You are in the the 161st diary of the liveblog bearing witness to the 2011 populist uprisings. We stand with our international friends and their courageous struggle for dignity, self-determination and human rights. (see more about the other work or our group below)
PLS REC this diary to maximize how many people bear witness. PLS UNREC the previous liveblog diary.
Libya is, justifiably, capturing our attention. Will the intervention help without taking ownership of the revolution from the Libyan people? Will it even help turn the tide or will there be a long, drawn out stalemate of a civil war? How long will international forces be there? What exactly will they and won't they do? It's all very anxiety-ridden and we will continue to bear witness. While doing so, please remember to give some of your witnessing time to Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt, etc. We post updates for them all when we can. Syria is particularly worrisome today....
Libya-new
The full text of UN Resolution 1973 on Libya
President Obama's letter to Congress regarding the commencement of operations in Libya found here. (h/t greenbird)
Al Jazeera Libyan live blog found here. (h/t jnhobbs)
UK Telegraph Libyan live blog found here. (h/t bee tzu)
BBC Libyan live blog found here. (h/t greenbird)
The New Yorker Dispatches from Libya found here. (h/t suejazz)
(h/t ny brit expat = 3/23) - Of Principle and Peril
Reasonable, principled people can disagree about whether, in an ideal world, Western military intervention in Libya’s internal war would be a moral imperative. With Saddam Hussein dead and gone, there is arguably no more capricious and overbearing dictator in the Arab world than Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi. The uprising of the Libyan people against him, beginning on February 17, was courageous beyond measure. It seems certain that, absent outside help, the subsequent armed insurrection would have been doomed to sputter amidst the colonel’s bloody reprisals.
But the world is not an ideal one. It is not clear what principle differentiates Libya from other countries in conflagration as targets of Western foray. Antipathy for despots? The royal family of Bahrain has imported troops from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere to quash a peaceful groundswell against its arbitrary rule. Abhorrence of state violence? In Yemen, the embattled regime of ‘Ali ‘Abdallah Salih killed some 45 unarmed protesters on the very day that French warplanes began patrolling a no-fly zone over Libya. Solidarity with the weak? The POLISARIO front has spent decades begging for enforcement of the UN resolutions demanding an end to Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. Concern for civilians in the crossfire? Fighting in the Ivory Coast has forced 90,000 people to flee into neighboring Liberia, says the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, as the sitting president refuses to cede power to the internationally recognized victor in the December 2010 election. Without leaving Libya’s Arab and African neighborhood, one can find several places where arguments for forceful intercession could be made.
(h/t greenbird - 3/23) From the BBC Liveblog:
1532: Back now to Misrata, which has seen some of the heaviest fighting in recent days. The town is cut off, but a spokesman for the rebels, Mohamed, has told the BBC: "Misrata was in a desperate state yesterday, we almost lost all hope, but the strikes came at a good time with good intensity and frequency. They even managed to take out some convoys inside the city which was very impressive. Gaddafi's forces have been hiding in a hospital... I can tell you that there've been zero casualties from international strikes... There are snipers on top of buildings; Gaddafi's forces are still stationed on the main street - Tripoli street - but there's no random shelling anymore... I've been able to go out, I've seen bakeries and groceries open for the first time in many days. The strikes made such a difference - Gaddafi's forces are scared of them. I want to express our gratitude and appreciation for these actions, we will never ever forget!"
(h/t jnhobbs)
Top Ten Ways that Libya 2011 is Not Iraq 2003
Here are the differences between George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the current United Nations action in Libya:
1. The action in Libya was authorized by the United Nations Security Council. That in Iraq was not. By the UN Charter, military action after 1945 should either come as self-defense or with UNSC authorization. Most countries in the world are signatories to the charter and bound by its provisions.
2. The Libyan people had risen up and thrown off the Qaddafi regime, with some 80-90 percent of the country having gone out of his hands before he started having tank commanders fire shells into peaceful crowds. It was this vast majority of the Libyan people that demanded the UN no-fly zone. In 2002-3 there was no similar popular movement against Saddam Hussein.
(h/t Claudius Bombarnac) - Timeline of the 2011 Libyan uprising
The 2011 Libyan uprising began on 15 February 2011 as a civil protest and has since become a widespread uprising. On 25 February 2011, most of Libya was reported to be under the control of the Libyan opposition and not the government of Muammar al-Gaddafi Gaddafi remained in control of Tripoli, Sirt and Sabha.
