Briefs

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Arab journalists meeting

THE FEDERATION of Arab Journalists (FAJ) warned of a come back of Western imperialism in the form of foreign pressures and intervention in Arab internal affairs.

Summing up a two- day annual meeting in Khartoum on Sunday, which was headed by the federation's Chairman Ibrahim Nafie, the FAJ labelled foreign intervention as "one of the fiercest attacks on the whole Middle East region aiming to impose Western hegemony and to empower the Zionist entity at the expense of the interests of our people." In its statement, the FAJ cited Lebanon, Syria and Sudan as examples of such flagrant intervention, and called on foreign powers -- without naming them -- to take its hands off the Lebanese internal scene.

The statement also accused these powers of using the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri "as a tool to ignite a new civil war in Lebanon". The FAJ condemned the attempts of these foreign powers to "bring Syria to its knees and prevent it from supporting national resistance in Lebanon and Palestine".

Focussing on Sudan, the Arab journalists criticised what they described as "the Western campaign led by the United States against Sudan's national unity and attempts to implant civil strife first in the south and again in Darfur."

The federation vowed to circulate the report of its fact-finding mission to Darfur, underlining the necessity of putting outlaws in Darfur on trial in front of a Sudanese judicial system.

The FAJ also expressed its deep concern over the stalemate in democratic reform in the Middle East which, according to the statement, would leave the region open to a counter reform plan imposed from the outside and which would serve imperial interests rather than national ones. The FAJ called upon Arab governments to accelerate the wheel of reforms and allow basic freedoms of thought and expression, with freedom of press topping the list.

Israeli settlements condemned

THE UNITED Nations has condemned Israeli settlement building in Palestinian territories and has called for the policy to be reversed.

The resolution was passed on Thursday at the annual Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva, with only the United States and Australia voting against.

Two other resolutions were also passed, calling for Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights and condemning its use of force.

The resolution called for a complete cessation of all settlement activities as a first step towards dismantling Israeli settlements, the denial of access to products originating in Israeli settlements and the confiscation of Jewish settlers' weapons to prevent acts of violence by them.

Twentieth victim

FORMER Lebanese minister Bassel Fleihan has died of wounds sustained in the 14 February bombing that killed former prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri.

The speaker of the Lebanese parliament Nabih Berri announced that Fleihan had died at a military hospital in Paris. Fleihan, 42, was flown to France days after the explosion that has now claimed 20 lives and wounded over 100.

Fleihan was sitting in the front seat of Al- Hariri's car when a vast explosion hit the motorcade in central Beirut. Fleihan suffered serious burns in the explosion.

Algeria slammed

TOP HUMAN rights groups have criticised Algeria's proposal to grant a general amnesty for abuses committed during a decade-long civil war, saying it would brush crimes under the carpet.

President Abdul-Aziz Bouteflika has called on Algerians to back an amnesty to end a conflict with radical Islamists that he said last week had cost 200,000 lives since 1992.

In a joint statement, the five international rights groups, which included Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and International Human Rights Federation, said "[the amnesty] may permanently deprive victims or their families of their right to the truth, justice and reparation."