Amnesty: Morocco must not use force against demos Marches are planned in several cities to push calls for urgent reforms and limits on the king's power, echoing protests for democracy under way across the Arab world. “Thousands are expected to take to the streets across the country to demand political and human rights reform but there are fears the authorities may resort to heavy-handed tactics to quell protests,” Amnesty said. “The Moroccan authorities must uphold the right of protestors to express their views and demands in a peaceful manner and to instruct security forces not to resort to unjustified or unnecessary force to disperse demonstrations in line with Morocco's international human rights obligations and the king's promises,” said Amnesty regional deputy director Philip Luther. Algeria's president promises political reform Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika promised political reform, in an attempt to ward off the kind of unrest that has toppled leaders in other parts of the Arab world. Algeria, one of the European Union's biggest gas suppliers, lifted a 19-year-old state of emergency last month in a concession to the opposition. Bouteflika said this was the first step on the way to more reform. The lifting of the state of emergency “will be a new page opened on the path to comprehensive reforms … which cannot be fruitful in the absence of political reforms,” the state-run APS news agency quoted Bouteflika as saying. Tunisia: Bangladeshis demonstrate as repatriation comes to halt With repatriation coming to a virtual halt since Friday, hundreds of stranded Bangladeshi workers at Choucha camp staged a demonstration yesterday demanding return of their passports by the local authorities, and sending them back home. The demonstrators, mostly young men, who fled Libyan upheaval over the last few weeks, chanted slogans demanding resumption of flights from Djerba airport. They said they must get compensation for the enormous financial losses and agonies they suffered in the process of coming to Libya and then fleeing the turbulent north African country. “They (authorities) are neither giving us our passports nor are they doing anything to send us home,” shouted a young man. The protesters carried banners which said, “We want to go home”, “Please send us back to Bangladesh”, “Return our passports”. Libya hit by first round of Western military attacks At least 48 people were reportedly killed and 150 others wounded in Libya in the first round of Western-led airstrikes that started Saturday, while anti-aircraft gunfire continued to roar in Tripoli early Sunday as warplanes flew over the city. After the strikes, Libya's Foreign Ministry said late Saturday that it considered invalid the UN Security Council Resolution 1973 that authorizes a no-fly zone over the country and demanded an emergency meeting of the Security Council. Libya “has the right to use its civilian and military aircraft to defend itself after France violated the air exclusion zone,” the ministry said in a statement. Meanwhile, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in a broadcast speech, urged Libyans to “fight against aggression,” saying he would open the arms depots to equip civilians so as to defend the country's independence, territorial integrity and glory. Khartoum opens embassy in Juba as South Sudan approaches separation Khartoum's decision to open its embassy in Juba was announced on Friday by the minister of information, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, during the Southern Sudan 2011 Taskforce meeting chaired by the Vice President, Riek Machar Teny. Marial, who presented highlighted priorities on international relations on behalf of the minister of regional cooperation, Deng Alor Kuol, said Khartoum has already established a consulate which it will upgrade to a full embassy after July and has posted a diplomatic representative in Juba. South Sudan has been developing a foreign policy in anticipation of full independence in July that will see the regional autonomous government upgraded to a national sovereign independent state which will determine its own foreign policy. Currently, Sudan's foreign policy is a decided by the national government in Khartoum of which the South's SPLM has been a partner since 2005. The emerging independent South Sudan is aiming to develop its immediate priorities as well as medium and long term strategies before it becomes officially independent in July BM