More regional tidbits after the fold....bold section names indicate fresh content...
The liveblog is primarily for witnessing, for other activities see the group stream.
We are in the process of collecting suggested readings for background reference materials in support of the Eyes on Egypt and the Region group. These readings may be either non-fiction or fiction, general to the region or specific to a country or issue. If there are resources which you believe aid our understanding of the events and processes we are witnessing, please either a) post a comment in the Liveblog with the title "Suggested reading:" and a brief description of the reading in the body of the comment, or b) send your suggestions via the dKos internal mailer to angry marmot.
Libyan Doctors for Hospitals in Libya an impressive new aide organization launched by one of our own: StepLeftStepForward.
Please place links and info for intervention ideas (humanitarian and beyond) in comments titled "Intervention". We encourage you to provide information without imploring, disrespecting those who might not pursue the intervention, or engaging long debates about the merits. With uniform content labeling, those interested can readily find them and those who want to produce intervention diaries can gather the data efficiently. Please post the link if you do produce an intervention resource diary. We'll include it in the next updated liveblog. Thank you.
The group is producing a series of diaries that provide background and analysis on the region in general and on individual countries. We hope to provide a context for interpreting current events in the news. The published diaries in the series are:
Eyes on Egypt and the Region Background Resources
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NOTE: We have renamed the liveblog "Witnessing Revolution". What started in Egypt has spread rapidly. It's not clear that it will be limited by geography or ethnicity. So, we wanted a name which states what is happening yet allows us to grow with the movement, wherever that will be. The number sequence will be continuous. The group name will remain the same. Only this particular diary series within the group will have a name change.
GENERAL ANALYSIS-new
(h/t suejazz)The globalisation of revolution
To listen to the hype about social networking websites and the Egyptian revolution, one would think it was Silicon Valley and not the Egyptian people who overthrew Mubarak.
Via its technologies, the West imagines itself to have been the real agent in the uprising. Since the internet developed out of a US Defense Department research project, it could be said the Pentagon did it, along with Egyptian youth imitating wired hipsters from London and Los Angeles.
Most narratives of globalisation are fantastically Eurocentric, stories of Western white men burdened with responsibility for interconnecting the world, by colonising it, providing it with economic theories and finance, and inventing communications technologies. Of course globalisation is about flows of people as well, about diasporas and cultural fusion.
But neither version is particularly useful for organising resistance to the local dictatorship. In any case, the internet was turned off at decisive moments in the Egyptian uprising, and it was ordinary Egyptians, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, who toppled the regime, not the hybrid youth of the global professional classes.
(h/t suejazz)Happy Anniversary, Iraq War
As the United States and its European allies launch attacks against the regime of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddhafi, it seems almost poignant that this third military intervention in a Muslim country in the last decade began nearly eight years to the day that the United States invaded Iraq. It is a fitting reminder that even as 50,000 soldiers remain in Iraq, and American soldiers continue to be killed and maimed there, the lessons of that disastrous decision to go to war remain largely unlearned by many in the foreign policy community.
At the outset it's important to acknowledge the key differences in the manner in which these interventions have been undertaken and the differing levels of international and regional legitimacy that they possess. But it is the similarities that are more disquieting. The U.S. has yet again become involved in a military effort of indeterminate length, justified through a questionable definition of national interest and with little forethought to the long-term consequences of utilizing military force. It seems the costs and consequences of Iraq have simply not been fully appreciated by policymakers and pundits. A full accounting is therefore in order.
ALGERIA(note - this update relates to Algeria's response to the intervention in Libya)
(h/t suejazz ) - Algeria demands end to air strikes on Libya
- Algeria on Tuesday called for an immediate end to Western military intervention in neighbouring Libya, Algeria's state news agency reported.
"We judge this intervention to be disproportionate in relation to the objective set out by the United Nations Security Council resolution," the APS news agency quoted Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci as saying. "(We demand) an immediate cessation of hostilities and foreign intervention."
BAHRAIN
(h/t suejazz - 3/23) - The Bahrain crisis and its regional dangers
While US and international attention is focused largely elsewhere in the region, especially Libya, the violent crackdown against protestors in the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain may well pose a bigger threat to the entire region's stability. The Bahrain situation is exposing long simmering tensions and rivalries between Saudi Arabia and Iran and carries the danger that it will trigger the next regional war. Such a scenario would likely draw in the United States at a time when its relationships with key allies in the region, especially Saudi Arabia, are under strain. Urgent action is therefore needed to de-escalate the situation in Bahrain and create the trust necessary for the government and opposition to start a much delayed national dialogue that charts the future of the country.
