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Iranian diplomat leaves Cairo after probe

by on May 31, 2011

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Iranian diplomat leaves Cairo after probe

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Iranian diplomat leaves Cairo after probe

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Middle East Protests Straining Gulf Stocks

by AP on February 20, 2011

CAIRO — Stocks markets across the Gulf Arab states fell Sunday, with Dubai’s largest exchange registering the steepest drop as unrest in the Mideast lapped at the shores of oil kingpin Saudi Arabia. The Dubai Financial Market closed down 3.66 percent, to 1,536 points, with developer Emaar Properties’ shares sliding 4.73 percent. The company was the force behind the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. In Kuwait, the benchmark index closed down 2.52 percent, to 6,394, and bringing its year-to-date losses to more than 8 percent. The drops in the oil-rich Gulf region’s exchanges are largely linked to the unrest in Bahrain, where massive protests have roiled the island nation for more than a week as the Shiite majority presses the Sunni monarchy for greater rights and freedoms. Meanwhile, a bloody crackdown on protesters in Libya has further rattled markets as the unrest spilled over to the first major oil producer in the Middle East. The uprisings in Libya and Bahrain “mark a new turn in the crisis,” said brokerage house Nomura in a research note received Sunday. “Regional hydrocarbon producers are now being threatened, and sectarian divisions (notably in Bahrain) are increasing the risk of cross-border involvement in what have largely been domestic revolutions thus far.” Sunday is the start of the work week in the Arab world, except for Saudi Arabia, and the market selloffs reflected investors’ first chance to weigh in on the developments over the weekend. The protests in Bahrain marked the first time the unrest sweeping across the Arab world has seriously challenged the entrenched regime in one of the wealthy Gulf Cooperation Council nations. Also aflame is Yemen, the Arab world’s most impoverished nation, which sits on the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The unrest on Saudi Arabia’s doorstep has sparked fears of a spillover into the country, with concerns focusing both on the Sunni-Shiite divide in Bahrain and the fact that a significant change in Bahrain’s political system could spark calls for similar reforms in Riyadh, which sits atop the world’s largest proven reserves of conventional crude oil. Saudi Arabia has a Shiite minority primarily located in its eastern province, where the bulk of its oil is located. Any hint that stability is in question in the kingdom – the de facto leader of the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries – could send oil prices surging across the world, threatening a continued global economic recovery. “It’s a general risk aversion in the region as a whole,” said John Sfakianakis, chief economist with the Saudi Arabia-based Banque Saudi Fransi, explaining the drops in the region’s markets. With Egypt’s market still shuttered after the unrest that toppled Hosni Mubarak, and the protests jumping from one Arab nation to the next, investors “are basically trying to hedge themselves against downside risks,” Sfakianakis said. “And the downside risks are accumulating.” Saudi Arabia’s TASI index closed down 0.78 percent to 6,333 points, building on a 1.6 percent slip on Saturday, the start of the work week in the country. In Kuwait, shares of telecommunication giant Zain fell 7.25 percent to 1.28 Kuwaiti dinars. The slide came a day after the investment company headed by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal withdrew its offer to buy a 25 percent stake in the Kuwaiti telecom operator’s division in the kingdom. Kingdom Holding said in a statement Sunday that it believed the nonbinding offer it had submitted was “a reasonable offer to the shareholders of KHC and Zain Kuwait.” Qatar’s exchange was down 1.6 percent, to 8,563 points while Abu Dhabi’s exchange was off 1.91 percent to 2,632 points.

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Middle East Protests Straining Gulf Stocks

Video: Saba Sees Growth in Egypt’s Consumer, Telecom Industries

February 14, 2011

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) — Aladdin Saba, chief executive officer of Egyptian investment bank Beltone Financial, talks about the prospects for Egypt after the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. He speaks with Margaret Brennan in Cairo on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Cairo Protesters Converge, Vowing to Topple Mubarak

February 11, 2011

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) — Egyptians converged on Tahrir Square in Cairo and the presidential palace in the suburb of Heliopolis, vowing to topple President Hosni Mubarak after he defied calls for his resignation for the second time this month. Bloomberg’s Margaret Brennan and Lara Setrakian report.(Source: Bloomberg)

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Chris Martenson, Ph.D.: Egypt’s Warning: Are You Listening?

February 10, 2011

One day, a fruit and vegetable seller was arrested in Tunisia, sparking social unrest, and a few weeks later the government of Egypt was set to topple.

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Chris Martenson, Ph.D.: Egypt’s Warning: Are You Listening?

February 10, 2011

One day, a fruit and vegetable seller was arrested in Tunisia, sparking social unrest, and a few weeks later the government of Egypt was set to topple.

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Video: Traffic Back on Cairo Streets as Egyptians Seek Normalcy

February 7, 2011

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) — Bloomberg’s Lara Setrakian reports from Dubai on the reopening of businesses in central Cairo after two weeks of protests against President Hosni Mubarak’s regime. She speaks with Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Television’s “On The Move.”

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Video: Sawiris Says Egypt Is Not Yet Ready for Power Transition

February 7, 2011

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) — Naguib Sawiris, the billionire chairman of Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, talks from Cairo about efforts to resolve the political crisis in Egypt. Sawiris attended a meeting yesterday between Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, the Wafd and Tagammu parties and the Muslim Brotherhood. He talks with Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Television’s “On The Move.”

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Video: Shalakany Says Egyptians Need Year to Prepare Democracy

February 4, 2011

Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — Amr Shalakany, professor of law at the American University in Cairo, talks about the prospects for regime change in Egypt as pressure for President Hosni Mubarak to step down increases. He speaks fropm Cairo with Maryam Nemazee on Bloomberg Television’s “Countdown.”

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MEA flights to Cairo fully-booked

February 3, 2011

MEA flights to Cairo fully-booked

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Aron Cramer: Davos 2011: Welcome to the World of the "G-Everybody"

January 30, 2011

In Davos this past week, there was much talk of the “G-Zero” world. This stands in stark contrast to last year’s event, when all the talk was about the “G-2,” or the United States and China as the de facto world leaders. The thinking behind the “G-Zero” is that neither those two nations, nor any others, are providing leadership on topics ranging from climate change to economic recovery to security in Asia. Those advancing the “G-Zero” theory are claiming that the international community is, in effect, leaderless. In my view, this logic is precisely backwards. In fact, whether on the streets of Cairo or in the meeting rooms in Davos, we are in fact seeing the emergence of a world led by the “G-Everybody,” with leadership coming from an unprecedented number of sources. Examples of this abounded in Davos. Based solely on meetings I participated in (with 2,500+ attendees mixing over five days, one person can’t be everywhere), the spirit of productive partnerships was in strong evidence. A coalition of companies joined with the UN Global Compact and the WWF to launch “Windmade,” the first product label providing consumers with the ability to find and purchase products made with wind energy. A group of consumer product companies discussed plans to work jointly with governments over the coming year to develop innovative policy solutions promoting more sustainable consumption models. And the World Economic Forum itself is exploring the creation of guidance for multi-stakeholder partnerships to help them go to scale and deliver results. All this was happening against the backdrop of the events in Tunisia and Egypt. These latest examples of what used to be called “people power” reinforce one of the most central realities of our times: power and influence are distributed more widely than ever before. The theme of Davos this year was “Shared Norms for the New Reality.” Within the halls of the Congress Centre, where the meeting takes place, I spoke to a lot of people who questioned whether there are in fact “Shared Norms” shaping the world in 2011. And indeed, if we look to a small group of governments, whether a G-20, a G-8, G-2, or G-Zero, to dictate these norms for the rest of us, shared norms are hard to find. But if we look more widely, shared norms are in fact emerging. Our thinking, our communication, and our social organization are being shaped today by distributed power. Welcome to the world of the “G-everybody,” where our information, perspectives and influence come from more sources than we can possibly count. This is our new reality.

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Video: Elmasry Expects Egypt `Turmoil’ Until Mubarak Ousted

January 28, 2011

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) — Mohammed Elmasry, a professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo in Canada, talks from Cairo about the demonstrations in that city. Protesters demonstrated throughout Egypt, with clashes erupting in central Cairo, in the biggest challenge to President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule. Elmasry talks with Lisa Murphy on Bloomberg Television’s “Fast Forward.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Kerry Urges Egypt to Respect the Democratic Process

January 28, 2011

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, talks with Bloomberg’s Olivia Sterns at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, about the unrest in Egypt. Protesters demonstrated throughout Egypt with clashes erupting in central Cairo, in the biggest challenge to President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Rubin Says U.S. Having `Tough Time’ on Response to Egypt

January 28, 2011

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) — James Rubin, co-executive editor of Bloomberg View and a former assistant secretary of state under President Bill Clinton, talks about the unrest in Egypt and the U.S. response to the situation. Clashes erupted as Egyptian authorities tried to prevent demonstrations in Cairo, where protesters chanting “liberty” and “change” assembled to demand the end of President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule. Rubin speaks with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Ex-Goldman Banker Walujo Emerges as Indonesia’s Busiest Dealmaker With TPG

June 7, 2010

By Netty Ismail June 8 (Bloomberg) — Patrick Walujo , a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has emerged as Indonesia’s busiest dealmaker since teaming up with U.S. buyout firm TPG almost four years ago. TPG passed over other candidates when it began scouting for a partner in the nation in 2005. The 34-year-old’s Northstar Pacific Partners shared TPG’s plan to invest in plain vanilla equity of resources firms and companies set to benefit from growing consumption in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, said Ashish Shastry , TPG’s head for the region in Singapore. Other private-equity firms seemed to focus on more complex mezzanine debt or structured deals, he said. “Indonesia seemed to us to be an interesting emerging market for investment, and Patrick and his colleagues seemed to be the best there,” said David Bonderman , founding partner of the Fort Worth, Texas-based private-equity firm with $45 billion of capital. Buyout firms including Washington-based Carlyle Group and the U.K.’s CVC Capital Partners Ltd. are venturing into the world’s most populous Muslim nation, where private-equity investments could increase fivefold to as much as $3 billion this year, from $570 million in 2009, according to estimates by the Centre for Asia Private Equity Research Ltd. ‘Building Mode’ Walujo, with TPG’s backing since September 2006, has helped expand Northstar’s assets under management to more than $1 billion from $200,000. Two-thirds of that is from co-investors including Government of Singapore Investment Corp. , manager of Singapore’s foreign reserves. The fund has also attracted money from pension funds, endowments and other institutional investors. Northstar’s biggest holdings include PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional, in which it agreed to invest ahead of the bank’s initial share sale in 2008. Northstar seeks to make three to five times the money it invests in a company within five years, Walujo said. “We have been in building mode,” Walujo, the son-in-law of Indonesia’s 15th richest man, said in an interview at his office in Jakarta, where a framed photograph with Bonderman adorns a side cabinet. “This year is going to be a year of a few exits; next year is going to be a busy year for exits.” Northstar and TPG invested about $1.3 billion in five transactions between 2006 and 2009, the most deals on record by a private-equity investor in Indonesia in the period, according to the Hong Kong-based Centre for Asia Private Equity Research. Bonderman Walujo, who holds a Bachelor of Science in operations research and industrial engineering from Cornell University, got to know 67-year-old Bonderman, who attended Harvard University’s law school and studied Islamic law at the American University in Cairo, after inviting TPG to participate in a leveraged buyout of coal producer PT Adaro Indonesia in 2005. The value of the equity investment in Adaro has risen more than 100 times to exceed $5 billion, said Walujo, who wanted to return home after working as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in London and New York, and in the Tokyo finance, merger and acquisition team at PCCW Ltd. , Hong Kong’s biggest phone company. Two months after Northstar started the fund with TPG, Bonderman, Walujo and Timothy Dattels , Walujo’s former boss at Goldman Sachs, had the first of their annual meetings with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at his Merdeka Palace office in central Jakarta. Dattels oversees TPG’s investments in Asia. “We saw the opportunity in the private equity space in Indonesia because at that time, there were not many people,” said Walujo, wearing a traditional batik shirt. Palm Oil Indonesia is the world’s biggest palm oil producer and holds some of the largest deposits of natural gas and minerals such as coal and copper. Consumer confidence has been buoyed by political stability under Yudhoyono not seen since the ouster of former dictator Suharto in 1998. “Private equity is fast becoming a very astute way of investing and profiting from the upswing in the Indonesian economy,” said Karim Raslan , a Kuala Lumpur- and Jakarta-based consultant whose clients include private-equity firms seeking to invest in Southeast Asia, and who has known Walujo since 2004. “Because of the enormous surge in interest in Indonesia, guys like Patrick, who have had substantial experience outside Indonesia at leading investment banks, become a logical port of call.” CVC agreed to buy the retail unit of PT Matahari Putra Prima in January, the London-based buyout firm’s first foray into Indonesia. Carlyle, the world’s second-biggest private- equity company, is “actively exploring opportunities” for its first investment in the nation, Anand Balasubrahmanyan , a Singapore-based managing director said in December. Perception The Jakarta Composite Index is the best performer in Asia after Sri Lanka this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The economy will probably expand 6 percent to 6.5 percent in 2011, central bank Senior Deputy Governor Darmin Nasution said on June 1. Still, Walujo said it remains challenging to convince people to look at Indonesia “because of the perception problem that we are still suffering from.” While the country’s rank in Transparency International’s corruption perception index rose to 111 last year from 126 in 2008, Indonesia remains in the category of nations perceived as corrupt. Coal Mines Walujo and Glenn Sugita , a former corporate finance banker at PT Bahana Securities, which was Goldman Sachs’s partner in Indonesia, started Northstar in 2003 with capital of less than $200,000. “One thing that we really like about them is that they want to operate Northstar at the same standard as any world class investment firm,” TPG’s Shastry said. In 2008, along with TPG, Northstar bought a 71.6 percent stake in Bank Tabungan , originally a lender to retired civil servants, which opened about 500 micro banking branches last year. The value of the investment has risen almost threefold as the bank’s loan growth outpaced the Indonesian industry’s following its expansion into micro-lending, Walujo said. The fund’s biggest exposure to Indonesia’s resources boom is through PT Delta Dunia Makmur , which acquired coal mining contractor PT Bukit Makmur Mandiri Utama, or Buma. Northstar bought a 40 percent stake in Delta Dunia in November when the property firm raised equity to fund its purchase of Buma, Indonesia’s second-largest coal mining contractor. Father-in-Law Northstar flew prospective U.S. investors on a chartered Beechcraft 1900D to South Kalimantan province on Borneo island in February and gave them a tour of the Tutupan mine where Buma carries out coal excavation and hauling for Adaro, the nation’s second-biggest coal producer. “We have contracts in all of the top coal mines, which are projecting double their production within three to five years,” Walujo said. Both keen tennis players, Walujo and Sugita organize six tennis tournaments a year in Indonesia to encourage local players to improve their competitiveness. Walujo’s “commitment, his persistence to pursue, is incredible,” said Bank Tabungan Chief Executive Officer Jerry Ng , who has known Walujo since 2003. “It blends into his level of energy as well.” Walujo counts his father-in-law, Theodore Rachmat , the former president-director of PT Astra International and the 15th richest man on Forbes’s Indonesia list , as one of his mentors. Walujo is married to Ayu Rachmat and has a 20-month-old daughter. Astra, the nation’s biggest auto retailer, is the sole distributor of Indonesian-assembled Toyota Motor Corp. cars in the country and has a motorcycle venture with Honda Motor Co. Rachmat co-invests with Northstar in some deals, Walujo said. “I try to draw a parallel between what we are trying to do and what Astra International did: they learned all the best practices from their foreign partners,” Walujo said. “We have our partnership with TPG, the best of class, we learn from them. Eventually we want to create an Indonesian entity that we are proud of, just like Astra.” To contact the reporter on this story: Netty Ismail in Singapore nismail3@bloomberg.net .

