The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - 7A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - 7A
North Korea's
new leader begins
nationwide tour
KHALIL HAMRA/Ap
Egyptian protesters carry a man who fell in the crowd during a rally outside the Parliament in Cairo, Egypt, yesterday. Egypt's newly elected lawmakers took aim at
the country's military rulers yesterda, accusing them of trampling on democratic norms and overstepping their powers.
Egypt's new parliamentary government
blasts military for authoritarian decrees
Tensions rise
between ruling
generals and
democratic regime
CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's
Islamist-dominated parliament
flexed its newly acquired powers
yesterday, accusing the country's
military rulers of overstepping
their powers by imposing a new
presidential election law before
the legislators were even seated.
The law, which lays out the
rules for the vote expected later
this year, and other military
decrees are shaping up as a
litmus test of the relationship
between the new lawmakers and
the generals who took power
after former President Hosni
Mubarak stepped down nearly a
year ago.
Meanwhile, protesters clashed
with Muslim Brotherhood sup-
porters who were forming a
human shield outside the parlia-
ment in front of the barbed wires
and barricades already set up by
security forces: Youth activists
who led the massive street pro-
tests that led to Mubarak's ouster
have accused the Islamists of
ignoring their demands and sid-
ing with the military.
The fundamentalist Brother-
hood, which controls nearly half
of the seats in the 508-member
legislature, has won control of
11 out of the 19 specialized com-
mittees inside the parliament,
including the key defense and
national security committee
that would likely be in charge of
reviewing the military's budget
and other issues.
Protesters outside the parlia-
mentary building in downtown
Cairo chanted "You sold the
revolution," while others heckled
Brotherhood supporters leaving
the area. Dr. Mohammed Sultan,
head of the Egyptian ambulance
service, said 71 people were
injured, most from rocks that
were thrown, and 30 were hospi-
talized.
Many leftist and secular
activists fear the Brotherhood
might form an alliance with the
military to ensure it has influence
over the drafting of a constitu-
tion - a task that the parliament
will oversee.
Lawmakers, however, sought
to assert their authority yester-
day. Many accused the military of
trying to avoid public debate by
issuing the law before parliament
was convened on Jan. 23. The
law was published in the official
Egyptian Gazette and was not
publicly announced.
The law establishes new rules
for electing a president and has
a controversial provision that
rights groups allege would make
contesting the results before a
court of law impossible. The mili-
tary, which essentially rules by
decree, has on several occasions
made contradictory statements
about the extent of authority it
would allow a legislature one
general described as "not repre-
sentative."
Mohammed el-Beltagy, a
member of the Brotherhood's
Freedom and Justice Party, asked
parliament to review the law and
change it if necessary.
"Let it be a clear message to
the Egyptian street that the par-
liament has become the only and
unchallenged legislative author-
ity," el-Beltagy told lawmakers in
the nationally televised session.
Mostafa ElNaggar, a member
of el-Adl party that was formed
after the uprising, agreed.
"This is an early test. We
either decide if we will permit
any interference in our mission
or we won't," he said.
It remains tobe seen how the
parliament will handle the elec-
tion law. Some legislators called
for the military to repeal them.
Others said the review process
should be expedited, while
some suggested moving up the
presidential election date to avoid
further clashes with the military
rulers over authority.
Many lawmakers and activ-
ists have already demanded
that parliament review other
military decrees issued since
the generals took power last
February, including a law ban-
ning public protest and strikes,
as well as a decision to only par-
tially lift of the hated Mubarak-
era emergency laws.
The largely secular and urban
activist groups want an immedi-
ate end to military rule, and have
called for the army to return to
its barracks before a constitu-
tion be written and a president
elected.
"It is primarily a challenge
for the (Brotherhood) majority,"
said Hossam Bahgat, a human
rights lawyer. "If the Brother-
hood wants to send a message to
its constituency and the public at
large they are now an indepen-
dent and effective legislature,
they have no choice but to reopen
(discussion) of these decrees."
Kim Jong Un
visits military
installations first
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)
- North Korea's young new
leader gets rock star treatment
when he visits his troops - just
as his father did. But while the
late Kim Jong Il mostly stayed
aloof in dark shadles, his son
holds hands and hugs his sol-
diers:
Kim Jong Un seems to want to
bond with his country's people.
