International MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021 Bangladesh police fire rubber bullets, tear gas In pandemic e-work, Greece sees a chance to reverse brain drain Page 6 at new protests Page 7

SANAA: Fighters loyal to ’s Houthi rebels surround the coffins of fellow combatants killed in battles with government troops during a mass funeral ceremony at the capital Sanaa’s Al-Saleh mosque yesterday. —AFP Yemen rebels claim Saudi strikes Saudi-led coalition pounds rebel positions in north of Yemen

SANAA, Yemen: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels “Our operations will continue and will expand as on the kingdom even after the United States delisted explosion was caused by twin air strikes by the yesterday claimed the attempted strikes that targeted long as the aggression and siege on our country con- the rebels as terrorists, reversing a decision by the Saudi-led coalition. Alongside the cross-border neighboring overnight and threatened tinues.” Fragments of the missile scattered over sever- administration of former president Donald Trump. attacks, the Houthis are pressing ahead with a offen- more attacks, as fighting in the grinding civil war al Riyadh neighborhoods, damaging at least one The designation had been widely criticized by aid sive to seize the government-held Marib region, escalates. Houthi fighters have intensified operations home but no casualties were reported, Saudi’s state- organizations, who warned it would hamper their where some of the country’s richest oil fields are against the kingdom as air strikes by the Saudi-led run Al-Ekhbariya television said. efforts to alleviate a humanitarian crisis in Yemen. US found. military coalition pound rebel positions in the north AFP correspondents in the Saudi capital reported President Joe Biden halted support to Saudi offensive Hundreds of fighters from both sides have been of Yemen, in a bid to stop their offensive to seize the hearing multiple loud explosions, with state television operations in Yemen’s war, which he called a “cata- killed in recent ferocious fighting, government source government’s last northern stronghold of Marib. footage showing the night sky light up with a bright strophe” that “has to end”. say. The Houthis now control most of the country’s Years of war have already pushed Yemen to the flash. Separately, the coalition said it had intercepted But he has also reiterated US support for Saudi north and the government has been struggling to brink of famine. Saudi Arabia-which has been backing six Houthi drones targeting the kingdom, including Arabia in defending its territory. Yesterday, in the lat- defend Marib province and the city, which lies some the Yemeni government against the rebels since 2015 the southern cities of Khamis Mushait and Jizan. est violence in Yemen, five civilians including a child 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of the rebel-held capi- — said Saturday it thwarted a Houthi missile that tar- Saree on Sunday claimed those attacks as well, warn- were killed when their home was destroyed in a bom- tal Sanaa. Yemen’s conflict has claimed tens of thou- geted Riyadh. “The operation was carried out with a ing residents in the region to “stay clear from all mili- bardment near the strategic rebel-held Red Sea port sands of lives and displaced millions, according to ballistic missile and 15 drones... targeting sensitive tary airports and sites.” of Hodeida. international organizations, sparking what the UN areas in the enemy’s capital of Riyadh,” said Houthi The warring sides traded blame over who was calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The UN spokesman Yahya Al-Saree, according to the rebels’ ‘Catastrophe’ responsible, with the government accusing Houthis of hopes to raise $3.85 billion to support millions of Al-Masirah TV channel. The Houthis have escalated cross-border attacks firing a mortar bomb, and the rebels saying the civilians and prevent famine in the country. —AFP

