Sports
Troops battle to free hostages in Nairobi mall
Troops battle to free hostages in Nairobi mall (Agencies) / 22 September 2013 At least 59 people have been confirmed killed in an attack by Somali militants on an upmarket shopping mall in Nairobi, a government minister said Sunday, as Kenyan troops battled gunmen still holding an unknown number of hostages. Heavy gunfire could be heard as Kenyan security officials said they were attempting to kill or capture the remaining attackers and end the 24-hour-long bloodbath at the Westgate mall. Among the dead was renowned Ghanaian poet and statesmen Kofi Awoonor. Somalia’s Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab rebels said the carnage at the part Israeli-owned complex was in retaliation for Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia, where African Union troops are battling the militants. Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said 59 people were confirmed dead. “A number of attackers are still in the building, and range between 10 to 15 gunmen,” he said in a statement. “We believe there are some innocent people in the building, that is why the operation is delicate.” Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a televised address to the nation late Saturday that he had lost family members in the attack. “Let me make it clear. We shall hunt down the perpetrators wherever they run to. We shall get them. We shall punish them for this heinous crime,” he vowed. The Westgate mall is popular with wealthy Kenyans and expatriates, and was packed with around 1,000 shoppers when the gunmen marched in at midday on Saturday, tossed grenades and sprayed automatic gunfire at terrified people. Security agencies have long feared that the shopping centre could be targeted by Al Qaeda-linked groups. The attack was the worst in Nairobi since an Al Qaeda bombing at the US embassy killed more than 200 people in 1998. After a day and night of sometimes ferocious gun battles, security sources said police and soldiers had finally “pinned down” the gunmen. The Kenyan Red Cross appealed for blood donations and authorities urged residents to steer clear of the area. “We are still battling with the attackers and our forces have managed to maroon the attackers on one of the floors,” said Kenyan military spokesman Colonel Cyrus Oguna . “We still do not know the number of hostages nor the attackers but we hope to bring this to an end today.” One teenage survivor recounted to AFP how he played dead to avoid being killed. “I heard screams and gunshots all over the place. I got scared. I tried to run down the stairs and saw someone running towards the top, I ran back and hid behind one of the cars,” 18-year-old Umar Ahmed said. In the hours after the attack began, shocked people of all ages and races could be seen running from the mall, some clutching babies, while others crawled along walls to avoid stray bullets. Kenyan police, troops and special forces then moved in and went shop-to-shop inside the shopping centre. Foreign security officials — from Israel, the United States and Britain — were also seen at the complex. An AFPTV reporter said she saw at least 20 people rescued from a toy shop, some of them children taken away on stretchers. Kenneth Kerich , who was shopping when the attack happened, described scenes of utter panic. “I suddenly heard gunshots and saw everyone running around so we lied down. I saw two people who were lying down and bleeding, I think they were hit by bullets,” he said. “The gunmen tried to fire at my head but missed. I saw at least 50 people shot,” mall employee Sudjar Singh said. Ghanaian poet Awoonor , 78, who was once his country’s representative to the United Nations, was killed while shopping with his son, who was injured in the attack, Ghanaian officials said. A spokesman for Shebab said the attack was retaliation for Kenya’s nearly two-year-old military presence in war-torn Somalia in support of the internationally backed Mogadishu government. “We have warned Kenya of that attack but it ignored (us), still forcefully holding our lands… while killing our innocent civilians,” Shebab spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage said in a statement. “If you want Kenya in peace, it will not happen as long as your boys are in our lands.” Police at the scene said a suspect wounded in the firefight had been detained and taken to hospital under armed guard, and later died of his injuries. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was “appalled by the brutal attack against innocent citizens” and sent her “sincere condolences to those who have lost family, friends and loved ones”. Paris confirmed that two French citizens were among those killed in what it condemned as a “cowardly” attack. Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper said two Canadians, one of them a diplomat, were among the dead, while official Chinese news agency Xinhua said one Chinese woman was killed and her child wounded. Two Indians and a South Korean were also among the dead. The United States said its citizens were reportedly among those injured by the “despicable” act while British Foreign Secretary William Hague said there were “undoubtedly British nationals caught up in this so we should be ready for that”. The UN Security Council condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms”. Continue reading
