Peace Like A River » Cables, dispatches and memoranda

Cables, dispatches and memoranda

February 23, 2009 (12:29 am) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba

Cables, Dispatches and Memoranda A brief world news roundup for 23 February 2009.

United States & the Americas

Derek Reveron, New Atlanticist – The Military the Country Needs
ABC – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says Washington and Beijing must work together if the world is to rebound from the financial crisis and she wants the Chinese to remain committed to investing in America.
US DOJ – Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the appointment of an Executive Director to lead a new interagency task force charged with continued implementation of the President’s Jan. 22 Executive Order calling for an immediate review of the status of individuals currently detained at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
NECN – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a surprise visit to Cuba on Friday night where he was received in Havana by his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro. Cuban state media said on Saturday that Chavez had travelled to Cuba for a meeting with state officials. His arrival had not been expected and his working agenda was also not known.
Periodico – Those meetings focused on the fruitful relations between both nations in different fields. Other issues addressed included the international situation, particularly the global economic crisis and its impact on Latin American and Caribbean countries. Chavez was accompanied by Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, Energy and Oil Minister and President of PDVSA oil enterprise Rafael Ramirez; Minister of the Presidency Luis Reyes and PDVSA President Asdrubal Chavez.
MercoPress – Brazilian mining giant Vale do Rio Doce, the world’s biggest iron ore producer, expects to ship a record-high 30 million tonnes of iron ore to China in the first quarter of 2009, it said on Friday. China is Brazil’s single biggest customer for iron ore and the mining industry is sensitive to any change demand from the Asian giant, which is still in growth as other large economies slide towards recession.
Javno – Colombia’s security chief on Saturday ordered a probe into reports of illegal wiretapping by intelligence agency staff, saying a crime network may have infiltrated the organization. The phone tapping accusations, published by a weekly news magazine, are the latest surveillance scandal at the DAS security agency and come only four months since its former director quit after admitting to spying on opponents of President Alvaro Uribe.
LAHT – The Mexican Attorney General’s Office, or PGR, said Saturday that its unit specialized in organized crime is questioning a suspected kingpin of the drug trade who works for the Beltran Leyva brothers, allies of the powerful Gulf cartel. The suspected criminal, identified as Gerardo Gonzalez or Abraham Esparza, alias “Tony La Mentira” (Tony the Lie) or “La Bitch,” was arrested Friday in a shopping mall in Santa Fe, an exclusive suburb of the Mexican capital, for his suspected ties to the Beltran Leyva organization.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

Kyrgyzstan Foreign Ministry – The Kyrgyz government has officially notified Washington that American forces must vacate an air base outside the capital Bishkek
Times Online – They are supposed to be the “Golden 100”, the cream of an elite new talent pool set up by President Medvedev to fill key posts in the Russian Government. But there is a distinct lack of fresh blood in the list of top management candidates recruited by the Kremlin as part of reforms to end cronyism in public appointments.
RIA Novosti – Russia is beginning to capture new arms markets of Arab countries that were earlier oriented to the West, the head of the Russian Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation said.
RIA Novosti – Two police officers were killed and one wounded in an attack by an unidentified assailant in the Republic of Chechnya in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus region, a local police source said on Sunday. The attack occurred on Saturday afternoon in a toy store in the town of Urus-Martan, southwest of Chechnya’s capital, when the assailant opened fire with a pistol.
Itar-Tass – One gunman was killed as a result of a special operation in Makhachkala, while his woman accomplice was apprehended, Itar-Tass learnt on Sunday from the Dagestan branch Federal Security Service public relations group.
RFERL – The opening of a Russian-owned hydropower plant in Tajikistan has been postponed until the plant’s Tajik electricity supplier can repay a debt of $4.4 million.

