Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 23 - 29 November 2000 Issue No.509
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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Revenge blast

AN EXPLOSION that killed a Briton in Saudi Arabia has renewed fears that suspected militant groups in the oil-rich region were planning to escalate their attacks against American and European targets in retaliation for their silence towards Israeli violence in occupied Palestinian territories.

Saudi officials immediately denied that terrorism was behind Friday's blast in Riyadh which killed Christopher Rodway and slightly injured his wife. The officials claimed that personal motives might have been behind the act. Rodway died after an explosive charge detonated in his car, a previously unknown technique to settle personal differences in the Kingdom where security is very tight.

The blast came only two days before the arrival of US Defence Secretary William Cohen in Saudi Arabia as part of a nine-nation tour in the region. US fears of what American officials describe as a rise in acts of terrorism in reaction to Israeli violence in the Occupied Territories reportedly topped Cohen's meetings with leaders of six Gulf countries during his tour. He also visited Egypt, Jordan and Israel.

The explosion came five weeks after the suicide bombing of the US destroyer Cole that killed 17 American sailors in the Yemeni port of Aden. A day later, a man lobbed a bomb at the British Embassy in Yemen, causing minor damage. US officials said they are working closely with Yemeni counterparts to find out whether Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden ordered the bombing in Aden from his hideout in Afghanistan. Pentagon officials also said they were taking extra security measures to protect thousands of US troops stationed in the Gulf region since the 1991 Gulf War in light of increasing threats by militant Islamic groups.

Bashar's amnesty

SYRIA has begun to release some 600 political prisoners on the orders of President Bashar Al-Assad amid calls for a national political debate which would include the opposition.

Officials told Reuters on Sunday that Al-Assad had also ordered the closure of Mazzeh Prison which previously held opposition politicians, former presidents and ministers who led or participated in failed coups or anti-government movements.

The prison, on a hilltop overlooking Damascus, had already been emptied and the remaining small number of prisoners freed, the officials said. Other prisoners, pardoned on Thursday by Al-Assad, were being freed in batches of 50 to 100 per day. They said they included Islamists, communists and others opposed to the country's ruling Baath Party, as well as some prisoners arrested only a few months ago after opposing the peace process with Israel. Political sources said earlier those to be released included some Lebanese prisoners but it was not clear whether any had been freed so far. No figure was available in Damascus on the number of Lebanese held in Syrian jails but Lebanese opposition parties put the number at 150.

Unofficial reports put the total number of political prisoners at around 1,500.

Al-Assad promised reform after succeeding his father Hafez Al-Assad, who died in June. His amnesty order followed unprecedented calls within the country for more political reform and the release of political prisoners, including a statement signed by 99 leading artists, writers and intellectuals.

The killing season

Increasing attacks by suspected militants in Algeria last week deepened fears that the upcoming holy month of Ramadan will witness the same escalation of violence seen in recent years. Ramadan, which begins next week, has been a favourite month for members of Algeria's most violent Armed Islamic Group (GIA) to conduct its attacks against civilian and army targets.

On Monday, Algerian papers reported that two soldiers were wounded when a remote-controlled home-made device exploded near a passing military convoy in the town of Sahel Bouberak east of the capital. A day earlier, a family of four was killed when a bomb destroyed their home at Sidi Gouzil in the Medea region, 80 kilometres south of the capital Algiers.

GIA is active throughout northwestern Algeria, particularly in the Medea region, which is still the scene of bloody attacks on civilians.

The unrest in Algeria, which broke out in 1992 after the military stepped in to deny certain electoral victory by the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), has claimed more than 100,000 lives.

Hostile welcome

LIBYAN newspapers welcomed the first visit by a Lebanese prime minister to Tripoli in nearly three decades by calling for the expulsion of all Lebanese nationals working there. Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri told reporters upon arrival that he wanted his visit to "reinforce relationships and boost cooperation between Lebanon and Libya."

However, Al-Hariri's gesture was apparently not enough to overcome a long-standing dispute between the two countries over Tripoli's alleged kidnapping of a leading Lebanese Shi'ite figure 22 years ago. Imam Moussa Al-Sadr, spiritual leader of Lebanon's 1.2 million Shi'ites and founder of the Amal movement, disappeared after taking part in a meeting in Libya in 1978.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker and Amal leader Nabih Berri did not invite Libya's ambassador to Beirut to attend the opening session of parliament last month. Tripoli responded by withdrawing its ambassador. On Sunday, the same day Al-Hariri arrived in Tripoli, the Libyan government-controlled daily Al-Jamahiriya urged authorities to make use of his visit to discuss means to "facilitate the departure of all Lebanese workers in Libya." The paper did not specify the number of Lebanese nationals working in Libya.

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