Category: Non-EU Countries

British SAS unit and diplomat ‘held’ by Libya rebels
By CHRISTOPHER LEAKE

An eight-man SAS team was being held by Libyan rebel forces last night after being captured as they accompanied a junior British diplomat on an undercover mission which ended in embarrassment.

The elite troops had been escorting the diplomat through rebel-held territory in the east of Libya as he tried to make contact with opponents of Colonel Gaddafi.

The diplomat had intended to pave the way for a more senior British official to establish diplomatic relations with rebel forces.

Joy: A rebel with a rocket-propelled grenade at Ras Lanouf yesterday

But last night the young Foreign Office employee and his armed SAS escorts were locked up inside a military base in Benghazi, the largest city held by opponents of Col Gaddafi.
More…
- Ex-Met chief profits from £4million deal to train Libyan police… in Huddersfield
- Former nightclub dancer reveals how she had a ‘crazy’ six-year fling with Gaddafi’s son and watched as he blew millions
It is understood the SAS incursion into rebel-held territory infuriated opposition politicians, one of whom told them to warn David Cameron’s Government that it should recognise the opposition as Libya’s legitimate leaders before attempting to open negotiations.

Sources admitted last night that there was huge embarrassment in Whitehall that the SAS mission had backfired.

But there was confidence that the SAS team and the diplomat would be released unharmed within 24 hours after the rebels had made their point. There were no plans last night for a second SAS team to be sent in to secure the release of their colleagues.

www.dailymail.co.uk, 6th March 2011

SAS unit, diplomat ‘held’ by Libya rebels

(AFP) – 6 March 2011

LONDON — A Special Air Service (SAS) unit and a junior diplomat were being held by rebels in eastern Libya following a bungled mission to put the envoy in touch with them, The Sunday Times said.

The broadsheet, citing sources, said the SAS unit, thought to be up to eight men, were captured along with the diplomat they were escorting through the rebel-held east.

“We can neither confirm nor deny the report,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman told AFP.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said: “We neither confirm nor deny the story and we do not comment on the special forces.”

The uninvited appearance of the SAS alongside the diplomat “angered Libyan opposition figures who ordered the soldiers to be locked up in a military base,” the weekly said.

Opponents of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi “fear he could use any evidence of Western military interference to rally patriotic support for his regime,” it said.

The newspaper said that according to Libyan sources, the SAS soldiers were taken by rebels to Libya’s second city Benghazi, held by the opposition, and hauled up before a senior figure.

The Sunday Times said a British source, who confirmed the men had been detained, said the diplomat they were protecting had wanted to make contact with the rebels.

It cited a source close to the opposition leadership as saying rebel officials were worried that Libyan people might think from the escort party that “foreign troops have started to interfere by landing in Libya”.

British service personnel have already been involved in the rescue of British nationals working on oil installations in remote desert camps.

The MoD said Saturday that about 200 troops had been placed on standby to help with evacuation and humanitarian operations in Libya.

The troops from the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, are ready for deployment at 24 hours’ notice, a spokeswoman said.

A YouGov poll of 2,413 adults conducted on Thursday and Friday for The Sunday Times found low support for using troops in Libya.

It found that 69 percent supported economic sanctions on the Kadhafi regime and 56 percent favoured the imposition of a no-fly zone.

However, only 12 percent backed providing arms to rebel forces and 11 percent agreed with sending in allied troops.

Some 48 percent thought Prime Minister David Cameron has handled the Libyan uprising badly and 32 percent said he had handled it well.

—

SAS unit ‘held by Libyan rebels’

Defence secretary Liam Fox has confirmed that a British diplomatic team is in Libya talking to rebel forces.

But he declined to comment on reports that the SAS unit guarding the team had been detained by forces opposed to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Interviewed on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Dr Fox said there was a “small diplomatic team” in the eastern city of Benghazi.

“We are in touch with them but it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on that for reasons I am sure you will understand,” he added.

Asked if the UK team was in danger, Dr Fox replied: “We are in touch with them but I’m not going to be giving further comment on that.”

