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CAIRO (AFP) – Hundreds of thousands of Islamists packed Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday in a show of force that angered secularists as clashes in Sinai between security and apparent Islamists killed three, including a military captain.
Islamists from across the country flocked into the central square to defend what they called “Egypt's Islamic identity” in Egypt's largest protest since a revolt ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February.
Smaller rallies took place elsewhere across the country.
In the northern Sinai town of El-Arish, a peaceful protest earlier gave way to armed clashes between police and roughly 150 masked men in trucks carrying banners that read “There is no God but Allah.”
The gunmen stormed through the city and tried to force their way into a police station but were confronted by policemen and soldiers.
A military captain and two civilians, one of them a 13-year-old boy, were killed in that incident, which set off a gunfight, the official MENA news agency reported.
Twelve police conscripts were wounded, a health ministry official told state television.
Witnesses said the armed men had also tried to destroy a statue of former president Anwar Sadat, whom Islamists killed in 1981.
The rally in Cairo, organised by hardline Salafi groups and the influential Muslim Brotherhood, came as tensions grow between secular activists and the military on the one hand and Islamists on the other.
“The people demand the application of God's law,” thousands chanted under the searing sun, many of them carrying umbrellas or pouring water on their heads to counter the heat.
The rally officially started after the Muslim noon prayer, but thousands had already made their way to the square overnight and by morning chants calling for an “Islamic state” rang across Tahrir.
Islamist groups have been organising the rally for weeks, sparking fears of clashes with secular protesters who have been camped out in the square since July 8.
After two days of meetings, the secular and Islamist groups agreed to try to put their differences aside and focus on the common goals in order to save the revolution that toppled Mubarak, organisers said.
But the agreement quickly unravelled with more than two dozen groups announcing their withdrawal from the protest because of the Islamist slogans.
“We had an agreement that it would be a day of unity, but it turned into something else,” said Mohammed Waked, a member of the Front for Justice and Democracy.
The sheer size of the protest appeared to have intimidated secular activists, some of whom took to Twitter to deride the protest as “Tahriristan.”
One protester, Tareq Ahmed, said he travelled from the province of Fayoum to attend the rally.
“I want unity for all the factions, but at the same time I reject principles that will be binding on a constitution,” he said, referencing one of the main disputes between Islamists and some of their secular opponents.
Liberal activists such as Mohamed ElBaradei, the former UN nuclear watchdog chief turned anti-Mubarak dissident, want the military rulers to accept a declaration of guiding principles for a new constitution.
The Islamists fear that such a document, which the military has said it would be willing to accept, might threaten the second article in Egypt's old constitution, which says Islamic law is the main source of law.
“There is a fear that Article 2 will be removed,” said another protester, Mohammed Sayid, who identified himself as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The secularists and liberals want to remove it; also some of our Coptic (Christian) brothers don't like it,” he said.
Once the most influential opposition movement under Mubarak, the Brotherhood is now accused by critics of siding with the ruling military which faces accusations of human rights abuses.
The military has accused the protesters holding the 21-day sit-in the square of trying to throw Egypt into instability, an accusation echoed by the Islamist groups who are preparing to flex their muscle in the upcoming elections.
Parliamentary elections have been announced for autumn, to be followed by the drafting of a new constitution and then a presidential election.
Secular groups feared that an early election would benefit the well-entrenched Brotherhood, which would then have too much influence in drawing up the new constitution.
LAGOS (AFP) – Nigerian workers are planning a strike this week that could grind Africa's largest oil producer to a halt over politicians' refusal to implement a new minimum wage equal to less than $120 a month.
The dispute has highlighted the huge gap between the rich and poor in Nigeria, the continent's most populous nation and one of the world's most corrupt, where the rich drive past teeming slums in sleek Bentleys and hulking Land Rovers.
Barring a last-minute deal, the three-day strike will begin Wednesday.
It comes after governors of some of Nigeria's 36 states resisted paying out the new minimum wage signed into law months ago, raising it from 7,500 naira to 18,000 naira ($118) monthly.
