Merkel and Sarkozy at loggerheads over French proposal for bailout fund to become $2tn ‘bank’ overseen by ECB Europe was thrown into fresh chaos on Thursday after a failure to resolve deep differences between France and Germany forced the postponement of a new plan to save the single currency. A joint statement from the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, admitted that a deal at the weekend was now unachievable and that talks in Brussels on Sunday would be followed by a second summit next Wednesday. Financial markets have rallied strongly in recent weeks amid hopes of a breakthrough agreement this weekend that would recapitalise Europe’s weak banks, write off part of Greece’s debts and – crucially – increase the firepower of the eurozone’s bailout fund to protect Italy and Spain from speculative attack. It emerged , however, that Berlin and Paris still differ over the size of the European financial stability facility (EFSF) with Germany resisting French calls for it to resemble a bank capable of issuing €2tn (£1.75tn) of loans. Merkel is also opposed to Sarkozy’s plan to put the European Central Bank (ECB) at the heart of the plan. “The president and the chancellor will meet Saturday night in Brussels ahead of the European council summit in the euro area on Sunday,” the statement said. “France and Germany have agreed that all elements of this ambitious and comprehensive response will be discussed in depth at the summit on Sunday in order to be finally adopted by the heads of state and government at a second meeting no later than Wednesday.” One of the sticking points holding up a deal is that Merkel needs the backing of German MPs before agreeing to an enhanced bailout fund. Officials said delays in the talks prevented the chancellor from achieving it before the weekend, but at Sarkozy’s insistence Sunday’s summit would go ahead as planned. Bond markets were the first to react to fears that a deal would fail to materialise, sending the interest rate on Italian debt back above 6%. Spanish yields rose above 5.5%. Both countries already depend on the ECB for short-term money, though both held successful bond auctions in the morning, before news of the delay. Contradictory reports of the progress made ahead of the weekend talks were reflected in briefings by Brussels officials. One well-placed EU diplomat insisted a sense of urgency could enable Sunday’s eurozone summit to deliver a political agreement. The source said divergences between France and Germany were “exaggerated.” Another official said the gap between France and Germany was significant, though resolvable. “Sunday’s summit is unlikely to produce any real decisions; the real stuff will have to be done on Wednesday or even Friday,” he said. Sarkozy and Merkel said the full details of a “global and ambitious” response to the crisis would be definitively adopted at a second summit “no later than Wednesday”. The pair are to meet in Brussels on Saturday evening. This weekend’s series of meetings and a second summit are also due to endorse the payout of a further €8bn to Greece early next month to save it from bankruptcy. But Athens’ debts are said by international inspectors to be unsustainable even with the second €109bn bailout agreed only last July. EU leaders are acutely aware that markets when they open on Monday are expecting a three-pronged deal on Greek debt “haircuts”, bank recapitalisation – already agreed at €90bn overall – and boosting the firepower of the EFSF. This was acknowledged in a statement last night from Sarkozy’s Élysée Palace. It said Greece had to make “ambitious” pledges to restore its economy on the basis of a new programme – indicating that the €109bn second bailout agreed only in July was inadequate. Merkel and Sarkozy demanded that talks begin with private creditors “to find an agreement that will reinforce the sustainability of Greek debt” – longhand for accepting far larger losses. In July the losses to be borne voluntarily by bondholders such as banks were agreed at 21% but these are now likely to be at least 30%. High-ranking eurozone officials admit that a huge amount of work remains to be done before Sunday’s summit to agree on how and by how much to raise the EFSF’s lending capacity from its current €440bn. Merkel, beset by splits within her coalition government and pressure for parliamentary approval of any EFSF deal, will only be able to agree in principle on Sunday and get the detailed, technical issues resolved by finance ministers before being signed off at another time. She called off Friday’s planned speech to the Bundestag on the topic. Wolfgang Schäuble, her embattled finance minister, boosted hopes on Thursday by saying France and Germany had reached an “outline” deal to increase EFSF firepower. “Germany and France are in complete agreement on this question but we know this is not the same as a European solution,” he said. His upbeat comments came less than 24 hours after Sarkozy in effect gate-crashed an opulent farewell in Frankfurt for outgoing European Central Bank president, Jean-Claude Trichet, to hold emergency talks with Merkel on the issue. Earlier, senior EU financial officials said late doubts had emerged about a German plan to turn the EFSF into an insurer in effect able to offer credit default swaps on, say, the first 20% of losses. This could boost its firepower to just over €1tn – or short of the €2tn demanded by the markets, US and UK. But the plan is said to resemble too closely the arrangement that helped bring down Lehman Brothers in 2008, triggering the worst of the financial crisis and recession. So far Germany and the ECB have rejected French ideas of making the EFSF a bank. Sunday’s summit will clearly fail to set the new, higher “haircuts” for private creditors exposed to Greek debt after the International Monetary Fund reportedly fell out with the European commission (EC) and ECB over the scale of that debt. The creditors, marshalled by Deutsche Bank’s outgoing chief, Josef Ackermann, now accept the haircuts could be even higher. A leaked draft report from the “troika” of IMF, ECB and EC said details of Greece’s debt sustainability would be given to the eurogroup of finance ministers who meet on Friday(fri). The report said the country’s debt dynamics were “extremely worrying” after a deeper than expected economic contraction – 5.5% this year and likely to be 2.75% in 2012. One source of relief for worried EU and eurozone leaders is that the draft communiqué for the eurozone summit says both Spain and Italy will give fresh commitments on fiscal consolidation and structural reforms. Senior EU diplomats confirmed that Madrid and Rome would put forward fresh proposals on Sunday. What would the deal look like? The new financial bailout plan is expected to cover debt reduction for Greece, new capital for ailing banks that might take losses from Greek bonds, and enhanced financial firepower for the bailout fund to stabilise markets. The European financial stability facility has recently been expanded to €440bn (£384bn). But it may need at least €1.5
