WarSclerotic

Exclusive: Arms ship seized by Yemen may have been Somalia-bound: U.N. | Reuters.

(Reuters) – An Iranian ship laden with arms seized by Yemeni authorities in January may also have been bound for Somalia, according to a confidential U.N. report seen by Reuters on Monday.

Yemeni forces intercepted the ship, the Jihan 1, off Yemen’s coast on January 23. U.S. and Yemeni officials said it was carrying a large cache of weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, being smuggled from Iran to insurgents in Yemen.

The confidential U.N. report, by the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, cited Yemeni officials as saying that it was possible diesel carried aboard the ship could have been intended for shipment to Somalia.

The group, which tracks compliance with Security Council sanctions, raised concerns in the report about the flow of weapons to Islamist al-Shabaab militants since the U.N. Security Council eased an arms embargo on Somalia’s fragile Western-backed government earlier this year.

The report did not explicitly say that weapons on the ship were headed for Somalia, but one U.N. Security Council diplomat said that if it was true that the diesel was intended for Somalia, it could not be ruled out that other items on the ship, including weapons, might also have been intended for there.

Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for Iran’s U.N. mission, rejected the suggestion that Iran could be connected in any way with arms supplies to al-Shabaab.

“These are some baseless allegations and ridiculous fabrications about the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said. “This alleged report by the Monitoring Group on Somalia on arms shipments from Iran carries no basis or the minimum rationality.”

A Western diplomat said that the fact that there were 16,716 blocks of C4 explosive on the Jihan 1 suggested a potential connection between Iran and al-Shabaab in Somalia, as Huthi rebels, unlike al-Shabaab, were not known to use C4.

The U.N. mission for Somalia did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The U.N. experts wrote that according to Yemeni security officials, the arms and ammunition were well-packed in small containers concealed inside several large compartments filled with diesel fuel.

“Yemeni officials indicated that this arms consignment was to be delivered to the Huthi rebellion in north Yemen,” the report to the Security Council’s sanctions committee said. “However the Monitoring Group investigated if some of the Jihan 1 cargo could have been intended for delivery in Somalia.”

“When asked about this, security officials confirmed that the diesel could have been bound for Somalia,” the report said. “Members of the crew have also divulged to a diplomatic source who interviewed them in Aden that the diesel was bound for Somalia.”

The potential Somalia connection was not raised in a recent report by the U.N. Panel of Experts on Iran that monitors compliance with the U.N. sanctions regime against Tehran.

That report said five of the Iran panel’s eight members found that all available information clearly placed Tehran at the center of the Jihan arms smuggling operation. But three panel members – who U.N. diplomats said were from Russia, China and Nigeria – said the Jihan incident was a “probable”, not definite, violation of the U.N. ban on Iranian arms exports.

AL-SHABAAB REMAINS STRONG

The latest experts’ report said Yemen was the top source of arms in Somalia.

The group wrote that authorities in Puntland – a semi-autonomous region of Somalia which has a fractious relationship with Mogadishu – had said that one reason they had passed a law banning Yemeni petroleum imports the ease with which arms were smuggled in diesel containers like the ones on the Jihan 1.

“Additional evidence indicates the involvement of an individual entity based in Djibouti as part of a network that supplies arms and ammunition to al-Shabaab in Somalia,” it said.

The report said that al-Shabaab remained strong, even though it had been driven out of a number of cities and towns.

“The military strength of al-Shabaab, with an approximately 5,000-strong force, remains arguably intact, in terms of operational readiness, chain of command, discipline, and communication capabilities,” it said. “At present, al-Shabaab remains the principal threat to peace and security in Somalia.”

The monitoring group said it was concerned about the possible export from Somalia of know-how in the manufacture of suicide vests and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to Kenya and Uganda. It said it had analyzed a suicide vest discovered in Kenya in March, which was similar to ones used by al-Shabaab.

This, the group said, “suggests a transfer of know-how between al-Shabaab in Somalia and al-Shabaab members or its sympathizers operating in Kenya.”

