Citizens Speak out - 05 Apr 2011

Citizens speak out. People across Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Libya, Morocco, Oman, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen are among those who have been striving to make their voices heard with calls for greater democracy, the release of political prisoners, freedom from oppression and martial law, and better jobs and wages. To address citizens' demands for improved opportunities, Tunisia’s Finance Minister Jalloul Ayed announced a 17-point social and economic recovery program Sunday to quickly create 40,000 jobs, provide grants to the young and disadvantaged families and investment incentives in various regions. On Sunday, April 3, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appointed former Agriculture Minister Adel Safar as the new prime minister. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of protesters gathered to bury nine fellow citizens who had been killed by security forces during demonstrations Friday. Minority leaders also sent a list of demands, including calls for the release of political prisoners, the lifting of emergency and martial law, and the withdrawal of security forces from towns and cities, stating they would not call for the president to step down if these demands were quickly met. Reuters news agency also reports that photographer Khaled al-Hariri was released following six days of detention. On Sunday in Yemen, three people died and 1,700 were injured as police attacked protesters, on the same day that the nation's Parliament speaker rejected a transition plan presented by a political group as a way to peacefully advance the democratic progress. As 90,000 people gathered on Monday in the Yemeni city of Taiz, at least 11 were killed and more than 500 injured as protesters were attacked by government loyalists and police who fired tear gas and live ammunition into the crowd. Demonstrations were also held in the cities of Sanaa, Aden, Ibb and Hodeida, with witnesses reporting live fire on protesters in Hodeida. Further evidence is surfacing about Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s desire to end conflict in the country through a political settlement. The New York Times cites an interview with a Libyan diplomat who claims that two of the leader’s sons, Saif al-Islam and Saadi el-Gaddafi, have proposed that Saif oversees a caretaker government, which would lead the country to a constitutional democracy. The New York Times further reports that Colonel Gaddafi appears to be in support of the proposal. Meanwhile, Atiq al-Obeidi, father of the woman who had appealed to journalists in Tripoli to tell her story of detention and *** assault by Libyan government forces, states that his daughter is still missing, and he fears for her safety. After successfully airlifting patients from Ajdabiya, Libya, the first emergency humanitarian flight sent by Qatar landed in her capital city Doha, with a report from one of the patients that residential areas in Ajdabiya have been leveled to the ground, and no medical aid available. As violence continued to mount in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), especially in the city of Abidjan, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for all 12,000 citizens staying in the country to prepare immediately for evacuation as the French military secured control of the Abidjan airport and began bringing citizens into protected areas. With regional UN headquarters also under attack by supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused United Nations' requests to step down, the UN relocated about 200 of its essential staff in Abidjan to the northern city of Bouake. We are saddened by the loss of so many lives, as we pray for the soon end to all conflict, with harmony that prevails as people in all nations decide to live side-by-side in shared respect, freedom and peace