Continue reading …Merkel and Sarkozy at loggerheads over French proposal for bailout fund to become $2tn ‘bank’ overseen by ECB Europe was thrown into fresh chaos on Thursday after a failure to resolve deep differences between France and Germany forced the postponement of a new plan to save the single currency. A joint statement from the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, admitted that a deal at the weekend was now unachievable and that talks in Brussels on Sunday would be followed by a second summit next Wednesday. Financial markets have rallied strongly in recent weeks amid hopes of a breakthrough agreement this weekend that would recapitalise Europe’s weak banks, write off part of Greece’s debts and – crucially – increase the firepower of the eurozone’s bailout fund to protect Italy and Spain from speculative attack. It emerged , however, that Berlin and Paris still differ over the size of the European financial stability facility (EFSF) with Germany resisting French calls for it to resemble a bank capable of issuing €2tn (£1.75tn) of loans. Merkel is also opposed to Sarkozy’s plan to put the European Central Bank (ECB) at the heart of the plan. “The president and the chancellor will meet Saturday night in Brussels ahead of the European council summit in the euro area on Sunday,” the statement said. “France and Germany have agreed that all elements of this ambitious and comprehensive response will be discussed in depth at the summit on Sunday in order to be finally adopted by the heads of state and government at a second meeting no later than Wednesday.” One of the sticking points holding up a deal is that Merkel needs the backing of German MPs before agreeing to an enhanced bailout fund. Officials said delays in the talks prevented the chancellor from achieving it before the weekend, but at Sarkozy’s insistence Sunday’s summit would go ahead as planned. Bond markets were the first to react to fears that a deal would fail to materialise, sending the interest rate on Italian debt back above 6%. Spanish yields rose above 5.5%. Both countries already depend on the ECB for short-term money, though both held successful bond auctions in the morning, before news of the delay. Contradictory reports of the progress made ahead of the weekend talks were reflected in briefings by Brussels officials. One well-placed EU diplomat insisted a sense of urgency could enable Sunday’s eurozone summit to deliver a political agreement. The source said divergences between France and Germany were “exaggerated.” Another official said the gap between France and Germany was significant, though resolvable. “Sunday’s summit is unlikely to produce any real decisions; the real stuff will have to be done on Wednesday or even Friday,” he said. Sarkozy and Merkel said the full details of a “global and ambitious” response to the crisis would be definitively adopted at a second summit “no later than Wednesday”. The pair are to meet in Brussels on Saturday evening. This weekend’s series of meetings and a second summit are also due to endorse the payout of a further €8bn to Greece early next month to save it from bankruptcy. But Athens’ debts are said by international inspectors to be unsustainable even with the second €109bn bailout agreed only last July. EU leaders are acutely aware that markets when they open on Monday are expecting a three-pronged deal on Greek debt “haircuts”, bank recapitalisation – already agreed at €90bn overall – and boosting the firepower of the EFSF. This was acknowledged in a statement last night from Sarkozy’s Élysée Palace. It said Greece had to make “ambitious” pledges to restore its economy on the basis of a new programme – indicating that the €109bn second bailout agreed only in July was inadequate. Merkel and Sarkozy demanded that talks begin with private creditors “to find an agreement that will reinforce the sustainability of Greek debt” – longhand for accepting far larger losses. In July the losses to be borne voluntarily by bondholders such as banks were agreed at 21% but these are now likely to be at least 30%. High-ranking eurozone officials admit that a huge amount of work remains to be done before Sunday’s summit to agree on how and by how much to raise the EFSF’s lending capacity from its current €440bn. Merkel, beset by splits within her coalition government and pressure for parliamentary approval of any EFSF deal, will only be able to agree in principle on Sunday and get the detailed, technical issues resolved by finance ministers before being signed off at another time. She called off Friday’s planned speech to the Bundestag on the topic. Wolfgang Schäuble, her embattled finance minister, boosted hopes on Thursday by saying France and Germany had reached an “outline” deal to increase EFSF firepower. “Germany and France are in complete agreement on this question but we know this is not the same as a European solution,” he said. His upbeat comments came less than 24 hours after Sarkozy in effect gate-crashed an opulent farewell in Frankfurt for outgoing European Central Bank president, Jean-Claude Trichet, to hold emergency talks with Merkel on the issue. Earlier, senior EU financial officials said late doubts had emerged about a German plan to turn the EFSF into an insurer in effect able to offer credit default swaps on, say, the first 20% of losses. This could boost its firepower to just over €1tn – or short of the €2tn demanded by the markets, US and UK. But the plan is said to resemble too closely the arrangement that helped bring down Lehman Brothers in 2008, triggering the worst of the financial crisis and recession. So far Germany and the ECB have rejected French ideas of making the EFSF a bank. Sunday’s summit will clearly fail to set the new, higher “haircuts” for private creditors exposed to Greek debt after the International Monetary Fund reportedly fell out with the European commission (EC) and ECB over the scale of that debt. The creditors, marshalled by Deutsche Bank’s outgoing chief, Josef Ackermann, now accept the haircuts could be even higher. A leaked draft report from the “troika” of IMF, ECB and EC said details of Greece’s debt sustainability would be given to the eurogroup of finance ministers who meet on Friday(fri). The report said the country’s debt dynamics were “extremely worrying” after a deeper than expected economic contraction – 5.5% this year and likely to be 2.75% in 2012. One source of relief for worried EU and eurozone leaders is that the draft communiqué for the eurozone summit says both Spain and Italy will give fresh commitments on fiscal consolidation and structural reforms. Senior EU diplomats confirmed that Madrid and Rome would put forward fresh proposals on Sunday. What would the deal look like? The new financial bailout plan is expected to cover debt reduction for Greece, new capital for ailing banks that might take losses from Greek bonds, and enhanced financial firepower for the bailout fund to stabilise markets. The European financial stability facility has recently been expanded to €440bn (£384bn). But it may need at least €1.5
Continue reading …Libya’s former leader killed by rebels in Sirte in wake of French airstrike, although precise details of his death remain unclear Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was born in Sirte, and when he became the ruler of all Libya, he transformed it from an insignificant fishing village into the country’s sprawling second city. On Thursday, after a brutal – and ultimately hopeless – last stand, it was the place where he died. For the past three weeks, with Gaddafi’s whereabouts still unknown, government fighters had been puzzled by the bitter and determined resistance from loyalist fighters. Trapped in a tiny coastal strip just a few hundred metres wide, they had refused to give up, even when a victory by the forces of Libya’s National Transitional Council seemed inevitable. Here at last was the answer: they had been fighting to the death with their once-great leader in their midst. The emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, Peter Bouckaert, was one of those in Sirte during the final battle. “A very heavy bombardment started at midnight with shelling of the remaining strongholds with Grad rockets that went on until 6am,” he told the Guardian. “I went down to the city centre at 9am and went in with the fighters from Benghazi who said the whole city was free. “I went to the hospital and a fighter arrived with a gold pistol he said he had taken from Gaddafi. He said there had been a fight with a convoy