Tunisian Revolution and the Middle East

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90T09120130130

French troops deploy to last of Mali rebel strongholds

French troops have taken control of the airport in the northern Malian town of Kidal, the last rebel stronghold in the north, the French army and a local official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Kidal would be the last of northern Mali's major towns to be retaken by French forces after they reached Gao and Timbuktu earlier this week in a campaign to drive al Qaeda-linked Islamists from Mali's north, which it has said had become a safe haven for extremists.

"They arrived late last night and they deployed in four planes and some helicopters," said Haminy Belco Maiga, president of the regional assembly of Kidal.

Maiga said there were no immediate reports of resistance.

French Armed Forces spokesman Thierry Burkhard confirmed that French troops were in Kidal and said they had taken control of the airport.

https://twitter.com/BreakingNews

French troops now control Kidal airport in Mali, French military spokesman confirms - @AP
3:20 AM

http://www.geographicguide.com/pictu...s/mali-map.jpg

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http://www.france24.com/en/20130130-...medium=twitter

Timbuktu ancient manuscripts 'safe and sound', experts say

The vast majority of Timbuktu's ancient manuscripts in state and private collections appear to be unharmed after the Malian Saharan city's 10-month occupation by Islamist rebel fighters, who burnt some of the scripts, experts said on Wednesday.

The news, based on information from persons directly involved with the conservation of the historic texts, came as a relief to the world's cultural community which had been dismayed by varying media reports of widespread destruction of the priceless manuscripts.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczyn...edium=buzzfeed

Al Jazeera America Has Received More Than 8,000 Applications

Within 24 hours of posting openings for the majority of their new positions, Al Jazeera America received 5000 applications for open positions, a number that has grown to 8,063 over the past three days, a network source told BuzzFeed.

Al Jazeera caused a stir earlier this month when it was announced that the Qatar-based network had bought the struggling liberal channel Current from Al Gore for $500 million, and would use it to expand into American coverage.

It further stoked speculation in the media world when it posted 160 digital and editorial positions. The ads were placed on Al Jazeera.com and Current.com as well as other prominent job listing sites like the New York Times, Washington Post, and LinkedIn.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/wo...imesworld&_r=0

Timbuktu Endured Terror Under Harsh Shariah Law

When the Islamist militants came to town, Dr. Ibrahim Maiga made a reluctant deal. He would do whatever they asked — treat their wounded, heal their fevers, bandage up without complaint the women they thrashed in the street for failing to cover their heads and faces. In return, they would allow him to keep the hospital running as he wished.

Then, one day in October, the militants called him with some unusual instructions. Put together a team, they said, bring an ambulance and come to a sun-baked public square by sand dunes.

There, before a stunned crowd, the Islamist fighters carried out what they claimed was the only just sentence for theft: cutting off the thief’s hand. As one of the fighters hacked away at the wrist of a terrified, screaming young man strapped to a chair, Dr. Maiga, a veteran of grisly emergency room scenes, looked away.

“I was shocked,” he said, holding his head in his hands. “But I was powerless. My job is to heal people. What could I do?”

After nearly 10 months of occupation by Islamists fighters, many of them linked with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the people of this ancient mud-walled city recounted how they survived the upending of their tranquil lives in a place so remote that its name has become a synonym for the middle of nowhere.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...r&dlvrit=59365

Iran president accuses parliament speaker's family of corruption

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday accused the parliament speaker's family of corruption, during an angry debate reflecting a struggle between the Iranian leader and rival factions in his final months in power.

The president used a speech defending a minister against impeachment to levy accusations of corruption against the family of speaker Ali Larijani, in a session marked by jeering and shouting.

The legislature voted 192 to 56 to remove labor minister Abdolreza Sheikholeslami over what lawmakers said was the illegal appointment of Saeed Mortazavi, a former prosecutor accused of links to the deaths of prisoners.

