Region

TRIPOLI — Libya’s rival armed groups took position Tuesday for or against a renegade general’s campaign to rid the country of jihadists as Islamist leaders in parliament vowed not to cede power.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which forms the largest bloc in the 194-strong General National Congress (GNC) along with radical Islamists, rejected government calls for MPs to go into recess.

The GNC, Libya’s top political authority, has accused Khalifa Haftar, who led a deadly assault on Islamist militia in Benghazi last week, of attempting a coup.

But the former general has won widening support for his campaign, not only from militia groups but also from special forces of the regular army in Benghazi.

Islamist militia in both Benghazi and Tripoli vowed to resist any move against them by Haftar’s forces, whose militia allies stormed parliament at the weekend, forcing the venue for Tuesday’s meeting to move to a Tripoli hotel.

The Operations Cell of Libyan Revolutionaries — a powerful Islamist militia — pledged to defend the parliament by force if necessary.

In Benghazi, jihadist group Ansar Al Sharia, blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Washington, vowed to resist any renewed assault by Haftar’s men on its positions in the eastern city.

The group charged that Haftar, who spent more than two decades in exile in the United States, was leading “a war against... Islam orchestrated by the United States and its Arab allies”.

Haftar’s forces pulled out of Benghazi after Friday’s clashes which killed at least 79 people.

But he said he will re-enter the city to cleanse it of “terrorists” and has won the support of special forces there who have suffered mounting losses to suspected jihadist attacks.

“A confrontation is now inevitable to defend our city and our land. We will act with force against anyone who enters the city or attacks it,” Ansar Al Sharia said.

The group, which denies accusations it was behind a September 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, was put on the US terror blacklist in January.

Showdown in parliament 

The GNC had been due to convene at 1100 GMT Tuesday to debate the budget and a motion of confidence in Prime Minister Ahmed Miitig’s government, lawmakers said.

But several hours later it had failed to reach the necessary quorum of 120 to meet, amid bickering by lawmakers.

A previous vote of confidence was marred by accusations of irregularities. The government has called on the GNC to repeat that vote, and then go into recess until a new legislature can be elected.

But Islamists who dominate parliament refuse to go into recess and the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, the Party for Justice and Construction, called on the premier to disown the plan.

Successive governments have complained that the GNC’s claim to executive power, as well as legislative authority, has tied their hands in bringing to heel the former rebel militias that have carved out fiefdoms since the NATO-backed uprising ousted and killed long-time dictator Muammar Qadhafi in 2011.

The interim parliament sparked widespread public outrage earlier this year when it extended its own mandate until December.

Both sides in the stand-off have heavily armed militia allies positioned around Tripoli, raising fears of a rapid degeneration into armed conflict.

Saudi Arabia followed Algeria in closing its embassy although Washington has said the US mission continues to operate normally.

There was also an exodus of foreign staff from Libya’s vital oil sector, with Algeria confirming it had repatriated some 50 employees of its state-run energy giant Sonatrach.

World oil prices rose on Tuesday on concerns about the impact on Libyan exports.

The US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in June, climbed 15 cents to $102.76 a barrel.

“Further unrest in Libya is the main factor in the oil market at the moment,” David Lennox, resource analyst at Fat Prophets, told AFP.

CAIRO — Gunmen travelling in a car opened fire on Tuesday on a group of Egyptian policemen outside Cairo’s Al Azhar university, killing three and wounding nine others, the interior ministry said.

The attack comes just days ahead of a presidential election on May 26-27, which former army chief Abdel Fattah Al Sisi is expected to win.

The number of attacks targeting policemen has risen since Sisi ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July last year.

The latest came as some students of Cairo’s Al Azhar university, a prestigious seat of Sunni Islamic teaching, were protesting in favour of Morsi, the ministry said in a statement.

The wounded included an officer, the ministry added.

The attack also came a day after two policemen, riding on a motorbike, were shot dead by gunmen in the central city of Minya.

In April, a court in Minya triggered an international outcry after sentencing to death around 700 Morsi supporters after a speedy mass trial, accusing them of murder and attempted murder of policemen in August last year in Minya.

In a separate attack, militants blew up a gas pipeline late Monday near Al Arish airport in northern Sinai, security officials said.

The targeted pipeline transports gas to an industrial area in central Sinai, they added.

Militants have regularly targeted pipelines in Sinai since the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011, repeatedly forcing a halt in gas supplies to Israel and Jordan.

The army has poured troops into the mountainous and underdeveloped region of Sinai Peninsula to combat a growing militancy.

Officials say about 500 people, mostly members of security forces, have been killed in militant attacks across the country since the ouster of Morsi.

Militant groups Ansar Bayt Al Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem) and a little-known Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt) have claimed several deadly attacks against security forces.

They say the attacks were in retaliation to a brutal police crackdown on supporters of Morsi.

Amnesty International says more than 1,400 people have been killed in the police crackdown since July when Morsi was ousted.

More than 15,000 have also been jailed, while hundreds have been sentenced to death after often speedy trial. Morsi himself is facing three trials.

Sisi, meanwhile, is expected to trounce his only rival, leftist leader Hamdeen Sabbahi, in the presidential election next week.

The retired field marshal is lauded by millions for overthrowing the divisive Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected leader.

Morsi was ousted after just one year in office after millions of Egyptians protested against his rule.

UNITED NATIONS — A top UN official called on Tuesday for an investigation into the deaths of two Palestinian teens fatally shot last week by Israeli forces in the West Bank.

The youths were shot dead as Israeli forces responded to demonstrations marking the 66th anniversary of the Nakbeh — or “catastrophe” — of Israel’s creation.

Assistant UN secretary general for political affairs, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, called for an “independent and transparent” probe into the circumstances surrounding the boys’ deaths.

“It is of serious concern that initial information appears to indicate that the two Palestinians killed were both unarmed and appeared to pose no direct threat,” said Fernandez-Taranco.

“The UN calls for an independent and transparent investigation by the Israeli authorities into the two deaths, and urges Israel to ensure that its security forces strictly adhere to the basic principles on the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials,” he said at a briefing of the UN Security Council.

Israel has said the border police had tried to quell a violent demonstration by about 150 Palestinians.

But Palestinian leaders have said the slain boys were unarmed and posed no threat, accusing Israel of using “excessive and indiscriminate violence”.

The group Defence for Children InternationAl Palestine released what it said was closed circuit television footage showing the deaths of the two youths without provocation. Israel rejects the footage however, saying it had been doctored.

Amnesty International has also denounced the Israeli army’s “excessive” use of force in the incident.

DUBAI — Bahrain’s parliament on Tuesday sacked a Sunni MP who had criticised conditions at a detention centre where inmates are mostly Shiites held over roles in anti-regime protests.

Parliament Speaker Khalifa Al Dhahrani said 31 MPs out of the 40-member chamber voted to eject Osama Mehanna, in a statement published by BNA state news agency.

Dhahrani did not disclose the reason behind his removal.

But political sources pointed out that Mehanna had a fierce argument with fellow MPs on April 29 after he criticised the situation at Jaw Prison, in southeastern Bahrain.

Mehanna was elected in October 2011 in partial polls held to replace 18 MPs of the Shiite Al Wefaq opposition group who resigned in protest at violence used to quell a month of pro-reform protests.

Scores of Shiites were rounded up following the mid-March 2011 crackdown on protesters, and many have been put on trial and jailed.

The Sunni-ruled kingdom has been widely criticised by rights groups over its crackdown on the protests led by the Shiite majority, and for the alleged mistreatment of detainees.

Amnesty International on Monday voiced concerns over the “continuing detention of prisoners of conscience and the harsh sentences handed by Bahraini courts in connection with rioting, including against children”.

The watchdog said, however, that it “found encouraging government openness during discussions on human rights”, as an Amnesty delegation was allowed to visit the country for the first time since January 2013.

The delegates met “prisoners of conscience” at Jaw Prison and women held in the Issa Town Detention Centre for Women, it said in a statement.

TEHRAN — Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah will travel to Iran on May 31 amid a recent thaw in Tehran’s relations with Gulf states, the Iranian foreign ministry said Tuesday.

Relations between Iran and the Gulf states have been frosty for years, with disagreements over the unrest in Bahrain and the conflict in Syria, before Hassan Rouhani was elected president of the Islamic republic last June.

