Friday of Rage’ across Yemen leaves 4 dead
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?Friday of Rage? across Yemen leaves 4 dead - thestar.com
Another day of protests continued from overnight, with government bashers and supporters out in full force, waving flags, chanting, and busy burying the dead from earlier clashes. Here is a look at the latest:
ALBANIA
Tens of thousands of Albanian opposition supporters marched peacefully through the capital Friday to demand the government resign over corruption allegations, almost a month after four people died when a similar demonstration turned violent.
Hundreds of police guarded the main government building in Tirana, where dozens of protesters and police were injured in the Jan 21 riot. But the protest ended peacefully.
The opposition Socialists are demanding that conservative Prime Minister Sali Berisha hold early elections over allegations of corruption and vote rigging in the 2009 general election.
Shouting “Sali go,” and “Prime Minister you are a murderer,” as loudspeakers played sombre music, protesters filled Tirana’s main boulevard. Crowd estimates differed wildly, with opposition officials claiming some 200,000 people took part in the demonstration — compared to a police estimate of 7,000.
“We are the only hope to give an end to the injustice and give Albania a fair governance,” Socialist leader Edi Rama said in a speech to protesters. “We do not want to come to power through demonstrations but we shall keep on demonstrating to oust this government. Here are the people asking for fresh, free and fair elections.”
Speaking to Associated Press Television, Rama accused Berisha’s government of “killing people after having stolen elections to rob the country.” He said a peaceful solution was needed to end “a crisis that is harming everyday the country and the common people.”
Berisha has refused to resign, accusing the opposition of trying to stage a coup.
This week, the parliament voted to lift the immunity of former deputy premier Ilir Meta, who resigned last month over allegations he tried to influence a state tender for a hydropower station. Meta denied any wrongdoing.
Next week, lawmakers are expected to do the same with former economy minister Dritan Prifti, who made the allegations concerning Meta.
Albania, one of Europe’s poorest countries and now a NATO member, is seeking to join the European Union, but the 27-nation bloc has said the Balkan country of 3.2 million people has not yet done enough to root out corruption.
European and U.S. officials have repeatedly called for restraint from both the Socialists and Berisha’s governing Democrats.
The U.S. embassy has advised its citizens to avoid any areas where demonstrations are occurring and to limit all unnecessary travel during protests.
The governing Democrats cancelled initial plans for a counterrally of their own last month. But on Sunday, the party has urged supporters to turn out in strength at a concert to celebrate the fall of the country’s former Communist regime in late 1990.
KUWAIT
More than 1,000 stateless Arabs demonstrated in Kuwait on Friday demanding citizenship, and dozens were arrested by police, witnesses said.
The protest in Jahra, northwest of Kuwait City, was the first in the oil-producing Gulf Arab state since a wave of unrest began sweeping across the Middle East in December.
Security forces dispersed the demonstration, using smoke bombs and water cannon after protesters refused warnings to leave.
The Interior Ministry said protesters threw stones after being told their demonstration was illegal and several officers were injured, the state news agency KUNA said.
The stateless Arabs, longtime residents of Kuwait known as bedoun from the Arabic “bedoun jinsiyya” (without nationality), were demanding citizenship, free education, free health care and jobs, benefits available to Kuwaiti nationals.
Many of Kuwait’s stateless are descendants of desert nomads denied citizenship under strict nationality laws in the small Gulf state, whose citizens are entitled to generous welfare benefits.
The turmoil in the region and worries about its possible effects on Middle East oil producers has pushed up oil prices. Brent crude hit a 28-month high of $104 a barrel on Thursday.
YEMEN
On what was billed by protest organizers as a “Friday of Rage” across Yemen, anti-government demonstrators clashed with supporters of the country’s longtime ruler and riot police, who fired tear gas and gunshots. Four people were killed by police in the port of Aden and 48 were wounded in the southern city of Taiz when someone threw what appeared to be a hand grenade into a crowd, witnesses said.
It was the ninth straight day of protests in Yemen inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Demonstrators are calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh — a key U.S. ally in fighting al-Qaida terrorists — who has ruled the country for 32 years.