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Netanyahu Calls Flotilla Raid Criticism Hypocrisy Amid Probe Calls

June 3, 2010

By Gwen Ackerman and Jonathan Ferziger June 3 (Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said criticism of Israel’s raid against a Gaza Strip aid shipment that left nine dead was “hypocrisy,” as international calls for a probe into the incident mounted. “Israel is told it has the right to defend itself, but when we do exercise that right we’re condemned for it,” Netanyahu said in a nationally televised address in Jerusalem. “Israel should not be held to a double standard.” Israel has faced international criticism over the May 31 raid by naval commandos on a flotilla of aid ships, as well as calls for it to lift restrictions on the flow of goods into Gaza. The incident has led to demands for Israel or others to investigate the raid on the ships that headed for Hamas- controlled Gaza in an effort to undermine Israel’s blockade. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in New York that the blockade was “counter-productive, unsustainable and wrong,” and that it should end “immediately.” Israel “must provide as soon as possible a full and detailed accounting of the events surrounding this incident,” he said. Vice-President Joe Biden said Israel has “an absolute right to deal with its security interest” and a “right to know” what is being transported to Gaza. Biden said he supports a “transparent and open” investigation that is led by the Israelis and has “international participation.” He spoke in an interview on PBS television’s “Charlie Rose Show. Israel isn’t likely to agree to an international probe, said Jonathan Spyer , a political scientist at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. Faulty Intelligence “There is a very strong sense that it is not that something actually wrong took place,” Spyer said in a telephone interview. “Rather, there was a mishap and a strong sense that the army made a mistake based on faulty intelligence. There is not a sense that Israel feels answerable to the world community.” At the same time, Israel has acted to end the crisis. All detained members of the flotilla were expelled yesterday, with the exception of seven people still in the hospital, said Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad. Three aircraft landed in Istanbul carrying 466 passengers and the bodies of nine people killed in the raid, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in comments carried by state-owned news agency Anatolia. Four of the dead have been identified as Turks and the nationality of the others isn’t clear. Nineteen injured people were flown to Ankara and were being given treatment. Supporters Welcome The planes were welcomed by hundreds of supporters and family members at Istanbul’s main airport. Arab foreign ministers meeting in an emergency session in Cairo urged their governments to defy the blockade, Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa said. The ministers called on Arab states to “work to provide the people of Gaza with whatever they need regardless of the blockade and using all means,” he told a news conference after a three-hour meeting that ended early today. Netanyahu spoke after the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to authorize an independent international investigation of the Israeli raid on the flotilla. The U.S., the Netherlands and Italy voted against the measure. “Every Ship’ “Our responsibility is to examine every ship going to Gaza, to stop the weapons and to let other cargo enter,” Netanyahu said yesterday. “If we don’t do that, the result is going to be an Iranian port in Gaza.” The UN Security Council has also called for an investigation. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in an interview yesterday on RTL Radio that any investigation should be overseen by the UN. In the past, Israel refused to participate in a UN panel led by former UN prosecutor and South African judge Richard Goldstone that investigated the 2008 Gaza war. Goldstone’s panel accused Israel and Hamas of war crimes and called on them to investigate the charges. Ban said after meetings with envoys of Israel, Turkey, the U.S., China, Russia and Arab nations that he would take “some time” to decide how an investigation of the raid should be conducted. He said he would “make it as impartial, credible and transparent as possible.” Stop Hamas Israel’s benchmark TA-25 Index was up 0.02 percent at the close in Tel Aviv yesterday. Israel said the Gaza war was meant to stop Hamas and other militant groups from firing rockets into its territory. About 330 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel since the end of the operation, killing one foreign worker last March, the army said. Alon Liel , former director general of the Foreign Ministry, said that unlike the Gaza probe, where many facts were unknown, photos and video footage of the flotilla incident was readily available on the Internet. “I don’t think it is an inquiry that should bother Israel too much except one thing, the fact that they acted 80 or 90 miles from the beach in international water,” Liel said in a phone interview. “I don’t know if an international inquiry will say Israel did something illegal. This is the soft belly.” Some Israeli opposition lawmakers called on the government to set up an official inquiry into the raid, the daily Haaretz said. A survey of Israeli Jews in the daily Ma’ariv newspaper found that 46.7 percent of those questioned want the government to establish a probe into the incident, while 51.6 percent say there is no need. Israeli Blockade The pro-Palestinian activists were attempting to sail into Gaza, which has been under Israeli blockade since the Islamic Hamas movement took control of the territory in 2007. A seventh ship has sailed for Gaza to try and breach the Israeli blockade. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union. Palestinians, backed by the United Nations and human-rights groups, say the restrictions on food imports and construction materials have created a humanitarian crisis. Israel says it needs to control Gaza’s borders or Hamas will smuggle in material to make rockets and attack its territory. Israel said its soldiers were attacked with knives and clubs after boarding a vessel and seven soldiers were wounded, including by gunfire after activists aboard the ship managed to grab Israeli firearms. Kuwait lawmaker Waleed al-Tabtabai, who was on one of the ships, told reporters on his return home that the “Israelis started firing even before they landed on the ship. They killed two Turks, one was killed by helicopter fire and the other by fire from a ship.” To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net ; Jonathan Ferziger in Jerusalem at jferziger@bloomberg.net

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Netanyahu Calls Flotilla Raid Criticism Hypocrisy Amid Probe Calls

June 3, 2010

By Gwen Ackerman and Jonathan Ferziger June 3 (Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said criticism of Israel’s raid against a Gaza Strip aid shipment that left nine dead was “hypocrisy,” as international calls for a probe into the incident mounted. “Israel is told it has the right to defend itself, but when we do exercise that right we’re condemned for it,” Netanyahu said in a nationally televised address in Jerusalem. “Israel should not be held to a double standard.” Israel has faced international criticism over the May 31 raid by naval commandos on a flotilla of aid ships, as well as calls for it to lift restrictions on the flow of goods into Gaza. The incident has led to demands for Israel or others to investigate the raid on the ships that headed for Hamas- controlled Gaza in an effort to undermine Israel’s blockade. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in New York that the blockade was “counter-productive, unsustainable and wrong,” and that it should end “immediately.” Israel “must provide as soon as possible a full and detailed accounting of the events surrounding this incident,” he said. Vice-President Joe Biden said Israel has “an absolute right to deal with its security interest” and a “right to know” what is being transported to Gaza. Biden said he supports a “transparent and open” investigation that is led by the Israelis and has “international participation.” He spoke in an interview on PBS television’s “Charlie Rose Show. Israel isn’t likely to agree to an international probe, said Jonathan Spyer , a political scientist at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. Faulty Intelligence “There is a very strong sense that it is not that something actually wrong took place,” Spyer said in a telephone interview. “Rather, there was a mishap and a strong sense that the army made a mistake based on faulty intelligence. There is not a sense that Israel feels answerable to the world community.” At the same time, Israel has acted to end the crisis. All detained members of the flotilla were expelled yesterday, with the exception of seven people still in the hospital, said Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad. Three aircraft landed in Istanbul carrying 466 passengers and the bodies of nine people killed in the raid, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in comments carried by state-owned news agency Anatolia. Four of the dead have been identified as Turks and the nationality of the others isn’t clear. Nineteen injured people were flown to Ankara and were being given treatment. Supporters Welcome The planes were welcomed by hundreds of supporters and family members at Istanbul’s main airport. Arab foreign ministers meeting in an emergency session in Cairo urged their governments to defy the blockade, Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa said. The ministers called on Arab states to “work to provide the people of Gaza with whatever they need regardless of the blockade and using all means,” he told a news conference after a three-hour meeting that ended early today. Netanyahu spoke after the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to authorize an independent international investigation of the Israeli raid on the flotilla. The U.S., the Netherlands and Italy voted against the measure. “Every Ship’ “Our responsibility is to examine every ship going to Gaza, to stop the weapons and to let other cargo enter,” Netanyahu said yesterday. “If we don’t do that, the result is going to be an Iranian port in Gaza.” The UN Security Council has also called for an investigation. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in an interview yesterday on RTL Radio that any investigation should be overseen by the UN. In the past, Israel refused to participate in a UN panel led by former UN prosecutor and South African judge Richard Goldstone that investigated the 2008 Gaza war. Goldstone’s panel accused Israel and Hamas of war crimes and called on them to investigate the charges. Ban said after meetings with envoys of Israel, Turkey, the U.S., China, Russia and Arab nations that he would take “some time” to decide how an investigation of the raid should be conducted. He said he would “make it as impartial, credible and transparent as possible.” Stop Hamas Israel’s benchmark TA-25 Index was up 0.02 percent at the close in Tel Aviv yesterday. Israel said the Gaza war was meant to stop Hamas and other militant groups from firing rockets into its territory. About 330 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel since the end of the operation, killing one foreign worker last March, the army said. Alon Liel , former director general of the Foreign Ministry, said that unlike the Gaza probe, where many facts were unknown, photos and video footage of the flotilla incident was readily available on the Internet. “I don’t think it is an inquiry that should bother Israel too much except one thing, the fact that they acted 80 or 90 miles from the beach in international water,” Liel said in a phone interview. “I don’t know if an international inquiry will say Israel did something illegal. This is the soft belly.” Some Israeli opposition lawmakers called on the government to set up an official inquiry into the raid, the daily Haaretz said. A survey of Israeli Jews in the daily Ma’ariv newspaper found that 46.7 percent of those questioned want the government to establish a probe into the incident, while 51.6 percent say there is no need. Israeli Blockade The pro-Palestinian activists were attempting to sail into Gaza, which has been under Israeli blockade since the Islamic Hamas movement took control of the territory in 2007. A seventh ship has sailed for Gaza to try and breach the Israeli blockade. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union. Palestinians, backed by the United Nations and human-rights groups, say the restrictions on food imports and construction materials have created a humanitarian crisis. Israel says it needs to control Gaza’s borders or Hamas will smuggle in material to make rockets and attack its territory. Israel said its soldiers were attacked with knives and clubs after boarding a vessel and seven soldiers were wounded, including by gunfire after activists aboard the ship managed to grab Israeli firearms. Kuwait lawmaker Waleed al-Tabtabai, who was on one of the ships, told reporters on his return home that the “Israelis started firing even before they landed on the ship. They killed two Turks, one was killed by helicopter fire and the other by fire from a ship.” To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net ; Jonathan Ferziger in Jerusalem at jferziger@bloomberg.net

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ElBaradei’s Campaign to End Mubarak’s Rule Spurned by Egyptian Opposition

May 18, 2010

By Daniel Williams May 18 (Bloomberg) — Hundreds of flag-waving Egyptians greeted Mohamed ElBaradei at Cairo’s airport on Feb. 19. The former head of the United Nations atomic-energy agency was coming home to lead a movement to oust President Hosni Mubarak , and opposition leaders rallied in support. Three months later, some activists have abandoned the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, calling him aloof, absent and out of touch. And his campaign has failed so far to pressure Mubarak into adopting new regulations allowing independent candidates, including ElBaradei, to run in next year’s election. ElBaradei’s endeavor is “a fiasco,” said Hisham Kassem , a former newspaper publisher and member of Kifaya, a group of anti-Mubarak activists. “Everyone has his own agenda.” If ElBaradei fails, it would be the latest in a series of unsuccessful efforts to end 28 years of one-man rule and return Egypt to democracy for the first time since 1952, when the military overthrew a constitutional monarchy. While Mubarak supporters say his strong hand maintains stability, critics say the price has been corruption, oligarchy and persistent labor unrest in a country operating since 1981 under a state of emergency that permits arbitrary arrest, detention without trial and suppression of political associations and demonstrations. The critics also say stability is illusory. Forty-two percent of Egyptians live in poverty, and there has been an upsurge in illegal protests, with more than 1.7 million workers participating in some 1,900 strikes and other actions between 2004 and 2008, according to the Washington-based Solidarity Center , a labor-rights group. Nuclear Proliferation ElBaradei, 67, returned to Egypt after a long career abroad. He served as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna for 12 years, sharing the Nobel prize with the agency for work to prevent nuclear proliferation for military use. A former diplomat, he’s never held elected office. “Egyptians are looking for a savior to pull them out of their misery,” Kassem said. ElBaradei formed the National Association for Change, an umbrella group designed to pressure Mubarak, in February. He has called for term limits on the presidency and said Egyptians should boycott next year’s elections if Mubarak doesn’t change the constitution. Under current rules, presidential candidates must be members of established parties, including Mubarak’s National Democratic Party , or be endorsed by parliament and municipal councils, all dominated by the NDP. Grooming a Successor Mubarak, 82 and ailing, hasn’t said if he’ll seek another six-year term. Opposition groups say he is grooming his son Gamal , 47, to succeed him, a claim both men deny. After initial expressions of support, groups that might help channel public enthusiasm for ElBaradei into a mass movement now display little interest in joining him. The Muslim Brotherhood , Egypt’s largest opposition faction, which is legally banned from politics, isn’t willing to back ElBaradei even though it agrees with his call for open elections, spokesman Ali Abdul-Fattah said. “He doesn’t speak the language of the people, and he wants to manage things as an outsider instead of getting down to the struggle,” Abdul-Fattah said. “In any case, there is no possibility for change.” Lawyer Ayman Nour , who ran for president in 2005 as head of the Tomorrow Party and got 7 percent of the vote, joined ElBaradei’s group initially and then split off. ElBaradei “just showed up in February,” Nour said, adding he plans to run again in 2011. “The movement can’t be based on one personality. For instance, our party has a history. He is just an individual.” Reject Leadership Officially recognized parties, which have little following in Egypt, reject ElBaradei’s leadership. The socialist Tagammu Party, which was founded in 1977 and has one seat in parliament, forbade its members from joining ElBaradei’s association. “We worked for years and now we are expected to back this phenomenon? No,” said Hussein Abdul Razek, a top official. The April 6 Youth Movement, a collection of young people who lobby for democracy on the Internet , rallied around ElBaradei at first and now has become frustrated by his performance, said its leader Ahmed Maher. “Time is passing, everyone’s ambitions are clashing and ElBaradei is just talking,” he said. “It’s a huge disappointment, but we still have hope.” An ElBaradei representative, Hassan Nafaa, a Cairo University professor who coordinates the NAC, acknowledged ElBaradei must do more to mobilize support. ‘Complicated’ Politics “Egyptian politics are complicated,” he said during a May 3 rally protesting Mubarak’s plan to add two more years to the state of emergency. “It’s hard to keep people together.” The demonstration drew about 100 participants, who mainly spent their time debating whether to break through police lines and march on parliament or give television interviews. ElBaradei was absent, traveling in the U.S. “We have to do better organizing; activity must go on even in ElBaradei’s absence,” Nafaa said, adding ElBaradei would soon promote civil disobedience. A second protest, hastily convened on May 12 when Mubarak extended the emergency law, also drew about 100 demonstrators, many repeaters from May 3. ElBaradei, still abroad, Twittered that the extension was a “continuation of repression” and a “violation” of human rights. He should spend more time in Egypt and lead demonstrations, said the youth movement’s Maher. “We can’t have an opposition in the transit lounge,” he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net .