“The visit [of the emir], which is upon the invitation of President Hassan Rouhani, will open a new chapter in relations of both countries,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told reporters at a news briefing.

Afkham said “several agreements were expected to be signed”, without giving details.

In December last year, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif started a tour of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar. But it ended without Zarif travelling to Iran’s main rival, Saudi Arabia.

Afkham said a visit to Saudi Arabia was on Zarif’s agenda.

“We have received the verbal invitation and measures are being taken to organise this trip,” she said.

“Iran and Saudi Arabia are two important countries in the region and their interaction is influential in the regional scope,” she added.

Last week, Riyadh’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal said he had invited his Iranian counterpart to visit the kingdom.

Tehran welcomed the plan and stressed the need to boost relations after years of strained ties.

The two countries have been at odds over Syria’s civil war and the fallout from unrest in Bahrain.

In the Syrian conflict, majority Shiite Muslim Iran has backed the government of President Bashar Assad while Sunni Saudi Arabia has been a leading supporter of rebel forces.

Rouhani said after his election win last June he wanted to reach out to Gulf Arab governments as part of efforts to end his country’s international isolation.

SANAA — Eleven Yemeni soldiers and 14 Shiite Houthi rebels were killed Tuesday during clashes in a stronghold of the insurgents in the north of the country, medics said.

Dozens of other combatants were wounded in the gunfight that erupted on the western outskirts of Amran city, the medics at Amran hospital said.

A military source said earlier that three soldiers were killed in the clashes which broke out when rebels attacked an army position in the area.

Tensions remain high in Amran where Huthis have been trying to enforce their presence through armed parades and protests against the military.

But the suspected aim of the rebels is to enlarge their sphere of influence as the country is set to be split into six regions, pushing out from their mountain strongholds in the far north to areas closer to the capital Sanaa.

The rebels complain that Yemen would be divided into rich and poor regions under the federalisation plan agreed in February following national talks that were part of a political transition.

The Houthis have fought the central government in Sanaa for years, complaining of marginalisation under former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted in 2012 following a year of protests.

In February, they seized areas of Amran province in fighting with tribes that left more than 150 people dead.

The rebels, known also as Ansarullah, had to withdraw from some of these areas following a truce with the armed tribes and as the army deployed halting the advance of the rebels towards the capital.

The Yemeni government is grappling with an insurgency by southern separatists claiming secession for the regions of the formerly independent south.

It is also fighting a fierce war against Al Qaeda in southern and eastern areas.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, is considered by Washington as the most dangerous affiliate of the jihadist network after being linked to several failed plots against the United States.

LONDON — A 31-year-old man on Tuesday became the first person to be convicted in Britain of terror offences related to the Syria conflict.

Mashudur Choudhury, from Portsmouth on the southern English coast, travelled to Syria in October with the intention of attending a terrorist training camp, his trial heard.

He was arrested at London’s Gatwick Airport on his return later that month and on Tuesday was found guilty of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts.

The father of two will be sentenced on June 13.

Prosecuting lawyer Alison Morgan had told the jury: “The evidence clearly shows that this defendant planned for and then travelled to Syria with the intention of attending a training camp.”

“The training was to include the use of firearms and the purpose of fighting was to pursue a political, religious or ideological cause.”

“At times in his discussions with others the defendant described his intention to become a martyr.”

In a Skype message to another British jihadist, Choudhury suggested that the group he was travelling to Syria with, which included four others from the Portsmouth area, should be called the “Britani brigade Bangladeshi bad boys”, the court heard.

Details of text messages exchanged between Choudhury and his wife were also read out to the jury, including one in which she wrote to him: “Go die in battlefield.”

“Go die, I really mean it just go. I’ll be relieved. At last. At last.”

TUNIS — Tunisia on Monday formed a long-awaited truth and justice commission, more than three years after the 2011 revolution, to implement “transitional justice” and compensate the victims of decades of dictatorship.

The 15-member body, which was elected by the national assembly with a majority of 71 votes, will also be tasked with identifying and bringing to trial those responsible for abuses committed under the former regimes of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Habib Bourguiba.

Its formation comes after two years of political bickering that stalled progress on the country’s institution building and six months after the transitional justice law was finally ratified by parliament after repeated delays.

A planned reconciliation mechanism, whose details have yet to be elaborated, will be responsible for “strengthening national unity”.

