The number of Syrian refugees who have fled to Lebanon officially topped one million on Thursday, highlighting the growing humanitarian catastrophe caused by Syria’s civil war and the huge burden placed on its poorly prepared neighbors. The UN refugee agency UNHCR marked what it called a devastating milestone by formally registering an eighteen-year-old student from the city of Homs as the millionth refugee at a ceremony in Lebanon’s Mediterranean city of Tripoli. On Wednesday, a UN official said a Syrian refugee in Lebanon who doused herself with petrol and set herself alight after her aid was cut was a victim of a lack of funding for the world body’s work. Mariam al-Khawli, who fled Syria with her husband and four children two years ago, set herself on fire last week in frustration at living without the food and cash lifeline provided by the United Nations since August. Her doctor said 70 percent of Khawli’s body was now covered in burns and that she could remain in hospital for months if she survives. [Reuters, 4/3/2014]
EGYPT | LIBYA | SYRIA | TUNISIA | YEMEN | RELATED ISSUES
Sabbahi campaign members arrested
Presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi’s campaign announced on Wednesday its members are being arrested and assaulted, among other violations nationwide. Students Ahmed Teama and Mohamed Refa’i, who were working as part of Sabbahi’s campaign at Mansoura University, were arrested in front of the university “among random arrests during students protests inside the university,” according to a campaign statement. Four campaign coordinators, Amali Mohamed, Ibrahim Mohamed, Sohair al-Barbari, and Islam Nabil, were assaulted in Heliopolis court while they were helping citizens file signatures supporting Sabbahi. Supporters of former defense minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi stole and tore up the signed documents they had collected, tore the campaign’s banners, smashed their cameras, and erased photographs from their memory cards. Sisi’s campaign announced that it had collected 27,000 signatures endorsing his candidacy for president. Egypt’s electoral law requires at least 25,000 endorsements. [Ahram Online, 4/3/2014]
Egypt vows to pass anti-terrorism law after Cairo University blasts
Senior Egyptian ministers said they would pass legislation on Thursday “connected to confronting terrorism,” in a statement released hours after three explosions killed two people in Cairo. The statement from a high-level security committee including the prime minister and ministers of defense and interior, did not go into further details on the contents of the law. It said the bill would be presented to the cabinet for approval. [Reuters, 4/3/2014]
Two of 529 defendants sentenced to death in absentia arrested
Egyptian security forces apprehended two men accused of participating in an attack on a police station that resulted in the death of a police officer shortly after the dispersal of two large sit-ins at Raba’a al-Adaweya and al-Nahda squares in Cairo last August. The two men were previously sentenced to death in absentia last week along with 527 others in a case that sparked international criticism of the Egyptian justice system. During the security campaign resulting in the capture of the two men, authorities also seized a sizeable weapons cache that included guns, ammunition, and fireworks. [EGYNews (Arabic), 4/3/2014]
Officials announce plans to reduce blackouts
Following two days of increased power cuts, Egypt’s government on Wednesday announced plans to increase the country’s supply of electricity by importing natural gas and diesel in the short term and beginning construction on three new power plants. Gaber al-Dessouki, chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company said at a press conference there would be “gradual improvement during the next two weeks,” adding however that while the cuts would decrease, no one should expect them to end anytime soon. Meanwhile, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker said on Thursday that there is a 10 percent deficit in the fuel required to fully operate the nations’ power stations, which translates into power cuts of two to three hours daily. If the shortage reaches 20 percent, power outages may last for up to six hours until July. [Ahram Online, DNE, Reuters, Mada Masr, 4/3/2014]
Libya says could reach deal in two to three days to open oil ports
Libya could finalize an agreement in two to three days with rebels to reopen key oil ports, a government spokesman said on Wednesday, bolstering hopes for an end to an eight-month standoff that dried up petroleum revenue. There still appeared a way to go before a full agreement is reached as the rebels demanded a referendum for a federalist state even as tribal leaders and officials sought to finalize the deal. Caretaker Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni’s spokesman said the deal would focus on compensation for the rebel fighters, who had defected from the state oil security force along with their leader Ibrahim Jadhran in the summer when they seized the ports. A solution would also address the rebel demand to use efficient metering systems to improve monitoring of oil sales and avoid corruption, he said. The self-declared “Cyrenaican government” meanwhile is claiming that a provisional deal has been reached, saying that both parties had shown “good intentions” in the talks. [Reuters, 4/2/2014]
