Osama bin Laden killed in Pakistan

Erbil, May 2 (AKnews) - Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda, is dead, US President Barack Obama has claimed.

The worlds most wanted man looks to have been killed in a US ground operation in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad near the capital Islamabad. His body is said to be in the hands of the military.

The news was announced by President Barack Obama from the White House where he described Bin Laden's killing as "The most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al-Qaeda" and said he personally authorized the attack.

Osama Bin Laden was accused of masterminding a number of attacks on civilians around the world. The most notable of which were the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001 where 3,000 people were killed.

President Obama said: "We must also reaffirm that United states is not and will never be at war against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader, in fact, he slaughtered many Muslims."

A senior Obama administration official told Reuters they believe that three other men were killed in the attack including bin Laden's adult son. A woman is also said to have been killed.

The official said that bin Laden's death will be a major blow to al-Qaeda. But, there are also fears of reprisals, and the US is warning its citizens traveling in the area to be wary of "enhanced potential for anti-American violence".

On the news of his death, jubilant crowds gathered outside the White House, chanting, "USA, USA".

Former US president George W. Bush welcomed the news saying: ""The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done."

Bin Laden had managed to evade the coalition of western forces for almost a decade, despite a US$25 million bounty on his head. It is not known why he moved down from the mountains on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he was suspected of hiding, to Abbottabad a city only 100km north of Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

President Obama said he had been  given intelligence about bin Laden's whereabouts last August.

"It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground," he said.

"I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan.

"And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice."

A senior US official said that one helicopter was downed in the operation but no American lives were lost.

Raber Y. Aziz and Patrick Smith (AKnews)

02/05/2011 10:19

Opposition forces to take legal action against government for budget cut

Erbil, May 1 (AKnews) – Opposition forces say they plan to go to court over the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) decision to cut the parties' budgets after they supported protests that hit the Region's second largest city, Sulaimaniya.

Last week, two Islamic opposition parties, Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG) and Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), said their budget had been cut, and a week previously, another opposition group, Gorran, also said their budget had been reduced.

Political parties in Kurdistan receive funding from the government to carry out their activities.

The budget cuts came after the opposition groups put the full force of their support behind anti-government protests that raged for 65 days from 17 February and left 10 protesters dead and hundreds injured.

The demonstrators, inspired by events in Egypt and Tunisia, were pushing for an end to corruption, nepotism and the monopoly of power by the two ruling parties Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The protests evolved and later called for a complete dissolution of the government in the region.

A representative for Gorran, Yousef Mohammed, said he was stunned by the budget cut decision: "If the government refuses to reconsider its decision, then we will take legal action to restore our budget.
"The PUK and KDP each continue to receive IQD6 billion (about US$5.1 million) every month, we believe that our budget cut is a political decision by the KDP and PUK, playing their hand to apply pressure."

Mr Mohamed went on to accuse the ruling parties of operating their media outlets from the general budget.

Gorran with 25 seats in the 111-seat Kurdish parliament received, before the funding cut, IQD580m ($500,000), while the PUK, led by the Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, with 29 seats, and the KDP, led by regional President Massoud Barzani, each receive the radically greater sum of IQD6 bn ($5.1 m).

The government has also cut KIU's IQD450 million (around US$370,000) budget. The party has six seats in the Kurdish parliament

Member of the KIU politburo Abubakr Ali, said: "I think this budget cut has nothing to do with the law, but with the KRG which is formed by the KDP and PUK.

"Cutting our budget is like punishing us for being an opposition force in the Kurdish region. It is only pressure. It is our right to seek restoration of the budget by any means"

In place of a proper parties budget law the Kurdish Parliament passed the 2010 budget under which a temporary sum of IQD90 billion (US$75 million) was allocated to political parties and organizations.

The parties' budget law has yet to be discussed by parliament.

Under the current system budgets are arbitrarily allocated and do not relate to the number of seats or votes. Some small groups like the Kurdistan Communist Party, which has one seat in parliament, receive the same allocation as Gorran with 25 seats.

KDP member of parliament, Rozhan Dizayee, told AKnews that the Region's 2011 budget provides for allocating some IQD200 billion (about US$ 167 million) to political parties. But the parliament has not been able to discuss the political parties' budget law as the opposition forces have been boycotting the ordinary parliamentary sessions, said Dizayee.