State governors have regularly been accused of large-scale misuse of public funds, drawing criticism for their stance, though some argue that their governments are truly cash-strapped and will have trouble meeting the new wage.
“The ostentatious lifestyles of most governors do not offer logical persuasion to the citizens they govern that they indeed cannot pay the new minimum wage,” ThisDay newspaper said in an editorial on Monday.
Facing increasing pressure, governors in recent days pledged to pay the new wage, but labour leaders have refused to call off the strike, saying they will not be fooled by empty promises. Further negotiations took place Monday night.
The new wage was agreed to a year ago following protracted negotiations. Workers had initially demanded 52,500 naira ($342) from 7,500 naira, which has been paid for over a decade, but eventually settled for 18,000 naira.
President Goodluck Jonathan only signed the law a few weeks before April elections, which he won on pledges to transform the country and better the lives of its millions who live in poverty — many on less than $2 per day.
“There is no backing down on our demands. The governors must pay the new wage or there will be no industrial peace in the country,” Nigeria Labour Congress acting general secretary Owei Lakemfa told AFP.
“We will cripple the oil industry. Workers manning export terminals will be withdrawn and this will halt export of crude.”
Elijah Okougbo, secretary general of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, said Monday night that “as at now, there is no agreement and the strike will go on as planned. It will hit the oil industry.”
Although a law is now in place, some governors have said their revenue cannot support the new wage.
“Some of these states will need to go borrowing to be able to pay the new wage,” said Rotimi Amaechi, governor of Rivers state in the oil-producing Niger Delta region.
The governors have sought a review of the formula by which the federal government distributes oil revenue to allow state authorities to get a larger share so they can pay the wages.
Governors have also controversially suggested scrapping subsidies on fuel prices to free up more funds. Nigeria last year spent around $8 billion on fuel subsidies, slightly under a quarter of the entire annual budget.
The subsidies are in place to hold petrol pump prices at 65 naira (43 US cents, 30 euro cents) per litre, though widespread abuse of the system has been alleged.
“The argument on subsidy removal is slapping logic on the face. We will not allow any policy that will further impoverish the masses of this country,” said Dele Dada, a senior official with the white-collar Trade Union Congress.
Activists argue there is enough money to go around in Nigeria, and the country's incoming finance minister, World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said the country can manage the new wage. She is expected to take up her post in August.
Some also pointed out the huge amounts of money federal lawmakers are paid in bloated salaries and “allowances” estimated at more than $1 million per year.
“Nigeria is running the most expensive democracy in the world,” said Debo Adeniran, head of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders pressure group.
CAIRO (AFP) – Tens of thousands packed Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday as Islamists flexed their political muscle in perhaps Egypt's largest protest since a popular revolt overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in February.
Islamists from across the country flocked into the central square to defend what they called “Egypt's Islamic identity” and to demand that parliamentary elections take place as scheduled by the end of the year.
The rally, organised by hardline Salafi groups and the influential Muslim Brotherhood, came as tensions grow between secular activists and the military on the one hand and Islamists on the other.
“The people demand the application of God's law,” thousands chanted under the searing sun, many of them carrying umbrellas or pouring water on their heads to counter the heat.
The rally officially started after the Muslim noon prayer, but thousands had already made their way to the square overnight and by morning chants calling for an “Islamic state” rang across Tahrir.
Islamist groups have been organising the rally for weeks, sparking fears of clashes with secular protesters who have been camped out in the square since July 8.
After two days of meetings, the secular and Islamist groups agreed to try to put their differences aside and focus on the common goals in order to save the revolution that toppled Mubarak, organisers said.
But the agreement quickly unravelled with more than two dozen groups announcing their withdrawal from the protest because of the Islamist slogans.
“We had an agreement that it would be a day of unity, but it turned into something else,” said Mohammed Waked, a member of the Front for Justice and Democracy.
The sheer size of the protest appeared to have intimidated secular activists, some of whom took to Twitter to deride the protest as “Tahriristan.”
But Waked said the demonstration proved that the Islamist movement had its limitations.
