Tunisian Revolution and the Middle East

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http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/03/1...nofficial-one/

Nicolas Sarkozy to visit Tripoli tomorrow

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives in Tripoli for a one-day visit tomorrow, Tuesday. He has been invited by the head of Tripoli Local Council, Sadat Elbadri, to celebrate the second anniversary of the entry of France in the war alongside the revolutionaries.

On 19 March 2011, two days after the adoption of the UN Security Council resolution 1973 imposing a no fly zone over Libya, Sarkozy told the Paris Summit for the Support of the Libyan People that France and the allied countries would stand with the rebels and protect Benghazi. Shortly afterwards, French fighter planes destroyed a Qaddafi regime tank column that was about to attack Benghazi.

The leader of Benghazi Local Council, Mahmoud Burazeiza, will be in Tripoli to welcome the former French president.

Sarkozy will be received by Sadat Elbadri at the city council building in Algeria Square in the morning. He will then have lunch with the Prime Minister, Ali Zeidan. After that he is scheduled to address members of the General National Congress. There are no plans, however, for him to go walkabouts in Martyrs Square and talk to the public as did British Prime Minister David Cameron on 31 January.

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http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...middle/309270/

Monarch in the Middle

It is still, on occasion, good to be the king.

It is not necessarily good to be the king of a Middle Eastern country that is bereft of oil; nor is it necessarily so wonderful to be the king during the turmoil and uncertainty of the Arab Spring. It is certainly not good to be the king when the mystique that once enveloped your throne is evaporating.

But when a squadron of Black Hawk helicopters is reserved for your use, and when you are the type of king who finds release from the pressures of monarchy by piloting those Black Hawks up and down the length of your sand-covered kingdom—then it is still good to be the king.

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http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/67215.aspx

BREAKING: Egyptian police arrest top Gaddafi aide in Cairo

Egyptian police have arrested a close aide and cousin of former Libyan ruler Moammar Gaddafi in Cairo’s Zamalek.

Police, in coordination with INTERPOL, surrounded the residence of Gadhaf Al-Dam early on Tuesday morning.

Al-Dam was holed up behind iron-barred doors and windows and gun fire was reported at the scene.

https://twitter.com/FromJoanne

Gunfight Battle lasted 2Hrs 2Arrest Gaddafi cousin in Cairo Ahmed Gaddaf AlDam: 2Ppl dead 10Wounded Huge crowd of Libyans arrived
6:16 AM

Flash Gaddafi's cousin Ahmed Gaddaff alDam arrested at dawn in Cairo after a 2 hr gun battle His flat in Zamalek has been wrecked
6:22 AM

BBC Journo about Gaddaf al Dam > RT @clear_red Gaddafi's cousin arrested in Zamalek, Cairo Egypt, being handed to Libya authorities
6:29 AM

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

Sudan rivals pull out of border zone

Sudan and South Sudan have started withdrawing troops from along their border, a first step in creating a demilitarised buffer zone.

It is part of an agreement the two countries signed last week to resume oil production.

South Sudan halted exports 14 months ago over a dispute on fees.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa...159939611.html

Fugitive M23 leader Ntaganda surrenders

Democratic Republic of Congo rebel Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for suspected war crimes, has surrendered to the US embassy in Kigali, Rwanda's foreign minister said.

"We have learned today that Bosco Ntaganda entered Rwanda and surrendered to US Embassy in Kigali," Louise Mushikiwabo said in a message posted on her Twitter account on Monday.

The US State Department has also issued a confirmation, saying Ntaganda asked to be turned over to the ICC and that they were working to facilitate his request.

"I can confirm that Bosco Ntaganda... walked into the US embassy in Kigali this morning. He specifically asked to be transferred to the ICC in The Hague," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa...426716767.html

Zimbabwe votes in support of new constitution

Almost 95 percent of Zimbabweans have voted in favour of a new draft constitution which is supported by both President Robert Mugabe and his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai, which paves the way for new elections.

Tallies, released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commisison after Tuesday's results, showed that an overwhelming 3,079,966 voters were in favour of the new constitution and 179,489 were against it.

