ISLAAMDOON

Ayat ul-Kursi after Fardh Salat

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:33:00 +0000

Abu Umamah (radi Allahu anhu) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said, "Whoever recites Ayat ul-Kursi immediately after each prescribed Prayer, there will be nothing standing between him and his entering Paradise except death." [Nasai, Ibn Hibban, Darimi]

Ayat ul-Kursi is so important because it contains a description of the attributes of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala). The only way we can know Him is through His sifaat/characteristics.

One of the attributes of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) mentioned in Ayat ul-Kursi is that He is always awake and fully alert. No sleep overtakes him, nor does He ever get drowsy. To sleep is one of the attributes of created beings, and all of creation is limited in many ways.

Bani Israil asked Musa (alaihis salam) to ask Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) if He ever slept. Allah's response to Musa (alaihis salam) was to tell him to take two glass bottles and remain standing with them. A day passed, and then two. Finally Musa (alaihis salam) was overcome by tiredness and sleep. For the fraction of a second that his eyes closed and his grip on the bottles loosened, the bottles crashed to the ground and shattered into tiny fragments. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) told Musa (alaihis salam) that if He were to sleep for the blink of an eye, the universe would similarly be destroyed.

Knowing that Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) does not sleep allows us to sleep soundly. We put our trust in Him since no one can do a better job than Him in watching over us.

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What Drives People to Convert to Islam? (part 1 of 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:59:00 +0000

What Drives People to Convert to Islam? (part 1 of 2)
The nature of religious faith is quite mysterious. As part of their religious faiths, people believe in a variety of deities. There are people who have religious faith in the unseen supreme inimitable power, and then there are others who believe in some humans as Gods, or animals (e.g. monkeys), fire, idols made of stone, and the list goes on.

A lot is associated with having a religious “faith”. Part of it has to do with beliefs passed on through generations. People’s identities therefore get tied to it. Many times, these beliefs and associated feelings are not completely demonstrable by reason or any rational arguments. There is nothing right or wrong with this, but that’s just how the nature of religious faith has come to be.

Almost everyone thinks they are right in their faith and beliefs. Being with people and groups with similar faith further strengthens people’s faith, and they see it as right, even though logical reasoning and argument sometimes can’t explain it all. That’s simple human psychology.
Islam’s arguments based on intellectual reasoning

Muslims believe however, that the Islamic religion is different in this context. One may argue that similar to other faiths there are aspects of it which are not completely demonstrable by reason, but on the other hand the Quranic text, which is God’s words addressing humanity at large, uses intellectual reason, critical thinking, and the process of reflection as a means not only to reinforce the faith of the believers, but also to call non-believers to ponder about the authenticity of Islam as the way of life for humanity at large. Although no religious beliefs can be fully based on logic and reasoning, Islam and Quran provide more than enough examples and an opportunity to examine the truth and the soundness of its message through the lens of empirical evidence and knowledge.

No one (Muslim or otherwise) would argue that critical thinking and reflection can be a major catalyst for changing ones life. Critical thinking has been used by many to improve their lives simply because a critical thinker asks probing questions about a situation, collects as much information as possible, reflects on the ideas collected and generated in context of the information available, keeps an open and unbiased mind, and carefully scrutinizes assumptions and seeks alternatives.

This is the reason, therefore, that new Muslim converts would attribute the use of intelligent reasoning, reflection and critical thinking when explaining their journey to Islam. Such people cut through the hysteria created in the media to view Islam from a critical lens and following the truth thus comes naturally to them as part of this process. How else can one explain the increase in conversions with the increase of anti-Islamic rhetoric? How else can one explain that more non-Muslim preachers have been converting to Islam than ever before? Although, as Muslims, we believe that guidance comes only from Allah, the use of a person’s God-gifted intellectual reasoning has a very powerful role to play in Muslim converts making that destiny changing decision. And once converted, they rarely go back to their old faiths, simply because a faith whose foundations are built on logic and reason is much less likely to be shaken down than one which simply builds upon a set of rites and sacraments.
Reasons attributed by new Converts

Some of the reasons given why people convert to Islam are the eloquence of the Quran’s language, its overwhelming scientific evidence and proofs, arguments rooted in intellectual reasoning, and the Divine wisdom behind various social issues. The uniqueness and beauty of the Quran’s text has been marveled by the best of Arab linguists and scholars, both Muslim and otherwise, from the days it was revealed until today. The more knowledgeable people are in the language, the more they appreciate the wonders of the textual fluency of the Quran. Revealed more than 1400 years ago, the Quran also has numerous scientific facts that are being validated by science only in this era. Furthermore, it is the only known religious text that challenges mankind to think, reflect and ponder over the creation at large, social issues, God’s existence, and more. The Quran, in many instances, challenges people to reflect and think on their own, rather than heeding the loose talk of those whose criticism is based on baseless foundations. Finally, the Quran provides a solution to numerous social issues, deviation from which has been known to cause societal chaos at all levels.

The Quran is a confident assertion of a Supreme Being; the only known religious book that has a confident assertion of a Supreme Being on all issues ranging from the creation of the universe to most particular components of the social milieu. Moreover, its Divine Text - the language and prose of the Quran - is very different from the language in the Prophet’s sayings, which demonstrates that the Quran is not from the creative imagination or inspired words of Prophet Muhammad, as many doubters have alleged in the past, and continue to do even today.

We can see that most of these reasons can only be attributed to the process of critical thinking and intellectual reflection. However, cold reasoning is not enough. The heart has to be engaged in the search: a search whose aim is to reach for the truth at its core. No wonder, then, that when such sincere people hear the Quran for the first time, and understand it, they say:

“We believe in it; surely, it is the Truth from our Lord. Indeed, even before it, we were Muslims!” (Quran 28:53)

http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/1931/

http://islaamdoon.blogspot.com/

Siraj Wahhaj - How I came to Islam?

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:43:00 +0000

http://islaamdoon.blogspot.com/

ISLAMIC VIDEOS: The Life of the Prophet Muhammed(sal)- Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:31:00 +0000

Syria's Revolution: Created by Local Women & Men Smoking Four Packs a Day

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 03:49:00 +0000

Syria's Revolution: Created by Local Women & Men Smoking Four Packs a Day

By Mohja Kahf

Who populates the Syrian revolution? The Syrian revolution has three core populations: urbanite survivors of the 2001 Damascus Spring, disenfranchised classes rural and urban, and the traditional opposition. Local histories, not dissidents abroad or foreign entities, created this revolution. Yet some international analysts remain blind to the people of our revolution.

One major engine of the Syrian revolution comprises those who began activism during the short-lived Damascus Spring of 2001, educated youth then in their late teens and 20s and 30s who are now young professionals.They are mostly secularists (and incidentally, in my experience, often three-or-four-pack-a-day smokers). These democracy advocates a decade ago formed groups such as the Committees for the Defense of Democratic Freedoms (for example, young democracy activist Jiwan Ayo, Kurdish, was active on this committee, and during the revolution was imprisoned on September 4, 2011), and now also have younger cohorts who saw them struggle over the past years. They are an extremely diverse grouping in terms of sect and ethnicity, including Alawite activists such as feminist Hanady Zahlout and longtime dissident Habib Saleh, and some of Syria's most prominent human rights activists from the heavily Druze region of Suwayda.

The democracy-activist population of the revolution organized the Family Vigil for Prisoners in front of the Interior Ministry in Damascus. There, 150-200 kinfolk of political prisoners amassed nonviolently on Wednesday, March 16, 2011. Large numbers of women participated, along with children and men. The vicious response of security to the peaceful crowd, including against the ten-year-old son of a woman prisoner, grandmothers, and a late-term expectant mother (my friend Maimouna Alammar — not among the smokers), turned this into a trigger for subsequent protests.

