Al-Ahram Weekly | Region

		Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 28 Dec. 2000 - 3 Jan. 2001 Issue No.514
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

More Ramadan killings
MUSLIM rebels burst into an Algerian discotheque, slashed the throat of a 23-year-old female pop singer and dragged off two members of her band, security sources said on Sunday.
Another 11 people were killed in other incidents, bringing to more than 240 the death toll during the fasting month of Ramadan, a period Muslim rebels see as auspicious for their holy war.
Security sources said about 25 rebels broke into the discotheque at Berrahal in the Annaba area, 400 km (250 miles) east of Algiers on Friday night.
They said 13 people were injured in the chaos, some shot by the assailants and others cut by broken glass as they jumped through broken windows to escape.
This year's Ramadan death toll is higher than it was last year. The bloodiest was in 1998, when about 1,500 people were killed.
Polisario threat
THE POLISARIO Front independence movement threatened on Saturday to break a UN-brokered cease-fire and disrupt the Paris-Dakar rally when it crosses from Morocco into the disputed Western Sahara.
The movement, backed by Algeria, said that to have the rally go through Western Sahara was "an insult to the Sahrawi people, a challenge to the United Nations, and therefore a violation of the cease-fire in effect since September 1991."
The 23rd Paris-Dakar rally starts from the French capital on New Year's Day for a 10,000-km trek across Southern Europe and North Africa to Senegal.
The Polisario, in a communique carried by Algeria's official APS news agency monitored in Rabat, said it would "take up arms again on the day the rally crosses the Moroccan-Sahrawi border."
The Polisario, which has proclaimed a Sahrawi Republic in the area under its control, fought a bloody guerrilla war with Morocco over control of the territory following its independence from Spain in 1975.
Back in the limelight
PRESIDENT Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Uday, rose from his seat near the back of the hall to urge fellow legislators Sunday to take a more active role in government, then sat again to follow proceedings of the first National Assembly session he has attended since his March election.
No reason has been given for Uday's absence from the weekly parliamentary sessions since the new parliament convened in April, and he did not offer an explanation.
There have been periodic rumours relating to his ill health since Uday was seriously injured in a 1996 assassination
attempt, but he appeared strong as he strode into the hall. Uday was reportedly unhappy with the appointment of Saadoun Hamadi as parliament speaker.
In comments to reporters after the evening session, Uday said it is time for Iraq to "open up a little more, within our country's traditions and culture in a way that serves the whole society."
Uday reportedly won 99.99 per cent of ballots cast in his Baghdad constituency. All 165 candidates of the ruling Baath party won seats in the March election.
Heirs make up
SYRIA has announced the appointment of its first ambassador to Jordan in seven years, confirming further the improvement of ties between the two neighbours. Abdel-Fatah Amourah, the charge d'affaires at the Syrian embassy in Amman, was upgraded to ambassador, official news agencies in both countries reported on Saturday.
Syria recalled its ambassador to Jordan in 1993 in protest against a draft peace accord which Jordan concluded with Israel that year. Under Bashar Al-Assad's father, Hafez, Syria had been suspicious of Jordan because of the late King Hussein's ties with Israel. The two neighbours reconciled when Hussein's son, King Abdullah II, succeeded to the throne nearly two years ago vowing closer ties with Syria and other Arabs.
Meanwhile, Abdullah has decided to sell off some royal properties to cover a salary increase for the country's army and security forces in 2001.
"I have ordered the director of the royal cabinet to take the necessary measures to sell off some of our land to cover the cost of salary increases for the coming year," Abdullah said during his Sunday night speech over the Iftar, Ramadan's daily fast-breaking meal, broadcast on state television. The king explained that he had taken the decision due to a shortfall in government revenues.
Bahrain protests
THE BAHRAINI government denied on Monday opposition reports that dozens of arrests were made and rubber bullets were used during a mass protest marking Jerusalem Day in the capital, Manama.
"While there is zero tolerance on preserving security and private property, there was no person arrested or detained for taking part in the demonstrations," said a government spokesman.
The reported demonstrations marked Jerusalem Day, an annual event inaugurated by Iran after its Islamic Revolution of 1979 and celebrated on the last Friday of Ramadan. They took place on Friday 22 December outside a Shiite mosque after Friday prayers.
The London-based Shiite opposition group, the Bahraini Freedom Movement (BFM), issued a statement condemning the alleged police violence.
"This repression shows the lack of credibility of the authorities who have announced the forthcoming restoration of parliament and a referendum," said BFM spokesman,Mansur Al-Jamri.
The demonstrations took place one day before a national charter to restore an elected parliament, dissolved in 1975, and to turn the emirate into a constitutional monarchy, was submitted to Bahrain's emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Issa Al-Khalifa.
Compiled by Rasha Saad

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