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Showing posts with label Fokus (Krisis di Mesir). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fokus (Krisis di Mesir). Show all posts
Hundreds reported killed as Egypt smashes protests - AP
CAIRO: In Egypt's bloodiest day since the Arab Spring began, riot police Wednesday smashed two protest camps of supporters of the deposed Islamist president, touching off street violence that officials said killed nearly 300 people and forced the military-backed interim leaders to impose a state of emergency and curfew.
The crackdown drew widespread condemnation from the Muslim world and the West, including the U.S., and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei resigned as the interim vice president in protest - a blow to the new leadership's credibility with the pro-reform movement.
"Today was a difficult day," interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said in a televised address to the nation. While he regretted the bloodshed, he offered no apologies for moving against the supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, saying they were given ample warnings to leave and he had tried foreign mediation efforts.
The leaders of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood called it a "massacre." Several of them were detained as police swept through the two sit-in sites, scores of other Islamists were taken into custody, and the future of the once-banned movement was uncertain.
Backed by helicopters, police fired tear gas and used armored bulldozers to plow into the barricades at the two protest camps in different sections of Cairo where the Morsi supporters had been camped since before he was ousted by the military July 3.
Army troops did not take part in the two operations, which began shortly after 7 a.m. (0500 GMT - 1 a.m. EDT), although they provided security at the locations.
The smaller camp - near Cairo University in Giza - was cleared of protesters relatively quickly, most taking refuge in the nearby Orman botanical gardens, on the campus of Cairo University and the zoo.
But it took about 12 hours for police to take control of the main sit-in site near the Rabaah al-Adawiya Mosque in Nasr City that has served as the epicenter of the pro-Morsi campaign and had drawn chanting throngs of men, women and children only days earlier.
After the police moved on the camps, street battles broke out in Cairo and other cities across Egypt. Government buildings and police stations were attacked, roads were blocked, and Christian churches were torched, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said.
At one point, protesters trapped a police Humvee on an overpass near the Nasr City camp and pushed it off, according to images posted on social networking sites that showed an injured policeman on the ground below, near a pool of blood and the overturned vehicle.
The Health Ministry said 235 civilians were killed and more than 2,000 injured, while Ibrahim said 43 policemen died in the violence. The death toll was expected to rise.
Three journalists were among the dead: Mick Deane, 61, a cameraman for British broadcaster Sky News; Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz, 26, a reporter for the Gulf News, a state-backed newspaper in the United Arab Emirates; and Ahmed Abdel Gawad, who wrote for Egypt's state-run newspaper Al Akhbar. Deane and Elaziz were shot to death, their employers said, while the Egyptian Press Syndicate, a journalists' union, said it had no information on how Gawad was killed.
For much of the afternoon, thousands of Morsi supporters chanting "God is great!" tried to join those besieged by the security forces inside the Nasr City camp. They were driven away when police fired tear gas.
Smoke clogged the sky above Cairo and fires smoldered on the streets, which were lined with charred poles and tarps after several tents were burned.
The Great Pyramids just west of Cairo were closed to visitors for the day together with the Egyptian museum in the heart of the city. The Central Bank instructed commercial banks to close branches in areas affected by the chaos.
"Egypt has never witnessed such genocide," Brotherhood spokesman Ahmed Aref told The Associated Press from the larger of the two protest camps before it was cleared.
The pro-Morsi Anti-Coup alliance alleged security forces used live ammunition, but the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police, said its forces only used tear gas and that they came under fire from the camp.
Police dismantled the main stage near the mosque in the eastern Cairo district of Nasr City, the official MENA news agency said. An AP reporter saw hundreds of protesters leaving the sit-in site carrying their personal belongings.
"I already wrote my will and gave my wife the number of my bank account and told her who owes us money and who we owe money to," said 28-year-old chemist Ahmed Shaker during a brief break in fighting with security forces at the Nasr City camp.
"If I have to die, I will die," said the father of one child carrying several bottles of beer he said he intended to use as firebombs.
Security officials said train services between northern and southern Egypt were suspended to prevent Morsi supporters from traveling to Cairo. Clashes erupted on two roads in the capital's upscale Mohandiseen district when Morsi supporters opened fire on passing cars and pedestrians. Police used tear gas to chase them away.