national unity”. The political standoff comes as Tunisians protest has been hit hard by the coronavirus pan- demic and its social and economic repercussions. This “weakening governance” led international rat- amid standoff ings agency Moody’s this week to downgrade Bribes for votes at Tunisia’s sovereign debt rating, complicating the TUNIS: Tunisia’s main parliamentary bloc country’s borrowing power while it has not final- Ennahdha rallied thousands of people Saturday in a UN-led ized its 2021 budget. demonstration of support for the government amid The International Monetary Fund too warned in a tug-of-war with President . The a report published Friday that the “COVID-19 crisis talks: Expert panel Islamist-inspired Ennahdha and liberal Qalb Tounes is exacerbating Tunisia’s socio-economic fragilities” parties pushed for a reshuffling of the government TUNIS: At least three participants in UN-led Libya and “led to an unprecedented economic downturn”. by Prime minister Hichem Mechichi in mid-January, TUNIS: Supporters of the Islamist Ennahdha party wave peace talks were bribed for votes, experts from the The IMF called for urgent reforms to reduce the fis- introducing 11 new ministers. Saied has strongly national and party flags during a demonstration in sup- world body found in a report for the Security Council cal deficit, which it said was estimated to have criticized the reshuffle-which was confirmed by port of the Tunisian government on Saturday in the capital seen by AFP yesterday. Interim prime minister Abdul reached 11.5 percent of GDP in 2020. It also made a parliament-saying he had not been consulted and Tunis. —AFP Hamid Dbeibah was selected early this month during series of recommendations, including for limits on charged that some ministers were suspected of Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) talks launched energy subsidies and lowering the wage bill. corruption and conflicts of interest. in Tunisia in November, the United Nations’ latest bid He also refused to confirm the new ministers, president hostile to any compromise, he added. to salvage the country from a decade of conflict and ‘Strengthened by visible support’ fragmentation. In a report set to be presented to the including interior, justice and health, leaving the Saied called the protest “a waste of money”. Ennahdha head addressed Security Council in March, UN experts found that dur- government paralyzed, in a country already reeling “We are not reacting according to their calcula- the protesters Saturday, calling for dialogue and ing the Tunisia talks, two participants “offered bribes from economic hardship and the coronavirus pan- tions and arrangements, but according to our prin- unity among political forces. His party dominated of between $150,000 to $200,000 to at least three demic. Saturday’s protest in the capital Tunis was ciples and commitments to the people,” Saied said the political scene after the 2011 uprising that top- LPDF participants if they committed to vote for called for by Ennahdha, and several protesters said on Saturday. Saied, an independent academic and pled long-time leader but Dbeibah as PM.” they rallied in support of the moderate Islamist constitutional law expert, has castigated the proce- has seen its base erode, now only controlling a The report, which is yet to be made public, was party as well as for unity and democracy. “We have dure for naming the new ministers, saying it was quarter of the parliament. But the protest showed prepared by UN experts tasked with examining a parliamentary system and it is not up to the pres- unconstitutional. Tunisia’s constitution does not that Ennahdha “could still mobilize in large num- breaches of an international arms embargo to the ident to decide who will govern,” said protester require parliamentary approval for regular reshuf- bers” and this “allows (Ennahdha) to come to the North African nation. In a passage of their report seen Mohamed Khlif, who travelled from the coastal city fles. But in the absence of a constitutional court in negotiating table strengthened by this visible sup- by AFP, the experts reported that one delegate “erupt- of Sfax to take part in the rally. “Democracy and Tunisia, the political crisis has dragged on for six ed in anger in lobby of the Four Seasons hotel in Tunis port”, said analyst Youssef Cherif. The mobilization, the constitution must be respected,” he added. weeks with no solution in sight to ease tensions on hearing that some participants may have received however, risks complicating talks as Ennahdha Around him protesters, who came to the capital between the president, parliament and the govern- up to ... $500,000 for their Dbeibah votes, whereas he leaders have “gained confidence” in the face of a from across the country, chanted “the people want ment. —AFP had only received $200,000.” One participant in the talks, who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed to AFP that he had witnessed the scene, voicing anger at managed to escape and seek a safe haven,” Mansour, Ahmed Sobhy Mansour, who has also resettled in the “unacceptable corruption at a time when Libya is For Egyptian 41, told AFP in a park near his home in the Washington area, was a scholar at Al-Azhar in Cairo, going through a major crisis”. Washington area. the premier university of Sunni Islam, where he was a The Tunisia talks aimed at creating a transitional Mansour, who has a relaxed demeanor and sees leading voice of Quranism, which deviates from much administration to lead the country towards elections activists abroad, his future for now in the United States, says his mainstream thought by deriving religious authority set for December. In February, the 75 participants cousin is now allowed monthly visitations but has only from the holy book-not hadiths. hand-picked by the UN to represent a wide spectrum a growing fear health problems and is regularly interrogated about Successive Egyptian governments’ targeting of of Libyan constituencies themselves selected an inter- his family’s activities. A foreign ministry spokesper- the family “shows that they fear the future that we im administration led by billionaire Dbeibah and a WASHINGTON: When Sherif Mansour was first son in Cairo was not available for comment when represent-a future that allows inclusion of every- three-member presidential council. Dbeibah must now win a vote of confidence in his summoned by Egyptian security at age 17, he recalls contacted. Mansour said at least four other Egyptian one, allows freedom and equality for everyone and, families overseas have faced similar predicaments from within the traditions of Islam, provides the government from the Libyan parliament by March 19. how his father, who had plenty of firsthand experi- He said Thursday he had submitted a “vision” for a since last year. In one case raised by the State basis for this for the general public,” the younger ence, gave him directions on how to go to the inter- cabinet line-up but that the names of proposed minis- rogation. Mansour has now lived in the United States Department, US citizen Mohamed Soltan, who has Mansour said. ters would be disclosed in parliament during the confi- for 15 years. But he remains an activist-and is again filed a lawsuit alleging torture in Egyptian custody, President Joe Biden has vowed a forceful line on dence vote. The latest claims came after several Libyan feeling the heat from Egyptian security, this time said that plain-clothes officers raided the homes of human rights with Arab allies, a shift from his organizations in November demanded an investigation through the targeting of family members. six family members. Soltan is the son of a prominent predecessor Donald Trump who famously was into allegations of corruption over the selection of Mansour’s cousin, Reda Abdelrahman, was member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the now-banned quoted as calling Sisi “my favorite dictator” and future officials. The UN’s interim Libya envoy at the detained in August and is due in court on March 2 on movement of elected president Mohamed Morsi who saw shared interests in targeting the Muslim time, Stephanie Williams told delegates and journalists vague charges of supporting a terrorist group-part was deposed by then general Sisi in 2013. Brotherhood and the Islamic State group as well as that she had launched an investigation into allegations of what human rights campaigners say is a growing working with Israel. In a first telephone call with of bribery. In a letter seen by AFP and dated February extraterritorial effort by President Abdel Fattah Al- ‘They fear the future’ Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, US 20, LPDF participants Sayida Kamel Yaacoubi and Sisi to muzzle critics. “After managing to silence Mansour sees common cause with Soltan even Secretary of State Antony Blinken “raised con- Azza Mahmoud Assid called on Williams’ permanent everyone else inside the country, controlling media though he comes from a different background, cerns over human rights, which he emphasized successor Jan Kubis to make public the expert report, organizations’ editorial lines and forcing many people describing himself as non-religious and a supporter would be central to the US- bilateral rela- saying the allegations were an affront to their “dignity, into exile, they are trying to pressure those of us who of separating religion and state. Mansour’s father, tionship,” the State Department said. —AFP honour and transparency”. —AFP