The suspected female accomplice of Islamist militants behind attacks in Paris was in Turkey five days before the killings and crossed into Syria on January 8, Turkish officials said on Monday. France launched a search for 26-year-old Hayat Boumeddiene after police killed her partner Amedy Coulibaly while storming a Jewish supermarket where he had taken hostages.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Boumeddiene had arrived in Istanbul from Madrid on January 2. Turkey had received no request from Paris to deny her access. The Syrian government reacted by accusing Turkey of allowing terrorists access to the border and add that Turkey had aided terrorists who “shed the blood of Syrians and innocent people worldwide,” calling on the international community “to stop Turkey’s destructive policy.” [Reuters, The Daily Star, Wall Street Journal, 1/13/2015]
EGYPT | LIBYA & THE MAGHREB | SYRIA & ITS NEIGHBORS | YEMEN & THE GULF | ECONOMICS
Sisi discusses parliamentary elections with party leaders
Political party leaders who attended a joint meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Monday, the first such talks since he became president, said Sisi called on political parties to unite. The two-day talks, abruptly announced on Sunday, will continue on Tuesday. According to attendees, the meeting tackled several issues, including opening political space for the youth, the freedom of NGOs to work, the restrictive protest law, and concerns over upcoming parliamentary elections and the electoral law governing them. Sisi said he would favor a “national party list” promising that he would back it if it will bring political parties together. He also responded to concerns that the party electoral list of former prime minister Kamal al-Ganzouri might be backed by the government, assuring that the state backs no specific party or list. The president guaranteed that the upcoming parliament would enjoy “expanded decision-making powers.” Finally, Sisi warned political parties that the people would revolt against the next parliament if it fails to actively represent them. [Ahram Online, DNE, Egypt Independent, 1/13/2015]
Charlie Hebdo’s new caricature ‘unjustifiably provocative’ says Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta
Charlie Hebdo’s decision to renew the publication of caricatures of Prophet Mohamed is “an unwarranted provocation against the feelings of … Muslims around the world,” Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta warned in a statement on Tuesday. The new issue of Charlie Hebdo will cause a “new wave of anger” in France and the West in general, the statement added. Dar al-Ifta called on French authorities and political parties to denounce the publication of the new cartoon, calling it a “racist act” by a magazine that seeks to “ignite religious sedition and sectarianism and deepen hatred.” The cover of the first edition of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo since twelve of its staff members were killed by Islamist gunmen last week showed a cartoon of the Prophet Mohamed crying and holding up a “Je suis Charlie” sign under the words “All is forgiven.” [Ahram Online, AP, Reuters, 1/13/2015]
Mubarak and sons to be retried for embezzlement; Unclear if Mubarak to remain in custody
Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons will be retried in the ‘presidential palaces’ embezzlement case after the Court of Cassation accepted their appeal on Tuesday. Mubarak, his sons Gamal and Alaa, were sentenced to three years in prison on charges of embezzling funds allocated for developing communications centres at the presidency. It remains unclear whether the former president will be retried while in custody. According to various sources, Mubarak will be released, likely on January 17, since he has already served his three-year prison sentence, mostly in preventive detention. However, an interior ministry source told Egypt’s state news agency that while the high court has ordered a retrial in the embezzlement case, it did not order the release of Mubarak. The decision to free Mubarak or his sons is now in the hands of the public prosecution or the court that retries them, the source said. [Ahram Online, DNE, Aswat Masriya, Mada Masr, AP, The Guardian, 1/13/2015]
Kidnapped police captain in Sinai found dead
Police captain Ayman al-Dessouki, kidnapped on Monday, allegedly by Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis militants, was found dead on Tuesday in the restive Sinai Peninsula, Egypt’s army announced in a statement. Egypt’s general prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, imposed on Monday a gag order on the incident because the matter was still being investigated. Prosecution investigations later revealed the officer was shot twice in the head. Meanwhile, in a separate incident, seven men were found dead from gunshot wounds in different parts of Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah in North Sinai. [Ahram Online, Egypt Independent, Aswat Masriya, Reuters, Mada Masr, 1/12/2015]
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General National Congress says ‘no’ to Geneva talks for now