Low registration for Benghazi municipal elections
Just 16 percent of Benghazi’s eligible voters have registered to vote in the city’s municipal elections. Out of some 434,000 people eligible to vote in the city, 70,000 registered to participate in the polls according to the head of the Benghazi subcommittee of the Central Committee for Municipal Council Elections, Idris al-Gadhi. Voter registration for the elections started on January 16 and was supposed to last until the end of January. The deadline was extended twice to try and encourage more residents to participate. The election date has yet to be decided. Al-Gadhi noted that the subcommittee’s biggest concern was the security. [Libya Herald, 4/2/2014]
Abu Sahmain comes out fighting, blames Awami for release of Jadhran tanker prisoners
Embattled General National Congress (GNC) President Nuri Abu Sahmain has said that he has no plans to resign, instead focusing attention on the controversial decision to release the Libyans caught on the Morning Glory tanker, made by the man who would effectively replace him if he were forced from office, First Deputy GNC President Ezzidden al-Awami. Speaking on Al Nabaa TV, he said that Awami had made the decision against his own advice that it was up to the attorney general to decide and not the responsibility of the GNC. GNC members have said that there is now consensus to sack Abu Sahmain following the publication of a video in which he admits that he was taken in for questioning by a militia at the beginning of January over the presence of two women at his house. He had previously denied being arrested. [Libya Herald, 4/2/2014]
Extremist Quranic schools take hold in Libya
In the absence of state institutions, Quranic schools in Libya are left to operate on their own. Residents of Benghazi are expressing alarm at the growing number of radical preachers and their impact on kids. With the infusion of global extremists who flocked to Libya after the February 17th revolution, citizens fear some schools are being used as a cover to instill radical ideology in the youth. Libyan Observatory for Human Rights President Abdul Nasser Ahmed said that there was “no monitoring [of] Quranic schools these days due to the weakness of state institutions and absence of the ministry of religious endowments’ oversight role.” [Magharebia, 4/2/2014]
Lebanon marks devastating milestone with millionth refugee
The number of Syrian refugees who have fled to Lebanon officially topped one million on Thursday, highlighting the growing humanitarian catastrophe caused by Syria’s civil war and the huge burden placed on its poorly prepared neighbors. The UN refugee agency UNHCR marked what it called a devastating milestone by formally registering an eighteen-year-old student from the city of Homs as the millionth refugee at a ceremony in Lebanon’s Mediterranean city of Tripoli. On Wednesday, a UN official said a Syrian refugee in Lebanon who doused herself with petrol and set herself alight after her aid was cut was a victim of a lack of funding for the world body’s work. Mariam al-Khawli, who fled Syria with her husband and four children two years ago, set herself on fire last week in frustration at living without the food and cash lifeline provided by the United Nations since August. Her doctor said 70 percent of Khawli’s body was now covered in burns and that she could remain in hospital for months if she survives. [Reuters, 4/3/2014]
Fighting continues in Latakia; Violence flares around Damascus
Regime forces failed to make progress on the coastal front in Latakia province Wednesday, as stepped-up violence hit Damascus and several suburbs of the capital. Anti-regime activists in Latakia said rebel groups repulsed an attack by regime troops and paramilitaries on the strategic Observation Post 45, causing an unspecified number of casualties. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two rebel fighters were killed in the nearby village of Qastal Maaf, while a local commander was killed in fighting elsewhere in northern Latakia province. The Observatory and the activists said regime airstrikes and barrel bombs dropped by helicopter targeted a number of sites in the area, which was seized last month as part of the rebels’ Anfal offensive. In Aleppo, helicopters dropped barrel bombs on several neighborhoods in the city as well as several towns and villages in the province. Five people were killed by the barrel bomb strikes in Aleppo. In the capital, five people were killed by rebel shelling. [The Daily Star, 4/3/2014]
Coalition to meet to discuss resignations
The Syrian opposition-in-exile National Coalition will meet over the weekend in Istanbul to discuss whether to accept the resignation of seven of its members. A spokesperson said the meetings, to begin Sunday, would tackle an initiative to reform the body’s decision-making process. However, while pro-opposition media outlets have indicated the coalition had decided to accept the resignation of seven members, among them Kamal Labwani, the spokesperson denied this, saying the upcoming meeting would likely issue a decision on the matter. Labwani made waves recently for proposing that Syria give the Golan Heights to Israel in exchange for Israeli assistance in toppling the regime of President Bashar Assad. [The Daily Star, 4/3/2014]
