Region


TEHRAN — On the eve of Iran's presidential election, expected to hand victory to the ultraconservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi, the candidate-vetting Guardian Council insisted Thursday that "the political contest is serious".

"The media and the people have testified that this is a good competition," said the head of the 12-member council, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaee, a day before almost 60 million voters are asked to head to the ballots.

Three televised debates between the seven candidates, all men, who were approved by the unelected body of jurists and clerics, had shown that "the political competition is serious", Kadkhodaee told a news conference.

The vote on Friday will choose a successor to Iran's moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who cannot run again now after serving two consecutive four-year terms, and who leaves office in August.

Turnout is expected to be low in a country where many have been demoralised by years of painful economic crisis that was brought on by a crippling US sanctions regime and worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"I left my main job because I could not pay the rent for my shop, and my [former] employees are now jobless," lamented Tehran resident Nasrollah, who said he had been a car mechanic for 47 years.

"I have no money. All families are now facing an economic problem. How can we vote for these people who did this to us? It's not right."

'No political views' 

The election comes as Tehran holds renewed talks with world powers to revive a battered 2015 nuclear deal, which the United States unilaterally withdrew from three years ago under then president Donald Trump.

Ultimate power in Iran lies with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but the president has significant influence on issues from industrial policy to foreign affairs.

Many voters were dismayed however when a field of almost 600 hopefuls for the presidency was reduced to just seven candidates by the Guardian Council.

Among the prominent figures barred from running were former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, who demanded that the council "officially and publicly disclose all the reasons" for his disqualification.

Rouhani later said he had urged greater "competition" in a letter to the supreme leader, who acknowledged that some candidates had been treated "unjustly" as "they and their families were accused of false things", without giving names.

The field was further reduced Wednesday when three of the seven candidates dropped out, shortly before the election campaign ended at 7:00 am (02:30 GMT) Thursday.

The only reformist left in the race against Raisi and two other ultraconservatives is the relatively low-profile central bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati.

Kadkhodaee said Thursday that the candidates were vetted according to "the electoral law" and that "the Guardian Council has no political views".

'Form of protest' 

Raisi, Iran's judiciary chief who dresses in a black turban and religious robe, belongs to the ultraconservative camp that most deeply distrusts the United States, labelled the "Great Satan" and the "Global Arrogance" in official rhetoric.

He has been mentioned in Iranian media as a possible successor to Khamenei, who turns 82 in July.

Khamenei also served as president when he took over in 1989 upon the death of the Islamic republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei.

In a televised speech on Wednesday, Khamenei urged voters to turn out in droves to elect "a powerful president", warning that "the Satanic power centres of the world" are trying to undermine the ballot.

But some disillusioned Iranians said they planned to stay away from the polls.

Maryam, an employee, said that "not voting is a form of protest".

"If there were a candidate I approved of, I would vote."

By Emmanuel Parisse
Agence France-Presse


CAIRO — Pyramids, Tutankhamun masks, Nefertiti busts -- Egypt's souvenir-makers are pinning their hopes on a new lease of economic life, after tourism was battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

In the shadow of the magnificent Giza Pyramids, Eid Yousri manufactures polyester Pharaonic figurines from a humble workshop erected on the roof of his family home.

"We've lost nearly 70 per cent of our business," he told AFP, lamenting the plunge in visitors to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Before the pandemic, "we had about 15 workers -- compared to five today", he said, noting that even the remaining staff were not full-time.

He sells his products from as little as 20 Egyptian pounds (about $1.30, or one euro) to 200 pounds.

Hundreds of small business owners and artisans have been forced to mothball much of their activity, choked by cancelled flights and movement restrictions around the world.

Yousri hopes that foreign tourists are lured back to Egypt in the latter part of the year, "especially Americans", with some groups from the US expected in September.

In 2019, the last full year before the pandemic struck, tourism made up about 12 per cent of Egypt's GDP.

After a long period of political instability dented earnings, revenues from the sector reached $13 billion that year.

But in 2020, a year when Egypt had initially eyed a further rebound to $16 billion, takings collapsed to $4 billion.

In a recent interview with AFP, Tourism Minister Khaled El-Enani welcomed a partial recovery in visitor numbers.

Around 500,000 have flown in monthly since April this year, more than double the number in January and up from an average of just 200,000 tourists per month in 2020.

'Smart marketing exercise' 

On the other side of town, in the narrow and labyrinthine alleys of Khan El Khalili in Islamic Cairo, tourist Caroline Bucher is on the hunt for "locally made" products to bring back home to her native Dominican Republic.

"We're looking for hand made and quality souvenirs, that are about local culture," she told AFP. "It has to be a memory of the trip."