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`Black Boxes’ Retrieved After Libya Crash Kills 103; Boy Is Only Survivor

May 12, 2010

By Alaa Shahine and Franz Wild May 13 (Bloomberg) — An Airbus SAS jet’s “black box” voice and data recorders were recovered from the wreckage of the Afriqiyah Airways flight that crashed on landing in Tripoli, Libya, killing all but one of the 104 people on board. Rescue workers recovered 96 bodies after yesterday’s accident along with the flight recorders, Libya’s official JANA news agency said, citing Transportation Minister Mohamed Zeidan. The 93 passengers included 62 Dutch tourists, of whom one, a child, survived, according to Markus van Tol, a spokesman for the ANWB Royal Dutch Tourist Association. The twin-engine A330 plane “crash-landed in the final approach” after the flight from Johannesburg, airline spokeswoman Elizabeth McQuiggan said in a telephone interview, adding that it’s not clear what caused the accident. The wide-body plane, powered by engines from General Electric Co. , first flew on Aug. 12 last year and was delivered new to Afriqiyah Airways on Sept. 8, according to U.K. aviation consultants Ascend Worldwide Ltd. The crash is the second in 12 months involving an A330, and Airbus said it will provide “full technical assistance” to air-accident investigators. Zeidan said there is no evidence that terrorism caused the accident, according to JANA. Passengers on the flight came from Britain, Finland, France, Germany, the Philippines and Zimbabwe, as well as Libya, South Africa and the Netherlands, he was reported as saying. Crash Site Metal parts from the plane, which crashed at about 6 a.m. local time, were strewn on the ground at the site of the impact, television footage showed, while rescue workers could be seen wearing masks and searching for survivors in the wreckage. The service, Afriqiyah Flight 771, was also carrying 11 crew members, the Tripoli-based airline said on its website . Afriqiyah, which was founded in 2001 and serves cities in Africa, Asia and Europe, had an 11-strong Airbus fleet before the crash, including two more A330s, Ascend safety director Paul Hayes said by e-mail. Of the 93 passengers on the flight, 11 had planned to end their journey in Tripoli, with the rest travelling to onward destinations, a spokeswoman for Johannesburg airport said at a press conference broadcast on Dutch television. Some 42 people were due to catch a connection to Dusseldorf in Germany, with 32 bound for Brussels, seven for London and one for Paris, she said. Dutch Victims Dutch holiday company Kras.nl, part of TUI Travel Plc, had clients on the plane, according to its website. Another tour operator from the Netherlands, Stip Reizen, said 38 of its customers were en route to Dusseldorf, the ANP news agency reported, citing a spokeswoman from the company, and the ANWB’s von Tol said some Brussels-bound passengers were also Dutch. “This is truly tragic and touches us all,” Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said on national television, adding that there is “uncertainty” about passenger logs and the exact number of people from his country on the flight. The child who survived is a boy who shouted “Holland, Holland,” while being treated for fractures at a hospital in Tripoli, leading to the conclusion regarding his nationality, Dutch Foreign Affairs minister Maxime Verhagen said. Forensic experts have been sent to the crash scene in order to aid identification of bodies, the minister said at a press conference in The Hague. The British Foreign Office confirmed on its website that one U.K. national was on the plane. Afriqiyah’s route network includes London Gatwick airport. An Airbus A330 operated by Air France crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1 while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing all 228 people on board. While more than 1,000 pieces of debris and 50 bodies have been found, no definitive reason has been presented for the accident, with early studies suggesting the plane flew into poor weather with speed sensors that weren’t properly functioning. The black boxes from the aircraft have yet to be recovered. Prior to the Air France incident the A330 had never had a fatal crash in commercial flight, though a development model came down after takeoff during testing, according Hayes, who says there are 650 of the jetliners in operation worldwide. To contact the reporters on this story: Franz Wild in Johannesburg at fwild@bloomberg.net ; Alaa Shahine in Cairo at asalha@bloomberg.net

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Terrorists Seeking Next `Jihad Jane’ Recruit on English-Language Web Site

April 20, 2010

By Daniel Williams April 20 (Bloomberg) — Al-Qaeda and its ideological allies are using English-language Web sites and forums to encourage non-Arabic speakers to make war on the West as terrorists seek the next Ft. Hood shooters and “Jihad Janes.” Their goal to widen the pool of prospective terrorists beyond traditional Middle East and Asia sources is part of a search for “white al-Qaeda” activists who could foil racial profiling and initiate attacks, according to Evan Kohlmann, a consultant with FlashPoint Partners , a New York-based security research company. The effort is consistent with the gradual decentralization of Islamic-inspired holy war, he said in a telephone interview. “It’s a way al-Qaeda can say, ‘You don’t have to speak Arabic or Pashtun or come to Pakistan for training; you just have to be committed, and go out and kill people,’” Kohlmann said. Appeals for nonmembers to carry out small-scale attacks are a departure for al-Qaeda, the global terrorist network headed by Osama bin Laden . It maintained centralized command and training for many years, masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. After Sept. 11, it pledged to trump the mass killing with even more spectacular assaults. As the U.S. kept up pressure on al-Qaeda hideouts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, its leaders exercised less control over related organizations and have begun to encourage attacks by unaffiliated individuals, Kohlmann said. Al-Qaeda released a video message in English last month by Adam Gadahn , an American- born spokesman, appealing for hits on targets big and small. ‘Carefully Timed’ Attacks “We must look to further undermine the West’s already- struggling economies with carefully timed and targeted attacks on symbols of capitalism, which will again shake consumer confidence and stifle spending,” he said. Regulators in India halted trading of bonds, stocks and currencies Nov. 27, 2008, during terrorist attacks that killed 164 people in the financial hub of Mumbai. A July 7, 2005, attack by four Muslim suicide bombers on London’s transport system, which killed 52 people, caused an almost immediate decline of more than 200 points in the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index. Spain’s benchmark IBEX 35 index fell as much as 3.9 percent on March 11 and 12, 2004, after terrorist bombings on Madrid’s commuter trains killed 191 people. Nidal Malik Hasan , a U.S. Army major charged by military authorities with killing 13 fellow soldiers on Nov. 5, 2009, at Ft. Hood in Texas, drew ideological nourishment from English- language blogs and e-mails with al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, according to Kohlmann and a Nov. 10 Associated Press story. Hidden Explosives Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab , a Nigerian accused by federal authorities of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25 with explosives hidden in his underwear, chatted on various English jihad forums, Kohlmann said. Colleen LaRose , the Pennsylvania woman who used the alias “Jihad Jane,” recruited men and women on the Internet and solicited funds for terrorists, prosecutors said in court filings. She pleaded not guilty March 18 in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia to charges she plotted to recruit jihadist fighters and conspired to murder a Swedish resident. “Jihadis are desperate to find people like that as low- level recruits,” Jarret Brachman , author of “Global Jihadism: Theory and Practice” and a research fellow at North Dakota State University in Fargo, said in an interview. “There’s always a clamor at jihad Web sites for people who can speak and translate English.” ‘Highly Motivated’ Kohlmann identified the rise of Ansar al-Mujahideen , a non- al-Qaeda site, as exemplifying “a prolific, multilanguage enterprise with an enviable following of skilled and highly motivated English-speaking members,” in a February report for the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. The site’s English forum offers such items as an article with “Advice to the Brethren Leaving for Jihad” and a video of an attack on a transport truck for police vehicles in Iraq. It links to a broadcast by al-Awlaki calling on American Muslims to take up jihad and an interview with Hammam Khalil al- Balawi, a Jordanian who was a double agent for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency until December 2009, when he blew himself up in Afghanistan, killing seven CIA operatives. Enticing “lone-wolf” terrorists is a symptom of the “continued weakening of the core al-Qaeda group,” and the “trend toward decentralization,” Stratfor , a political-risk consulting company in Austin, Texas, said in a March report. Atomization of holy war comes at a price, Stratfor added: The would-be killers may be less skilful than trained ones, and less committed. ‘Jihadist Ideology’ “Not putting their recruits through a more formal training regimen also makes it more difficult for groups to thoroughly indoctrinate recruits with jihadist ideology,” the report said. It isn’t clear that expanding English-language Internet efforts will lead to a major increase in attacks, Brachman said, adding “I don’t think yet you can be sure of a causal relationship between non-Arabic Web sites and active jihad.” Even so, there’s a danger that authorities will view online militants as armchair “jihobbyists” and won’t take their threats seriously, Kohlmann said. “It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to kill someone.” To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net

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At Least 35 Killed in Baghdad Blasts; Iran, Egyptian Embassies Targeted

April 4, 2010

By Daniel Williams April 4 (Bloomberg) — Three bombs exploded in Baghdad today as political parties hold talks on forming a new Iraqi government following last month’s parliamentary elections. Al-Jazeera, an Arabic language satellite television channel, said the car bombs, which hit almost simultaneously this morning, killed at least 30 people. One exploded outside the Iranian embassy, another in western Mansour district, and a third detonated near the German ambassador’s residence on a street that houses several other legations. Men disguised as soldiers yesterday killed 25 people in an assault on a village on the southern outskirts of Baghdad. Talks among major political factions to form a new government continue. The March 7 vote followed largely ethnic and religious lines and no party won a majority of the 325 seats at stake. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s secular Iraqiya bloc won 91 seats to the 89 secured by incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite State of Law group. The two men are rivals to become prime minister and need allies to obtain a majority of 163 seats. Delays in forming a new government may hamper President Barack Obama’s plan to reduce U.S. troop strength in Iraq from 96,000 to 50,000 by August. The Iraqi government that emerges will face disputes over sharing oil revenue among regions and whether to include the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the Kurdish autonomous region, as well as coping with hostilities between Shiites and Sunnis. To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net .

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At Least 35 Killed in Baghdad Blasts; Iran, Egyptian Embassies Targeted

April 4, 2010

By Daniel Williams April 4 (Bloomberg) — Three bombs exploded in Baghdad today as political parties hold talks on forming a new Iraqi government following last month’s parliamentary elections. Al-Jazeera, an Arabic language satellite television channel, said the car bombs, which hit almost simultaneously this morning, killed at least 30 people. One exploded outside the Iranian embassy, another in western Mansour district, and a third detonated near the German ambassador’s residence on a street that houses several other legations. Men disguised as soldiers yesterday killed 25 people in an assault on a village on the southern outskirts of Baghdad. Talks among major political factions to form a new government continue. The March 7 vote followed largely ethnic and religious lines and no party won a majority of the 325 seats at stake. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s secular Iraqiya bloc won 91 seats to the 89 secured by incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite State of Law group. The two men are rivals to become prime minister and need allies to obtain a majority of 163 seats. Delays in forming a new government may hamper President Barack Obama’s plan to reduce U.S. troop strength in Iraq from 96,000 to 50,000 by August. The Iraqi government that emerges will face disputes over sharing oil revenue among regions and whether to include the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the Kurdish autonomous region, as well as coping with hostilities between Shiites and Sunnis. To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net .

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Sudan’s Opposition Parties Announce Election Boycott Amid Rigging Charges

April 1, 2010

By Maram Mazen and Nicole Gaouette April 2 (Bloomberg) — Sudan’s opposition parties announced a boycott of Sudan’s elections this month, accusing Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir ’s government of rigging the first multiparty vote in 24 years. “The consensus today decided to boycott these elections,” which includes presidential, parliamentary and governors’ seats, the opposition parties’ spokesman, Farouq Abu Eissa, told reporters in Khartoum yesterday after a meeting of that various political groups. “The parties decided to reject and boycott this incomplete and distorted elections,” Mariam al-Mahdi, a spokeswoman for the Umma northern opposition parties, told reporters. The announcement followed days of discussions among the opposition parties on the April 11-13 elections. Earlier yesterday, most presidential challengers decided to withdraw from the race because of concerns the vote is rigged in Bashir’s favor, al-Mahdi said. The decision raised U.S. concerns about the vote’s credibility. “Nine presidential candidates met today, and most of them decided they will withdraw from the presidential election,” al- Mahdi said, without naming all their parties. Al Umma Reform and Renewal party presidential candidate Mubarak al-Fadil also said in a text message that most of the candidates were quitting the race. U.S. ‘Troubled’ “We’re troubled by any decision that reduces the competitiveness and credibility of these elections, but the situation is very fluid,” State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said in a briefing in Washington yesterday after the announcement that presidential opponents were withdrawing. The U.S. special envoy for Sudan, Scott Gration , is in the country meeting with officials and opposition parties and “actively working on these issues,” Crowley said. The elections for Sudan’s presidency, parliament and state governorships will take place this month, five years after the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement signed a peace deal with the government, ending a 20-year civil war between the Muslim north and the south, where Christianity and traditional religion dominate. Sudan pumps 480,000 barrels of oil per day and ranks as sub-Saharan Africa’s third-biggest crude producer, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy. Most of that is pumped in the south. The SPLM, which governs the semi-autonomous region of Southern Sudan , announced this week it was withdrawing its presidential candidate and boycotting the polls in the western region of Darfur. Elections Commission The opposition parties have accused the National Elections Commission of being biased in favor of Bashir’s National Congress Party. They have also called for a new commission to be set up and the voters’ list to be revamped. “Our parties until today have been and still are getting unlimited harassments from authorities,” Abu Eissa said. “We have decided to boycott the elections on all levels,” Neimat Malik, member of the Communist party’s political bureau, said by phone. Al-Mahdi of the Umma party said some of the parties will announce their final position within 24 hours after consultations within their ranks. She said the candidates could re-enter the presidential race if the government took steps to ensure a free and fair election. “They said they can review their position if there are steps taken to correct the current situation,” she said. Popular Congress Party leader Hassan al-Turabi , who helped Bashir seize power in a 1989 coup, said earlier yesterday that his party would participate in the election. The U.S., Britain and Norway yesterday called on Sudan’s government and political parties to address allegations of intimidation, harassment and other safety concerns to clear the way for the vote. “We urge all parties in Sudan to work urgently to ensure that elections can proceed peacefully and credibly in April,” the countries said in an e-mailed statement. To contact the reporter on this story: Maram Mazen in Khartoum via Cairo at mmazen@bloomberg.net ; Nicole Gaouette in Washington at ngaouette@bloomberg.net

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Merrill Lynch Loses Africa Chief Trader Tony Marcia to Renaissance Capital