The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.
The government declared a monthlong nationwide state of emergency and imposed a nighttime curfew on Cairo, Alexandria on the Mediterranean and 12 other provinces where violence broke out following the simultaneous raids.
It also ordered the armed forces to support the police in restoring law and order and protect state facilities. Egypt was under emergency law for most of Mubarak's 29 years in power.
Despite the curfew, sporadic clashes continued in Cairo through the evening.
In the city of Assiut, south of Cairo, a police station was hit by two mortar shells Wednesday night fired by suspected Morsi supporters, according to officers there who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Anger over Morsi's ouster already has led to an increase in Islamic militant violence in the northern half of the Sinai Peninsula that borders Israel and Gaza, and many fear growing anger over the crackdown and deaths of civilians could be exploited by extremists.
The turmoil was the latest chapter in a bitter standoff between Morsi's supporters and the interim leadership that took over the Arab world's most populous country. The military ousted Morsi after millions of Egyptians massed in the streets at the end of June to call for him to step down, accusing him of giving the Brotherhood undue influence and failing to implement vital reforms or bolster the ailing economy.
Several senior leaders of the Brotherhood who were wanted by police were detained after the camps were stormed, according to security officials and state television. Among those seized were Brotherhood leaders Mohammed el-Beltagy and Essam el-Erian, and hard-line cleric Safwat Hegazy - all wanted by prosecutors to answer allegations of inciting violence and conspiring to kill anti-Morsi protesters.
Morsi himself has been held at an undisclosed location. Other Brotherhood leaders have been charged with inciting violence or conspiring in the killing of protesters.
A security official said 200 protesters were arrested at both camps. Several men could be seen walking with their hands up as they were led away by black-clad police.
Islam Tawfiq, a Brotherhood member at the Nasr City sit-in, said the camp's medical center was filled with dead and that the injured included children.
"No one can leave and those who do are either arrested or beaten up," he told AP.
The Muslim Brotherhood's political arm claimed that more than 500 protesters were killed and some 9,000 wounded in the two camps, but those figures could not be confirmed and nothing in the video from AP or local TV networks suggested such a high death toll.
The Brotherhood has spent most of the 85 years since its creation as an outlawed group or enduring crackdowns by successive governments. The latest developments could provide authorities with the grounds to once again declare it an illegal group and consign it to the political wilderness.
In his televised address, el-Beblawi said the government could not indefinitely tolerate a challenge to authority that the 6-week-old protests represented.
"We want to see a civilian state in Egypt, not a military state and not a religious state," he said.
But the resignation of ElBaradei, the former head of the U.N. nuclear agency and a figure widely respected by Western governments, was the first crack to emerge in the government as a result of the violence.
ElBaradei had made it clear in recent weeks that he was against the use of force to end the protests. At least 250 people have died in previous clashes since the coup that ousted Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president.
On Wednesday, his letter of resignation to interim President Adly Mansour carried an ominous message to a nation already torn by more than two years of turmoil.
"It has become difficult for me to continue to take responsibility for decisions I disapprove of, and I fear their consequences," he said in the letter that was emailed to the AP. "I cannot take responsibility before God, my conscience and country for a single drop of blood, especially because I know it was possible to spare it.
"I regret that those who benefited today are the proponents of violence, terror and the more extreme groups, and you will remember my words to you," ElBaradei added.
The National Salvation front, the main opposition grouping that he headed during Morsi's year in office, said it regretted his departure and complained that it was not consulted beforehand.
Tamarod, the youth group behind the mass anti-Morsi protests that preceded the coup, said ElBaradei was dodging his responsibility at a time when his services were needed.
Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, the powerful head of Al-Azhar mosque, Sunni Islam's main seat of learning, also sought to distance himself from the violence. He said in a statement he had no prior knowledge of the action.
The violence drew condemnation from other predominantly Muslim countries, but also from the West, with Secretary of State John Kerry saying it had dealt a "serious blow" to Egypt's political reconciliation efforts.
Kerry gave a stern warning to Egypt's leaders.
"This is a pivotal moment for all Egyptians," said Kerry, who spoke by phone with the foreign minister. "The path toward violence leads only to greater instability, economic disaster and suffering."
