Excerpts: No to weapons outside Lebanese State control. Indonesia uneasy
about Obama visit.Egypt arrests unusual number of Muslim Brotherhood
members.Muslim/Christian clashes in Egypt March 13, 2010

+++SOURCE: NAHARNET(Lebanon) 13 Mar.'10:"Geagea: Weapons Outside State
Control
Sign of Abnormality"
QUote: "Geagea:'the state cannot coexist with revolution'

FULL TEXT:Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Saturday(13 Mar)that
weapons outside the control of the state either in Palestinian camps or in
bases outside the shantytowns or with Hizbullah are a sign of abnormality.
In any place in the world, "the state cannot coexist with revolution,"
Geagea told al-Sharq radio. The suggestion of the state, its army and
resistance should defend Lebanon "is nonexistence in any other place and
could not be found in the history of humanity."

On all-party talks at Baabda palace, the LF leader said: "It would be better
to continue with dialogue even if practical results were not achieved."

The situation could reflect negatively on the country's stability if
dialogue comes to a standstill, he said.

He warned from the fragile security situation in the Middle East, saying the
Lebanese government should come up with a plan to protect the country.

"The dangerous situation compels us to look for what unites us and not what
divides us. Only state institutions could unite us," Geagea told his
interviewer.

About the March 14 general conference that will be held at the Bristol hotel
on Sunday, the LF leader said the meeting will be a step forward in
implementing the coalition's political project.

Beirut, 13 Mar 10, 11:47

+++SOURCE: SAUDI GAZETTE 13 Mar.'10:"Indonesia police see risks over Obama
visit":, Associated Press
EXCERPT:JAKARTA - Indonesia's police chief said Friday he could not rule out
a potential security risk for US President Barack Obama's planned visit this
month, as more suspected militant violence hit the province of Aceh.
Police killed two suspected militants and detained eight others in a
shootout in Aceh on Sumatra island, just three days after police shot dead
Dulmatin, a top fugitive militant wanted over the 2002 Bali bombings, near
Jakarta.. . .

+++SOURCE: Egypt Daily News 13 Mar.'10:"Egyptian police arrest members of
Muslim Brotherhood", by Sapa-dpa

QUOTE:" 'Those arrested are leaders whose activity during the election
period security forces fear' "
FULL TEXT:Egyptian security forces arrested 42 members of the outlawed
Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest opposition group, the group's
lawyer said.
Egyptian security forces routinely arrest members of the Brotherhood, which
has been banned in Egypt for more than 50 years, but arrests of this scale
are unusual.
The predawn detentions took place in at least five northern provinces. Those
held included would-be candidates in campaigning for legislative elections
scheduled to begin in April, Brotherhood lawyer Abdel-Menem Abdel-Maqsud
said in a statement on the group's website.
Among them was former Brotherhood lawmaker al-Sayid Abdel-Hamid, sources in
Egypt's domestic intelligence agency, State Security Investigations, told
the Cairo daily al-Masry al-Youm.
The arrests followed the detention of 30 Brotherhood members after Friday
prayers for protesting recent Israeli-Palestinian clashes at the al-Aqsa
mosque in Jerusalem, al-Masry al-Youm reported.
Brotherhood member Sabri Khalafallah, who occupies his seat in Egypt's
parliament as an independent, was among those held at the Friday protest,
but was released an hour later, the group said.
The arrest of a lawmaker, who should have parliamentary immunity, represents
a "strange escalation" in the government's campaign against the Brotherhood,
Abdel-Maqsud said.
"Those arrested are leaders whose activity during the election period
security forces fear," the lawyer said.

+++SOURCE:HINDUSTANI TIMES(14 Mar) via Egypt Daily News "30 Hurt in
Muslim-Christian Clashes in Egypt"

FULL TEXT:Thirty people were injured when clashes broke out between
Christians and Muslims in a rural area in northern Egypt, media reports
said.
Fighting erupted late Friday in the north-western governorate of Mersa
Matrouh over a fence Muslims said had been built to take over a piece of
land to build a church, the BBC reported.
The al-Bashayer news website said 18 of the injured were Coptic Christians.
Police cordoned the area after arresting suspects, and angry people from
both sides were throwing stones at cars and nearby shops, it said.
Clashes between Egypt's Christian and Muslim populations are rare, but
tensions do periodically erupt over disputes about women's issues or the
construction of houses of worship.
The Mersa Matrouh unrest was the first time such clashes had erupted in
northern Egypt. Fighting previously had taken place in southern Egypt, where
a large number of Christians live.
In the worst sectarian attack in years, eight Christians and one Muslim
police officer were shot to death Jan 6 when gunmen opened fire on
Christians leaving a Coptic Christmas Eve Mass in the town of Nagaa Hamadi,
650 kilometres south of Cairo.
According to government figures, Christians account for roughly 10 percent
of Egypt's population, but many Egyptian Christians said they believe the
real figure is higher.
========================================================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA