, from his personal situation to the role of WikiLeaks as a bastion of transparency, championing the right to reveal government secrets, when it is in the publics' interest.

When he co-founded WikiLeaks he saw that he could encourage, through successful examples, people to step forward to reveal abuses by governments - to produce more justice. Subscribing to the motto that "courage is contagious", Assange claims not to be an anarchist; rather his modus operandi is to promote responsible governance.

Now his lawyers are concerned that he will end up in an American jail, either directly through extradition from the UK, or through extradition from Sweden.

Assange heavily implies that receiving a fair trial in Sweden is doubtful. Why was the most senior prosecutor in Sweden removed (and replaced) after he said there was "no evidence or even suspicion" of rape? Why do Swedish authorities refuse to provide British officials with any evidence of crimes Assange allegedly commited - including witholding the statements of the victims?

He is hesitant to blame his two accusers for their allegations against him, suggesting they could be innocently caught up in a greater political scheme.

This special episode of Frost over the World can be seen from Tuesday, December 21, at the following times GMT: Tuesday: 2330; Wednesday: 0830, 1430, Thursday: 1930.

Julian Assange interview - FROST OVER THE WORLD - Al Jazeera English

2010-12-28T08:38:00.000-08:00

Julian Assange interview - FROST OVER THE WORLD - Al Jazeera English

Trial against Anat Kamm or against the entire Israeli press

2010-04-09T01:23:00.000-07:00

Israel lifts whistleblower gag

Officials said Kamm tried to harm national security, but her lawyer said her motive was moral [AFP]

Israel has lifted censorship on reports that a former soldier is under house arrest for leaking more than 2,000 classified military documents to an Israeli newspaper.

An Israeli court had ruled that local media could not report Anat Kamm's detention since December for allegedly taking the documents when on mandatory military service between 2007-9.

However, information concerning the 23-year-old's arrest had been reported in international newspapers and websites over the past couple of weeks prompting the easing of the ban on Thursday, subsequently raising discontent over press freedom in Israel.

Authorities have accused Kamm of giving the copied documents to a journalist at the Haaretz newspaper, which subsequently published information in 2008 that a top army officer authorised the assassination of Palestinian fighters in violation of a Supreme Court ruling.

About 700 of the documents were classified as "top secret".

Moral cause

Kamm, now a journalist, is accused of intending to harm national security by leaking the information, although this is denied by her spokesman who said that Kamm's motivation was moral.

"Anat is not a member of any political group and she does not want anyone to use her plight to further their cause," Nissim Dwek, the spokesman, told Israel's Channel 10 TV.

"State security has not been harmed and there was no intent to harm state security," Dwek said.

Kamm could face up to life in prison if convicted of espionage.

The Justice Ministry said that the gag order was necessary in order that the documents could be recovered. Yet, they added they were only partially reclaimed as Uri Blau, the Haaretz journalist who received the material, had left the country.

That journalist was assigned to London to avoid Israeli prosecutors, while the newspaper has said it is talking with legal authorities to allow for his return.

Press freedom

Gideon Levy, a journalist with Haaretz, told Al Jazeera: "Israel is now in turmoil over a women who couldn’t be silent.

Kamm, now a journalist, has been under
house arrest since December [AFP]

"I think that the main issue should be what were those secrets. One should look at the content of what was published, about who was assassinated. We don’t know enough at this stage," Levy said.

"We shouldn’t look at the messenger but the message.

"The penalty might be life. This is really out of proportion while we are dealing with a naive and good intentioned soldier who couldn’t keep silent about what she knew."

Critisism has been aimed at the gag order as international reports are easily available in Israel on the Internet, and many were referred to by local media regarding the case.

'Illegal killing'

Israel has used a policy of targeted killings against Palestinians since the second Palestinian intifada began in 2000 to prevent attacks.

Yet, the policy has been criticised as illegal, with the Supreme Court ruling in 2006 that such assassinations in the occupied West Bank must be limited to extraordinary cases.

The military in turn officially stopped the practice. But Haaretz reported a 2007 document including an order from Yair Naveh, a then commander, allowing firing upon three top Palestinian fighters even if they were not viewed as posing a clear and present danger.

Haaretz then quoted legal experts who said that the subsequent killing of one of the Palestinians was illegal, although Naveh, now retired, disputed this.

Kamm was serving in Naveh's office at the time of the memos.

Eitan Lehman, Kamm's lawyer, said that punishing her for this would be "a mortal blow to the state of Israel as a democratic country that believes in the freedom of the press.

"This trial is not a trial against Anat Kamm or against this journalistic source or another but rather against the entire Israeli press,'' Lehman said.

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CIA Helps Torturing Hamas Activists

2009-12-18T04:39:00.000-08:00

CAIRO – The CIA is cooperating with Palestinian security agents to torture Hamas activists and sympathizers in the West Bank prisons, the Guardian reported.
"There is a connection, but there is no supervision by the Americans," Palestinian Authority’s interior minister Sa'id Abu-Ali said.
"It is solely a Palestinian affair. But the Americans help us."
CIA agents were reportedly working closely with Palestinian security forces to torture Hamas sympathizers in the West Bank prisons.
The Guardian named the Preventive Security Organization (PSO) and General Intelligence Service (GI) as the two Palestinian agencies working closely with the CIA.
"The [Central Intelligence] Agency consider them as their property, those two Palestinian services," a senior Western diplomat said.
The CIA links to the two Palestinian agencies are so close to be seen as supervising their work.
A diplomatic source said the US influence over the two agencies was so great they could be considered "an advanced arm of the war on terror".
Between 400 and 500 Hamas sympathisers are held by the PSO and GI, according to Palestinian officials.
International human rights groups have accused Palestinian security forces of abusing and torturing Hamas detainees in the West Bank.
They say the detainees were severely beaten and tortured in the Palestinian Authority prisons, citing a torture technique known as shabeh, during which detainees are shackled and forced to assume painful positions for long periods.
Among the techniques are also sleep deprivation and cramming the detainees into small cells to prevent rest.
Hamas detainees are also being tried before military justice, under which they are held without charges for six months before being brought to court.
Three Hamas sympathizers have died in the custody of the Palestinian Authority.
Haitham Amr, a 33-year-old nurse and Hamas supporter, died in the Palestinian Authority custody, four days after his detention.
Extensive bruising around his kidneys suggested he had been beaten to death.
US Hand
Human rights groups blame the US administration for the mistreatment of Hamas detainees in the West Bank prisons.
"The Americans could stop it any time,” Shawan Jabarin, general director of Palestinian rights watchdog al-Haq, told the Guardian.
“All they would have to do is go to [prime minister] Salam Fayyad and tell him they were making it an issue.. Then they could deal with the specifics.
“They could tell him that detainees needed to be brought promptly before the courts."
The CIA does not deny working with Palestinian security forces, but denies turning a blind eye to abuses of Hamas detainees.
But a diplomat in the region insists that CIA agents were “at the very least” aware of the torture of Hamas detainees and did not do enough to stop it.
"There are a number of questions for the US administration: what is their objective, what are their rules of engagement?
“Do they train the GI and PSO according to the manual which was established by the previous administration, including water-boarding? Are they in control, or are they just witnessing?"

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Netherlands defends deadly airstrike in Afghanistan

2009-10-02T02:06:00.000-07:00

Netherlands defends deadly airstrike in Afghanistan

The Dutch military defends a decision to order an air strike in southern Afghanistan that resulted in the loss of dozens of civilian lives pinning the blame on Taliban.

14 people, including, six children and three women were killed in the strike on Wednesday.

The Dutch defense ministry said on Thursday that the F-16 bomber had been called in to provide air support to NATO troops fighting Taliban insurgents in Helmand province.

Dutch military chief of staff Peter van Uhm, speaking in Kabul, defended the lethal airstrike saying the Dutch pilot observed all regulations.

He also reiterated that the responsibility for the civilian casualties lied with the Taliban insurgents, not with NATO forces in the insurgency-hit country.

The indiscriminate air strikes by US-led forces has so far killed hundreds of civilians in the country.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) "recorded 1,500 civilian casualties between January and August, with August being the deadliest month since the beginning of 2009," according to its statement issued on September 25.

More than 1,500 civilians have been killed in the first six months of 2009, which shows a 24 percent increase compared with the same period last year, according to the latest UN report.

Nearly a quarter of civilian deaths have been blamed on US-led airstrikes across the war-torn country over the past months.

The raids have drawn condemnation form the Afghan government and public. The developments also come as evidences of friction have emerged between the Kabul government and Washington over the increasing number of civilian causalities over the past years.

The deadly air raids come at a time when the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has said that investigators are studying evidence of alleged crimes against humanity in Afghanistan.

Despite the presence of over 100,000 troops in the war-torn country, Afghanistan is witnessing the highest level of violence since the 2001 US invasion of the impoverished country.

A security map by the London-based International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) has recently showed a deepening security crisis with substantial Taliban activity in at least 97 percent of the war-ravaged country.

The top US general in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, has expressed serious concerns over the growing Taliban insurgency in the war-ravaged country.

McChrystal, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, told military and defense experts Thursday at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London that the situation was serious and time was running out.

"The situation is serious and I choose that word very, very carefully."

The insurgency has skyrocketed in southern and eastern Afghanistan where the Taliban has stepped up attacks against the coalition troops with roadside bombs and ambushes.

Pressure is mounting on the US and its Western allies to pull troops out of the country amid rising troops and civilians' causalities.

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Israel Criminal State

2009-09-17T02:30:00.000-07:00

Israel Criminal State: Israelis

"It's time that the Israel and international societies start to treat Israel like a criminal state,” said Pollak.

CAIRO — As Tel Aviv struggles to contain the international aftermath of the UN damning report over the deadly offensive in Gaza Strip, an inner storm is evolving with Israeli rights and political activists slamming their own country as a criminal state and calling for punishing it.
"It's time that the Israel and international societies start to treat Israel like a criminal state and a serial violator of international laws and Palestinian rights,” left-wing activist Yonatan Pollak told Yediot Ahronot daily on Wednesday, September 16.

Contrary to outraged official Israeli response to the UN fact-finding mission report issued Tuesday, which accused Israeli army of war crimes and crimes against humanity during Operation Cast Lead, Israeli rights activists welcomed the report and called for accountability.

Pollak, who testified before the Goldstone committee, affirmed that the official claims of bias are unfounded and called for stern international sanctions against “criminal” Israel.

Killed by Israel, Eaten by Dogs

"Dad, I'm Dying"

Palestinian Holocaust Museum

The international society should “impose on it a boycott, sanctions and the withdrawal of investments, just as was the case with the apartheid regime in South Africa."
Majd Bader, of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, said the report should be a wake up call for Israel.

“Israel should wake up and take it upon itself to investigate the claims," said Bader.

Balad party chairman, Jamal Zahalka, believes that in the light of the report, Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak should be sent to International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague immediately.

"The conclusion from the report," he added, "is that [there should be] an international trial for those responsible for war crimes in Gaza starting with the defense minister, the IDF chief of staff, down to operational commanders.

"It is not possible that someone who causes the death of more than 1,000 civilians will not pay the price."

Some 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the Gaza onslaught eight months ago.

While Israel claims 300 civilians were killed, a Gaza observer group has said over 900 of the dead were innocent civilians.

Frantic Campaign

Israel launched a frantic diplomatic campaign to prevent the ramifications of the UN report.
The salvos opened at home come as Israel launched a frantic diplomatic campaign to prevent the UN report from being brought before the Security Council and from there to the ICC.
"The goal is to avoid a slippery slope which would lead Israel to the International Criminal Court in The Hague," a senior Israeli staffer told Haaretz.

The Hague-based court investigates war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed on the territory of, or by a national of a state.

A coalition of 350 European and Arab civil society organizations has already filed a lawsuit with the ICC against Israel over war crimes in Gaza.

On September 29, the UN Human Rights Council, which appointed Goldstone, will be convening in Geneva for a special session on the report.

Israeli officials said they expect Arab states will begin to prepare a draft resolution which will call for the report to be transferred to the UN Security Council.

In their worst-case scenario, the Security Council could decide to transfer the matter to the ICC, which could issue international arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials who were involved in the military onslaught.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avidgor Lieberman, President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have already started telephoning their counterparts around the world to handle the report ramifications.

They will focus on the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - but will also give priority to members of the European Union, because of their influence in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The Israeli leaders will ask their counterparts to express disagreement with the report and to oppose any use of it as the basis for anti-Israel resolutions.

"It will be a long diplomatic and legal campaign," said a senior Israeli staffer handling the Goldstone report.

"We will involve our friends around the world, especially the United States, to prevent Israel's isolation."

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New Jewish organ theft gang busted

2009-09-10T02:48:00.000-07:00

New Jewish organ theft gang busted

The Jewish group is said to be connected to Israeli rabbi Levy Rosenbaum, who was recently arrested for direct importing human organs.

New reports have surfaced on the arrest of yet another Jewish organ trading gang in the United States involved in the abduction of Algerian children.

Dr. Mustafa Khayatti, the head of the Algerian National Committee for the Development of Health Research, revealed on Sunday that the New York city police have arrested members of a Jewish gang who abducted Algerian children for their organs.

Khayatti said the arrests came after Interpol found that children in western Algeria were abducted and taken to Morocco to have their kidneys harvested.

Their organs were later trafficked to the United States and Israel and sold for $20,000 to $100,000 each.

The group is said to be connected to Israeli rabbi Levi Rosenbaum, who was recently arrested in New Jersey for direct involvement in importing human organs.

Following Rosenbaum's arrest, US authorities detained some 44 others, including rabbis and mayors in New Jersey, who were prosecuted for money laundering and human organs trade.

Last month, a report published in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, accused Israeli soldiers of kidnapping Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip for their organs, indicating a possible link between the Israeli military and the mafia of human organs detected in the US.

Some Arab countries have called for an international inquiry into the allegations.

PRESS-TV

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Israel Steals Body Parts

2009-09-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

Israel Steals Body Parts: Palestinians

IOL

"I don't know for sure why they are refusing to hand him over to us to bury him,” Fawzi told IOL about the body of his slain son.

RAMALLAH – The controversy triggered by a Swedish newspaper report about Israel’s harvesting of Palestinian organs has salted the wounds of many Palestinian families haunted by the memories of loved ones who suffered the same fate.
“They claimed they came to arrest him, but in truth they came to murder him, which they did,” Walid Masalmeh, a resident of the small West Bank town of Dura, 10 kilometer west of Al-Khalil (Hebron), said about his relative Bassam.

In 1995, Bassam was killed by the Israeli army at the village of Beit Awwa, located near the former armistice line between the West Bank and what is now Israel.

“But 24 hours later they returned the body with a huge scar running from the chin to the lower abdomen,” Walid remembers.

“They took all the vital organs, including the heart, kidneys, Liver. Then they stuffed the empty cavities with garbage before sewing him up.”

Several other Palestinians gave a similar narrative, recounting how they received the bodies of their murdered relatives, mostly men in their early twenties, with vital organs taken away by the Israeli authorities.

Israeli occupation authorities don’t deny that the bodies of victims were returned to their respective families minus the internal organs, but claim that the organs were disposed of as part of routine autopsy operations.

“I am not a medical doctor, but I do know that an autopsy is performed to establish the cause of death,” says Walid.

“In Bassam’s case, and hundreds of similar cases, the cause of death is known too well since the victims were killed by the Israeli occupation army.”

The Swedish mass circulation Aftonbladet published last month a report accusing Israeli troops of killing Palestinians and then harvesting their organs.

Israeli officials have dismissed the report as anti-Semitic and have been piling up pressures on the Swedish government to condemn it.

Stockholm has so far remained steadfast, insisting it was in no position to interfere with its free media.

Held Bodies
“These people have no morality, save the morality of murder and lies," Shahin said about Israeli authorities still holding the body of his son.
Majed Abu Dush was assassinated by Israeli death squads west of Al-Khalil in 2002.

But Israeli authorities are still keeping his body.

"I don't know for sure why they are refusing to hand him over to us to bury him,” his tearful father Fawzi told IOL.

“This makes me think that there is a foul play."

Fawzi has been petitioning Palestinian Authority (PA) officials, including Premier Salam Fayyad, to press the Israeli government to release the detained bodies of hundreds of Palestinians.

Over the years, the Israeli occupation army killed thousands of Palestinians, hundreds of them children, and in many cases the bodies were buried in unknown graves or remained “imprisoned” in refrigerators.

Israel has also been detaining the corpses of Palestinian fighters killed in combat with its forces to inflict maximum emotional pain on their families.

Mustafa Shahin suspects that Israeli authorities might have harvested the organs of his son, whom they killed in 2003.

"What would prevent Israel from doing the worst thing that comes to your mind,” he fumed.

“These people have no morality, save the morality of murder and lies."

According to Shahin and Abu Dush, Israel is detaining the bodies of at least 48 young Palestinians killed by its army in recent years, all of them from the al-Khalil region alone.

The overall number of detained corpses of Palestinian victims is believed to be in the hundreds.

Bad Record

Indeed, the Aftonbladet report was by no means the first revelation of its kind concerning Israeli violations of bodies of Palestinian victims.

In January 2002, an Israeli cabinet minister, Nessim Dahan, tacitly admitted during a routine questioning in the Knesset that certain organs from the bodies of Palestinians might have been used for Jewish transplant patients without the knowledge of the victims’ families.

Dahan said he couldn’t confirm or deny that organs taken form Palestinian victims were used for transplant or in scientific research.

Arab Knesset member Ahmed Teibi, who questioned Dahan at the time, told IOL the Israeli minister of health “was hedging and wouldn’t give a clear answer.”

Late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had openly accused the Israeli army and medical authorities of harvesting the organs of Palestinian victims.

“They murder our kids and use their organs as spare parts,” Arafat told Al-Jazeera in 2002, showing pictures of the bodies of Palestinian children killed and badly mutilated by the Israeli army.

In 1998, Israeli medical authorities brashly stole body organs from a Scottish tourist named Alistair Sinclair who died under mysterious circumstances at the Ben Gurion Airport.

Sinclair’s family reportedly sued Israel upon finding that their son’s heart and other organs were missing.

According to one report, a heart and organs were sent to his mother who didn’t believe that these were her son’s.

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CIA refuses to release torture documents

2009-09-03T00:21:00.000-07:00

CIA refuses to release torture documents
Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:19:10 GMT PRESSTV

The CIA has refused to release further documents related to its controversial rendition, detention and interrogation of terror suspects.

In a 33-page court statement made public on Tuesday, the Central Intelligence Agency said the documents contained sensitive information "that implicates intelligence activities, sources and methods, and information relating to the foreign relations and activities of the United States."

Last month the Department of Justice revealed details of a report by a CIA inspector-general that outlined methods used during interrogation of "al-Qaeda suspects" in the midst of George W. Bush's term, including threats of rape of detainees' family members.

The report sent shock waves through Washington, and it was followed by Attorney-General Eric Holder announcing he had named a prosecutor to probe the prisoner abuse.

The US spy agency said the documents were too sensitive to release because they detailed "the locations of CIA intelligence activities overseas and the assistance provided by certain foreign governments."
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In blockaded Gaza, Israeli troops kill again

2009-08-25T01:27:00.000-07:00

In blockaded Gaza, Israeli troops kill again

Israeli forces gun down another Palestinian in blockaded Gaza
Israeli troops have killed one Palestinian and injured two others in the north sector of Gaza in yet another violation of a truce signed after Israel's 22-day war on the strip.

Israeli forces opened fire on the three young men in the al-Atatra neighborhood, in the town of Beit Lahia on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip on Monday.

One of the wounded Palestinians later died in an Israeli clinic from excessive blood loss, medical sources told Press TV, adding that none of the three youths was known to be a member of any Palestinian faction.

An Israeli army spokeswoman has confirmed the incident, saying that three rockets were fired into southern Israel following the shooting.

Since the end of the 22-day war, the Israeli army has launched several cross border attacks on Gaza, rolling its tanks and bulldozers into the impoverished enclave, opening fire on villagers' homes and flattening cultivated fields.

The deadly Israeli offensive into Gaza last December resulted in 1,500 Palestinian deaths and approximately 5,450 injuries. Most of the victims were civilians

The offensive also inflicted more than USD 1.6 billion of damage on Gaza's already-stricken economy.

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SOMALIA: Livelihoods - and lives - at risk in Puntland

2009-08-24T06:12:00.000-07:00

SOMALIA: Livelihoods - and lives - at risk in Puntland

NAIROBI, 24 August 2009 (IRIN) - Fishermen in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, are losing their livelihoods and sometimes their lives due to foreign vessels invading their waters, says a minister.

"More and more fishermen in Puntland are coming to us to complain about foreign vessels destroying their nets and denying them access to fishing grounds," Mohamed Farah Aden, Puntland Minister of Fisheries, told IRIN.

He said these foreign vessels were destroying livelihoods. "I have a number of reports of Somali fishermen killed. These people are not only killing their livelihoods but they are killing them as well."

The minister said his office was compiling figures of how many had died in attacks by foreign vessels.

He said Puntland authorities had raised the issue with the international forces patrolling the Somali coast to fight pirates. NATO forces, as well as those from other countries, such as Russia and India, were policing the area.

Illegal fishing

Puntland has requested that the foreign navies should also deal with the influx of foreign vessels fishing illegally. "Illegal fishing off our waters is what started the whole piracy thing," he said.

According to Ecoterra, an NGO that monitors Somali waters, there is an indirect link between piracy and illegal fishing. Many of the pirates have their roots in self-help groups that wanted to defend "Somali waters and marine resources in the absence of a navy and coastguard".

Later, however, the groups became involved in business disputes and were used as mercenaries and eventually evolved into criminal gangs, said Ecoterra.

Mohamed Abshir Waldo, an independent analyst and Somalia expert, goes even further, saying the root cause of the piracy "was massive illegal fishing that has been going on for the last 19 years.

"It is because of the illegal foreign fishing that the first conflict with Somali fishermen started, when the foreign poachers came to fish within the 12-mile territorial waters.

Waldo said he knew fishermen in a small fishing boat that was run over and crushed "with all the seven-member crew killed. There were many other incidents like that one. Many were shot and others burned with boiling water poured on them."

A Nairobi-based regional analyst, however, says that even though illegal fishing occurs in Somali waters "on a serious and damaging scale", the origins of piracy lie not with impoverished fishermen, "but with prominent businessmen and political leaders who initially introduced the 'licensing' of foreign fishing vessels as a kind of extortion racket".

Figures compiled by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) show that in 2008, pirates attacked 135 ships off the coast of Somalia, "resulting in 44 ships having been seized by pirates and more than 600 seafarers having been kidnapped and held for ransom". Most of these were off the coast of Puntland.

Foreign threat

Jama Isse, a member of a fishing cooperative in the port city of Bosasso, told IRIN that many members were idle due to attacks by foreign ships. "People are afraid to go out there. Sometimes we are mistaken for pirates and sometimes these big fishing ships ram our boats or cut our nets.

"If the situation does not improve, many of us will be forced to join the pirates," he said. "We have no other means of making a living."

Ahmed Ali Abdalla, who owns several fishing boats, said the number of foreign ships had increased since the foreign navies arrived.

He said the foreign ships were using the naval forces as protection and denying locals the opportunity to fish. "They even take our nets with everything in them. It is like taking food from our mouths."

Local fishermen were caught between the pirates and the foreign forces, "but the worst are those fishing illegally", he said. "Some of them are armed and have even fired on us or taken our boats."

According to the analyst, to end insecurity in Somali waters what is needed is a comprehensive and integrated approach that addresses "not only piracy, but also the problem of illegal fishing, which pirates routinely cite to justify their actions".

Somalia has a 3,330km coastline, with major landing sites in Kismayo, Mogadishu, Merka and Brava in the south, and Eil, Bargal, Bolimog, Las Korey and Berbera, and Bosasso in the north. It also has large species, including tuna and mackerel; smaller stocks, such as sardines; sharks and lobster.

ah/mw[END]

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GAZA-OPT: Rubble removal uncovers potential health hazards

2009-08-11T23:40:00.000-07:00

GAZA, 11 August 2009 (IRIN) - Nearly seven months after Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has begun removing some 600,000MT of rubble containing asbestos and other hazardous material [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84177].

Israel's 23-day operation destroyed 4,000 housing units and damaged 40,000 homes [http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30948&Cr=palestin&Cr1=]. UNDP officer Amran el-Kharouby in Gaza said rubble was being removed from 2,533 private homes, in addition to 23 public buildings.

"UNDP rubble removal teams were trained how to safely remove, store and crush hazardous material, primarily asbestos," said El-Kharouby, adding that UNDP had provided contractors with safety equipment.

Teams also met residents, some living in tented communities near their destroyed homes, to explain the removal process and warning that hazardous material might be uncovered. In many cases residents are evacuated before removal teams go in.

The UN Mine Action Team is also working to remove unexploded ordnance in Gaza [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85633].

Asbestos threat

According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), about 10 percent of the rubble in Rafah and Khan Younis is asbestos material, as well as a small amount in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City. UNEP conducted an assessment of Gaza in May and is expected to release its results in August. [http://www.unep.org/environmentalgovernance/News/PressRelease/tabid/427/language/en-US/Default.aspx?DocumentID=579&ArticleID=6132&Lang=en]

About 68 percent of Gaza's 1.5 million residents are refugees, living in eight major camps. [http://www.undp.ps/en/newsroom/publications/pdf/other/fastfactgazaen092.pdf] Most refugee camp homes are built from concrete and asbestos.

"Asbestos releases particles into the air and chronic lung conditions in the respiratory tract may result," World Health Organization (WHO) officer Mahmoud Daher in Gaza told IRIN.

In addition to private homes, hundreds of public buildings and roads were damaged or destroyed during the Israeli offensive in Gaza, including 700 factories.

"[Destroyed] factories that were using lead or other heavy metals, like battery factories, could present a health hazard to the population," said Daher.

Some factory or home owners have denied access to rubble removal teams to what is left of their properties because they said they had not received compensation from the Gaza authorities or UN.

The UNDP rubble removal project will continue until January.

If adequate funding is available, the 380,000MT of remaining rubble from former Israeli settlements that was collected but never crushed will be removed as part of the project. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in September 2005.

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Western Relief Agencies in Sudan-Darfur: Shocking Facts

2009-03-26T06:53:00.000-07:00

Western Relief Agencies in Sudan Darfur: Shocking Facts
Why the 13 Foreign Aid Agencies Were Sacked

The Sudan Government's decision to expel 13 foreign aid agencies from Darfur has provoked much controversy over this step's futility as far as the making of appropriate peaceful atmosphere in Darfur is concerned. It might backfire and provide the west with reasons to severely punish the Sudan on basis of allegations that such decision would be detrimental to the displaced people in Darfur's relief camps.

The decision was followed by the Sudanese government's proclamation of dispensing with all the other western organizations and instructing them to leave within one year.

This, again, has led to questioning both decisions' impact on the relief work in Darfur. Does Khartoum have an actual plan to replace such organizations without creating gaps that could lead to rekindling the human crisis in Darfur?

Initial Facts
Sudan's Big Gains
Intelligence, Business, and Other Activities
Why the Foreign Relief Agencies Were Expelled?

