Live rolling coverage from Egypt as the army apologises for deaths during clashes on the sixth day of mass protests in Tahrir Square.
Image 1 of 5
Protesters shout through a barbed wire barricade, newly erected by the Egyptian army, near Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. Photo: AP
By Raf Sanchez, and Barney Henderson
5:00PM GMT 24 Nov 2011
363 Comments
• Egypt's military appoint former Mubarak loyalist as new PM
• Generals reject calls to resign but apologise for deaths
• Arab League threatens Syria with sweeping sanctions
• Syrian security forces killed by defector troops
• 5 Saleh supporters shot dead in Sana'a's Change Square
Latest
21.30 We're going to leave it there for the night but be sure to check out our Middle East page for the latest news from across the region.
21.00 Some quite remarkable footage, apparently shot yesterday in and around Tahrir Square. The last couple of minutes are especially dramatic, where police appear to open fire with rubber bullets directly at the person filming.
19.45 Our man in Cairo, Adrian Blomfield, says Ganzouri's appointment is a desperate move by the generals:
While the appointment is highly unlikely to find favour in Cairo's Tahrir Square, other Egyptians are likely to approve the choice of a man seen as a moderate. Nonetheless it will be seen as an act of desperation by the military.
The generals are understood to have held negotiations with candidates seeking to contest next year's presidential elections, including Mohammed ElBaradei, the former UN chief nuclear weapons inspector.
Moderate candidates are understood to have rejected the advances of the military fearing that any hints collaborating with the increasingly unpopular military leadership would damage their electoral chances.
Protesters are demanding that the military hands over full sovereignty to an interim civilian ruling council that would complete the transition to full democracy. The appointment of an official who served under Hosni Mubarak, the former president, will heighten the fears of protesters that the new civilian cabinet will have as little clout as the one it replaces. The previous cabinet tendered their resignation earlier this week.
Kamal Ganzouri - the Egyptian military's choice to head a new government
19.17 The apparent appointment of the 78-year-old former prime minister is being ridiculed on Twitter. Aziza Sami, an activist who appears to have spent time in the Square, tweets:
And so the very old men, chose another, very old man, 2 act as Grand Vizier # This is a generation gap, folks
19.05 Ganzouri has officially been appointed the new prime minister, al Jazeera reports. It's not clear that he will have any real power and as former loyalist to Mubarak he's unlikely to please the crowds.
18.30 Rumour is rife in Egypt now but the latest is that Kamal Ganzouri, a former prime minister from 1996 to 1999, is likely to head a new government.
18.05 al-Jazeera is reporting that the military junta in Egypt is desperately searching for a new interim prime minister to replace Essam Sharaf, who resigned along with his entire cabinet earlier in the week. Separately, the cease fire between protesters and the security forces in Tahrir Square seems to be holding and there is none of the tell-tale tear gas billowing over the crowd.
17.48 In one of the most audacious attacks by opposition forces in Syria, seven regime pilots have apparently been killed in an ambush. Rebel sources tell AFP that "armed Bedouins" attacked a coach near the city of Palmyra in central Syria and killed the pilots during the raid.
17.45 Earlier today the Egyptian military apologised "for the deaths of martyrs" among the protesters in Tahrir Square.
17.25 In a fast-moving day across the Middle East, Hamas and Fatah, the two warring Palestinian factions, have reached reconciliation deal after a meeting in Cairo. We have the full story on the landmark agreement but at its heart are the following points:
• Presidential and parliamentary elections to be held in May 2012
• An agreement to form a national unity government after the elections
• A handover of prisoners between the two sides within days
• Major reform to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) including elections that are likely to bring Hamas representatives into the body for the first time.
16.20 Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed the importance of peace with Egypt, as apprehension grows ahead of Egyptian elections, which are expected to produce big wins for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Israel and Egypt have an interest in preserving peace and stability in the Middle East.
15.58 Egypt: Here is a full story on the journalist Mona Eltahawy who says she was sexually assaulted by Egypt police:
"Besides beating me, the dogs of (central security forces) subjected me to the worst sexual assault ever," Eltahawy said.
"5 or 6 surrounded me, groped and prodded my breasts, grabbed my genital area and I lost count how many hands tried to get into my trousers," she said.
"My left arm and right hand are broken (according) to xrays," she said, posting pictures of herself in casts.
Earlier Eltahawy, an award-winning journalist and public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues based in New York, tweeted that she had been released after having been "beaten arrested in interior ministry."
