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Unrest in Sadr City Despite Ceasefire
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Iraqi boys talk with a merchant as US soldiers patrol downtown Yusufiyah, south of Baghdad.
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Anti-American cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr gave his personal backing on Monday to a deal between his fighters and the Iraqi government to halt bloodshed in his Baghdad stronghold, even as sporadic fighting there claimed three lives, Middle East Online reported.
Sadr’s Spokesman Sheikh Salah Al-Obeidi quoted the firebrand clergyman as saying his Mahdi Army will honor the deal reached on Saturday to end weeks of deadly fighting in the impoverished Baghdad district of Sadr City.
“He welcomed the agreement,“ Obeidi said. “Sadr himself authorized the delegation to negotiate and to reach an agreement which stopped the flow of Iraqi blood.“
“He considered the agreement official,“ Obeidi said, adding that the deal would still stand even if there were skirmishes.
Full Implementation
Obeidi said Saturday’s accord, aimed at ending seven weeks of fighting in the Baghdad slum district that has claimed hundreds of lives, was expected to be fully implemented by Wednesday.
“The agreement started Sunday, but it needs four days for full implementation,“ Obeidi said at a press conference in Baghdad.
The Sadr City fighting followed a government crackdown on fighters in the southern port city and oil hub of Basra and was despite a previous ceasefire called by Sadr.
The US military maintained that it was not Sadr’s men who were keeping up the fight but criminals.
Since Sunday, American troops have fought sporadic battles with fighters in Sadr City, killing three people, in a marked decline in the level of fighting, officials said on Monday.
US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover said troops came under attack in three incidents in the first 24 hours after the deal was agreed.
Government representative Sheikh Khalid Al-Attiya said at the same press conference that the accord set out a road map to restore normality in Sadr City, a teeming area of about two million Iraqis.
Attiya said security forces could go into the area to clear mines and help people come back to their homes, rebuild their lives.“
Stover said two criminals were shot dead by US troops in two confrontations while the third was killed by a tank shell in overnight clashes in Sadr City.
Stover said there were no rocket attacks from the area during the past 24 hours, but that seven mortar rounds had been fired in west Baghdad. There were no casualties in those attacks, he added.
Fighting erupted in Sadr City after Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on fighters in Basra in late March.
One of the main issues fuelling the fighting in Sadr City has been the US military’s construction of a huge barrier in the southern section of the district to control access.
Stover said construction would continue despite the deal, after the US military said on Sunday it was 80 percent complete.
Iraqi Army Spokesman Brigadier General Qasim Atta said security forces planned to build more such walls in the district.
“We will build walls in Sadr city for security reasons, and to stop the movement of armed men,“ he said. “Similar walls built elsewhere have proved successful in achieving security.“
The wall was to help reduce rocket and mortar fire against the Green Zone compound in central Baghdad where the Iraqi government and the US embassy are located.
11 Killed, 19 Wounded
Iraqi hospital officials say clashes have broken out in Sadr City on Tuesday, killing 11 men and wounding 19.
The clashes came even though Iraq’s main political bloc and supporters of Sadr have signed a fragile ceasefire covering the Baghdad slum, AP reported.
There has been sporadic fighting since the four-day ceasefire went into effect on Sunday.
Hospital officials say clashes erupted late Monday and intensified early Tuesday. It was not immediately clear if the killed and wounded were militants or civilians. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Meanwhile, the US military says an attack helicopter came under fire on Saturday by a surface-to-air missile over Sadr City but escaped the attack.
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Dozens Killed in Yemen Clashes
Dozens of people have been killed or wounded in renewed clashes between the Yemen Army and rebels in the northwest, tribal sources said on Monday.
“Fighting killed or wounded dozens of people, including many civilians,“ on Sunday and Monday in several regions across the Zaidi rebel stronghold of Saada, one source told AFP.
A member of parliament said that the fighting erupted a day after Qatari mediators left the northwestern province after failing to stop the violence.
