294 Things Are About to Get Much Worse in Darfur

Jan Pronk, the U.N. envoy to Sudan, reports on his blog that the Sudanese military has lost two big battles against the rebels in Darfur. Remember, the ethnic cleansing/genocide there started when the rebels overran a Sudanese military base and the government started arming tribes as a proxy force.

Pronk also says the government has started arming the janjaweed again.

BBC article
Jan Pronk’s blog (which is excellent, of course, and very informative… but I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the news that Jan Pronk has a blog)

[tags]Sudan, Darfur[/tags]

293 Election Season in Bahrain

Toby Jones has a good piece about Bahrain’s elections on Marc Lynch’s promising new project, Qahwa Sada. Worth the detour and an RSS subscription. For the lazy, here’s the punchline:

There is little reason to believe that sectarian and political tensions will ameliorate any time soon. There is also little reason to believe that investigations into Bandargate will yield an honest accounting or lead to any systematic changes. What is certain is that frustration will continue to simmer, distrust will remain, and the Bahraini government will continue to exploit the country?s deep sectarian divides ? hardly an island of tolerance, hope, and peace. (full story)

Further reading:

[tags]Elections, Bahrain[/tags]

292 U.S. ‘Plot to Force out Hamas’

Well, now, this is interesting. From The Observer:

US ‘plot to force out Hamas’
Inigo Gilmore in Tel Aviv
Sunday October 15, 2006
The Observer

Hamas accused the United States yesterday of fomenting internal strife among Palestinians as new details emerged of a campaign to funnel millions of dollars in funds to its opponents and provide weapons and military training for rival forces.

Officially the US has put up some $42m to bolster Hamas’s political opponents ahead of possible early Palestinian elections, with officials saying the programme is aimed at promoting alternatives to Hamas, which caused a sensation when it won power in January. But reports in Israel suggest that cash is being diverted to military training and to purchase weapons for forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, amid growing fears that Abbas’s Fatah party and Hamas are headed for a showdown.

Ahmed Youssef, a political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, said yesterday that the US was trying bring down the government by various means. ‘They failed in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Lebanon, and they will fail in Palestine because they have no clear plans on how to deal with Islamists. We hoped after the elections in January that they would open door to talks, to put things on the table and to help Palestinians find a final peaceful solution but unfortunately every time they deal with wrong people and the wrong ideas.’

US cash is reportedly being used to set up training facilities for Abbas’s special guard, Force 17, in the West Bank town of Jericho and in Gaza. Hamas, meanwhile has plans to strengthen its 3,000-strong Executive Force to 7,500 men, and has been importing weapons from Egypt.

Angry Arab responds, “The Fath Movement should now be treated like we treated the South Lebanon Army. Fath is now a surrogate army working on behalf of the Israeli occupation of Arab lands.”
[tags]Hamas, Israel, United States, Fatah[/tags]

291 Money on Gamal

Josh Stacher, now teaching at the British University in Egypt, has a good, straight-ahead account of the NDP’s annual conference in the latest Carnegie Bulletin. Josh concludes:

This year’s NDP conference did not officially anoint Gamal Mubarak as Egypt’s next president, but it did foreshadow how hands will raise when asked about his presidential candidacy. Whether Gamal is the heir apparent is no longer an open question in Egypt; the question for Egyptians and outside observers now is simply how soon the succession will take place.

Full article…

[tags]Egypt, Gamal[/tags]

290 Ahmadinejad at the CFR

Iranian President Ahmadinejad has had his transcript of his talk to the CFR on his blog for ages now, but I only just now made my way all the way through. My suggestion is to skim the bizarre discussion about the Holocaust and cut to the meat at the bottom of the page.

A taste (on the Holocaust):

Ahmadinejad: How old are you?

Audience Member: I am 81.

A: You were there and you survived! Congratulations.

Q: So things did happen I would like to have answers. Mr. President, you now denied holocaust occurred.

