Removal Of Six SLFP Ministers -The Legal Position

By Y L S Hameed –APRIL 8, 2018

Y L S Hameed

With the no confidence motion having been defeated, the new issue that has cropped up is whether the six SLFP Ministers who voted for NCM should be removed from the Cabinet. The fact that the UNP is very serious about the removal of these six Ministers is amply manifested in the handing over of a no confidence motion against them by UNP backbenchers.

The six Ministers are reported to have said that they have already written to the President expressing their willingness to step down from the Cabinet. Naturally it is unethical for them to continue in a Cabinet in which they have expressed lack of confidence.

In the meantime, the Prime Minister is said to have instructed the backbenchers to withdraw the Motion as it was not approved by the Party. All these moves seem to be manoeuvred to exert pressure on the President to agree to the removal of these Ministers since the President, it is also reported, is unwilling to remove these Ministers.

In this regard, two aspects need to be considered. One is political and the other is legal. Both the UNP and the SLFP have agreed to continue with their political marriage. President therefore has every right to insist that they continue in the Cabinet. But the question that will cry out for an answer there is how the President, being the head of the Cabinet sit with Ministers in the same Cabinet when the very Ministers have already declared their lack of confidence in it. Wouldn’t it sound ludicrous and reflect badly on the President?

The next is the legal position.

Appointment of Ministers

Article 43(2) of the Constitution ( 19th Amendment) States, “The President shall, on the advice of the Prime Minister, appoint from among Members of Parliament, Ministers, to be in charge of the Ministries……”

It is clear from the above provision that the President cannot appoint a minister on his own except on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Removal of Ministers

Article 46(3) states, A Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers, a Minister who is not a member of the Cabinet of Ministers and a Deputy Minister, shall continue to hold office throughout the period during which the Cabinet of Ministers continues to function…….. unless he-

(a) is removed from office under the hand of President on the advice of the Prime;

Here, power of removal is vested with the President. But to decide as to who should be removed is a matter not for the President but for the Prime Minister. In other words, the President cannot remove a minister on own except on the the advice of the Prime Minister.

The pivotal question here is whether the President can reject the advice tendered by the Prime Minister with regard to the removal of a minister. The president cannon do so because the only instance where the President can remove a minister is when the Prime Minister tenders such advice. Hence the President cannot have a discretion on whether to act on the advice of the Prime Minister or not.

Therefore the President is in effect a kind of non- executive president with regard to appointment and removal of Ministers after the 19th Amendment.

Read More

The ministers (serpents) lose the battle – hand over resignation letters (video)

(Lanka-e-News - 08.April.2018, 8.20PM)   The six cabinet  serpents (ministers) who while being parasitic on the good governance government and were surely but slowly destroying the good governance by resorting to all the villainies and treasons had after realizing they cannot continue in their ministerial posts any longer in the midst of the monumental opposition mounting against them from across the entire country finally handed over a letter to president Gamarala to allow them room to resign their posts, based on reports.

The six ministers are S.B. ,Susil , Dayasiri, Anura Yapa, W.D.J and Chandima .The deputy speaker had earlier on handed over his letter of resignation.

If the president Gamarala accepts the resignations , then the UNF will have to bring forward a  no confidence motion against the remaining 9 non cabinet ministers only.

Meanwhile the leaders of the civil organizations who were responsible to install the good governance government announced at a media briefing on the 6 th , stern decisions shall be taken against those who voted against the government but  are still  shamelessly clinging on to the ministerial posts like leeches under the same government .The statement made by trade union leader Saman Rathnapriya on the occasion is in the video footage hereunder 

---------------------------
by     (2018-04-08 14:56:01)

If health is put in the market, the poor will be left to die - EDITORIAL

2018-04-09

The World Health Organisation (WHO) celebrated its landmark 70th anniversary on Saturday with World Health Day events being held in almost all countries while the premier event took place at the Nelum Pokuna Hall in Colombo with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the chief guests, their relationship also being restored to a healthy level in the aftermath of the political showdown on last Wednesday. 
In a statement the WHO says at least half of the world’s population still does not have full coverage of essential health services. About 100 million people are still being pushed into extreme poverty and surviving on about Rs.300 a day because they have to pay for health care. More than 800 million people -- almost 12 percent of the world’s population -- spent at least 10 percent of their household budgets to pay for health care. All UN Member States have agreed to try to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

As for Sri Lanka, we are blessed with a free public health service where thousands of poor patients get free treatment daily though there are many shortcomings which Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne has pledged to rectify in the coming years. But in the private sector, the health service which was once revered as a vocation similar to the priesthood later became a profession and to a large extent it has become a big business or one of the biggest profit-making businesses. That is why many business magnates are investing heavily in private hospitals mainly in Colombo but also in other districts. With few if any regulations or guidelines most patients pay at least Rs. 2,000 for a five minutes consultation, expensive drugs and non essential tests are often prescribed and many middle class patients say a visit to the hospital could cost them up to Rs. 10,000. 