of people trying to flee. Mansour Dhou [Sirte's pro-Gaddafi military commander] was also in the clinic, shot in the stomach. He said they had been trying to flee and were caught in gunfire, which is when he lost consciousness. He confirmed Gaddafi was with him.” While details of the precise circumstances of Gaddafi’s death remained confused and contradictory last night, it appears he was trying to flee the city in a convoy of cars when they came under attack from Nato jets. Last night the French claimed responsibilty for the airstrike. The convoy was then apparently caught in a gun battle with fighters loyal to the National Transitional Council, Libya’s interim government. Possibly wounded in the shootout, Libya’s former ruler crawled into a drain; later he was set upon by revolutionary fighters, one of whom beat him with a shoe. Witnesses said he perished pleading for mercy after being dragged out of a hiding place inside a concrete drain. According to one fighter, the dying Gaddafi demanded: “What have I done to you?” Abdel-Jalil Abdel-Aziz, a doctor who accompanied Gaddafi’s body in an ambulance as it was taken from Sirte, said he died from two shots, to the head and chest. “I can’t describe my happiness,” he told the Associated Press. “The tyranny is gone. Now the Libyan people can rest. Amid the swirl of contradictory reports, one thing was clear: Gaddafi’s death was a humiliating end for a man once used to surrounding himself with cheering crowds of supporters. Video images that emerged showed him being bundled bloodied on to the back of a pick-up truck, surrounded by fighters waving guns and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great). At first Gaddafi was apparently able to walk with assistance before being lifted on to the truck’s tailgate. A second clip, however, showed him lifeless. In the second sequence, the tunic over one of his shoulders was heavily bloodstained. Also killed was one of Gaddafi’s sons, Mutassim, a military officer who had commanded the defence of Sirte for his father, according to NTC officials. Gaddafi’s second son, Saif al-Islam, was also said to have been arrested, although the news could not immediately be confirmed. After his death, Gaddafi’s body was taken – accompanied by a huge convoy of celebrating revolutionaries –to Misrata, two hours away. In Misrata – which itself went through a bitter siege during Libya’s eight-month civil war – the body was paraded through the streets on a truck, surrounded by crowds chanting, “The blood of the martyrs will not go in vain.” Bouckaert said: “I followed the convoy with the body to Misrata, where it was displayed. I have seen a lot of celebrations in Libya but never one like this.” Across Libya, as the news broke, there were celebrations. “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” the Libyan prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, told a news conference. In Tripoli there were volleys of celebratory gunfire as vast crowds waving the red, black and green national flag adopted by the NTC gathered in Martyr’s Square – once the setting for mass rallies in praise of the “Brother Leader”. Jibril said: “We confirm that all the evils, plus Gaddafi, have vanished from this beloved country. It’s time to start a new Libya, a united Libya. One people, one future.” A formal declaration of liberation would be made by Friday, he added later. The death of Gaddafi and the fall of Sirte opens the way to national elections which – it had already been announced – would take place eight months after “full liberation” had been achieved. In London, David Cameron hailed Gaddafi’s death as a step towards a “strong and democratic future” for the north African country. Speaking in Downing Street after Jibril officially confirmed the death of the dictator, Cameron said he was proud of the role Britain had played in Nato airstrikes to protect Libyan civilians after the uprising against Gaddafi’s rule began in February. Cameron added that it was a time to remember Gaddafi’s victims, including the policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, who was gunned down in a London street in 1984, the 270 people who died when Pan-Am flight 103 was destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie in 1988, and all those killed by the IRA using Semtex explosives supplied by the Libyan dictator. Nato commanders will meet on Friday to consider ending the coalition’s campaign in Libya. Gaddafi, 69, is the first leader to be killed in the Arab spring, the wave of popular uprisings that swept the Middle East demanding the end of autocratic rulers and greater democracy. He was one of the world’s most mercurial leaders. He seized power in 1969 and dominated Libya with a regime that often seemed run by his whims. But his acts brought international condemnation and isolation to his country. When the end came for Gaddafi it was not as his son Saif al-Islam once promised, with the regime fighting to “its last bullet”. Instead, the man who once styled himself “the king of the kings” of Africa was cornered while attempting to escape with his entourage in a convoy of cars after a final 90-minute assault on the last few loyalist positions in Sirte’s District Two. Last night the charred remains of 15 pickup trucks lay burned out on a roadside where Gaddafi’s convoy had attempted to punch through NTC lines. Inside the ruined vehicles sat the charred skeletons; other bodies lay strewn on the grass. Gaddafi and a handful of his men appear to have escaped death, and hidden in two drainage pipes choked with rubbish. Government troops gave chase, said Salem Bakeer, a fighter who was on the scene at the last moment. “One of Gaddafi’s men came out waving his rifle in the air and shouting surrender, but as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me,” he told Reuters. “Then I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. ‘My master is here, my master is here’, he said, ‘Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded’,” said Bakeer. “We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying ‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong? What’s going on?’. Then we took him and put him in the car.” With its fall, the city of Sirte was transformed from a potent image of Gaddafi’s rule to the symbol of his gruesome end. Even as Gaddafi’s body was being driven away, the drain where he was found was being immortalised in blue aerosol paint. On it, someone wrote: “The hiding place of the vile rat Gaddafi.” Muammar Gaddafi Libya Middle East Africa Nato Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Libya’s former leader killed by rebels in Sirte in wake of French airstrike, although precise details of his death remain unclear Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was born in Sirte, and when he became the ruler of all Libya, he transformed it from an insignificant fishing village into the country’s sprawling second city. On Thursday, after a brutal – and ultimately hopeless – last stand, it was the place where he died. For the past three weeks, with Gaddafi’s whereabouts still unknown, government fighters had been puzzled by the bitter and determined resistance from loyalist fighters. Trapped in a tiny coastal strip just a few hundred metres wide, they had refused to give up, even when a victory by the forces of Libya’s National Transitional Council seemed inevitable. Here at last was the answer: they had been fighting to the death with their once-great leader in their midst. The emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, Peter Bouckaert, was one of those in Sirte during the final battle. “A very heavy bombardment started at midnight with shelling of the remaining strongholds with Grad rockets that went on until 6am,” he told the Guardian. “I went down to the city centre