The style harkens back to Kim
Il Sung, his grandfather and
revered founder of the country
and ruling dynasty, and may
reflect an attempt to turn a cor-
ner on the periods of hardship
and famine under Kim Jong Il,
analysts say. Kim Ii Sung's image
as a daring young general fight-
ing Japanese colonial troops
is powerfully engraved in the
minds of North Koreans.
Cheers, applause and calls of
"Hurrah!" greet Kim Jong Un as
he examines the heating systems
of soldiers' quarters, the pres-
sure of their water faucets, the
books stacked in their libraries
- even the taste of their food.'
The North Korean state
media reports and video foot-
age of such "guidance visits"
provide rare windows into the
personalities of North Korea's
leaders for outsiders and for
the country's people alike. Few
North Koreans, for instance,
even knew what the elder Kim's
voice sounded like, analysts say,
despite his ruling for 17 years
until his death Dec. 17.
In visits made so far by Kim
Jong Un, believed to be in his
late 20s, North Korea special-
ists have detected more warmth
in his approach than the dour
tours made in recent years by
Kim Jong11.
The younger Kim maybe try-
ing to emulate Kim Il Sung and
move away from his father, who
ruled during a famine in the
mid- to late-1990s that killed
hundreds of thousands, said
Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea
professor at Seoul's Dongguk
University. North Korea also
has faced international condem-
nation and sanctions for its pur-
suit of nuclear weapons.
"He'll try to look comfort-
able among the masses. He'll try
to form an intimacy with the
people, perhaps more than his
father did," Koh said.
Imitating Kim Ii Sung is
a "positive for Kim Jong Un,
because memories of his father
Kim Jong Il aren't very good
among ordinary people," Koh
said. "People fondly remember
the days of Kim Il Sung."
Kim Il Sung often was pic-
tured surrounded by children,
and Kim Jong Un resurrected
that image during a recent visit
to the Mangyongdae Revolu-
tionarySchool.
As children in military uni-
forms cheered and clapped,
a documentary on state TV
showed Kim embracing one
child's face with his hands. Dur-
ing lunch, Kim patted students
in encouragement and watched
with a grin as two women
ladled out soup for students; he
poured a drop of spuce on his
thumb so he could taste it.
His main emphasis, however,
has been on military posts -
with seven such reported visits
since the New Year. They seek
to show citizens that their new
leader is firmly in command of
the country's most important
institution, its 1.2 million-
strong military, and that he is
loved and respected by young
troops and elderly generals
alike.
US drone strike in Yemen
kills four at- Qaida members
Amazonian Indians struggle in face of encroachment
Bow and arrow
attacks unnerve
local officials
LIMA, Peru (AP) - Peru-
vian authorities say they are
struggling to keep outsiders
away from a clan of previously
isolated Amazon Indians who
began appearing on the banks of
a jungle river popular with envi-
ronmental tourists last year.
The behavior of the small
group of Mashco-Piro Indians
has puzzled scientists, who
say it may be related to the
encroachment of loggers and by
low-flying aircraft from nearby
natural gas and oil exploration
in the southeastern region of the
country.
Clan members have been
blamed for two bow-and-arrow
attacks on people near the riv-
erbank in Madre de Dios state
where officials say the Indians
were first seen last May.
one badly wounded a forest
ranger in October. The following
month, another fatally pierced
the heart of a local Matsiguenka
Indian, Nicolas "Shaco" Flores,
who had long maintained a rela-
tionship with the Mashco-Piro.
The advocacy group Survival
International released photos
Tuesday showing clan members
on the riverbank, describing the
pictures as the "most detailed
sightings of uncontacted Indi-
ans ever recorded on camera."
The British-based group
provided the photos exactly a
year after releasing aerial pho-
tos from Brazil of another tribe
classified as uncontacted, one
of about 100 such groups it says
exist around the world.
one of the Mashco-Piro pho-
tos was taken by a bird watcher
in August, Survival Internation-
al said. The other two were shot
by Spanish archaeologist Diego
Cortijo on Nov. 16, six days
before Flores was killed.
Cortijo, a member of the
Spanish Geographical Society,
was visiting Flores while on an
expedition in search of petro-
glyphs and said clan members
appeared across the river from
Flores' house, calling for him by
name.
Flores could communicate
with the Mashco-Piro because
he spoke two related dialects,
said Cortijo, who added that
Flores had previously provided
clan members with machetes
and cooking pots.
