Iraq summons Turkish envoy over crisis remarks - Reuters

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gives a speech during a ceremony marking the Iraqi Police's 90th anniversary at a police academy in Baghdad January 9, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Mohammed Ameen

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq summoned the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad on Monday to complain about comments by Turkish officials it said amounted to meddling in its affairs, a sign of regional tension over worries that political crisis in Iraq could lead to sectarian war.

Iraqi officials did not specify what Turkish remarks they were angry about, but the complaint appeared to stem from comments earlier this month by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who said a Sunni-Shi'ite conflict in Iraq, if unleashed, could engulf the entire Islamic world.

Fears of renewed sectarian conflict in Iraq have increased since U.S. troops withdrew last month and Maliki's Shi'ite-led government sought the arrest of a Sunni vice president on accusations he ran death squads.

Maliki's government denies it has a sectarian agenda, but the arrest warrant threatens to wreck a fragile ruling coalition that saw Sunni and Kurdish groups join Maliki's cabinet.

Many Iraqis fear that a collapse of the power-sharing deal could lead to renewed sectarian violence, which still simmers but at a much lower intensity than in 2006-07 when tens of thousands of civilians were killed.

In an interview to al-Hurra television on Friday, Maliki said: "Turkey is unfortunately playing a role which may lead to disaster and civil war in the region."

Iraq's Deputy Foreign Minister Muhammed Jawad al-Dooreki summoned the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad on Monday, urging his government to consider the "necessity of avoiding anything that might disturb" good relations, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said.

"The Turkish ambassador gave assurances that Turkish officials' statements were in good faith and he will inform his government in Ankara of the Iraqi position," the foreign ministry statement said.

Turkey responded by summoning Iraq's envoy to the Foreign Ministry in Ankara, a diplomatic source told Reuters.

Turkey, which has a Sunni majority but is officially secular, has attempted to play a moderating role as rivals Shi'ite Iran and Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia jockey for influence in the region.

Since the 2003 invasion that toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq's Shi'ite majority have been in the ascendancy, and Maliki has moved the government closer to Iran. But the country also has strong trade ties with Turkey, a major investor.

(Reporting by Suadad al-Salhy in Baghdad and Ibon Villelabeitia in Ankara; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Peter Graff)

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Questions Surround Leadership in Pyongyang - Wall Street Journal

SEOUL—As North Korea on Tuesday marks one month since the death of Kim Jong Il, the most important question for outsiders trying to deal with the country remains unanswered: Is his young son Kim Jong Eun really in charge?

North Korea has projected an image of a successful transition and stability in its authoritarian government. State media calls the younger Mr. Kim "supreme commander" and produced TV and newspaper reports praising him. It reported several visits he made to military installations and cultural events.



AFP/Getty Images/KCNA This picture taken by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 1 shows new North Korean leader Kim Jong Eun, front row center, posing for photos with soldiers.

But the regime's New Year's statement, a lengthy message that traditionally contained an exhortation from Kim Jong Il, had no quotations from Kim Jong Eun. The young leader's birthday on Jan. 8—he turned 28 or 29, though outsiders don't precisely know his birth year—passed with little notice in North Korea. That was far different from the national celebrations held on the birthdays of his father and grandfather Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founder and ruler for 46 years.

As well, Kim Jong Eun hasn't met anyone from outside of the country who could provide an assessment of his role.

Diplomats from North Korea's neighbors and other interested countries, such as the U.S., are taking a wait-and-see approach. "It's unclear what kind of attitude North Korea will take" in diplomacy, South Korea Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said earlier this month. "Even China is also waiting," he added, referring to the North's chief ally.

And with so little information, analysts who watch North Korea are reluctant to draw any conclusions about the direction of the regime and the viability of Kim Jong Eun as leader.

"I can't point to clear evidence of instability in Pyongyang," said Gordon Flake, executive director of the Mansfield Foundation, which studies and promotes U.S.-Asia relations. "But I would be reluctant to assume it is business as usual."

In 1994, when Kim Jong Il took over control of North Korea after the death of his father, he also maintained a low profile for weeks. North Korea sent a special envoy to Beijing seven weeks after Kim Il Sung's death to assure the Chinese that Kim Jong Il was in charge. But there was another sign of action in Pyongyang at that time: The North resumed disarmament talks with the U.S. a month after Kim Il Sung's death.

The behavior of the North Korean regime over the past month closely resembles the period in August and September 2008 when Kim Jong Il was stricken with a stroke-like illness.