He added: “It is a very difficult situation to be able to understand in detail. There are a number of different opposition groups to Colonel Gaddafi in Libya who do seem relatively disparate. We want to clearly understand what the dynamic is here because we want to be able to work with them to ensure the demise of the Gaddafi regime, to see a transition to greater stability in Libya and ultimately to more representative government.

“So getting a picture of that is relatively difficult as is widely reported. Communications are being interrupted, there are difficulties with mobile phones, with the internet potentially being interfered with.”

According to the Sunday Times, up to eight British soldiers are believed to have been captured as they escorted the diplomatic mission through rebel-held territory in the east of the country.

The mission is thought to have been an initial attempt to contact Gaddafi’s opponents ahead of a visit by a senior colleague to establish diplomatic relations, but the SAS intervention apparently angered the rebels.

The situation came to light as the battle for control of the country continued to rage and fears grew over the impact of instability in the region on oil prices.

London Evening Standard, 6 Mar 2011
March 6, 2011
LSE director resigns over Gaddafi links

An independent investigation into the London School of Economics’ links with Libya has been ordered after the university’s director resigned over the controversy.

Sir Howard Davies said the university’s reputation had suffered because of its ties to the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, and that it had been a mistake to accept £300,000 research funding from a foundation controlled by the dictator’s son Saif.

He admitted he made a “personal error of judgment” in travelling to Libya to advise the regime on how to modernise its financial institutions.

The investigation, to be conducted by former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales Lord Woolf, will look in particular at the university’s links to Saif Gaddafi, who studied for an MSc and PhD there.

There are claims he plagiarised his PhD thesis, which was awarded in 2008, using a ghost writer and copying parts of it from other material.

In a statement, Sir Howard, a former head of the Financial Services Authority and deputy governor of the Bank of England, said: “I have concluded that it would be right for me to step down even though I know that this will cause difficulty for the institution I have come to love. The short point is that I am responsible for the school’s reputation, and that has suffered.”

ITN

March 4, 2011
Coalition urged to act over lobbyists who use party groups ‘to buy influence’

Investigation reveals more than £1.6m was channelled to MPs and lords in last year by corporations and interest groups

James Ball

Conservative MP Douglas Carswell says constituents should judge whether fringe benefits are legitimate. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian

Corporations and interest groups have channelled more than £1.6m to MPs and lords in the past year through sponsorship of parliamentary groups, a Guardian investigation can reveal.

Parliamentary reformers given access to the Guardian’s findings have called on the coalition government to take action to prevent all-party groups acting as “mere front groups for lobbyists to buy influence”.

Westminster has more than 450 all-party political groups, semi-official entities around particular subjects or countries, ranging from groups on asthma and autism, to the parliamentary choir and rowing team.

The Guardian has found 283 of these groups receive financial support from outside interests, including:

• £60,000 support for the parliamentary choir from BT

• £52,000 from drink and pub companies for the beer group

• £16,000 for the parliamentary boat race from Siemens

Other benefits are less quantifiable: the members of the all-party wine and spirits group, co-chaired by former Tory shadow minister Geoffrey Clifton-Brown and new Labour MP Ian Mearns, receive corkage, refreshment and wine tasting thanks to the largesse of the Wine and Spirits Trade Association. Some sporting groups, such as the athletics or rugby league groups, receive free tickets to matches.

Benefits of a less indulgent nature are offered to the parliamentary slimming group, whose members include Ed Vaizey and David Amess: they are entitled to receive free Slimming World membership, worth £290 a year.

Conservative MP Douglas Carswell, an outspoken advocate for parliamentary reform, says constituents should make the judgment on whether such fringe benefits are legitimate.

“I don’t know whether it’s legitimate for companies to hand out, say, sports tickets to MPs,” he said. “But if my constituents can see clearly and easily what I have received, sunlight is the best disinfectant. The public will quickly rule what they think is acceptable. It’s for them to decide, not a group of Westminster grandees.”

