24 Nov 2014 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy

Articles

West and Iran to make 'last push' for deal
By AlJazeera, 24 Nov 2014

World powers and Iran will make a "last push" for a nuclear deal before a Monday midnight deadline even though the parties are far apart, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said. "At the moment we're focused on the last push, a big push tomorrow morning to try and get this across the line," Hammond told reporters on Sunday in Vienna when asked if an extension of the deadline was being considered. A senior US official acknowledged for the first time on Sunday that Iran and world powers were now discussing a possible extension of their deadline for a deal amid wide gaps in the talks. The West wants Iran to scale back its nuclear ambitions in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. Hammond said the parties would still try to bridge the gaps even though it was not clear whether they could be.

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US air strikes in Syria driving anti-Assad groups to support Isis
By The Guardian, 23 Nov 2014

 US air strikes in Syria are encouraging anti-regime fighters to forge alliances with or even defect to Islamic State (Isis), according to a series of interviews conducted by the Guardian. Fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Islamic military groups are joining forces with Isis, which has gained control of swaths of Syria and Iraq and has beheaded six western hostages in the past few months. Some brigades have transferred their allegiance, while others are forming tactical alliances or truces. Support among civilians also appears to be growing in some areas as a result of resentment over US-led military action. “Isis now is like a magnet that attracts large numbers of Muslims,” said Abu Talha, who defected from the FSA a few months ago and is now in negotiations with other fighters from groups such as the al-Nusra Front to follow suit. Assam Murad, a fighter from a 600-strong dissident FSA brigade near Homs said: “There’s no way we would fight Isis after the US military campaign against them.”

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Polls close in boycotted Bahrain elections
By AlJazeera, 22 Nov 2014

Bahrainis have voted in legislative elections, the first since 2011 street protests, but the Shia opposition that led the pro-democracy movement did not take part in the vote. The government kept polling centres open for two more hours than planned, until 19:00 GMT, due to the massive voter turnout. The Gulf state's electorate of almost 350,000 were called to choose 40 deputies, with most of the 266 candidates being Sunnis. Al-Wefaq, the main opposition group, warned that failure by the kingdom's rulers to loosen their grip on power could trigger a surge in violence. Ali Salman, the Secretary-General of the Al-Wefaq, said that "the turnout was no more than 30 percent and 80 percent of the voters were military and government personnel in the security and public sector".

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Iraq: Spate of Attacks Terrorize Civilians
By Human Rights Watch, 21 Nov 2014

There is no justification for the ongoing unlawful attacks on civilians by car and suicide bombs in Iraq. An attack on November 19, 2014, targeting Erbil’s governorate building killed at least 10 civilians and wounded dozens more. Attacks the same day in Baghdad killed or wounded 18 civilians. In early October, at the beginning of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar and especially holy for Shia worshippers, five car bomb attacks in Karbala killed at least 15 people and injured another 48. Since then, other bombings have killed dozens more in Baghdad, Kirkuk, and elsewhere. “Bombings across Iraq are killing and maiming civilians in attacks so frequent they barely make the local news,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director. “But a government response that too often includes arbitrary arrests and summary executions will only fuel the cycle of abuses.”

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Egypt: Over 700 Houses Destroyed in Rafah to Create 'Buffer Zone'
By AllAfrica, 19 Nov 2014

Egypt's armed forces has so far destroyed over 700 houses to create a "buffer zone" on the country's Easter border with the Palestinian Gaza Strip, a North Sinai official said on Wednesday. The official told state-run news agency MENA that the remaining houses in the area will be destroyed within the coming few days. Security forces began evacuating the area bordering Sinai's Rafah on October 28, as one of the steps taken in response to militant attacks on security personnel in the Peninsula on October 24 which left over 33 killed. Egypt's cabinet issued on October 29 a decision to clear 500 metres of the border area with Gaza of civilians, vowing to provide compensation for those evicted.

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