Worryingly, a senior unidentified Saudi official has described the mission of Saudi and other GCC troops to support the Bahraini security forces as "open-ended." A three month state of emergency has led to a campaign of house raids and arrests that have included the leaders of the main opposition parties, as well as human rights activists and other dissidents. There are also mounting concerns that these combined security forces are using disproportionate force and committing serious violations of international law and humanitarian law. The space for dialogue seems to be rapidly closing.
Un-Unified Oppositions in Bahrain and Yemen
Bahrain's pro-democracy uprising, initially supported by both Sunnis and Shiites, is being painted by an alarmed leadership and its Saudi ally as a pro-Iranian effort to increase power and influence in Gulf countries, an explanation being used by the Bahrain monarchy to justify its tough response, says Middle East expert Kristin Smith Diwan. She also says that Yemen's besieged leader, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, has now asked for Saudi mediation. Diwan says that the strong stand by the Gulf Coordination Council, pushed by the Saudis, was to prevent a downfall of Gulf monarchs comparable to those in Tunisia and Egypt, however, the protest movements in Bahrain and Yemen have not been able to bridge "entrenched societal divisions" and sectarian tensions. As for the United States, she notes that "they are trying to separate themselves from the repressive action that has taken place without clearly denouncing it and asking for the troops to leave. The local reading of this will be that the United States is supportive of what's taking place."
(h/t suejazz - 3/23) - Bahrain rulers unleash 'campaign of intimidation'
With all eyes focused on the conflict in Libya, the authorities in Bahrain are waging a campaign of fear and intimidation in the tiny Gulf kingdom, aimed at silencing opponents who aid the foreign media.
The latest raids started very early in the morning last Friday and continued over the weekend.
Members of Bahrain's feared National Security Apparatus (NSA) stormed into the homes of prominent human rights and pro-democracy activists.
Among those targeted were people providing photos and videos of police and army brutality to foreign journalists.
One e-mailed me with a single word in the subject line: "help".
"Dear Mr Bill," wrote Ahmad (not his real name).
"The riot police came to my home last night. More than 20 of them searching. But I wasn't there."
He was warned by his father not to come home.
I contacted the father by e-mail and he sent me further details.
"They came early Sunday morning at 0230 on 20 March 2011. We heard them knocking [at] our main bedroom. I was sleeping with my wife and my two daughters on the first floor. They are about 20 to 30 persons and their faces are covered and we can only see their eyes and some of them are carrying guns.
"They entered the house from one of the windows. They did not identify themselves, but just kept asking: Where is Ahmad? They searched all the rooms and cupboards and then they asked again for Ahmad and we told them he is outside the house and we do not know his location."
Ahmad's father is a businessman who has never been involved in any political activity. He told me he is horrified by what is happening in Bahrain and by the behaviour of the security police.
COTE D'IVOIRE
(h/t suejazz ) - Ivory Coast may cause region-wide crisis
As the world’s attention is focused elsewhere, the power struggle in Ivory Coast has escalated and now threatens a region-wide humanitarian crisis.
Laurent Gbagbo remains the de facto leader of Ivory Coast despite finishing second in the November 28 presidential elections. He contests that result and has called on the country’s youth to join him in taking up arms. Thousands of supporters answered his call.
His rival, Alassane Ouattara, is recognised by the international community as the rightful winner of the election and legitimate president of Ivory Coast. He is backed by rebel forces, whom he has adopted as his army.
According to the United Nations, at least 435 people have been killed and as many as 450,000 have fled their homes since the political crisis began. Human rights groups claim atrocities have been committed by both sides.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, whose country is hosting some 90,000 Ivorian refugees, said that Ivory Coast is already “at war” and that the tensions will further destabilise a region that has struggled with bloody conflict for many years.
(h/t suejazz ) - Nigeria condemns world focus on Libya over Ivory Coast
Nigeria's foreign minister has accused the international community of double standards by imposing a no-fly zone to protect civilians in Libya while doing little to end abuses in crisis-torn Ivory Coast.
Nigeria is the linchpin of West African bloc ECOWAS, which has threatened the use of force in Ivory Coast to push incumbent Laurent Gbagbo from power after he refused to accept defeat in an election the United Nations said rival Alassane Ouattara won.
