Security Watch: Monday, 7 June 2004
Submitted by Templar Titan on Wed, 06/09/2004 - 15:23.
-Saudis say US advised safe passage for extremists |
| Saudis say US advised safe passage for extremists ISN SECURITY WATCH - A senior Saudi security official says that three of the four gunmen that took 41 hostages at the Oasis Hotel in Khobar last weekend were given safe passage to avoid further bloodshed after they had killed 10 of their prisoners. The three escaped after reaching a deal with Saudi forces, the source told The Scotsman newspaper, adding that US officials had recommended letting them go to avoid further deaths. According to official accounts, the group's leader was injured and arrested during the raid, but three accomplices escaped from the compound, through a cordon of hundreds of security forces, using hostages as human shields. The source said that Saudi officials had granted the extremists safe conduct in a telephone conversation — a report confirmed by an Arab-speaking hostage who overheard his captors discussing a deal that had been reached with Saudi authorities. The International Herald Tribune reported on Friday that the three had escaped from the compound around 2:20am local time on Sunday, hours before Saudi commandos stormed the hotel. The US embassy in Riyadh had no comment on the reports. The administration of US President George Bush has publicly enforced a policy of not negotiating with "terrorists" and has chided other countries that it has perceived as being "soft on terror". Meanwhile, in other news, the Organization of Petrol Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Friday it would raise production caps by 2 million barrels per day in July, and again by half a million barrels in August, in a move that it was hoped would stop the recent record price increases for crude oil. Several smaller OPEC countries, including Iran and Venezuela, opposed the move, citing the fact that unlike Saudi Arabia, they have no margin for raising production as a way of offsetting the falling prices. UN troops kill two civilians in Congo riots ISN SECURITY WATCH — UN troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least three civilians on Thursday after firing on rioters, as protests against a rebel takeover turned violent, news agencies reported. Tens of thousands rioted in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa, as President Joseph Kabila appealed for calm. News agencies reported that UN guards had shot dead at least three rioters when the crowd started to storm a UN logistics base. UN officials said that their troops had acted in self-defense. Reuters quoted one witness as saying that an angry mob had pulled a UN worker out of a car and beaten him before he was rescued by police. A 4'000-strong militia loyal to renegade army commanders seized the eastern Congolese city on Wednesday and locals have accused the now 10'800-strong UN force of complicity in the takeover for failing to act to stop the rebels. Renewed fighting in Congo — where a shaky peace process has been in place since last year — erupted last week in Bukavu when renegade soldiers started fighting the army. The renegade soldiers have accused the regional military government commander in Banyamulenge, where Bukavu is the main city, of persecuting one of the region's tribes. The protests spread across the country, as angry Congolese burned tires and smashed windows, while UN workers sought shelter inside their bases. The UN defended its failure to act to stop the rebels from seizing Bukavu, saying that its mandate did not extend to fighting battles. The renegade commanders had pledged earlier on Thursday to withdraw their troops and allow the UN peacekeeping force to monitor a cease-fire. The looting and raping that took place after that announcement, however, incited local civilians to violence, as they questioned the UN's will to step and take control. A UN commander in Bukavu told Reuters on Friday that some renegade troops had moved out, but many others still remained. The peace deal brokered last year by the international community ended a six-year civil war in Congo, which claimed the lives of over 3 million people. In the latest violence, officials estimate that more than 65 people have died and 2'500 have fled to neighboring Rwanda. Congolese President Joseph Kabila accused Rwanda on Thursday of helping the renegade soldiers seize Bukavu in a bid to gain control over the oil-rich province. US to redeploy two divisions from Germany ISN SECURITY WATCH - Even as German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder prepares to take part in the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy during World War II, representing his country among wartime opponents for the first time, the prospect of a massive US troop pullout from Germany is casting a new pall over US-German relations. The US wants to redeploy most of its military from Germany to the Middle East, Central Asia, and other potential theatres of conflict, the New York Times reported on Friday. The report said that the two divisions forming the backbone of V Corps of the US Army Europe (USAREUR), the 1st Infantry Division and the 1st Armored Division, would be withdrawn from Germany, where the US military has maintained a presence since the end of WWII, as part of a major realignment of US forces around the globe. The US V Corps is currently headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany. The 1st Infantry Division, currently deployed in Iraq, is based in Würzburg, while the 1st Armored Division's HQ is in Wiesbaden near Frankfurt. The two divisions would be replaced with a brigade of Stryker light armored vehicles, the paper said. Altogether, USAREUR still maintains a total strength of about 42'000 troops in Germany, significantly reduced from Cold War levels. In addition, the US Air Force maintains several installations in Germany, including important airbases at Frankfurt/Rhein-Main, Ramstein, Spangdahlem, and Bitburg, with about 15'000 troops. The New York Times said that an F-16 fighter wing could be moved from Spandahlem to Incirlik, Turkey, for use in Middle Eastern operations. Other German towns with a strong US military presence include Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Kaiserslautern, and Hanau. US military bases are important economic factors for the German communities surrounding them, and the German defense industry has long profited from contracts awarded by US forces. Should the redeployment go forward as planned, it may well be seen by many Germans as a tit-for-tat move to punish Schröder's government for its critical stance towards the US invasion of Iraq. When a possible global realignment of US forces was discussed in early 2003, the British Observer newspaper quoted Pentagon sources as saying that US forces could be pulled from Germany to punish Schröder's "treachery". At the time, a US defense official told The Observer: "The aim is to hit German trade and commerce. It is not just about taking out the troops and equipment; it is also about cancelling commercial contracts and defence-related agreements." The New York Times report also said that the US Navy's European headquarters would be moved from London to Italy, and that some F-15 fighters might be removed from Britain and Iceland, though it said that no final decision had been made yet. Iraqi leaders want 'unambiguous' resolution ISN SECURITY WATCH — The leaders of Iraq's new interim government called on the UN Security Council on Thursday to offer a more "unambiguous" resolution for Iraqi sovereignty that would more clearly define local authorities' power over the US-led multinational force (MNF). While Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari broadly agreed with the revised resolution presented by the US that would allow the multinational force to remain in Iraq after 30 June, he called for clearer language to ensure that the country's self-rule was not compromised. Zebari said the interim government agreed that it did not want a fixed deadline for the withdrawal of the multinational force, stressing that a premature pull-out "would lead to chaos and the real possibililty of a civil war in Iraq". But a major sticking point remains over just how much control, if any, the new government would have over the military aspect of the multinational force. Some Security Council members — notably, Algeria, the council's only Arab member, and France — want the Iraqi government to have the power to block major US military missions. Washington has categorically rejected the notion of Iraq having veto power over the multinational force operations. "There could be a situation where we have to act and there may be a disagreement, and we have to act to protect ourselves or to accomplish a mission," US Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters on Thursday. The only concession the revised draft has made concerning the MNF has been to set a vague limit to its mandate at "the end of the political process" — presumably January 2006, the date when the elected Iraqi government should be in place. The draft also mentions that the mandate could be shortened if the transitional Iraqi government, which would be elected in January 2005, asked the occupation forces to leave. The current plans for the transfer of power to the Iraqis call for elections to be held in January 2005 for a transitional national assembly, which would draw up a new constitution and hold direct national elections in 2006. Though the US has showed no signs of backing down over the issue, Zebari has remained insistent in his request for "a clear reference to the status of the multinational forces, their operations, their relations with the Iraqi national government". The US has said it would prefer to define that relationship on a step-by-step basis, outside the resolution. Iraq says that is not good enough and leaves too much room for ambiguities that could compromise what little sovereignty the interim government is getting in the deal. The debate was expected to continue on Friday, and the Security's Council 15 ambassadors are set to hold additional talks this weekend. Though the US and Britain were hoping for a final vote by the end of the week, a revised draft is not likely to be circulated before early next week. Former Ukraine PM found guilty of money laundering ISN SECURITY WATCH — A US court has convicted former Ukrainian prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko of money-laundering, closing the books on a scandal that erupted nearly five years ago when Lazarenko was arrested. The US District Court of Northern California on Thursday found Lazarenko guilty of 28 counts of money-laundering, wire fraud, and transportation of stolen property. The judge had earlier dismissed 25 other counts against Lazarenko. Lazarkeno was arrested on charges of using US banks to launder at least US$114 of stolen money from Ukraine. Lazarenko has throughout said that he had obtained that money legally — with the knowledge and approval of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. He has accused Kuchma of masterminding the case against him. Four years ago, a Swiss court convicted Lazaenko in absentia on similar charges. He was sentenced to an 18-month suspended sentence. Lazarenko served as Ukraine's deputy prime minister from 1992 to 1996, when Kuchma appointed him prime minister. Kuchma fired him a year later, after Lazarenko opted to challenge him for the presidency. Lazarenko sought asylum in the US in 1999, saying that he had been subject to three assassination attempts in Europe. Shortly afterwards, Kuchma accused Lazarenko of embezzling money from the government, and US law enforcement officials chimed in to say they also had evidence of Lazarenko's money-laundering activities — some estimating that he had stolen as much as US$1 billion when former Soviet-era state-owned enterprises in Ukraine were being privatized a decade ago. Lazarenko was subsequently arrested and jailed in a US federal prison. He was released a year ago after posting US$86 million in bail. He has since been under 24-hour surveillance and will remain under house arrest in San Francisco until prosecutors file a written motion for him to be placed in custody. Doron Weinberg, a defense attorney for Lazarenko, said that the jury had been "overwhelmed" by the complex 10-week trial, the Financial Times reported. |
