Kidnappings, attacks threaten to undercut UN-AU efforts in Darfur - Ban

Increased threats to international staff in Darfur, including “extremely alarming” kidnappings, ongoing military action by Chad, Sudan and rebels, and Government limits on peacekeepers’ movements continue to hamper efforts to stabilize the Sudanese area torn apart by nearly seven years of war, says a new report by the United Nations chief.

ONLF Takes Seven Ethiopian Towns

Saturday, November 14, 2009
10:30 Mecca time, 07:30 GMT

Ogaden: Seven Ethiopian towns taken

Somali Ogaden fighters formed the ONLF in 1984 and have attacked
government forces regularly

Ethnic Ogaden fighters in Ethiopia have launched an offensive in the
southeastern Somali region and claim to have recaptured seven towns from government forces.

In a statement released early on Saturday, the Ogaden National
Liberation Front (ONLF) said its attacks were launched across a broad front and had begun on November 10.

“The operation involved thousands of ONLF troops and resulted in two days of heavy fighting. A significant number of Ethiopian troops have been killed and their military hardware captured or destroyed,” it said.

The ONLF said its forces entered the towns of Obolka, Hamaro,
Higlaaley, Yucub, Galadiid, Boodhaano and Gunogabo - where government forces had deployed troops and positioned military hardware.

“ONLF forces were warmly welcomed by the population in these areas and are administering medical care to those civilians killed by
retreating Ethiopian occupation forces,” the statement claimed.

The Ethiopian government has not responded to the statement.

Formed in 1984, the ONLF is fighting for the independence of ethnic
Somalis in Ethiopia’s oil-rich Ogaden region - which they say has been marginalised by the government in Addis Ababa.

The Ethiopian military launched a counter-offensive against ONLF
rebels after they attacked a Chinese-run oil venture in Ogaden in
April 2007, killing 74 people.

In April, Ethiopia said it had significantly weakened the the
anti-government force, a claim ONLF rejects.

Source: AFP

Today on New Scientist: 23 November 2009

Today’s stories on newscientist.com, at a glance, including: how violence shaped the night sky, why we should put human self-interest first when we think about climate change, and an exclusive interview with Charles Darwin

UN still concerned over access to civilians displaced by Yemen conflict

United Nations agencies and their partners are continuing to assist civilians uprooted by fighting in northern Yemen, but warned today that access to internally displaced persons (IDPs) that are not staying in camps is still a concern.

Niger Protest For President Tandja to Quit

Sunday, November 22, 2009
20:42 Mecca time, 17:42 GMT

Niger protest for president to quit

To date, numerous protests in Niger have met with little reaction from
the presidency

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Niger’s capital,
Niamey, calling for the resignation of President Mamadou Tandja.

Brandishing placards such as “Tandja must go” and “Down with the
Destroyer of democracy,”, demonstrators on Sunday called for former
prime minister and opposition figure Hama Amandou to take the
president’s place.

The opposition disputes an August 4 referendum that allowed Tandja to stay in power until 2012, after he was supposed to step down in December after two five-year terms in a row.

“It is up to us to end this autocratic rule,” Muhammad Bazoum, a
leader of the opposition Coordination of Democratic Forces for the
Republic (CFDR), told the rally.

Drastic moves

Tandja, 71, a former colonel in power for 10 years, also dissolved
parliament and the constitutional court which had opposed the move.

The CFDR, which comprises political parties, human rights and labour organisations, has denounced the referendum as a “coup” and wants fresh elections to be organised.

The opposition boycotted October 20 legislative elections, after which
the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) suspended Niger as a member and the European Union put a freeze on its development aid.

ECOWAS mediator Abdulsalami Abubakar held talks with President Tandja on Friday as part of the 15-nation bloc’s efforts to resolve the
crisis, Nigerien state television reported.

Source: Agencies

Saudi Arabia Launches Attacks Inside Yemen

Monday, November 23, 2009
18:44 Mecca time, 15:44 GMT

Saudi Arabia ‘attacks inside Yemen’

Saudi Arabia launched attacks on Houthis after they crossed its border and seized a small area

Saudi Arabian forces have carried out an incursion into Yemeni territory using tanks, artillery and aircraft, the Houthi rebel group has said.

The statement from the Yemen-based group said that the attacks on Monday were taking place in the border districts of Malahiz and Shada provinces.

