A6 WORLD Killings mar vote
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 15, 2014
ELEVEN DIE IN CLASHES ON FIRST DAY OF EGYPT’S CONSTITUTIONAL VOTE BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CAIRO, Egypt — A referendum on a new constitution laid bare the sharp divisions in Egypt six months after the military removed the elected Islamist president. Pro-army voters lined up Tuesday outside polling stations, singing patriotic songs, kissing images of Egypt’s top officer and sharing their upbeat hopes for their troubled nation. Despite heavy security, 11 people were killed in sporadic violence, with protesters burning tires and pelting police with rocks and firebombs to create just enough danger to keep many voters at home. The two-day balloting will likely pave the way for a possible presidential run by the nation’s top general after he ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last July, setting off a fierce crackdown on Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. It’s also a key milestone in a military-backed political roadmap toward new elections for a president and a parliament after the coup, which has left Egypt sharply divided between Brotherhood supporters in one camp, and the military, security forces in the other, as well as a large segment of a population exacerbated by three years of turmoil. Amid a climate of fear and paranoia, authorities, the mostly pro-military media and a significant segment of the population are showing little or no tolerance for dissent. Campaigning for a “no” vote risked arrest by the police and Egyptians who have publicized their opposition to the charter, even just parts of it, are quickly labeled as traitors. Some 160,000 soldiers and more than 200,000 policemen fanned out across the nation of some 90 million people to protect polling stations and voters against possible attacks by militants loyal to Morsi. Cars were prevented from parking or driving by polling stations and women were searched by female police officers. Military heli-
SOUTH SUDAN
200 civilians drown fleeing violence BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A boat carrying civilians desperately fleeing heavy violence in South Sudan sank while crossing the Nile River, killing some 200 people, a military official said Tuesday, as fighting between rebels and government forces moved closer to the capital. Warfare in the world’s newest state has displaced more than 400,000 people since mid-December, with the front lines constantly shifting as loyalist troops and renegade forces gain and lose territory in battles often waged along ethnic lines. A boat fleeing violence on the Nile carrying mostly women and children sank on Saturday, killing at least 200 people, according to Lt. Col Aguer, the South Sudanese military spokesman. He also said there was fighting about 70 kilometres north of the South Sudanese capital of Juba. Heavy fighting erupted in Malakal, the capital of oil-producing Upper Nile state, which renegade forces briefly held before government troops retook it. The fighting began early Tuesday morning in the vicinity of the United Nations base in Malakal, with combatants using heavy machine-guns and tanks, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said at UN headquarters in New York. Stray bullets are reported to have landed inside the UN base, wounding people who sought shelter there, according to Nesirky. As a result of Tuesday’s violence, he said, the number of people seeking refuge at the UN base in Malakal has nearly doubled to 20,000. South Sudan has a history of ethnic rivalry, and its many tribes have long battled each other in recurring cycles of violence. The fighting often pits the Dinka ethnic group of President Salva Kiir against the Nuer group of Riek Machar, the former vice-president who now commands renegade forces. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed in the latest fighting, according to one estimate by an International Crisis Group analyst. Some of the fiercest battles have been fought in Jonglei, South Sudan’s largest state, where for months government troops had been trying to put down a local rebellion.
Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
An Egyptian woman shows her inked finger after casting her vote at a polling station in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday. Egyptians have started voting on a draft for their country’s new constitution that represents a key milestone in a military-backed roadmap put in place after President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown in a popularly backed coup last July. copters hovered over Cairo and other major cities. Shortly before polls opened, an explosion struck a Cairo courthouse, damaging its facade and shattering windows in nearby buildings but causing no casualties in the densely populated neighbourhood of Imbaba — a Brotherhood stronghold. The Health Ministry said 11 people died and 28 were wounded in clashes that broke out between Morsi supporters and government security forces on the sidelines of voting in Cairo, the adjacent province of Giza and two provinces south of the capital, Bani Suef and Sohag. Four of those were killed when gunfire broke out between police and gun-
men on rooftops in Sohag, according to security officials. Three others were wounded, including a senior police officer. A Morsi supporter also was shot to death as he and about 100 others tried to storm a polling station in the province of Bani Suef south of Cairo, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. It was not clear who was behind the shooting. In Cairo’s working class district of Nahya, pro-Morsi protesters shot at and pelted with rocks a polling station before closing all entrances with chains, scaring away voters and locking election officials inside, Mohammed Seragedeen, the judge in charge
of the station, said. Security forces later fired tear gas to disperse the protesters and allow voting to resume, he said. The referendum is the sixth nationwide vote since the authoritarian Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising in 2011, with the five others widely considered the freest ever seen in Egypt, including the June 2012 balloting won by Morsi. But this vote was tainted by criticism that many of the freedoms won in the anti-Mubarak revolution have vanished amid a fierce crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood that has spread to others as the military-backed administration tries to suppress all dissent.