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office called it "a serious blow to the hopes of a return to democracy," while Iran warned that the violence "strengthens the possibility of civil war." Erdogan, an Islamist, was one of Morsi's main foreign backers.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who also condemned the violence, called for "a genuine transition to a genuine democracy. That means compromise from all sides - the President Morsi supporters but also the military."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged all Egyptians to focus on reconciliation, while European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said dialogue should be encouraged through "peaceful protest, protecting all citizens and enabling full political participation." -- AP
EGYPT UPDATE: Egypt seethes under curfew after hundreds killed - REUTERS
CAIRO: Security forces struggled to clamp a lid on Egypt on Thursday after hundreds of people were killed when authorities forcibly broke up camps of supporters protesting the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, in the worst nationwide bloodshed in decades.
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Islamists clashed with police and troops who used bulldozers, teargas and live fire on Wednesday to clear out two Cairo sit-ins that had become a hub of Muslim Brotherhood resistance to the military after it deposed Mursi on July 3.
The clashes spread quickly, and a health ministry official said about 300 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured in fighting in Cairo, Alexandria and numerous towns and cities around the mostly Muslim nation of 84 million.
The crackdown defied Western appeals for restraint and a peaceful, negotiated settlement to Egypt’s political stand-off, prompting international statements of dismay and condemnation.
The Muslim Brotherhood said the true death toll was far higher, with a spokesman saying 2,000 people had been killed in a “massacre.” It was impossible to verify the figures independently given the extent of the violence.
The military-installed government declared a month-long state of emergency and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Cairo and 10 other provinces, restoring to the army powers of arrest and indefinite detention it held for decades until the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in a 2011 popular uprising.
The army insists it does not seek power and acted in response to mass demonstrations calling for Mursi’s removal.
Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who lent liberal political support to the ousting of Egypt’s first freely elected president, resigned in dismay at the use force instead of a negotiated end to the six-week stand-off.
“It has become difficult for me to continue bearing responsibility for decisions that I do not agree with and whose consequences I fear. I cannot bear the responsibility for one drop of blood,” ElBaradei said.
Other liberals and technocrats in the interim government did not follow suit. Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi spoke in a televised address of a “difficult day for Egypt” but said the government had no choice but to order the crackdown to prevent anarchy spreading.
“We found that matters had reached a point that no self-respecting state could accept,” he said.
Islamists staged revenge attacks on Christian targets in several areas, torching churches, homes and business after Coptic Pope Tawadros gave his blessing to the military takeover that ousted Mursi, security sources and state media said.
Churches were attacked in the Nile Valley towns of Minya, Sohag and Assiut, where Christians escaped across the roof into a neighboring building after a mob surrounded and hurled bricks at their place of worship, state news agency MENA said.
The United States, the European Union, the United Nations and fellow Muslim power Turkey condemned the violence and called for the lifting of the state of emergency and an inclusive political solution to Egypt’s crisis.
An EU envoy involved in mediation efforts that collapsed last week said the authorities had spurned a plan for staged confidence-building measures that could have led to a political solution.
The Brotherhood publicly rejected any plan that did not involve Mursi’s restoration to office. An Egyptian military source said the army did not believe the Islamists would eventually agree to a deal and felt they were only stringing the diplomats along to gain time.
In Cairo, police and soldiers aided by self-styled “popular committees” of civilian vigilantes armed with clubs and machetes enforced the curfew, searching cars and checking identity cards of people passing through makeshift checkpoints made of tires and concrete blocks.
Despite the lockdown, hundreds of Mursi supporters tried to gather at El Iman mosque in the Cairo neighbourhood of Nasr City in an attempt to start a new sit-in to replace the main camp dispersed at nearby Rabaa al-Adawiya square, MENA reported.
They chanted “down, down, military rule” and “police are thugs,” a Reuters witness said.
The protesters converted part of the mosque into a field hospital to tend to the wounded from the other sit-in, it said.
“They killed us, those coup makers and their thugs. Help us people, help us!” shouted Magda Ali, a woman marcher who was forced to leave the Rabaa camp.
Egyptian state television broadcast aerial footage of the burning remains of sprawling tent cities, as well as images of handmade guns it said were found at the sites. It also showed some video of alleged armed protesters shooting at police.
