Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for March 7, 2011
Newsline: Bahrainis take protests to US embassy
Pro-democracy activists have protested at the US embassy in Bahrain, calling on Washington to press the authorities for democratic reform after weeks of demonstrations. Dozens of activists gathered on Monday at a fence set up in front of the embassy, chanting slogans in English against the Gulf state’s monarchy. Demonstrators also chanted in Arabic, saying: ‘The people want to topple the regime.’ The government of the Gulf archipelago of some 1.2 million people is a strategic ally of Washington and home to the US Fifth Fleet. Bahrain has been ruled by the Al-Khalifa royal family for 200 years. As the demonstrators gathered nearby ahead of their protest rally, US embassy political officer Ludovic Hood brought a box of doughnuts for them. ‘These sweets are a good gesture, but we hope it is translated into practical actions,’ Mohammed Hassan, 35, who wore the white turban of a cleric, told Hood. ‘The message we want to give is that this regime has to end, and the United States has to prove that it is with human rights, and the right for all people to decide (their) destiny,’ Hassan said to Hood. Hood told the demonstrators who clustered around him that the US had a ‘strategic relationship’ with the government of Bahrain which included dialogue on human rights. ‘We’ve had a US navy presence here accepted by the great majority of people for many decades,’ he said. Hood reiterated US support for an initiative from the Bahraini government for national dialogue, saying that ‘we continue to think that engaging in some kind of talks is the right way forward’. Last month, President Barack Obama extended US support for a ‘national dialogue’ in the oil-rich kingdom, saying it should be ‘inclusive, non-sectarian and responsive’ to the people. Obama’s statement came a day after King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa reshuffled his cabinet and pardoned Shi’ite activists in response to two weeks of protests. Demonstrators at the embassy expressed doubts that dialogue would produce any concrete results, with one protester asking who would guarantee that promises were kept.
Newsline: More UK diplomats may go to Libya
Foreign secretary William Hague says more UK diplomats may be sent to Libya despite an SAS-escorted team being captured by anti-Gaddafi rebels. The diplomatic team, including six SAS soldiers, were freed two days after being detained in eastern Libya. They left for Malta on board HMS Cumberland on Sunday night. Mr Hague said: “We intend, in consultation with the opposition, to send a further team to strengthen our dialogue in due course.” The team were dropped by helicopter into eastern Libya but were seized by opposition fighters and were found to be carrying weapons, ammunition, maps and passports of four different countries. Mr Hague said: “The team went to Libya to initiate contacts with the opposition. “They experienced difficulties, which have now been satisfactorily resolved. They have now left Libya.” Mr Hague said: “We continue to press for Gaddafi to step down and we will work with the international community to support the legitimate ambitions of the Libyan people.” The British ambassador to Libya, Richard Northern, was called in to explain to opposition forces what the group were doing in eastern Libya. He spoke to a spokesman for former justice minister, Mostafa Abdel Jalil, who is now a rebel leader, to explain the men’s mission. A telephone call between Mr Northern and Mr Jalil’s spokesman was intercepted by the Gaddafi regime and excerpts were played on Libyan state television on Sunday. In it, Mr Northern could be heard apologising for the “misunderstanding” and pleading for the men’s release.
Newsline: Thai embassy seeks to help detainees in Cambodia
Even though the Thai embassy was not allowed to visit Mr Veera, its officials delivered food to him in prison twice a day. The doctors at the Prey Sar prison told the officials only that Veera was having a minor cold. On learning from a news report that his relatives visited Mr Veera at the prison on Mar 4 and found he was seriously ill, the embassy had sought permission from the prison to send a doctor to see him in jail or take him out for treatment. Mr Veera and his secretary Ratree Pipatanapaiboon and five other Thais, including Democrat Party MP Panich Vikitsreth, were arrested by Cambodian soldiers on Dec 29, initially for illegal entry. Mr Veera and Ms Ratree were later additionally charged with espionage. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced the five to nine months for illegal entry. The five Thais, including Mr Panich, were freed after their remaining jail time of eight months was suspended. Mr Veera and Ms Ratree were later sentenced to eight and six years imprisonment for espionage. Concerning their wish to seek a royal pardon, the embassy said the two had to consult their lawyers to set the time for submitting a request. After that the embassy would facilitate the submission of it, he added.
Newsline: Israeli diplomat praises Egypt, Tunisia for uprisings
An Israeli government diplomat said that Tunisia, Egypt and Libya are clearly fed-up with dictatorship. Ishmail Khaldi, the Israeli government’s Arab Bedouin Foreign Service member, is currently in South Africa. Khaldi praised Egyptians and Tunisians for democratically overthrowing dictatorships in their countries and said it is a clear sign they were fed up and took decisive steps towards change. Khaldi was reluctant to comment on the situation in Libya, but did say like the rest of world Israel is monitoring events there.
Newsline: Former Russian Diplomat Says US Trying to Misuse Regional Uprisings for Israel
A former Russian diplomat cautioned that Washington plots to take advantages of the recent uprisings in the Middle-East in Israel’s interests. Vyacheslav Matuzov said that the US is now working on a new plan in the region after the recent popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and other regional states. “Washington stopped its efforts for the peace process in the Middle-East and has now staged a new plan that is riding on the waves of the popular revolutions in the regional countries for the sake of Israel’s and its own interests,” Matuzov noted. Inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, people in Libya, Yemen and Bahrain have been staging massive street protests to press the dictatorial regimes in their countries to step down. Meantime, The Wall Street Journal said in a report that after weeks of internal debate on how to respond to uprisings in the Arab world, the Obama administration is settling on a Middle-East strategy: help keep longtime allies who are willing to reform in power, even if that means the full democratic demands of their newly emboldened citizens might have to wait. Instead of pushing for immediate regime change, the US is urging protesters from Bahrain to Morocco to work with existing rulers toward what some officials and diplomats are now calling “regime alteration”. The report said that the approach has emerged amid furious lobbying of the administration by Arab governments, who were alarmed that President Barack Obama had abandoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and worried that, if the US did the same to the beleaguered king of Bahrain, a chain of revolts could sweep them from power, too. The strategy also comes in the face of domestic US criticism that the administration sent mixed messages in Egypt. Likewise in Bahrain, the US decision to throw a lifeline to the ruling family came after sharp criticism of its handling of protests there.
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