Region

TRIPOLI — A renegade Libyan general who has launched an assault against Islamists has warned the country has become a “terrorist hub” and called for creation of an emergency Cabinet and holding legislative elections.

Khalifa Haftar is garnering growing support among elements of the military, politicians and diplomats in a country still riven by instability three years after the overthrow of dictator Muammar Qadhafi.

He even drew positive comments from the United States, where he spent 20 years in exile, though Washington has been quick to deny claims that it is backing him.

Claiming to speak in the name of the army, Haftar urged the country’s highest judicial authority Wednesday “to form a civilian presidential high council tasked with forming an emergency Cabinet and organising legislative elections”.

Once one of Qadhafi’s top generals, he returned to support the rebellion in 2011 and has emerged this year as the most serious challenge to the post-Qadhafi authorities.

“Libya has become a hub for terrorists who control power,” said Haftar, who has been branded an outlaw after his forces launched an assault Friday on the eastern city of Benghazi in which at least 79 people were killed.

Without explaining how this would come about, he said the presidential council he envisions would hand over power to an elected parliament.

He said the army had decided this after the Islamist-dominated General National Congress, whom some accuse of complicity with radical groups, had refused to step down “as demanded by the people”.

Successive governments have complained that the GNC’s claim to executive power as well as legislative authority has tied their hands in achieving security.

The bottom line for many is that it has failed to re-establish security in a country where militias representing tribal, regional and ideological interests wield much of the power to the detriment of the central government.

Election prospects uncertain 

Libya has called an election for June to replace the GNC and try to resolve the power struggle, but violence among militias threatens to scupper the vote.

US Ambassador Deborah Jones, speaking during a visit to the United States, said she “personally... would not come out and condemn” Haftar’s efforts in going after groups blacklisted by the US as terrorist organisations, despite Washington’s disapproval of the violence used to achieve that goal.

“He’s not declared that he wants to be the ruler; he’s not declared that he wants to be in charge of the state,” Jones said, adding the announcement of June elections may have been one of his desired results.

“What he has declared is that he wants the GNC to step aside because the GNC has thus far failed to take any action to respond to the unhappiness of many Libyans that it has outstayed its time.”

The electoral commission denied Thursday reports it had fixed June 25 as a date for the elections, which it said only the GNC can do, but that they were expected to be held some time in the second half of the month.

But with Haftar making his own demands on a political settlement, it is unclear what will happen.

He is backed by an elite army special forces unit in Benghazi, where Islamists are well entrenched; police brigades, officers at Tobruk air base, the powerful Al Baraassa tribe from the east, the chief of staff of Libya’s air defence units and the powerful ex-rebel brigade from the city of Zintan.

On the political front, Culture Minister Habib Lamine became the first member of the government to back him, saying the GNC, “which protects terrorists, no longer represents me”.

And Libya’s UN ambassador, Ibrahim Dabbachi, has also declared his support.

Despite the tensions, the situation was almost normal in Tripoli and Benghazi, where shops, banks and government offices were open.

However, explosions could be heard Thursday in the capital’s southern district of Salaheddine, where the Zintan brigades have several military installations.

While Haftar was gaining support, a Muslim group led by influential cleric Yusef Al Qaradawi, closed to the Muslim Brotherhood, urged Libyans Thursday to firmly oppose attempts to topple “legitimacy” in their country.

A statement by the Association of Muslim Scholars did not mention Haftar by name, urged Libyans to “unite” and stand “firmly against whoever tries to topple the legitimacy and sow sedition” in the country.

UNITED NATIONS — Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution referring the Syrian crisis to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation of possible war crimes, prompting angry responses from the proposal’s supporters who said the two countries are blocking justice and should be ashamed.

This is the fourth time the two countries have used their veto power as permanent council members to deflect action against the government of President Bashar Assad.

More than 60 countries signed on to support the French-drafted resolution in a dramatic move to demand a path to justice in the conflict, which has entered its fourth year.

