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Dozens Die in Khartoum Riots Following Death of Sudanese
VP Garang
Death in the House of Saud: King Fahd 1921-2005
"John Bolton is to Diplomacy as Jack the Ripper was
to Surgery"
Dozens Die in Khartoum Riots Following Death of Sudanese
VP Garang
Sudan's Vice President and former leader for the Sudanese
People's Liberation Movement, John Garang de Mabior, died
Saturday in a helicopter crash, sparking riots between southerners
and northerners in the capital. We speak with Reuters correspondent
for Sudan Opheera McDoom, who reports on the death toll and
ongoing clashes in Khartoum and whether the recent peace agreement
negotiated by Garang is doomed to unravel.
The President of Sudan has declared three days of national
mourning following the death of the newly sworn-in vice president.
John Garang de Mabior was killed in a helicopter crash along
with 13 others as he flew from Uganda back to Sudan. Garang
is a former leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement
(SPLM) which fought for 21 years against the Islamic government
in Khartoum. The SPLM sought more autonomy for the people
of southern Sudan, who are mostly Christian or animist. It
was Africa's longest and costliest civil war.
Last January, Garang signed a deal to end the war and just
three weeks ago he was sworn in as Sudan's first vice-president,
joining the government he spent so long fighting. Born in
Sudan, Garang earned a bachelor's degree at Grinnell College,
Iowan and a doctorate at Iowa State University.
Garang negotiated the peace agreement between the north and
south, and his death threatens the nascent peace process.
He united the fighters in the north and south and many of
the provisions in the agreement were his.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan spoke yesterday
about the UN's role in preserving the peace agreement.
- Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General:
"We have offered a very close collaboration with the
government and SPLM, and in fact we have been working with
them very since the crash. It is our plane that has taken
the body to the city and retrieving the other bodies. We
are on the ground very actively working with them. We have
made it clear we will give them the support necessary in
the political process and in the efforts to contain the
humanitarian situation and settle the process in that forum.
From my discussion with the president of Sudan, I gained
impression they are determined to proceed, and then there's
the same sentiment on the SPLM side, so there is good hope
that I have - I have good hope this will hold together.
We should all do whatever we can to insure that it doesn't
unravel."
Supporters of the SPLM are suspicious of the government's
claim that Garang's death was accidental. As news of his death
spread, riots broke out among Christian and Arabs in the country.
In Khartoum, there are reports that more than 30 people have
been killed and more than 100 people hospitalized with injuries
from some of the worst riots to shake the capital in recent
years . Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir imposed
a 12 hour curfew on the capital last night.
- Opheera McDoom, Reuters correspondent for Sudan reporting
from Cairo.
Death in the House of Saud: King Fahd 1921-2005
The death of Saudi Arabia's ruler King Fahd and the recent
appointment of Prince Turki as the new Saudi ambassador to
the United States highlight long-standing connections to the
bin Ladens and the Bush dynasty. We speak with As'ad AbuKhalil
of the Angry Arab News Service.
Saudi Arabia's longtime ruler, King Fahd, died in the hospital
yesterday at the age of 83 and was immediately succeeded by
his elderly half-brother, Crown Prince Abdullah. Saudi Arabia's
24 million people awoke to state television and radio carrying
a reading from the Koran, followed a short while later with
Iyad Madani, the information minister, announcing King Fahd's
death after 23 years as monarch. Fahd had close relations
with Washington and was reviled by many muslims internationally.
In 1990, Fahd allowed the Pentagon to station hundreds of
thousands of troops in Saudi Arabia ahead of the first Gulf
War and the kingdom served as the main operating base for
the United States in the region. The move sparked outrage
across the Muslim world because Saudi Arabia is home to the
holy sites of Mecca and Medina. Under Fahd, the Saudis allowed
the US to use its territory and airspace to launch consistent
attacks against neighboring Iraq. This is particularly relevant
given that Fahd declared that his most important title was
not king of Saudi Arabia, but "Custodian of the Two Holy
Mosques."
Fahd's policies as king were central to the formation of
Osama bin Laden's world view and are mentioned consistently
in bin Laden's speeches and interviews. King Abdullah's accession
to the throne maintains the grip on power held by the House
of Saud-- descendants of King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, the tribal
leader who founded the country in 1932. Abdullah is the fifth
of his sons to serve as king.