A: I think my questions are highly clear. Should you think, it is real, then you should request your European states to launch some investigations in this regard. Why don’t you let investigations be accomplished. At present we have researchers who have been imprisoned due to their researches regarding holocaust. We don’t have such a thing in records that a history researcher is in prison due to his job. Doesn’t it occur to you that there is a complexity in this problem? […]

And so on. On human rights and Hizballah:

Q: Mr. President, you have articulated many principles, I want to ask you about the principles, for example you spoke about the important issue of freedom of expression in Europe, but in Iran, newspapers have been closed, scholars have been imprisoned, and Nobel-Prize-Winner Shirin Ebadi’s organization was closed, you speak about the importance of election for Palestinians, but in Iran the council of guardians disqualified candidates in the last election , and when the bus-drivers organized for better conditions in January, their leader was arrested and members were fired, and you spoke about the rights of Palestinians. But Hezbollah’s rockets which you gave them killed 15 Palestinians in the district.

A: Thank you for your attention to Iranians and the Palestinian nation. We are annoyed regarding people, murdered at every place. Iran is a great country and like other countries, there may happen events in it. Thousands of good events and some bad ones. If you think some bad events, intensified, cause problem, you are mistaken. There are 3 million captives in the U.S., which means one percent of the people, while this rate in Iran is 0.2%, which means one fifth of the U.S. rate. Nearly 90% of the prisoners in Iran are involved with narcotic-drug trafficking, which means that we are disbursing money to prevent narcotic-drug from going to Europe and U.S. Now can you say on what reason these three million persons are kept in prison. Did your states imprison them groundless?

There are laws in every country that everybody must regard them. Freedom is obtained under the supervision of law-enforcement. In our country, Iran, there is no one in prison, charged with research.

On the IAEA and Iran’s nuclear program:

Ahmadinejad: I have a question to ask you. Do you originally accept that other nations can use fuel – cycle or not? Does N.P.T. let other nations have it or not? Does it let or not?

Q: Yes it does allow it.

A: How? With the permission of America or within the framework of the IAEA?s regulations? If we accept one right, then we must let it get operational. If we are worried, we must then stop chemical and biological researches. Does any wise and sage person make such a decision? Will the right of a nation be stopped? Just due to this reason that maybe others ask for something. Don’t those people, producing new bombs fast, pose any danger for the world? Don’t other people have weapons in our region? They do have weapons, but the U.S. administration doesn’t feel worried, why? Are they really disagreed with weapons? You must know that the nuclear subject is a political one, not a legal one, because we work under IAEA. When we have oil, do we have a right to order the countries to stop oil-exploration? Can we stop the right of others?

We are a member of IAEA. We have also signed the N.P.T, and we are working within its framework. What problem is there that all of the members use their rights? Do you think if all nations use nuclear energy, they will make bombs? This is false. If a person recommends something, he must first proceed it himself. I believe if these four of five countries dismantle their bombs, they themselves are also relieved, and they won’t be suspicious to others. Our activities are absolutely peaceful. We are so much confident. Last year we offered a suggestion in the U.N, which allows everybody to participate in our activities, now I say the same. We are so much confident and opened the doors and took journalists and showed them our establishments. These establishments are at medical, agricultural and energy services. Why do you make them secret that will then get diverted? They can make their works transparent, U.S. and England make their works transparent as well, and they let authorities check their establishments. Last year I suggested that a disarmament committee would be formed, and the suggestion won votes, but they didn’t let it get operational. In fact those who have weapons, they must dismantle their weapons, and relieve the world. We are at the beginning of the enrichment, is it so worrying that they cause so much megaphone? While there are some people in our region that the U.S administration equipped them with nuclear weapons.