Envoys seek Syria UN resolution as France, Russia squabble
Envoys seek Syria UN resolution as France, Russia squabble (Reuters) / 18 September 2013 Diplomats from five key nations kicked off talks on a Western-drafted UN Security Council resolution to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons even as France and Russia clashed over Moscow’s insistence that Syrian President Bashar Al Assad is innocent in an August 21 poison gas attack on civilians. The negotiations in New York among the American, British, French, Russian and Chinese diplomats focused on a draft resolution on Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal to be put before the 15-nation UN Security Council. The US-British-French draft is intended to support an American-Russian deal reached in Geneva last Saturday calling for Syria to account for its chemical weapons within a week and for the removal and destruction of the arsenal by mid-2014. UN diplomats said it remained unclear when a vote on the resolution could take place. The current draft leaves the door open to the use of force in the event of non-compliance by Syria, though diplomats said Russia would almost certainly demand such provisions be deleted. President Barack Obama, who had threatened US military strikes in response to the August attack, said even with the deal to get rid of Syria’s chemical weapons, ultimately there must be a political transition in Syria in which Assad gives up power. “Keep in mind that it’s very hard to imagine that civil war dying down if, in fact, Assad is still in power,” Obama told the US Spanish-language network Telemundo. Obama said it remains his goal to “transition” Assad out of power in a way that protects religious minorities and ensures Islamist extremists are not gaining ground in Syria. “But you know, we’re going to take this one step at a time. The first step right now is to make sure we can deal with the chemical weapons issue,” Obama said. The meeting of diplomats from the five permanent, veto-wielding powers of the Security Council came a day after UN investigators confirmed the use of sarin nerve agent in the August 21 attack. The United States, Britain and France said the report proved beyond any doubt that Assad’s forces were responsible. The UN report’s findings triggered sharp disagreement at a meeting in Moscow of the top diplomats from Russia and France. Russia has been Assad’s most powerful backer during the civil war, delivering arms and – with China – blocking three UN resolutions meant to pressure Assad. Sitting beside French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius at a news conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the report produced no proof that Assad’s troops carried out the attack and that Russia still suspected rebel forces did it. Fabius took the opposite view, saying the report left no doubt that Assad’s forces were to blame for the attack that the United States says killed more than 1,400 people. Washington has blamed Syrian government forces. Assad’s government blames the rebels. ‘No doubt’ “When you look at the amount of sarin gas used, the vectors, the techniques behind such an attack, as well as other aspects, it seems to leave no doubt that the regime is behind it,” Fabius said. Lavrov acknowledged that the investigators’ report proved that chemical weapons had been used but that “there is no answer to a number of questions we have asked,” including whether the weapons were produced in a factory or home-made. “We have very serious grounds to believe that this was a provocation,” Lavrov said. Lavrov said the UN report should be examined not in isolation but along with evidence from sources such as the Internet and other media, including accounts from “nuns at a nearby convent” and a journalist who had spoken to rebels. “We want the events of August 21 to be investigated dispassionately, objectively and professionally,” he said. Diplomats in New York said Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin questioned some of the findings in chief UN chemical investigator Ake Sellstrom’s report at a closed Security Council meeting on Monday. Churkin, they said, asked Sellstrom to describe the quality of the weapons that dispersed sarin. “The rockets found on the site were professionally made and, according to Dr. Sellstrom, they bore none of the characteristics of jerry-rigged, improvised weapons,” US Ambassador Samantha Power told the UN General Assembly. “They had sophisticated barometric fuses to disperse the nerve agent in the air and not on impact,” she said on Tuesday. “This was a professionally executed massacre by the regime, which is known to possess one of the world’s largest undeclared stockpiles of sarin.” Britain’s UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the diplomats from United States, Russia, Britain, France and China – known as the “P5” – would report back to their capitals and reconvene on Wednesday. ‘Russia standing by US’ In Washington, US Secretary of State John Kerry called for a UN resolution with the strength to force compliance from Assad on chemical weapons. “That will happen only with the United Nations passing a strong