(1)International Rescue Committee (IRC)
(2)US "CARE International"
(3)French "Action Against Hunger" (ACF)
(4)French "Solidarity"
(5) American "Mercy Corp."
(6) Dutch "Doctors Without Borders"
(7) American "CHF International"
(8) British "Save The Children"
(9) " Norwegian Refugee Council" - NRC
(10) British "Oxfam"

Initial Facts

The number of the expelled foreign aid agencies is just 13. They are American, British, French, Canadian, and Dutch agencies, but this does not necessarily mean there are no other relief agencies from these countries or other countries working in Darfur.

The other foreign aid agencies working in the Sudan are 118, apart from two main international charities, 13 Islamic and Arab relief and charity agencies, as well as 55 local Sudanese ones.

There are documents and ample evidence that the expelled aid agencies were carrying out intelligence work for their countries. They also worked to maintain the problem of the displaced for purposes of profits as their staff members receive huge payments which may amount to 70% of the relief funds they obtain for the poor in Darfur. They also serve other political purposes of pressuring the Sudanese government.

In other words, the 13 western agencies expelled constitute only 8% of the working relief agencies on the ground. There are 19 American agencies, of which five only were expelled, 16 British agencies, of which four only were expelled, 10 French agencies, of which two only were expelled, in addition to one Canadian and one Dutch agencies.

Twenty two out of these 118 agencies have Zionist backgrounds and are run and funded by Zionist organizations based in New York, Washington and some European countries.

It is not true that these organizations inject huge money or aids into Darfur. They basically distribute the foods offered by the UN International Food Program without providing any supplies to Darfur's three provinces, Southern, Northern and Western.
Contrarily, these organizations have been accused of usurping most of that they received of relief aids and supplies allocated for the Darfuris for their own and for their administrators' benefit.

The International Food program donates about 60 thousand tons of food per month to Darfur. The Sudanese Red Crescent Organization distributes about 40% of this amount, whereas the foreign and local organizations distribute around 60%. This simply means that if these foreign organizations are replaced by other Arab and Islamic relief organizations, the crises and the catastrophes the west and the foreign organizations are warning of, due to the expulsion decision, will never occur

The key gain for Khartoum is when it "Sudanizes" voluntary and relief work, This is apt to eliminate the West's interference in Darfur's crisis
Sudan's Big Gains

Given that, the great challenge the government and the national and Islamic organizations are facing is filling the vacancies created by the expulsion of these foreign organizations and getting fully prepared to shoulder the responsibility of distributing the relief supplies, providing medical teams, trained personnel to operate water wells, and providing health devices and services. This way, Khartoum could prove its ability to solve its own problems irrespective of the West's agenda.
The key gain for Khartoum is when it "Sudanizes" voluntary and relief work, This is apt to eliminate the West's interference in Darfur's crisis or aggravating it through these foreign agencies that have turned into "states within the state" in Darfur.

These expelled agencies managed to some extent to encourage Darfur's dissidents, particularly the Zaghwans, to rise strongly against the government.

It is no secret the agencies in questions used to distribute donations to the Darfuris to win their satisfaction and to employ some of them to work against their country. This was through implicating them in false witnesses of mass murder and rape crimes, to which there is no tangible evidence, neither by existence of mass graves or collective women's complaints.
The missionary Christianization role of some of these organizations had been indicated by Kotbi Al-Mahdi, former political advisor to Al-Bashir.
Intelligence, Business, and Other Activities

The intelligence activities undertaken by these agencies have already been experienced in south of Khartoum, South of Sudan, where they have played the most serious role in inciting the separation of the south and providing relevant information to America.

Among the most famous of the organizations and characters that have been deeply involved in dealing with the Congress and the US Intelligence are the British Baroness Cox and her Christian Solidarity. The Baroness Cox played a part through the Christian Solidarity in supporting the Popular Movement for Sudan's Liberation (PMSL), which is currently represented in the government.

Some Sudanese evidence has emerged that these organizations cooperate with the American intelligence in support of the South against the Khartoum government as part of the scheme of separating the south and the north of Sudan. The real secret why the Europeans heavily support the American schemes of intervention into the affairs of the Sudan and Darfur lies mainly in the missionary Christianization role these relief Western agencies are said to play there.
This role is linked also to the agenda of the European and American intelligence regarding securing interests in Sudan's oil reserves. This is the fact that urged the Priest John Danforth, former US envoy to the Sudan, to say: "The cessation of the civil war in Sudan could open the door for it to become a major oil country in Africa!".
The missionary Christianization role of some of these organizations has also been indicated by Kotbi Al-Mahdi, former political advisor to the Sudanese president, who accused them of flaring up sedition in southern Sudan and the Nuba Mountains and eastern Sudan, saying that "They have sought further insurrection in Darfur."
There are documents against such agencies concerning forced displacement of the people of Darfur through temptations, pressures and deception pushing them to leave for Europe and Israel.
Why the Foreign Relief Agencies Were Expelled?
According to Sudanese official reports, which IslamOnline.net had access to, the 13 agencies were expelled due to obvious acts of intelligence and that some of them had nothing to do with relief work. The expulsion of these organizations has basically little to do with the decision of the prosecutor of The International Criminal Court arrest warrant against President Al-Bashir.
Monitoring the activities of such agencies confirmed beyond doubt that they have been for many years doing full intelligence work far from their normal humanitarian duty. However, Khartoum had been so patient and tolerant until provoked by the ICC warrant of arrest.
The Sudanese Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs has obtained files and documents as evidence kept at the office of its Sudanese Commissioner. These documents indicate the fishy roles of the involved agencies and the amount of harm they were inflicting on the situation in Darfur, in particular, and in the Sudan in general.
There are documents against such agencies concerning forced displacement of the people of Darfur through temptations, pressures and deception pushing them to leave for Europe and Israel, in an act of illegal human trade. They were also involved in destructive activities through keeping persuading dwellers of some camps not to leave them and to take arms against the government.
They also incited some armed factions to take arms inside the camps like what happened in the notorious camp of "Kalimat". Some of these agencies have also written false intelligence reports and sent them to the ICC. They were misleading reports obviously financed by some Zionist organizations.

Some of the violations and infractions by such foreign aid agencies could be detailed as follows:
When the agency was questioned about the statement, it apologized and claimed it was a personal view.
(1) International Rescue Committee (IRC)

1- The IRC had an agreement with the ICC in 2005, according to which the Committee provides the court with information, documents and witnesses as well as ensuring the witnesses' safety in coordination with the UN mission in the Sudan.

2. In December 2004, four Dutch journalists brought by the IRC were arrested as they had photos of some Janjaweed members near the camps and a fabricated film about hold-up looting operations, originally carried out by two staff members working in the humanitarian field.

The film also showed false attempts of raping of displaced women and interviews with displaced witnesses about battering and torturing operations allegedly carried out by the government authorities.

The journalists finally admitted to all that violations and a criminal prosecution was started with the witnesses' statements documented, but the case was finally dropped off after the mediation of the Dutch ambassador in the Sudan.

3- The CNN broadcast a statement made by Mrs. Roberta, an official in the organization, describing what was going on in Darfur as the most hideous genocide in the 21st century. The statement claimed that government members displaced the people in Darfur, raped women and dumped children into the fire before their parents' eyes.

When the organization was questioned about that statement, it apologized and claimed that the statement made was a personal view of Mrs. Roberta, and that she was just a staff member and did not represent the organization.

4- The Organization's president, Nicky Smith, made a statement alleging the commitment of 200 cases of murder, rape in the camp without providing a single piece of evidence. She considered that it was an indication of the deterioration of the security status and claimed that the statement was an organization document.

5- In August 2005, the organization sent letters to the then American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, following her visit, requesting her to continue the pressure on Khartoum and the enforcement of the resolution 1591. She organized media campaigns on the Internet to collect signatures to be sent to the US President directly for the replacement of the African Union forces troops by international troops.

6- In 2006, the organization director was summoned by the Organizations Department Director General of the National Security and Intelligence Authority and was faced with these breaches and abuses. She provided a documented apology and requested opening a new page of cooperation to which she was not committed.

7- The organization has carried out some mock so-called projects in Darfur on issues¬– such as women's mental health, the rule of law, policies of protection, etc– that were just discussed in coffee meetings for women to promote their psychological comfort.

During these filmed meetings, women were pushed to talk about any abuses they were subjected to, which were meant to collect and fabricate information on their mouths.

What's really interesting is that the organization had been working without any technical agreements, and that's why it was first stopped in 2008.

8- The organization deported a number of the displaced people of Darfur to some European countries while others were sent to the ICC to bear witnesses.

9- For the organization to fulfill some of its goals, it prepared regular intelligence and information reports in addition to security surveillance reports on Darfur. It also prepared a report on the alleged forced displacement of the tribe of Al Zaghawa, and on the government stirring up of tribal disputes.

(2) US "CARE International"

1- It prepared security reports which were basically security and military records as well as accusations against the government of shelling civilians in the villages of the northern province of Darfur.

2- The organization's local director, Mr. Parker, prepared a paper that is figuring out scenarios of the replacement of the African Union troops by International ones.

The report included a security and intelligence analysis which recommended the possibility of the Sudanese government approving the advent of international forces in a dignified manner.
ACF's Cosultant, Mrs Silvy, suggested that the government practiced genocide, arson, and civilian abduction.
(3) French "Action Against Hunger" (ACF)
1- The French Action Contre la Faim (ACF) is an intelligence interface that prepared informational intelligence reports, including a letter that was discovered and carried an alleged indication that the area of Umm Khairat in Darfur was bombarded by the Janjaweed on Dec. 5, 2004.

A criminal case was filed against the organization that finally apologized for that and claimed it had conducted an investigation on the typing of that information on its official stationery, but the investigation yielded no results!.
2- Silvy, the organization's consultant, delivered a lecture, at the French International Institute of International Relations in 1999, in which she accused the Sudanese government of using the weapon of hunger against some people of Darfur in the south and in Nuba Mountains. She suggested that the government practiced genocide, arson, and civilian abduction operations.

(4) French "Solidarity"

1- In March 2007, the Radio of France cast a long interview with the organization's director in which he alleged that the Janjaweeds continued assaulting and attacking the Zaghawa tribes and that there was genocide and that the Sudanese government backed up the Arab militia and concluded that the war would not stop.

2- In 2005, the organization's distribution officer, Mr. Jill, supported the rebels by providing them with mobile recharge cards.

3- Barrels full of fuel prepared by the organization to be sent to the rebellious movements were discovered. A case was filed against the organization for thatviolations but it was finally dropped through diplomatic interventions.
The organization practiced activities that had nothing to do with humanitarian work in Kurmuk city.
(5) American "Mercy Corp."

1- This organization played a number of intelligence roles in the region of Abyei, disputed between the northern and southern Sudan, to create commotion among the people of Abyei of the Dinka tribe (African) and Missiriya tribe (Arab).

It also incited the Dinka people to create chaos in the region and beguiled them into believing they are the owners of the region and oil, and that they should fill the administrative vacuum and exploit the volatile situation.

2- The organization practiced activities that had nothing to do with humanitarian work in Kurmuk, a city in the Blue Nile Province of Sudan. It established a local radio station called the "Society Radio".

It broadcast programs that incited hatred and urged the citizens to separate from Sudan. It also initiated programs for church preaching.

(6) Dutch "Doctors Without Borders"

1- In October 2004, the organization published a report on mass killings in Darfur. The report claimed that the Sudanese government practiced genocide against civilians by using the Janjaweed pro-government militias, and that the civilians could not find a safe haven.

2- In March 2005, the organization published another report on rape in Darfur, and alleged that the rape and sexual violence were practiced by the Sudanese government and its allied militias on an ongoing basis.

The Secretary General of the United Nations used quotes form the report in his periodic report to the Security Council, citing that the organization treated 5,00 rape cases from Darfur in the UN clinics.

A criminal case was filed by the Sudanese government against the organization that was unable to prove its false allegations.

The organization's national employees, including the medical teams, denounced the report, refuted its claims, and noted that it was prepared with intentional malice. Then, the organization sought to exercise diplomatic pressure to have the case dropped.

Endeavors led by the United Nations representative, Jan Pronk, the one who submitted the report to the Secretary-General, who, in turn, sought the support of the Security Council. The Dutch Ambassador and the Ambassador of the European Union also intervened to drop the case.

Finally, the decision of the Sudanese Minister of Justice was to drop the case and give a final expulsion warning to the organization, and to depose its director, Darfur coordinator, out of the country for the untrue reports.

(7) American "CHF International"

1- The organization kept receiving a lot of women in its headquarters in the state of North Darfur and managed to convince them to lie to visiting guests and officials of international bodies about false cases of rape and sexual violence by the pro-government forces of the Janjaweed militia and to claim that these forces burned their villages and killed their men and children.

On a visit of Jan Waveland, Assistant of UN Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, the organization denied admission of the accompanying Sudanese Minister of Humanitarian Affairs.

2– It selected a number of displaced women from camps of Abu Shouk to represent the organization in Abuja, after instructing them to tell untrue stories and reverse the situation intimidating them by rumors about rape they would face at the hands of the Janjaweed.

3– It exploited some mayors and sheiks of tribes through financial aids and mortgage servicing in return for their collecting information for the organization. They were also forced to attend meetings of the organization at which they are incited to rise against the government.

(8) British "Save The Children"
1- The organization issued, in November 2002, a statement on the security situation in the state of North Darfur claiming that the government warplanes bombed positions only 50 meters from its food distribution center, although there were no fighting in that period of time.
2- It published information, in July 2004, which alleged that more than half a million children from Sudan's Darfur had been forced to flee their villages, and that a million people were forced to leave their homes by militias supported by the government.
The organization promoted wrong information on rape cases, and it was found that it provided good sums of money to the girls to lure them into telling lie and recognizing rape.
(9) "Norwegian Refugee Council" ( NRC)

1 - The organization recruited a number of elders, youth and women within the camp of Kalema. It paid them monthly salaries of 50,000 Dinars per person, and the task of those recruits was to collect intelligence information about security, political, military and social conditions, which the organization forwarded in daily reports to its top management.

2- The organization arranged secret meetings between the displaced people and some foreign delegations visiting the camp, and provided them with false information.
3 - The organization promoted wrong information on rape cases, and it was found that it provided good sums of money to the girls to lure them into telling lie and recognizing rape.
4 - When Jan Egeland, the former Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, visited Darfur in 2005, the organization provided him with false information about "sexual harassment, rape, and racial abuse". He was summoned to the camp of Kalema in secret to hear the false information.
5- It recruited 45 girls, and gave them 45 donkeys to move inside the camp and the surrounding villages to monitor the presence of government agents.

6- Owing to the organization's reiterative infringements, the authorities of south Darfur decided to expel it in 2006 for providing false reports.
(10) British "Oxfam"

1- In November 2004, the organization issued a report indicating the crimes committed by the rebels. It accused the government of incurring the deterioration of the security status in Darfur and called for an action by the international community and for immediate intervention.

2- In the same month, the organization prepared a report on the situation in Darfur which the Sudanese Organizations High Commission refused to publish it for the false information it carried.

However, Oxfam official, Alan McDonald, disclosed some false information to Karen Smith of the CNN about genocide in Darfur. Both the organization and the CNN played a big role to create a lobby to pressurize the Sudanese government.

By Muhammad Gamal Arafa
Political Analyst – Egypt

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Questions Beyond the ICC Arrest Warrant of Sudan's President

2009-03-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

Questions Beyond the ICC Arrest Warrant of Sudan's President

The ICC and Al-Bashir: Future Scenarios

With the issuance of the International Criminal Court (ICC)'s warrant for the arrest of the Sudanese President Omar Al-Beshir on March 4, 2009, at the request of the Court's Attorney General on July 14, 2008, and which was commissioned by the UN Security Council, the issue has gone out of control and Khartoum has to face the new reality of an internal, regional and international situation.
Dozens of questions and future scenarios have emerged, which, in turn, need working out dozens of scenarios and immediate and later answers at the same time.
How is the court going to implement the warrant and arrest Al-Bashir? Will it be possible to commission some western SWAT troops to carry out a flash operation to arrest him across the borders of Chad, the area that has already witnessed a coup attempt by a Darfur faction that had advanced into the country as far as the outskirts of Khartoum?
Will the UN Security Council issue a binding resolution, according to Chapter VII compelling all the states to arrest him by force, after the Council's rejection of an African-Arab proposal to freeze the trial?
Will the UN Security Council issue a binding resolution, according to Chapter VII compelling all the states to arrest him by force, after the Council's rejection of an African-Arab proposal to freeze the trial?

Domestic and Regional Scenarios

What will happen inside Sudan? Will the two wings of hawks and doves in the ruling National Congress remain united or will the hawks-- proponents of the view of sacrificing the President and pushing him to resign-- opt for the Islamic Project of protecting Sudan from the threat of external invasion and siege?
Or will they persuade the Sudanese Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmad Harun, to turn himself in so as to alleviate the pressure on Al-Bashir and show Sudan's good intentions which might lead to the freezing of this sentence?
Will Darfur's rebels seize the opportunity to launch attacks against Khartoum supported by the Criminal Court's ruling as they have lately threatened?
Will the peace plans in the south be delayed or the presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled for July 2009, be deferred? Will the south seek detachment from Sudan making use of this very tense atmosphere? Will the plans of fragmenting or dividing Sudan into four provinces be accelerated in accordance with an old known scheme?
What about the African Union and the Arab League: Could the 37 African States which signed the Rome Convention of the International Criminal Court withdraw in protest against the court's "political" ruling thereby damage the credibility of the Court? (The number of signatories of the convention is 108.)
May all these questions and their accompanying scenarios be premature and the situation in Sudan will remain as steadfast as ever, especially as 20 resolutions were previously issued by the Security Council concerning the conflict in Darfur, since 2005 but they have not been put into effect; gone with the wind, and Sudan remained steadfast.
Will the three Arab countries, members of the Court, withdraw as well or will the Arab position invariably remain mere rhetorical expression of solidarity with Sudan, particularly as there have been speculations that the Arab countries, "have sold" Al-Bashir off fearing to be linked with his destiny– as was the case with late President Saddam Hussein– which means confrontation with the new Obama administration.
In this case, they might be later forced to stand trial for opposing America and the West's desire to punish Al-Bashir?
Credibility and Future of the ICC
What about the fate and future of the Special International Criminal Courts, which have become looked upon, in spite of their growing in number (in Lebanon, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, and Cambodia), as unfair in their distribution of justice.
This is evidenced by their prosecution of the poor and overpowered countries while the crimes of the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan go unpunished.
Similarly, the Americans' ally, Israel commits endless crimes in Palestine. What about the future of the ICC, especially since it deals only with African cases– four African cases at hand– while it refuses to touch the case of Israel's war crimes in Gaza or America's in Iraq?
Repercussions
However, what is certain is that the resolution of arresting Al-Bashir will have its immediate and future repercussions on Sudan, Africa, and the world as a whole.
These repercussions may reach a stage of chaos and of escalating schemes to divide, and hence fragment, Sudan, especially if the resolution is linked to a fierce desire of the West to enforce its implementation and resort to the Security Council– and the seventh paragraph of the Charter– to be implemented by force, in spite of the African and Arab demands to apply to article 16 of the Statute for the freezing of the verdict.
Such repercussions may not undergo any escalating consequences against Sudan– in contrast with the previous scenario– except for the issuance of more resolutions by the Security Council imposing new punitive measures against Sudan.
The most ferocious sanctions against Sudan might be the imposition of an embargo and a ban on Sudanese air flights over Darfur. This means delimiting action to maintaining the court's verdict until a peace agreement about Darfur is reached, and then the embargo will be lifted.
Escalation vs. Appeasement Scenarios
Again, one could talk about the West's escalation scenario against Sudan by applying the Seventh Paragraph of the United Nations Charter. This will provide all the support it can do to Darfur rebels to raise public unrest, and to allow the intervention of the US and Western military imposition of a no-fly zone over Darfur.
On the other hand, the appeasement scenario which will sustain the court's verdict as a sword ready to strike Al–Bashir's neck with the object of compelling Sudan to compromise in some files.
But before talking about these two scenarios, we should point out that the article (89) of the Statute of the Tribunal establishes the procedures for the arrest of the accused, who has got the following verdicts:

First, The court first sends its ruling to the State of destination, Sudan, and requests its judges to put the sentence into effect. In this case, the verdict demand could be sent via the Sudanese embassy in the Hague –by fax as previous communications about the arrest of Minister Ahmed Haroun and Leader Kushayb have already taken place.
In this case Sudan would reject the request since Khartoum and the Sudanese parliament have not been signatories of the Convention establishing the court and therefore the convention is not part of the Sudanese law.
Second, The court should send the request corroborated by the indictment evidence that warrants the arrest of the person concerned to the country which has already ratified the court convention if the accused is on its land. The court should also request all the other countries to cooperate to implement the arrest.
Alternatively, Ocampo should circulate the arrest warrant of the Sudanese president to the countries which have ratified the ICC convention, namely all European countries except Russia, and all of the Southeast Asian states except China and the 37 African countries, and most of Latin America, and Canada. For them the arrest warrant is obligatory and binding.
In case this is impossible and if Sudan and any other country involved refuses to enforce the resolution, the court should automatically refer it to the UN Security Council. Although the court is not affiliated to the Council, the issue submitted should be implemented and to compel all the States to cooperate with the Tribunal, including the issuance of a resolution under Chapter VII of the Charter requiring all the Member States of the United Nations, including Sudan, to cooperate in order to execute the warrant of arrest.
Here the scenarios of escalation and appeasement are also important to the United States and Europe that have a tight grip on the Security Council.

The Appeasement Scenario
The appeasement steps could be figured out as follows:
1– Conciliation could start by delimiting the court's "politicized" resolution to one or two charges of the current three ones filed against President Al Bashir. The "Genocide" charge is to be dropped.
This will imply the existence of some kind of justice, especially as the Ocampo memorandum submitted to the court speaks about only thirty five thousand victims in Darfur, compared to 200 thousands according to the Western allegations and only 10 thousands according to Khartoum estimates.
2 - The resolution remains no more than ink on paper, meaning that it is not to be implemented, unless Al-Bashir travels to an ICC party state , and thereby creates a real problem. But this scenario may not be applicable as Al-Bashir seldom travels abroad and if he travels to some Arab countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Libya, it will not matter since these countries will not hand him in because they are not members of the Tribunal. Moreover, the nature of the Arab relations-makes this procedure unlikely.
3 - America and the West would not demand the enactment of Article VII of the UN Charter through a UN Security Council resolution. It should be used only as a measure of pressure.
4 - Washington will respond to the African and Arab demands, so there is a deal of freezing the resolution in exchange for a peaceful settlement in the Darfur Territory and a peace agreement that would include further Sudanese concessions, such as autonomy for the territory or apportioning it to three regions with autonomy.
The Escalation Scenario
The steps of this scenario could be figured out as follows:
1- America and Europe would seek rejection of freezing the arrest warrant of Al- Bashir.
2- They both will strive to support a new resolution to be issued by Ocampo and to be submitted to the Security Council to pass a resolution according to Chapter 7 of the Chart obliging all the other UN members including Sudan to cooperate in order to put the arrest warrant into effect.
3- The Darfur dissidents would get due support and encouragement to heighten their attacks like those of the Justice and Equality Forces last May on Um Durman with the object of pressuring Khartoum to allow them to arrest Al- Bashir and hand him in to the court.
4- Imposition of no-fly zones over Darfur like the one imposed by Americans over Iraq before the American invasion in addition to the economic, political and military embargo.
5- Employing the NATO troops, special French, European , American or other forces in special operations to penetrate the Sudanese borders or to operate outside Sudan to arrest Al-Bashir. One way is to force Al –Bashir's plane to land in an international airport so as to arrest him. The Attorney General Ocampo is authorized to use all the weapons and Devices available in the 108 UN members including the Intelligence capabilities, special forces, interior security forces, the army in addition to the UN forces to implement the resolution.
In any case, it is unexpected that the UN forces in Darfur (10 thousand troops) will be employed to arrest Al-Bashir, though they are the primary body responsible for such action.
This may lead to the attack of the Sudanese army on the UN troops and kicking them out of Sudan. This scenario has been figured out by the leaders of these troops which made them try to avoid getting involved and refrained from cooperating with the ICC concerning the special information related with Al-Bashir's prosecution.
Destiny of Elections and Peace With the South
There is still great fear of the impact of this verdict on Sudan internally and its repercussions on the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for next July. These will have close relationship with the future of peace and the Naivasha Peace Accord between the North and the south.
In case the verdict should affect the internal status quo, especially during the skirmishes between the Northerners and the Southerners, and the demand made by some southern leaders that Al-Bashir must hand himself in to the ICC, and in the light of the incompletion of the population census which may deter the promulgation of the election laws which are expected thereby to be deferred to December 2009 at most, given that that the peace accord between the north and the south which stipulates running the election in July, such deferment to next December will entail a constitution adaptation.
In case the elections should be run as scheduled and Al-Bashir should participate, it is expected that he will have a sliding victory owing to the popularity he has gained by the ICC verdict.
His victory will represent a new legitimacy bestowed on him by the voters. However, in case the elections are postponed or could not be run, this may aggravate the disputes with the southerners which may as well accelerate the unilateral detachment of the south without waiting till the year 2011 when the final destiny determination referendum should be administered.
This, in turn, might start a civil war between the south and the north apart from the west's wars for destiny determination. Sudan will then experience turmoil and instability which will re-thrust it into the status which existed before the Rescue Revolution of 1989.
This means that Sudan may relapse into its early Islamic roots which were characterized by rigidity and extremism. "Slah Qoush", Director of the Sudanese Intelligence, has openly warned against such relapse. Similarly, Othman Mohammed Taha, the Sudanese Vice President has alluded to the same warning when he said, " It will be a long battle".
Muhammad Gamal Arafa
political analyst in IOL
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World in "Great Recession" :IMF

2009-03-11T02:43:00.000-07:00

World in "Great Recession" :IMF
"The IMF expects global growth to slow below zero this year, the worst performance in most of our lifetimes," Strauss-Kahn said. (Reuters)
DAR-E-SALAAM — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stressed on Tuesday, March 10, that the world was in the grip of the "great recession," warning that Africans are at a particular risk from the global meltdown.
"The IMF expects global growth to slow below zero this year, the worst performance in most of our lifetimes," IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn told African finance attending a conference discussing how Africa should respond to the crisis.
"When we release our next package of forecasts at the spring session, that is to say in April, everything leads us to believe that it will indeed reveal a negative global growth for the first time in 60 years."
The IMF chief described the global financial crisis as "the great recession," excluding any chance of a global recovery before 2010.
US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke said Tuesday that the world was grappling with "the worst financial crisis" since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
The World Bank, the IMF's sister institution, said on Monday, March 9, it expects the world economy to shrink in 2009.
Stock markets worldwide hit their lowest levels in decades on Tuesday.
Japan's Nikkei stock index closed down 0.44 percent after another sell-off on Wall Street, hitting the lowest level since October 1982 for a second straight day.
In the US, where the crisis first erupted, stocks tumbled in choppy trade to 12-year lows overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 1.21 percent.
A financial firestorm swept the US and the world in September after the demise of Lehman Brothers, one of the US's Wall Street giants.
Since this, the crisis has knocked down many major companies worldwide, causing mounting job losses, falling household wealth and forcing consumers to hold back on spending.
Africa at Risk
The IMF, world's leading financial watchdog, warned that Africa would be particularly hard-hit by the global recession.
"Even though the crisis has been slow in reaching Africa's shores, we all know that it's coming and its impact will be severe," said Strauss-Kahn.
The IMF stressed that tumbling trade, declining remittances and dwindling foreign investments were piling pressure on Africa.
It predicts that growth in sub-Saharan Africa will slow to about 3 percent in 2009, half the growth rate it forecast last year.
"Even this could be too optimistic if the crisis deepens," warned Strauss-Kahn.
"Africa is now on the front line," agreed former UN chief Kofi Annan, currently chair of the Africa Progress Panel.
Many of the 300 participants in the conference pointed out that single private firms in the Western world had received bail-outs larger than the financial support for the whole of Africa.
"At a time when the international community is finding hundreds of billions of dollars for crisis resolution, I cannot accept that we will not be able to find hundreds of millions for low-income countries," said Strauss-Kahn.
"We must ensure that the voice of the poor is heard. We must ensure that Africa is not left out."
The IMF chief fears that the threat to Africa will not be only economic, with millions of Africans at the risk of being pushed back into poverty and conflict.
"This is not only about protecting economic growth or household incomes, it is also about containing the threat of civil unrest, perhaps even a war. It is about people and their futures."
IOL

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AFGHANISTAN: Respiratory diseases kill 2-4 people daily

2009-03-02T07:07:00.000-08:00

AFGHANISTAN: Respiratory diseases kill 2-4 people daily - Health Ministry

KABUL, 2 March 2009 (IRIN) - As many as 3,000 people seek treatment for cold-related respiratory diseases in Afghanistan every day, and of these, 2-4 die because of lack of access to decent healthcare, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has said.

