Region

BAGHDAD — Iraqi youth angry at their government's glacial pace of reform ramped up their protests on Sunday, sealing streets with burning tyres and threatening further escalation unless their demands are met.

The rallies demanding an overhaul of the ruling system have rocked Shiite-majority parts of Iraq since October, but had thinned out in recent weeks amid rising Iran-US tensions.

Protesters had feared Iraq would be caught in the middle of the geopolitical storm and last Monday gave the government one week to make progress on reform pledges.

A day before the deadline expires, hundreds of angry young people descended on the main protest camp in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square as well as nearby Tayaran Square.

They burned tyres to block highways and bridges, turning back cars and causing traffic jams across the city. 

At least 10 people including police officers were wounded when security forces tried to clear the sit-ins with tear gas and protesters responded by throwing rocks, medical and security sources told AFP. 

“This is only the first escalation,” one protester with a scarf wrapped around his face told AFP, as smoke from the tyres turned the sky behind him a charcoal grey.

“We want to send a message to the government: Stop procrastinating! The people know what you’re doing,” he said, adding ominously: “Tomorrow the deadline ends, and then things could get totally of control.” 

Protesters are demanding early elections based on a reformed voting law, a new prime minister to replace current caretaker Premier Adel Abdel Mahdi and that officials deemed corrupt be held to account.

Abdel Mahdi resigned nearly two months ago, but political parties have thus far failed to agree on a successor and he has continued to run the government as a caretaker.

‘Deadline ends tonight’ 

Demonstrators have publicly rejected the names circulating as possible replacements and are furious that other sweeping reform measures have not been implemented.

“We began to escalate today because the government did not respond to our demands, notably forming an independent government that could save Iraq,” said Haydar Kadhim, a demonstrator in the southern protest hotspot of Nasiriyah. 

“Last Monday, we gave them a deadline of seven days. That deadline ends tonight,” Kadhim told AFP.

A fellow protester, 20-year-old university student Mohammad Kareem, said more escalation could come. 

“We gave the government a timeframe to implement our demands, but it looks like it doesn’t care one bit,” he said.

“We will keep up our movement and keep escalating to confront this government, which continues to procrastinate,” Kareem told AFP.

Rallies also swelled in the cities of Kut, Diwaniyah and Amara, where most government offices, schools and universities have been shuttered for months.

In the holy city of Najaf, youth wrapped in checkered black-and-white scarves and carrying Iraqi flags lit tyres and began a sit-in on a main road leading to the capital.

Further the south in the oil-rich port city of Basra, students gathered in an ongoing strike in support of the rallies elsewhere.

Rival rallies 

The protests are the largest and bloodiest grassroots movement in Iraq in decades, with nearly 460 people dead and over 25,000 wounded since they erupted on October 1.

While the violence at the protests themselves has dropped slightly, activists say they face an escalating campaign of intimidation, kidnapping and assassination attempts.

Young protesters are also apprehensive about a rival protest on January 24 organised by firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr in order to pressure US forces to leave.

Last week, Sadr urged Iraqis to hold “a million-strong, peaceful, unified demonstration to condemn the American presence and its violations”.

Iraqi political figures have ramped up their calls for foreign forces — including some 5,200 US troops — to leave the country following a US drone strike that killed Iran’s revered Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani and top Iraqi military official Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. 

Both were key brokers in Iraq’s political scene, which has been left reeling by their absence. 

Iraq’s parliament voted on January 5 in favour of ousting foreign forces but the legal procedure for doing so remains murky.

Bases where US forces are stationed have been under a steady stream of rocket attacks for several months that have killed one American contractor and one Iraqi soldier.

ALGIERS — Twelve people were killed and another 46 injured when two buses collided early on Sunday in Algeria's northeast, emergency services said, in the latest tragedy of its kind in the north African country.

Emergency teams arrived at "around 1:10am (00:10 GMT) following a fatal accident, a collision between two buses, on the state highway near the city of Astil" in the province of Biskra, 500km southeast of Algiers, a statement said.

"Twelve people, aged 19 to 73, were killed and 46 were injured," it added.