The new commission is made up of human rights activists, representatives of victim groups, opponents of Ben Ali and judges.

Crimes it is tasked with identifying include voluntary homicide, rape, extrajudicial killings and torture, as well as economic crimes such as misappropriating public funds and financial corruption.

The transitional justice system also aims to reform the laws and institutions of the judiciary that allowed such abuses to happen, in order to strengthen the rule of law.

Since the January 2011 uprising, Tunisia’s new rulers have yet to implement any significant reforms of the judiciary, penal code or the security services on whom Ben Ali relied to suppress dissent.

Separately, the national assembly was due to debate a bill on Monday that would set up special tribunals to try those responsible for the bloody crackdown on popular protests that led to Ben Ali’s ouster, in which more than 300 people were killed.

The initiative comes after a military tribunal allowed the then head of presidential security Ali Seriati and interior minister Rafik Belhaj Kacem to walk free after controversially cutting their jail sentences on appeal, in rulings that sparked public anger.

Both men had initially been handed heavy prison terms for their part in the deaths of protesters during the uprising.

CAIRO — An Egyptian court acquitted 169 Muslim Brotherhood supporters charged in connection with unrest that followed the overthrow of president Mohamed Morsi last year, breaking a pattern of mass convictions at trials involving the Islamist opposition.

The men were charged with “illegal gathering” in relation to violence in Cairo on August 16 last year, two days after the security forces killed hundreds of Morsi supporters while breaking up their protest camps in the capital.

Of those charged, 117 were still being held. They will now be freed. Others charged in the case had already been released. Further details on the ruling were not immediately available.

The authorities have jailed thousands of Morsi supporters since the army deposed the Brotherhood politician last July following mass protests against his rule.

Earlier this year, a judge issued preliminary death sentences against 1,200 Brotherhood supporters and members in two separate cases, triggering heavy condemnation from Western governments and human rights groups. The convicted included the group’s leader, Mohamed Badie.

Rights groups criticised the trials for deep procedural flaws, and despite the acquittals, other courts are continuing with convictions.

A judge in Alexandria on Monday convicted 62 people and sentenced them to jail terms of up to 25 years in relation to political violence last July. The judge also upheld the death penalty against one of those charged in the case.

This came a day after more than 160 Brotherhood supporters were handed sentences of up to 15 years in prison.

Morsi’s overthrow triggered the worst bout of internal strife in Egypt’s modern history, with many hundreds of his supporters killed.

Several hundred policemen and soldiers have also died in a campaign of bombings and shootings since last year.

Gunmen killed two policemen in southern Egypt and a bomb wounded three students outside a university in Cairo on Monday, security sources said, a week before a presidential election former army chief Abddel Fattah Al Sisi is expected to win.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam visited regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia Tuesday as his country struggled to elect a new president.

Salam told reporters in the Red Sea city of Jeddah the repeatedly delayed election of a leader to replace President Michel Sleiman’s whose mandate expires on May 25 is an “internal Lebanese affair”.

The official SPA news agency said Salam spoke after meeting King Abdullah at Jeddah airport.

Earlier, after meeting Saudi Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz, an adviser to Salam said his visit “is not related to the presidential election in Lebanon”.

Hizbollah, one of Lebanon’s two main blocs, is backed by Iran, Riyadh’s Gulf rival.

The other is led by the son of assassinated former premier Rafiq Hariri, Saad Hariri who now lives in Saudi Arabia, a key backer of his bloc.

Hariri’s Sunni-led bloc has backed a candidate Hizbollah has opposed without proposing an alternative.

In Jeddah, Salam met Hariri and said he “seemed serious in his efforts to reach a result that would enable... the election to take place”.

The Lebanese parliament’s latest attempt on Thursday to meet to vote on a new president failed for the fourth time, after the Hezbollah-led bloc boycotted the session leaving it without a quorum.

In December, Saudi Arabia pledged $3 billion for the Lebanese army to buy equipment from France.

Lebanon is sharply divided over the conflict in neighbouring Syria, where Hezbollah is fighting alongside Syrian troops.

Damascus dominated Lebanon for nearly 30 years until 2005, but still exerts significant influence there through Hizbollah, which is also a close ally of Iran.