Agence France-Presse
Sudanese man dies after setting himself on fire
Jan. 25, 2011
KHARTOUM — A 25-year-old Sudanese man who was hospitalised at the weekend after setting himself on fire in a suburb of Khartoum died from his wounds on Tuesday, medical sources said.
Al-Amin Musa Al-Amin, a labourer from Darfur, poured petrol over himself shortly after Friday prayers and lit it as he stood in Suq al-Shaabi, a market in Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city, witnesses said.
The young man was rushed to Omdurman hospital's intensive care unit, where he was treated for second-degree burns. He died at around 2:00 am (2300 GMT Monday), the medical sources told AFP.
The self-immolation in December of a 26-year-old Tunisian street vendor in protest at economic hardship and repression triggered a month of street protests that toppled veteran strongman Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years in power.
It also sparked a series of copycat public torchings this month in Egypt, Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Saudi Arabia as well as Sudan.
Widespread economic and political discontent in north Sudan, where the security forces exert tight control, has led to sporadic protests in recent weeks.
Police and students clashed for two days in Gezira, an irrigated farming area south of Khartoum, in protests against tough austerity measures the government pushed through on January 5 in response to escalating import costs.
Last week, armed police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of Sudanese activists demonstrating for the release of Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, who was detained 48 hours earlier after calling for a Tunisia-style uprising.
Showing posts with label Mauritania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mauritania. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Brief History of Self-Immolation
TIME
A Brief History of Self-Immolation
Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011
Josh Sanburn
When Mohamed Bouazizi set himself alight on Dec. 17, he sparked flames far greater than the ones that would ultimately kill him. The Tunisian man, an unemployed college graduate with children to feed, had tried finding work hawking vegetables, but was thwarted by police, who confiscated his cart. So in a grisly act of protest and anguish, Bouazizi doused himself in gasoline and set himself ablaze.
The act of self-immolation not only triggered the current political crisis in Tunisia, which ousted the president Jan. 14 and has led to a complicated political impasse. It also inspired copycat self-immolations across North Africa, who attempted this very sensational form of suicide as statements of their own desperation and frustration with the authoritarian regimes in their countries. The latest count of protesters who have set themselves on fire in North Africa is up to eight, with four in Algeria, two in Egypt and one in Mauritania, as well as Bouazizi's act in Tunisia.
Legends of people of committing the act of self-immolation date back centuries. The first instance is said to come from Sati, one of the wives of the Hindu god Shiva. According to myths, she married against her father's wishes and then burned herself to death after her father insulted her husband. This story is often linked to the practice of sati, which was a custom in some parts of India where a widow would burn herself on the funeral pyre of her dead husband. The practice was outlawed in India in 1829. History through the ages in various parts of the world is lined with tales of female spouses, consorts and concubines being consigned to the flames, often against their will, to join some deceased warrior king or chieftain.
The first and most famous moment of self-immolation as agitprop was that of Thich Quang Duc in 1963. Under the rule of Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnam largely advanced the agenda of the country's Catholic minority and discriminated against Buddhist monks. In one of the most dramatic instances of individual protest, Quang Duc doused himself in gasoline in the middle of a Saigon street and lit himself ablaze.
Journalist David Halberstam, who witnessed the monk's self-immolation and won a Pultizer Prize for his war stories, remembered the moment in one of his books, The Making of a Quagmire: "Flames were coming form a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning flesh. ... Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think."
Afterward, four more monks and a nun set themselves ablaze protesting Diem before his regime finally fell in 1963. Rather suddenly, setting oneself on fire became a political act. As the American presence increased in Vietnam in the mid- to late 1960s, more and more monks committed self-immolation, including thirteen in one week. It even took place in the U.S., right outside the Pentagon, when Norman Morrison, an American Quaker burned himself to death while clinging onto his child as a mark of his rejection of the Vietnam War. (His child survived, and Morrison was revered in Vietnam for his purported martyrdom.)
The grim tactic has spread across the globe: Czechoslovaks did it to protest the Soviet invasion in 1968; five Indian students did it to protest job quotas in 1990; a Tibetan monk did it to protest the Indian police stopping an anti-Chinese hunger strike in 1998; Kurds did it to protest Turkey in 1999; outlawed Falun Gong practitioners did it in Tiananmen Square in 2009, at least according to authorities in Beijing.