Although piracy off Somalia’s coast had decreased, it said some of the demobilized pirates were providing private security services to unlicensed fishing vessels off Somalia’s coast.

“Puntland officials estimate that tens of thousands of metric tons (1 metric ton = 1.1023 tons) of illegal catch has been fished from Puntland’s coastline between 2012 and 2013 by hundreds of illegal fishing vessels,” the report said.

“The vessels are predominantly Iranian and Yemeni owned and all use Somali armed security,” it said.

The Monitoring Group said it was investigating reports that illegal fishing vessels were also being used to smuggle weapons.

While the reports were unconfirmed, the group had established “other connections between the illegal fishing networks and networks involved in the arms trade and connected to al-Shabaab in northeastern Somalia,” the report said.

The Monitoring Group said Puntland officials estimated that as many as 180 illegal Iranian and 300 illegal Yemeni vessels were fishing in Somali waters, along with a small number of Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean and European-owned vessels.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

Egyptian foreign minister resigns as Morsi remains defiant | The Times of Israel.

Islamists threaten civil war if generals ousts government; military issues 48-hour ultimatum but insists it won’t lead to a coup

An Egyptian protester covers his head by a national flag during a demonstration against Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Monday, July 1, 2013 (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

CAIRO — Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr submitted his resignation early Tuesday in response to ongoing political protests, which have seen millions take to the streets in Cairo and elsewhere in an effort to oust President Mohammed Morsi from office.

Amr’s resignation, reported by Egyptian state media, comes after five other Cabinet ministers said they stepped down from their posts Monday.The five are the ministers of communications, legal affairs, environment, tourism and water utilities, according to MENA, the Egyptian state news agency. The governor of the strategic province of Ismailia on the Suez Canal, Hassan el-Rifaai, also quit.

Early Tuesday, Morsi responded to a 48-hour ultimatum from the military to come to terms with opposition protesters by saying that he would not allow the army to step in and supersede Egyptian democracy.

Morsi’s office issued a statement just after midnight saying a “modern democratic state” was one of the main achievements of the anti-Mubarak revolution, adding, “With all its force, Egypt will not allow itself to be taken backward.” It said Morsi was still reviewing the military’s statement, but added some parts of it “could cause disturbances in the complicated national scene.”

Egypt’s military issued a “last-chance” ultimatum Monday afternoon to Morsi, giving him 48 hours to meet the demands of millions of protesters in the streets seeking the ouster of the Islamist leader or the generals will intervene and impose their own plan for the country.

The military’s statement, read on state TV, put enormous pressure on Morsi to step down and sent giant crowds opposing the president in Cairo and other cities into delirious celebrations of singing, dancing and fireworks. But the ultimatum raised worries on both sides the military could outright take over, as it did after the 2011 ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

It also raised the risk of a backlash from Morsi’s Islamist backers, including his powerful Muslim Brotherhood and hard-liners, some of whom once belonged to armed militant groups. Already they vowed to resist what they depicted as a threat of a coup against a legitimately elected president.

Amr, 71, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and representative to the World Bank, was assigned to the post of foreign minister in 2011, during the interim period after the fall of Mubarak but before national elections, when the country was governed by the military. He became the third person to hold the post in six months.

It is widely viewed that he kept his position under Morsi, who formed his Cabinet in August 2012, because the fledgling government wanted a sign of continuity.

However, in the last two days, any political stability gained over the last year by Cairo has dissipated into several million-strong protests across Egypt, as liberal and secular oppositionists, angered over a withering economy and the rise of Islamists, demand Morsi leave office.

In the second day straight day of anti-Morsi protests nationwide on Monday, men and women danced outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace, some cried with joy and bands on a stage played revolutionary songs after the military’s statement.

Pro-Morsi marches numbering in the several thousands began after nightfall in a string of cities around the country, sparking clashes in some places. An alliance of the Brotherhood and Islamists read a statement at a televised conference calling on people to rally to prevent “any attempt to overturn” Morsi’s election.