In both instances, no meetings or contacts were made with diplomats of other countries. Legal border crossings stopped temporarily and authorities appeared to crack down on illegal ones.

Externally, the most visible activity in both times was the state media's numerous accounts praising Kim Jong Il's actions and steady criticism of countries it routinely portrays as enemies to North Korean citizens: South Korea, Japan and the U.S.

Such adherence to orthodox behavior is typical in authoritarian regimes in a leadership vacuum. And almost no one expects a major change from Kim Jong Il's policies. Rhee Bong-jo, a former vice minister of South Korea's Unification Ministry, said the son's authority derives completely from family heritage. "Kim Jong Eun has no choice but to uphold his father's legacy," Mr. Rhee said.

But Kim Jong Il's death poses a dilemma for the North Korean regime that will be harder to resolve with the usual diet of adulation for the leader and diatribes for outsiders.

The problem is that relying on the young Kim Jong Eun to lead and balance two massive forces—the political party and military—conflicts with a centuries-old tradition in Korea of deference to older people.

Though Kim Il Sung was in only his mid-30s when he became the country's leader, he was operating in a tumultuous period of instability after World War II and overcame the cultural barrier against youth by getting support from the then-Soviet Union and China.

His grandson Kim Jong Eun is several years younger and operating in an environment of where power networks and alliances are more entrenched. As a result, some analysts speculate North Korea will form a collective leadership in which Mr. Kim will share power, most likely with an aunt and uncle and several generals who were all close to his father.

But if that were true, it would signal a broader change in the operations of North Korea's leadership structure, which has for decades been designed in a way that only the leader had full access to all information. "Even if there is some dispersion of power or a committee, there's always a first among equals," said Dan Pinkston, analyst at the International Crisis Group in Seoul.

In the coming weeks, clues in the direction and shape of the North Korean regime are likely to emerge in the way it responds to the mid-February birthday of Kim Jong Il, mid-April birthday of Kim Il Sung and the annual spring training exercise by U.S. and South Korean militaries, which begins late next month.

Write to Evan Ramstad at evan.ramstad@wsj.com

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Romanian PM warns protesters on fifth day - Reuters

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's prime minister warned anti-austerity protesters gathering for a fifth day on Monday that violence would not be tolerated after 59 people were injured in clashes between demonstrators and riot police at the weekend.

The country's worst unrest for more than a decade has seen riot police using tear gas against protesters throwing bricks, smashing windows and setting fire to newspaper stands and rubbish bins in central Bucharest since it began on Thursday.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered peacefully in central Bucharest and other cities on Monday afternoon, demanding Prime Minister Emil Boc and his close political ally President Traian Basescu resign.

The numbers were expected to rise in the evening and analysts predicted more protests but did not see them affecting the austerity measures passed by the ruling coalition's small but stable parliamentary majority.

The country had hitherto avoided the kind of violence that has shaken Greece and other indebted European states despite a 25 percent cut in public sector pay and five percentage point increase in VAT imposed in 2010 to maintain an IMF-led bailout.

Boc, whose popularity is declining ahead of parliamentary elections late this year, said any violence would just end up harming the country.

"We have achieved stability but we cannot harvest the fruits immediately," he said in his first speech since the protests began. "My message is clear: violence will not be tolerated, peaceful protests are legitimate," Boc said.

"Street violence can do us much harm and can hamper prospects for economic growth."

People rallied initially in support of a deputy health minister who quit in protest at a controversial draft healthcare legislation. But the demonstrations grew despite the government's cancellation of the bill and evolved into a general expression of discontent with austerity policies and poverty.

"Five years of European Union membership did not bring anything good, on the contrary, poverty, frozen pensions," Ioan Mendea, a 73-year old former jurist, who ekes out a living from a 900 lei ($260) monthly state pension, told Reuters.

"This government, prime minister, president must go."

Markets were largely unfazed by the violence and the finance ministry managed to sell far more debt than planned at a tender.

Daniel Hewitt of Barclays Capital in London said the protests had so far had limited impact. "This is certainly a change, but it does not seem to be able to lead to any ... significant changes as it stands now."

Police said they had fined or started criminal investigations against 283 demonstrators involved in Sunday's violence. Along with the tear gas, it was not clear what other measures they could employ to prevent any future violence.