at 9am and went in with the fighters from Benghazi who said the whole city was free. “I went to the hospital and a fighter arrived with a gold pistol he said he had taken from Gaddafi. He said there had been a fight with a convoy of people trying to flee. Mansour Dhou [Sirte's pro-Gaddafi military commander] was also in the clinic, shot in the stomach. He said they had been trying to flee and were caught in gunfire, which is when he lost consciousness. He confirmed Gaddafi was with him.” While details of the precise circumstances of Gaddafi’s death remained confused and contradictory last night, it appears he was trying to flee the city in a convoy of cars when they came under attack from Nato jets. Last night the French claimed responsibilty for the airstrike. The convoy was then apparently caught in a gun battle with fighters loyal to the National Transitional Council, Libya’s interim government. Possibly wounded in the shootout, Libya’s former ruler crawled into a drain; later he was set upon by revolutionary fighters, one of whom beat him with a shoe. Witnesses said he perished pleading for mercy after being dragged out of a hiding place inside a concrete drain. According to one fighter, the dying Gaddafi demanded: “What have I done to you?” Abdel-Jalil Abdel-Aziz, a doctor who accompanied Gaddafi’s body in an ambulance as it was taken from Sirte, said he died from two shots, to the head and chest. “I can’t describe my happiness,” he told the Associated Press. “The tyranny is gone. Now the Libyan people can rest. Amid the swirl of contradictory reports, one thing was clear: Gaddafi’s death was a humiliating end for a man once used to surrounding himself with cheering crowds of supporters. Video images that emerged showed him being bundled bloodied on to the back of a pick-up truck, surrounded by fighters waving guns and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great). At first Gaddafi was apparently able to walk with assistance before being lifted on to the truck’s tailgate. A second clip, however, showed him lifeless. In the second sequence, the tunic over one of his shoulders was heavily bloodstained. Also killed was one of Gaddafi’s sons, Mutassim, a military officer who had commanded the defence of Sirte for his father, according to NTC officials. Gaddafi’s second son, Saif al-Islam, was also said to have been arrested, although the news could not immediately be confirmed. After his death, Gaddafi’s body was taken – accompanied by a huge convoy of celebrating revolutionaries –to Misrata, two hours away. In Misrata – which itself went through a bitter siege during Libya’s eight-month civil war – the body was paraded through the streets on a truck, surrounded by crowds chanting, “The blood of the martyrs will not go in vain.” Bouckaert said: “I followed the convoy with the body to Misrata, where it was displayed. I have seen a lot of celebrations in Libya but never one like this.” Across Libya, as the news broke, there were celebrations. “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” the Libyan prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, told a news conference. In Tripoli there were volleys of celebratory gunfire as vast crowds waving the red, black and green national flag adopted by the NTC gathered in Martyr’s Square – once the setting for mass rallies in praise of the “Brother Leader”. Jibril said: “We confirm that all the evils, plus Gaddafi, have vanished from this beloved country. It’s time to start a new Libya, a united Libya. One people, one future.” A formal declaration of liberation would be made by Friday, he added later. The death of Gaddafi and the fall of Sirte opens the way to national elections which – it had already been announced – would take place eight months after “full liberation” had been achieved. In London, David Cameron hailed Gaddafi’s death as a step towards a “strong and democratic future” for the north African country. Speaking in Downing Street after Jibril officially confirmed the death of the dictator, Cameron said he was proud of the role Britain had played in Nato airstrikes to protect Libyan civilians after the uprising against Gaddafi’s rule began in February. Cameron added that it was a time to remember Gaddafi’s victims, including the policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, who was gunned down in a London street in 1984, the 270 people who died when Pan-Am flight 103 was destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie in 1988, and all those killed by the IRA using Semtex explosives supplied by the Libyan dictator. Nato commanders will meet on Friday to consider ending the coalition’s campaign in Libya. Gaddafi, 69, is the first leader to be killed in the Arab spring, the wave of popular uprisings that swept the Middle East demanding the end of autocratic rulers and greater democracy. He was one of the world’s most mercurial leaders. He seized power in 1969 and dominated Libya with a regime that often seemed run by his whims. But his acts brought international condemnation and isolation to his country. When the end came for Gaddafi it was not as his son Saif al-Islam once promised, with the regime fighting to “its last bullet”. Instead, the man who once styled himself “the king of the kings” of Africa was cornered while attempting to escape with his entourage in a convoy of cars after a final 90-minute assault on the last few loyalist positions in Sirte’s District Two. Last night the charred remains of 15 pickup trucks lay burned out on a roadside where Gaddafi’s convoy had attempted to punch through NTC lines. Inside the ruined vehicles sat the charred skeletons; other bodies lay strewn on the grass. Gaddafi and a handful of his men appear to have escaped death, and hidden in two drainage pipes choked with rubbish. Government troops gave chase, said Salem Bakeer, a fighter who was on the scene at the last moment. “One of Gaddafi’s men came out waving his rifle in the air and shouting surrender, but as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me,” he told Reuters. “Then I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. ‘My master is here, my master is here’, he said, ‘Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded’,” said Bakeer. “We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying ‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong? What’s going on?’. Then we took him and put him in the car.” With its fall, the city of Sirte was transformed from a potent image of Gaddafi’s rule to the symbol of his gruesome end. Even as Gaddafi’s body was being driven away, the drain where he was found was being immortalised in blue aerosol paint. On it, someone wrote: “The hiding place of the vile rat Gaddafi.” Muammar Gaddafi Libya Middle East Africa Nato Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Libya’s former leader killed by rebels in Sirte in wake of French airstrike, although precise details of his death remain unclear Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was born in Sirte, and when he became the ruler of all Libya, he transformed it from an insignificant fishing village into the country’s sprawling second city. On Thursday, after a brutal – and ultimately hopeless – last stand, it was the place where he died. For the past three weeks, with Gaddafi’s whereabouts still unknown, government fighters had been puzzled by the bitter and determined resistance from loyalist fighters. Trapped in a tiny coastal strip just a few hundred metres wide, they had refused to give up, even when a victory by the forces of Libya’s National Transitional Council seemed inevitable. Here at last was the answer: they had been fighting to the death with their once-great leader in their midst. The emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, Peter Bouckaert, was