Region

NICOSIA — A 22-year-old Syrian man is in police custody suspected of people smuggling after Cypriot authorities brought 101 Syrian migrants safely to shore, police said on Wednesday.

He was arrested on Tuesday after Cyprus marine police located the Syrians off the Cape Greco region in a crowded 15-metre craft and towed the boat to a fishing shelter in Paralimini on the southeast coast.

On Wednesday the suspect appeared before a court in Paralimini and was remanded in police custody for eight days on suspicion of helping migrants enter the country illegally for profit, a police spokesman said.

Head of the police operation Petros Zeniou said the migrants were checked by health workers for coronavirus before being brought to shore for processing.

Among the migrants were 43 children — nine of them unaccompanied — and 13 women, including four who were pregnant.

The Syrians — mainly from the northern regions of Idlib and Aleppo — were sent to a reception centre outside the capital Nicosia.

Zeniou said the boat set off from Mersin in Turkey, a route often used by people smugglers bound for Cyprus.

He said an initial police investigation indicated the migrants had paid between 2,000-4,000 dollars each to make the journey by boat from Turkey.

"We are on the alert, there is certainly information that more boats are likely to depart from Mersin," said Zeniou.

On Tuesday, Republic of Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said his country fears a migratory influx after Turkey allowed refugees to leave for the European Union.

Turkey is home to around 3.6 million Syrian refugees, and many other migrants from countries including Afghanistan use Turkey as a transit country to Europe.

Following the deaths of over 30 Turkish soldiers in Syrian regime fire last week in Idlib, Turkey opened its borders with Europe to refugees and migrants.

The Republic of Cyprus, an EU members, says it is on the frontline of the Mediterranean migration route with the highest number of first time asylum seekers per capita.

Cypriot Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said on Tuesday that there were 17,000 asylum applications pending.

But Cyprus, located 160 kilometres from the Syrian coast, has not seen the massive inflow of migrants experienced by Turkey and Greece.

PARIS — The head of the UN's atomic watchdog on Tuesday sounded the alarm at Iran's cooperation with the agency and demanded "clarifications" over an undeclared site in Tehran where uranium particles were found late last year.

It comes on the same day as the IAEA issued two reports, one on Iran's current nuclear programme and the other detailing its denial of access to two sites the agency wanted to visit.

Rafael Grossi, the new head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who was in Paris to meet President Emmanuel Macron, told AFP: "Iran must decide to cooperate in a clearer manner with the agency to give the necessary clarifications".

“The fact that we found traces [of uranium] is very important. That means there is the possibility of nuclear activities and material that are not under international supervision and about which we know not the origin or the intent.

“That worries me,” Grossi added.

The IAEA has for months been pressing Tehran for information about the kind of activities being carried out at the undeclared site where the uranium particles were found.

While the IAEA has not identified the site in question, diplomatic sources told AFP the agency asked Iran about a site in the Turquzabad district of Tehran, where Israel has alleged secret atomic activity in the past.

In addition, according to a report issued by the IAEA on Tuesday, “the Agency identified a number of questions related to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities at three locations in Iran.”

At one of them the report said the IAEA had from early July 2019 observed “activities... consistent with effort to sanitise part of the location”.

A diplomatic source said that the three locations were separate to Turquzabad.

The source also said that the agency’s queries were thought to relate to Iran’s historic nuclear activities and not to its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The IAEA report says the agency first raised questions about the sites last year and that Iran refused access to two of them that the agency wished to visit in late January.

Iran then sent the IAEA a letter saying it did “not recognise any allegation on past activities and does not consider itself obliged to respond to such allegations”.

The second report from the agency detailed Iran’s current breaches of several parts of a landmark 2015 international deal on scaling back its nuclear programme.

The report showed Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium now stands at more than five times the limit fixed under the accord.

It said that as of February 19, 2020 the Iranian stockpile stood at the equivalent of 1,510 kilogrammes, as opposed to the 300kg limit set under the agreement.

Some experts consider this amount to provide sufficient material to produce a nuclear weapon, depending on its exact level of purity.

However, it would still need several more steps, including further enrichment, to make it suitable for use in a weapon.

The report says that Iran has not been enriching uranium above 4.5 per cent.

An enrichment level of around 90 per cent would be needed for weapons use.

Richard Nephew, a former lead US sanctions expert during the negotiations for the 2015 deal, pointed out that while the latest figures were “a problem [that]... needs to be addressed”, Iran’s uranium stockpile remains a fraction of what it was before the deal actually came into force.

“This remains not yet a crisis and we have time to fix it diplomatically, if anyone in Washington or Tehran is still so inclined,” he said on Twitter.

The 2015 deal has been hanging by a thread since the US withdrew from it in May 2018 and went on to impose stinging sanctions on Iran, in particular targeting its vital oil sector.