Four women planned that March 16 Vigil. All four women are secularists, one from a Christian background. All four were Damascus Spring activists, one a blogger and three of them human rights lawyers who have been defending prisoners of conscience in Syria for years. One of the four was lawyer Catherine Altalli, who was imprisoned for two weeks in May, and joined the Syrian National Council after fleeing Syria; I had a chance to review the March 16 event with her, and have been in touch with the other women involved in organizing that event.

Two of the four lead core organizational coalitions in the revolution: Suhair Atassi, who was imprisoned for ten days in March because of the March 16 Vigil, leads the General Commission of the Syrian Revolution, a coalition of local committees, and recently had to flee Syria after living in hiding for months. Lawyer Razan Zaitouneh heads the Local Coordinating Committees, coalition of 14 to 17 local councils (there is flux), and has been living in hiding in Syria for ten months; her husband Wael Hamada was imprisoned as hostage for her, for several months. (I'm not saying all of them smoke, but Razan's Facebook status the other day, January 15, 2011, was "Never mind the Little Match Girl, I can't even find a lighter for my morning cigarette!" with which dilemma I deeply sympathize.)

These women did not consult overseas men in suits about planning the revolution.

Another revolution population, and the most prevalent, is the ideologically unaffiliated, economically disenfranchised rural and urban working and middle classes who experience the lack of social justice in Syria on every level. The abandonment of these sectors by some skeptics of the Syrian revolution on the global Left is especially astonishing. Plaster worker Muhammad AboZayd, a 42-year-old father of five in the Damascus countryside town of Daraya, who supported nonviolent protests since March, and was imprisoned August 11, 2011, is one of millions of examples. Members of these diffuse disenfranchised populations protested nonviolently in Damascus on Tuesday, March 15. The crowd of about 150 included short-order gyros chef Mahmud Dorayd, 49, along with his two brothers. Mahmud is now imprisoned; his brother Rashed was killed by the regime during a nonviolent protest on Good Friday.

These undespairing Syrian Bouazizis started this revolution in massive nonviolent demonstrations on March 17 and 18 in the southern province of Dara, where local Christians and Muslims were in solidarity against the regime from the start. Have critics of the Syrian revolution in the global Left heard of the 15 schoolchildren of Dara who were tortured for writing anti-regime graffiti in February, then had their parents taunted cruelly by the security chief, for demanding their release? The parents of the Dara schoolboys did not consult men in suits abroad to know they want an accountable government.

Syria's disenfranchised Bouazizis are the greatest population of this revolution. Incidentally, a lot of them are also four-pack-a-day smokers (which is also to say, they do not fit the profile of Islamists). I met and shared a smoke with some of them this summer, after they had fled Syria into Turkey. One young man from the city of Binnish, a town near Idlib, told me in July 2011, "I was lost for 12 hours in the mountains. Never mind that I had no food or water — my agony was, I had no cigarettes!" It takes a smoker to appreciate fully the Syrian revolution. (This is not an endorsement of smoking.)

Other local populations, such as the Daraya Youth, a nonviolence study group begun in 1998 in the Damascus suburb of Daraya, pour into this revolution, their members straddling the above two groupings. Back in 2003, the Daraya Youth marched against the U.S. invasion of Iraq — and, well, yes, conducted a local anti-smoking campaign, as well as tried to open a public library called "Paths of Peace." For such activities, group members were imprisoned for two years. The members of that since-defunct Daraya group were at the forefront of Daraya protest organizing, including imprisoned nonviolence visionary Yahya Shurbaji, nicknamed "Little Gandhi" by townsfolk. Local histories significant to the revolution include the Kurdish intifada of 2004 in northern Syria, in which Kurdish protesters, part of a particularly disenfranchised population, were killed and imprisoned. Assyrians, a Christian population, are solidly in the Syrian revolution, from a deep-rooted history of activism. So is the city of Salamiya, featuring predominantly secular youth from Ismailia backgrounds, to name just one of the 150 communities that protested early, and continue to protest often. (The number is up to 459 communities as of January 13, 2012). Palestinian Syrians form another protest population that has participated significantly in the revolution, beginning with the Palestinians of Dara, who marched in aid of the besieged city.

Some in the international Left appear utterly blind to these Syrian multitudes and formulate instead a western-centric, and often Islamo-phobic, critique of the Syrian revolution. They dismiss its rootedness in local histories. For them, the Syrian revolution begins and ends in geopolitics outside Syria.

Trailing in as a third population in the Syrian revolution is the traditional opposition. These dissidents, including their abroad components, have been trying and failing to effect change in Syria for years. They would be nowhere without the first two much larger populations of the revolution. This cluster includes traditional Kurdish parties, leftists, and Islamists, including the Muslim Brotherhood, whose existence is mainly outside Syria because belonging to theMB has been a capital crime inside since the 1970s.

Armchair pundits opposing the Syrian revolution appear aware only of a third of that third grouping. That is, all they see in the revolution is the Muslim Brotherhood.

Yes, the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to negotiate a place for itself in this revolution. Also, they and other exiles and traditional oppositionists have paid high costs for their dissent, and have a right to be in this revolution, and a right to contest in a post-asaad Syria like any other group. We will have to fight the Muslim Brotherhood politically, those of us Syrians who disagree with their platform, and we will also have to fight the repercussions of the fact that the U.S.seems to like this revolution — and we will do those things in a POST-asaad Syria. This brutal dictatorship is on its way out, come what may; that much is certain.

Also, would that it were just the Muslim Brotherhood — which, in the interest of disclosure, is my family's historical background, and certainly not my own affiliation, and not a platform I support. Some Muslim Brotherhood leaders, at least, claim to have evolved over the years and now say they know how to behave democratically, after joining other oppositionists in the Damascus Declaration of 2005 calling for gradual democratic reform in Syria. Even more right-wing, and less politically experienced, than the Muslim Brotherhood are the hardcore salafis, extremist preachers such as the Saudi-based Adnan Aroor, who is all over the dissident Syrian TV stations, full of sectarian hate and advocating arming the revolution fully. Every revolution has many elements. This one is certainly part of the picture; it is certainly not the mainstream of the revolution. While their religious fervor has limited appeal among the broader populations of the revolution, such preachers' political support for the revolution appeals to some in the disenfranchised classes. It's on the rest of our revolution to get in there and contest that, and this is happening — even amid the daily death wreaked by the regime on all populations in the revolution.

Protesters in any of the types may find solace in religious sentiments. Some secularists may be religious privately. And none of it really has to do with smoking, which is just a hook to get you here — although I am impressed by the amount of it in the revolution. The point is, the vast majority of populations in this revolution are not organizing around political Islamist platforms.

The Syrian people's history is of deeply felt pro-Palestinian and anti-imperialist sympathies which cut across nearly all ideological sides, and it is insulting to the Syrian people for anyone in the world's intellectual community to expect these stripes to change suddenly once Syrians are free of a police state. No matter who tries to take advantage of the revolution, Syrians in the revolution have to work out their disagreements through an accountable, democratic contestation process like the one we aim for in Syria post-asaad. Meanwhile, can the global Left rearrange its pencils and rulers around the fact that Syrians just don't want to live in a police state anymore?

The Syrian revolution since June possesses a small armed flank (the Free Syrian Army), made up of defectors who refuse to fire on unarmed civilians. Yes, many of the Muslim Brotherhood Syrians outside, and certainly the Aroorites as well, are among the FSA's avid supporters, though not it is only they who support it. Also supporting it are significant numbers of the second group, the unaffiliated rural and urban disenfranchised classes. The revolution's main organizational structures — dozens of local committees which began organizing from January through April, 2011, and the coalitions they have formed — remain largely nonviolent.

