Israeli Troops Killed in Gaza Clash

Friday, March 26, 2010
20:30 Mecca time, 17:30 GMT

Israeli troops killed in Gaza clash

Hamas attributes Friday’s clash to rising tensions in occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem

Two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinians have been killed in a clash east of the Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis.

The Israeli military said on Friday that there was an exchange of fire on the border after soldiers challenged Palestinians planting bombs near the separation barrier.

The military said an officer and a soldier have been killed and two soldiers were injured.

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said it was responsible for taking on the Israeli patrol.

Hamas response

“An Israeli army force raided 500 metres into Palestinian territory, and was confronted by our gunmen,” Abu Obeida, a Hamas spokesman, said.

“This was our work, but was carried out for defence.”

Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Phillips, reporting from Gaza, said: “The al-Qassam Brigades gave a press conference and said that at 2:30pm local time an Israeli incursion began into Gaza. Israeli soldiers on foot, tanks and helicopters crossed into Gaza and the al-Qassam Brigades responded with sniper fire.

“Witnesses in the area are saying that what took place is now over; it is quiet and Israeli tanks have withdrawn.

“Palestinian medical sources have told us three injured civilians have been taken to a hospital nearby,” he said.

Witnesses said Friday’s exchange of fire began when an explosion, possibly caused by an anti-armour rocket fired from the nearby Palestinian town of Khan Younis, hit an Israeli army patrol on the central Gazan border.

Backed by tanks, the troops fired back at their assailants and entered Gazan territory, the witnesses said. Such pursuits are common practise for the Israelis, who try to maintain a buffer zone within the border fence off-limits to Palestinians.

Our correspondent said Hamas officials in Gaza acknowledge the increase in tension that is “in some ways related, of course, to the situation in Jerusalem”.

“Hamas say that they are at pains overall not to incite the Israeli army at this point in time and that they don’t want trouble,” he said.

The witnesses also said that, during the fighting, Israeli soldiers took away a wounded comrade and helicopters came to the scene, apparently for medical evacuations.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Gaza militants kill Israel troops

Two Israeli soldiers have been killed during clashes with Hamas fighters on the Gaza Strip’s southern border, the Israeli army has said.

Two other soldiers were wounded during the fighting which broke out east of the town of Khan Younis.

Two Palestinian militants were also killed in the clashes, Palestinian and Israeli sources say.

The unrest may have been sparked by a bid by militants to seize an Israeli soldier, a BBC correspondent says.

Palestinian militants carried out a raid across the fence line and the Israeli military then appears to have pursued them back into Gaza, says the BBC’s Paul Wood, in Jerusalem.

‘Further response expected’

According to Palestinian sources, Israeli forces responded using tank shells and heavy machine guns, our correspondent adds.

In a statement sent to the BBC, Hamas’ armed wing - the Al-Qassam Brigades - said it killed the two Israeli soldiers.

Speaking to Reuters news agency, Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida is quoted as saying: “This was our work, but was carried out for defence”.

Local sources in Gaza say another smaller group, the PFLP General Command, was also involved. This was broadly the same coalition responsible for seizing Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit more than three years ago, our correspondent says.

Eyewitnesses in the area described a brief period of heavy clashes and also said that a powerful explosion took place.

Our correspondent says that, if the past is any guide, a further Israeli military response can also now be expected.

A ceasefire between Israel and Islamist militant group Hamas, which governs Gaza, has largely held since the 2008-2009 conflict with Israel. Gaza remains under an Israeli-led blockade.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/8589529.stm
Published: 2010/03/26 17:21:16 GMT

Let the Correct History be Told About the “Sharpeville Massacre”

ViewPoint | by Julius Malema

Let the correct history be told

The political implosion that today we have come to know as the “Sharpeville Massacre” and commemorate as integral to Human Rights Day, was a tragedy of unparalleled proportions in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Never before had so many innocent and defenceless people been senselessly killed since the Africans were united under the banner of the African National Congress from 1912.

Of course, there were other battles with far many more people being killed, with the famous Bambatha Rebellion of 1905 being amongst the last of such rebellion against colonial oppression, but not at such a large scale as the Sharpeville Massacre. This was nonetheless a beginning of increased repression, leading amongst others to the events of June 1976, when within a space of less than a year more than 1000 young people were killed.

The magnitude of the massacre warranted direct condemnation of those barbaric acts committed against defenceless peaceful protesters. As a result, the question of what led to the massacre became obscured in the international condemnation of those criminal murders committed with impunity.