Fahd's death comes just days after the departure of the kingdom's
longtime Washington ambassador known popularly as "Bandar
Bush" for his closeness to the Bush dynasty. The new
Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Turki al-Faisal, said he
will adhere to Saudi Arabia's long-standing oil policy aimed
at ensuring global markets are well supplied. His comments
came after oil prices shot to a record above $62 a barrel
in part due to uncertainties about the future of the kingdom,
which has enjoyed rare closeness with the White House.
- Prince Turki, new Saudi ambassador to Washington:
"The crown prince who has become king, King Abdullah,
worked closely with the late King Fahd in implementing the
policies of Saudi Arabia both external and internal. So,
I cannot imagine that there will be any particular change
in that policy, but rather a continuation of the policies
undertaken by the late King Fahd."
Saudi Arabia's next ambassador to the US, Prince Turki, is
a leading member of the Royal Family and served as the head
of Saudi intelligence for nearly a quarter of a century. Most
recently, he was ambassador to London. His arrival in Washington
is likely to cause controversy. The prince was among several
leading Saudi figures who were named in a $1 trillion lawsuit
filed by the families of the victims of the September 11 attacks,
who claimed that he helped to fund Osama bin Laden's network.
And, on at least 5 occasions, Prince Turki met personally
with bin Laden and his lieutenants. He described bin Laden
as "very soft- spoken" and "quite a pleasant
man."
The Times of London reported in 2002 that before the 9/11attacks,
diplomatic sources said that the Saudi Government had come
under intense pressure from Washington to replace Prince Turki
as head of Saudi intelligence because of his past association
and support for bin Laden. Well to go through all of this--the
death of King Fahd, the arrival of Prince Turki in Washington,
the future of the world's greatest oil producing nation.
- As'ad AbuKhalil, Professor of political science at California
State University, Stanislaus and visiting professor at UC,
Berkeley. He is the author of several books, his latest
is "The Battle for Saudi Arabia: Royalty, Fundamentalism,
and Global Power." His blog is The Angry Arab News
Service
"John Bolton is to Diplomacy as Jack the Ripper
was to Surgery"
After a five month deadlock, President Bush used his Presidential
powers to appoint John Bolton as the new U.S. ambassador to
the United Nations during the first business day of the Congressional
recess. Opponents charged Bolton with trying to manipulate
intelligence and intimidate intelligence analysts to support
his hawkish views as the top State Department diplomat for
arms control. We speak with Ian Williams, U.N. correspondent
for the Nation Magazine, about the future of the United Nations
with Bolton at the helm of the U.S. mission. [includes rush
transcript - partial]
After a five month deadlock, President Bush has appointed
John Bolton as the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Bush invoked his Presidential powers to appoint Bolton during
a Congressional recess, effectively bypassing Democrats and
Republicans who had blocked a vote in the Senate. A United
States president has never before filled the UN post using
a recess appointment.
- President George W. Bush, speaking yesterday in the White
House Roosevelt Room, on the first working day of the five-week
congressional recess that began last Friday.
- John Bolton, speaking yesterday.
Soon after the announcement, Bolton was sworn into office
and went immediately to New York. He was reportedly booed
on the sidewalk outside the United States mission to the U.N..
Bolton has been one of the fiercest critics of the United
Nations within the Bush administration. He has drawn major
fire for allegedly bullying subordinates. Last March, 59 former
diplomats and other officials called for the Senate to reject
Bolton's nomination in an open letter to Richard Lugar, chair
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Opponents charged
Bolton with trying to manipulate intelligence and intimidate
intelligence analysts to support his hawkish views as the
top State Department diplomat for arms control.
More recently, Democrats vowed to block a vote on the nomination
until they received classified documents related to Bolton's
State department service. When the White House refused the
requests, the Democrats refused to end debate in the Senate.
Republicans twice failed to secure the 60 votes required to
cut them off.
- John Bolton, speaking at an event called "The Global
Structures Convocation" on February 3, 1994, in New
York. The tape was released in March by Citizens for Global
Solutions. He said, "The United States makes the U.N.
work when it wants it to work, and that is exactly the way
it should be, because the only question, the only question
for the United States is what is in our national interest.
And if you don't like that, I'm sorry, but that is the fact."
- Ian Williams, U.N. correspondent for The Nation and author
of "Deserter: George Bush, Soldier of Fortune."
His new book is, "Rum: A Social and Sociable History
of the Real Spirit of 1776."
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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