Malaysia: Bush Overplaying Nuclear Role
By ROHAN SULLIVAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia's leader on Thursday questioned U.S. intelligence on this country's role in a global nuclear trafficking network, and said the man President Bush called its "chief financial officer and money launderer" would not be arrested, for now.
"He is on his feet and free to move around," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said of B.S.A. Tahir, allegedly a middleman who helped Pakistan's top nuclear scientist sell equipment and know-how to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Malaysia has said Bush is unfairly singling out this Southeast Asian country with his assertions about its role in the network run by the scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan.
"There is no such thing as Malaysia's involvement," Abdullah told reporters Thursday, when asked to respond to the remarks Bush made in a speech. "We are not involved in any way. I don't know where Bush is getting his evidence from."
Bush said Khan and his associates used a company in Malaysia to make parts for centrifuges - which can be used to enrich uranium for weapons - and that front companies had been used to "deceive legitimate firms into selling them tightly controlled materials."
The Malaysian company doesn't deny making the parts, but says it didn't know what they were for.
Both U.S. officials and the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency say the components were clearly for nuclear use, disputing Malaysian police assertions that they could have had other purposes.
Tahir, a Sri Lankan based in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, operated a computer company to order centrifuge components from a Malaysian factory - using designs from Pakistan - Bush said. Other parts came from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, he said.
"Tahir acted as both the network's chief financial officer and money launderer," Bush said. "He was also its shipping agent, using his computer firm as cover for the movement of centrifuge parts to various clients."
In his speech Wednesday, Bush demanded tougher laws to stop the illicit spread of weapons technology.
The Malaysian-made parts were seized in October in a shipment of items bound for Libya. The seizure was central to uncovering Libya's nuclear program, which was allegedly helped by Khan.
The Malaysian company, Scomi Precision Engineering, says it supplied 14 semifinished machine components, ordered by Tahir, to Dubai. It says it understood the parts were for use in the oil and gas industry.
The company's parent, Scomi Group, is majority-controlled by Kamaluddin Abdullah, the prime minister's only son, who does not play an official management role in the company.
Malaysia's leader has promised that the current police investigation into the matter will be conducted "without fear or favor." Police say they have found no evidence of wrongdoing by Scomi.
Malaysian police have been investigating Tahir, who is married to the daughter of a former Malaysian diplomat, said a senior official.
"Malaysian police have spoken to him and asked him a lot of questions," Abdullah said.
Police say they're not detaining Tahir because he has apparently broken no local laws. Malaysia has ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but it is unclear whether its laws allow criminal prosecution for nuclear parts trafficking.
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Undeclared Centrifuge Design Found in Iran
By GEORGE JAHN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
VIENNA, Austria (AP) -
U.N. inspectors in Iran have discovered undeclared designs for an advanced centrifuge used to enrich uranium, diplomats said Thursday, another apparent link to the nuclear black market emanating from Pakistan.
Preliminary investigations suggest the design matches drawings of enrichment equipment found in Libya and supplied through the network headed by Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the diplomats told The Associated Press.
The discovery came as Mohamed ElBaradei, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called on the United States and other countries to relinquish nuclear weapons to make it more difficult for such weapons to fall into the hands of terrorists.
"If the world does not change course, we risk self-destruction," ElBaradei said in an essay published Thursday in The New York Times.
On Wednesday, President Bush acknowledged loopholes in the international enforcement system and urged the United Nations and member states to draw up laws that spell out criminal penalties for nuclear trafficking.
While publicly accusing Khan of being the mastermind of the clandestine nuclear supply operation, Bush avoided criticism of the Pakistani government, a key ally in the fight against terror. Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf says his government knew nothing of Khan's network, even though the military controlled the nation's nuclear program.
Khan apparently relied on European businessmen already investigated - and in some cases convicted - for selling similar equipment to Pakistan in the 1980s, U.S. officials said. The present network allegedly evolved from Khan's black-market deals starting in the 1970s. Pakistan publicly declared itself a nuclear power in 1998.
Also Thursday, China declared its support for Bush's call for steps to halt illicit arms trafficking, saying it had a "common interest" with Washington in fighting the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said Beijing would take "effective measures" to enforce recently issued rules against exports of weapons technology by Chinese companies.