U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the reported violence in response to protests in Yemen, as well as Bahrain and Libya, he urged those governments to respect the rights of peacefully demonstrating citizens, and he expressed condolences to the families of those killed.
The U.S. Embassy in Sanaa said it has seen “a disturbing rise in the number and violence of attacks against Yemeni citizens” at peaceful protests. It added that diplomats also saw reports of Yemen government officials “present during these attacks,” which it called “contrary to the commitments that President Saleh has made to protect the right of Yemeni citizens to gather peacefully to express their views.”
Saleh is already facing a restless population, with threats from al-Qaida militants who want to oust him, a southern secessionist movement and a sporadic armed rebellion in the north.
To try to quell the new outbursts of dissent, Saleh pledged to meet some of the protesters’ demands and has reached out to tribal chiefs, who are a major base of support for him. But a key chief from Saleh’s own tribe was critical of his policies and threatened to join the protesters — an apparent attempt to pressure the embattled leader of the world’s poorest Arab country.
For now, most of the protesters are students, educated professionals and activists who used social media sites Facebook and Twitter in summoning people to the streets for the “Friday of Rage” following noon prayers. Tens of thousands responded in the capital of Sanaa, the southern port of Aden and the political hotbed of Taiz. Some websites also referred to the day as “Friday of the Beginning.”
In a change, many mosque preachers took a critical tone toward the government.
A preacher at the Sanaa University mosque spoke out against violence against demonstrators, telling many protesters who had gathered there: “We have been living for 30 years without purpose or hope.”
Another Sanaa preacher, Imam Abdel Raqib Obad, urged people to join the protests and criticized security forces for “battling” youths.
Imam Jabri Al Yamani admonished the crowd that “protests must be peaceful and not scare and harm the people,” but as demonstrators marched toward the presidential palace afterward, the scene descended into violence.
The crowd, chanting anti-government slogans, was met by a heavy deployment of riot police and hundreds of Saleh supporters, similar to confrontations earlier this week. The pro-and anti-government sides attacked each other with rocks, and the riot police began firing in the air and launching tear gas canisters.
At least four people were hurt seriously enough to be taken away by ambulances.
The demonstrators dispersed to other streets, some of which were blocked by police.
Journalists also came under attack by government supporters. An Associated Press reporter saw men with sticks attack a TV crew, smashing their camera. Other photographers took refuge in a building to avoid the mob.
In Taiz, about 435 kilometers south of Sanaa, the call for demonstrations brought out thousands of people, and witnesses said men in a speeding civilian car threw what appeared to be a grenade into a crowd of demonstrators, causing a stampede when it exploded.
At least 48 protesters were seriously wounded, and many others were hurt as they fell in the stampede and chaos, according to medical officials and Ghazi al-Samie, a lawyer and activist in Taiz, Yemen’s second-largest city.
In Aden, protesters burned four government cars and a local council building. The clashes continued well after sundown, when protesters set a police storage area ablaze and burned tires.
The police fired into the crowd, using tear gas, rubber bullets and what some witnesses said was live ammunition. Four protesters were killed — including two in their 20s who were shot, according to witnesses and medical officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
At a meeting between Aden officials and Vice President Abd-Rabo Mansour Hadi, officials called for the resignation of the police chief, whom they held responsible for the violence, according to an official at the session speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the details.
A large demonstration also was reported in eastern Hadramawt province, where police fired in the air to disperse protesters.
The violence forced international soccer officials to postpone Yemen’s Feb. 23 home qualifying match for the 2012 Olympics against Singapore. The match, in Sanaa, was put off until March 2.
Saleh, a weak but important partner for Washington, had pledged not to seek re-election in 2013 or pass power to his son. The promise was seen as an attempt to defuse calls for his ouster. Opposition groups said they are suspicious of Saleh’s offer and want concrete proposals for change.
Tribal chief Hussein al-Ahmar, a member of Saleh’s tribe, told a crowd in his home province Thursday that if violence against protesters continued, his tribesmen may come in to the defense of the demonstrators.