Reuters witnesses saw no protesters armed with more than bricks, stones and sticks as black-clad central security police in riot gear poured out of vans firing teargas and snipers fired from rooftops.
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told a news conference 43 members of the police force were killed in the clashes.
He vowed to restore Mubarak-era security after announcing, in a statement last month that chilled human rights campaigners, the return of notorious political police departments that had been scrapped after the 2011 revolution.
Wednesday’s death toll took the number of people killed in political violence since Mursi’s fall to about 600, mostly Islamist supporters of the ousted president.
Violence rippled out from Cairo, with Mursi supporters and security forces clashing in the cities of Alexandria, Minya, Assiut, Fayoum and Suez and in Buhayra and Beni Suef provinces.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the bloodshed in Egypt “deplorable” - a word U.S. diplomats rarely use - and urged all sides to seek a political solution.
A U.S. official told Reuters that Washington was considering cancelling a major joint military exercise with Egypt, due this year, after the latest violence, in what would be a direct snub to the Egyptian armed forces.
The “Bright Star” exercise has been a cornerstone of U.S.-Egyptian military relations and began in 1981 after the Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel. The United States has already halted delivery of four F-16 fighter jets in a signal of its displeasure.
Islamist militants with no direct link to the Brotherhood have staged almost daily attacks on security forces in the lawless Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel since Mursi’s fall.
In the latest violence, gunmen shot dead two policemen outside their station in El Arish in northern Sinai on Wednesday evening, MENA reported. -- REUTERS
US: Egypt violence 'serious blow' to peace efforts - Source AP
WASHINGTON: In a stern warning to Egypt's leaders, Secretary of State John Kerry said the escalating violence throughout the country Wednesday had dealt a "serious blow" to political reconciliation efforts between the military-backed interim government and supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.
Still, Obama administration officials signaled no change in U.S. policy toward Egypt or clear consequences for the mounting violence. The U.S. has avoided declaring Morsi's ouster a coup, a move that would force the administration to suspend $1.3 billion in annual military aid to the strategically important nation, and officials said they continued to believe that step is not in America's national security interests. They said they were engaged in a continual review of policy toward Egypt but stressed that there were no changes to announce.
Kerry, during a surprise appearance at the State Department, condemned the violence that killed at least 149 people nationwide and the reinstatement of emergency rule. He called it "deplorable" and urged Egypt's interim leaders to take a step back and calm the situation.
"It's a serious blow to reconciliation and the Egyptian people's hopes for a transition towards democracy and inclusion," he told reporters.
Kerry added that he and other administration officials had for the past week been urging the military and interim government to respect freedom of speech and assembly. But neither he nor other officials could or would outline or even hint at any consequences the failure to heed those calls would bring.
Instead, Kerry and other officials repeated their appeals for a return to dialogue.
"This is a pivotal moment for all Egyptians," Kerry said. "The path toward violence leads only to greater instability, economic disaster and suffering."
Wednesday's assault came after days of warnings by the interim administration that replaced Morsi after he was ousted on July 3. The two sit-in camps at two major intersections on opposite sides of the Egyptian capital began in late June to show support for Morsi. Protesters - many from Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood - have demanded his reinstatement.
Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and pro-reform leader in the interim government, resigned in protest over the assaults as the military-backed leadership imposed a monthlong state of emergency and nighttime curfew.
Kerry spoke Wednesday with ElBaradei and Egypt's foreign minister, as well as other top officials in the Middle East. He insisted that a political solution remains a viable option in Egypt, though he conceded that path was made "much, much harder" by the recent events.
Kerry did not elaborate on his call with ElBaradei, which took place after the latter had resigned. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that ElBaradei's resignation was "a concerning development" but added that Kerry had not urged ElBaradei to reconsider his decision.
President Barack Obama, on a weeklong vacation in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., was briefed on the deteriorating situation by national security adviser Susan Rice.
White House and State Department officials said the U.S. role was largely to encourage the interim government to fulfill its promises to enact political reform. The military-backed government has pledged to amend the Islamist-backed constitution adopted last year and holding parliamentary and presidential elections early next year.
"Figuring out how to encourage the interim government to make good on their promise to transition to a democratically elected government there is something that we're working on," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "Hopefully it's something they're working on."
