Libyan rebel towns react with joy to UN vote
The UN Security Council vote authorising a no-fly zone, and “all necessary measures” to protect civilians, prompted thousands of Gaddafi opponents in Benghazi to take to the streets in celebration.
There was little sign of fear of an imminent attack from government forces in the rebel stronghold. Crowds reportedly shouted “1-2-3, thank you Sarkozy” in recognition of the French president’s drive to impose a no-fly zone.
Some waved Egyptian flags. The Libyan leader has accused rebels of having foreign backing.
Read also – Pick of the Clicks: Libya looks to the skies for help
His son Saif has suggested that only a minority of people in Benghazi are against his father.
There was more joy in the eastern city of Tobruk, where fireworks lit the sky in response to the UN’s move.
READ – Libya: a timeline of international diplomacy
‘Iranian Berlinale’ comes to a close
As the Berlin Film Festival came to an end, its most enduring image remained an empty chair. It symbolised the absence of jury member Jafar Panahi, one of Iran’s leading directors, imprisoned for making films critical of his government.
Student council speeches for vice president 5th grade
International Crisis Group warns of Libya splitting
Laura Davidescu, euronews: With the no-fly zone in place over Libya, and Western leaders insisting that the campaign is not about ousting Colonel Gaddafi, many ask what political results, if any, can the current military intervention yield?
Louise Arbour, President of the International Crisis Group is the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
euronews: Louise Arbour, in your opinion, the no-fly zone is not the best course of action the International Community could have taken in Libya. Why not?
Louise Arbour: “The Security Council focused very specifically on protection of civilians and authorized all necessary measures, including, but not limited to a no-flight zone to insure the protection of civilians.
Now this resolution, I think contains many many ambiguities and I think we’re going to see that played out as the military operations continue to unfold.”
euronews: Before the adoption of the Resolution 1973, your organization has called for a different approach, a diplomatic one, comprising a ceasefire, dispatching a peacekeeping force and initiating dialogue.
But was Gaddafi ever a dialogue partner? Could he have been one?
Louise Arbour: “I think to look exclusively at the military options is a form of escalation that is not prudent. The African Union had already launched a negotiation initative, dispatched a mission, the secretary general has a special envoy so I think diplomatic initiatives have to continue to be pursued. First to cease all combat operations and to try to find a form of accomodation that would bring democratic space into Libya.”
euronews: Yes but did the international community have the choice with Colonel Gaddafi threatening civilian populations?
Louise Arbour: “When a country leader states unequivocally that he will show no mercy on his own people, those who have sided with the rebels, there is obviously a lot of cause for a concern. Now the question, though, is, now the debate: is it just a no-fly zone or a regime change?”
euronews: You believe that the no-fly zone could compromise and divide the anti-Gaddafi coalition. What are your concerns with respect to this?
Louise Arbour: “The perception of a Western, even a legal Security Council approved military operation transforms the conflict from a national insurgency into an international war opposing the West to Libyans. And in the same way, even more troubling is a possibility that this could lead to a de facto splitting of Libya between the east, which will be controlled and supported by the rebels and the west part of the country, with Tripoli at the centre, that will continue to be under Gaddafi’s control. And this could lead to a very prolonged and painful stalemate.
‘Radiation refugees’ rage against Japanese government
Fear and fury is mounting inside the 30km exclusion zone around Fukushima’s striken nuclear plant.
Residents trapped in the now desolate area feel abandoned and uninformed as to events at the nearby reactor. And a lack of fuel makes escape impossible for many.
The mayor of Minamisouma, Katsunobo Sakurai, is furious with central government. He told reporters: “I was very angry, I said to them ‘What are you doing to help us’ and they replied ‘What is your job? It is your job to save people.”
Toru Yamaaji of ATP news is in the area and asked the question: “How long is this situation going to last? It is getting worse on the ground. Everyday there are explosions and fires, everyday brings something more to worry about.”
Those in the blighted area are running out of food as radiation fears keep the aid agencies away.
Bangladesh ousts microlender boss Yunus
Bangladesh’s central bank says it is removing Nobel peace prize winner Muhammad Yunus as boss of the microlender Grameen Bank.
He was ordered to quit on the grounds that he is ten years beyond the retirement age. There has also been allegations of financial irregularities at the bank. Yunus denies that.
His supporters said this was a political move stemming from a feud with Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Grameen Bank said it had not received any notification from the central bank, and Yunus has said the bank’s board, which is mainly made up of borrowers, allows him to stay on as long as he is able to perform his duties.
“There is no directive on Professor Yunus to cease functioning as managing director, nor is there any suggestion of his being removed from this post,” spokeswoman Jannat-E-Quanine said in a statement.
Late last year, the government, which holds a 25 percent stake in the microlender, appointed a new chairman critical of Yunus, a move supporters of the so-called banker to the poor said was ultimately aimed at the state taking over the bank.
This month, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said Yunus should step down, as he was now “old and we need to define the bank’s role and bring it under close regulation.”
Prime Minister Hasina has called Yunus a “blood-sucker of the poor” and sharply criticised Grameen Bank’s microlending practices.
Yunus won the Nobel peace prize in 2006 for his work to battle poverty through microfinance – lending small amounts to people – particularly women – to set up businesses. Previously they had had to borrow from moneylenders who charge extremely high interest rates.
