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Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Excerpts: Radical Islam security threat in Germany.Jordan's exhausting refugee burden. Bahrain bans opposition party for 3 months October 29, 2014

Excerpts: Radical Islam security threat in Germany.Jordan's exhausting
refugee burden. Bahrain bans opposition party for 3 months October 29, 2014

+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 29 Oct.’14:”Germany warns security situation
‘critical’ due to radical Islam”,Reuters
SUBJECT: Radical Islam security threat in Germany
QUOTE:” ‘The situation is critical. The number of threatening individuals
has never been as high as now’.”
FULLL TEXT:Radical Islam poses a critical security threat to Germany,
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere warned on Tuesday[28 Oct.], saying the
number of people capable of staging attacks in the country stood at an
all-time high.

Besides the risk posed by German jihadists returning from Syria, there was
also the danger of violent clashes on German streets as rival extremist
groups turn on each other - mirroring the conflicts of the Middle East, he
told a security conference.

De Maiziere said security forces believed the greatest danger came from
radicals striking out alone, as happened in Canada last week, when two
soldiers were killed in attacks that police said were carried out by recent
converts to Islam.

"The situation is critical. The number of threatening individuals has never
been as high as now," he said. "We represent freedom, and are therefore an
object of hate."

The domestic intelligence agency (BfV) has warned that ultra-conservative
Salafism was becoming increasing popular – boosting the number of potential
recruits for Islamic State.

Some 450 people have travelled from Germany to join the jihadists in Syria
and Iraq. Around 150 have returned. The German authorities are monitoring a
total 225 suspects believed capable of launching attacks on domestic soil,
compared to just 80 or 90 a few years ago, de Maiziere said.

Although not directly involved in the U.S.-led air strikes on Islamic State
in Syria and Iraq, Germany has agreed to send weapons to Kurdish forces in
northern Iraq to help them defend themselves against the radical militants.

Meanwhile, IS has released propaganda videos in German, with some featuring
native-German speaking jihadists who threaten to unleash attacks back home.

In various German cities in recent months, gangs of Salafists and local
Kurds have fought street battles, tensions fuelled by Islamic State attacks
on Kurds in the Middle East.

On Sunday, a group of 4,000 far-right supporters staged an anti-Salafist
march in the western city of Cologne, pelting police with stones, bottles
and fireworks, injuring 49 officers.

"We are concerned that violent clashes between extremists on our streets
could escalate," BfV president Hans-Georg Maassen said in a statement.

The BfV calls Salafism, which espouses a strict, puritanical form of Islam,
Germany's "most dynamic Islamic movement" and estimates the number of
Salafists rose from around 3,800 in 2011 to 5,500 last year and could reach
7,000 by the end of 2014.

Separately, Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency said on Tuesday[28
Oct.] that Islamic State will be able to mount operations in Iraq "for the
foreseeable future" despite the air strikes and efforts by Iraqi security
forces to regain territory.

In Syria, the BND said fighting between IS and Kurdish forces in Kobani near
the Turkish border showed that the militants were still in a position to
attack, even if their mobility had been impaired by repeated air attacks.



+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 29 Oct.’14:”Refugee burden has exhausted Jordan----
Foreign Minister Judeh”
SUBJECT:Jordan’s exhausting refugee burden
QUOTE:”Jordan,as a host country of 1.5million Syrian refugees, has become
exhausted and reached its maximum capacity to provide assistance to refuges”
FULL TEXT:AMMAN — Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh on Tuesday[28 Oct.] said
that Jordan, as a host country of more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees, has
become exhausted and reached its maximum capacity to provide assistance to
refugees.

The official made these remarks at the Berlin Conference on Syrian Refugees,
where he also cited Jordan’s already limited resources and the insufficiency
of international support to the Kingdom in this regard.

He called on the world community to bear its responsibility in helping
Jordan and other host countries continue their humanitarian mission, the
Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier organised the one-day
conference with the participation of UN High Commissioner for Refugees
António Guterres and more than 40 countries and organisations.

The conference aimed to discuss the conditions of Syrian refugees and host
countries, in addition to supporting stability in the region, Petra
reported.

Judeh said that until a political solution to the Syrian crisis is reached,
there is an urgent need for a bigger international response to support host
countries, foremost of which is Jordan.

The minister said Jordan needs $5 billion, according to a national plan for
2014-16, to be able to handle the repercussions of Syrian refugee influx.

He also said that Jordan, under the directives of His Majesty King Abdullah,
has not closed its borders in front of the Syrians, and is now paying the
price for that.

Jordanians have shared their houses, schools, hospitals, job opportunities
and even the already scarce water with their Syrian brethren, which caused a
huge burden on the national economy, he added.

The foreign minister said the Jordanian educational system has been hugely
affected as a result of receiving more than 140,000 Syrian students, which
made schools overcrowded and forced the Education Ministry to run schools in
two shifts.