The UN-sponsored talks between the rival Tobruk-based House of Representatives and the General National Congress (GNC) have been put into doubt after the GNC declared it would not attend the Geneva discussions. The GNC stated that attending negotiations while civilians are under attack would be impossible, and they objected to some of the participants that UN Special Representative Bernardino Leon invited to the negotiations. Some believe that hardline members of Operation Libya Dawn pressured the GNC not to attend due to their belief that Libya Dawn is winning the ground battle. [Libya Herald, 1/12/2015]
Islamic State jihadists claim abduction of twenty-one Christians in Libya
A Libyan affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for abducting twenty-one Egyptian Coptic Christians. The group took responsibility via posts on online forums used by IS supporters. The caption for the photo posted stated, “The soldiers of the Islamic State in the province of Tripoli hold captive twenty-one Christian crusaders.” Meanwhile, as security deteriorates across Libya, an independent Benghazi blogger released a report citing over 230 assassinations or assassination attempts occurred in the eastern city during 2014. [AFP, AP, 1/12/2015]
Top Qaddafi regime trial adjourned again
The trial of former top Qaddafi regime officials was postponed again until later this month. The trial includes Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, Muammar Qaddafi’s heir apparent, and thirty-six other senior officials of the former regime. The postponements were requested several times by defense attorneys seeking more time to prepare, but more recently, the renewed violence is preventing counsel and witnesses from attending the trial. The various charges include genocide, killing unarmed civilians, and human rights abuses. [Libya Herald, 1/12/2015]
In Tunisia, flaws in military trials for uprising killings, says HRW
Human Rights Watch released a report identifying and analyzing the flaws in Tunisia’s military trials for violence committed during the 2010-2011 uprising. The trials of fifty-three defendants, which included two former interior ministers and senior interior ministry officials, resulted in largely lenient penalties and sentences. Flaws included the prosecution’s failure to secure important evidence and poor legal reasoning leading to appeals that commuted the initial sentencing. Months after proceedings began, Tunisia created a Truth and Dignity Commission and Specialized Judicial Chambers, which raises a possibility for retrials. [AllAfrica/HRW, 1/12/2015]
Tunisian police union leader targeted in assassination attempt
Rouissi Mohamed, the Secretary General of the national police union, was targeted for assassination. He said he heard noises in his apartment and warned he was armed, prompting the intruders to flee. This comes as the police union was set to provide evidence of security officials’ involvement in the high-profile political assassinations of Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi in 2013. [L’Economiste Maghrebin (French), 1/12/2015]
Abadi criticizes slowness of coalition support
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has criticized the “slowness” of the US-led international coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) in providing military support to his army. “The international coalition is very slow in its support and training of the [Iraqi] army,” Abadi said on Sunday. US officials say the Iraqi government army is being trained and armed to stage a major counter-offensive later in 2015. In the meantime, the international coalition is using air raids to pile pressure on ISIS supply lines. Abadi’s critique of the coalition support comes a week after Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled Obaidi addressed weaknesses of the army including poor leadership and training that led to Baghdad’s forces being swept aside by militants. [Al Arabiya, The Daily Star, 1/13/2015]
Islamic State backers hack US military Twitter feed
The Twitter and YouTube accounts for the US military command that oversees operations in the Middle East were hacked on Monday by people claiming to be sympathetic toward the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL). US officials acknowledged that the incident was embarrassing but played down the impact and said that no classified material had been breached and that the military was taking steps to address the matter. The hacked Twitter feed posted a phone directory of officers, which looked to be slightly out of date, and what appeared to be personal photos taken by troops and some slides related to North Korea and China. [Naharnet, NY Times, Reuters, 1/12/2015]
Turkey says Paris attacker’s partner crossed into Syria
The suspected female accomplice of Islamist militants behind attacks in Paris was in Turkey five days before the killings and crossed into Syria on January 8, Turkish officials said on Monday. France launched a search for 26-year-old Hayat Boumeddiene after police killed her partner Amedy Coulibaly while storming a Jewish supermarket where he had taken hostages. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Boumeddiene had arrived in Istanbul from Madrid on January 2. Turkey had received no request from Paris to deny her access. The Syrian government reacted by accusing Turkey of allowing terrorists access to the border and add that Turkey had aided terrorists who “shed the blood of Syrians and innocent people worldwide,” calling on the international community “to stop Turkey’s destructive policy.” [Reuters, The Daily Star, Wall Street Journal, 1/13/2015]
Suicide bomber kills three, wounds thirteen In Iraq’s Samarra