The turmoil was the latest chapter in a bitter standoff between Morsi's supporters and the interim leadership that took over the Arab world's most populous country. The military ousted Morsi after millions of Egyptians massed in the streets at the end of June to call for him to step down, accusing him of giving the Brotherhood undue influence and failing to implement vital reforms or bolster the ailing economy.
Morsi has been held at an undisclosed location. Other Brotherhood leaders have been charged with inciting violence or conspiring in the killing of protesters.
At least 250 people have died in previous clashes since the Morsi's overthrow. -- AP
EGYPT UPDATE: Journalists among those killed, injured
CAIRO: A cameraman for British broadcaster Sky News and a Dubai-based newspaper reporter were killed during violence in Egypt Wednesday, their employers said.
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| This is a an undated handout photo issued by British broadcaster Sky News of their cameraman Mick Deane who the broadcaster said was killed covering the clashes in Egypt on Wednesday Aug. 14, 2013. Sky said Mick Deane, 61, was shot and wounded while covering the violent breakup of protest camps in the capital, Cairo. It said he was treated for his injuries but died soon after. The rest of the Sky crew was unhurt. (AP Photo/Sky News |
AP reports quoted Sky saying that Mick Deane, 61, was shot and wounded while covering the violent breakup of protest camps in the capital, Cairo. It said he was treated for his injuries but died soon after. The rest of the Sky crew was unhurt.
The Gulf News, a state-backed newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, reported on its website that journalist Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz, 26, was shot dead near the Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo as security forces moved in on a sit-in by supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi.
The newspaper said she had been on annual leave and was not on assignment at the protest for the XPRESS, a sister publication that she worked for.
Sky said Deane had worked for the broadcaster for 15 years in the United States and the Middle East. He was married with two sons.
Dozens of people have been killed across Egypt Wednesday in clashes between security forces and supporters of Morsi.
Sky news chief John Ryley said Deane was “the very best of cameramen, a brilliant journalist and an inspiring mentor to many at Sky.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was “saddened to hear of the death” and said his thoughts were with Deane’s family and colleagues.
The Gulf News said it spoke to the UAE journalist’s younger sister Arwa Ramadan, who confirmed her death.
“My mom spoke to her close to (early morning prayers), but when she called again at 12 noon, there was no response,” the sister said. “She called again, and somebody picked up the phone and told her Habiba was dead. My dad, who is in Egypt right now, confirmed it later.”
The Gulf News quoted deputy editor Mazhar Farooqui as saying the publication was in shock.
“It’s hard to believe she’s gone,” Farooqui said. “She was passionate about her work and had a promising career ahead.”
Meanwhile, a Reuters photographer was shot in the foot in Cairo on Wednesday while covering an operation by Egyptian security forces to clear protesters demanding the reinstatement of deposed President Mohamed Mursi.
Asmaa Waguih was receiving treatment for the bullet wound.
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Read more: EGYPT UPDATE: Journalists among those killed, injured - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/egypt-update-journalists-among-those-killed-injured-1.337873#ixzz2bzAgFzsF
Mesir: egypt update 149 killed in clashes across nation
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| Mesir: egypt update 149 killed in clashes across nation |
Video Tempur Mesir: Pro Morsi tidak berganjak walau ditembak, tidak henti bertasbih
Written By Unknown on Saturday, 27 July 2013 | 17:07
Terkini Isu Semasa Mesir Sabtu | 27 Julai 2013 | 05.15 petang: Foto Suasana di hadapan Al Azhar, Haiyu Sadis dan kubur Anwar Saddat
Suasana di hadapan Al Azhar, Haiyu Sadis dan kubur Anwar Saddat berhampiran dataran Rabaah Adawwiyah.ุงูููู ุฃูุชูู ู ู ู ุธูู ูุง ูุนููู ุงูููู ุจู ู ุฎุงููุง
ุงูููู ุฃุญูู ุฏู ุงุก ุงูู ุณูู ูู ูุงุฑุจ ุงูุนุงูู ูู
ุงูููู ุฃุญูุธ ู ุตุฑ ุงู ูุข ูุฃู ุงู ุณูู ุข ูุณูุงู ูุณุงุฆุฑ ุจูุงุฏ ุงูู ุณูู ูู ูุงุฑุจ ุงูุนุงูู ูู
"Memartabat Keilmuan Memimpin Kesatuan"
Via:
HAKIKAT PENYEMBELIHAN "RABA'AH" WAKTU SAHUR 27 JULAI 2013: Akhukum Abdul Malik
Selepas rampasan kuasa bertarikh 3 Julai lalu, dua institusi milik rakyat iaitu tentera dan polis yang sepatutnya menjaga keselamatan mereka tapi dilihat sentiasa bekerjasama dalam membuat kacau pada siri-siri himpunan menyokong Mursi. Polis akan bertukar ganti dengan tentera dalam memerangi rakyat yang menolak rampasan kuasa.Jika pembunuhan "Solat Subuh" awal pagi 8 Julai lalu yang membunuh 113 orang dilakukan oleh tentera, maka pembunuhan awal pagi ini, 27 Julai pula diselia sendiri oleh pasukan polis. Bezanya kali ini angka kematian lebih tinggi berbanding pembunuhan "Solat Subuh" iaitu 200 orang.