"Every winter we see a marked increase in respiratory diseases," Abdullah Fahim, an MoPH spokesman, told IRIN in Kabul.

Pneumonia, asthma and other breathing problems peak among vulnerable people, particularly children, in sub-zero winter temperatures.

The situation is aggravated by high levels of pollution in the main cities [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82639

About nine million of the country's estimated 27 million people are food insecure, making them prone to seasonal and contagious diseases, health specialists say.

Over 230,000 people are also living in wretched conditions as internally displaced persons (IDPs) in tents, mud huts and dilapidated buildings; they generally lack access to heating, clothing and health services.

Afghanistan has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, with pneumonia and respiratory infections killing thousands of children every year, according to health workers.

Mobile health teams

In October 2008 the MoPH reported the establishment of 129 mobile health teams tasked with assisting needy communities during winter when snow often blocks access to local health centres.

The teams have helped prevent a major outbreak of winter diseases so far this year, but they are hampered by snow and transport difficulties, MoPH's Fahim said.

Because many roads in rural areas are rough and become impassable in winter, mobile health workers also use animals or trek to villages on foot to deliver life-saving health services.

"We're facing access problems in some mountainous and rugged regions in Paktika, Nooristan, Daykundi, Badghis and Badakhshan provinces," Fahim said.

In the volatile south and east health workers' access to tens of thousands of people has been impeded by insurgency-related violence and deliberate attacks on aid workers [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=83207], MoPH officials said.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has said that because immunisation coverage is still very low in Afghanistan, preventable diseases kill thousands of children annually, with respiratory infections being among the leading causes of childhood deaths. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/afghanistan_background.html.

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Amnesty - Stop Arming Israel

2009-02-24T02:24:00.000-08:00

Stop Arming Israel: Amnesty

Amnesty said Israeli forces used US-made weapons, including white phosphorus ammunitions, against Gaza civilians.

CAIRO — A leading international rights organization is advocating a global arms embargo on Israel, along with Palestinian groups, to stop indiscriminate attacks on civilians, particularly singling out the US, Israel's main arms supplier.
"We urge the UN Security Council to impose an immediate and comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups until effective mechanisms are found to ensure that munitions and other military equipment are not used to commit serious violations of international law," Amnesty International Middle East Director Malcolm Smart said in a press release on Monday, February 23.

The London-based group has sent a fact-finding mission to Gaza and south Israel after Israel's recent three-week onslaught.
The mission found that the Israeli military offensive has wrecked havoc on the infrastructure of the densely-populated Palestinian territory.
"Weaponry, munitions and other military equipment supplied to Israel have been used by Israeli armed forces to carry out direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects in Gaza and attacks which were disproportionate or indiscriminate," said Amnesty.
"Israeli forces’ use of artillery and other non-precision weapons in densely-populated residential areas increased the risk, and the harm done, to the civilian population."
Nearly 1400 Palestinians were killed and thousands others injured in 22 days of Israeli air, sea and ground attack on Gaza Strip.
Donatella Rovera, who headed the fact-finding mission, also criticized Palestinian groups for firing rockets into southern Israel.
"Though far less lethal than the weaponry used by Israel, such rocket firing also constitutes a war crime and caused several civilian deaths."
Only three Israelis were killed in Palestinian rocket attacks during the three weeks of war.

US Arms, Money

Amnesty's fact-finding mission cited detailed evidence of Israel's extensive use of US-made weaponry during its Gaza onslaught.

"To a large extent, Israel's military offensive in Gaza was carried out with weapons, munitions and military equipment supplied by the USA and paid for with US taxpayers’ money," said Smart.
"Israeli forces used white phosphorus and other weapons supplied by the USA to carry out serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes," Rovera agreed.
"Their attacks resulted in the death of hundreds of children and other civilians, and massive destruction of homes and infrastructure."
Amnesty researchers found fragments and components from munitions used by the Israeli army - including many that are US-made – in school playgrounds, hospitals and homes.
They included artillery and tank shells, mortar fins and remnants from Hellfire and other airborne missiles and large F-16 delivered bombs.
The researchers also found remnants of a new type of missile, seemingly launched from unmanned drones, which explodes large numbers of tiny sharp-edged metal cubes, each between 2mm and 4mm square in size.
"These lethal purpose-made shrapnel had penetrated thick metal doors and were embedded deep in concrete walls, and are clearly designed to maximize injury."
Amnesty affirms that even before the Gaza war, the US has long been the largest arms supplier to Israel.
Under a current 10-year agreement negotiated by the Bush administration, the US will provide $30 billion in military aid to Israel.
Amnesty urged US President Barack Obama to review the former administration's agreements with Tel Aviv.
"The Obama Administration should immediately suspend US military aid to Israel," said Smart.
"As the major supplier of weapons to Israel, the USA has a particular obligation to stop any supply that contributes to gross violations of the laws of war and of human rights."

By IOL Staff

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Israel 'evicts Jerusalem families'

2009-02-24T01:11:00.000-08:00

Israel 'evicts Jerusalem families'

More than 1,500 people could be left homeless
by the threatened demolitions [AFP]

More than 1,500 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem could be made homeless after Israel told them their homes are illegal and are to be demolished.

"The owners of 80 houses in the al-Bustan neighbourhood have received eviction notices saying that the structures will be destroyed because they are illegal," Hatem Abdel Kader, an official responsible for Jerusalem affairs in the Palestinian government, said.

Kader said that several of the houses served with demolition orders had been built before the 1967 war, when Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan, but that numerous extensions have been built since.

"The [Jerusalem] municipality used this as a pretext to issue the demolition orders despite appeals by the residents," he said.

No comment was immediately available from the city authorities.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital and has annexed the Arab east of the city, but under international law east Jerusalem is considered to be occupied and has not been recognised by world powers as the Israeli capital.

According to B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights organisation, Israeli authorities have demolished about 350 houses in east Jerusalem since 2004, saying that they were built without permits.
AJE and agencies

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Sexual Abuse in Britain's Baghdad Embassy

2009-02-20T07:14:00.000-08:00

By Afif Sarhan, IOL Correspondent
BAGHDAD — Eman (not her real name) is locking herself home, refusing to meet anyone and sinking into despair over what she describes as sexual abuse and bullying at the British Embassy.
"My sister has been in a deep depression since the incident," her brother Ahmed told IslamOnline.net.
"What happened is a shame to her honor. It will affect her future if she gets exposed."
Eman is the latest victim of alleged sexual harassment at the British Embassy, located inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.
She is accusing a manager for the services company Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) of sexual harassment on the embassy's property.
The unidentified official was accused of sexually abusing three other workers at the embassy, an Iraqi cleaner and two cooks, more than 18 months ago.
But an internal investigation by KBR cleared him from any wrongdoing and the Iraqi employers were sacked.
He was allowed to return to his job at the embassy soon after the investigation ended as if nothing has happened.
"When we asked for help from the Ministry of Women Affairs, they said that they were also in a very difficult situation and cannot do much for us," said Ahmed, the victim's brother.
"They just recommended a lawyer who is asking a fortune to defend my sister but we don’t have another choice."
The lawyer told Eman's family that the task would not be easy, warning they would be "fighting against very powerful people."
"We are feeling weak, hand-tied and unable to fight for her rights," fumed her brother.
"My sister wants justice, but she might carry her wound for the rest of her life without healing."
Lost Dignity
When Nadia (not her real name) heard about Eman, hellish memories of her own ordeal came blazing into her mind.
"I lost the most important thing in my life after the incident," she told IOL fighting back the bitter memory.
"I lost my dignity."
Nadia is one of the three employees who accused the same KBR manager of sexual abuse.
"After nothing was proved, people started to look at me as if I was a hooker, not someone who suffered abuse."
She was forced out of her home and her husband couldn’t stand the shame and decided to leave her.
"I lost the love of my husband," Nadia said in a voice tinged with pain.
Hikmad Ahmed, the lawyer who followed her case, laments that his unyielding efforts failed to bring justice to Nadia and her colleagues.
"At the end, the poor women were seen as liars."
That's why he insists that the British Embassy should not allow the KBR to investigate the new abuse charges.
"If they were so fair on their law of conduct, they would have never accepted KBR to hold the investigation 18 months ago and allow the same mistake again."
Just like the first time, the accused KBR manager has been suspended from duty pending the end of the investigation.
"I just hope that the Embassy and the British government take it more serious than before, because their image has been destroyed," Ahmed says.
Anna Areen, a British lawyer specialized in sexual misconduct cases, is still surprised by the way the Embassy and Foreign Office reacted to the old charges.
"The UK has long been very serious on the law of conduct inside government and similar places. If they don’t take on their hands the investigation in Baghdad, they will be saying that it is allowed in Britain on the coming future," she told IOL.
"[Those] responsible should pay for what they did and it will be honorable if UK officials take head of this investigation and punishment.
By Afif Sarhan, IOL Correspondent
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UN Urges World Support For Somalia's Sharif

2009-02-20T07:05:00.000-08:00

UN Urges World Support For Somalia's Sharif

By Abdirahman Yusuf Jabril (IOL)

"I call on the international community to give him the strongest support to help him (Sharif) stabilize the country," Ould-Abdallah said. (Reuters)

BRUSSELS/MOGADISHU — Decrying years of neglect of the Horn of African country, the United Nations has called for global support to Somalia's new president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed to rebuild the war-torn nation.
"The president was elected in a transparent manner and has legitimacy," UN Envoy to Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah told Reuters on Thursday, February 19.

"I call on the international community to give him the strongest support to help him stabilize the country."

Sheikh Sharif, the moderate leader of the Islamic Courts Union, which ruled Somalia for six months before the 2006 Ethiopian invasion, was elected president last month.

His elections won plaudits from the United States and Ethiopia, Somalia's traditional Christian rival.

However, the Eritrea-based opposition and the Shebab group, a splitter of the ICU, denounced Sheikh Sharif's election as an illegitimate "puppet" administration.

The UN envoy warned that neglecting Somalia harms the credibility of the international community as a whole.

"To avoid double standards, we cannot have this presence in Afghanistan and Iraq and neglect Somalia," Ould-Abdallah said.

He said that foreign governments, the UN and non-governmental organizations should re-establish permanent missions in Somalia.

"Somalia is the only country on earth with no effective international presence -- no diplomats, no large NGOs, no large UN presence," he said.

"People are crying out for it."

Somalia has been without effective government since the ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

More than 14 attempts to restore a functional government have since failed.

Shari`ah

"This version of Shari`ah should be a moderate version, not the one sought by Shebab fighters," Salad said.
The UN call comes as Sheikh Sharif won support from Somali scholars, who backed the enforcement of a moderate version of Islamic Shari`ah in Somalia.
"The Somali parliament should meet within 120 days to announce the enforcement of Shari`ah in Somalia and amend Constitution articles that clash with Shari`ah," Sheikh Ahmed Salad, the chairman of the Council of Somali Scholars for Reform and Reconciliation, said in a statement following a meeting of more than 100 scholars.

"This version of Shari`ah should be a moderate version, not the one sought by Shebab fighters."

Sheikh Sharif's election platform calls for enforcing the rules of Shari`ah in Somalia.

It says Somali scholars will be the main source to explain how to enforce Shari`ah and that the government, not the armed groups, will be the only party responsible for implementing it.

The platform also calls for restoring security, order and rule of law to help bring about peace in Somalia.

"Dialogue and understanding are the bases for dealing with those who did not take part in the political process and that shedding the Somali blood is forbidden," it says.

Somali scholars also called for the withdrawal of 3,500 African peacekeeping forces from Somalia within three months.

Extra troops must not be sent to Somalia and the foreign troops can not be attacked with in the period mentioned above, they said

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US expands prison in Afghanistan

2009-02-20T01:18:00.000-08:00

US expands prison in Afghanistan

Obama has been urged to give Bagram detainees basic legal rights [AFP]

The US military is about to complete a $60m expansion to its prison at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan, where it holds more than 600 so-called enemy combatants.

The near doubling of the prison's size comes as Robert Gates, the US denfence secretary, prepares to "refine" the US postion on its use of Bagram and other facilities, including Guantanamo Bay, on Firday.

Gates, along with Eric Holder, the US attorney general, has been tasked with carrying out a review to determine the fate of detainees held in the US facilities.

Barack Obama, the US president, has been widely praised for moving to shut down the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba, within days of taking office last month.

But with his move to send 17,000 more US troops to Afghanistan to shore up US operations there, the Bagram prison looks set to become more visible and controversial.

Rumi Nielson-Green, a spokeswoman for the US military, told Al Jazeera that the detainees held at Bagram were "unlawful enemy combatants".

"They are individuals who have been removed from the battlefield because they are dangerous to our forces or our coalition partners," she said.

Basic rights urged

Amnesty urged Obama to continue its break from his predecessor's "unlawful detention policies" by ensuring "all US detentions in Afghanistan comply with international law" and giving the detainees access to US courts to challenge their detentions.....

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Hamas providing emergency relief to Gazans

2009-02-13T08:28:00.000-08:00

ISRAEL-OPT: Hamas providing emergency relief to Gazans

GAZA CITY, 13 February 2009 (IRIN) - The Hamas government in Gaza has said it is trying to help thousands of Palestinians who lost their homes and/or loved ones in the 22-day Israeli offensive which ended on 18 January. According to deputy minister of social affairs, Sobhi Redwan, Hamas has so far spent an estimated US$50 million on emergency relief assistance, but more aid is needed.

Scores of men have been queueing up outside the deputy minister's office to try to persuade officials they need emergency food assistance and have not received any aid from the UN or other agencies.

"We are supplying all people in Gaza who are in need. It is the government's duty to provide relief during and after the war," Redwan told IRIN on 11 February.

The government has formed a "national high committee for relief" comprised of representatives from all Gaza factions except Fatah. "The goal of the committee is to provide assistance equally to all those who are suffering," Loay Qaryuout, committee spokesperson and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine representative on the committee, told IRIN.

Hamas has drawn up lists of potential and actual beneficiaries in order to make aid distribution effective and fair, explained spokesperson Qaryuout.

Hamas has also asked international and local aid organisations, including UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinian affairs), to coordinate relief efforts http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82870 with the government.

About 900,000 Palestinians have asked UNRWA for food aid. [http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=29827&Cr=gaza&Cr1=unrwa]

"In general UNRWA donates food to refugees and the World Food Programme to non-refugees, although there has been some overlap since the war," UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness told IRIN by phone from Jerusalem.

Since Hamas took over in Gaza in June 2007, the Israeli and international blockade has meant Hamas has had to seek the funds with which to run the enclave by unconventional means - using secret tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border, the services of local middlemen, and money changers with affiliates in Amman and Cairo, to obtain the cash they need.

Cash handouts

Some 4,000 Gazans whose homes were completely destroyed have so far received about US$5,000 each from the government. Another 4,000, whose homes were partially destroyed, have received about $2,500 each, he said.

Some 4,000 homes were destroyed and about 17,000 badly damaged during the war, according to a recent UN Gaza flash appeal.

The government was providing about $1,300 to families who had suffered the loss of loved ones; injured people were getting about $650 each, said Redwan.

Hamas said it had also distributed a one-off relief payment of $100 to 80,000 social hardship cases on 11 February.

Ala (he did not want to give his full name), aged 37, a Fatah supporter from Gaza City, received $100 from the government for his wife and four children.

"It helps for a few days. We need milk and pampers [nappies] for the children, which are now expensive," said Ala. But he said he lacked the funds to repair damaged water tanks on the roof of his home and replace broken windows.

Food aid

The government said it had distributed an emergency food package - including basic items like sugar, oil, rice, flour, tea, and tinned food - to nearly all families whose homes were destroyed. These families had also received thin mats for sleeping on, and blankets.

A one-off food distribution, including flour and tinned food, was also made by the government to 30,000 people whose homes were partially destroyed.

Before the hostilities, over 50 percent of the population were living below the poverty line and 42 percent were unemployed.

es/ar/cb
[END]

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org

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Challenges of getting aid to Gazans

2009-02-09T02:47:00.000-08:00

ISRAEL-OPT: Challenges of getting aid to Gazans

GAZA CITY, 8 February 2009 (IRIN) - Aid agencies are becoming increasingly frustrated with the difficulties of getting humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip.

"For us to move ahead with rehabilitation and repairs, we must get building materials into Gaza," Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), told IRIN by telephone. "Two hundred and twenty-one schools for 200,000 children only have 40 percent of their books because we can't get paper and glue into Gaza."

Some US$93 million-worth of UNRWA construction projects have been on hold since before Israel's military operation in Gaza began in late December due to a lack of cement, said Gunness.

Israel's military offensive in the Strip began on 27 December 2008 with aerial bombardments and combined with a ground assault beginning on 3 January. Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire on 18 January. Hamas declared its own ceasefire later that day. Over 1,300 people in Gaza were killed and more than 5,300 were injured during this period, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

More than 21,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged while health facilities, schools, power, water and sanitation installations, and agricultural and economic production were destroyed or seriously damaged, according to the UN.

The result has been a humanitarian crisis in the Strip, where essential items such as construction materials, pipes, electrical wires, transformers and spare parts are in short supply.

Border lists

"We have had difficulties entering our education supplies, like paper," Marixie Mercato, a UNICEF spokesperson, told IRIN from Jerusalem. "These are not problematic goods," he added, referring to Israeli restrictions on goods entering the Strip that have security implications.

Several UN agencies and other aid organisations say Israeli authorities have a confidential list of items prohibited from entering Gaza. Certain items, such as cement and paper, are commonly denied entry. Other items are on a priority list for entry.

"The government of Israel has a priority list of items allowed to enter [Gaza]," CARE officer Juliette Seibold told IRIN by telephone in Jerusalem. "[But] people are waiting for political outcomes before we are granted access."

Only two CARE staff members have been allowed into Gaza since 2 November, said Seibold.

...........
http://www.irinnews.org

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OPT/Gaza-News

2009-02-03T06:24:00.000-08:00

Headlines
The two 18 January unilateral ceasefires held, despite various exchanges of fire. Eleven rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, causing no casualties. Israeli airstrikes targeted several tunnels and two motorcycles, wounding 12 Palestinians.
Over the week 2 Palestinian deaths and a total of 18 injuries were reported. An explosive device targeting Israeli soldiers resulted in one Israeli death and three injuries, Israeli media reported.
It is estimated that 37% of Gaza's population, more than 500,000 people, were displaced at some time during the hostilities. OCHA estimates that tens of thousands of Gazans remain homeless, with most staying with relatives or other host families.
Amnesty International issued a report (27 January) claiming Israeli use of flechette shells in populated areas. Flechettes are 4cm metal darts with four fins at the rear. Each flechette shell has between 5,000 to 8,000 flechette darts. When the shells explode in the air, flechettes are scattered over a wide area—about 300m wide by 100m long.
Two weeks after the ceasefire, NGOs continue having difficulties to access Gaza to carry out humanitarian work. OCHA reports that humanitarian personnel are able to enter Gaza through Erez crossing only after receiving prior clearance by the Israeli authorities. Many NGOs did not receive a response from the Israeli authorities regarding their applications, while others were requested to provide additional information regarding their specific mandates, activities, funding sources, etc. Others have been denied entry altogether. A key problem has been inconsistency in the process; some staff members are informed that they have been approved, only to be denied entry when they reach Erez. In other cases, staff receive conflicting information from Israeli authorities regarding regulations that must be met before entry is allowed. (See link below to OCHA Weekly update on the protection of civilians 21-27 Jan.)
Access for humanitarian supplies is also still severely restricted. Israel told the humanitarian community last week that it will only admit a maximum of 120 trucks daily (90 trucks with humanitarian goods and 30 commercial trucks) - not on Friday afternoons and Saturdays - to pass through Kerem Shalom, the only crossing which is now open to trucks. The Karni crossing to the north has the capacity to import 750 truckloads a day. The crossing has been closed to trucks since 15 June 2007.
Approval of goods for entry does not appear to follow a clear or consistent pattern. USAID reports that trucks with items like macaroni or flour that were initially cleared, were refused entry at Kerem Shalom. Oxfam International conservatively estimates that Israel is denying Gaza more than 50 percent of its normal minimum daily requirements, when the needs are even greater today than before the conflict. (641 trucks entered Gaza for humanitarian purposes last week compared to a weekly average of 1320 trucks which entered Gaza before the start of the Israeli blockade in June 2007).
Shops and markets continue to offer limited food supplies at prices which have doubled or tripled since before 27 December. This makes food extremely difficult to obtain due to the shortage of currency.
Most health facilities have resumed operations similar to those before the Israeli ‘Operation Cast Lead’. Large volumes of medical supplies have been received and cover almost all drug and pharmaceutical needs. Full stocks of drugs are in place in most health facilities, a few items are missing in others. Immunization and other public health programs have resumed. Referral abroad of patients requiring specialized care has resumed but at a lower level than before the crisis. Psychotropic drugs however are still lacking and urgently needed.
A large need remains for spare parts to repair and maintain hospital and clinic equipment ranging from dialysis machines, neonatal incubators and diagnostic imaging equipment to washing machines and kitchen equipment although some medical equipment and spare parts have been received recently.
According to the World Health Organisation assessment, enduring health risks are: complications and permanent disability in people with traumatic injuries because of early discharge and lack of appropriate follow-up; complications and excess mortality in patients with chronic diseases as a result of suspension of treatment and delayed access to health care; diarrhoea outbreaks from water-born and food-born diseases as a result of lack of access to clean water and sanitation and weak public health surveillance system; long term mental health problems as a result of the effects of the conflict, on-going insecurity and lack of protective factors; slow deterioration of health and nutritional status leading to increasing morbidity and mortality as a result of a further decline in socio-economic and security conditions and in the quality of health care; lack of access to specialized tertiary care.
International and national agencies working in disability and rehabilitation estimated that as many as half of the over 5,000 men, women and children injured in the latest active conflict may suffer life-long impairment, unnecessarily exacerbated by the inability of rehabilitation workers to provide early
intervention.
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Thank CBS 60 Minutes for Exposing Israeli Apartheid

2009-02-03T02:15:00.000-08:00

Thank CBS 60 Minutes for Exposing Israeli Apartheid
During Israel's war on Gaza we launched a campaign to end the media blackout and that journalists expose Israel's crimes and apartheid. Thousands of supporters used our website to contact the presidents of big Media calling for better coverage. The campaign got their attention and some journalist have positively responded to our collective pressure.

On Sunday, January 25, CBS 60 Minutes aired an amazing segment exposing Israel's apartheid against Palestinians. The piece is by Senior CBS Foreign Correspondent Bob Simon, who is Jewish living outside Tel-Aviv and produced by Robert G, Anderson.

TAKE ACTION:

1. Watch this video (link below)

2. Send a thank you note to 60 Minutes, Bob Simon and Robert Anderson, using the below form

3. Urge & Invite everyone you know to watch the video and send a thank you note

http://action.gazajustice.org/t/4436/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=963

Oxfam: first week of Israeli government and Hamas unilateral ceasefires

2009-01-28T01:30:00.000-08:00

Headlines The government of Israel adopted a unilateral ceasefire at 2am on 18 January, Hamas announced its own unilateral ceasefire twelve hours later. Following the unilateral ceasefires people were able to return to their home neighborhoods and begin searching the rubble of destroyed buildings. Sporadic shooting from Israeli forces during the week led to a further 5 Palestinian deaths and 6 injuries. There were no Israeli casualties during the week. It was reported that 2 Palestinian farmers were killed during 4 separate incidences of Israeli fire from the border. It was reported that Israeli naval vessels fired on Palestinian fishermen in three separate incidents resulting in 1 injury to a fisherman and 4 to Palestinian civilians close to the shore There are no reliable statistics on displaced people in Gaza. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimates 4,000 homes were destroyed and 17,000 damaged. This suggests a range of between 40,000 and 210,000 people displaced. According to OCHA (25 January), less than 500 displaced people are sheltered in youth centres as a temporary measure, while many more are staying with relatives or other families causing additional strain on scarce food and water resources, blankets and space. The work of clearing the rubble of destroyed buildings and recovering bodies is made more difficult by the dangers of unexploded ordinance (UXO). OCHA reports a mine action team has been carting out a situation assessment and delivering training and UNICEF have distributed 75,000 leaflets and have aired radio information spots in Gaza. Humanitarian supplies are coordinated and handled by the UN logisctic Cluster who provide support to UN and NGOs bringing humanitarian supplies into Gaza. Services are provided on a cost recovery basis. Details are available from their website http://www.logcluster.org/ Humanitarian supplies arriving in Egypt are coordinated at El Arish port and transported through the El Aouga-Nitzana crossing 90 km south of Kerem Shalom. The UN humanitarian logistics cluster liaises with Egyptian authorities and the Egyptian Red Crescent. 7 day’s notice is required before humanitarian goods can be received, storage facilities at El Arish are limited to 1000 pallets and truck load numbers crossing El Aouga-Nitzana are 33 per day three days a week. Medical supplies are handled separately from other humanitarian supplies. By 24 January, health services in the Ministry of Health clinics had fully resumed, including for immunization, antenatal care and the management of chronic diseases services as well as casualties of the Israeli military operation. Hospitals are still having to cope with intermittent electricity supplies and restricted access to fuel for back up electricity generators. UNRWA schools that had been used as shelters for displaced people during the bombardment and ground fighting re-opened as schools on 24 January....