In a souvenir market that was for many years flooded by cheap Chinese imports, the government is seeking to meet demand for quality products sought out by tourists like Bucher.

On the eastern outskirts of Cairo, a new antique reproduction factory has since March been preparing to capitalise on the much hoped for post-pandemic era.

The factory, named Konouz (treasures in Arabic), produces furniture, statuettes and paintings that retrace four major periods of Egyptian heritage: Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, Coptic and Islamic.

Reproductions, in 1:1 scale or miniaturised, are accompanied by an official government-issued certificate of authenticity.

The vast 10,000 square metre (approximately 107,650 square foot) factory is run by Hisham Sharawi, a retired general, who supervises around 150 workers, painters, cabinetmakers, sculptors and designers.

"We opened a gift shop at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation" in April, he told AFP.

Other Konouz gift shops will open at museums and key archaeological sites later on.

"When tourists come back, we will be ready," pledged Ahmed Aboul Gheir, who is also working on the 'Made in Egypt' initiative.

Government-driven investment under the scheme totals 80 million Egyptian pounds and focuses on quality production.

In 2015, the ministry of industry prohibited "the imports of goods and products of a popular art nature", including "models of Egyptian Antiquities" as a protective measure to safeguard its home-grown crafts industry from cheaper foreign competition.

Most of the factory's replica objects are cast in polyester, plaster or metal. Specialised machines give a "final touch" to the replicas before they are painted by hand or covered with gold leaf.

But the cheaper items created under the initiative also risk crowding out local craftsmen who are unable to produce in such high volumes.

Items at Konouz range from a small amulet selling for 50 Egyptian pounds to a three-metre statue setting back customers thousands of pounds.

Tourism expert Elhamy al-Zayat calls the government initiative a "smart marketing exercise".

But he warned against flooding the replica goods market.

"You mustn't produce too much, otherwise it loses value," he noted.

GAZA, Palestine — Israel carried out strikes on Gaza early Wednesday in the first flare-up since a major conflict killed hundreds last month.

Tensions later rose again in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli forces said they shot a Palestinian woman, alleging she had attempted to ram soldiers with a car and then stab them.

The strikes on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza were the first under the new coalition government headed by Naftali Bennett, who took over on Sunday after ousting longtime prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The renewed violence came a day after more than a thousand Jewish ultranationalist demonstrators bearing Israeli flags poured into Jerusalem's flashpoint Old City, with scores of police deployed and international monitors urging calm.

According to Palestinian sources, the Israeli air force targeted at least one site east of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli forces said that in response to "arson balloons", "fighter jets struck military compounds belonging to Hamas".

'Prepared for any scenario' 

They said "facilities and meeting sites for terror operatives" in Khan Younis were targeted. There was no indication of any casualties.

Israel’s forces added that they were “prepared for any scenario, including a resumption of hostilities, in the face of continuing terror activities from the Gaza Strip”.

Israeli firefighters on Wednesday afternoon said they were battling to put out “several fires around the Gaza Strip... started by incendiary balloons”.

The violence is the first flare-up between Israel and Palestinian militants since a ceasefire took effect on May 21, ending 11 days of heavy fighting that killed 260 Palestinians including some fighters, according to Gaza authorities.

West Bank shooting 

In the West Bank on Wednesday, a Palestinian woman was shot after attempting to drive into Israeli soldiers in a car and attack them with a knife, Israeli forces claimed.

The Palestinian health ministry said the woman died of her wounds.

The incident took place near Hizma, south of Ramallah. Official Palestinian news website Wafa identified the woman as Mai Afana, 29, from the town of Abu Dis, just outside Jerusalem.

But her uncle Hani Afana told AFP the family rejected the claim that the young mother had tried to kill Israeli soldiers, saying she “took this road by mistake”, and that she “did not attempt to carry out an attack”.

The previous day saw more than a thousand Israelis take to the streets of annexed east Jerusalem in a delayed and controversial march by nationalist and far-right activists.

Both the United Nations and the United States had called for restraint before the march, which Bennett’s new government authorised.

‘Provocation’ 

The so-called March of the Flags celebrates the anniversary of the city’s “reunification” after Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967 and annexed it, a move not recognised by most of the international community.

With tensions high, Israeli forces were deployed in numbers for the delayed March, blocking roads and firing stun grenades and foam-tipped bullets to disperse Palestinians from the route.

Medics said 33 Palestinians were wounded. Israeli forces said two officers were injured and 17 people arrested.

The march triggered protests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and prompted rebukes and warnings from Israel’s allies.

Throngs of mostly young religious men sang, danced and waved flags at the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City, which was cleared of its usual Palestinian crowds.