In Moscow, Russian nuclear energy minister Alexander Rumyantsev postponed a planned trip to Iran next week because the countries have not nailed down agreements involving the reactor that Russia is building in the city of Bushehr, a spokesman said. Russia has been under pressure from Washington to freeze the $800 million deal, with the United States saying the facility could help Iran develop weapons.
Khan, a national hero in Pakistan for creating a nuclear deterrent against archrival India, confessed on Pakistani television last week to masterminding a network that supplied Libya, Iran and North Korea with nuclear technology. Musharraf then pardoned him.
In a speech Thursday, Musharraf said help with nuclear proliferation had come from different countries - not just Pakistan - but conceded that Pakistan also shared blame.
"Everything did not happen from Pakistan. Everything happened from many other countries. But things happened from here also, and we need to correct our house," he said. "We are a responsible nation. We must not proliferate."
Musharraf didn't specifically address Bush's speech, but a statement from the Foreign Ministry thanked the U.S. president for acknowledging Pakistan's resolve in combatting proliferation.
"The international black market for proliferation is a common threat for the world," ministry spokesman Masood Khan said in a statement.
Beyond adding a link to the chain of equipment, middlemen and companies comprising the clandestine nuclear network, the find by U.N. nuclear inspectors reported Thursday cast doubt on Iran's willingness to open its nuclear activities to international perusal.
Accused of having nuclear weapons ambitions, Iran - which denies the charge - agreed late last year to throw open its programs to pervasive inspections by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency and said it would freely provide information to clear up international suspicions.
"We're not convinced Iran has come completely clean," Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton told a security conference in Berlin. "There is no doubt in our minds that Iran continues to pursue nuclear weapons. They have not complied even with the commitment they made in October."
The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Iran did not volunteer the designs. Instead, they said, IAEA inspectors had to dig for them.
"Coming up with them is an example of real good inspector work," one of the diplomats said. "They took information and put it together and put something in front of them that they can't deny."
At less-enriched levels, uranium is normally used to generate power. Highly enriched, it can be used for nuclear warheads.
Iran, which says it sought to make low-enriched uranium, has bowed to international pressure and suspended all enrichment. But it continues to make and assemble centrifuges, a development that critics say also throws into question its commitment to dispel suspicions about its nuclear aims.
The IAEA continues to negotiate with Iran on what constitutes suspension, but ElBaradei also is known to be seeking a commitment from Iran to stop assembling centrifuges.
The diplomats said Iran had not yet formally explained why the advanced centrifuge designs were not voluntarily handed over to the agency.
Also Thursday, Malaysia's leader questioned U.S. intelligence on his country's role in nuclear deals said B.S.A. Tahir, the man Bush called its "chief financial officer and money launderer," would not be arrested, for now.
"There is no such thing as Malaysia's involvement," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.
Bush said Khan and his associates used a company in Malaysia to manufacture parts for centrifuges and that front companies had been used to "deceive legitimate firms into selling them tightly controlled materials." The company doesn't dispute it made the parts, but says it didn't know what they were for.
Tahir, a Sri Lankan based in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, operated a computer company and ordered centrifuge components from the Malaysian factory using designs from Pakistan, Bush said.
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Le Pakistan est au c?ur du march? noir mondial du nucl?aire
LE MONDE | 12.02.04 | 13h18
Le scandale A. Q. Khan est en passe de d?stabiliser le r?gime d'Islamabad. "P?re" de la bombe atomique pakistanaise et h?ros national, A. Q. Khan appara?t au centre de r?seaux mondiaux ayant organis? la prolif?ration de technologies - voire de mat?riaux - nucl?aires. L'arm?e pakistanaise tente de se disculper apr?s avoir pourtant ?troitement contr?l?, durant trente ans, le programme nucl?aire du pays. Mercredi 11 f?vrier, George Bush a appel? ? renforcer la lutte contre la prolif?ration, proposant plusieurs mesures, dont une refonte de l'AIEA et une r?vision du Trait? de non-prolif?ration. En acc?dant ? des documents libyens, l'AIEA a p?n?tr? dans "un supermarch? de la prolif?ration", selon son directeur g?n?ral, o? l'on trouve des entreprises europ?ennes et des fili?res courant des Pays-Bas ? la Malaisie.
Islamabad de notre correspondante en Asie du Sud
Le Pakistan pourrait-il se r?v?ler plus dangereux que l'Irak en mati?re d'armes de destruction massive ? Au nom de son alliance avec le g?n?ral Pervez Moucharraf dans la lutte antiterroriste, le pr?sident George Bush a, pour l'instant, tranch? par la n?gative.