Britain promises European human rights debate
Britain’s Justice Secretary has promised to reform the relationship between the European Court of Human Rights (pictured) and national EU parliaments in an on-going domestic row over the rights of convicts.
Three cases have attracted the attention of tabloid newspapers in recent weeks and led to calls from some quarters for Britain to pull out of the 1953 European Convention on Human Rights and draw up its own human rights bill.
First, the Strasbourg-based Court ruled that a British ban on giving prisoners the vote should be reviewed. British Prime Minister David Cameron said the ruling left him feeling “sick”. Parliament then voted to ignore the ECHR’s ruling which, while having no legal effect whatsoever, puts pressure on the government to resist European calls to change the law.
Then, the UK’s Supreme Court ruled that people convicted of sex offences can appeal against having to appear on the police sex offenders’ register for the rest of their lives without any chance of a review. The judge in this case said that under the ECHR, the British law violated the offender’s human rights. Some sections of the populist press seized on this; Britain’s biggest-selling daily The Sun described it as a ‘pervert’s charter’.
The most recent case involves convicted psychiatric patients. Five people, who have been convicted for offences including murder, rape, terrorism and child molestation, are asking the European court to grant them the right to full welfare benefits, including a pension. Their lawyers claim they are not ‘prisoners’ but rather ‘patients’ suffering from mental health problems. Again, this has riled certain newspapers including the Daily Mail and the Daily Express.
Rights groups warn that the issue risks becoming generalised as one involving only paedophiles and prisoners, rather than one involving all citizens’ rights. But pressure on the government is coming from backbench Conservative members of parliament, as well as the popular press, to withdraw from the human rights convention.
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said there was “no question” of that. Instead he has proposed to try and reform the way in which the European court and national parliaments co-exist. That chance will come when Britain takes the chair of the Council of Europe in November. Clarke told the BBC’s Andrew Marr:
“I think behind all the heat there is a little light to be shed on whether we shouldn’t, in the Council of Europe, address the question of how the (European) court behaves ??� how far does it go into things which legislatures and national courts could actually determine? Are we certain that the court operates properly? It’s got an enormous number of judges. Could it handle its caseload quicker?”
Clarke added that several other EU countries shared the same concerns as Britain.
Prime Minister Cameron has said that a commission will soon be set up to look at how an eventual ‘British Bill of Rights’ would work, insisting that if it ever did see the light of day it would not override the ECHR.
But Lord Woolf, Britain’s most senior judge from 2000 to 2005, has warned of the “complications” of having two conventions, a European one and a British one, for judges to consider simultaneously. He added that Britain ultimately faces a “stark choice” between sticking with the ECHR’s rulings or abandoning it altogether.
Footage claims to show Libyan mercenary
Footage has emerged which, it is alleged, shows anti-government demonstrators in Libya capturing a man believed to be a mercenary from Chad.
It is proof, so the protesters say, that recent reports are true and Muammar Gaddafi has resorted to outside help to keep his hold on power. It has not been possible to confirm the authenticity of the pictures.
Meanwhile, news agency images filmed on Thursday show youths who have taken over abandoned army tanks in the eastern coastal town of Tobruk. They are seen displaying seized weapons and repeating calls for Gaddafi to leave.
Shooting on Pearl Square during the night
Security forces shooting protestors while they are asleep on Pearl Square in Manama in Barhain.Video shot on February 17, 3:00 am by Hasan
Guy that likes me showed me where to find him at the library
Ashton defends EU unity over Libya
EU foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton has been facing critical questions in the European Parliament about divisions over involvement in Libya. The EU has adopted sanctions against the Gaddafi government and is preparing humanitarian help but there are strong concerns over military action. Ashton has tried to downplay differences among the bloc’s members.
Ashton said: I don’t recognise the word ‘divided’. There are different approaches from different member States to the military issues, but a real strength of view on coming together on the other issues.
euronews: When it comes to political-military issues, don’t you think that Paris and London have gone many steps too far compared with other countries of the bloc?
Ashton: If you look at the Council conclusions from last week: it talks about the fact that that is for Member States to determine. They are sovereign nations. They determine what approach they take to military action, and that’s right and proper. That’s for them to do. They are sovereign states. The question, when it is the EU, is how we work most effectively together to offer support, and we are united in that. We set the conditions for the Security Council resolution, for the support for the region and for the real need, and then it is for the Member States to work out how they respond to that.
euronews: There are EU countries that are asking for an intervention of NATO, rather than this kind of bilateral, unilateral intervention.
Ashton: I was talking to the Secretary General of NATO this morning, we were talking with each other, and in the conclusions we talk about the complementarity of the role of NATO, and the role of the EU, and it is different. NATO of course is a very different organisation [from] the EU, and for me the focus of my work has been on building that long-term approach to the region, to Libya, to other countries, that will help them have the kind of economic and political future that we really want them to see.”
Protests in Tunisia continue to have an effect
Ongoing protests in Tunisia are continuing to wield an effect.
The interim government has legalised a moderate Islamist group which was banned under former President Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali.
Legalisation was one of the protesters’ key demands, and paves the way for the group, Ennahda, to form a political party to take part in elections.
Meanwhile, new Prime Minister Beji Caid Sebsi is to announce the creation of a new council responsible for rewriting the constitution ahead of the next elections.
Many who helped oust Ben Ali have continued to protest, angry that some of his former allies were included in the interim administration.
Two more ministers quit on Tuesday, meaning five senior figures including the former Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi have left so far this week.