"Compared to the rest of Europe, the protests we have seen here were very small, they are not a proper instrument yet," said Cristian Patrasconiu, a political commentator. "But I do expect them to continue...This is a wave that has yet to break." ($1 = 3.4244 Romanian lei)

(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Al-Qaida in Yemen captures town south of capital - CBS News

(AP)  SANAA, Yemen — A band of al-Qaida militants took full control on Monday of a town 100 miles south of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, overrunning army positions, storming the local prison and freeing at least 150 inmates.

The capture of the town of Radda expanded already significant territorial conquests by the militants, who have taken advantage of the weak central government and political turmoil roiling the nation for the past year during an anti-regime uprising inspired by Arab Spring revolts.

Authoritarian President Ali Abdullah Saleh recently agreed to step down after months of resisting the protests against his 33-year rule. But he remains a powerful force within the country and a spark for ongoing unrest.

Al-Qaida in Yemen had previously taken control of a string of towns in the mostly lawless south. But its capture of Radda is particularly important because it gives the militants a territorial foothold closer than ever before to the capital, where many sleeper cells of the terror network are thought to be located.

Fragmented Yemen is the poorest nation in the Arab world. There have long been fears that the chaos there, if unchecked, could lead to the breakup of the country along tribal or regional lines, with the militants in control of inaccessible and heavily fortified pockets deep in the country's mountainous interior.

Such a scenario could turn Yemen into something akin to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, a sanctuary for militants from the world over where they could plot high-profile terror attacks against the United States and its allies.

Yemen's active al-Qaida branch has already been linked to terror attacks on U.S. soil and on neighboring Saudi Arabia. It is believed to be one of the international terror organization's most dangerous franchises.

The United States and its western and Gulf Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia long considered Saleh a pivotal, though not entirely reliable, partner in the fight against al-Qaida. But the U.S. withdrew its support last summer and said Saleh should step down.

An Associated Press photographer who visited Radda on Sunday said the militants were armed with rocket-propelled grenades, automatic rifles and other weapons. He quoted residents as saying the black al-Qaida banner had been raised atop a mosque the militants captured over the weekend.

According to security officials, a band of about 200 militants pushed into Radda on Monday from several points they had captured over the weekend, including an ancient castle that overlooks the town, a school and a mosque. They stormed the local jail and freed 150-200 inmates, including an unspecified number of militants loyal to al-Qaida.

Some of the freed inmates joined the militants after they were given arms, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media.

The officials said the al-Qaida fighters were led by Tariq Al-Zahab, a Yemeni whose sister was married to U.S.-born al-Qaida cleric and key recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki, killed in a U.S. airstrike last September. Al-Awlaki issued English-language sermons on jihad on the Internet from his hideouts in Yemen's mountains, drawing Muslim recruits like the young Nigerian who tried to bring down a U.S. jet at Christmas 2009 and the Pakistani-American behind the botched car bombing in New York City's Times Square in May 2010.

The fighters later threw up a security ring around the town, preventing residents from leaving or entering, and killed two soldiers and wounded a third in clashes with troops. They also seized weapon caches and vehicles from the security headquarters.

Later on Monday, clashes erupted between the al-Qaida militants and armed tribesmen, leaving one dead and two wounded, according to a member of al-Qayfa tribe, which took part in the clashes. He also spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

Monday's violence prompted stores and schools in Radda to close. Thousands demonstrated in the provincial capital of Bayda to protest the perceived failure of security forces to protect the town, which has a population of about 40,000.

The opposition accused Saleh, who is to step down this month in line with a power transfer deal, of allowing the militants to overrun Radda along with two other towns in southern Abyan province captured previously — Zinjibar and Jaar — to bolster his claims that he must remain in power to secure the country against the rising power of Islamist militants.

Some tribal leaders also accused Saleh of giving the "green light" to the militants to overrun the city.

"We are surprised by the silence of the security forces," said opposition activist Abdel-Rahman al-Rashid, who lives in Radda. "They have not moved, which only means that this is all arranged to spark chaos."

Radda is part of Bayda province, a key transit route between the capital and Yemen's southern provinces where al-Qaida-linked militants have already seized control of a swath of territory and towns in Abyan province. Radda is only about 16 miles (25 kilometers) away from a main road that links Sanaa to eight provinces, raising the specter that taking the town could be a prelude to isolating the capital.

Al-Qaida-linked militants began seizing territory in the southern Abyan province last spring, solidifying their control over the town of Jaar in April before taking the provincial capital, Zinjibar, in May. Abyan borders Bayda.

