INTERNATIONAL
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Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Hundreds protest at funeral of ‘tortured’ Darfur student KHARTOUM: Hundreds of protesters gathered at the funeral of a Darfuri student whohose colleagues said was abducted, tortured and killed by Sudanese authorities in a case that has sparked tensions ahead of elections. Sudanese security services have denied any involvement in the death of Mohamed Musa, 23, who fellow students told Reuters was abducted in Khartoum on Wednesday and later found dead and disfigured. Around 600 Darfuris, students and other protesters gathered outside Musa’s family house in the Khartoum suburb of
Omdurman on Monday morning chanting “justice” and “revolution till victory”, said a Reuters witness. Scores of armed riot police and security officers surrounded the home while mourning relatives sat inside with the student’s body. “I have lost my son ... I want justice from the government, justice for my son. I want to know who killed him,” Musa’s father Musa Abdullah Bahar Al Din said, breaking down in tears. The funeral comes days after the start of campaigning in Sudan’s first multiparty elec-
tions in almost a quarter of a century, due in April. Sudan’s seven-year Darfur conflict, and the powers of Sudan’s extensive securi-
he arrived at the house with other candidates from his party, the former southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement
Funeral raises pre-election tensions ty services, have become central issues in the election campaign that sets Sudan’s sitting president Omar Hassan al-Bashir against 10 other candidates. Presidential candidate Yasir Arman was greeted with chants of “Yasir for change” as
(SPLM). Arman earlier said the case raised questions about the excessive powers of Sudanese security, adding there were doubts over whether Sudan could have fair elections.
Police officers on Saturday told Reuters they had found Musa’ body in the street and denied he had ever been arrested. “We consider this to be a normal crime,” a security source said. Khartoum University students who gathered around a morgue where Musa was taken earlier in the week said they had seen the body, adding his hands were burned, his head and body beaten, cut and swollen and his clothes soaked in blood. They blamed President Bashir’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) for the
abduction, saying they were always targeting and beating Darfuri students. Sudan’s opposition say April’s elections cannot be credible while the conflict continues in the vast western region of Darfur. It remains under emergency law, with sporadic clashes and more than 2 million people languishing in camps. The United Nations estimates 300,000 people have died in Darfur’s humanitarian crisis since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing central government of neglect of the region. —Reuters
Pope, Irish bishops hold talks on abuse scandal Sinners must admit blame: Vatican VATICAN CITY: A top Vatican official yesterday told Irish bishops in Rome for talks with Pope Benedict on the Irish church’s vast pedophilia scandal that clergy who had sinned must admit blame for “abominable acts”. The message
came in the sermon of a mass in St Peter’s Basilica shortly before the bishops began two days of crisis talks with the pope to formulate a response to the revelations of abuse by clergy that have shaken devoutly Catholic Ireland.
VATICAN: Pope Benedict XVI (background center) meets with Irish Bishops at the Vatican.— AP
Liberal Democrats deny ruling out coalition LONDON: Britain’s third biggest political party denied yesterday it had ruled out entering a coalition government if this year’s election produces no clear winner. “We’re not ruling anything out,” a Liberal Democrat source said in response to a newspaper report that party leader Nick Clegg had no interest in taking cabinet posts in a hypothetical coalition government and would focus instead on winning support for left-leaning Liberal Democrat demands. “We have not made any decision in terms of what happens after the election,” the source said. The main opposition Conservatives are favorites to win the election, expected in May, and to end 13 years of Labor rule. But a series of polls has shown the Conservatives falling short of the support needed for a parliamentary majority. Such a result would potentially put the Liberal Democrats, who have 63 seats in the current 646-member parliament, in the position of being kingmakers. The possibility of Britain’s first “hung parliament” since 1974 has unsettled financial markets because of fears it would produce a weak government that
