Hezbollah to withdraw gunmen in Lebanon

By Robert F. Worth and Nada Bakri
Published: May 10, 2008
BEIRUT, Lebanon: Hezbollah and its allies began withdrawing their gunmen here in the capital on Saturday evening, raising hopes for a political settlement after four days of street battles that left at least 29 people dead. The fighting has stoked fears of a broader civil conflict. Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image Lefteris Pitarakis/Associated Press The scene in Beirut after members of a funeral procession began smashing windows, prompting a store owner to open fire.

Hezbollah acted shortly after the Lebanese Army — widely seen as a neutral force here — proposed to resolve the dispute that provoked the latest round of bloody confrontations between the Hezbollah-led opposition and government supporters.
Armed Hezbollah supporters seized control of western Beirut on Friday, patrolling the empty streets and prompting angry accusations that the group, which is backed by Iran and Syria, had staged a coup.
On Saturday afternoon, after another day of sporadic violence, the army offered to broker a face-saving solution by promising to "investigate" Hezbollah's controversial private telephone network without harming the group's integrity. It also proposed to retain the current chief of airport security, a Hezbollah ally whom the government had tried to fire.
That proposal — quickly embraced by both government leaders and the opposition — sharply underscored the Lebanese Army's role as the one national institution seen as neutral here. Many have feared that the army would fragment along sectarian or political lines, as it did during Lebanon's 15-year civil war.

Instead, it has come through the latest conflict unscathed. That neutrality has come at a price: in this crisis, as in others, the army stood passively by, unwilling to be seen as taking sides, even when street battles were taking place.
Still, the army's proposal is likely to enhance the political prospects of its leader, General Michel Suleiman, who appears to be the only man both political camps are willing to accept as Lebanon's next president. The presidency has been vacant since November.
"All this has proved that the army is the only guarantor of security in Lebanon," despite its relative weakness, said Osama Safa, the general director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies.
It remained unclear on Saturday how the recent confrontations might alter the balance of power here. Hezbollah clearly hoped that its show of force would translate into enhanced power in the political stalemate that has crippled Lebanon for 17 months now.
But Lebanon is notoriously resistant to political settlements, and some political analysts here say they believe that the government may have won a moral victory by abstaining from large-scale violence in response to Hezbollah's aggression. Some government leaders were already accusing the Shiite group of betraying its promise to use its weapons only against Israel.
Earlier in the day, Lebanon's prime minister, Fouad Siniora, lashed out at Hezbollah in a televised address for using its weapons against fellow Lebanese, and he called on the Lebanese Army to retake control of the streets from militia fighters.
"The core of the problem with Hezbollah is that they have decided to force their will on the Lebanese," Siniora said, in his first public comments since the latest crisis began on Wednesday.
At least 29 people have been killed and scores wounded in gun battles since Wednesday, in the worst sectarian bloodshed since Lebanon's 15-year civil war ended in 1990.
The confrontation has posed a fresh challenge to the Bush administration, which has supported Siniora's government in part to counter Hezbollah and its patrons, Iran and Syria.
On Saturday, Hezbollah officials announced that three Hezbollah members had been kidnapped in the Chouf mountain town of Aley, and that two others had been killed by fighters loyal to Walid Jumblatt, the Druse leader. Hezbollah's statement made it clear that the group held Jumblatt, who is allied with Siniora's government, responsible for the kidnapping and murders of the men, who were found shot and stabbed in front of a hospital.
In northern Lebanon, at least 10 people were killed in scattered gun battles between supporters of the government and the Hezbollah-led opposition, Al Jazeera television reported.
Although most of Beirut was somewhat calmer on Saturday, a funeral for a Sunni government supporter erupted into bloodshed when a Shiite storeowner opened fire on the mourners.

As the pallbearers approached a store owned by a member of the Amal Party, which is allied with Hezbollah, mourners urged the owner to close his store. When he refused, they started smashing the windows. Furious, the store- owner opened fire at them, killing Ali Masri, 23, and Moussa Zouki, 24.
Meanwhile, with violence continuing, the governments of Turkey and Kuwait began evacuating their citizens through Lebanon's northern border with Syria, the only open route out of the country. The road to Lebanon's airport has been blocked since Wednesday by Hezbollah supporters. Other land routes are cut off, and the Beirut port is also shut.
Some Lebanese took to the streets on Saturday to express their outrage over Hezbollah's show of force, and over the armed attacks on a television station and newspaper allied with the government. A group of government supporters marched to the offices of Future Television, a satellite channel that was commandeered by the army after Hezbollah supporters threatened it on Friday.
"Hezbollah are liars; they are despicable," said Nawal al-Meouchi, 60, who had come to show her support along with her husband, her son and her daughter. "They said they would never turn their arms on the Lebanese, but they have."

