Somalis Skeptical of Peace 'Under Occupation'

By Alisha Ryu Mogadishu 14 June 2007

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One day after Somalia's interim government postponed a national reconciliation conference for the third time in three months, some residents of Mogadishu are expressing doubt the conference can be held while Ethiopian troops are in the country. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu in Mogadishu reports that a late-night gun battle Wednesday between Ethiopian troops and insurgents in south Mogadishu has caused more people to flee their homes.

Just hours after Somalia's national reconciliation committee announced a month-long delay in peace talks, insurgents in the capital demonstrated why bringing Somalis together is proving to be a struggle for the interim government.

Ethiopian troops patrol the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, 4 June 2007

An unknown number of insurgents simultaneously attacked at least three Ethiopian positions in south Mogadishu with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. The Ethiopians returned fire, sparking an intense half-hour battle in the streets.

Some homes around the area appeared to have been abandoned overnight. Residents tell VOA that some people, who returned to their homes in recent weeks, have fled the city again, fearing the start of another round of fighting.

An Ethiopia-led security sweep of the city in March and April killed more than 1,500 people and displaced nearly a fifth of Mogadishu's two million residents.

Ali Mohamed Hussein, 42, works as a private security guard in south Mogadishu. He says most insurgents, including Islamist fighters, are Somalis who belong to the locally-dominant Hawiye clan.

Hussein says many clan members oppose the government because it is being protected by Ethiopian troops and is forcing Somalis to live under an occupying force. He says the government has also shown little willingness to reconcile with its perceived enemies.

Hole left by an Ethiopian tank shell in a Mogadishu building (May 2007)

Hussein says Wednesday's violence shows there is still no peace or stability in the city. He says he does not believe the government can hold a reconciliation conference while some Hawiyes, such as the Islamists, are excluded from the talks and Ethiopians are still in the country.

In another part of the city, truck driver Hassan Abdi Farah, 20, predicts the conference will be postponed indefinitely.

Farah says he is certain the peace talks will not take place in the near future because even the Hawiye clan is divided and unable to agree on anything. He says he believes the only way to bring peace to the country is for the elders of the sub-clans to unite and for Ethiopians to leave Somalia immediately.

Ugandan peacekeepers on patrol in Mogadishu (May 2007)

Ethiopia says it does not want its troops to stay in Somalia, but that it cannot leave before a full force of African Union peacekeepers replaces its soldiers.

The African Union has committed to sending 8,000 troops, but so far it has only 1,400 troops from Uganda on the ground in the Somali capital.

Macau Bank Transfers North Korean Funds

By Kurt Achin Seoul 14 June 2007

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A Chinese official in Macau confirms North Korean funds have been transferred out of a bank there, en route to Pyongyang. The transfer removes a major obstacle in getting Pyongyang to fulfill its promise to begin dismantling its nuclear programs. As VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul, the banking breakthrough coincides with a South Korean announcement of emergency food assistance for the North.

A man talks on a mobile phone in front of the headquarters of Banco Delta Asia in Macau, March 2007 file photo

Macau Secretary of Finance and Economy, Francis Tam, says that most of the North Korean money at the heart of a protracted banking dispute had been transferred out of a bank in the former Portuguese colony.

Tam says Macau's Banco Delta Asia remitted more than $20 million according to the instructions of a North Korean client.

Tam did not reveal the precise path of the funds. South Korean and Japanese media report the funds would be processed through the U.S. Federal Reserve and the central bank of Russia to a North Korean account in a Russian bank.

About $25 million in North Korean funds were frozen at Macau's Banco Delta Asia, after the United States Treasury said in 2005 the bank was involved in illegal activities, such as money laundering. Although the United States removed its objection to returning the money to the North, no bank had been willing to handle the transfer for fear of jeopardizing relations with the U.S. banking system.

North Korea has blamed the transfer delay for its refusal to meet a deadline for shutting down its main nuclear-production facility. The mid-April deadline was the first phase in a multi-national agreement made with North Korea in February in Beijing aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons capabilities.

South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung speaks to media in Seoul, 14 June 2007

In Seoul, Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung announced South Korea would send more than 30,000 tons of emergency corn, wheat, and beans to North Korea via the U.N. World Food Program.

Lee says the action is appropriate given North Korea's situation, and the South's role as a responsible member of international society.

World Food Program officials say the economically isolated North faces some of its most severe food shortages since the mid-1990s, when it suffered widespread famine.

South Korea said it has delayed delivery a much larger shipment of rice until Pyongyang lives up to its February agreement promises.

Christopher Hill (file photo)

More details about the state of that agreement may emerge Friday, when the chief U.S. nuclear negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, arrives in Mongolia. Hill is also due to make stops in Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo.

