Cameron's multi-million gamble to win Pakistani minds

Prime minister reveals willingness to work with spy agencies but urges Pakistan to 'make its wealthy pay more tax'

David Cameron has taken a calculated and expensive diplomatic gamble by agreeing to put his faith in the Pakistani security services to help Britain leave Afghanistan, in the hope of preventing the export of terrorism to Britain.

Nearly half of the terrorist plots against Britain come from Pakistan's lawless north-west frontiers.

On a visit to Islamabad, Cameron promised £650m in aid to fund 4 million school places, 90,000 teachers, and refurbishment of 8,000 schools, arguing that education is the best antidote to terror. Pakistan is now the largest beneficiary of UK aid.

Cameron said he could justify the move domestically only if the Pakistani elite paid more taxes. He said bluntly, in a speech, that Pakistan suffered from "weaknesses in terms of government capacity and waste".

But he revealed a new willingness to work with Pakistani intelligence agencies to secure a political settlement in Afghanistan before Britain leaves in 2015.

A year ago, Cameron put UK-Pakistan relations in deep-freeze by criticising the Pakistanis for facing both ways in the fight against terror.

On Tuesday he talked of a fresh start and a new era of co-operation.

British officials say they are now convinced that the growing internal Islamist terrorist threat inside the country has caused the intelligence service, the ISI, to take a tougher role in combating the Taliban and al-Qaida inside Pakistan. British officials said the Pakistani prime minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, and the president, Asif Ali Zardari, recognised they were involved in "an existential battle" with terrorists.

During his one-day visit, Cameron offered the president unprecedented intelligence co-operation and agreed to set up a joint "centre of excellence" in Pakistan to exchange knowledge on improvised explosive devices.

He also sought to reassure his hosts that he does not see India as Britain's preferred partner in the region. He set a goal of Anglo-Pakistani trade rising from £1.9 bn to £2.5bn by 2015.

In a sign of the importance of the trip to UK national security, Cameron was accompanied by Sir Peter Ricketts, the national security adviser, Sir David Richards, the chief of the defence staff, and Sir John Sawers, head of MI6. The three were in Islamabad only a month ago to prepare the ground for what is being billed as an "enhanced security dialogue". The aim was to build a less transactional relationship, officials said, and to work on the basis of broader, long-term trust.

At a joint press conference, Gilani said: "I want to assure you that Pakistan has the resolve and the commitment to fight against extremism and terrorism. We've paid a heavy price for that."

He pointed out that 30,000 civilians had been killed and a similar number disabled.

He said: "The political leadership has been targeted. The bombs have gone off in girls' schools, hospitals, the malls, the police stations and even in the intelligence service headquarters."

Cameron praised his hosts: "What you see in Pakistan is a huge fight by the government taking place against terrorism."

He defended the size of the projected aid package, saying he would "struggle to find an example of a country" whose progress and success were more in Britain's national interest than were those of Pakistan.

But, unusually, he challenged Pakistan by pointing out that it currently spends only 1.5% of national income on education, and has one of the lowest tax revenues, relative to GDP, of any country in the world.

"You are not raising the resources necessary to pay for things that a modern state and people require," he said. "Too few people pay tax. Too many of your richest people are getting away without paying much tax at all. And that's not fair." British officials indicated that they had asked the Pakistan military as diplomatically as possible when it planned to enter North Waziristan, the tribal heartland and sanctuary from which many terrorist groups operate.

British intelligence and the CIA consider the region to be the place where suicide bombings and cross-border attacks originate.

Cameron made a partial reference in his speech, saying: "Neither the Pakistan army nor Nato forces must ever tolerate sanctuaries for people plotting violence."

The Pakistani army has suffered big losses as a result of clearing out other federally administered tribal areas, and seems to be holding back from tackling North Waziristan, partly due to a peace deal having been struck.

Pakistani troops moved into South Waziristan in 2009. Pakistan says it lacks military capacity to lead an assault on a mountainous area that could lead to a mass exodus of refugees.