Serangan yang bermula sebaik sahaja solat tahajjud tamat di dataran Raba'ah kira-kira jam 2.30 pagi. Ia berlaku di Jalan Austorad, berhampiran Kubur Anwar Sadat yang menjadi salah satu "pintu masuk" ke dataran Raba'ah, lokasi perkumpulan penyokong Mursi.
Operasi pembunuhan ini menyusul selepas kenyataan berbaur ugutan yang dikeluarkan oleh Menteri Dalam Negeri, Mohammed Ibrahim, malam sebelumnya. Halaman online "Al-Ahram" melaporkan Ibrahim berkata, kedua-dua himpunan itu akan dileraikan terdekat ini mengikut lunas-lunas perundangan.
Menurut "Al-Ahram", kenyataan Ibrahim itu dilafazkannya dalam satu temubual stesen televisyen tempatan dan kata Ibrahim, "Tiada faedah pada himpunan kedua-dua ini kerana Mesir tidak akan berundur kembali ke belakang."
Kenyataan 'menggila' Ibrahim ini turut dilaporkan oleh berita web "Masryl Youm" yang dituturkan Ibrahim ketika ditemubual oleh dua stesen tv tempatan iaitu "Al Hayat 2" dalam segmen "Mesir Baru" serta kali kedua melalui tv "CBC" dalam rancangan "Di Sini Ibu Kota" pada lewat hari Jumaat.
Dalam rancangan itu, Ibrahim turut mengulas himpunan "Tidak untuk Keganasan" yang diseru oleh sekutunya, As-Sisi. Kata Ibrahim, himpunan itu berjalan dengan baik di seluruh negara kecuali wilayah Iskandariah yang menyaksikan kumpulan Ikhwan Muslimin menguasai Masjid Qaid Ibrahim. Mereka juga dituduh oleh Ibrahim melepaskan tembakan kepada rakyat serta pasukan polis yang berada di luar masjid.
Demikian pembohongan Ibrahim yang diulangi sekali lagi dalam sidang media hari ini yang disiarkan secara langsung oleh tv rasmi kerajaan.
Yang lebih menghairankan, kewujudan pasukan penembak tepat yang berada di atas bangunan Fakulti Dakwah, yang terletak dalam kampus Universiti Al-Azhar di Madinah Nasr. Siapa yang mengizinkan mereka berada di bangunan milik Al-Azhar? Jika pentadbiran Al-Azhar tidak tahu-menahu, sewajarnya terdapat kenyataan rasmi dari pihak Al-Azhar yang mengutuk dan menafikan pembabitan mereka dalam tragedi ini.
Tetapi ia tentu sekali bercanggah dengan pandangan Syeikh Al-Azhar, Dr.Ahmad Toyyib. Malangnya, pada 25 Julai lalu, Syeikh Al-Azhar seperti yang disiarkan ucapannya oleh televisyen rasmi negara meminta rakyat Mesir membantu POLIS dan TENTERA, sebagai ulasan beliau kepada seruan As-Sisi sebelum itu yang meminta rakyat turun menyokongnya. Agak menghairankan, bagaimana Syeikh Al-Azhar selepas pembunuhan "Solat Subuh" 8 Julai lalu telah mengambil pendekatan "beriktikaf di rumah" tiba-tiba mengejutkan dunia pada 25 Julai lalu dengan pandangan peribadinya yang saya kira bukan mewakili ribuan ulamak Al-Azhar lain yang jelas menolak rampasan kuasa ini.