Public radio quoted Ahmed Baoudji, director of emergency services for the nearby city of El Oued, as saying preliminary investigations indicated speeding was the probable cause.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune offered his condolences to the victims' families and asked Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad to oversee assistance, the radio added, while Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud and Health Minister Abderrahmane Benbouzid went to the scene.

According to the national road safety commission, a government agency, 3,275 people were killed in road crashes in Algeria in 2019 and more than 30,000 injured — fewer than in previous years.

It also reported a small decrease in the number of accidents — almost 22,000 — compared to 2018.

Last month Tunisia and Morocco, which neighbour Algeria, were in mourning after two bus crashes that were among the deadliest in the region. On December 1, 30 people died in northwest Tunisia, and at least 17 were killed the same day in the north of Morocco.

KHARTOUM — Online calls grew on Sunday to help save five "malnourished and sick" African lions held at a park in Sudan's capital, with some demanding the creatures be shifted to a better habitat.

The five lions are held in cages at Khartoum's Al Qureshi Park in an upscale district of the capital, but for weeks now they have been suffering from shortages of food and medicine.

"I was shaken when I saw these lions at the park... their bones are protruding from the skin," wrote Osman Salih on Facebook as he launched an online campaign under the slogan #Sudananimalrescue.

"I urge interested people and institutions to help them."

Park officials and medics said the lions' conditions deteriorated over the past few weeks, with some losing almost two-thirds of their body weight.

"Food is not always available, so often we buy it from our own money to feed them," Essamelddine Hajjar, a manager at Al Qureshi park told AFP.

The park is managed by Khartoum municipality but also funded in part by private donors.

Sudan is in the midst of a worsening economic crisis, led by soaring food prices and foreign currency shortage.

On Sunday, crowds of citizens, volunteers and journalists flocked to the park to see the lions after their photographs went viral on social media networks.

One of the five cats was tied with a rope and was fed fluids through a drip as it recovered from dehydration, an AFP correspondent who toured the park reported.

Chunks of rotten meat covered in flies lay scattered near the cages.

The overall condition of the park itself was also affecting the animals' health, another official at the park said.

"They are suffering from severe illnesses. They are sick and appear to be malnourished," said Moataz Mahmoud, one of the caretakers at the park.

It is unclear how many lions are in Sudan, but several are at the Dinder Park along the border with Ethiopia.

African lions are classified as a "vulnerable" species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Their population dropped 43 per cent between 1993 and 2014, with only around 20,000 alive today.

TEHRAN — Iran's parliamentary speaker on Sunday warned of unspecified repercussions for the UN's nuclear watchdog if European nations that launched a dispute mechanism against the Islamic republic act "unfairly".

Britain, France and Germany launched a process last week charging Iran with failing to observe the terms of the 2015 deal curtailing its nuclear programme, while Tehran accuses the bloc of inaction over US sanctions.

The EU three insisted they remained committed to the agreement, which has already been severely undermined by the US exit from it in 2018 and its reimposition of unilateral sanctions on key sectors of Iran's economy.

"What the three European countries did regarding Iran's nuclear issue... is unfortunate," parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

"We clearly announce that if Europe, for any reason, uses Article 37 of the nuclear agreement unfairly, then Iran will make a serious decision regarding cooperation with the agency," he said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Since May 2019, Iran has progressively scaled back some commitments under the agreement in response to the US sanctions and Europe's inability to circumvent them.

It has stressed, however, that they can be reversed if Tehran's interests are realised.

Iran's latest and final step in January entailed forgoing the limit on the number of machines used to make uranium more potent.

The 2015 nuclear deal — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — was struck in Vienna by Iran, the EU three, the United States, China and Russia.

It has a provision that allows a party to claim significant non-compliance by another party before a joint commission.

Articles 36 and 37 of the deal say if the issue is not resolved by the commission, it then goes to an advisory board and eventually to the UN Security Council, which could reimpose sanctions.

The decision to begin the so-called dispute mechanism process comes as tensions soar between the West and Iran following the killing of top commander Qassem Soleimani in a US air strike, and the admission by Tehran days later that it had accidentally shot down a Ukrainian airliner.