Middle East

Middle East Times – Electricity Minister Karim Wahid on Sunday invited France to help Iraq build a nuclear power plant, three decades after Paris constructed a reactor near Baghdad that was bombed by Israeli warplanes.
Asharq Al Awsat – U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched a new military campaign they hope will put an end to a stubborn insurgency in restive Nineveh province, seen as a final holdout for Sunni Islamist militants, officials said on Sunday. Brigadier General Said Ahmed Abdullah, spokesman for the northern province’s military command, said local forces began searching homes and conducting widespread arrests on Friday as part of the new operation to oust al Qaeda militants.
Stars and Stripes – Iraqi troops operating in western Mosul uncovered a large weapons cache in an operation that U.S. commanders say demonstrates the Iraqis’ improvement in recent years. The Iraqi unit was conducting a cordon-and-search operation in the Al Sina’a neighborhood, prompted by an incident in which a bomb-maker blew himself up several weeks before, officials said. A tip from local Iraqis led to the cache.
Israel MFA – Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made the following remarks: “Last Friday, President Shimon Peres charged MK Benjamin Netanyahu with the responsibility of forming a new government in Israel. As one who was involved in forming coalitions and governments for decades, I am aware not only of the complexity of the task but also of its urgency and its importance. Forming a coalition is, in effect, laying the foundation upon which the State of Israel will stand in the coming years. Therefore, and for the benefit of the Israeli people, I would like to congratulate MK Benjamin Netanyahu and wish him success.”
Daily Star – Lebanon’s Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar said Sunday that Hizbullah was not responsible for the two rockets fired at Israel from South Lebanon early Saturday morning, blaming instead poorly armed militants or a new armed group. Najjar, a Lebanese Forces politician in the majority government and a political rival of Hizbullah, said
Al Jazeera – One person has been killed and about 19 people, mostly foreigners, injured in a bomb blast outside Egypt’s historic Hussein mosque in Cairo. Passersby were injured after being hit by stone and marble fragments after the bomb went off outside the mosque, a police official at the scene said.
Today’s Zaman – Eyeing $50 billion in trade volume with the African continent by 2013, Turkey has begun to flesh out the policy of a strategic economic partnership with a number of African countries and especially with sub-Saharan nations, where the potential rate of growth is expected to be much higher in terms of trade volume

Iran

Fars – Iran strongly refused claims raised by British Ambassador to UN John Sawers about its alleged role in attacks against foreign troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sir John Sawers, Britain’s current ambassador to the United Nations, in an interview with BBC on Saturday claimed that Iranian officials had privately admitted their role in supporting insurgents’ roadside bomb attacks on British and US troops.
Defense Update – Iran Nearly Completes Construction of a New Nuclear Reactor in Arak; A satellite image obtained by Defense Update clearly shows the advanced stage of construction at this site. The image was taken by Imagesat International Eros B satellite in mid-February 2009
IRIB – IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad submitted a bill to the Parliament on Sunday morning which allows prosecution of international crimes by the Iranian courts. When approved, the bill will enable the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Judiciary system to investigate and prosecute international crimes especially those against the world Muslims and subsequently put criminals on trial.
IRNA – Iran and Afghanistan have issued a joint statement stressing a boost in bilateral economic, political, scientific, cultural and educational cooperation. The statement was signed by Iran’s First Vice-President Parviz Davoudi and his Afghan counterpart Ahmad Zia Masud.
Payvand – Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa and his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki discussed Tehran-Manama ties as well as region’s developments. In a telephone conversation on Sunday, Bahraini official said his country is highly determined to strengthen its relations with Iran in all areas.
Tehran Times – National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) and a Turkish entity signed a letter of agreement in Tehran on Saturday to export Iran’s natural gas to Europe via Turkey.
Times of India – Iran has jacked-up by 20% the price of natural gas that is to flow through the long- delayed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, making it the most expensive fuel in the country
Mehr – Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee spokesman Kazem Jalali on Sunday announced that Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani has been appointed as the next chairman of the Islamic Inter-Parliamentary Union (IIPU) Council.
MEMRI – The weekly newspaper of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Sobh-e Sadeq, reported from a Palestinian source on February 16, 2009 that in early February a secret meeting had been held in Damascus between Hizbullah Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah, Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Mash’al, and Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ramadhan ‘Abdallah Shalah.
Uskowi in Iran – The renowned travel guidebook author Rick Steves visited Iran in March 2008, accompanied by Abdi Sami, the Iranian-born filmmaker and photographer. Their collaboration has produced a vivid two-part radio report on Iran and some of the most beautiful pictures taken in the country.