Yemeni security forces have been trying unsuccessfully to push them out since then in fierce fighting that has caused many casualties on both sides. The conflict has forced tens of thousands of civilians from Zinjibar and the surrounding area to flee, many to the port city of Aden.

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Arab League Struggles As Syrian Violence Mounts - Voice of America

Arab league observers wearing orange vests oversee the releasing of Syrian prisoners who wait in queue to be released from Adra Prison on the outskirts of Damascus, January 15, 2012

Syrian human rights activists say at least five people were killed by pro-government forces Monday, as Arab League monitors struggle to document the violence.

It was another difficult day for Arab League monitors. One group, taken to hear evidence of unrest in areas just outside the capital, spent the morning listening to government official after government official tell of attacks against them.

The group listened patiently, asking questions and seeking clarification. One case seemed particularly confusing - a sanitation official who said opposition forces in the restive town of Douma were trying to sabotage their own water supply.

The same monitors had a more trying experience the day before, as they went beyond government-controlled areas to investigate an attack in Zabadani. The observers were welcomed as heroes, but soon found themselves fleeing under gunfire. Who fired the shots is unclear.

The observers, in their safety-orange vests, were meeting Monday just outside Damascus in a room decorated with portraits and photographs of President Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez. The uprising has been trying to end the Assad family's 40-year rule, first with peaceful protests, but increasingly with attacks by military defectors.

With the Arab League mission faltering, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon again lashed out against the violence, saying when a leader is disconnected from reality and from the people, such a situation is inevitable. Speaking in Abu Dhabi, Mr. Ban said he hoped the Security Council would handle the issue with gravity.

"I know that there are some differences of opinions among the member states of the Security Council but the number of casualties have reached to such an unacceptable stage, we cannot let this situation continue like this way. This is my urgent appeal," saind the U.N. chief.

There has been little consensus internationally on intervening in the Syrian crisis, but the Arab League is set to consider a Qatari-proposed Arab force Saturday.

The Syrian government blames the unrest on extremists and terrorists, but has announced further concessions, including the approval of another political party, and the day before, the repeated offer of a general amnesty.

Few in the anti-government movement have any faith in the measures, saying they are far too little, far too late.

For the Arab League monitors, they have been overseeing the government's release of political prisoners. Asked how they can assure those released will not be thrown back into jail, one observer shrugged slightly and said "we have their phone numbers."

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Nigeria Rolls Back Gas Price After Protests - New York Times

After the announcement, Nigerian unions said they had suspended their walkout and street protests. A statement from the Nigeria Labor Congress said that union leaders had decided “that in order to save lives and in the interest of national survival, these mass actions be suspended.”

In a speech on the state-run Nigerian Television Authority, the president said the price would drop to about $2.75 a gallon, still higher than the $1.70 that Nigerians had been paying before the government eliminated subsidies on Jan. 1 in a highly unpopular decision.

The government said it was revoking the fuel subsidies to put public finances on a sounder footing, but the move prompted tens of thousands of protesters to fill the streets of Nigerian cities. The police used live ammunition to disperse protests in Kano and other places; at least three people were killed, and Amnesty International denounced what it said was excessive use of force by the authorities.

Nigerians emerged from their homes this weekend to find the fragile calculus underpinning most people’s lives in the country further threatened.

The price of onions has more than doubled because of the cost of getting them to market. Dried crawfish, hot peppers and watermelon seed are twice as expensive. Lines of cars stretched far down dingy blocks in the gray winter haze, waiting to pay about $3.50 a gallon for gasoline that cost just $1.70 on New Year’s Eve.

The standoff among the Nigerian government, the labor unions and the street continued Sunday, with vows of more strikes unless the government backed down.

At the grimy Iddo Market in Lagos, a long line of rickety open stalls under a highway overpass, the mood over the weekend was wary. Housewives bustled about the piles of yams and tomatoes for the first time in a week.

“Everything is just double, triple the price,” said Segun Nisi, shaking her head over the cost of watermelon seeds, whose oil is used in cooking here. Similar reactions boded ill for the government’s policy course.

Nigeria produces immense oil wealth, but analysts say that for decades, billions of dollars from the country’s oil earnings have been stolen by a corrupt elite while three-quarters of the country’s citizens live on about a dollar a day. Government-subsidized gasoline has been almost the only benefit from oil production to reach the wider population.

