Algeria police arrested hundreds of protesters who are demanding reforms at a rally on Saturday. Thousands of police in riot gear stopped the protesters from entering May 1 Square where the demonstration was called by a coalition of civic and political groups. However, a Small number of protesters succeeded in entering the square, shouting “Bouteflika out!”
(Reuters) — “It is a state of siege,” said Abdeslam Ali Rachedi, a university lecturer and government opponent. After about three hours, hundreds of people left the square quietly, with police opening up gaps in their cordon to let them through. Some 200 young men from a poor neighborhood nearby stayed on the square. Some threw objects at police.
“I am sorry to say the government has deployed a huge force to prevent a peaceful march. This is not good for Algeria’s image,” said Mustafa Bouchachi, a leader of the League for Human Rights which helped organize the protest.
The protest was not backed by the main trade unions or the biggest opposition parties. Nearly all members of Algeria’s radical Islamist groups, which were banned in the 1990s but still have grassroots influence, stayed away.
Officials with the opposition RCD party, which helped organize the protest, told Reuters the demonstrators totaled between 7,000 and 10,000 and that 1,000 people were arrested.
(CNN) — The demonstrations were mostly peaceful, with police rounding up protesters in small groups to break up the crowds, and anti-riot police gathered at the scene.
Khalil AbdulMouminm, the general secretary for the Algerian league, called the situation “very tense on the ground” and said police were preventing protesters from assembling, with authorities blocking all entrances to the capital.
Pro-democracy activists have declared Saturday, Feb. 12, “Day 1” of the Algerian Revolution against the regime of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The ctivists have defied a ban against public political gatherings and called a march in Algiers today in which thousands are expected to participate.
In response, the regime has brought 30,000 police officers into Algiers. Hundreds of armored vehicles are parked at key intersections of the capital.
(Bloomberg) — The Coordination for Democratic Change in Algeria, an umbrella group of human rights activists, unionists, lawyers and others, insists the march will take place despite numerous warnings by authorities to stay out of the streets. Buses and vans filled with armed police were posted at strategic points along the march route and around Algiers, including at the “Maison de la Presse,” a small village in Algiers where newspapers have their headquarters.
(Al Jazeera) — Protesters are demanding greater democratic freedoms, a change of government, and more jobs. The demonstration was set to begin at 11:00 am local time.
“We are ready for the march,” said Mohsen Belabes, a spokesman for the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) opposition party, which is one of the organisers of the protest. “It’s going to be a great day for democracy in Algeria.”
Mubarak’s resignation on Friday, and last month’s overthrow of Tunisian leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, have electrified the Arab world.
The rally is being organised by the National Co-ordination for Change and Democracy (CNCD), a three-week-old umbrella group of opposition parties, civil society movements and unofficial unions inspired by the mass protests in Tunisia and Egypt.
(BBC) — Widespread unrest in Algeria could have implications for the world economy because it is a major oil and gas exporter, but many analysts say an Egypt-style revolt is unlikely because the government can use its energy wealth to placate most grievances.
Protest organizers in Algeria — who say they draw some of their inspiration from events in Egypt and Tunisia — say police may turn people away before they can reach the march in the capital, or parallel protests planned for other cities.
“Algerians must be allowed to express themselves freely and hold peaceful protests in Algiers and elsewhere,” rights group Amnesty International said in a statement. “We urge the Algerian authorities not to respond to these demands by using excessive force.”
In an attempt to head of anti-government unrest, the authorities have cut prices for sugar and cooking oil, bought huge quantities of grain to ensure bread supplies and promised to lift a 19-year-old state of emergency.
Many seem to give credit to the social media (Facebook, Twitter and blogs) for helping the Egyptian and Tunisian youths who brought down the entrenched dictatorships in their country, but there is not enough mention about the contributions made by Al Jazeera, except by the dictators themselves.
I used to dislike Al Jazeera for some of the anti-American vitriol that it some times broadcasts. It’s fine to criticize the U.S. for its often misguided foreign policy by some of its corrupt State Department officials who are propping up dictators such us Ethiopia’s Meles Zenawi. However, the U.S. is a force for good in this world and doesn’t deserve to be demonized.
Having said that, Al Jazeera is becoming a respected and powerful news organization that is transforming the Middle East for the better. For the past few weeks I have been streaming its live video broadcast on the front page of EthiopianReview.com. I myself was glued to one my my computer screens that streams Al Jazeera Live 24/7. Its coverage of the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt is by far the best and the most thorough. I also think that one of the reasons the revolutions in these countries were not as bloody as they could have been is that the live TV coverage of every incident may have made the military leaders aware that they will be held personally responsible for any bloodshed. The international community would be too sickened by televised massacre of civilians and would bring those responsible for the atrocities to the International Criminal Court, like the Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, Sudan’s Al Bashir, and Bosnia’s Radovan Karadzic.