Some MPs and lords are more enthusiastic members of all-party groups than others. The Guardian’s investigation reveals for the first time which MPs sit on the most groups. Topping the chart is veteran Conservative Peter Bottomley, who is a member of 151 groups; 65 more than fellow Tory David Amess, who is second with 86 memberships.

All-party parliamentary groups do more than just indulge members’ hobbies. Many produce reports or studies into their areas of interest, and the groups are also entitled to issue Parliamentary passes – which give the bearer open access to the palace of Westminster.

The Guardian has found that last year 70 groups declared issuing passes to individuals “advantaged by the privileged access to parliament afforded by their pass”. One recipient is Robin Ashby, the director-general of the UK Defence Forum, who has been stripped of a parliamentary pass on two previous locations, although he denies ever having used a pass improperly.

Other passes have gone to Aviva’s public affairs consultant, the parliamentary officer of the council for Arab-British understanding, the political officer of the Unite union and the public policy officer of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Even groups with a more serious purpose, such as the all-party parliamentary group for diabetes, are often sponsored by vested corporate interest. The diabetes group received £28,000 funding for one of its reports from Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda.

The information technology group received more than £46,000 from companies including Vodafone, Motorola and Nominet, much of which funded annual dinners and receptions. Transport safety received £48,350 for unspecified purposes from a plethora of donors including 3M UK, Esure, Aviva, the Association of British Insurers, and the Royal Mail.

Donations received by all-party groups are published on an online register, but as they are split across 485 pages in multiple categories, calculating the total influence on each group has previously been impossible. But the data website ScraperWiki wrote a computer script to collect the data in one place, allowing more detailed analysis of the register as at 23 December 2010. This also revealed for the first time that 45 groups are administered by professional parliamentary lobbyists, such as Quiller consultants, Luther Pendragon and Bell Pottinger Public Affairs.

Several dozen more are administered by industry groups: the advertising group is administered by the Advertising Association; the food group by the Food and Drink Federation; Crossrail Ltd funds the secretariat for the Crossrail group, and even the group for the packaging manufacturing industry is administered by the packaging federation.

Secretariat support can vary from a day a week’s support from a junior administrator to several employees working full-time to support a group’s function. All-party groups are not required to estimate the value of non-cash support – they need only include it on the register if they estimate its worth to be at least £1,500 a year – and so the full extent of sponsorship received by outside groups is still hidden from the public.

“There’s a distinction to be made between legitimate lobbying and buying influence,” Carswell said.

“MPs and Lords with a genuine interest in a subject gathering and talking to various lobbies is clearly a good thing. But others appear to be backed by blatant lobby groups – they are effectively a front for lobbies in parliament.

Carswell added: “The coalition has promised to clean up politics. This is one area where they need to make a start.”

www.guardian.co.uk, 24 February 2011

February 27, 2011
Immigrants face losing ‘lifeline’ English classes

Anna Davis, Education Correspondent

Almost 40,000 adults learning to speak English in London colleges will be forced to give up because of funding cuts, it was revealed today.

Money for the courses, which offer a “lifeline” for asylum seekers and immigrants, will be cut from September.

The changes mean students would have to pay up to £1,200 each, the Association of Colleges said.

Director of education policy Joy Mercer said the courses “have proved to be a lifeline for many people, including those on low incomes, their spouses, asylum seekers and refugees”.

Currently the Government funds courses for those on “inactive benefits” such as income support and housing support. From September only those on “active benefits” such as jobseeker’s allowance, will get full funding.

Others will pay half of the costs, which could be between £400 and £1,200.

A survey of London colleges found 38,000 students would be affected.

Ms Mercer said: “This would have a considerably negative impact on the ability of new citizens to progress to employment.”

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said the changes would not have a disproportionate impact on any particular group.

He added that employers and students should contribute towards costs “when public funds are limited”.

www.thisislondon.co.uk, 22 Feb 2011

February 25, 2011
Iraqi interpreters sue UK government: Lawyers

London: Forty Iraqi interpreters who worked for British forces in Iraq launched a group action against the government at the High Court in London, arguing that it failed to protect them, according to their lawyers.