Every revolution has flaws and dangers, and every revolution has internal struggles. Achieving victory through widespread participation in nonviolent civil resistance is crucial to the kind of state we wish to create post-Asaad: a secular, civil, democratic, pluralistic state meeting best international standards in guaranteeing human rights equally for all its inhabitants.

US marines to probe 'abuse video'

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:13:00 +0000

Fatwa: He gets a contract to do some work then hires people to do it for less pay

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:41:00 +0000

I work for a company that offers media services to other companies. The work is done by programmers whom I hire to do this work, and I send them to the companies that have asked us for help.
The profits are represented in the difference between what we charge to the company, which is somewhat high, and what we pay the workers, which is less.
If this income is not halaal, how should I purify my wealth that I have earned until now? Do I have to do leave my work immediately or wait until I find another job? I have a family and four young children. I fear my Lord and I do not want to feed them anything but that which is halaal.
Please help me, may Allah reward you with good and bless your work.

Praise be to Allaah.

It is permissible for the one who is hired or given a contract to do some work, to hire other people to do this work for less pay and to benefit from the difference in payment, unless the agreement was that the first worker should do the work himself or he was chosen specifically for the task, as in the case where someone hires a well known calligrapher or designer.

It says in Kashshaaf al-Qinaa' (3/566):

If one is hired to do some work for pay, such as sewing and the like, there is nothing wrong with him hiring someone to do it for a lesser fee. End quote.

Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

If a person is hired to do some work on the basis of a contract, if it is said to him: We want you to clean this house every day and you will have one hundred riyals per month, then he hires someone else to clean the house every day, in the way described in the original contract, but for fifty riyals, this is permissible, because it is similar to when we say that it is permissible to sublet a property for the remainder of the rental period for a higher rate than one is paying. And this is how people do things today. You will find the state – for example – giving a contract to a company to clean mosques, and for each mosque they pay such and such per month. Then this company brings workers to do the work agreed upon for less than a quarter of what was agreed with the government. But if there is a particular reason for hiring that specific person, then giving the job to someone else is not permissible. For example, if you hired someone to copy out Zaad al-Mustaqni' (a book of Hanbali fiqh) for you, and you know that this man has good handwriting or makes few mistakes, then he hired someone who has beautiful handwriting to copy it for a lower price, the scholars say that this is not permissible because what matters is copying properly, not just beautiful handwriting. Rather what matters is beautiful handwriting, proper punctuation and minimum errors. How many people have the most beautiful handwriting but they make too many mistakes. Many students have good handwriting but they do not follow the rules of writing; many people have poor handwriting that no one can read except one who is used to it, but there are no errors in his writing. Whatever the case, the point is that whoever is hired for a skill he has, it is not permissible for him to get someone else to do it for him.

End quote from al-Sharh al-Mumti', 10/39.

Based on that, there is nothing wrong with accepting work and hiring out people to do it for less pay, on condition that the advertisements in question are for halaal things. For more information please see the answers to questions no. 93376 and7834.

And Allah knows best.

Islam Q&A

Is it obligatory to obey a ruler who does not rule according to the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him)?.

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:39:00 +0000

Is it obligatory to obey a ruler who does not rule according to the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him)?.

Praise be to Allaah.

The ruler who does not rule according to the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger should be obeyed in matters that do not involve disobedience towards Allaah and His Messenger, and it is not obligatory to fight him because of that; rather it is not permissible to do so unless he reaches the level of kufr, in which case it becomes obligatory to oppose him and he has no right to be obeyed by the Muslims.

Ruling according to anything other than that which is in the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger reaches the level of kufr when two conditions are met:

1. When he knows the ruling of Allaah and His Messenger; if he is unaware of it, then he does not commit kufr by going against it.

2. When what makes him rule by something other than that which Allaah has revealed is the belief that it is a ruling that is not suitable for our time and that something else is more suitable than it and more beneficial for people.

If these two conditions are met, then ruling by something other than that which Allaah has revealed constitutes kufr which puts a person beyond the pale of Islam, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): "And whosoever does not judge by what Allaah has revealed, such are the Kaafiroon (i.e. disbelievers)" [al-Maa'idah 5:44]. The authority of the ruler becomes invalid and he has no right to be obeyed by the people; it becomes obligatory to fight him and remove him from power.

But if he rules by something other than that which Allaah has revealed whilst believing that ruling by that – i.e. that which Allaah has revealed -- is what is obligatory, and that it is more suitable for the people, but he goes against it because of some whims and desires on his part or because he wants to wrong the people under his rule, then he is not a kaafir; rather he is a faasiq (evildoer) or a zaalim (wrongdoer). His authority remains, and obeying him in matters that do not involve disobedience to Allaah and His Messenger is obligatory, and it is not permissible to fight him or remove him from power by force or to rebel against him, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him) forbade rebelling against rulers unless we see blatant kufr for which we have proof from Allaah. End quote.

Majmoo' Fataawa Ibn 'Uthaymeen (2/118)

Monthly Book Competition (January 2012)

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 02:21:00 +0000

Monthly Book Competition January 2012 Questions

Deadline: 20^th January @ 12am

1. What is the description which AllaahAzzawajall has given to the Hypocrites when they stand for Prayer? Bring a proof from the Quran.

2. Who was the companion that Ibn Umar (Radiyallaahu Anhu) said about him "How strange is it this man when he was born all the Muslims said Allaahu Akbar and when he was killed everyone said Allaahu Akbar? Give a glimpse of his life

3. What is the methodology of Ahulu-Sunnah Wal-Jamm'a regarding the beautiful names and attributes of Allaah? Full Answer.

4. What were the miracles of Prophet Essaa (Alayhi Salaam) that are mentioned in the Quran? Bring a proof from the Quran.

5. How many parts does the Belief in Allaah comprise of in the explanation of Sheikh Muhammad bin Saalih Al-Uthaimeen? Explain each part with proofs.

6. How many categories of Tawhid? Explain each category with proofs from the Quran & Sunnah. Also what is the opposite of Tawhid explain fully and bring a proofs from the Quraan & Sunnah?

7. Give a brief explanation of the Ma'iyyah of Allaah and provide two proofs from the Quran and Sunnah?

8. What is ihsan? Bring a proof from the Quran and Sunnah?

9. Explain fully the conditions of the prayer its obligations and pillars?

10. What is the meaning of Al-isti'aanah, Al-inaabah, Al-isti'aadhah, Al-istighaathah? Bring a proof from the Quran and Sunnah?

To encourage the brothers and sisters to research & increase their knowledge from January every month 10 questions will be sent to the group and the first person that sends most correct answers will be the winner.
Only the winner's name and his answers will be sent to the group.
It is open to everyone who is member of the email group Cardiff Dawah
Send your completed Answers to cardiffdawah@gmail.com

If you need more info email cardiffdawah@gmail.com
We need 11 volunteers in February – December 2012 (Inshallaah) to write the 10 questions and donate the book. Please email us if you want to volunteer.

--
تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ الْفُرْقَانَ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ لِيَكُونَ لِلْعَالَمِينَ نَذِيرًا"

"Blessed be He who sent down the Furqaan (Qur'an) to His slave Muhammad that he may be a Warner to the Mankind".

Website:http://groups.google.co.uk/group/cardiffdawah?hl=en-GB?hl=en-GB

http://www.youtube.com/user/CardiffDawah

EGYPT: UN RIGHTS OFFICE VOICES ALARM AT RAIDS ON OFFICES ON NGOS

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:17:00 +0000

EGYPT: UN RIGHTS OFFICE VOICES ALARM AT RAIDS ON OFFICES ON NGOS

The United Nations human rights office voiced alarm today at reports that the Egyptian military has carried out raids against the offices of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in what would be the first documented incidents of their kind in the country's recent history.