“The protests in the rest of the country were tiny. Many came from from different provinces for this protest. So that's all they've got,” he said.
One protester, Tareq Ahmed, said he travelled from the province of Fayoum to attend the rally.
“I want unity for all the factions, but at the same time I reject principles that will be binding on a constitution,” he said, referencing one of the main disputes between Islamists and some of their secular opponents.
Liberal activists such as Mohamed ElBaradei, the former UN nuclear watchdog chief turned anti-Mubarak dissident, want the military rulers to accept a declaration of guiding principles for a new constitution.
The Islamists fear that such a document, which the military has said it would be willing to accept, might threaten the second article in Egypt's old constitution, which says Islamic law is the main source of law.
“There is a fear that Article 2 will be removed,” said another protester, Mohammed Sayid, who identified himself as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The secularists and liberals want to remove it; also some of our Coptic (Christian) brothers don't like it,” he said.
Once the most influential opposition movement under Mubarak, the Brotherhood is now accused by critics of siding with the ruling military which faces accusations of human rights abuses.
The military has accused the protesters holding the 21-day sit-in the square of trying to throw Egypt into instability, an accusation echoed by the Islamist groups who are preparing to flex their muscle in the upcoming elections.
Parliamentary elections have been announced for autumn, to be followed by the drafting of a new constitution and then a presidential election.
Secular groups feared that an early election would benefit the well-entrenched Brotherhood, which would then have too much influence in drawing up the new constitution.
KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, South Africa – They used to rely on snares, poison and shotguns to kill rhinos for their horns. Now international crime syndicates are arming poachers with night-vision goggles and AK-47 assault rifles as the price for rhino horn surpasses gold.
When the crackle of gunfire signals the death of yet another rhino, radios squawk to life here in South Africa’s flagship Kruger National Park and soldiers ready for pre-dawn patrols.
“They’ve become very aggressive,” Ken Maggs, head of the South African government environmental crime investigation unit, said of the poachers. “They leave notes for us written in the sand, warnings. That indicates it is an escalating issue … They are coming in prepared to fight.”
The government of South Africa, home to 90 percent of the rhinos left on the continent, is fighting back. Since more than 140 troops were deployed in April, the number of rhinos killed in Kruger has dropped from 40 in March and 30 in April to 15 in May and just two in June. Fifteen alleged poachers also have been killed this year, and nine suspects wounded in gunfights.
Still, rhino carcasses with mutilated faces are becoming a common sight in African wildlife parks. The hacked-off horns are destined to be smuggled to China and Vietnam, where traditional medicine practitioners grind them up for sale as alleged cures for everything from fevers to arthritis and cancer.
The horns have become so valuable that thieves this year started stealing rhino exhibits in European museums. The going rate is up to $44,000 a pound (60,000 pounds a kilogram) according to the London Metropolitan Police department.
Even in the United States, police in Denver have arrested members of an Irish syndicate trying to smuggle rhino horn.
“Aside from Central and South America, every region of the world appears to be affected by criminals who are fraudulently acquiring rhinoceros horns,” warned John M. Sellar, enforcement chief of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
“Government officials are being corrupted. Money-laundering is taking place,” he said.
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Kruger sprawls across 2 million hectares — about the size of Massachusetts — and around two-thirds of poachers come on foot across the border from Mozambique. Lt. Col. Bongie Vilakazi says the poachers have reacted to the South African army presence by traveling in much larger gangs of up to seven people.
“They come across around sunset, aim to shoot the rhino before dark and then spend the night in the bush before heading home with the horn,” Vilakazi said.
Soldiers do not patrol at night though because of the dangerous nocturnal predators: Once, a pride of lions charged at troops in the back of an open van transporting meat, Vilakazi said. The soldiers fired into the air to frighten away the lions. Now they use closed vehicles and live on canned rations.
South Africa’s troops are concentrated in 16 temporary bases in the Sabi River valley where two-thirds of rhino killings have occurred.
Park rangers said the deployment has hugely boosted their coverage.
