The Middle East

Egyptian Presidency to Be Decided in Run-Off

by Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – After casting their votes in the first election since the Arab Spring, Egyptians will now have to decide whom to select in a run-off between Mohamed Mursi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Hosni Mubarak’s former Prime Minister, Ahmed Shafiq.

Candidates Mursi (l) and Shafiq (r) will face each other in a run-off. (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

Mursi had won the first round with 5.8 million votes, while Shafiq placed second with 5.5 million. Hamdin Sabahi, candidate of the leftist al-Kamarah party, came in third with 4.82 million votes. Since no candidate managed to win more than fifty percent of the vote, a runoff between Mursi and Sabahi was necessary.

Only forty-six percent of Egyptians who were eligible to vote turned out for the first round of the elections. Such low figures may have been due to a lack of enthusiasm for the candidates, or due to the brevity of the campaigns, which were conducted in less than two months. Those who participated in last year’s revolution must now decide to support either a candidate who wants to create Islamist rule, or a candidate who supports a military-backed authoritarian system.

The results represent a worst-case scenario for many of those who participated in last year’s revolution, and in reaction to the results of the elections, hundreds of protestors had taken to the streets of Egypt’s cities.

Many supporters of Sabahi are disappointed with the results. One supporter, Dalia Gelaa, calls the results “a disaster,” and believes that “there will be a next revolution soon.”

After the election, Sabahi appealed the results, stating that many members of the army and police, who were banned from casting votes, had access to the polls and voted. However, the Elections Commission rejected his claim on grounds that even though there were some “shortcomings” in the electoral process, they were insufficient to substantially affect the result. Former Brotherhood member Abdul Moneim Abul, who finished fourth, also made an unsuccessful appeal.  Abul requested that the announcement of the results be delayed until the conclusion of an investigation of all reported violations.

Mursi appeals to Egyptians who want a deeply religious country that features a democratic framework. Those who support Shafiq believe that his victory in the run-off will result in a return to security and normalcy in Egypt. However, many believe that if Shafiq is elected, tensions in the country could escalate to the same point it was at during the revolution. Shafiq’s foes have even vowed to take the streets if he wins the run-off.

“In the next two weeks there will be an upsurge in violence,” predicted a Western diplomat.

For further information, please see:

BBC – Egypt poll: Islamist Mursi and Ex-PM Shafiq in Run-Off – 28 May 2012

New York Times – Egypt Confirms Candidates for Presidential Runoff – 28 May 2012

Reuters – Islamist, Ex-Military Man Contest Egypt Presidency – 28 May 2012

Al Jazeera – Egypt Vote Count Points to Decisive Runoff  – 26 May 2012

Abduction of Lebanese Pilgrims in Syria Sheds Light on Growing Tensions

By Melike Ince
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The release and return of eleven Lebanese pilgrims captured in Syria has caused a significant amount of unrest in both countries.

Family members in Beirut are still waiting for the release of the abducted men. (Photo Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

The Shiite pilgrims were traveling through Syria last Tuesday after a trip to Iran when their bus was intercepted by a group of men offering assistance in escaping violence in the area. It later became clear that the armed group was looking to abduct some of the travelers. Women on the bus were allowed to go free but the men were taken to an unknown area in Syria. Some of the women who were freed told reporters the armed kidnappers claimed to be members of the Free Syria Army (FSA), who sought a bargaining tool to negotiate the release of its members held by the Syrian army.

The FSA denied involvement and condemned the kidnappings, claiming that the abduction does not represent the values of their party. Mustafa al-Sheikh, a senior officer in the FSA, suggested that the Syrian government is likely responsible for the act.

The abduction has sparked a significant amount of protests in Lebanon where citizens have taken to the streets, cutting off roads and burning tires, to show their opposition. Leaders of Hezbollah, the largest Shiite party in the country, have called for protestors to stay peaceful and not disrupt everyday life in Lebanon.

Despite Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s confirmation that the men would be released Friday, family members were still waiting as of Saturday evening. The men were supposed to be taken to Turkey and returned to Lebanon from there. But according to Turkish officials, they had not yet left Syria. Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said the release was delayed for “logistical reasons” and that the men were being questioned in Turkey but are safe and would return soon.

