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-News for Mon. 01 Apr & Tue. 02
April 2002 The following news clips are from the BBC and included for your convenience. For more detail contact the BBC website. On the BBC web site you will find country profiles, historic information, as well as supporting articles and related news events. Note: This web page may be updated late at times and may be blank on the above date(s).  The delegates of more than 50
Islamic countries meeting in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, have accused
Israel of dragging the Middle East towards all-out war. The
Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) urged the United Nations to impose
"deterrent sanctions" on Israel and to protect the Palestinians. The BBC's
correspondent at the summit, Jonathan Head, says Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad had viewed the summit - the first Muslim meeting to discuss
terrorism - as an opportunity for the Muslim world to regain some of the moral
ground following the 11 September attacks, by issuing a condemnation of
terrorism in all its forms. But the meeting has been overshadowed by Israeli
actions against Palestinians in the West Bank, following two suicide
bombings. "Israel's terrorist actions and aggressive
practices, posing a threat to international peace and security, and dragging
the region towards an all-out war necessitate immediate action by the United
Nations Security Council," the OIC's statement read. Defining terrorism Dr
Mahathir earlier stressed that the Israeli Government and Palestinians alike
should be condemned as terrorists. He said their targeting of civilians defined
their action as terrorism. "I would like to suggest here that armed attacks or
other forms of attacks against civilians must be regarded as acts of terror and
the perpetrators regarded as terrorists." But he argued that Israeli "state
terrorism" was a bigger danger than terrorist acts by groups or individuals,
and called on the world to "forcibly stop them". Dealing with the causes Dr Mahathir said that the root causes of individual terrorist acts could not be ignored. "We cannot just dismiss them as senseless perverts who enjoy terrorising people," he said. Dr Mahathir said he objected to linking Muslims with terrorism, saying it was not perpetrated by only one race or religion. But he added that Muslims had grievances which were "real and truly unbearable", and the bitterness over perceived injustices and their impotence to do anything about them, led them to "commit terrible acts of terror". "The world must deal with these misguided people not just by hunting them down but also by removing the causes of their anger and frustration," the Malaysian leader said. But our correspondent says the unrest in the Middle East is making it hard for Dr Mahathir to get the backing of other Muslim states for his sweeping condemnation of terrorist acts. Instead of bringing the Muslim world closer to the West, he says, it could simply underscore the huge gulf that still exists between the US perception of the terrorist threat and that of the Islamic world.  The United
States has begun force-feeding two hunger-striking inmates at its detention
camp for suspected Islamic militants at Guantanamo Bay naval base in
Cuba. A military surgeon said the two men were fed on Sunday via
stomach tubes in an operation which proceeded "without incident". The two men
had been receiving hospital treatment for several days over their fast, now in
its 31st day, which appears to be a protest at the uncertainty over their
future. The detention centre houses 300 men detained by the US since the 11
September attacks in its war against terrorism. Military doctors inserted tubes
through the two men's noses and down into their stomachs, feeding them a
"milkshake-like" food commonly used for comatose patients, US officials said.
"It went very smoothly and without incident," said Captain Al Shimkus, the
surgeon in charge of the mobile hospital at Camp X-Ray. The feeding will
continue for at least seven days after which the detainees are expected to
develop normal hunger pangs, he added. US concern  The authorities said in a statement that the detainees were
"refusing to eat because they wanted to go home". A spokesman, Major James
Bell, said earlier that the authorities' chief concern was the two men's
welfare. "We're hoping that they're considering the importance of their lives,"
he said. "We'll do everything we can to help them because that's a priority for
us, the humane treatment of the detainees - and that includes preserving their
lives." The two men are described by US military officials as the most
"hardcore" of the 300 detainees, who are all suspected of links to either the
international Islamic militant group al-Qaeda or Afghanistan's ousted Taleban
regime. Since the start of their hospital treatment, the two have been
receiving liquids intravenously. A human rights report into the
killing in central Nigeria of over 200 unarmed civilians by the army last
October has strongly condemned the Nigerian Government for first
encouraging, then failing to condemn, the military action. According to the
report, published by Human Rights Watch, the killings in Benue State
constituted a clear case of extrajudicial execution. There is also strong
criticism in the report of foreign diplomats who failed to speak out about the
events, described as one of the worst human-rights violations since President
Olusegun Obasanjo came to power in 1999.
 Over a three-day period, soldiers entered a
series of towns and villages in Benue State and opened fire on unarmed
residents. Journalists who arrived on the scene less than 24 hours after the
soldiers had left saw scores of bullet-ridden corpses and every single building
razed to the ground in towns otherwise deserted by their terrified populations.