Konar Provincial Reconstruction Team members and Konar officials cut a ribbon to officially open the Guryak Truck Bridge in Konar province, Afghanistan, Feb. 17, 2009. Team members and Afghan crews worked for a year to complete the $1.7 million bridge. (photo by Lt. j.g. James Dietle)

South Asia

The News – Afghan and foreign troops have killed at least 14 suspected militants in some of the most violent parts of Afghanistan, the government said Sunday. Afghan and foreign forces killed six militants on Saturday after the militants attacked a police patrol in the southern province of Kandahar, police said.
Air Force – In Afghanistan, Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs destroyed a series of anti-Afghan fighting positions while providing close air support during an extended firefight on the ground. After a show of force and a warning shot with a smoke-marking round went unheeded, the jets engaged enemy positions with general purpose 500-pound munitions and 30mm Avenger cannon strafes. Coalition ground units reported all enemy fire had stopped after the strikes… A coalition aircraft used a guided bomb unit-12 to strike an enemy sniper hiding in and firing from a civilian complex in the Musa Qala area.
Geo – Taliban leaders Baitullah Mehsud, Maulvi Nazir and Maulvi Hafiz Gul Bahadur have formally announced forming of a new group named Shura Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen. Shura Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen said in its announcement that it will follow Mula Muhammad Umer as its Amir-ul-Maumineen. It vowed to continue its ongoing Jihad.
VOA – Pakistan’s government says Taliban militants have kidnapped a government official and his six bodyguards in the Swat valley, despite ongoing peace talks there. Authorities say Khushal Khan and his guards were abducted as they drove toward Mingora, the main town in Swat in northwestern Pakistan. (The official was released.)
The Statesman – Syed Mohammad Javed, Commissioner of Malakand Agency, has said that Taliban militants have agreed to a permanent ceasefire and announced the opening of boys’ schools from Monday. He appealed to Swatis who have fled following the unrest in the region to return.
The News – The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Bajaur chapter, on Saturday offered to renounce militancy and remain peaceful if the ongoing military operation against them was stopped. According to tribesmen, the operation has caused more losses to them than the militants.
Daily Times – Eight suspected Taliban were killed in firing by helicopter gunships and artillery shelling by security forces in Bajaur Agency on Saturday, officials claimed. The troops targeted Taliban positions in various areas of the agency and more casualties are feared, they said, adding forces has advanced in Inayat Killay
APP – Pakistan and China on Sunday signed an agreement here for cooperation in hydel power generation. Chairman Wapda Shakeel Durrani and President of China Three Gorges Project Corporation Li Yong’an signed the agreement which was also witnessed by President Asif Ali Zardari. Under the agreement, China will provide technical assistance to Pakistan in the field of hydel power generation.
UPI - A powerful explosion at a Shiite funeral procession in Pakistan killed more than 30 people Friday, authorities said. Another 50-75 people were reported injured in what police blamed on a suicide bomber at the city of Dera Ismail Khan near Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas and touched off a wave of mob violence.
BNET Government – The Indian government just released their interim budget and defense spending received a hefty increase. Like other countries India is struggling with the world economic downturn that is affecting the banks and overall commercial sector. Sify.com reports that defense spending has a proposed thirty-five percent increase for this year.
IslamOnline – Like Ahmed, thousands of students in Kashmir opt for madrasahs. Most male students at madrasahs usually want to become preachers and scholars. The main reason behind the increasing interest in madrasahs is because they offer free education and free boarding to all students, most of whom enroll in their early age, explains Moulana Nisar Mir, a scholar.
Colombo Page – The two LTTE aircraft that entered the Sri Lanka capital on Friday night (20) took off from an uncleared area of Puthukkudyiruppu, the last remaining stronghold of Tigers, the military said today. The air craft crashed into the Inland Revenue Department building in downtown Colombo due to the anti aircraft fire and failed to carry on its suicide attack on the intended target, the Air Force headquarters next to the damaged building.
Sri Lanka MoD – According to finalized reports the death toll at the LTTE village massacre at Karametiya has risen to 14 civilians, while 9 others including children had sustained serious injuries on Saturday (Feb 21). A group of LTTE terrorists stormed into the Karametiya village at Rathmalgaha Ella in Iginiyagala yesterday, opening indiscriminate small arms fire at civilians who were mainly Chena cultivators, Iginiyagala Police said. The Karametiya village is a predominantly Sinhalese village, located along the Bibila – Ampara main road.
Sri Lanka MoD – Heavy fighting continued between troops and LTTE terrorists West of Puthukkudiyirippu and East of Ampalavanpokkanai since yesterday (Feb 21) morning as counter terrorist operations entered its last phases in Mullaittivu, military sources said. At least 36 terrorists were killed and over a dozen reported injured in the fighting while security forces also confirmed recovering 11 LTTE bodies during subsequent search operations conducted.