one of those in Sirte during the final battle. “A very heavy bombardment started at midnight with shelling of the remaining strongholds with Grad rockets that went on until 6am,” he told the Guardian. “I went down to the city centre at 9am and went in with the fighters from Benghazi who said the whole city was free. “I went to the hospital and a fighter arrived with a gold pistol he said he had taken from Gaddafi. He said there had been a fight with a convoy of people trying to flee. Mansour Dhou [Sirte's pro-Gaddafi military commander] was also in the clinic, shot in the stomach. He said they had been trying to flee and were caught in gunfire, which is when he lost consciousness. He confirmed Gaddafi was with him.” While details of the precise circumstances of Gaddafi’s death remained confused and contradictory last night, it appears he was trying to flee the city in a convoy of cars when they came under attack from Nato jets. Last night the French claimed responsibilty for the airstrike. The convoy was then apparently caught in a gun battle with fighters loyal to the National Transitional Council, Libya’s interim government. Possibly wounded in the shootout, Libya’s former ruler crawled into a drain; later he was set upon by revolutionary fighters, one of whom beat him with a shoe. Witnesses said he perished pleading for mercy after being dragged out of a hiding place inside a concrete drain. According to one fighter, the dying Gaddafi demanded: “What have I done to you?” Abdel-Jalil Abdel-Aziz, a doctor who accompanied Gaddafi’s body in an ambulance as it was taken from Sirte, said he died from two shots, to the head and chest. “I can’t describe my happiness,” he told the Associated Press. “The tyranny is gone. Now the Libyan people can rest. Amid the swirl of contradictory reports, one thing was clear: Gaddafi’s death was a humiliating end for a man once used to surrounding himself with cheering crowds of supporters. Video images that emerged showed him being bundled bloodied on to the back of a pick-up truck, surrounded by fighters waving guns and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great). At first Gaddafi was apparently able to walk with assistance before being lifted on to the truck’s tailgate. A second clip, however, showed him lifeless. In the second sequence, the tunic over one of his shoulders was heavily bloodstained. Also killed was one of Gaddafi’s sons, Mutassim, a military officer who had commanded the defence of Sirte for his father, according to NTC officials. Gaddafi’s second son, Saif al-Islam, was also said to have been arrested, although the news could not immediately be confirmed. After his death, Gaddafi’s body was taken – accompanied by a huge convoy of celebrating revolutionaries –to Misrata, two hours away. In Misrata – which itself went through a bitter siege during Libya’s eight-month civil war – the body was paraded through the streets on a truck, surrounded by crowds chanting, “The blood of the martyrs will not go in vain.” Bouckaert said: “I followed the convoy with the body to Misrata, where it was displayed. I have seen a lot of celebrations in Libya but never one like this.” Across Libya, as the news broke, there were celebrations. “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” the Libyan prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, told a news conference. In Tripoli there were volleys of celebratory gunfire as vast crowds waving the red, black and green national flag adopted by the NTC gathered in Martyr’s Square – once the setting for mass rallies in praise of the “Brother Leader”. Jibril said: “We confirm that all the evils, plus Gaddafi, have vanished from this beloved country. It’s time to start a new Libya, a united Libya. One people, one future.” A formal declaration of liberation would be made by Friday, he added later. The death of Gaddafi and the fall of Sirte opens the way to national elections which – it had already been announced – would take place eight months after “full liberation” had been achieved. In London, David Cameron hailed Gaddafi’s death as a step towards a “strong and democratic future” for the north African country. Speaking in Downing Street after Jibril officially confirmed the death of the dictator, Cameron said he was proud of the role Britain had played in Nato airstrikes to protect Libyan civilians after the uprising against Gaddafi’s rule began in February. Cameron added that it was a time to remember Gaddafi’s victims, including the policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, who was gunned down in a London street in 1984, the 270 people who died when Pan-Am flight 103 was destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie in 1988, and all those killed by the IRA using Semtex explosives supplied by the Libyan dictator. Nato commanders will meet on Friday to consider ending the coalition’s campaign in Libya. Gaddafi, 69, is the first leader to be killed in the Arab spring, the wave of popular uprisings that swept the Middle East demanding the end of autocratic rulers and greater democracy. He was one of the world’s most mercurial leaders. He seized power in 1969 and dominated Libya with a regime that often seemed run by his whims. But his acts brought international condemnation and isolation to his country. When the end came for Gaddafi it was not as his son Saif al-Islam once promised, with the regime fighting to “its last bullet”. Instead, the man who once styled himself “the king of the kings” of Africa was cornered while attempting to escape with his entourage in a convoy of cars after a final 90-minute assault on the last few loyalist positions in Sirte’s District Two. Last night the charred remains of 15 pickup trucks lay burned out on a roadside where Gaddafi’s convoy had attempted to punch through NTC lines. Inside the ruined vehicles sat the charred skeletons; other bodies lay strewn on the grass. Gaddafi and a handful of his men appear to have escaped death, and hidden in two drainage pipes choked with rubbish. Government troops gave chase, said Salem Bakeer, a fighter who was on the scene at the last moment. “One of Gaddafi’s men came out waving his rifle in the air and shouting surrender, but as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me,” he told Reuters. “Then I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. ‘My master is here, my master is here’, he said, ‘Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded’,” said Bakeer. “We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying ‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong? What’s going on?’. Then we took him and put him in the car.” With its fall, the city of Sirte was transformed from a potent image of Gaddafi’s rule to the symbol of his gruesome end. Even as Gaddafi’s body was being driven away, the drain where he was found was being immortalised in blue aerosol paint. On it, someone wrote: “The hiding place of the vile rat Gaddafi.” Muammar Gaddafi Libya Middle East Africa Nato Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Libya’s former leader killed by rebels in Sirte in wake of French airstrike, although precise details of his death remain unclear Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was born in Sirte, and when he became the ruler of all Libya, he transformed it from an insignificant fishing village into the country’s sprawling second city. On Thursday, after a brutal – and ultimately hopeless – last stand, it was the place where he died. For the past three weeks, with Gaddafi’s whereabouts still unknown, government fighters had been puzzled by the bitter and determined resistance from loyalist fighters. Trapped in a tiny coastal strip just a few hundred metres wide, they had refused to give up, even when a victory by the forces of Libya’s National