The Mashco-Piro tribe is
believed to number in the hun-
dreds and lives in the Manu
National Park that borders
Diamante, a community of more
than 200 people where Flores
lived.
Although it's not known what
provoked the Mashco-Piro clan
to leave the relative safety of
their tribe's jungle home, Bea-
triz Huerta, an anthropologist
who works with Peru's agency
for indigenous affairs, specu-
lated their habitat is becoming
increasingly less isolated.
The upper Madre de Dios
region where the tribe lives
has been affected by logging,
she said. "They are removing
wood very close."
Meanwhile, Huerta said,
naturalists in the area and
Manu National Park officials
told her during a recent visit
that a rise in air traffic related
to natural gas and oil explora-
tion in the region is adversely
affecting native hunting
grounds, forcing increasing
migration by nomadic tribes.
The clan that showed up at
the river is believed to num-
ber about 60, including some
25 adults, said Carlos Soria, a
professor at Lima's Catholic
University who ran Peru's park
protection agency last year.
"It seemed like they wanted
to draw a bit of attention, which
is a bit strange because I know
that on other occasions they had
attacked people," Cortijo said by
phone from Spain. "It seemed
they didn't want us to go near
them, butI also know that the
only thing that they wanted was
machetes and cooking pots."
Cortijo said the group lingered
by the river a few minutes, appar-
ently to see if a boat would pass
by so they could ask for some
tools, something authorities say
they had done in the past.
"The place where they are seen
is one of heavy transit" of river
cargo and tourist passage, and
so the potential for more violent
encounters remains high, Soria
said.
That is compounded by cul-
ture clash. The Mashco-Piro
live by their own social code,
which Soria said includes the
practice of kidnapping other
tribes' women and children.
He said the Mashco-Piro are
one of about 15 "uncontacted"
tribes in Peru that together are
estimated to number between
12,000 and 15,000 people living
in jungles east of the Andes.
"The situation is incredibly
delicate," said Huerta, the gov-
ernment anthropologist.
"It's very clear that they don't
want people there," she said
of the area where the clan has
been loitering, noting that it had
ransacked a jungle ranger's post
that authorities later removed.
One of the clan's likely fears
is being decimated by disease
borne by outsiders, as has
occurred with other uncontact-
ed peoples, Huerta said.
But its also a mystery why
they have appeared in an
area so heavily trafficked, she
added.
Attack targets
school and car in
targeted raid
SANAA, Yemen (AP) - U.S.
airstrikes targeting leaders from
Yemen's active al-Qaida branch
killed four suspected militants,
including a man suspected of
involvement in the 2000 bomb-
ing of the USS Cole, officials said
yesterday.
Missiles st'ruck a school and a
car late Monday in the southern
Abyan province, Yemeni security
and military officials said. Large
swaths of the province have fall-
en under the influence of al-Qaida
as the militants exploit a security
vacuum stemming from an upris-
ing against President Ali Abdul-
lah Saleh that began last year.
The U.S. considers the Yemen
branch of al-Qaida to be one
of the most dangerous arms of
the terrorist group. U.S. air-
craft hsve targeted al-Qaida
leaders there before, notably
killing Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.
citizen, lastyear. The U.S. rarely
comments on its air activity in
Yemen.
Al-Qaida inYemen has been
linked to several attacks target-
ing the U.S., includingthatby
the "underwear bomber" who
tried to bring down an airliner
over Detroit on Christmas two
years ago.
Tribal officials in the area said
the latest strike hit the militants
as they were holding an impor-
tant meeting at the school. Air
strikes also hit targets in the sur-
rounding mountains and a car
carrying people to the meeting
between the towns of Lauder
and Moudia. Another car on its
way to the meeting got away, the
officials said.
Yemeni security officials
originally put the death toll at
15 people but later lowered that
figure to four. They also said 12
militants were wounded in the
strikes.
H,-,.
Monday 1/30-Thursday 212
Valentine's Day Rose and Chocolate Sale
Located In Mason Hall and Chemistry Atrium
Roses: Peanut butter buckets
Red-White-Pink Truffles
1 for $4 Caramels
E for $18 Candy apples
12for $31 Chocolate oreos
Pick-up or $3for
delivery
for ordering information contact dphiephilanthropy@gmail.com
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