The resolution would have referred Syria’s crisis to the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal without specifically targeting either the government or the opposition.

Before the vote, UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson pleaded with council members to find unity and “put an end to this long nightmare”. French Ambassador Gerard Araud warned, “A veto would cover up all crimes. It would be vetoing justice”.

But Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin walked into the council meeting with a smile, telling reporters, “I’m going to be boringly predictable.” He earlier had called the resolution a “publicity stunt” that would hurt efforts to find a political solution to a crisis that activists say has killed more than 160,000 and sent millions fleeing.

US Ambassador Samantha Power had her speech ready for the promised veto. “Sadly, because of the decision of the Russian Federation to back the Syrian regime no matter what it does, the Syrian people will not see justice,” she said. She added: “There should be accountability for those members of the council who prevented accountability.”

The draft resolution condemned the “widespread violation” of human rights and international humanitarian law by Syrian authorities and pro-government militias as well as abuses and violations by “non-state armed groups” during the last three years. It would have referred the conflict to the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal without targeting either side.

“It is to Russia and China’s shame that they have chosen to block efforts to achieve justice for the Syrian people,” said British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant. “And it is disgraceful that they have yet again vetoed the Security Council’s efforts to take action in response to the appalling human rights violations being committed every day in Syria.”

Rwandan Ambassador Eugene Richard Gasana said: “This council cannot be inured to mass tragedies.”

The Security Council has been deeply divided over Syria, with Syrian allies Russia and China at odds with the US, its Western allies and other members who support the opposition.

Frustration has soared as the international community struggles to find a solution to the war, deliver humanitarian aid to almost 3.5 million Syrians in need and end impunity for horrific crimes. Attempts at peace talks are at a standstill, leading the joint UN-Arab league envoy who tried to broker them to resign.

“Russia and China’s vote for continued impunity is a disgrace of historic proportion,” said Richard Dicker, director of international justice at Human Rights Watch. The opposition Syrian Coalition called the vetoes a “disgrace”.

The dozens of co-sponsors to the latest failed Security Council resolution said they wanted to send “a strong political signal... that impunity for the most serious crimes under international law is unacceptable”.

Syria is not a party to the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court, so the only way it can be referred to The Hague, Netherlands-based tribunal is by the Security Council.

Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari sent a letter Tuesday asking countries not to support the resolution. A copy of the letter, obtained by The Associated Press, calls the proposal “biased” and an effort to “sabotage any chance of peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis led by the Syrian people themselves”.

The Security Council has managed twice to reach agreement on a Syria resolution, once to get rid of its chemical weapons and earlier this year to demand access for the delivery of humanitarian aid. The resolution on aid has largely failed.

CAIRO — Just over half Egyptians approve of former army chief Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, an opinion poll showed on Thursday, just days ahead of a presidential election he is expected to win easily.

The poll, released on Thursday by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre, also found that 43 per cent opposed the army’s overthrow of elected president Mohamed Morsi last July, a move for which the military claimed national backing.

The results of the poll suggest a nation more divided than Sisi’s supporters would claim, and indicate that he may have to move quickly to shore up support in a country where popular unrest has contributed to the downfall of two presidents since 2011.

Sisi’s supporters see him as the kind of strong man needed to stabilise a country in crisis. But he is reviled by Islamists as the mastermind of a coup against a freely elected leader.

Since Morsi was ousted, thousands of Brotherhood supporters have been arrested and hundreds killed and Egypt has been hit by a wave of violence.

Independent opinion polling is hard to come by in Egypt.

Pew said it had conducted face-to-face interviews last month with 1,000 Egyptians. 

Sisi received a favourable rating from 54 per cent of those polled, while 45 per cent said they disapproved of him.  Fifty-four per cent backed last year’s military takeover.

Suggesting fatigue with the turbulent transition from Hosni Mubarak’s rule, Egyptians are now more likely to say that stable government is more important than having a democratic one, Pew said.

Sisi deposed Morsi following mass protests against his rule.

