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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2013
International
Egypt upholds jail term for Mursi’s PM
Qandil
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Cairo appeals court has upheld a one-year sentence handed to former Egyptian prime ministerHishamQandil, in the latest blow to ousted president Mohamed Mursi’s inner circle. Khaled Hassan, the judge at yesterday’s session, said the prison sentence must now be carried out. Qandil is accused of failing to execute a court ruling ordering the
annulment of a public company’s sale and the reinstatement of its employees. The sentence against Kandil related to a 2011 court ruling demanding the government repurchase textile company Tanta Flax and Oils from a Saudi Arabian investor who bought it in 2005. Officials in the Kandil government had said renationalising state enterprises was not straightforward and the
company had been broken up since it was sold to the foreign investor. An unpopular prime minister, Qandil has kept a low profile since Mursi’s overthrow by the army on July 3. Earlier this month, prosecutors ordered the freezing of Qandil’s assets and he was prevented from leaving the country pending the investigation. Egypt’s army-installed
authorities have launched a massive crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood that has seen hundreds killed and more than 2,000 jailed. On Sunday, the families of two Canadian citizens staging a hunger strike in an Egyptian prison said that authorities had extended the prisoners’ detention by 45 days. TarekLoubani and John Greyson have been held without charges in Egypt since August 16, despite Canadian diplomatic pressure. The two said in a statement on Saturday that they had been beaten and subjected to degrading treatment since being detained at the height of violent protests in Cairo last month. Lynne Yelich, a Canadian minister responsible for consular affairs, said on Sunday that the government is “disappointed” that the two will stay in custody longer. Loubani, a physician, and Greyson, a filmmaker, were trying to make their way to Gaza when they went to watch the protests by supporters of ousted President Mursi a few blocks away from their hotel. Mursi, Egypt’s first elected president, is himself in jail, as is the leadership of his Muslim Brotherhood movement.
Algeria president chairs first cabinet meeting since April
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lgerian President AbdelazizBouteflika on Sunday evening chaired the council of ministers for the first time since he suffered a minor stroke in April. The cabinet meeting came 20 days after Bouteflika’s massive reshuffle of the cabinet, in which he kept Prime Minister AbdelmalekSellal but appointed 11 new ministers. The council approved seven draft laws, including the budget for 2014 and a draft law regulating audiovisual activity, official APS news agency reported. Meanwhile, the meeting also approved a presidential draft decree authorizing the subscription of
Algeria to the 16th replenishment of the International Development Association, in addition to examining and approving four presidential draft decrees to approve contracts and endorsements for hydrocarbons exploration and exploitation. All these draft laws will be submitted to the two houses of Parliament for approval. The last council of ministers headed by Bouteflika dates back to December 2012. The 76-yearold president suffered a minor stroke in April and had been hospitalized in Paris for nearly three months, which triggered debates in Algeria’s political arena, as some radical opponents called for early presidential elections.
Bouteflika
ECOWAS says Guinea polls “acceptable”
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he head of the election observer mission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), EdemKodjo, says Saturday’s legislative elections in Guinea were “acceptable” despite some inefficiencies at certain polling stations. Speaking on Sunday in the capital Conakry, Kodjo said the ECOWAS observer mission deployed in the country’s 38 electoral constituencies monitored the voting process and was satisfied with the respect for interGuinea agreements signed between the country’s political actors. In a preliminary report on the conduct of the polls, Kodjo acknowledged that there were some challenges such as shortage of voting materials and delayed opening of polling stations in some parts of the country. However, the mission hailed the large turnout of voters to elect their representatives who will sit in the next parliament after the announcement of the final results. Kodjo urged the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) to publish the results within the legal time frame to prevent any unnecessary suspicion. He also appealed to political leaders in the country to use legal means to resolve any dispute regarding the conduct of the elections. The head of the ECOWAS mission said the international community was determined to ensure peace and social order are restored in Guinea and that is why the regional body would keep a permanent bureau in Guinea.
Northern Mali hit by gunfire, suicide bomb attack
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he situation in northern Mali has deteriorated in recent days with fighting reported between the separatist Tuareg group MNLA and the army in Kidal one day after a suicide bomb attack hit another town of Timbuktu. Local authorities on Sunday reported the exchange of fire in the central part of Kidal, which used to be the stronghold of the MNLA, but lately controlled by the Malian army. The gunfire injured several people on both sides. Sources at the army camp positioned in Kidal said they were being attacked for the first time in town since the MNLA moved out for disarmament under a truce signed three months ago. The shootout was triggered after
a group of armed individuals in a vehicle refused to comply with the army’s order to stop in Kidal. “At around 6:00 p.m. (local time), a vehicle refused to stop after being waved down by the soldiers who were stationed near the Solidarity Bank of Mali. After refusing to stop, a man in the vehicle shot at the Malian army officer who also retaliated,” a witness told Xinhua. “There were reinforcements that came to help the armed men as well as some army officers also came to assist their colleagues. A shootout ensued for a good five minutes,” the source said, noting that the first individual to fire at the officer was badly injured. Soldiers from the UN Integrated
Mission for Stabilization of Mali (MINUSMA) and the French Operation Serval were soon deployed on the ground to stop the fight. “The situation is calm now. Other Malian reinforcements came from the neighboring town of Anefi,” he disclosed, declining to be identified because of the sensitivity in the conflict. Last Friday, unknown individuals threw two grenades at security guards at the same bank, wounding several people. The fighting marked the breach of a truce signed by the MNLA with the government on June 18 in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, which has brokered several peace deals in the West African region since 2008.
The agreement stipulated that inter-Mali inclusive talks to achieve lasting peace should be held at least 60 days after the election of a new president. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who
MNLA rebels
won Mali’s presidential election in the second round held on Aug. 11, has declared that he would not wait for 60 days to begin addressing the crisis in the northern part of the country.