Only within the last few weeks have such acts of self-immolation caught on in North Africa. They seem to all come out of moments of urgency and helplessness. And sometimes they light fires in the minds of countless others in their midst.
A Brief History of Self-Immolation
Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011
Josh Sanburn
When Mohamed Bouazizi set himself alight on Dec. 17, he sparked flames far greater than the ones that would ultimately kill him. The Tunisian man, an unemployed college graduate with children to feed, had tried finding work hawking vegetables, but was thwarted by police, who confiscated his cart. So in a grisly act of protest and anguish, Bouazizi doused himself in gasoline and set himself ablaze.
The act of self-immolation not only triggered the current political crisis in Tunisia, which ousted the president Jan. 14 and has led to a complicated political impasse. It also inspired copycat self-immolations across North Africa, who attempted this very sensational form of suicide as statements of their own desperation and frustration with the authoritarian regimes in their countries. The latest count of protesters who have set themselves on fire in North Africa is up to eight, with four in Algeria, two in Egypt and one in Mauritania, as well as Bouazizi's act in Tunisia.
Legends of people of committing the act of self-immolation date back centuries. The first instance is said to come from Sati, one of the wives of the Hindu god Shiva. According to myths, she married against her father's wishes and then burned herself to death after her father insulted her husband. This story is often linked to the practice of sati, which was a custom in some parts of India where a widow would burn herself on the funeral pyre of her dead husband. The practice was outlawed in India in 1829. History through the ages in various parts of the world is lined with tales of female spouses, consorts and concubines being consigned to the flames, often against their will, to join some deceased warrior king or chieftain.
The first and most famous moment of self-immolation as agitprop was that of Thich Quang Duc in 1963. Under the rule of Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnam largely advanced the agenda of the country's Catholic minority and discriminated against Buddhist monks. In one of the most dramatic instances of individual protest, Quang Duc doused himself in gasoline in the middle of a Saigon street and lit himself ablaze.
Journalist David Halberstam, who witnessed the monk's self-immolation and won a Pultizer Prize for his war stories, remembered the moment in one of his books, The Making of a Quagmire: "Flames were coming form a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning flesh. ... Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think."
Afterward, four more monks and a nun set themselves ablaze protesting Diem before his regime finally fell in 1963. Rather suddenly, setting oneself on fire became a political act. As the American presence increased in Vietnam in the mid- to late 1960s, more and more monks committed self-immolation, including thirteen in one week. It even took place in the U.S., right outside the Pentagon, when Norman Morrison, an American Quaker burned himself to death while clinging onto his child as a mark of his rejection of the Vietnam War. (His child survived, and Morrison was revered in Vietnam for his purported martyrdom.)
The grim tactic has spread across the globe: Czechoslovaks did it to protest the Soviet invasion in 1968; five Indian students did it to protest job quotas in 1990; a Tibetan monk did it to protest the Indian police stopping an anti-Chinese hunger strike in 1998; Kurds did it to protest Turkey in 1999; outlawed Falun Gong practitioners did it in Tiananmen Square in 2009, at least according to authorities in Beijing.
Only within the last few weeks have such acts of self-immolation caught on in North Africa. They seem to all come out of moments of urgency and helplessness. And sometimes they light fires in the minds of countless others in their midst.
Unemployed Egyptian dies after setting himself on fire
LA Times
EGYPT: Unemployed man dies after setting himself on fire
January 18, 2011
Amro Hassan
A string of suicide attempts in North African nations continued Tuesday as an unemployed Egyptian laborer set himself on fire in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
Alexandria's public health office confirmed that Ahmed Hashem Al Sayed, 25, died in a hospital as a result of third-degree burns suffered after he set himself ablaze using fuel on the roof of his house. Officials said an investigation was underway.
Al Sayed's mother told Egyptian media that it was the second time her son tried to commit suicide after becoming distraught over a lack of job opportunities. "My son worked as a builder for 10 Egyptian pounds [less than $2] a day, but he wasn't able to find steady work. He got depressed after realizing that he is 25 and is yet to afford getting married," she told independent news website Al Youm Al Sabee.
"He tried looking for a better job, but no one would hire him because he didn't continue education beyond preschool, which led to his first suicide attempt when he cut his wrist veins with a razor," she said.
On Monday, a 50-year-old man set himself on fire outside the Egyptian parliament's headquarters in Cairo, reportedly after growing frustrated with tough living conditions.