Around 400 Ivorians have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes since the disputed poll. Thousands of youth supporters of Gbagbo answered a call to join the army this week, adding fuel to fear that the violent power struggle risks sending the country back to civil war.
Western powers, led by the U.S., have in recent days launched air strikes and enforced a no-fly zone over Libya to protect civilians as the country's leader Muammar Gaddafi fights a civil war against rebels trying to oust him from power.
Speaking at the commissioning of a new foreign ministry building in the capital Abuja, Nigerian Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia said the contradictions were "impossible to ignore".
"The contradictions between principle and national interest ... have enabled the international community to impose a no-fly zone over Libya ostensibly to protect innocent civilians from slaughter, but to watch seemingly helplessly (in Ivory Coast) as ...men, women and children are slaughtered in equally, even if less egregious violence," he said.
decembersue has an excellent diary here. Good reading for those interested in this story.
DJIBOUTI
(h/t suejazz) - Election observers quit Djibouti
An international election observation team funded by the US is pulling out of Djibouti after being declared “illegal” less than a month before the country goes to polls boycotted by the opposition.
Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, foreign minister, told the Financial Times the group had failed to maintain neutrality and that the country was seeking to avert scenes of “chaos and upheaval” similar to those across the Middle East and north Africa.
The tiny port state, ruled by the same party since independence in 1977, has faced a series of opposition rallies in past weeks as many have sought to imitate a wave of democratic fervour that has swept north Africa. At least one person was killed during protests in which police lobbed teargas at rock-throwing demonstrators on February 18.
Mr Ali Youssouf said the US group had several times exhibited “very very concerning behaviour”, offering food and water to demonstrators, carrying participants in their cars. On March 2, Djiboutian authorities declared the US group, Democracy International, “illegal”.
EGYPT
(h/t JustJennifer ) - Egypt: Fire at interior ministry after police protest
A fire which broke out in a building in the Egyptian interior ministry compound in Cairo has now been extinguished, eyewitnesses say.
It came after a protest outside the building by about 3,000 police demanding better pay and conditions.
The cause of the fire, in the building housing the personnel department, is not yet known.
Last month, police set fire to the same building after demanding thousands of officers be reinstated.
Widespread strikes and labour-related protests have broken out since longtime President Hosni Mubarak was ousted last month after 18 days of demonstrations.
(h/t Angry Marmot) - Tuesday's papers: Anxiety of Islamist-takeover grows in wake of referendum
Tuesday's editorials and columns reflect the anxiety of various journalists and writers about the influence of Islamists, who strongly backed proposed amendments to Egypt's Constitution.
The Muslim Brotherhood, banned under former president Hosni Mubarak, has hailed the results of Saturday's national referendum, in which more than 77 percent of voters favored the amendments.
Veteran journalist Galal Dweidar, in his daily column for the state-run Al-Akhbar, analyzed the ways in which voters were pushed to vote "yes" in the nation's first democratic exercise in decades.
(h/t Angry Marmot) - What was religion doing in the debate on the Constitutional amendments?
After the victory for the “Yes” camp, many are wondering whether this was a consequence of the religious sway of Islamists and Salafists.
Egypt, which held its first referendum in 1956 after the collapse of the monarchy, held its 22nd and what many are calling its freest, fairest referendum on Saturday.
The proposed constitutional amendments put to the vote largely dealt with the articles of the 1971 constitution pertaining to presidential elections and the president’s term in office.
(h/t Angry Marmot) - Prominent Egypt Salafi proclaims victory for religion in referendum
One of Egypt’s prominent Salafi sheikhs, Mohamed Hussein Yaqoub, said that religion won in Saturday's referendum on constitutional amendments.
The Muslim Brotherhood and some Salafi groups had urged supporters before the referendum to support the changes, which leave untouched a part of the Constitution that names Islam as the primary source of legislation. More than 77 percent of voters voted in favor of the proposed amendments, but some groups wanted more changes made.
(h/t Angry Marmot) - Alexandria human rights group slams Salafists
A report issued by an Alexandria human rights group, Baladi (my country), slammed the city's Salafists for what it described as “blatant violations” of democratic practice in their campaigning for a “yes” vote in yesterday's referendum on Constitutional amendments.
According to the report, the Salfists accused other political parties of being anti-religious and infidel, and claimed that all those who call for a “no” vote were enemies of Islamic Shari'a and supporters “of those who do not follow the path of God and his Prophet.”