In the absence of troops on the ground, Britain supports what it sees as the highly effective use of US unmanned drones to bomb terrorist targets in the area, a practice that Pakistani politicians regularly denounce as being counter-productive and in breach of their sovereignty, and leading to the slaughter of innocent tribal elders. Only last week, Pakistan pulled out of tripartite talks on Afghanistan in anger at the US attacks.

Since 2007, about 164 drone strikes have been carried out, killing almost 1,000 militants.

• This article was amended on 6 April 2011. The original reported the promised education-aid total as £950m. This figure was provisionally reduced after the Guardian was contacted by the Department for International Development. Further clarification is being sought. The original article also said that the aid package included funding for 8,000 teachers. This has been corrected.

source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/apr/05/david-cameron-pakistan

Egypt votes in referendum

CAIRO : Partial results from a third of Egypt's provinces on Sunday showed massive turnout and a vote overwhelmingly in favour of constitutional changes that eliminate restrictions on political rights and civil liberties.

The count from most of the country, including Cairo, was still to be released.

But results from 10 of 29 provinces showed 65 to 86 per cent of voters saying “yes” to the changes, which would allow national elections no later than September. Opponents feared the referendum's passage would allow the highly organised Muslim Brotherhood to dominate Egypt's dozens of new political parties in the presidential and parliamentary vote.

Millions of Egyptians voted freely on Saturday for the first time in more than half a century, joyfully waiting for hours to cast their ballots on the package of constitutional changes.

Among other changes, the constitutional amendments would open elections to independent candidates, allowing parliamentary and presidential elections to replace the caretaker military government by early 2012.

source:http://www.hindu.com/2011/03/21/stories/2011032163411600.htm

Libya rebels defend oil port; look to West for help

Libya is the fourth biggest oil exporter in Africa after Nigeria, Algeria and Angola, producing around 1.8 million barrels a day, with reserves of 42 billion barrels

A Libyan jet streaked low over one of the country’s main oil terminals and rebel anti-aircraft guns unleashed a deafening salvo, but petrochemical engineer Ali al-Medan barely flinched.

“I had to come to work. What to do?” he said after the barrage fired by opposition fighters stationed outside the gates of the Harouge Oil Company in Ras Lanuf, the front line town in their battle against Moamer Kadhafi.

The 50-year-old had stopped on the way home from a day’s work to offer food and water to a motley group of a dozen insurgents manning anti-aircraft cannons mounted on the back of Toyota trucks.

Some wore camouflage while a couple sported oil company overalls.

Medan said production was continuing at the giant installation on the Mediterranean coast, even though exports through Ras Lanuf have largely dried up because of the fierce fighting raging a few kilometres (miles) away.

“Some people are still working as normal but there are no ships coming in. Normally they ship it from here to Italy and the rest of the world. It is the number one (terminal) in Libya.”

But the petrochemical plant neighbouring the oil terminal, where he works, provides power and water to the town “so we have to work. My wife and family are in Ras Lanuf, I fear for them.”

The Mediterranean coastal town has done well from Libya’s oil boom since Kadhafi nationalised the former Mobil terminal as part of his “people’s revolution.”

Libya is the fourth biggest oil exporter in Africa after Nigeria, Algeria and Angola, producing around 1.8 million barrels a day, with reserves of 42 billion barrels.

Ras Lanuf plays a major part as its oil refinery produces 220,000 barrels a day.

Ras Lanuf town’s smart blocks of flats look more like those in a European resort, and it boasts a modern hospital -- where ambulances bring a stream of insurgents who have been wounded in a push by Kadhafi’s forces.

Heavy casualties show that the strategic importance of the giant oil tanks on the desert coast is clear to the opposition and Kadhafi’s forces alike.

The rebels scan the arid horizon and twice in 10 minutes fired at government warplanes, shouting “Victory or death” and “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).

“It is important for them and we have to hold it. He keeps sending planes and helicopters and we shoot at them,” said Zachariah, the commander of the rebel battery at the terminal.

“Yesterday near here they shot down a Sukhoi,” added Zachariah, who in civilian life is a driver from the Libya’s second city Benghazi, the rebel headquarters some 300 kilometres away.