No doubt there are doctors who maintain high values and principles but they also are caught up in a vicious circle. While private hospitals have become multimillion profit making institutions, most medical specialists earn about Rs.100,000 a day. The vision of any health service is to give top priority to the well-being of patients but in the private health sector patients are often plundered especially when they have to be admitted to wards. 
The Health Minister has promised to introduce regulations and ensure that patients are not plundered. But little or nothing is being done. For thousands of middle class families one major illness would send the family into bankruptcy because of the huge hospital bills they are forced to pay. 
‘Sri Lanka has been a welfare state since independence with a commitment to human development during economic growth. Despite a low GNP, post independent Sri Lanka has achieved an outstanding record of improvement in many vital social and health indices compared to other countries in the South Asian Region (UNICEF, 1992). The ability to deliver successful health care on a low per capita income is attributed to the firm commitment to public support during economic growth. Life expectancy and total fertility rates are almost at par with the levels achieved by the developed nations. In the health field, the decrease in child mortality is the most commendable amongst many improvements. Frank cases of clinical under nutrition are rare. The most striking achievement in the social field is the improvement in the literacy rate, particularly the high female literacy rate... The data demonstrates that countries with much higher GNPs have performed poorly in improving the basic standards of their people’. 

The success of Sri Lanka is largely due to Universal Health Care (Free Health) and Free Education. A similar success story has been observed in the Kerala State of India too. Despite these important observations, ironically, under the guise of promoting ‘Free Trade’, there is a global move to destroy Universal Health Care and Universal Education (two vital public services) and privatise free health and free education by putting health and education on the market. This will lead to grave, negative health and social implications. 

Gaming politics

Sanjana Hattotuwa-April 7, 2018, 10:02 pm 

Asanga Welikala, writing last week on the high-drama around the No Confidence Motion and its fallout, avers that "With hopes crushed and expectations laid low by exactly the substandard culture of parochial politics that the majority of Sri Lankans uniting across ethnic and religious divides hoped to fundamentally change in that nation-building moment of 2015, we now have a Government that is in office but not in power. As was seen in the local government elections, the electorate will punish the self-indulgence of division and in-fighting within government."

Two points stand out in that excerpt. The fact that we now have a PM who clearly no longer controls, directly or through coalition congruence, all of government. There are many visible manifestations of this just last week, but the problem is longer in the making – the inevitable consequence of an insecure, myopic, self-centred President seeking the security of office even to the extent of reneging promises, and as Welikala flags, the unwillingness and inability of the PM and UNP to go about what was expected of them after January 2015.

The other point about electoral pushback and verdict is an interesting one, pegged to the result of the local government election in early February, projected into the future. Humour me. In last week’s column, I flagged the possibility, going by what happened in Digana alone, that Sri Lanka’s intelligence services may well have personal allegiances to those outside of government that impacts their professional assessment, analysis and reporting. A government that isn’t pre-warned, or is blind-sided by violence clearly engineered by a few, is one that cannot then take measures to contain, control, mitigate or prevent. Worse, as CCTV evidence indicates, elements of the Army and Police are openly in favour of and participating in the violence. We then have strikes, hitting Colombo’s traffic choke points, close to or during rush hour. This is all amplified online.

During Digana, accounts on Twitter took to the production of content with no basis in fact, which was then spread wider by other accounts – a network effect that results in the spread of misinformation. Closer observers of the violence in Aluthgama did not see anything remotely akin to this. In 2014, Twitter and social media in general was the means through which the violence on the ground was reported to the world, at a time when mainstream media was largely barred from capturing the extent of it. These vectors are now weaponised to fulfil the aims of those who inflict physical harm. This is done in two ways. One, by the production, spread and engagement with content that is geared to inflame and incite. Two, by latching on to individuals and institutions providing timely updates, eye witness accounts, factual reporting and insight - attacking them as agents of violence or its promotion. This is achieved by individuals, using pseudonyms and in vast numbers, as well as by automated accounts, engineered to spread and amplify the output of those who want to clamp down on inconvenient truths. The net effect is that the information most vital to be heard, seen or acted upon, becomes lost or hard to find – this is sometimes called the signal to noise ratio. With just too much of noise, it becomes hard to tune into to the signals that provide trusted information or updates. It has, also over the longer term, a more disturbing impact.