IRAN
(h/t JustJennifer ) - Iran 'frees 80-year-old opposition head'
Ebrahim Yazdi, the 80-year-old head of a banned liberal party who was arrested last October 1, was released from prison on Sunday, state news agency IRNA reported.
Yazdi, a former foreign minister, was arrested in the city of Isfahan along with several other members of the Freedom Movement of Iran.
He was also detained in June 2009 during a wave of unrest which followed the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the opposition in the Islamic republic said was the result of massive fraud.
IRAQ
(h/t JustJennifer ) - Police officer killed in N. Iraq demonstration
The mayor of a town in Iraq's Kurdish self-ruled region says one policeman was fatally shot and ten others wounded during a demonstration.
JORDAN
(h/t suejazz - 3/23) - Jordan's king blames PM for slow reform
AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan's King Abdullah II is blaming his appointed prime minister for delaying changes to the political system the monarch proposed as a response to calls for more democracy.
The changes include a new electoral law to replace one critics say favors the king's loyalists and has produced a docile parliament.
The premier has responsibilty for pushing legislation through the parliament, the only elected body in Jordan's government. The legislature has taken no action on drawing up reform bills since the king proposed them Feb. 9.
Abdullah told Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit in a written letter published in Jordanian newspapers Wednesday that the reform process needs "decisive and quick" measures and he "will not accept any excuse" for delays.
(h/t suejazz - 3/23) - Kuwait and Jordan to contribute to Libya effort
Kuwait and Jordan are to make logistical contributions to back efforts to protect civilians in Libya, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday, emphasising broad support for operations.
He also said a no-fly zone was in place over Libya, and 11 nations were contributing over 150 aircraft.
"I think as we discussed on Monday there has been an early and good effect in terms of regime forces having to retreat from Benghazi, but clearly there is great concern about what the regime is doing in Misrata," he told parliament.
"We will be getting logistic contributions from countries like Kuwait and also Jordan," he added.
New 3/23
(h/t suejazz - 3/23) - Jordan is ripe for reform
Jordan possesses many of the characteristics of other Arab states that have led to popular demands for reform. It is subject to tyrannical, autocratic rule. Corruption is rife. Democracy and freedom are in short supply. Political reform is a pressing and urgent need in Jordan, as it is elsewhere in the region.
For the past 10 years, successive governments in Jordan have used the legislative system to organise systematic attacks on political and civil society while targeting the Islamic Movement – the main opposition party in the country. They have put in place many laws that restrict freedom of speech and curtail democracy, ranging from legislation aiming for full control over the mosques, to those limiting public meetings, and enforcing an infamous non-representative election law.
This political decline has been accompanied by an economic downturn. Public money was wasted due to widespread corruption. Public debt hit a record high at close to $11bn (£6.7bn) in 2010. The budget deficit increased to more than $1.5bn with levels of poverty increasing from 32% in 2006 to 42% in 2010. Unemployment rates also increased, and exceeded 34% among young people.
There is also a decline in the level of education and research. One university head, Dr Adnan al-Bakhit, says that in Jordan, "education is dead". This is accompanied by increasing social tension. Crime has increased, and the number of suicides among young people has doubled, as has the rate of divorce.
KUWAIT (note: this update relates to Kuwait's involvement in Bahrain)
(h/t suejazz - 3/23) - Libya action: Arab support very strong, Cameron says
Arab support for the military operation over Libya is "very strong", Prime Minister David Cameron has said.
He told the House of Commons Kuwait and Jordan would take part, and that Qatar already had planes in action.
Mr Cameron was speaking as British forces resumed patrols in the skies over Libya, with Tornado and Typhoon jets seen taking off from their bases.
The coalition operation to protect civilians from Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces is in its fifth day.
'Saving lives'
The RAF's commander of the air operation, Air Vice Marshal Greg Bagwell, said on Wednesday that the Libyan air force "no longer exists as a fighting force", and the allies could operate "with near impunity".
LEBANON
(h/t suejazz - 3/23) - Bahrain suspends flights to Lebanon amid strained relations
Beirut - Bahrain's state-run Gulf Air on Wednesday suspended all flights to Lebanon in a move to protest statements made by the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement against authorities in the kingdom.
'We were informed that Gulf Air will suspend all flights to Lebanon starting March 23,' a source at Beirut's international airport told the German Press Agency dpa.
Authorities in Bahrain on Tuesday asked citizens not to travel to Lebanon. Earlier this month, the Gulf Air suspended flights from Manama to Iran and Iraq, in similar moves.
Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, speaking at a rally in Beirut Saturday, referred to events in Bahrain as a 'special injustice'.
MAURITANIA:
(h/t mali muso) - Mauritania protesters want better salaries, lower food prices
Hundreds of people took to the streets after Friday afternoon prayers, demanding more jobs and decent food prices. What was initially meant as a peaceful protest, ended with protesters throwing stones at security forces and setting fire to car tires.
...
Protesters distributed bottles of fresh water to security forces surrounding them, while the authorities continued to deny any access to Blokat square. Demonstrators prevented Mauritania TV from covering the protests, fearing the station would use the footage for political propaganda. Protesters earlier complained about police women pretending to be journalists. The videos were reportedly used by intelligent forces to identify youth leaders and facilitate future arrests.
MOROCCO
(h/t JustJennifer)
Several hundred keep up protest pressure in Morocco
Several hundred teachers marched through Rabat on Monday for better pay a day after one of Morocco's largest anti-government protests in recent decades against corruption and demanding government change.
Monday's protest, which briefly and noisily disrupted traffic in central Rabat, proceeded peacefully, as did wider nationwide protests on Sunday in the North African kingdom.
"This is an open sit-in: we will protest every day until we get our rights," said Aziz Benjloud, who was among a group teachers seeking better pay and benefits. "We are about 5,000 teachers in all Morocco. Today we are about 1,500 people protesting in Rabat and tomorrow other teachers will arrive from other regions."
OMAN
(h/t suejazz - 3/23) - Protesters in Oman camp out at a government complex, demand 'corrupt' ministers resign
MUSCAT, Oman - Protesters in Oman have set up a tent camp at a government complex in the capital Muscat, saying they will not leave until several ministers they accuse of corruption leave.
Hundreds of demonstrators Wednesday demanded the ouster of the justice, housing and labour ministers and the attorney general.
Oman's ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said has made sweeping Cabinet shake-ups since the start of strikes and sit-ins, staged by thousands of workers and pro-reform activists in the strategic Gulf nation.
Protests for jobs, pay hikes, and a greater public role in politics started last month. They were inspired by anti-government demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt.
Oman shares control of the Gulf waterway that carries 40 per cent of the world's oil tanker traffic with Iran.
PALESTINE
QATAR:
(h/t UnaSpenser ) - Al Jazeera journalist killed in Libyan ambush
Al Jaber is the first journalist to be killed during the Libyan uprising generated a wave of spontaneous revulsion and anger. Outside the courthouse, the epicentre of the anti-Qadhafi revolt. Thousands gathered to mourn the loss of an intrepid journalist, and to reinforce their resolve to unseat the regime of the Libyan leader, Muammar Qadhafi.
“Here and now, Libyan and Qatari blood is mixed for the sake of freedom. Our condolences go to the Qatari people and the Al Jazeera channel” read a prominent banner held aloft by several young protesters. As the sun dipped over the Mediterranean and the lights outside the courthouse came alive, the Qatari national flag was raised from the top of the building.
Wadah Khanfar, Director-General of the Qatar based Al Jazeera channel said the network would not be silenced. The killing of Al Jaber, he said, came after Mr. Qadhafi launched an “unprecedented campaign” against the channel.
(h/t UnaSpenser) -
Monday calender the week ahead
WEDNESDAY
MARCH 16
- An anti-government protest organized on Facebook is scheduled in Doha, Qatar.
SAUDI ARABIA
(h/t JustJennifer ) - Saudi Arabia to hold municipal elections next month after delay of year and a half
Saudi Arabia announced Tuesday it will hold municipal elections next month after a delay of a year and a half that had angered rights activists.
In a setback to reform advocates, the voting on April 23 will not be open to women.
The kingdom held its first municipal elections in 2005, the first elections ever held under the absolute monarchy. The councils have little power, but many Saudis jumped at the chance for even a small voice in politics and saw the elections as a sign the conservative kingdom was ushering in a new era of reform. Half the seats are elected while the rest are appointed.
SYRIA-new
(h/t suejazz - 3/23) - Six Protesters Killed in Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria — At least six people were killed early Wednesday when Syrian security forces attacked protesters who had taken refuge in a mosque in the center of the southern city of Dara’a, news agencies reported.
But Syrian state television described a very different scene, showing guns, grenades and ammunition that it said had been taken from inside the Omari mosque. The television report acknowledged four dead, but said they had been killed when “an armed gang” attacked an ambulance, The Associated Press reported.