“Before, we were four rangers trying to cover 87 square kilometers (35 square miles), which is nearly impossible,” said Cpl. Reckson Mashaba, speaking at a tent camp covered with camouflage netting where he and other soldiers fall asleep to the roar of lions.
Soldiers have been issued high-caliber rifles — in case they need to shoot an elephant or rhino in self-defense, Brig. Gen. Koos Liebenberg said.
The South African military also has set up spy cameras, but Maj. Gen. Barney Hlatshwayo said they need equipment to feed photos in real time so soldiers can respond immediately.
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Rhinos have been near extinction before. There were about 100,000 black rhinos in the 1960s, but they were hunted and poached until just 2,400 remained in the 1990s. Conservation efforts have nearly doubled their numbers, but they remain a critically endangered species.
A century ago, there were only about 50 white rhinos left. Now, there are about 20,000, thanks to conservation, relocation to safer regions and many more wildlife refuges and ranches.
But poachers killed 333 rhinos in South Africa last year. And the toll for the first six months of this year is 218 and likely will top 400 at the current tempo, according to Maggs, the head of the government environmental crime investigation unit.
Conservationists have failed to persuade traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and consumers that rhino horn has no medicinal value. Some link the upsurge in rhino poaching to a 2007 Chinese government decision to promote traditional medicine as alternative medicine grows increasingly popular in the West as well. Until then, South Africa was losing about 10 rhinos a year to poachers.
Trophy hunting in South Africa is compounding the problem. More than 100 white rhinos were killed under permit here last year. The Department of Environment did not respond to questions about permits issued this year.
So tempting are the rewards that veterinarians and game ranchers — the very people supposedly dedicated to conserving wildlife — have been arrested in recent months for alleged involvement in the rhino horn trade.
Yet the National Parks department continues to sell wildlife, including rhinos, to game ranchers.
Two Vietnamese citizens were arrested in January in illegal possession of rhino horns killed on a legal hunt.
Police working with tax officials last month arrested a Thai man believed to be a syndicate leader, along with five alleged Thai hunters accused of using legal hunting to illegally acquire horns. Permits are needed to export one trophy horn per hunter. The horn has to be mounted by a taxidermist.
South Africa also has been criticized for exporting young rhinos to China. Conservationists fear they will be farmed for their horns but China denied any such plans. Still, suspicions remain and South Africa last year halted live rhino exports.
Some say the war can never be won and believe the only way to save the species is through legalizing the rhino horn trade.
“If farmers were making a profit out of rhinos they would have the will to guard them against poachers,” said rancher John Hume, owner of the largest number of privately held rhino in the world. “Instead, they are siding with the poachers because a rhino is worth more dead than alive.”
He said some farmers “just contract with an illegal dealer, shoot the rhino, bury the body, take the horn. It pays him to kill it.”
Game ranchers have taken to giving quotes for rhino hunts depending on the weight of the horn, he said, though for Westerners the quote still comes according to the length. At its source, rhino horn is selling in South Africa for about 10,000 rand a kilogram ($670 a pound), Hume said.
As the price soars abroad, some countries are asking why they cannot use a massive stockpile of rhino horns to finance conservation.
Africa has at least 55,000 pounds (25,000 kilograms) of rhino horn under government and private ownership, with 90 percent held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Zimbabwe, where top-ranking military and government officials are accused of profiting from rhino poaching, said in February it would ask CITES for a special dispensation to sell some of its stockpile.
Conservationists warn that a similar sale of elephant tusks in the 1990s only whetted people’s appetite for ivory and led to a surge in elephant poaching.
“This is an emergency. We’re at war here,” said Joseph Okori of the World Wildlife Fund.
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Associated Press writer Donna Bryson in Johannesburg contributed to this report.
Africa Day 2009 – Irish Aid
Image by infomatique
PRESS RELEASE / Tuesday, 12th May 2009
A festival-style event in Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens is just one of over 30 events taking place throughout the country over the coming weeks to celebrate Africa Day 2009. Africa Day is an initiative of the African Union. It falls on 25th May each year and celebrates African diversity and success and the cultural and economic potential of the continent.