Far East & Pacific

Yonhap – Taking cues from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, North Korea has ramped up its special forces capable of rapid infiltration, while completing the development of its medium-range ballistic missiles, South Korea said Monday. In its latest assessment of the communist neighbor, the South Korean defense ministry also said the North is believed to have secured 40 kilograms of plutonium, while reinforcing its submarines.
Australia DoD – The Minister for Defence, Mr Joel Fitzgibbon, has returned from a visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and a NATO meeting of Defence Ministers, held in Krakow, Poland. The Minister used the NATO meeting to highlight Australia’s substantial contribution as a non-NATO partner and to once again call for more burden sharing and a greater focus on the marrying of the civil, political and military efforts in Afghanistan.
Lloyds List – Pirate kidnappings have returned to the Malacca Strait with two crew taken from a Singapore-registered tug and barge on Thursday. The Singapore-flagged tug MLC-Nancy 5 which was towing the barge Miclyn 3316, was attacked by 12 armed pirates in broad daylight in the northern part of theStraits at 1430hrs local time on February 19
China Daily – China has opened a strategically significant island county to foreign tourists. A group of more than 10 tourists from the United States, Holland, Norway and Sweden on Saturday stepped on the isles off Yantai City of Shandong Province, becoming the first group of foreign visitors since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
Xinhua - The death toll in north China’s coal mine blast rose to 74 as of 6 p.m. Sunday after one more body was retrieved from the shaft, the rescue headquarters said. The accident occurred at 2:17 a.m. Sunday while 436 miners were working underground at the Tunlan Coal Mine of Shanxi Coking Coal Group in Gujiao City, about 50 km away from Taiyuan, the provincial capital.
AKI - Two soldiers were killed and later beheaded on Friday in an ambush believed to have been carried out by Muslim separatists in southern Thailand. Police said the soldiers were shot dead on their motorcycles as they guarded teachers at a school in Yala, one of the three southern predominantly Muslim provinces at the centre of a long-running insurgency.