Why the accounts of violence and of the number killed differed was not immediately known.
Despite emergency laws that have banned public gatherings for nearly 50 years protests have grown over the last week in several cities around Syria. The largest have been in Dara’a, with thousands taking to the streets on Friday and again on Sunday, when protesters burned government buildings and clashed with the police. Several people were reported to have died.
(h/t suejazz - 3/23) - Deaths as Syrian forces 'storm mosque'
Security forces have attempted to storm a mosque in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, reportedly killing at least six people.
The government, however, blamed the violence on an "armed gang", according to the state-run SANA news agency.
Residents said heavy gunfire was heard near the Omari mosque in the early hours of Wednesday in the city, which has been the scene of anti-government protests since Friday.
"It seems that security forces may be trying to storm the complex. It is not clear because electricity has been cut off. Tear gas is also being used," one resident told the Reuters news agency.
Protesters calling for political freedoms and an end to corruption had said earlier that they were going to remain in the mosque until their demands were met.
Mohammed Al Abdallah, an exiled Syrian rights activist living in the US, said he had been communicating with people in Daraa who told him that a doctor was among those killed.
"Security forces opened fire, they used bombs and live ammunition," he told Al Jazeera. "There are many injuries, including women and children."
He said electricity had been cut off before the attack and that security forces were preventing ambulances from entering the centre of Daraa, where the mosque is located.
TUNISIA
(h/t suejazz - 3/23) - Mother Tells UN’s Ban How Son’s Suicide Sparked Tunisia Revolt
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made his last appointment in Tunis his most meaningful one: a visit with the mother of the 26-year-old unemployed Tunisian whose self-immolation sparked a revolution.
Ban heard firsthand of the despair that led her son to set himself on fire outside the governor’s office on Dec. 17. His death 19 days later triggered protests over unemployment, corruption and rising food prices that culminated in President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s Jan. 14 flight toSaudi Arabia.
“Mohamed Bouazizi’s story is as tragic as it is inspiring,” Ban told a gathering of civil society at the Regency Hotel in Tunis. “His cry resonated so widely that Tunisia and the rest of the Arab world will never be the same.”
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
(h/t suejazz - 3/23) - UAE withheld Libya support over Bahrain, ex-army chief says
The UAE refused to support military operations in Libya because of anger that its US and European allies failed to take a stronger stand against what the UAE sees as Iranian involvement in Bahrain, the former head of the country’s air force said.
“What’s going on in Bahrain is not like Tunisia or Egypt - it’s a wide Shiite coup supported by Hezbollah, supported by Iran,” Major General Khaled Bu-Ainnain said in an interview on Wednesday. He said he believed that the Gulf Cooperation Council would consider supporting coalition efforts in Libya “if they take a more firm stance in the Iranian and foreign meddling in Bahraini internal affairs and GCC internal affairs in general.”
The UAE said on Tuesday it would only provide humanitarian support to Libyan civilians, two days after a coalition including the US, UK and France launched a first wave of attacks to enforce a no-fly zone. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Arab participation “extraordinarily important” and said more can be expected.
(h/t suejazz - 3/22) - UAE Said To Have Changed View On Libya Deployment Due To Bahrain
The United Arab Emirates was prepared to deploy 24 aircraft to help enforce a no-fly zone over Libya but decided not to participate in the allied effort because of U.S. and European policies towards Bahrain, the former commander-in-chief of the U.A.E. Air Force said Tuesday.
"The U.A.E. was willing, and there were preparations, to deploy a significant number of aircraft for the no-fly zone, but a reprioritization--specifically the European and U.S. positions on Bahrain--did not satisfy the Gulf states to this end," said Maj. General Khalid Al Buainnain. Speaking on the sidelines of an Abu Dhabi conference, he said the U.A.E. had been prepared to deploy two squadrons of 12 aircraft each to Libya.
Buainnain said the U.S. and Europe had failed to appreciate the extent of Iran's interference in the Gulf countries, and had misread the protests in Bahrain as a spill-over of calls for democratic change sweeping through the region.
"What's going on in Bahrain is much beyond our Western allies to understand it," he said. "It is a complete conspiracy of the Iranians in the region...The European and U.S. positions are unable to imagine the extent of Iranian intervention in Bahrain."
"Its a matter of political disagreement--not a matter of resources--between the Gulf states and the Europe and U.S.," Buainnain said.
