Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for October 25, 2012
Newsline: U.S. knew of terror claims in Libya embassy hit
The White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11 that an Islamic terrorist group had claimed credit for the attack, official e-mails show. The e-mails, obtained first by Reuters and later by USA TODAY, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks .The brief e-mails also show how U.S. diplomats described the attack, even as it was still under way, to the Obama administration. U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Benghazi assault, which President Obama and other U.S. officials had initially blamed on an anti-Islam video produced by an American. The White House eventually acknowledged the attack was carried out by terrorists with suspected links to al-Qaeda affiliates. White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters traveling with Obama on Air Force One that the e-mails refer to a social media postings attributed to an al-Qaeda affiliated militia, Ansar al-Sharia, according to a pool report. “There was a variety of information coming in,” Carney said. “The whole point of an intelligence community and what they do is to assess strands of information and make judgments about what happened and who was responsible.” White House and the director of National Intelligence said all along that their “preliminary assessments were preliminary (and) that an investigation was under way,” he said. However, Carney insisted for several days after the incident that intelligence had determined the attack was likely a spontaneous outburst from a mob that gathered in response to the video. Intelligence officials testifying before Congress have said there was no mob outside the consulate and the White House eventually acknowledged that the attack was planned for the anniversary of Sept. 11.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/10/24/benghazi-terror-attack/1653831/
Newsline: Ecuador fears for Assange health, seeks UK safe passage
Ecuador is worried about the health of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and has asked Britain to guarantee him safe passage from its London embassy to hospital if he needs medical treatment, a senior Ecuadorean diplomat said in Moscow. Assange, an Australian, has been holed up inside Ecuador’s embassy in central London since June to avoid extradition to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault allegations. British authorities say Assange will be arrested if he sets foot outside the embassy. The apartment building, located just behind London’s famed Harrods department store, is under constant police surveillance. “Assange has grown noticeably thinner, and we are very concerned about his health,” Voice of Russia radio quoted Vice Foreign Minister Marco Albuja Martinez as saying in comments confirmed by the Ecuadorean embassy in Moscow. “If he falls ill, we will have to choose between two alternatives: to treat Assange in the embassy or hospitalize him,” Albuja Martinez said. “This is a very serious situation and it can affect Assange’s human rights.” Ecuador has asked the British Foreign Office for a document that would enable Assange to enter hospital safely if necessary and return to the embassy with refugee status, the Voice of Russia quoted Albuja Martinez as saying. The Foreign Office said it was unaware of Assange’s health problems. “Ecuador have not told us that Mr Assange is ill. However, were they to do so, we would consider the matter,” said a Foreign Office spokesman.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-assange-russia-ecuador-britain-idUSBRE89N0LJ20121024
Newsline: Tunisia jails Salafist leader in U.S. embassy attack for one year
A Tunisian court sentenced a leader of radical Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia to one year in prison for inciting an attack on the U.S. embassy in Tunis last month in which four people were killed. The conviction of Abu Ayub was the first in connection with the attack – launched to protest against an anti-Islamic film made in California – and is likely to please the United States which has been urging the authorities to jail those responsible. The authorities arrested 144 people, including two prominent leaders of Ansar al-Sharia after the embassy attack. Saif-Allah Benahssine, the leader of the group, has urged the government to release them. Benahssine on Tuesday accused the country’s government of being a puppet of the United States and un-Islamic. The United States this month requested Tunisia bring the embassy attackers to trial, pledging to continue its support for the democratic transition in Tunisia.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-tunisia-us-embassy-idUSBRE89N1QV20121024
Newsline: South African man sends toenail clippings to Chinese embassy in protest against rhino poaching
A South African film production designer armed with a nail cutter is trying to help stamp out rhino poaching by sending toenail clippings to the Chinese embassy in Pretoria. Mark Wilby said he wants to make the point that rhino horn, which sells for prices higher than gold as a traditional Chinese medicine, is made up of keratin – a protein which is a component in human nails and hair. “I felt that we have moved beyond the time of politeness. I am not doing it out of disrespect to the Chinese authorities, but how else do you get their attention,” Wilby told Reuters. Wilby has produced a video released on YouTube, calling on others to clip their nails and send them by post to the embassy. Chinese embassy officials were not immediately available for comment. Officials from China and South Africa have been working together to reduce poaching. Rhino poaching deaths in South Africa, home to almost all the rhinos in Africa, hit a record annual high in October, driven by the use of horns in Chinese medicine and a spreading belief in Southeast Asia, unfounded in science, that they may cure cancer.
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