The threat, apparently aimed to get more concessions from Saleh, could turn the protests more violent. Al-Ahmar’s tribe, Hashed, is one of the largest and best-armed in Yemen.
“It is not the armed forces, nor Saleh and his army that protect Sanaa, but the tribes of Hashed” and others, Al-Ahmar told the crowd in Amran province. “If the authorities continue to scare the protesters with their thugs, we will have to interfere.”
Yemen has become a main battleground against al-Qaida. The government, which receives millions of dollars in U.S. military aid, has allowed American drone strikes on al-Qaida targets and has stepped up counterterrorism cooperation.
The U.S.-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, thought to be hiding in Yemen, is believed to have inspired and even plotted or helped coordinate recent attacks on the U.S. Those include the failed December 2009 bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner and the unsuccessful plot to send mail bombs on planes from Yemen to the U.S. Al-Awlaki also is believed to have inspired the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, and had ties to some of the 9/11 hijackers.
Nearly half of Yemen’s population lives below the poverty line of $2 a day and its government is riddled with corruption. The country also is plagued by shrinking water and oil resources and an inability to feed its people. Poverty and malnutrition are rampant in the country’s rugged hinterlands.
RELATED:The Star in Yemen
LIBYA
Libyan website affiliated with one of longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi’s sons said Friday that the national congress has halted its session indefinitely and indicated amid widespread unrest that it will take steps to reform the government when it reconvenes.
The website Quryna, which has ties to Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, said many state executives will be replaced when the congress returns.
RELATED: Libyan troops attempt to put down unrest in east
Gadhafi’s regime in Libya deployed security forces throughout the restive country and bluntly warned citizens Friday against joining the unrest in which dozens of protesters have been killed.
A hospital official in the eastern city of Beyida told the Associated Press on Friday that the bodies of at least 23 slain protesters were at his facility, which was treating about 500 wounded — some in the parking lot for lack of beds.
“We need doctors, medicine and everything,” he said.
Human Rights Watch has reported 24 deaths in the chaos.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi drove through his nation’s capital in a motorcade, drawing a cheering crowd as the longtime ruler tried to rally support amid reports of widening anti-government protests.
BAHRAIN
Security forces opened fire Friday on Bahraini protesters for a second straight day, wounding at least 75 people as thousands defied the government and marched toward Pearl Square in an uprising that sought to break the political grip of the Gulf nation’s leaders.
Once again, Bahrain authorities showed no hesitation in using force against demonstrators who ramped up demands to bring down the whole ruling monarchy.
U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the use of violence against the protesters in Bahrain, as well as in Libya and Yemen, where heavy crackdowns by old-guard regimes were reported. A Libyan doctor said 35 protesters were killed in the eastern city of Benghazi during a confrontation with security forces, while three people were killed and 48 were wounded during protests called as part of a “Friday of Rage in Yemen.
The continuing wave of anger in the Arab world followed successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, where hundreds of thousands of people celebrated the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak one week ago.
Critically injured protesters were again rushed to Manama’s main Salmaniya hospital, which also received the dead and wounded after riot police smashed a protest encampment early Thursday in the landmark square.
Some doctors and medics on emergency medical teams were in tears as they tended to the wounded. X-rays showed bullets still lodged inside victims.
“This is a war,” said Dr. Bassem Deif, an orthopedic surgeon examining people with bullet-shattered bones.
Of the 50 injured, seven were critically hurt, Health Ministry official said. Seven people have died in Bahrain’s unrest this week, including five on Thursday, and more than 200 have been wounded.
Protesters on Friday described a chaotic scene of tear gas clouds, bullets coming from many directions and people slipping in pools of blood as they sought cover. Some claimed the gunfire came from either helicopters or sniper nests.
An Associated Press cameraman saw army units shooting anti-aircraft weapons, fitted on top of armoured personnel carriers, above the protesters, in apparent warning shots and attempts to drive them back from security cordons about 200 metres from the square.