Egypt: freed Egyptian-American journalist says she was sexually assaulted
15.30 Syria: Free Syrian Army chief calls for air strikes on 'strategic targets'.
15.07 Syria: 11 security forces killed by defector troops, rights group says.
15.02 Syria: The Arab League has given Syria a day to sign a protocol allowing monitors into the country or the regional body will press ahead with plans to impose economic sanctions, Egypt's envoy to the League said.
The sanctions could include a suspension of commercial flights to Syria and a halt to dealings with its central bank, the envoy, Afifi Abdel Wahab, told reporters in Cairo:
Tomorrow is the deadline for Syria to sign. If they don't sign, the economic and social council (of ministers) will meet on Saturday to discuss economic sanctions.
14.50 Syria: The European Union has said that protecting civilians caught up in Syria’s crackdown on anti-government protests “is an increasingly urgent and important aspect” of responding to the bloodshed there:
But it stopped short of endorsing French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe’s call for EU-backed humanitarian corridors to allow aid groups a way in.
The bloc stands ready to engage with representatives of the Syrian opposition “who adhere to non-violence and democratic values,” said Maja Kocijancic, an EU spokeswoman.
Mr Juppe called the situation in Syria “no longer tenable” and accused the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad of “repression of a savagery we have not seen in a long time.”
14.31 Egypt: Members of Egypt's ruling military council have rejected calls to step down immediately, saying it would amount to a "betrayal" as anti-military protests entered their seventh day.
General Mukthar al-Mulla, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces which took power when veteran president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, said:
The people have entrusted us with a mission and if we abandon it now, it would be a betrayal of the people. Our goal is not to leave power or to remain in power, but it's to implement our commitment to the people.
14.07 Egypt: Al-Jazeera journalist tweets on Muslim Brotherhood:
Ghozlan, #MuslimBrotherhood spokesman: #SCAF resignation before #elections would cause chaos #Egypt
13.54 Egypt: Channel 4 prevented from filming in Cairo, producer Sarah Corp tweets:
Prevented from filming multiple times in #cairo today by selfappointed protester officials who say having a camera there will spark trouble
13.10 Egypt: An official says an Egyptian court has ordered the release of three US students arrested during Cairo unrest, the AP reports.
Four down: Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Muammar Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak in happier times in 2010. They have all been deposed, killed or conceded power as heads of state by the Arab Spring. Who will be next?
13.06 Bahrain: the official news agency has suggested that it has classified evidence that Iran was linked to Shiite-led protests in the Gulf kingdom despite an independent commission that said it found nothing to back the claims. Here is our full news story:
The allegations of Iranian involvement in the kingdom's 10-month-old unrest have been central to Gulf policies during the region's largest Arab Spring uprising, including the decision to send a Saudi-led military force to reinforce Bahrain's embattled Sunni monarchy.
But the findings of a special commission that investigated Bahrain's turmoil – contained in a 500-page report issued on Wednesday – were a direct slap at fears by the Western-allied Gulf states that Shiite power Iran seeks to use Bahrain as a foothold to try to undermine the region's Sunni Arab regimes.
The official Bahrain News Agency said national security concerns prevented sharing all intelligence on Iran, which has sharply denounced the crackdowns on Bahrain's Shiite majority but insists it has no direct ties to the conflict.
13.00 Yemen: President Ali Abdullah Saleh has ordered a probe into violence that left five people dead in Sanaa, a day after he signed a deal to immediately hand over his powers to his deputy.
Saleh "condemned the violence that left casualties today in the capital Sanaa" and "ordered the ministry of interior to carry out an immediate and full investigation and to bring those responsible for this crime to justice, whatever party they belong to," the state Saba news agency reported.
A wounded protestor is carried from the site of clashes with security forces in Sanaa
12.22 Egypt: The Telegraph's Middle East correspondent Adrian Blomfield reports from Tahrir Square:
The truce around Tahrir Square continues to hold. Living up to their side of the bargain, detained protesters are being released by security forces. A number just came into one of the field hospitals off the square and some said they had been beaten in custody.
It is important to note that while a truce has ended the violence, the protests will continue. Protesters are planning a big show of force tomorrow, when a second "million man march" has been called. People say they remain as determined as ever to stay in the square until the military hands over power to a civilian transitional council that will guide the country until presidential elections next year.
12.09 Egypt: prominent blogger Mona Eltahawy, claims she was arrested, beaten and sexually assaulted in the interior ministry overnight. She has now been freed and tweeted:
The past 12 hrs were painful and surreal but I know I got off much much easier than so many other Egyptians.