March 30, 2010

By Renee Bonorchis March 30 (Bloomberg) — Merrill Lynch ’s chief trader in South Africa, Tony Marcia , has left to join Renaissance Capital, the Moscow-based investment bank expanding in Asia and sub- Saharan Africa. Marcia will become head of trading for Africa at the company known as Rencap on April 15. He spent 20 years at Merrill Lynch, a unit of Bank of America Corp. “Renaissance Capital’s story is very exciting,” Marcia said in an interview on his mobile phone from Johannesburg today. “Africa’s going to be the hottest place to be for the next five to 10 years.” Three weeks ago Clifford Sacks quit as Merrill Lynch’s joint chief executive officer in South Africa to head up RenCap’s operation the country. RenCap, half-owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov , aims to build its African equity business and hire at least 25 people in Johannesburg over the next six months, Sacks said on March 4. “We’re trying not to go after the Merrill Lynch team,” Sacks said by phone today. The Merrill Lynch Africa Lions Index , which includes stocks from across the continent, has climbed more than 95 percent in the past 12 months, with money managers such as Mark Mobius predicting further growth in African equity markets. Cape to Cairo Gary Taylor , a senior trader at Merrill Lynch in Johannesburg, said the team is reporting directly to London with no permanent replacement for Marcia having been named yet. Marcus Heilner , head of Merrill Lynch in South Africa, didn’t respond to two messages left at his office today. RenCap, founded by New Zealander Stephen Jennings in 1995, plans to add a total of 250 staff in 2010 as it expands “across products and geographies,” the company said March 10. Marcia’s appointment comes 18 months after a record rout in Russian stocks forced RenCap to cut jobs and sell half the brokerage to Prokhorov for $500 million. RenCap wants an equities business stretching from the Cape to Cairo, according to Sacks, 47. The bank aims to be the first “serious pan-African shop” and is in talks to buy brokerages in five or six African countries, he said. With low liquidity, a jumble of exchanges with varying reporting standards and little disclosure, Marcia says it will be hard to trade equities across Africa. “With the whole liquidity thing we’ve got to get the trading platforms up to speed,” he said. “Then we can bring the platform to clients.” RenCap, which will cover research, sales and trading, capital markets, derivative products and mergers and acquisitions, will focus mainly on the metals and mining, oil and gas, financial services and telecommunications, according to Sacks. Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is projected at 4.3 percent this year, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, compared with global growth of 2.8 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Renee Bonorchis in Johannesburg at rbonorchis@bloomberg.net

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Al-Maliki Leads in Baghdad, Four Iraqi Provinces, Partial Results Indicate

March 13, 2010

By Caroline Alexander and Daniel Williams (Corrects name of Iraqi vice president in 10th paragraph.) March 13 (Bloomberg) — An alliance led by Iraq’s incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki leads in Baghdad and four other provinces, partial results from the March 7 parliamentary elections show, giving him the upper hand in trying to form a new government. Al-Maliki’s Shiite Muslim-based State of Law bloc opened talks with rival groups to form a governing coalition, party official Ali al-Adeed said after the Independent High Electoral Commission released limited results from nine of the 18 provinces. “We have taken the initiative to start negotiations to form a government,” he said on the organization’s Web site. No party or bloc is likely to win half the 325 seats at stake. Rivals are generally winning in areas of core sectarian support, according to the first tallies. State of Law and the rival Shiite Iraqi National Alliance are splitting most ballots cast by Shiites, the majority voting group. State of Law is ahead in the southern Shiite provinces of Najaf, Babil, Karbala, and Muthanna, the electoral commission said. The Iraqi National Alliance is leading in Shiite Maysan province in the far southeast and finishing second to Maliki’s coalition in the other Shiite provinces. The Iraqiya coalition of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi , which appealed to minority Sunni Muslims, was ahead in largely Sunni Diyala and Salahdin. The Kurdistan Alliance led in the Kurdish province of Erbil. “The vote won’t produce a decisive winner and there will have to be bargaining for a ruling coalition,” Marina Ottaway , an analyst at Washington’s Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said in a telephone interview. Challenge Uncertainty challenges President Barack Obama’s plan to reduce U.S. troop strength in Iraq from 96,000 to 50,000 by August. Violence may increase if Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds aren’t all included in a governing coalition, said Ahmed Ali, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy . Iraqi media have predicted a tight race between Allawi’s Iraqiya, which campaigned on a non-sectarian platform, and al- Maliki, who also presented himself as a national leader. In Baghdad, Iraq’s capital and biggest city, State of Law led both the Iraqi National Alliance and Iraqiya by about 50,000 votes. Only 18 percent of ballots were counted so far. Baghdad is a mixed city of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish voters. Besides al-Maliki’s State of Law, other coalitions are actively seeking coalition partners. Ammar al-Hakim , a top official in the Iraqi National Alliance, told Samaria TV, an Iraqi satellite channel, that he had informed the Kurdistan Alliance of his group’s “commitment in allying with them.” Disputes Ahead Allawi met yesterday with the country’s Shiite Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi , who belongs to the Iraqi National Alliance, for talks to “contribute in forming a government,” a statement from Iraq’s presidential press office said. It may take months of negotiations to form a coalition cabinet, analysts predicted. The government that emerges will face disputes over sharing oil revenue among regions and whether to include the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the Kurdish autonomous region, as well as coping with hostilities between Shiites and Sunnis. Iraq pumped about 2.4 million barrels of crude oil a day last month, according to Bloomberg estimates. Its 115 billion- barrel reserves are behind only Saudi Arabia and Iran. The U.S., which led a 2003 invasion to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein , is scheduled to pull out all its troops by the end of 2011. Fraud Complaints Complaints of fraud complicate the outcome. Even before results were released March 11, Allawi’s alliance expressed doubts about the count. “There are lots of violations,” Iraqiya member Adnan Janabi told Al-Jazeera, the Arabic-language television channel. “I think they are still going on.” Interior Minister Jawad al-Boulani , who is running with the Sunni-dominated Iraqi Unity Coalition, told Beirut-based Sumaria TV that ballot boxes “were being transferred in suspicious circumstances.” A spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq , Said Arikat , dismissed the fraud charges as unrepresentative. He said that technical problems delayed the quick release of early results. “Politicians can say what they want,” he said by telephone from Baghdad. “We have no reports of problems.” It’s not clear whether the complaints represent the maneuvers of losers or reflect concerns that could spread and revive sectarian and ethnic violence. Sunni groups spearheaded an anti-U.S. insurgency after the 2003 invasion and also fought what was close to a civil war with Shiites. There have also been clashes between rival Shiite groups, and tensions between Arabs and Kurds. The Iraqi army and a Kurdish militia face each other across oil fields in the north, where the Kurds claim territory to add to their autonomous region. To contact the reporters on this story: Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net ; Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net .

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Iraqi Leaders Maneuver Amid Signs No Party Will Win Majority in Election

March 10, 2010

By Caroline Alexander and Daniel Williams March 10 (Bloomberg) — Iraq faces tough political coalition-building as leaders maneuvered amid indications that no party would win a majority when initial results from the parliamentary election are announced. Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission expects to release preliminary results today, spokesman Qassem al-Aboudi said. The commission had promised to announce the provisional vote count yesterday and then said it hadn’t yet tallied enough ballots. Final results may not be certified until the end of the month. Jockeying over positions in the new administration is already underway. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi told a televised news conference in Baghdad that the next president of the country must be an Arab because “this country is Arab and an Arab should be on top.” The current president, Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani , has already declared his intention to stay on in the job. The president is elected by parliament. The main competitors in the election are Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law alliance and the Iraqiya party of a former premier, Ayad Allawi . Coalition-building is essential to the U.S. plan to withdraw troops as Iraq establishes a stable government. American officials insist the pullout will go ahead. “I think they all realize that no one will have an outright majority,” General Ray Odierno , the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said on CNN. “So, they know that they are going to have to form a coalition government.” He said he’s “confident” U.S. troops will withdraw on schedule. ‘Neck and Neck’ Al-Maliki’s and Allawi’s lists of candidates may each get less than a third of the 325 seats at stake, according to reports from Iraqi media. Turnout in the March 7 vote was 62.4 percent, the commission said. Allawi’s list is “neck and neck” with al-Maliki’s bloc, Allawi’s official spokeswoman, Maysoon al-Damluji, said yesterday in a phone interview from Baghdad. “We are doing pretty well.” Al-Damluji said that Allawi’s group had success with voters in Baghdad and the western provinces. She declined to provide details until results are released. Al-Damluji is a lawmaker in the current parliament and a member of Allawi’s alliance. Initial signs are that the vote will be divided along sectarian and ethnic lines. Al-Maliki’s alliance is leading in nine predominately Shiite Muslim provinces in the south, Sumaria Television reported. Abbas al-Bayati, an official from al- Maliki’s coalition, told the Associated Press the group also did well in the mixed city of Baghdad. Sunni Votes Allawi’s Iraqiya, which campaigned for a non-sectarian Iraq, was winning in four mainly Sunni Muslim provinces in the center and north of the country, Sumaria and the Iraq News Agency reported. Vice-President Al-Hashemi, a Sunni, is a key figure in the Iraqiya party. An alliance of the two main Kurdish parties, Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Massoud Barzani ’s Kurdistan Democratic Party, was sweeping the Kurds’ autonomous zone in the northeast, with other Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni parties running behind, Sumaria and the INA said. The ruling coalition that emerges from the election must resolve disputes over sharing oil revenue among regions and whether to include the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the Kurdish autonomous region in the north, as well as cope with violence between Shiites and Sunnis. The parties must agree to share out government posts including the influential Oil Ministry. Oil Revenue Iraq’s 115 billion-barrel oil reserves place it third in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Iran. The country pumped about 2.4 million barrels a day last month, according to Bloomberg estimates. Once official results are announced, Talabani will have 15 days to convene a new parliament. The first session elects a speaker and two deputy speakers. Next, a new president is elected, requiring a two-thirds majority. The new president has 15 days to task the leader of the largest bloc with forming a government. Parties will probably spend months haggling over the makeup of a coalition government, said Wael Abdel Latif of the National Iraqi Alliance, a major Shiite Muslim bloc. “The formation of the government may face big problems if the results are close and there is no clear winner,” Latif said in an interview in Baghdad. Preliminary results showed “a very close race,” he said. It could take more than six months to form a government, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said in a March 3 report. Risk of Violence Violence may escalate if the majority Shiites and the minority Sunni Muslims and Kurds aren’t all included in a coalition, said Ahmed Ali, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy . That would thwart U.S. ambitions to leave a stable Iraq as it withdraws its troops. U.S. troop strength is due to shrink from 96,000 to 50,000 by Sept. 1, and the remaining forces will leave Iraq by the end of 2011, under a schedule set last year by President Barack Obama . The parliamentary vote was the second since Saddam Hussein’s overthrow by U.S. forces in 2003. More than 6,200 candidates competed for seats in the legislature, the Council of Representatives. To contact the reporters on this story: Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net ; Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net .

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Iraqi Coalition, Kurd or Arab Presidency Debated as Election Tally Looms

March 9, 2010

By Caroline Alexander and Daniel Williams March 9 (Bloomberg) — Political maneuvering was under way in Iraq before initial results from the parliamentary election are announced, with early indications that no party would win a majority and tough coalition bargaining lies ahead. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi told a televised news conference in Baghdad that the next president of the country must be an Arab. “This country is Arab and an Arab should be on top,” he said. The current president is Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani , who has already declared his intention to stay on in the job. The president is elected by parliament. The main competitors are Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law alliance and the Iraqiya party of a former premier, Ayad Allawi . Coalition-building is essential to a U.S. plan to withdraw its troops as Iraq establishes a stable government. American officials insist the pullout will go ahead. Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission said it will announce preliminary results later today as districts that have tallied at least 30 percent of their votes report to Baghdad. Final results may not be certified until the end of the month. Turnout was 62.4 percent, the panel said. Al-Maliki’s and Allawi’s lists of candidates may each get less than a third of the 325 seats at stake, according to reports from Iraqi media. Allawi’s list is “neck and neck” with al-Maliki’s bloc, Allawi’s official spokeswoman, Maysoon al-Damluji, said today in a phone interview from Baghdad. “We are doing pretty well.” Al-Damluji said that Allawi’s group had success with voters in Baghdad and the western provinces. She declined to provide details until results are released. Al-Damluji is a lawmaker in the current parliament and a member of Allawi’s alliance. Sectarian, Ethnic Initial signs are that the election is breaking along sectarian and ethnic bounds. Al-Maliki’s alliance is leading in nine predominately Shiite Muslim provinces in the south, Sumaria Television reported. Abbas al-Bayati, an official from al- Maliki’s coalition, told the Associated Press the group also did well in the mixed city of Baghdad. Allawi’s Iraqiya, which campaigned for a non-sectarian Iraq, was winning in four mainly Sunni Muslim provinces in the center and north, Sumaria and the Iraq News Agency reported. Al- Hashemi is a Sunni from the Iraqiya party. Kurdish parties were sweeping the Kurds’ autonomous zone in the far northeast. Other Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni parties were running behind, the Iraqi broadcaster and news agency said. Oil Revenue Top government jobs, including the head of the influential Oil Ministry, will be at stake. The ruling coalition that emerges from the election will have to resolve disputes over sharing oil revenue among regions and whether to include the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the Kurdish autonomous region in the north, as well as cope with violence between Shiites and Sunnis. Iraq’s 115 billion-barrel oil reserves place it third behind Saudi Arabia and Iran. The country pumped about 2.4 million barrels a day last month, according to Bloomberg estimates. Once official results are announced, Talabani will have 15 days to convene a new parliament. The first session elects a speaker and two deputy speakers. Next, a new president is elected with a two-thirds majority. The new president has 15 days to task the leader of the largest bloc with forming a government. U.S. Troops Violence may escalate if the majority Shiites and the minority Sunni Muslims and Kurds aren’t all included in a coalition, said Ahmed Ali, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy . That would thwart U.S. ambitions to leave a stable Iraq as it withdraws its troops. U.S. troop strength will shrink from 96,000 to 50,000 by Sept. 1. All U.S. forces gone from Iraq by the end of 2011, under a schedule set last year by President Barack Obama . Parties will probably spend months haggling over the makeup of a coalition government, said Wael Abdel Latif of the National Iraqi Alliance, a major Shiite Muslim bloc. “The formation of the government may face big problems if the results are close and there is no clear winner,” Latif said in an interview yesterday in Baghdad. Preliminary results showed “a very close race,” he said. It could take more than six months to form a government, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said in a March 3 report. The parliamentary vote was the second since Saddam Hussein’s overthrow by U.S. forces in 2003. More than 6,200 candidates competed for seats in the legislature, the Council of Representatives. To contact the reporters on this story: Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net ; Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net .