Then the soldiers turned firearms on the crowd, one marcher said.
“People started running in all directions and bullets were flying,” said Ali al-Haji, a 27-year-old bank clerk. “I saw people getting shot in the legs, chest, and one man was bleeding from his head.”
“My eyes were full of tear gas, there was shooting and there was a lot of panic,” said Mohammed Abdullah, a 37-year-old businessman taking part in the protest.
The clash came hours after funeral mourners and worshippers at Friday prayers called for the toppling of the Western-allied monarchy in the tiny island nation that is home to the U.S. navy’s 5th Fleet, the centrepiece of the Pentagon’s efforts to confront Iranian military influence. Some members of Bahrain’s Sunni ruling system worry that Shiite powerhouse Iran could use Bahrain’s majority Shiites as a further foothold in the region.
“I am deeply concerned about reports of violence in Bahrain, Libya and Yemen. The United States condemns the use of violence by governments against peaceful protesters in those countries and wherever else it may occur,” Obama said. “The United States urges the governments of Bahrain, Libya and Yemen to show restraint in responding to peaceful protests and to respect the rights of their people.”
Bahrain’s king appointed Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa to lead a dialogue “with all parties,” though it was unclear whether furious protesters would respond to the overture. Speaking on Bahrain state TV, Salman expressed condolences for “these painful days” and called for unity.
“We are at a crossroads,” Salman said. “Youths are going out on the street believing that they have no future in the country, while others are going out to express their love and loyalty. But this country is for you all, for the Shiites and Sunnis.”
The cries against the king and his inner circle — at a main Shiite mosque and at burials for those killed in Thursday’s crushing attack — reflect a sharp escalation of the political uprising, which began with calls to weaken the Sunni monarchy’s power and address claims of discrimination against the Shiite majority.
The mood, however, has turned toward defiance of the entire ruling system after the brutal crackdown in Pearl Square, which put the nation under emergency-style footing with military forces in key areas and checkpoints on main roads.
“The regime has broken something inside of me. ... All of these people gathered today have had something broken in them,” said Ahmed Makki Abu Taki at the funeral for his 23-year-old brother, Mahmoud, who was killed in the pre-dawn sweep. “We used to demand for the prime minister to step down, but now our demand is for the ruling family to get out.”
At a Shiite mosque in the village of Diraz, an anti-government hotbed, imam Isa Qassim called the Pearl Square assault a “massacre” and thousands of worshippers chanted: “The regime must go.”
In a sign of Bahrain’s deep divisions, government loyalists filled Manama’s Grand Mosque to hear words of support for the monarchy and take part in a post-sermon march protected by security forces. Many arrived with Bahraini flags draped over the traditional white robes worn by Gulf men. Portraits of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa were distributed.
“We must protect our country,” said Adnan al-Qattan, the cleric leading prayers. “We are living in dangerous times.”
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He denounced attempts to “open the doors to evil and foreign influences” — an apparent reference to suspicions that Shiite powerhouse Iran could take advantages of any gains by Bahrain’s Shiites, who account for about 70 per cent of the population.
The pro-government gathering had many non-native Bahrainis, including South Asians and Sunni Arabs from around the region. Shiite have long complained of policies giving Sunnis citizenship and jobs, including posts in security forces, to offset the Shiite majority.
Outside a Shiite village mosque, several thousand mourners buried three of the men killed in the crackdown.
Amid the Shiite rites, many chanted for the removal of the king and the entire Sunni dynasty that has ruled for more than two centuries in Bahrain — the first nation in the Gulf to feel the pressure for changes sweeping the Arab world.
“Our demands were peaceful and simple at first. We wanted the prime minister to step down,’ Mohamed Ali, a 40-year-old civil servant, said as he choked back tears. “Now the demands are harsher and have reached the pinnacle of the pyramid. We want the whole government to fall.”
At a funeral in the Shiite village of Karzkan, opposition leaders urged protesters to keep up their fight but not to seek revenge.
“We know they have weapons and they are trying to drag us into violence,” said Sheik Ali Salman, the leader of the largest Shiite party, Al Wefaq, whose 18 lawmakers have resigned in protest from the 40-seat parliament.