“The Saudis began an attack along many fronts on the Yemeni border,” said the statement.

“In the incursion, the Saudi army has been using all kind of weapons; land, air, tanks, and artillery.”

Witnesses from the northern border town of Razah also said that the Saudis had begun an offensive on Monday.

“The Saudi army launched a vast offensive against Houthi positions in the border region,” one witness, who asked not to be identified, told to the AFP news agency.

Rescue operation

Hashem Ahelbarra, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in northern Yemen, said Saudi Arabia’s incursion could be a rescue operation.

“The Houthis said yesterday that they had managed to kill and take some Saudi soldiers prisoner,” he said.

“The Saudis [are] insisting … that the aim of the air strikes and military campaign is not just to pound Houthi areas but to make sure the Houthis are not going back to the borders to launch attacks against Saudi Arabia.

“Are they going to be able to achieve that? We have to wait and see because the area itself is extremely difficult; it is rugged terrain where the Houthis have been remarkably using guerrilla war [tactics] to wage attacks against the Yemeni government and at the same time Saudi Arabia.”

Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz Saudi, Saudi Arabia’s interior minister, said on Monday that “other countries should not interfere” in Yemen’s affairs.

“We condemn any interference in Yemen, and any action is to be taken by Yemenis themselves,” said the minister.

“But when it comes to crossing the borders and violating the security of the Saudi kingdom, we will defend the Saudi territories even if it is just one metre.”

Yemeni officials also denied that Saudi troops had begun an assault inside their country.

“Each side is dealing with the rebels on its own territory,” Colonel Askar Zaayl, a Yemeni army spokesman, said.

“It’s not true that the Saudis are launching strikes and attacks inside Yemeni territory.”

‘Heavy losses’

It was not immediately clear whether either side had suffered any casaulties in the fighting, but the Houthi rebels claimed “the aggressors suffered heavy losses”.

Saudi Arabia began bombarding suspected Houthi positions earlier this month after they apparently crossed the border and seized control of a small area.

The Houthis say that the Saudis have been allowing Yemeni troops to use the area to attack their positions.

Saudi officials claim that the fighting in northern Yemen is being supported by Iran and could be helping al-Qaeda to cross to their side of the border.

“It cannot be ruled out that there are contacts or co-ordination between them,” Prince Nayef was quoted as saying by the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

The Shia Muslim Houthi fighters, citing political, economic and religious marginalisation, have been battling the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, since 2004.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

UK in Terror Warning For Timbuktu

UK in terror warning for Timbuktu

By Andrew Harding
BBC News, Timbuktu

The UK government is urging tourists not to visit Timbuktu in northern
Mali because of the threat of terrorism.

The remote town is included on an updated travel advisory issued by
the Foreign Office.

A British tourist, Edwin Dyer, was killed in Mali in June by a group
which claims links to al-Qaeda.

But local officials insist the threat is being exaggerated. They say
such warnings are already having a crippling effect on the tourism
industry.

The vast area of the Sahara Desert is now being used as a hiding place for a relatively small number of militants from the group known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

In recent months they have kidnapped several Westerners for ransom -sometimes seizing them in foreign countries and taking them into Mali- and fought battles against government and militia forces.

US action

The Foreign Office says the threat of terrorism, and specifically
kidnapping, is now high in Timbuktu. Travellers are being urged to
avoid all of northern Mali.

On a visit to the region, Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis said
there was a real danger the security situation could deteriorate.

“We have to tackle this in a multi-faceted way,” he said.

“We know al-Qaeda is looking to spread its activities in areas it
believes state security is inadequate and weak, and the population is
poor.

“It wants to appeal to that population and offer welfare initially. We
[need to combine] security with development.”

But on the sleepy, sandy streets of Timbuktu, people insist the threat
is being exaggerated.

They say most incidents have happened far from the town itself.

“We are absolutely safe and peaceful,” said regional governor Col
Mamadou Mangara.

But he added: “If the threat is real, then the world’s great powers
have a duty to… give us the means to fight it before it is too late.

“We are a poor country and the Sahara is vast. We need vehicles, equipment.”

The US has already responded with the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership - a five year, $500m programme targeting nine African states.

But the regional governor says poverty, not terrorism, is the biggest threat.

And local officials argue that negative travel advisories are
worsening poverty.