The Qatari mediation aimed at implementing a peace deal brokered in June 2007 “is at a dead end,“ said MP Ali Abou Haliqa, who heads a committee set up by Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh to monitor the deal.
The defense ministry in a statement on Monday accused the rebels of “not respecting“ the Doha peace accord. “The state will have to assume its responsibilities to maintain order,“ it said.
The rebels are fighting to restore a Zaidi Shiite imamate which was overthrown in a 1962 republican coup in Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries.
An offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Zaidis are a minority in the mainly Sunni country but are the majority community in the far north.
Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict since 2004, when rebel commander Hussein Badr Eddin Al-Huthi was killed by the army.
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Lebanon Will Revoke
Anti-Resistance Moves
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Lebanese children pose with national flags during a rally at the residence of assassinated former prime minister Rafiq Hariri May 11.
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Leader of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party confirmed the government is to rescind decisions that escalated domestic tensions.
Walid Jumblatt informed the Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri of the government’s intention to swiftly reverse earlier decisions to ban Hezbollah telecommunications network and sack Beirut Airport’s security chief.
According to Press TV’s Beirut office, Berri said the ruling coalition known as the March 14 was to convene a session to revoke the decisions and return to the negotiating table.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora insisted he would not resign, adding the Cabinet ministers will convene to examine the army’s request for the reversal of the anti-Hezbollah measures.
Supporters of the leader of the government bloc, Saad Hariri, have also said the Lebanese government would back off from its earlier decisions and enter into negotiations.
Berri also said the closure of the Saudi Embassy in Lebanon and the Saudi Ambassador Abdul Aziz Al-Khoja leaving Beirut indicate the fate of the Arab League initiative is still uncertain.
Clashes broke out after the Lebanese government decided to shut down Hezbollah’s telecommunications network due to pressure from pro-government parties opposing Hezbollah.
Arab Delegation Due in Beirut
Meanwhile, an Arab delegation is expected in Beirut on Wednesday in a bid to bring an end to deadly sectarian fighting, the parliament speaker’s office said on Monday.
It said the delegation would meet Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, embattled Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, army chief Michel Suleiman Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, and two pro-government figures--Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri.
Election Postponed Again
In other news, Berri postponed a legislative session to elect the country’s president for the 19th time.
Monday’s announcement by the parliamentary secretariat that the session will be postponed until June 10 comes a day before the parliament was scheduled to meet to choose a new president, AP reported.
Lebanon has been without a president since Emile Lahoud’s term ended in November.
The divided parliament has agreed on army chief Michel Suleiman as a consensus president but has failed to elect him because the government and the opposition are at loggerheads over power-sharing and the shape of the future Cabinet.
The Lebanese Army announced that troops will use force if needed to impose law and order in the country.
The army said the initiative would go into effect as of 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) Tuesday and called on all groups in the country to cooperate.
It also said troops were going to prevent the illegal use of arms in the country.
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Hamas Clarifies Truce Terms
Islamic resistance movement of Hamas say a captured Israeli soldier will not be included in any truce deal with Israel.
Hamas leader Mahmud Zahar said Tuesday that the group would not “offer [Cpl. Gilad]Schalit for free“ and his release is not related to truce talks, AP reported.
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman discussed conditions for a truce with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday. Meeting with Suleiman, Israel’s leaders explicitly linked the cease-fire to Schalit, telling Suleiman there would be no truce if the soldier remained a prisoner. Olmert has told an Egyptian mediator that Schalit must be released as part of any ceasefire.
Meanwhile Hamas on Monday called on the Palestinians in Gaza Strip to organize a massive popular demonstration on Thursday near the border between northern Gaza Strip and Israel, Chinaview said.
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US Warship Back to Mediterranean
A US warship, which was deployed off Lebanon in February amid concern over Beirut’s political crisis, crossed Egypt’s Suez Canal on Sunday on its way to the Mediterranean, an official with the canal authority told AFP.
“The USS Cole has crossed the Suez Canal and is headed to the Mediterranean,“ the official said, adding he did not know its exact destination.