Unveiling this year’s programme for Africa Day in Ireland, the Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power T.D., said today:
“I am very proud to launch such a rich programme of events to mark Africa Day in Iveagh Gardens and throughout Ireland. The line-up of performances, fun family events, lectures and readings is truly spectacular. I want to encourage people of all ages throughout the country to come out and enjoy the many free events planned for Africa Day. The vast majority of performers and community groups involved in the celebrations are giving their time and energy for free. This is a great opportunity to join with people from all over Africa in celebrating their cultures and traditions.
“Ireland has very strong connections to Africa, through the work of Irish missionaries and non-governmental organisations, through growing business links and through our vibrant African community. Ireland’s overseas development assistance effort is strongly focused on sub-Saharan Africa. I am delighted that Irish Aid is in a position to support these events, promoting awareness of the development programme and of the countries with which we work”.
Irish Aid’s ‘Africa Day @ Iveagh Gardens’ takes place in Dublin on Sunday, 24th May from 12 noon to 8pm. The event will include a main stage, featuring high-profile African and Irish musicians; a cultural corner; food-tasting; an African Bazaar, sports activities, and arts and crafts. Admission to the event is free of charge, and visitors to the event are advised to use public transport. The event entrance is on Clonmel Street (off Harcourt Street, Dublin 2).
Other Africa Day events taking place around the country include a family day in the grounds of City Hall in Limerick on Sunday, 17th May; film festivals in Dublin, Louth and Galway; soccer tournaments in Dundalk and Monaghan; and a music and cultural festival in Cork; and a lecture on ‘Africa Moving Forward’ in Trinity College on Monday, 25th May.
The programme of events for Africa Day 2009 is being supported by Irish Aid, the Government’s overseas development programme. Full information on all events is available on www.irishaid.gov.ie.
CONTACT: Fionnuala Quinlan, Press Officer, Irish Aid @ 087-9099975
Catherine Heaney, Event Organiser, DHR Communications @ 01-4885808 or 087-2309835
LONDON – The Libyan rebels’ top military commander is dead, and Western confidence in the movement seeking to oust Moammar Gadhafi is shaken.
The killing of Abdel-Fattah Younis, in circumstances that remain murky, is a blow for the U.S., Britain, France and other countries backing Libya’s under-trained and divided opposition alliance.
Younis was Gadhafi’s feared security chief and his defection gave the rebels a major boost — but also left him hated on both sides. On Friday, speculation swirled about whether the regime or his own comrades had killed him, and what the death would mean for the deadlocked civil war.
Britain, one of the major participants in NATO’s anti-Gadhafi bombing campaign, condemned the killing, but was cautious in its response.
“Exactly what happened remains unclear,” said Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt. He said he had spoken to the rebels’ political leader, who had stressed that “the killing will be thoroughly investigated.”
“We agreed that it is important that those responsible are held to account through proper judicial processes,” Burt said.
Younis’ death was announced Thursday by the rebels, who gave conflicting accounts of the details — undermining Western confidence.
Rebel security officers initially said they had arrested Younis for questioning about alleged ties to Gadhafi’s regime. Later, rebel political leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil said Younis had been summoned for questioning on military matters but was shot dead with two aides before he arrived. He said the rebels had arrested a suspect, but had not found the bodies.
Abdul-Jalil did not say outright who he thought was behind the attack, but appeared to blame the regime, calling on rebel forces to ignore “these efforts by the Gadhafi regime to break our unity.”
Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Tripoli, said “the most straightforward explanation” was that Gadhafi forces had killed Younis — but that did not make it the most likely explanation.
“He had a lot of enemies,” Miles said. “It could be personal, it could be factional within the NTC,” the opposition National Transitional Council.
Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics, said that “given the infighting among the rebels, probably some elements that are opposed to him did it.”
He said that whoever was responsible, it was “a major blow to the credibility of the rebels.”
“Paris or London or Washington are probably extremely anxious about this turn of events,” Gerges said. “They are counting on the rebels to put their house in order.”
Younis’ death is a propaganda coup for Gadhafi’s forces, even if they did not kill him.
