Elsewhere today (388)
Aljazeera:
EU urged to decide on Lebanon force
Thursday 24 August 2006, 14:33 Makka Time, 11:33 GMT
EU members are trying to establish details of the size and role of an expanded UN force in Lebanon.
Diplomats were working hard on Thursday to come up with definitive numbers for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) before a meeting between EU foreign ministers and Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, in Brussels on Friday.
Annan wants Europe to play a leading role in the force that the UN wants eventually to number 15,000 troops and as a result countries are now under pressure to end their indecision over committing manpower.
Only Italy has pledged concrete support by offering to lead the force.
Massimo d'Alema, the Italian foreign minister, was due to meet his Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, in Rome after a special Italian envoy held talks with Lebanese leaders in Beirut on Wednesday.
However, some countries are reluctant to send troops, especially without a clearer mandate from the UN. Memories of the 1995 massacre in Srebenica, which was under the protection of Dutch peacekeepers, are still fresh.
'Most committed'
France, Lebanon's former colonial master, in particular has backed away from early indications that it was prepared to play a leading role, offering so far only 200 extra troops to join the 200 French soldiers already in Unifil.
However, after meeting with Livni in Paris, Dominique de Villepin, the prime minister said on Wednesday that France was willing to "go further".
"Today we're the country that's the most committed and present on the ground. We want to go further once conditions are fulfilled," he said.
Meanwhile, the Finnish foreign minister, Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the European Union's rotating presidency, was due to hold talks first in Berlin with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and then in Paris with France's most senior diplomat, Philippe Douste-Blazy.
The French newspaper Le Monde reported that the UN has addressed many of Paris's concerns and that a larger French contingent could be announced as soon as Thursday or Friday, during a meeting between the French president, Jacques Chirac, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.
Agencies
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/DB179A20-23E4-4BCD-951C-900C1CB734EA.htm
Aljazeera:
Nigerian oil activists vow revenge
Thursday 24 August 2006, 16:14 Makka Time, 13:14 GMT
Activists in the Niger delta have threatened to avenge the killing of at least 10 of their number and restated their aim to halt all oil exports from Nigeria.
The men who died were attempting to free a hostage, but were attacked by the Nigerian military on Sunday night on Brass Creek in the southern state of Bayelsa.
The hostage, a Nigerian employee of Royal Dutch Shell, was also killed in the fighting.
In an email to Reuters, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said: "Our response to Sunday's killings will come at our time, but for certain it will not go unpunished.
"It was an unprovoked attack on people on a peaceful mission to free a hostage."
State government officials frequently seek the help of MEND activists to secure the release of hostages, and usually tip off security forces of any such operation to ensure that they are not attacked.
The defence ministry expressed "deep regret" on Thursday for the incident and started an investigation.
Abductions
MEND said it wanted to put an end to a string of kidnappings in the delta this month during which 17 oil workers were abducted in seven separate incidents.
"The reason we decided to put a stop to this is the involvement of criminal elements who have no connection with our struggle," MEND said.
Like many delta militant groups before it, MEND is pressing for more regional control over its oil wealth, compensation for oil spills and the release of detained leaders from the region.
But most of the kidnappings were done by armed "freelancers" seeking ransoms.
MEND's attacks in February forced Shell to reduce output by 500,000 barrels a day, a quarter of the nation's capacity.
But there has been a lull since an attack on a gas plant in June.
MEND has been threatening more violence, and on Thursday reiterated its aim to halt oil exports completely.
"The problems of the delta will only be addressed when we put a total halt to Nigerian oil exports," MEND said, giving no time frame.
Despite the rhetoric, some interpret the lull in attacks as a signal that MEND is giving the government a chance to respond.
Social development
Olusegun Obasanjo, the president, set up a committee in April to develop jobs and infrastructure in the neglected region, but the initiative has so far failed to impress activists.
"There has been a lull in vandalisation of pipelines because we are saying let's give the federal government a chance," said Kimse Okoko, president of the Ijaw National Congress.
"It will be difficult to stop the struggle if the federal government refuses to take action."
In an apparent U-turn, Obasanjo last week launched a military crackdown against what he called criminals engaged in kidnapping in the delta, and troops have been combing suspected militant hideouts around the delta city of Port Harcourt.
Activists fear that this, along with Sunday's killings, could mark a resurgence of armed conflict between MEND and thousands of troops deployed to protect oil installations in the vast wetlands region.
Reuters
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/437E1575-5639-4741-B4B2-84C8D62FEF13.htm
allAfrica:
Mogadishu Port Re-Opens After 11 Years
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks NEWS
August 24, 2006
Nairobi
As another sign of improved security in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, the country's main port was officially re-opened on Thursday after more than 11 years.
"The chairman of the courts [Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed] officially opened the port today [Thursday]," said Sheikh Umar Ahmed Weheliye, the port manager.
The city is now run by the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which controls much of south and central Somalia.
The UIC on 4 June defeated a group of warlords who called themselves the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter Terrorism, who had controlled the city for the past 16 years. Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdid, the last member of the alliance, was defeated and escaped from the city on 10 July.
The opening of the port a month after the last warlord was removed is welcome news to the business community, said businessman Salad Ali.
"In a matter of one month they [the UIC] have restored security, opened the airport and now the port. That is an incredible achievement by any standards, but in our case this is nothing short of a miracle," said Ali.
The business community in Mogadishu has, since 1995, been using the beach port of El Ma'an, 30 km north of the city, which was expensive and time-consuming. "Since ships could not dock, cargo was offloaded on small boats that would bring it ashore. On many occasions cargo was dropped in the sea and the business people had to absorb the loss or pass it on to the consumer," Ali said.
They also had to deal with roadblocks manned by different militias, who extorted money from the trucks delivering goods to the city, adding to the cost of the goods.
Now it will take fewer man-hours to offload ships, less time to deliver the goods and with minimum losses. "This means that everything will be cheaper to the consumer," Ali said.
The opening of the port would also increase the amount of import and export trade and as a consequence create jobs, Ali added.
Weheliye, who was appointed to his post four weeks ago by the UIC, said he and his team had spent the past three weeks repairing and cleaning the port. "The port fell into disrepair since no one has taken care of it in the last 11 years. There were also tonnes of garbage that accumulated in that time."
He said the port would now be able to take vessels of up to 8,000 tonnes and "will soon be operating at full capacity once we get all the equipment we need".
Weheliye aid the port will also ease the difficulties faced by aid agencies in delivering assistance to needy Somalis.
The first ship, carrying fuel, is expected to dock on Thursday or Friday, he said.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
Copyright © 2006 UN Integrated Regional Information Networks. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
http://allafrica.com/stories/200608240024.html
allAfrica: Calm in Kinshasa
As Negotiations End Two Days of Violence
By Frederic Renoux, Oscar Mercado
United Nations Mission in the DRC (Kinshasa) NEWS
August 23, 2006
Calm returned to Kinshasa this Tuesday August 22, 2006, after two days of violence. A "working group" has been created to put an end to the confrontations which involved the troops of vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba and the elements of the presidential guard of Joseph Kabila, the two adversaries in the second round of presidential elections.
Calm returned to Kinshasa on Tuesday afternoon, where soldiers faithful to President Joseph Kabila and vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba started to withdraw from the streets of the downtown area, in order to return to their camps.
The Congolese National Police force took up its patrols on Tuesday evening, accompanied by MONUC, EUFOR and EUPOL. This was according to an official statement of the "working group" which was created on the initiative of the CIAT, in agreement with the two protagonists of the crisis, "to normalise the situation."
The Congolese National Police force took up its patrols on Tuesday evening, accompanied by MONUC, EUFOR and EUPOL
The working-group gathers the Congolese authorities of the security forces (Ministry for Defense, FARDC, National Police Force and Republican Guard), the representatives of the president and the vice-president, as well as international forces such as MONUC and EUFOR.
The group also decided on the return to their barracks of all the units of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) which were deployed in the capital, and called on the capital's population "to return to their normal occupations as of tomorrow."
This afternoon, MONUC troops controlled Boulevard June 30 (the principal artery of Kinshasa) and the principal crossroads. Calm was reported in the eastern suburbs of the city, which was for the most part trouble free over the past two days.
These negotiations will be followed with a meeting tomorrow between Joseph Kabila and Jean Pierre Bemba, following a mediation initiated by MONUC, the United Nations Mission in the Congo.
Head of MONUC, William Swing invited the belligerents to immediately cease "the confrontations" and for the two presidential candidates "to meet urgently for the good of the democratic process and especially the Congolese population."
