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Thursday,
March 14, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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UN’s first mention of Palestinian state
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Mugabe wins another term Poll flawed, say US, Norwegian monitors
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UN’s first mention of Palestinian state
Ramallah, March 13 Meanwhile, the UN Security Council passed a US-drafted resolution referring for the first time to a Palestinian state existing side by side with Israel. The 14-0 vote late yesterday, with Syria abstaining, marked the first time the 15-nation council approved a resolution on West Asia since October, 2000, and was the first recent text touching on the region to be written by Washington. Israeli tanks tightened their grip on Ramallah after storming into the West Bank city yesterday, a day in which 41 persons were killed on both sides in one of the bloodiest rounds of violence in 17 months of conflict. The bloodshed left little room for hope that US envoy Anthony Zinni, due to arrive in Israel tomorrow, will be able to convince Israelis and Palestinians to end the bloodshed after failed missions in December and January. “Mr Zinni will not succeed if we do not help him,’’ Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, the government’s leading dove, told Channel Two television. His comments implied criticism of the two-week-old campaign in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, now involving 20,000 troops, launched by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after Palestinian attacks intensified Right-wing calls for tougher action. Some 150 armoured vehicles, including tanks, thrust into Ramallah and nearby refugee camps yesterday, tearing up roads and crushing cars in the main Palestinian commercial and political hub in the West Bank, witnesses said. Abu Fadi, deputy commander in Ramallah for Mr Arafat’s Force 17 elite guard, was killed in new fighting today, Palestinian security sources said. They gave no details. Hundreds of spent bullet cartridges were scattered around Ramallah’s central Al-Manara Square following heavy shooting in the area overnight. Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles were stationed at schools and on road junctions throughout the city. Machinegun and rifle fire continued sporadically in many parts of Ramallah, the main commercial and political centre in the West Bank, about 20 km north of Jerusalem. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his harshest criticism of Israel, urged it to stop “the bombing of civilian areas, the assassinations, the unnecessary use of lethal force, the demolitions and the daily humiliation of ordinary Palestinians’’. Meanwhile, an Italian news photographer died today after being seriously wounded by Israeli army gunfire in Ramallah, hospital sources said. Raffaele Ciriello, a freelancer, is the first journalist killed since the intifade, or Palestinian uprising, broke out in September, 2000. He was hit in the chest and stomach by six bullets fired from a tank
Reuters, AFP |
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Osama follower linked to J & K militants Sydney, March 13 It was also revealed that Adelaide man David Hicks went to Kashmir twice to undertake training and to assist terrorists who have been fighting for secession of the state from India for almost two decades. Hicks, who converted to Islam a few years ago and adopted the name Mohammed Dawood, is under the US Government’s custody at Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba. He was arrested while fighting alongside Taliban and Al Qaida fighters in Afghanistan last year. A report in the Herald Sun daily has revealed that Hicks underwent extensive training at the headquarters of the terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba at Muridke near Lahore in Pakistan. The group has been involved in a bloody war with the Indian armed forces and has been banned by India, the USA and even Pakistan. The Sun Herald joined other Rupert Murdoch-owned newspapers in its investigation about Hicks' links with the parent body of Lashkar, Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad, or Centre for Preaching. The Melbourne-based newspaper established that there were strong links between the Australian convert to Islam, Hicks, and Markaz, which is reportedly funded by the Al-Qaida. One of the interviewees, known only as Ibrahim, reportedly recalled that the Australian fighter attended Lashkar training camps in Kashmir in mid-2000. The Sun Herald has also quoted a Pakistan-based defence expert, Riffat Hussain, who claimed Hicks must have been a “tough guy” to have joined the Lashkar. “The group keeps a close watch on who to allow in and whom to provide access to,” Hussain said. But Markaz, which has changed its name to Jama'at ud Dawa to avoid unwanted scrutiny and circumvent various bans, has been denying that the Australian ever trained or fought with them. Not many are buying its denial as a number of Australian media groups have a letter, which Hicks supposedly wrote to his family from a Markaz campus in Pakistan. Hussain is not surprised at the Australian connection to the Lashkar.