Precisely because many people died on that fateful day, those who claimed victory for the historical significance of the ultimate sacrifice by ordinary people went on to do so unchallenged to this day. In accordance with African customs, antagonistic debates are often suspended in respect of the departed.

For years, the PAC perpetually made the claim that they are being ignored by the majority party in Parliament, and that their historical role in dismantling apartheid should accordingly be recognised. Amongst such roles is the claim that they were behind the popular mobilisation leading to the unfortunate Sharpeville massacre.

We do not intend to be history’s revisionists. Neither do we as the ANC intend to claim easy victories, for surely the death of 69 people on what became Sharpeville Day was no easy victory! Indeed as some have said, it was victory written in the blood of our people. That victory saw amongst others, India’s President Nehru acting against apartheid South Africa.

But what is it that the PAC did leading to that fateful day? About three years earlier in 1958, Robert Sobukwe led a breakaway from the ANC, forming the PAC in 1959. The PAC was always a small splinter organisation of disgruntled people who broke away from the ANC, just like others such as COPE, albeit with the difference that they (PAC), was more principled in the breakaway than the extremely hypocritical COPE, as theirs (PAC) was based on policy differences with the ANC.

The build up of massive resistance in South Africa was undoubtedly led by the ANC, and this was attested to by its popular support since the political unbanning to the present. The ANC led in the Defiance Campaign Against Unjust Laws in 1952 and mobilised the various sectors of our population in the 1955 Congress of the People, hence our insistence that the real Congress of the People is the ANC. In future, COPE will distort this historical fact, and in fact the name was intended to imply that deception.

There is no doubt that there have always been various ideological strands in South Africa, even amongst the various forces fighting for liberation from apartheid. However, these various forces were incapable of unleashing massive resistance, hence they piggy backed on the activities organised by the ANC and the Sharpeville massacre was no exception. All those political organisations opposed to apartheid were united in their rejection of the pass laws.

At the opportunity of mobilisation by the African National Congress of people around the country, including Sharpeville, the PAC saw an opportunity to kindle life into its own political activities by upstaging the events as organised by the ANC. The ANC was mobilising the masses of our people for a rally on the 31st March 1960.

The PAC quickly organised a march scheduled for the 21st, going door to door, distributed very misleading pamphlets purporting that the march was organised by the “Congress”. As a result, many people were misled into thinking that the march was organised by the ANC.

The question that could be asked, is why did the “Pan Africanist Congress of Azania”, that is so evidently proud of its distinguishing name chose to use the name “Congress” for what was to be arguably its biggest political event since their formation in 1959? More so when it was the ANC that often went under the name “Congress” or “the Congress” or in isiZulu “uKhongolose”?

As it is, the Sharpeville Massacre remains an isolated incident in the history of the PAC. There were no build ups to that fateful event, neither were there events following that, except that the PAC was also banned when the apartheid regime decided to ban the African National Congress in 1960. The Sharpeville massacre finds proper locus in the events organised by the ANC before and after the massacre itself.

Other historical figures confirm the view that the ANC was responsible for the popular mobilisation that led to the opportunistic door to door activities of the PAC in the morning of 21st March 1960.

Amongst these is Nelson Mandela in his “Long Walk to Freedom”. If scholarly quotes and references add value to truth, we know that Nelson Mandela would not tell lies or claim easy victories!

Also, Alistair Boddy-Evans, in “The origins of the Human Rights Day”, make the following assertion:

“The PAC and ANC did not agree on policy, and it seemed unlikely in 1959 that they would co-operate in any manner. The ANC planned a campaign of demonstration against the pass laws to start at the beginning of April 1960. The PAC rushed ahead and announced a similar demonstration, to start ten days earlier, effectively hijacking the ANC campaign.”

While Robert Sobukwe emphasised that the demonstration was to be peaceful, Alistair Boddy-Evans further made the assertion that the PAC leadership was in fact hoping for a violent response, if that be the case, the only reason was again for the PAC to deliberately ensure the shedding of blood so as to elevate their supposed importance in the struggle for liberation.

Then the ANC could not correct the situation because everybody was grieving for the dead and in shock, but in retrospect, Sharpeville must be properly located in the struggle as led by the African National Congress, of course admitting to the bloody opportunism that the PAC is.