Some chanted “Death to Arabs” before others persuaded them to stop.

The march came just two days after Netanyahu was ousted following 12 straight years in power, toppled by an ideologically divided coalition including, for the first time in Israel’s history, an Arab party.

Bennett is himself a Jewish nationalist, but Netanyahu’s allies accused the new premier of treachery for allying with Arabs and the left.

Yair Lapid, the architect of the new government, tweeted he believed the march had to be allowed, but that “it’s inconceivable how you can hold an Israeli flag and shout, ‘Death to Arabs’ at the same time”.

Mansour Abbas, whose Islamic conservative party Raam is vital to the new coalition, called Tuesday’s march a “provocation” that should have been cancelled.

BEIRUT — Lebanon is unable to pay its soldiers enough, the army warned Wednesday ahead of a UN-backed conference during which donors will seek to shore up one of the bankrupt country's key institutions.

Unlike previous conferences designed to provide training, weapons or equipment for Lebanon's armed forces, the virtual meeting hosted by France on Thursday aims to offer the kind of humanitarian assistance usually reserved for countries grappling with conflict or natural disaster.

"We are in need of food parcels, healthcare assistance and support with soldiers' pay," a military source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"The devaluation of the Lebanese pound is affecting soldiers and they are in need of support. Their salaries are not enough anymore."

Lebanon's economic crisis, which the World Bank has labelled as one of the world's worst since the 1850s, has eaten away at soldiers' pay and slashed the military's budget for maintenance and equipment, further threatening the country's stability.

Already mid last year, the army said it had scrapped meat from the meals offered to on-duty soldiers, due to rising food prices.

"We are doing the impossible to ease the suffering and the economic woes of our soldiers," army chief Joseph Aoun said in a speech on Tuesday.

"We are forced to turn to allied states to secure aid, and I am ready to go to the end of the world to procure assistance so that the army can stay on its feet."

Around 20 countries, including the United States, EU member states, Gulf countries, Russia and China have been invited to take part in the conference alongside UN representatives.

It follows a visit by Aoun last month to Paris, where he warned that the army could face even darker days without emergency support.

"The Lebanese army is going through a major crisis, which could get worse due to the deteriorating economic and social situation in Lebanon, which may worsen when subsidies are lifted," he said.

He was referring to a government plan to scrap subsidies on essential goods such as fuel, food and flour to shore up dwindling foreign currency reserves.

A source close to French Defence Minister Florence Parly said on Wednesday that the crisis was alarming as the Lebanese military is the “key institution” maintaining security in the country.

The army has highlighted “very specific needs” for milk, flour, medicine, fuel and spare parts for maintenance, the source said, in requests amounting to “several tens of thousands of euros”.

The aid was needed “as soon as possible”, the source said, stressing “the urgency of the situation”.

‘Singular battle’ 

Whether or not the aid would be in cash or in kind was to be discussed on Thursday.

France is expected to announce deliveries of medical equipment to combat the coronavirus and spare parts for armoured vehicles and helicopters.

The United States pledged to make a contribution during a meeting on Tuesday in Brussels between Parly and her American counterpart Lloyd Austin.

The Lebanese army has been relying heavily on food donations from allied states since last summer’s monster port explosion in Beirut that killed more than 200 people and damaged swathes of the capital.

France, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey are among the army’s main food donors.

Iraq and Spain have offered medical assistance.

The United States remains the biggest financial backer of the Lebanese military.

It has bumped up funding for the army by $15 million for this year to $120 million.

Aram Nerguizian of the Carnegie Middle East Center said the “Paris conference is meant to prompt partner nations to think creatively about how to help the LAF [army] through 2021”.

In a report published on Wednesday, he said the assistance would “allow the command of the armed forces to focus on its mission, border security, counterterrorism, internal stability, as opposed to fighting a singular battle to maintain the LAF’s stability, with no real Lebanese government assistance”.

TEHRAN — The field of candidates in Iran’s presidential election thinned out Wednesday, two days before the vote in which a victory by ultraconservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi is widely seen as a foregone conclusion.

Three of the seven men who had been approved to enter the lacklustre race pulled out, further bolstering the position of Raisi, 60, in a vote expected to see record low turnout.

Reformist Mohsen Mehralizadeh was first to leave the race on Wednesday, followed by two ultraconservatives, Alireza Zakani and Saeed Jalili, who both pledged their support for the frontrunner.

The election comes as economically ailing and pandemic-hit Iran holds talks with world powers to revive the battered 2015 nuclear deal and seeks to end a punishing US sanctions regime imposed under former president Donald Trump.