"Hijack" Bantuan Kemanusiaan

Memang menyedihkan. Tetapi itulah hakikat dan realitinya bila berhadapan dengan situasi sengal dan menyesakkan. Sang Penguasa dan kebiasaannya ahli politik akan menjadi juara dalam urusan pengagihan bantuan makanan atau bantuan kecemasan. Mereka akan menetapkan siapa yang dapat dan siapa yang tidak - di Malaysia pun ada berlaku gak. Mereka juga menetapkan berapa yang mereka sendiri patut dapat dan dalam situasi sebegini, pekerja bantuan kemanusiaan tidak ada banyak pilihan melainkan berkompromi dan bekerjasama dengan mereka.

Pengalaman di "hijack" ketika mengagihkan bantuan kemanusiaan bukanlah fenomena asing tetapi ianya adalah sesuatu yang real dan kebarangkalian untuk ianya berlaku adalah tinggi - 1 dalam 3.

Shahrul Peshawar

program pengagihan khemah kami untuk mangsa banjir dulu pun pernah kena hijack

Race to prevent disease among Myanmar cyclone victims

By MARGIE MASON, AP Medical Writer Sat May 10, 4:22 PM ET

BANGKOK, Thailand - Preventing a disease disaster in Myanmar is now a "race against time," as many impoverished victims still await help a week after the brutal cyclone, experts warned Saturday.

Reports of diarrhea and skin problems already have surfaced, and health officials fear waterborne illnesses will emerge because of a lack of clean water, along with highly contagious diseases such as measles.

Children, especially those orphaned by the storm, face some of the greatest risks. Cyclone Nargis left more than 60,000 people dead or missing. The U.N. estimates that at least 1.5 million people have been severely affected in the military-run country, which has one of the world's worst health systems.

"The fact that there are people we still haven't gotten to is very distressing to all of us. We don't know how many that is," Tim Costello, president of the aid agency World Vision-Australia, said by telephone from Myanmar's largest city, Yangon. "The people are all exposed to the elements, and they are very, very vulnerable. It's a race against time."

In the badly hit town of Labutta, family members were forced to use rusty sewing needles to close wounds at a hospital where no doctors or supplies were visible. One man lay dying from a lack of care after his foot was cut off in the cyclone.
The World Health Organization has reported children suffering from upper respiratory diseases, and with next week's forecast calling for rain, there was yet another urgent reason to move quickly.

Fears of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, which are endemic to the area, also have heightened. However, outbreaks would not be expected for another week or longer because the mosquitoes need time to breed in stagnant water left from the storm, said Osamu Kunii, UNICEF's chief of health and nutrition in Yangon.

Cholera remains another concern, but there have been no diagnosed cases. Kunii said Myanmar's health ministry also agreed to start a mass vaccination campaign against measles.

"Once those diseases start, it's very hard to control," he said, adding that food and water were reaching more survivors but not everyone. Some victims have been drinking whatever water is available, with many freshwater sources contaminated by saltwater or littered with decaying human bodies and animal carcasses. UNICEF has reported diarrhea in up to 20 percent of the children living in some badly affected areas. Injuries suffered from high winds and debris that struck people during the storm also remain a problem, with many suffering from raw open wounds.

Costello said frustration with the military junta's slow response and restrictions placed on humanitarian aid entering the country has reached a critical point. "The government initially admitted that this was bigger than them. But now they have said, `While we need more aid, we are the military. We made this nation, and we're very proud of it and we can cope with it,'" Costello said. "It is absolutely clear that they can't."

Tens of thousands of people die every year in Myanmar, also known as Burma, from diseases such as tuberculosis, AIDS and diarrhea. Malaria alone kills about 3,000 people annually in a country where medical care is too expensive for most people to afford. In 2000, WHO ranked Myanmar's health system as the world's worst after war-ravaged Sierra Leone.

About 90 percent of the population lives on just $1 a day. Millions also go hungry, with a third of Myanmar's children estimated to be malnourished. "It is an unfortunate reality that this storm hit a country that already had this very marginal ... health system," said Dr. Chris Beyrer, an epidemiologist from Johns Hopkins University who has worked extensively in Myanmar. "When you have malnourishment with infectious diseases, the fatality rates go up."

He co-authored a critical report published last year that found the government spends only about 3 percent of its annual budget on health, compared to 40 percent on the military. The country's ailing health system combined with the junta's paranoia of foreigners is a cocktail for an even bigger disaster in the storm's aftermath, Beyrer said.

"I think when it comes to this regime, nothing is that surprising," he said by telephone from Maryland. "The fundamental issue is access. This is what we were arguing about for HIV/TB and malaria control five years ago — that it is access and that the international community is ready to help."