Jalanraya di hadapan Kubur Anwar Sadat itu bertukar menjadi "medan tempur" antara rakyat yang hanya berbekalkan suara takbir dengan pasukan polis yang lengkap bersenjata yang berterusan selama 4 jam tanpa henti. Tembakan polis hanya dihentikan sekitar jam 9 pagi dan ketika itu, mangsa korban telah mencecah angka lebih 100 orang. Jarak antara medan tempur dengan pentas utama Raba'ah atau hospital Raba'ah itu tidak sampai 5 kilometer. Jam 11 pagi, pihak pengurusan hospital mengumumkan hospital tersebut sudah tidak mampu lagi menampung jumlah mereka yang cedera lalu terpaksa dibawa ke hospital-hospital berdekatan.
Jam 2 petang, Ibrahim muncul di kaca televisyen bersama pembesar KDNnya. Peluang itu digunakan sepenuhnya oleh Ibrahim bagi menghembur fitnah semahunya bagi mempertahankan operasi polis. Antara lain menurut Ibrahim:
1) Polis hanya menggunakan gas pemedih mata dan langsung tidak menggunakan peluru atau senjata berhadapan dengan rakyat (atau digelarnya penyokong Ikhwan).
2) Tindakan polis itu bagi meleraikan himpunan penyokong Mursi yang dilihat cuba menguasai dan menutup laluan Jambatan 6 Oktober.
3) Pasukan polis juga terpaksa berhadapan dengan penyokong Ikhwan yang menggunakan senjata api dan tembakan turut dilepaskan kepada polis. Terdapat kecederaan yang kritikal di pihak polis.
4) Kejadian yang sama berlaku di Masjid Qaid Ibrahim apabila penyokong Ikhwan melepaskan tembakan kepada polis dan turut membunuh penduduk tempatan.
Kesemua kenyataan ini telah dinafikan oleh Ikhwan sendiri dan beberapa pertubuhan yang turut serta dalam himpunan di Raba'ah. Semua sumber dari kerajaan kudeta Mesir tidak boleh dipercayai. Sebagai contoh, sumber Kementerian Kesihatan yang memberikan angka rasmi kematian pagi ini hanya berjumlah 29 orang dan kecederaan 177 orang. Sebetulnya, 200 orang mati dan 4,500 orang cedera.
Cuma, apa yang dibimbangi Ibrahim mengulangi kenyataannya sebelum ini iaitu "Pihak polis akan meleraikan perhimpunan di dataran Raba'ah dan Nahdhah terdekat ini dengan penyelarasan bersama pihak tentera."
Via: 
Akhukum Abdul Malik
Akhukum Abdul MalikMesir terkini: Universiti Kaherah minta dikosongkan, serangan dijangka dilancarkan tentera
Terdapat berita bahawa pasukan keselamatan meminta tenaga pengajar dan mereka yang berada di dalam Universiti Kaherah mengosongkan universiti tersebut dan kemungkinan besar akan berlaku serangan kepada rakyat di dataran Nahdhah, sepertimana yang berlaku di Raba'ah awal pagi ini. Dataran Nahdhah terletak berhadapan Universiti Kaherah.
Via: Akhukum Abdul Malik
Via:
Our rebuttal to Petronas
Written By Unknown on Thursday, 25 July 2013 | 15:09
| Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, | 10 June 2013 |
The government and Petronas’s responses to our call for audit of Petronas’ businesses and tendering processes in Malaysia have been evasive at best and pathetic at worst.Evasive because they tried to deemphasize the real reason of our call for the audit of by putting blames on constraints in disclosing information about their international ventures. Pathetic because the way they responded gave an impression that it was not well-thought of.
It has failed to give any good excuse why an audit is not needed; it has also failed to convince that Petronas upholds high level of integrity and transparency.
Our new minister in Prime Minister’s Department, Paul Low has obviously not read well the 2013 Resource Governance Index (RGI) which is readily available on Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) website when he attributed Malaysia's ranking drop from 22nd spot in 2010 to 34th this year to Petronas' overseas agreements disclosures.