Le pardon de M. Moucharraf au "p?re" de la bombe pakistanaise, Abdul Qadeer Khan, est pourtant loin de clore le dossier de la prolif?ration nucl?aire. "Le pardon accord? est conditionnel aux faits jusque-l? connus : ce n'est pas un pardon global", a pr?cis? le porte-parole du minist?re des affaires ?trang?res, Masood Khan.
Confin? chez lui, M. Khan est quasiment en r?sidence surveill?e et six personnes - trois scientifiques, trois militaires en retraite - sont toujours d?tenues. "Les associ?s du Dr Khan ne retourneront pas ? leurs postes une fois l'enqu?te finie", a pr?cis? Masood Khan. Les autorit?s disposent de la confession de 12 pages ?crites par le Dr Khan. "Les enqu?teurs poursuivent les interrogatoires des autres membres de l'?quipe pour tenter de d?couvrir, d'une part, si d'autres personnes sont impliqu?es, d'autre part - avec le maximum de d?tails -, ce qui a r?ellement ?t? livr?, ? qui, quand et comment, et enfin, jusqu'? quelle date les fuites ont eu lieu", confie un proche de l'enqu?te. Sur ce dernier point, M. Moucharraf a affirm?, lors de sa conf?rence de presse annon?ant le pardon du Dr Khan, que les op?rations s'?taient ?tal?es de la fin des ann?es 1980 ? 2001. A cette derni?re date, sous la pression des Etats-Unis, le Dr Khan a ?t? relev? de ses fonctions de directeur du Khan Research Laboratory (KRL). M. Moucharraf a reconnu, dans un r?cent entretien au New York Times, qu'il suspectait depuis au moins trois ans le Dr Khan de "contacts ill?gaux, de mouvements suspects", tout en affirmant que "l'affaire ?tait trop sensible pour interroger imm?diatement le Dr Khan comme s'il ?tait un criminel ordinaire".
VOYAGE EN LIBYE
"En 2001, Moucharraf ne cachait pas son aversion pour le Dr Khan, mais il ne savait pas trop comment le traiter", confirme, par ailleurs, le professeur A. H. Nayyar, un physicien qui estime, en revanche, que les fuites se sont poursuivies jusqu'en 2003. "Abdul Qadeer Khan s'est rendu en Libye l'ann?e derni?re", dit-il. G?n?ral en retraite, sp?cialiste des questions de s?curit? nucl?aire, Mahmoud Durrani affirme toutefois que, "depuis 2001, les transferts d'?quipements ? partir du Pakistan n'?taient plus possibles. Le savoir-faire, les id?es, peut-?tre ; mais, ces deux ou trois derni?res ann?es, Khan se savait observ?". Selon plusieurs sources, le bilan des transferts organis?s par le Dr Khan pourrait ainsi se d?cliner par p?riode et par pays. A destination de l'Iran, vers la fin des ann?es 1980 ou au d?but 1990, il s'agirait des plans d'une centrifugeuse pour enrichir l'uranium ou de la machine elle-m?me, ainsi que des ?quipements. Une centrifugeuse aurait ?t? livr?e ? la Cor?e du Nord, tandis que la Libye aurait re?u des ?quipements et au moins les plans d'une bombe.
La r?ponse de l'avocat g?n?ral, Makhdoom Ali Khan, mercredi 11 f?vrier, ? des p?titions introduites par les familles des personnes d?tenues donne aussi des ?l?ments de r?ponse. Certains des d?tenus sont "responsables d'avoir transf?r? directement ou indirectement des codes secrets, du mat?riel nucl?aire, des substances, des machineries, des ?quipements, des composants, des informations, des documents, des dessins, des plans, des mod?les, des articles et des notes ? des pays ?trangers et ? des individus".
Le Dr Khan a-t-il travaill? avec d'autres pays ou, plus inqui?tant encore, avec des groupes ind?pendants, comme Al-Qaida ? Le porte-parole de l'arm?e pakistanaise, le g?n?ral Shaukat Sultan, "exclut" cette derni?re possibilit?. "Notre enqu?te ou celles men?es par d'autres services de renseignement n'ont rien r?v?l? l?-dessus", dit-il.