The abduction comes at a significant time for Lebanon. The country has been torn internally over the recent conflicts in Syria. Several deadly clashes have ignited among supporters and opponents of the Syrian government. The increased tension led the Lebanese cabinet to hold an emergency session on Wednesday to review security concerns in the country.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has shown her concern over the situation stating that, “the developments in Syria are contributing to instability in Lebanon” and encouraged all parties to “respect the security and stability of Lebanon.”

For more information, please see;

Daily Star Lebanon – Contacts Continuing in Effort to Release Lebanese Hostages – 27 May 2012

Al Jazeera – Location of Lebanese Pilgrims Still Unknown – 26 May 2012

Syrian Arab News Agency – Arrival of the Lebanese Kidnapped in Syria Delayed for Logistic Reasons – 26 May 2012

BBC – Lebanese Shia Pilgrims Abducted in Syria Released – 25 May 2012

CNN  – Lebanese Official: Pilgrims Abducted in Syria Soon to be Freed – 23 May 2012

Syria: Massacre of Adults and Children in Houla

By Mark McMurray
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria — On Saturday, more than ninety civilians, including at least thirty-two children under the age of ten, were killed in the Syrian village of Houla, located near the city of Homs.  The deaths occurred during an artillery bombardment.

UN observers meet with victims of the Houla massacre. (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian)

General Robert Mood, head of the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), confirmed the killing after UN observers viewed the victims’ bodies.  UN observers also confirmed artillery and tank shells were fired at Houla after examining ordnance found in the area.  According to Al Jazeera, witnesses have reported that government forces attacked Houla with mortars following anti-government protests.  Following the shelling, pro-government thugs known as Shabiha raided the area, killing men, women, and children.

The government of Syria denied involvement.  Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told the official Syrian news agency, SANA, that the government “has categorically denied responsibility of the Syrian forces for the massacre.”  The government blamed the killing on “armed terrorist groups [where] clashes led to the killing of several terrorists and the martyrdom of several members of the special forces.”  Furthermore, it claimed that “brutal killing doesn’t belong to the ethics of the Syrian army.”

A statement released by the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA) announced “that unless the UN Security Council takes urgent steps for the protection of civilians, Annan’s plan is going to go to hell.”  The FSA said it could no longer commit to the U.N.-brokered ceasefire, which went into effect on April 12, unless there was a swift response to the violence.  The massacre was one of the single deadliest incidents to have taken place during the fourteen-month-old uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Joint Special Envoy of the UN and the League of Arab States for Syria, former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, released a joint statement declaring that “this appalling and brutal crime involving indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force is a flagrant violation of international law and of the commitments of the Syrian Government to cease the use of heavy weapons in population centres and violence in all its forms.”  Additionally, the statement declared that “those responsible for perpetrating this crime must be held to account.”

In response to the violence in Syria, the Security Council created UNSMIS in April 2012.  However, the violence and bloodshed have yet to stop, even after 270 unarmed military observers were deployed in support of Annan’s six-point plan.  The plan calls for “an end to violence, access for humanitarian agencies to provide relief to those in need, the release of detainees, the start of inclusive political dialogue that takes into account the aspirations of the Syrian people, and unrestricted access to the country for the international media.”  Over the past fourteen months, the UN estimates that more than 9,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria, with tens of thousands having been displaced.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – UN confirms ‘massacre’ of children in Houla – 27 May 2012

The Washington Post – Syrian government denies blame in attack that killed dozens, including 32 children – 27 May 2012

BBC News – Syria crisis: Houla child massacre confirmed by UN – 26 May 2012

United Nations News Centre – Syria: UN officials deplore ‘brutal’ killing of civilians near Homs – 26 May 2012

Syrian Revolution Digest: 14 May 2012

Syrian Revolution Digest – May 14, 2012

The dithering is beginning to have an impact on neighboring countries. Pandemonium paves way to spillover, and spillover to regional chaos.