The Leigh Day & Co legal firm said its clients were suing the government for leaving them vulnerable to attack and persecution by militia hostile to foreign forces in Iraq, who saw them as collaborators.

In eight cases, the claims were brought by relatives of interpreters who died in suspected militia attacks, which were believed to have been a direct consequence of their work, the firm said in a statement.

“This is a tragic case of the British government doing too little too late to protect a vital part of its workforce,” said Leigh Day lawyer Sapna Malik.

The Iraqis — almost half of whom now live in Britain — are each hoping to receive compensation ranging from GBP 5,000 to GBP 100,000, according to The Times.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence — which is the target of the legal action with the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development — said the government valued the work of local staff.

“We are aware of these claims and they are currently under investigation,” she said.

“Where Her Majesty’s government has a legal liability to pay compensation we do so. It would be inappropriate to comment further while investigations are ongoing.”

A first set of claims were lodged in March 2009, and the group action was given approval to proceed in November last year, Leigh Day said.

Britain withdrew its troops from Iraq in July 2009, six years after joining the US-led invasion to depose dictator Saddam Hussein.

Bureau Report

, February 05, 2011

February 20, 2011
UK plans to double trade with Turkey, report says

The White Paper, an official UK document on investment and trade perspectives, attaches crucial importance to trade with emerging and fast-growing economies, targeting doubling economic volume with Turkey. ‘We promote trade with Turkey,’ says a contributor to the report, adding that the goals were not for the short term

The United Kingdom Trade and Investment’s, or UKTI, most recent White Paper includes a target of doubling mutual trade between the country and Turkey by 2015.

“The U.K. also has significant interests in other emerging powers,” said the report released on Wednesday.

“We aim to double trade with Turkey and support its accession to the European Union.”

Turkey is in a customs union with the EU, the document noted. “The U.K. has long been a strong supporter of Turkey’s membership of the EU, as a major emerging economy in Europe that is set to be Europe’s second largest economy by 2050. Turkey is pro-trade and is seeking a series of bilateral trade deals, with a focus on Middle East and Caucasus markets. Turkey presents a significant opportunity and the U.K. is aiming to double current trade by 2015, from a base of 9 billion pounds [$14.5 billion].”

Lord Brittan, trade adviser to the U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, who guided the strategy set out in the White Paper, told the Anatolia news agency that the fact that Turkey is not a member of the European Union creates no obstacles in trading with the nation.

Responding to a question by Anatolia about the improvement in economic relations between the U.K. and Turkey since Prime Minister Cameron’s statement on doubling mutual trade during his visit to Ankara in July 2010, Brittan said, “This is not a short-term target.”

UK Prime Minister David Cameron (L) and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shake hands in this July 29 photo. The UK PM said during his visit to Ankara that he wanted to boost trade between the parties. AP photo

“We promote trade with Turkey,” he said, noting that results were dependent to the British private sector’s approach.

Still, in case results came out at a lower level than expected, the U.K. government would promote more, he said.

Brittan, a former interior minister during the Conservative Party rule under Margaret Thatcher, became Cameron’s trade consultant in August last year. He had been working at the European Commission earlier.

In the foreword section of the latest White Paper, Dr. Vince Cable, the U.K. secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, wrote that the fastest-growing emerging economies are now creating new opportunities for all to benefit further from trade and investment.

“Despite these benefits, there is an urgent need to restate the case for open markets because the insecurity that is a legacy of the economic crisis fosters a mood of protectionism,” he said. “So far, the world’s nations have largely resisted the temptation to put up trade and investment barriers. But we must remain vigilant and reinforce the global system of rules that keep markets open for us all.”

UKTI supports a number of formal ministerial bilateral economic and trade dialogues with key emerging and high growth markets, such as Brazil, China, India, Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, said the report. “These aim to strengthen economic, industrial and commercial ties between the U.K. and these markets and also look at barriers to trade between these countries.”

UKTI plans to publish its new strategy later in 2011 to set out how to enhance the practical help British exporters and investors receive from the U.K. government.

Hürriyet Daily News

February 18, 2011