Ahmadinejad said he had a tape of a private conversation between Fazel Larijani, the speaker's brother, and Mortazavi, that proved the family had used the official prominence of the five Larijani brothers for economic gain.

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http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/...=MasterAccount

Are Afghan forces ready to take the reins?

David Cameron, the British prime minister, is hosting a key summit with Afghan and Pakistani leaders to discuss bringing peace to Afghanistan.

This is the third such meeting since last summer. But for the first time, army and intelligence chiefs from both sides will join the talks - and they have plenty on their plates.

NATO troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of next year.

But a senior Afghan commander warns that withdrawing British troops could spark what he calls a global jihad.

Colonel Amin Jan said 2014 was too early to hand over security to the Afghan Army.

He said the army was too weak to defeat the Taliban, which could seize the chance to return to power.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9130JS20130204

South Sudan fails to withdraw troops from Sudan border

South Sudan is not withdrawing troops from the border with Sudan to set up a buffer zone as it pledged it was last month, South Sudan's army said on Monday, in a setback to efforts to resume the oil exports vital to both economies.

The two countries came close to war last April in the worst border clashes since South Sudan seceded in 2011 under a peace deal that ended one of Africa's longest civil wars.

The African Union managed to broker a deal in September to defuse hostilities. But the nations have failed set up a buffer border zone and resume oil exports from the landlocked South Sudan through Sudanese pipelines as agreed in Addis Ababa.

In a sign of goodwill, South Sudan said three weeks ago it had started to unilaterally withdraw its troops from the border and would set up its side of the 10-km buffer zone by Feb 4.

Such a buffer zone is a pre-condition for Sudan to allow oil exports to restart. Juba shut down its output of 350,000 barrels day a year ago in a row with Khartoum over pipeline fees.

But South Sudan's military spokesman Philip Aguer told Reuters on Monday the army had not even started to pull out from the border, despite the government statement.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/201...-timbuktu.html

Saving Timbuktu’s Priceless Artifacts


Residents of Timbuktu welcomed Malian Army soldiers on Saturday.

Credit: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...lobal-network/

Al-Qaeda’s world: A fascinating map of the group’s shifting global network

After years of hardship and decline for al-Qaeda, which was rebuked by Iraqis and isolated by a U.S. campaign in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the group appears to be making some potentially significant inroads. It is exploiting the chaos and militancy in Syria and in the Western Sahel, a region of West Africa that includes Mali and Algeria that is difficult to govern.

The Washington Post’s Greg Miller and Joby Warrick reported Sunday on these larger changes, how they’re happening and what they might mean. They also worked with The Post’s graphics team on a map of al-Qaeda’s global network of alliances and proxies, indicating their best assessment of where the group’s reach is expanding and where it’s receding. Here’s the map:

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9150B820130206

Tunisia protests after government critic shot dead

A fierce critic of the Tunisian government's dealings with radical Islamists was shot dead on Wednesday, sending protesters onto the streets two years after their Jasmine Revolution sparked revolt across the Arab world.

The headquarters of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, which rules in a fractious coalition with secularists, was set ablaze after Chokri Belaid, an outspoken, secular leader, was gunned down outside his home in the capital.

His party and others in the opposition parties said they would quit the assembly that is writing a new constitution and called a general strike for Thursday when Belaid will be buried.

Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, who said the identity of the attacker was not known, condemned his killing as a political assassination and a strike against the "Arab Spring" revolution. Ennahda denied any involvement.

As Belaid's body was taken by ambulance through Tunis from the hospital where he died, police fired teargas towards about 20,000 protesters at the Interior Ministry chanting for the fall of the government.

http://www.france24.com/en/breaking/...medium=twitter

Tunisian government to be dissolved, prime minister announces

Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali announced Wednesday evening that the government will be dissolved and a national unity cabinet formed.

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http://www.aljazeera.com/video/afric...=MasterAccount

French forces make further inroads into Mali

French forces have made further inroads into Mali with the seize of an airport in Tessalit, the northernmost town reached so far.