Syrian cartoonist, Ali Ferzat's interpretation of the Syrian opposition and international support (Photo Courtesy of Syrian Revolution Digest)

 

Casualty Report:

In total 22 deaths occurred on Monday:

1o Homs City
1 Hama
1 Damascus
1 Rural Damascus
1 Deir Ezzor
9 civilians, 23 Assad troops Homs Province (in a clash when the soldiers tried to retake the town from rebels)

 

Abuses and Rights Violations

50 Syrian refugees who took part in a hunger strike (staged in protest of the living conditions in local refugee camps and the restrictions on their freedom to move that stopped them from accessing medical care) were expelled by Jordanian authorities.  They were driven to the border with Syria and left there after the officials confiscated their papers.  Local recruits of the FSA saved the refugees and escorted them back to Daraa City.

 

News Stories

Fox News – Turkish Reporter Describes Syrian Detention – 14 May 2012

MSNBC – Syria Violence Spills Into Streets of Lebanon’s Tripoli – 14 May 2012

Reuters – Tunisian Islamists Join Jihad Against Syria’s Assad – 14 May 2012

Day Press – Russia: Without Damascus Agreement; UNSMIS Mission Would not be Peacekeeping – 14 May 2012

 

Blog

Nonviolence & the Syrian State Current
As Deborah Amos noted in her NPR report yesterday, there is indeed a wide-scale arrest campaign targeting local activists, especially those leading the nonviolent movement. The problem with her report is that the main figures that were interviewed in this regard, that is, to represent these nonviolent activists, are those who belong to the Building the Syrian State Current, AKA Syrian State Current or occasionally Binaa Syria.

Founders and leaders of the SSC are coming more and more under the spotlight of late, getting invited to attend conferences and meetings with officials abroad, basking in the glow of being domestic opposition, hence, legitimate. But that’s a very troubling assessment, and reflects a continuing misunderstanding of the nature of the protest movement. The movement is too indigenous and grassroots to be represented by the urban elites of Damascus and Aleppo, and the founders of SSC are mostly from there or have been living there for last few years or decades.

Despite the fact that some of them have long histories in nonviolence advocacy, they have never developed any major popular bases and have never managed to engender more than a vague awareness of the literature of nonviolence. Their goal was more evolution than revolution. In this, they were no different than traditional opposition figures and movements: they failed to see that the momentum building around them was more revolutionary than evolutionary.

By comparison to traditional opposition figures and parties, they were to some extant more connected to the grassroots, but not by much. They exhibited the same elitist tendencies. Their minds belonged to Ghandi but their hearts and souls to Marx. And no serious attempt was ever made at indigenization of the thoughts of either men, despite occasional individual endeavors in this regard that failed to generate much interest. Ghandi’s philosophy was meant as a way of life, a model to be put into practice, but they sought to teach it as doctrine, hence they made it and kept it as an elitist exercise. And Marx’s input lent itself to countless interpretations, but there was little debate of that.

Since the beginning of the revolution, most attempts at reaching out made by SSC leaders were aimed at an international audience rather than local communities, where they have little influence. For all their talk about nonviolence and basic rights, they had nothing but indignation to the “average” Syrian. They had the mentality to stewards and trustees, rather than public servants.

For this, and despite occasional harassment and arrests, SSC founders and leaders are often allowed to meet and travel freely. Why? They oppose international intervention and the increasing militarization of the revolution, and that suits the Assads rather well.

The fact that people are demanding intervention and have chosen the course of armed insurrection after many months of violent crackdown by the Assads, does not matter. After all, the flock needs a shepherd, and the ignorant masses are being exploited by all those external opposition members who have their own agendas. So, the mentality of SSC leaders is not that different than their “enemies” represented by the SNC: they all claim what is rightfully not theirs, and will never be: ownership of the revolution, and the right to represent a populace that they all at heart fear and disdain.

The likeability and western temperament of some of the founders of SSC should not blind international policymakers and journalists to the realities of who they are. After all, westrn veneers and likeability were the main reasons why so many in the international community thought of Assad and Asma as the reform-minded couple.

The international community should be on a search not for the likeable and the westernized, for the relevant and pragmatic. Some likeable westernized figures will emerge and need to be engaged and empowered, but only inasmuch as they are or can be made to be relevant. Irrelevant figures cannot keep a country together, no matter how well-intentioned they are.

Until members of our intellectual elite learn to view themselves as public servants, and the people as being worthy of service, not entities to be controlled, for all their shortcomings, they will remain part of the problem not the solution. You have to be truly “of the people” to serve the people, and that’s a reference to state of mind, not social class.