Dec 28, 2002 News

SLEPTSOVSK, Russia, 28 December 2002 — A pair of suspected Chechen militants yesterday blew up the pro-Russian government headquarters in Grozny in a bold daytime assault that killed 46 people and wounded more than 100.

The attack, which makes a mockery of the Kremlin’s claims that peace is being established in the war-torn republic, was the worst blow to Russian forces inside Chechnya since Chechen fighters shot down a military helicopter at a base near Grozny in August, killing 120 people.

Russian television showed scenes of bloodied and panic-stricken people staggering from the recently-rebuilt four-story administration building in central Grozny, shortly after two powerful blasts reduced it to smoldering ruins. “This was a terrorist act of major scale,” Vladimir Kravchenko, Chechnya’s civilian prosecutor, said. “There is a huge number of victims.”

Witnesses said two vehicles, a large truck and a minivan, broke through three security cordons during afternoon lunch break and detonated their bombs almost simultaneously at different points outside the structure. Russian security officials said the blast equalled at least one ton of TNT.

As many as 250 people may have been around the building at the time, including Chechen and Russian government workers, visitors, and military forces manning the heavily-guarded perimeter.

A senior Russian Emergency Ministry official said only five people had been recovered alive from the wreck as night fell on the war-ravaged city.

He added that doctors — already under severe strain, operating on a shoe-string budget and lacking basic medicine and equipment — were tending to the wounded by candlelight because the affected area of Grozny had no electricity.

“They are performing surgery with the help of light from candles,” said Deputy Emergencies Minister Gennady Korotkin, adding that over 100 people had suffered injuries in the blasts.

The republic’s Kremlin-appointed interim leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, returned urgently to Grozny from Moscow, where he was holding consultations with Russian leaders on Chechnya’s purported “peace process”.

Kadyrov, who is the Kremlin’s candidate for planned Chechen presidential elections next year, was quick to blame Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov for the blast. But Russian security officials said Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, who has broken with Maskhadov, is more likely to be behind the act. A Chechen Internet site, Kavkaz Center, said an unnamed Chechen field commander had called to claim responsibility for the attack “by Chechen martyrs.” (The Independent)

Four Israelis, two Palestinians killed, eight Israelis injured in a Palestinian retaliatory attack on the Israeli settlement of Ata'il, south of Hebron

A car bomb explodes prematurely in Jerusalem, injuring one person

MBC TV, aljazeera.net, 12/28/02

A Palestinian armed with a machine gun and hand grenade attacked the Israeli settlement of Ata'il, south of Hebron. Islamic Jihad announced that the attack was in retaliation to yesterday's Israeli rampage in which nine Palestinians were assassinated and killed, and scores were injured and arrested. Israeli settlers managed to kill the Palestinian attacker, then the Israeli army killed another Palestinian outside the settlement. Israeli sources said that the Palestinian entered the settlement as an Israeli soldier.

A car exploded exploded prematurely in West Jerusalem injuring one person, early this morning. It was intended to explode near a gas tank, as the Palestinian driver told Israeli police.

Turkey balks at joining war
By Rupert Cornwell
Arab News

BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON — Baghdad and Washington continued their war of words yesterday as the prospect of real fighting got the cold shoulder from Turkey, home to strategic US air bases.

Turkey said it was not convinced by US allegations that Iraq holds weapons of mass destruction and said it wanted UN approval for war before any action against Baghdad.

“The report of the UN inspectors on weapons of mass destruction is important to us,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) party.

Turkey is facing intense pressure from Washington to provide support for a possible operation to topple the regime in Baghdad.

In Ankara, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman and Treasury Undersecretary John Taylor kicked off talks with Turkish officials yesterday on an economic aid package, in a bid to allay Turkish concerns. Press reports said Ankara was seeking some $28 billion in compensation for estimated damages a war would cause to its vital economic sectors.

In Baghdad, an Iraqi scientist gave UN arms inspectors details of a military program that is under review as possibly being linked to a clandestine nuclear program, inspectors’ spokesman Hiro Ueki said.