Col Mangara said 7,203 tourists visited the town in 2008, but only
3,700 between January and October 2009.

A special festival is being held next month in the hope of encouraging
visitors.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8373821.stm
Published: 2009/11/23 12:02:38 GMT

Kidnappings, attacks threaten to undercut UN-African Union efforts in Darfur - Ban

Increased threats to international staff in Darfur, including “extremely alarming” kidnappings, ongoing military action by Chad, Sudan and rebels, and Government limits on peacekeepers’ movements continue to hamper efforts to stabilize the Sudanese area torn apart by nearly seven years of war, says a new report by the United Nations chief.

UN-backed demobilization process begins in North Darfur

Over 150 ex-combatants who once fought for armed militia in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region participated today in a United Nations-backed demobilization and reintegration programme which aims to ease the return of former soldiers to their communities.

A fox looking after the chickens

Number 10 is facing growing accusations that Gordon Brown had ’sold Britain down the river’ once again by giving up the influential EU trade portfolio currently held by the UK’s Cathy Ashton in return for the arguably less important external relations role.

Not only that, but according to French diplomats and a Commission source speaking to Le Monde newspaper, the whole sorry stitch-up was a deal brokered with Nicolas Sarkozy who in return for backing Ashton for Foreign Minister, secured GB’s support for French MEP Michel Barnier to bag one of the most important Commission posts of all - Internal Market.

As Open Europe’s Mats Persson told the Telegraph:

“This appointment is part of a very deliberate French strategy to challenge the anglo-saxon model in general and the prominence of the City of London in particular.”

Because let’s be clear: with Barnier in charge of the heaviest economic portfolio in the Commission we’re guaranteed to get two things: more ‘Europe’ and more regulations.

Looks like GB has been outmanoeuvred in Europe yet again. Don’t get us wrong - the Foreign Minister role is a definitely a biggy. In charge of up to 7,000 staff and a £45 billion 3-year budget for the “biggest diplomatic service in the world”, in the words of current foreign policy bod Javier Solana, Cathy Ashton is being described as the face of Europe on the world stage.

But as high-profile as that may be, the key thing to remember in all this is that the UK has now been completely ruled out of every single one of the important economic portfolios in the Commission - Internal Market, Competition, Trade, Economic & Social Affairs, even the rumoured new Financial Services post. In fact, France has made crystal clear that it doesn’t want Jose Barroso to separate the financial services side of things from the Internal Market portfolio - meaning Barnier will be in charge of the lot.

Former Minister Michael Fallon sensibly asked David Miliband in Parliament today:

“Why did the Prime Minister allow himself to be outwitted by the French into conceding the key internal market and financial services job with a result that we will have a French commissioner regulating the City of London whilst Baroness Ashton is handing out the Ferrero Rocher?”

All of this is hugely important for the UK because the Commission is now so active in the area of financial and economic regulation - and it is vital the UK has a strong influence. Unless you’ve just arrived home from Mars, you will know the EU’s current proposed rules for alternative investment funds, for instance, could be hugely damaging to the City unless they are substantially amended along the lines being pushed by the UK government and others.

Parachuting Michel Barnier into this role could be far more disastrous for the UK than any prestigious appointment to the world stage can hope to compensate for.

Why? Because Barnier is a backward-looking protectionist.

In the run-up to the EP elections he kept saying he wanted “to build a Europe that acts and protects.”

He appears to have also described himself as: “The only government minister whose politics is totally European”, and said, “Do we want Europe to be a simple regional actor and a free trade area or do we want to make Europe a global actor and a political power? My decision was made long ago.”

Most worrying of all, he said: “All problems are local and yet all the solutions are found in Brussels!”.

Even left-leaning newspaper Le Monde warned earlier this year that the “europhile” Barnier would be a poor choice for Internal Market Commissioner.

It said: “without a doubt the post is currently the most important at the heart of the European executive, after the presidency”. It pointed out that the City of London would view the appointment of a French politician to the Internal Market post as comparable “to entrusting the surveillance of a chicken coop to a fox”.

It wisely noted that “the issue of new financial regulation is too serious to become a simple stake in negotiations on the composition of the future commission”.

And don’t forget, Sarkozy has said that Paris’ La Défense district, which according to the FT recently is undergoing a radical makeoever, “intends to take over” the City.

Score: Brown 1, Sarkozy 2.