A few years ago, Ethiopia’s vampire tyrant has kicked out Al Jazeera from Ethiopia, but it is still being watched by hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians.
We need to strengthen our own satellite TV, ESAT, if we want to minimize the bloodshed the Woyanne ruling junta is preparing to cause in the next Ethiopian revolution. ESAT, along with all the Ethiopian radio programs, web sites, and social media will play a critical role in not only facilitating and helping coordinate the struggle, but they also could help prevent massive atrocities in Ethiopia.
On behalf of Ethiopian Review, I extend my congratulations and well wishes to the people of Egypt.
(BBC) — Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down as president of Egypt. In an announcement on state TV, Vice-President Omar Suleiman said Mr Mubarak had handed power to the military.
It came as thousands massed in Cairo and other Egyptian cities for an 18th day of protest to demand Mr Mubarak’s resignation.
Protesters responded by cheering, waving flags, embracing and sounding car horns. “The people have brought down the regime,” they chanted.
Mr Suleiman said Mr Mubarak had handed power to the high command of the armed forces.
“In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate, citizens, during these very difficult circumstances Egypt is going through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down from the office of president of the republic and has charged the high council of the armed forces to administer the affairs of the country,” he said.
“May God help everybody.”
The military high command is headed by Defence Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
Mr Mubarak has already left Cairo and is in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he has a residence, officials say.
Constitution breached
In Cairo, thousands of people are gathered outside the presidential palace, in Tahrir Square and at state TV.
They came out in anger following an address by Mr Mubarak on Thursday. He had been expected to announce his resignation but instead stopped short of stepping down, transferring most powers to Mr Suleiman.
The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo said the announcement caught everyone by surprise, and all over the city drivers honked their horns and people fired guns into the air.
But the army takeover looks very much like a military coup, our correspondent adds.
The constitution has been breached, he says, because officially it should be the speaker of parliament who takes over, not the army leadership.
Oil price falls after Egypt’s President Mubarak resigns
(The Telegraph) — Oil fell in late trading after Egypt’s President Mubarak resigned, bringing an end to weeks of protests that have spooked the energy market.
The price of Brent crude rose sharply early on Friday when it appeared that the Egyptian leader would cling to power, raising fears about the key Suez canal transport route. Brent, the key London oil contract, has risen more than the US benchmark WTI – at one point trading at a $16 premium – as it is more exposed to the region.
ADDIS ABABA (Afrik-news.com) — Fuel prices in Ethiopia will be raised next month following a recent decision by its Sudanese suppliers could also affect fuel availability in Ethiopia. The Horn of Africa country spends an average annual 20 billion birr on the importation of petroleum products.
Ethiopia’s projected budget of 1.42 billion US dollars for fuel importation for the current fiscal year is expected to cover 2,176,188 tonnes of fuel including benzene. An amount that, according to reports, exceeds by 30 percent the 72.2 billion birr annual budget approved for this fiscal year. Despite the Ethiopian government’s decision in 2008 to introduce the blending of ethanol following an increased demand in fuel, the increasing trend has continued.
And the ever increasing local consumption of benzene coupled with the fluctuation of prices on the international market has resulted in an extra 500,000 tonne import of fuel as against the projected imports set for the current fiscal year, according data obtained from Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise (EPE), an entity in charge of petroleum importation and distribution.
Recently, the country signed an agreement with Sudan Petroleum Company (SPC) to import 80 percent of its benzene demand from the neighboring Sudan. This agreement was to enable the government cut the huge transportation costs, which would in consequence lower the price of benzene on the local market. The agreement with SPC has however been suspended following a three month closure of the Sudanese company’s refinery beginning February 1. And although this is not expected to impact the petroleum deal between Ethiopia and The Sudan, the three-month break coupled with Ethiopia’s inadequate storage capacities may lead to a fuel shortage.
As a result, Ethiopia has designed a contingency plan by raising the percentage of blended ethanol in Addis Ababa, the capital, to 10 per cent from March 7. This follows the success of a similar move in 2008 when the introduction E5 helped the country to reduce the volume of benzene imports by over a million dollars annually.
Having acquired the technology to produce a considerable volume of Ethanol to buttress fuel imports following its various expansion projects, mainly of its sugar factories, including the state owned company Fincha, which has been producing up to eight million liters of Ethanol, and Metehara, which has also embarked on an annual production of 10.5 million liters as of the current year, Ethiopia could handle the arrest of oil imports… to an extent.
Ethiopian Satellite TV (ESAT) is back online today after being off air for 24 hours, according to the station’s management. ESAT is now transmitted on the following frequency:
C-BAND Intelsat 10 at 68.5E
TRANSPONDER 14
DOWN LINK 3808 V
SYMBOL 10340 FEC 3/4