In his daily statement on inspections, Ueki said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had interviewed a “metallurgist from a high-visibility state company.”

“He provided technical details of a military program. This program has attracted considerable attention as a possible prelude to a clandestine nuclear program. The answers will be of great use in completing the IAEA assessment.”

As United Nations inspections entered their second month, Iraq gave a first tentative approval for its weapons scientists to leave the country to be interviewed — a key United States demand if the war that seems increasingly inevitable is yet to be averted.

Baghdad says it will provide the UN by Sunday with a list of ‘hundreds’ of scientists, technicians and experts who have worked on the country’s biological, chemical, missile and nuclear programs. But although it would be up to the individuals in question to accept “on a personal basis,” the Iraqi government seemed to indicate they should not comply, saying that it “was not necessary” for them to travel abroad.

In Cairo, US Ambassador David Welch said yesterday the United States is ready to strike Iraq and disarm it without UN Security Council authorization “if necessary”, but prefers a “multilateral” approach.

His comments came as UN refugee chief warned a war with Iraq, with biological or chemical agents possibly unleashed, will be a human calamity. Ruud Lubbers, the UNHCR chief, in a BBC interview raised the specter that bacteriological or chemical weapons could be used in a conflict and said: “Believe me, it will be a disaster from a humanitarian perspective.” (The Independent)

Assassination of Jarallah Omar, Deputy Chairman of the Yemeni Socialist Party

aljazeera.net, 12/28/02

Jarallah Omar, the Deputy Chairman of the Yemeni Socialist Party was assassinated today (Saturday) in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital. The assassination was committed after Omar had delivered a speech before the Reform (Al-Islah) Party congress, as an invited speaker. The assassin was Ali Jarallah, a previous convict, who is not related to the Reform party. He is being interrogated for his motives.

The Yemeni Socialist Party is the main opposition party, particularly in South Yemen. It was the ruling party in South Yemen before unification in 1990.

Aridi launches new broadside at Washington

Elie Hourani
Daily Star, 12/28/02

Information Minister Ghazi Aridi accused Washington on Friday of holding a grudge against Beirut, following Lebanon’s decision to exercise its rights to Wazzani Springs water.
Speaking on Al-Manar Television, the minister said that the Americans were “out of their minds regarding the Wazzani developments.”
Lebanon recently starting pumping water from the Wazzani Springs. The move led Israel to claim a violation of international law and prompted US attempts at mediation.
Aridi called on all Lebanese to “keep an eye on the United States’ openly terrorist (foreign) policy and lift the cover on it.”
He also accused the United States of being “a partner to Israel in all its terrorist activities.”
In answer to Washington’s request for pro-US films to be broadcast on Lebanese stations, Aridi challenged the US administration to do the same for pro-Lebanese films.
“Go and tell US Ambassador Vincent Battle, who does not talk to me, that I have six or seven Lebanese propaganda films,” the minister said. “We are interested in presenting our media’s viewpoints. If he ensures that the films, showing Lebanon’s attitude and showing Israel’s terrorism, will be broadcast in America, then I am ready to broadcast his films here.”
He also dismissed a media report that Iraq had moved some of weapons of mass destruction to Lebanon to be used against Israel.
“We are now up against a US administration which is more dangerous than Israel,” he said, adding that America was being governed by Zionist Christians led by President George W. Bush.
He accused members of the Bush administration of being involved various sorts of corruption, adding that “the last things on their minds are human rights, democracy and equality.”