"The issue is not Iran's behaviour," said the parliamentary speaker.

"It is America's threats that have pushed a powerful European country to a humiliating and unjust" position, said Larijani.

Germany confirmed last week that the United States had been threatening to impose a 25 per cent tariff on European cars if the bloc continued to back the nuclear deal.

SANAA — Impoverished Yemen has been mired in a devastating conflict since Iran-backed fighters overran the capital Sanaa more than five years ago, prompting Saudi Arabia and its allies to launch a military intervention the following year.

Here is a broad overview:

 Sanaa falls 

On July 8, 2014, Houthi rebels from the country's Zaidi Shiite minority launch an offensive from their northern stronghold of Saada.

In September they enter Sanaa, seizing the government headquarters. Days later, rebel leader Abdelmalek Al Houthi hails the "victory" of a "popular revolution".

The rebels ally themselves with military units loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was forced to quit after a 2011 uprising.

In October, they capture the Red Sea port of Hodeida, a crucial entry point for imports and humanitarian aid.

In January 2015, they seize the presidential palace in Sanaa and surround the residence of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who flees to the southern port of Aden.

 Riyadh enters war 

A coalition led by Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, a bitter rival of Shiite Iran, enters the conflict in March 2015 with air strikes on the rebels.

Around a dozen countries form part of the coalition, including five from the Gulf. Washington says it contributes logistics and intelligence.

As the rebels advance southwards on Aden, Hadi flees, taking refuge in Saudi Arabia.

In July Aden becomes the de facto capital of the country and in October pro-government forces announce they have retaken control of the Bab Al Mandab Strait, a key waterway for international shipping.

Battle for aid port 

In June 2018, government fighters, backed by Saudi and Emirati ground forces, launch an offensive to retake the port of Hodeida.

UN-brokered talks between the warring parties open in December, yielding a series of breakthroughs including a ceasefire in Hodeida where combat largely ceases.

 Southern separatists 

The anti-Houthi camp is also divided, notably in the south with fighting between separatists and unionist forces loyal to the government.

South Yemen was an independent state until it united with the north in 1990, and separatists remain powerful.

In August 2019, deadly new clashes erupt and the separatist-dominated Security Belt forces, which are backed by the UAE, seize Aden and other parts of the south.

Peace initiative 

On September 20, the Houthis unexpectedly announce that they plan to halt all attacks on Saudi Arabia as part of an initiative to end the devastating conflict.

It follows twin attacks on Saudi oil installations, claimed by the Houthis but widely blamed on Iran, that knocked out half of the kingdom's production.

Deadly attack 

After months of relative calm, more than 80 Yemeni soldiers are killed on January 18, 2020, in an attack in central Yemen blamed on Houthi rebels.

The drone and missile strike comes a day after coalition-backed government forces launched a large-scale operation against the Houthis in the Nihm region, north of Sanaa.

Eleven Yemeni soldiers had also been killed on January 7 in a rebel missile attack on a military camp in Ad-Dali province, which has remained a flashpoint despite the lull in fighting in most of the country.

Humanitarian crisis 

Yemen's conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, relief agencies say, and has triggered what the UN describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The UN children's agency UNICEF describes the conflict as "a living hell" for children, with 1.8 million under-five-year-olds suffering severe malnutrition.

BEIRUT — Tensions flared in Lebanon's capital on Saturday as angry protesters flung stones, traffic signs and tree branches at security forces, who responded with water canons and tear gas.

The protest movement rocking Lebanon since October 17 has revived last week, over delays in forming a new Cabinet to address the country's growing economic crisis.

No progress appears to have been made towards a final lineup, which protesters demand be comprised of independent experts and exclude all traditional political parties.

On Saturday afternoon, demonstrators set out from various spots in Beirut in a march towards the city centre under the slogan "We won't pay the price".

But before they all converged near the road leading to parliament, dozens of protesters flung rocks and plant pots filled with earth at the police guarding the institution, local television channels showed.

Security forces sprayed young men with two water cannons and lobbed tear gas over a metal fence to disperse remaining protesters on the wet tarmac.