RELATIONS DOUTEUSES
Le Dr Khan entretenait les plus mauvais rapports avec Mohammed Bashir-ud-Din Mahmoud, le scientifique pakistanais, arr?t? et interrog? par le FBI au lendemain des attentats du 11 septembre 2001 pour avoir rencontr? Oussama Ben Laden en Afghanistan ? deux reprises au moins. Abdul Qadeer Khan avait commenc? sa carri?re sous les ordres de Bashir Mahmoud. Mais il s'?tait tr?s vite brouill? avec lui et avait obtenu du g?n?ral Zia ul-Haq (au pouvoir de 1977 ? 1988) de travailler seul avec sa propre ?quipe. En outre, A. Q. Khan n'est pas consid?r? comme un fondamentaliste islamique, au mieux "un nationaliste enrag?, marqu? par les horreurs de la partition -de 1947- avec l'Inde", souligne une connaissance qui souhaite garder l'anonymat.
Moins cat?gorique que le g?n?ral Sultan, le professeur Nayyar affirme : "A moins que l'on nous prouve qu'il n'a pas eu de contacts avec des groupes, je continuerai de suspecter que du nucl?aire a pu tomber dans de mauvaises mains", dit-il. "La preuve peut seulement venir d'une ?tude approfondie du combustible nucl?aire. KRL a produit 1 000 kg d'uranium enrichi. S'il en manque 10, 15, 20 ou 25 kg, nous devrons tous ?tre tr?s inquiets", pr?cise-t-il.
S'il n'est pas un fondamentaliste, le Dr Khan avait des relations pour le moins douteuses. "Il ?tait compl?tement connect? avec Daoud Ibrahim, et c'est ? travers les contacts de ce dernier qu'il faisait ses transferts", affirme le professeur Nayyar. Mafieux indien recherch? par l'Inde pour les attentats de Bombay en 1993, Daoud Ibrahim a construit une fortune gr?ce ? divers trafics. Apr?s sa fuite de Bombay, il a v?cu ? Karachi et a longtemps ?t? utilis? par les services pakistanais pour leurs basses ?uvres.
Recevant, mercredi 11 f?vrier, le vice-ministre japonais des affaires ?trang?res, le pr?sident Moucharraf a promis de livrer ? Tokyo au moins les r?sultats de l'enqu?te sur les fuites en direction de la Cor?e du Nord. Pour sa part, Pyongyang a d?menti avoir obtenu de la technologie d'Abdul Qadeer Khan. Le Pakistan attend de recevoir de l'Agence internationale de l'?nergie atomique (AIEA), en mars, les r?sultats des investigations faites par les inspecteurs en Libye et en Iran.
Fran?oise Chipaux
* ARTICLE PARU DANS L'EDITION DU 13.02.04
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>> PESHAWAR NOTES...
2 al-Qaida Suspects Arrested in Pakistan
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - Paramilitary troops and intelligence agents raided a home in a tribal village near the Afghan border Thursday and arrested two al-Qaida suspects - a Moroccan and his Pakistani host.
About 100 troops took part in the operation in Mir Khankhel village in Jamrud, an intelligence official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The area, dominated by Afridi tribesmen, is about 15 miles northwest of the regional capital of Peshawar.
The suspects were Abdur Rahman, 35, from Morocco, and Adnan Khan Afridi, a local tribesman believed to have sheltered the other al-Qaida suspect, the official said.
It was believed to have been the first such operation in Jamrud, which is on the road to Torkham, the main border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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>> MEDIA NOTES...
U.S.-Gov't TV Station Draws Arab Fire
By SALAH NASRAWI
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Even before its first broadcast, a satellite television station financed by the U.S. government and directed at Arab viewers is drawing fire in the Middle East as an American attempt to destroy Islamic values and brainwash the young.
Al-Hurra, or The Free One, is to start broadcasting Saturday. President Bush has promised the news station, which will build up to 24-hour programming within a month, will "cut through the hateful propaganda that fills the airwaves in the Muslim world."
It already has landed a one-on-one interview with Bush. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has said the interview allows Bush to tell of "his commitment to spreading freedom and democracy in the Middle East."
The Bush administration's hope is that a fashionably produced Arab-language station will help stem anti-Americanism fueled by the war on terrorism, the occupation of Iraq and U.S. support for Israel.
Al-Hurra will be broadcast from Washington but have facilities in several capitals, including Baghdad, and a largely Arab staff. It is publicly funded, costing about $62 million in its first year.