We believe that the nuclear bomb age has ended and anyone investing on it, has made a mistake. U.S. is also mistaken in this regard. Because it doesn’t have a chance to use and this is not effective. Other nations won’t give up before bombs, also nuclear bombs can’t protect a government. If it could, it would protect Soviet Union. Soviet’s nuclear lids overweighed the US?s, but it cracked down. Today nuclear weapons don’t bring superiority. But regarding the peaceful energy, it is the necessity of nowadays. You know the condition of oil. The oil reserves are near to end, but today’s demand is ever increasing, which needs pure energies. Which energy excels the nuclear energy? I think the system must be changed. All the members of IAEA must be able to have this energy, but the inspection teams should be strong to visit and prevent, they must also do the same thing for chemical and microbiological weapons, because they are also deadly. With deprivation on scientific technology is it possible to unravel the problem. We have to learn to use properly, and this is practical, I believe this is right and achievable.

Full transcript here. CFR’s summary here…

[tags]Iran, Ahmadinejad[/tags]

287 The Moustache Brothers

BurmaI’ve been following the writing of Burma/Myanmar’s Constitution as carefully as I can. It’s one of those places I’ve never really managed to get a read on, and I’ve tried. Exiled opposition groups in Thailand can only get you so far, especially if you don’t speak the language. When the junta there falls, the new government will tear up the constitution the generals wrote to legitimize their rule. But the junta doesn’t look like it’s in any danger of falling soon, so I still maintain this is a little important and interesting.

For the idly-curious-about-Burma, this whole song and dance has had the nice side-effect of producing some good stories in the newspapers. See this WSJ Asia piece from my friend Sara (Meg) Davis:

WEEKEND JOURNAL
Taste: The Moustache Brothers
By Sara L.M. Davis
598 words
6 October 2006
The Wall Street Journal Asia
W11
English
(c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
MANDALAY, Burma — Despite the military junta’s authoritarian rule, the Moustache Brothers are keeping a Burmese tradition alive — scathing political satire. Lu Maw, Lu Zaw and Par Par Lay, better known as the Moustache Brothers, say that their form of a-nyeint folk performance is as old as the city of Mandalay. It’s too bad the ruling generals don’t share their sense of humor.

In 1997, authorities jailed Lu Zaw and Par Par Lay after a now-legendary performance, given at the invitation of Nobel Prize-winning opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The two brothers spent an hour dancing and cracking jokes. Sympathizers videotaped Ms. Suu Kyi giggling in the crowd, but authorities sent the two brothers to a labor camp for their crime of joking about politics. An international human rights campaign led to their release after five years.

In impoverished Burma, a-nyeint folk comedy — which weaves humor around dancing women — is still in style. On special occasions, families host all-night performances for whole villages. Performing troupes travel from town to town. “In the old days, we went to Kachin State, Shan State, all over. We built a stage and slept on it at night,” Lu Maw recollects. “If it rains, we sleep underneath.”

Today they are blacklisted, and may perform only in their living room for tourists. The show walks a fine line: The brothers mostly stick to old-school folk dance, but they throw in the occasional jab at corrupt traffic cops, deposed generals and government spies. Such humor is part of a grand tradition for the Moustache Brothers, whose father and grandfather were all a-nyeint comedians. “We keep the tradition, the old customs, we are old fogies,” says Lu Maw. “Watching a-nyeint used to be like reading a newspaper.” Lu Maw, squatting with an old radio microphone and puffing on a cheroot in the dark, says that the authorities have cut off his electricity tonight because they know it’s showtime. “Never mind!” he screeches, in English. “We have generator! We make own power!” He waves his hand: With a thump, the lights come on, and the foreign audience cheers.

The joke is bittersweet. Today, visitors enjoy many privileges that are unimaginable for most Burmese. Free speech is one of them. Inadvertently, the Moustache Brothers have become a human rights minstrel show, mugging for foreigners in their home.

But that doesn’t stop them from making fun of their new patrons. Every night, the brothers pose for photos with each audience member, grinning like mad as they hold a sign that reads, ” Moustache Brothers are under surveillance.” The tourist, smiling more awkwardly, holds a sign that reads “CIA,” “Mossad,” or “MI5,” depending on her nationality.