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Illustration of Dilsa Demirbag's opinions (board member of Swedish Red Cross)

2009-01-26T03:55:00.000-08:00

see more on http://forumforfrihet.blogspot.com/2009/01/dilsa-i-underlandet.html
Dilsa i underlandet
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AFGHANISTAN: UNAMA raps new report by rights watchdog

2009-01-22T01:07:00.000-08:00

AFGHANISTAN: UNAMA raps new report by rights watchdog
KABUL, 22 January 2009 (IRIN) - A spokesman of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has dismissed recommendations to the UN and other international actors by the Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM), a new Kabul-based rights watchdog, as "superficial and deeply uninformed".
The ARM report criticises the UN and international aid agencies for their alleged inability to reach and assist needy communities, particularly in insecure areas.
"Whilst millions of people desperately needed humanitarian assistance. the UN and other aid agencies were entrenched in diminishing security zones in Kabul and a few other cities," ARM said.
ARM called on the UN to maintain its neutrality, reach and assist people in volatile areas, and improve accountability and transparency in the disbursement of international funds.
However, Dan McNorton, a UNAMA spokesman, strongly rejected the criticisms of UN agencies.
"The report has overlooked our regional and provincial presence; the thousands of road missions conducted every year; the immunisation programmes for millions of people; the assistance to millions of returnees; the winter pre-positioning of 34,000 tonnes of food; the disaster relief operations; and major work with communities across the country," he said, adding that the UN had a country-wide footprint.
Civilian deaths underestimated?
The ARM report also said that in 2008 the number of civilians killed or displaced was higher than reported by the media or international organisations.
"About 3,917 civilians were killed, over 6,800 were wounded and around 120,000 were forced out of their homes in 2008," said the report, The Plight of Afghan Civilians in 2008.
ARM figures on civilian deaths are higher than those from the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which also track the impact of conflict on civilians.
Insurgents loyal to the Taliban killed over 2,300 civilians, mostly in indiscriminate and disproportionate armed attacks, and over 1,500 civilians were also killed in counter-insurgency operations by Afghan and international forces, the report said.
The AIHRC puts the number of civilian deaths as a result of armed hostilities in 2008 at around 1,800. "About 1,000 civilians were killed by the Taliban and the rest were killed by Afghan and international forces," AIHRC spokesman Nader Nadery told IRIN on 21 January.
In September UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported about 1,300 conflict-related civilian deaths between January and the end of July 2008.
ARM accused all sides of "repeated and systematic" violations of international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions and Afghanistan's laws applicable to war situations.

Israelis shell hospitals and UN HQ

2009-01-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

Israel's bombing of the UN compound in Gaza has outraged UN chief Ban Ki-moon [AFP]
Three hospitals and a UN compound have been bombed by Israel as troops continue to advance into the densely-populated Gaza City.
Around 500 people were sheltering in the Al-Quds hospital in the city's southwestern Tal Al-Hawa district when it was bombed by Israeli jets and set ablaze on Thursday morning.
Hospital officials said the fire was sparked by a "phosphorus shell".
"We have been able to control the fire in the hospital but not in the administrative building," one hospital official said.
"We hope that the flames don't spread again to the wings of the hospital."
Two hospitals east of Gaza City were also hit by Israeli shells as Gazans fled tanks advancing into the city.
It was no immediately clear if any casualties following the raids.
UN fire 'still raging'
IN DEPTH

The Israelis also bombed a UN compound in Gaza City, setting fire to warehouses of badly-needed food and medical aid and prompting international outrage.
Around 700 Palestinians were sheltering in the UN complex at the time of the strikes which left two civilians and three staff members injured.
Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), said fires were still raging hours after the attack and "tens of millions of dollars worth of aid" had been destroyed.
John Ging, the director of Unrwa operations in the Strip, also accused the Israelis of using phosphorus shells.
"They are phosphorus fires so they are extremely difficult to put out because, if you put water on, it will just generate toxic fumes and do nothing to stop the burning," he said.
Israel insists all weapons used in the conflict comply with international law.
Unrwa officials said they would evacuate the complex.
'Investigation needed'
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, justified shelling the UN headquarters claiming armed Palestinians within it had fired at Israeli troops first.
"It is absolutely true that we were attacked from that place … but the consequences were very sad and I apologise for it," he said.
"There were no militants in our compound and... [the Israelis] are changing their story saying militants were 'in the vicinity'"
Christopher Gunness, Unrwa spokesmanHowever, Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for Unrwa, robustly denied that Palestinian fighters were among refugees sheltering there.
"At no stage during the fighting today did any Israeli official pick up the phone and tell us there were militants in our compound.
"We always take action against militants ... there were no militants in our compound and now they [the Israelis] are changing their story, saying militants were 'in the vicinity'," he said.
Gunness called for a "proper investigation" into the incident.
Louis Michel, the European Aid Commissioner, also condemned the bombing of the UN complex, branding it "unacceptable".
"I am deeply shocked and dismayed to learn of this incident ... I have made it very clear that all sides must respect international humanitarian law.
"It is unacceptable that the UN headquarters in Gaza has been struck by Israeli artillery fire," he said.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, strongly condemned the incident and demanded a full explanation from Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, during talks held on Thursday in Tel Aviv.
Ban said Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, had apologised for the attack describing it as a "grave mistake".
A Red Crescent office near Gaza City and the main mosque in the southern city of Rafah were also shelled as the Israelis pushed deeper into the Strip.
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More than 200 lives lost since UN call for ceasefire

2009-01-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

More than 200 lives lost since UN call for ceasefire aid agencies say Three hour lull in fighting will not redress the full-blown humanitarian crisis - only an immediate ceasefire will helpA group of leading international aid agencies today said that more than 200 lives have been lost since the UN passed its binding resolution stipulating an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel which was dismissed by the conflicting parties. The agencies called on both parties to end the killings and heed Ban Ki Moon’s appeal – as he arrives in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory - for an immediate ceasefire that will end the civilian suffering and endangerment and allow local and international aid agencies to provide desperately needed relief safely and without impediment. The international community must throw its full weight behind Ban Ki Moon’s efforts and ensure that the UN resolution is promptly enforced. Since the UN Security Council called for a ceasefire on 8th January there have been: More than 200 people killed More than 1,300 people injured Three hospitals hit by the bombing “Putting an end to violence and civilian casualties is not a option, it is an obligation”, says Charles Clayton, Nation Director for World Vision Jerusalem. “We cannot stress enough that the current situation in the Gaza Strip needs to be addressed without further delay. Too many people have died already.” The agencies – Save the Children, Oxfam International, World Vision Jerusalem, Christian Aid, CARE International – added that the three-hour ‘lull’ in the fighting, which is now only restricted to Gaza City, detracts attention away from the immediate need to reach a durable ceasefire that would allow aid agencies to carry out much needed humanitarian work throughout the Gaza Strip, including reaching communities that have been completely cut off by the conflict. The slim window of time each day is not nearly enough to address the dire humanitarian situation on the ground. Moreover, some fighting usually continues during the ‘lulls’ so humanitarian workers and the civilian population risk their lives moving around the Gaza Strip. “With shelters overflowing, food shortages, inadequate facilities and the general sense of panic and abandonment felt, we must be allowed to sufficiently assist the needy population of the Gaza Strip at once”, says David Bourns, Country Director for Save the Children.

UN -There were no militants in the building. 40+ Killed in Israeli Strike on Gaza School Sheltering Refugees

2009-01-08T03:46:00.000-08:00

40+ Killed in Israeli Strike on Gaza School Sheltering Refugees
In the deadliest attack since Israel launched its assault on Gaza twelve days ago, up to forty-two Palestinians died on Tuesday after Israel fired mortars at a United Nations school that was sheltering Palestinians who had been forced to flee their homes. Fifty-five Palestinians were also wounded in the attack. Doctors said all of the victims were civilians, including many children. Christopher Gunness of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency ses there were no militants in the building.

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Gaza hospitals on the brink of collapse as Israeli offensive continues

2009-01-07T07:18:00.001-08:00

Gaza hospitals on the brink of collapse as Israeli offensive continues Civilian casualties mount as talks on ceasefire hit political obstacles Tens of thousands of families under siege in Gaza are facing desperate conditions as mounting civilian casualties swamp a hospital system that is close to collapse, international aid agency Oxfam warned today. The conflict is also preventing the highly inadequate amount of aid trickling into Gaza from reaching families trapped by the fighting, the agency said, but international efforts to achieve a ceasefire are being obstructed by political positioning of various parties.. “Doctors working in Gaza’s hospitals say they’ve been swamped by casualties but lack essential drugs, medicines, medical equipment, and spare parts. Several paramedics have also been killed after coming under tank and artillery fire. A number of clinics have been forced to close because of clashes nearby,” said Oxfam Great Britain’s Country Director in Jerusalem, John Prideaux-Brune. “Additionally, hospitals are struggling to function because of round-the-clock power cuts. Fuel for back-up generators is now dangerously low. Scores of patients in intensive care face certain death if those generators stop. Yesterday, generators at Ministry of Health ambulance stations, vaccine stores, labs and warehouses shut down temporarily after running out of fuel,” he said. The UN has managed to deliver food to some hospitals and southern areas in the past few days but has had to cancel distributions elsewhere. Similarly, a small amount of fuel has been trucked into the Strip recently but clashes have prevented distribution to most of those who need it. “Many families who need vital supplies such as food and water are simply too frightened to leave their homes,” said Prideaux-Brune. “Other families are just keeping their heads down and some are able to move about locally – but their conditions can change at any moment as we’ve seen when shells have fallen on busy market places.” Moreover, the Israeli ground offensive has cut the densely populated Gaza Strip into at least two sections. This has cut these areas off from each other, blocked the transport of injured people and medical supplies, and prevented access to the few border crossings that are intermittently open. Oxfam welcomes diplomatic efforts by regional and international leaders to encourage a ceasefire but is concerned that time is being wasted by political positioning and finger-pointing. “Every day that passes without a truce is costing innocent lives. Foreign diplomats, governments and parties to the conflict must stop wasting time apportioning blame, and give priority to humanitarian imperatives over political objectives,” said Prideaux-Brune. Oxfam is calling for a binding UN Security Council resolution to demand: an immediate halt to violence in Gaza and Israel by all parties, all parties to commit to an immediate, comprehensive and permanent truce, Israel, Hamas and other parties to do all in their power to permit immediate and unhindered access to and from Gaza for humanitarian and commercial goods, and for people, thereby ending the blockade.

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Oxfam-Aambulance destroyed in Israeli shelling in Gaza

2009-01-05T01:24:00.000-08:00

Oxfam supported health worker killed and ambulance destroyed in Israeli shelling in Gaza, Israeli offensive puts families’ and aid workers’ lives at risk, Oxfam warns A paramedic working for an Oxfam funded organisation was killed when an Israeli shell struck a civilian ambulance in Gaza today according to international agency Oxfam. The tragedy illustrates the deadly dangers faced by Palestinian civilians and aid workers, said the agency. Another paramedic lost his foot and a driver was injured in the same incident, which occurred when an ambulance belonging to Oxfam’s partner organisation, Union of Health Work Committees, was hit while trying to evacuate an injured person in the Beit Lahiya area, Oxfam said. The UN estimates over 100 civilians have been killed in Gaza over the past week although some other organisations believe the civilian death toll is significantly higher.“The incident shows yet again that trying to fight a military campaign in the densely populated streets and alleys of the Gaza Strip will inevitably lead to civilian casualties. There are no safe areas and Gazans who want to flee the fighting have been prevented from leaving the Strip,” said Oxfam GB Country Director John Prideaux-Brune in Jerusalem.The Israeli ground offensive into Gaza, which began on Saturday following a week of heavy bombardment by land, sea and air, is preventing urgently needed supplies of medicine, food, water, and fuel from reaching one and a half million Palestinian women, men and children, Oxfam said.“Hospitals in Gaza are overflowing with dead and wounded while facing severe shortages of essential medical supplies and spare parts. Oxfam and local partners have had to suspend all our work, apart from emergency medical aid. Many of our colleagues in Gaza are trapped in their homes, and in fear of their and their families’ lives. Others, such as the paramedic Arafa, have lost their lives trying to save others.“The trickle of humanitarian aid that Israel has sometimes allowed in through one border crossing at Kerem Shalom has been completely inadequate to meet the needs of 1.5 million people – 80% of whom are reliant on this aid. Since the start of the Israeli ground offensive, even that trickle has dried up. An immediate ceasefire is urgently needed to allow essential aid to reach those families who need it,” added Prideaux-Brune.Oxfam is calling for a binding UN Security Council resolution to demand: an immediate halt to violence in Gaza and Israel by all parties, all parties to commit to an immediate, comprehensive and permanent truce, Israel, Hamas and other parties to permit immediate and unhindered access to and from Gaza for humanitarian and commercial goods, and for people, thereby ending the blockade.Oxfam is also calling on the European Union to suspend the EU-Israel upgrade process until there is a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza, and Israel provides unimpeded humanitarian access.
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ISRAEL-OPT: Gaza's main hospital struggling to cope

2008-12-30T10:58:00.000-08:00

ISRAEL-OPT: Gaza's main hospital struggling to cope
GAZA CITY, 30 December 2008 (IRIN) - Gaza's main hospital, Al-Shifa, is struggling to cope with the influx of people injured in the Israeli air strikes which started on 27 December, according to medical sources.
Staff and patients are also fearful Israel might target it, as the leaders of Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the enclave, have held press conferences there.
The hospital has already moved some medical facilities below ground.
The head of the international cooperation department of Gaza's health ministry, Medhat Abbas, told IRIN: "Al-Shifa has never received hundreds of patients all at once. Hospital staff are using sheets to staunch bleeding, and many patients have died because of the lack of supplies and equipment."
A statement issued by the Israeli branch of Physicians For Human Rights, an NGO, on 30 December said: "The Israeli attack finds the current health system in the Gaza Strip in a state of total collapse due to the harsh siege imposed on the Gaza Strip for a year and a half, and the closure preceding it."
Abbas reported a shortage of staff, including nurses and surgeons, at Al-Shifa, which is in desperate need of antibiotics, tubes, urine bags, dressings and gloves for emergency operations. The hospital was already facing shortages of medicines and medical supplies due to the Israeli blockade.
Generators at Al-Shifa, designed to operate two or three hours daily, are operating 12-16 hours a day due to the rolling blackouts, said Abbas. He feared they could overheat and malfunction.
Medical aid via Egypt
Egypt briefly opened the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday [28 December] to allow nine trucks of medical aid from the Egyptian Red Crescent and Health Ministry to enter Gaza. It also opened the border on 29 December to allow in truckloads of Qatari aid. Such aid, though helpful, cannot fill the gap, according to medical sources.
"The Rafah border must be opened," said Abbas. "Israel is trying to destroy us."
"Our capabilities are limited. Since August we have not received basic medications. The ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross]. has been unable to deliver a shipment [of medicines] for one month," said health ministry spokesperson Hamam Nasman. "One hundred and five drugs and 230 basic supplies, such as alcohol, cotton and needles. are out of stock."
Bodies piling up
Over 1,330 people had been injured, and 180 were in a critical condition, according to the health ministry.
Although the hospital's morgue was said by hospital officials to be adequate, bodies were piling up outside the hospital as additional make-shift intensive care units were created to treat the flow of emergency cases, said an IRIN journalist at the scene.
There are usually six functional operating rooms at Al-Shifa hospital. "Six additional operating rooms were opened and we began sending victims to other lesser endowed hospitals for treatment after all the beds were full," hospital director Hussein Ashur told IRIN. He said there was a shortage of blood for transfusions.
Fatimah Salem, 53, lies in a coma in Al-Shifa hospital, torn apart by debris while at work for a local charity near the targeted prison in Gaza City. "My mother was not firing rockets at Israel," said her son, Majed.

Israel violated the truce

2008-12-22T03:45:00.000-08:00

Gazans: Israel violated the truce

By Mohammed Ali, a humanitarian aid worker in co-operation with Oxfam
Many Palestinian families in Gaza have had to rely on UN humanitarian assistance [GALLO/GETTY] In June, Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to a ceasefire following weeks of intense fighting in Gaza.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hamas and its affiliates would refrain from firing home-made rockets into Israel and the latter would halt incursions and attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian-brokered agreement also called for an easing of Israel's restrictions on the borders, thereby allowing goods into the besieged territory.
However, the fragile truce between Israel and Gaza was breached by an Israeli raid and Palestinian rocket fire on November 4.
Since then Israel has accused Gazan fighters of launching dozens of home-made rocket attacks at Israeli towns and the Hamas leadership has countered by saying Israeli air raids and military action have killed several Palestinians.
The Israeli blockade on Gaza has sparked much international criticism as precipitating a looming humanitarian crisis in the Strip.
Al Jazeera spoke to residents of the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza about the truce, its effects, and whether it should be renewed.
see more on http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2008/12/20081218102459596978.html

Villagers bombed in August still living with relatives

2008-12-10T01:49:00.000-08:00

AFGHANISTAN: Villagers bombed in August still living with relatives
HERAT, 9 December 2008 (IRIN) - Mullah Gol Ahmad lost several members of his extended family when US forces dropped bombs on Azizabad village, Shindand District, Herat Province on 22 August. His house was destroyed and he and four members of his family have lived with relatives ever since.
He said he needed to rebuild his home but had no money to do so: "We cannot live with relatives for ever. We have to rebuild our own house and move there."
Akhtar Mohammad, whose house was also damaged in the incident, voiced similar concerns. "For several months we have been accommodated by our relatives and now they expect us to leave, but we have nowhere to go".
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Afghan government said some 90 civilians - 60 children, 15 women and 15 men - were killed when the bombs hit Azizabad http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/LSGZ-7HVGG2?OpenDocument]. Up to 35 houses were either destroyed or damaged and dozens of families were displaced. About 900 people were affected, UNAMA said.
US forces have repudiated these figures, saying about 30 civilians died as a result of the bombing, the New York Times reported on 7 October [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/washington/08inquiry.html].
Inadequate aid?
Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Azizabad on 4 September and gave assurances that people would be given shelter as well as access to basic services such as water, education and health; he also promised financial aid.
The government has paid US$2,000 to the family of each killed civilian and $1,000 to every wounded civilian, Sadiq Modaber, head of the Secretariat of the Ministers' Council, told IRIN on 7 December, adding: "Thirty-nine members of the martyrs' families have been sent [to Saudi Arabia] for Haj [pilgrimage]."
UNAMA said UN agencies delivered "life-saving assistance" to hundreds of affected people in late August, but local people said the one-time financial and food aid package was too little to enable them re-establish a normal life.
"Our biggest problem is lack of shelter. The money the government paid us barely covered our immediate needs," said Haji Golalai, a local resident, adding that he had no money to repair his damaged house.
Some said they had used the government money for "mourning rituals" and had nothing left to repair their damaged properties or pay for other needs. Others sounded a note of despair: "Money cannot return to us what we have lost," one elderly man told IRIN.
As the conflict intensifies, civilians are increasingly in the firing line. Over 1,400 non-combatants were killed January-August 2008, according to UNAMA [http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EGUA-7JJM7B?OpenDocument].
Tens of thousands have also been displaced due to the conflict, and humanitarian access to almost half the country has been impeded due to the growing number of attacks on aid workers, aid agencies say.

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US Warned India of Mumbai Attack

2008-12-03T01:26:00.000-08:00

US Warned India of Mumbai Attack

US intelligence twice alerted India of a maritime attack on Mumbai, including Taj Mahl hotel. (Reuters)WASHINGTON — A month prior to the devastating attacks, the US warned its strategic Asian ally of possible maritime terrorist attacks against its financial capital and even named the iconic Taj Mahl hotel as a top target.
"US intelligence indicated that a group might enter the country by water and launch an attack on Mumbai," a US counterterrorism official told CNN, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
Another intelligence official told ABCNews that US intelligence agencies warned their Indian counterparts in mid-October of a potential attack "from the sea against hotels and business centers in Mumbai."
Mumbai Attacks & Aftermath (Special)
A second government source said specific locations, including the Taj hotel, were listed in the US warning.
At least 188 people, including 22 foreigners, were killed and nearly 300 injured in attacks on ten Mumbai targets, including its luxurious Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels.
It too Indian commandoes 60 hours to bring the situation under control and overcame militants who had taken scores of people, mostly westerners, hostage.
The three-day long siege left a trail of destruction in the 565-room Taj Mahal Palace, a 105-year-old Victorian building that is a Mumbai's flagship.
Indian officials have confirmed to CNN that US officials, twice, warned them of a water-borne attack.
The warnings were followed by tightened security measures at hotels, before they were later reduced.
Ratan Tata, the chairman of the company that owns the Taj Mahal hotel, has admitted that they were warned of a possible attack.
"It's ironic that we did have such a warning and we did have some measures," he told CNN on Sunday.
"But if I look at what we had -- which all of us complained about -- it could not have stopped what took place."
Failure
There is widespread public anger over intelligence and security failings that led to the attacks.
The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s external intelligence agency, reportedly provided several intercepts from signals intelligence over the last three months suggesting an attack on a Mumbai hotel was imminent.
"This should have been enough to let police know that: 1) Hotels were the target. 2) The attackers would use the sea route," the Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday.
"…these intercepts were clear, detailed and specific. So, are the police lying? Was this information not passed on? Or was it just incorrectly processed?" it asked.
"So far, there are no answers."
Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, offered to resign Monday, December 1, after his deputy stepped down over the devastating attacks.
Deshmukh was widely criticized on Sunday when he visited the wreckage of the Taj Mahal hotel.
Interior Minister Shivraj Patil resigned on Sunday and has been replaced, while the country's powerful national security adviser offered to quit but will likely stay.
The head of the country's Coast Guard also "retired" on Sunday.

IOL & News Agencies

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ISRAEL-OPT: Power cuts, fuel shortages affect health and water supplies

2008-12-02T04:30:00.000-08:00

ISRAEL-OPT: Power cuts, fuel shortages affect health and water supplies
WEST BANK/GAZA, 2 December 2008 (IRIN) - Adel Abu Sido, 31, a taxi driver from Gaza City, stands over his two-week old premature baby, Hadil, dreading her air supply may abruptly stop.
Hadil's incubator is not reliably providing enough oxygen due to the inconsistent power supply at Al-Shiffa Hospital, the main healthcare centre in the Gaza Strip.
The fuel for hospital generators has nearly run out and a shortage of basic medical supplies has left Al-Shiffa with only 20 percent of the oxygen supply it needs, forcing medical professionals in Gaza to make hard choices, said Gaza health ministry spokesperson Hamam Nasman.
"Fifty percent of hospital equipment at Al-Shiffa has stopped functioning due to the lack of electricity and spare parts since this more than 20-day blockade started," said Gaza health minister Basem Naim, adding that 95 basic medications are out of stock.
Asthma patients waiting for inhalers are being turned away, as hospital pharmacists scavenge local pharmacies.
"Al-Shiffa Hospital is using its secondary generator nearly 20 hours a day to power the hospital, since there is not enough fuel in stock to operate the primary generator," said spokesperson Nasman. Under normal circumstances the secondary generator has the capacity to power the hospital only three hours a day.
Israeli Defence Ministry spokesperson Shlomo Dror said: "The fuel supply to Gaza was only interrupted for three days to send a political signal to Hamas that the lull is not going to continue while they encourage shooting at civilians." Israel is interested in continuing the ceasefire, he said.
Washing machines - used to sterilize sheets and uniforms - have stopped due to the lack of fuel at the hospital.
Rolling blackouts
Rolling blackouts are now common across Gaza, particularly in Gaza City, the largest population centre. Hundreds of thousands are left without electricity during winter, which means no water for many residents who live in high-rise buildings dependent on electric water pumps.
Israel sealed all commercial and passenger border crossings to Gaza on 4 November, when an Israeli military incursion into Gaza prompted Palestinian militants to resume daily rocket-fire into Israeli towns. Before the Israeli ground operation to locate a tunnel, a five-month Egyptian- brokered ceasefire had been largely holding.
Israel has restricted imports into Gaza, including food, fuel, medical supplies and other basic necessities despite the truce, which calls on militants to halt rocket attacks in return for Israel easing its embargo on the territory.
"This time throughout this whole truce since June none of us have been able to bring in anything extra that would create a reserve so we had nothing to call upon," said Karen Abu Zayd, commissioner-general of UNRWA, the UN Palestinian refugee agency.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Gaza is running on less than half the electricity it requires for normal consumption, a result of the blockade on fuel and mechanical parts. [http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_protection_of_civilians_weekly_2008_11_18_english.pdf]
Impact on water, sewage
The lack of fuel and electricity has caused water and sewage systems in Gaza to collapse.
The Coastal Municipal Water Utility (CMWU) in Gaza has said that due to the power outages and the lack of fuel, 20 percent of wells are not functional and 60 percent are only partially functional. Furthermore, malfunctioning sewage systems have raised concerns about possible flooding and leakage during the forthcoming rainy season.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called for an immediate end to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip on 18 November, which she said breached international and humanitarian law. [http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=28983&Cr=palestin&Cr1]
es/ar/cb/bp[END]

IRIN
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Markets dive on US 'recession'

2008-12-02T04:28:00.000-08:00

Markets dive on US 'recession'
Wall Street's plunge of nearly eight per cent wiped out more than half of last week's gains [Reuters]
Asian markets have fallen sharply following heavy losses on Wall Street in the wake of grim economic reports, including one that said the US was already in recession.
Stocks in Japan and Hong Kong plunged more than five per cent before regaining some ground on Tuesday, a day after Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, said the US economy was still under considerable strain.
Markets elsewhere in Asia also tumbled following the plunge on Wall Street overnight.
But the Shanghai Composite was in positive territory amid expectations of more stimulus measures from the government.
"Investors here have hopes for more official steps to aid the economy, though the index is still likely to test the 1,700-point level within days," Zhou Lin, an analyst at Huatai Securities, said.
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 700 points or eight per cent on Monday, wiping out more than half of last week's big gains amid a litany of bad economic indicators confirming that the US economy was in recession.
The US National Bureau of Economic Research, a private non-profit group of economic analysts, concluded that the country's 73-month economic expansion had come to an end in December 2007.
The bureau did not forecast the duration of the recession.
"There is significant weakness in resources. The fact that [the] US has called a recession ... highlights the concerns for global economy," Savanth Sebastian, an equities economist with Commsec, said. The White House acknowledged the report but did not refer to the current economic crisis as a recession. In Australia, the central bank slashed interest rates on Tuesday by one percentage point in another attempt to stave off a recession.
The reduction was the fourth in a row by the Reserve Bank of Australia and took the cash rate to 4.25 per cent. Analysts had expected a 0.75 percentage point cut on Tuesday.
Source: Agencies

Statement by European Commissioner Michel on humanitarian situation in Gaza and West Bank

2008-12-01T00:47:00.000-08:00

Statement by Commissioner Michel on humanitarian situation in Gaza and West Bank
European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, today expressed his increasing concern for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Commissioner Michel stated, "I am extremely concerned by the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by the continued closure of the Gaza crossings. Since 4th November, only one crossing (Kerem Shalom) has been open for four days only (17, 24, 26 and 27 November), with limited quantities of humanitarian food supplies allowed through. I have repeatedly condemned rocket attacks targeting Israeli civilians and I reiterate this condemnation today. However, the continued closure of Gaza crossings is a form of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians, which is a violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL)." The European Commission highlights the need for an end to all impediments to the freedom of movement of civilians and humanitarian workers as well as actions that can lead to increased numbers of internally displaced people. Commissioner Michel added, "In both Gaza and the West Bank, my main concern is that humanitarian aid gets to the civilian populations in need of it most. That's why the neutrality, impartiality and independence of humanitarian organisations must be respected allowing their representatives immediate, free and secure access to vulnerable Palestinian populations in both Gaza and the West Bank." Background:

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Unilever withdraws from an Israeli settlement

2008-11-28T00:55:00.000-08:00

PRESS RELEASE
November 27th 2008

Unilever withdraws from an Israeli settlement

United Civilians for Peace (UCP) welcomes Unilever’s decision to divest from a factory based in an illegal Israeli settlement on the West Bank. This decision comes in a period in which UCP and Unilever Netherlands are engaged in a constructive dialogue about Unilever’s presence in Barkan. UCP and Unilever discussed the ethical considerations with regards to investment in settlements and Unilever’s responsibilities within the framework of Corporate Social Responsibility.