The protesters had called for the monarchy to give up control over top government posts and all critical decisions and address deep grievances by Shiites, who claim they face systematic discrimination and poverty and are blocked from key roles in public service and the military.
Shiites have clashed with police before over their complaints, including in the 1990s. But the growing numbers of Sunnis joining the latest demonstrations surprised authorities, said Simon Henderson, a Gulf specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“The Sunnis seem to increasingly dislike what is a very paternalistic government,” he said. “As far as the Gulf rulers are concerned, there’s only one proper way with this and that is: be tough and be tough early.”
In Libya, a doctor at al-Jalaa hospital in the eastern city of Benghazi said he saw the bodies of 35 people killed amid protests demanding the ouster of longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi. He said witnesses and survivors told him most of the victims came from an attempted protest outside a residential compound used by Gadhafi, with security forces firing on protesters demonstrating outside. The doctor spoke on condition his name not be used for fear of retaliation. More than a dozen protesters were shot to death in Libya on Thursday.
A ninth straight day of protests in Yemen saw anti-government demonstrators clash with police and supporters of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh — a key U.S. ally in fighting Al Qaeda. Riot police fired tear gas and gunshots to disperse crowds in the capital of Sanaa and the port of Aden, where three people were killed. Someone threw what appeared to be a hand grenade into a crowd in the southern city of Taiz, wounding 48 people, witnesses said.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said the response of some governments in the Middle East and Africa to the demands of their people was “illegal and excessively heavy-handed,” and she condemned the use of military-grade shotguns by Bahrain security forces. The European Union and Human Rights Watch urged Bahrain to order security forces to stop attacks on peaceful protesters.
SENEGAL
A man who set himself on fire in front of the presidential palace in Senegal on Friday died from his wounds hours later in the latest self-immolation on the African continent.
Witnesses said the man stood on the sidewalk and doused himself with a flammable liquid, possibly paint thinner or gasoline. It was not immediately clear why he set himself alight, but Abdoulaye Loum, who was at a bus stop nearby when the incident occurred, said the man was holding a piece of paper in his hand which he held up as the flames swallowed him.
The man collapsed to the ground and was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. A statement read on state TV late Friday said he died at the capital’s main hospital.
A private radio station said the man was a soldier and that he was wearing his military fatigues when he set himself on fire.
This self-immolation comes on the heels of similar protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Senegal’s neighbour to the north, Mauritania.
Tunisia’s mutiny that ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was touched off by a struggling 26-year-old university graduate who lit himself on fire after police confiscated his fruit and vegetable cart in December. Other self-immolations then quickly spread elsewhere in northern Africa and the Middle East.
Senegal is a moderate Muslim nation with one of the most established democracies in the region, but the country is facing its worst power outages in a decade and the cost of living has spiralled. There is growing discontent over octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade’s attempt to run for a third term, as well as the increasing influence of his son.
A U.S. diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks warned that father and son appeared to be “preparing the way for a presidential dynastic succession.”
An hour after the incident, traffic had gone back to normal. Pieces of the man’s burnt clothing lay in a charred circle.
EGYPT
Switzerland froze tens of millions of francs belonging to leading figures in Egypt’s former regime, officials said Friday.
The government last week said only that it froze “any possible assets” in the country belonging to former president Hosni Mubarak, his wife, their two sons and their wives, Mubarak’s brother-in-law and five senior politicians belonging to the ousted leader’s NDP party.
At the time the government insisted there was no confirmation such assets actually existed, even though they have been widely reported.
RELATED: The Star in Egypt
Late Friday, the Foreign Ministry specified that “several dozens of millions of francs belonging to persons mentioned in last Friday’s government order have been blocked.” It had no further comment.
Nor it did provide any information about whether the money that has been frozen belongs specifically to Mubarak or his family.
His wife set up a foundation, called the Suzanne Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement, that is registered in Switzerland. But the organization’s lawyer, Evelyne Fiechter-Widemann, denied Friday when contacted by the Associated Press that it was affected by the freezing order.