The United States sent the guided-missile destroyer to waters off the coast of Lebanon on February 28 in what US officials said was “a show of support for regional stability“ amid concerns over Lebanon’s protracted political crisis.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had defended the deployment saying it was designed to show Washington’s readiness to defend the interests of its allies in the region.
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Kuwaitis Criticized
Kuwaitis have become increasingly vocal about flaws in their
democratic system ahead of parliament elections later this month, including parliament dissolutions and Cabinet resignations.
Gitmo Inmate Acquitted
The Pentagon has dropped charges against a Saudi Guantanamo
detainee held and allegedly tortured in regard to the September 11 attacks. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for Mohammed Al-Qahtani.
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Israeli Threat
By Mohammad Mehdi Mazaheri
Due to maintaining the policy of ’nuclear ambiguity’ in past decades, the Zionist regime has threatened the regional security by storing and proliferating nuclear weapons. Today, most experts refer to Israel as the sixth country in the world to develop nuclear weapons. It is estimated that the Zionist regime has 200 nuclear warheads.
Israeli threat pertains to the fact that it has not yet joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) despite the continued request of regional countries. Israel has instead adhered to its policy of deterrence and even expanded its nuclear arsenal. Israel has not yet permitted International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts to visit its largest nuclear power plant Dimona. The unconditional support of the West for Israel’s nuclear program has actually taken the region on the verge of a human and environmental tragedy.
Israel’s fundamental assumption about its national security is that it needs nuclear weapons for survival as regional countries do not consider it a legitimate state. This militaristic approach has provided the Zionists with the necessary pretext for maintaining and expanding its nuclear might.
The policy of deterrence has perpetually been one main element of national strategy among Zionist leaders. Zionists have practically ignored the regional public opinion and even international norms and standards by using the nuclear program for preventing contingent attacks by Arabs and their other enemies. The experiences of the wars fought with Arabs convince Israel that it should proliferate weapons of mass destruction in order to maintain its position as the top powerhouse of the region.
Israel has also tested the preemptive strategy on several occasions to maintain its military supremacy over other regional countries. Apart from the 1967 war in which Israel was entrapped for a while due to the quick and unexpected attack of Egyptian and Syrian forces, it has deployed the preemptive strategy in all its other wars against Arabs.
Another reason behind regional tensions is that the West pursues dual standards in dealing with Israel’s nuclear arsenal. Western countries have pressured Iran, accused it of violating international laws and imposed economic and political sanctions under the pretext that the Islamic state is trying to make the atomic bomb, while there is no objection whatsoever to Israel’s perpetual attempt to maintain and expand its nuclear arsenal.
Interestingly enough, the White House does not view Israel’s nuclear arsenal as a threat to regional and global security, but rather support its nuclear program as the source of regional stability! While IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei has on many occasions reiterated that Iran’s nuclear program is of a peaceful nature, Israel has been lobbying to give the impression that Iran poses a serious threat to regional and international security.
Although Israel may believe that it can never be defeated by Arabs and Muslims, the 33-day war proved once again that Israel can be defeated.
It is obvious that storing and proliferating nuclear weapons have not helped Israel meet its declared objective of establishment of peace in the region.
Bush Downplays Olmert’s Role
US President George W. Bush said in interviews published on Tuesday ahead of a visit to Israel that the Israeli peace process with the Palestinians does not depend on embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Police suspect Olmert illicitly took hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from an American fund-raiser. The Israeli leader has said he would resign if indicted.
Israeli police raided the municipality in Beit-ul-Moqaddas, confiscating documents related to the investigation against Olmert. According to police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, the national fraud investigation unit seized documents on Monday that were connected to Olmert’s tenure as mayor from 1993 to 2003.
Commonwealth Restores Pak Membership
The Commonwealth restored Pakistan’s membership Monday in recognition of the democratic steps taken there since the country rescinded emergency rule late last year.