The Special Representative of the UN, Secretary General for the RDC, William Swing met this Tuesday with President Kabila, in the company of the ambassadors of the CIAT (International Committee in support of the Transition). After the discussion, Joseph Kabila decided on the "immediate billeting" of the troops from both sides to their camps.
The same diplomats met with Jean-Pierre Bemba at his residence yesterday to examine the situation which has prevailed in the capital since Sunday evening following the publication of the results of the first round of the presidential elections.
The fighting involving some heavy weapons at Mr. Bemba's residence constrained the evacuation of the diplomats by MONUC troops, supported by a unit of EUFOR, which came into action for the first time since its arrival in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Elements of the presidential guard had led this attack against the villa of the vice-president, as the two sides denied responsibility for the escalation in violence.
Disorder broke out early on Sunday evening, following confrontations between the Congolese National Police (PNC) and Jean Pierre Bemba's guards.
Sunday's fighting left at least 16 victims dead, with many more wounded, but the overall toll is not known.
According to witnesses, a misunderstanding sparked off the violence. Bemba's guards, who protected the Channel Kin TV building in the central business district of Gombe, fired warning shots after having observed a suspect individual close to the building. The PNC then panicked, and retaliated in the confusion, which then turned into a confrontation.
The fighting then moved towards Jean-Pierre Bemba's residence, located three kilometres away in the same district. Sunday's fighting left at least 16 victims dead, with many more wounded, but the overall toll is not known.
For two days, the downtown area of Gombe in Kinshasa has been deserted, with closed offices and shops. The bodies of the victims of the violence were still visible in the streets of the city at the end of Tuesday afternoon.
Copyright © 2006 United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
http://allafrica.com/stories/200608230604.html
Arab News: The Lessons Arabs Should Learn
From the Lebanese Developments
Muhammad Salahuddin, Arab News
Thursday, 24, August, 2006 (30, Rajab, 1427)
There is nothing innovatory or new in the lessons that Israel has been continuously teaching the Arabs since the very establishment of the Zionist state in 1948. It is the same old story in relation to the latest barbarian and bloody reminders of those lessons. Arabs and Muslims globally have become used to the daily scenes of blood spilling in Palestine; the Israeli air, land and sea attacks; and the daily demolition of houses and live burying of innocent people under the debris. To be quite honest, the Arabs don’t really care much for what Israel has done and still continues to do. Perhaps the enemy wants to weaken the Arabs and it is with this aim that Israel initiated a bloody and savage attack on Lebanon and coordinated a massive plan of death and destruction to destroy the infrastructure of the country.
After every Israeli attack, the Arabs are in the habit of saying that peace is the only strategically viable choice they have. Even if Arabs do not admit it, the fact remains that 99 percent of the “winning cards” in this “game” are with the US, just Egyptian President Anwar Sadat declared. In spite of this the Arabs continue seeking American help whenever a crisis or a massacre takes place. On the other hand, the UN only has a remaining one percent of cards and clout.
The first lesson that Israel has recently re-educated the Arabs with through its attack on Lebanon and crimes in Palestine is that weak people can never achieve peace; they always end up surrendering. This is something that we also learn from the final actions of the Lebanese political resistance movement Hezbollah.
The second lesson is that the US not only supports its allies monetarily and through weapons but it is also a dishonest broker and an integral partner in all the death, destruction, and barbarian activities of Israel.
The third and final lesson is that the UN, or what can be easily referred to as the international legitimacy group, is a mirage and — thanks mainly to the US — totally powerless to take any action when it comes to reprimanding Israel.
Occupation of Arab land is the fundamental tactic Israel uses to continue its existence. Land has forcibly been taken ever since 1948 at the end of the British Mandate when Zionist gangs began a campaign of terrorizing unarmed Palestinians and forcing them out of their homes and land. This is the history of Zionism, a political movement, which has been responsible for a chain of criminal acts of murder and killing and genocide. The Zionists are in fact responsible for making people in the Middle East frightened, killing their hope and infixing desperation among them using misquoted and forged texts from the Talmud and Old Testimony as was clarified and explained by many respected Jewish rabbis prior to the war on Lebanon.
It is on this basis that the Zionists fight — neither to defend themselves nor to create peace or release hostages. They genuinely know that the only way to ensure peace is by ending the invasion and occupation of Palestine, parts of Syria, and Lebanon. Yet, Israel wages war to maintain the land it has occupied and to sustain its very existence. Israelis do not understand or want peace — something that has been offered to them on hundreds of occasion. The only language they comprehend and are capable of understanding is the language of missiles and rockets. The reason is that their occupying mindset and Talmudic motives — the driving forces that lead them to function and operate as a state. It is because of this mindset that Hezbollah responds using the same language as the Israelis, which teaches us the fourth lesson — the merciless attack on Lebanon.
We really do not need to start battles and wars. I believe we have spoken to each other and said this same mantra many a times. What we really need is for the Islamic and Arab nations to unite using their strengths and energies to boycott and blockade the enemy and its allies.
We need a political and diplomatic mass-media war. We also need to arm all resistance organizations and parties if needed, because anymore peacemaking offers are not going to work. This is especially the case when sick-minded enemies, who only envisage our destruction and annihilation, are involved.
(msalahuddin@makpublish.com)
Copyright: Arab News © 2003 All rights reserved.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=86169&d=24&m=8&y=2006
Guardian:
Prodi comes before a fall
The Italian government has plenty of enthusiasm for sending peackeeping troops to Lebanon but seemingly little grasp of the difficulties involved
John Hooper
Thursday August 24, 2006
You know those cartoons where the cat, fox, wolf or whatever is chasing some poor animal and charges over a cliff edge? You know how there is always a moment - its legs are usually still whirling - when the cat, fox, wolf or whatever realises it has gone too far, too fast? And how it then turns to the viewer with a look of terror before plunging into the abyss?
Well, observing Italy's efforts to get involved in solving the problems of the Middle East over the past month or so has been like watching that old animated cliché being played out for real.
On Friday, in Brussels, at an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers, the Italian representative, Massimo D'Alema, will try to persuade his counterparts to join Italy in pledging substantial contributions to the new UN peacekeeping force for Lebanon. Italy has said it will put in up to 3,000 troops and take command of the force.
Mr D'Alema's decision to call the meeting reflected a perhaps belated concern over the risks involved. It came after the French - worried by the vagueness in UN resolution 1701 over rules of engagement and concerned about the potential for a renewal of hostilities - did a U-turn, rejected the command and limited their contribution to a mere 400 troops.
Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, promptly asked the Italians to take charge - a responsibility his Italian counterpart, Romano Prodi, unhesitatingly agreed to. He and his centre-left cabinet are mustard-keen to show they can give their country a greater role in international affairs. For years, in opposition, they had to listen while the then prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, lectured them on how he alone could make Italy count because of his personal friendship with the likes of George Bush, Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin.
In addition, however, there is a sincere conviction in Italy that the country has a unique chance - and perhaps a responsibility - to help bring peace. A lot of ordinary Italians were profoundly impressed by television footage earlier this year showing Israelis, Palestinians and Lebanese celebrating with equal gusto Italy's victory in the soccer World Cup.
On the one hand, the Italians have consistently backed Israel's right to statehood. Yet their links with the Arabs are not blighted by memories of a colonial past, except in Libya. The present cabinet includes both convinced pro-Israelis and ardent pro-Palestinians.
All of that helps explain the rush to the cliff edge that began as soon as the fighting started when Mr D'Alema hosted the first international discussions on Lebanon in Rome. It did not stop the fighting, but it did get Condoleezza Rice to the same table as many of her critics and succeeded in launching the process that eventually led to resolution 1701.
Even then, Italian officials were talking about making a substantial contribution to a new UN force. And, albeit with some reservations, their enthusiasm was shared by the conservative opposition. It was only this week that serious doubts began to be expressed, largely in the media.
"To strive for peace is noble", declared the right-of-centre Corriere della Sera. "But to try to do so prompted by ingenuousness and partisan enthusiasm, without realism and formidable means, is lethal obsession."
The following day, a commentator in the centre-left La Repubblica was marvelling at the politicians' apparent reluctance to consider what he argued was the central question: whether "a UN intervention force can prevent or even delay that second round of the conflict between Israel and Hizbullah which both parties are taking as read."
That and similar questions seem to be prompting some reflection in the Italian government. But, for the moment, its legs are still whirling.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1857622,00.html
il manifesto:
Ricompare il fantasma dell'invasore africano
Enrico Pugliese
L'intervento di Alessandro Dal Lago e Fulvio Vassallo sui tragici eventi di questi giorni e in particolare sui commenti di esponenti politici e governativi mi è parso particolarmente appropriato.