By making the news and information landscape toxic, it results in distrust and scepticism of all news and media. This works in favour of those promoting misinformation, because in the absence of media or information literacy, those who push out the most amount of content are often the architects of what is consumed. Think of it like a flood, controlled by those who want to overwhelm rivulets of vital reporting. The smaller flows of information are overwhelmed and subsumed by a much larger, faster moving body of content. This makes it possible to construct new and often false realities, by misguiding or misdirecting the attention and energies of a young demographic whose window to the world, and politics, is primarily social media.

This is why something that went unreported by any mainstream media – the unprecedented growth of fake accounts on Twitter over just the past week – is important to flag. The fake accounts mostly featured Muslim, Tamil and Sinhala names. Some had names that were more Western. Many of the profiles had images stolen from others, including notably, one that was taken from Indian cricketing star Virat Kohli’s Facebook page. Others have images of young girls, often Caucasian. Most of the accounts were created in March, and haven’t tweeted even once, though they often follow hundreds of accounts.

Academic Raymond Serrato from the outfit Democracy Reporting International recorded around 4,800 accounts created during the time the violence in Digana was raging on the ground. Some of those accounts tweeted (which included the re-tweeting of content first published by others) over 5,000 times. Two factors are noteworthy here. The age of the accounts and the sheer volume of content production. Think of it like a crèche, with thousands of babies all crying loudly and at the same time for attention. In the same space we have a few more mature voices trying to be heard above the din, with something important to say. It is not a scenario with odds stacked in their favour.

This is precisely what the weaponisation of social media does to public discourse, especially around ethno-political emergencies and within fragile democracies. It is also what can over the longer term be engineered to influence, by the production of content aiming to disrupt, deny or decry through great volume and repetition, the thinking and perception of an electorate over certain issues, individuals, institutions or processes. Buying this sort of influence through fake accounts on social media isn’t hard. Companies sell it for less than fifty US dollars. Combining it with older, well-proven strategies like strikes, demonstrations that can be engineered to result in violence, real world disruption and mainstream media propaganda isn’t that much harder either. The visible physical manifestations of breakdowns in governance leads to venting online, and engaging with angry fellow citizens over social media leads to greater impatience with and anger towards the incumbent government. It is a vicious cycle, with legitimate grievances exploited by a few for the parochial, partisan pursuit of power.

This is, in a sense, a new dynamic within an old problem. Welikala’s submission around the electoral response to division and in-fighting in government is not a new political phenomenon, and arguably is an enduring feature of any coalition government in its sunset phase. What’s new here – what we will see more of but today understand little around, what will be used against us but we aren’t prepared to critically discern or respond to – is the subtle, sustained manipulation of perceptions. There is no quick fix. Studies show that misinformation and falsehood travels, by order of magnitude, faster, farther and wider than fact, or content that seeks to correct misinformation in the public domain. Picking on and exacerbating existing socio-political, communal, ethnic, religious and economic fault lines in society, these sophisticated disruption blueprints will undermine trust and faith in government. All roads lead to authoritarianism as a better form of government. As the New York Times recently flagged around Putin in Russia, the exercise of power and control from one central authority is deemed preferable by many to the paralysis and visible lack of progress when democratic institutions or governance is entrusted with reform.

The spectrum of disruption noted here and much more besides, from the physical to the digital, will have lasting effects on our society and politics. My fear is that those who cheer on and support pioneering architects of all this today are starting down a path that can only end up in a form of government that is deeply insecure about the very means through which it came to power. This insecurity has political and institutional manifestations we are all acutely familiar with from 2005 to 2015. My fear is thus not just the return of who was once in power. It is about what kind of politics, public discourse, electorate and government we invest in, inherit and inhabit moving forward, no matter which party or politician we vote for.

Ammunition found on a mattress at temple in Bibila

By Yusuf Ariff-April 9, 2018

Thirty bullets of a T-56 assault rifle have been discovered on top of a mattress in the abode at a Buddhist temple in Maligathenna within the Bibila police division.