But signs of instability are evident elsewhere in the country.

In the capital Bamako government soldiers have put down a protest by troops loyal to the ex-president, and a suicide blast has rocked Gao.

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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa...=MasterAccount

Tunisia party 'freezes' move to quit cabinet

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki's secular party will stay in the ruling coalition, but have demanded the resignation of two Islamist ministers amid deepening political uncertainty.

The centre-left Congress for the Republic (CPR) party is demanding the resignation of the justice and foreign ministers, who belong to Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali's Islamist Ennahda party.

"We have decided to freeze our decision to withdraw our ministers from the government, but if in one week we don't see any changes, we will quit the government", Mohamed Abbou, CPR party head, said on Monday.

"Two days ago we presented the resignation of our ministers, but we were contacted yesterday evening by the leaders of Ennahda, who replied favourably to all our demands."

Political tensions have escalated in the North African country after the assassination on February 6 of Shokri Belaid, a leftist politician and fierce critic of the Islamists.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...91A0WQ20130211

Egypt protesters, police clash on Mubarak anniversary

Protesters demanding the departure of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi clashed with police outside his palace on Monday on the second anniversary of the overthrow of veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Dozens of youths threw rocks at the Ettihadiya palace after a peaceful march by thousands of demonstrators who accused Mursi's conservative Muslim Brotherhood of hijacking Egypt's democratic revolution and seeking to monopolize power.

Police responded by firing water cannon and teargas from the walls of the presidential compound, which have been raised in some places and shielded by barbed wire after petrol bombs set fire to a building in the grounds last week.

Riot police later emerged to chase the protesters away from the palace and into side-streets.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9190E420130211

Exclusive: U.N. monitors see arms reaching Somalia from Yemen, Iran

As the United States pushes for an end to the U.N. arms embargo on Somalia, U.N. monitors are reporting that Islamist militants in the Horn of Africa nation are receiving arms from distribution networks linked to Yemen and Iran, diplomats told Reuters.

The U.N. Security Council's sanctions monitoring team's concerns about Iranian and Yemeni links to arms supplies for al Shabaab militants come as Yemen is asking Tehran to stop backing armed groups on Yemeni soil. Last month Yemeni coast guards and the U.S. Navy seized a consignment of missiles and rockets the Sanaa government says were sent by Iran.

According to the latest findings by the monitoring group, which tracks compliance with U.N. sanctions on Somalia and Eritrea, most weapons deliveries are coming into northern Somalia - that is, the autonomous Puntland and Somaliland regions - after which they are moved farther south into Shabaab strongholds.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/on-t...ulf?CMP=twt_gu

Bahrain's Arab spring chapter is still being written two years on

Anniversaries of the Arab spring uprisings of 2011 are falling thick and fast, though nowhere is it harder to draw up a balance sheet than in Bahrain, where the immediate challenge to the government was seen off two years ago but opposition persists – with little prospect of a resolution any time soon.

Smouldering unrest has flared up in advance of Thursday's commemoration of the Pearl Roundabout protests. These lasted for a month before pro-democracy demonstrators were driven out and Saudi Arabia led a Gulf intervention force to shore up the status quo while the US and Britain looked the other way.

Now smoke from petrol bombs and burning tyres again fills the air while police fire tear gas and stun grenades to restore order. The government, which has a slick PR machine, simply blames "thugs" for the violence. The explosion of a small bomb in a shopping centre in Issa Town on Tuesday was an unwelcome novelty.

Uniquely in the region, Bahrain has a Sunni monarchy which rules over a restive Shia majority. Sectarian tensions are fuelled by the confrontation between Iran and its Gulf Arab neighbours - and by Bahrain's strategic importance as headquarters of the US navy's Fifth Fleet. Manama often accuses Tehran of encouraging unrest - though there is no evidence of direct involvement beyond shrill Arabic-language propaganda.

