politics | Tripoli is slowly falling, UN FINALLY sets in sanctions, protests in Croatia, Oman...

LIBYA

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colorblue Reflections: Gaddafi, Mandela and 'African Mercenaries'

Gaddafi turned away from Pan-Arabism (mainly because most Arab Nations couldn’t be bothered with his nonsense nor could they be manipulated by him because they had their own oil money) to Pan-Africanism (African countries are much poorer and lacked as much oil money and therefore were ripe for manipulation) He proposed the idea of the United States of Africa. The extent to which Gaddafi has been involved in financing conflicts in Africa is truly horrifying (Chad, Niger, Uganda, Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo)

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Allegedly, African Mercenaries have been flown into Libya to attack protesters. Who are these African Mercenaries? The question might be asked “Aren’t Libyans Africans? That depends on who you ask. Often when the term African is used it means “Sub-Saharan” African ergo Black-Skinned. The fact that Gaddafi has many Sub-Saharan African Mercenaries at his disposal should come as no surprise. Such mercenaries have been trained in camps funded by the Libya Government across Sub-Saharan Africa. As Jose Gomez del Prado with the United Nations Human Rights Council states:

You can find, particularly in Africa, many people who’ve been in wars for many years. They don’t know anything else. They are cheap labour, ready to take the job for little money. They are trained killers.
But it’s important to not dehumanize these “mercenaries”. One of the central characters in Nigerian author Helon Habila’s novel Measuring Time is one of these mercenaries. He begins as just a young man looking to escape the dead-end poverty of life in his small village in Nigeria. He joins a Libyan-funded training camp and eventually ends up as a mercenary in Liberia. There, his conscience shaken to the core, he finds redemption. However, the poverty of these mercenaries doesn’t justify their violence against Libyans.

What really worries me is that preexisting prejudices against Blacks in Libya, given the long history of the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade, will erupt in violence against innocent Sub-Saharan African Migrant Workers in Libya who already face discrimination and harassment. In 2000, violence against Sub-Saharan African Migrant Workers by Libyan Citizens left allegedly 135 people dead. In an interview with the LA Times in 2000, one Ghanaian migrant worker had this to say about Gaddafi and the Libyan people:MORE

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eccentricyoruba

Gaddafi’s ‘African mercenaries’: Myth or reality?

‘But like much of northern Africa, in Libya there is a long history of fear, hatred, and oppression based on skin color. There is a distinct minority of “black” Libyans whose slave origins mean they are still regarded with contempt by some, as there is a large number of political and economic refugees in what is a relatively prosperous state... And while oppression organized by skin color has a long history, the Gaddafi regime has contributed a different angle to this prejudice: the foreign fighter. Since the early 70s, Libya has offered aid, by degrees of openness, to revolutionary and opposition groups in most every corner of the world...

‘Foday Sankoh, Charles Taylor, Moses Blah, Blaise Compaore trained in Libya. Future Malian and Nigerien Tuareg rebels trained in Libya in the late 70s, recruited from refugees fleeing famine and oppression. The band Tinariwen actually formed in one such camp.

‘Photos and videos, many horrific, have been provided of a handful (I have seen five total) dead uniformed soldiers with varying degrees of dark skin. This is hardly proof of the hysterical rhetoric built around thousands of black Africans raping women and murdering protesters... these stories play into a natural combination of nationalism, existing social prejudices (of low class “slave” “Blacks”) and fears (of foreign looking immigrants, familiar to xenophobic discourse in Europe and America). They are understandable, but should they go unchallenged in the lore of this revolution, the new Libya being build risks becoming a no less cruel and unjust place, if for a smaller part of its citizens, adjudged outsiders and traitors by their skin color.’MORe

UN orders Libya sanctions:Un Security Council adopts Libya sanctions resolution unanimously

The UN Security Council has unanimously imposed sanctions on Libyan regime, ordering an arms embargo against Libya, a travel and assets ban on Muammar Gaddafi and his regime and a crimes against humanity investigation into the Libya bloodshed.

The council made a new demand for an immediate end to attacks on civilians by Gaddafiloyalists which it said had been incited "from the highest level of the Libyan government." The UN says more than 1,000 people have been killed in the unrest.

The travel ban and assets will target the 68-year-old Libyan leader, seven of his sons and daughter Aisha, other family members and top defence and intelligence officials accused of playing a role in the bloodshed.MORE

Al Jazeera Libya live Blog

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1:33am

An Al Jazeera correspondent who has made it to Benghazi tells us the city's court house has become "press/uprising central", with a media centre, printing press, newspaper, medical clinics and satellite internet.