Vorrei semplicemente ribadire qualche punto e portare qualche ulteriore elemento di chiarimento.
1. Il primo aspetto riguarda l'entità e la direzione del flusso degli immigrati. Quelli che arrivano dalla sponda sud del Mediterraneo sono una minoranza, con un'incidenza decrescente. Forse sarebbe il caso di finirla con la storia dell'invasione dall'Africa. Inoltre, come hanno ben detto Dal Lago e Vassallo, gli immigrati vengono non per colpa dei trafficanti, ma semmai tramite i trafficanti.
2. Il secondo aspetto riguarda gli effetti della repressione e del contrasto. Fino ad ora l'inasprimento delle misure ha determinato solo rotte più difficili e pericolose e solo peggioramento degli ambienti, sempre più malavitosi, di appartenenza degli addetti al trasporto: trasporto non traffico, che è tutt'altro storia. Farebbero bene politici e governanti a rendersene conto. L'immigrazione dalla sponda albanese con i famosi sbarchi in Puglia non sono finiti con la repressione ma, al contrario, con la regolarizzazione.
3. Puntare sulle azioni di contrasto non è una novità. Non è una trovata originale di questo governo. È esattamente quello che ha fatto il precedente governo e purtroppo, ahimè, anche quello di centro-sinistra che a sua volta lo ha preceduto. E non è neanche una trovata originale quella degli accordi con Gheddafi, che - a quel che se ne sa - ha avuto effetti tragici per gli emigranti
4. La repressione serve poco. I miliardi bruciati per trattenere e far morire un po' di gente nei cpt o per deportarla sono almeno dieci volte di più di quelli spesi per l'assistenza e quindi per un proficuo processo di inserimento nella società italiana. Su questo è giusto cambiare rotta
5. Contare sulla repressione contro non si sa chi, contro non meglio definiti «trafficanti» aiuta poco. Spero che si ricorderanno i tempi in cui l'onorevole Casini sosteneva che bisognava sparare ai gommoni. Ora la Lega vuole sparare sui barconi. La costruzione del nemico immaginario, «il trafficante che organizza l'immigrazione clandestina», crea solo queste reazioni. La concreta e materiale storia e odissea di questi immigrati (spesso profughi e perseguitati) mostra che i processi che portano all'ingresso in Italia sono lunghi, complessi e tortuosi. Si è in mano a brave persone e a criminali, a gente che ti aiuta e a gente che ti truffa e deruba. C'è il barcone e c'è anche la Cap Anamur, che è stata nave da soccorso. La produzione cinematografica sul tema è molto più istruttiva e ben documentata delle ricerche in materia.
6. Se gli immigrati arrivano a Lampedusa o a Pantelleria non è certo perché c'è la sanatoria in Italia. Non so che percentuale di quelli che si sono regolarizzati a norma della Bossi-Fini sia arrivatadalla sponda sud con i barconi della disperazione. Ma a occhio e croce non superano il 5%, a voler essere larghi nelle stime.
7. Allora pensiamo ad altro. Pensiamo subito a chiudere o superare - se per superare si intende chiuderli e fare qualcosa di buono che non rassomigli in alcun modo come ora a una galera - i cpt. Non dimentichiamo che nei cpt ( a norma della Turco-Napolitano e della Bossi-Fini) dovrebbero stare solo coloro i quali non sono in regola con il permesso di soggiorno (irregolari e clandestini) e non i criminali (per i quali c'è la galera). Ergo, non c'è motivo che esistano.
8. Spostare l'ottica dalla presunta invasione al problema delle condizioni degli immigrati - alle loro condizioni di vita nella società italiana, alla loro realtà quotidiana, al loro contributo alla economia e alla società - è utile per non girare a vuoto. Un passo in avanti è stato fatto con la modifica del diritto al soggiorno nel periodo del rinnovo. Un altro è stato fatto decidendo di affrontare in senso positivo la questione dei lavoratori immigrati in condizioni di irregolarità. Grazie per questo a Ferrero e ad Amato.
9. Infine pensiamo al quadro effettivo della immigrazione italiana. Solo una percentuale modesta arriva con i barconi della disperazione. La maggior parte arriva dall'Europa dell'est con gli autobus a Piazzale Tiburtino a Roma e in posti equivalenti nelle grandi e medie città del Nord e del Sud. Arrivano sani e salvi perché nei loro confronti non ci sono «operazioni di contrasto». La Lega e i post-fascisti (meglio quelli senza post) hanno sempre detto che bisognava sbatterli via («fuori i clandestini!»), ma poi hanno fatto nei loro confronti la più grande sanatoria, «la madre di tutte le sanatorie». Evidentemente si sono resi conto che servivano.
10. Il resto è chiacchiera. Speriamo che il governo dell'Unione non ci caschi inseguendo i fantasmi dell'invasione. Che poi la tragedia del Sud Mondo si possa affrontare con qualche pattugliamento è una illusione pia (anzi forse un po' empia).
http://www.ilmanifesto.it/Quotidiano-archivio/23-Agosto-2006/art8.html
il manifesto:
Libano, il nome giusto è guerra delle colonie
Come dopo ogni fallimento militare Israele va a caccia dei colpevoli e piange le vittime: 154 soldati. E dimentica la vittima n. 155: il piano di convergenza, cioé il ritiro parziale dalla Cisgiordania Nonostante 33 giorni di bombe questa guerra non ha avuto un nome. La stampa la nomina «seconda guerra del Libano» in ordine cronologico, ma la denominazione corretta è «war for the settlements»
Uri Avnery
Poche parole e un ufficiale dell'esercito libanese è riuscito a distruggere, qualche giorno fa, l'illusione che Israele fosse riuscito ad ottenere qualcosa da questa guerra. A una parata militare trasmessa in televisione - e anche sui canali israeliani - l'ufficiale, rivolgendosi alle truppe pronte per essere schierate al confine col sud, ha detto in arabo: «Oggi, nel nome della larga volontà di tutta la popolazione, venite preparati per essere schierati sul suolo del martoriato Sud, fianco a fianco con le forze della vostra resistenza e della vostra gente, che hanno stupito il mondo con la loro fermezza e che ha fatto a pezzi la reputazione di un esercito che si credeva fosse invincibile».
Più semplicemente: «la estesa volontà»: la volontà di tutti gli ambiti della popolazione libanese, inclusa la comunità sciita. «Fianco a fianco della resistenza»: fianco a fianco con Hezbollah. «Che hanno stupito il mondo con la loro fermezza»: l'eroismo di Hezbollah. «Fatto a pezzi la reputazione dell'esercito che si credeva invincibile»: l'esercito israeliano.
Così ha parlato un comandante dell'esercito libanese, il cui dispiegamento al confine la coppia Olmert-Peretz va celebrando come una immensa vittoria, perché secondo loro l'esercito libanese sarebbe pronto ad affrontare Hezbollah e disarmarlo. I commentatori israeliani ci hanno illusi che tale esercito sarà a disposizione degli amici di Israele e Stati uniti a Beirut - ovvero Fuad Siniora, Saad Hariri e Walid Jumblatt.
Non a caso l'intero episodio è affondato come una pietra in uno stagno, cancellato dalla coscienza pubblica. Quella dell'esercito libanese non è l'unico palloncino bucato. E' successo anche al secondo palloncino, quello multicolore che doveva figurare come successo israeliano: il dispiegamento di una forza multinazionale che proteggesse Israele da Hezbollah, prevenendone il riarmo. Man mano che i giorni passano è sempre più evidente che questa forza sarà, al massimo, un raffazzonato insieme di poche unità nazionali, prive di un chiaro mandato o di «robuste» capacità. Il blitz militare portato avanti dal nostro esercito giorni fa, lampante violazione del cessate-il-fuoco, non servirà di certo ad attrarre ulteriori adesioni per un simile compito. Allora che è rimasto dei nostri successi militari? Bella domanda.
Dopo ogni fallita guerra, si leva il grido per un'inchiesta in Israele. Adesso c'è un trauma, c'è l'amarezza, un senso di sconfitta e di opportunità mancate. Di qui la domanda per una commissione di inchiesta forte che ci consegni le teste dei responsabili. E' quello che è successo dopo la prima guerra in Libano, che ha raggiunto il climax col massacro di Sabra e Shatila. Il governo ha però rifiutato qualsiasi seria inchiesta. Allora, la massa di gente che si riunì in quella che adesso si chiama «piazza Rabin» (con quei mitici 400mila che protestarono) chiese un'inchiesta giudiziaria. L'umore generale raggiunse il punto di ebollizione e il primo ministro Menachem Begin dovette rassegnarsi. La commissione Kahan, che investigò sulla vicenda, condannò un certo numero di politici e ufficiali per responsabilità «indirette» sul massacro, benchè le conclusioni cui giunse avrebbero potuto portare a più pesanti condanne. Comunque alla fine, se non altro, il ministro delle difesa Ariel Sharon venne costretto alle dimissioni.
