The United Nations has announced an “unconditional humanitarian pause” in the Yemen conflict starting at midnight local time Friday and is seeking commitments from all parties to stop all violence. “The Secretary-General looks forward to the commitments of all parties to the conflict in Yemen to an unconditional humanitarian pause to start on Friday, 10 July at 23:59 (GMT + 3)” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Thursday. The week-long truce will end at the same time as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and aims to get aid to some 21 million Yemenis. Despite the pause, both the Houthi leader and Yemeni, as well as Saudi, government officials have expressed doubts about an ultimate ceasefire. “We hope this truce will be the beginning of the end of the Saudi aggression and the end of the violation of United Nations conventions that the war of aggression on Yemen has seen,” a top Houthi leader, Mohammed al-Houthi said in a statement. In a televised interview on Thursday, Yemen’s Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin said “We must distinguish between the so-called humanitarian truce which has been insisted upon by the United Nations for a while and what we insist upon and hope for: that there will be a full truce with a comprehensive ceasefire including the withdrawal of forces.” A Saudi official put things more bluntly and described the truce as “useless.” [Reuters, Al-Arabiya, 7/10/2015]
EGYPT | LIBYA & THE MAGHREB | SYRIA & ITS NEIGHBORS | YEMEN & THE GULF | ECONOMICS
Sisi approves new parliamentary election law
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has ratified amendments to an election law regulating electoral constituencies, paving the way for setting a date for long-delayed parliamentary elections, according to state news agency MENA. A judicial official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said the reviewed version took into account the Supreme Court’s concerns. The ratified law defines voting districts in the country of more than 50 million voters. According to the new amendments, Egypt will be divided into 205 electoral constituencies for individual candidates and four for the party lists. The former parliamentary electoral laws were ruled unconstitutional in March by the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC), on the grounds of disproportionate districting. [Ahram Online, AP, Cairo Post, 7/10/2015]
Nine NGOs dissolved in Suez, two win lawsuit against dissolution
Nine NGOs allegedly belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood were dissolved on Thursday in Suez by the Ministry of Social Solidarity as part of a 2013 court ruling that orders all funds of the group be frozen. Under Secretary of the Ministry of Solidarity Madiha Noun called on banks to freeze the funds of the nine associations, according to Youm7. In the past six months, the ministry examined the activities and funding sources of seventeen Brotherhood-affiliated NGOs in Suez. The ministry is now running four of the NGOs, and dissolved nine. The remaining two filed a lawsuit against their dissolution and won the case. [Cairo Post, 7/10/2015]
Egypt’s interior ministry issues ‘constitutional booklet’ to police officers
The Egyptian ministry of interior has issued a booklet to all police officers outlining certain duties and civilian rights granted by the constitution. The booklet, called “The constitutional regulations for security performance,” will help security elements to perform their “noble role” with full commitment according to constitutional legitimacy, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday. “Brothers and sons…There is no doubt that the constitution is the main foundation that describes the framework of the state and its ruling system, while also determining the rights and freedoms of the individual,” Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar wrote in the booklet’s introduction. Copies of the book and details of its contents have not been released to the public. [Ahram Online, 7/10/2015]
Shafiq revokes Patriotic Movement Party resignation
President of the Egyptian Patriotic Movement Ahmed Shafiq on Thursday withdrew his resignation, and said that he would remain the head of the political party. However, in a statement released on Thursday afternoon, Shafiq said that he will make “fundamental changes” to the party’s leadership in all Egyptian governorates. “As my resignation was rejected from the party, I decided to withdraw it hoping to continue my political activities with my colleagues in the party to serve our beloved country,” Shafiq said. In mid-June, he submitted his resignation to the party’s higher committee, citing his inability to perform duties from outside Egypt as the reason behind his move. However, the party’s Deputy Head, Yahia Qadry, who replaced Shafiq in his absence, told Daily News Egypt at the time of Shafiq’s announcement that the party’s higher committee planned to convince the party chief to take back the resignation. A few days later, the party issued a statement rejecting Shafiq’s resignation. [Ahram Online, DNE, Cairo Post, 7/10/2015]