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Timestamp:

1:00am
The World Food Programme says the food supply chain in Libya "is at risk of collapsing". The Red Cross has also launched an appeal for more than US$6million for medical assistance.
MORE

Mappaing the Uprising

WikiLeaks cables: A guide to Gaddafi's 'famously fractious' family

The Guardian Live Blog

8:19pmMore from Reuters: Libya's ex-justice minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud al-Jeleil has led the formation of an interim government based in Benghazi, the online edition of the Quryna newspaper reported on Saturday.

Quryna quoted him as saying that Muammar Gaddafi "alone" bore responsibility "for the crimes that have occurred" in Libya and that his tribe, Gaddadfa, were forgiven.

Quryna also claimed that Abud al-Jeleil insisted on the unity of the homeland's territory, and said that Libya is free and its capital is Tripoli.

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3:09pm

The Guardian has been sent details of a list of demands drawn up by around 100 Libyan judges, lawyers and state prosecutors in response to the violent crackdown by Gaddafi's forces:

• The bloodshed and attacks on Libyan citizens must halt immediately.
• A transparent independent inquiry must be launched immediately to identify those responsible for the violence and death.
• An assurance must be given that the rule of law is to proceed unhindered and no one is above its execution.
• Reforms of civil liberties and society must commence along with the creation of a national constitution.

The legal experts met on Wednesday morning for a peaceful demonstration in the Tripoli Courts Compound, also known as the Palace of Justice. They also declared that they were staying their positions in order to do their duty to protect the Libyan people and the law.

2:58pm Gaddafi's security forces have abandoned parts of Tripoli, where protesters now openly defy the regime, Reuters reports.

The withdrawal of security forces from the working-class Tajoura district after five days of anti-government demonstrations leaves Gaddafi's grip on power looking tenuous, says the news agency.MORE

OMAN

Oman shuffles cabinet amid protests: Sultan reshuffles cabinet and boosts student allowances as rare protest barricades shoppers in industrial city of Sohar.

A raft of minor reforms have been floated "in the public's interest" by the sultan of Oman, as protesters stopped traffic and broke street lights in the country's largest industrial city.

A crowd of 500 protesters, demanding democracy and jobs, gathered on Saturday outside a shopping mall in the city of Sohar, barricading vehicles and shoppers.

"It has been going on for hours now,' said resident Mohammed Sumri.

"They are at the Globe roundabout blocking traffic."

Though protests are rare in the country on the south-eastern tip of the Arabian peninsula, the police did not intervene, witnesses said.

Oman's ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, issued a decree announcing a raise in stipends for university students - which will reportedly be boosted by between US$65 and US$234 a month - in order to "achieve further development and provide a decent living", said the state-run Oman News Agency.

A cabinet reshuffle has also seen the replacement of six ministers - though long-serving ministers were not affected.

In addition, Sultan Qaboos announced the creation of a consumer protection bureau and said he was looking into opening cooperatives in the 2.8million-strong country - an absolute monarchy where poltical parties are banned.MORE

Peaceful protests spread to other parts of Oman

Muscat: Peaceful protests, demanding higher wages, more jobs and an end to corruption, among other things, have spread to other parts of Oman since Friday, according to reports reaching here.

A woman blogger, who writes Random Ramblings about Life in Salalah under the name of Dhofari Gucci, has written: "Protesters gathered outside the Governor's office after Friday prayers and evidently they have not moved and won't until their demands have been fulfilled. I sent my brother to investigate. They've been chanting ‘People want an end to corruption'."

According to another witnesses, life is going on as usual in the other parts of this southern town, where Lulu Hypermarket opened their 87th outlet and the National Geographic exhibition was also launched.

"We hardly felt protests are being held in town," a Muscat resident who is in Salalah said over the phone on the condition of anonymity.

The peaceful protests, however, are spreading to other towns as well. Reports coming in say that there were peaceful protests in Shinaz as well as Sohar.MORE

CROATIA

Croatia: Protests break out to take down government

Protestors flooded the center of Croatia's capital Thursday vowing to take down the government in a move that has attracted thousands of people to join in just less than five days.

At approximately 4:00 pm, armed riot police used barricades to block all entrances to the government complex at Saint Mark's Square in Zagreb, where protesting has been banned since 2005.

Led by organizer and local hero, Ivan Pernar, 25, over one thousand peaceful protestors gathered in Zagreb's city center at approximately 6:00 pm before moving in masses towards the parliament.