In the health sector, the number of Syrian refugees who seek health services
has increased by 250 per cent, and the number of medical operations in
public hospitals has increased by 600 per cent since the crisis started,
Judeh added.

On the sidelines of the conference, Judeh met with Italian Foreign Minister
Federica Mogherini and discussed ways to develop bilateral relations and
latest regional developments.

Judeh and Mogherini signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation
between Jordan and the EU.

Judeh expressed his support to Mogherini who will assume a new job in few
days as high commissioner for EU foreign and security affairs.

Steinmeier said in addition to easing the hardships of the refugees
themselves, the focus needed to be on international investment in hospitals,
schools, water supplies and waste disposal systems in the neighbouring
countries, AP reported.

“This is not only a question of more money. We also need to use the funding
more effectively and more sustainably,” he said, according to AP.


+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 29 Oct.’14:”Bahrain bans main opposition activity for
3 months”, Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Bahrain bans opposition party for 3 months

QUOTE: Political parties are banned in Bahrain key U.S. ally “

[IMRA: Bahrain is the port of the U.S. Fifth Fleet]

FULL TEXT:DUBAI — A Bahraini court banned the Gulf state's main opposition
movement for three months Tuesday[28 Oct.], just weeks before a
parliamentary election the group had already said it would boycott.

Al Wefaq said it was seriously concerned by the move, which it described as
"irrational and irresponsible".

The Manama administrative court ruled that Al Wefaq, which draws most of its
support from the Sunni-ruled kingdom's Shiite majority, had violated the law
on associations, a court official said.

Political parties are banned in key US ally Bahrain, as in other Gulf Arab
monarchies. Al Wefaq has the status of an association.

In July, the justice ministry sued Al Wefaq, demanding it rectify its
"illegal status following the annulment of four general assemblies for lack
of a quorum and the non-commitment to the public and transparency
requirements for holding them".

The court gave the group three months to hold a general assembly to elect
its leaders, the official said.

Without commenting on the accusations, Al Wefaq responded saying "the
tyrannical dictatorship in Bahrain is ruling with an iron fist and moving to
destroy the political and social life by blocking the people out".

The United States had voiced "strong concerns" over the lawsuit, warning of
its potential impact on the November 22 polls.

Not only has Al Wefaq announced a boycott, but so have other opposition
groups.

In July, Bahrain's chief prosecutor tested relations with close ally
Washington when he charged Al Wefaq head Sheikh Ali Salman, and his
political aide, ex-MP Khalil Marzooq, with violating a law on foreign
contacts by meeting US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human
Rights and Labour Tom Malinowski.

Following the meeting, Bahrain told Malinowski he was "unwelcome" and said
he should leave the country "immediately".



Vote faces 'organised terrorism'



Elections for a new 40-seat lower house of parliament are the first since
2011 protests demanding more representative democracy. Municipal elections
will be held simultaneously.

Al Wefaq, which led the protest movement against the Sunni regime, made
slender gains in the last election, in 2010. But it withdrew its 18 MPs
after the government crushed the protests in March 2011.

The opposition is demanding an independent electoral commission and the
dissolution of the consultative council, parliament's upper chamber whose
members are appointed by the king.

It is also demanding the prime minister be appointed by parliamentary
majority, instead of the king.

Bahraini authorities accuse Al Wefaq of fuelling unrest across the kingdom,
as people in Shiite villages hold frequent protests and sometimes clash with
members of the security forces.

But Al Wefaq insists on the "peaceful" nature of its movement.

Tensions are already running high with the pre-election campaign marked by
sporadic acts of violence.

The authorities have been accusing dissidents during the past weeks of
attacking candidates to whom the interior ministry has offered protection.

And government spokeswoman Sameera Rajab wrote Friday on Twitter that
"elections in Bahrain are facing organised terrorism".

But no major incidents or casualties have been reported.

The opposition took part in two rounds of dialogue after the uprising but
withdrew from the talks, saying the authorities were not making enough
concessions.

In reaction to Tuesday's[28 Oct.] decision, New York-based Human Rights
First warned it could "lead to more friction and instability in the country
as it prepares for parliamentary elections".

Human Rights First's Brian Dooley said: "With less than four weeks until
Bahrain's parliamentary elections, the decision to suspend Al Wefaq looks
far from coincidental."

With the decision, Al Wefaq would no longer be able to carry out public
campaigns to persuade people not to vote in the election, said Dooley.

"Today's ruling takes Bahrain further off the path to democracy," he said.

Al Wefaq vowed to "continue in its struggle for democratic transition and
justice to build a democratic state for all Bahrainis and end the
totalitarian rule that is excluding the people through harsh sentences and
security measures that violate fundamental human rights."
=========
Sue Lerner - Associate IMRA

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