Younis was among the army officers who joined the 1969 coup that brought Gadhafi to power, and remained the dictator’s ally for more than 40 years, as a pillar of the country’s feared security apparatus.
He was the interior minister and commander of the powerful commando Lightning Brigade when he defected to the opposition early in the uprising that began in February. It was a coup for the rebels and their international allies — but many mistrusted Younis because of his long ties to the Gadhafi regime.
His death is a deeply worrying development for the more than 30 countries, including the United States, that have recognized the National Transitional Council as Libya’s legitimate government.
Britain this week used even stronger language, calling it the “sole” governmental authority and inviting the rebels to take over the Libyan embassy in London.
The diplomatic moves were an attempt to boost the rebels, who have made little military progress of late, despite the four-month-old NATO bombing campaign directed against Gadhafi’s forces. The rebels control of much of eastern Libya and pockets of the west, and Gadhafi retains hold over the rest from his stronghold in Tripoli, the capital.
Mahmud Nacua, the rebels’ newly named envoy to Britain, on Friday said he couldn’t comment on Younis’ death, explaining in a brief telephone interview that he didn’t have enough information about the case.
The killing opens up the possibility of a tribal split within the rebel alliance. Gerges said reports suggested Abdul-Jalil was urgently “trying to reassure the tribes that the killing of Younis was basically carried out by a rogue unit instead of being sanctioned by the leadership.”
France, another key member of the anti-Gadhafi alliance, said it was business as usual for the military mission.
Military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard said the French military had not changed its tactics or strategy since the announcement of the death.
“It’s a NATO operation, therefore it’s NATO’s strategy,” he told AP. He said the French had not received any new operational orders from NATO since the death was announced.
He suggested that a single individual’s absence would not signal a major shift, saying the operation was based on a U.N. mandate “and it does not let individual people feature in the game.”
France’s Le Monde newspaper took a harsher view, running a front-page editorial headlined “The Worrying Fragility of the Libyan Opposition.” It said the rebels’ version of events “is hardly reassuring,” and gives reason “to doubt the capacity of the council to exercise power.”
“This risks reinforcing Tripoli’s hand,” Le Monde wrote. “The council, while it hasn’t stopped gaining international legitimacy, always gives the image of a disorganized movement. The absence of firm political direction and limited military capacity, despite the support from NATO.”
Gerges said much depended on how the rebels handle the murder investigation, and whether they can make a military breakthrough.
“This could be a bump on the road,” he said, “or it could be a nail in the coffin of the narrative that the rebels define a different vision for Libya.”
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Raphael G. Satter in London and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
GUALISH, Libya (AFP) – Libyan rebels advanced on two fronts on Friday against Moamer Kadhafi's troops, who NATO reported still held two cities west of Tripoli, and the UN called for a peaceful transition to end the war.
In Washington, the US House of Representatives voted to forbid the Pentagon from arming, training, or advising the strife-torn North African nation's rebels.
While that provision, as part of the Defence Bill, has to go to Senate where it may face stiff opposition, Republican Senator John McCain denounced the vote as “deeply disturbing”.
McCain, a strong supporter of the rebels battling to oust Colonel Kadhafi, warned that it “sends exactly the wrong message to Kadhafi and those fighting for freedom and democracy in Libya — especially since Kadhafi is clearly crumbling.”
The strength of Kadhafi's position, however, appeared still unclear, with fighting continuing and huge pro- and anti-Kadhafi rallies in Libya's towns and cities.
Wing Commander Mike Bracken, the NATO mission's military spokesman, said “anti-Kadhafi forces look to have the initiative and are able to launch successful attacks against pro-Kadhafi forces.”
But Kadhafi forces still hold two cities west of the capital Tripoli, Zawiyah and Zuwarah, and are “rearming, regrouping and fighting in places such as Kikla, Misrata and Dafnia,” he added via video link from NATO operational headquarters in Naples.
Tripoli pressed its media offensive with several religious leaders calling for Friday prayers in the capital's Green Square to “beg God to protect Libya against invading crusaders and traitors,” a reference to NATO and the rebels.
