Moroccans protest polls, violence in the capital

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By Souhail Karam

RABAT | Sun Oct 23, 2011 7:03pm EDT

RABAT (Reuters) - Thousands of Moroccans demonstrated in cities across the country Sunday, calling for a boycott of early parliamentary polls next month whose outcome will be key to the future of reforms crafted by the royal palace.

The protests are the latest in a series of regular peaceful demonstrations by the youth-led opposition February 20 Movement, inspired by uprisings that ousted leaders in Tunisia and Egypt to demand a parliamentary monarchy and punishment for officials accused of graft.

In the capital Rabat, a Reuters reporter saw dozens of riot police with truncheons beating and kicking protesters who had gathered in front of the parliament building at the end of a march by around 3,000 people.

A local elected official in the country's biggest city, Casablanca, said about 8,000 people took part in a similar protest there. Several thousand took part in protests in other cities including Fes and Tangier.

"These nationwide protests were held around the common theme of calling for a boycott of November 25 parliamentary polls," said Omar Radi, an activist from February 20 Movement's local committee in Rabat.

"It is obvious that the polls will bring to power the same figures who have for years been plundering the wealth of the country and holding hostage the future of the Moroccan population," he added.

King Mohammed has promised in recent speeches that the elections will be fair and transparent. The main opposition Justice and Development Party (PJD) has decried laws recently passed for the polls as doing too little to prevent vote-buying.

Under reforms approved in a July referendum, King Mohammed will hand over some powers to elected officials but will retain a decisive say over strategic decisions. The new government will draft laws enshrining a new constitution.

In March the 48-year-old monarch, reacting swiftly to protests inspired by the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, promised to reduce his powers through changes in the constitution. The parliamentary poll was brought forward from September 2012.

But protesters in Rabat, joined for the first time this week by hundreds of jobless graduates, chanted "The elections are a charade, you will not fool us this time."

"Money and power must be separated," read a placard carried by the protesters, while many brandished pictures of the body of Muammar Gaddafi, the slain deposed leader of Libya, with the caption: "This is what happens to despots."

The charter drawn up by the king won near-unanimous support in a July referendum that critics said was itself far too hasty to allow proper debate.

Parliamentary elections have been held in Morocco for almost 50 years in what was widely perceived as window-dressing for the kingdom's Western allies. The king and a secretive court elite named the government and set key policies.

Their grip on power was helped by high illiteracy rates, an ingrained deference to a dynasty that claims descent from the Prophet Mohammad, and control over the media.

The interior ministry has used a mixture of repression and divide-and-rule tactics to tame political dissent. This has led many Moroccans to lose interest in politics: turnout at the last parliamentary polls was officially 37 percent.

(Editing by Tim Pearce)

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Gaddafi gunmen, government forces clash in Libyan capital

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Smoke rises over the western side of Tripoli, October 14, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Suhaib Salem

By Barry Malone

TRIPOLI | Fri Oct 14, 2011 6:24pm EDT

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Gunbattles between supporters of deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi and forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) shook the Libyan capital on Friday, raising fears of an insurgency against the country's new rulers.

The clashes appeared to be isolated and involve only dozens of pro-Gaddafi fighters, but it was the first sign of armed resistance to the NTC in Tripoli since its rebel brigades seized the city and ended Gaddafi's 42-year rule in August.

Hundreds of NTC fighters in pick-up trucks shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) careered toward the Abu Salim neighborhood, a repository of support for Gaddafi, and the two sides exchanged automatic and heavy machinegun fire.

The fighting in Tripoli coincided with prolonged battles in Sirte, where NTC forces are battling pro-Gaddafi fighters holed up in a small area of Gaddafi's home town.

Local people in Tripoli told Reuters that a group of up to 50 armed men had appeared in the Abu Salim district earlier in the day and chanted pro-Gaddafi slogans. NTC men said fighting also broke out in three nearby neighborhoods.

"Gaddafi told them in a message last night to rise up after Friday prayers," said one NTC fighter, Abdullah. "That's why these few people have come out and are causing this problem."

Since he went into hiding after rebel forces captured Tripoli on August 23, Gaddafi has released a number of audio recordings calling on loyalists to fight back.

Two Gaddafi supporters and one NTC fighter were killed in Friday's violence in Tripoli, NTC official Abdel Razak al Oraidi said during a press conference in the capital.

"Orders were issued to raise the state of alert to the maximum," Oraidi said. "Gaddafi supporters should give up their weapons. Those who do not do so will be considered terrorists."

NTC fighters dragged one man out of an apartment block in Abu Salim, a traditional bastion of support for Gaddafi. As he was kicked and punched, one NTC man tried twice to stab the prisoner only to be blocked each time by another NTC man.

The captured man had been armed with a rocket-propelled grenade, said NTC fighters. The interim government's forces have been criticized by human rights groups for their treatment of prisoners. Reuters saw at least two other captured gunmen taken away in pickup trucks being punched and kicked.