It remains to be seen whether resolving the bank issue will be enough to persuade North Korea to take action on its nuclear program. Experts say that will depend on whether Pyongyang feels it has the full access to the international banking system, which it feels it deserves.

Angry Mourners Bury Slain Lebanese Lawmaker

By Challiss McDonough Cairo 14 June 2007

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Thousands of angry mourners have attended the funeral of Lebanese lawmaker Walid Eido, who was killed along with nine others in a car bombing Wednesday. VOA's Challiss McDonough has more from our Middle East bureau in Cairo.

Funeral procession of Walid Eido in Beirut, 14 Jun 2007

Several thousand mourners chanted anti-Syrian slogans as lawmaker Walid Eido's coffin was carried toward the cemetery.

A large car bomb Wednesday killed Eido, his son Khaled and eight other people. It was the sixth and largest bombing in or near the Lebanese capital in the last month.

Walid Eido was the seventh prominent anti-Syrian figure to be assassinated in Lebanon since the beginning of 2005, when former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others were killed by another massive car bomb.

Lebanese lawmaker Walid Eido (2006 photo)

Eido was chairman of the parliamentary defense committee and a member of the anti-Syrian March 14th movement led by Hariri's son, Saad.

At the funeral, Saad Hariri called the killers "criminals."

He says the killers will be dragged to prison, dragged to justice, God willing. He says then Lebanon will have justice, and Walid Eido and his son will be the nation's martyrs.

A new U.N. Security Council resolution went into effect three days ago establishing an international tribunal for suspects in the Hariri assassination. Syria and its allies in Lebanon oppose the court, and the issue has been at the center of a political deadlock that has all but shut down Lebanese politics since November.

Hundreds of mostly pro-Syrian opposition activists have been camped outside the prime minister's office in an open-ended protest. The opposition has been calling for a new government for more than six months, ever since six pro-Syrian cabinet ministers resigned, including all of the Shi'ites.

Opposition leaders deny their protests are related to the tribunal, but most analysts say the international court is the key issue behind both the cabinet walkout and the street demonstrations.

Scene of Beirut bomb attack that killed Walid Eido, 13 Jun 2007

Syria has condemned the attack that killed Walid Eido and has also denied responsibility for it. The foreign ministry called it a "criminal attack" aimed at damaging Lebanon's security and stability as well as discrediting Syria.

The anti-Syrian March 14 group currently holds a narrow majority in Lebanon's parliament. Several key members, including Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, say the most recent assassinations are an effort to cut down their parliamentary majority.

Lebanon's pro-Syrian President, Emile Lahoud, has refused to call a by-election to replace the last slain lawmaker, Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, who was shot to death in November.

Lebanon has also been rocked over the last month by ongoing clashes between the army and heavily armed Sunni Muslim militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in the north. The group, Fatah al-Islam, is inspired by al-Qaida and has threatened to take the battle outside the camp.

VOASE0614_Economics Report

14 June 2007

Climate Change and the Group of 8 ... and China
G8 leaders agreed in Germany to "consider seriously" making sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. But China says no to targets, at least for now.

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Leaders at the Group of Eight meeting last week in Heiligendamm, Germany,

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany

discussed issues including climate change and aid to Africa. The eight nations represent almost two-thirds of the world economy. They are Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel failed to get them all to accept a goal to limit temperature increases this century to two degrees Celsius. But earlier, President Bush announced a policy change. He said the United States will support an effort to negotiate a new agreement on climate policy before two thousand nine. He proposed a conference of the major producers of greenhouse gases.

The current agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, ends in two thousand twelve. The United States rejected it for economic reasons. The treaty requires industrial countries, but not developing ones, to reduce greenhouse gases linked to climate change.

China, for example, is the second largest producer of heat-trapping gases. Experts say it could top the United States within two years.

Last week, China released its first plan to deal with climate change. China aims to reduce energy use. But the plan does not include targets for reducing greenhouse gases.

China says industrial nations were mostly responsible for the current problem as they burned unlimited amounts of oil, gas and coal. It says asking developing countries to lower their emissions too early will hurt their development.

The eight leaders agreed to "consider seriously" the decisions by the European Union, Canada and Japan to cut global emissions in half by two thousand fifty. Chancellor Merkel, the current G-Eight president, said she was "very, very satisfied" with the agreement. But she noted it was a compromise.

The G-Eight leaders also promised sixty billion dollars in "the coming years" to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa. The amount includes thirty billion dollars, over five years, that President Bush has asked Congress for. But some activists criticized the G-Eight offer as short on details and short of promises made two years ago to improve African health systems.

Also at this year's meeting, the G-Eight established a process for high-level economic talks with Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. The aim is to produce results within two years.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOASE0614_American Mosaic

14 June 2007

No More 'Star Wars' Movies, but the Makers Try to Keep Force With Them
Also: a question from Iran about the failed Whiskey Rebellion in early American history. And songs from the musical ''Spring Awakening,'' which just won eight Tony Awards.