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EU promises support to Libyan municipalities while looking for help to end political crisis
Mayors from Benghazi, Zintan, Sebha, Gharyan, and two Libyan municipal coordinators met European officials in Brussels today as part of European Union (EU) efforts to build relations between Libyan municipalities and Europe, and to further encourage them to take a leading role in ending the current political crisis. This meeting was organized by the EU’s Committee of the Regions and members of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM). Federica Mogherini, EU Foreign Policy Chief, told the group of mayors that the EU would soon launch “an ambitious program” helping several local municipalities address local government issues, delivery of services, post-crisis planning, and economic development. Libyan participants will also be invited as observers to the next ARLEM session in Nicosia in January 2016. [Libya Herald, 7/9/2015]
Delegates back in Skhirat, waiting to see if GNC team turns up
All delegates to the UN-brokered Libya Dialogue are back in Skhirat in Morocco reconvening talks, with the exception of General National Congress (GNC) representatives. Delegates and foreign ambassadors taking part in the talks dismissed speculation that a draft agreement would be initialed this evening or tomorrow. The present focus was on whether the GNC team would attend. The draft will reportedly be initialed within three days if the GNC delegation does not resume talks. The GNC group quit the talks on June 28, a few hours after it received the latest draft. This week, the GNC announced its delegates would not return to Skhirat unless UN Special Envoy Bernardino Leon agreed to the discussion of its amendments to the latest draft. Leon, however, is said to want the Draft initialed by Sunday. The GNC is not due to meet again on the issue until then at the earliest. [Libya Herald, 7/9/2015]
Fourteen killed in clashes in Libya’s Benghazi
At least fourteen people were killed in Benghazi in battles between militiamen and forces loyal to the internationally recognized government. The fighting erupted Wednesday morning in the center of the city. Al-Jalaa hospital said it was hit by a rocket that killed one person and wounded three. It was not immediately clear if those killed and wounded in the clashes were civilians or fighters. [Al Arabiya, 7/9/2015]
Twelve migrants drowned and 500 rescued in Mediterranean off Libya
Twelve migrants died on Thursday when their overcrowded rubber dinghy sank off the coast of Libya while 500 individuals were rescued. The bodies of the victims were found in the sea by the Coast Guard ship Dattilo, forty miles north of Libya. The Dattilo saved 106 people from the same dinghy, which was “half submerged” when help arrived. The Dattilo is still involved in other rescue operations. A total of 393 other migrants were saved in four different operations carried out by the Dattilo on Thursday. Another 106 migrants were saved by two Coast Guard frigates operating off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. No details were available on the nationalities of the victims or those rescued. [Reuters, 7/9/2015]
Britain warns against travel to Tunisia as tourists head home
Britain’s Foreign Office (FCO) advised against all but essential travel to Tunisia on Thursday, telling Britons to leave the country and warning that further terrorist attacks in the country were “highly likely.” The FCO said it was working with tour operators including Thomas Cook and TUI Travel to bring holidaymakers back to the UK. British authorities did not believe that the security measures put in place in Tunisia were sufficient to keep holidaymakers safe, Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said in a statement. Thomas Cook said on Thursday it was working to bring home 2,000 British and Irish guests currently at its resorts in Tunisia on ten flights scheduled for the weekend. Both Thomas Cook and TUI said they cancelled all future bookings to the country up until the end of October. Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said he would call British counterpart David Cameron on Friday to respond to his government’s advice that Tunisia was unsafe for holidays. In its continuous fight against terrorism, Tunisia’s Interior Ministry said security forces leading a counter terrorism sweep have killed five suspected extremists in central Tunisia. [Reuters, AP, Al Arabiya 7/9/2015]
Morocco arrests eight from “ISIS recruitment cell”
Morocco arrested eight people suspected of operating a recruitment cell for the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) group in the country. Cell members “secured the transfer of dozens of fighters… in coordination with elements operating on the border between Turkey and Syria,” said an interior ministry statement. The recruits were charged with “carrying out suicide car bomb operations in Iraq and Syria” for the extremist group, the statement added. The arrests were made by the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations, a unit formed in March as part of the country’s counter terrorism measures. [Al Arabiya, 7/9/2015]
Turkey arrests twenty-one suspected ISIS members in major operation