In doing so, as the ANC we are neither revisionists nor opportunists that tell lies and claim easy victories! Consequently, the ANC owes the PAC no political elevation and no amount of grandstanding would turn the tide against its dwindling support because its ideology was as irrelevant in 1958 and 1959 as it is today.

That is why the PAC has got no support even in the areas where it claims to be its stronghold. But like every other party, they too are mistaken in the hope that a political collision with the ANC would give them a breath of life.

The correct history should be told to the youth of South Africa by their own organisation which played pivotal role in the defiance campaign.

Julius Malema is the President of the African National Congress Youth League

Today on New Scientist: 26 March 2010

All today’s stories on newscientist.com at a glance, including: how to cut the cost of cosy, why drug use follows lack of sleep, and the perilous voyage of CubeSail

Alicia Keys Performs at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

In concert: Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys showed a different side but stuck to what made her famous at Verizon Center Thursday

By Sarah Godfrey

Alicia Keys is a self-help-spouting, love song-singing force of positivity, delivering messages of hope and peace with the help of a grand piano. At her show at the Verizon Center on Thursday, however, the Bronx-born singer/songwriter wasn’t her usual dervish of pedals and hammers, big ballads and motivational speechifying.

Instead, she treated the packed crowd (which included First Lady Michelle Obama along with daughters Sasha and Malia) to interesting arrangements and some of the weirder tracks from her latest album, 2009’s “The Element of Freedom.” She sang more and preached less, and spent more time standing at a synthesizer set-up than she did glued to her piano bench.

The concert revealed a slightly edgier side of Keys: there’s not exactly a razor blade buried beneath all that candy coating, but definitely a hidden thumbtack or staple.

After Jermaine Paul, Melanie Fiona, and Robin Thicke kicked things off, Keys appeared on a video monitor and stated “I am a renegade,” along with a few other unexpected declarations of fierceness. Then, from behind projections of barbed wire, she surfaced - not sitting behind a piano, but locked in a cage.

Keys sung most of “Love is Blind,” on the new album, from that prison cell, before bending back the “bars” and ambling out onto the stage. It was a nifty, if not quite subtle, way of letting the crowd know that on her tour (as on “The Element of Freedom”) she’s shrugging off some of her stylistic trademarks and doing come creative wing-spreading.

After her figurative emancipation, Keys launched into a version of “You Don’t Know My Name,” which scrapped much of the girl group-style of the version on 2003’s “The Diary of Alicia Keys,” in favor of a more aggressive approach. During “Fallin’,” a giant heart throbbed and bled on a video screen while Keys stripped away the song’s pretty melody, and put in some dark key work.

Despite a crowd that seemed equally stocked with youngsters and adults who fell in love with her back when she was a straight-forward, earnest soul singer, the audience stayed with her the entire night. Fans even rocked out to “Another Way to Die,” her Jack White collaboration from the “Quantum of Solace” soundtrack - an unexpected choice for her live show, considering the large body of well-known hits she has to draw from.

Keys utilized different keyboard set-ups while making “The Element of Freedom,” and on Thursday she showed off her newfound skills by fiddling with knobs and creating echo effects for “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart.”

That’s not to say Keys has completely broken out of her box. She still said such things as “I want you to know you can be free to be yourselves under this roof tonight,” and “We are truly unstoppable beings,” along with other platitudes one would normally hear during some sort of Saturday-morning seminar held in a Holiday Inn ballroom.

And, naturally, the piano eventually appeared and Keys used it for regular old versions of “Diary,”" and “If I Ain’t Got You,” and “Superwoman” that were safe, but definitely seemed to satisfy. Because while experimentation is nice and all, alienating long-time fans definitely isn’t.

Michelle Obama does Alicia Keys concert

March 25, 11:43 PM

First Lady Michelle Obama did it big this week. She wins my female baller award for the month. From city to city, the First Lady did her jet set thing. Tonight my sources tell me she was at the Alicia Keys concert at the Verizon center in Washington D.C.. Makes sense, her and Keyes have been hanging out this month. The concert is part of The Freedom tour.

Meanwhile Professor Obama kept it real. He showed up in Iowa where his health care reform announcement all started. Obama popped into a book store and purchased some children’s books. He left the bookstore with Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson and The Secret of Zoom by Lynne Jonell, for his daughters Malia and Sasha. Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy by Matthew Reinhart, for Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ son Ethan. Now thats how you do it.

Obama even found time to show some love while at the bookstore. Letting pictures be snapped of him holding interesting books. President Barack Obama smiled as he held up copies of Karl Rove and Mitt Romney’s books during unannounced stop at Prairie Lights book shop in Iowa City, Iowa. he fought the urge to throw them.