would not act decisively to bring down Britain’s gaping public sector deficit, forecast to reach 178 billion pounds ($279 billion) this year or more than 12 percent of Gross Domestic Product. A poll of economists for Reuters last month predicted a 20 percent chance of a hung parliament, up from 15 percent in a similar poll in October. KEY DEMANDS The Guardian reported yesterday that the Liberal Democrats were planning to rule out forming a coalition government with either the Conservatives or Labor if the party held the balance of power after the election. It said the Liberal Democrats would be prepared to support either main party if that party made concessions on four key Liberal Democrat policies on education, tax reform, the economy and political reform. Clegg has refused to be drawn on whether he would support a minority administration in the event of an inconclusive election, saying he would not sacrifice his core polices for the sake of power. The four Liberal Democrat priorities, set out by Clegg at a Reuters Newsmaker event last month, are:
Economic reform. The Liberal Democrats want to shift the economy away from what they see as over-reliance on financial services and promote “green” technology. Tax reform. The Liberal Democrats would close loopholes for the richest and introduce a “mansion tax” on homes worth more than 2 million pounds ($3.13 million) to fund tax cuts for others and to take millions out of paying tax altogether. Education. The Liberal Democrats propose to put an extra 2.5 billion pounds into schools, providing more money for deprived children. Political reform. The party would respond to a scandal over politicians’ expenses by reducing the number of members of parliament and giving voters the right to fire corrupt MPs. The speculation about a hung parliament has led top civil servants to make preparations, the Guardian said yesterday. It reported that Gus O’Donnell, cabinet secretary, had distributed secret memos among senior officials on how to handle a hung parliament. The memos date back to 1974, the last time Britain had a hung parliament. The Cabinet Office had no immediate comment. — Reuters
France tackles an explosive debate on pension reforms PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday a bill on reforming the costly pension system would be ready by September, in an overhaul that is unpopular with voters but hard to avoid given creaking public finances. Sarkozy met leaders of the main union and employers’ federations yesterday to discuss a timetable for negotiations, insisting he would listen to all sides while promising to secure solid financial foundations for the payas-you-go system. “If we want to save our pension system, we can no longer put off the decisions,” Sarkozy told reporters after the meeting, adding that negotiations would begin in April. “We are not going to push it through by force,” he said in a separate speech to union leaders, who have threatened mass protests if the government hacks back at pension rights. France spends 12.4 percent of gross domestic product on its pensions, against a euro zone average of 11.1 percent, according to OECD data. An ageing population coupled with crisis-related state spending have increased the need for change. The president ruled out a cut in pension pay-outs, which was one of the options to reduce costs.
PARIS: France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy delivers a speech after talks with unions and employers representatives at the Elysee Palace yesterday. —AP Other options include raising the retirement age from the current 60 years or hiking the number of years people have to work before getting a full pension. Unions have rejected both ideas and want to see higher taxes to pay for the shortfall. Sarkozy had hoped to delay the reform until after the next presidential election in 2012. But the economic
crisis has hammered revenues and blown up public spending, forcing France to get tough on its deficit-set to climb to 8.2 percent of GDP this year, the highest for at least half a century. FRENCH RESIST WORKING LONGER While the government is trying to sell the policy plan as a painful but inevitable step, the
public remains unconvinced. The government projects a trend of fewer workers and more pensioners that will lead to an annual deficit of 100 billion euros ($136.1 billion) for the pensions system by 2050, from a forecast 25 billion in 2010. However, 59 percent of French oppose a rise in the retirement age, an Ifop poll for newspaper Dimanche Ouest-France showed on Saturday. A majority also rejected other options, such as an increase in pension contributions or a cut in pay-outs. A separate poll from BVA for broadcaster Canal+ showed that French workers and students on average expect to retire at 62 beyond the current age but earlier than in comparable European economies such as Germany, where the retirement age is 67. Facing public opposition to the prospect of having to work longer, on top of discontent over high unemployment and reforms in other sectors such as education, Sarkozy yesterday tried to take a conciliatory approach. “We are going to take the time that’s needed to engage in a dialogue, to make sure everyone’s positions are understood and the French will be clearly informed of the stakes and solutions,” Sarkozy said.—Reuters