IANS |
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Alliance captures key ridge Bagram Air Base, March 13 “It’s a great success. It’s a 3-km-long area they seized,” military spokesman Major Bryan Hilferty, told reporters at Bagram, control point for “Operation Anaconda”, after the capture of the ridgeline known as “The Whale”. Yesterday, Afghan General Abdullah Joyenda said US and Afghan troops had overrun the Shahi Kot rebels, sending them fleeing towards the border with Pakistan and effectively ending the biggest battle of the Afghan war. “It is a 60 square-mile area. We have seized the majority and have control of the majority of the valley. I am not saying that our forces have searched every inch,” he said. “The battle continues. The war in Afghanistan is not over, but the operation is winding down. I cannot talk about future operations.” Major Hilferty said as remaining rebels were mopped up in the Shahi Kot area there were other pockets of resistance elsewhere.
Reuters |
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Mugabe wins another term
Harare, March 13 The results announced by Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede showed Mugabe with 1,634,382 votes, well over the 50 per cent of ballots cast that he needed for victory against challenger Morgan Tsvangirai, who had 1,170,590. Mudede said 3.1 million persons voted in the southern African country’s three-day election, that ended on Monday. The vote was condemned by local and foreign observers and Western countries, who said it was scarred by violence, deeply flawed and unfair. Tsvangirai says Mugabe stole the vote through systematic cheating and there were fears of a violent backlash by opposition supporters. The security forces were put on high alert and the police set up roadblocks on the main approach roads to the capital, Harare. Observers had warned that should the outcome be seen to have been rigged, violence could explode across the volatile southern African nation. As the results were being announced, about 100 heavily armed soldiers moved into Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo, and surrounded MDC offices, where opposition officials had gathered. Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi has put security forces on alert. Police roadblocks were seen on the main roads leading to central Harare Security forces were patrolling the city and six police officers were stationed outside MDC headquarters. Foreign governments all but dismissed the outcome even before it was announced, threatening to leave Mugabe internationally isolated despite his victory. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw cited “pretty strong” evidence that Mugabe has “stolen” Zimbabwe’s vote, an outcome he said would have “enormous implications for the nature of our relationship with Zimbabwe.” Polling stations in Harare were reduced by 32 per cent in favour of an increase of voting outlets in rural areas, considered Mugabe’s support base. Of 882,176 people registered to vote in Harare province, 49.8 per cent actually did so during the three days of polling that began Saturday and saw mile-long queues across the capital. Turnout across the southern African country was an estimated 66 per cent in an election fraught by violence, intimidation and intense legal wrangling over civic rights and electoral rules. Reuters, AFP |
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Poll flawed, say US, Norwegian monitors Johannesburg, March 13 “Zimbabwe’s presidential elections of March 9-11 were fundamentally flawed,” Walter Kansteiner, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, said in a statement here. “The electoral process from start to finish ignored the norms and standards which govern elections throughout the Southern African Development Community and to which Zimbabwe had committed. “Supreme Court rulings were cast aside, the constitution flaunted, the independent media persecuted and civil society marginalised. Thus the will of the people was the chief casualty,” he pointed out. Late last night, Norway’s observer mission said Zimbabwe’s presidential election failed to meet acceptable international standards. The mission blamed President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party for “the vast majority” of violent incidents before the elections. “The observer mission concludes that the presidential election failed to meet key, broadly accepted criteria for elections,” Kare Vollan, the head of the 25-strong Norwegian mission, told reporters in Harare. The elections “were conducted in an environment of strong polarisation, political violence and an election administration with severe shortcomings”. The Norwegians were the largest European observer group in Zimbabwe after the European Union withdrew its team because Mugabe had excluded some EU member states. The Norwegian statement said the election build-up was marred by a pattern of intimidation and violence. “Even though incidents have been reported from both sides, the evidence shows clearly that in the vast majority of cases the ruling party has been to blame,” Vollan said. He gave a catalogue of irregularities and abuses, and also criticised the electoral authorities for barring tens of thousands of people from voting, especially in Harare and nearby Chitungwiza, by defying a court order to keep polling stations open on the third day of voting. Local monitors delivered a damning judgment on Tuesday, saying tens of thousands of people were prevented from voting. “There is no way these elections could be described as substantially free and fair,” the Zimbabwe Election Support Network said. Vollan said Mugabe’s government had made it difficult for the opposition to campaign freely and published vital information on the electoral process very late. The voters' roll was still unavailable to the public, he said. However, South African observers said the election, which swept President Robert Mugabe back to power, was “legitimate”. “Based on our observations, it is the view of the South African Observer Mission that the outcome of the 2002 Zimbabwe presidential election should be considered as legitimate,” mission leader Samuel Motsuenyane told reporters. Motsuenyane said the chaotic voting delays were due to “admistrative oversights”, and the participation of the opposition in the entire electoral process had “legitimised” the outcome.
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