According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Egyptian soldiers attacked the offices of several NGOs yesterday in Cairo, the capital. The soldiers forced their way in, blocking entrances and exits, and seized computers and files. In some cases, employees had their mobile telephones confiscated.

Frej Fenniche, chief of OHCHR's of the Middle Eastern and North Africa office, said it was the first time his office had heard of a similar raid being carried out against NGOs, noting that such events had not occurred even under the regime of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

"Such behaviour on the part of the authorities appears to be clearly designed to intimidate human rights defenders who have long been critical of human rights violations in Egypt, including under the previous regime," said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for OHCHR, from Geneva yesterday.

"The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights calls on the Government to cease the use of such unnecessarily heavy-handed measures and to ensure that civil society organisations can carry out their important work without undue interference," she added.

Egyptian authorities have reportedly blamed foreign-funded groups, including NGOs, for some of the political unrest which has rippled through Cairo and other cities since the ousting of Mr. Mubarak in February.

Mr. Fenniche noted that the local authorities had expressed concerns regarding the origins of the NGOs' funds as well as information about their relationships with foreigners.

"But this can be done according to the law," he stated.

SYRIA: BAN REITERATES CONCERN OVER WORSENING BLOODSHED AS BLASTS CLAIM MORE LIVES

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:28:00 +0000

SYRIA: BAN REITERATES CONCERN OVER WORSENING BLOODSHED AS BLASTS CLAIM MORE LIVES

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced grave concern over the escalating violence in Syria, including today's explosions in the capital, Damascus, which resulted in more deaths and injuries, and reiterated his call for an immediate end to the bloodshed.

"The Secretary-General urges the need for a credible, inclusive and legitimate Syrian-led process of comprehensive political change that will address the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people," said a statement issued by his spokesperson.

Mr. Ban said the Syrian Government "should fully and speedily implement the peace plan put forward by the League of Arab States."

He welcomed the arrival of the advance team of the Arab League, saying he looked forward to the deployment of the full-scale observer mission, which he stressed must be given unhindered access.

Media reports indicated that at least 40 people died and scores were injured in two car bomb blasts in Damascus.

Syria has since March been in a maelstrom of an uprising which is part of a broader popular protest movement that has engulfed North Africa and the Middle East this year and led to the toppling of long-term regimes in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the unrest, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

UN staff’s performance in Somalia constitute a crime Send to a friend

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 01:42:00 +0000

UN staff's performance in Somalia constitute a crime Send to a friend

Rasna Warah

One of the most frequent complaints I heard during my recent visit to Mogadishu was the lack of physical presence of United Nations staff in this war-torn city.This sounded very odd to me considering that the UN declared a famine of "biblical proportions" in Somalia in July this year, and has been raising millions of dollars to save Somalis from starvation since.

In fact, the UN has claimed to have successfully distributed food aid in Mogadishu. So why is there so little UN presence there?

I certainly didn't see any, and I was in the heart of Mogadishu during my four-day stay there. I hardly saw any UN cars in the city, and very few foreign aid workers.The only foreigners whose presence could be seen and felt was that of Turks, whose government is actively engaged in rebuilding Mogadishu, and the African Union soldiers who are helping rid the city of the dreaded Al-Shabaab.

I had heard from various sources that most of the food aid that comes through Mogadishu's port ends up in private hands because there is no effective monitoring of how and where it is distributed.

The mayor of Mogadishu, Mohamoud Nur, complained that there was no control over the aid that comes through the port because the local NGOs that collect and distribute it are not accountable to anyone. This had led to theft of food and other aid.

So I went to the port to see for myself, and sure enough, I saw Unicef bags being offloaded onto a ramshackle truck that had no UN logo on it and no UN staff was present to oversee the operation.I checked to see if there was a WFP office at the port (you'd think there would be, considering that millions of dollars of food aid that comes through the port) but could not find any.
Huge allowances

Recent reports indicate that a cartel of local business tycoons control the food aid business in Somalia through shady NGOs, and that the UN is often complicit in these transactions.Recently, a reliable source told me that a UN agency that has received millions of euros from a leading Western donor to clean up Mogadishu's streets was using one of the NGOs implicated in the food aid scandal to manage the clean-up operation.

It seems everyone is profiting from the chaos in Somalia. Somali analysts I have spoken to tell me that UN staff based in Nairobi would like Somalia to remain unstable so that they can maintain their luxurious and relatively safe lifestyles in Kenya's capital.

Indeed, almost all bilateral and multilateral donor agencies have their Somalia offices based in Nairobi. Almost none have a functioning office in Mogadishu.This means that much of the donor money given to UN and other organisations is spent in Nairobi, not in Mogadishu, where it is needed more.

One senior European Union official admitted to me recently that the UN had probably slowed down Somalia's recovery and that "if there is peace in Somalia, many UN staff will not retain their positions in Nairobi".

UN staff are quick to point out that the UN policy is to evacuate international staff when things in a country get nasty.However, international staff are paid huge hardship allowances so they can survive under adverse conditions. Why is it that they are the first to leave when they are needed the most?

Many books have been written about the UN's failure in countries such as Rwanda – where even Kofi Annan proved ineffective when he was in charge of the UN's peacekeeping operations.

The genocide in Rwanda and the turmoil in Somalia stand as testaments to the UN's complicity in crimes against humanity.

One Mogadishu resident told me the UN is quick to run away from a crisis but is also very good at creating it. "First they said there the rains had failed and they needed aid for famine victims," he said."Then the rains came, but even that became a problem. They said the rains brought malaria, and so Somalia needed more aid."

When will this never-ending cycle of chaos end? It's hard to tell, but I hope the African Union soldiers will show the UN a thing or two about how to bring about real peace and development.

rasna.warah@gmail.com

http://thecitizen.co.tz/editorial-analysis/20-analysis-opinions/18182-un-staffs-performance-in-somalia-constitute-a-crime.html

TURKEY CAN PLAY VITAL ROLE IN HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS – UN OFFICIAL

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:37:00 +0000

TURKEY CAN PLAY VITAL ROLE IN HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS – UN OFFICIAL

Turkey's role in humanitarian affairs is rapidly growing and has become vital for the international community, the United Nations relief chief said today, calling for stronger partnerships between the country and international organizations to provide assistance to people who have been affected by emergencies around the world.

"The Government and people of Turkey play an important role in international humanitarian affairs," said Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos during her one-day mission to Turkey.

"In addition to contributing generously to crises in Somalia, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere around the world, Turkey also engages actively in other key humanitarian response mechanisms such as the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG)," she said.

During her visit, Ms. Amos met with various Turkish officials to discuss ways of strengthening the country's collaboration with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Turkish organizations, as well as the humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa.

"OCHA values the role Turkey has played this year in response to the needs of people escaping violence in Syria and Libya," Ms. Amos said. "I thank the people and the Government of Turkey for their generosity and solidarity with those in need of assistance in the region and across the world."

Ms. Amos also held talks with Turkish development and relief officials such as Serdar Cam, President of the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency, and Ejder Kaya, Acting Director-General of the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, and discussed their work in the humanitarian response in Somalia and Sudan.

"Turkey is playing an ever greater role in the international community," said Ms. Amos. "It is vital that we build effective partnerships together if the United Nations and other organizations are going to rise to the challenge of meeting the needs of an increasing number of people affected by emergencies around the world."