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Croatia is a country of 4.5 million people, plagued by high unemployed with currently 350,000 people unemployed.

Headed by the Croatian Democratic Union for 16 years, Croatians have seen their economy virtually destroyed by flawed policies of privatization, cronyism in government and bribery and corruption at the highest and lowest levels.

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Only last Sunday Pernar had protested with only 3 other protestors and had a following on his Facebook group of roughly 5000 people. That number grew to over 17,000 by Thursday night. Thousands of messages of support have been flooding his Facebook page, with the next demonstration planned for Saturday at 1:00p.m.

Ivan Pernar blog: http://zelenapolitika.wordpress.com
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/prosvjed?ref=tsMORE

25 injured in Croatian mass protests

An almost 15,000 strong anti-government rally shook Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, on Saturday. Croatian police were reported by state television to have used tear gas to keep the crowd away from the government headquarters. The police said they detained 60 protesters; 12 policemen and 13 citizens were injured, according to the Associated Press. It is a second anti-government rally in recent days, the demonstrators were protesting against destitution and the government’s alleged corruption.

About 15,000 war veterans, others rally in Croatian capital of Zagreb

ZAGREB, Croatia — Croatian police clashed with some of the 15,000 anti-government protesters who rallied in the capital Saturday, and state television reported that officers used tear gas to disperse the group. At least 25 people were injured.

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Croatian police said they detained 60 protesters and that 12 police and 13 citizens were injured.

The protests in Zagreb come just two days after several hundred protesters clashed with police at another anti-government rally. Many Croats blame the government for economic hardship and alleged corruption.

At another Zagreb square, thousands protested peacefully against the government and in support of a Croat war veteran awaiting extradition to Serbia in a Bosnian prison. They carried banners reading "Croat defenders are heroes" and "Stop the prosecution of Croat defenders."

The organizers, veterans' groups from Croatia's 1991-95 war, said hundreds of protesters were prevented by police from reaching the event, the Hina news agency reported.MORE

YEMEN

Major Yemen tribes join protesters: Powerful tribal leaders, including those of the Hashid and Baqil, pledge to join protesters against the government.

Pressure on Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president, to resign has increased after the leaders of two of the country's most important tribes abandoned the president and joined the anti-government movement.

Tribal leaders, including those of the Hashid and Baqil, pledged on Saturday to join protests against Saleh at a gathering north of Sanaa, the capital.

"I have announced my resignation from the General People's Congress in protest at the repression of peaceful demonstrators in Sanaa, Taez and Aden," said Hashid tribal chief Sheikh Hussein bin Abdullah al-Ahmar, in reference to the ruling party.

The Hashids are considered Yemen's most powerful tribal confederation and include nine clans, among them the Sanhan, long a bulwark of Saleh's regime.

The announcement was warmly received by a large crowd of tribesmen, including members of Yemen's second largest tribe, the Baqil, who gathered for the meeting, a tribal source told the AFP news agency.

The two tribes announced they would support the popular uprising against Saleh, who has refused to step down after three decades in power, to chants of "the people want the fall of the regime!"

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Sanaa, said: "The al-Ahmar family is the tribal leadership of the Hashid tribe, and if the entire family decides to join the anti-government protests then that is bound to be the biggest blow to the Saleh government.

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"Many of the members of this tribe are represented in the intelligence agencies, government, military and also embassies all over the world."MORE

Largest Yemeni tribes join anti-regime protests

Meanwhile, President Saleh vowed at a meeting with the High Security Council, the second in two weeks, to defend the Republic of Yemen to the last drop of blood. He said addressing military leaders: “You vowed to defend the Republic of Yemen to the last drop of blood and this vow is standing.” Saleh protesters in the south of “attempting to divide the country” and protesters in the north of “attempting to return the country to the monarchy rule.” MORE

Toll rises as Iraq, Yemen protests rage

Meanwhile, vast crowds took to the streets across Yemen after weekly Muslim prayers to demand veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh step down in mass protests that left one killed and 22 injured in clashes with police.

In the capital, tens of thousands of protesters poured into a main square near Sanaa University chanting "Out, out!" and "God bears witness to your acts, Abdullah," a correspondent reported.

Organisers estimated the numbers at 100,000.

Police set up checkpoints after Mr Saleh on Thursday ordered his forces to offer "full protection" to anti-regime protesters and loyalists alike.

In the past week two people have been killed in clashes with Saleh loyalists in Sanaa, and one was killed in similar violence in Taez, south of the capital, where a correspondent and organisers said hundreds of thousands of anti-Saleh protesters demonstrated.