"A direct and violent confrontation is taking place with anti-riot police at one of the entrances to parliament," the Internal Security Forces said on Twitter.

"We ask peaceful protesters to keep away from the site of the rioting for their safety."

An AFP photographer saw young men uproot parking metres.

He also saw around 10 people faint from the tear gas.

A female protester named Maya, 23, said she was attending the protest because politicians still seemed to be ignoring demands for an overhaul of the old political class.

“I’m here because after more than 90 days in the streets, they’re still squabbling over their shares in government... It’s as if they didn’t see our movement,”
she told AFP.

“Popular anger is the solution,” the young protester said.

Forming a new Cabinet is often convoluted in Lebanon, where a complex system seeks to maintain balance between the country’s many political parties and religious confessions.

But protesters say they want to scrap the old system, and demand only impartial technocrats staff a new government to address their growing economic woes, including a severe liquidity crisis.

The last government stepped down under pressure from the street on October 29, but has remained in a caretaker capacity until a new Cabinet takes shape.

The World Bank has warned that the poverty rate in Lebanon could rise from a third to a half if the political crisis is not remedied fast.

TEHRAN — Iran's supreme leader said on Friday that demonstrations at home over the accidental downing of a Ukrainian airliner were unrepresentative of the Iranian people and accused the country's enemies of exploiting the disaster for propaganda purposes.

Leading the main weekly Muslim prayer in Tehran for the first time since 2012, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the January 8 incident was a "bitter" tragedy but should not be allowed to overshadow the "sacrifice" of one of Iran's most storied commanders, assassinated in a US drone strike.

His sermon came after a traumatic month for Iran in which it approached the brink of war with the United States and mistakenly shot down the Ukrainian jet, killing all 176 people on board.

"The plane crash was a bitter accident, it burned through our heart," Khamenei said in an address punctuated by cries of "Death to America" from the congregation.

"But some tried to... portray it in a way to forget the great martyrdom and sacrifice" of Major General Qassem Soleimani, the head of the foreign operations arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard who was assassinated in Baghdad on January 3.

Khamenei said Iran's enemies had tried to use the plane tragedy to undermine the Islamic republic.

"Our enemies were as happy about the plane crash as we were sad," he said.

"The spokesmen of the vicious American government keep repeating that we stand with the people of Iran. You're lying," Khamenei said.

He also slammed Britain, France and Germany, which on Tuesday decided to trigger a dispute mechanism in the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, following US threats to impose tariffs on European cars.

"It has been proven now, after about a year, that they are, in the true sense of the word, America's lackeys," he said.

President Donald Trump reacted by tweeting that Khamenei should watch his words.

"The so-called 'Supreme Leader' of Iran, who has not been so Supreme lately, had some nasty things to say about the United States and Europe," Trump tweeted.

"Their economy is crashing, and their people are suffering. He should be very careful with his words!"

The air disaster triggered scattered protests in Tehran and other cities, but they appeared smaller than nationwide demonstrations in November in which Amnesty International said at least 300 people died.

On Friday, anti-riot police staged a massive deployment in Tehran, an AFP correspondent said.

Khamenei said the protesters were unrepresentative of the Iranian people, who had turned out in their hundreds of thousands in what he called a "million-strong crowd" for Soleimani's funeral.

Praising the slain general, Khamenei said his actions beyond Iran's borders were in the service of the "security" of the nation and that the people support "resistance" against its enemies.

It was people like Soleimani, not the protesters, who had devoted their lives to Iran, Khamenei told thousands of worshippers who crammed into the mosque and spilled into the snowy streets outside.

Khamenei's sermon came at a tumultuous moment for Iran, which had seemed headed for conflict earlier in January after Soleimani was killed on January 3 outside Baghdad airport, prompting retaliatory strikes against Iraqi bases housing US troops.

Khamenei hailed the strikes as a "sign of divine help".

"It was a strike to their reputation, to America's might. This cannot be compensated by anything... sanctions cannot return the lost prestige of America," he said.

The animosity between Washington and Tehran has soared since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed biting sanctions.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday urged a "de-escalation" of the tensions and an end to the "constant threats".