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Iraqi Politicians Jockey for Position Before Snapshot of Election Results

March 9, 2010

By Caroline Alexander and Daniel Williams March 9 (Bloomberg) — Political maneuvering was under way in Iraq before initial results from the parliamentary election are announced, with early indications that no party would win a majority and tough coalition bargaining lies ahead. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi told a televised news conference in Baghdad that the next president of the country must be an Arab. “This country is Arab and an Arab should be on top,” he said. The current president is Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani , who has already declared his intention to stay on in the job. The president is elected by parliament. The main competitors are Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law alliance and the Iraqiya party of a former premier, Ayad Allawi . Coalition-building is essential to a U.S. plan to withdraw its troops as Iraq establishes a stable government. American officials insist the pullout will go ahead. Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission said it will announce preliminary results later today as districts that have tallied at least 30 percent of their votes report to Baghdad. Final results may not be certified until the end of the month. Turnout was 62.4 percent, the panel said. Al-Maliki’s and Allawi’s lists of candidates may each get less than a third of the 325 seats at stake, according to reports from Iraqi media. Allawi’s list is “neck and neck” with al-Maliki’s bloc, Allawi’s official spokeswoman, Maysoon al-Damluji, said today in a phone interview from Baghdad. “We are doing pretty well.” Al-Damluji said that Allawi’s group had success with voters in Baghdad and the western provinces. She declined to provide details until results are released. Al-Damluji is a lawmaker in the current parliament and a member of Allawi’s alliance. Sectarian, Ethnic Initial signs are that the election is breaking along sectarian and ethnic bounds. Al-Maliki’s alliance is leading in nine predominately Shiite Muslim provinces in the south, Sumaria Television reported. Abbas al-Bayati, an official from al- Maliki’s coalition, told the Associated Press the group also did well in the mixed city of Baghdad. Allawi’s Iraqiya, which campaigned for a non-sectarian Iraq, was winning in four mainly Sunni Muslim provinces in the center and north, Sumaria and the Iraq News Agency reported. Al- Hashemi is a Sunni from the Iraqiya party. Kurdish parties were sweeping the Kurds’ autonomous zone in the far northeast. Other Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni parties were running behind, the Iraqi broadcaster and news agency said. Oil Revenue Top government jobs, including the head of the influential Oil Ministry, will be at stake. The ruling coalition that emerges from the election will have to resolve disputes over sharing oil revenue among regions and whether to include the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the Kurdish autonomous region in the north, as well as cope with violence between Shiites and Sunnis. Iraq’s 115 billion-barrel oil reserves place it third behind Saudi Arabia and Iran. The country pumped about 2.4 million barrels a day last month, according to Bloomberg estimates. Once official results are announced, Talabani will have 15 days to convene a new parliament. The first session elects a speaker and two deputy speakers. Next, a new president is elected with a two-thirds majority. The new president has 15 days to task the leader of the largest bloc with forming a government. U.S. Troops Violence may escalate if the majority Shiites and the minority Sunni Muslims and Kurds aren’t all included in a coalition, said Ahmed Ali, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy . That would thwart U.S. ambitions to leave a stable Iraq as it withdraws its troops. U.S. troop strength will shrink from 96,000 to 50,000 by Sept. 1. All U.S. forces gone from Iraq by the end of 2011, under a schedule set last year by President Barack Obama . Parties will probably spend months haggling over the makeup of a coalition government, said Wael Abdel Latif of the National Iraqi Alliance, a major Shiite Muslim bloc. “The formation of the government may face big problems if the results are close and there is no clear winner,” Latif said in an interview yesterday in Baghdad. Preliminary results showed “a very close race,” he said. It could take more than six months to form a government, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said in a March 3 report. The parliamentary vote was the second since Saddam Hussein’s overthrow by U.S. forces in 2003. More than 6,200 candidates competed for seats in the legislature, the Council of Representatives. To contact the reporters on this story: Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net ; Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net .

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Iraqis Face Months of Coalition Wrangling After Defying Bombings to Vote

March 7, 2010

By Caroline Alexander and Daniel Williams March 8 (Bloomberg) — Iraqis defied bombs and mortars to get to the polls in yesterday’s national election. Now they will likely have to face months of haggling by fractious leaders over the formation of a coalition government. Vote-counting was under way last night and initial results of the election, which was contested by 86 political groupings, are expected today. At least 36 people were killed in attacks, most in Baghdad, according to the Associated Press. Iraqi affiliates of al-Qaeda, the global terror network, had vowed to attack voters on their way to the polls, which closed at 5 p.m. While the strikes failed to derail the elections, violence could grow if the vote doesn’t produce a coalition that includes Iraq’s main ethnic and religious groups, the majority Shiite Muslim and minority Sunni Muslim and Kurds. This would threaten U.S. ambitions to leave a stable Iraq as it withdraws its troops. The level of violence is “episodic, lethal, but ultimately incapable of derailing the political process,” said Reidar Visser , an Iraq analyst at the Olso-based Norwegian Institute for International Affairs . “The more fundamental question relates to the quality of the political process” and Iraq’s transformation to democracy which “remains highly tentative.” In Baghdad, voters had to endure grenade, mortar and bomb attacks. At least 19 people were killed when explosions struck two buildings in the northeastern part of the capital, the Associated Press reported. The cities of Fallujah, Baquba and Samarra were also struck by mortars or bombs, many of them near polling stations, Agence France-Presse reported. Undeterred “Despite the bombs that I heard on my way and the fact that I was stopped and searched three times, I insisted on voting,” Ali Salim, a 32-year-old public school teacher in Baghdad and a Shiite Muslim, said at a voting station. “I even put on my best suit and tie.” President Barack Obama called the election “an important milestone” and congratulated the Iraqis yesterday for not succumbing to intimidation. “I have great respect for the millions of Iraqis who refused to be deterred by acts of violence, and who exercised their right to vote,” he said in a statement issued by the White House. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno , had reported that “the Iraq Security Forces have performed superbly, and the turnout is as high if not higher than earlier expectations. So all in all a good day for the Iraqis and for all of us,” Gates told reporters traveling on his military plane. Oil Revenue Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki predicted last week that no one party would win a majority. A Shiite Muslim alliance that brought him to power in 2005 has disintegrated and his State of Law coalition was in a contest for Shiite votes with former Shiite allies now in the National Iraqi Alliance. Iraq’s Kurds, who enjoy semi-autonomy in the north and backed al-Maliki after the last election, have since feuded with him over sharing oil revenue and control of Kirkuk, an oil-rich northern city. The main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, formed an alliance that was challenged by a new party called Change. Sunni Muslims, who boycotted the 2005 election, were wooed by an array of Islamic parties, while former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is leading the Iraqiya party, which advocates non- sectarian politics. “The fun and games will start after the votes are counted, and the parties have to form a coalition,” Qubad Talabani, the representative of Iraq’s Kurdish autonomous zone in Washington, said in a telephone interview before the election. “It will take time.” U.S. Anxiety The vote was the second since Saddam Hussein ’s overthrow by U.S. forces in 2003. More than 6,200 candidates were competing for seats in the 325-member legislature. In the coming days, the focus will be on the vote count. “The great number of Iraqis who risked their safety to take part in these elections are watching,” Allawi said after the polls closed. Results may not be formally certified until the end of March. It could then take up to six months, or longer, before a government emerges, according to a March 3 report by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy . “The inevitable delays before the next Iraqi government forms will cause understandable anxiety within the Obama Administration as it contemplates the appropriate speed for U.S. withdrawal,” the report said. The election comes at a time when the U.S. is pulling its troops out of Iraq and has handed most security duties to Iraqi forces. Under a schedule set last year by Obama, U.S. troop strength will shrink from 96,000 to 50,000 by September 1. All American forces will have left by the end of 2011. Over the past few months, violence has been periodic in Iraq, with deadly, sometimes multiple attacks separated by days of relative calm. American officials insist the pull-out will go ahead and Iraqi officials say they are taking over. The withdrawal is “strongly on track,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters in Washington on March 4. To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net . Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net

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Egypt’s Mubarak in `Satisfactory’ Condition Following Gallbladder Surgery

March 7, 2010

By Daniel Williams and Holger Elfes March 7 (Bloomberg) — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is in a “satisfactory” condition after surgeons removed his gallbladder without complications, the physician who led the operating team and Egypt’s health minister said. “He is clinically stable, with normal vital signs, and his condition is really good this morning,” Markus Beuchler of Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany and Hatem El Gabaly , the chief of the Egyptian Ministry of Health, said in an e- mailed statement today. A polyp from Mubarak’s small intestine also was discovered yesterday and taken out, Buechler said in an earlier statement “I am fully satisfied with the performance and the outcome of the surgical intervention,” he said. No cancer was found in the removed tissue, he said. Mubarak, 81, was in an intensive care unit and speaking to family members and doctors. He will remain hospitalized “in the following days until he is fully recovered,” Buechler said. Mubarak yesterday temporarily handed power to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif , 58, who will carry out the role of president until Mubarak is able to resume his duties, the Information Ministry said. Egypt has no vice president. Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had the same surgery at the southern German facility last month and was discharged three weeks later, hospital spokeswoman Annette Tuffs said. ‘Inflammation’ Mubarak has ruled the Middle East’s most populous country for 28 years. His reign is the longest since the military overthrew Egypt’s monarchy in 1952. He had been visiting Germany for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel . During an examination March 5, Mubarak was found to have “chronic inflammation of the gallbladder,” Egypt’s government press office said. Cabinet spokesman Magdy Rady said Nazif will stay in Egypt until Mubarak is back. “It’s business as usual,” Rady said. “There’s no worries about Nazif for Mubarak,” said Hisham Kassem , a former newspaper publisher and opposition activist. “There won’t be a coup.” Nazif was appointed prime minister in July 2004. He was minister of communications and information technology in the previous government. Liberalization of Egypt’s economy has been a main thrust of his time in office. In June 2004, Mubarak underwent surgery in Munich for a slipped disc. He put presidential powers in the hands of then- Prime Minister Atef Obeid for 10 days. Peace Treaty Mubarak has held office since the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981 during a military parade by soldiers belonging to an underground Islamic group. He has kept to a peace treaty with Israel that took effect in 1979 and in the past two years tried to mediate between feuding Palestinians in hopes of getting peace talks for a Palestinian state next to Israel under way. Presidential elections are scheduled for 2011. Mubarak has kept succession possibilities firmly linked to his ruling National Democratic Party. Rules introduced in 2006 require presidential candidates to belong to the NDP or established opposition parties, which have virtually no popular support. If an independent wants to run, he must win endorsement by parliament and local councils, all dominated by the NDP. Egypt’s biggest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, isn’t recognized by the government as a political party. Mubarak reins in dissent through emergency laws decreed in 1981 that prohibit besmirching Egypt’s image, permit secret trials to be held and allow detentions without trial. Speculation on a successor to Mubarak has circulated since 2003, when he fainted during a session of parliament. In Cairo, democratic activists have campaigned to prevent a possible dynastic succession to Mubarak’s son Gamal, 47. He heads the NDP’s policy committee. Gamal denies he’s running for president. Mohammed ElBaradei , former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency , is campaigning for constitutional changes that would widen the field for presidential candidates. During a visit to Cairo last month, ElBaradei formed a group of 30 opposition politicians and activists to press for new rules. To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Williams in Cairo at Dwailliams41@bloomberg.net ; Holger Elfes in Dusseldorf at helfes@bloomberg.net

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Iraq Votes in `Wide-Open’ Parliamentary Election as U.S. Readies Its Exit

March 7, 2010

By Caroline Alexander and Daniel Williams March 7 (Bloomberg) — Iraq began voting today in a parliamentary election that is likely to produce months of political wrangling over a new governing coalition, at a time when Iraqis are taking over responsibility for security as U.S. troops leave the country. More than 6,200 candidates from 86 political groupings are seeking seats in the 325-member legislature. It is the second national election since the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 2003. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki , seeking re-election on a record of reducing sectarian violence, says he expects to win while acknowledging he won’t get enough support to govern alone. It took al-Maliki six months to form a government after the December 2005 election , and since then his Shiite Muslim alliance has splintered. The premier faces competition from rival Shiite parties backed by Iran, Kurds from the country’s north and parties appealing to secularist Iraqis and religious Sunni Muslims. “If an inclusive coalition doesn’t emerge, the backlash could be very violent,” forcing the U.S. to reconsider its withdrawal plans, said Ahmed Ali , an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy . Compromise Under a schedule set by President Barack Obama last year, about half the 96,000 U.S. troops currently in Iraq will leave by the end of August, and the rest will withdraw in 2011. The withdrawal is “strongly on track,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters in Washington on March 4. Al-Maliki said in an interview posted last week on France 24 television’s Web site that “in late 2011, there must not be a single U.S. soldier left in Iraq,” and that the Iraqi army will be ready to take over. He said his State of the Law alliance will need coalition partners to govern Iraq, which holds the world’s third-largest reserves of oil. Political fragmentation may lead the parties to “do what they did in 2005 — go for the weakest compromise candidate to prevent a strong prime minister,” said Joost Hilterman , an analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group . “These elections are wide open.” U.S. ambitions to leave a peaceful and stable Iraq may be threatened by a post-election deadlock, as well as by a recurrence of the sectarian violence that has been abating since 2007. In the run-up to elections, attacks increased. Mortar Attacks Three people were killed by mortar fire in northeastern Baghdad, Associated Press reported today, citing officials it didn’t identify because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media. Mortar shells were launched at a polling station in Salaheddin province in northern Iraq, Dubai-based al-Arabiya reported. Blasts were also heard in the central city of Baquba, according to al-Arabiya. Al-Qaeda’s branch in Iraq, which has warned it would use “military means” to prevent the poll, said two days ago it was imposing a curfew on election day. A car bomb near a Shiite Muslim shrine in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf killed seven people yesterday. On March 4, a roadside bomb and two suicide explosions killed at least 12 people at three separate polling stations where voters eligible for early balloting, including security forces due to be policing today’s vote, were casting ballots. ‘Decisive Vote’ The day before, suicide bombings in Baquba, a mixed Shiite and Sunni Muslim city, killed at least 29 people. Iraqi government figures show 352 people were killed in attacks in February, 80 percent more than the previous month. Polling stations in Iraq opened at 7 a.m. today and are due to close at 5 p.m., with initial results expected tomorrow and final results by the end of March. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani , a Kurd, called the vote “decisive” as he cast his ballot in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah. He said he expected to keep his post. The election will be the biggest in Iraq’s history, with 18.9 million people registered to vote at 64,000 polling stations, according to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees . Baghdad is plastered with thousands of banners and posters, and candidates have also sought support via television and radio advertisements, Web sites and text messages. Iran Influence Politics are fragmented largely along ethnic and religious lines. Al-Maliki’s former Shiite allies have formed the National Iraqi Alliance, which also includes the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr , who is believed to be living in Iran. The group was set up in Iran with the Islamic republic’s backing, according to Reidar Visser , an Iraq analyst at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs in Oslo. The U.S. has said it suspects Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, and has also accused it of training militias that have attacked American troops in Iraq. Iranian officials have denied both accusations. Iran’s influence over Iraqi politics is on the rise, said Marina Ottaway , director of the Middle East program at Washington’s Carnegie Endowment for International Peace . “The U.S. presence is transitory,” said Ottaway. “Iran is in Iraq to stay. In the long run, Iran will be more influential.” Other main election alliances include the Iraqiya movement of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi , which is advocating non- sectarian politics. Sunni Muslims, who boycotted the 2005 election, are being wooed by an array of Islamic parties. Iraq’s Kurds, who enjoy semi-autonomy in the north , backed al-Maliki after the last election, although they’ve since feuded over sharing oil revenue and settling internal boundaries. The two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdish Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, have formed an election alliance that is being challenged by a new party called Change. “I don’t think the candidates will be able to solve intractable crises unless they first agree to end the state of intolerance,” said Malak Hussein, 47, an eye doctor at a clinic in central Baghdad. To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net . Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net

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Iraq’s `Wide-Open’ Election Could Pose Threat to Obama’s Withdrawal Plans