“Any coup of any kind against legitimacy will only pass over our dead bodies,” one leading Brotherhood figure, Mohammed el-Beltagi, told a rally by thousands of Islamists outside a mosque near the Ittihadiya presidential palace.

A line of around 1,500 men with shields, helmets and sticks — assigned with protecting the rally — stamped their feet in military-like lines, singing, “Stomp our feet, raise a fire. Islam’s march is coming.”

US President Barack Obama said the US is committed to democracy in Egypt, not any particular leader. Traveling in Tanzania, Obama said that although Morsi was democratically elected, the government must respect its opposition and minority groups.

Army troops at checkpoints on roads leading to the pro-Morsi rally searched cars for weapons after reports that some Islamists were arming themselves.

Egyptian protesters shout slogans and wave national flags during a demonstration against Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Monday, July 1, 2013 (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

The army’s ultimatum has raised an unsettling prospect for many of the oppositionists as well. Many expressed worries of an army takeover. During the time the generals were in power, many of those now in the anti-Morsi campaign led demonstrations against military rule, angered by its management of the transition and heavy hand in the killing of protesters.

“Morsi will leave, but I’m concerned with the plan afterward. The military should be a tool to pressure, but we had a bitter experience with military ruling the country, and we don’t want to repeat it,” said Roshdy Khairy, a 24-year-old doctor among the throngs in Tahrir Square.

Hours after its announcement, the military issued a second statement on its Facebook page denying it intended a coup. “The ideology and culture of the Egyptian armed forces does not allow for the policy of a military coup,” it said.

In its initial statement, the military said it would “announce a road map for the future and measures to implement it” if Morsi and its opponents cannot reach a consensus within 48 hours — a virtual impossibility. It promised to include all “patriotic and sincere” factions in the process.

The military underlined it will “not be a party in politics or rule.” But it said it has a responsibility to find a solution because Egypt’s national security is facing a “grave danger,” according to the statement.

It did not detail the road map, but it heavily praised the massive protests that began Sunday demanding that Morsi step down and that early elections be called — suggesting that call had to be satisfied. It said the protests were “glorious,” adding that the participants expressed their opinion “in peaceful and civilized manner.” It urged “the people’s demands to be met.”

In this Thursday Feb, 21, 2013 file photo, released by the Egyptian Presidency, Egyptian Minister of Defense, Lt. Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, left, meets with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi at the presidential headquarters in Cairo, Egypt (AP Photo/Mohammed Abd El Moaty, Egyptian Presidency, File)

Morsi met with military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Prime Minister Hesham Kandil, according to the president’s Facebook page, without giving details. Associated Press calls to presidential spokesmen were not answered.

The swiftness of the military’s new statement suggested it was prompted by the stunning turnout by the opposition on Sunday — and the eruptions of violence that point to how the confrontation could spiral into chaos if it continues.

Sunday’s protests on the first anniversary of Morsi’s inauguration were the largest seen in the country in the 2½ years of turmoil since Egyptians first rose up against Mubarak in January 2011. Millions packed Tahrir Square, the streets outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace and main squares in cities around the country.

Violence broke out in several parts of the country, often when marchers came under gunfire, apparently from Islamists. In Cairo, anti-Morsi youth attacked the main headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood with stones and fire bombs, while Brotherhood supporters barricaded inside opened fired on them. The clash ended early Monday when the protesters broke into the luxury villa and ransacked it, setting fires.

Nationwide, at least 16 people were killed Sunday and more than 780 injured, Health Ministry spokesman Yehya Moussa told state television.

The crowds returned Monday across the country — in slightly smaller numbers, but in a more joyous mood after the military’s announcement gave them hope of a quick victory. The group organizing the protests, Tamarod, Arabic for “Rebel,” issued an ultimatum of its own, giving Morsi until Tuesday afternoon to step down or it would escalate the rallies.