Due to the government's violent repression of demonstrations, opposition forces have refused to attend ordinary meetings saying the parliament should only hold emergency meetings to discuss the demands of the protesters.

The demonstrators were demanding that the government be completely dissolved and a transitional government set up to prepare early elections in six months.
But a real factor contributing to the postponement of the parties' budget law has been the dispute over how to allocate budget.

Some parties want funds to be provided according to the votes a party gets in parliamentary elections, others want the number of seats be considered, while some smaller groups say armed struggle for the freedom of Kurdistan before 1991, when the region gained semi-autonomy, be a factor for budget allocation.

Sherwan Haidari, head of the legal committee in the parliament, said: "If the number of seats criterion is adopted, then parties who have few seats will be affected, while considering the number of votes in elections those parties who did not get considerable votes and are outside parliament will be affected."

The conflict around this issue shows no signs of being resolved in the near future.

Writing by Raber Y. Aziz, Hevidar Ahmed contributed to this story. Edited Patrick Smith.

01/05/2011 13:19

 

Clash between army troops and Kurdish forces feared to prompt ethnic conflict

Kirkuk, April 26 (AKnews) – A clash between Kurdish security forces and a unit of the Iraqi army troops in Kirkuk on Monday that left three killed is feared to develop into an ethnic conflict in oil-rich city.

On Monday, an Iraqi military convoy passing through Atlas Street, one of the most crowded streets of Kirkuk, opened fire at a taxi driver and killed him on the spot.

The incident prompted Kurdish security forces near the scene to intercept the convoy and arrest the troops. Soon after, a large force of Iraqi army troops entered Kirkuk to have the arrested released which set off a skirmish that developed into an exchange of gunfire between the Kurdish security forces and the army troops.

Kirkuk mayor Kamil Salayi said the conduct of the Iraqi army troops in the streets of the city was "improper" and disseminated fear that "affected the semi-stability of the city".

"Crowded streets like Atlas… are not for military vehicles to move around on," he said, "We hope a committee formed to investigate the incident can conclude the initial cause of the incident and disclose the guilty party".

Kirkuk security forces media official Farhad Hamaali, told AKnews that the Iraqi army troops "have no duties in Kirkuk city…maintaining security inside the city is the duty of the security forces, not the army".

An Iraqi Intelligence officer who declined to be named told AKnews that the incident will negatively affect the psychology of the people in addition to developing into an ethnic-based dispute.

Kuridsh politicians have often accused the the Iraqi army in Kirkuk, mainly formed of Arab ethnics, of supporting the Arabs in their disputes with the Kurds.

The intelligence officer criticized the role of the media in covering the incident saying they should wait for the results of the investigations before judging who was to blame.

Two Kurdish security personnel and one civilian were killed in the incident in addition to three civilian injuries, according to the latest reports.

According to some reports, the Kurdish force intercepted the Iraqi army troops and opened fire, while other media sources said the Iraqi army troops attacked the Kirkuk security forces as part of their plan to put pressure on the Kurds so that the Iraqi army can take over maintenance the city's security which is currently the duty of the police and other security forces.

Sarhad Qadir the director of Kirkuk districts police, said on Monday that it was the Iraqi army trrops who initiated the gunfire and killed two security personnel from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) headquarters.

Qadir told AKnews on Monday that a committee had been formed between the Iraqi army and Kirkuk police to investigate the incident. He said the commander of the troops was the brother of the Iraqi Army's 12th division in Kirkuk.

Qadir explained that the man who opened fire at the Kurdish security forces was a guard of the army commander's brother.

Reported by Nabaz Rostan

Ry/Ka/AKnews

26/04/2011 15:29

 