A pro-Kadhafi demonstration broadcast on state television last week prompted a propaganda riposte by thousands of rebel supporters in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Wednesday.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon meanwhile called on Libya's regime to allow a peaceful transition as the rebels fighting went into day three of a NATO-backed offensive to the south and east of Tripoli.
AFP correspondents also reported rebel offensives in the Nefusa mountains to the west of the capital and also around the coastal town of Zliten.
In the United State, the country's involvement in the Libyan conflict remains unpopular with the US public and the anger of many US lawmakers surfaced on Thursday over President Barack Obama's handling of the conflict.
Republican Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma introduced the measure to bar US aid to the Libyan rebels, saying in a statement after the vote: “Congress has allowed the president to overreach in Libya.”
The statement denounced the US role in the NATO-led, UN-mandated operations in Libya as an “ill-advised adventure.”
In Europe, carrying out the lion's share of foreign involvement in the fighting, Poland said it had opened diplomatic ties with the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), installing its ambassador in the eastern stronghold of Benghazi.
Warsaw currently holds the rotating European Union presidency.
France said last week that it had supplied light arms including rifles and rocket launchers to the rebels for “self-defence” in line with a UN resolution and that it had informed NATO and the Security Council of its plan to do so.
Russia criticized the move while France's NATO ally Britain had expressed reservations. Paris said this week that the rebels no longer need weapons drops since they are getting more organized and can arrange to arm themselves.
UN chief Ban on Thursday urged Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi to stop the fighting, which began in February, and help improve humanitarian conditions.
In a telephone call, Ban stressed “the urgent need to find a way out of the current fighting and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation and work out a transition that could bring peace to all Libyans,” his office said.
He also said his special envoy to Libya Abdul Ilah al-Khatib was aiming to reach a peace deal for all Libyans.
Mahmudi had agreed that Khatib should be received in Tripoli “at an early date for urgent consultations,” Ban's office added.
BENGHAZI/NALUT, Libya (Reuters) – Libya's rebels said their military commander was shot dead in an incident that remained shrouded in mystery, pointing either to divisions within the movement trying to oust Muammar Gaddafi or to an assassination by Gaddafi loyalists.
The killing of Abdel Fattah Younes, who for years was in Gaddafi's inner circle before defecting to become the military chief in the rebel Transitional National Council (TNC), set back a movement that was at last beginning to acquire cohesion as international pressure on the Gaddafi regime intensifies.
Mourners brought a coffin carrying the burned and bullet-riddled body of Younes into the main square of Benghazi, the rebels' eastern stronghold, on Friday, his nephew told Reuters.
“We got the body yesterday here (in Benghazi), he had been shot with bullets and burned,” Younes's nephew, Abdul Hakim, said as he followed the coffin through the square. “He had called us at 10 o'clock (on Thursday morning) to say he was on his way here.”
Younes was killed in mysterious circumstances on Thursday after being recalled to Benghazi from the front line near the oil port of Brega.
“It seems this was an assassination operation organized by Gaddafi's men. Gaddafi's security apparatus has fulfilled their aim and objective of getting rid of Younes,” London-based Libyan journalist and activist Shamis Ashour told Reuters.
“By doing that they think they will create divisions among the rebels. There certainly was treason, a sleeping cell among the rebels. Younes was on the front line and was lured to come back to Benghazi and was killed before he reached Benghazi. This is a big setback and a big loss to the rebels.”
The killing coincided with the start of a rebel offensive in the west and further international recognition for their cause, which they hope to translate into access to billions of dollars in frozen funds.
The rebels said Younes was shot dead by assailants after being summoned back from the battlefield.
Witnesses said the killing was greeted with jubilation by Gaddafi's supporters in the Libyan capital Tripoli.
After a day of rumors, rebel political leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said Younes and two bodyguards had been killed before he could make a requested appearance before a rebel judicial committee investigating military issues.
It was not clear where the attack took place.
Younes was not trusted by all of the rebel leadership due to his previous role in cracking down on anti-Gaddafi dissidents.