March 6, 2010

By Caroline Alexander and Daniel Williams March 7 (Bloomberg) — Iraq votes today in a parliamentary election that is likely to produce months of political wrangling over a new governing coalition, at a time Iraqis are taking over responsibility for security as U.S. troops leave the country. More than 6,200 candidates from 86 political groupings will seek seats in the 325-member legislature. It is the second national election since the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 2003. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, seeking re-election on a record of reducing sectarian violence, says he expects to win while acknowledging he won’t get enough support to govern alone. It took al-Maliki six months to form a government after the December 2005 election , and since then his Shiite Muslim alliance has splintered. The premier faces competition from rival Shiite parties backed by Iran, Kurds from the country’s north and parties appealing to secularist Iraqis and religious Sunni Muslims. “If an inclusive coalition doesn’t emerge, the backlash could be very violent,” forcing the U.S. to reconsider its withdrawal plans, said Ahmed Ali , an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy . Under a schedule set by President Barack Obama last year, about half the 96,000 U.S. troops currently in Iraq will leave by the end of August, and the rest will withdraw in 2011. The withdrawal is “strongly on track,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters in Washington on March 4. Compromise Al-Maliki said in an interview posted last week on France 24 television’s Web site that “in late 2011, there must not be a single U.S. soldier left in Iraq,” and that the Iraqi army will be ready to take over. He said his State of the Law alliance will need coalition partners to govern Iraq, which holds the world’s third-largest reserves of oil. Political fragmentation may lead the parties to “do what they did in 2005 — go for the weakest compromise candidate to prevent a strong prime minister,” said Joost Hilterman , an analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group . “These elections are wide open.” U.S. ambitions to leave a peaceful and stable Iraq may be threatened by post-election deadlock, as well as by a recurrence of the sectarian violence that has been abating since 2007. In the run-up to elections, attacks increased. A car bomb near a Shiite Muslim shrine in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf killed seven people yesterday. On March 4, a roadside bomb and two suicide explosions killed at least 12 people at three separate polling stations where voters eligible for early balloting, including security forces due to be policing today’s vote, were casting ballots. Texting Voters The day before, suicide bombings in the central city of Baquba, a mixed Shiite and Sunni Muslim city, killed at least 29 people. Iraqi government figures show 352 people were killed in attacks in February, 80 percent more than the previous month. Polling stations in Iraq open at 7 a.m. today and are due to close at 5 p.m., with initial results expected tomorrow and final results by the end of March. The election will be the biggest in Iraq’s history, with 18.9 million people registered to vote at 64,000 polling stations, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees . Baghdad is plastered with thousands of banners and posters, and candidates have also sought support via television and radio advertisements, Web sites and text messages. Politics are fragmented largely along ethnic and religious lines. Al-Maliki’s former Shiite allies have formed the National Iraqi Alliance, which also includes the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr , who is believed to be living in Iran. The group was set up in Iran with the Islamic republic’s backing, according to Reidar Visser , an Iraq analyst at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs in Oslo. Iran Influence The U.S. has said it suspects Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, and has also accused it of training militias that have attacked American troops in Iraq. Iranian officials have denied both accusations. Iran’s influence over Iraqi politics is on the rise, said Marina Ottaway , director of the Middle East program at Washington’s Carnegie Endowment for International Peace . “The U.S. presence is transitory,” said Ottaway. “Iran is in Iraq to stay. In the long run, Iran will be more influential.” Other main election alliances include the Iraqiya movement of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi , which is advocating non- sectarian politics. Sunni Muslims, who boycotted the 2005 election, are being wooed by an array of Islamic parties. Iraq’s Kurds, who enjoy semi-autonomy in the north , backed al-Maliki after the last election though they’ve since feuded over sharing oil revenue and settling internal boundaries. The two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdish Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, have formed an election alliance that is being challenged by a new party called Change. “I don’t think the candidates will be able to solve intractable crises unless they first agree to end the state of intolerance,” said Malak Hussein, 47, an eye doctor at a clinic in central Baghdad. To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net . Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net

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Mubarak Having Inflamed Gallbladder Removed, Temporarily Transfers Power

March 6, 2010

By Daniel Williams and Holger Elfes March 6 (Bloomberg) — An operation today to remove Egypt President Hosni Mubarak ’s inflamed gallbladder was a success, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported. Mubarak, 81, underwent surgery to remove the gallbladder at Heidelberg University Hospital in southern Germany. Mubarak has temporarily handed power over to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif , who will carry out the presidential role until he is able to resume his duties, the government information ministry said. In Egypt, there is no vice president. Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had the same surgery done in the Heidelberg facility last month and was discharged three weeks later, hospital spokeswoman Annette Tuffs said. It’s “perfectly possible” to live without a gallbladder, she said. Calls to the hospital after the surgery rang busy repeatedly. Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt for 28 years — the longest since the military overthrew Egypt’s monarchy in 1952, had been visiting Germany for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel . During an examination yesterday, Mubarak was found to have “chronic inflammation of the gallbladder,” Egypt’s government press office said. The inflammation is “severe,” Nile TV said. Magdy Rady , the cabinet spokesman, said Nazif, 58, will stay in Egypt until Mubarak is back. “It’s business as usual,” Rady said. Nazif was appointed prime minister in July 2004. He was Minister of Communications and Information Technology in the previous government. Liberalization of Egypt’s economy has marked his time in office. In June 2004, Mubarak underwent surgery in Munich for a slipped disc. He put presidential powers in the hands of then- Prime Minister Atef Obeid for 10 days. No Coup “There’s no worries about Nazif for Mubarak,” said Hisham Kassem , a former newspaper publisher and opposition activist. “There won’t be a coup.” Mubarak has been in office since 1981 following the assassination of Anwar Sadat during a military parade by soldiers belonging to an underground Islamic group. He has kept to the peace treaty with Israel that took effect in 1979 and in the past two years tried to mediate between feuding Palestinians in hopes of getting peace talks for a Palestinian state next to Israel under way. Presidential elections are scheduled for 2011. The aging leader has kept succession possibilities firmly linked to his ruling National Democratic Party. Rules introduced in 2006 require presidential candidates to belong to the NDP or established opposition parties, which have virtually no popular support. If an independent wants to run, he must win endorsement by parliament and local councils, all dominated by the NDP. The country’s biggest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, isn’t recognized by the government as a political party. Fainted in Parliament Speculation on a successor to Mubarak has swirled since 2003, when he fainted during a session of parliament. In Cairo, democratic activists have campaigned to prevent a possible dynastic succession to Mubarak’s son Gamal, 47. He heads the NDP’s policy committee. Gamal denies he’s running for president. Mohammed ElBaradei , former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is campaigning for constitutional changes that would widen the field for presidential candidates. During a visit to Cairo last month, ElBaradei formed a group of 30 opposition politicians and activists to press for new rules. To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Williams in Cairo at Dwailliams41@bloomberg.net Holger Elfes in Dusseldorf at helfes@bloomberg.net

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France Telecom’s $2.2 Billion Bid for Egyptian Co. Upheld by Appeals Panel

January 2, 2010

By Abdel Latif Wahba and Alaa Shahine Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) — France Telecom SA’s $2.2 billion bid to buy the remaining shares of Egyptian Co. for Mobile Services was upheld by an independent grievances committee, rejecting Orascom Telecom Holding SAE’s appeal to halt the deal. France Telecom, which has been locked in an ownership dispute with Orascom over Egypt’s biggest mobile phone operator, offered 245 Egyptian pounds ($44.67) each for about 49 million shares. Egyptian regulators approved the offer on Dec. 10. “The committee has rejected the appeal and supported the authority’s decision,” Khaled Sirri Seyam, deputy chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority , said in an interview today after the committee’s meeting in Cairo. Orascom’s Chief Executive Officer Khaled Bichara declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News. “I think Orascom Telecom will pursue legal action,” Amr Elalfy , director at Cairo-based CI Capital Research, said in a telephone interview. France Telecom, based in Paris, won an arbitration ruling this year requiring Orascom to sell its stake in Mobinil Telecom, a holding company that owns 51 percent of Egyptian Co. , for the equivalent of 273 Egyptian pounds a share. Previous Offers France Telecom hasn’t moved forward with the purchase because the regulatory authority in Egypt said it must also bid for the rest of Egyptian Co. shares at the price of the arbitration ruling or justify offering a lower price. The authority had rejected three previous offers from the French company. France Telecom owns 71 percent of Mobinil Telecom. Orascom, the biggest mobile phone company in the Middle East, owns the rest, in addition to a direct 20 percent stake in Egyptian Co. Orascom has said it won’t sell its direct stake at the offered price. “The decision will create negative sentiment for Orascom Telecom and I think it’s positive for” Egyptian Co. shares, Elalfy said. France Telecom’s spokeswoman Beatrice Mandine declined to comment when reached by Bloomberg News today. Orascom shares closed 0.5 percent up at 25.12 Egyptian pounds on Dec. 31. Egyptian Co. shares were 0.2 percent higher at 240.48 pounds. After a meeting with France Telecom executives, Bichara said on Dec. 16 that Orascom was open to reach an agreement that respects the company’s “position as an operator and not a financial investor.” Orascom would receive pretax proceeds of 8.9 billion Egyptian pounds if it agreed to sell its stakes, Cairo-based investment bank CI Capital said in a note on Dec. 10. To contact the reporter on this story: Alaa Shahine in Cairo at asalha@bloomberg.net

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`New Normal’ Tops 2009 List of Overused Phrases: Caroline Baum

December 23, 2009

Commentary by Caroline Baum Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) — For journalists, pundits and comedians, the end of the year provides an opportunity to look back, fantasize forward and let the creative juices flow. We churn out 10 Best and 10 Worst lists. We reprise the year’s most memorable moments and worst embarrassments. We reflect on famous people and infamous scallywags , current events and eventful currents, the highest highs and lowest lows. When I started to think about 2009, it wasn’t events that came to mind but words and phrases: trite, overused words and phrases, such as “new normal,” “unprecedented,” and “exit strategy.” One picture may be worth a thousand words, but one word can unleash a year’s worth of memories. 1. “New normal” In May 2009, the folks at PIMCO emerged from their secular outlook forum to codify their forecast for slower growth, increased regulation and a decreased role for the U.S. in the global economy as the “new normal.” They weren’t the first. Back in 2001, Warren Buffett and John Bogle warned of a new normal of single-digit stock market returns. A book by that name was published in 2004, spawning a companion Web site ( http://www.thenewnormal.com ). As it turns out, the phrase has applications in almost every field: technology (its transformative power); science (American women are getting fatter); medicine (early puberty for girls); management (constant change is the new normal, according to the Harvard Business Review); and higher education (less financial support from state budgets and endowments). As a way of describing the U.S. economy, the new normal has merit. ObamaNation is looking at bigger government, more regulation and an aging population commanding more resources. Unfortunately, overuse has rendered new normal meaningless. 2. “Unprecedented” If the events of 2008 and policy response were unprecedented, the post-mortems in 2009 drove the point home — ad nauseam. From the collapse in home prices to the government’s co- option of mortgage finance; from the freezing up of financial markets to the failure of big and small firms; from the efforts by the Treasury and Federal Reserve to keep the ship of state afloat to the government’s ownership stake in the private sector: Everything, it seems, was unprecedented. The inauguration of the first black president was unprecedented. Barack Obama , hailed as an agent of change, pledged to change the way Washington operates. Eleven months into Obama’s presidency, Washington is probably the only entity to eschew the new normal (see No. 1 above) for more of the same. 3. “Exit Strategy” Everyone needs an exit strategy. Just ask Jenny Sanford, wife of the philandering South Carolina governor, and Mrs. Tiger Woods . The Fed needs an exit strategy following a period of unprecedented (see No. 2 above) accommodation. Policy makers have enunciated one without a timetable for implementation. The central bank plans to whittle down its balance sheet by natural attrition, terminating emergency lending facilities and selling assets or draining reserves on a temporary basis. It can raise the interest rate it pays on reserves to prevent excess credit expansion, an idea that may work better in theory than in practice. Unlike the Fed, the U.S. military has a date for leaving Afghanistan and no real exit strategy. President Barack Obama said the U.S. will start the transfer of authority to the Afghans in July 2011. His National Security Adviser, General James Jones , admitted the U.S. will be in the region “for a long time.” Or, in Fed parlance, “an extended period.” 4. “Green Shoots” “I do see green shoots,” Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told CBS’s “ 60 Minutes ” last March, a forecast worthy of Chauncey Gardiner, the child-like sage in Jerzy Kosinski’s “Being There.” (“There will be growth in the spring,” Chance said.) Pretty soon everyone was going green. The media sent out reconnaissance teams. Economists incorporated green shoots into their forecasts. It was a veritable garden of foliage sightings. The shoots matured and produced blooms in the third quarter. The U.S. economy expanded at a 2.2 percent annualized rate following four consecutive quarterly declines. All this flora talk was starting to get to a friend of mine. “If the leaves would just stop falling, I could see the green shoots,” he said. 5. “Uncertainty” Uncertainty gained a new cachet in 2009 and in certain circles, especially those responsible for setting policy. The frequency with which the Fed and European Central Bank use uncertainty to qualify the forecast leads one to believe uncertainty is unique to bad times. It isn’t. A little more uncertainty about the degree to which the subprime crisis was “contained” and a little less “irrational exuberance” over condo-flipping, and we might not be in the shape we’re in. 6. “Historic Opportunity” Historic opportunities were a dime a dozen this year. Obama seized some of them (embracing Islam with a speech in Cairo), squandered others (refusing to meet with the Dalai Lama before his visit to Beijing) and had to settle for a photo-op in still others (the Copenhagen climate summit). The biggest historic opportunity still lies ahead: health- care reform. Obama has been exhorting Senate Democrats to “seize this historic opportunity” (and cement his legacy) by enacting sweeping legislation that expands health-care coverage, creates a new entitlement and does little to address misplaced incentives (third-party payers) or control costs. The Senate is expected to pass its health-care bill as soon as tomorrow on a 60-40 party line vote. The House and Senate must then reconcile their different versions. The more the American people know, the less they like the idea. This may be one historic opportunity Obama will wish he missed. ( Caroline Baum , author of “Just What I Said,” is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.) Click on “Send Comment” in sidebar display to send a letter to the editor. To contact the writer of this column: Caroline Baum in New York at cabaum@bloomberg.net .