Police said that the abode of the temple has been closed down for the past one month or so and that temple has also been closed due to the absence of Buddhist monks at the temple.

Police had discovered the ammunition, based on information received.

Police suspect that the location had been used by certain individuals to plan some sort of premeditated crime.

A special investigation has been launched to arrest any suspects involved, Bibila Police said. 

Customs seize Rs.1Mn worth illicit fags and cardamom at BIA

2018-04-08

Two local traders who attempted to smuggle in a stock of illegal cigarettes and cardamom worth over Rs.1 million was intercepted by the Customs officials at the Bandaranaike International Airport this morning.

The two Sri Lankans who were returning from Dubai after a short visit had reportedly arrived at the country on FlyDubai flight FZ 547 around 6.30a.m.

Customs Spokesman Deputy Director Sunil Jayaratne told the Daily Mirror, that the men were stopped and searched on suspicion at the arrival lounge and recovered the contraband being concealed in their baggage.

The sleuths recovered 112 cartons and several more single packets of Dubai brand of ‘Gold Leaf’ containing 28,160 sticks of cigarettes, of which, the sale and importation to Sri Lanka was strictly prohibited.

They also found 30 kilos of cardamom in the baggage which had been brought along without an Import License.

MrJayaratne said a special license was required to obtain from the Department of Agriculture to import a speciality crop such as cardamom to Sri Lanka as it was widely grown here.

“Even the license to import cardamom is issued on special grounds, such as research material or to meet a severe shortage within the local industry, which is highly unlikely,” DDC Jayaratne said.

However, the Customs suspected that the passengers had attempted to smuggle in the cardamom as its local price was fairly high as a speciality spice. “In some countries like Turkey and India the cost of cardamom is relatively low and the market prices too are very low,” he said.

The seized goods had been valued at Rs.1, 020, 000 and the case had been detected by Assistant Superintendent of Customs G. B. C. Bandara.

Deputy Director of Customs Darshana Silva conducted the inquiry and released the two traders aged 33 and 41 respectively from Kotugoda and Kurunegala on a penalty of Rs.150, 000.

The contraband were forfeited by the Customs. (Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana)

International Criminal Court prosecutor calls for end to violence in Gaza

Palestinian demonstrators shout during clashes with Israeli troops at a protest demanding the right to return to their homeland, at the Israel-Gaza border east of Gaza City, April 6, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

APRIL 8, 2018 

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Sunday called for an end to violence in the Gaza Strip, adding the Palestinian territories were subject to a preliminary examination by her office and she was monitoring events there closely.

Following the deaths of 29 Palestinians in protest clashes with Israeli forces in the past two weeks, Fatou Bensouda said in a statement “any new alleged crime committed in the context of the situation in Palestine may be subjected to my Office’s scrutiny”.

The ICC prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation into alleged crimes committed in occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, in January 2015, after Palestine was officially admitted as a member of the court.

 

Israel is not a member of the court but if Israeli citizens commit war crimes or crimes against humanity on the territory of a member state they could fall under the ICC’s jurisdiction.

“Violence against civilians - in a situation such as the one prevailing in Gaza – could constitute crimes ... as could the use of civilian presence for the purpose of shielding military activities,” Bensouda said.

Bensouda said she would record “any instance of incitement or resort to unlawful force” by either side in the conflict.

A preliminary examination is the earliest phase of a case at the ICC. In it, the prosecutor gathers information and studies whether crimes may have been committed that reach the level of gravity required to open a formal investigation, and whether the court would have jurisdiction.

 

Slideshow (2 Images)

The ICC only has jurisdiction in cases where a country’s government is itself unable or unwilling to prosecute war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Andrew Roche

Irish students, teachers vote for solidarity with Palestine

The Union of Students in Ireland voted to boycott Israeli institutions. (Union of Students in Ireland)

Nora Barrows-Friedman-7 April 2018

Condemning Israel’s “brutal” military occupation and grave human rights abuses, the Union of Students in Ireland voted to join the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian rights.

The union, which represents approximately 374,000 students in higher education across the country, resolved to boycott Israeli institutions which are “complicit in normalizing, providing intellectual cover for and supporting settler-colonialism” and to lobby Irish universities to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s rights violations.

It also affirmed the right of return for Palestinian refugees expelled by Israel and declared that the BDS campaign “is a strategy for effective solidarity, not a dogma or ideology and certainly not an attack upon Jewish communities or individuals.”