The poor and the youth are more supportive of Morsi’s ouster than the rich and people over 50 years old, the poll found.

In the security crackdown following Morsi’s removal, hundreds of supporters from the Muslim Brotherhood have been killed and thousands imprisoned.

Despite the ban on the Brotherhood, the poll showed that 38 per cent of Egyptians rate the group favourably. That’s down from 63 per cent in Pew’s survey a year earlier but much higher than suggested by Sisi, who said the people had rejected the group.

Hamdeen Sabahi, Sisi’s sole competitor in the presidential race, earned favourable reviews from 35 per cent of respondents, with 62 per cent expressing an unfavourable opinion of him.

The poll also revealed declining support for Egypt’s military and judiciary, powerful institutions which have been key players in the last three years of political turmoil.

Forty-five per cent said the military is having a negative influence on the country versus 56 per cent who think its impact is positive.

On the judiciary, 41 per cent believe it is having a positive impact, with 58 per cent saying its influence is negative.

Egypt’s courts drew international commendation this year after a judge sentenced more than 1,000 Brotherhood supporters to death in two cases criticised for a lack of due process.

MANILA — The Philippines said Thursday that two of its citizens working in Saudi Arabia have died from the MERS coronavirus.

Foreign Department spokesman Charles Jose said their relatives have been informed and efforts were being made to bring the bodies home.

“Our consul general in Jeddah confirmed that there were two Filipinos who died of MERS,” he told AFP.

“The consulate is helping to repatriate their remains,” he said, adding that the deaths were recorded on May 12 and 18.

The identities of the two, as well as other details, were not revealed to protect their relatives’ privacy.

Thousands of Filipinos work in the Middle East, while it is estimated as many as 10 million work overseas to escape widespread poverty at home.

MERS or the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome is considered a deadlier but less transmittable cousin of the SARS virus that appeared in Asia in 2003.

It infected more than 8,000 people, and had a fatality rate of 9 per cent.

Health authorities in Saudi Arabia this week reported new deaths from the MERS coronavirus, taking the death toll to 173. It has been the worst affected by the outbreak with a total of 537 people infected.

Other nations including Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and the United States have also recorded cases, mostly in people who had recently returned from travel in the desert kingdom.

The Filipinos’ deaths came as the Philippines has been stepping up its defence against the virus by screening all those coming from the Middle East at ports of entry.

Last month, it quarantined a male Filipino nurse who had tested positive for the virus.

BAGHDAD — A wave of suicide and car bomb attacks in Iraq killed at least 29 people and wounded dozens more on Thursday, officials said, as political rivals prepared to launch negotiations on forming a new government after last month’s national elections.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, which mainly targeted Shiite pilgrims, but they bore the hallmarks of Sunni extremists who view Shiites as heretics. The pilgrims were on their way to the shrine of Imam Moussa Al Kadhim, a revered saint who lived in the eighth century, to commemorate the anniversary of his death, which falls on Sunday this year.

Such events draw hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and are often targeted by militants.

Thursday’s deadliest attack took place in Baghdad’s eastern Ur neighbourhood when a parked car bomb went off near a group of pilgrims, killing at least 10 and wounding 25 others, a police officer said, adding that the dead included seven children under 14 years of age.

Another parked car bomb exploded in the capital’s western Mansour neighbourhood, killing nine and wounding 26 others, another police officer said.

In central Baghdad, a suicide car bomber targeted another group of pilgrims, killing five and wounding 18. Another suicide car bomber drove his explosives-laden car into a checkpoint in the town of Mishahda, killing three policemen and two civilians while wounding 11 others, a police officer said. The town is located 30 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to release information.

THE HAGUE — The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday rejected a final bid by Tripoli’s lawyers to try slain dictator Muammar Qadhafi’s son Seif Al Islam in Libya, meaning he must now be transferred to The Hague.

Seif’s transfer to face charges relating to the bloody repression of the 2011 uprising that toppled his father, however, is a moot point as he is being held by a Libyan militia rather than any central authority in the chaos-wracked country.