11.31 Yemen: Here is a full news story on the violence that has flared in Sana'a this morning:
Loyalists of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh shot dead five people in Sanaa on Thursday who had been protesting against a power transfer deal that promises him immunity from prosecution, doctors said.
The five were all killed by live rounds, said the medics at a field hospital set up protesters in the capital's Change Square, where they have been camped out since February. Thirty-four others were wounded, the medics added.
An AFP correspondent said the protesters were met by gunfire from armed men in plain clothes whom they deride as Saleh's "thugs", as they marched towards the city centre.
11.18 Egypt: military rejects demands to immediately step down, says that would be a betrayal, AP reports.
11.12 Yemen: The Telegraph's David Blair on this morning's violence in Sana'a
The killings on the streets of Sana'a this morning highlight the key problems with the agreement signed in Riyadh yesterday. It grants Ali Abdullah Saleh immunity from prosecution and allows him to remain as "honorary president" until the election of his successor, which should happen in 90 days.
But after so many broken promises, many Yemenis simply do not trust him to keep the deal and step down. And they are angered by the idea that he will be immune from accountability after months of bloodshed. Hence the unrest in the capital appears to have continued, despite an agreement which the Saudi king said would "turn a new page".
10.56 Egypt: A member of the ruling military council said the army respected the view of demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square who have been demanding an end to military rule but said they did not represent all the Egyptian people. General Mokhtar al-Mullah said:
If we look at those in Tahrir, regardless of their number, they do not represent the Egyptian people, but we must respect their opinion.
As for the circumstances we are ready to conduct election under any conditions.
10.20 Egypt: Ratings agency Standard & Poor's cuts Egypt's sovereign credit rating, citing political turmoil
09.59 Egypt: The latest Telegraph video of protests overnight in Tahrir Square:
09.49 Syria: tanks bombarded hideouts of army defectors near the central town of Rastan this morning, a resident and activists said, two months after the authorities said they had regained control of the important region on the Damascus-Aleppo highway.
Activists said around 50 tanks and armoured vehicles fired anti-aircraft guns and machineguns into farmland on the edge of Rastan, 20 km (12 miles) north of the restive city of Homs.
09.20 Yemen: Loyalists of President Ali Abdullah Saleh shot dead at least five people in Sanaa who had been protesting against a power transfer deal that promises him immunity from prosecution, doctors said.
"Three people have been killed by live rounds, while several others were wounded," said one doctor at a field hospital set up by protesters in the capital's Change Square, where they have been camped out since February.
Protesters shout through a barbed wire barricade, newly erected by the Egyptian army, near Tahrir square in Cairo
08.56 Libya: The Telegraph's Ruth Sherlock and Richard Spencer's story on how Saif al-Islam Gaddafi could be put on trial in two months:
The man once considered heir apparent and a reformist voice in the country is due to be interrogated by a committee established by the attorney-general's office within the next few days.
Mohammed Alagy, the interim justice minister since the establishment of the National Transitional Council, said that the process of putting him on trial in Libya, which has been approved by the International Criminal Court, might be faster than the outside world expected.
"The investigation, run under the proper judicial system, will last a couple of months," he said. "And then he will be put on trial. We are ready."
08.50 Syria: France renewed its support for humanitarian corridors in Syria but said such a move would have to either be agreed by Damascus or come under an international mandate.
Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said that France would ask its EU partners to consider the idea of setting up protected escape routes for Syrian civilians fleeing the regime of Bashar al-Assad. He told France Inter radio on Thursday that there were two different scenarios for such a move:
The first is that the international community, the United Nations, the Arab League, can obtain authorisation from the regime for the humanitarian corridors.
If that wasn't the case, we would have to consider other solutions. It is possible to protect convoys, but we are not there yet. For us no humanitarian intervention is possible without an international mandate.
08.43 Libya: A prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says that Libya's transitional leaders have vowed to work with his institution and with the United Nations in investigating alleged crimes committed by Muammar Gaddafi's recently captured son and one-time heir apparent.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told The Associated Press that he received the pledge in a letter from National Transitional Council chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil.
08.39 Egypt: The Telegraph's Adrian Blomfield on how the Muslim Brotherhood is facing growing backlash from protesters:
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood faced a growing backlash from protesters in Tahrir Square after it was accused of collaborating with the country's military leaders to prevent an immediate transition to civilian rule.