YEMEN’S NEW GOVERNMENT TAKING STEPS TO RESTORE PEACE AND STABILITY – UN ENVOY

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 02:51:00 +0000

YEMEN'S NEW GOVERNMENT TAKING STEPS TO RESTORE PEACE AND STABILITY – UN ENVOY
New York, Dec 16 2011 6:10PM
Yemen's new Government has taken steps to restore peace and stability in the country, the United Nations special envoy for the country said today, explaining that the new measures include instructions that roadblocks be removed, soldiers return to their barracks and militias go back to their villages.

Warring factions in Yemen on 23 November reached agreement on a transitional settlement under which President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to hand over power to Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi. A new Government of National Unity was sworn in on Sunday and presidential elections have been scheduled for 21 February.

"Serious commitment from all sides will be required to make these inroads to stability a success and the UN will continue its close engagement and monitor its progress," said Jamal Benomar, the Secretary General's Special Adviser for Yemen on a visit to the country, his seventh this year in that capacity.

"We want to see a Yemen where the streets belong to the people, not the militia. We want to see Yemenis able to go about their daily lives and grow their communities – where civic leaders are the ones shaping the future of the country, not those with arms," he said in a statement, noting that he had consulted with a broad array of political leaders, and for the first time travelled outside the capital, Sana'a.

He travelled to the south-western cities of Taiz and Aden and Sa'ada in the north-west to gain first-hand impressions of the spectrum of Yemen's challenges and how they are interlinked.

"The situation in Yemen remains highly fragile and the political agreement will be impossible to implement without the continuous commitment and cooperation of political and other leaders throughout the country," said Mr. Benomar.

"The international community has pressed hard for the sides to reach a political settlement and these calls have been heeded. Now, donors have to back up their calls for reform by providing the support that is needed to implement the agreement and see the country through this transition period.

"Only with their immediate assistance and commitment can the building blocks of the peace process maintain a strong foundation," he added.

Camp Ashraf exiles file US complaint against Iran, Iraq

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:33:00 +0000

Camp Ashraf exiles file US complaint against Iran, Iraq

(AFP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON — Four Iranian exiles have filed a complaint in US court against senior Iranian and Iraqi officials for their alleged role in an April attack on Camp Ashraf, a site for Iranian dissidents in Iraq.

The Iranians, three of whom received political asylum in the United States and another resided in the United States, claim they suffered "heavy injuries" during an April 8 attack on Camp Ashraf, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in US District Court in Washington.

The site north of Baghdad houses some 3,400 Iranian refugees hostile to the regime in Tehran. It is controlled by the People's Mujahedeen, which Washington blacklists as a terrorist group.

In their civil lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim they were victims of "assault and battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress" in the attack by Iraqi forces. They also claim Iranian forces participated.

The lawsuit accuses Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leadership of the Quds force -- the shadowy special operations unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards that operates abroad -- as well as senior Iraqi military officials of having "conspired" with and exercised "command and control over the perpetrators of torture and attacks against the unarmed civilians of Camp Ashraf."

The plaintiffs demand damages for "torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and crimes against humanity as violations of international and domestic law."

The controversial April raid by Iraqi security forces left at least 36 people dead and scores injured. Residents said the Iraqi forces attacked them.

Saddam Hussein allowed the rebel People's Mujahedeen to set up the camp in the 1980s when his forces were at war with Iran, and the camp came under US military protection when US-led forces toppled Saddam in 2003.

US forces, however, handed over security responsibility to Baghdad authorities in January 2009.

The Iraqi government says the camp is a threat to its relations with neighboring Iran and is demanding that it close by December 31.

But the United Nations appealed last week for an extension to the deadline to allow more time in negotiations with the camp's residents, who are refusing to move unless they are given UN protection.

AS SYRIAN DEATH TOLL TOPS 5, 000, UN HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF WARNS ABOUT KEY CITY

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:38:00 +0000

Subject: AS SYRIAN DEATH TOLL TOPS 5, 000, UN HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF WARNS ABOUT
KEY CITY

AS SYRIAN DEATH TOLL TOPS 5,000, UN HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF WARNS ABOUT KEY CITY
New York, Dec 12 2011 7:10PM
More than 5,000 people have now died since the start of the public uprising
in Syria, the United Nations human rights chief said today, sounding the
alarm that a crackdown and fresh eruption of violence could be imminent in
one of the country's key cities.

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said "many voices
are warning that a major assault" on Homs - already the scene of frequent
clashes between security forces and protesters this year - is about to
begin, with a military build-up reported.

"I am not in a position to confirm those reports, but the prospect of such
an attack is extremely alarming," she said after briefing Security Council
members in a closed-door session on the latest developments in Syria.

Ms. Pillay's office (OHCHR) has received reports that hundreds of tanks and
weapons have been deployed over the past few days, dozens of checkpoints
have been set up and numerous trenches have been dug.

While OHCHR is unable to verify those reports because it has not been
allowed access, it has seen video footage showing corpses on the streets,
buildings riddled with bullets and tanks in residential streets.

Ms. Pillay said the overall death toll in the Syrian clashes "probably
exceeds 5,000," based on what she said were credible reports from a series
of sources. The toll includes at least 300 children.

"This number includes civilians, as well as defecting soldiers and those
executed for refusing to shoot civilians," but does not include serving
members of the military, security forces or allied armed groups. Hundreds of
people from that category are also thought to have been killed.

"I am appalled by the constant stream of grave violations that have taken
place since the first protests in Syria in March. I am concerned that this
continued ruthless repression and deliberate stirring of sectarian tensions,
especially in Homs, may soon plunge Syria into civil war."

The High Commissioner said the Syrian Government "has manifestly ignored the
pleas and condemnations of the international community at all levels."

Speaking to reporters after the Council briefing, she reiterated her earlier
calls for the situation inside Syria to be referred to the International
Criminal Court (ICC), saying the "widespread and systematic nature" of
killings, detentions and acts of torture constituted crimes against
humanity.

She also noted the "huge numbers" of people kept in detention centres across
Syria.

The uprising in Syria is part of a broader popular protest movement that has
engulfed North Africa and the Middle East this year and led to the toppling
of long-term regimes in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen.

'US army: Iran is in possession of our spy drone'

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:34:00 +0000

'US army: Iran is in possession of our spy drone'

By JPOST.COM STAFF AND REUTERS

American army officials concerned that Tehran has US's top-secret unmanned aircraft after it was lost during mission in Afghanistan, Fox News reports; Iranian Revolutionary Guard preparing strike attack, report says.

Iran seems to be in possession of the same RQ-170 drone that the Iranian military said it shot down Sunday, Fox News reported Monday according to American military sources.

US officials failed to say whether or not Iranians shot the unmanned spy plane down, as per Iranian reports.

Iran on Sunday said that its military had downed the drone in an eastern province. Shortly after those Iranian reports, a NATO official said that the drone may have been one that went missing during a mission in Afghanistan the week before.

The Iranian and US reports differ over whether Iran had managed to take down the top-secret spy aircraft, and in what condition the Iranian army found that grounded jet.

The incident comes at a time when Tehran is trying to contain foreign outrage at the storming of the British embassy on Tuesday, afterLondon announced sanctions on Iran's central bank in connection with Iran's nuclear enrichment program.

Iran has announced several times in the past that it shot down US, Israeli or British drones, in incidents that did not provoke high-profile responses.

Also on Monday, British newspaper the Telegraph reported that the Revolutionary Guard was raising its preparedness for war fearing a strike after mounting internationalpressure, and a number of mysterious explosions that rocked different cities in thecountry.