In Memory of the Heroes of the ‘Seven Day War’

ViewPoint | by Dr Blade Nzimande

In memory of the heroes of the Seven Day War

Thursday 25th March 2010 marked the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the bloody Seven Day War in Pietermaritzburg, which ended on 31 March 1990. The ‘Seven Day War’, which, as far as I can recall, was actually given this name by the late Cde Harry Gwala, the then leader of the ANC in the Natal Midlands.

The impact of this attack left an indelible imprint on the physical and social geography and history of Edendale, and of Pietermaritzburg as a whole. The Seven Day War was an attack on greater Edendale by a combined force of marauding gangs led by the IFP warlords and the apartheid regime’s police force on the people of Edendale as part of destroying the UDF, COSATU and fledgling ANC structures in the area.

At the time both the IFP and the police openly declared their intention to destroy the structures of our movement in Edendale and claim the area as an IFP territory. Under the pretext that buses to IFP dominated areas were being stoned along Edendale Road, amabutho targeted our activists’ houses, burning some, hacking and shooting at their targets. What was striking about the Seven Day War was that most of the attacks, often on whole communities perceived to be ANC, happened in broad daylight in full view of the police, yet it was our comrades who were being arrested.

We still hope that one day those policemen, who were perched at the then notorious police HQ Davies Alexander House, will have the courage to tell us about their role in the seven day war. Much as we do not want to open old wounds given the peace we now have, not least through, amongst others, the efforts by our now President, Cde Jacob Zuma, at the same time our history needs to be properly told, as part of honouring those who fell during this period. The heroes and heroines who fell during this war spilt their blood so that we could realise the 1994 democratic breakthrough and all the advances made by our democracy since then.

It is a sad and cruel irony of history that at the time that we should be erecting a monument to the heroes of the Seven Day War, our Umsunduzi City is bleeding from unnecessary internal factionalist battles from inside our own movement. It should otherwise be a time when our focus should be on fixing the ‘black hole’ of Pietermaritzburg - Edendale - a settlement that should be rid of the smelly pit latrines, gravel roads and mud houses.

In memory of those who fell during the Seven Day war, we should be committing ourselves to rid our movement of tenderpreneurship and all the ills associated with it, a scourge at the heart of the problems at Umsunduzi and many other municipalities.

When honouring those who fell during this period, understandably difficult as it may be for some of our own comrades and affected families, we must also mention and remember those who died on the side of the IFP, as many of them were used as ordinary foot-soldiers and pawns in the apartheid regime’s grand scheme to try and frustrate South Africa’s transition to democracy.

When the unbanning of the ANC and the SACP was announced by FW de Klerk on 2nd February 1990, Mzala Nxumalo, a member of the ANC and the SACP and a cadre of the class of 1976, warned that our movement must be careful that De Klerk must not do ‘a Dingane’ on us. By this he was recalling what Dingane, the Zulu King, did on the boers led by Piet Retief and Gert Maritz in the 19th century.

The story goes that when the first boers arrived in the then territory of the Zulu King Dingane, he invited them to his headquarters in Umgungundlovu and called upon his amabutho to kill them ‘Babulaleni abathakathi’ (’Kill the witches’). What Mzala was warning about was that in the wake of the unbanning of our organizations and the release of Nelson Mandela we must remain vigilant that the apartheid regime must not invite us to emerge from the underground only to smash us.

Indeed Mzala was right, as our movement had anticipated, because as soon as the ANC and the SACP were unbanned, apartheid-sponsored violence in KZN was intensified. This soon spread to Gauteng and other areas. The primary aim was to prevent the ANC from rebuilding its structures inside the country. The Seven Day War was part of this offensive. However, the Seven Day War must also be understood within the specificities of apartheid’s counter-revolutionary warfare in KwaZulu Natal in general and Pietermaritzburg in particular. Pietermaritzburg, and especially Edendale, acted as a bulwark against the extension of the apartheid regime’s tentacles, through the then KwaZulu Bantustan, as it became a centre of resistance against apartheid in the 1980s.