Dominated by apartment blocks, Abu Salim was the last part of the capital to fall to the NTC when its forces took Tripoli on August 23 after six months of civil war.

The NTC fighters were met by volleys of machinegun fire as they went from house to house searching for remaining pro-Gaddafi gunmen. Shooting died down later in the afternoon.

"Some Gaddafi cells came out on the streets with guns today after prayers but, as you can see, our forces have the situation under control," said a senior NTC official at the scene under heavy protection, Mahmoud Abdul Aziz.

"All families are safe. If Gaddafi is still at large we won't see peace but we will slay that beast."

A spokesman for the NTC in the eastern city of Benghazi dismissed Gaddafi's armed supporters in Tripoli as a "fifth column" trying to destabilize the country.

"The other thing I hear that is disturbing is that the fifth column has been doing some drive-by shootings around Tripoli today. These are loyalists trying to wreak havoc," he said.

Diplomats told Reuters that there were also drive-by shootings near the Radisson hotel, where some senior NTC officials and Western diplomats are staying.

SIRTE STILL HOLDING OUT

Gaddafi supporters are still holding out in Sirte, Gaddafi's Mediterranean coastal hometown in the center of the country, where a small pocket is battling on after weeks of fighting, and Bani Walid, a town south of Tripoli.

Government forces pushed tanks deep into Sirte on Friday to try to smash resistance by pro-Gaddafi fighters.

The mostly untrained NTC militia army has gradually tightened its stranglehold around Sirte in a chaotic struggle that has cost scores of lives and left thousands homeless.

The failure to seize the final Gaddafi bastions has also held up the attempt by Libya's new leaders to try to build a democratic government, a process they say will begin only after Sirte is captured.

NTC commanders say Gaddafi's diehard loyalists now only control an area measuring about 700 meters (yards) north to south, and around 1.5 km (a mile) east to west in a residential neighborhood comprising mostly apartment blocks.

"We are going to engage them with tanks and heavy artillery first. After that we will send in the pick-up trucks with anti-aircraft guns, then the infantry," said NTC commander Abdul Hadi Doghman.

The biggest obstacle to taking the town has been Gaddafi's snipers hunkered down in buildings.

Green flags, the banner of Gaddafi's rule, still fly above many of the buildings in Sirte. An occasional sniper shot zipped past government forces cleaning their weapons.

Gaddafi's encircled forces in Sirte have little hope of victory, but still fight on, inflicting casualties with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms.

Gaddafi himself is believed to be hiding somewhere in the vast desert of southern Libya.

FEAR OF REPRISALS

One NTC commander said Gaddafi's forces were no longer using heavier weapons and appeared to have lost their cohesion.

"We've noticed now they are fighting every man for himself," said Baloun al-Sharie, a field commander. "We tried to tell them it's enough and to give themselves up, but they would not."

NTC officers say Gaddafi loyalists fear reprisals if they surrender -- some captured fighters have been abused.

A Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) doctor at Sirte's Ibn Sina hospital estimated there are still some 10,000 people marooned by the fighting in the city of 75,000 residents. Many of those trapped are women or children and some need medical care.

"In the past few days, the patients haven't been able to receive proper medical care, due to a shortage of doctors and due to the lack of water," said Gabriele Rossi. "The wounds of some patients are really bad and very infected."

Amnesty International issued a report on Wednesday saying Libya's new rulers were in danger of repeating human rights abuses commonplace under Gaddafi. The NTC said it would look into the report.

(Additional reporting by Rania El Gamal and Tim Gaynor in Sirte; Brian Rohan in Benghazi and Ali Shuaid and Yasmine Saleh in Cairo; Writing by Joseph Nasr and Jon Hemming; Editing by Alastair Macdonald, Peter Graff and Mark Heinrich)

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Pennsylvania capital 'bankrupt'

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13 October 2011 Last updated at 00:51 GMT A final vote on a state takeover plan of the city is expected next week. The US city of Harrisburg - capital of the state of Pennsylvania - has filed for bankruptcy, a move quickly opposed by the city's mayor.

Harrisburg faces debts of $300m (£190m) and has struggled to pay for services.

The move comes as the state legislature considers a takeover of the city and the implementation of a "rescue plan".

Last year, municipal bond analysts expected many bankruptcies from cities under debt pressure, but few localities have actually taken the step.

The city council voted 4-3 on Wednesday to file for bankruptcy under a rarely used code for towns and cities.

Filing for bankruptcy is opposed by the city's mayor, Linda Thompson, who challenged the legality of the vote in a news conference on Wednesday.

According to Ms Thompson, city law requires the mayor and the city solicitor to sign off all hiring of outside lawyers, as well as have the city solicitor approve all ordinances and resolutions considered by the council.

Neither was done in this case, she said.

"They have been dishonest with the entire community for months," the mayor said about the council. "I am ashamed of the behaviour."

'Destitute for decades'

Debt woes have plagued the city of 50,000 since 2010, when an incinerator project funded by municipal bonds failed to raise expected cash.