Europe

Mathaba – French Defense Minister Herve Morin said here Sunday that his country’s planned military base in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will become operational in May. Iran has lashed out at French plans to set up the military base, saying it would only cause instability to the Gulf region. The military base deal will make France become the second Western country, besides the United States, to have a military base in the Gulf region.
NY Times – Total, the French Oil Company, Places Its Bets Globally; Total’s experience in Yemen shows how far an oil company will go to unearth new energy supplies.
euobserver – The Latvian prime minister and his government have resigned amid growing political and economic strife in the Baltic country. Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis submitted his resignation to the president, Valdis Zatlers, on Friday (20 February) afternoon after the two largest parties in the ruling four-party coalition demanded he step down.
EarthTimes – The alleged murderer of a Chechen exile in Vienna has been arrested in Poland, a Warsaw police spokesman confirmed Sunday. An anti-terrorism unit arrested Turpal Ali J. in a hotel near Warsaw. According to an Austrian interior ministry spokesman, the suspect is a Russian of Chechen origin and was detained on February 20.
Guardian – A shocking new report alleges widespread complicity between British security agents and their Pakistani counterparts who have routinely engaged in the torture of suspects. In the study, which will be published next month by the civil liberties group Human Rights Watch, at least 10 Britons are identified who have been allegedly tortured in Pakistan and subsequently questioned by UK intelligence officials.
NATO – In the second day of an informal meeting in Cracow, the NATO Georgia Commission reviewed the current situation in the country, the defence and security cooperation and the assistance for Georgia’s reform effort provided within the framework of this body. The talks took place in the context of the reaffirmation by NATO Foreign Ministers in December of the process set in train at Bucharest and their decision to develop an Annual National Programme to help advance Georgia’s reforms.
Dr. Sam Vaknin – Minorities, Genocide, and Geopolitics in Modern Europe

Africa

Garowe – The African Union says eleven peacekeepers from Burundi were killed in Somalia Sunday in an “unprecedented” attack, Radio Garowe reports. Muktar Robow “Abu Mansur,” the Al Shabaab spokesman, claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings on Mogadishu radio stations.
Shabelle – Islamic clerics from the Muslim world who arrived in Mogadishu yesterday said Saturday they came to Mogadishu to mediate the Somali government and the Islamists who rejected to be part of the peace process. Abdirahman Nuemi, who is heading a delegation of six members, said that the chairman of Muslim clerics in the world Yusuf Al-Qardawi sent them to Mogadishu to mediate the Somali government and the opposition. “We want to meet al-Shabaab and Hizbal Islam and any other group to solve the differences between Somalis,” said Abdirahman Nuemi.
Javno – Pirates seized a Greek-owned cargo ship off the coast of Somalia on Sunday, Greece’s merchant marine ministry said. “Pirates seized the Maltese-flagged cargo ship Saldanha, with 22 crew, off Somalia,” the ministry said. It said the vessel, loaded with coal, was sailing to Slovenia.
MEMRI – A senior official in Mali involved in discussions relating to the Canadian diplomats and European tourists who have been taken hostage said that Al-Qaeda Maghreb is demanding the release of two of its Mauritanian operatives as one of the conditions for the release of the hostages.
Reuters – Rwandan troops winding up an operation against Rwandan Hutu rebels in eastern Congo began preparations on Saturday for a withdrawal next week, while peacekeepers worked out how to protect areas they will leave.
Zimbabwe Standard – The government is still battling to accommodate the 61 new ministers and deputy ministers amid revelations the decision to inflate the number of ministers of state has caused friction in the two Movement for Democratic Change formations.
New Vision – The tiny Island of Migingo in the middle of Lake Victoria has sparked off a row between Kenya and Uganda. The two governments have now set up a joint border committee to verify where the one-acre island falls. Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the East African Community (EAC) minister, Amason Kingi, are expected in Uganda this week in a bid to find a solution to the ownership row.
New Times – Disagreements on River Nile security have split the Nile basin member countries because the deadline to sign the Cooperative Framework Agreement has expired. The Nile Cooperative Framework Agreement seeks the establishment of a permanent River Nile Basin Commission through which member countries will act together to manage and develop resources of the Nile. But no agreement on possibilities has been reached yet as Egypt and Sudan are said to be reluctant to sign the agreement.
IPS – Last year, rice farmers took to the streets of Ghana’s capital of Accra and accused the government of allowing imports to destroy their livelihoods. “Rice production is collapsing because the farmers do not have access to markets which have been taken over by cheap imports from abroad.”

Mine resistant ambush protected vehicles sit in a row on the Camp Liberty MRAP fielding site, Feb. 20, 2009. The day marks the introduction of the 10,000th vehicle into the Iraq theater of operations. (photo by Spc. Christopher Gaylord)