In 2006, a report by United Civilians for Peace concluded that the Anglo-Dutch multinational owns a 51% share in Beigel & Beigel, a pretzel and snacks factory. This factory is located in Barkan, an industrial zone in Ariel, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Last Wednesday, Unilever announced their decision to divest from Beigel & Beigel.

Since the publication of the report “Dutch economic links in support of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and/or Syrian territories” in 2006, UCP has advocated the departure of Unilever from the settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This resulted in a constructive dialogue with Unilever Netherlands and UCP research into the legal and ethical implications of Unilever’s investment in Beigel & Beigel.

The research document titled: “Improper Advantage: A Study of Unilever’s investment in an illegal Israeli settlement” concludes that:
- The land of the Barkan industrial zone was confiscated from surrounding Palestinian villages by a military order issued by the Israeli Defence Force issued in 1981, and declared “state land”. International Law prohibits the confiscation of occupied land not for military purposes.
- Because the factory is located in an illegal settlement, Unilever complies with violation of Palestinian human rights and the structural discrimination of Palestinian workers.
- Beigel & Beigel benefits from subsidies that are allocated by the Israeli government to the industrial zones in the settlements. Also, the factory has been guaranteed a state grant for a plan of expansion.

The report is available as of Friday November 28th.

UCP congratulates Unilever with their decision to divest. This important and constructive step shows that Unilever takes serious both the provisions of international law as well as its Corporate Social Responsibility. Israeli settlements form a major obstacle to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians and the industrial zones play an important economic role in maintaining these settlements.

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India uncovers Hindu terror group that carried out bombings blamed on Islamists

2008-11-25T00:33:00.000-08:00

At least 10 people, including monk and army officer, held By Andrew Buncombe in Delhi Sunday, 23 November 2008 India is in something of a state of shock after learning from official sources that its first Hindu terror cell may have carried out a series of deadly bombings that were initially blamed on militant Muslims. The revelation is forcing the country to consider some difficult questions. At least 10 people have been arrested in connection with several bomb blasts in the Muslim-dominated town of Malegaon in the western state of Maharashtra in September, which left six people dead. But reports suggest that police believe the cell may also have carried out a number of previous attacks, including last year's notorious bombing of a cross-border train en route to Pakistan, which killed 68 people. Among the alleged members of the cell are a serving army officer and a Hindu monk. Bomb attacks are not uncommon in India – there has been a flurry in recent months – but police usually blame them on Muslim extremists, often said to have links to militant groups based in either Pakistan or Bangladesh. As a result, the recent cracking of the alleged Hindu cell has forced India to face some difficult issues. A country that prides itself on purported religious and cultural toleration – an ambition that in reality often falls short – has been made to ask itself how this cell could operate for so long. India's military, which prides itself on its professionalism, has been forced to order an embarrassing inquiry. The near-daily drip of revelations from police has also caused red faces for India's main political opposition, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ahead of state polls and a general election scheduled for early next year. The BJP and its prime ministerial candidate, Lal Krishna Advani, have long accused the Congress Party-led government of being soft on terrorism that involved Muslims. However, the BJP has refused to call for a clampdown on Hindu groups, and last week Mr Advani even criticised the police over the way they questioned one of the alleged cell members, a woman called Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, phoned his rival to ask him not to politicise the issue or the investigation. "There is a strong case so let the police do their job," he told Mr Advani. While some commentators have expressed surprise about the discovery of the alleged cell, others have pointed out that there has been growing concern about the possible threat from Hindu extremists. In the summer, two members of a right-wing Hindu group were killed while putting together a bomb, and two other suspected members of the same group died in similar circumstances in 2006. Meanwhile, senior right-wing leaders have made no secret of their wish that Hindus should form suicide squads to protect themselves against Muslim extremists. Bal Thackeray, leader of a group called the Shiv Sena, which has been responsible for communal and regional violence in Mumbai, wrote recently in the party's magazine: "The threat of Islamic terror in India is rising. It is time to counter the same with Hindu terror. Hindu suicide squads should be readied to ensure the existence of Hindu society and to protect the nation." Observers say the fact that the police have arrested the alleged cell members amid considerable political pressure suggests the growing professionalism of its security forces. "It's the first Hindu cell and it's the first time Hindus have been shackled and taken to jail," said Professor Dipankar Gupta, a sociologist at Delhi's Jawarlahal Nehru University. "I'm quite pleased with the way the police have done their jobs."

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Christian Aid about Gaza - Food and medicine must never be used as weapons

2008-11-20T07:57:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Food and medicine must never be used as weapons Israel is collectively punishing innocent civilians by withholding and controlling food and medicine to Gaza, says Christian Aid. ‘With the recent upsurge in violence it is Palestinian and Israeli civilians who will pay the price of failure and silence, and lose hope itself’, says William Bell, middle-eastern advocacy officer at Christian Aid. Despite repeated calls from the international community, Gaza remains closed to food and medicine. For almost one and a half years, 1.5 million Palestinians have endured collective punishment as a result of Israel’s tight closure of Gaza. In recent weeks the situation has once again deteriorated further with a resurgence of violence. Last week, UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for assisting Palestinian refugees, announced that it had run out of food to distribute. With 80 per cent of the population dependent upon food aid, the situation is critical but the crossings into Gaza – the only points of entry for people and goods - remain tightly closed. Increasingly goods are smuggled through tunnels from Egypt into Gaza, but the high cost of items brought in this way, are out of reach for many ordinary Gazans. ‘There is a huge concern for November food supplies. UNRWA only works with registered refugees, but what about non-refugees? Tunnels are the only way of getting food and other goods, but this is only for people with money’, says a Christian Aid partner in Khan Younis. The international community has failed to develop a new strategy for ending the closure of Gaza. Similarly reconciliation between Palestinian factions has remained elusive leaving Palestinians without a genuinely representative body to press for a solution to the crisis. ‘Simply letting food into Gaza is not enough’, says Costa Dabbagh, from Near East Council of Churches, a Christian Aid partner. ‘We are fed and kept alive without dignity and the international community should be blamed for it. We are not given hope. …it is not acceptable for us to be waiting for food to come. We want to live freely with Israel and other countries in peace, we are not against any individual or government, but we are against imprisonment.’ Despite an agreement on cessation of violence since June 2008, Gazans remain isolated from the world and continue to live in abject poverty. Although getting food supplies into Gaza is a vital first step, Christian Aid believes steps must be taken to resolve the political crisis before people will see a real change in their lives.
- ends - For more information or interviews with Christian Aid partner organisations in Gaza contact Nadene Ghouri on 07590 710942 or nghouri@christian-aid.org or William Bell on 07973 827535 Notes to Editors: 1. Christian Aid works in some of the world's poorest communities in more than 50 countries. We act where the need is greatest, regardless of religion, helping people build the life they deserve.

Oxfam is greatly concerned about Foreign Secretary David Miliband

2008-11-18T05:03:00.000-08:00

"Oxfam is greatly concerned that Foreign Secretary David Miliband neglected to address the Gaza blockade during his visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. Only the bare minimum of goods have entered Gaza in the past couple of days and Oxfam fears a serious worsening once again of the humanitarian situation if urgent action is not taken. David Miliband and the UK government must not continue to remain silent in the face of such human desperation." said Barbara Stocking, Oxfam Great Britain's Chief Executive. "Gazans have been stripped bare of ways of coping after 18 months of blockade and are extremely vulnerable to the latest clamp down. Not only is the flow of food, fuel and medicines at a trickle, but sewage and water systems could soon grind to a halt. The cycle of violence is causing harm to civilians on both sides of the Gazan border. It is vital that both unnaceptable attacks on Israeli towns like Sderot stop, and that ordinary Gazans are not punished by this crippling blockade. For this reason we urge David Miliband and the UK government to put more emphasis on resolving the crisis as a matter of urgency.” Michael Bailey

Statement by leading British NGO - Oxfam International on the Gaza Blockade

2008-11-14T05:57:00.000-08:00

This is a statement by Oxfam International on the Gaza Blockade: "World leaders must step up and exercise all their political might to break the blockade of Gaza. As a matter of humanitarian imperative, Israeli leaders must resume supplies into Gaza without further delay. If Israelis and Palestinians alike don’t exert every effort now to maintain the truce which has held since last June, the result could be catastrophic for civilians both in Gaza and in nearby Israeli towns,” said Oxfam International Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs.
"For nearly a year and a half unimpeded access to fuel, food, medicines and essential goods has been routinely denied. Failure of the international community to act decisively will only exacerbate human suffering and could further endanger chances for peace." Hobbs said.
Please contact Mike Bailey on: (00 972 572 233 014) for further information or interviews with Oxfam staff in Gaza and the region

OXFAM
Oxfam works with others to overcome poverty and suffering.

Obama Told Not to Fear Jewish Lobby

2008-11-11T00:50:00.001-08:00

Obama Told Not to Fear Jewish Lobby
By IOL Staff

"Last week's election proved again that domestic issues are of greater interest to American Jews than relations with Israel," wrote Eldar. (Google photo)CAIRO — Akiva Eldar, the chief political columnist and editorial writer for Israel's Ha'aretz daily, has a clear message for US President-elect Barak Obama before he assumes office as America's 44th president.
"Obama has nothing to fear from the right-wing Jewish lobby," the prominent Israeli journalist and author wrote on Monday, November 10.
The Israeli lobby, led by the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), is usually seen as a major factor in sharing America's Middle East foreign policy, especially regarding the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
Obama had promised to be actively engaged as an Israeli-Arab conciliator early on in his term.
He once dismissed Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as "not helpful."
"My interest is in solving this problem not only for Israel but for the United States."
But fears of excessive pro-Israel bias were stoked by Barak appointment of Rahm Emanuel, an American Jew who had volunteered at an Israeli army base during the Gulf war, as his chief of staff.
Dr. Benjamin Emanuel, Rahm's father, said he was convinced that his son's appointment would be good for Israel.
"Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel," he was quoted as saying by the Jerusalem Post.
"Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."
Emanuel personally escorted Obama last June when he gave a strongly pro-Israel speech to AIPAC and held a private meeting with AIPAC's Executive Board.
Better Chance

"Let him remember that human and civil rights also apply to the Palestinians, not only to black Americans," said Levy. (Google Photo)
But Eldar, who served as Ha'aretz US Bureau Chief in the 1990's, believes Obama has all what it takes to break free from the strains of the Jewish lobby in the US.
"Obama won the Jewish electorate's sweeping support (78 percent)."
He stressed that Republican John McCain's pledge to move the American Embassy to occupied Jerusalem did not sway the Jewish voters.
"Last week's election proved again that domestic issues are of greater interest to American Jews than relations with Israel. The group that believes that territories are more important than peace is negligible."
The Israeli journalist notes that Obama will be serving in a far favorable atmosphere, giving him bigger room to draft his Mideast foreign policy.
"In contrast to the first president Bush, most of Washington's power centers will stand beside the first black president: The two houses of Congress have Democratic majorities, the press is in love."
He said a new generation of politicians who advocate an active American involvement in the Middle East peace process is being aided by J Street, a new Jewish lobby challenging AIPAC.
Eldar added that at least 31 Congressional candidates adopted by the organized Jewish peace camp defeated their opponents.
This, believes the Israeli journalist and author wrote, gives a new meaning for the "friend of Israel" concept which had become a synonym for supporters of the Israeli occupation.
The same argument was made earlier this week by Gideon Levy, another journalist for Haaretz and former spokesman for Shimon Peres.
"When we say that someone is a 'friend of Israel' we mean a friend of the occupation, a believer in Israel's self-armament, a fan of its language of strength and a supporter of all its regional delusions," he wrote.
"When we say someone is a 'friend of Israel' we mean someone who will give Israel a carte blanche for any violent adventure it desires, for rejecting peace and for building in the territories," added Levy.
"Let us now hope that Obama will not be like them.
"That he will put his whole weight behind a deep American involvement in the Middle East…That he will help end the siege on Gaza and the boycott of Hamas, that he will push Israel and Syria to make peace, that he will spur Israel and the Palestinians to reach a settlement," added the Israeli journalist.
"Let him use his clout to end the occupation and dismantle the settlement project. Let him remember that human and civil rights also apply to the Palestinians, not only to black Americans."

Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om Obama, Palestina, Miljö, Israel

SOMALIA: Hostility rises in Hargeisa after suicide bombings

2008-11-11T00:34:00.001-08:00

SOMALIA: Hostility rises in Hargeisa after suicide bombings
HARGEISA, 10 November 2008 (IRIN) - Somalis displaced to the self-styled independent republic of Somaliland from other parts of the Horn of Africa country have faced increasing hostility after three suicide bombing incidents in late October.
Reports of criminal incidents targeting non-Somaliland Somalis in Hargeisa, Somaliland's capital, have prompted Interior Minister Abdillahi Ismail Irro to call for restraint.
"I am calling on Somaliland citizens not to harm or take aggressive actions against the refugees from Somalia [by] linking them to the criminals, because these people were not part of the attacks; on the contrary, only a small number of people were involved in the crimes which we are now investigating. I urge you to report any suspects to the nearest police station instead of taking the law into your own hands," Irro said.
Somaliland considers Somalis displaced from outside Somaliland as refugees and only recognises those displaced within Somaliland as internally displaced.
Several people from southern Somalia in Hargeisa said they were now living in fear while others had been thrown out of their residences since the bombings, which targeted the presidential palace, a UN compound and the Ethiopian embassy.
The bombers have been linked to the Al-Shabab militia group based in Mogadishu.
Mohamed Abdirahman 19, who has been in Hargeisa for about a month, said: "The people of Hargeisa welcomed me when I first came to Somaliland after leaving Mogadishu; everybody was so nice to me and used to give me meals but this changed within 24 hours of the bombings.
"I was quickly thrown out by my hosts. Whenever I walk along the street, I try not to talk to anyone because I fear that if I am identified as a Somali citizen, I will face difficulties because the suspects were believed to have come from Mogadishu," Abdirahman told IRIN.
However, Abdirahman was taken in by another family on 3 November.
"I am now living with another family neighbouring my former hosts; I hope the situation will improve soon," he said.
Fadumo Hassan, another Somali resident, was robbed by people who posed as policemen investigating the bombings.
She said: "A day after the bombings, four men came to my home in Kodbur district here in Hargeisa; they claimed they were police officers and wanted to inspect my house in relation to the attacks; I allowed them into the house where they conducted a search. After they left, it was established that they were thieves and had stolen money and jewellery from me. I don't know how I will recover my property."
Meanwhile, Somaliland police have arrested freelance journalist Hadis Mohamed Hadis, another Somali citizen, who has been in Somaliland for the past six years.
The police declined to give a reason for his arrest.

Secret Pakistan-US Deal

2008-11-10T01:43:00.000-08:00

Secret Pakistan-US Deal
By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent

Some 15 attacks have been conducted by US drones in the tribal area in the last two weeks, killing over 200 people, mostly civilians. (Reuters)ISLAMABAD — A clandestine agreement between the new Pakistani leadership and the US allows American drones to strike targets inside the restive tribal belt where suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban militants are reportedly taking shelter.
"Under this secret deal, Pakistan will keep complaining about US air strikes. It will also summon the US ambassador to the Foreign Office to register its protest, but no action on the ground would be taken," a senior official of President Asif Ali Zardari-led government told IslamOnline.net on the condition of anonymity.
The deal reportedly clinched after Zardari's first official visit to Washington in September.
"The secret accord provides new mechanics for coordinating predator attacks and a jointly-approved list of high-value targets," said the official.
Thirteen people were killed and many injured in a US missile attack on a residential compound in North Waziristan on Friday, November 7.
Local sources told IOL that most of the deceased were women and children.
Some 15 attacks have been conducted by US drones in South and North Waziristan during the last two weeks, killing over 200 tribesmen, mostly children and women.
However, US and Pakistani intelligence officials insist that some top Al Qaeda leaders, including its deputy chief of operations Khalid Habib, were among the dead.
According to Pakistani officials, Habib was killed on October 16 in a predatorstrike on targets in South Waziristan.
"Now, officially, Pakistan will oppose any violation of its airspace and issue statements protesting the drone attacks, but will not go beyond that," said the government official.
Pakistan is the key supply route for US troops in Afghanistan.
Security analysts believe that if Islamabad had been serious about its protest, it would have at least threatened to halt supplies to Americans forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
Economic Price
Sources link the secret deal to Pakistan's crashing economy and dire need of financial assistance.
"The US administration has made it clear that the drone attacks are essential to get rid of Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, who have been hiding in South and North Waziristan," said the senior government official.
"And if Pakistan doesn't allow that then it (US) will not help arrange an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan."
Pakistan is desperately seeking a sum of 5 billion dollars to avoid a default.
Government officials say negotiations with the IMF have almost been completed, and a loan will soon be issued.
Well-paced government sources say Pakistan agreed to the secret deal with Washington after the World Bank cancelled last month its 300-million-dollar loan, which had already been approved.
"It was certainly not the IMF that pressurized the World Bank. It was America that forced the World Bank to do that," said the senior government official.
But the government categorically denied any such secret deal with Washington.
"This is totally baseless," Ashfaq Gondal, the federal secretary information, told IOL.
"There is no secret accord with US. Only Pakistani forces are responsible for any action within its territory."
He insists that had there been any such deal, the president and his premier could not have protested American strikes in the tribal area.
"The president and the prime minister have continuously been condemning such attacks. They are against our sovereignty," said Gondal.
Asked why Islamabad stops at mere publicized protest, Gondal said: "I can't tell you right away what action Pakistan can take against the strikes. But I totally deny any such secret deal."
By IOL

Call for greater protection of DRC civilians

2008-11-03T02:17:00.001-08:00

Call for greater protection of DRC civilians
As thousands of refugees in eastern Congo go without food and shelter for yet another day, international development agency ActionAid urges the UN Security Council to strengthen its mandate to enforce peace in the region.
"The humanitarian situation here is completely out of control," said Alpha Sankoh, ActionAid's country director in DRC.
"Refugees are being deliberately targeted before our very eyes - we cannot allow this to continue," he added.
"The protection of women and children is paramount, particulalry as so many are on the move seeking safety. And to ensure this happens, the role of the UN peace keeping forces needs to be reviewed."
Intense diplomatic pressure has resulted in the leaders of Congo and Rwanda agreeing to an emergency summit with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner joining a trail of envoys descending on the region.
The breakthrough came as a result of intense diplomatic pressure amid warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe as tens of thousands fled fighting, looting and rape by armed groups.
Alpha Sankoh said it was essential that Miliband and Kouchner use their influence to press all parties to enter into negotiations to work towards an internationally enforced ceasefire.
"They must do everything in their power to ensure UN peacekeeping forces protect civilians and guarantee safe passage for humanitarian workers," he added.
ActionAid hopes to resume relief efforts to refugees in camps in the conflict area as soon as the security situation allows.
ENDS

SRAEL-OPT: Israel tries to block Gaza health conference

2008-10-30T02:03:00.001-07:00

SRAEL-OPT: Israel tries to block Gaza health conference

RAMALLAH, 30 October 2008 (IRIN) - Some 100 academics and mental health workers were denied entry to the Gaza Strip to attend an international medical conference, but the conference took place anyway - by video link, with one group gathering in Gaza City and another in Ramallah.
The conference, organised by the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) on 27-28 October, focused on the mental health impact of the Israeli blockade of the enclave (since June 2007 when Hamas took over).
However, for many this "virtual" method proved less productive, as the foreign experts and local health workers were generally unable to conduct sustained discussions and take advantage of each other's knowledge and proficiency.
"It made it harder to exchange experiences," said Samir Qouta, a psychologist at the Islamic University in Gaza, told IRIN.
"Denying the foreigners entry to Gaza made mutual interaction impossible, but still the conference took place - and that in itself is a big achievement," said the GCMHP's Husam el-Nounou.
Gaza's border crossings were closed, exports banned and imports restricted to humanitarian goods after the Islamist Hamas movement took over in the territory.
The denial of entry for many of the Gazan health workers and visiting experts served to highlight just how isolated the enclave is from the rest of the world.
Israeli security officials said the conference was political in nature and would have helped serve the interests of Hamas.
Conference goers denied they had any interest in partisan issues.
Few mental health experts
"According to my research, the siege is affecting social and economic life," said Qouta, adding "the impact is especially clear on the children."
"The quality of life has really deteriorated," he said.
Health experts say lack of medication and a shortage of specialised doctors in the enclave are having an adverse effect on people's well-being in general, but mental health is particularly affected as there are very few experts in the enclave, and patients cannot easily travel abroad.
"The siege is making it worse. The people are suffering more," Qouta said.
Even with the difficulties in running the conference, many participants felt they still learned and were able to share with each other, using technology like the video link and email.
"Also, our colleagues in Gaza now know they have support and solidarity from mental health experts abroad," said W.H.G. Wolters, a clinical psychotherapist from the Netherlands who attended the conference.
He noted the tough challenges mental health workers in Gaza face in carrying out their work.
"The workers face severe stress and traumatisation, in addition to having to face their own survival in the difficult situation," Wolters said.
In some cases, they had to treat their own family members, further complicating an already daunting job.
shg/at/cb[END]

IRIN

Syria accuses US of deadly raid

2008-10-27T01:30:00.000-07:00

Syria accuses US of deadly raid

Syria has accused the United States of killing at least eight people in a helicopter raid in the country's east, close to the border with Iraq.
The government condemned the act as "serious aggression" and summoned the senior US and Iraqi envoys to Damascus to protest against the raid, the Syrian Arab news agency (Sana) reported on Sunday.
A US military official speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press in Washington that the raid by US special forces were targeting al-Qaeda-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq.
"We are taking matters into our own hands," AP quoted him as saying.
Syrian state television said American helicopters raided the village of Sukariya, which lies 550km northeast of Damascus, before flying back towards Iraqi territory.
"Four American helicopters violated Syrian airspace around 4:45pm local time [13:45 GMT] on Sunday," state television and Sana news agency reported.
During the raids, two of the helicopters landed and dropped off eight US soldiers, who then entered a house, Syrian media reported.
"American soldiers ... attacked a civilian building under construction and fired at workmen inside, causing eight deaths," the reports said.
Children killed
The government said civilians were among the dead, including four children.
"Syria condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible for this aggression and all its repercussions"
Syrian government statement"Syria condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible for this aggression and all its repercussions. Syria also calls on the Iraqi government to shoulder its responsibilities and launch and immediate investigation into this serious violation and prevent the use of Iraqi territory for aggression against Syria," a government statement said.
Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, there have been some instances in which American troops crossed areas of the 600-km border in pursuit of fighters, or aircraft violating Syria's airspace.
But Sunday's raid, if confirmed, would be the first conducted by aircraft and on such a large scale.
Akram Hameed, one of the injured who said he was fishing in the Euphrates river, told Syrian television he saw four helicopters coming from the border area under a heavy blanket of fire.
"One of the helicopters landed in an agricultural area and eight members disembarked," the man in his 40s said. "The firing lasted about 15 minutes and when I tried to leave the area on my motorcycle, I was hit by a bullet in the right arm about 20 metres away," he said.
Syria TV showed what it said was the injured wife of the building's guard, in bed in hospital with a tube in her nose, saying that two helicopters landed and two remained in the air during the attack.
US reaction
The alleged attack came just days after the commander of US forces in western Iraq said American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he called an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq.
US Major-General John Kelly said on Thursday that Iraq's western borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan were fairly tight as a result of good policing by security forces in those countries but that Syria was a "different story".
IN VIDEO
US raid on Syrian soil"The Syrian side is, I guess, uncontrolled by their side," Kelly said. "We still have a certain level of foreign fighter movement."
However, Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Hughes, a spokesman for US forces in western Iraq, said the US division that operates on the Iraqi side of the border was not involved in Sunday's incident.
A Pentagon spokesman in Washington said he had no immediate information on the reported strike but would check further while the White House and CIA declined to comment.
The US and the US-backed Iraqi government frequently say Damascus is not doing enough to stop anti-US fighters, including those from al-Qaeda, from crossing the border into Iraq.
The area targeted by Sunday's raid lies close to the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which in the past has been a crossing point for fighters, weapons and money used to fuel the armed Sunni opposition against Iraq's Shia-led government.
Thabet Salem, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera that the US had appeared to have taken the building workers for infiltrators.
"The Syrian government will be very worried because from the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003 until now, nothing has happened [in Syria]. There have maybe been a few cases, but nothing like eight people killed inside Syria," he said.
"It will raise questions as to why this is happening at this moment - towards the end of the current US administration.
"Syria has deployed large numbers [of security staff] and they have checkpoints every four kilometres along the border. The Syrians have, according to my information, stopped five or six thousand people trying to cross the Syria-Iraq border throughout the last few years."
Iraq security
The raid comes 10 days after Iraqi forces arrested seven Syrian "terrorist" suspects at a checkpoint near the city of Baquba, a base for al-Qaeda fighters, the Iraqi government said.
But last month, Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, told his US counterpart George Bush that Iran and Syria no longer pose a problem to Iraqi security.
Syria's first ambassador to Iraq in 26 years took up his post in Baghdad this month, bringing more than two decades of discord between the nations to an end.
In September, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said she had met Walid Muallem, Syria’s foreign minister, to discuss Middle East peace efforts.
Syrian and American diplomats said the talks touched on Iraq, Lebanon and Middle East peace negotiations.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