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They wanted to sell all of our assets and make Harrisburg destitute for decades to come”

End Quote Dan Miller Harrisburg City Controller Although city services should continue, the vote has caused confusion about how bills will be paid.

"We're getting calls from vendors, wondering if they are going to get paid," said Brenda Alton, the director of city's department of parks.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett told the Associated Press news agency the city should agree to a rescue plan under the state's program for distressed cities.

Pennsylvania's state House of Representatives has already passed a bill that calls for a forced implementation of the plan. The state Senate will vote on the bill next week.

Such a plan would include renegotiating the city's labour deals, cutting jobs and putting its most valuable assets up for sale or lease, correspondents say.

That would include the incinerator, as well as parking garages.

But the city council says that plan would benefit creditors at the expense of the city.

"I think [bankruptcy] is the only real option that we had," said City Controller Dan Miller. "They wanted to sell all of our assets and make Harrisburg destitute for decades to come," he said.

Mark Schwartz, a lawyer for the city council, said declaring bankruptcy would give the city "bargaining power" with its creditors and with the state.

'Bad deal'

Cities and towns rarely file for bankruptcy, but it is not without precedent.

Mayor Linda Thompson opposes the bankruptcy filing

The largest Chapter 9 bankruptcy occurred in 1994, after Orange County, California, suffered more than $1bn in investment losses.

In 2008 the city of Vallejo, California, home to 120,000 people and the small city of Central Falls, Rhode Island also filed for Chapter 9.

While a number of bankruptcies were expected during 2010, with the recession increasing demand for services as revenues were cut, they did not materialise.

Not all states allow local governments to file for bankruptcy, and unlike companies, governments have the ability to tax.

It is also an expensive process and does not necessarily mean municipalities will come out of the process with a vastly improved financial situation, correspondents say.

"Bankruptcy proved to be a bad deal for Vallejo," said Richard Ciccarone, a municipal bond specialist. The city has had to make major cuts in police and fire services.

"I don't see governments jumping in to do it."

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Renewed fighting kills two in Yemen capital

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Army soldiers block the way of a demonstration by anti-governement protesters demanding the ouster of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa September 28, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Mohamed al-Sayaghi

By Erika Solomon

SANAA | Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:33am EDT

SANAA (Reuters) - Heavy clashes rocked northern neighborhoods of Yemen's capital Sanaa at dawn on Thursday, killing two people and breaking a truce aimed at ending the worst violence since a popular revolt against President Ali Abdullah Saleh began eight months ago.

A Reuters reporter at the scene said shelling and gunfire had engulfed three areas in north Sanaa as troops battled armed followers of powerful tribal leader Sadeq al-Ahmar, who supports opposition demands for an end to Saleh's 33-year grip on power.

A doctor tending to the casualties said two people had been killed and six wounded in the violence.

Many residents fled their homes as the fighting intensified, shattering three days of calm in the capital after Saleh ordered a ceasefire upon his surprise return to Yemen on Friday.

"I only returned to the streets two days ago after clashes stopped, but I'll stick today to the south of Sanaa because it's safer," said ice-cream vendor Abdullah al-Wasabi. "We're tired of this crisis and we're losing our business, while these tribes and the president's soldiers don't tire of fighting."

The truce had calmed a week of fighting that killed more than 100 people and revived fears that Yemen, which borders top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, would tip into civil war.

The United States and Saudi Arabia fear lawlessness in Yemen could embolden the al Qaeda wing based there, endangering Western interests in the Gulf and oil transit routes via the Red Sea.

Even before protests paralyzed the impoverished state, Yemen was grappling with a tenacious wing of al Qaeda, a separatist insurgency in the south and a sectarian rebellion in the north.

In the war-torn northern governorate of Saada, which borders Saudi Arabia, aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had been forced to suspend its activities on Monday after local authorities imposed new conditions on humanitarian organizations operating there.

MSF said the conditions, which included a ban on international staff supervising operations, would "greatly affect" its ability to guarantee the quality and effectiveness of its work. "We had no choice but to suspend our activities," it said in a statement.

Until last week, Saleh had been recuperating in Riyadh from a June assassination attempt. Western diplomats had pressed him to stay in Saudi Arabia while they struggled to push through a long-stalled power transition plan to defuse the Yemeni crisis.

The president has hung on in the face of nationwide protests that drew strength from popular revolts in Egypt and Tunisia.

Former Saleh allies, such as Ahmar and Ali Mohsen, a general who defected to the opposition in March, have deserted him. The conflict has divided Sanaa into warring zones of influence.

Thursday's fighting pitted Ahmar's tribesmen against state security forces and troops from the elite Republican Guard, commanded by Saleh's son. It was unclear how the battle flared.

During the lull politicians and diplomats had scrambled to revive a Gulf-brokered plan under which Saleh would stand down. Gulf nations and Western powers have been exasperated by Saleh's repeated last-minute refusals to sign agreed transition deals.

(Additional reporting by Khaled al-Mahdy; editing by Alistair Lyon)

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