Western intelligence officials said that Iran was deploying artillery and guards to key defensive points, as well as arranging "long-range missiles" and "high explosives" fearing a potential attack, according to the Telegraph

http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=248269

Yemen ruling party chooses the alpha list of Ministries in the new government

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 00:49:00 +0000

Yemen ruling party chooses the alpha list of Ministries in the new government

Written By: Zaid al-Alaya'a & Majid al-Kibsi

The General People's Congress (GPC) chose ministries of the Defense, Oil and Minerals and the Foreign Affairs in the new government headed by Mohammed Basendwah of the opposition, stated unconfirmed sources.

The sources mention that the new formation of the government has divided the Ministries between the ruling party, the GPC and the opposition formed of the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP).

The agreement on the new government lasted three days in discussions which resulted in two lists of Ministries which the GPC choosing the list that contains the following ministries; Ministry of Defense, Oil and Minerals, Foreign Affairs, Telecommunication, Higher Education, Public Works and Roads, Expatriate, Endowments and Religious Affairs, Tourism, Agriculture and Irrigation, Public Health, Social Affairs and Labor, Fisheries, Youth and Sport, Civil Services and and two state ministries.

On the other hand, the JMP has taken over the Ministries of Interior, Finance, Information, Education, Justice, Legal Affairs, Technical and Vocational Training, Planning and International Cooperation, Industry and Commerce, Transportation, Culture, Human Rights, House of Representatives and Shoura Council, Water, Electricity and two State ministries.

The distribution of Ministries has been done on the base of 17 ministries for each side. Observers believes that the Ministry of Defense was an essential ministry for the GPC, which made the opposition puts sensitive lists knowing that the GPC will go for the Ministry of Defense. The two lists were put by the JMP and were presented to the GPC in a meeting yesterday at the house of the Vice President, and gave the GPC the chance of choosing which list it would handle in the new government headed by Basendwah.

The lists of the overall 34 ministry were divided so that each list will include 5 Sovereign Ministries in each list. In the same context, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi in an interview with London based al-Hyat daily said that Yemen has entered a new phase after the signing of the Gulf-brokered initiative and its implementation mechanism in the Saudi capital last week. He added that history is witness that President Ali Abdullah Saleh has many supporters in the country that wish he would stay in power as president.

   "Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime has not left Yemen and Saleh will not leave Yemen. He will remain a Yemeni citizen; he has the right to remain and play a political role through the General People's Congress," said al-Qirbi Regarding the end of the crisis in the country, al-Qirbi said that Yemenis are proud that they have emerged with solutions that differ from what happened in Egypt or Tunisia or even Libya that cast their shadows over Yemen. He stressed that the Arab peoples are frustrated and aspire to change to the better.

He added: "The Arab world is in the rear. The Arab peoples see the rest of the world advancing while the Arab world is standing still and marking time despite their huge resources." Earlier last week, Yemen's Vice-President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi named Mohammed Basendwa, as Yemen's new interim Prime Minister on Sunday.

A decree carried by state media said Mr. Basendwa, a senior opposition leader, had been charged with forming a national reconciliation government ahead of early presidential election scheduled for February 21st, 2012. On November 23rd President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed a GCC brokered power-transfer deal aimed at ending months of violence and political stalemate.

Under the agreement Saleh vested Hadi with his presidential powers, allowing him to nominate the country's new PM and call for early presidential elections. Upon his return from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, President Saleh announced that he was granting all those who "committed acts of idiocy during the crisis" a general amnesty, stressing that he was doing so in a bid to move the country towards national reconciliation.

The amnesty however did not extend to those involved in the June assassination plot in which Saleh himself had been severely wounded alongside dozens of high ranking officials.

The attack led to the death of Abdul Aziz Abdul-Ghani the speaker of the Shurah Council. Opposition spokeswoman Hurriya Mashhur rejected the amnesty declaration, saying it went against the Gulf Co-operation Council-brokered agreement that President Saleh signed on November 23rd. Mohamed Basendwah was put forward by the opposition parties on Friday as their chosen Prime Minister candidate.

VP Hadi also announced this week that in accordance with the power-transfer deal, the next presidential election would be held on February 21, 2012, in line with the 90 days' timeframe agreed upon by all political factions. A decree issued to that regard also noted that the current commission was eligible to run the elections according to the current voters' lists. The US backed, Gulf brokered initiative stated that from the time of signature, President Saleh had 30 days to officially transfer the totality of his powers to his VP and hand over his resignation. Within this time-frame, a new coalition government would be formed and a law granting Saleh, his family and close aides immunity would be passed. The deal came after months of unrest and 3 failed promises of signature on President Saleh 's part. Vice President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi said on Saturday that the vote would be held on Feb. 21 and that no party had the right to either annul or change the decree.

The announcement was made after Saleh gave him ``the constitutional authorities to carry out dialogue with the parties that signed the Gulf initiative.'' Meanwhile warplanes killed scores of anti-government tribesmen and jihadists who had overrun part of a military camp in the Bani Hushaish district north of the capital on Saturday.

Local sources said that warplanes and artillery had pounded the armed tribesmen and Islamic militias for the past two days. Sources also said that the army reinforced the military site by dropping para-troopers on Thubab Mountain on Saturday night.

http://www.yobserver.com/front-page/10021667.html

Somalia: Al-Shabab Was Defeated By Drone Strikes - Governor

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 00:26:00 +0000

Somalia: Al-Shabab Was Defeated By Drone Strikes - Governor

Garbaharey — The administration of Gedo region in southern Somalia for the Transitional federal government disclosed that Al-shabab fighters in the region were hugely defeated by air strikes in El Adde Township, which is some 65km south of Garbahaarey town.

The governor Gedo region for the Somali interim federal government, Mohamed Abdi Kalil said an exclusive interview with Shabelle media that nine Al-shabab fighters were seriously injured by on Friday air raids on the Islamist militant training camps in El Adde Township in his region.

The governor also made further comments and details during the interview with Shabelle media about the bombardment of Al-shabab bases in Gedo region, saying that two unidentified fighter jets had dropped several bombs in militant hide outs in El Adde village that successfully destroyed as he put it 'Somalia militant bases'.

He notes that three civilians have been killed and four others wounded, three of them children by an air raid on IDPs camps packed with drought victims in the same village in Gedo region, a strategic region bordering with neighboring Kenya.

Kenya, which sent hundreds of troops across its border into Somalia in mid October to crush the Islamist militants and has threatened air, strikes on rebel enclaves did not immediately claimed responsibility.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201112030145.html

CONFLICT AND CHRONIC POVERTY LEAVE MILLIONS OF YEMENIS IN NEED OF RELIEF – UN OFFICIAL

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 02:22:00 +0000

CONFLICT AND CHRONIC POVERTY LEAVE MILLIONS OF YEMENIS IN NEED OF RELIEF – UN OFFICIAL
New York, Dec 2 2011 7:10PM
Large segments of the population of Yemen are enduring chronic deprivation exacerbated by the breakdown of the delivery of essential social services as a result of civil unrest and widespread violence, a senior United Nations relief official who just <"http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Full_Report_3005.pdf">returned from the country said today.

"We are seeing rates of malnutrition in young children comparable to those in Somalia," said Catherine Bragg, the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, who completed a four-day mission to the country earlier this week.

"A third of the population… doesn't know where their next meal is coming from, [amid] a looming health crisis," Ms. Bragg, who is also the Deputy Relief Coordinator, told reporters at UN Headquarters.

She said scarcity of resources and the growing influx of refugees and migrants from the Horn of Africa have placed further strain on host communities, who are increasingly in need of assistance themselves, especially in the form of food, health care, sanitation and clean water.

Humanitarian agencies are requesting a total of $452 million for relief work in Yemen next year, a 35 per cent increase from this year. The funding will cover food and nutrition, water, sanitation and health and ensure that the most vulnerable people receive the assistance they need, Ms. Bragg said.