The Human Rights Watch report describes the assault as a well-planned military
operation carried out in reprisal for the killing of 19 soldiers in the area
two weeks earlier, which was attributed to members of the Tiv ethnic group. The
report says that those killed by the military were targeted simply because they
belonged to the same group. In the report, Human Rights Watch says that not
only has President Obasanjo and his government appeared to condone the military
action, but that an inquiry set up after strong pressure from human rights
groups has not even begun its work, many months after the incident.
 Thousands of mainland
Chinese migrants are vowing to stay in Hong Kong, despite a deadline passing
for them to leave. They were given until midnight (1800 GMT) on
Sunday to leave and the Hong Kong authorities have confirmed they will now
start deporting them. The migrants were born in mainland China and have spent years trying to win the right of abode with their parents in the territory. About 800 people gathered outside government immigration offices on Monday to protest against the deadline, following an all-night rally in a central park.  "This is a government without conscience," said
51-year-old Ko Chin-sheng, who is fighting for his 18-year-old daughter to stay
in Hong Kong. Mr Ko, his wife and three other daughters have residency rights,
but Ko Lai-sha is excluded. "Hong Kong is my home and my daughter has to stay
here," Mr Ko told reporters. "They can arrest me if they want. I won't let her
go."  US authorities are holding a man captured in Pakistan who is believed
to be a senior member of the al-Qaeda terror network, a US official
has said. The man is thought to be Abu Zubaydah, a key deputy of Osama Bin
Laden, the man suspected to have masterminded the 11 September attacks in
America. "It appears that he is Abu Zubaydah but we're not 100% certain of that
at this point," the official said speaking on condition of anonymity. The man
was apprehended in an overnight raid on Wednesday when about 60 people,
including 29 mostly Arab and Afghans, were arrested by Pakistani and US
security forces "The individual is now in US custody," senior Pakistani
Interior Ministry official Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema said. Identification
The official said the man was shot several times by Pakistani security officers
as he tried to escape one of the raids, the official said. He has been
receiving medical treatment, but his current condition is unclear. If the man
is Abu Zubaydah as the US authorities believe, he would be the highest ranking
member of al-Qaeda to fall into American hands since 11 September.
Investigators used "a variety of means" to confirm the man was Zubaydah,
including showing photos to some of his past associates, a US official said.
Zubaydah - also known as Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husain and Abd Al-Hadi
Al-Wahab - serves as Bin Laden's senior field commander. Foiled plots He is
thought to have been born in Saudi Arabia, but has strong connections with
Jordan and Palestinian groups. Abu Zubaydah has been sentenced to death in
Jordan, and is believed to have links to many of al-Qaeda's anti-US operations.
When Bin Laden and his inner circle called for an attack, it was Zubaydah who
would contact the cells in the field to conduct them, the US authorities say.
US officials say he organised several attacks on US interests, including the
millennium plots to blow up Los Angeles International Airport and a hotel in
Jordan frequented by American tourists. Zubaydah is also alleged to have worked
in Pakistan recruiting and vetting al-Qaeda volunteers, arranging their
training and assigning them to terrorist cells.United Nations officials are spending a week in Liberia to examine the impact of UN sanctions imposed on the country last year. The sanctions include a ban on diamond exports, an arms embargo and restrictions on travel by senior Liberian officials. They were imposed after Liberia was found to be arming rebels in Sierra Leone in exchange for diamonds.  President Charles Taylor has said the restrictions are
hindering his ability to tackle a rebel insurgency in north-western Liberia.
Denial As the UN team arrived in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, on Sunday,
they were met by a crowd of about 1,000 protesters carrying placards demanding
the immediate lifting of the sanctions. Last October a UN report which spoke of
widespread violations of the sanctions drew strong denials from Liberian
officials, who said the country was in compliance. The visit of the UN team
comes as the Liberian army continues to fight rebels known as Liberians United
for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd). Last week, the government said dozens of civilians died when the rebels attacked the town of Swehn, in Bomi county, 75km north-west of Monrovia.  People on two of the
three Comoro Islands have voted in the first round of elections for their
respective presidents. The elections are being held on Moheli, where
voters have seven candidates to choose from, and Anjouan, which has a field of
six candidates. The vote is reported to have passed off peacefully. The
elections are being held under a peace plan creating new institutions to
resolve years of crisis in the archipelago. Instability New constitutions
provided for each of the three islands to have its own president and greater
autonomy within the renamed Union of the Comoros.  In January, the archipelago's former military ruler,
Colonel Azali Assoumani, stepped down to run for president in the largest of
the three islands, Grande Comore. But while Anjouan and Moheli have accepted
their new constitutions, voters in Grande Comore rejected theirs in a
referendum last month. The vote lead to the indefinite postponement of the
presidential election on Grande Comore. There have been more than 20 coups or
attempted takeovers since independence from France in 1975 - the latest on 19
December. |
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