The presiding ICC judge, Erkki Kourulas, struck down four grounds of appeal before the world’s war crimes court, saying “in the present case the appeals chamber confirms the [pre-trial chamber’s] decision and dismisses the appeal.”

ICC pre-trial judges a year ago rejected Tripoli’s request to put Seif in the dock in Libya, saying the country was unable to give him a fair hearing.

This included Tripoli’s inability to transfer Seif, Qadhafi’s one-time heir apparent, to the Libyan capital from his prison in the hilltop stronghold of Zintan, where he is currently being held by militia members.

Tripoli appealed the original decision a few days later, in June.

Seif, 41, and Qadhafi’s former spy chief Abdullah Senussi, around 64, have been charged for their roles in violent attempts to put down the 2011 uprising in the desert country that eventually toppled Qadhafi’s regime.

Seif appeared on May 11 by video link in a Tripoli court from Zintan, where he has been held since his capture by rebels in November 2011.

His court-appointed lawyer was unable to attend the hearing, so the trial was adjourned to May 25 to allow him to help his client.

“The ICC appeals decision today reinforces Libya’s long overdue obligation to surrender Seif Qadhafi to The Hague for fair trial,” Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Director Richard Dicker said.

“If Libya refuses, the international community should step up and demand his surrender,” said Stephanie Barbour, head of Amnesty International’s Centre for International Justice in The Hague.

The ICC’s decision comes against the backdrop of an increasingly volatile situation in oil-rich Libya, where violence among militias threatens to scupper an election planned for June to replace its disputed parliament.

Militias are blamed for growing unrest in the North African country since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that killed dictator Qadhafi after more than 40 years in power.

A one-time member of Qadhafi’s inner circle and Libya’s de facto prime minister, Seif himself was nabbed by fighters in November 2011 and taken to Zintan, southwest of the capital.

VIENNA — Iran has agreed to address some of the many long-held allegations that it conducted research into making nuclear weapons before 2003 and possibly since, the UN atomic watchdog said Wednesday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Iran, which denies ever having sought nuclear weapons, has undertaken to implement five new “practical measures” by August 25.

These included two steps related to what the IAEA calls the “possible military dimensions” (PMD) of Iran’s nuclear programme — in other words efforts to design a nuclear bomb.

The announcement comes after an apparently largely fruitless fourth round of talks between Iran and six world powers in Vienna last week towards a comprehensive deal over Tehran’s nuclear programme by a July 20 deadline.

One of the key elements in this sought-after deal would be Iran addressing the PMD allegations, which the IAEA set out in a major report in November 2011 and which it has been pressing Iran to answer ever since.

That report said that the evidence it has been given, which the IAEA judges to be “overall, credible”, indicated that Iran “carried out activities that are relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device”.

Iran says that the trove of evidence presented by the IAEA on these activities, which the Vienna agency believes took place before 2003 and possibly since, is based on faulty intelligence provided by the CIA and Israel’s Mossad.

The first new PMD step is “exchanging information” with the IAEA on allegations related to the initiation of high explosives, “including the conduct of large-scale high explosives experimentation in Iran”, the IAEA said Wednesday.

The second is Iran providing “mutually agreed relevant information and explanations related to studies made and/or papers published in Iran in relation to neutron transport and associated modelling and calculations and their alleged application to compressed materials”.

The 2011 IAEA report said that it was “unclear” how the application of such modelling studies could be used for “anything other than a nuclear explosive” and that it was “essential” that Iran provide an explanation.

 Uranium enrichment 

Two other steps announced on Wednesday concern Iran’s current nuclear programme, in particular with regard to uranium enrichment, which can provide fuel for nuclear reactors but also the fissile core of a nuclear weapon.

In their mooted nuclear deal with Iran, the six powers want Tehran to reduce drastically its uranium enrichment activities, something which the Islamic republic is loath to do.