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http://bigstory.ap.org/article/libya...nd-anniversary

Libyan leader calls for unity on 2nd anniversary

Libya's leader called on Sunday for unity in the North African nation as it celebrates the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi but plunged the country into lawlessness and economic woes.

Addressing thousands of flag-waving Libyans, Mohammed el-Megarif urged his countrymen to "join ranks and resolve our differences to build our nation."

He also promised to fight poverty and "marginalization," and to give Libyans extra cash to mark the occasion. He did not say how much money he meant, or how it would be distributed.

El-Megarif spoke at a rally in Benghazi, the eastern Libyan city that was the birthplace of the anti-Gadhafi uprising in 2011.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...91G0CO20130217

French, Malian troops secure rebel strongpoint near Gao

French and Malian troops secured the north Mali town of Bourem on Sunday, tightening their control over areas where Islamist insurgents have been launching guerrilla attacks to harass the French-led military operation.

"Bourem is a bastion of Islamists," said a military official from an African military contingent called AFISMA.

African troops in this contingent are being deployed behind the French forward lines in the five-week-old intervention by Paris in its former Sahel colony.

Located by the Niger River, Bourem is about 80 km (50 miles) north of Gao at a crossroads between Timbuktu to the west and Kidal to the north, both of which are now under French and Malian government control.

"All the current problems in Gao come from Bourem," said the official, who asked not to be named. He said there had been no real fighting to take the town.

French leaders have said they intend to start pulling out the 4,000 French troops in Mali in March to hand over security to the Malian army and to the U.N.-backed AFISMA force, which is expected to exceed 8,000 soldiers and is drawn mainly from Mali's West African neighbors.

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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/...seid=auto&_r=0

Tunisian Prime Minister Resigns After Failing to Form New Cabinet

Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned on Tuesday after failing to replace a government pulled apart by acrimony between his Islamist allies and their secular opponents.

Jebali had threatened to quit if his plan for a non-partisan cabinet of technocrats to lead the north African country into early elections foundered.

In the end it was his own party, Ennahda, that rejected the proposal, prolonging the political stand-off that has cast a shadow over Tunisia's fledgling democracy and deepened an economic crisis.

"I vowed that if my initiative did not succeed, I would resign and ... I have already done so," Jebali told a news conference after meeting with President Moncef Marzouki.

Tunisia's deepest political crisis since the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali began when leading secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid was gunned down outside his home in Tunis on February 6.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...+World+News%29

Libya to ask U.N. to lift arms embargo: state media

Libya will soon ask the U.N. Security Council to lift an embargo on arms imports to the North African state, the official news agency quoted Prime Minister Ali Zeidan as saying, despite the armed turmoil plaguing the country.

The Security Council imposed the embargo at the start of the 2011 uprising to protect civilians during a conflict that later ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

"I will discuss the question of lifting the embargo when I meet with the head of the U.N. Security Council in the next few days," LANA news agency quoted Zeidan as saying after a meeting with Libya's defense minister and army chief.

No further details were given. Officials at Zeidan's office and the foreign ministry were unavailable for comment.

LANA quoted army chief of staff Yussef al-Mangoush as saying Libya was planning to rebuild its army and wanted to sign contracts with international consultancies to help carry this out and assess what kind of equipment it needed in the future.

http://www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=1&i=9948

Libya could produce more energy in solar power than oil

Libya could generate approximately five times the amount of energy from solar power than it currently produces in crude oil, research by Nottingham Trent University shows.

A study led by the university’s School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment found that the oil-rich nation could generate enough renewable power to meet its own demand and a “significant part of the world energy demand by exporting electricity”.

Libya is located on the cancer orbit line and is exposed to the sun’s rays throughout the year with long hours during the day. It has an average daily solar radiation rate of about 7.1 kilowatt hours per square metre per day (kWh/m²/day) on a flat plane on the coast and 8.1kWh/m²/day in the south region. By comparison, the UK’s average solar radiation rate is less than half that amount at about 2.95kWh/m²/day.