The Seven Day war was therefore targeted at initially removing ANC (and UDF/Cosatu) influence from areas controlled by the IFP in the north of Edendale (known as ‘Ngaphezulu’), and seeking to turn these areas into a springboard to destroy our movement structures in Edendale. It was therefore of no surprise that the Seven Day War started in some of these areas north of Edendale where there was some UDF and later ANC presence, especially in Gezubuso, Taylor’s Halt, KwaShange, KwaMnyandu and Enadi. Thousands of people fled this area and most of them settled at KwaDambuza, which had long become a UDF and ANC dominated territory.

It was through the heroic sacrifices of many UDF, ANC, SACP, Cosatu and uMkhonto WeSizwe cadres from the above areas that the Seven Day war was stopped in its tracks at the border of Caluza and the rest of Edendale that we can today be proud of the birth of a democratic South Africa.

In honour of the heroes of the Seven Day War we should indeed erect a permanent monument in Edendale. This monument must indeed be accompanied by an intensified struggle against corruption in order to rid our movement of ‘tenderpreneurs’ and focus the attention of our people to the five priorities of our government: decent work, education, health, fight against crime and rural development.

–Dr Blade Nzimande is an ANC NEC member and Minister of Higher Education and Training

UN-backed prize to reward research into Latin American economic development

The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is jointly launching a new prize for academics, intellectuals and professionals who conduct research into economic development.

Dozens Killed in Explosions Around Baghdad

Friday, March 26, 2010
19:41 Mecca time, 16:41 GMT

Twin Baghdad blasts kill dozens

Friday’s explosions occurred less than an hour before the poll panel was set to disclose full results

At least 20 people have been killed and 60 others wounded in twin blasts in the town of Khales, in Iraq’s Diyala province north of Baghdad, a security official said.

Among the wounded were women and children, said the official from Baquba Operations Command, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Friday’s blasts struck at around 6:15pm (15:15 GMT) in front of a cafe and a restaurant in central Khales, around 65km northeast of Baghdad and near Diyala’s provincial capital of Baquba.

The explosions came less than an hour before Iraq’s national election commission was due to announce full results from the country’s hotly-contested March 7 parliamentary election.

Violence has dropped dramatically across Iraq since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common, especially in Baghdad and the restive northern city of Mosul.

Source: Agencies

Blasts as Iraq awaits poll result

At least 40 people have been killed in two bomb blasts in the Iraqi town of Khalis, as the country awaits final parliamentary election results.

More than 60 people were also reported hurt in the attack in Diyala province, 70km (43 miles) north-east of Baghdad.

Election officials in Iraq had said earlier that they planned to release the full results of the 7 March poll despite fears it could spark violence.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is in a tight race with challenger Iyad Allawi.

The Iraqiya political bloc of Mr Allawi, a former prime minister, was ahead by about 11,000 votes nationwide with 95% of the votes counted.

Speaking ahead of the announcement of the final results, the UN’s envoy to Iraq, Ad Melkert, described the election as “credible” and a “success”.

He called on Iraqi parties to “accept the results”, the Associated Press reports.

Restaurant targeted

Mr Maliki’s supporters have staged protests calling for a recount.

But the head of Iraq’s election commission on Thursday ruled out holding a manual recount of all the votes cast.

No single group is expected to win a majority, renewing fears of a protracted political crisis and fresh violence.

A security official told the AFP news agency that women and children were among those caught in Friday’s twin blasts in Khalis.

The attack appeared to target a popular restaurant in the town, near the provincial capital, Baquba.

A police official, Salah Mohammed, told AP that one of the blasts was caused by a car bomb and the other a suicide bomber.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/8589854.stm
Published: 2010/03/26 17:32:21 GMT

United States and Russia Agree on Nuclear Deal

Friday, March 26, 2010
19:39 Mecca time, 16:39 GMT

US and Russia agree on nuclear deal

Russia is believed to have about 3,000 nuclear warheads

Barack Obama, the US president, and Dmitry Medvedev, his Russian counterpart, have finalised the terms of a new nuclear arms reduction agreement.

The two leaders approved the deal for a successor to the landmark Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start), which will cut the amount of missiles deployed by both countries by one third, following a telephone conversation on Friday.

Speaking from the White House, Obama said: “With this agreement, the United States and Russia, the two largest nuclear powers in the world, also send a clear signal that we intend to lead.

“By upholding our own commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, we strengthen our global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons, and to ensure that other nations meet their own responsibilities.”

Ratification required

The two nations will sign the new treaty on April 8 in Prague, where Obama gave a major speech last April calling for a world free of nuclear weapons.

The deal replaces the 1991 Start agreement which expired in December.

Obama said he was looking forward to working closely with his fellow Democrats and Republicans in Congress to ratify the new treaty.