(h/t suejazz - 3/22) - Al Attiyah: UAE, Qatar part of coalition, Gaddafi has to go/a>
Abu Dhabi: Qatar and the UAE are part of the international coalition that is implementing a UN-imposed no-fly zone over Libya, whose regime has lost legitimacy and must go, the outgoing chief of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said Monday.
While stressing the mission of the multinational force seeks only to protect civilians, Hamad Abdul Rahman Al Attiyah, Secretary-General of the GCC, said what is happening now is not a foreign intervention. “It is about protecting the [Libyan] people from bloodshed,” he said.
Speaking on the sidelines of a regional security conference organised by the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) in Abu Dhabi, Al Attiyah did not clarify the role of Qatar or the UAE in the Libyan operations or whether they have taken part in the ongoing operation so far.
The statement came as British, French and American planes bombarded Muammar Gaddafi’s anti-aircaft sites for a second night and also destroyed a line of his tanks moving onto Benghazil in eastern Libya.
WESTERN SAHARA
(h/t suejazz ) - Western Sahara: ‘We only want our country’
Western Sahara is the last country in Africa awaiting decolonisation.
Invaded by Spain in the late 19th century, mass mobilisations in the early 1970s heralded the birth of the modern independence movement.
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YEMEN
(h/t Angry Marmot - 3/22) - Yemen president warns of civil war, U.S. concerned
Yemen's president warned on Tuesday his country would descend into civil war if he were forced to quit and Washington voiced concern about instability in the Arabian state that has become an al Qaeda stronghold.
Seven weeks of unrelenting anti-government protests and defections among the ruling elite have piled pressure on Saleh, a U.S. ally against radical Islamist ambitions in the Arabian peninsula, to step down immediately after 32 years in power.
But an aide said he would leave office only after organizing parliamentary polls and establishing democratic institutions, by January 2012 -- a declaration the opposition promptly rejected.
(h/t Angry Marmot - 3/22) - U.S. concerned about Yemen instability, Qaeda fight
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday he was concerned about instability in Yemen and its impact on the fight against terrorism but declined to say whether Yemen's leader should step down immediately.
Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a U.S. ally in the fight against al Qaeda, is facing unrelenting anti-government protests and fresh defections among the ruling elite that are adding to pressure for him to resign after 32 years in power.
Asked whether the United States still supported Saleh or if it was time for him to go, Gates said: "I don't think it's my place to talk about internal affairs in Yemen."
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Our Egyptian brethren articulated what people around the region are fighting for, though variations to the theme may exist from country to country. banner held by protesters and translated to English:
1 The departure of Mubarak
2 An end to the current Parliament
3 An end of the state of emergency
4 The creation of a national united government
5 A parliament elected by the people to modify the constitution and run the presidential elections
6 Put those responsible for the killings on trial
7 Put those responsible for stealing the country's money and other acts of corruption on trial
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Resources:
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Al Jazeera English - Watch Live (the Youtube link below should work for Mac users unable to load this.)
Al Jazeera live also available on
Dish Network channel 9410
DirecTV: Channel 375 Link
Al Jazeera on Facebook:
http: //www.facebook.com/aljazeera
Al Jazeera Live on YouTube
English Stream http://www.youtube.com/...
Arabic Stream http://www.youtube.com/...
BBC Middle East reporting
BBC Middle East and Arab Unrest
WorldWideTahrir{NEW} : Worldwide protests being organized to coincide with the upcoming ones in Egypt.
bicycle Hussein paladin - Why Iran 1979 Went to the Islamists and This One Won't
People to follow on twitter: - please suggest people for specific countries. Thank you!
@ArabRevolution - Region
@Dima_Khatib - Region
@JNovak_Yemen - Yemen
@WomanfromYemen - Yemen
@Gheblawi - Libya
@ShababLibya - Libya
@feb17voices - Libya
@DrsForLibya - Libya
@libyanexpat - Libya
@lissnp - Iran
@prsianbanoo - Iran
@sandmonkey - Egypt
@JRamyRaoof - Egypt
@Elazul - Egypt
@Ssirgany - Egypt
@sharifkouddous
@monasosh
@ioerror
@ElBaradei
@SultanAlQassemi
@evanchill
@glcarlstrom
@nolanjazeera
@3arabawy
@shadihamid
@bencnn
@arabist
@speaktotweet: Egyptian Voice Tweets on Twitter
Previous Child Diaries:
Egypt and the Region Liveblog Archive by unaspenser
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