Abdou Abdul Monem was said to have tried to kill himself following a dispute with authorities in the city of Ismailia concerning his monthly coupons for subsidized bread. He remains in a hospital as he is treated for first-degree burns.
Both incidents coincide with recent suicide attempts in Algeria and Mauritania.
Self-immolation attempts have spread across North African countries after the suicide attempt of an unemployed man in Tunisia led to angry demonstrations against unemployment and poverty and ended with the ousting of Tunisian President Zine el Abidine ben Ali.
EGYPT: Unemployed man dies after setting himself on fire
January 18, 2011
Amro Hassan
A string of suicide attempts in North African nations continued Tuesday as an unemployed Egyptian laborer set himself on fire in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
Alexandria's public health office confirmed that Ahmed Hashem Al Sayed, 25, died in a hospital as a result of third-degree burns suffered after he set himself ablaze using fuel on the roof of his house. Officials said an investigation was underway.
Al Sayed's mother told Egyptian media that it was the second time her son tried to commit suicide after becoming distraught over a lack of job opportunities. "My son worked as a builder for 10 Egyptian pounds [less than $2] a day, but he wasn't able to find steady work. He got depressed after realizing that he is 25 and is yet to afford getting married," she told independent news website Al Youm Al Sabee.
"He tried looking for a better job, but no one would hire him because he didn't continue education beyond preschool, which led to his first suicide attempt when he cut his wrist veins with a razor," she said.
On Monday, a 50-year-old man set himself on fire outside the Egyptian parliament's headquarters in Cairo, reportedly after growing frustrated with tough living conditions.
Abdou Abdul Monem was said to have tried to kill himself following a dispute with authorities in the city of Ismailia concerning his monthly coupons for subsidized bread. He remains in a hospital as he is treated for first-degree burns.
Both incidents coincide with recent suicide attempts in Algeria and Mauritania.
Self-immolation attempts have spread across North African countries after the suicide attempt of an unemployed man in Tunisia led to angry demonstrations against unemployment and poverty and ended with the ousting of Tunisian President Zine el Abidine ben Ali.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Qatar, Mauritania cut Israel ties
Al Jazeera.net
Jan. 16, 2009
Qatar and Mauritania have suspended economic and political ties with Israel in protest against the war in Gaza, Al Jazeera has learned.
The move announced on Friday followed calls by Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, and Khaled Meshaal, the exiled leader of Hamas, for all Arab nations to cut ties with Israel.
Addressing leaders at an emergency Arab summit in Doha, the Qatari capital, al-Assad declared that the Arab initiative for peace with Israel was now "dead".
He said Arab countries should cut "all direct and indirect" ties with Israel in protest against its offensive in Gaza.
Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with Israel and have Israeli embassies.
Summit demands
The Qatari-hosted Arab summit concluded on Friday with participants agreeing to present a Kuwaiti-hosted summit - to be held on Sunday - with a list of measures to end the conflict in Gaza.
Those measures include demanding that Israel stops its offensive in the Strip, is held responsible for "crimes" committed in Gaza and immediately re-opens all crossings.
The summit also agreed that all Arab countries should form a "sea-bridge" that would enable aid supplies to reach Gaza.
Speaking from Ankara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, said Israel should be barred from the United Nations while it continues to ignore UN demands to end the fighting in Gaza.
"How is such a country, which totally ignores and does not implement resolutions of the UN Security Council, allowed to enter through the gates of the UN?" he said.
Erdogan's comments came hours ahead of Friday's official visit to Turkey by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general.
The Turkish leader also added his voice to widespread condemnation of Israel's bombing of a UN compound in Gaza on Thursday.
"The UN building in Gaza was hit while the UN secretary-general was in Israel ... this is an open challenge to the world, teasing the world," he said.
Diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire have intensified over recent days with emergency meetings being held in Qatar, Turkey, Kuwait and Egypt.
Arab divisions
However, Friday's emergency summit in Doha has highlighted divisions within the Arab world, with Egypt and Saudi Arabia declining to attend, preferring instead to send delegates to a separate meeting of foreign ministers in Kuwait.
The Palestinian political factions Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) did attend the Doha summit.
Hashem Ahelbarra, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Doha, said the delegates recognised the legitimacy of the Gazan factions, whereas Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Western nations have sidelined them from ceasefire talks.
"You have two camps: The so-called moderate Arab countries, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, some Gulf monarchies like the UAE, and those who are trying to say that we totally disagree with the US attempt to implement a new Middle East."