Prima di tutto ciò, già dopo il trauma della guerra del Kippur, il governo aveva rifiutato di nominare una commissione d'inchiesta, ma la pressione dell'opinione pubblica era infine prevalsa. E la vicenda della commissione Agranat, che includeva un ex comandante in capo dell'esercito e altri due ufficiali superiori, fu piuttosto insolita: condusse una seria indagine, scaricò tutta la colpa sui ranghi militari, rimosse dall'incarico il comandante dell'esercito «Dado» Elazar e assolse l'intera leadership politica. Il che causò un sollevamento spontaneo degli israeliani alla luce del quale Golda Meir e Moshe Dayan - rispettivamente primo ministro e ministro della difesa - furono obbligati alle dimissioni.
Anche stavolta la leadership politica e militare stanno cercando di bloccare una qualsiasi vera inchiesta. Amir Peretz ha persino nominato una finta commissione d'inchiesta zeppa di amici suoi. Ma la pressione pubblica cresce, e sembra che anche stavolta non ci sarà nient'altro da fare, se non rassegnarsi ed aprire un'inchiesta giudiziaria. In genere, chi nomina una commissione d'inchiasta ne predetermina anche la durata e le conclusioni. Secondo la legge israeliana, è il governo che decide chi ne farà parte e i suoi punti di riferimento (come membro della Knesset, votai contro questi paragrafi della legge). E se alla fine una simile commissione d'inchiesta venisse indetta, su cosa indagherà?
I politici tenteranno sicuramente di limitare le indagini agli aspetti tecnici della condotta militare: «Perché l'esercito non era preparato alla lotta contro i guerriglieri?», «Perché le forze di terra sono state dispiegate soltanto due settimane dopo l'inizio dell'offensiva?», «Qual è stato il lavoro dell'intelligence?», «Perché non si è fatto nulla per intercettare i razzi di Hezbollah e proteggere la popolazione?", "Perché i riservisti non sono stati preparati?", "Perché gli arsenali d'emergenza erano vuoti?", "Perché il ristema di rifernimento non è funzionato?", "Perché il comandante dell'esercito ha deposto il capo del comando nord nel bel mezzo delle operazioni?", "Perché la campagna costata la vita a 33 soldati è stata decisa all'ultimo minuto?".
E a questo punto il governo cercherà di ampliare l'inchiesta per incolpare i propri predecessori: «Perché i governi di Ehud Barak e Ariel Sharon sono rimasti a guardare mentre Hezbollah cresceva?», «Perché non è stato fatto niente mentre Hezbollah ammassava arsenali di razzi?».
Tutte queste sono domande puntuali e sarebbe certamente necessario chiarirle. Ma è ancora più importante indagare sulle origini di questa guerra: «Perché il trio Halutz-Peretz-Olmert ha deciso di iniziare una guerra soltanto un paio di ore dopo il rapimento di due soldati?», «Sono stati presi accordi con l'America in precedenza, perché si cogliesse la prima occasione per una guerra?», «Sono stati gli americani a spingere per una guerra e, in seguito, a pretenderne il proseguimento il più possibile?», «E' stata Condoleezza Rice a decidere quando iniziare e quando finire?», «Gli Usa hanno preteso che ci invischiassimo con la Siria?», «Gli Usa ci hanno usati per la loro campagna contro l'Iran?». E anche tutto ciò non sarebbe abbastanza. Ci sono domande ancora più profonde ed importanti.
Questa guerra non ha nome. Neanche dopo 33 giorni di combattimenti e quasi dieci giorni di cessate-il-fuoco. La stampa adopera un nome cronologico: Seconda guerra libanese. In questo modo, la guerra libanese resta separata dalla guerra della striscia di Gaza, condotta simultaneamente e portata avanti anche dopo la tregua al nord. Queste due guerre hanno un denominatore comune? Risposta: certamente, sono la stessa guerra. La guerra delle Colonie. La guerra contro i palestinesi viene portata avanti per mantenere i blocchi di insediamenti e annettersi larga parte della Cisgiordania. E la guerra al nord è stata portata avanti per mentenere gli insediamenti sulle alture del Golan.
Hezbollah è cresciuta col supporto della Siria, che al tempo controllava il Libano. Hafez al-Assad vedeva la restituzione delle alture del Golan come l'obiettivo di tutta la sua vita - e dopotutto, fu lui a perdere le alture con la guerra del 1967, e a non riuscire a riconquistarle con la guerra del 1973. E non voleva rischiare una nuova guerra al confine siro-israeliano, troppo vicino a Damasco. Così ha protetto Hezbollah, per convincere Israele che non ci sarebbe stata tregua fino alla restituzione del Golan. Il piccolo Assad sta soltanto proseguendo sulle orme del padre. Senza la cooperazione con la Siria, l'Iran non ha speranza di far pervenire armi a Hezbollah.
La soluzione è a portata di mano: rimuoviamo tutti gli insediamenti da là, quale che sia la perdita in termini di vino e acqua potabile, restituiamo il Golan al legittimo proprietario. Ehud Barak ci era quasi arrivato. Che sia detto chiaramente: ognuno dei 154 israeliani morti per la seconda guerra libanese sono morti per i coloni in Golan.
E la vittima israeliana numero 155 in questa guerra è il «Piano di convergenza», il piano di ritiro unilaterale da parte della Cisgiordania. Ehud Olmert è stato eletto quattro mesi fa per il Piano di convergenza, così come Amir Peretz è stato eletto sulla proposta di ridurre le spese militari in nome di ampie riforme sociali. Adesso Olmert dichiara che ce ne possiamo dimenticare. Il Piano doveva rimuovere 60mila coloni da dove sono, lasciandone almeno 400mila in Cisgiordania e a Gerusalemme. Seppellito il Piano, che cosa rimane? Niente pace, niente negoziati, nessuna soluzione per un conflitto ormai storico. Tutto bloccato, almeno finchè non ci libereremo del duo Olmert-Peretz. In Israele si parla già del «prossimo round», che eliminerà e punirà Hezbollah per averci disonorati. In Libano meridionale non ne parlano, visto che il primo round già sembra infinito. Per avere una qualunque valenza, l'inchiesta deve esporre le vere radici di questo conflitto e le scelte storiche che si impongono: o tenersi gli insediamenti e la guerra infinita che comporteranno, o restituire i territori occupati e ottenere la pace.
(trad. annalena di giovanni)
http://www.ilmanifesto.it/Quotidiano-archivio/23-Agosto-2006/art21.html
Jeune Afrique:
L'Onu annonce de facto un futur report des élections
CÔTE D'IVOIRE - 23 août 2006 – AFP
Les Nations unies ont préparé le terrain à l'annonce prochaine d'un report des élections présidentielles en Côte d'Ivoire en avouant mercredi qu'elles ne pourront avoir lieu comme prévu le 31 octobre en raison des retards pris dans leur préparation sur le terrain.
"Il n'est techniquement plus possible d'organiser" ces élections "car l'identification et l'enregistrement des listes électorales ne sont pas terminés", a déclaré le chef de la mission des Nations unies en Côte d'Ivoire (Onuci), Pierre Schori, cité par son service de presse.
"La volonté politique est là, mais ce n'est plus faisable" d'un point de vue technique, a-t-il ajouté.
A Abidjan, ces déclarations lèvent un secret de polichinelle, le processus électoral ayant pris un tel retard ces derniers mois qu'un report des élections semble aujourd'hui inévitable aux yeux des observateurs.
Ces élections doivent en théorie se tenir "au plus tard le 31 octobre", au terme de la prolongation d'un an du mandat du président Laurent Gbagbo adoptée en novembre 2005 par le conseil de sécurité de l'Onu en raison de la situation précaire de la Côte d'Ivoire.
Depuis, dans ce pays coupé en deux à la suite d'un coup d'état raté de la rébellion des Forces nouvelles (FN) contre le président Gbagbo, les partisans de ce dernier et le bloc opposition-rébellion ne cessent de s'accuser d'entraver le processus électoral, qui accumule les retards.
Le Premier ministre ivoirien Charles Konan Banny a lancé en juillet une opération nationale d'identification des populations visant à actualiser les listes électorales dans la perspective de l'élection présidentielle, qui doit être suivie d'élections législatives.