If the North African country - which is estimated to be 88 per cent desert - used 0.1% of its landmass to harness solar power, it could produce the equivalent to almost seven million barrels of crude oil per day in energy, the study found. Currently, Libya produces about 1.41 million barrels of crude oil per day.

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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa...=MasterAccount

Tunisia unveils new coalition government

Tunisia's prime minister has unveiled his new coalition government led by an Islamist party, after a deal was reached in last-minute talks aimed at ending the country's political crisis.

Ali Larayedh, the prime minister-designate and the outgoing interior minister, said on Friday the new government, led by the Islamist Ennahda Party, will serve until an election is held before the end of the year.

"I presented to the president the dossier containing the list of the new government and a summary of the government programme," Larayedh, a member of the powerful Islamist Ennahda party, said on television.

The announcement, just hours before a midnight deadline, came after two weeks of fraught discussions and amid tensions and uncertainty sparked by the killing last month of leftist anti-Islamist politician Chokri Belaid.

The new government is backed by the centre-left Ettakatol party and the secular Congress for the Republic, led by President Moncef Marzouki.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-midd...medium=twitter

Egypt police withdraw from Port Said

The Egyptian military has taken over security duties from the police in the restive city of Port Said, the interior ministry has said.

Police were withdrawn from the streets "to calm tension", the ministry said, after days of clashes with protesters.

At least one person was shot dead as violence continued overnight.

The move comes ahead of verdicts due on Saturday in cases involving dozens of people over a deadly football riots in Port Said in February 2012.

Twenty-one local football fans were sentenced to death in January over the riots, which left 74 people dead.

Fifty-two remaining defendants - including nine police officers - will be judged by a court sitting for security reasons in the capital, Cairo.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9280DU20130309

Western powers congratulate Kenya on poll, not Kenyatta

Western capitals on Saturday applauded Kenya's peaceful vote but avoided naming president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta, whose election they had said would complicate ties because of the charges of crimes against humanity he faces.

Foreign diplomats in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, had made it clear in the run-up to the poll that it could not be business as usual when dealing with Kenyatta if he triumphed in the poll, due to his indictment by the International Criminal Court.

"We stand with you at this historic moment and will continue to be a strong friend and ally of the Kenyan people," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.

While Kerry congratulated "all those elected to office", he did not mention Kenyatta, who won more than half the vote. Kerry's words echoed a statement by President Barack Obama ahead of the March 4 election.

http://jordantimes.com/share-content...our-as-pm.html

King accepts gov't resignation, reappoints Ensour as PM

His Majesty King Abdullah on Saturday accepted the resignation of the current government.

Following Royal Court Chief Fayez Tarawneh’s report on consultations with the Lower House on the next premier, His Majesty designated incumbent prime minister Abdullah Ensour to form the new government, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Tarawneh consulted with House blocs and independent deputies between February 18 and 27.

Several blocs had nominated Ensour to head the new government, but there was no actual consensus on naming him as the next premier.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9270ZV20130308

Iraq agriculture minister quits over Sunni protest death

Iraq's agriculture minister quit on Friday in response to the killing of a protester in the northern city of Mosul, where police said they fired shots into the air to disperse a crowd of stone-throwing Sunni Muslim demonstrators.

Ezz al-Din al-Dawla is the second Iraqi minister to announce his resignation over the handling of Sunni protests, which have been staged daily against the Shi'ite led-government since December.

"I announce my resignation before the Iraqi people and my people in Mosul because there is no way to continue any longer with a government that does not respond to my people's demands," said Dawla, a member of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya Bloc, in a televised news conference.

Iraq's finance minister told a crowd of Sunni protesters he was quitting earlier this month.

Thousands of Sunnis took to the streets again in the cities of Mosul, Samarra, Kirkuk and in Anbar province on Friday