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To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (47939)	3/4/2005 8:50:41 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

New walls falling in KSA-Minorities in KSA demanding new rights;;Saudi Shiites Look to Iraq and Assert Rights The prince called for a better understanding between Sunnis and Shiites and included prominent Shiites in a couple of sessions of his "national dialogue," virtually the only public forum where Saudis are allowed to discuss ways to combat the religious extremism carried out by Al Qaeda and its followers. In the last few years some restrictions on Shiites in Qatif were lifted or at least overlooked, including allowing limited construction of community and Shiite mosques, as well as the public celebration of Ashura rituals. But the little that has changed outside Qatif raises questions in the community about the government's commitment to tolerance. Ashura celebrations are banned in Dammam, a neighboring city of some 600,000, including 150,000 Shiites. nytimes.com

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (47939)	3/4/2005 8:52:43 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called a Security Council meeting for Monday on the security breakdown in western Sudanese region of Darfur, spokesman Fred Eckhard said Friday. The Darfur crisis was not on the March Security Council agenda list handed out this week by the UN ambassador of Brazil, which currently holds the group's rotating presidency. "I think all would agree that not enough is being done to bring the security situation in Sudan under control," Eckhard told reporters. "I think the Council members share that assessment with the Secretary-General. We all know the kinds of difficult issues that the Council is grappling with as they debate approving the Secretary-General's proposal for a peacekeeping mission. "And I think he wants to discuss with them what practical options are available to them to act more decisively to deal with the continuing killing and rape that's going on in Sudan, particularly in Darfur," Eckhart concluded. Some 70,000 people have died after two years of fighting in the western region of Darfur, where the government and its proxy militias have brutally put down a rebellion launched in February 2003. The crisis has resulted in some 1.6 million people displaced or as refugees, according to UN figures. The Security Council has discussed over several weeks a draft resolution presented by Washington, but with little hope of overcoming divisions in the next days. The resolution is a broadly worded statement that encompasses all of Sudan's current problems.

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (47939)	3/4/2005 9:16:33 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

New alliance-President Bush on Friday flatly rejected any partial withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, saying he will not accept the kind of "half-measures" Damascus is expected to propose as a compromise. "There are no half-measures at all," Bush said during an event here on his Social Security proposals. "When the United States and France say withdraw, we mean complete withdrawal, no halfhearted measures."

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (47939)	3/4/2005 9:19:34 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Arabs join the chorus too- Arab leaders grew increasingly impatient at Syria's resistance to a quick, complete withdrawal of its troops from Lebanon, with Saudi leader Crown Prince Abdullah sharply telling Syria's president on Thursday to start getting out soon or face deeper isolation, according to a Saudi official. The unusually tough message came when Syrian President Bashar Assad met Abdullah and other Saudi leaders in the kingdom's capital, the Saudi official told The Associated Press by telephone from Riyadh. Arab League foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo on Thursday, added to the pressure, expressing support for the diplomatic push by Saudia Arabia and Egypt. Syria has resisted Arab pressure to withdraw, saying in behind-the-scenes diplomacy in recent days that it wants to keep 3,000 troops and early-warning stations in Lebanon, according to an Arab diplomat in Cairo. The Syrian army already operates radar stations in Dahr el-Baidar, on mountain tops bordering Syria. Israeli warplanes have attacked the sites in the past. But Egypt and Saudi Arabia feel those conditions are impossible, the diplomat said. Abdullah told Assad the kingdom insists on the full withdrawal of all Syria's 15,000 troops and intelligence forces from Lebanon and wants it to start "soon," the Saudi official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Assad replied only that he would study the possibility of carrying out a partial withdrawal before an Arab summit scheduled for March 23 in Algeria, the official said. The Syrian leader insisted he is doing everything he can to resolve the problem but that not everything is up to him, the official said. Saudi officials replied that the situation was his problem and warned that if Damascus refuses to comply, it would lead to tensions in Saudi-Syrian ties, the official said. In a further sign of their impatience, the Saudis rejected a Syrian request that the upcoming Arab summit officially ask Damascus to withdraw its forces, which would give any pullback an Arab endorsement, the Saudi official said. Saudi Arabia is said to be angry with Damascus over the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who also held Saudi citizenship and was close to the Saudi royal family. Assad returned Thursday night to Damascus, where the official Syrian Arab News Agency reported he had discussed Arab affairs, the Arab summit and Lebanon with the Saudi government. "Points of view were identical," the report said. Lebanese Opposition The Lebanese opposition has blamed Syria and its allied government in Beirut for the killing, which sparked dramatic street protests that forced the resignation of the pro-Syrian government. Damascus and the Lebanese government deny any role in the assassination. Damage in relations with Saudi Arabia would deepen Syria's isolation after its traditional allies, Russia and France, joined the United States and United Nations (news - web sites) in demanding a full pullout. Saudi Arabia, a close ally of Washington, often presents Syria's point of view to U.S. officials. Egypt and Saudi Arabia fear that unless Syria removes its troops quickly from Lebanon, where it has held control for decades, the United States and other Western countries will start taking concrete action to force it to do so. Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Walid al-Moalim was set to arrive in Moscow on Friday for talks with Russian officials on a possible U.N. resolution urging Syria to pull out, Russia's Foreign Ministry said. "The role played by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the (Arab League) secretary-general is to avoid situations that will be imposed on us," Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kerbi told reporters in Cairo after the Arab League meeting. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he had long encouraged Assad to withdraw. "I have been talking to him about the withdrawal for two years because I was afraid of the external pressure," he told reporters Wednesday. "Now I hope the issue will pass peacefully." The Syrian troops were originally deployed during Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war — ostensibly as peacekeepers — and Syria has held sway over Lebanese politics ever since. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are trying to get Syria to carry out the 1989 Taif Accord, which called on it to gradually make a full pullout from Lebanon — but to start it immediately and finish the withdrawal by April. The Arab-brokered accord is named after the Saudi city of Taif, where it was signed, and Saudi officials played a key role in sealing it. It required Syria to redeploy troops to eastern Lebanon, near the Syrian border, and then negotiate a full withdrawal with the Lebanese government. Syria never complied. But under growing pressure said last month it is willing to do so, promising to move troops closer to its border. But it hasn't yet acted. Assad, in interviews with international media, has given varying estimates for the timing of a withdrawal, from less than two months to at least a year or not until Mideast peace is achieved. www.fox.com