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Iranian Troops Leave Disputed Iraqi Oil Field After Armed Confrontation

December 20, 2009

By Kadhim Ajrash and Zahraa Alkhalisi Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) — Iranian troops withdrew from a disputed Iraqi oil well in the East Maysan field after an armed confrontation at the deposit, Iraqi government officials said. The Iranian forces left the al-Fakah well late Dec. 19, Iraq’s deputy minister of oil Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi told reporters in Baghdad yesterday. Iranian control of the well was “a violation of the Iraqi border,” al-Luaibi said. “The issue at the al-Fakah well was resolved diplomatically.” The Iranian flag was been taken down from the well, though Iranian soldiers remained in Iraqi territory, Ali Al-Dabbagh , an Iraqi government spokesman, said in comments on Iraqi television and to reporters in Cairo yesterday. Iranian tanks entered the area on Dec. 17, triggering the dispute with its neighbor that drove up oil prices. Iran has said the well is on its territory. Clashes between the two countries over disputed oil fields near the border have occurred previously, caused by “the lack of a formally demarcated border between the two countries,” Stratfor , an Austin, Texas-based intelligence-consulting group, said in an e-mailed statement Dec. 18. The foreign ministers of the two countries have discussed the “misunderstanding” that led to the al-Fakah standoff, Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported yesterday. Manouchehr Mottaki and Iraq’s Hoshyar Zebari agreed in a phone conversation Dec. 19 to hold a technical committee meeting on border issues, IRNA said, citing the foreign ministry. Iraq this year signed contracts with several foreign companies to develop its oil fields. The Maysan oil fields, also known as Missan, were among the development contracts offered to foreign oil companies in June, though no bids were received. Missan is composed of the Buzurgan, Abu Ghirab and Fauqi fields. Production began at Buzurgan and Abu Ghirab in 1976 before halting in 1980 during Iran-Iraq war. It restarted in 1998. The disputed well has not been in production since the war. To contact the reporters on this story: Zahraa Alkhalisi in Dubai at zalkhalisi@bloomberg.net ; Kadhim Ajrash in Baghdad through the Dubai newsroom or mchmaytelli@bloomberg.net ; Anthony DiPaola in Mumbai at adipaola@bloomberg.net .

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Crude Oil Tumbles for Longest Stretch in Six Years as Dollar Strengthens

December 11, 2009

By Mark Shenk Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil tumbled for an eighth day, the longest stretch in six years, as the dollar rose against the euro, curbing investor appetite for commodities. Oil fell to a two-month low after the greenback advanced on speculation the Federal Reserve will increase borrowing costs next year because of an improving economy. Prices have dropped 11 percent in eight days on the dollar’s strength and rising U.S. fuel inventories. “This move lower has been triggered by what’s happened in other markets,” said David Kirsch , an analyst with PFC Energy in Washington, an energy strategist to companies and governments. “Market sentiment has shifted, and is now focused on the weak fundamentals.” Crude oil for January delivery fell 46 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $70.08 a barrel at 12:12 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures touched $69.46, the lowest since Oct. 8. Prices are up 57 percent this year. The dollar traded at $1.4597 per euro, up 0.9 percent from $1.4732 yesterday. The greenback touched $1.4586, the highest since Oct. 5. The common currency has dropped 2.6 percent against the dollar over the past month. “If the dollar continues to strengthen, we are going to see more of the financial interest leave commodities,” said Rick Mueller , a director of oil markets at Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Wakefield, Massachusetts. “Fuel supplies are very high in the U.S. and demand is weak.” Gasoline stockpiles climbed 2.25 million barrels to 216.3 million last week, the highest since April, an Energy Department report showed on Dec. 9. Supplies of distillate fuel , a category that includes heating oil and diesel, increased 1.62 million barrels to 167.3 million, leaving stockpiles 25 percent higher than the five-year average for the period. Trader Anxiety “For some traders there’s anxiety that distillate supplies won’t come down quickly, or at all,” Kirsch said. “There’s the possibility of a much stronger move downward in prices.” Crude oil stockpiles fell 3.82 million barrels to 336.1 million last week, the report showed. Inventories were 7.2 percent higher than the five-year average for the period. Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, where New York-traded West Texas Intermediate oil is stored, surged 8 percent to 33.4 million. “The continuing builds at Cushing are definitely having an impact on prices,” Mueller said. “These builds aren’t a big concern outside of the U.S., so Brent isn’t taking the same hit.” Brent crude oil for January settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange fell 60 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $71.26 a barrel. Futures touched $71.02, the lowest level since Oct. 13. OPEC Meeting The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will discuss production quotas at a meeting on Dec. 22 in Luanda, Angola. Last week Kuwait, Algeria, Libya and Qatar said in Cairo that they want the group to maintain its output target of 24.845 million barrels a day for the 11 members with quotas. Iraq has no production limit. OPEC achieved 58 percent of its pledged oil production cuts in November, down from 60 percent the previous month, as countries including Angola and Nigeria exceeded output targets, according to an International Energy Agency report today. Supplies from the 11 OPEC nations subject to quotas rose by 90,000 barrels a day to 26.61 million. “I don’t think OPEC ministers are going to do very much when they meet on Dec. 22 in Angola,” said Tim Evans , an energy analyst at Citigroup Global Markets Inc. in New York. “The IEA said all 11 members with quotas were producing above quota, so I don’t expect there to be any lectures behind closed doors on compliance. Everyone is doing it.” Nigerian Recovery A recovery in Nigerian oil production to the highest level in 15 months accounted for 60 percent of the increase in OPEC’s output in November, according to the IEA estimates. The success of a ceasefire with militants allowed the country to pump 1.98 million barrels a day last month, compared with 1.9 million barrels in October, the IEA said. “I’m expecting energy to fall through the first quarter and the first half of the second quarter,” said Bill Adams , chief energy trader at Intermarkt Investment Strategists, a risk management company in Zurich. “Capacity hasn’t tapered off in any meaningful way, and if Nigeria comes back online, there’s even more” supply coming onto the market. Oil may decline next week on speculation fuel inventories are sufficient to meet demand, a Bloomberg News survey showed. Seventeen of 40 analysts, or 43 percent, said futures will drop through Dec. 18. Twelve respondents forecast that oil will increase and 11 said prices will be little changed. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net

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Saudi Oil Minister: Oil Prices ‘Perfect’

December 5, 2009

CAIRO — Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said current global oil prices are “perfect,” as several key OPEC members indicated the group was unlikely to change output levels when it meets later this month. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies roughly 35 percent of the world’s crude, has held its quotas unchanged since last year’s record 4.2 million barrels per day in cuts. “The price is perfect,” Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi, whose country is OPEC’s most influential member, told reporters. “The market is stable right now, volatility is at a minimum.” Since December, OPEC has focused on boosting compliance with output quotas of its 12 member states. The group’s approach has helped oil prices rebound to almost $80 per barrel recently, after they collapsed last year as the world’s worst recession in decades sapped demand for crude. The benchmark crude oil contract for January delivery settled at $75.47 a barrel on Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, hitting a seven-week low on high global inventories and the strong dollar. Ministers from several key Arab OPEC nations, however, indicated that they were satisfied with the current situation in the market and said it was unlikely the group would change quota levels at its Dec. 22 meeting in Luanda, Angola. “No, no, no, I don’t expect anything,” said Shukri Ghanem, the head of Libya’s National Oil Corp. who serves as the North African nation’s de facto oil minister. “I think because … of the market situation, because of the fluctuation of the market, we don’t expect any change in the quota.” Kuwaiti oil minister Sheik Ahmed Al Abdullah Al Sabah said the group would likely hold its output targets “as is.” Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil said that it would be some time before OPEC likely considered raising its production targets, signaling a lingering unease with global inventory levels. All four officials spoke on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPEC has said it wants to see crude in the $70-$80 per barrel range, a level which Saudi Arabia’s king had first indicated was high enough to encourage producers to continue their work while not shocking the world’s economy. The producer bloc’s efforts to bring global crude stocks down have been somewhat undermined, however, by weaker compliance by some of its members – a slippage that has become more pronounced as oil prices climbed. The overwhelming majority of OPEC nations rely on oil revenues for as much as 90 percent of their foreign revenues, and higher prices have encouraged the more cash-strapped member-states to boost their output. Libya’s Ghanem said that he believed the group will “have to call for more compliance by OPEC members because there is some … excess production.” An OPEC report last month said the group, excluding Iraq which is not bound by quotas, produced roughly 26.5 million barrels per day in October. That is about 1.5 million barrels per day above their production target. Naimi voiced satisfaction with the current situation, however, saying that “inventories are coming down.”

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Mummy Scans Show Clogged Arteries in Challenge to Notion of Modern Disease

November 17, 2009

By Pat Wechsler Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) — Lady Rai, nursemaid to Queen Amrose Nefertari, suffered from hardening of the arteries, as did other ancient Egyptians, even though they ate unprocessed food, got exercise and didn’t smoke, according to a study . Five of 16 mummies of priests, priestesses and members of various pharoahs’ courts showed “definite” atherosclerosis, detected by medical scans in a study by doctors from the U.S. and Egypt. Another four showed “probable” signs of the disease that can lead to heart attacks and stroke. Atherosclerosis, a condition in which fatty substances build up in the lining of the arteries, can be caused by smoking, high cholesterol diets and lack of exercise, according to the Dallas-based heart association Web site . The findings challenge the notion that atherosclerosis is a disease of modern humans brought on by modern bad habits, researchers said. “Heart disease is as old as Moses,” said Randall Thompson, a cardiologist at the Mid America Heart Institute of Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri and one of the study’s researchers , in an interview. “Even though their lifestyles were healthier — no processed foods, no smoking and they got more exercise — many still contracted the disease showing a certain genetic susceptibility.” The research was reported today at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Florida. The scans of the 3,500- year-old Egyptian mummies showed signs of the kind of calcium deposits consistent with hardened arteries, Thompson said. Pharaohs Not Tested The team of researchers also described the findings in a research letter released today by the Journal of American Medical Association. The team worked with mummies housed in the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo and were not given access to the remains of the pharaohs themselves, Thompson said. Those who died after the age of 45 were more likely to show hardening, with calcification in 7 of 8 tested, the JAMA letter reported. Two out of 8 under 45 at the age of death showed atherosclerosis, it said. Lady Rai was somewhere between 30 and 40 when she died, according to the letter. She died in about 1530 B.C.E. and was the most ancient mummy tested with signs of the disease, the letter said. Four out of 7 female mummies and 5 out of 9 male mummies tested positively. “The calcification lights up like a Christmas tree in the CAT scans,” Thompson said. “I use these facts to help people get past the questions about why me and the denial. Clearly it is part of the human condition.” To contact the reporter on this story: Pat Wechsler in New York at pwechsler@bloomberg.net .

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Mummy Scans Show Clogged Arteries in Challenge to Notion of Modern Disease

November 17, 2009

By Pat Wechsler Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) — Lady Rai, nursemaid to Queen Amrose Nefertari, suffered from hardening of the arteries, as did other ancient Egyptians, even though they ate unprocessed food, got exercise and didn’t smoke, according to a study . Five of 16 mummies of priests, priestesses and members of various pharoahs’ courts showed “definite” atherosclerosis, detected by medical scans in a study by doctors from the U.S. and Egypt. Another four showed “probable” signs of the disease that can lead to heart attacks and stroke. Atherosclerosis, a condition in which fatty substances build up in the lining of the arteries, can be caused by smoking, high cholesterol diets and lack of exercise, according to the Dallas-based heart association Web site . The findings challenge the notion that atherosclerosis is a disease of modern humans brought on by modern bad habits, researchers said. “Heart disease is as old as Moses,” said Randall Thompson, a cardiologist at the Mid America Heart Institute of Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri and one of the study’s researchers , in an interview. “Even though their lifestyles were healthier — no processed foods, no smoking and they got more exercise — many still contracted the disease showing a certain genetic susceptibility.” The research was reported today at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Florida. The scans of the 3,500- year-old Egyptian mummies showed signs of the kind of calcium deposits consistent with hardened arteries, Thompson said. Pharaohs Not Tested The team of researchers also described the findings in a research letter released today by the Journal of American Medical Association. The team worked with mummies housed in the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo and were not given access to the remains of the pharaohs themselves, Thompson said. Those who died after the age of 45 were more likely to show hardening, with calcification in 7 of 8 tested, the JAMA letter reported. Two out of 8 under 45 at the age of death showed atherosclerosis, it said. Lady Rai was somewhere between 30 and 40 when she died, according to the letter. She died in about 1530 B.C.E. and was the most ancient mummy tested with signs of the disease, the letter said. Four out of 7 female mummies and 5 out of 9 male mummies tested positively. “The calcification lights up like a Christmas tree in the CAT scans,” Thompson said. “I use these facts to help people get past the questions about why me and the denial. Clearly it is part of the human condition.” To contact the reporter on this story: Pat Wechsler in New York at pwechsler@bloomberg.net .

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Egypt Seeks to Improve Stock Market Regulation After Levying `Hefty Fines’

November 15, 2009

By Alaa Shahine Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) — Egypt’s financial markets regulator is seeking to strengthen regulations after imposing “hefty fines” in recent months on companies and individuals for violations that included insider trading, Chairman Ziad Bahaa El-Din said. “Most of those cases get settled by people paying very hefty fines and that’s quite a severe punishment,” Bahaa El- Din, said in an interview in Cairo last week. “In the longer term what I would like to do is to improve the structure of the market and of regulation.” The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority , which regulates mortgage, insurance and capital markets, wants to improve disclosure rules by making companies report information in a timely manner that may affect share prices, he said. The Egyptian Exchange suspended trading in 26 stocks last month to determine why shares as much as tripled without any apparent justification. Egypt’s EGX70 Index of small and medium-sized companies, up 59 percent this year, fell the most in almost two months after the exchange announced the suspensions. Egypt’s benchmark, the EGX30 Index has jumped 46 percent in 2009, the best performer among Arab benchmark indexes tracked by Bloomberg. “Anything that improves corporate governance and application of the rules can only be a good thing and will encourage foreign investors that these things are taken very seriously,” said London-based Oliver Bell , the head of Middle East and Africa at Pictet Asset Management, which has $120 billion under management. “Egypt needs foreign capital and so it is important that these things are dealt with swiftly and severely.” Suspensions The FSA suspended Cairo-based Beltone Arabia, a unit of investment bank Beltone Financial, for 30 days in August for unspecified violations, according to the regulator’s Web site . The authority required Beltone Securities to deposit 10 million Egyptian pounds ($1.8 million) in the EFSA’s Investor Protection Fund for a year. The regulator also suspended Cairo brokerage firm Al-Amal for 30 days in August. The authority didn’t disclose any of the violations on its Web site and Bahaa El-Din declined to discuss details. The bourse last month asked the companies halted from trading to submit a report about future plans. The suspensions were lifted for about 17 of the stock, Bahaa El-Din, a lawyer, said in the Nov. 11 interview. The action “seems to have improved the level of disclosure,” he said. “It’s also sending a message to those that have been concerned from time to time about insider trading and manipulation that the exchange and the regulatory body are taking it seriously.” Training Some of the disclosure problems occur because of “bad reporting” on behalf of the companies “which may not necessarily be criminally intended,” Bahaa El-Din said. He urged companies to give their investor relations officers more training. No cases for insider trading have gone to court in “recent years,” Mohamed Omran , deputy chairman of the Egyptian Exchange, said in July. Bahaa El-Din said the authority has the “discretion” to settle cases by imposing fines “but they are actually always under threat of going to prison.” According to Egyptian market regulation, people with insider knowledge cannot trade the stock 15 days before and three days after material news is announced. The authority recently changed the definition of insiders. The new description “defines more accurately who insiders are, not by relying as it used to on formal family relationships,” Bahaa El-Din said. “It’s actually a more substantive relationship where you have the capacity to know more insider information in the company by virtue of your work.” To contact the reporter on this story: Alaa Shahine in Cairo at asalha@bloomberg.net .

