IO N IPT SC R SU B
SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2011
Libya ‘could be new Somalia’
No: 15137
SHABBAN 1, 1432 AH
Moroccans vote on changes to king’s powers
Japan rout Mexico 4-0
150 Fils
7Syrian soldiers 9 44 slay fourteen protesters Huge protests grip Syria, ‘sending off’ Assad
Max 46º Min 34º
Tensions high as Bahrain kicks off national dialogue MANAMA: Bahrain launches a national dialogue today but many in the Shiite majority doubt the ruling Sunni monarchy will offer the concessions that could heal wounds caused by a crackdown on pro-democracy protests. The kingdom, which hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has accused its mostly Shiite protesters of a sectarian agenda backed from non-Arab Shiite power Iran, across Gulf waters. In March, Bahrain’s Sunni rulers imposed emergency law, inviting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to send troops, and tanks rolled into the island as local forces cleared the streets of protesters, arresting hundreds of people. Inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt that toppled rulers in those countries, Bahrain’s Shiites called for a greater say in government and an end to what they say was systematic discrimination in access to jobs and social services. The tiny Gulf Arab state has spent weeks preparing for the talks, which it says will discuss political, economic, social and legal reforms that could ease longstanding grievances and which are expected to last at least a month. “We need to ensure this dialogue quickly offers real political situations to create stability,” said Wefaq spokesman Khalil al-Marzouq. “Otherwise the situation will explode again.” King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa said “all options” were on the table for negotiations. With protests erupting daily in the winding alleys of Shiite villages ringing the capital Manama, opposition groups have been torn over whether or not to attend talks that most of their supporters believe will fail. Wefaq, the leading Shiite opposition group, announced it would attend the dialogue at a rally of tens of thousands of supporters yesterday evening. The audience responded to the news by shouting: “We want the freedom of all our prisoners. No one cares or us, no one is listening to us. We will go to the dialogue, but if the dialogue does not deliver what the people need, we will withdraw,” the party leader Sheikh Ali Salman told cheering supporters waving Bahraini flags. The area was so crowded some crammed on rooftops as a state helicopter buzzed overhead. Wefaq sources told Reuters there had been heated debates over whether the group could maintain its credibility with its large support base if it went to talks and they failed to achieve tangible reforms. Bahrain has offered some concessions ahead of today’s talks. It established a panel to investigate deaths and arrests that Shiites bore the brunt of after the protests, and plans to withdraw most, though not all, Saudi troops. National dialogue spokesman Isa Abdulrahman said the dialogue offered an opportunity for reform and easing Sunni and Shiite divisions that threaten the country. “The goal is to reach a consensus with everyone, it’s not about a vote. This is about bringing together all elements of Bahraini society to heal this nation so that it can move forward to a brighter future,” he said. The forum has received hundreds of proposals for discussion and if delegates agree some reforms, the king could later sign them into law. — Reuters
KFAR NEBEL: Anti-Bashar protesters hold up a banner against Assad during a demonstration against the Syrian regime, in Kfar Nebel near the province of Edlib, northwest Syria yesterday. — AP AMMAN: Syrian forces shot dead 14 protesters yesterday as tens of thousands of people called on President Bashar to step down in some of the biggest demonstrations since Syria’s uprising began in March. The Local Coordination Committees, a group of grassroots activists, said three demonstrators were shot dead in the central city of Homs, three in the northern province of Idlib, two in Damascus suburbs and one in Latakia. Defying Assad’s military crackdown, demonstrators took to the streets again after Friday prayers across the country, from towns near the western Lebanese border to the desert regions near Iraq in the east. “Bashar get out of our lives,” read placards carried by thousands of Kurds who marched in the northeastern city of Amouda, according to a YouTube video taken by resident. In the city of Hama, video footage appeared to show tens of thousands of protesters massed in a central square. Witnesses and activists said demonstrators in Hama and in Kurdish eastern areas
carried red cards, employing a soccer symbol to demand Assad’s “sending off”. Authorities banned most international media from operating in Syria since the outbreak of the protests in March, making it difficult to verify reports from activists and authorities. State television said gunmen had fired on security forces in Homs in several other towns, wounding two of them. In the old Homs district of Bab Sbaa, a witness said several armored vehicles deployed and soldiers fired at protesters from road blocks set up in main streets in the city of one million. Another activist in Homs said the death toll could be higher, with troops surrounding a private hospital in Bab Sbaa and several wounded people rushed to another hospital on the outskirts of the city where security forces were not present. Protesters have taken to the streets for 14 weeks to protest against Assad in unrest which has claimed the lives of around 1,300 civilians, according to rights groups. Authorities say 500 police and soldiers have been killed by gunmen they also blame for most of the civilian deaths.
Alongside the military crackdown, Assad has promised a national dialogue on political reforms and on Monday gave a rare platform to opposition demands when authorities allowed a conference in Damascus attended by 150 intellectuals. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was “disheartened” by reports of continued violence near the Syrian border with Turkey. Monday’s meeting in Damascus, she said, was not enough on its own to address demands for reform. “It is absolutely clear that the Syrian government is running out of time,” she said during a visit to Lithuania. “They are either going to allow a serious political process that will include peaceful protests to take place throughout Syria and engage in a productive dialogue with members of the opposition and civil society, or they’re going to continue to see increasingly organized resistance.” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that tank assaults killed three people overnight in hillside villages of the northern Idlib province near the Turkish border. — Agencies