Turkey arrested twenty-one suspected Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) militants, including three foreigners, on Friday in several cities including Istanbul and the city of Sanliurfa near the Syrian border. The militants were detained in pre-dawn raids, suspected of helping ISIS recruit people from Europe and reportedly planning to cross into Syria. Turkey’s EU minister Volkan Bozkir said Friday that “Turkey has reached its total capacity for refugees,” and that an expected new wave of Syrian refugees fleeing fighting in northern Syria would likely end up in Europe. [AFP, 7/10/2015]
US asks UN to set up investigation of Syria chlorine attacks
The United States asked the UN Security Council on Thursday to set up an investigative panel to identify those behind deadly chlorine gas attacks in Syria. The draft resolution presented to the council called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to present recommendations within fifteen days on who would sit on the panel. Investigators would be asked to identify the “individuals, entities, groups, or governments who were perpetrators, organizers, sponsors, or otherwise involved in the use of chemical weapons.” [AFP, 7/10/2015]
Syrian army battles ISIS outside Palmyra
Syrian army troops backed by war planes engaged in fierce clashes with ISIS and advanced to within several kilometers of Palmyra on Thursday. Civilians reportedly fled the aerial bombardment, and local sources say “regime forces could enter the city at any moment.” Syrian State News Agency (SANA) claims that the regime’s air raids hit ISIS positions in Palmyra as well as on the outskirts of the Shaar gas field. [AFP, 7/9/2015]
Iraqi troops and militias repel ISIS attack in Anbar province
Iraqi government forces and Shia militiamen repelled an ISIS attack on Friday in the town of Khalidiya in Iraq’s Anbar province. The militants attacked with mortars and five suicide car bombs, and the hours-long battle left at least ten soldiers and twelve militants dead. ISIS’ Radio al-Bayan claimed that its fighters successfully seized positions in Khalidiya, but other sources say the militants eventually retreated. Also on Friday, a representative for Iraq’s top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged countries in the region to take decisive measures to stop the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq. Iraqi Shia paramilitaries exchanged fire with police in Baghdad on Thursday after approximately fifteen gunmen from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs) stormed an unfinished Health Ministry building in Baghdad’s Zayyounah neighborhood. Three policemen were wounded in the clashes, which resulted in the militiamen eventually leaving the building. [AP, 7/10/2015]
UNICEF says Syrian children at risk due to water scarcity and heat
UNICEF warned Friday that a scarcity of clean water and the scorching summer heat are putting Syria’s children “at high risk” of disease. It reported sharp increases in numerous diseases and cited the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor at particularly high risk, as sewage has contaminated the Euphrates river. [AP, 7/10/2015]
Humanitarian pause reached in Yemen
The United Nations has announced an “unconditional humanitarian pause” in the Yemen conflict starting at midnight local time Friday and is seeking commitments from all parties to stop all violence. “The Secretary-General looks forward to the commitments of all parties to the conflict in Yemen to an unconditional humanitarian pause to start on Friday, 10 July at 23:59 (GMT + 3)” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Thursday. The week-long truce will end at the same time as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and aims to get aid to some 21 million Yemenis. Despite the pause, both the Houthi leader and Yemeni, as well as Saudi, government officials have expressed doubts about an ultimate ceasefire. “We hope this truce will be the beginning of the end of the Saudi aggression and the end of the violation of United Nations conventions that the war of aggression on Yemen has seen,” a top Houthi leader, Mohammed al-Houthi said in a statement. In a televised interview on Thursday, Yemen’s Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin said “We must distinguish between the so-called humanitarian truce which has been insisted upon by the United Nations for a while and what we insist upon and hope for: that there will be a full truce with a comprehensive ceasefire including the withdrawal of forces.” A Saudi official put things more bluntly and described the truce as “useless.” [Reuters, Al-Arabiya, 7/10/2015]
New AQAP leader urges attacks on the US
Qassim al-Raymi, the newly appointed leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has issued a call for attacks on the United States. The US-based SITE monitoring group quotes an online recording from al-Raymi as saying “All of you must direct and gather your arrows and swords against it.” The recording, which was posted on social media, is referring to the United States, says SITE. This is al-Qaymi’s first speech since taking over AQAP’s top-spot after the death of Nasser al-Wuhayshi. [TDS, 7/10/2015]