Some analysts have said Republicans who staunchly back missile defence may try to deny the Obama administration the two-thirds majority it needs in the Senate to pass the treaty.

Robert Gates, the US defence secreatry, said the new treaty did not set constraints on US plans to develop and improve missile defence systems.

Patty Culhane, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Washington, said: “This is probably the first concrete success that President Obama can point to to when it comes to foreign policy.

“This has been a very tough negotiation, it’s been going on for more than a year and the announcement is more than three months late.”

Neave Barker, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Moscow, said that Medvedev had announced that “the agreement showed a balance of interests between the two countries”.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said the treaty had made a “significant contribution … to strengthening the regime of nuclear non-proliferation”.

He said the treaty would “also increase the level of trust not only between Russia and the United States but more generally between nuclear and non-nuclear … members of the Non-Proliferation Treaty”.

Difficult negotiations

Under the terms of the treaty the two countries will reduce their number of warheads to 1,550 each.

The US has said it currently has about 2,200 nuclear warheads, while Russia is believed to have about 3,000.

Moscow and Washington have held months of difficult negotiations in Geneva aimed at replacing the treaty, a cornerstone of Cold War-era strategic arms control.

Lavrov said: “I’d also like to note the unprecedented personal involvement of presidents Obama and Medvedev in agreeing on the new treaty.

“They regularly discussed the situation in talks and developed a common understanding, which allowed delegations in Geneva to find solutions on the most complex issues.”

The 1991 Start agreement led to huge reductions in the Russian and US nuclear arsenals and imposed verification measures to build trust between the two former Cold War foes.

Delays in the Start talks and missed deadlines have cast a shadow over the Russian and US leaders’ efforts to make good on their pledge to improve bilateral ties.

The US is set to host a nuclear security summit on April 12 to 13, and observers had said it had been a matter of pride for Washington to have the new treaty in place before the summit.

A review conference for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is scheduled for May.

Source: Agencies

European Governments Announce Plans For Greece

Friday, March 26, 2010
14:24 Mecca time, 11:24 GMT

Euro states give Greece safety net

European leaders have agreed a deal to help debt-stricken Greece, in a move aimed at restoring confidence in the euro and coaxing commercial markets into lending on favourable terms.

Eurozone leaders meeting in Brussels agreed to back a French-German sponsored plan as a means to provide an economic safety net for Greece, should its own cost-cutting measures prove inadequate.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor said on Friday the move was important to “protect euro stability”.

“For all of us it is important that our common currency … remains stable and that’s why yesterday was important for the euro,” she said on the final day of an EU summit in the Belgian capital.

Under the accord Athens will receive co-ordinated bilateral loans from its eurozone partners as well as International Monetary Fund (IMF) assistance if it is unable to raise enough money from commercial markets.

George Papandreou, Greece’s prime minister, hailed the deal as “very satisfactory” and said that Europe had taken “a step forward”.

Alan Fisher, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Brussels, explained that no aid was being given to Greece yet as Athens wants to go to the markets to see if it can refinance its debts on its own.

‘Plan B’

Greece has struggled with the markets which have demanded very high interest rates because until the deal was announced Greece appeared to have no other lenders to turn to.

The deal gives Greece a “Plan B”, removing the risk of default, reassuring credit markets and thereby reducing the interest it needs to pay on any refinancing plan and averting the need for it to request aid.

The cost of insuring Greek debt fell on news of the agreement, and the premium investors charge for holding Greek bonds rather than benchmark German bunds narrowed.

But it remained more than double the spread charged on fellow eurozone weaklings Ireland and Portugal, and four times that of Spain.

Papandreou said his country would press ahead with painful austerity measures to slash its huge budget deficit, measures that have prompted widespread strikes and protests in Greece.

No numbers were given of the eurozone deal but a senior European Commission source said the support package would be worth 20-22 billion euros ($27-29bn) if it was required.

Greece needs to borrow around $21.4bn between April 20 and May 23 to refinance maturing debt.

‘Last resort’

Tough terms imposed by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, mean the mechanism may be activated only under strict conditions and would require the unanimous approval of the eurozone, giving Berlin a veto.

The plan will not involve direct loans from the EU – something Merkel strongly objected to – but bilateral loans from individual eurozone countries instead, and at market rates.

Merkel has also repeatedly warned that the safety net is only to be used as a last resort.