A suicide bomber on Monday killed three pro-government fighters in the Iraqi city of Samarra and wounded thirteen others in an attack on a checkpoint outside a school, medical and security sources said Tuesday. The attacks comes days after a wave of car bombs explosions hit checkpoints on the outskirts of the city killing several people and wounding others. The attack on Monday is considered the first incident in months in the heavily defended pilgrimage center in the holy Shia city. [Al-Akhbar English, 1/13/2015]
Southerners mark Reconciliation and Tolerance Day
Southerners have been converging on Aden governorate since Sunday to mark the ninth anniversary of Reconciliation and Tolerance Day on Tuesday. Previous anniversaries have been marred by violence, as in 2012 when three were killed and at least thirteen injured as government forces dispersed crowds. Members of the Supreme Supervisory Committee have said the celebrations are intended as a peaceful event focused on enhancing southern cohesion, and are not being directed against the government. [Yemen Times, Aden al-Ghad, 1/12/2015]
Sana’a suffers crippling gas shortages
Sana’a city continues to experience severe gas shortages since January 5, with residents desperate to purchase fuel forced to wait in long queues at gas stations. Local media sources have published reports accusing various actors of being responsible for the shortages. Some claim that the Houthis had ordered YLNG management to withhold fuel in an attempt to justify a Houthi attack on Marib governorate, where the gas shipments come from. The Houthi Political Office denies those claims and accuses the Marib tribes of colluding with unspecified government bodies to withhold gas shipments as a means of discrediting the Houthis. [Yemen Times, 1/12/2015]
Hadi forms committee on Jawf, Marib
President Hadi formed a committee tasked with addressing various grievances in the two oil-rich cities. This decision falls in line with the framework set out in the Peace and National Partnership Agreement. Defense Minister Mahmoud al-Subaihi will lead the committee. Local administration ministers and a representative from the presidency will make up the rest of the body. Over the past few weeks, tribes have been mobilizing to prevent Houthi takeover of Jawf and Marib. [SABA, Yemen Post, 1/12/2015]
Iranian to stand trial for espionage
An Iranian national is to stand trial in Yemen on charges of spying with a foreign country and seeking to spread a new religion. Hamid Mirza Kamali Strostani is facing charges of spying for Israel, inviting Yemenis to embrace the Baha’i faith via the internet and direct meetings, and seeking to create a homeland for Baha’i believers on Yemeni soil during the period from 1991 to 2014. The defendant was arrested in Mukalla in the Hadramout province in 2014. Other suspects in the case are pursued by the security services, a judicial source said. Yemeni authorities previously arrested others on charges of spying for both Israel and Iran. [SABA, Yemen Post, 1/12/2015]
Tunisia: Insufficient tax revenue in 2014
Tunisia’s Minister of Economy and Finance Hakim Ben Hammouda called the tax resources mobilized in 2014 estimated at an amount of 19 billion dinars insufficient. At a meeting on provisions of the Finance Act for 2015, he added that budget resources could reach 80 percent in 2015 and 85 percent in 2017 against the 70 percent accumulated in 2014. The Finance Act for 2015 contains new measures relating to direct taxes, fiscal disputes, and other measures related to registration fees and other taxes. [African Manager, 1/13/2015]
PFM reform key to Iraq’s economic resilience
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Iraq is faced with the “double shock” of declining oil prices and conflict. To face these challenges he urged the country to build up its resilience through better public financial management practices. The Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) insurgency has heavily affected Iraq’s non-oil economy through the destruction of infrastructure and assets, trade distributions, electricity, and investor confidence. The drop in oil prices complicates efforts to mitigate the damage. Oil accounts for more than 90 percent of Iraqi’s total government revenues, making the country highly vulnerable to oil price volatility. [Public Finance International, 1/13/2015]
Egypt bourse to allow trading in ETFs
Egypt’s stock exchange will allow trading in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) for the first time on January 14 as part of an effort to encourage foreign investment and boost liquidity. ETFs are traded like a stock and can allow investors to diversify their risks and reduce transaction costs. The introduction of ETFs comes during a period of takeovers and share issues on Egypt’s stock exchange, signaling renewed interest from international investors in a market working to restore confidence. The main stock index rose about 30 percent in 2014 and trading volumes have rebounded above levels seen in 2010. [Reuters, 1/13/2015]
Yemen sells 1.3 million barrels crude to Unipic
The Yemeni Supreme Committee on Crude Oil Marketing has approved selling 2.8 million barrels of crude oil by March 2015. The committee agreed to endorse the sale at a premium of $0.02 a barrel to dated Brent to Unipic Company. The state-owned Aden Refinery Company will buy the entire allotment of 1.5 million barrels of Marib crude also offered for March at a price flat to dated Brent. [SABA, 1/13/2015]