Mais le processus est laborieux, et sa première phase, celle des "audiences foraines", a donné lieu à des affrontements parfois violents entre partisans du président Laurent Gbagbo -- opposés à ces "audiences" par crainte qu'elles n'aboutissent à l'enregistrement d'étrangers -- et ceux de l'opposition.
Fin juillet, des affrontements entre "jeunes patriotes" et militants de l'opposition ont fait au moins trois morts à Bassam, à 30km à l'est d'Abidjan, et à Divo (centre). Ces violences avaient aussitôt été condamnées par l'Onu.
Les partisans des deux camps s'opposent également sur la date de fin de mandat de M. Gbagbo en cas de report des scrutins, une question que l'Onu doit trancher vers la mi-septembre à New York.
L'opposition et la rébellion réclament son départ du pouvoir dès le 31 octobre en vertu de la résolution adoptée en novembre 2005. M. Gbagbo a en revanche d'ores et déjà annoncé qu'il resterait en place jusqu'à la tenue des élections, conformément aux dispositions de la constitution ivoirienne.
Constatant ces retards et le risque de dérapages, l'Onuci avait exhorté début août les acteurs de la crise "à rester dans le processus de paix" et a entrepris "des démarches" pour tenter de rapprocher les positions.
Les deux principaux leaders de l'opposition ivoirienne, l'ancien président Henri Konan Bédié et l'ex-Premier ministre Alassane Ouattara, ont de leur côté appelé l'Onu à intervenir face aux "manquements répétés du chef de l'Etat aux différents accords et de sa volonté d'entraver le processus de paix".
"Nous sommes fondés" à demander "qu'il soit désormais explicitement interdit au chef de l'Etat de prendre tout acte engageant la vie de la nation", ont-ils écrit au secrétaire général des Nations unies, Kofi Annan, dans une lettre envoyée le 17 juillet et publiée mercredi.
© Jeuneafrique.com 2006
http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_depeche.asp?
art_cle=AFP81556lonuasnoitc0
Jeune Afrique: Réalisation à Tunis du premier
dessin animé long métrage arabo-africain
TUNISIE - 23 août 2006 – AFP
Ségou Fanga, le premier film d'animation long métrage arabo-africain, co-production tuniso-franco-malienne, qui relate la naissance d'un village du Mali, est en cours de réalisation en Tunisie.
"Les préparatifs vont bon train et le film devrait être prêt au printemps 2007 en prévision de sa participation au prochain festival de Cannes", a expliqué à l'AFP le producteur tunisien Ahmed Baheddine Attia.
Ségou Fanga (la genèse de Ségou) est réalisé par le Malien Manbaye Coulibaly et l'Algéro-Français Abdelkader Belhadi dans les Studios de Tunis fondés en 2000 par M. Attia, propriétaire de la plus importante société de production de Tunisie, Cinétéléfilms, et des premiers studios de dessins animés dans le monde arabe et en Afrique.
Le film s'inspire d'une ancienne légende malienne, selon laquelle le héros, le chef du royaume bambara fondé au 17e siècle, est doté d'un grand pouvoir par la mythique reine, génie du fleuve Niger, qui avait voulu le récompenser de lui avoir sauvé la vie.
L'histoire, qui se déroule à Ségou, jadis capitale du royaume, "est une aventure humaine, pleines de symbole et où il y a de l'humour, de l'émotion et une certaine portée morale", fait valoir M. Attia.
Le film traite aussi "de l'influence négative du pouvoir sur l'homme dont la conduite, à l'origine louable, devient subitement autoritaire et exécrable", ajoute le producteur tunisien.
Le budget total de la production est estimé à 2,5 millions d'euros financés notamment grâce à une subvention d'environ 20% de l'Union européenne. D'autres participations sont prévues de la part du programme Euromed audiovisuel visant à promouvoir les productions au sud de la Méditerranée, d'une aide de Fonds Sud et de l'agence intergouvernementale de la Francophonie.
Une chaîne française de télévision a également exprimé son intérêt pour le projet, dans l'attente d'un accord ultérieur, selon M. Attia.
Des acteurs français et tunisiens prêteront leurs voix aux principaux personnages du film qui sera diffusé dans un premier temps en versions arabe et française.
Le producteur tunisien a déjà produit dans les Studios de Tunis une série de dessins animés "Viva Carthago" présentée cet été au Festival international de Carthage, près de Tunis.
Première production de film d'animation tuniso-européenne, "Viva Carthago" avait rencontré un grand succès lors de sa présentation en avant-première aux Journées cinématographiques de Carthage en octobre 2004.
Le film, qui sera diffusé en salles le 18 septembre, retrace des épisodes de la vie de personnages et d'évènements de l'Antiquité depuis la fondation de Carthage par la reine Didon en 814 avant J.C.
M. Attia espère développer les co-productions dans ses studios en raison de la proximité de l'Europe et des coûts avantageux, "ainsi que de la compréhension des traditions communes aux pays des deux rives".
Il a déjà produit les films tunisiens et arabes les plus primés comme "Enfant de la terrasse" de Férid Boughdir, "Sabots en or" de Nouri Bouzid et "Bab el Maqam" (Passion) du réalisateur syrien Mohamed Malasse.
Déplorant le faible intérêt des pays occidentaux pour le cinéma du tiers monde, il estime que le cinéma des pays du Sud est confronté notamment au piratage qui fait que "les film sont trés souvent diffusés en DVD piratés bien avant leur sortie en salle en l'absence de lois réprimant cette pratique".
© Jeuneafrique.com 2006
http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_depeche.asp?
art_cle=AFP90436ralisniacir0
Mail & Guardian:
Where is it all going?
John Matshikiza: WITH THE LID OFF
21 August 2006
It’s hard to get your head round all this violent language, but I guess it’s always been there.
The tired suits at the tired old Security Council chamber at the United Nations in New York, personally removed from both violence and violent language, finally agree that there should be a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, after thousands have died and a whole country, Lebanon, that has seen nothing but this kind of regular disintegration since the days of the Crusaders, has been taken apart once again.
Meanwhile, down there on the ground, back in the Middle East, the soldiers are instructed to retreat to their previous positions, not exactly laying down their arms, but briefly stopping shooting at each other. Each side sneers at the other’s failure to win the war. Hizbullah and Israel, short of a number of irreplacable casualties, are exactly where they were before the whole thing went up in flames a month before.
They trade sound bites in the language of violence. An Israeli sergeant describes the last hours of being able to hunt down a Hizbullah unit. “They were standing 50 metres away from us, so we shot them,” he says, smiling triumphantly. “Then they were able to go back to their positions and we were able to go back to our positions.”
Lebanese civilians returning to their blasted farms and villages are just as defiant. “Hizbullah put up a good fight against Israel for us,” they say, surveying their destroyed surroundings with pride. “Until next time.”
And there will certainly be a next time. It’s just a question of when.
A beautiful young woman in a veil, returning to the rubble, smiles up at the dangling devastation of concrete and iron that used to be an apartment block where she might once have lived and sighs at how beautiful it all is.
Signs of war become signs of a life survived. As Robert Duvall said in his role as an American warrior officer in Francis Ford Coppola’s transposition of Heart of Darkness to the dark soul of America’s apocalyptic debacle in Vietnam: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
So it’s all destined to come around again. Neither side admits defeat and neither one can claim a decisive victory. The dying, acrid smoke of battle, the stench of rotting corpses gradually being cleared away in southern Lebanon, is a victory in itself. The soldier lights up a cigarette and smiles into the camera, as if he is a film star.
In the same hour, we see Bill Clinton talking about how proud he is to be part of the legendary Baby Boomer generation. I was scratching my head, trying to remember who the hell the Baby Boomers were anyway.
Clinton and his nemesis, George Dubya Bush III or whatever, both turn 60 this year. Both so-called Baby Boomers. Both hardly babies anymore. Both a bother to the rest of the world and their wives (take that as you will). How can you still be proud of what you’re not?
So, having scratched my head raw, the answer finally came. The Baby Boomers was a name given to the generation of children born in the wake of so-called World War II -- so-called because it sucked almost the whole of the human planet’s energy into its meaningless, destructive maw of napalm and rocket fire and opened the way to further wars of that kind to come.
People who survived that war were so relieved at being alive that they made like rabbits and produced a new wave of children to supposedly re-populate the world. They never stopped to ask themselves whether these new children would become Hitlers, Churchills, Kaundas, Pol Pots, Nkrumahs, Verwoerds, or indeed, Clintons and Dubyas, sent to torment us all.