“This mechanism, complementing International Monetary Fund financing, has to be considered ultima ratio [last resort], meaning in particular that market financing is insufficient,” the agreement said.

Without a fallback mechanism, EU leaders had feared that Greece’s debt-servicing problems could spread to other countries in the eurozone, including Portugal, Spain and Italy.

At Berlin’s insistence, eurozone leaders also called for proposals by the end of the year to tighten the bloc’s battered budget discipline rules, which failed to prevent Greece running up giant deficits and public debt.

Under the deal for Greece, eurozone countries would provide the majority of any funding on rigorous conditions recommended by the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB).

The IMF would contribute one-third of the money and its expertise if needed.

Many details remained unclear, such as the division of responsibilities between the IMF and the eurozone in a rescue.

Wrangling over the Greek issue has threatened cohesion across the eurozone and driven down the value of the euro.

Some eurozone states, notably France, and ECB policymakers, had previously opposed IMF involvement, arguing that such a move could be seen as an indication that the eurozone could not solve the deepest crisis in its 11-year existence on its own.

“If the IMF or some other body exercises the responsibility in lieu of the Eurogroup or instead of governments, it is evidently very, very bad,” Jean-Claude Trichet, the ECB president, told France’s Public Senat television in an interview.

The euro fell to a 10-month low against the dollar as investors took that initial view.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

ANC Youth League Leader Says ‘I Live on Handouts’

Julius Malema: ‘I live on handouts’

MATUMA LETSOALO AND RAPULE TABANE | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Mar 26 2010 07:08

Matuma Letsoalo and Rapule Tabane visited controversial ANC Youth League president Julius Malema at his Sandton home this week to quiz him about his unexplained riches and his war with journalists, Helen Zille and Pravin Gordhan.

In his political overview at the recent ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting, President Jacob Zuma strongly criticised ANC Youth League leaders for undermining his authority. Were you surprised?

Zuma is not raising concerns about the youth league for the first time. He has always raised concerns and engaged the youth league where he felt he was not comfortable with ­certain statements.

To me, the president’s input to the NEC was more of an internal debate, and in the internal debate we have always asked for people to be honest and articulate so that we get to know what other people think of others in the ANC.

There was no shock. I stood up there and I responded. I clarified the statement of the youth league and we agreed, we moved forward. That’s why today the youth league is not in the newspapers [or being] asked to retract or apologise.

Why did your attack on Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan for under-resourcing the National Youth Development Agency go as far as saying he did not understand the ANC and was an unelected ANC leader?

The youth league was raising its frustrations with the ministry of finance. We simply could not and still do not understand why the minister of finance would not appreciate that we are sitting on a ticking time bomb in relation to young people.

Seventy-five percent of the unemployed in the country are young people. President Zuma in his State of the Nation speech dedicated [a lot of his time] to youth development. The budgeting should have been in line with what the president said [there].

We accept the criticism that says “perhaps you should have raised the matter internally”.

But we stand firm that there is reluctance on the part of treasury … and we are fighting [that]. We think we need to put more pressure on Gordhan to accept that we have a problem.

If you look at people who are protesting, it’s young people. Where do these young people come from? They come from communities because they have nowhere to go. They have got time to be running on the streets and burning tyres.

Zuma has said the attack on Gordhan is an attack on him.

It’s him who appointed Gordhan. That is why we are saying we have accepted that. He is the president. [Any] attack on his ministers is an attack on him. [The president] is right, but this does not stop us from raising issues.

You have insinuated that people in the South African Revenue Service (Sars) are working with some ANC leaders who do not want Zuma to be president?

It’s possible. We have in the past experienced institutions of the state being used to further political factional battles. It would not be for the first time and that’s why now we must nip it in the bud, because it is the same situation which led us to where we were before Polokwane. We don’t want a repetition of that, where institutions of the state are used to further political battles.

What’s your view on the proposal of lifestyle audits of public ­officials?

It’s factional. It’s very wrong. We support lifestyle audits, as long as it’s not factional and targeting certain individuals. A lifestyle audit is conducted by Sars. The Scorpions used to do the same thing in the past. It’s not a new thing. But once you say “lifestyle audit to deal with corrupt individuals, to deal with a group of individuals in the ANC”, it means you have grouped certain people and you are targeting them.

Don’t you think it’s fair to ask how you have accumulated your wealth at such a young age?

It’s very fair. But write facts. What the media did [showed] it was never interested in the facts. I am not rich. I do not have millions as reported. All my houses have got bonds. They are financed by banks. I’ve never got any lucrative tender from anybody, including the company called SGL.