Some local commentators saw the widespread protests over fuel as the beginning of a “Nigerian Spring.” But they were another headache for a country that is already faced with an insurrection by armed Islamic militants in the north, sectarian tensions in the middle and perpetual restiveness in the oil-producing south. At Iddo, Mrs. Nisi was dressed up for shopping — a shiny white blouse, embroidered black cap — after a week of closed stores and markets. But the experience was not making her sympathetic to the government’s plan. And the seed vendor was not budging from his new price. “We are just suffering here, and the people at the top are enjoying their life,” Mrs. Nisi said. “They are just making people too crazy.”

Even the country’s oil workers threatened to strike, which could affect world energy markets if the country’s exports are crimped. One analyst said a strike lasting several weeks could push up oil prices by $10 to $20 a barrel.

At the root of the trouble is a paradox that some see as emblematic of the country’s 50 years of independence: Nigeria is one of the world’s leading crude oil exporters, but it must import nearly all of its gasoline from foreign refineries because years of neglect, mismanagement and corruption have left the country’s own refineries unable to function. The government subsidies, which approached $8 billion, made up the difference between the world market price and the lower price that Nigerians had been paying at the pump, while the middlemen who imported the gasoline made huge profits.

In a 2009 report, the International Monetary Fund called the removal of the fuel subsidy “an important first step.” But in a place where experts estimate that $50 billion to $100 billion in oil revenue has been lost through fraud and that 80 percent of the economic benefit from oil production has flowed to 1 percent of the population, the monetary fund’s approval of a step that hits ordinary people so hard looks provocative.

At Iddo, Mabel Ekewke eyed five small baskets of onions. Before, they would have cost about 1,000 nairas (about $6.25), she said; now the vendor was asking 2,500 nairas ($15.50).

Richard Berry contributed reporting from Paris.

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2 Americans honored for catching terror suspect in Germany

BERLIN –  Germany's government presented the nation's highest civilian award Monday to two Americans who helped apprehend an Islamic extremist after he attacked a U.S. Air Force bus last year and killed two airmen.

Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich awarded the Federal Cross of Merit to U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Trevor Brewer and civilian airport employee Lamar Conner, both of whom chased the suspect until police could apprehend him, saying their deeds "were an example for all of us."

Arid Uka, a 21-year-old Kosovo Albanian, is currently on trial for the March 2 slayings and has admitted to the charges. He faces up to life in prison, and a verdict and sentence are expected Thursday.

It was the first Islamic extremist act carried out on German soil, and Friedrich said Brewer and Conner set an admirable precedent.

"It was an important signal that in the first Islamic extremist act in Germany the suspect was stopped in the course of committing his crime by courageous people and arrested," Friedrich said at a small ceremony in the Interior Ministry attended by U.S. Ambassador Philip Murphy.

Uka gave a teary confession as his Frankfurt state court trial opened in August, saying that the night before the attack he had seen a video on Facebook that purported to show American soldiers raping a teenage Muslim girl. It turned out to be a scene from the 2007 Brian De Palma anti-war film "Redacted," taken out of context.

Uka told the court the video prompted him to do anything possible to prevent American soldiers from going to Afghanistan. Under German law, the court is still required to hear all evidence in the case, even though Uka has confessed.

The defendant had already killed two U.S. airmen when he turned his pistol on Brewer, a 23-year-old from Gray, Tennessee, who was on the bus waiting with others to be taken to nearby Ramstein Air Base to fly to Afghanistan.

Brewer has said Uka pointed the pistol at his head, said "Allahu Akbar" -- Arabic for "God is great" -- and pulled the trigger.

But the gun jammed due to a defective cartridge and Uka fled -- and Brewer chased out of the bus after him.

"I was definitely fearful, but I knew if I didn't take action the attack could have continued and someone else could have gotten hurt," Brewer told The Associated Press.

He said he was accepting his award on behalf of Senior Airman Nicholas J. Alden, 25, from South Carolina, and Airman 1st Class Zachary R. Cuddeback, 21, from Virginia -- the two airmen killed in the attack. Two others were seriously injured.

When Brewer emerged from the bus after Uka, Conner had already begun his own pursuit.

The 53-year-old former U.S. Army sergeant, who stayed in Germany after retirement and now works at the airport as a ticket agent, was outside on a break when he heard the shots, then saw Uka emerge from the bus with pistol in hand.

"I just fell in behind him, and followed him while warning passers-by away," said the Altha, Florida native.

At one point when he was about five yards behind Uka, the suspect turned to confront him but then saw police also giving chase and started running again, Conner said.

Conner said he had just been acting on instinct.

"I'm ex-military and you just react; you don't have time to think," he said.

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