Transitional Council seemed inevitable. Here at last was the answer: they had been fighting to the death with their once-great leader in their midst. The emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, Peter Bouckaert, was one of those in Sirte during the final battle. “A very heavy bombardment started at midnight with shelling of the remaining strongholds with Grad rockets that went on until 6am,” he told the Guardian. “I went down to the city centre at 9am and went in with the fighters from Benghazi who said the whole city was free. “I went to the hospital and a fighter arrived with a gold pistol he said he had taken from Gaddafi. He said there had been a fight with a convoy of people trying to flee. Mansour Dhou [Sirte's pro-Gaddafi military commander] was also in the clinic, shot in the stomach. He said they had been trying to flee and were caught in gunfire, which is when he lost consciousness. He confirmed Gaddafi was with him.” While details of the precise circumstances of Gaddafi’s death remained confused and contradictory last night, it appears he was trying to flee the city in a convoy of cars when they came under attack from Nato jets. Last night the French claimed responsibilty for the airstrike. The convoy was then apparently caught in a gun battle with fighters loyal to the National Transitional Council, Libya’s interim government. Possibly wounded in the shootout, Libya’s former ruler crawled into a drain; later he was set upon by revolutionary fighters, one of whom beat him with a shoe. Witnesses said he perished pleading for mercy after being dragged out of a hiding place inside a concrete drain. According to one fighter, the dying Gaddafi demanded: “What have I done to you?” Abdel-Jalil Abdel-Aziz, a doctor who accompanied Gaddafi’s body in an ambulance as it was taken from Sirte, said he died from two shots, to the head and chest. “I can’t describe my happiness,” he told the Associated Press. “The tyranny is gone. Now the Libyan people can rest. Amid the swirl of contradictory reports, one thing was clear: Gaddafi’s death was a humiliating end for a man once used to surrounding himself with cheering crowds of supporters. Video images that emerged showed him being bundled bloodied on to the back of a pick-up truck, surrounded by fighters waving guns and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great). At first Gaddafi was apparently able to walk with assistance before being lifted on to the truck’s tailgate. A second clip, however, showed him lifeless. In the second sequence, the tunic over one of his shoulders was heavily bloodstained. Also killed was one of Gaddafi’s sons, Mutassim, a military officer who had commanded the defence of Sirte for his father, according to NTC officials. Gaddafi’s second son, Saif al-Islam, was also said to have been arrested, although the news could not immediately be confirmed. After his death, Gaddafi’s body was taken – accompanied by a huge convoy of celebrating revolutionaries –to Misrata, two hours away. In Misrata – which itself went through a bitter siege during Libya’s eight-month civil war – the body was paraded through the streets on a truck, surrounded by crowds chanting, “The blood of the martyrs will not go in vain.” Bouckaert said: “I followed the convoy with the body to Misrata, where it was displayed. I have seen a lot of celebrations in Libya but never one like this.” Across Libya, as the news broke, there were celebrations. “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” the Libyan prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, told a news conference. In Tripoli there were volleys of celebratory gunfire as vast crowds waving the red, black and green national flag adopted by the NTC gathered in Martyr’s Square – once the setting for mass rallies in praise of the “Brother Leader”. Jibril said: “We confirm that all the evils, plus Gaddafi, have vanished from this beloved country. It’s time to start a new Libya, a united Libya. One people, one future.” A formal declaration of liberation would be made by Friday, he added later. The death of Gaddafi and the fall of Sirte opens the way to national elections which – it had already been announced – would take place eight months after “full liberation” had been achieved. In London, David Cameron hailed Gaddafi’s death as a step towards a “strong and democratic future” for the north African country. Speaking in Downing Street after Jibril officially confirmed the death of the dictator, Cameron said he was proud of the role Britain had played in Nato airstrikes to protect Libyan civilians after the uprising against Gaddafi’s rule began in February. Cameron added that it was a time to remember Gaddafi’s victims, including the policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, who was gunned down in a London street in 1984, the 270 people who died when Pan-Am flight 103 was destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie in 1988, and all those killed by the IRA using Semtex explosives supplied by the Libyan dictator. Nato commanders will meet on Friday to consider ending the coalition’s campaign in Libya. Gaddafi, 69, is the first leader to be killed in the Arab spring, the wave of popular uprisings that swept the Middle East demanding the end of autocratic rulers and greater democracy. He was one of the world’s most mercurial leaders. He seized power in 1969 and dominated Libya with a regime that often seemed run by his whims. But his acts brought international condemnation and isolation to his country. When the end came for Gaddafi it was not as his son Saif al-Islam once promised, with the regime fighting to “its last bullet”. Instead, the man who once styled himself “the king of the kings” of Africa was cornered while attempting to escape with his entourage in a convoy of cars after a final 90-minute assault on the last few loyalist positions in Sirte’s District Two. Last night the charred remains of 15 pickup trucks lay burned out on a roadside where Gaddafi’s convoy had attempted to punch through NTC lines. Inside the ruined vehicles sat the charred skeletons; other bodies lay strewn on the grass. Gaddafi and a handful of his men appear to have escaped death, and hidden in two drainage pipes choked with rubbish. Government troops gave chase, said Salem Bakeer, a fighter who was on the scene at the last moment. “One of Gaddafi’s men came out waving his rifle in the air and shouting surrender, but as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me,” he told Reuters. “Then I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. ‘My master is here, my master is here’, he said, ‘Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded’,” said Bakeer. “We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying ‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong? What’s going on?’