The plane tragedy "is a very serious red flag and signal to start working on de-escalation and not on constant threats and combat aviation flights in this region", Lavrov said.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday he had met his Canadian counterpart Francois-Philippe Champagne in Oman to discuss cooperation among nations affected by the disaster.

The Boeing 737 was carrying 63 Canadians among other nationalities when it was shot down.

"Politicisation of this tragedy must be rejected. Focus on victims' families," Zarif tweeted.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Iran to hand the plane's black boxes to France, saying it has one of the few laboratories capable of properly examining them.

BERLIN — Forces loyal to Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar blocked oil exports from the war-ravaged country's main ports Saturday, raising the stakes on the eve of an international summit aimed at bringing peace to the North African nation.

The move to cripple the country's main income source was a protest against Turkey's decision to send troops to shore up Haftar's rival, the head of Tripoli's UN-recognised government Fayez Al Sarraj.

It comes ahead of a conference in Berlin on Sunday that will see the United Nations try to extract a pledge from world leaders to stop meddling in the Libyan conflict — be it through supplying troops, weapons or financing. 

"All foreign interference can provide some aspirin effect in the short term, but Libya needs all foreign interference to stop. That's one of the objectives of this conference," Ghassan Salame told AFP in an interview.

Leaders of Russia, Turkey and France are due to join the talks, held under the auspices of the UN.

Both Haftar and Sarraj are also expected at the gathering, the first of such scale on the conflict since 2018.

After months of combat, which has killed more than 2,000 people, a ceasefire took effect on January 12 backed by both Ankara and Moscow, which is accused of supporting Haftar.

But Saturday's blockade raised fears over the conflict.

The disruption to oil exports is expected to more than halve the country’s daily crude production, to 500,000 barrels from 1.3 million barrels, translating to losses of $55 million a day, warned Libya’s National Oil Company.

“Our line at the UN is clear. Don’t play with petrol because it’s the livelihood of the Libyans,” warned Salame just hours before the blockade.

“Don’t play with petrol, be it by turning it into a weapon of war or a way to cause divisions or as a bidding tool.”

The oil-rich North African country has been torn by fighting between rival armed factions since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising killed dictator Muammar Qadhafi and toppled his regime.

More recently, Haftar’s forces launched an assault in April on Sarraj’s troops in Tripoli.

‘Vicious cycle’ 

Although Sarraj’s government is recognised by the UN, some powerful players have broken away to stand behind Haftar — turning a domestic conflict into what is essentially a proxy war with international powers jostling to secure their own interests from global influence to oil and migration.

Alarm grew internationally when Ankara ordered in troops early January to help shore up Sarraj, while Moscow is suspected of providing weapons, financing and mercenaries to Haftar — something Russia has denied.

“We must end this vicious cycle of Libyans calling for the help of foreign powers. Their intervention deepens the divisions among the Libyans,” said Salame, noting that the place of international players should be to “help Libyans develop themselves”. 

The UN envoy said Sunday’s meeting will also seek to “consolidate” the shaky ceasefire.

“Today we only have a truce. We want to transform it into a real ceasefire with monitoring, separation [of rival camps], repositioning of heavy weapons” outside urban zones, he said.

The UN had sought on multiple attempts to bid for peace, but talks have repeatedly collapsed.

Erdogan issues warning 

On the eve of the Berlin talks, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Europe to stand united behind Sarraj’s government, as Tripoli’s fall could leave “fertile ground” for extremist groups like Daesh or Al Qaeda “to get back on their feet”.

Erdogan also played up Europe’s fears of a repeat of the 2015 refugee crisis in his commentary for Politico news website, that further unrest could prompt a new wave of migrants to head for the continent.

Accusing France in particular of siding with Haftar, Erdogan said leaving Libya to the commander would be a “mistake of historic proportions”. 

France has denied it was backing Haftar. But a diplomatic source noted that the fact that the commander already controls 80 per cent of Libya needed to be taken into account.

The European Union is watching with growing alarm at the escalating strife on its doorstep as it counts on Libya as a gatekeeper deterring migrants from crossing the Mediterranean.