Iran has pledged to arranging an IAEA visit to a centre conducting research into new types of centrifuges which could enrich uranium at a much faster rate, and access to a facility making centrifuge parts, the IAEA said.

The final step involves giving the IAEA greater oversight on Iran’s new Arak reactor, which Western countries fear could provide Tehran with weapons-grade plutonium once it is operational.

It remained unclear however whether seven other steps agreed in February between Iran and the IAEA had been completed by a May 15 deadline, with the IAEA saying only that “good progress” had been made.

These seven steps included one related to the possible military dimensions probe — Iran’s stated need for a type of detonator that can be used in a nuclear weapon but which also has other uses.

“Given that the Iranians apparently missed the May 15 deadline for addressing the detonator issue, they had to do something to try to regain moral high ground,” said Mark Fitzpatrick, analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“But we needn’t be too cynical; more transparency is to be welcomed,” Fitzpatrick told AFP.

RAMALLAH — A Palestinian court has sentenced an exiled rival of President Mahmoud Abbas to two years in jail for “insulting state institutions”, raising pressure on Mohammed Dahlan after months of mutual recriminations.

The court ruling was dated March 6, but the verdict was only published in a West Bank newspaper on Wednesday. There was no immediate comment from Dahlan, who lives in the Gulf.

Once a prominent official in Abbas’ Western-backed Fateh movement, Dahlan was ousted from the group in 2011 following accusations of corruption. He always asserted his innocence and remains a powerful figure on the sidelines, seen by supporters as a possible successor to the ageing Abbas.

The court ruling said Palestinian officials, including a top security leader, had accused Dahlan of defamation for what they said was his description of Palestinian security forces in the West Bank as guards serving only to protect Israeli settlers.

The court said Dahlan had also defamed Abbas by accusing him of manipulating the Palestinian Authority, which has limited autonomy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

It was not immediately clear if the Palestinian government would ask Abu Dhabi to extradite Dahlan, who enjoys relative support in some Arab capitals, including Cairo.

Perhaps concerned by his growing international influence, Abbas launched a scathing attack on Dahlan in March, accusing him of involvement in six murders and hinting he might have been behind the 2004 death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Dahlan hit back in a lengthy interview on Egyptian television, branding Abbas a “catastrophe” for Palestinians.

CAIRO — Deposed former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in prison on a conviction for stealing public funds.

The verdict may please some Egyptians who lived through three decades of autocracy under Mubarak before a 2011 uprising toppled him. But business executives still loyal to him remain influential and rights groups say the abusive security practices of his era remain alive and well today with another former military man set to win a presidential election next week.

Mubarak’s two sons were sentenced to four years in jail on the same charges of embezzling state funds that had been earmarked for the renovation of presidential palaces but were instead spent on sprucing up family properties.

“He [Mubarak] should have treated people close and far from him equally,” said Judge Osama Shaheen as the 86-year-old fallen leader watched from a cage flanked by sons Gamal and Alaa. “Instead of abiding by the constitution and laws, he gave himself and his sons the freedom to take from public funds whatever they wanted to without oversight and without regard.”

Mubarak spent 23 months in jail from the uprising until August 2013, when he was transferred to house arrest. It was not immediately clear how much of that time served would be applied against Wednesday’s sentence, but judicial sources told Reuters that they did not expect Mubarak to serve the entire three years as punishment for the corruption charges.

They said his sons, who have already done three years in jail, will also probably not serve their complete sentences. Four other defendants were acquitted.

Mubarak’s former intelligence boss, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, is poised to be elected president next week in a vote that could boost the legitimacy of a military-backed government.

Tougher sentences

Since ex-army chief Sisi toppled elected Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July, courts have meted out tough sentences to members of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and to secular activists. The judiciary is regarded by critics as part of a state crackdown against all dissent to the army-backed government.

Wednesday’s Mubarak ruling was for a financial crime, not a criminal one. However, many prominent activists have recently been given harsher sentences for street protests than Mubarak received for embezzling millions while serving as president. Senior members of the Brotherhood, including the spiritual guide of the Islamist movement, have been sentenced to death.