The vote will choose a successor to Iran’s moderate President Hassan Rouhani, whose administration had agreed the deal. This year he cannot run again, having served two consecutive four-year terms, and leaves office in August.

Ultimate power in Iran, where a revolution toppled the monarchy in 1979, lies with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but the president has significant influence on issues from industrial policy to foreign affairs.

The expected winner, Raisi — the country’s judiciary chief and a cleric sporting a black turban and religious robe — has been mentioned in Iranian media as a possible successor to Khamenei.

Raisi belongs to the ultraconservative camp that most deeply distrusts the United States, labelled the “Great Satan” or the “Global Arrogance” in the Islamic republic, and which has harshly criticised Rouhani since the nuclear deal started to unravel.

The supreme leader, in a televised speech, urged voters to come out in droves to elect “a powerful president” — warning that “the Satanic power centres of the world” are trying to undermine the ballot.

‘Maximum pressure’ 

The landmark achievement of Rouhani’s eight years in power was the 2015 accord with world powers under which Tehran accepted limits on its nuclear programme in return for relief from international sanctions.

But hopes Iran would reap the benefits were dashed in 2018 when Trump ripped up the deal and launched a “maximum pressure” campaign aiming to isolate it diplomatically and economically.

The oil-rich country of 83 million, blocked by the US from trading with much of the world and shut out from financial systems, was plunged into a steep economic downturn with runaway inflation and mass job losses.

Iran saw anti-government unrest in the winter of 2017-18 and again in November 2019 — harshly put down both times — before the COVID-19 pandemic came and battered Iran harder than any other country in the region.

An ultraconservative victory would mean that, just months after US President Joe Biden replaced Trump, a hawk on Iran, Tehran could begin taking a harder line towards the West.

Analysts however argue that this would be unlikely to derail talks in Vienna between Iran and the other remaining parties to the nuclear deal — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — which have been indirectly joined by the United States.

The pain of Trump’s ramped-up sanctions has been the unifying theme in campaigning, and all candidates agree that Iran’s top priority must be to have them lifted.

Call to vote 

Raisi’s remaining challengers include ex-Revolutionary Guard chief Mohsen Rezai and the former central bank governor Abdolnasser Hemmati, who is seen as a reformist but lacks the support of the main reformist coalition.

In case no candidate wins a clear majority on Friday, the two with the most votes will go head-to-head in a runoff a week later, on June 25.

Few campaign posters are seen in Tehran, and the mood has been dampened by the economic downturn and coronavirus restrictions, while observers expect many voters to abstain.

Tehran nursing student Narges, 20, like many young Iranians, said she was mainly concerned with making ends meet and worried about her future. Asked about the presidential election, she said she did not have “any particular feelings” about it.

Last month, the Iranian press had widely predicted a showdown between Raisi and moderate conservative Ali Larijani, an adviser to Khamenei.

But after the powerful Guardian Council barred Larijani and other heavyweights from the poll, the remaining hopefuls appeared unlikely to pose a serious challenge to Raisi.

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli acknowledged that turnout among the over 59 million eligible voters “may be lower compared to previous elections”.

“A weakness in competition is one reason, and the coronavirus situation another,” he told journalists.

“But still, our people have always caused great surprises and are always present.”

BENGHAZI, Libya — Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi is hosting a rare “week of culture” featuring art, music and theatre, as the country attempts to turn the page on a decade of violence.

“It’s an honour to have an exhibition for the first time in Benghazi,” said Elham El Ferjani, an artist who travelled from the capital Tripoli in the country’s west specially for the event.

Benghazi was the first city to rise up against longtime dictator Muammar Qadhafi in 2011 in a NATO-backed revolt.

The situation deteriorated into a complex war involving Libyan armed groups, foreign mercenaries and foreign powers, and an ensuing political crisis saw the oil-rich country split in recent years between rival authorities in the east and west.

An October truce set in motion a UN-sponsored process that led to the creation of an interim government tasked with preparing the country for elections this December and unifying its institutions.

Ferjani, whose work is inspired by Libyan desert rock art, Amazigh (Berber) culture and the North African country’s decade of conflict, is displaying her paintings at the Barah cultural centre in the heart of Libya’s ancient second city.

The opportunity to meet with artists who have travelled from all over the country was “a source of joy”, said Ferjani, whose show kicked off the week’s events.

Other activities include workshops on glass painting, photography and sculpture, as well as roundtables and conferences, said organiser Hazem El Ferjani, who is not related to the artist.

The aim of the cultural week, which runs until Saturday, was “to revive the artistic and cultural life of Benghazi”, a city long associated with violence, he said.

The programme also features debates on Libyan cinema, a concert of Arab-Andalusian music and a play performed by a Libyan theatre troop.