Region

TUNIS — Rushing to register candidates and train poll workers, Tunisia's electoral commission has raced to organise presidential elections after the death of leader Beji Caid Essebsi, hoping to protect the country's nascent democracy.

The Independent Higher Authority for Elections (ISIE) snapped into action when Essebsi died on July 25, facing immediate pressure from a constitutional deadline and parties seeking favourable dates.

The body, whose nine members are elected by parliament, brought the date of scheduled polls forward by two months, fixing the first round for September 15.

The constitution stipulates that elections must be held 90 days after a head of state's death. The first round of voting will take place just seven weeks after the funeral.

In a mid-summer dash, ISIE stocked up on indelible ink and sorted through nearly 100 candidate applications, selecting a final list of 26 hopefuls.

"We're in a sprint to respect the rules," ISIE spokeswoman Hasna Ben Slimane told AFP. 

"We have to train 55,000 people — inspectors and polling station staff," she said. 

"ISIE has experience. It has already organised six elections, but it's still complicated."

The body has overseen a series of historic polls following the 2011 overthrow of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in an uprising which sparked revolts across the Arab world.

They include Tunisia's first free election in October 2011 and the first free presidential election in 2014 which brought Essebsi to power.

"ISIE's reaction after the death of Caid Essebsi is a sign of its maturity," said history professor Abdeltif Hannachi.

'Independence' 

ISIE has registered some 1.5 million — mostly young — new voters this year, a success given that 65 per cent of voters abstained in the first democratic municipal polls in 2018.

The body has pushed to tighten checks on social networks and campaign finances, Ben Slimane said. 

It struggled with both in 2014.

Before campaigning kicked off on Monday, the commission sent "warnings" to political parties asking them to delete problematic sponsored Facebook pages, said ISIE chief Nabil Baffoun.

Tunisian electoral monitor Mourakiboun hailed ISIE for its "independence" but its head Mohamed Marzouk regrets that the body has "not detailed the methods of checking expenses and campaign finances".

Accusations of corruption have swirled in the lead up to the polls, culminating in the arrest of media magnate and presidential hopeful Nabil Karoui for alleged money laundering. 

His detention fuelled suspicions of flawed justice, pushing ISIE to quickly assure that nothing, even prison, prevented Karoui from being a candidate.

The decision, Hannachi said, "proves the independence of ISIE, which did not yield to the pressure of those who asked it to remove Nabil Karoui from the race".

Observers have said the previous ISIE-run elections, despite their flaws, were transparent and independent.

Hannachi, who praised the commission's work, said ISIE's model could be "exported to other countries in transition, like Sudan and Algeria".

By Aymen Jamli

DUBAI — Yemen's internationally recognised government on Wednesday ruled out talks with separatists who have seized key parts of the south, saying it will talk only with their main backer, the UAE. 

"If there is to be a dialogue, it will be with the United Arab Emirates under the supervision of Saudi Arabia, taking into consideration the Emirates is the main factor in the conflict between us and them," Yemen's vice prime minister, Ahmed Al Maisari, said. 

"There was not and there will not be any sit-down with the so-called Southern Transitional Council (STC) whatsoever," he said in a voice recording uploaded to the interior ministry's YouTube channel. 

"We don't want to sit with the tools but with the owners of the tools."

The UAE retorted that it remained committed to a Saudi proposal for talks between the separatists and the Yemeni government in Jeddah.

"We look forward with confidence and optimism to the success of the Jeddah meeting between the Yemeni government and the STC, to unity against the Houthi coup and to redoubling efforts to confront it as a priority," said UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash. 

The UAE has trained and supported secessionists who seek an independent southern Yemen, despite being a key pillar in a Saudi-led military coalition backing the government against Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.

In August, fighting between the separatists and unionist supporters of the government opened a new front in the complex war. 

The Security Belt forces — dominated by the STC — took control of the southern city of Aden, which has served as the government's base since it was ousted from the capital Sanaa by the Houthis in 2014-15. 

"We will return to Aden whether through peace or war," Maisari said. 

The clashes between separatists and government forces — who for years fought on the same side against the Houthis — have raised fears that the country could break apart entirely.

The Yemeni government has accused the UAE of launching air strikes against its troops in Aden, while the Emirates says it was acting in self-defence against "terrorist militias" threatening the Saudi-led coalition. 

The coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 as the Houthi rebels closed in on Aden prompting Hadi to flee into Saudi exile.