“Come out, el-Sissi. The people want to topple the regime,” protesters in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla el-Kubra chanted, drumming out a rhythm with a stick on the carcass of a sheep. “Sheep” is the slur many in the opposition use against Brotherhood members, depicting them as mindless followers — to the fury of the Brothers, many of whom are professionals from doctors to university professors.

The broad boulevards packed with anti-Morsi protesters outside the presidential palace transformed into a party.

“In every street in my country the sound of freedom is calling,” blared a song that originally emerged during the Arab Spring. Bands on a stage played other revolutionary songs.

“God willing we will be victorious over the president and his failing regime,” said Mohammed el-Tawansi, sitting on the pavement with his wife singing along.

“He divided us, now the people and the army are together. They will not be able to do anything. They can’t fight the people and the army,” he said, referring to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Down the street, protester Amr el-Ayat raised a banner reading “cautious optimism.”

“The military statement was good, because we have no other way now,” he said. “But I worry people will deify el-Sissi. The military is to protect, not to rule.”

Some were perfectly happy to have the military take over. In Tahrir, Omar Moawad el-Sayed, a math teacher with the beard of a Muslim conservative, said he wished el-Sissi had outright announced military rule.

“The military is the most impartial institution now,” he said.

Some hoped that the military’s road map would be a framework drawn up by Tamarod. Under it, after Morsi steps down, the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court would become an interim president and a technocrat government would be formed. An expert panel would write a new constitution to replace the one largely drafted by Islamists, and a new presidential election would be held in six months.

For Islamists, however, the idea of Morsi stepping down was an inconceivable infringement on the repeated elections they won since Mubarak’s fall, giving them not only a longtime Muslim Brotherhood leader as president but majorities in parliament.

Morsi and Brotherhood officials say they are defending democratic legitimacy and some have depicted the protests as led by Mubarak loyalists trying to return to power. But many of his Islamist allies have also depicted it as a fight against Islam.

“The military has sacrificed legitimacy. There will be a civil war,” said Manal Shouib, a 47-year-old physiotherapist at the pro-Morsi rally outside the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque not far from Ittihadiya.

Ahmed Abdel-Aziz, who was the “trainer” of the line of men doing military-style drills, shouted and roared in a tirade against Mubarak loyalists, Christians, judges, police, opposition politicians, columnists and writers he said were conspiring against Morsi. He said they attacked “anywhere that has Islam in it.”

“El-Sissi’s statement doesn’t concern us. We will sacrifice ourselves to defend legitimacy and we will die if this is our destiny,” he told the AP. “If the whole of Egypt is wiped out so that God’s word can remain, so be it.”

At sunset, the cleric at Rabia al-Adawiya led prayers, asking God to “accept us as martyrs for your cause and make your slave Mohammed Morsi victorious.”

Nearly 1,500 supporters of the president marched in the Canal city of Suez after night prayers, chanting for Morsi and damaging cars. Some carried sticks and rifles that fire birdshot, witnesses said. Residents confronted them, taking their weapons and firing in the air to disperse them, while the army deployed and fired tear gas.

Outside the palace, protesters contended that Morsi could not survive with only the Islamist bloc on his side.

“It is now the whole people versus one group. What can he do?” said Mina Adel, a Christian accountant. “The army is the savior and the guarantor for the revolution to succeed.”

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press

Israel Hayom | ‘Iran will not get the bomb’.

Raising the stakes: Egypt’s army reprises hero role in political drama – Alarabiya.net English | Front Page.

Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Egyptian military helicopters trailing national flags circle over Cairo during anti-Mursi protests. (Reuters)

Egypt’s army reprised its role as hero in a new act of the country’s political drama on Monday with a move celebrated by protesters as a decisive blow against an unpopular president just two and half years after the military unseated his predecessor.

Cairo’s Tahrir Square erupted in party scenes reminiscent of the night Hosni Mubarak was forced from office in 2011, as hundreds of thousands of people rejoiced at an army move they believed heralded the end of President Mohamed Mursi’s rule.