The rebels dream of a time when they control the country’s oil themselves, should they topple Kadhafi after 41 years in power -- although Zachariah’s plans appeared as vague as the parallel rebel government’s.

“In several of his speeches Kadhafi said that the oil is for him and his children. After they get rid of the Kadhafis then they will see how it is going to go afterwards,” he said.

The fighters flashed victory signs and cheered at the dozens of cars and pick-up trucks racing along the desert road in a desperate bid to repel Kadhafi’s forces as they threatened to wipe out the opposition gains.

Abdul Aziz al-Ghazaly, a portly, middle-aged rebel wearing a military jacket and sunglasses, said he did not mind missing the action at the front because he had found his calling.

“It is our role to guard this and other important places while other young people are going to Tripoli,” he said.

But Medan, the engineer, said the West, with its thirst for oil from countries like Libya, owes it to the rebels to set up a no-fly zone to stop Kadhafi’s jets trying to rain death from the skies.

“The reaction is terrible from the west. They talk about a military option but all we want is a no-fly zone, the rest we can do ourselves,” he said.

source:http://www.livemint.com/2011/03/07085102/Libya-rebels-defend-oil-port.html

GMR 2011: Armed conflict stalls EFA progress

Armed conflict is destroying the hopes and aspirations of generations of children, youth and adults on a previously undocumented scale, reveals the 2011 edition of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR).

‘The hidden crisis: Armed conflict and education’ report reveals that armed conflict is a major obstacle to achieving global EFA goals and the impact of armed conflicts on education represents a ‘hidden crisis’ that reinforces poverty, limits economic growth, and destabilises the development of countries.

While acknowledging progress made so far – 52 million additional children of primary school age have enrolled into school between 1999 and 2008 – the GMR also notes that 67 million children remain out of school, while 796 million adults – two-thirds of them women – continue to be denied access to basic literacy skills.

In addition to these startling figures, EI is also concerned about the teacher gap of 1.9 million professionals who are needed to achieve universal primary education by 2015, and the potentially negative impact of the emerging trend for governments in many countries to hire unqualified or under-qualified teachers

The GMR reveals 42 per cent of out-of-school children live in conflict-affected countries. The scope and breadth of systematically violent attacks on schools, students and teachers, including sexual violence against girls and women, the recruitment of child-soldiers, continues unabated in far too many parts of the globe. The consequence is an increased fear among children about attending school, reluctance among parents to send their children to school, and a perennial fear among teachers about the repercussions of delivering their lessons.

The GMR also paints a stark picture of the state of education in refugee camps. Education remains the most neglected area of an under-financed and unresponsive humanitarian aid system, while many countries refuse refugees access to public education or other basic services.

Conversely, military expenditure is diverting aid resources from many donor countries. The GMR observes that 21 developing countries currently spend more on arms than on primary schools. If they cut military spending by 10 per cent, they would be able to provide 9.5 million more children with school places. The GMR also reveals that it would take just six days of rich countries’ total military expenditure to close the US$16 billion EFA external financing gap per year.

The targeting of civilians by statutory and non-statutory parties involved in armed conflict, the mis-use of school facilities to instill intolerance and prejudice, or to spread endemic violence are clearly violations of international law and the ethos of education.

EI insists that all schools, learners, teachers and support staff should be protected from violent conflict and attack, and supports the GMR recommendation that attacks on children and teachers should be documented, with perpetrators of heinous crimes prosecuted.

EI also agrees that education has the potential to act as a powerful force for resolution and argues that schools should promote peace-building, national healing and tolerance.

Commenting on the 2011 GMR, EI General Secretary, Fred van Leeuwen, said: “Schools must be safe sanctuaries or safe havens that guarantee the peace and security of all children, girls and boys, teachers and support staff and communities.

“EI is urging every member organization to lobby their national government, the UN and the international community to ensure that schools, learners and teachers are protected from violent conflict and attack.”

EI has joined UNESCO, UNICEF, Save the Children and other partners in the Global Coalition for Protecting Education from Attacks, to raise awareness of threats to education, to cultivate public support for safe education, and to strengthen existing monitoring and reporting systems.

source:http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=1540&theme=educationforall&country=global