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:

We answer a question from a listener about a failed rebellion in American history …

Play music from an award winning Broadway play ...

And report about the anniversary of the movie "Star Wars."

Star Wars

(MUSIC)

On May twenty-fifth, nineteen seventy-seven, a science fiction movie called "Star Wars" opened in thirty-two theaters in the United States. It was about the struggle between good and evil in a strange and different universe. By the end of that year "Star Wars" became the most successful film in American history.

Five more "Star Wars" films would be released. They would become one of the most successful movie series of all time. Faith Lapidus tells us about some of the continuing "Star Wars" anniversary celebrations.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Many events took place on the anniversary of the release of the first "Star Wars" movie. Movie fans met at a special convention in Los Angeles, California. The United States Post Office released stamps showing fifteen different pictures from the movies. American television shows presented new information about the making of the "Star Wars" series. And newspapers wrote about the continuing popularity of "Star Wars" and its creator, George Lucas.

Millions of people all over the world love "Star Wars" and its characters -- Princess Leia, Han Solo, Yoda, Luke Skywalker -- even the evil Darth Vader. The Lucasfilm company is now making it possible for those fans to create new films about them. Fans with computers can go to the mash-ups area of the "Star Wars" Web site and change scenes from the movies. The Web site provides a simple editing program to do this. Then the editors can place their movies on Web sites like MySpace.

Lucasfilm officials say about two hundred fifty scenes are provided on the Web site. Each is no longer than sixty seconds, and similar ones are grouped together. For example, one group of scenes includes the character Jar Jar Binks. Fans can change him any way they want. But they will have to follow to some rules. And a team of experts will be watching the results to make sure they are not offensive in any way.

Lucasfilm officials say this is one way to keep the popularity of "Star Wars" alive since no more movies will be made. The studio has plans to continue such efforts in the future. In the next few years, it will produce a new video game and two television series based on the "Star Wars" stories and characters.

The Whiskey Rebellion

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from a student in Iran who asks about the Whiskey Rebellion in early American history.

George Washington reviews troops before marching to put down the Whiskey Rebellion

The Whiskey Rebellion was a major test of the power of the new United States government after the war of independence ended in seventeen eighty-three. The new government agreed to pay the war debts of the individual states.

In seventeen ninety-one, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton proposed a way the federal government could raise money to pay this debt. He proposed placing a tax on all alcoholic drinks sold in the country. Congress approved the tax and President George Washington signed it into law.

Some farmers in several states immediately opposed this tax. They earned money by selling whiskey they made from the corn and rye they grew. By seventeen ninety-four, farmers in western Pennsylvania began openly protesting the tax. They threatened and sometimes attacked government workers sent to the area to collect the money. The civil protests became an armed rebellion. Local officials ordered the arrest of the leaders of the rebellion, but this just added to the violence.

President Washington considered this Whiskey Rebellion a threat to the power of the federal government. So he took a bold step. He personally led an army of more than twelve thousand troops into western Pennsylvania to stop the rebellion.

The farmers quickly retreated. Captured prisoners were later released and pardoned. The government ended the tax in eighteen–oh-two.

History experts say the Whiskey Rebellion was a small but important event in American history. It was the first time the federal government used military force to show its power over the nation's citizens. Its resolution demonstrated the full power of the federal government to American citizens and to the states.

Experts also say the Whiskey Rebellion was an early warning of a question that would continue to test the new nation. Which should be stronger-- the rights of individual states or the power of the federal government? That question would not be answered until the end of the American Civil War in the eighteen sixties.

Spring Awakening

HOST:

Broadway's top award ceremony was held Sunday in New York City. The show "Spring Awakening" won eight Tony awards, including Best Musical. Shirley Griffith has more on the show and its music.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:

Cast members perform a scene from ''Spring Awakening'' at the Tony Awards

"Spring Awakening," is based on a play written in eighteen ninety-one by German playwright Frank Wedekind. The play was banned from production for many years because people at the time considered it immoral.

The play deals with German teenagers who have no knowledge or understanding of sex. They start to experience feelings they do not understand. But the adults in the play are not willing to share information with them.

The teenagers also question what they learn in school. They want to learn things for themselves. They express their feelings through rock and roll music. This song is called "All That's Known."

(MUSIC)

Actor John Gallagher, Junior, won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. He plays Moritz in "Spring Awakening." Here he sings "Don't Do Sadness."

(MUSIC)

Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik shared the Tony Award for Best Original Score (Music or Lyrics) Written for the Theater. Mister Sheik accepted the award and thanked the producers of "Spring Awakening" for their support. And he said: "Musical theater rocks."

We leave you with the final song of "Spring Awakening" called "The Song of Purple Summer."

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.

It was written by Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver, who also was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.