Raw over "heavy presence" of Peshmarga forces in Sulaimaniyah

Sulaimaniyah, April 26 (AKnews) – A heavy presence of Peshmarga (Kurdish defense forces) in Sulaimaniyah city following the violent protests in the city is driving a wedge between the ruling parties and the opposition forces. The Peshmarga forces were heavily deployed to Sulaimaniyah after the security forces, trying to disperse demonstrators in the city, clashed with the protesters leaving at least 200 injured last week. The Peshmarga Affairs minister said the forces were there to protect people and maintain stability in the city. The protesters in Sulaimaniyah have been calling for political reforms including a complete dissolution of the Kurdistan government and the end of corruption and nepotism. So far 10 people including two policemen have been killed in the protests and over 600 people injured since the protest erupted in late February. Opposition forces believe the stationing of Peshmarga forces is "illegal" because it is not in the authority of the Peshmarga minister to do so, while the ruling parties believe those forces can remain in Sulaimaniyah as long as they work to "normalize" the situations. "The Peshmarga Minister does not have the authority to mobilize forces," , said Burhan Rashid, a parliamentarian from the opposition movement – Gorran,  "and under the demo law, apart from the police forces, the Asayish (Kurdish intelligence police) and Peshmarga forces are not allowed to move." The president of the Kurdistan Region has the power to mobilize the Peshmarga forces however, as he is the commander general of the armed forces. Rashid described the mobilization of the Peshmarga as well as the use of Asayish forces as "unconstitutional". "…today, there is nothing left in the Kurdistan Region called law," he said, "neither is there any legitimate institution to resort to." The opposition forces have been calling for a complete government dissolution on the grounds that it has lost its legitimacy after the security forces opened fire on the protesters. Goran Azad, a member of the Legal Committee in the parliament of the Kurdistan Region from the Kurdistani bloc which includes the two ruling parties – the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – seems to think otherwise. " The mobilization of forces (internally) is within the powers of the Peshmarga Minister" he said. "Those forces have been moved to normalize the situations not for suppressing people or any political force because the Peshmarga forces have to be away from political conflicts and has to be used only for supporting the internal forces" Azad said. "The opinion that suggests the mobilization of forces is the authority of the President of the Region is actually about moving forces to outside the borders of the region" he continued. He justified the mobilization of those forces by accusing the demonstrations of being "unlawful". According to the demo law passed by the parliament of the Kurdistan Region, demonstrators are protected by the civil activities forces and the internal forces provided that they are lawful and licensed. The demo law requires that demonstrators obtain prior permission from the authorities. This law has been criticized by the opposition forces because it gives the authorities the power to reject demonstrations against the ruling parties of the government. Political activist, Sherko Jawdat, says the Peshmarga forces have to be used to protect the borders of Kurdistan against external forces, "but they have come to the Azadi Square (or Sara Square) in Sulaimaniyah and other cities of the region, committing violence against citizens." "They shouldn't be stationed in these areas because they could be used to clamp down on citizens which is against the constitution and law" he said. Kurdistan Region's Peshmarga Affairs Minister Jafaar Sheikh Mustafa, says the forces were deployed to the city by request of the security committee of Sulaimaniyah, "and they will stay here until the situation is normalized and risks are over". Mustafa also argued that more than 80% of those forces in Sulaimaniyah are police and other internal forces. Reported by Dilshad Saifaddin Edited by Raber Y. Aziz 26/04/2011 13:47

سەرنووسەری كۆواری "بەڵگە" لەبەردەم دادگەی كەلار ئامادە دەبێ

ئەگەر سەردێری هەواڵەكانی ئاكانیوزی ئەمڕۆ دووشەم، 25 نیسانتان خوێندبێتەوە، ئەوا دەبینن كە سەردێرێك هەیە بە ناوونیشانی "سەرنووسەری كۆواری "بەڵگە" لەبەردەم دادگەی كەلار ئامادە دەبێ"

من خۆشحاڵ بووم كە ئەمڕۆ ئەو هەواڵەم خوێندەوە. هیوادرام هەمووان ڕێز لە یاسا بگرن یاسا بۆ هەمووان سەروەر بێت و كەس خۆی لە سەرووی یاساەو دانەنێت.

هەژی گۆتنە من دوێنێ بابەتێكم بڵاوكردەوە دوای ئەوەی كاك جەمال لە دیمانەیەكی زاگرۆس تی ڤیدا دەركەوت و باسی لە یاسا و سەروەری یاسا دەكرد بە ناوونیشانی "خۆ هەبوونی پرەنسیپ شتێكی باشە" وتێیدا ڕەخنەم لە بەڕێز جەمال عەبدوڵا گرت كە ئەو باسی سەروەریی یاسا و دەستوور دەكات كەچی خۆی ئامادەی نەبووە دوای دوو مانگ بچێتە دادگە هەرچەندە فەرمانی گرتنیشی لەلایەن پۆلیسی كەلارەوە هەبووە.

http://aknews.com/ku/aknews/3/234739/