"In 2012, we and our partners will expand humanitarian programmes so that we can reach as many as possible of the 3.8 million people across Yemen needing life-saving aid. This figure includes internally displaced people, refugees, as well as the host communities," she said.

She travelled to Aden in the south, Harad'h in the north, and the capital, Sana'a, to assess the crisis, discuss with partners ways of responding to the growing needs and ensure that the authorities understand the gravity of the situation.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting in Abyan Governorate in the south in recent months, she said, adding that most of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living with host families or in school buildings in Aden and neighbouring governorates.

"I spoke to the local authorities about the need to find lasting solutions for people sheltering in the schools. I also underlined the fact that humanitarian workers must have independent access to all areas where civilians are being displaced."

In the north, about 300,000 people remain displaced by the conflict in Sa'ada. Many of them are unable to return to their homes because of insecurity, fear of retaliation, and loss of livelihoods and assets. Several aid agencies have had to reduce their presence because of threats made by armed groups, Ms. Bragg added.

In her meetings with Government officials, Ms. Bragg urged them to expedite procedures for issuing visas to international non-governmental organizations staff so that aid workers can set up operations in the country faster.

Muslim Brotherhood claims lead in Egypt poll

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:05:00 +0000

Early Results in Egypt Show a Mandate for Islamists

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:12:00 +0000

Early Results in Egypt Show a Mandate for Islamists

Amr Nabil/Associated Press

Election officials in Cairo on Wednesday counted ballots that were cast in the first round of parliamentary elections this week.
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

CAIRO — Islamists claimed a decisive victory on Wednesday as early election results put them on track to win a dominant majority in Egypt's first Parliament since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, the most significant step yet in the religious movement's rise since the start of the Arab Spring.

Video: Egypt Votes for Parliament

Unexpectedly large crowds turned out to cast their votes in Egypt's first parliamentary election since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in February.

Multimedia
Interactive Feature
Arab World Uprisings: A Country-by-Country Look

The party formed by the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's mainstream Islamist group, appeared to have taken about 40 percent of the vote, as expected. But a big surprise was the strong showing of ultraconservative Islamists, called Salafis, many of whom see most popular entertainment as sinful and reject women's participation in voting or public life.

Analysts in the state-run news media said early returns indicated that Salafi groups could take as much as a quarter of the vote, giving the two groups of Islamists combined control of nearly 65 percent of the parliamentary seats.

That victory came at the expense of the liberal parties and youth activists who set off the revolution, affirming their fears that they would be unable to compete with Islamists who emerged from the Mubarak years organized and with an established following. Poorly organized and internally divided, the liberal parties could not compete with Islamists disciplined by decades as the sole opposition to Mr. Mubarak. "We were washed out," said Shady el-Ghazaly Harb, one of the most politically active of the group.

Although this week's voting took place in only a third of Egypt's provinces, they included some of the nation's most liberal precincts — like Cairo, Port Said and the Red Sea coast — suggesting that the Islamist wave is likely to grow stronger as the voting moves into more conservative rural areas in the coming months. (Alexandria, a conservative stronghold, also has voted.)

The preliminary results extend the rising influence of Islamists across a region where they were once outlawed and oppressed by autocrats aligned with the West. Islamists have formed governments in Tunisia and Morocco. They are positioned for a major role in post-Qaddafi Libya as well. But it is the victory in Egypt — the largest and once the most influential Arab state, an American ally considered a linchpin of regional stability — that has the potential to upend the established order across the Middle East.

Islamist leaders, many jailed for years under Mr. Mubarak, were exultant. "We abide by the rules of democracy, and accept the will of the people," Essam el-Erian, a leader of the Brotherhood's new party,wrote in the British newspaper The Guardian. "There will be winners and losers. But the real — and only — victor is Egypt."

Results will not be final until January, after two more rounds of voting. And the ultimate scope of the new Parliament's power remains unclear because Egypt has remained under military rule since Mr. Mubarak resigned as president in February. But Parliament is expected to play a role in drafting a new Constitution with the ruling military council, although the council has given contradictory indications about how much parliamentary input it will allow.

The emergence of a strong Islamist bloc in Parliament is already quickening a showdown with the military. Brotherhood leaders announced Wednesday that they expected the Islamist parliamentary majority to name a prime minister to replace the civilian government now serving the military. In response, a senior official of the military-led government insisted that the ruling generals would retain that prerogative.

The unexpected rise of a strong ultraconservative Islamist faction to the right of the Brotherhood is likely to shift Egypt's cultural and political center of gravity to the right as well. Leaders of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party will likely feel obliged to compete with the ultraconservatives for Islamist voters, and at the same time will not feel the same need to compromise with liberals to form a government.

"It means that, if the Brotherhood chooses, Parliament can be an Islamists affair — a debate between liberal Islamists, moderate Islamists and conservatives Islamists, and that is it," Michael Wahid Hanna, an Egyptian-born researcher at the Century Foundation in Cairo, said this week.

The ultraconservative Salafi parties, meanwhile, will be able to use their electoral clout to make their own demands for influence on appointments in the new government. Mr. Hanna added: "I don't mind saying this is not a great thing. It is not a joyous day on my end."

If the majority proves durable, the longer-term implications are hard to predict. The Brotherhood has pledged to respect basic individual freedoms while using the influence of the state to nudge the culture in a more traditional direction. But the Salafis often talk openly of laws mandating a shift to Islamic banking, restricting the sale of alcohol, providing special curriculums for boys and girls in public schools, and censoring the content of the arts and entertainment.

Their leaders have sometimes proposed that a special council of religious scholars advise Parliament or the top courts on legislation's compliance with Islamic law. Egyptian election laws required the Salafi parties to put at least one woman on their electoral roster for each district, but they put the women last on their lists to ensure they would not be elected, and some appear with pictures of flowers in place of their faces on campaign posters.

Sheik Hazem Shouman, an important Salafi leader, recently rushed into a public concert on the campus of Mansoura University to try to persuade the crowd to turn away from the "sinful" performance and go home. He defended his actions on a television talk show, saying he had felt like a doctor making an emergency intervention to save a patient dying of cancer.

The new majority is likely to increase the difficulty of sustaining the United States' close military and political partnership with post-Mubarak Egypt, though the military has said it plans to maintain a monopoly over many aspects of foreign affairs. Islamist political leaders miss no opportunity to criticize Washington's policies toward Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and the Palestinians. And while Brotherhood leaders have said they intend to preserve but perhaps renegotiate the 1979 Camp David peace treaty with Israel, the Salafi parties have been much less reassuring. Some have suggested putting the treaty to a referendum.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, an Israeli official acknowledged concerns: "Obviously, it is hard to see in this result good news for Israel."

Some members of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority — about 10 percent of the population — joked Wednesday that they would prepare to leave the country. Previously protected by Mr. Mubarak's patronage, many have dreaded the Islamists' talk of protecting the Islamic character of Egypt. Some Brotherhood leaders often repeat that they believe citizenship is an equal right of all regardless of sect, even chanting at some campaign rallies that Copts are also "sons of Egypt." But Salafis more often declare that Christians should not fear Islamic law because it requires the protection of religious minorities, an explanation that many Christians feel assigns them second-class status.

Most Copts voted for the liberal Egyptian bloc, which was vying for second place with the Salafis in some reports. It was an eclectic alliance against the Islamists, dominated by the Social Democrats, a left-leaning party with ties to the revolution's leaders, and by the Free Egyptians, the business-friendly party founded and promoted by Naguib Sawiris, the Coptic Christian media-and-telecommunications tycoon.