“The students of Ireland have today made the historic decision to support the people of Palestine,” said Michael Kerrigan, president of the Union of Students in Ireland.

View image on Twitter

Union Of Students In Ireland

✔@TheUSI

Students vote overwhelmingly to support justice and human rights for Palestine by backing BDS campaign #USI18

6:38 AM - Apr 5, 2018

• 959
• 549 people are talking about this

The same week INTO – the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation – the largest teachers union in Ireland – unanimously adopted a motion calling on the union to address Israel’s human rights abuses against Palestinian children and to develop solidarity with Palestinian schools, teachers and trade unions.

The motion also mandates union leaders to “raise the issues of the treatment of Palestinian children with the relevant government departments.”

Dorothy McGinley, chair of the union’s Northern Committee, told conference attendees about the abuse of Palestinian children detained inside Israel’s military jails, as well as Israel’s destruction of Palestinian schools and attempts to force an Israeli curriculum in Palestinian schools in occupied East Jerusalem.

Last month, students at Trinity College Dublin voted overwhelmingly to direct the student union to adopt a “long-term policy” on Palestine in support of the BDS campaign.

Ireland has a long history of international solidarity. More than 30 years ago, Irish supermarket workers famously went on strike in support of colleagues disciplined for refusing to handle goods from apartheid South Africa.

Italian students condemn Israeli apartheid

Students leaders at the University of Pisa in Italy also adopted a motion in a near-unanimous vote last month calling for attention by the academic community toward Israel’s apartheid policies and to support the academic boycott campaign.

“We believe that universities and educational institutions should not be used to legitimize regimes such as Israel, where the fundamental rights of human beings are being trampled,” the students say.

“This is why we asked the University of Pisa to condemn this regime and reject any contracts with Israeli universities which are committed to supporting the state of apartheid imposed on the Palestinian territories,” they add.

The Pisa students noted similar campaigns in support of the BDS movement at US universities.

US divestment campaigns grow

In New York, students at the City University of New York (CUNY) have launched a divestment campaign calling on the public university system to adopt a socially responsible investment policy and dump holdings in corporations that profit from Israel’s human rights abuses.

Meanwhile, a union representing faculty working in the second-largest community college district in California passed a resolution last month backing divestment by their pension fund.

The faculty board of the Los Rios College Federation of Teachers voted nearly unanimously to urge divestment from Caterpillar, which provides equipment to the Israeli military to demolish Palestinian homes and land; and from G4S, which has helped operate Israeli prisons where Palestinians are tortured and has managed juvenile prisons, detention and deportation facilities in the US and UK.

The resolution also urges its parent union, the California Federation of Teachers, to pass a similar divestment resolution.

The resolution “reflects putting actions into practice,” said Alexander Peshkoff, a professor at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento who introduced the resolution. Peshkoff is a board member of the Los Rios College Federation.

Though he acknowledged the “uphill battle” the federation’s resolution could have as it faces resistance from its state and national affiliates, Peshkoff said that its overwhelming support by his colleagues reflects growing solidarity with Palestinian rights on US campuses.

“Unions in 2018 have to be what they have historically been, which are the partners for movements of equality and movements of championing the rights of people,” he told The Electronic Intifada.

UC Divest campaign launches

Also in California, students across the University of California system recently launched a campaign to call on the Regents, the UC’s governing body, to divest its funds from more than a dozen corporations which profit from Israel’s human rights violations.

Since 2012, eight out of the nine undergraduate campuses of the University of California have passed divestment resolutions, as has the UC Students Association, which represents all undergraduate students, as well as UAW 2865, the union representing graduate student workers.

“But [the UC] has done nothing to divest from companies that are complicit with and profit from human rights abuses in Palestine,” Robert Gardner, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA, told The Electronic Intifada.

In 2014, the UC became a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment, a United Nations initiative.

Students note that by continuing to have holdings in corporations that profit from Israel’s occupation, the UC is in violation of its own investment policies.

Student activists launched the UC Divest campaign to coincide with last month’s meeting of the UC Regents, which took place at UCLA.

Gardner said that hundreds of students and UC workers rallied outside the meeting, demanding labor rights, protesting tuition hikes and calling for divestment.