Ottawa refuses to review Hizbullah ban
Beirut’s attempt to correct ‘misunderstanding’ fails

Nicholas Blanford
Daily Star staff, 12/28/02

Canada has no intention of reversing its decision to outlaw Hizbullah, Canadian diplomatic sources said Friday, despite the Lebanese government’s assertion that the ban is based on a misunderstanding.
Hizbullah’s political wing was included on Canada’s list of “terrorist” organizations, because of the party’s open support for suicide bombings in Israel among “many other factors,” a Canadian diplomat said.
“As far as Canada’s decision goes, nothing has changed,” the diplomat told The Daily Star.
On Thursday, the Foreign Ministry handed the Canadian Embassy a recording of a speech given by Hizbullah secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Jerusalem Day last month. The Lebanese government believes that an article in the Washington Times newspaper, which misquoted Nasrallah as calling for a global “terror” campaign, formed the basis of Canada’s decision to proscribe Hizbullah.
The confusion arose two weeks ago when Canadian Ambassador Michel Duval, in justifying Ottawa’s decision, told reporters that his government had been put in a “difficult position” because of Nasrallah’s remarks “declaring support for all terrorist attacks, not only in Israel, but also in other countries.” Nasrallah made no mention in his speech of staging attacks outside the Middle East.
Beirut hopes that the ban on the party will be lifted once Canadian officials have listened to a correct translation of Nasrallah’s speech.
But the diplomat said that it was Nasrallah’s support for suicide bombings that had led to the ban and not misquotations in the Washington Times.
“Nasrallah said that he agrees with suicide bombers. We cannot accept that. We are against suicide bombers wherever they are. Military on military is fine, but Canada cannot accept suicide bombing,” the diplomat said.
Hizbullah’s External Security Organization the name the international community has given to the party’s alleged
terrorist wing was added to Canada’s list of terrorist organizations at the end of 2001. The political wing representing MPs, charity workers and doctors was left off the list. However, Ottawa came under mounting pressure from pro-Israel lobby groups, incensed at Hizbullah’s exclusion from a full ban.
A week after Nasrallah’s Nov. 29 speech, in which he endorsed suicide bombings, Canada added six more organizations to its terrorist list, including Islamic Jihad and Hamas. But Hizbullah was again omitted, despite wide coverage of Nasrallah’s remarks.
Canadian Jewish groups have lobbied hard to have Hizbullah outlawed, including taking out full page advertisements in the media.
One group, Bnai Brith, filed a lawsuit against the Canadian government to force it to ban Hizbullah. In a letter to Bnai Brith, Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham said: “We disagree in fundamental ways with Hizbullah, but we believe that it is important for Canada, as a country which has long been active in the search for peace in the Middle East, to be able to conduct a dialogue with those who hold different views.”
But on Dec. 11, Ottawa change its policy and slapped a total ban on Hizbullah.

UNHCR warns of humanitarian crisis in Iraq
Refugee agency urges international community to work for peaceful solution

Compiled by Daily Star staff, 12/28/02

LONDON: War with Iraq would prompt a humanitarian disaster, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Friday.
Speaking to BBC radio, Ruud Lubbers said the international community should make prevention of such a conflict a top priority and should encourage Arab countries to take part in the inspection of suspected weapons sites in Iraq.
“Believe me, it will be a disaster from a humanitarian perspective,” Lubbers said when asked about the prospect of a US-led attack on Iraq. “There’s even a risk if there are bacteriological and chemical weapons (in Iraq) that people there will die because of the attack.”
Washington has threatened to go to war if Baghdad cannot prove it has scrapped all its banned weapons programs, as required by UN resolutions.
UN arms inspectors are due to issue a final report on their findings in Iraq on Jan. 27. With Baghdad insisting it no longer has the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction, speculation is growing the report could trigger war.
“I think such a war has to be prevented in the first place,” Lubbers told the BBC.
“We should indeed be very strict and strong on (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein, but the ambition is to disarm him with his potential of chemical and bacteriological weapons.
“I would be in favor of the Arab world participating in the inspections and the conclusions,” he added. “Only, only, when Saddam Hussein does not comply with both the inspections … then there can be reason for a military intervention.”
The UN refugee agency has said it is gearing up for a possible conflict by pre-positioning additional stocks of relief supplies in the Middle East, amid fears of a mass exodus from Iraq.
UNHCR said relief agencies had asked an unspecified number of donor countries for $37.4 million in emergency funding during a meeting in Geneva on the Dec. 13.
“Pre-positioning is part of contingency planning, so there is some of that going on,” said Ron Redmond, chief spokesman for the Geneva-based UNHCR.
Citing “confidential UN planning papers” in New York, a British newspaper, The Times, reported earlier that the UN was preparing to help about 900,000 refugees in case of a conflict, which was likely to shatter Iraq’s infrastructure.
Redmond and other relief officials declined to reveal how many refugees they expected to cope with if there is a US-led military action against Iraq.
“The UN in general is also considering the risk that large numbers of people might be displaced, whether inside Iraq, or else crossing international frontiers,” Redmond told AFP, adding that the UNHCR wanted the borders of neighboring countries to remain open.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which said two weeks ago that it had started boosting stocks in countries neighboring Iraq, gave no overall estimate of possible refugee numbers.
“We are not advancing a figure. That would be ridiculous,” Nada Doumani, a spokeswoman for the ICRC said.
“To speak of 100,000, 200,000 or 300,000 displaced would imply that we have a scenario in mind, yet we do not know how a war would happen,” she added. Agencies