“Yes, storms spark fear, even those that rock the boat of the church because of the sins of its members,” Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, number two in the Vatican hierarchy, told the bishops. Bertone said trials within the church “are naturally harder and more humiliating” particularly when “men of the church were involved in such particularly abominable acts”. The meetings, the first of their kind at the Vatican in eight years, will discuss a plan of action and could lead to more prelates resigning in a shakeup of the Irish church hierarchy. Four have already quit. Benedict, the 24 Irish bishops and top Vatican officials will hold three sessions in response to outrage in Ireland over the Murphy Commission Report, a damning indictment of child sex abuse by priests. Bertone said God’s mercy could “pull one out of the deepest abyss” but “only if the sinner recognizes his blame in full truth”. CHURCH ‘OBSESSIVELY’ HID ABUSE The report, published in November, said the church in Ireland had “obsessively” concealed child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese from 1975 to 2004, and operated a policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell”. It said all Dublin bishops in charge during the period under study had been aware of some complaints, but the archdiocese had been more preoccupied with protecting the reputation of the church than safeguarding children. Four bishops have offered their resignations and the pope has so far accepted one. Victims’ group One in Four called on other bishops throughout Ireland who engaged in a “culture of cover-up” to step down. Victims’ groups said they would seek monetary compensation, which could lead to a financial crisis for the Irish church. In the US church, hit by a similar scandal in 2002, seven dioceses have filed for bankruptcy protection in the wake of thousands of sex abuse claims against priests. The Vatican said in December the pope would write to the Irish people about the crisis-the first time a pontiff will have devoted a document solely to clergy’s abuse of children. The pope has strongly condemned such abuse during his trips to two countries hard hit by scandals-the United States and Australia. In December, he expressed his “outrage, betrayal and shame” over the Irish case. But critics say the Vatican and the church have not gone far enough in handing over suspected abusers to civil justice. The current archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, who took his post after the period covered by the report, has said he expected “a very significant reorganization of the church in Ireland”. The church’s prominent role in Irish life was one of the reasons abuses were allowed to go unchecked, the report said. One priest admitted abusing more than 100 children. Another said he had abused children every two weeks for over 25 years. —Reuters
KHARTOUM: Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir (right) arrives to a campaign rally with his second wife Widad Babiker at Al-Hilal Stadium in Khartoum. Presidential hopefuls in Sudan, Africa’s largest country, began campaigning for the first multi-party poll since 1986, with the nation wondering whether an end might be in sight to incumbent Bashir’s many years in power. — AFP
Sudan SPLM launches poll campaign to unseat Bashir Candidate aims to reach across ethnic, regional divide KHARTOUM: Sudan’s former southern rebels launched their campaign on Sunday for the nation’s first multi-party elections in 24 years, fielding the man likely to be President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir’s strongest challenger. Targeting the country’s marginalized millions, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) is campaigning for the presidential and legislative polls in April under the slogan “hope for change”. Presidential candidate Yasir Arman, who is actually a northerner, stressed the SPLM’s appeal to voters of different religions throughout Africa’s largest nation. “Before we are northern or southern, Muslim or Christian, first of all we are Sudanese,” Arman said. “Our country links the Arabs with the Africans,” he said at the former home of Ali Abdel Latif, who led a revolt against British colonial rule in 1924. The SPLM joined Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP) in an uneasy coalition government after ending 22 years of civil war between the mainly Arab and Muslim north and the south where people are largely Christian or animist. Arman said the SPLM supported “voluntary unity”, referring to a referendum on independence which will be held in South Sudan next January. SPLM Chairman Salva Kiir left Arman, a lower level figure in the party, to run for the national presidency and instead chose to stand for president of South Sudan, which many analysts believe will vote for secession. SERIOUS CHALLENGE With the south dominated by the SPLM and com-