Fireworks burst over the square that was the theatre for the historic 2011 uprising. Delighted protesters waved flags, sounded horns, beat drums and danced in joy at what was widely seen as an army ultimatum to the Islamist head of state.

In 2011, as now, the protesters praised the army for responding to the “will of the people”, disregarding the Islamists rallying in smaller numbers across the other side of town in support of the president freely elected last year.

In Tahrir, there was no talk of the tensions that made the generals the focus of protester fury during 17 months of military rule punctuated with crises. Instead, there was relief that Mursi was on his way out – or so they believed – thanks to the army initiative that did not define his future.

“The army and the people are one hand!” they chanted – a refrain heard the night Mubarak was toppled – as five army helicopters flying Egyptian flags circled over central Cairo.

Spurred on by mass anti-Mursi protests, the army moved in dramatic style on Monday by giving the president and his opponents 48 hours to resolve a standoff that has beset his first year in office. Failure to meet the people’s demands, the army said, would result in the military unveiling and implementing its own road map for the country.

Many analysts doubt the army wants to move back into an executive role. Diplomats say 17 months of interim rule fraught with economic and political crises was more than enough for the generals. In its statement on Monday, the army reiterated its commitment to the nascent democracy.

For Akram Mahmoud, a 50-year old civil servant, a year of Mursi’s presidency had made army rule an attractive option.

“I prefer the army, I want the army to take power. There is nothing greater than our armed forces,” he said, clutching an Egyptian flag as he cursed himself for having voted for Mursi.

He said he had voted for the Muslim Brotherhood politician because he saw him as a man who “knew God”. A year later, he had concluded that he was a man who “traded in religion”.

It echoes the complaints of Egyptians who also list the country’s economic crisis and what they perceive as a Brotherhood power grab as reasons why Mursi must go.

The Islamists rallying for Mursi see the protests demanding he step down as an assault on democracy. If the army is seen as a hero to Mursi’s opponents, Islamists rallying outside a mosque in northern Cairo felt differently.

“Today’s statement is blatant interference in the president’s affairs,” said Mohamed Sabry, an Islamist camped out with others at the rally where their leaders addressed the crowd late into the night.

But to political opposition parties that have struggled to get organised since Mubarak was toppled and lost a series of elections to the Brotherhood, the army’s intervention was a welcome if imperfect way forward.

“They are very strongly supported by the public,” said Mohamed Aboulghar, head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party “The army will be very reasonable,” he added.

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Morsi rebuffs Egyptian army ultimatum, sets own course | JPost | Israel News.

CAIRO – President Mohamed Morsi rebuffed an army ultimatum to force a resolution to Egypt’s political crisis, saying on Tuesday that he had not been consulted and would pursue his own plans for national reconciliation.

The Islamist leader described as potentially confusing Monday’s 48-hour deadline set by the head of the armed forces for him to agree on a common platform with liberal rivals who have drawn millions into the streets demanding Morsi’s resignation.

Members of his Muslim Brotherhood have used the word “coup” to describe the military maneuver, which carries the threat of the generals imposing their own road map for the nation.

But in a statement issued at nearly 2 a.m., fully nine hours after General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delighted Morsi’s opponents by effectively ordering the president to heed the demands of demonstrators, the president’s office used considerably less direct language to indicate he would try to take little notice.

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Reuters 

General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.

“The president of the republic was not consulted about the statement issued by the armed forces,” it said. “The presidency sees that some of the statements in it carry meanings that could cause confusion in the complex national environment.”

Official video was released showing Morsi meeting the uniformed Sisi. Their body language seemed awkward, although it was unclear when it was shot.

The statement from Morsi’s office continued, “The presidency confirms that it is going forward on its previously plotted path to promote comprehensive national reconciliation … regardless of any statements that deepen divisions between citizens.”

Describing civilian rule as a great gain from the revolution of 2011, Egypt’s first freely elected leader, in office for just a year, said he would not let the clock be turned back.