And so, from the safety of the Security Council chamber in New York, those who claim to represent us are proud to say that we have never turned back since. (The UN, of course, being one of the more successful products of the Baby Boom in its own right -- more successful because, by its very nature, it is self-regenerating -- the true sign of a scientifically successful new species, whether it is good for the broader planet or not.)
There is another kind of baby boom that is interesting to examine in this context. My friend Albie, who bounces back and forth between home and exile and can’t seem to make his mind up about which one he prefers (for reasons I completely sympathise with), reminds me that his generation, my generation, the generation that was boomed into the world by the post-World War II Baby Boomers once they had their feet securely on the ground -- we are responsible for another kind of baby boom.
He puts it quite chillingly. “June 16 1976 wasn’t just about learning Afrikaans in schools,” he says. “The way we saw it, the Boers were trying to eliminate us. So we reacted by making love and making babies, even while we were making war, and not even thinking about how many children we were making in the process. We just made children. We were not about to be eliminated, whatever the cost.”
We have our own problems as a result down here. Aids is one of them. An expanding and unusable population, becoming younger every day, is another.
And so you look back at the Middle East and you think: “Where is it all going?” One generation after another bred to hate each other, prepared to go to war.
And in the meantime, the towns and villages and fields of Lebanon and Israel laid to waste. And the fresh, handsome young women and men smiling up into their devastated surroundings and saying: “It’s beautiful!”
All material copyright Mail&Guardian.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?
articleid=281409&area=/columnist__john_matshikiza/#
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Teherán copó el escenario libanés
TRAS LA GUERRA, ANALISTAS EN BEIRUT EXPLICAN EL AJEDREZ DE LAS POTENCIAS REGIONALES
Siria pudo restaurar su influencia perdida gracias a la resistencia de Hezbolá, pero el principal apoyo de la guerrilla proviene de Teherán y Damasco es un cañón que Irán manipula a su antojo, según la opinión de dirigentes políticos entrevistados en Beirut. Por qué Líbano puede recuperar su autoridad territorial.
Por Eduardo Febbro
Desde Beirut, Jueves, 24 de Agosto de 2006
Una bruma de desolación y tristeza surge de la ruta cada vez que el auto cruza uno de los tantos puentes y rutas bombardeados por la aviación israelí entre el sur y la capital, Beirut. Ni el más brillante de los estrategas se animaría a explicar por qué tantos lugares sin importancia fueron destruidos: puentes modestos, caminos insignificantes. El Líbano duele en el alma. Un país multiconfesional, sin defensa, rodeado por dos Estados, Siria e Israel, que a lo largo de su historia han provocado las más inquietantes catástrofes. Detrás de estas dos potencias se mueven los hilos y los intereses de un fabuloso ajedrez mundial cuyos jugadores no son los protagonistas directos de la guerra sino otros: Estados Unidos e Irán. Washington empuja los peones de Israel e Irán los de Siria.
La guerra entre Israel y el Hezbolá le permitió a Siria iniciar la restauración de su perdida influencia en el Líbano y a Irán afianzar su predominio regional. Teherán es el principal apoyo del Hezbolá, el Hezbolá es el enemigo central de Israel, Estados Unidos es el pulmón exterior del Estado hebreo y Siria un cañón que Teherán mueve a su antojo, según el curso de la geopolítica mundial. Todos esos actores convergen en el Líbano para hacer de este amable país una nación herida. Elias Atalá, dirigente de la Izquierda Democrática, admite que no se puede negar la influencia de Irán. “Afirmar que esa injerencia no existe es falso. El Hezbolá es la vanguardia del proyecto iraní que apunta a que el frente líbano-israelí permanezca abierto. Ello puede servir los intereses de Teherán en su postura frente a Occidente en todo lo que atañe a su proyecto nuclear.” El diputado libanés recuerda oportunamente que el Hezbolá mantiene lazos estrechos con Irán y que, en esa relación, Siria es un intermediario inevitable: “El movimiento chiíta permanece fiel al papel militar e ideológico que Irán le asignó. Hezbolá se beneficia también con las capacidades logísticas y militares de Irán que Teherán suministra a través del régimen sirio”. Para Walid Jumblat, diputado druso y jefe del Partido Socialista Progresista, ese esquema es la peor cosa que pudo ocurrirle al Líbano. Jumblat piensa que Irán ha negociado su programa nuclear bajo los escombros de la guerra israelo-libanesa. “Puede admitirse que lo que ha ocurrido desde el 12 de julio le permitió al Hezbolá romper la invencibilidad de Israel, pero esto se inscribe en el juego de Siria e Irán. Teherán negocia sobre las tierras quemadas del Líbano la continuación de su programa nuclear.” Para Jumblat, que expresa un odio sin reservas a cualquier evocación de Siria, el Líbano es, de nuevo, un campo de experimentos para las fuerzas extranjeras.
El poder libanés está dividido entre los pro y los antisirios. En febrero de 2005, el atentado de que fue víctima el ex primer ministro libanés Rafia Hariri le costó a Damasco su presencia en territorio libanés. La comunidad internacional, en particular Francia y Estados Unidos, acusó a Siria de haber organizado el atentado de Hariri. La presión fue tan fuerte que, en abril de 2005, Siria tuvo que acelerar la evacuación completa de las tropas que mantenía en territorio libanés desde hacia más de treinta años. La ofensiva israelí le entreabrió a Damasco las puertas de un Líbano fragilizado, expuesto militarmente a cualquier empresa. La guerra también esboza otro futuro posible: por primera vez en los últimos cuarenta años, a pesar de sus escasos medios y de las directas influencias regionales, el Líbano puede soñar con recuperar la autoridad territorial perdida. The Daily Star, diario libanés escrito en inglés, comentaba al respecto que la incursión Israelí cambiaba el orden del juego: “Esto terminó con la situación que imperaba desde fines de los años ’60, cuando el Estado perdió el control del sur del Líbano”. Aunque no lo dicen públicamente, algunos hombres políticos libaneses vaticinan en privado una reconfiguración completa del mapa regional. Para ellos, al salir del Líbano sin una victoria, Israel les dio a Irán y Siria un peso mayor al que tenían. Otros interlocutores arguyen lo contrario y resaltan que es Beirut quien salió de las sombras: la resolución 1701 no sólo le permitió recuperar el sur fronterizo, sino también la voz para oponerse a los dictámenes sirios.
Queda, no obstante, el elemento central: la reafirmación del Hezbolá como fuerza militar inevitable y como lazo de unión nacional. El Hezbolá era un actor fuerte, pero la forma en que gestionó la ofensiva israelí lo propulsó a otro plano. Elias el Jury, analista del diario An Nahar, reconoce sin vueltas los beneficios que sacó el Hezbolá: “Ha logrado que haya un consenso en el país con respecto a Israel”. Y no es todo. El primer ministro libanés, Fuad Siniora, introdujo los objetivos del Hezbolá en el plan que elaboró para poner término al conflicto. Israel-Palestina-Líbano-Siria-Irán-Israel-Estados Unidos. Alrededor de este escenario lleno de primeros planos aparecen otras guerras de influencia que no son ajenas al engranaje actual. El prolongado silencio de los países árabes muestra las ambivalencias de las mismas naciones árabes cuando se trata de defender a uno de los suyos. Las famosas pero ya olvidadas caricaturas de Mahoma publicadas por la prensa internacional levantaron una ola de manifestaciones y reacciones diplomáticas árabes un millón de veces más poderosas que los mil muertos civiles libaneses. La mayoría de los países árabes son sunnitas. Los tres grandes mediadores de la región, Egipto, Jordania y Arabia Saudita, mantuvieron un prolongado silencio. En medio de los bombardeos, Arabia Saudita condenó el “aventurismo” del Hezbolá. El programa nuclear de un régimen chiíta como Irán es una obsesión para un régimen sunnita como el saudita. Israel parece al final como el actor que, en nombre de su seguridad, juega la pieza de otros autores.
© 2000-2006 www.pagina12.com.ar|República Argentina|Todos los Derechos Reservados
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elmundo/4-71897-2006-08-24.html
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Irán aprovecha los errores ajenos
COMO TEHERAN SE HA FORTALECIDO CON LA GUERRA ANTITERRORISTA
El régimen ayatola, que se niega a congelar su plan nuclear, se vio beneficiado hasta con la guerra en Líbano, según un informe británico.