"Since the majority of the votes were received in favour of the adoption of the draft constitution and, it is declared to have been adopted by the people of Zimbabwe," said Lovemore Sekeramayi, the official in charge of the vote tally.

An estimated six million citizens were eligible to vote.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai, the prime minister, backed the draft consititution that will usher in fresh polls to end the pair's tense unity government arrangement that were set up after the violent and disputed 2008 elections.

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

US seeks transfer of Congolese warlord to ICC

The US is seeking the swift transfer of a Congolese warlord from its embassy in Rwanda to a war crimes tribunal at The Hague for a trial that could help eastern Democratic Republic of Congo move towards peace.

Bosco Ntaganda, nicknamed the "Terminator", gave himself up to the US embassy in Kigali on Monday after a 15-year career that spanned a series of Rwandan-backed rebellions in eastern Congo.

He asked to be sent to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague where he faces war crimes charges.

"The US's top envoy to Africa, Johnnie Carson, has come out and said that international court officials are on their way to Kigali and he hopes they will be given access to the city," said Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshri, reporting from the Rwandan capital.

"[Carson] also hopes that Rwanda will cooperate with the US embassy in ensuring the safe passage of Bosco Ntaganda from the embassy to the airport," she said.

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https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2

iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki gives ultimatum to Muqtada al Sadr ministers boycotting cabinet, FM warns about possible collapse of gov.
12:48 AM

Most of Iraqi political spectrum, sunnis and shias, against delay of elections in Anbar and Niniwa, Nuri al Maliki increasingly isolated
1:10 AM

Sheikh Shammari, tribal chief and leader of demonstrations against Maliki in Mosul, was killed yesterday, expect more sectarian tension
1:54 AM

---------- Post added March-21st-2013 at 03:06 AM ----------

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/wo...=tw-share&_r=0

Villagers Take On Taliban in Their Heartland

An uprising against the Taliban that began last month in this southern Afghan village has now spread through dozens of others, according to residents and Afghan and American officials, in the most significant popular turning against the Islamist insurgents in recent years.

Since early February, when villagers joined with police forces to begin ousting Taliban fighters from this region of rich vineyards and orchards southwest of Kandahar City, hundreds of residents have rallied to support the government. Nearly 100 village elders vowed at a public meeting Monday to keep the Taliban out as the new fighting season sets in, and Afghan flags are flying from rooftops in the villages, residents said.

Isolated uprisings against the Taliban have been reported in several different parts of Afghanistan over the past 18 months. But the revolt in Panjwai is considered significant because it is the first in southern Afghanistan, in the spiritual heartland of the Taliban movement, where the group’s influence had endured despite repeated operations by American and NATO forces.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21886072

Safia, Hannibal, Mohamed and Aisha Gaddafi 'not in Algeria'

Three of Col Muammar Gaddafi's children and his widow have left Algeria, its ambassador to Libya has said.

Aisha and Hannibal Gaddafi are wanted by Interpol following a request from the Libyan authorities, unlike a third child, Mohamed and his widow, Safia.

Abdel-Hamid Bouzaher said the family had left "a long time ago" without giving further details.

News of the departure of the Gaddafi family from Algeria first surfaced in Arab media in November, citing unnamed sources.

This is the first official confirmation by Algerian authorities.

The office of the Libyan prime minister told the BBC it had no comment.

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https://twitter.com/Reuters

Israeli PM apologized to Turkey for deaths caused by Israeli raid on Gaza-bound flotilla, according to U.S. official
10:52 AM

Turkey's Erdogan accepted Israeli apology and agreed with Netanyahu on need to normalize relations, according to U.S. official
10:53 AM

Israeli PM says agrees to compensation for families of victims of flotilla incident
11:02 AM

Israel and Turkey agree to work together to improve humanitarian situation in Palestinian territories -Netanyahu
11:08 AM

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/03/22...ith-turkey.xml

Kurdish Leader Declares Truce With Turkey

The jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan on Thursday called for a cease-fire and ordered all his fighters off Turkish soil, in a landmark moment for a newly energized effort to end three decades of armed conflict with the Turkish government.