. Then we took him and put him in the car.” With its fall, the city of Sirte was transformed from a potent image of Gaddafi’s rule to the symbol of his gruesome end. Even as Gaddafi’s body was being driven away, the drain where he was found was being immortalised in blue aerosol paint. On it, someone wrote: “The hiding place of the vile rat Gaddafi.” Muammar Gaddafi Libya Middle East Africa Nato Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Libya’s former leader killed by rebels in Sirte in wake of French airstrike, although precise details of his death remain unclear Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was born in Sirte, and when he became the ruler of all Libya, he transformed it from an insignificant fishing village into the country’s sprawling second city. On Thursday, after a brutal – and ultimately hopeless – last stand, it was the place where he died. For the past three weeks, with Gaddafi’s whereabouts still unknown, government fighters had been puzzled by the bitter and determined resistance from loyalist fighters. Trapped in a tiny coastal strip just a few hundred metres wide, they had refused to give up, even when a victory by the forces of Libya’s National Transitional Council seemed inevitable. Here at last was the answer: they had been fighting to the death with their once-great leader in their midst. The emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, Peter Bouckaert, was one of those in Sirte during the final battle. “A very heavy bombardment started at midnight with shelling of the remaining strongholds with Grad rockets that went on until 6am,” he told the Guardian. “I went down to the city centre at 9am and went in with the fighters from Benghazi who said the whole city was free. “I went to the hospital and a fighter arrived with a gold pistol he said he had taken from Gaddafi. He said there had been a fight with a convoy of people trying to flee. Mansour Dhou [Sirte's pro-Gaddafi military commander] was also in the clinic, shot in the stomach. He said they had been trying to flee and were caught in gunfire, which is when he lost consciousness. He confirmed Gaddafi was with him.” While details of the precise circumstances of Gaddafi’s death remained confused and contradictory last night, it appears he was trying to flee the city in a convoy of cars when they came under attack from Nato jets. Last night the French claimed responsibilty for the airstrike. The convoy was then apparently caught in a gun battle with fighters loyal to the National Transitional Council, Libya’s interim government. Possibly wounded in the shootout, Libya’s former ruler crawled into a drain; later he was set upon by revolutionary fighters, one of whom beat him with a shoe. Witnesses said he perished pleading for mercy after being dragged out of a hiding place inside a concrete drain. According to one fighter, the dying Gaddafi demanded: “What have I done to you?” Abdel-Jalil Abdel-Aziz, a doctor who accompanied Gaddafi’s body in an ambulance as it was taken from Sirte, said he died from two shots, to the head and chest. “I can’t describe my happiness,” he told the Associated Press. “The tyranny is gone. Now the Libyan people can rest. Amid the swirl of contradictory reports, one thing was clear: Gaddafi’s death was a humiliating end for a man once used to surrounding himself with cheering crowds of supporters. Video images that emerged showed him being bundled bloodied on to the back of a pick-up truck, surrounded by fighters waving guns and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great). At first Gaddafi was apparently able to walk with assistance before being lifted on to the truck’s tailgate. A second clip, however, showed him lifeless. In the second sequence, the tunic over one of his shoulders was heavily bloodstained. Also killed was one of Gaddafi’s sons, Mutassim, a military officer who had commanded the defence of Sirte for his father, according to NTC officials. Gaddafi’s second son, Saif al-Islam, was also said to have been arrested, although the news could not immediately be confirmed. After his death, Gaddafi’s body was taken – accompanied by a huge convoy of celebrating revolutionaries –to Misrata, two hours away. In Misrata – which itself went through a bitter siege during Libya’s eight-month civil war – the body was paraded through the streets on a truck, surrounded by crowds chanting, “The blood of the martyrs will not go in vain.” Bouckaert said: “I followed the convoy with the body to Misrata, where it was displayed. I have seen a lot of celebrations in Libya but never one like this.” Across Libya, as the news broke, there were celebrations. “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” the Libyan prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, told a news conference. In Tripoli there were volleys of celebratory gunfire as vast crowds waving the red, black and green national flag adopted by the NTC gathered in Martyr’s Square – once the setting for mass rallies in praise of the “Brother Leader”. Jibril said: “We confirm that all the evils, plus Gaddafi, have vanished from this beloved country. It’s time to start a new Libya, a united Libya. One people, one future.” A formal declaration of liberation would be made by Friday, he added later. The death of Gaddafi and the fall of Sirte opens the way to national elections which – it had already been announced – would take place eight months after “full liberation” had been achieved. In London, David Cameron hailed Gaddafi’s death as a step towards a “strong and democratic future” for the north African country. Speaking in Downing Street after Jibril officially confirmed the death of the dictator, Cameron said he was proud of the role Britain had played in Nato airstrikes to protect Libyan civilians after the uprising against Gaddafi’s rule began in February. Cameron added that it was a time to remember Gaddafi’s victims, including the policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, who was gunned down in a London street in 1984, the 270 people who died when Pan-Am flight 103 was destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie in 1988, and all those killed by the IRA using Semtex explosives supplied by the Libyan dictator. Nato commanders will meet on Friday to consider ending the coalition’s campaign in Libya. Gaddafi, 69, is the first leader to be killed in the Arab spring, the wave of popular uprisings that swept the Middle East demanding the end of autocratic rulers and greater democracy. He was one of the world’s most mercurial leaders. He seized power in 1969 and dominated Libya with a regime that often seemed run by his whims. But his acts brought international condemnation and isolation to his country. When the end came for Gaddafi it was not as his son Saif al-Islam once promised, with the regime fighting to “its last bullet”. Instead, the man who once styled himself “the king of the kings” of Africa was cornered while attempting to escape with his entourage in a convoy of cars after a final 90-minute assault on the last few loyalist positions in Sirte’s District Two. Last night the charred remains of 15 pickup trucks lay burned out on a roadside where Gaddafi’s convoy had attempted to punch through NTC lines. Inside the ruined vehicles sat the charred skeletons; other bodies lay strewn on the grass. Gaddafi and a handful of his men appear to have escaped death, and hidden in two drainage pipes choked with rubbish. Government troops gave chase, said Salem Bakeer, a fighter who was on the scene at the last moment. “One of Gaddafi’s men came out waving his rifle in the air and shouting surrender, but as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me,” he told Reuters. “Then I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. ‘My master is here, my master is here’, he said, ‘Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded’,” said Bakeer. “We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying ‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong? What’s going on?’