Por Marcelo Justo
Desde Londres, Jueves, 24 de Agosto de 2006
La “guerra contra el terrorismo” ha favorecido a Irán al sacar del escenario a sus dos principales rivales en la zona, los talibanes y Saddam Hussein. Esta es la conclusión de un estudio de 52 páginas del prestigioso Instituto Real de Relaciones Internacionales con sede en Londres, conocido como Chatam House. “Irán es más influyente que Estados Unidos en la región y tiene una influencia cada vez más importante en la relación de esta región y el resto de Asia. El reciente fracaso de Israel en Líbano ha fortalecido esta posición”, indicó a Página/12 el director del estudio de Chatam House, Robert Lee.
Visto con este prisma, las victorias de Estados Unidos en Afganistán, en noviembre de 2001, y contra el régimen iraquí, en abril de 2003, tienen bastante de pírricas. “El fundamentalismo sunnita talibán y la dictadura secular iraquí eran los principales enemigos de Irán en la región. Estados Unidos no logró sustituirlos con gobiernos estables y prósperos. Lo que ha quedado entonces es un vacío de poder en muchas zonas ocupado o aprovechado por Irán”, puntualiza Lee.
En Afganistán el gobierno de Hamid Karzai sólo controla parcialmente el país. La influencia de Irán es reducida en ese país sunnita, pero en Irak, donde alrededor del 60 por ciento de la población es chiíta, el gobierno de Mahmud Ahmadi-nejad se ha convertido en un referente en el caos post Saddam Hussein. También la actual crisis en Líbano ha tenido favorables repercusiones regionales para Irán. Al principio del conflicto, Estados Unidos, el Reino Unido e Israel insinuaron que Arabia Saudita, Egipto, Jordania y otros países de la región veían con buenos ojos la posible eliminación de Hezbolá, porque neutralizaba el peligro iraní. “Creemos que estas tensiones existen, pero que fueron exageradas. También creemos que en Occidente no se presta suficiente atención a la importancia que tiene la opinión pública de estos países en todo el conflicto regional con Israel”, señaló Lee.
El cese de hostilidades en Líbano dejó bien parado a Hezbolá e incrementó su prestigio en el conflicto que subyace en buena parte de los problemas de Medio Oriente: la situación palestina. Pero además tiene fuertes repercusiones sobre la política de Irán hacia Occidente. “Irán es demasiado importante por razones políticas, económicas, culturales, religiosas y militares. Si a esto se le suma que la actual situación política en la región ha fortalecido su papel, se puede entender por qué Irán puede adoptar una posición dura en toda la negociación en torno de su programa nuclear”, subraya Lee.
Pero no todas son rosas para el gobierno iraní. El informe de Cha-tham House describe las tensiones internas que existen entre el popular Ahmadinejad y el guía espiritual de Irán, el ayatola Jamenei. Según el documento, el ayatola no ve con buenos ojos la retórica “milenarista” de Ahmadinejad que ha negado el Holocausto y ha asegurado que se debe borrar a Israel del mapa. Pero la conclusión del informe es clara. “Estados Unidos debería revisar su política hacia el gobierno de Irán. Por el momento lo que está haciendo es poner parches en vez de examinar cuáles son sus intereses estratégicos y cómo puede ponerlos en práctica”, indicó a este diario Robert Lee.
© 2000-2006 www.pagina12.com.ar|República Argentina|Todos los Derechos Reservados
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elmundo/4-71889-2006-08-24.html
Página/12:
Llamado de Blumberg a la seguridad, insegura
Por Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
Jueves, 24 de Agosto de 2006
Blumberg y sus aliados han convocado a una marcha por la seguridad, para el día 31 de agosto. Su reclamo consiste en pedir una policía unificada a nivel nacional y bajar la edad de imputabilidad de los menores. Dice que “la marcha será apolítica” y que “no pueden permitir que los menores sigan asesinando gente”. Evidentemente busca soluciones por el camino de la fuerza y lograr que se sancione en el Congreso una ley para penalizar a los menores, porque –según el ingeniero– “hay que impedir que maten gente”. Podemos comprender y acompañar, ya que ha sufrido una dura experiencia personal dolorosa como es la pérdida de un hijo, pero hay que tener cuidado de no generalizar. Hay organizaciones de familiares víctimas de la violencia social como Avise, que reclaman Verdad y Justicia, juicio y castigo a los responsables, pero lo hacen dentro del marco de la ley y el derecho. Las leyes vigentes en el país son buenas, lo que falta es aplicarlas correctamente.
Otro de los problemas planteados por Blumberg es que, según su entender, los menores matan. Es correcta hasta cierto punto su afirmación, pero debe entenderse que la pobreza no es un delito, los chicos y chicas en situación de riesgo social no son delincuentes, son víctimas de una sociedad injusta y sufren la marginación y la represión. Es cierto que ha aumentado la inseguridad social, pero no se soluciona con medidas represivas, poniendo más policías. Ya han intentado bajar la edad de imputabilidad de los menores, pero quiero recordar que existen leyes y resoluciones internacionales, como la Convención de la Infancia de las Naciones Unidas, que los países miembros tienen la obligación de respetar y hacer respetar. Blumberg ha equivocado el camino. Y es peligroso pensar que aplicando la mano dura resolverá los problemas sociales. Son medidas que llevan al totalitarismo y al fascismo, generando y aumentando el miedo, el sometimiento y las violaciones de los derechos humanos. Estos planteos buscan aparentemente mayor seguridad pero generan mayor inseguridad.
La alternativa para superar la violencia y la inseguridad pasa por generar los espacios de acción social superadores de la pobreza, y proponer planes educativos y la participación de los jóvenes en la sociedad. Muchas de esas políticas están en marcha. El Ministerio de Educación lleva adelante planes de alfabetización a nivel nacional; el Ministerio de Desarrollo Social y el de Salud han implementado planes de asistencia y promoción humana, muchos municipios llevan adelante programas de asistencia a la minoridad, atendiendo la salud, educación y el derecho a una vida digna.
Organismos de derechos humanos y sociales comprometidos con el trabajo legal y social con menores en riesgo social vienen desarrollando planes, programas y proponiendo políticas, a nivel nacional y local. Hacer creer que la seguridad se logra con mayor represión y sanciones contra sectores de la población, contra los mal llamados chicos de la calle, como Blumberg lo ha señalado en su oportunidad, es no querer ver o no comprender la situación social. Sería bueno que toda esa energía puesta en buscar mecanismos de una seguridad cada vez más insegura que lleva a propuestas represivas y a la pérdida de los derechos, las use correctamente para impulsar políticas sociales en bien de todos. Y para ayudar a los más desprotegidos y no marginarlos, porque tienen los mismos derechos que todo ciudadano.
Y otra cosa que es necesario tener presente es la decisión política del gobierno nacional y de algunas provincias, no todas, de fortalecer las instituciones de las fuerzas de seguridad y el rol que éstas deben cumplir. Debemos recordar que en sus orígenes las fuerzas de seguridad fueron constituidas como fuerzas de prevención y seguridad social; lamentablemente, políticas como las que propone Blumberg hacen que continúen actuando como fuerzas de represión, lo que rechazamos rotundamente.Vemos que también en las fuerzas de seguridad comienza a comprenderse esta diferencia y esperamos que, como instituciones al servicio del pueblo, puedan cumplir sus obligaciones en defensa de la vida, la dignidad de la persona y el pueblo. Hay signos esperanzadores en esa dirección que hay que profundizar. La democracia y los derechos humanos son valores indivisibles y son espacios a construir ciudadanía con el esfuerzo de todos. Que la marcha del 31 sea “apolítica” no se lo cree ni el mismo Blumberg.
Venimos de experiencias muy duras para restablecer el estado de derecho en el país y el respeto a los derechos humanos. Hemos aprendido que nada es aséptico, la marcha plantea objetivos políticos para establecer espacios donde la seguridad que propone sea el autoritarismo y no el derecho; que la policía de “mano dura” reprima y que los jueces juzguen a los pobres como delincuentes. Ya conocemos esos mecanismos que buscaron imponer Patti, Bussi, Rico y los personeros de la dictadura militar. Eso no resuelve el grave problema que vive el país, heredado de gobiernos incapaces y del saqueo a que fue sometido.
Es necesario hacer memoria. No es porque sí no más que tenemos cerca de 10 millones de personas en situación de pobreza, que mueran niños de hambre y enfermedades evitables, que haya aumentado el analfabetismo. Esa es la inseguridad que hoy sufre el país. Es necesario construir los espacios que garanticen la seguridad social. Se necesita un debate nacional para analizar el camino a recorrer y aportar a la vida y seguridad de nuestro pueblo. Con la represión nada se construye. Cada uno debe decidir qué hacer. Y quienes participen de la marcha el día 31 deben tener claro los objetivos, analizar qué es lo mejor para el país para no ser sorprendidos en su buena fe.