Since its start late last year, the peace effort has transfixed a Turkish public traumatized by a long and bloody conflict that has claimed nearly 40,000 lives and fractured society along ethnic lines. While there have been previous periods of cease-fire between Turkey and Mr. Ocalan's group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or P.K.K., never before has there been so much support at the highest levels of both the Turkish and Kurdish leadership.

"We reached the point where weapons should go silent and ideas speak," Mr. Ocalan wrote in a letter read out to jubilant crowds gathered in the Kurdish heartland here in southern Turkey. "A new era starts when politics, instead of guns, comes to the forefront."

For the Turkish government, seeking peace within its borders is a step toward realizing its ambition to be a regional power broker. For the Kurds, the call for peace carries with it the hope of more rights under a new constitution and the freedom to express a separate identity within a country that for decades denied their existence, forbade them to speak their language and abused their activists.

The declaration by Mr. Ocalan was seen as a critical confidence-building step in the peace process. It brought ecstatic celebration among the huge crowds gathered outside Diyarbakir to celebrate Nowruz, the traditional spring festival. Lawmakers read out statements in both Turkish and Kurdish as waves of yellow, red and green, the traditional Kurdish colors, rippled through the masses.

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https://twitter.com/NOW_eng

BREAKING Sources to LBC: Miqati heading to Serail to announce resignation Lebanon Beirut
12:18 PM

BREAKING Sources to MTV: Head of ISF Asfraf Rifi's term will not be extended
12:19 PM

Suleiman: I will not head cabinet session without supervisory electoral body first item on agenda
12:22 PM

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...92L0BE20130322

Oman's Sultan pardons all jailed activists: state news agency

Oman's Sultan Qaboos pardoned on Friday all dissidents jailed for defaming the ruler or taking part in protests, in the latest effort to defuse unrest inspired by Arab uprisings elsewhere.

The official Oman News Agency did not say how many prisoners would be freed, but activists say courts sentenced at least 50 dissidents to jail terms of up to 18 months last year.

"His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has issued a royal pardon for those convicted of defamation, information technology crimes and unauthorized rallies," the agency said.

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

Rebels advance on CAR capital Bangui

Rebels in Central Africa Republic have reached the outskirts of the capital, Bangui, after seizing the nearby town of Damara, rebels and military officials said, a day after the fighters rejected a peace offer from the president.

A rebel spokesman said on Friday they had moved past Damara, about 75km from Bangui, and had advanced to within 22km of the riverside capital, sending a sense of fear among the residents.

"Our objective is to take Bangui today," Nelson Ndjadder, spokesman for the CPSK faction of the Seleka rebels, told Reuters by telephone from Paris.

"We have 2,000 men on the ground and some have slipped into the capital."

The country's prime minister, meanwhile, had sought refuge at a military base for regional forces known as FOMAC, according to soldier Jean-Pierre Sadou.

A government minister, who asked not to be identified, said Bozize had instructed his cabinet to seek safety.

Seleka resumed hostilities this week, accusing President Bozize, who seized power in a 2003 coup backed by Chad, of breaking the January peace deal.

The rebels have accused the government of not honouring another deal signed in 2007, which allowed them to join the regular army.

https://twitter.com/BreakingNews

International Criminal Court says Congolese warlord Ntaganda has arrived at its Hague Detention Center - @Reuters
7:22 PM

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21915901

Central African Republic: President Bozize flees Bangui

Rebels in the Central African Republic say they are in control of Bangui after President Francois Bozize fled the capital.

Witnesses reported gunfire as the Seleka rebel coalition took the presidential palace, followed by chaos and looting in the city centre.

Reports suggested the president had gone to a neighbouring state.

The rebels, involved in an on-off rebellion since December, say Mr Bozize failed to honour a peace deal.

On Sunday, witnesses and government officials confirmed that rebels had taken Bangui.

Justin Kombo Moustapha, secretary-general of Seleka, appealed for calm and called on citizens to "welcome the revolutionary forces of Seleka".

"Central African Republic has just opened a new page in its history," he said in a statement.