But in referring to his plans for reconciliation as those he had spelt out before, he was speaking of offers that have already been rejected by the opposition, leaving it improbable that such compromises would bear fruit before Sisi’s deadline.

Morsi also spoke to US President Barack Obama by phone on Monday, the presidency said in a separate statement. Morsi stressed that Egypt was moving forward with a peaceful democratic transition based on the law and constitution, it said.

Resignations

A sense of disintegration in the administration since the protests on Sunday has been heightened by the resignations tendered by several ministers who are not members of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. On Tuesday, the state news agency said the foreign minister, Mohamed Kamel Amr, had also asked to step down.

Attacks on Brotherhood offices have added to feelings among Islamists that they are under siege.

Some Brotherhood leaders, who swept a series of votes last year, said they would look to put their own supporters on the streets. After the destruction of the Brotherhood’s headquarters in a battle overnight on Monday in which eight people were killed, the possibility of wider violence seems real.

World powers are looking on anxiously, including the United States, which has long funded the Egyptian army as a key component in the security of Washington’s ally Israel.

General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to his Egyptian counterpart, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday, although it was unclear what was said.

President Barack Obama has urged Morsi and his rivals to compromise. But Washington has also defended the legitimacy of Morsi’s election. It is unclear how far the Egyptian military has informed, or coordinated with, its US sponsors.

Deadlines

The coalition that backed Sunday’s protests said there was no question of it negotiating now with Morsi on the general’s timetable and it was already formulating its positions for discussion directly with the army once the 48 hours are up.

Sisi, in his broadcast statement, insisted that he had the interests of democracy at heart – a still very flawed democracy that Egyptians have been able to practice as a result of the army pushing aside Hosni Mubarak in the face of a popular uprising.

That enhanced the already high standing of the army among Egyptians, and the sight of military helicopters streaming national flags over Cairo’s Tahrir Square at sunset, after Sisi had laid down the law, sent huge crowds into a frenzy of cheers.

 

But on the other side of Egypt’s polarized politics, a Brotherhood spokesman said it might considering forming “self-defense” committees after a series of attacks on its premises.

Another leading figure in the movement, Mohamed El-Beltagy, said: “The coming period will witness an alignment between all the Islamist forces. Their sons will be called on to demonstrate in all streets and squares of the country.”

Among Morsi’s allies are groups with more militant pasts, including al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, a sometime associate of al-Qaida, whose men fought Mubarak’s security forces for years and who have warned they would not tolerate renewed military rule.

Compromises

An alliance of Islamist groups, including the Brotherhood, issued a cautious joint statement that avoided criticizing the army but spoke of it being manipulated by rival parties.

Some Islamist groups, notably the Salafi Nour Party, which came second only to the Brotherhood in parliamentary elections last year, have spoken in favor of dialogue.

But scope for compromise between Morsi and his liberal critics appears narrow without the army imposing a deal.

Morsi has said he favors moving to elections for a new parliament that would give the opposition more say – if, as he points out, it has popular support. But the opposition, convinced the Brotherhood is out to entrench its rule forever, does not trust Morsi and wants to wipe clean a messy slate of institutional reforms since 2011 before holding a vote.

To that end, liberal coalition leaders, represented in negotiations by former UN diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei, are pushing for the senior judge on the constitutional court to replace Morsi as head of state for an interim period, while technocrats – and generals – would administer the country.

How far Sisi is prepare to push Morsi is not clear. Despite a hard line being taken by opposition leaders, some compromise in which Morsi was given time to lead the country, or perhaps to call a referendum on finishing his term, might be possible.

A military source said Sisi was keen not to repeat the experience of the year and a half between Mubarak’s fall and Morsi’s election, when a committee of generals formed a government that proved unpopular as the economy struggled.

The army’s preference would appear to be for a more hands-off approach, supervising government but not running it.

For many Egyptians, fixing the economy is key. Unrest since Mubarak fell has hobbled tourism and investment and the state finances are in poor shape, drained by extensive subsidy regimes and struggling to provide regular supplies of fuel.