© 2000-2006 www.pagina12.com.ar|República Argentina|Todos los Derechos Reservados
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/contratapa/13-71902-2006-08-24.html
The Independent: Hizbollah's reconstruction of Lebanon
is winning the loyalty of disaffected Shia
Robert Fisk
Published: 24 August 2006
Hizbollah has trumped both the UN army and the Lebanese government by pouring hundreds of millions of dollars - most of it almost certainly from Iran - into the wreckage of southern Lebanon and Beirut's destroyed southern suburbs. Its massive new reconstruction effort - free of charge to all those Lebanese whose homes were destroyed or damaged in Israel's ferocious five-week assault on the country - has won the loyalty of even the most disaffected members of the Shia community in Lebanon.
Hizbollah has made it clear that it has no intention of disarming under the UN Security Council's 1701 ceasefire resolution and yesterday afternoon, Major-General Alain Pellegrini, the commander of the UN Interim Force in southern Lebanon - which the Americans and British are relying upon to seize the guerrilla army's weapons - personally confirmed to me at his headquarters in Naqoura that "the Israelis can't ask us to disarm Hizbollah". Describing the ceasefire as "very fragile" and "very dangerous", he stated that disarming Hizbollah "is not written in the mandate".
But for now - and in the total absence of the 8,000-strong foreign military force that is intended to join Unifil with a supposedly "robust" mandate - Hizbollah has already won the war for "hearts and minds". Most householders in the south have received - or are receiving - a minimum initial compensation payment of $12,000 (£6,300), either for new furniture or to cover their family's rent while Hizbollah construction gangs rebuild their homes. The money is being paid in cash - almost all in crisp new $100 bills - to up to 15,000 families across Lebanon whose property was blitzed by the Israelis, a bill of $180m which is going to rise far higher when reconstruction and other compensation is paid.
In the 20sqkm of Beirut's southern suburbs which have been destroyed or badly damaged in 35 days of Israeli bombing, 500,000 residents - most of them Shia - lost their homes. But money is being poured in. For example, one Shia owning four floors of an apartment block, Hussein Selim, has already received $42,000 in cash for his possessions and lost furniture. And Hizbollah has pledged to rebuild the entire municipal area from its own - or perhaps Iran's - funds.
A frightening side to this long-term promise for believers in the UN ceasefire is that Hizbollah has encouraged its Shia population to rent homes in Khalde, south of Beirut, since it intends to delay its entire city construction project for a year - because of its conviction that the ceasefire will break down and that another Israeli-Hizbollah war will only wreck newly built homes.
Across the devastation of southern Lebanon, Hizbollah has now visited hundreds of thousands of Shia families for details of their losses. In some cases, Lebanese government officials - largely distrusted by the local population - have also made notes of compensation costs but all the authorities have done so far is to start the repair of water pipes and power lines. I found bulldozers working for Hizbollah's "Jihad al-Bena" company, clearing rubble from streets and tearing down half-destroyed houses. "We are doing this for nothing at the moment, but we know we will get paid because we trust Sheikh Hassan," a construction team leader told me. Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah leader, has promised to indemnify all survivors.
Driving more than 100 miles across the south of the country yesterday, the sheer enormity of Hizbollah's task - and of the Lebanese government's failure - becomes evident. Looking across thegreen countryside of southern Lebanon, the villages appear undamaged as they bask in thesun. But the closer you get, the more you notice vast grey fields of rubble that were once homes. Some villages - Bint Jbeil, for example, and Zibqin - have been half-destroyed.
In Zibqin itself, I found one especially poignant ruin: the bombed remains of a mosque well over 1,000 years old which the Lebanese believe contains the body of Zein Ali Yaqin, son of the Prophet Yacoub - Jacob in the Jewish faith - and grandson of the Prophet Ibrahim, or Abraham. Two of Abraham's sons - Yacoub and Ismail (Ishmael) - define the split between Islam and Judaism, the former believing God told Abraham to sacrifice Ismail and the latter contending it was Yacoub/Jacob who was to be sacrificed. Zein Ali Yaqin is thus of precious Jewish lineage - yet the casket containing his mortal remains actually moved on the floor of the shrine as Israeli bombs fell outside.
The explosives have blasted down an old façade and tumbled hundreds of rocks from the original outside wall of the green-domed mosque on the slope below, cracking open the interior walls and cascading wreckage on to the floor beside the cloth-covered tomb. "The Israelis did all this to their own man," Hussein Barakat said as he hobbled down the road below. "Everyone here knows the origin of our little shrine, but look at it now." Mr Barakat is 69 and was the only villager to remain in Zibqin when the rest of the villagers fled the Israeli bombardment. He has a wound on one finger and has been left half deaf from the sound of explosions.
Bodies of civilians and Hizbollah fighters were still being unearthed from the wreckage of southern Lebanon this week; four brothers, all members of Hizbollah it turned out, died together under Israeli fire in the eastern town of Khiam. Some civilian families searched in vain through the rubble for relatives. In Siddiqin, just east of Qana, I found one shopkeeper who had spent hours trying to discover the ruins of his two shops which had been turned to dust by aerial bombs. But he, too, believed that "Sheikh Hassan" would rebuild his home. A few miles away, I found a 65-year-old woman clambering like a cat over the pancaked roof of her home, looking for her family gold in clefts between the packed concrete.
It is Hizbollah's army of workers which has been told to rebuild these villages. The guerrilla army's political and economic organisation will hire the tens of thousands of men to reconstruct a virtual city within Beirut and turn south Lebanon's wasteland back into the farming and tobacco-growing villages that existed two months ago.
© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article1221306.ece
The Independent:
Kelly urges 'honest debate' on multi-culturalism
PA
Published: 24 August 2006
Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly today called for a "new and honest debate" on the value of a multi-cultural society in Britain.
Launching the Government's Commission on Integration and Cohesion, she warned there was a danger that communities were becoming increasingly isolated from each other.
"We have moved from a period of uniform consensus on the value of multi-culturalism to one where we can encourage that debate by questioning whether it is encouraging separateness," she said at the launch in south London.
"They are difficult questions and it is important that we don't shy away from them.
"In our attempt to avoid imposing a single British identity and culture, have we ended up with some communities living in isolation from each other with no common bonds between them?"
The decision to establish the commission, to improve community cohesion and tackle extremism, was originally taken in the wake of last year's July 7 bomb attacks in London.
While Ms Kelly said diversity had been a "huge asset" to Britain, she warned that, as new waves of immigrants came into the country, international events increasingly impacted on community relations.
"Global tensions are being reflected on the streets of local communities," she said.
She also warned of the dangers of white Britons becoming alienated by the pace of social change.
Detached from the benefits of those changes, they begin to believe the stories about ethnic minorities getting special treatment and to develop resentment - a sense of grievance, she said.
Ms Kelly called for an "open and honest" debate on community cohesion.
"We must not be censored by political correctness and we can't tiptoe around the issues.
"For example, it's clear that we need a controlled, well-managed system of immigration that has clear rules and integrity to counter exploitation from the far right," she said.
Adding that she agreed with Home Secretary John Reid that it was "not racist" to debate immigration and asylum, Ms Kelly went on to say that such discussions should be based on "fact and not myth".
"Our ideas and policies should not be based on special treatment for minority ethnic faith communities.
"That would only exacerbate division rather than help build cohesion.
"And as a society, we should have the confidence to say 'no' to certain suggestions from particular ethnic groups but, at the same time, to make sure everyone can be treated equally, there are some programmes that will need to treat groups differently," she said.
But the Secretary of State added that "with rights come responsibilities".
"Even within the framework of mutual tolerance, I believe that there are non-negotiable rules understood by all groups," she said.
"Those who seek to cause conflicts and tension in our communities must be marginalised by the responsible majority.
"That means everyone needs to be involved."
Darra Singh, the chairman of the new commission, said there was not a lot of time before they were due to report next June, but added he was convinced they would come back with "a report and a set of practical recommendations that can set communities up for the longer term".
"There's no more important issue than how we get on with our neighbours."
He added that the emphasis of the work of the commission had to be on practical suggestion, not just "sitting around a table posing questions".
"I am convinced that the commission can help local communities to bring about change.
"I know this is going to be a very tough task," he said.
The commission will have to both "foster debate" while also finding solutions which "are grounded in reality".
He added that he hoped the commission would involve "women, young people and establish communities who may not think that integration is an issue for them".
© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1221451.ece
posted by attilav at 18:48
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