The results indicated that some of the candidates and slates put forward by the former ruling party appeared to have won back their seats. It was unclear how large a bloc they might form, but they could prove sympathetic to the familiar mantra of stability-above-all that the ruling military is putting forward.

Mayy el Sheikh contributed reporting from Cairo, and Ethan Bronner from Jerusalem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/world/middleeast/voting-in-egypt-shows-mandate-for-islamists.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

UN: Syrian officials ordering mass atrocities

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:41:00 +0000

http://islaamdoon.blogspot.com/

Ethiopia's Anti Al-Shabab Push Sparks Concerns of a Backlash

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:40:00 +0000

Ethiopia's Anti Al-Shabab Push Sparks Concerns of a Backlash

Nico Colombant- voa

While Ethiopia is getting a green light from Somalia's transitional government and neighboring countries to take part in large-scale military actions against Somalia's al-Shabab Islamic insurgents, analysts are concerned the new incursion could further deteriorate an already volatile situation.

Six weeks after Kenya's government sent troops into southern Somalia to create buffer zones free of al-Shabab militants in that border region, Ethiopia's government is now being given the go ahead to open a front from its western borders, in the growing multilateral offensive against the Islamic rebels.

Diplomats in the region say hundreds of Ethiopian troops supported by armored vehicles and heavy artillery already appear to be headed toward the al-Shabab southern stronghold of Baidoa.

African peacekeepers were able to force the militants from their main positions in the southeastern capital Mogadishu earlier this year, even though terrorist bombings continue there, and attacks have also been carried out in other countries in the Horn of Africa as well. Al-Shabab also still remains in control of large parts of southern and central Somalia.

Bronwyn Bruton, a Somalia expert with the Atlantic Council research center here in Washington, says she feels much more comfortable when professional soldiers from countries which are not neighbors take part in military operations inside Somalia, than when she sees soldiers from neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia.

"When you have countries like them entering the fray, you get a worrisome tendency to think there is a free for all. It stirs up the possibilities of a real popular backlash of the kind that we saw back in 2007 and 2008," she said.

At the time, a U.S-backed Ethiopian incursion fought against the Islamic Courts Union. One of the ICU's former leaders, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, now heads the struggling U.S and United Nations-backed transitional government in Mogadishu.

Al-Shabab grew out of the fighting, amid widespread resentment in Somalia of what was viewed as a foreign occupation. Bruton says Ethiopian forces have continued covert operations along the border region in recent years, including helping anti al-Shabab militias, despite repeated Ethiopian denials.

Berhanu Mengistu, a professor from Old Dominion University, who took part in a recent conference in the United States concerning the Horn of Africa's response to al-Shabab, points out that Ethiopia clearly has the largest and most efficient military in the region.

But he says Ethiopia's renewed incursion, which closely follows Kenya's entrance, raises many questions. "What is the driving agenda? Was the agenda externally driven or is the agenda internally driven? Who benefits from these interventions and who does not?"

If the U.S. government is backing the strategy as part of anti-terrorism efforts, Mengistu says he would rather like to see more outside efforts to boost the legitimacy of governments across the Horn, including Somalia's and Ethiopia's. He says the region is currently undergoing a downward spiral of violence which he sees as extremely worrisome.

U.S. officials recently acknowledged they are sending drone aircraft from Ethiopia to conduct surveillance in Somalia, and there have also been reported U.S. drone strikes against al-Qaida linked al-Shabab targets.

A former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, Tibor Nagy, currently working as a provost at Texas Tech University, says he would like to see more support coming from the United States for the anti al-Shabab operations to quickly succeed.

"What I would like to see is much more U.S. engagement in a leadership capacity, by no means sending American forces in there, but the international troops there are still undermanned, they are undersupplied, despite the hardships from my perspective they have made remarkable progress," he said.

Nagy says he believes there has been renewed international interest in Somalia because of the devastating drought which hit the region this year and caused a famine in several al-Shabab controlled areas. Over the past 20 years, though, he feels foreign policy from all countries intervening in or trying to help Somalia, has been, in his words, a dismal failure. That is the same amount of time Somalia has not had a functioning central government.

Turkey announces sanctions against Syria

noreply@blogger.com (Samotalis) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:39:00 +0000

Turkey announces sanctions against Syria

By Alice Fordham,

BEIRUT — Turkey announced wide-ranging sanctions against Syria on Wednesday in response to the Syrian government's continuing military crackdown on protests.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu outlined measures including a freeze on Syrian assets in Turkey and a ban on transactions with the Syrian central bank, capping an eight-day stretch in which Turkish rhetoric against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned increasingly critical.

Protesters opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad face violent responses from security forces. The Arab League has passed a series of measures censuring Syria for its actions.

The sanctions by Turkey, one of Syria's top trading partners, come as the Arab League and the European Union are enacting their own punitive measures — a triple blow that highlights the growing isolation of the Damascus government and that could significantly hurt Syria's economy.

In Washington, the White House commended the Turkish government for imposing the sanctions, which it said will "undoubtedly increase the pressure on the Syrian regime."

In a statement, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said that "the leadership shown by Turkey in response to the brutality and violation of the fundamental rights of the Syrian people will isolate the Assad regime and send a strong message to Assad and his circle that their actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated."

Syria's trade and business sectorsare already suffering from earlier sanctions and months of unrest. The country's once-lucrative tourism industry is essentially ruined, and trade with the European Union is down significantly. Syria once sold 90 percent of its crude oil to E.U. countries.

On Thursday, the E.U. is set to impose the latest of several rounds of sanctions, directly affecting Syria's oil industry and telecommunications sector and targeting a number of individuals, in addition to officials already listed.

The 22-nation Arab League announced its own sanction s last weekend. Although those restrictions are likely to be enforced inconsistently by Arab countries, they began to bite Wednesday, the Reuters news agency reported.

The Turkish sanctions could be politically difficult to implement in Turkey. A report by the International Crisis Group released in November noted that the country's economic growth rate was set to decline to 2.2 percent next year, a slowdown that would be exacerbated by the loss of Syrian business.

Although Turkish officials made clear in the past that they reject a military solution to the Syrian problem, their rhetoric has sharpened recently. In a television interview broadcast Tuesday, Davutoglu said that if oppression continues, "Turkey remains ready for all possible scenarios."

Ibrahim Saif, an economist with the Carnegie Middle East Center, said the sanctions will not be immediately devastating but will contribute to incremental pressure already being felt.

Though Turkey announced that it is "imposing sanctions officially," he said, "in practice this was put in process a while ago by limiting trade, people and goods on the border, and a strong message to Turkish banks to stop trading with Syrian ones."

Saif pointed out that Iraq, Syria's biggest trading partner, and Lebanon, whose banking sector has billions of dollars' worth of assets in Syria, are unlikely to halt their commercial activity yet. And he said Russia and China would probably veto any global economic measures proposed at the United Nations.

Over the past seven years, Turkey has become a huge trading partner of Syria's, and the sudden loss of Turkish business is likely to deal a heavy blow to the Syrian business sector, particularly in the larger cities and in the northern part of the country along the Turkish border.

Since a free-trade agreement was signed between the two countries in 2004 as part of an economic liberalization program led by Assad, trade volume has increased from about $750 million annually to $2.2 billion last year, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

A key bastion of support for Assad is Syria's merchant class, which has benefited from his economic reforms and has enjoyed an improved quality of life in Damascus and in Aleppo.There, well-off residents have been insulated from high levels of rural poverty, which have worsened after years of drought.

If the E.U., Arab and Turkish sanctions weigh heavily on the Syrian business community, that support could quickly erode, analysts said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/turkey-unveils-sanctions-on-syria/2011/11/30/gIQAbgONCO_story.html