Lu Maw sights down his arm like a rifle at each well-dressed, well-fed foreigner. “You tourists, you easy money for Moustache Brothers . You sitting duck! I take you out!” He giggles with glee, pointing the imaginary rifle at each of us, then adds, “I joking, I am comedian.”

Meanwhile, trishaw drivers glimpse the show as they wait by the doorway to take tourists back to their hotels. They lounge in the unlit street, legs propped on bike handlebars, smoking and laughing. And every evening in Mandalay, an elderly trishaw driver would pedal up to me on the street and ask, hopefully, “Par Par Lay?”

[tags]Burma, Myanmar, human rights, constitution[/tags]

286 Appeal to the Italian Media on Darfur

Reader Fabrizio requested that I pass this on. Seems churlish not to. Italian bloggers are lobbying TV networks there to give the crisis in Darfur more coverage. You can sign the appeal here.

[tags]Darfur, Sudan, Italy[/tags]

285 Sudanese Reporter Held for Secret Reasons

See CPJ’s press release:

New York, October 5, 2006?The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that Sudanese security forces have held Abu Obeida Abdallah, a reporter for the pro-government daily Al-Ra?y Al-Aam, incommunicado and without charge since Friday.

?No evidence has been disclosed to suggest Abu Obeida Abdallah has committed a crime,? CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. ?We call on the Sudanese authorities to release Abdallah at once.?

Isma?il Adam, managing editor of Al-Ra?y Al-Aam, cited a government information agency that claimed that Abdallah was not being held in connection with any published material or any political issue. Information Minister al-Zahawi Ibrahim Malik said Abdallah would be released soon, Adam told CPJ.

Abdallah?s family and colleagues have not been allowed to contact him.

Reuters said that sources have reported different reasons for the detention. Kamal Hassan Bakhiet, editor-in-chief of the Khartoum paper, said he believed Abdallah was being questioned as part of an investigation into last month?s murder of Mohammed Taha Mohammed Ahmed, editor of the private daily Al-Wifaq. Abdallah may have had telephone contact with someone state security suspected in the slaying, he told the news agency.

But other sources told Reuters that Abdallah?s detention was likely related to Darfur and not the murder investigation. Reuters said Abdallah specialized in covering the armed conflict in the western region of Darfur and had forged contacts with many rebels there.

Press freedom has been heavily curtailed in Sudan in recent weeks. In September, several opposition and independent newspapers were seized or heavily censored, among them Ra?y Al-Shaab, an opposition Arabic-language daily for the Popular National Congress party, and Al-Sudani, an independent Arabic language daily.

On August 30, Khartoum police beat Ibrahim Muhammad, a cameraman for the Qatar-based satellite channel Al-Jazeera, and seized his camera during a demonstration against the price hikes. On August 26, a court in El-Fasher charged Paul Salopek, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Chicago Tribune, with espionage, illegally disseminating information, and writing ?false news.? Salopek was released September 9. Tomo Kriznar, a Slovenian freelance photographer was detained in Darfur on July 19 on spurious charges of espionage. He was released on September 4.

[tags]Sudan, Abu Obeida, Darfur[/tags]

284 Hundreds Killed in Darfur

The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights today released a report accusing the Sudanese government of complicity in an attack against a village in Darfur that may have left hundreds dead. The report says the attack may have been an attempt to drive out African villagers before U.N. peacekeepers arrived in the assumption that the peacekeepers will maintain the status quo when they arrive.

Meanwhile, clownish political pop star Shaaban Abd al-Rahim is said to be releasing a song about Darfur. My first thought was “Great, now that Mubarak has pledged to support international efforts, his praise poet is on the bandwagon.” Nope. According to al-Misri al-Youm, Shaaban will ask “Why so much fuss about a normal conflict?” Because a train crash (the subject of his last effort) is much sadder than ethnic cleansing.
[tags]Sudan, Darfur[/tags]

283 Viva Yehya

Celebrity photographer to Internet celebrity, courtesy of the Land of Opportunity, YouTube, and an ever-growing fan base in Egypt.

[tags]Egypt, United Sates[/tags]

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