Violence and chaos engulfed Cairo's famous landmark for a fifth day after pro-reform protesters rejected a pledge from the army to hold presidential elections by next June, months sooner than expected. Doctors in the square reported at least three more civilian deaths during an increasing bitter battle with security forces for control of the nearby interior ministry.
08.32 Egypt: All quiet in Tahrir Square this morning, according to twitter:
tahrir had its first quiet morning, since saturday. no violence kids friendly
A woman protester attempts to dismantle a barbed wire barricade, newly erected by the Egyptian army, near Tahrir square in Cairo.
08.25 Iran: the official news agency has quoted an influential parliamentarian as saying that the country has arrested 12 agents of the American Central Intelligence Agency.
Parliamentarian Parviz Sorouri who sits on the powerful committee of foreign policy and national security was quoted by IRNA as saying that the arrested agents planned to strike at Iranian interests with the aid of Israel.
Sorouri said the spy network aimed at damaging Iran in the security, military and nuclear sectors.
08.20 Kuwait: media report that authorities have issued nearly 50 arrest warrants in connection with a protest mob that stormed parliament earlier this month.
The Kuwait Times says that defence lawyers expect even more arrests linked to the Nov 16 storming by dozens of protesters, angered by allegations of high-level corruption against government officials.
Kuwait's ruler has ordered tighter security measures across the oil-rich state.
08.01 Egypt: Interior Minister Mansour el-Essawy has proposed postponing the national election planned for Nov. 28, Al Jazeera television said, quoting unnamed sources.
Egyptian protestesrs run away from a tear gas canister during clashes with riot police along a road which leads to the Interior Ministry
07.55 Bahrian: the United States called on Bahrain to punish those guilty of human rights abuses in anti-government violence this year, and said it would closely follow its ally's actions.
The statement followed the publication of a special independent commission report in Bahrain that found police used "excessive force" and tortured detainees in a crackdown on the Shiite-led democracy protests in March. White House spokesman Jay Carney said:
It is now incumbent upon the government of Bahrain to hold accountable those responsible for human rights violations and put in place institutional changes to ensure that such abuses do not happen again.
07.42 Libya: interim government holding 7,000 prisoners, UN says:
Women and children are among detainees and some have allegedly been tortured, said the report by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon ahead of a Security Council meeting Monday on Libya since the death of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Political prisoners from the Kadhafi regime have been freed, but the estimated 7,000 new detainees have no access to courts "in the absence of a functioning police and judiciary," said the report.
Anti-government protesters clash with Egyptian police near Tahrir Square in Cairo
07.40 Yemen: US President Barack Obama urged Yemen to immediately implement a deal under which President Ali Abdullah Saleh has agreed to hand over power after 33 years in office:
The United States will continue to stand by the Yemeni people as they embark on this historic transition.
The United States urges all parties to move immediately to implement the terms of the agreement, which will allow Yemen to begin addressing an array of formidable challenges and chart a more secure and prosperous path for the future.
07.32 Egypt: the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces apologised on Thursday for the deaths of demonstrators during six straight days of anti-military rallies, in a statement on their Facebook page. The statement says:
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces presents its regrets and deep apologies for the deaths of martyrs from among Egypt's loyal sons during the recent events in Tahrir Square.
07.30 (09.30 EET) Good morning and welcome to today's live blog on events in the Middle East.
Protesters took to the streets of Egypt on Saturday amid fears the military were planning not to completely relinquish their hold on the country despite democratic elections on Monday.
Since then, the military has accepted the resignation of the entire civilian cabinet over the escalating violence and has promised to surrender power by next summer.
Previous Arab Spring live coverage:
• Egypt protests and Arab Spring: Nov 24
• Egypt protests and Arab Spring: Nov 23
• Egypt protests and Arab Spring: Nov 22
• Libya: October 21 as it happened
• Libya: September 9 as it happened
• Libya: September 8 as it happened
• Libya: September 7 as it happened
• Libya: September 6 as it happened
• Libya: September 5 as it happened
• Libya: September 2 as it happened
• Libya: September 1 as it happened
• Libya: August 31 as it happened
• Libya: August 30 as it happened
• Libya, August 29 as it happened
• Libya, August 28 as it happened
• Libya, August 27 as it happened
• Libya, August 26 as it happened
• Libya, August 25 as it happened
• Libya, August 24 as it happened
• Libya, August 23: fall of Gaddafi's Tripoli compound
• Libya, August 22: endgame for Gaddafi
• Libya, August 21: fall of Tripoli
• Egypt: the resignation of Mubarak
***
363 COMMENTS
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog"
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
25112011
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
No comments:
Post a Comment