The conflict has since killed tens of thousands of people — most of them civilians — and driven millions more to the brink of famine in what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

BEIRUT — Thousands of children risk missing out on their education in north-western Syria after a months-long regime assault on the rebel bastion that has closed dozens of schools, a charity said.

A fragile ceasefire has held in the Idlib region since Saturday, following four months of air strikes that have killed hundreds of civilians and caused mass displacement.

“Thousands of children due to start the school year in northwest Syria may not have access to education” after the latest violence, Save the Children said.

Classes are set to start at the end of September, but just over half of the region’s 1,193 schools can still operate, it said.

“As the new school year starts, the remaining functional schools can only accommodate up to 300,000 of the 650,000 school-age children,” it said.

The heavy bombardment since late April has damaged or impacted 87 educational facilities, the Britain-based NGO said.

A further 200 schools are being used as shelters for those displaced by the fighting, it added.

The Idlib region is home to some 3 million people, almost half of whom have been displaced from other parts of Syria in the country’s eight-year war.

Children make up nearly half of the region’s total population, the United Nations says.

The violence since late April has killed more than 960 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and displaced more than 400,000 people, the UN says.

After bombardment damaging schools or forcing them to close, many parents are scared to send their children to those still open, Save the Children said.

“Teachers are telling us that parents are pleading with them to shut schools for fear of them being attacked,” the group’s Syria Country Director Sonia Khush said.

“Many children are dealing with losing their homes, loss and grief. They should not have to fear losing their lives whilst they try to learn,” she added.

Idlib has since January been ruled by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, an alliance led by Syria’s former Al Qaeda affiliate.

Syria’s conflict has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced more than half of the country’s pre-war population since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

TEHRAN — President Hassan Rouhani said Iran will announce a new step in scaling back its nuclear commitments by Thursday despite a diplomatic push for relief from US sanctions.

Iran and three European countries — Britain, France and Germany — have been engaged in talks to save a 2015 nuclear deal that has been unravelling since the US withdrew from it in May last year.

The efforts have been led by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been trying to convince the US to offer Iran some sort of relief from crippling sanctions it has reimposed on the Islamic republic since its pullout.

“I don’t think that... we will reach a deal so we’ll take the third step and we will announce the details today or tomorrow,” Rouhani told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

The Iranian president said the two sides were getting closer to an agreement on a way to resolve burning issues.

“If we had 20 issues of disagreement with the Europeans in the past, today there are three issues,” he said.

“Most of them have been resolved but we haven’t reached a final agreement.”

Iran has long been threatening to carry out a third step by Friday unless other parties to the deal offset the effect of US sanctions in return for its continued compliance.

It has already hit back twice with countermeasures in response to the US withdrawal from the 2015 deal, which gave it relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

On July 1, Iran said it had increased its stockpile of enriched uranium to beyond the 300 kilogramme maximum set by the deal.

A week later, it announced it had exceeded a 3.67 per cent cap on the purity of its uranium stocks.

The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on August 30 that Iran’s uranium stockpile stood at about 360 kilogrammes and that just over 10 per cent of it was enriched to 4.5 per cent.

Rouhani gave little away on Wednesday about what Iran’s next step might be, only saying it “may not seem very shocking but... it is extremely important”.

“This step is the most important step we have taken and its effects will be great and, God willing, with this step [Iran’s] Atomic Energy Organisation will accelerate processes,” he said.

A deputy foreign minister said Iran would resume full compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) if it is allowed to sell its oil or get a $15 billion credit line guaranteed by future crude sales.

Abbas Araghchi expressed doubt, however, that such a plan could be agreed by the deadline set by Iran for sanctions relief.

“Iran... will return to full implementation of the JCPOA only if it is able to sell its oil and to fully benefit from the income from these sales,” he said.

“The French proposal goes in that direction,” the deputy foreign minister was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Araghchi, speaking days after leading an economic delegation to France, ruled out any renegotiation of the JCPOA, but said Iran was open to talks on how to implement it better.

“Returning to full implementation of the JCPOA is subject to receiving $15 billion over a period of four months, otherwise the process of Iran reducing its commitments will continue,” he said.

The 2015 nuclear deal was agreed between Iran and the so-called 5+1 — UN Security Council permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany.