Anti-corruption campaigners have been pressing Egypt’s chief prosecutor for an investigation into the assets of Mubarak and his family, part of the growing scrutiny of his regime since his Feb. 11 ouster.
In Egypt, watchdog groups have handed over documents they say spotlight the financial dealings that allowed the former ruler and his relatives to amass a large fortune speculated to be anywhere from $1 billion to $70 billion.
His alleged improper dealings range from giving top officials and tycoons preferential treatment in land contracts, to selling state industries at a fraction of their value during Egypt’s privatization process since the early 1990s, and handing out other perks that let his allies build their wealth exponentially.
Mubarak’s official salary as president, set by law under the constitution, has been estimated at about 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($3,400 U.S.). He and his family rarely if ever flaunted whatever wealth they had, though Mubarak’s son, Gamal, was the listed owner of a town house in London’s exclusive Knightsbridge district, where he was said to have lived while working as an investment banker in the early 1990s.
Many in Egypt have seized on the town house as a symbol of opulence just as foreign governments begin to either enact, or consider imposing freezes on the Mubarak regime’s assets.
Switzerland was the first to say it was moving to identify and freeze assets of Mubarak and his family. The European Union said this past week it was considering a request from Egypt to freeze the assets of Mubarak’s top aides. The EU said, however, that no such request had been submitted about Mubarak or his family.
The U.S. office in charge of preventing money laundering also said it was ordering banks to apply greater scrutiny to accounts and transactions linked to Egypt political leaders.
KENYA
An opposition candidate said authorities used batons and tear gas against thousands of protesters in the tiny nation of Djibouti on Friday, the latest in a series of rallies modelled after demonstrations across Africa and the Middle East.
President Ismail Omar Guelleh has served two terms and faces an election in April, but critics lament changes he made to the constitution last year that scrubbed a two-term limit from the nation’s bylaws. Guelleh’s family has been in power for more than three decades, and Friday’s rally was aimed at getting him to step down.
Djibouti is a city-state of 750,000 people that lies across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen. It hosts several military bases, including the only U.S. base in Africa.
Guelleh, who looks poised to win re-election, didn’t face any opponents in 2005. One potential challenger this year, Abdourahman Boreh, is supporting the series of anti-Guelleh demonstrations but lives overseas and is currently in London.
Boreh, 51, said that if he returned to Djibouti he would be thrown in prison and possibly tortured. He said Friday’s rally was attended by thousands and was peaceful in the early goings. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators earlier in February.
“In the wake of events like Tunisia and Egypt the president’s instinct will almost certainly lead him to violence to counter the rising confidence of the demonstrators,” Boreh said. “What we really want is a peaceful demonstration where the people can express their feelings for freedom, their feelings for a democratic transition of the government, because this government has been in power for the last 34 years. The people want change.”
Boreh told the Associated Press that several hours after the demonstration began, security forces used batons against the crowd, shot live rounds into the air and fired tear gas. Boreh, who is in London, relied on accounts from people in Djibouti and his claims couldn’t immediately be verified.
No foreign journalists work in Djibouti, and few international organizations have a presence there. One international group in the country is Democracy International, which is working on a U.S.-funded project to monitor the April vote.
The head of the group’s observation mission, Chris Hennemeyer, said Djibouti is slowly and cautiously opening its political space but that it lacks alternative media outlets, civil society groups and mature political parties.
Hennemeyer said anyone in Djibouti expecting the popular groundswells that Egypt and Tunisia saw will be disappointed. He said a turnout in the low thousands at Friday’s rally would be “moderately significant” by Djiboutian standards.
“I think the government has a firm grasp on the levers of state and I don’t think that you will see a popular insurrection in Djibouti,” Hennemeyer said. “But I do think that people in government will pay close attention if the opposition is able to bring out large numbers of people.”
He said Djibouti deserved credit for allowing the protests to take place.
Djibouti’s first political rally broke out after the Muslim country’s Friday prayers on Jan. 28. Democracy International estimated that 2,000 to 3,000 people attended.