The latest IAEA reports come just days after a meeting in Vienna of the remaining parties to the deal ended without a clear plan to keep the accord alive.

The 2015 agreement promised Iran an easing of very damaging economic and other sanctions in return for scaling back its nuclear programme.

Tehran has been progressively reducing its commitments to the accord in retaliation for the US move.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged victorious Tuesday after Israel's third election in a year despite a looming corruption trial, though his right-wing coalition appeared short of a majority.

Monday's election left the veteran right-winger likely to be given the first shot at forming a government and end a year of political deadlock, after similar votes in April and September 2019 proved inconclusive.

The central election committee said it had counted 90 per cent of the vote, with breakdowns of the result in the media showing Netanyahu's Likud Party with 36 seats in Israel's 120-member parliament.

That would mark the party's best-ever result under Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister and its first to be indicted in office.

Netanyahu's right-wing bloc, which includes ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, is projected to get 59 seats, two short of a majority.

A Likud party spokesman said they were confident of luring defectors.

The party's main challenger, the centrist Blue and White party, was projected to win 32 seats.

Counting its centre-left allies as well as the mainly Arab Joint List alliance, the anti-Netanyahu camp was expected to control 54 or 55 seats.

The secular, nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu Party was predicted to be kingmaker again, as was the case in both April and September.

While there remains no guarantee that Netanyahu can form a coalition, he hailed Monday’s election as a “giant” success.

President Reuvin Rivlin will receive final, certified results by March 10 and then has a week to ask a candidate to form a government, his office said.

That deadline, March 17, coincides with the expected start of Netanyahu’s trial after being charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

Netanyahu campaigned on his tough position towards the Palestinians and on expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

He also pledged to annex the Jordan Valley, a key part of the West Bank that Palestinian see as crucial for their future state, if he won.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the exit polls showed that “settlement, annexation and apartheid had won”.

Reluctant kingmaker 

Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, said the shape of Israel’s next government will “not change the nature of the conflict” between the Palestinians and the Jewish state.

Blue and White’s leader, ex-military chief Benny Gantz, admitted “disappointment” with the result.

But he stressed that regardless of the final tally Netanyahu was still going on trial.

While Netanyahu will likely be tapped by Rivlin to form a government, he has no immediate path to a 61-seat majority.

After April and September votes Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman proved a reluctant kingmaker, eventually supporting neither Gantz nor Netanyahu.

Lieberman served as defence minister in a previous Netanyahu government and his support would easily put Likud over the crucial 61-seat line.

He has previously said he would only join a government of national unity — ruling out cooperation with the ultra-Orthodox parties allied to Netanyahu and the Arab camp that backed Gantz.

Speaking Tuesday morning, Lieberman said he would work to avoid a fourth round of elections.

US support, Palestinian outrage 

In a statement, Likud said Netanyahu had spoken to all the heads of right-wing parties and “agreed to form a strong national government for Israel as soon as possible”.

Netanyahu will now begin talks with a number of opposition MPs and parties in a bid to encourage defections, though the process could take weeks.

Likud Party spokesman Jonathan Urich told Israeli army radio on Tuesday they had already reached out to a number of lawmakers.

“I believe that soon enough we’ll find the missing seats from the other bloc,” he said. “People on the other side understand it’s the right thing to do.”

Bolstered by US support, Netanyahu campaigned on building thousands more homes in Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territory, even though they are considered illegal by the international community.

In January, US President Donald Trump unveiled a controversial peace plan approving Israel’s annexation of settlements and swathes of land in the West Bank, sparking Palestinian outrage.

HAIFA — Israel's largely Arab Joint List alliance was on track for its best-ever electoral performance, near-complete results showed Tuesday, consolidating its place as the third largest parliamentary bloc.

With 90 per cent of votes counted, the Joint List was slated to take 15 of 120 seats in the Knesset — Israel's parliament — up from 13 following elections in September.

But it may yet fall short of its chief goal of blocking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reelection, with his right-wing Likud and its allies expected to control 59 seats — just two short of a majority.

The Joint List's solid performance came after it campaigned heavily for the votes of Jewish leftists disenchanted by the demise of Israel's historic left-wing parties, notably Labour.

The success of that strategy remains unclear, pending a breakdown of voter patterns.

But Joint List chairman, Ayman Odeh, made no secret of his wish to become the face of the Israeli left — for both Arabs and Jews.

Leftists ‘don’t despair’ 

“I want to congratulate our public, both the Arab and the many Jewish voters who supported the Joint List,” Odeh told reporters on Tuesday morning.

“This is the beginning of strengthening the true left,” he said.

“I call on leftists to not despair or do any soul-searching, but to think about a partnership... real democracy, real equality between Jews and Arabs in the country and social justice for the weak.”