Students and workers from across the State stand in solidarity against tuition hikes, budget cuts, and the Regents continuation of investing in companies that violate Palestinian human rights at the hands of Israel’s war crimes and racial hierarchy. #UCDivest #NotMyTuitonDollars pic.twitter.com/LvTmKUh6QX

— UC Divest (@UCDivest) 14 March 2018

UC Divest@UCDivest

Students and workers from across the State stand in solidarity against tuition hikes, budget cuts, and the Regents continuation of investing in companies that violate Palestinian human rights at the hands of Israel’s war crimes and racial hierarchy. #UCDivest #NotMyTuitonDollars

7:11 PM - Mar 14, 2018

• 186
• 174 people are talking about this

“We’re coming together to hold the UC accountable for ignoring the voices of thousands of students and workers across the [system],” Gardner told The Electronic Intifada.

The challenge now, members of Students for Justice in Palestine said, is to “persuade the unelected body of UC Regents to heed the voices of the UC system and act to support human rights.”
Gardner said that the University of California’s historic dismissal of student demands in support of Palestinian rights echoes its reluctance in the 1980s to join the growing calls for divestment from apartheid South Africa.

The Regents were as antagonistic toward student demands to divest from South Africa as they are now against Israel, he said.

“But direct actions eventually pressured the Regents to divest in 1986,” he noted.

“We’re trying to create that movement again.”

EXCLUSIVE: Morocco threatens Algeria with intervention in Western Sahara

Diplomatic sources say Morocco would use military force against Sahrawi separatists if they did not withdraw from a disputed area

A soldier of the Sahrawi army during a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, 26 February 2016 (AFP)

Nefis Khider-Saturday 7 April 2018

ALGIERS - Morocco has informed Algiers through diplomatic channels that it will intervene militarily in Western Sahara if Sahrawi forces do not withdraw from the area east of the defensive wall, an Algerian diplomatic source told the Middle East Eye.

According to the source, Rabat used the ambassador of a European country as an intermediary in Algiers to deliver the message.

On Sunday, Morocco alerted the UN Security Council following incursions by the Polisario Front into the northeastern Western Sahara town of Mahbes, in violation of the 1991 military agreement setting up a buffer zone.

This week, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita handed a letter from King Mohammed VI to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, expressing "the firm and determined rejection of these unacceptable provocations and incursions".  

While the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) denied these allegations, stating that "no movement of military elements" had been observed in this area, Morocco countered these claims on Wednesday evening by presenting to the UN satellite photos showing the progress of construction in Tifariti and Bir Lahlou areas. 

Morocco's hidden objective is to change the nature of the Sahrawi question, to transform it from a question of sovereignty over a territory to a question of refugees. And to tell the UN the Polisario Front is an Algerian fiction

- Algerian security source

Unlike Al Mahbes, these two towns are not in the buffer zone, which is limited to the five kilometre belt along the security wall - often referred to as the "sand wall" or the "Berm" - that runs practically the length of Western Sahara a varying distance west of its borders of Mauritania and Algeria.

The Polisario Front describes the entire territory east of the wall, which includes Tifariti and Bir Lahlou, as a "liberated area". Morocco describes this territory as a "buffer zone".

The UN does not validate any of these definitions and refers to the Moroccan zone as "west of the Berm," and the Polisario-controlled zone as "east of the Berm".

'A decolonization issue'

The presence of the Polisario Front in Tifariti and Bir Lahlou is not new. In August 1991, shortly before the ceasefire, the Moroccan air force bombed Tifariti as engineering elements of the Polisario Front began construction work. The bombings caused the death of dozens of Sahrawi civilians and soldiers, as well as the loss of two Moroccan fighter jets. The occupation of this locality is therefore of great political, historical and emotional value for the Polisario Front.

As for Bir Lahlou, wich houses several buildings and structures, it is there that the Polisario Front wants to transfer its presidency. 

For several years, Morocco has been indignant from time to time about the occupation of these two localities. The more or less unprecedented event - which visibly motivated the Moroccan reaction - was the incursion of the Polisario Front into the UN-monitored buffer zone of Al Mahbes on Thursday 29 March.

Morocco has seized the opportunity to restate its demand that the Polisario Front withdraw from the territory east of the security wall.

Horst Köhler, the UN special envoy to Western Sahara, arrives at Aousserd camp on 18 October 2017 (AFP)

The Algerian foreign minister, Abdelkader Messahel, "refused to comment on the Moroccan intention expressed by this ambassador and even considered that it had no value," the diplomatic source told MEE. 