I live on handouts most of the time. If I don’t have food to eat, I can call Cassel Mathale [premier of Limpopo] and say: “Chief, can you help me? I’ve got nothing here.” I can call Thaba Mufamadi, I can call Pule Mabe [ANCYL treasurer general] or Mbalula. They all do the same with me. That’s how we have come to relate to each other.

That’s why at times you can’t even see our poverty because we cover each other’s back. As comrades, we have always supported each other like that.

The question is whether you have used your influential position as youth league president to lobby for business for people who are close to you.

You must go and refer to the years they refer to and look at who was in power at that time. Sello Moloto [former Limpopo premier] was running that government there and he did not want me at all. Cassel just came in now and I’ve never got anything under his regime.

What I am asking for is that, if there is anybody with concrete evidence that I have manipulated tender processes, that person must report me to the police … And I’ve also asked that the leadership of the state, be it treasury or police, if they go to my account and find millions, they must take those millions and put them into institutions that can help children of the poor.

I’ve got no millions. If there is anything I must sign with whomever to go and search my account … and if that person discovers millions, he must take those millions.

You have now opened a new war front — with journalists who are reporting about you. Why is that?

Journalists get information through illegal means and sometimes without even verifying they go and write. What I have been subjected to in the last four weeks or so was just a personal attack on me without verifying the facts.

So we said: “Comrades, we need to know who these people are and what are their interests.” That’s how we came across the information about Dumisane Lubisi [City Press investigations editor]. Since then information about many other journalists has been coming from people who drop information at our offices.

Corruption must be fought everywhere … It must be exposed so that people don’t compromise journalism as a profession. Instead of journalists rising in support of the youth league to expose corruption, they defend each other through an unwritten rule that you can’t write about another journalist, which is wrong.

Journalists can be bribed. Payola is too much among journalists. As we speak, there is a Sowetan reporter in Limpopo who was suspended on allegations of corruption.

It’s wrong to intimidate journalists by saying you will investigate them if they write stories about you. I am not investigating journalists. Where corruption manifests itself, whether it is a journalist [or not], it must be confronted. Unethical journalism must be exposed.

Are you not concerned that the song Bulala Amabhunu could be interpreted as racist and anti-white?

I have been singing the song for nine years. The tendency is to use everything to discredit the youth league and create unnecessary fear among white minorities. But you should know that these people undermine the intellectual capacity of African masses.

Which people?

These people who are saying we want to kill white people. They think we can’t think. The question I have always asked them is: “Why, when President Zuma said we must give him his machine gun [Awuleth Umshini Wam], nobody took the machine gun to Zuma? Our people understand the importance of the song, especially when we commemorate days like Human Rights day or Sharpeville day …

Through songs we have the imagination of what our people have gone through in the same way that they remind themselves about the Anglo-Boer war when they sing about General de la Rey.

Why is Helen Zille [Democratic Alliance leader] not taking Collins Chabane to court because he has recorded this song? Why is the DA [or] AfriForum not taking Blondie Makhene to court?

Don’t you think that you are fuelling racism in the country?

Race — it’s a national question. We are still divided along racial lines. The economy is growing and still benefiting people along racial lines. The gap between the poor and the rich is widening and it’s racialised. Let’s confront the issue. The more we talk about it, the more we are going to accept that there is a problem … Why have they never organised a march to demand that farm workers should not be killed, if they are not racists?

The Equality Court said you must apologise publicly for your utterances about Zuma’s rape accuser. Are you prepared to do this?

I am appealing the case … Professor Pierre de Vos, a legal expert in the Western Cape, [has said] very clearly that he does not understand where the judgement came from because there has never been an intention in Julius speech to hurt. The magistrate in her judgement does not demonstrate any … intention to harm. That’s what you must prove in a matter of a hate speech … Honestly, I think the magistrate was influenced by newspapers more than law. She did not apply her mind.

Zille, AfriForum and many other organisations are taking you to court for hate speech. Are you likely to spend most of your money and time in court from now?

Zille is a coward. She has always insulted me but I never ran to the courts. Now she can’t take the heat any more. Every time I open my mouth she runs to the court. She called me inkwenkwe [uncircumcised boy], which is the worst form of insult you can give to an African man, especially coming from a white woman.

Source: Mail & Guardian Online
Web Address: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-03-26-julius-malema-i-live-on-handouts