Arab League tries to win US hearts and minds
Vital public relations contest began after sept. 11, and America is pulling ahead

Kick-starting dormant Arab Information Center in Washington is seen as first step in raising a much-neglected public profile

George S. Hishmeh
The Daily Star, 12/28/02

WASHINGTON: The United States and the Arab world are locked in a desperate, uphill battle in the hope of swaying negative public opinion in each other’s region but apparently without much success. Polls of Arabs and Americans show a high percentage still holding an unfavorable opinion of the other, particularly after the devastating Sept.11 terrorist attacks in the US more than a year ago.
US Undersecretary of State for Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy Charlotte Beers lately defended her year-long efforts in the wake of a Dec. 4 poll by the Pew Research Center that showed a sharp deterioration of America’s image in 44 Arab and Muslim countries. Her campaign to influence Arab and Muslim opinions utilizes the internet, television and a radio station.
A new magazine is also planned for the New Year that will address younger Arab audiences. Meanwhile, the chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Representative Henry Hyde, is also pushing for $255 million to bolster the State Department’s public diplomacy effort and reorganize international broadcasting activities including a plan for satellite television programming to the Middle East.
On the Arab side, the Arab League has but one office in the United Sates, in Washington, down from four in recent years. The others were in Chicago, Houston and San Francisco.
Amr Moussa had raised high hopes after his March 2001 election to the position of Arab League secretary-general about rejuvenating the outreach programs of the 22-member organization. He picked Hussein Hassouna, an experienced Egyptian ambassador who had previously served in the United States, to run the heretofore-dormant Arab Information Center in Washington.
The Cambridge-educated Egyptian diplomat, son of former Arab League Secretary-General Abdel-Khaleq Hassouna, was until his appointment the league’s ambassador to the United Nations.
“I am trying to make this office more active, to reinforce its capacity, to get qualified staff (and) to have the resources we need to operate,” Hassouna told The Daily Star in an interview. But he would not disclose his budget or the number of people working in his office, which is shared by the Palestinian Authority’s representative, Hassan Abdel-Rahman, because he could not yet find anyone to rent him office space in downtown Washington.
It is sufficient for his day-to-day activities, Hassouna maintained, but not “really to be an effective spokesman for the Arab world especially at this time when there is so much at stake.”
He added: “It is a shame. It’s a shame. The Arab states had promised to finance a program in the field of public information. These were good intentions but we have not yet seen how these will be translated.”
Pressed further on the lack of Arab visibility in Washington, Hassouna blasted away: “First of all, we need an army, not just one Adel Jubair, (the articulate lone Saudi spokesman who regularly appears on American television networks). We need an army of Arab spokespeople who are eloquent and who understand the United States … You need to finance them. They need to travel, to go around the country, to talk to people … It’s a big job!”
His voice slightly rising and showing signs of disappointment, he continued: “Yes, sure, I am frustrated because the challenge is enormous and we don’t have the means to face it. But we should be cool about it. We should convince the Arab world of being more supportive of our efforts.”
The handsome Arab diplomat with silver hair quickly regained his demeanor, pointing out with a smile that they are now about, for a start, to launch a website, an absolute necessity in this electronic age.
Although he is the only person in his office who addresses outside audiences, Hassouna has started his ball rolling in his first 100 days, usually an American benchmark for judging the performance of public officials. He has already met with key officials in the Bush administration and has reactivated the monthly meeting of Arab ambassadors at the Arab Information Center where issues of mutual concern are discussed.