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Clinton Detours to Cairo to Calm Arab Concerns, Press for Mideast Peace

November 3, 2009

By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will seek to give a push to the Middle East peace process and allay Arab concerns about the U.S. role in talks today with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak . “Mubarak is a very adroit reader of the parties” who has “a very good working relationship” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters traveling with Clinton, who arrived in Cairo yesterday after four days of intensive discussions with leaders in the region. She wants to see Mubarak “face to face” to discuss pushing the stalled peace process forward, Crowley said. Clinton’s detour to Egypt before returning to Washington reflects President Barack Obama’s push to engage all parties to press Israel and the Palestinians back to the bargaining table. While Obama has made a two-state solution a priority, the gap between the two sides requires energy to keep the process alive and expectations are low for a breakthrough anytime soon, officials say. “Without this effort, it’s likely that things would go from difficult to worse,” Crowley said of Clinton’s consultations since Oct. 31 with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Abu Dhabi, Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Arab leaders at a conference in Marrakech, Morocco. Pitfalls of Waiting Waiting for perfect conditions “is never a good thing,” Crowley said. “Sometimes the effort has an impact in and of itself.” Clinton met with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Cairo last night to discuss his efforts to encourage a unity government between rival Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, and with Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit . She also conferred in Cairo with U.S. special envoy George Mitchell , who has been meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and King Abdullah of Jordan, the only Arab state aside from Egypt to recognize Israel. Clinton suggested yesterday in Morocco that she “could have been clearer” when she hailed as “unprecedented” a proposal from Netanyahu to limit, not freeze, the expansion of Israeli settlements on the West Bank. The comments, during her Oct. 31 visit to Jerusalem, sparked an outcry from Arab leaders. “President Obama was absolutely clear,” she said in an interview taped with Al Jazeera before she left Marrakech. “He wanted a halt to all settlement activity. And perhaps those of us who work with him and for him could have been clearer in communicating that that is his policy, that is what we’re committed to doing.” Palestinian State Clinton said she “was the first American associated with any administration to call for the establishment of a Palestinian state” 10 years ago. “A lot of people thought that was very radical; now there is consensus.” Tempering her earlier praise for Netanyahu’s offer, Clinton said at a Nov. 2 gathering of Arab and Group of Eight foreign ministers in Morocco that it “falls far short” of U.S. calls for a total settlement freeze. Steps to improve West Bank security by Palestinian Authority President Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad were also “unprecedented” and Israel “should reciprocate,” Clinton said. The decision to clarify her remarks underscores the Obama administration’s balancing act in nudging Israelis and Palestinians back to talks. Last May, Clinton said only a complete construction halt in the West Bank would be acceptable. In September after meeting Abbas and Netanyahu at the United Nations, Obama referred only to a “restraint” in settlements. Libyan Meeting Before leaving the Marrakech conference yesterday, Clinton met with Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa, a former intelligence chief when the U.S. classified Libya as a state sponsor of terrorism. The countries normalized relations in 2003, and the U.S. has credited Kusa and Libyan intelligence with cooperating against al-Qaeda. Clinton and Kusa discussed Sudan, Darfur and counterterrorism, said Crowley, who attended the meeting. He said they didn’t raise the case of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi , the Lockerbie bomber whose August release from a Scottish prison to Libya angered families of the 270 airline-crash victims. “While the issue of Megrahi did not come up, our views on that have not changed and the Libyans understand” that “very well,” Crowley said. Before Clinton walked back her settlement remarks, Amre Moussa, secretary-general of the 22-member Arab League and a senior Egyptian diplomat, said he feared the peace process had been crippled. Arab Criticism “Failure is in the atmosphere all over,” he said. Clinton’s words left the impression that “Israel can get away with anything.” Clinton’s clarification didn’t allay the Arab League’s frustration over the apparent U.S. retreat from demanding a settlement freeze, Hisham Youssef, Moussa’s spokesman, said in a telephone interview yesterday. As recently as the 2007 peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, Israel committed to stopping settlements under the Bush administration’s 2003 “road map” for peace and must do so before talks can start, he said. Clinton’s revised remarks satisfied Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki , who told reporters in Marrakech his government was “happy that such a position was highlighted and brought back to the right line.” Clinton corrected herself in her Al Jazeera interview after aides pointed out she misspoke by saying the Camp David accords under her husband Bill Clinton’s administration would have achieved an Israeli capital in East Jerusalem. She meant a Palestinian capital. To contact the reporters on this story: Indira Lakshmanan in Cairo at ilakshmanan@bloomberg.net

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Clinton Tempers Praise for Israel to Calm Arabs on Settlements Proposal

November 2, 2009

By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) — Facing criticism from Arab leaders, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tempered praise of Israel’s offer to restrict West Bank settlements and announced a trip to Egypt to confer with President Hosni Mubarak about the stalled Mideast peace process. Two days after hailing an “unprecedented” proposal from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to limit settlement expansion as a move to resume peace talks, Clinton yesterday said the offer “falls far short” of U.S. calls for a total settlement freeze. Steps to improve West Bank security by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad “are also unprecedented,” she said, and “Israel should reciprocate.” Clinton’s comments, at a two-day regional forum in Marrakech, Morocco, aimed to assure Arab and Palestinian leaders that her positive words in Israel didn’t mean acceptance of what she called illegitimate Jewish settlements. The decision to clarify her remarks underscores the delicate balancing act the Obama administration faces in trying to nudge Israelis and Palestinians back to the bargaining table. Israel is obliged to freeze all Jewish settlements in occupied territories under a 2003 framework for peace brokered by the Bush administration. Last May, Clinton said only a complete construction halt would be acceptable to President Barack Obama . Last month, Obama referred only to “restraint” in settlement activity, not a “freeze.” Under Fire Clinton has come under fire from Arab leaders and media for her enthusiasm in an Oct. 31 news conference in Jerusalem over Netanyahu’s proposal to limit settlements. Hours earlier, she had met in Abu Dhabi with Abbas , who rejected anything short of a total settlement freeze. Her praise of the Israeli proposal was widely seen as putting pressure on Palestinian authorities. Before Clinton walked back her earlier remarks, Amre Moussa, secretary-general of the 22-member Arab League and a senior Egyptian diplomat, told reporters he feared the peace process had been crippled by her comments in Jerusalem. “I still wait until we have our meetings,” said Moussa, also in Morocco for the Forum for the Future conference. “But failure is in the atmosphere all over.” “All of us, including Saudi Arabia, including Egypt, are deeply disappointed” by Clinton’s words in Jerusalem, he said. She “left the impression that “Israel can get away with anything.” Position Unchanged Clinton, seated alongside Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi-Fihri an hour later, referred to a prepared statement when asked if her comments had undermined trust in the peace effort. “The Obama administration’s position on settlements is clear, unequivocal, it has not changed,” she said. The U.S. “does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.” Clinton said her intent was to “offer positive reinforcement to the parties when I believe they are taking steps that support the objective of reaching a two-state solution.” She said she “will also push them, as I have in public and private, to do even more.” Her clarification satisfied Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki . “We are happy that such a position was highlighted and brought back to the right line,” Malki told reporters in Marrakech. Two-State Solution Palestinians “completely appreciate the sincere efforts made by President Obama and his team” to make a settlement freeze “a top priority,” and “believe in his sincerity in his commitment” to a two-state solution, Malki said. At the same time, Malki said, the Palestinian Authority is worried that the U.S. “might reach a point where they feel that they cannot really push any further with the Israelis.” Haim Malka , deputy director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said by telephone that Clinton “is trying to put a positive spin on the positions of both sides with the hope that direct negotiations can still be cobbled together.” Calling it a “tough sell,” Malka said “the gaps between both sides are so far apart right now that those negotiations are not going to get very far” even if they start. Cairo was added late yesterday as a last-minute destination in Clinton’s weeklong trip from Pakistan to the Persian Gulf, Israel and Morocco. Douse Criticism Asked if the trip was an effort to douse criticism from one of only two Arab states that recognize Israel, Crowley said Clinton wanted to consult with Egypt while in the region and the country hadn’t sent a senior official to the Morocco conference. The U.S. must provide “guarantees about issues of settlements, East Jerusalem and the peace efforts in general,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in a news conference in Cairo the day after Clinton spoke in Jerusalem. Netanyahu said Sept. 17 that about 2,400 new homes are already under construction in the West Bank and plans for another 500 or so have been approved. The U.S. understanding of Netanyahu’s proposal to restrain settlements is that the homes already under construction could be completed, while others approved or in the planning stages wouldn’t start, a senior State Department official told Bloomberg News. The prime minister has also promised not to take over any more Palestinian land in the West Bank to expand settlements. Clinton said Netanyahu’s plan “falls far short of what we would characterize as our position or what our preference would be, but if it is acted upon, it will be an unprecedented restriction on settlements and would have a significant and meaningful effect on restraining their growth.” Israeli-Palestinian negotiations broke down in December when Israel began a military operation in the Gaza Strip. To contact the reporters on this story: Indira Lakshmanan in Marrakech, Morocco at ilakshmanan@bloomberg.net

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Egyptian Swine-Flu Slaughter Leaves Cairo Without Pigs to Devour Garbage

September 29, 2009

By Daniel Williams Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Egypt’s pigs are getting their revenge. Five months after anxiety about swine flu prompted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s government to order the slaughter of all the country’s 300,000 hogs, the organic waste they once devoured is piling up on Cairo’s streets, contributing to a garbage crisis. The government’s action destroyed the livelihood of about 70,000 families known as zabaleen, who were freelance trash collectors and urban pig farmers. It forced all pork processors and retail outlets to close and created a potential health hazard as neighborhoods reek of decaying garbage. Some residents, concerned that yesterday’s discarded kebab might become tomorrow’s cholera outbreak, are burning refuse in bonfires. “No one took into consideration the economics, much less the environmental problems” the pig cull would create, said Magdi Fouad, 47, whose pork-processing and sales business, founded by his grandfather in 1945, was wiped out overnight. To locate the impact on Mohandessin, an upscale area on the Nile River’s west bank , follow the flies. Gobs of moldering meat and vegetables lie wedged between parked cars, clustered against lamp posts and clumped under bushes. Dumpsters are rare; people customarily placed refuse in bags outside their front doors for pickup. Building superintendents try to keep them from tossing it into the street. “You could always count on the zabaleen,” said Fayez Aissa, 51, who oversees an apartment block. “They came every day, took everything. Now rats and snakes are hiding in our garbage.” Harvesting Rubbish Zabaleen — trash collectors in Arabic — are rural migrants who have harvested Cairo’s rubbish since the end of the 19th century. Families in the central district of Embaba and in Manshiet Nasr, an outlying neighborhood, were dedicated to picking up trash and sorting organic matter from metal, glass and paper. They disposed of as much as 80 percent of organic waste, feeding it to the hogs, which often lived in sties next to zabaleens’ homes along undrained dirt lanes. Families made money from recycling and from selling pigs to meat processors. The Agricultural Ministry ordered the pigs eliminated in April, after the outbreak of H1N1 virus in Mexico and the U.S. Police clubbed the pigs to death and bulldozed them alive under desert sand. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization called the action a mistake, partly because no link was proven between pigs and transmission of flu. Islamic Rules Parliament had clamored for the cull. Zabaleen are Coptic Christian, 10 percent of Egypt’s overwhelmingly Muslim population. Pigs and pork are taboo under Islamic rules, and Copts complained the ministry’s order was based on religious bias. Some zabaleen rioted in protest. No Egyptian came down with flu before the slaughter began. Since then, 891 cases have been reported, including two deaths, according to the World Health Organization . In 2003, city districts hired foreign firms with trucks and compactors to collect garbage as part of Egypt’s privatization drive. The enormity of the job still left plenty for the zabaleen, who would climb stairs in apartment buildings without elevators, haul down trash bags and navigate alleys too narrow for trucks. Tons of Trash Cairo produces 14,000 tons of rubbish a day; the zabaleen handled half, said Laila Iskandar, 62, an expert in grassroots development and chairperson of CID Consulting , a Cairo-based marketing, management and communications firm. Now that the pigs are gone, many families have stopped picking up the trash. Some are also abandoning the recycling business, because without hogs, the tedious work of sorting through paper, cans and bottles isn’t worthwhile, said Samir Saber, 48, a zabaleen who raised pigs and a member of the Garbage Collectors and Transporters Association in Embaba. “Now there’s nothing,” said Saber, who spends his time in cafes. He said the government paid him between $10 and $50 for each pig he lost, depending on its size; meat processors would give him as much as $200. Compounding the rubbish problems, International Environmental Services, contracted six years ago by Cairo’s Giza district to collect garbage, suspended operations last month in a financial dispute, said Ahmed Nabil, the company’s general manager. That left no one to haul away any waste in large parts of the capital, which has 17 million people. ‘Cash-Flow Problems’ IES, with offices in Cairo’s Dokki district, resumed work the week of Sept. 14, even with the “cash-flow problems,” Nabil said. Giza officials didn’t respond to requests for comment. Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza defended the cull, saying the H1N1 virus might combine with the H5N1 bird-flu virus to produce a new strain. “We had been planning to get rid of the pigs for three years,” he said in an interview. “The swine-flu fears gave us the opportunity.” Eliminating the pigs may create other hazards, said Abd-el Rahman Shaheen , spokesman for the Health Ministry. “If the garbage problems continue, the organic waste can be a source of infectious diseases,” he said. The zabaleen are scrambling to pool their resources, said Gamil Aweida, an Evangelical preacher who works with the families. Some want to open a grocery store or buy a taxi — “anything they think will make money,” he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net

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Libyan Goverment Approves $9.9 Billion Plan to Boost Crude Oil Production

September 13, 2009

By Alaa Shahine Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) — Libya approved a 12.1 billion-dinar ($9.86 billion) plan to develop and upgrade 24 oilfields as the holder of Africa’s largest crude reserves seeks to boost output. National Oil Corp. will work with state-owned companies and foreign firms operating in the North African country, “without the entrants of new parties,” to implement the plan, the Libyan government said in a statement posted on its Web site. The project will be funded through borrowing from local banks. Libya, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries , is seeking to raise crude production capacity to 3 million barrels a day by 2013, from 1.8 million now. The country has 5 billion barrels of oil untapped because they are difficult to develop or remote, accounting for 12 percent of its total oil reserves, according to the government. The plan includes raising output from the Jalo oilfield by 100,000 barrels a day, with an investment of 1.6 billion dinars, according to the statement. Another 1.3 billion dinars will be invested to boost production from the Nafoora oilfield by 130,000 barrels a day. Oil production from these fields declined after American companies withdrew from Libya in 1986 amid accusations that Muammar al-Qaddafi’s government was supporting terrorism, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Libya came under U.S. and United Nations sanctions in the 1980s and 1990s. The turnaround in its relations with the west came between 2002 and 2005 when Qaddafi abandoned a nuclear-arms development effort, pledged to destroy a chemical weapons stockpile and renounced terrorism. The move led to an easing of sanctions and improved ties with the U.S. and European nations, and Western investments to expand Libyan oil production. Libya pumped 1.53 million barrels a day in August, according to Bloomberg data. To contact the reporter on this story: Alaa Shahine in Cairo at asalha@bloomberg.net

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Barwa announces $9bn development in Egypt

August 12, 2009

12 Aug 2009 Qatar-based Barwa Real Estate has unveiled plans for a $9 billion mixed-use development in Egypt. The Barwa New Cairo project, which will be located on an 8.4 sq km site close to the Eg…

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