It is either that he has not understood the context of the report, or that he is trying to evade and deflect the entire issue by blaming governance or the lack of it in foreign countries Petronas has invested.
In either case it is both embarrassing and disappointing, especially because the newly-minted minister has been helming Transparency International Malaysia in the past and is now expected to enhance integrity of a ‘perceived’ corruption-embattled administration.
The RGI is a country-by-country report card; it measures the quality of governance in the oil, gas and mining sector of 58 countries. It does not measure the quality of governance of a national oil company (NOC) of one country in another country. Via the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974, Petronas is the de-facto owner, custodian, and regulator of upstream oil and gas in Malaysia; hence when one talks about governance and integrity of upstream oil and gas industry in Malaysia, it goes without saying that it is all about the governance and integrity of Petronas.
In the context of RGI ranking, discussion about Petronas is essentially about its role within Malaysia; very little to do with its operations outside the country.
It is also extremely regrettable that even Shamsul Azhar Abas, the President of Petronas, is unable to grasp the level of transparency required for a national oil company (NOC) with authority and monopoly such as Petronas, when all he aspires is to have the same disclosure standards as Exxon-Mobil or Shell. It has to be more than that.
Reasons?
Well, Petronas being the sole custodian of this immense wealth is morally answerable to all its stakeholders, essentially every single citizen of Malaysia. It has various added responsibilities as a public listed company, which Exxon-Mobil and Shell do not have to bear.
It has the obligation to ensure that it operates businesses in the most efficient way, with lowest total cost of ownership (not merely lowest initial capital expenditure of CAPEX) and highest yield amid fair and transparent contract distributions as well, as to enable grooming of local oil and gas service and technology providers to become global champions.
There is no doubt that Petronas has been performing financially well, which entitles itself annually as a Fortune 500 company. Isn’t that expected of a company that holds the sole monopoly of the most lucrative natural resources the country possesses?
Any company that is bestowed with such monopoly should do at least reasonably well, if not always eminently outstanding. But how well is well? Couldn’t it do better if it has better governance, is more transparent and more efficient? How efficient and transparent is Petronas when benchmarked against peers such as Norway’s Statoil, or Brazil’s Petrobras?
The real performance can only be evaluated if the discerning sections of the public are allowed to dissect deeper, and obtain secondary-level information such as the unit production cost (UPC), unit development cost (UDC), total initial cost of each contract, total cost of variation orders, crude and refined products trading procedures among other things.
Oftentimes, the ups and downs of these indicators can be directly attributed to strength or weaknesses in executing works due to competency and performance of selected contractors and subcontractors.As an example, Petronas must disclose why does its subsidiary Carigali has to pay for the non-performing time of the Kencana-Mermaid 1 (KM1) drilling rig owned by SapuraKencana when most of the faults were clearly attributed to the inefficiency of the contractor. It has to allow external auditors to examine basis for awarding contract to Kencana-Mermaid, basis of rates agreed in the contracts and the loopholes made available in the contract, whether intentionally or not, in order to facilitate subsequent variation orders.
Similarly, Petronas must also disclose how much variation orders it or its Production Sharing Contractors (PSCs) have paid to SapuraKencana via its subsidiary TLO for the various marine installation contracts which have been almost a near-monopoly for the last few years. It has to tell all Malaysians who are its stakeholder, what is the evaluation criteria used in the various tender evaluation exercises that has allowed SapuraKencana to keep on winning contracts despite of high variation orders and below average performance.
It has to disclose the contract terms and conditions for external auditors to ascertain the weaknesses and loopholes that have caused hundreds of millions in variation orders. Petronas must explain why it has failed its fiduciary duty as the sole custodian and de-facto regulator of upstream oil and gas to nurture other local companies to compete with SapuraKencana in these areas so that the people and the country can get the highest value for the money we have entrusted to Petronas.
We stress that every directly negotiated and sole-sourced contract awarded by Petronas must be audited. Open tenders must not be spared as well. Evaluation criteria and contracts’ terms and conditions must be opened for scrutiny.
Lopsided contracts must either be amended or annulled and retendered. We propose that the audit is conducted by the National Audit Department, supported by independent and qualified technical support team. The final report shall be made available for deliberation and debate in the parliament.