Ahelbarra said the "moderate camp" is uncomfortable with Hamas's ties with Iran and suspects that the Iranian leadership is using some Arab countries to further its influence in the region.
He said that the latter group believes it has the duty to convey the anti-war feeling of the Arab street and condemn Israel's actions.
Talks are continuing in Cairo over an Egypt-sponsored truce, with Amos Gilad, the Israeli chief negotiator, telling Egyptian officials Israel wants an open-ended ceasefire.
Israel is demanding that rocket fire from Gaza ceases and that an international force is established to prevent weapons being smuggled into Gaza.
Hamas want Israeli troops to be withdrawn from the Gaza Strip immediately and for all border crossings into the territory to be permanently re-opened.
While Israel says it reserves the right to use military action if under threat, its emergency security cabinet is expected to vote on Saturday in favour of a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza, according to news agency AFP.
By Friday morning, 1,155 Palestinians have been killed and more than 5,200 injured since Israel launched its offensive on December 27. One third of the dead are children.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/2009116151135307776.html
Jan. 16, 2009
Qatar and Mauritania have suspended economic and political ties with Israel in protest against the war in Gaza, Al Jazeera has learned.
The move announced on Friday followed calls by Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, and Khaled Meshaal, the exiled leader of Hamas, for all Arab nations to cut ties with Israel.
Addressing leaders at an emergency Arab summit in Doha, the Qatari capital, al-Assad declared that the Arab initiative for peace with Israel was now "dead".
He said Arab countries should cut "all direct and indirect" ties with Israel in protest against its offensive in Gaza.
Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with Israel and have Israeli embassies.
Summit demands
The Qatari-hosted Arab summit concluded on Friday with participants agreeing to present a Kuwaiti-hosted summit - to be held on Sunday - with a list of measures to end the conflict in Gaza.
Those measures include demanding that Israel stops its offensive in the Strip, is held responsible for "crimes" committed in Gaza and immediately re-opens all crossings.
The summit also agreed that all Arab countries should form a "sea-bridge" that would enable aid supplies to reach Gaza.
Speaking from Ankara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, said Israel should be barred from the United Nations while it continues to ignore UN demands to end the fighting in Gaza.
"How is such a country, which totally ignores and does not implement resolutions of the UN Security Council, allowed to enter through the gates of the UN?" he said.
Erdogan's comments came hours ahead of Friday's official visit to Turkey by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general.
The Turkish leader also added his voice to widespread condemnation of Israel's bombing of a UN compound in Gaza on Thursday.
"The UN building in Gaza was hit while the UN secretary-general was in Israel ... this is an open challenge to the world, teasing the world," he said.
Diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire have intensified over recent days with emergency meetings being held in Qatar, Turkey, Kuwait and Egypt.
Arab divisions
However, Friday's emergency summit in Doha has highlighted divisions within the Arab world, with Egypt and Saudi Arabia declining to attend, preferring instead to send delegates to a separate meeting of foreign ministers in Kuwait.
The Palestinian political factions Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) did attend the Doha summit.
Hashem Ahelbarra, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Doha, said the delegates recognised the legitimacy of the Gazan factions, whereas Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Western nations have sidelined them from ceasefire talks.
"You have two camps: The so-called moderate Arab countries, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, some Gulf monarchies like the UAE, and those who are trying to say that we totally disagree with the US attempt to implement a new Middle East."
Ahelbarra said the "moderate camp" is uncomfortable with Hamas's ties with Iran and suspects that the Iranian leadership is using some Arab countries to further its influence in the region.
He said that the latter group believes it has the duty to convey the anti-war feeling of the Arab street and condemn Israel's actions.
Talks are continuing in Cairo over an Egypt-sponsored truce, with Amos Gilad, the Israeli chief negotiator, telling Egyptian officials Israel wants an open-ended ceasefire.
Israel is demanding that rocket fire from Gaza ceases and that an international force is established to prevent weapons being smuggled into Gaza.
Hamas want Israeli troops to be withdrawn from the Gaza Strip immediately and for all border crossings into the territory to be permanently re-opened.
While Israel says it reserves the right to use military action if under threat, its emergency security cabinet is expected to vote on Saturday in favour of a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza, according to news agency AFP.
By Friday morning, 1,155 Palestinians have been killed and more than 5,200 injured since Israel launched its offensive on December 27. One third of the dead are children.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/2009116151135307776.html
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