resolution. It will happen with the enforcement of the world, with Russia standing by us in this effort, and it will happen, finally, because Assad lives up to what he has agreed to do,” Kerry told reporters. The current US-British-French draft, diplomats said, would condemn and blame Assad for the use of chemical weapons and refer the Syrian civil war to the International Criminal Court for possible war crimes indictments. The draft is also written so that its provisions are under Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which covers the Security Council’s authority to enforce its decisions with measures such as sanctions or the use of force. Diplomats said Russia would likely demand most Chapter 7 references be deleted, meaning any attempt to punish Syria for non-compliance would require a second resolution authorising punitive measures. Violence flared anew along Syria’s tense border with Turkey as a car bomb exploded on the Syrian side of the main Bab al-Hawa border crossing, killing at least seven people and wounding 20, the Turkish news agency Dogan said. The car bomb exploded a day after Turkish forces shot down a Syrian helicopter that had entered Turkey’s airspace. The Syrian army accused the Turkish government, which backs the uprising against Assad, of trying to escalate tensions along the border. Continue reading
Sharjah motorists hail more Adnoc stations
Sharjah motorists hail more Adnoc stations Lily B. Libo-on and Haseeb Haider / 18 September 2013 Residents in Sharjah are expecting to save fils, with plans to open six new Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) petrol stations next year. Six new petrol stations will be set up in Sharjah, part of 13 new stations to be set up by Adnoc across the country as part of the company’s plan for 2014. Adnoc Public Relations manager Ibrahim Mohamad Al-Marzouqi made the announcement on the radio show “Live Programme”, broadcast by UAE Radio and TV from Sharjah with presenter Mohammed Majid Al Suwaidi. “The new gas stations will be set up at Al Maleeha Road, Al Badair, Emirates Road (formerly Dubai Bypass), near Scouts Commission, Sharjah Corniche in the direction of Ajman and near Sharjah Expo at Al Taawun.” Melvin Gonzaga, a Filipino expatriate living in Sharjah but working in Dubai, said the move was very advantageous for motorists because Adnoc’s petrol is cheap. “I think it is cheaper by 50 fils. Even now, I prefer to use Adnoc’s special petrol because their petrol is different. I find my car to be functioning smoothly every time I use Adnoc petrol,” he said. Mohammed Aslan, a Pakistani expatriate working in Jebel Ali but staying in Sharjah for the past seven years, was another happy customer pleased to hear the Adnoc plans. “Adnoc petrol is the cheapest in the UAE. It has an Economy Plus, which is very cheap and only available from Adnoc.” Earlier this month, Adnoc began taking over Emarat’s 75 petrol stations as well as its oil terminal at Port Khalid, after an initial announcement signalling the move last year, for a bigger geographical foothold which has given it access to the retail petroleum business in the Northern Emirates. The takeover plan was announced in September last year, while in the beginning of this year, Adnoc Distribution started supplying its products to the Emarat service stations through the Sharjah Terminal. The takeover means Adnoc will adjust all losses, which were incurred by Emarat on account of its procurement of petroleum products from international market at a higher price and its sale at a discounted price. Adnoc Distribution has taken over 31 petrol stations in Sharjah, 16 in Ras Al Khaimah, 12 in Fujairah, ten in Ajman and six in Umm Al Quwain. Adnoc Distribution CEO Abdulla Al Dhaheri said in a recent statement that he planned to start implementing changes to the interior and exterior of the service stations immediately. The first phase of the re-branding will commence with two pilot service stations — Al Madar service station in Sharjah and Al Nadya service station in RAK — by placing the Adnoc logo and distinguished design of service stations, which are expected to be completed within this year. “The re-branding of the other service stations is expected to span 24 months or a maximum of five years after acquiring the service stations as agreed,” he said. For customer convenience, coordination with Emarat will be under way to facilitate the placement of Adnoc Distribution pole sign at the entrance of each service station. “We are committed to continue the implementation of our strategic plans in terms of expansion projects and develop our services in accordance with global standards.“ Adnoc Distribution is continually strengthening its capabilities, increasing the efficiency of the administrative and operational capacities, as well as developing and introducing new services and projects, which are designed to meet the customers’ requirements. Adnoc Distribution’s landmark deal with Emirates General Petroleum Corporation or Emarat will give access to the petrol stations in the Northern Emirates, giving it a wider geographical footprint in two years. Last week, Adnoc increased diesel prices by 15 fils to Dh3.45 a litre in the Northern Emirates. news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