KHARTOUM — Sudan's new premier will unveil the first Cabinet since veteran leader Omar Al Bashir's overthrow within 48 hours, the country's ruling body said Tuesday, after the transition process was hit by delays.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, a seasoned UN economist who took up the job last month, was supposed to announce a Cabinet on Wednesday of last week under a post-Bashir roadmap.

But the announcement was postponed as he mulled the nominees proposed by the umbrella movement which led months-long protests against Bashir and the generals who ousted him in April.

Last Tuesday, Hamdok received a list of candidates including 49 nominees for 14 ministries. 

“The Cabinet announcement will be made within a maximum of 48 hours,” Sudan’s sovereign council said in a statement.

The joint civilian-military ruling body held talks with Hamdok on Tuesday about the reasons for the delay.

The premier explained it “is because he wants to form a government that is more representative of states across Sudan”, the council said. 

Hamdok also wished to ensure “gender balance”, it added.

The meeting with Hamdok also tackled the issue of forming a commission tasked with peace talks with armed groups.

On August 17, the Forces for Freedom and Change protest movement and the generals officially signed a power-sharing deal outlining their vision for Sudan’s three-years transitional period. 

It included forging peace with insurgent groups in the country’s far-flung regions within six months. 

Hamdok has vowed to “end war and bring about sustainable peace” in Sudan.

Rebel groups from marginalised regions including Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan state waged long wars against Bashir’s forces.

On Saturday, four rebel groups from Darfur said they will be “negotiating with transitional authorities with a unified vision”, without elaborating.

In its statement, the council said it will hold further talks with Hamdok on Wednesday. 

The postponement of the Cabinet announcement was not the first delay in Sudan’s transition from decades of authoritarianism.

The line-up of the 11-member sovereign council was held up for two days over differences within the opposition camp, before it was finally revealed on August 21.

ADEN — Saudi Arabia has deployed more troops in southern Yemen to try to contain clashes between nominal allies in the Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthis that risk further fragmenting the country.

The fight for the south here of the country has opened a new conflict, focused around the port of Aden, in a multifaceted war that has killed tens of thousands and pushed the long-impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation to the brink of famine.

Saudi soldiers and armed vehicles arrived over the weekend in the capital of the oil-producing Shabwa province where the United Arab Emirates-backed separatists have been battling forces of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government for control, two local officials said.

The two sides are part of the Sunni Muslim coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Iran-aligned Houthi group which ousted the government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi from power in the capital Sanaa in 2014.

But the separatists, who seek to restore the former South Yemen republic, turned on the government in early August and seized control of Aden, interim seat of Hadi’s government.

They have since been trying to extend their reach to nearby Abyan and Shabwa, clashing repeatedly with government forces.

Saudi Arabia has reinforced its positions in Shabwa and Aden as Riyadh called for talks to resolve the crisis and refocus the Western-backed coalition on battling the Houthis, who have stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi cities.

“Saudi forces arrived in Shabwa and started working with the local government for a de-escalation and a ceasefire. All parties responded positively to the coalition’s calls,” coalition spokesman Colonel Turki Al Malki said on Monday.

The kingdom has also called for a summit in Jeddah to defuse the standoff. The leader of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), Aidarous Al Zubaidi, arrived in the Saudi Red Sea city on Tuesday to meet Yemeni and Saudi officials, a spokesman of the movement said.

Trenches and tunnels

Saudi Arabia’s main coalition partner, Gulf ally the UAE, openly intervened on behalf of the STC last week by bombing government forces trying to regain control of Aden, forcing them to retreat.

STC forces also brought reinforcements into Aden, witnesses said on Tuesday, calling back fighters who had been deployed on the outskirts of the main port of Hodeida, held by the Houthis, in the west.

The fighters dug tunnels and built trenches at the edges of Aden and blocked main roads leading out of the city to prevent government forces from recapturing it, they said.

The STC, which accuses Hadi’s government of mismanagement, made its move on Aden after the UAE scaled down its military presence in Yemen in June under increased Western pressure to end the war.

Escalating violence across Yemen and the evident rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE could complicate UN efforts to restart peace talks to end the conflict, which is largely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Earlier this week, coalition warplanes bombed a prison complex in southwest Yemen, killing more than 100 people. The United Nations called for an investigation but the coalition insisted it had struck a Houthi arms storage site.

A member of a UN panel of independent human rights experts on Yemen expressed concern on Tuesday about the fighting in the south.

“This again causes us concern in that the parties to the conflict themselves seem incapable of even agreeing amongst themselves as to the way forward,” Charles Garraway said.