Forces loyal to ousted President Hadi attack Houthi militants on Thursday
Yemeni fighters allied with exiled President Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi killed fifteen rebels in a Thursday attack on their checkpoints in the country’s southern Abyan province, a military source said. In Aden, a second attack resulted in the death of seventeen Houthi fighters as warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition continued an aerial attack. Fighting in Zinjibar saw the pro-government Popular Resistance Committee fighters attack the checkpoint of the 15th Infantry brigade, whose soldiers had defected and joined the Houthi cause. Southern tribesmen meanwhile killed four Houthi rebels in an ambush Thursday near Ataq, in Shabwa province, a local security source said. [AFP, 7/9/2015]
Saudi Prince Saud al-Faisal dies, former Foreign Minister
Prince Saud al-Faisal, who retired in April after serving four decades as Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, died at age seventy-five on Thursday. Prince Saud’s tenure spanned multiple invasions of Lebanon by Israel, the Palestinian Intifadas, Iraq’s war with Iran and invasion of Kuwait, as well as the US-led occupation of Iraq in 2003. Despite his talents as a diplomat, Prince Saud failed to build the kingdom’s Foreign Ministry into a body with great institutional depth. Diplomats in Riyadh have described Saudi foreign policy as being like a searchlight: intensely focused, but only on the issues of most interest to the king and Prince Saud. As Foreign Minister, the Prince launched King Abdullah’s biggest foreign policy initiative, the “Beirut Summit” which was intended to bring peace to Israel and Palestine. Israel never agreed to the plan and Prince Saud said frequently that the failure to help create a Palestinian state was the biggest disappointment of his career. [Reuters, 7/10/2015]
IMF further cuts Saudi growth projections
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday further cut its growth projections for Saudi Arabia’s oil dependent economy despite a rebound in crude oil prices. The IMF forecast growth of 2.8 percent this year, 0.2 percentage points down on from its last projection in April. It also lowered its projection for 2016 to 2.4 percent, down 0.3 percentage points. Saudi Arabia has projected a budget deficit of $39 billion for this year, but the IMF estimates the shortfall could exceed $130 billion, the largest in the kingdom’s history. The IMF projected on Thursday that the price of benchmark Brent crude would average $59 a barrel this year. It estimates that Saudi Arabia needs a price of more than $100 a barrel to balance its budget. [AFP, 7/9/2015]
Libya’s Tobruk government warns tankers away from Ras Lanuf port
Libya’s internationally recognized government in Tobruk has warned that its security forces will seize any tankers approaching the Ras Lanuf oil terminal without permission, saying that any attempt to make oil deals with the rival government in Tripoli would be “piracy.” Earlier this week, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) based in Tripoli said it was lifting the force majeure measure on Ras Lanuf. However, the oil terminal is protected by an armed force allied with the Tobruk government, which has appointed its own NOC chief, Yousef Bu Saifi. He told Reuters that the force majeure is still in effect and orders have been given to the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) to intercept tankers approaching Ras Lanuf. Oil guards say they have received orders to warn vessels away and to arrest crew if they do not comply. [Reuters, 7/9/2015]
EU grants Tunisia EUR 100 million in support of reforms
Tunisia’s Minister of Development, Investment and International Cooperation, Yassine Brahim, and the European Union’s (EU) Ambassador to Tunisia, Laura Baeza, have signed an agreement granting EUR 100 million from the EU to Tunisia to support economic reforms. The grant, which aims to implement reforms jointly agreed by the EU and Tunisia, will focus on three areas: support for Tunisia’s democratic transition, tackling unemployment, and reforming public governance. Funding will be allocated in two stages. The first disbursement of EUR 75 million is planned for December 2015. A second disbursement of EUR 25 million is scheduled for late 2016. [African Manager, 7/10/2015]
Egypt’s annual core, urban inflation drop in June
Egypt’s annual urban consumer inflation and core inflation dropped in June after rising last month, with analysts saying the fall reflected slower growth in food prices. Core annual inflation, which excludes volatile items like fruit and vegetables, dropped slightly to 8.07 percent from 8.14 percent the previous month, the central bank said. Hany Farahat, a senior economist at CI Capital, said last month’s jump was due to expected volatility in food items ahead of the Ramadan. Urban consumer inflation dropped to 11.4 percent from 13.1 percent in May, official statistics agency CAPMAS said on Thursday. Capital Economics, an economic research company, said inflation could drop into single digits during July. [Reuters, 7/9/2015]