posing a quarter of Sudan’s electorate, Arman could pose a serious challenge to Bashir who is the favorite, analysts say. Bashir’s NCP asked the SPLM to withdraw Arman’s candidacy, a move analysts say shows they are worried by the competition. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two presidential aspirants would face off in May. Most of the opposition say they would unite in a second round against Bashir, who is wanted for war crimes in Sudan’s western Darfur region by the International Criminal Court. Arman enjoys support in Darfur and the east, but many people in the north worry that there would be a political limbo if the SPLM won the presidency and the south decided to separate. Sudan’s north-south civil war, fought over ethnicity, ideology, religion and oil, claimed 2 million lives and destabilized much of east Africa. Arman said the SPLM stood for justice for the victims of Darfur, where the United Nations estimates some 300,000 people died in a humanitarian crisis sparked by a counter-insurgency campaign. “We’ll take the town to the countryside, not the country to the town,” he said, quoting former SPLM Chairman John Garang who died in a helicopter crash weeks after taking office as Sudan’s first vice president following a 2005 north-south peace deal. Reluctance from the NCP and a lack of capacity in the SPLM to implement the deal has strained relations. The Umma Party, led by the last democraticallyelected prime minister, Sadeq Al-Mahdi, is the other main contender for Bashir’s job. He launches his campaign yesterday. — Reuters
in the news Plane makes u-turn LONDON: A British Airways plane flying from London to Mexico was forced to do a U-turn over the Atlantic after concerns about a passenger on board, the airline said yesterday. Amid tightened security following the failed Detroit bombing in December, the flight carrying 318 passengers returned to London’s Heathrow airport Friday after a “data discrepancy” involving a US passenger, BA said. “BA Flight 243 returned to Heathrow on Friday afternoon due to a data discrepancy with a US citizen. The passenger was asked to leave, which he duly did, and collected his bags,” said a BA spokesman. “The plane was refueled and left later that day,” he added. No further details were available about whether the US national, reported to be 55 years old, was detained or allowed to go free. Transatlantic airline security has been stepped up after Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, allegedly tried to blow up a plane from Amsterdam as it prepared to land at Detroit on December 25. Abdulmutallab, who had studied at University College London, has been charged with attempting to blow up a US airliner.
British Sikh to become first non-white in BNP LONDON: An Indian-born Sikh pensioner is hoping to become the first non-white member of the far-right British National Party (BNP) because he wants to fight Islamic extremism, he said yesterday. Rajinder Singh, 78, is joining the BNP-whose policies include stopping immigration-after the party voted Sunday to change its constitution to admit ethnic minorities for the first time, following a court ruling. Singh, a retired teacher, was born in West Punjab and left India in 1967. He said he had seen the “potential of Islam”, witnessing extensive violence after partition in 1947, and wanted to “save” Britain by working to prevent similar scenes here. “Islam is global, it has zero loyalty to Britain,” he said. “The BNP are sons of soil and they are standing up for their soil. I wish we had a counterpart of the BNP in India in 1946.” He said he had adopted the “British way of life” but denied
he had renounced Sikh values. “Some Sikhs say ‘You are not a Sikh’, but I have core Sikh values,” he added. “Britain is changing, it’s not the Britain I came to when I came in. The British people are worried, and the BNP is the expression of their worry”.
UK journalist in Hamas net GAZA: British officials met yesterday with a detained journalist in Gaza amid calls for Hamas to release the Briton, the first foreigner the Islamists have arrested since seizing power in Gaza in 2007. Paul Martin was arrested on Sunday in a Gaza Strip courtroom while testifying for a Palestinian friend accused of “collaborating with Israel,” Hamas and British officials said. “We are very concerned about the situation and we are attempting to provide consular assistance,” a spokesman for the British consulate in Jerusalem said, adding that the British authorities were in touch with Martin’s family. A statement on the Hamas interior ministry website said Martin was ordered held for two weeks for “violating Palestinian law and security in the Gaza Strip,” but did not elaborate. “A representative from the British consulate entered (Gaza) yesterday and has met with the British journalist,” it said, adding that Martin had entered Gaza on Sunday. The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which groups journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, said it was “deeply concerned” over the arrest and called on Hamas to free the reporter.
Moldovan rebels offer to host Russia missiles MOSCOW: Moldova’s rebel region of Transdniestria said yesterday it was ready to host Russian tactical missiles if the Kremlin were to ask, escalating growing tensions about defense between Moscow and Washington. NATO and European Union member Romania, which borders Moldova, this month approved a U.S. plan to deploy interceptor missiles which Washington says aims to defend against current and emerging ballistic missile threats from Iran.