The protesters had dubbed Friday "the beginning of the end" for Mr Saleh's regime, which has been in power since 1978.

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Saleh loyalists also demonstrated in Al-Tahrir square, where they have been gathered since early February.MORe

BAHRAIN

Bahrain Shia leader home from exile: Hassan Mushaimaa of the opposition Haq movement arrives in capital Manama after receiving pardon from royal family.

Hassan Mushaimaa, a Bahraini Shia opposition leader who was being tried in absentia in an alleged coup plot, has arrived home from exile after receiving a royal pardon.

London-based Mushaimaa flew to Manama, the capital, from Lebanon on Saturday.

The prominent leader of the Shia Haq movement had said on his Facebook page on Monday that he would be trying to return to the Gulf Arab country after a week of unprecedented protests by majority Shia Muslims against the Sunni monarchy.

Mushaimaa said he wanted to see if the island nation's leadership was serious about dialogue or not.MORE

Bahrain frees political prisoners: At least 50 people released, including 23 Shia activists accused of a coup plot, in response to protesters' demands.

At least 50 political prisoners have been released in Bahrain, including 23 Shia activists accused of plotting to overthrow the kingdom's al-Khalifa dynasty.

The state also pardoned two others abroad, including opposition leader Hassan Mashaima, an MP told the AFP news agency.

The move late on Tuesday comes after state media reported that King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa had ordered the release of prisoners, a demand of protesters seeking an elected government in the country.

Ibrahim Mattar of the Shia Wefaq party told the Reuters news agency it was a "positive move" but that dozens still remain in jail.MORE

Bahrain: Treating the wounded: Anti-government protesters defy crackdowns and reclaim Manama's Pearl Roundabout - yet again. Picture Slide. It should be safe to watch

TUNISIA

Three people killed as demonstrations turn deadly in Tunisia

Protests in Tunisia turned violent and deadly Saturday, just over six weeks after a popular uprising forced the president out of office, and lit a spark of desire for democratic reform in parts of Africa and the Middle East.

Three people were killed Saturday and nine others injured during mayhem in the capital, Tunis, according to a Interior Ministry statement cited by the state-run news agency, Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP).

More than 100 people were arrested, the ministry said, in the area around Habib Bourguiba Avenue, in the city's center, accused of "acts of destruction and burning."

Protesters had gathered in the area to demand that the interim government step down and the current parliament be disbanded. Demonstrators were also asking for suspension of the current constitution and the election of an assembly that can write a new one, as well as organize the transition to democracy.MORE

Tunisia protests turn violent:Police clash with demonstrators who want interim-government reshuffle to exclude all members of former government.

Demonstrators have clashed with Tunisian police as peaceful protests demanding those loyal to the ousted government quit turned violent.

It was not clear how the clashes near the government offices in the capital, Tunis, began on Wednesday, but the Reuters news agency said that witnesses saw riot police use tear gas on hundreds of demonstrators, mainly teenagers and young men who threw stones.

The interim government has struggled to assert itself in the face of street protests demanding more sweeping changes after Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the long-time president, fled the country on January 14 in the face of a popular uprising over poverty, corruption and political repression.

Tension has risen this week as many protesters continue demonstrations and strikes while the government, backed by the army, attempts to bring the country back to normal.

Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Tunis, said that hundreds of protesters, who appear to be from rural regions, have been camping out at the government compound to make their voices heard.

"They want all members of the former ruling party out of the coalition government," she said.MORE

From fear to fury: how the Arab world found its voice

For years, musicians in Tunisia and Egypt were terrified of aggravating the authorities. Then a song by a little-known rapper showed it was possible to protest and survive
MORE

Tunisia seeks arrest of ex-leader
Ousted President Ben Ali is wanted to stand trial for theft and currency offences, says the nation's justice minister.

Tunisia wants to have ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family arrested and put on trial for possession of expropriated property and for transferring foreign currency abroad, the nation's interim justice minister has said.
Interpol, the international police agency, has been asked to help arrest Ben Ali, his wife Leila Trabelsi and other family members who have fled the country, Lazhar Karoui Chebbi said on Wednesday.
Ben Ali went to Saudi Arabia this month after weeks of violent protests against poverty, repression and corruption. He amassed vast riches during his 23 years in power, with his family controlling many of Tunisia's biggest companies.
"We are asking Interpol to find all those who fled, including the president and this woman, for trial in Tunisia," the justice minister said.MORE