A court in the Nile Delta province of Mansoura sentenced 155 Brotherhood supporters, some of them students, to jail terms on Wednesday, giving 54 of them life sentences. The case was related to violence after Morsi’s ouster, and charges included membership in a banned group and instigating violence.

Police fired tear gas at demonstrators chanting against the verdict outside the Mansoura court. In Alexandria, police also used tear gas against students protesting at its university, some of them over a jail term imposed on a fellow student.

Reacting to the Mubarak verdict on Twitter, some activists compared the sentence for him and his sons to a Tuesday ruling against Mahienour Al Masri, a young revolutionary activist given two years in jail for protesting without a permit.

Leaders of Mubarak’s former ruling party were banned last month from running in any coming elections, but the court order did not list any names, drawing complaints that a lack of clarity could blunt the move’s impact. 

The court also fined Mubarak and his sons 21.197 million Egyptian pounds ($2.98 million) and ordered them to repay about 125 million Egyptian pounds of funds they were accused of embezzling.

Sons Alaa and Gamal, who was once widely tipped as Mubarak’s successor, became wealthy businessmen during his presidency as part of a “crony capitalism” patronage network that enriched an elite few while tens of millions lived in poverty.

Mubarak has been under house arrest at a military hospital since August pending retrial in a case of complicity in killing protesters during the 2011 uprising.

The website of state newspaper Al Ahram reported that the court had ordered Mubarak transferred to Tora Prison, where his sons are jailed. His health may mean that he will be held at the prison’s hospital.

He is also accused in two other cases of corruption that have yet to come to court.

TRIPOLI — Explosions and fighting erupted in Libya’s capital in Wednesday, killing at least two people after the top air commander signalled support for a renegade general who is campaigning to dissolve parliament and wipe out Islamists.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the fighting, but the government has become increasingly alarmed by signs of growing support for General Khalifa Haftar. Forces who said they were loyal to him stormed parliament and clashed with other soldiers on Sunday.

Western powers fear Haftar’s bid to persuade army units to join his campaign will split the military and trigger more turmoil in the oil producer which is struggling to restore order three years after the fall of strongman Muammar Qadhafi.

Compounding the political chaos, state news agency LANA said on Wednesday the interior ministry had also joined Haftar — a report that was dismissed minutes later by the acting interior minister.

Tripoli residents reported several loud explosions early on Wednesday near Al Yarmouk air defence barracks after air defence top commander Juma Al Abani released a video message saying he was joining “Operation Dignity” — Haftar’s campaign against Islamists.

Heavy fighting involving anti-aircraft machineguns mounted on trucks also broke out overnight near an army camp in Tajoura, an eastern suburb, witnesses said. The city was quiet by dawn.

At least two people from Mali died in the fighting, a health ministry source said.

Libya has been plunged into turmoil since its 2011 uprising ended Muammar Qadhafi’s one-man rule.

Many have grown frustrated with the interim government’s failure to contain Islamist groups and other militias and commanders who took part in rebellion, and who have since openly defied the authorities to demand more oil wealth and power.

Western governments are concerned Libya’s instability may worsen and spill over into its North African neighbours, who are still emerging from the political unrest following the 2011 “Arab Spring” revolts.

On Sunday, militiamen stormed the General National Congress (GNC), Libya’s parliament, and fought for six hours with other armed groups on the airport road.

They claimed loyalty to Haftar — who had retired from the army — and called for the suspension on parliament in a bid, they said to rid Libya of hardline Islamist lawmakers and fighters.

The fighting came two days after Haftar announced he was launching his own military campaign against Islamist militants in Benghazi in the east.

In Benghazi, gunmen abducted three Chinese engineers from their construction site on Tuesday, according to China’s official press agency, Xinhua.

One was later found shot and died in hospital while his two colleagues were released, Xinhua reported.

Militants around Benghazi have targeted foreigners in the past, including an attack on the US consulate in 2012 in which US ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died.