"First, because Algeria has a diplomatic relationship with Morocco. It would have been preferable if Morocco had conveyed the message via its ambassador in Algiers, or via the Moroccan foreign minister - not via a third state. Secondly, because Algiers does not consider itself a stakeholder."

For Algiers, the Western Sahara conflict is a "decolonization issue," an Algerian diplomatic source told the APS, the official news agency, while stressing that Algeria has "a duty of solidarity with the Sahrawi people for the exercise of their legitimate rights".

The Algerian authorities "take Morocco's threats very seriously and are studying all possibilities," the Algerian diplomatic source told MEE, including a possible confrontation between the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces (FAR) and the forces of the Polisario Front.

'A dangerous step'

The source refuted Morocco's accusations and described Rabat's verbal escalation as "a dangerous move to undermine the UN's efforts to revive the peace process". 

On Monday, Brahim Ghali, the Sahrawi president, declared that the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army (SPLA) was ready "to respond forcefully to any attempt by the Moroccan occupation to undermine the liberated territories or change the status put in place following the ceasefire signed in 1991".

According to an Algerian security source, Morocco is not seeking to start a war, just to change "the rules of engagement".

"Since the ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front, it has been accepted that the Polisario Front is free to move to areas not controlled by Moroccans. And that's what Rabat wants to change", he told MEE.

"Through military intervention, Morocco wants to recover the buffer zone and the liberated areas to say that they no longer exist, and that there's only a Moroccan territory. The aim is to drive the Sahrawi forces out of the liberated areas under the control of the Polisario and impose a new state of affairs," he said.

"Morocco's hidden objective is to change the nature of the Sahrawi question, to transform it from a question of sovereignty over a territory to a question of refugees. And to tell the UN the Polisario Front is an Algerian fiction. Proof: it does not exist on Moroccan territory". 

Morocco's refusal to allow the Polisario Front to normalise its presence in these territories, which the Front considers "liberated territories," is explained by the fact that, for the kingdom, this zone is not built as a border between the territory controlled and administered by Morocco and that controlled by the Front.

For Morocco, acceptance of this situation would imply that the Polisario Front has a border, and therefore a territory to the east of the wall. 

According to a confidential note from Moroccan diplomacy, leaked in 2014, Morocco believes that behind the occupation of this territory by the Polisario Front "the objective is to move the Polisario from the situation of an armed group in exile to a situation where its territorial establishment would not only be a fait accompli, but also a legally recognized political reality". 

Parade of soldiers of the Polisario Front, in 2011, on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the creation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (AFP)

The Algerian diplomatic source said he "does not believe at all" there would be direct war between Algeria and Morocco.

"Moroccans are aware that this kind of confrontation could be catastrophic for the stability of the entire region," he said.

For Akram Kharief, founder of the website menadefense.net, the balance of power would be clearly in favour of Algerians.

"Morocco and Algeria have about the same number of men, about 150,000. The Moroccan army is a professional army - unlike the Algerian army, which is an army of conscripts - and on paper is therefore better trained," he told MEE.

"But in practice, Algerians are equipped with tanks, armoured vehicles, guns ... much larger and more modern. Algeria's air forces are also larger and better equipped."

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which analyses arms transfers, highlighted in its 2017 report how Morocco ranks far behind Algeria in terms of military power.

However, the security source did not rule out a military confrontation between Moroccan forces and the Polisario Front, "which could break out at any moment".

"And in this case, we must be clear: Algeria will ensure, through a qualitative supply of armament, such as anti-armour rockets, that a defeat of the Sahrawis is impossible."

Dozens killed in apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians in Syria, rescue workers say

 Syrian doctors and rescue workers reported on April 7 that dozens of people had died in an apparent chemical attack in Douma in eastern Ghouta. (Reuters)

By Louisa Loveluck and Erin Cunningham April 8 at 9:13 AM

ISTANBUL — Syrian doctors and rescue workers said Sunday that dozens of people had died in an apparent chemical attack on a besieged enclave near Damascus as government forces escalated their offensive to recapture one of the last rebel strongholds near the capital.

At least 40 people were killed Saturday evening in the attack in Douma in Eastern Ghouta, about 12 miles from Damascus, according to the Syrian-American Medical Society (SAMS), a Washington-based nonprofit group that supports health facilities in the area.

More than 500 people “were brought to local medical centers with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent,” SAMS said in a joint statement with the opposition-linked Syria Civil Defense, a group of first responders. The patients showed signs of respiratory distress, with many foaming at the mouth and emitting a “chlorine-like odor,” they said.