The 53-member organization said it welcomed Pakistani ruler General Pervez Musharraf’s decision to step down as chief of army staff and the easing of restrictions on the country’s media, AP reported.
The organization said that, while concerns remained over the independence of the country’s judiciary and the need for electoral reform, Pakistan will fulfill its obligations as far as the body’s democratic principles were concerned.
Pakistan was suspended from the Commonwealth, a grouping centered around Britain and its former colonies, in November following Musharraf’s imposition of emergency rule and the detention of thousands of opposition activists.
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Afghan Officials Suspended Over Parade Attack
Several senior Afghan security officials, including Kabul’s police chief, have been suspended and were being questioned over an attack last month against President Hamid Karzai, an official said Monday.
Karzai survived the April 27 attack at a military parade, but three other Afghans were killed, including a parliamentarian. The three attackers were killed in return fire by security forces.
The attack was claimed by Taliban militants who have been waging an insurgency against Karzai’s US-backed government.
Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabet has suspended eight officials and taken over investigation of the attack from a government commission, spokesman Haytuallah Hayat told AFP.
“We have taken over the investigations,“ Hayat said.
“We have suspended eight senior government officials, including the Kabul police chief (Mohammad Salim Ihsas) so they can be questioned,“ Hayat said.
The suspended officials include senior security officials in the interior, defense and intelligence ministries. They would be questioned over charges of negligence, Hayat said.
They would be tried if found guilty of negligence, otherwise they would return to their duties, he said.
It was one of the most brazen attacks in an insurgency by the Taliban, who were forced out of government in a US-led invasion in late 2001 for harboring Al-Qaeda--which at the time had training camps here.
In another development, US-led coalition forces called in air strikes against the Taliban, killing a dozen militants during fighting in southern Afghanistan that has displaced many families, officials told AP on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, an old mortar round exploded in the north of the country, wounding 17 children.
The coalition said in a statement that its troops opened fire and called in air strikes on Monday after observing militants trying to set up an ambush. The coalition had been targeting a Taliban commander transporting weapons.
The troops also discovered weapons and ammunition in a search of compounds in the area, it said.
Fighting has intensified in the southern province of Helmand since US Marines pushed into the town of Garmser late last month aiming to cut Taliban supply lines in the heart of the insurgency.
Many families have temporarily left their homes because of the fighting, said Aleem Siddique, a UN spokesman in Kabul. He could not provide an estimate of the numbers displaced.
Chad Closes Border With Sudan
Chad closed its border with Sudan on Monday, its government said, ramping up tensions between the volatile neighbors after Khartoum accused Ndjamena of backing a rebel assault on the Sudanese capital.
The Chadian government ordered the “airtight sealing of the frontier in order to avoid all infiltration and suspect traffic“ across its porous eastern border, and froze economic and cultural ties, a government statement said.
According to AFP, the move aims “to ensure the security of its territory and citizens and protect its economic and cultural interests“ and to “guard against all surprises,“ said the statement, issued after a meeting of Chad’s ministers.
The border between Chad’s volatile east and the stricken region of Darfur was crossed earlier this year by rebels as they launched an armed coup attempt--the second in as many years--against Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno.
Meanwhile, Sudan arrested and questioned the head of one of the country’s largest opposition parties Monday apparently because of his links to Darfur rebels who attacked close to the capital this week, his party and state media said.
Hassan Turabi was arrested after dawn at his home in Khartoum, and at least 10 other Popular Congress Party members were detained in a government sweep across the city, said Awadh Ba Bakr, a relative and close aide to party chief.
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THURSDAY, MAY 15
LJUBLJANA - The European Union and the United States will kick off talks on further liberalization of transatlantic air traffic.
LIMA - European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC) Summit, will be attended by 60 heads of state or government from both regions.
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Annual Nakba Day, marking the tragedy Palestinians suffered when Israel was illegitimately created in 1948.
RIO DE JANEIRO - Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen to visit Brazil.
CANNES - 61st Cannes Film Festival (to May 26)
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