. Then we took him and put him in the car.” With its fall, the city of Sirte was transformed from a potent image of Gaddafi’s rule to the symbol of his gruesome end. Even as Gaddafi’s body was being driven away, the drain where he was found was being immortalised in blue aerosol paint. On it, someone wrote: “The hiding place of the vile rat Gaddafi.” Muammar Gaddafi Libya Middle East Africa Nato Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Click here to view this media A broadcaster who hosts several programs that air on NPR was reportedly fired Wednesday for her participation in Occupy DC after conservative websites suggested “apparent ethics violations.” Lisa Simeone said Thursday that she was read NPR’s code of ethics as she was fired as the host of Soundprint . She also works as a freelance host on NPR’s World of Opera . “We recently learned of World of Opera host Lisa Simeone’s participation in an Occupy DC group,” NPR’s Anna Christopher wrote . “World of Opera is produced by WDAV, a music and arts station based in Davidson, North Carolina. The program is distributed by NPR. Lisa is not an employee of NPR or of WDAV; she is a freelancer with the station.” “We’re in conversations with WDAV about how they intend to handle this. We of course take this issue very seriously.” NPR had not confirmed the firing and WDAV still had her photograph on their site at time of publication, In a video posted to YouTube in July, Simeone declared her intentions to participate in the October occupation of DC. “I’m going to Washington, D.C. on October 6 because our moment has come,” she said. “Life, peace, justice. That’s what we want. That’s what we’re going to demand… We’re not leaving. We’re not just going to go there and march around with signs. We’re going, we’re going to sit down on that nice cold ground for however long we have to, how ever many days, however many weeks. We’re going to stay and we are going to demand that our leaders listen to us.” Simeone’s alleged firing comes just one day after conservative websites The Daily Caller and Fox News suggested that she had broken NPR’s ethics rules by becoming an activist. “I find it puzzling that NPR objects to my exercising my rights as an American citizen — the right to free speech, the right to peaceable assembly — on my own time in my own life,” Simeone told WarIsACrime.org’s David Swanson , a noted peace activist. “I’m not an NPR employee. I’m a freelancer. NPR doesn’t pay me. I’m also not a news reporter. I don’t cover politics.” “This sudden concern with my political activities is also surprising in light of the fact that Mara Liaason reports on politics for NPR yet appears as a commentator on FoxTV, Scott Simon hosts an NPR news show yet writes political op-eds for national newspapers, Cokie Roberts reports on politics for NPR yet accepts large speaking fees from businesses. Does NPR also send out ‘Communications Alerts’ about their activities?” The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik predicted that Simeone would also find herself out of a job as the host of NPR’s World of Opera by the end of the day Thursday.
Continue reading …Click here to view this media A broadcaster who hosts several programs that air on NPR was reportedly fired Wednesday for her participation in Occupy DC after conservative websites suggested “apparent ethics violations.” Lisa Simeone said Thursday that she was read NPR’s code of ethics as she was fired as the host of Soundprint . She also works as a freelance host on NPR’s World of Opera . “We recently learned of World of Opera host Lisa Simeone’s participation in an Occupy DC group,” NPR’s Anna Christopher wrote . “World of Opera is produced by WDAV, a music and arts station based in Davidson, North Carolina. The program is distributed by NPR. Lisa is not an employee of NPR or of WDAV; she is a freelancer with the station.” “We’re in conversations with WDAV about how they intend to handle this. We of course take this issue very seriously.” NPR had not confirmed the firing and WDAV still had her photograph on their site at time of publication, In a video posted to YouTube in July, Simeone declared her intentions to participate in the October occupation of DC. “I’m going to Washington, D.C. on October 6 because our moment has come,” she said. “Life, peace, justice. That’s what we want. That’s what we’re going to demand… We’re not leaving. We’re not just going to go there and march around with signs. We’re going, we’re going to sit down on that nice cold ground for however long we have to, how ever many days, however many weeks. We’re going to stay and we are going to demand that our leaders listen to us.” Simeone’s alleged firing comes just one day after conservative websites The Daily Caller and Fox News suggested that she had broken NPR’s ethics rules by becoming an activist. “I find it puzzling that NPR objects to my exercising my rights as an American citizen — the right to free speech, the right to peaceable assembly — on my own time in my own life,” Simeone told WarIsACrime.org’s David Swanson , a noted peace activist. “I’m not an NPR employee. I’m a freelancer. NPR doesn’t pay me. I’m also not a news reporter. I don’t cover politics.” “This sudden concern with my political activities is also surprising in light of the fact that Mara Liaason reports on politics for NPR yet appears as a commentator on FoxTV, Scott Simon hosts an NPR news show yet writes political op-eds for national newspapers, Cokie Roberts reports on politics for NPR yet accepts large speaking fees from businesses. Does NPR also send out ‘Communications Alerts’ about their activities?” The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik predicted that Simeone would also find herself out of a job as the host of NPR’s World of Opera by the end of the day Thursday.
Continue reading …Click here to view this media A broadcaster who hosts several programs that air on NPR was reportedly fired Wednesday for her participation in Occupy DC after conservative websites suggested “apparent ethics violations.” Lisa Simeone said Thursday that she was read NPR’s code of ethics as she was fired as the host of Soundprint . She also works as a freelance host on NPR’s World of Opera . “We recently learned of World of Opera host Lisa Simeone’s participation in an Occupy DC group,” NPR’s Anna Christopher wrote . “World of Opera is produced by WDAV, a music and arts station based in Davidson, North Carolina. The program is distributed by NPR. Lisa is not an employee of NPR or of WDAV; she is a freelancer with the station.” “We’re in conversations with WDAV about how they intend to handle this. We of course take this issue very seriously.” NPR had not confirmed the firing and WDAV still had her photograph on their site at time of publication, In a video posted to YouTube in July, Simeone declared her intentions to participate in the October occupation of DC. “I’m going to Washington, D.C. on October 6 because our moment has come,” she said. “Life, peace, justice. That’s what we want. That’s what we’re going to demand… We’re not leaving. We’re not just going to go there and march around with signs. We’re going, we’re going to sit down on that nice cold ground for however long we have to, how ever many days, however many weeks. We’re going to stay and we are going to demand that our leaders listen to us.” Simeone’s alleged firing comes just one day after conservative websites The Daily Caller and Fox News suggested that she had broken NPR’s ethics rules by becoming an activist. “I find it puzzling that NPR objects to my exercising my rights as an American citizen — the right to free speech, the right to peaceable assembly — on my own time in my own life,” Simeone told WarIsACrime.org’s David Swanson , a noted peace activist. “I’m not an NPR employee. I’m a freelancer. NPR doesn’t pay me. I’m also not a news reporter. I don’t cover politics.” “This sudden concern with my political activities is also surprising in light of the fact that Mara Liaason reports on politics for NPR yet appears as a commentator on FoxTV, Scott Simon hosts an NPR news show yet writes political op-eds for national newspapers, Cokie Roberts reports on politics for NPR yet accepts large speaking fees from businesses. Does NPR also send out ‘Communications Alerts’ about their activities?” The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik predicted that Simeone would also find herself out of a job as the host of NPR’s World of Opera by the end of the day Thursday.
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