[Trump administration: Syria probably continuing to make, use chemical weapons]

President Trump responded to the attack Sunday morning on Twitter.

In a series of tweets on the morning of April 8, President Trump condemned an apparent chemical attack near Damascus on April 7. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

“Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria,” he said. “Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world. President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price ...”
Regarding a possible U.S. response, White House homeland security and counterterrorism adviser Thomas Bossert said, “I wouldn’t take anything off the table.”

“We’re looking into the attack,” he said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” set to air Sunday.
Syrian state media denied government involvement. Russia’s Foreign Ministry also dismissed claims that Syrian troops were responsible. Russia is a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The allegations are “without basis” and are “designed to shield the terrorists . . . who reject a political settlement,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Earlier, the State Department singled out the Syrian and Russian governments, saying they “must be held accountable.” Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert described the reports from Eastern Douma as “disturbing and “horrifying,” saying they required an “immediate response by the international community.”

Multiple reports, including from rescue workers and the State Department, said the initial attack targeted a hospital. The chemicals then spread to surrounding residential areas, they said. It was unclear, however, what type of chemicals may have been used

This image released by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, shows a child receiving oxygen through respirators following an alleged poison gas attack in the rebel-held town of Douma, near Damascus, Syria. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets/AP)

A representative for the United Nations said that Secretary General António Guterres was “particularly alarmed by allegations that chemical weapons have been used against civilian populations in Douma” but that the United Nations was “not in a position to verify these reports.”

Syrian doctors and rescue workers on Sunday shared with journalists graphic images of men, women and children who they said had been killed or wounded in the attack.

“We tried to send people to the area to rescue the injured, but even the rescue workers began suffocating,” said Mohamed Samer, a medical worker in Douma.

Some of the footage showed piles of bodies inside homes or slumped in concrete stairwells, foam visible on their noses and mouths. In other videos, civilians are shown streaming onto a chaotic field clinic where workers are attempting to treat those affected, including an ashen-faced man who appeared to convulse.

[North Korea is quietly increasing aid to Syria’s chemical, missile programs, U.N. says]

Many of the images recalled earlier chemical weapons attacks on civilians in Syria, including those involving the nerve agent sarin. A year ago, nearly 100 people were killed in a sarin attack in the northern town of Khan Sheikhounthat the United Nations has blamed on the Syrian air force. In 2013, also in Eastern Ghouta, a sarin attack killed more than 1,000 people — an event that prompted then-President Barack Obama to threaten military action against the Syrian government.

SAMS and the Syria Civil Defense reported Sunday that at least one woman had convulsions and constricted pupils, which experts say indicate possible exposure to a nerve agent.

More than 1,700 people have been killed in Eastern Ghouta, of which Douma is the largest city, since the Syrian army and allied Russian forces began a punishing assault in February to rout rebels from the area.

A U.N. Security Council resolution failed to quell the fighting, and over the past month, more than 130,000 Syrians have left Eastern Ghouta as part of evacuation deals between rebels and government forces, the United Nations said.

As many as 150,000 people remain in Douma, where the humanitarian situation is “severe” and food commodities are “in short supply,” according to the U.N. Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

March 15 was the last time an aid convoy reached Douma.

The latest attack, however, comes after a temporary cease-fire collapsed between the opposition Jaish al-Islam group and pro-government forces. The two sides reportedly could not agree on conditions for the disarmament and evacuation of opposition fighters. On Sunday, state TV announced that a deal had been reached to evacuate all fighters to northern Syria, where much of the opposition remains in control.

Since Friday, the government has intensified its air and artillery strikes on Douma, killing civilians and destroying and damaging civilian infrastructure, the United Nations said. Rescue workers and local activists said government bombardment had left scores dead.

In response, Jaish al-Islam has launched volleys of rockets into densely populated Damascus districts, killing or maiming residents.

“I am living the toughest moments of my life,” said one medical worker in Douma, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for security reasons. He said the bombardment has been so intense in recent days that he has been unable to reach his family in Douma.

“Everyone is too scared to go out,” he said.

A victory for government forces in Douma would deal a significant blow to the armed rebellion against Assad, whose government has wielded brutal force to snuff out a years-long uprising.

Eastern Ghouta was one of the first areas near Damascus to revolt in 2011.

Suzan Haidamous and Asma Ajroudi in Beirut, Amie Ferris-Rotman in Moscow and Jenna Johnson in Washington contributed to this report.