More demonstrations happened in early February, and police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a demonstration on Feb. 5, according to Human Rights Watch.
Then, the president of the Djiboutian League of Human Rights, was arrested on Feb. 9 after reporting on the arrests of students and members of opposition political parties following the demonstrations, according to Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch on Thursday wrote to Guelleh and said it was deeply concerned that Jean-Paul Noel Abdi has been charged with participating in an insurrection movement “even though there appears to be no evidence to corroborate the charges.”
Djibouti can be stiflingly hot, and activity grinds to a halt in the afternoons when men find shade and chew the stimulant khat. Per capita income is just $2,800 a year, and the unemployment rate is near 60 per cent. The country lies at the nexus of Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Hennemeyer said there are high-ranking government officials open to change.
“The government itself is not monolithic in Djibouti and a variety of opinions exist on whether political evolution is happening fast enough, and I think there are people who would like to see it accelerate,” he said.
JORDAN
Clashes broke out Friday between government supporters and opponents at a protest calling for more freedom and lower food prices, injuring eight people in the first reported violence in weeks of demonstrations in Jordan.
It was the seventh straight Friday that Jordanians, inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, took to the streets to demand more say in decision-making.
The Amman protest drew about 2,000 people, including hard-line leftists, Muslim conservatives and students calling for reduced power for the king and the chance to elect members of the Cabinet.
Students from the growing “Jaayin” or “I’m Coming” movement chanted: “We want constitutional reforms. We want a complete change to policies.”
Jordan’s king enjoys absolute powers, ruling by decree and he can appoint and dismiss Cabinets and parliament whenever he wants.
“We want a complete overhaul of the political system, including the constitution, the parliament dissolved and new free and fair elections held,” said movement member and teacher Amani Ghoul, insisting the protests will continue until their demands are met.
Activists such as Bashar Shahaatreh are demanding that Jordanians be able to elect their prime minister and Cabinet officials.
“There is no difference between this new prime minister and Cabinet appointed last week from the old one that was dismissed,” he complained. He said high-level graft and corruption needed to be tackled.
About 200 government supporters trailed the protesters, chanting: “Our blood and souls, we sacrifice for you Abu Hussein” — a reference to Jordan’s King Abdullah II — before clashing with the opposition march.
“They beat us with batons, pipes and hurled rocks at us,” said Tareq Kmeil, a student at the protest. “We tried to defend ourselves, to beat them back.”
He said at least eight people suffered fractures to the skull, arms or legs.
“Police didn’t do anything to protect us,” he said. “Police forces just stood on the side watching us getting beaten.”
Police spokesman Mohammed al-Khatib said only four activists were wounded and three of them were treated at a hospital and released.
Government spokesman Taher Edwan condemned the attack and said authorities were investigating to see who was behind it.
“The attackers violated citizens’ rights to express their opinions freely and organize demonstrations,” Edwan said in a statement.
“The protesters as well as the police were surprised to see a group wielding batons and attacking other protesters, which led to the injury of several people,” he added, saying the government was committed to freedom of speech and assembly.
Some pro-government supporters denounced Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera, blaming it for spreading unrest across the Arab world. “Al Jazeera is behind every sickness,” read some of their signs.
Bedouin Sheik Walid al-Khatib joined the pro-government supporters, saying he had to come out to profess his support for king and country.
“I love King Abdullah and the stability of Jordan. I don’t want this to ever change,” he said.
About 300 protesters, including Bedouin tribesmen who form the bedrock of support for the king, took to the streets of the western town of Theiban. They demanded more freedoms and for the government to hand over lands used for grazing sheep and farming that were seized in the last century from nomads who settled areas without permission.
Still, ordinary Jordanians such as Akhram Ismail, 50, said citizens will not yet see an end to the protests.
The government employee of 17 years, who earns a meagre $140 per month, said his salary was not enough to feed his six children and wants to see changes to aid the poor.
“The government recently promised civil servants a pay raise of $28, while politicians play with millions,” he said.
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