Thursday, August 18, 2011

DTN News - BATTLE OF LIBYA: Libyan Rebels Advance Against Gadhafi Regime

Asian Defense News: DTN News - BATTLE OF LIBYA: Libyan Rebels Advance Against Gadhafi Regime
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada / WASHINGTON - August 18, 2011: Moammar Gadhafi's regime is on its last legs, and what happens after the Libyan dictator is gone is up to the people of that country, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said here today.

Libyan rebels have made progress against Tripoli, taking towns within 30 miles of the Libyan capital. Six months ago, the United States began air operations to stop regime forces from moving on the rebel stronghold Benghazi. At the end of March, NATO took over responsibility and the United States assumed a supporting role.

Rebel forces, without training or equipment at the beginning of the conflict, have pushed across the country to surround the forces loyal to Gadhafi.

NATO officials said regime troops launched a Scud missile Aug. 14, but it fell harmlessly in the desert. It was the first time the regime had launched this type of weapon, and may be a sign of the growing desperation in Gadhafi's camp, NATO officials said.

The international community also has put enormous pressure on the Libyan leader to step down without further bloodshed, Little said.

Anti-Gadhafi forces are pressuring regime forces, especially in the western part of the nation, Little said. "They are headed toward, and may be in now, a town called Zawiya, and that is relatively close to Tripoli," he said. "You also have anti-Gadhafi forces making progress in the east. Those are significant developments."

There have also been high-profile defections from Libya. News reports indicate that Gadhafi's interior minister escaped from Tripoli with his family and is now in Cairo. Economic and diplomatic sanctions on the Libyan leader also are being felt.

"If you put all of those things together, the future does not look particularly bright for Gadhafi, but we'll have to see where things go," Little said.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said yesterday that Gadhafi's days are numbered. "But neither he nor I can put a precise number on how many days," Little said.

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By Jim Garamone - American Forces Press Service
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DTN News - ANNA HAZARE INDIA NEWS: Anti-Corruption Crusader Anna Hazare Team Gives Undertaking For Protests

Asian Defense News: DTN News - ANNA HAZARE INDIA NEWS: Anti-Corruption Crusader Anna Hazare Team Gives Undertaking For Protests
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - August 18, 2011: India’s central government ignited a political crisis when it put the anti-corruption leader Anna Hazare in jail – and then, they couldn’t get him out.

Anna Hazare, a 74-year-old long-time activist who has become the face of a populist movement against graft, was ordered released Tuesday night. But he refused to leave the prison until the government withdrew restrictions on his planned protest. He remained behind bars Thursday morning, but he was reported to have agreed to a deal with police to allow him to stage a 15-day hunger strike in a public park. The government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, meanwhile, was left fumbling awkwardly.

Anna Hazare, a social activist, is usually based in a village in the western state of Maharashtra, where he advocates living by Gandhian principles. He rose to his current prominence when he came to New Delhi in April to stage a “fast unto death,” unless the government created a lokpal, or ombudsperson, with sweeping powers to investigate corruption. Anna Hazare was angry, in particular, at what’s being called the “2G scam,” in which the former telecommunications minister held a corrupt auction for the country’s cellular network license and cost the treasury as much as $40-billion. The ex-minister, plus a handful of senior government figures and business people, are now awaiting trial, held in the same jail that Anna Hazare won’t leave.

The grand corruption cases anger many Indians, but it is the daily rota of bribes they must pay to obtain basic services that are the chief preoccupation of Anna Hazare’s largely middle-class, urban supporters.

Back in April, the government capitulated on the fourth day of his fast and invited his supporters to help draft an anti-corruption bill, even though there are already strong laws in place, if not enforced. But when the bill was tabled a few weeks ago, in a form that left the office of the Prime Minister outside the lokpal purview, Anna Hazare said he would gather his followers and resume his fast this week. He insisted that it must be his law or he would not eat until he died – a “non-violent” protest technique Mahatma Gandhi used.

Team Anna has given a two-page undertaking to police on its protest fast in Ramlila Maidan, saying they would abide by existing rules and regulations and the crowd will not exceed the capacity of the ground, which is around 25,000 people. In the undertaking signed by Anna Hazare himself and his associates -- Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi and Shanti Bhushan, they also said that if any clause of it was violated, they would be liable to be prosecuted under law.

The permission for the fast has been given till September 2, 2011, official sources said.

The clauses of the undertaking include -- no damage to public property; gathering will not exceed the limit of the ground; the crowd will not spill over to the nearby roads; the protesters will cooperate with traffic police; loud speaker use within the ambit of a Supreme Court order (10pm limit).

Other clauses are: Arrangements of drinking water, medical aid, mobile toilets, proper lighting; no carrying of lathi or any weapon; no provocative slogans/ speeches; no inflammatory slogans within 200 meters of religious or worship places; public safety will be taken care of; no use of crackers.

Medical examination of Hazare and those who will keep fast along with him will be conducted by government doctors three times a day while Team Anna promised to abide by the April 16, 2009 order of the Supreme Court which stipulated rules and regulations for public protests.

The undertaking was given to the deputy commissioner of police, Central District, of Delhi Police.

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