For a start, the Arab ambassadors endorsed the idea of holding periodic receptions for key administration and Congressional figures, among others. The newly elected members of Congress, especially the Arab-Americans, will be honored at an Egyptian Embassy reception next month since Egypt holds the current chair of the league.
But Hassouna’s more serious work is with Arab-American and Muslim American organizations and their leaders, with whom he meets regularly.
“I think the Arab-American community is a dynamic community,” he stressed, though he emphasized that they are relative newcomers compared with other ethnic groups. “They are learning fast, they are getting organized, they are now relying on the grassroots … If I may say so, however, they need more coordination (among themselves) and to work together.”
Acknowledging that Arab-Americans are naturally affected by the seesaw relationships between the United States and the Arab world, he stressed: “We should never forget that they are Americans and that they are no longer Arabs. Their roots are Arab, so that’s why they understand the problems of the Arab world and can express them well. They are Americans. The American Constitution protects them. They have their obligations under American law and we respect it, and we don’t want to interfere with this.”
He likewise expressed satisfaction with the growth of the Muslim community, which he noted numbers somewhere between 6 million and 7 million.
“They have a lot in common with Arab groups, they have to work together.” One such issue, he underlined, is the question of Jerusalem.
“This is an issue of great importance,” he repeated, to the Arab, Muslim and Christian worlds. “We started to be in touch with some organizations here, among them Christian organizations, like Churches for Middle East Peace, and they share our view on this.”
At this point, Hassouna lambasted the right-wing Christian groups here, describing them as “fanatics” who had attacked the Prophet Mohammed and Islam, claiming that it is a religion that promotes violence. Although pleased with the initial US administration’s response, he urged that “more must be done” to silence these extremist groups.
Stressing that the Arab world was an early victim of terrorism, Hassouna proceeded to appeal to Americans “who know the Middle East, and not those so-called experts on the Middle East and Islam who abound in this country,” to speak out. He particularly singled out businessmen.
In this respect, he highlighted the “huge economic interests” the United States has in the Arab world. “The Arab world is a huge market of 280 million people with enormous resources. Bilateral trade between the United States and the Arab world is worth about $45 billion per annum. The amount of Arab investments in the US is about $200 billion. (Former US Secretary of State Warren Christopher had once put the figure at $700 billion.)
“These are huge interests and I am not talking about oil, which is the lifeline of the Western world. The Arab world has not only provided oil but
it has helped in stabilizing the price of oil whenever there was a crisis. The Arab world is of
extreme importance to the United States and this is very often overlooked.”
At this point Hassouna unveiled plans for an economic conference next May in Detroit along the lines of the annual Davos, Switzerland, meeting, which attracts heads of state and other key officials and private organizations. “This will be a kind of Davos conference where we would have politicians, academics and business people coming from both the US and the Arab world it is a huge project.”
Hassouna said he was hoping that the king of Bahrain, Sheikh Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa, will be at the conference and that President George W. Bush will open the event. A delegation from the Detroit Arab-American Chamber of Commerce is currently touring the Arab world drumming up support for the conference.
Another large-scale activity to be held in Washington in the fall of next year, Hassouna said, will focus on Jerusalem.
“It will try to assert the Arab identity of Jerusalem, of East Jerusalem. We are working on this with the Arab-American community and the Christian Americans because they all agree that Jerusalem must be a shared city a city of peace.”

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