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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa...033211834.html

CAR rebel leader declares himself president

The leader of the rebels who took over the capital city of the Central African Republic has declared himself president and has pledged to keep a power-sharing government in place in compliance with a January peace deal.

A spokesman for the Seleka rebels announced Michel Djotodia's claim on Monday, a day after the rebels toppled the President Francois Bozize.

"The current prime minister remains in place and the cabinet will be slightly reshuffled," said Eric Massi, the spokesman.

"Bangui is under our control and calm but we have things to do on the ground in terms of security. Looting must be stopped."

The peace deal in January created a power-sharing government composed of rebels, civilian opposition and Bozize loyalists.

South African President Jacob Zuma said on Monday that thirteen of their troops were killed in clashes with the Seleka rebels on the outskirts of Bangui.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...92R0LE20130328

Sufi shrine blown up in Libyan capital

Unknown assailants blew up a major Sufi shrine in the Libyan capital on Thursday, residents said, the first such attack since several last year in the North African country.

Ultra-conservative Islamists have targeted sites belonging to Islam's Sufi tradition, which they brand idolatrous, since the end of a 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi. There were about a dozen attacks on Sufi shrines last spring and summer.

Thursday's bombing took place in the early morning and struck the Sidi Al-Andlusi mausoleum in the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura, residents said. The shrine of a Sufi theologian from the 15th century is protected under law as a national monument.

"It was a bomb attack. The doors and windows were blown out, the inside is charred," said one witness who lives near the shrine and declined to give his name.

He said one person had been arrested in connection with the attack and was now under investigation.

The head of Tripoli's local council, Sadat al-Badri, condemned the attack, saying it was "against the ways of the Islamic religion", state LANA news agency reported.

And things had been sort of quiet for a while there.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...-in-congo.html

UN Security Council Approves Force to Engage Rebels in Congo

The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved creation of an “intervention brigade” that can hunt down and open fire on armed rebels in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The 15-member body voted today for a change from traditional UN peacekeeping forces, which can’t retaliate unless attacked. Despite the presence of a 20,000-person UN force, armed groups have thrived in the country’s remote eastern hills for more than a decade. M23 rebels captured the city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, in November before withdrawing in December.

http://www.latimes.com/news/world/wo...,5542812.story

Bahrain: 21 medics cleared in closely watched case

A Bahraini court on Thursday cleared 21 medics who had been convicted in connection with protests against the government, a victory for rights activists in the closely watched case.


The exonerated doctors, nurses and other medical personnel were among scores of health professionals arrested and charged during the unrest that erupted two years ago in the island monarchy.

Bahrain faced intense criticism from human rights groups and the U.S. State Department for pursuing the charges; many of the accused medics claimed they were tortured and forced to confess to charges such as "instigating hatred" and "taking part in illegal assemblies" after treating injured protesters.

https://twitter.com/Bilalhb

BREAKING NEWS: Some good news today, the 4 men who committed the rape crime today in Benghazi were all captured and now in custody. Justice
5:26 PM

The convoy was a Turkish convoy heading from Benghazi to Gaza the British Pakistani family were on board but they were rejected in Egyptian Borders and then the convoy with the British family went back to Benghazi, today in the morning they went to the airport in a bus. But then they were stopped by fake "rebel" gate and then the assault on the family begun, then two of the militias took the two girls to a.
5:36 PM

The police got the report on the crime shortly and started investigating immediately then they found the father and two of the suspects
5:41 PM

Then they got confessions from the captured 2 suspects leading them to find the other 2 with the girls, the police first secured the family
5:42 PM

All four suspects are now in custody and the investigations are ongoing, the official spokesmen then added that it's time to clean the city
5:43 PM

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...92T05X20130330

Jordan's king swears in new reformist government

Jordan's King Abdullah swore in a reformist government on Saturday, an administration that will be required to speed up economic and political reforms, officials said.

The cabinet lineup was confirmed after nearly three weeks of unprecedented consultations with civic society leaders and parliament by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, an economist educated in the United States and France.

Hmmm. I guess we'll see if they're really reformists. Not much info here.