China urged to join global bailout

2008-10-24T01:43:00.001-07:00

China urged to join global bailout

European leaders are urging China to help efforts to tackle the financial crisis [AFP]
Leaders from Asia and Europe have opened a summit in Beijing with a call on China to do more to tackle the "unprecedented" challenges posed by the global financial crisis.
Representatives from the 43 countries attending the Asia Europe Meeting (Asem) on Friday were hoping that China can help shape reforms in the world's financial system and address economic imbalances at the core of the meltdown to stave off a possible global recession.
Speaking ahead of the summit, Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said China, India and Japan need "to be on board" as the world tries to avert a global recession.
"We swim together or we sink together," he said, calling for tighter Asia-Europe co-operation in order to survive the crisis.
"I very much hope that China can make an important contribution to the solution to the financial crisis. It's a great opportunity for China to show a sense of responsibility."
European governments have already committed more than $2 trillion to banks and money markets in efforts to shore up investor confidence.
But unlike Europe's co-ordinated effort, Asian governments have for the most part limited their intervention to cutting interest rates, guaranteeing bank deposits and injecting money into the credit markets.
Barroso said the two regions "face challenges which don't respect any borders".
'No one immune'
"No one in Europe or Asia can seriously pretend to be immune. We are living in unprecedented times, and we need unprecedented levels of global co-ordination."
On Thursday Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, said the world economy looked "grim and complicated".
"The emerging markets and developing countries are confronted with financial risks, weak foreign demand and mounting inflation," he was quoted as saying by China's Xinhua news agency.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has said he will seek Asian backing for his bid to radically restructure the Western-dominated global financial system.
Sarkozy, who currently holds the rotating European Union (EU) presidency, wants the emerging giant economies of China and India to have a bigger role in the world's economic decision-making.
Liu Jianchao, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, agreed that there was a need to "explore the possibilities for reform of the international financial structure" but gave no specifics on how to stabilise the markets.
Meanwhile, a diplomatic spat threatened to derail the summit's main agenda after the European Parliament on Thursday awarded its top human rights Sakharov Prize to Hu Jia, an activist imprisoned by the Chinese government on subversion charges.
In criticising the move, Liu raised China's "strong dissatisfaction at the decision by the European Parliament to give the award to a jailed criminal in China, in disregard of our repeated representations".
The spokesman, however, later tried to downplay any impact the move may have on the two-day biennial summit.
Source:
Agencies

Iraq Wants US Pact Changed

2008-10-22T02:02:00.000-07:00

By: IOL

"The cabinet unanimously sought amendments to the text of the pact so it can be acceptable nationally," said Dabbagh. (Reuters)BAGHDAD — Dealing another blow to proposed security pact, the Iraqi government called on Tuesday, October 21, for more changes to the controversial agreement that would govern the stay of US troops beyond the end of thus year.
"The cabinet unanimously sought amendments to the text of the pact so it can be acceptable nationally," Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman, said in a statement.
The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki convened earlier today to discuss the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which lays the legal basis for US troops presence after the expiry of the UN mandate by the end of this year.
"The cabinet called on the ministers to submit their suggestions to be included in the negotiations with the US," Dabbagh said.
He added that ministers would meet over the coming days to "give their opinions and consult and provide the amendments suggested" before submitting the amended draft to the US negotiating team.
Maliki told the ministers that the deal was unacceptable in its current drafting.
"He made observations on the need for further changes, because he wants to market it," the participant told the Washington Post on condition of anonymity.
Iraqi and US negotiators recently finalized the text of the agreement, which was expected to have been sealed by the end of July.
The cabinet must approve the draft before it can be sent to the 275-member parliament.
The ruling United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), a powerhouse coalition of mostly Shiite groups including Maliki's Dawa party, is pressing for more changes to the text.
The 30 MPs loyal to influential Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr have already declared opposition to the agreement.
The majority of Sunni lawmakers have also spoken out against the pact, seen to be mainly endorsed by the two main Kurdish parties.
Reluctant

"The consequences of not having a SOFA and of not having a renewed UN authorization are pretty dramatic in terms of consequences for our actions," Gates said.
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned Tuesday of dramatic consequences of not concluding the deal.
"The consequences of not having a SOFA and of not having a renewed UN authorization are pretty dramatic in terms of consequences for our actions," he told reporters.
A similar warning was made a day earlier by Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"We are clearly running out of time," he said, adding that the Iraqi military lacks the ability to bring about security when the UN mandate expires on December 31.
"And in that regard there is great potential for losses of significant consequence."
While the US State Department is publicly insisting the draft is a final version, senior officials are not ruling out the possibility of renegotiating parts of the deal.
A senior US official, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity, cited Iraqi objections to the language on jurisdiction for US troops, the troop pullout dates and the conditions for troop pullout.
According to the draft deal, American troops should pull from Baghdad and other towns by 2009 and leave the country by 2011, unless asked to stay by the Iraqi government.
Baghdad is seeking the power to arrest and try Americans accused of crimes not related to official military operations, plus jurisdiction over troops and contractors who commit major crimes in the course of their duties.
Under the draft, US forces or contractors who commit "major and premeditated murders" while off duty and outside US facilities would fall under Iraqi jurisdiction.
All other crimes -- and murders committed inside US facilities or by on-duty forces -- would fall under American jurisdiction.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has ruled the possibility of pushing the deal through parliament before the White House elections.
"It is unlikely that the Iraqi parliament will approve the SOFA before the American presidential election on November 4," he said.
"Because of the differences among the political groups, we don't believe the deal will be approved now."

Preparing for massive demobilisation

2008-10-21T00:25:00.000-07:00

SUDAN: Preparing for massive demobilisation
KHARTOUM, 21 October 2008 (IRIN) - Sudan is planning to disarm, demobilise and re-integrate over 180,000 soldiers into civilian life, but the ambitious scheme to rebuild war-shattered communities could raise false expectations, observers warn.
"We are looking in total at the demobilisation and reintegration of 182,900 adults across east, north and south Sudan, not including any possible operations in Darfur," said Adriaan Verheul, chief of the UN programme supporting the government-run scheme.
"This will make it the biggest DDR operation in the world."
The programme is a key part of a 2005 north-south peace deal that ended one of Africa's longest civil wars, in which over 1.5 million people are estimated to have been killed and another six million displaced.
Run jointly by northern and southern government commissions, the numbers will be split equally between the northern Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the southern ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
"It will serve [the] stabilisation of peace in the country," said William Deng Deng, chairman of the southern DDR commission, in recent comments to Sudan's official news agency SUNA.
Initial lists run to 50,000 names, and planning maps mark out proposals for work to begin. Child soldiers are the first focus, with some 1,300 already demobilised.
In addition, 2,900 ex-rebels in eastern Sudan, who fought for a decade in separate battles before a 2006 peace deal, have taken the first tentative steps towards peace.
"The aim is to turn soldiers into civilians able to make enough money to take care of themselves and their families without their army salaries," Verheul told IRIN.
The head of the northern DDR commission, Sulaf al-Dein Salih, said progress was going well in the east, expressing "satisfaction" at the disarmament process "in both north and southern Sudan".
Staggered demobilisation scheme
Under a staggered demobilisation scheme, soldiers put forward by their commanders will be assessed, electronically registered and given medical checks at special centres.
They will also get a US$400 lump-sum payment, 10 weeks rations for a family of five, and a package to help start a new life as civilians, including basic tools, a mosquito net, plastic sheeting and a wind-up radio.
Later, each retiring fighter will receive reintergration support worth $1,750, including vocational training to learn a new career, or backing to establish a small business or farm.
"It's a political process with security objectives, but uses development methods and has a humanitarian impact," said Verheul.
Darfur poses threat
Building peace in Sudan is a slow and often shaky process. Many worry that continuing war in the western region of Darfur could destabilise peace efforts elsewhere, especially with potential genocide charges looming over President Omar al-Bashir.
National elections are due in 2009, followed by a 2011 referendum in the semi-autonomous south on whether it should become fully independent.
Tensions remain high, especially in flashpoint border zones, and former enemy armies are watching over their neighbour's capabilities with concern, nervous of reports that the other is rearming.
In the grossly underdeveloped south, an area about the size of Spain and Portugal combined but with virtually no tarred roads, militias and heavily armed civilians still dominate many regions.
Even apparently basic tasks, such as transporting fighters to demobilisation centres, will pose giant logistical challenges.
"You cannot demobilise a soldier and then put him out on the street without the means to survive and a minimum of dignity," said Verheul.
"Reintegrating former military personnel is often difficult; they may not find the new life appealing, or they don't have the right education for civilian jobs - or there might not be enough jobs for them on the market."
Guaranteed funding needed
Experts say it is vital core funding is guaranteed before the bulk of demobilisation begins, warning that ex-soldiers not provided with a new means of income could themselves pose considerable risks.
And the programme is far from cheap - costing US$385 million for the crucial three-year reintegration phase.
The cash is planned to come from the UN, international donors, and $45 million from Sudan.
Officials are upbeat about the prospects: "Policies are in place, planning is under way and the funding for some initial steps is available," the UN's top envoy to Sudan, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, said in a recent report.
A pilot project for adult fighters is due to start in November in Blue Nile State, with around 1,000 soldiers from both north and south expected to take part.
"If successful, this will be repeated in other areas," Verheul said.
Building confidence
However, around half of the first batch of 50,000 put forward are war-wounded or disabled, a point some critics say means that active military forces will not be reduced.
Verheul dismissed this, arguing there is a need to treat all ex-combatants with respect, to encourage those still able to fight to find a new income.
"No parties in a DDR programme come forward with their best soldiers first," said Verheul. "One must build confidence, to get a more serious reduction in military forces later."
Many Sudanese who were affected by the war are hoping for the best. Like many whose villages were destroyed in Sudan's 21-year civil war, tea seller Mary Jok knows the cost of conflict.
"There's been fighting most of my life," said the 40-year old widow, who ekes out a living from a tiny street stall in the Sudanese capital, [Khartoum] where she fled a decade ago. "My daughters died and my sons were taken to fight," she said.
On the scattered stools in the dust around Mary Jok's tea stall, customers say there is both hope and cynicism at the programme.
"We have heard grand plans before," said Ahmed Ali Mohammed, a teacher. "But we want peace to develop Sudan. We need it to work - there are too many people today who know only how to fight."
IRIN.

Bernanke eyes new stimulus package

2008-10-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

Bernanke eyes new stimulus package

An easing of credit markets has increased confidence among investors in US stocks [AFP]
Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US federal reserve, has suggested a second "stimulus package" could be used to stave off an economic slowdown.
"The stabilisation of the financial system, though an essential first step, will not quickly eliminate the challenges still faced by the broader economy," he told the US House of Representatives budget committee on Monday.
"... with some risk of a protracted slowdown, consideration of a fiscal package by the congress at this juncture seems appropriate," he said.
The central bank chairman's comments were his first official endorsement of a second package to follow about $100bn handed to taxpayers over the summer in a bid to boost the US economy through increased consumer spending.
Aljazeera's Cath Turner, reporting from Washington, said: "It's a significant shift in thinking by Bernanke - in July he said it was too early to consider another package.
"This time though, Bernanke suggested some of the stimulus should be directed at the credit markets - making credit more available to consumers, homeowners and businesses."
'Serious slowdown'
Asked by reporters whether the US was now in a recession, Bernanke said there was "a serious slowdown in the US ... whether it's called a recession or not is of no consequence".
IN DEPTH
How the financial bubble burst Q&A: The US financial meltdown Reacting to the financial crisis Wall Street gripped by uncertaintyTurner said Bernanke had been "very careful to avoid using the word "recession" as he would aware of the potential disastrous affects on markets if he was to further dent investors' confidence.
In a White House statement, George Bush, the US president, said he was "open" to the idea of a second economic stimulus plan.
Henry Paulson, the US treasury secretary, announced that nine major US banks had taken up a government offer to buy shares in their corporations.
"Our purpose is to increase confidence in our banks and increase the confidence of banks so that they will deploy - not hoard - their capital," he said.
"And we expect them to do so, as increased confidence will lead to increased lending." A total of $250bn has been set aside for the programme - part of the $700bn rescue package that was signed off by congress - and several other banks are also expected to apply.
'Increased confidence'
The Dow Jones index of leading US shares closed 4.7 percent, or 413 points, higher at 9,265 following what traders said was an increased confidence among investors who saw an easing of credit markets as a sign the government's attempts to aid the economy were working.
London's FTSE 100 earlier closed 5.41 per cent higher at 4,282.67 points. Shares on Paris' CAC index ended up by 3.56 per cent and Frankfurt's Dax closed 1.12 per cent higher.
The increases came after Sweden unveiled a plan to support banks with $200bn in credit guarantees in a move to improve liquidity and also said it would also create a $2bn "stability fund" to bail out any Swedish banks that run into solvency problems.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose by nearly 3.5 per cent in early trading on Tuesday to reach 9,319 points.
Al Jazeera and agencies

UN joins government in anti-poverty drive

2008-10-20T04:27:00.000-07:00

THAILAND: UN joins government in anti-poverty drive
BANGKOK, 17 October 2008 (IRIN) - The UN and Thai government went walking in support of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October, with the deputy interior minister, Preecha Rengsomboonsuk, and the representative of the UN Children's Fund Thailand country office, Tomoo Hozumi, joining more than 2,000 people in Ayutthaya Province to raise poverty awareness.
About 10,000 Ayutthaya citizens from every social sector joined the opening ceremony at the city hall after the walk. The two representatives made pledges to fight poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
"We tried to adopt his Majesty the King's initiative on sustainable development and emphasised three main issues: encouraging people to save, providing jobs for them, and making them help one another in solving poverty," Touchrich Tanaluck, chief community development officer of Ayutthaya, told IRIN. "We believe this policy will help us achieve our goal in the '180 Day Roadmap for Poverty Reduction' campaign."
The campaign was launched on 15 August 2008 by former Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's government to raise the annual income of almost 180,000 Thais who live below the national poverty line through decentralisation. Each province has its own policy and campaign to achieve its goal.
Nampeung Tulayathit, the head of the women's association of Bangpra-in district in Ayutthaya, told IRIN she saw the event as a good start for the Thai government. "I believe they could reach their goal in the 180 Day Campaign because this is the one of the rare occasions when I saw many departments, ministries, and all other sections of our society come together and be serious about the issue."
The event also included exhibitions on how to solve poverty and poverty reduction "clinics" - information centres set up by the Ministry of Interior with many Thai ministries and departments to encourage domestic and individual savings, health promotion, and empowerment of the poor. Many follow-up events will take place between 17 and 19 October.
ns/mw
[END]

Donor response to food crisis inadequate, agencies say

2008-10-17T02:36:00.000-07:00

Donor response to food crisis inadequate, agencies say

DAKAR, 16 October 2008 (IRIN) - Food security experts say international donors' response to the world's food crisis has been inadequate when compared to interventions to contain the global financial meltdown.
"Huge financial resources have been mobilised by the international community in a matter of days" in response to the global financial crisis, wrote Teresa Cavero in a report by the international NGO Oxfam released on 16 October - World Food Day.
While the US government put up US$700 billion to bail out financial institutions in one day, on 3 October, total global development aid for 2007 was $104 billion, according to Alexander Woollcombe, food security advocacy adviser at Oxfam in Dakar.
This year's food crisis threw an additional 75 million people into hunger and poverty in 2007 according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The World Bank estimates there are currently 967 million malnourished people in the world.
FAO says the financial crisis, following on the heels of the food price crisis, could deepen the plight of the poor in developing countries.
Remittances dropping
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf stated in a 15 October news release: "Borrowing, bank lending, official development aid, foreign direct investment and workers' remittances - all may be compromised by a deepening financial crisis."
There are no precise numbers yet about the impact of the financial crisis on developing countries, said Josef Schmidhuber, senior economist at the FAO's Global Perspectives Unit, but he noted that when industrialised countries face a crisis, fewer people work and fewer remittances are sent to developing countries.
"We're already hearing noises from Mexico that fewer remittances are being sent back. These [remittances] are more important than credits and foreign direct investment," he stressed.
Mexico receives $22 billion in annual remittances, and Bangladesh $4 billion, according to Schmidhuber. In Haiti and Honduras remittances make up over 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Response 'a slow trickle'
The FAO's Schmidhuber said donors promised $20 billion in aid to agriculture at the Rome FAO conference in June 2008, but according to Oxfam, five months on just $1 billion of this has been dispersed. Oxfam's Woollcombe said this is partly because "it takes time to distribute cash for agricultural production. The problem is it is not clear when or where it is actually coming."
The UN has estimated that $25 billion to $40 billion is needed to lessen the impacts of high food prices on developing countries.
"With the new commitments of the financial crisis, I would not be surprised if we don't get much more than the trickle that has arrived so far," said Schmidhuber.
The UK government's commitment of US$ 1.4 billion pledged at the Rome meeting still stands, said Matt Wells, spokesperson for the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
"Yes, there are challenges we are all facing, but we are continuing to call on other donors not to let the economic crisis deflect the fact that we need to remain focused on supporting those most in need," Wells told IRIN.
Building up resilience
To boost vulnerable people's resilience to crises, Oxfam and the Washington DC-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) stress the need for donors and international finance institutions to support 'social protection' such as aiding access to health and education, which they say will have a knock-on boost on their food-purchasing power.
Such measures could include targeted cash transfers, nutritional interventions, and fee waivers on targeted services, according to an October World Bank report 'Rising food and fuel prices: addressing the risks to future generations.'
It is the erosion of the global food system's resilience that underlies the food price spikes, according to Steve Wiggins, research fellow at the UK-based Overseas Development Institute.
The world needs to replenish severely depleted global grain reserves, which have dropped from 30 percent to 19 percent of annual grain use, Wiggins said. "Rebuilding stocks would help to calm nerves and restore the resilience of the global food system."
See related story: Cereal banks in Niger
FAO's Schmidhuber said as an alternative to real grain reserves, which are expensive to build and keep up, 'virtual grain stocks' should be developed; developing countries would purchase the right to buy at subsidised prices.
He said such alternatives would lead to a more efficient market that could also protect poor communities, adding that export bans and subsidies in the developed world distort markets and discourage production.
Progress is being made on both sides, he said. "We are starting to see a convergence between the developing and developed world as they shift these opposing approaches."
As the FAO's World Food Security Committee discusses these and other challenges in Rome from 14 to 17 October, Schmidhuber said governments should start by taking a simple step. "They need to do what they've said they are already committed to doing, and deliver the money."
aj/np

IRIN.

IRAQ: Cholera deaths rise to eight as disease spreads

2008-10-15T02:34:00.001-07:00

IRAQ: Cholera deaths rise to eight as disease spreads
BAGHDAD, 15 October 2008 (IRIN) - About 500 confirmed cholera cases have been registered in Iraq since the latest outbreak of the disease on 20 August. Eight people have died, a government spokesman said on 14 October.
"So far there have been 479 cases in 12 provinces: Babil 230 cases, Baghdad 73, Diwaniyah 61, Basra 50, Karbala 39, Najaf nine, Anbar eight, Maysan three, Arbil two, Samawa two, Kut one and Diyala one," said Ihsan Jaafar, director-general of the public health directorate and a spokesman for the ministry's cholera control unit.
Jaafar told IRIN cholera-related deaths had reached eight, with two new death cases in Qadissiyah and Babil provinces south of Baghdad.
Those who have died of the disease are a 10-year-old girl, a 61-year-old man, a child over five in Babil Province, two children under five in Qadissiyah Province; a three-year-old boy in Maysan; and an adult and a child in Baghdad.
Spreading north?
There is evidence of the disease spreading north: two cases were confirmed in Arbil, a city some 350km north of Baghdad. The disease was previously confined to central and southern Iraq.
"We are continuing to intensify our measures in all fields such as raising awareness among residents, and monitoring restaurants and food and drinks-related factories and stores; we have already closed a number of them and destroyed tonnes of material," Jaafar said.
According to Richard Finkelstein, co-author of Medical Microbiology, cholera occurs primarily during the summer months, possibly reflecting the increased presence of the organism in rivers and lakes during these months, as well as the enhanced opportunity for it to multiply in unrefrigerated foods.
The Iraqi Health Ministry and the World Health Organization have blamed the country's rundown water and sanitation infrastructure for the outbreak.
Cholera is a gastro-intestinal disease typically spread by contaminated water. It can cause severe diarrhoea, which in extreme cases can lead to fatal dehydration. Treating drinking water with chlorine and improving hygiene conditions can prevent the disease.
sm/ar/cb[END]

IRIN.

PHILIPPINES: "Humanitarian crisis" risk in Mindanao

2008-10-15T02:31:00.000-07:00

PHILIPPINES: "Humanitarian crisis" risk in Mindanao

MANILA, 15 October 2008 (IRIN) - The troubled island of Mindanao is at risk of a full-scale humanitarian crisis unless immediate contingency efforts are made, warn humanitarian agencies.
"An external shock could turn a difficult humanitarian situation which is currently under control into a humanitarian crisis which is not under control," a senior UN official told IRIN in Manila.
Residents of the mineral-rich island, gripped by decades of Muslim insurgency, experienced a double whammy this year when, still reeling from Typhoon Frank in June, fighting resumed between government forces and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in August.
"The present situation is the worst since 2003, and the humanitarian consequences are very serious," said Felipe Donoso, who heads the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in Manila.
The Supreme Court had issued a freeze order on a secret agreement between the government and the 12,000-strong MILF, which has been fighting for an ancestral homeland.
The deal would effectively have established a sub-state or homeland known as the Bangsamoro Judicial Entity, comprised of the previously established Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which gave predominately Muslim areas of the island some degree of autonomy.
But with the understanding now dead and an adamant refusal by the government to negotiate with the MILF until it disarms, the humanitarian consequences could prove dire.
Civilians in the crossfire
More than 90 civilians have been killed in the fighting, reported the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) on 15 October, the chief government coordinating body for disaster and rehabilitation operations, with scores more injured.
Hundreds of homes have been destroyed and whole communities obliterated, say aid workers.
According to the British charity Oxfam, civilians now live in fear for their lives because of the presence of armed groups in their villages.
"The humanitarian needs in Mindanao are real," Oxfam country director Lan Mercado said.
More than 500,000 people have been affected, with close to 400,000 still displaced, including around 100,000 living in more than 160 evacuation centres, including schools, community centres and makeshift camps, with the rest staying with family and friends, the NDCC reported.
Thousands of children have been prevented from attending classes regularly.
Of Mindanao's more than 20 provinces, 10 have been affected, with four million inhabitants.
IASC recommendations
Adding to the urgency, a September Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) assessment warned although local coping mechanisms were sufficient to deal with the current situation, significant concern had arisen over what should happen in the event that fighting continued or another natural disaster occurred.
The report went on to recommend that IASC partners commence a coordinated Inter Agency Contingency Planning process, in an effort to prepare for a larger-scale humanitarian response.
However, that has not happened, although the IASC on 14 October decided to start contingency planning, as well as to improve coordination with the NDCC.
"As of now, we have not yet begun inter-agency contingency planning for Mindanao," Andrew MacLeod, senior adviser to the UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines, confirmed.
While welcoming targeted and coordinated assistance, the government did not want to "internationalise" the latest crisis to grip the island, which has suffered decades of separatist violence, as well as banditry, clan violence and an ongoing communist insurgency.
Taking that cue, much of the humanitarian community has been reluctant to push further.
Yet not recognising the need for contingency planning could prove risky, as the latest round of violence and displacement is entering its third month.
"It's likely to get worse before it gets better," MacLeod said, citing an increased risk of another typhoon this year, as well as a further escalation of the conflict.
"We need to ensure that we use this period while the current situation is under control to do our contingency planning, build our teams, and ensure our coordination mechanisms are able to cope with an increase in humanitarian response, should an increase in fighting or a natural disaster occur," he stressed, adding: "We have not yet grasped that nettle."
Red Cross mobilisation
The ICRC has doubled its staff in Mindanao to more than 50, allowing it to assist up to 80,000 people a month until the end of the year if necessary.
Since 12 August, the ICRC has assisted more than 150,000 people in Mindanao.
In addition, ICRC has set up a warehouse in Davao from which it can deliver up to 3,000 food rations a day if needed, while at the same time appealing to donors for a budget extension of 4.5 million Swiss francs (US$4 million); a 60 percent increase over its initial 2008 budget of SwFr7.6 million ($6.7 million).
"Given the uncertainty surrounding the peace process and the unremitting violence aggravated by the easy availability of firearms, civilians will continue to suffer," Donoso said.
ds/mw

IRIN

Israeli parties in 'coalition deal'

2008-10-14T00:13:00.001-07:00

Israeli parties in 'coalition deal'
Labour leader Barak would become senior deputy prime minister if a new coalition assumes power [EPA]
Israel's Kadima and Labour parties have reached an agreement in principle for the formation of a new coalition government.
The deal, reported in Israeli newspapers on Monday, paves the way for Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister, to become the next prime minister.
Ehud Barak, Labour's leader, will be named senior deputy prime minister, next only to the prime minister in rank.
Livni, 50, was asked by Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, on September 22 to form a new government after Ehud Olmert, the incumbent prime minister, announced he would resign over corruption allegations.
Reporting on the developments, David Chater, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said: "There has been marathon talks between the two sides - 18 hours so far.
"Israeli media say it has been signed, but our contacts with the Kadima party say that although agreement is close, it has not actually been signed.
"But we are very near to that giant step of Tzipi Livni becoming the next prime minister."
Concessions
Chater said that the Labour party did not get the increases in the government budget they were asking for as part of the deal.
However, it did get some of the concessions they wanted, for instance, an increase in student fees.
But the seats of Labour and Kadima do not add up to a majority needed to run parliament. The support of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party is necessary to gain a majority.
The Shas party has demanded increases to child subsidies and a promise not to negotiate with the Palestinians over Jerusalem, to join the coalition.
Livni has set a deadline of October 27 to form a coalition. Otherwise elections to choose a new prime minister will have to be held.

Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

UK Intelligentsia Blast Terror Detention

2008-10-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

UK Intelligentsia Blast Terror Detention

"In 42 days we will have made you different. You may be charged, you may be released. You will always be different," Kennedy writes.CAIRO — Forty-two of Britain's most renowned writers and intellectuals have picked up their pens in a rare protest against the government's plan to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days, ahead of a crucial vote on the controversial legislation.
"We don’t know how lucky we are, to live in a nation where police officers have all of six weeks to discover why they’ve locked us up," award-winning author Phillip Pullman writes in a sarcastic essay as part of the 42 Writers for Liberty campaign.
"Ask them after 41 days why a prisoner is still behind bars, and they can honestly and innocently say 'No idea, mate,' But give them that extra day, and they’ll crack it."
In a protest not seen since leading figures in the arts world clashed with the Margaret Thatcher government in the 1980s, the top writers are speaking out against a bill extending pre-charge detention for terror suspects from 28 to 42 days.
The literary protest, coordinated by the human rights group Liberty, saw the writers publishing a collection of satire, essays, fiction and poetry to protest the proposal on the website www.42writers.com.
In her piece, novelist Stella Duffy lists things that can take 42 days to accomplish including writing the first six chapters of her first book; going through two rounds of chemotherapy; undergoing in-vitro fertilization and watching the garden change from summer to autumn.
AL Kennedy, winner of the Costa Book of the Year Award, warns that being held for 42 days without charge would leave a permanent scar on any individual.
"In 42 days we will have made you different. You may be charged, you may be released. You will always be different," she writes in her essay.
"We will always be in how you think. We do not need to hurt you. We will steal you from yourself."
Sleepwalking

"There's a real danger that people in Britain are sleepwalking into an assault on our human rights," said Allen.
The literary protest runs in parallel with a mass protest planed by Amnesty International against the detention limit as a gross attack on liberties.
"There's a real danger that people in Britain are sleepwalking into an assault on our human rights," Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty, said on the organization's website.
"Plans to extend detention without charge should be abandoned once and for all. We don't want them returning under another guise - not next month, not next year."
The detention limit bill will face Monday a new vote at the House of Lords, where it is expected to meet fierce opposition.
This comes four months after the government survived a rebellion of 36 Labour MPs to pass the bill by just nine votes in the House of Commons.
Extending terror detention has been an ongoing subject of controversy in Britain since 2005, when the Tony Blair government failed to get parliamentary approval to increase the limit to 90 days.
Civil rights groups lament that most other countries have detention periods shorter than 28 days.
Amnesty's rally will see protesters marching through the streets of Leeds dressing gowns and slippers and clutching pillows and blankets.
The rally will see the first public screening of Amnesty's new film, "Sleepwalk", by Oscar-shortlisted directing duo DarkFibre.
"This film is Amnesty's wake up call - we have got to stand up for our basic freedoms," says Allen.
"Hard-won liberties are at stake."
By IOL

Stop Bush's War on Terror: Analysts

2008-10-13T02:29:00.001-07:00

Stop Bush's War on Terror: Analysts

By; IOL

"The approach this administration took is breaking down," Lewis said. (Google)
WASHINGTON — With the Bush administration near the end of its term, demands are picking up steam to change Washington's anything-goes approach to the "war on terror".
"Things are starting to come a little unglued," James Lewis, a national security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday, October 12.
"The approach this administration took is breaking down. Some of it is, as it loses its political steam and its credibility, people are willing to speak out."
Seizing on the public fear of terrorism following the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan and Iraq under its "war on terror" campaign.
Coercive interrogations, indefinite detentions, secret overseas prisons, and warrantless surveillance of phone calls and emails were among the tools used by the administration.
"If it proves to be true, I think you'll see further demand for oversight and further demand for control," said Lewis.
The Bush administration has long resisted calls for radical changes in its "war on terror" approach.
Last year, it amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to permit the government to monitor communications that begin or end overseas.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey this month signed new guidelines on FBI operations to give it broad new powers to conduct surveillance and use other intrusive investigative techniques on Americans.
The administration has blocked a court order to release 17 Chinese Muslim Uighurs from Guantanamo into the US, and has plodded on with trials by military trial of detainees at Guantanamo Bay despite repeated legal setbacks.
"The sense that what they are doing is right and necessary is very strong still in the Bush administration," said Lewis.
New Approach
Analysts say that the new administration should craft a new approach on fighting terror.
"Every democratic nation that has had to grapple with a terrorist threat has been obliged to alter some of the rules -- the rules of intelligence collection, police powers and so on," said Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert at the RAND Corporation.
"And that's okay so long as you modify the rules and work within the rules.
"Where things begin to go wrong is where people assert that the rules don't matter," he said.
The RAND Corporation said in a recent study that the US should stop using the "war on terror" label and shift its strategy against terror groups from the current heavy dependence on military might to greater use of policing and intelligence work.
Jenkins believes that the new administration should shore up international support against terrorism by acting in ways that reflect US values.
"I think as a first step we should close down Guantanamo. It is a symbol of things that are wrong," he said.
Calls for closing the notorious camp have gone nowhere despite a broad consensus that Guantanamo has been a costly mistake.
The US has been holding hundreds of detainees at its notorious Guantanamo detention center for years.
It declared them "enemy combatants" to deny them legal rights under the American legal system.
"We need to promptly identify and release those who are wrongly held, we need to develop a patently fair (legal) procedure," said Jenkins.

Market crisis worsens

2008-10-10T02:28:00.001-07:00

Market crisis worsens
Markets around the world are reeling [AFP]
Share markets in Asia have gone into free fall, indicating the global financial crisis was deepening despite increased efforts by governments and institutions to stem the bleeding.
Japan's Nikkei index plunged more than 11 per cent on Friday to fall below the 9,000 level for the first time since 2003 and hover close to the 8,000 mark, before recovering slightly in the afternoon session.
Yoshinori Nagano, the chief strategist at Daiwa Asset Management, said no one was buying.
"Fundamentals don't matter any more and there's no explanation for such a plunge," he said.
Shares dived elsewhere in Asia. India's main stock index fell more than nine per cent on opening and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell by more than eight per cent.
Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200, South Korea's Kospi and Singapore's Straits Times index also dived steeply, all losing around seven per cent following Wall Street's nearly 700-point drop on Thursday, before they reversed some losses.
Singapore in recession
Singapore's government announced on Friday that its economy was in recession, after releasing figures showing real Gross Domestic Product was down for a second quarter.
IN DEPTH
How the financial bubble burst Q&A: The US financial meltdown Reacting to the financial crisis
The city-state heavily dependent on trade, making it very sensitive to hiccups in developed economies.
Elsewhere in Asia, Indonesia's share market remained suspended on Friday after it plunged more than 20 per cent during the week.
There are fears that the country could slide into bankruptcy despite assurances by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the president, that the situation is "fully under control".
The IMF and the World Bank are due to hold their annual meetings on Friday and over the weekend, while finance ministers from the G7 group of wealthy nations will converge on the meetings' sidelines in Washington DC this weekend for talks on the crisis.
Currency reserves loan
A Japanese newspaper said Japan was to propose an IMF loan scheme at the meeting to give countries facing financial crisis access to the trillions of dollars in currency reserves held by Asian and Middle Eastern governments.
Experts are calling for a concerted global effort to restore confidence [GALLO/GETTY]The IMF-led scheme would be available to smaller emerging countries, not G7 members or other large nations, according to the Nikkei newspaper.
Under the Japanese plan, the IMF would ask the country that is to receive the funds to draw up a plan for revitalising its financial sector including writing off its bad assets.
The new emergency loans would be funded by the approximately 200 billion yen ($2bn) contributed by IMF member countries plus loans from the foreign currency reserves of countries such as Japan, China and Middle Eastern oil exporters.
The massive declines in Asia and on Wall Street comes despite the IMF reactivating an emergency aid process for countries seeking help in the global financial crisis, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the institution's president, said on Thursday.
He warned that the global economy was "on the cusps" of a recession and added that the IMF was "ready to answer any demand by countries facing problems".
The declines also come after the US Federal Reserve and central banks across the world from Europe to Asia cut interest rates to contain the market meltdown.
Co-ordinated action urged
James Henry an economist and investigative journalist, told Al Jazeera that the crisis "is not contained, it's spreading to a global level".
IN VIDEO

Robert Zoellick on the financial crisis
More videos ... "This is something that policy-makers have to get under control in the next week or so, otherwise we're in for a very deep depression," he warned.
Henry said central bank rate cuts and the plan to buy bank's bad assets have not worked.
What is needed is a "global stabilisation fund" to recapitalise banks with equity – as opposed to just buying their bad debt - and a stimulus package with some debt relief for borrowers, he said.
"But it requires much more co-ordination across boundaries than we've had before," he added.
Robert Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, also called for a concerted effort by the world's wealthiest nations to work together on the crisis, telling Al Jazeera on Thursday that "the scope of this problem is much larger than what we can deal with".
"In the short term what the G7 needs to do is to try to take the actions it's starting to take - co-ordinated central bank actions ... to try to clean up the assets, to try to make sure there is liquidity in terms of banks being willing to provide funds to corporations and others [and] recapitalise the institutions," he said.

US mulls Taliban reconciliation

2008-10-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

US mulls Taliban reconciliation
Gates, and other Nato leaders met to discuss the war in Afghanistan [Reuters]
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, has said his country would "ultimately" be prepared to reconcile with the Taliban group to end the conflict in Afghanistan.
Gates on Thursday, however, ruled out any possible talks between the US and al-Qaeda fighters in the country.
And, speaking after the first day of Nato meetings in Budapest about the war in Afghanistan, Gates said any settlement with the Taliban would be on the Afghan government's terms and would require the group to subject itself to Kabul's rule.
"There has to be ultimately, and I'll underscore ultimately, reconciliation as part of a political outcome to this," he said.
"That's ultimately the exit strategy for all of us."
Gates also said that reconciliation efforts could not include anyone belonging to al-Qaeda, the group blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks which killed almost 3,000 people in the US.
A US-led coalition invaded Afghanistan and deposed the Taliban in 2001 shortly after the attacks.
There are about 33,000 US troops in Afghanistan, while Nato has about 40,000 stationed in the country.
'Downward spiral'
Gates's comments come as a draft US intelligence report on Thursday said the situation in Afghanistan is now at its worst since the US-led invasion.
The almost completed National Intelligence Estimate said the country is in danger of a "downward spiral" into violence and chaos.
Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, the top British military commander in Afghanistan, said on Sunday that the war there cannot be won militarily and that talks with the Taliban are crucial.
Several Nato commanders and diplomats have argued that negotiations with the Taliban are necessary.
Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, said last week that he had asked Saudi Arabia to mediate negotiations with the Taliban and called on Mullah Omar, the group's leader, to make peace.

Source:
Agencies and Al'J.

US admits Afghan civilian deaths

2008-10-09T01:53:00.001-07:00

US admits Afghan civilian deaths
The US military had claimed dozens of Taliban fighters were among those killed [AFP/AFGHAN POLICE]
Far more civilians and children were killed in several US air raids on a village in Afghanistan in August that was first acknowledged, a US military investigation has concluded.
US officials had maintained only about seven civilians had died in the attacks on Azizabad in western Afghanistan on August 22.
The Afghan government and UN officials said at the time about 90 had been killed.
"Our investigation determined approximately 55 persons were killed - 33 civilian and 22 anti-coalition militants" a summary of an investigation by US brigadier general Michael Callan, released on Wednesday, disclosed.
Videos showed the bodies of 12 children, three women and eight men were laid out for burial in the village mosque the day after the fighting, the report said.
The incident brought angry recriminations from Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and added to fears that support for the US military in Afghanistan was being further undermined by repeated cases of civilian casualties at the hands of US-led forces.
'Self defence'
But the Callan report defended the actions of the US and Afghan forces involved in the incident as "necessary and proportional ... self-defence ... based on the information the on-scene commander had at the time" it said.
The commander had been informed dozens of fighters were holding a meeting in the village, which led to the attack.
"US and Afghan forces did not commit any violations of the law of war or rules of engagement," the report concluded.
Karzai told villagers that those responsible would be punished [EPA]
The lists of dead villagers obtained by Afghan and UN officials that showed that 90 civilians were killed "are unsubstantiated," the report said.
Three men were arrested days after the raids after allegedly providing "wrong information" to US and Afghan forces.
The arrests followed a police investigation into the incident after villagers said US-led forces in Afghanistan had been fed false information about the presence of Taliban members in Azizabad following a tribal dispute, according to interior ministry officials.
President Karzai sacked two senior Afghan army commanders over the incident and pledged to punish those responsible.
Tribal disputeLocals told Al Jazeera at the time that the air raid hit a memorial service at a compound belonging to Reza Khan, a tribal leader who had been in dispute with Nader Tawakal, another local leader.
"We were holding a prayer ceremony when the bombs started to fall ... it was heavy bombardment. The whole village was on fire and about 90 were killed," Abdul Rasheed, the brother of one of the dead, said.
Villagers denied that the gathering was a meeting of the Taliban, which has been fighting Afghan and international forces since being forced from power in 2001.
More than 500 civilians have been killed during military operations by foreign and Afghan forces so far this year, according to the Afghan government and some aid groups.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

Global food and fuel crisis will increase malnourished by 44 million

2008-10-09T01:26:00.001-07:00

Source: The World Bank Group
Date: 08 Oct 2008
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Global food and fuel crisis will increase malnourished by 44 million
Press Release No:2008/107/EXC
WASHINGTON, October 8, 2008 – High food and fuel prices will increase the number of malnourished people around the world in 2008 by 44 million to reach a total of 967 million, a report from the World Bank says.
While food and fuel price increases may have moderated in recent months, prices remain much higher than previous years and show few signs of declining significantly, according to the report entitled "Rising food and fuel prices: addressing the risks to future generations". Poor families around the world are being pushed to the brink of survival, causing irreparable damage to the health of millions of children. As families cut back on spending, there are also grave risks for the educational performance of poor children.
"While people in the developed world are focused on the financial crisis, many forget that a human crisis is rapidly unfolding in developing countries. It is pushing poor people to the brink of survival," said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick. "The financial crisis will only make it more difficult for developing countries to protect their most vulnerable people from the impact of rising food and fuel costs."
The report, due to be presented on Sunday to the Development Committee at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF, says the food and fuel crisis could have long term effects on poor people and countries. Malnourished children cannot develop into healthy adults and become productive members of society who can contribute to the growth needed to lift themselves and their country out of poverty.
The report says priority should be given to a series of targeted measures. These include:
- Making existing targeted cash (or near cash) transfer programs more generous;
- Getting nutrition to infants and pregnant women;
- expanding so-called "in-kind" food distribution programs including school feeding and the distribution of fortified calorically dense food;
- using fee waivers, lifeline-pricing and other forms of targeted subsidies for poor users/consumers; and
- introducing additional measures to prevent children from dropping out of school, such as fee waivers, subsidies for school inputs, or cash transfers.
The report also argues that allocating the necessary amount of budget to finance an expansion of safety net programs may require pruning less-priority spending in other areas. But it notes that well-designed safety net programs do not have to be prohibitively expensive to be effective. Some of the most successful programs in the world cost well under 1 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Moreover, investing in safety net programs now will give governments new tools to address not just the current crisis, but future ones as well.
In May, the World Bank launched a $1.2 billion rapid financing facility to help poor countries cope with the food crisis. Since then, around US$850 million has been committed to finance seeds, plantings, and feeding programs. In April, Zoellick called for a New Deal for Global Food Policy that included short, medium and long-term measures to provide immediate help to poor people and farmers while increasing food production.
For more information on the Bank's work in nutrition, please visit: www.worldbank.org/nutrition an

Guantanamo release angers Bush

2008-10-08T02:02:00.001-07:00

Guantanamo release angers Bush
The men come from China's Xinjiang province [GALLO/GETTY]
A US judge has ordered the release of 17 Chinese Muslim detainees from the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in what has been seen as a rebuke to the Bush administration.
US district judge Ricardo Urbina said there was no evidence the men were a security risk and that the US constitution prohibits indefinite detention without cause.
Local Uighur residents and human rights activists cheered as he told a Washington courtroom the men, who have been in custody for almost seven years, should be freed.
The ruling is the first court-ordered release of Guantanamo detainees since the facility opened in 2002.
The Bush administration reacted with anger to the ruling, with a spokesman for the department of justice saying it presented "serious national security and separation of powers concerns and raises unprecedented legal issues".
The department said it would file an emergency request on Tuesday evening for a stay with the US court of appeals in Washington to halt the ruling.
If it loses, it has the option of appealing to the US Supreme Court, the highest in the country.
Lawyers 'thrilled'
Lawyers representing the men said they were "thrilled" with the decision.
"Justice has too long been delayed but ... we saw a great judge give a principled and just decision"
Sabin Willett, lawyer for some of the Uighur detainees"Justice has too long been delayed but today we saw a great judge give a principled and just decision," Sabin Willett, a lawyer for some of the men, told Reuters news agency.
The Uighurs, from the Xinjiang province in western China, had been living in a camp in Afghanistan during the US-led bombing campaign in the country that began in October 2001 after the September 11 attacks in the US.
They fled into the mountains and were detained by Pakistani authorities, who handed them over to the US.
The men have been cleared for release from Guantanamo since 2004 as they are no longer considered "enemy combatants", the official designation for those held in Guantanamo Bay, and would have been sent home.
However, the US has not been able to find a country willing to accept them.
Many Muslim Uighurs seek greater autonomy for the region and some want independence, however China has waged a relentless campaign against what it calls their violent separatist activities.
About 265 detainees are still held at Guantanamo, which was opened in 2002 to hold suspects captured during the US's so-called "war on terror" launched after the September 11 attacks.
Most have been held for years without being charged and some allege they have been abused or tortured.
Source:
Agencies

DRC: Magnet of violence

2008-10-07T00:09:00.001-07:00

DRC: Magnet of violence
Wouter Cools
A month ago I wrote that the Goma agreement was as dead as the idea of a self-regulating free market. The events of the last weeks and a report of Amnesty International reaffirm my position. The peace agreement of 23 of January 2008 is inadequate to forestall a minimum degree of stability and peace in the Kivu and has even some perverse effects that not only stands in contrast with its own regulations but also undermines further the social texture of the region. These evolutions take place in a context of a looming national political crisis and a country that is not only terrorized by violence in the Kivu but also in Ituri and Orientale Province due to attacks of local militias and Kony's Lord Resistance Army (LRA).
Laurent Nkunda's latest offensive, started on the 28 of August, was directed towards Goma and an attempt to extend the fighting to South Kivu. This region was relative peaceful during the latest months, but now there is the danger that it will be drowned in the never ending spiral of violence of its northern neighbour, complicating only more any possible settlement of the conflict. The clashes between the CNDP rebels and the Congolese army (FARDC) demonstrated again the incompetence of the latter to defeat Nkunda's movement and to protect the civilian population. A new element in the latest episode of the conflict is the role of MONUC. After heavy criticism of the latest months, it seems to be that the UN peacekeeping force finally started to act.
This time MONUC troops held their positions (a month ago there were testimonies of withdrawing peace forces, leaving civilians to their fate), beat off in some occasions CNDP attacks (last week MONUC could stop Nkunda's advance to Masisi by intervening with combat helicopters) and send reinforcements to the various fronts. In a very optimistic mood one can say that by this new more active posture of the MONUC, Nkunda's CNDP will come to realize that they can't be victorious and that a negotiated settlement is the only rational option left. The problem with such a train of thought is that the CNDP doesn't want a stabilisation of the situation. Every offensive, every attack is motivated by the fact that it creates chaos and insecurity. Such a chaos and insecurity serve directly what is really on stake for the CNDP: the control over revenues from gold, tin, timber and cobalt. In peacetime the rebels would lose these revenues or at least will have to share them. This logic stands also for all the other armed movements (the Mai Mai militia, the FDLR), including the FARDC.
Moreover, apparently the incompetence of the FARDC inspired Nkunda to announce in a BBC interview to introduce a change in the CNDP's agenda. No longer is the defending of Tutsi-interests in the region, but the liberation of whole Congo now the new adagium. Anxious by these new fights, Alan Doss, UN Special Representative for Congo, asked for more troops and more means during a special session of the UN Security Council.
Given that incompetence, both wished as unintended, of the FARDC to defeat the CNDP, it becomes time that Kabila understands that the Congolese government can't resolve the conflict military. Hence, terms of "using all means" to institute peace like he did mid-September, should be replaced by phrases like: negotiations which deal the underlying causes of the conflict –the issues of land distribution, control over natural resources, political representation, development- instead of only fighting the symptoms, like the Amani program does. The problem is that the Congolese government, like the international community, still have faith in the Amani program. Kinshasa for example refused to comply with Nkunda's request to negotiate directly, saying that negotiations should occur via the Amani program, namely through the Commission of Peace and Security. It's bizarre to see how governments and international organizations keep on sticking to a signed text of conflict resolution; whereas reality demonstrates the inadequacy of the agreement (another example of such an attitude is the Darfur Peace Agreement of May 2006).
The most shocking news fact and one that clearly shows the dead-lock of the Goma agreement is a report of Amnesty International. Based on testimonies, the report states that half of the children that where set free in North Kivu, are again recruited later by one of the armed movements, particularly by the CNDP and Mai Mai militia. An aid worker says even that for every two children that are liberated, five others are recruited. UNICEF already sounded the alarm in April and seems to be that the problem became worse. Although the Goma agreement stipulated that the fighting parties had to set free all their child soldiers, the CNDP has more kadogo than before the agreement. The reason is that the agreement provided to give rebel leaders a rank in the Congolese army in correspondence with the amount of fighters they have under their command.
Another alarming message comes from Ituri and Dungu in Orientale Province. In Ituri a new armed movement called Front Populaire pour la Justice au Congo (FPJC) captured some villages around Bunia which were previously controlled by the FARDC. According to its self-declared colonel, Charif Manda, the FPJC is the first multi-ethnic movement in Ituri.
Although the agenda of this new armed group is unknown, its supporters would be ex members of the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC, its former leader, Thomas Lubanga, is arrested by the Congolese authorities and transferred to the ICC against who it issued an arrest warrant for numerous human right violations), the Front Nationaliste et Intégrationniste (FNI) and the Front de Résistance Patriotique de l'Ituri (FPRI), all militias which are responsible for numerous war crimes, crimes against humanity and human right violations in Ituri's latest episode of violence. Ituri as region came for the first time under international attention in June 1999 when it was hit by the first eruption of a large scale conflict between Hema and Lendu elites. Likewise in Kivu, it is the struggle for control and access to land and other natural resources (gold) what was at stake. And just like in the Kivu this competition led to an alliance between rural armed actors, economic entrepreneurs and local authorities and a general environment of violence and despair, causing more than 50,000 deaths since 1999. Although the first European military intervention (Artemis) and later MONUC did improve the situation, leading to a considerable progress in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of militias, there are still hundreds dissident fighters of various armed movement. Another striking similarity with Kivu is the role of neighbouring countries in both conflicts. Where Kabila blames the regime of Kigali for the agitated situation in Kivu, the FARDC says that leaders of the FRPI have established links with rebels from neighbouring Uganda who are supplying them with guns and ammunition.
Attacks of the Lord Resistance Army in Dungu caused thousands displaced -Caritas speaks of 75,000- of which hundreds sought safety in South Sudan. Since a year Kony's rebels have found a hiding place in the Garamba national park, northeast Congo close to the border with Southern Sudan and Uganda. MONUC estimates the number of LRA fighters in Congo at 800 to 1,000. From its base the LRA attacked and looted several villages and health centres, killing dozens of citizens, abducting over a hundred others, amongst them 90 children. UNHCR is concerned that the humanitarian situation could get worse. The rain season just started and due to the looting of villages the stocks of food is diminished. Although Kinshasa send 2,000 troops to end the LRA's attacks, assisted logistically by 400 MONUC peacekeepers, my experience says that they will not succeed in eliminating the LRA. Meanwhile the peace process between the rebels and Kampala seems to be reached a dead-lock. Kony has made clear that he doesn't sign any agreement as long they have no guarantees that they will be not persecuted for committed atrocities. The ICC has issued arrest warrants against Kony and other commanders.
These events hit Kinshasa exactly on the moment that a governmental crisis is looming. Antoine Gizenga's resign as first minister opens great anxiety about his succession. Needless to say that all political parties have the perfect candidate (sometimes they have more than one) in their ranks. PALU, Gizenga's party and described as followers of Patrice Lumumba, claims that the prime ministers office belongs to them; but UDEMO (supporters of former president Mobutu) and Kabila's party (AMP) led already know that they are more than interested. The Congolese newspapers Le Potentiel fears the break up of the government coalition which would lead to a political crisis. Hence, the question is: in which way Ituri and Kivu are an issue in Kinshasa nowadays, knowing that MONUC fears starvation and lethal diseases (cholera) among the almost 900,000 displaced in North Kivu alone.

Hamas says Abbas must step aside

2008-10-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

Hamas says Abbas must step aside

Hamas says Ahmed Bahar will succeed Abbas next year if the president fails to call fresh elections [AFP]
The Palestinian group Hamas that governs Gaza says it will stop recognising Mahmoud Abbas as the Palestinian president in three months.
Hamas, citing a Palestinian law, said one of its own leaders must fill the top post after Abbas's tenure officially expires on January 8.
The announcement came after Hamas legislators voted on a resolution in Gaza City on Monday, a move seen as at attempt to step up pressure on Abbas and his Fatah party ahead of talks brokered by Egypt over a power-sharing deal between the rival camps.
A Fatah member said the vote was simply "an attempt to sabotage the Egyptian effort to reconcile the Palestinian division".
The Basic Law, a forerunner to a Palestinian constitution, says that both president and parliament are elected to four-year terms.
Legal loophole
But a loophole in the law, which Fatah is relying on, suggests that Abbas's term could be extended another year if it were deemed to be in the "national interest".
Hamas says Abbas's tenure as Palestinian president ends on January 8 [EPA]Abbas was elected president in January 2006 but a year later Hamas defeated his movement by a landslide in parliamentary elections in Gaza.
Neither Hamas nor Fatah appear keen to share power in governing the Gaza Strip, which has been under Hamas control following a violent takeover in June last year, leaving Abbas with only nominal control of the occupied West Bank.
During Monday's vote, Hamas threatened to install Ahmed Bahar, the deputy parliamentary speaker, as Abbas's temporary successor if Abbas fails to announce a new presidential election by Wednesday.
Shalit talks
Meanwhile, Khaled Mashaal, the exiled Hamas political leader, said talks with Israel over the possible release of an Israeli soldier have stalled and blamed Israeli negotiators for continuing to rehash previously-agreed issues.
He was quoted in Le Figaro newspaper on Monday blaming "a lack of reliability of Israeli negotiators" in discussions pertaining to Sergeant Gilad Shalit who was captured two years ago.
Source:
Agencies /Aljazeera

Taliban Pakistan in Hot Waters

2008-10-02T08:18:00.001-07:00

Taliban Pakistan in Hot Waters
By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent

"If his [Baitullah Mehsud] death is confirmed it will certainly effect the Taliban movement in the tribal areas initially," Yousafzai believes.ISLAMABAD — Security and defense analysts believe that the reported death of Baitullah Mehsud will affect the militancy in Pakistan's restive tribal areas on the short term and could cause a split within the local Taliban ranks.
"If his death is confirmed it will certainly effect the Taliban movement in the tribal areas initially," Rahimullah Yousafzai, a Peshawar based security analyst, told IslamOnline.net.
Baitullah Mehsud, the Amir of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), reportedly died on Tuesday of renal failure.
"Taliban will need sometime to find out such a high-profile commander like Baitullah Mehsud because he was the founder of TTP and definitely fighters have some kind of attachment to the founder."
A letter received Thursday by a Peshawar-based journalist claimed 34-year-old Mehsud was in good health.
Pakistan Taliban Leader Reportedly Dead
The letter did not carry a spokesman name and many observers here doubt its credibility and say Mehsud could have called journalists to tell them that he is alive.
Mehsud had previously met journalists at unidentified places in tribal areas.
Experts think Taliban will announce his death once they find his successor.
"When I say it will affect in the short term that means that Taliban had been used to his towering personality, which was actually exaggerated by intelligence agencies and the media," says Yousafzai.
"No doubt he was or he is an important and experienced commander but to declare him one of the most dangerous and influential persons in the world is nothing but exaggeration."
Baitullah Mehsud, a ghostly top militant, was virtually the uncrowned king of Pakistan's restive tribal belt.
Blamed by the US for the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto last year, he was the most wanted man by Pakistani and US intelligence agencies.
Baitullah Mehsud, who was once described by Newsweek as more dangerous than Osama Bin Laden himself, was recently named in Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world.
Temporary

Ghosi believes the militancy problem in Pakistan's restive border area will remain "until and unless the root cause of the problem is addressed."
Some experts believe his death, if confirmed, could cause the break up of Taliban.
"His death may affect Taliban in a way whereby it may split on the issue of his successor," says Yousafzai.
"There are many Taliban groups under the umbrella of The TTP and each of these groups may won't its leader to be Baitullah Mehsud successor."
Wali-ur-Rehman is believed to stand a better chance of succeeding Baitullah Mehsud because he hails from the same powerful tribe.
Mehsud is the biggest tribe in South Waziristan with 60 percent of the 700,000 population while rival Wazir makes up 35 percent.
Maulvi Faqeer Mohammad, Baitullah Mehsud's deputy, would be a less favorite because he is not a Mehsud.
However, experts believe that whatever impact Baitullah Mehsud's death would have on Taliban, it would be short-lived.
"It will not be a long-lasting effect because the situation in the tribal areas has reached a point where personalities do not count much," says Yousafzai.
Sabihuddin Ghosi, a security and political analyst, agrees.
"His death could be a temporary shock for Taliban but not more than that.
"However I don't see this as a long-term problem for Taliban, especially regarding their operational capabilities. Once they regroup and fight his successor they will again appear as a threat."
The security expert insists that the militancy problem in Pakistan's restive border area will continue.
"The problem will remain until and unless the root cause of the problem is addressed.
"The two sides, specially the government, must understand that guns can't resolve the disputes. They have to come to the table whether before bloodshed or after that," says Ghosi.
"If the government wants to close the chapter of people like Baitullah Mehsud for ever then it has to respect the tribal tradition and give self governance to them otherwise the people will continue to be killed and people like Baitullah Mehsud will continue to emerge."