Protests continue in border town
Protesters on Wednesday ransacked and torched the offices of Tunisia’s main workers’ union in the tense town of Ben Guerdane for not backing a strike demanding the reopening of the Libyan border crossing. Strikes in Ben Guerdane began Monday in response to Libya’s decision to shut the nearby border post in early March in an effort to stem the trade of smuggled Libyan petrol, on which the local economy depends. Officials plan to reopen the border this Sunday. [Ahram Online, 4/2/2014]
Kidnapped Tunisian embassy employee still missing in Libya
A Tunisian employee of the Tunisian embassy in Libya is still missing after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said he was kidnapped near Tripoli last month. The family of the victim, Mohamed Bechikh, is demanding more information from the Tunisian government about the case. Bechikh was abducted by unidentified gunmen and was last seen on March 21. His kidnapping is one of a string of diplomatic abductions in the Libyan capital this year. [Tunisia Live, 4/2/2014]
Prime Minister Jomaa talks economy, security during US trip
Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa has prioritized Tunisia’s economic development and security policy during his first official visit to the United States this week. At a luncheon organized on Wednesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, expressed thanks to President Barack Obama for his “noteworthy” support to Tunisia and hope that the Tunisian-US strategic dialogue could constitute a platform to foster Tunisian-US relations. [TAP, Tunisia Live, 4/3/2014]
Dilapidated schools in al-Jawf threaten schooling of thousands of students
According to the ministry of education, there are forty-eight dilapidated schools in al-Jawf province. Residents fear that some schools will be forced to shut down, or worse, leave education out of reach for thousands who would not be able to arrange alternatives. One educator remarked that some residents do not send their children to the school in fear that it may collapse. Statistics released by the ministry of education’s office in al-Jawf in 2012 showed that the governorate has 441 schools, including seventy-one schools made of clay and tents located in various areas. These 441 schools have 89,000 students. Of al-Jawf’s 400,000 residents, sixty-three percent are illiterate. [Yemen Times, 4/3/2014]
Governor of Amran calls on Hadi to stop Houthi expansion
Speaking to journalists and human rights activists, Mohammed Hassan, governor of Amran province, criticized the recent arbitration effort launched by the presidential commission dispatched to ensure peace with Houthi militants. Hassan remarked that only the people of the province as well as military forces would be able to halt the Houthi expansion and that the government must do more to prevent more fighters from entering the province. [Mareb Press (Arabic), 4/3/2014]
Hadi meets with Yemeni businessmen to discuss investment
President Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi received Yemeni businessmen on Wednesday, discussing economic and investment situations across Yemen. He praised roles played by businessmen during Yemen’s political crisis, pointing out that Yemeni businessmen were keen for national interests and making peaceful changes. He said that the agreed upon federal system will make it easier to invest and set up projects without bureaucratic red tape. “Yemen has unexplored oil and various mineral resources” he added. Meanwhile, the president urged security services to do best in order to maintain security and stability, and secure roads to easily transport commodities and petroleum products. [Saba News, 4/3/2014]
Iraq combating unrest ahead of elections
Iraqi soldiers killed more than forty militants in clashes near Baghdad on Thursday as anti-government fighters edged close to the capital just weeks before national parliamentary elections. The firefight was the latest in a surge in bloodshed over the past year, amid fears insurgents could seek to destabilize the April 30 polls by upping the pace of attacks with violence already at its worst since 2008. Iraq agreed on Thursday to international observers coming to monitor the elections. Despite violence around the capital, the instability that continues to threaten elections is located in Anbar province, where government forces are entrenched in urban battles on the outskirts of Fallujah and Ramadi. Meanwhile fears are growing that both Sunni and Shia fighters from Syria are returning to further destabilize the country. [Gulf News, 4/3/2014]
United States, Algeria vow to work together to fight terrorism
Kerry arrived amid tight security late Wednesday on his first visit to Algeria since becoming secretary of state in February 2013. During the visit, the United States and Algeria pledged to work together to combat terrorism. The United States, Kerry said, wanted to partner with Algeria to build a more robust, defense relationship and help secure and strengthen borders in the region. He said one of the ways to fight terrorism was to help create jobs, establish better education systems, and ensure stability in people’s lives. [Ahram Online, US State Department, 4/3/2014]