Thai premier won’t resign ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTERS BLOCK ROADS IN CAPITAL BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand’s prime minister insisted Tuesday she wouldn’t quit as protesters seeking her ouster blocked key roads in the heart of Bangkok for a second day, leaving the country’s political crisis firmly deadlocked. The demonstrators had pledged to “shut down” the city of 12 million people, but life in most of the vast metropolis was unaffected, with school classes restarting, commuters heading to work and most businesses open. The Southeast Asian nation’s latest bout of unrest began late last year and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has tried to ease it by dissolving Parliament and calling for new elections on Feb. 2. There are growing doubts that the vote will take place, however, and both protesters and the main opposition Democrat Party are calling for a boycott. Yingluck’s opponents are demanding she step aside so an interim, non-elected government can take over and implement reforms before any new poll is held. “I’ve stressed many times I have a duty to act according to my responsibility after the dissolution of Parliament,” Yingluck told reporters. “I’d like to say right now I am not holding on (to my position) but I have to keep political stability. I’m doing my duty to preserve democracy.” Yingluck proposed to meet Wednes-
Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Demonstrators cheer following a speech by Suthep Thaugsuban during an antigovernment People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) protest outside the MBK Center in the Pathumwan district, Tuesday, in Bangkok. day with various groups — including her opponents — to discuss a proposal from the Election Commission to postpone the February vote. But protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, the Democrats and even the Election Commission has refused to take part. Yingluck said all sides need to discuss reform because “the country is in pain and the people are suffering.” Protesters accuse her government of corruption and misrule, and for being the puppet of her older brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
He was toppled by the army in a peaceful coup in 2006 and lives in selfimposed exile to avoid jail time for a corruption conviction. The poor majority in Thailand’s countryside, however, broadly support Thaksin and his family because of the populist policies he implemented, including virtually free health care. Ever since Thaksin’s overthrow, the two sides have been dueling for power, sometimes violently. At least eight people have been killed and hundreds injured since the latest unrest began late last year.
Man gunned down at US theatre for texting BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — An argument over texting in a Florida movie theatre ended with a retired police captain fatally shooting a man sitting in front of him, authorities said. On Tuesday, a judge ordered Curtis Reeves, 71, held without bond on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of 43-year-old Chad Oulson on Monday. Reeves had his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon. “I can’t believe people would bring a pistol, a gun, to a movie,” said Charles Cummings, who was about to watch the movie Lone Survivor on Monday. “I can’t believe they would argue
and fight and shoot one another over popcorn. Over a cellphone.” Pasco County Sheriff’s officials said the shooting happened when Reeves asked 43-year-old Chad Oulson to stop texting at the theatre. Reeves and his wife were sitting behind Oulson and his wife. Oulson told Reeves he was texting with his 3-yearold daughter, Cummings said. “It ended almost as quickly as it started,” said sheriff’s spokesman Doug Tobin. The sheriff’s office says an off-duty deputy detained Reeves until police arrived. Cummings, who had blood on his clothes, told a group of reporters Monday afternoon the show was still in previews when the two couples started
arguing. Cummings said the men started raising their voices and popcorn was thrown. Authorities said Reeves took out a gun, Oulson’s wife put her hand over her husband and Reeves fired his weapon, striking Nichole Oulson in the hand and her husband in the chest. Cummings, who said he was a combat Marine in Vietnam, said Oulson fell onto him and his son. “Blood started coming out of his mouth,” said Alex Cummings. “It was just a very bad scene.” A man sitting next to the shooter grabbed the gun out of his hand, and the suspect did not attempt to get away, Cummings said. Chad Oulson died at a hospital.