But his death is likely to be a severe blow to a movement that has won the backing of some 30 nations but is laboring to make progress on the battlefield.
“A lot of the members of the TNC were Gaddafi loyalists for a very long time. They were in his inner circle and joined the TNC at a later stage,” said Geoff Porter from North Africa Risk Consulting.
The rebels claimed to have seized several towns in the Western Mountains on Thursday but have yet to make a serious breakthrough. With prospects of a swift negotiated settlement fading, both sides seem prepared for the five-month civil war to grind on into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in August.
A rebel official said no deal was worth talking about unless it meant Gaddafi and his powerful sons left Libya, while the veteran leader vowed to fight on “until victory, until martyrdom.”
Soon after Jalil's announcement, gunmen entered the grounds of the hotel in the rebels' main city of Benghazi where he was speaking and fired shots in the air, a Reuters reporter said. No one was hurt.
At least four explosions rocked the center of Tripoli on Thursday evening as airplanes were heard overhead. The city has come under frequent NATO bombing since Western nations intervened on the side of the rebels in March under a U.N. mandate to prevent Gaddafi's forces from killing civilians.
The killing of Younes, who was involved in the 1969 coup that brought Gaddafi to power and then became his interior minister, came after the rebels attacked Ghezaia, a town near the Tunisian border held by Gaddafi throughout the war.
By late Thursday, the rebels said they had taken control of the town, from which Gaddafi forces had controlled an area of the plains below the mountains.
“Gaddafi's forces left the areas when the attack started,” said rebel fighter Ali Shalback. “They fled toward the Tunisian border and other areas.”
Reuters could not go to Ghezaia to confirm the report, as rebels said the area around the town could be mined. But looking through binoculars from a rebel-held ridge near Nalut, reporters could see no sign of Gaddafi's forces in Ghezaia.
Juma Ibrahim, a rebel commander in the Western Mountains, told Reuters by phone from the town of Zintan that Takut and Um al Far had also been seized in the day's offensive.
Rebels have taken swathes of Libya since rising up to end Gaddafi's 41-year rule in the oil-producing North African state.
They hold northeast Libya including their stronghold Benghazi; the western city of Misrata; and much of the Western Mountains, their closest territory to the capital.
Yet they remain poorly armed and often disorganized.
The fighting has settled into a stalemate in a conflict that Gaddafi has weathered for five months, despite rebel gains, mainly in the east, and hundreds of NATO air raids on his forces and military infrastructure.
A recent flurry of diplomatic activity has yielded little, with the rebels insisting Gaddafi step down as a first step and his government saying his role is non-negotiable.
Western suggestions that Gaddafi might be able to stay in Libya after ceding power appeared to fall on deaf ears.
(Additional reporting by Samia Nakhoul in London, Hamid Oul Ahmed in Algiers, Missy Ryan and Lutfi Abu Aun in Tripoli, Andrei Khalip in Lisbon, Olesya Dmitracova and Ikuko Kurahone in London, Sylvia Westall in Vienna, Humeyra Pamuk in Dubai and Patrick Worsnip in New York; Joseph Nasr in Berlin, Ahmed Tolba in Cairo; writing by David Lewis and Richard Meares; editing by Mark Heinrich and Giles Elgood)
HARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwe is in talks with US financial authorities to import American coins, after dollarisation left the country without any change, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said Thursday in state media.
“Efforts to import small dollar coins to ease the small change problem are continuing, with the Bankers' Association of Zimbabwe now spearheading the process in liaison with US financial authorities,” he said in The Herald newspaper.
“It is envisaged that the coins will be availed before the end of the year,” he said.
Zimbabwe abandoned its local currency in 2009, after years of hyperinflation left it worthless. Now the government allows trade in major foreign currencies, but the US dollar has taken over as the currency of reference.
US banknotes are now readily available, but the country has no coins.
If shoppers make a purchase that doesn't total an even dollar amount, they are forced to buy candies or other small items to make up the difference. Otherwise they receive a handwritten IOU on the back of their till slip, redeemable back at the same shop.