US passes India nuclear pact

2008-10-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

US passes India nuclear pact
The agreement was signed by Bush, left, and Manmohan Singh in July 2005 [EPA]
The US senate has approved a landmark deal that re-establishes bilateral nuclear co-operation with India.
The vote on Wednesday night follows its passage through the House of Representatives last weekend, ending a 30-year ban on US nuclear trade with India.
The senate's 86-13 vote handed George Bush, the US president, a victory on one of his top foreign policy priorities, which he will later sign into law.
The pact, passed by the House of Representatives with a 298-117 vote, comes ahead of a planned trip to India by Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, this weekend.
It contains several amendments related to "the subject of US responses in the event of a future Indian nuclear test".
India has argued that it has the sovereign right to conduct such a test, while Washington has said the deal would be off if tests were carried out.
Landmark deal
In a statement shortly after the bill was passed, Bush hailed the deal saying it will strengthen the US-India "strategic partnership" as well as efforts to halt the spread of atomic weapons.
"This legislation will strengthen our global nuclear non-proliferation efforts, protect the environment, create jobs, and assist India in meeting its growing energy needs in a responsible manner."
Washington banned nuclear trade with India after it carried out its first nuclear test in 1974 and refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Signed by Bush and Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, in July 2005, the deal offers India access to Western technology and cheap atomic energy.
In return New Delhi must allow UN inspections of some of its nuclear facilities.
Critics fear the deal weakens any position taken on nuclear programmes in other countries, such as Iran.
"President Bush and his aides were so eager for a foreign policy success that they didn't even try to get India to limit its weapons programme in return," the New York Times said in an editorial on Tuesday.
"They got no promise from India to stop producing bomb-making material, no promise to to expand its arsenal, and no promise not to resume nuclear testing."
Indians satisfied
The reaction in New Delhi has been marked by relief and satisfaction.
Speaking to Al Jazeera on Thursday, Krishnaswami Subrahmanyam, an Indian defence analyst, said: "[The nuclear deal] will expedite India's economic growth because it will add to India's energy. "So far, India has been denied dual-use technology under the energy guidelines, so these are the benefits that India would receive under the new agreements."
He said India cannot give up its weapons because it is situated between two countries which are nuclear weapon powers, China and Pakistan.
"The non-proliferation community did not stop such proliferation in the past and therefore India is compelled to have its [own] nuclear arsenal," Subrahmanyam said. "While India's record on non-proliferation has been scrupulous, Pakistan cannot make the same claim. You have the whole story of Dr AQ Khan [a Pakistani nuclear scientist who sold nuclear secrets to other countries]. The major powers have decided that Pakistan has not earned the same treatment [as India]."
Al Jazeera and agencies

Republican plan stalls US bail-out

2008-09-26T02:41:00.001-07:00

Republican plan stalls US bail-out
McCain has been accused of bringing presidential race politics into the financial crisis debate [AFP]
US Republicans have proposed an alternative bail-out plan in a bid to solve the country's financial crisis, but the move has been criticised for further stalling government efforts to stay the country's economic meltdown.
Talks were due to start again on Friday on the government's proposed $700bn bail-out plan that aims to use taxpayers' money to buy up bad debt held by US financial institutions.
A deal on the government's proposal seemed within reach, according to both Republican and Democratic legislators, but later stalled after a White House meeting between George Bush, the US president, Barack Obama and John McCain, the two US presidential candidates, and congressional leaders.
The government's plan, proposed by Henry Paulson, the US treasury secretary, has been under discussion in congress where legislators have called for changes.
Bush, who backed the plan, appears to be open to Democratic demands to broaden the package to hard-pressed mortgage holders.
A compromise that would give legislators oversight of the deal's implementation, and US taxpayers an equity stake in a bailed-out company, as well as cap the pay of executives of rescued firms had seemed in the works until the White House meeting.
Republican proposal
Inside the White House session, John Boehner, the House Republican leader, announced his concerns about the emerging plan and asked that the Republican alternative be considered, aides said.
Alternative plan
McCain backs alternative Republican planSenior Democrats put the blame squarely on McCain, saying his decision to endorse the new Republican plan that differs markedly from the one that had been under deliberation for about a week, threw the process into disarray.
"John McCain did nothing to help, he only hurt the process," Harry Reid, the senate majority leader, said after the White House talks.
At an impromptu news conference, Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives financial services committee, brandished a single sheet of paper that he said was the sum of new Republican proposals introduced at the last minute after a week of sleepless nights in congress.
But McCain stood by the Republican proposal.
"The plan that has been put forth by the administration does not enjoy the confidence of the American people as it will not protect the taxpayers and will sacrifice Main Street in favour of Wall Street," McCain's campaign said in a statement.
Sceptical public
Reflecting the unease of many Republicans at the government's unprecedented intrusion into private enterprise, the new plan calls for an independent entity to dispose of bad assets, and a cut in capital gains tax.
Few Americans support the government's proposed bail-out.
"It needs to be modified so that it helps the everyday person who is losing their home," Carole Bailey, from California, told Al Jazeera.
James Berard, a voter in New York, said: "They should let the companies and the executives suffer, I myself have lost $150,000 from my retirement accounts."
In New York on Thursday, hundreds of labour unionists protested against the plan near the New York Stock Exchange.
"We want our tax dollars used to provide a hand up for the millions of working people who live on Main Street and not a handout to a privileged band of overpaid executives," union leaders said.
McCain has come under fire for bringing presidential race politics into the debate.
Christopher Dodd, the senate banking committee chairman, called the White House meeting, convened by Bush at McCain's request, a "photo op and political theatre that had nothing to do with us getting to work".
McCain 'hopeful'
But McCain said legislators were on track for a deal and Steve Schmidt, one of his senior advisers, said it was Reid who had said McCain's help was needed to help corral Republican support for the plan.
McCain also said he was "very hopeful that we'll have enough of an agreement tomorrow [Friday] that I can get to" a televised debate with Obama on Friday night in Mississippi.
On Wednesday, McCain urged Obama to postpone the debate - the first of three that may prove pivotal in the November 4 election - a call the Democratic candidate rejected.
Rob Reynolds, Al Jazeera's senior Washington correspondent, said it did appear as if the injection of presidential politics had had an adverse effect on the delicate process of negotiations to come up with a deal.
Asian stocks and the US dollar fell on Friday as the US bail-out plans stalled.
Banks around the world are seeking to ensure a flow of credit amid the financial turmoil.
The Bank of Japan pumped a total of 1.5 trillion yen ($14bn) into the Tokyo money market, according to data on its website, on Friday.
Meanwhile, new evidence of the sector's distress came late on Thursday as the US government shut down Washington Mutual, allowing JPMorgan Chase to buy the bank's operations for $1.9bn.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies

How the financial bubble burst in USA

2008-09-25T03:22:00.000-07:00

How the financial bubble burst
By Rob Reynolds, Al Jazeera's senior Washington correspondent
Are more US financial houses about to come crashing down? [AFP]
The roots of the panic in financial markets around the world are deep and complex but they lie in the convergence of three factors.
Millions of people pursuing the "American dream" of home ownership, politicians and regulators who dismantled a system of financial safeguards and then ignored warnings of impending disaster, and financial markets and institutions disregarding risk in their headlong pursuit of profit.
Let's go back to the beginning - or at least to the year 2000 - when the 'Dotcom' boom went bust.
That drove down stocks and sparked a recession and then came the attacks of September 11, 2001 - a body blow to the US economy.
To hasten economic recovery, the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, headed by Alan Greenspan, used the most powerful weapon in its arsenal - it cut interest rates repeatedly.
Lower rates made it easier for banks to lend and consumers to borrow and spend.
"It did stimulate the economy," says Clyde Prestowitz, the head of the Economic Strategy Institute.
"And it stimulated housing, because effectively the cost of investment was negative, you could borrow money for virtually nothing."
Easy borrowing
Home-ownership is the bedrock of the "American dream".
US tax laws encourage home ownership by allowing people to deduct the interest they pay on their mortgages.
Freddie Mac underwrote thousands ofUS mortgages during the boom [AFP]And government-sponsored financial institutions such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac contributed by underwriting mortgages and making it easier for people of modest means to put down the money for a home.
From around 2001 and 2002, with mortgage interest rates at near-record lows, millions of Americans went shopping for homes.
With demand soaring, the price of housing nearly doubled from 2000 to 2006.
But many of those buyers couldn't really afford what they were getting, Prestowitz says.
"They wanted to buy a house and it's understandable, they wanted a piece of the dream and the mortgage industry was encouraging them to buy.
"It got to the point where the brokers were offering mortgages to people who had little or no income, who somehow thought they could put these payments together."
Sensing a potential bonanza, banks and mortgage companies began peddling loans to riskier segments of the population - especially low-income first-time homebuyers.
These were called "sub-prime" mortgages.
"Many of the mortgages were adjustable-rate mortgages," Prestowitz explains.
"They were built so that in the first year your interest rate was low, but somewhere down the road, your interest rate jumped."
Ideological drive
But something else was at work as the housing bubble grew: The US government, under the sway of the free-market, anti-regulation ideology, had begun to systematically dismantle rules and regulations established after the Great Depression of the 1930s.
In 1999, the US congress and Bill Clinton, the former president, repealed laws designed to stop financial crashes - saying markets should regulate themselves.
Government regulation, we've been told, is bad, it's evil, and the government doesn't know what it's doing economically.
Lawrence Mitchell, financial analyst and author
Why?
Lawrence Mitchell, the author of The Speculation Economy: How Finance Triumphed Over Industry says it was the triumph of ideology over caution.
"Since Ronald Reagan became president in 1980, free markets have been preached in this country as being our economic salvation," Mitchell says.
"'Government regulation' we've been told, 'is bad, it's evil, and the government doesn't know what it's doing economically'."
"'It should be out of people's business'. That's nonsense, but that was the ideology that was driving it. 'Regulation is bad, free market is good'."
The next president after Clinton, George Bush, continued to de-regulate housing and financial markets and bragged about the results at the 2004 Republican convention, saying: "Another priority for a new term is to build an ownership society, because ownership brings security and dignity and independence.
"Thanks to our policies, homeownership in America is at an all-time high."
Mortgages sold
Of course, it wasn't just the politicians who allowed the reckless financial frenzy to grow. It was also the man who the financial press was hailing as a genius - Alan Greenspan.
Alan Greenspan has been blamed for deregulating markets [AFP]"The Fed is responsible for oversight of the banking system, but under Alan Greenspan it basically stopped doing oversight," Prestowitz says.
"That allowed for fraudulent practices and, as a result mortgages being given to people who had no assets and no income, prudent lending went out of the window."
In the new, hands-off regulatory environment, banks and mortgage companies transformed the loans they were making into commodities.
The change was the banks no longer held the mortgages and the home finance industry began to securitise, or underwrite, them.
In the past, when you would buy a house, you would get a mortgage from your bank.
The bank would hold that mortgage and you would pay it off, with interest.
Today, you get the mortgage from your bank and the bank immediately sells your mortgage to Goldman Sachs or Lehman Brothers, or Deutsche Bank or any of literally tens of thousands of mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, or private-equity firms.
Those pools of mortgages are then bundled together into securities, just like bonds or stocks.
Millions of securitised loans were sold to firms all over the world.
At first it was a lucrative deal with high returns and little apparent risk.
The bubble bursts
But there was a worm in Wall Street's apple: Millions of the mortgages being sold - more than 20 per cent at the peak of the frenzy - were high-risk "sub-prime" loans.
"What was happening was a lot of bad stuff was being mixed with good stuff and it was being called good," Prestowitz says.
Thousands of homes have beenforeclosed [GALLO/GETTY]The global financial community seemed to believe housing prices would just keep going up and up but then the bubble burst.
The Federal Reserve began raising rates to fend off inflation.
As the rates rose, people who had taken on balloon-style mortgages - thinking they could easily pay the initial rate - found their payments being increased and suddenly ... they couldn't pay.
In 2006 home prices started to drop. Houses glutted the market and stayed unsold month after month.
In formerly red-hot housing markets, like Florida and California, home prices fell 10, 15, even 20 per cent. A huge wave of loan defaults and home foreclosures began.
In 2007, mortgage lenders with lots of risky loans on their books started going bankrupt.
Then major investment banks came under pressure and began to fail. In March, Bear Stearns was the first of the majors to go under.
The problem then was not, and is not now, about houses. It's about credit - or the lack of it.
With so much bad debt out there - and no one really knows how much there is - banks around the world have become extremely risk-averse.
They've stopped lending money to individuals, businesses and even each other.
Unable to get loans, Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest US investment bank, went belly up.
Central banks have by now pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into the global financial system, but the flow of credit, known as liquidity, has slowed to a sluggish trickle.
Bleak future
For the first time since the 1930s, a true, systemic financial crisis is under way.
That's why the US government is considering sweeping and costly measures to buy up millions of bad mortgages.
But while the plans announced late this week seem to have boosted confidence on Wall Street, no one really knows what will happen next.
"It could get a lot worse, said Mitchell, gloomily.
"I haven't read any significant empirical evidence to suggest we are anywhere near the bottom."
"Where's the bottom?" I asked him.
He replied: "The bottom could be very deep.
"I really don't want to know."

FGM continues in rural secrecy

2008-09-25T02:08:00.001-07:00

LIBERIA: FGM continues in rural secrecy

MONROVIA, 24 September 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of young girls annually prepare for their initiation into a women's secret association, Sande Society, which operates mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. As part of their initiation, young women take a vow of secrecy after weeks of training in the forest, promising not to not tell uninitiated girls or men what happens to them, to assume new names, and to have their clitorises cut off - known as female genital mutilation (FGM) - according to women in the secret society.
About half of Liberia's some 16 ethnic groups, including the Bassa, Mende, Gola and Kissi, observe the rules of this historically-secret, centuries-old society.
One Mende member from Tubmanburg, Western Liberia, who asked not to be named, told IRIN removing a girl's clitoris helps her become a "prolific child bearer."
Another member, 42-year-old Jebbeh Sonneh, explained to IRIN, "Those who perform such [FGM] acts are typically elderly women in the community designated for the task, or traditional birth attendants."
Secrecy shrouds outreach
Sociologist Theo Kerkulah at the University of Liberia in Monrovia says even though the practice of rural forest initiations is common in Liberia, it is not openly discussed. "It is a difficult topic to teach. Most girls who joined the society are now in the classroom and never feel happy when you talk about it in the open. They feel [it is a betrayal]. Perhaps because of the myths that are associated with it."
Kerkulah says the girls are bound by secrecy vows and the time they spend together in the forest where they undergo training to enter adulthood, learning domestic skills and moral lessons.
The lecturer told IRIN many girls believe the spirit of Sande, the guardian of women, guides them into and during adulthood.
Monrovia-based medical researcher Deddeh Siah says physical pain is an additional factor binding the young girls, "In some Sandes [initiates], not only is her genitalia removed, the student is marked [cut] so that large scars remain on the skin of the initiate for life."
She estimates about 5,000 puberty-aged adolescents join the group every year, either by force or choice.
Culture can kill
Sandes are a part of Liberia's cultural heritage, says Jomo Weah who works at a government-run culture centre in Kendeja, on the outskirts of Monrovia. "We cannot stop it. It is our culture. We can only intervene by allowing them to go about doing it when the girls are on school break."
Local civil society groups including Girls Movement for Education have tried to discourage parents from allowing their girls to join Sande Society.
Government health worker Mary Mah says FGM is killing hundreds of girls in Liberia every year. "Over 20 percent of the initiates die from excessive bleeding after their clitoris has been removed."
Mah told IRIN if excessive pain and extreme bleeding do not kill the girls, FGM can scar or disfigure her for life. "Risk of serious potentially life-threatening complications [include] ongoing bleeding, infection including HIV, urine retention, stress, shock.[and] psychological trauma."
Catherine Watson Khasu, an elected leader in Grand Cape Mount County in Western Liberia, about 140 km from Monrovia, dismisses these risks, "People have said all sorts of things against our cultural heritage, which are not true. I am a member of the Sande [Society] and I'm proud of it. There is nothing harmful about the Sande."
She told IRIN the government and human rights organisations should respect the tradition of Liberia's indigenous groups, "We know the [1989-2003 civil] war did a lot of damage to our country, but that does not mean we should desecrate our traditional shrines."
pc/pt/aj
[END]

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org

2008-09-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

Pakistan’s West…America's New Enemy
By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent
PESHAWAR — Pakistan's troubled west makes international headlines with every attack by or on its local Taliban militants.
But the region made history on Tuesday, September 23, when US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress it posed the "greatest threat" to America's national security.
Pakistan’s west comprises the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), seven semi-autonomous tribal areas.
The region borders war-stricken Afghanistan from over ten different sides and the two sides are divided by an unmarked 2200 kilometer Durand Line.

NWFP
The NWFP is the third largest province of Pakistan after Punjab and Sindh with a population of around 25 million out of the total 170-million populace.
Around 75 percent population of the province is Pushtu-speaking people commonly known as Pushtuns.
Peshawar, one of the oldest cities in South Asia, is the province's capital and is heavily dominated by Pushtuns.
The second largest section of the population, nearly 18 percent, is Hindko-speaking people who are known as Hazarawal.
Other ethnic communities include Punjabi, Baloch, Urdu and Siraiki speaking.
FATA
FATA comprises seven semi-autonomous regions, known as agencies, which are Khyber, Kurram, Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai, North Waziristan and South Waziristan.
The main towns include Miramshah, capital of North Waziristan, Razmak, capital of Kurram, Bajaur, capital of Bajur agency, Darra, capital of Khyber, and Wana, capital of South Waziristan.
FATA has a total population of around 6 million, or roughly 3 percent of Pakistan's population.
Pushtuns constitute ninety nine percent of FATA'S population.
The fiercely independent Mehsud, Wazir, Bhitiani, Burki, Afridi, Mohmind and Yousafzai are the prominent Pushtun tribes that inhabit the areas.
The region is controlled by the central government under a law called Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), which was introduced by the British in the 19th century.
The head of each tribal Agency is called a Political Agent and wields extensive powers.
Under the FCR law, the Political Agent acts like a king as tribesmen cannot challenge his decision in any court of law.
Under an ironic Joint Responsibility clause of the FCR, if there is a bomb blast in an area, the nearest located house will be razed and the owner of that house cannot go to any court against that.
Political parties are not allowed to work in the tribal areas and can contest the elections as independents.
About 30 percent area of the region is virtually inaccessible politically and administratively.
Economy
The local economy mainly depends on agriculture, opium production, and smuggling through Afghan transit.
Medicines business is also flourishing in the region.
Wana, the capital of South Waziristan, is the hub of medicines supply to all the seven tribal agencies and even northeastern Afghanistan.
Though thousands of tribesmen are settled in the US, Europe and Middle East, working mainly as laborers, drivers, and small businessmen, there is virtually no banking system in the region.
A few branches of local banks only operate in the capitals of agencies.
The literacy rate is 17.42 percent, which is far below the 43.92 percent average nationwide.
Only 29.5 percent of men and 3 percent of women receive education in the tribal belt.
Literacy rate is highest in Wana, where some of the various high and secondary schools and colleges apply the Cambridge system.
Militancy
Pakistan Militant GroupsThe region, especially South and North Waziristan, has a five-year history of military operations targeting pro-Taliban militants commonly known as local Taliban.
The first military operation was launched in March 2003, when army troops fought bloody battles against Faqeer Mohammed-led Taliban in South Waziristan.
The months-long operation inflicted huge casualties to both sides, especially the army.
Mohammed, a member of the Wazir tribe, was killed in an alleged US missile attack in July 2004.
Baitullah Mehsud, a member of the powerful Mehsud tribe, took over as head of local Taliban after Mohammed's death.
Last year, Mehsud was elected as Ameer of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a conglomerate of all pro-Taliban militant groups operating from South Waziristan to Bajur, and from Kyber to North Waziristan.
A recent military operation in South Waziristan forced 200,000 tribesmen to migrate, whereas the ongoing military operation in Bajur agency has displaced around 500,000 people, who have been living in refugee camps set up in different parts of the NWFP.
Currently, there are some 80,000 Pakistani troops detailed along the border to contain the Taliban activities, and stop cross-border infiltration.
Around 10,000 more troops have been sent to the region after Islamabad’s Marriott hotel on Saturday, September 20.
The government and the local Taliban have so signed several peace agreements from 2005 to April 2008, which could not hold mainly due to US pressure.

Drought/Food Crisis in Ethiopia - 23 Sep 2008

2008-09-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Date: 23 Sep 2008
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Situation report: Drought/Food Crisis in Ethiopia - 23 Sep 2008
Highlights:
- Government announces enhanced food distribution mechanism for the Somali Region
- Cases of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) reported in Afar, Amhara and Tigray Regions
- Concern grows about the impact of food insecurity on communities in Afar and Somali Region.
Humanitarian Overview
Current Context
Government and humanitarian partners continue to respond to the range of health, nutrition and livelihood needs generated by the combined effects of the drought and food crisis in Ethiopia. In Oromiya and SNNPR, children continue to access treatment at therapeutic feeding programmes whilst concern grows about the impact of food insecurity on nutrition status of vulnerable groups in Afar and Somali Regions. The government has recently announced a revision of the estimated number of people in need of humanitarian assistance from 4.6 million to 6.4 million. The revision of the figures will necessitate additional resources in order to ensure that those in need receive appropriate level of assistance.
Sectoral Updates
Health and Nutrition
Key Issues
Nutrition: Government and humanitarian partners continue to support feeding programmes for children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in drought-affected regions of the country. In Oromiya and SNNP regions, where the crisis first manifested, children continue to access life-saving treatment at Therapeutic Feeding Units (TFUs) and Stabilisation Centres(SCs). In SNNPR alone, 2,901 children with SAM were admitted between 22nd and 28th August to TFPs bringing the total number of new admissions reported between 27th June and 28th August to 31, 236 children1.
In Afar Region, reports from a range of actors point towards compromised food security at the household level with direct consequences for the nutrition status of vulnerable groups including children. The Regional Health Bureau and DPPA in Afar Region has identified an initial 12 hotspot woredas including Elidaar and Kori (Zone 1), Erebti, Berhale and Bidu (Zone 2), Gewane and Bure Mudaytu (Zone 3), Teru, Yallo and Gulina (Zone 4) and Dalifage and Semurobi (Zone 5). The Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit (ENCU) is urging all partners with the capacity to carry out nutrition surveys and subsequent interventions in Afar Region to scale-up response.
Health: The number of woredas reporting active cases of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) continues to increase despite ongoing multi-agency efforts to minimise a further outbreak of the disease. The primary triggers for the spread of the AWD are increased rainfall in selected areas, poor quality of drinking water, limited access to sanitation services and poor hygiene practices.
Health and nutrition partners are particularly concerned about cases of AWD in areas classified as hotspot areas on the basis of nutrition and food security situation. According to WHO, Amibara woreda in Afar Region, Goncha, Dejen, Takusa, Ebenat and Fogera woredas in Amhara Region, Ada'a, Gimbichu and Lome woredas in Oromiya Asegede Tsmbila, Tahtay Adiyabo and Tahtay Koraro woredas in Tigray Region, are currently reporting cases of AWD.

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)Date: 23 Sep 2008

2008-09-23T08:39:00.000-07:00

SOMALIA: Mogadishu rocked by "worst shelling yet"
NAIROBI, 23 September 2008 (IRIN) - At least 100 people were killed and thousands fled their homes in the "worst fighting" to hit Mogadishu in recent months, locals told IRIN.
The fighting on 22 September pitted Ethiopian troops, African Union peacekeeping troops (AMISOM) and Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces against insurgents. More than 200 people were reportedly wounded, hospital sources said.
"We are still today [23 September] collecting bodies and body parts from the market and the area around it," Ali Mohamed Siad, chairman of the Bakara market traders, told IRIN. "Blood and body parts are everywhere."
The fighting was concentrated around the large market - which has in the past been the scene of fierce fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces and insurgents.
"The market and the surrounding neighbourhoods experienced the worst shelling yet," Siad added.
He said the shelling by Ethiopian, AMISOM and TFG forces began when the market was full of shoppers getting ready for the Eid festivities, to mark the end of Ramadan next week.
Up to 82 people have so far been confirmed dead and 157 injured in the market area alone, Siad added. The market was now closed.
Ali Sheikh Yassin, acting chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Human Rights Organisation, told IRIN the market had been shelled from three different directions. "It was obvious the market was deliberately targeted," he said.
The shelling began after Islamic insurgents launched simultaneous attacks on the two main AMISOM bases at K4 and the airport, said a local journalist.
But AMISOM spokesman Barigye Bahoko told IRIN the AU peacekeepers were not involved in the shelling. "We are absolutely not responsible for the shelling," he said. "Responsibility should be on those who attack our defensive positions."
Local sources said the fighting and shelling were mostly concentrated in the districts of Hodan and Hawl Wadag in south Mogadishu.
Many families are still trying to get out, while others have begun burying the dead and taking the injured to hospital.
A medical source told IRIN the two main hospitals, Madina in the south and Keysaney in the north, were seeing more injured than at any time in the recent past.
"As of last night 195 injured were brought to Madina and about 30 to Keysaney," the source said. Roughly 46 people died in the hospitals, "but that is only those who made it to hospitals".
Meanwhile, talks to end the conflict, which have going on in Djibouti between representatives of the government and a faction of an Eritrea-based opposition alliance, the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, again failed to agree a ceasefire.
"The main stumbling block is the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces," said a civil society activist at the talks.
He said the TFG seemed to be trying to find a way for a less hurried withdrawal, while the Alliance was insisting on a 30-day withdrawal.
The parties agreed to resume talks in 15 days to hammer out a ceasefire agreement.
ah/mw[END]

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org