To get out its core Arab vote, the Joint List also focused on US President Donald Trump’s controversial peace plan, detested and feared by Arabs, who make up around 20 per cent of Israel’s population.

They are particularly alarmed by a clause that would place some Israeli Arab towns and villages under the sovereignty of a future Palestinian state.

If implemented, that could see some Arab Israelis have their citizenship changed against their will.

Monday’s election was the third in less than a year, after inconclusive votes in April and September.

The Centrist Blue and White alliance, Likud’s main challenger, slid to 32 seats from 33 in September, while an alliance of the Labour party, left-wing Meretz and centrist Gesher spiralled from 11 seats running separately in the last election to seven together.

The Joint List’s member parties include conservative Islamists and Arab nationalists.

They are united by demanding the end of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and the establishment of a Palestinian state, a position regarded as left-wing in Jewish Israeli society.

Its manifesto also includes “workers’ rights and social and environmental justice”.

In September, the list backed Gantz to form a government, but for political reasons he was loath to form a coalition with what is an anti-Zionist group.

The list’s parliamentary numbers, however, blocked Netanyahu and his right-wing allies from attaining power.

LAAYOUNE — Morocco and the Pacific Island States reiterated on Friday in Laayoune their commitment to strengthen their cooperation in a spirit of solidarity and respect for national priorities, according to a statement made available to The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

“We reaffirm our commitment to strengthen cooperation between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Pacific Island States for the mutual benefit of our respective countries, within the framework of South-South Cooperation, in a spirit of solidarity and in accordance with national priorities”, wrote the “Laayoune Declaration” adopted by the 3rd Morocco-Pacific Island States Forum. 

The signatories of the Laayoune Declaration say they are “grateful to His Majesty King Mohammed VI for the vision and the will of the Kingdom” to promote its relations with the Pacific Island States to reach “new” levels in various fields of cooperation, describing the Laayoune Forum as a platform for strengthening dialogue on common challenges and cooperation in areas of shared interest. 

Roadmaps outlining cooperation between Morocco and each of the participating states, over a period of three years, were adopted on this occasion, according to the statement.

The Laayoune Declaration says that instruments will define the objectives, areas, financial means and methods of implementing the projects covered by these roadmaps, on the basis of a preliminary study and an exhaustive analysis of the potential for cooperation and sharing of Morocco’s experiences in each of the selected fields, taking into account the needs and expectations expressed by partner states. 

Morocco and its Pacific partners also commit “in good faith” to work to achieve the objectives set in the Laayoune roadmaps to consolidate their cooperation, insisting on the need to pool efforts to hold the 4th edition of this forum in the Pacific region in 2023, and to assess annually the progress made in the implementation of this declaration and the roadmaps, during meetings on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. 

Guided by a spirit of solidarity, and recognising the vulnerability of Pacific Island States to the effects of climate change, Morocco is committed to sharing its experience and expertise in the fields of climate change, education and training, agriculture, fisheries, food security, tourism and health. 

The heads of delegations of the Pacific Island States welcome, on this occasion, the efforts of coordination for the achievement of the common goals of peace, international security and sustainable development, while expressing their strong will to mutually support their respective positions within the United Nations and other international organisations, read the statement.  

CAIRO — Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi said on Tuesday that his US counterpart had assured him Washington will carry on mediating deadlocked Nile dam talks through to the inking of a deal.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, set to become the largest hydropower plant in Africa, has been a source of tension with downstream Egypt since Ethiopia broke ground on the $4 billion project in 2011.

The US Treasury Department stepped in last year to facilitate talks between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan — another downstream country — after Sisi reached out to US President Donald Trump, a close ally.

“President Trump stressed the US administration’s continued efforts to coordinate with Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on this vital dossier until the three countries finish signing the Renaissance Dam Agreement,” the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

Trump lauded Cairo for initialling a preliminary deal, the statement said. Sisi added he would defend his country’s “interests... and future” in the geopolitical stalemate.

The Treasury Department last week issued a statement claiming an agreement had been reached and urged Ethiopia to sign.

But the Ethiopian delegation skipped the latest round of talks and denied a deal was in place. On Tuesday, the country’s Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew described last week’s Treasury statement as “undiplomatic”, while saying that Addis Ababa will stick with the US-facilitated talks.

Only Egypt has been behind the wording of the deal thus far, describing it as “fair and balanced”.

Egypt — which depends on the Nile for around 90 per cent of its irrigation and drinking water — sees the dam as an existential threat.

It is worried that Addis Ababa will fill the dam’s enormous reservoir, holding up to 74 billion cubic metres, too quickly and significantly reduce water flow downstream.

The White and Blue Niles converge in the Sudanese capital Khartoum before flowing north through Egypt to drain into the Mediterranean Sea.