The station promises a balanced approach - a possibility critics dismiss - but it has a long way to go to capture some Arab hearts and minds.
"The main goals of launching such a channel are to create drastic changes in our principles and doctrines," said Jamil Abu-Bakr, a spokesman for Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood movement. "But the nature of Arab and Muslim societies and their rejection and hatred of American policies ... will ultimately limit the impact."
Abu-Bakr condemned al-Hurra as "part of the American media and cultural invasion of our region." Arab journalists also have widely criticized al-Hurra in editorials and columns as unwanted or even dangerous propaganda.
Norman Pattiz, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which runs al-Hurra as well as the Voice of America radio network, dismissed the criticism, saying the station is about news, not propaganda.
"People can sit there and say whatever they want before it launches," Pattiz said, adding that people should watch and decide for themselves. "I think they may be interested in the fact that we may bring a different perspective."
He defended the Bush interview, saying it isn't a speech or welcoming address, but rather probes into subjects that will be of interest to people in the region. The station will also interview regional leaders in the Middle East, he said.
"Once people start watching us, we'll have to walk the walk - and we're going to have to prove that we are reliable and credible," Pattiz said. "Without credibility, we are lost."
The U.S. government has tried reaching out directly to Arabs in other ways, most recently through the Arabic-language Radio Sawa and a slick Arabic-English magazine, "hi," about American culture and life.
Radio Sawa - Sawa means Together in Arabic - began broadcasting shortly before Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was ousted in April. "hi" debuted in July in 14 Arab countries. Both also are accessible on the Internet.
Neither are smash hits, though many young Arabs say they enjoy Radio Sawa's Arabic and Western pop music even if they look elsewhere for news. Pattiz, however, said their polls indicate a favorable response to Sawa's news.
Rami G. Khouri, executive editor of Lebanon's The Daily Star, expects Al-Hurra to "exacerbate the gap between Americans and Arabs, rather than close it."
"Al-Hurra, like the U.S. government's Radio Sawa and 'hi' magazine before it, will be an entertaining, expensive, and irrelevant hoax. Where do they get this stuff from? Why do they keep insulting us like this?" he wrote.
Al-Hurra is America's answer to the popular all-news Arab satellite networks it accuses of fanning anti-American sentiments, such as Al Jazeera.
Over the past decade, the Arab world has witnessed an explosion of satellite TV stations, both state-sponsored and private, resulting in a previously unheard of range of broadcast opinions. Al-Jazeera in particular has been lambasted by nearly every Arab regime for airing views of government opponents.
Al-Hurra does have some Arab defenders.
"Everyone is entitled to express his or her opinion. This is an open sky and nobody should be afraid of that," said Samiha Dahroug, head of Egypt's Nile News Channel.
But Dahroug added that Washington's image won't improve among Arabs until it changes its policies toward them.
"America is judged by how it conducts itself in the world," she said. "The facts speak for themselves."
On the Net:
www.bbg.gov
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>> OUR FRIENDS RFE/RL...
Ukraine May Deny Radio Liberty Airtime
By TIM VICKERY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - A radio station that rebroadcasts U.S.-funded Radio Liberty's shortwave programming onto more-accessible FM frequencies is threatening to cancel the service, prompting a harsh complaint from the U.S. Embassy and speculation the move was politically motivated.
The privately owned Radio Dovira sent a letter Wednesday threatening to deny the Radio Liberty FM airtime unless it makes format changes, said Radio Liberty spokeswoman Sonia Winter in Prague.
Radio Svoboda, the Ukrainian-language service of Radio Liberty, has until Tuesday to make the changes or have its broadcasts restricted to shortwave, Winter said Thursday. But she said the demanded changes were not specified, "and that's why it's such a strange decision."
Radio Dovira representatives declined to comment.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty president Thomas Dine condemned the decision as a "political act against liberal democracy, against free speech and press,"
In extraordinarily blunt comments, the U.S. Embassy in Kiev criticized the decision as "a blatant attempt to get Radio Liberty off the air," adding it was "especially deplorable in an election year in Ukraine when the need for news and information from a variety of independent sources is greatest."
Mykola Tomenko, chairman of Ukraine's parliamentary committee on press freedom, called the move an "active cleansing of the mass media" ahead of October elections, in a statement posted on the opposition Our Ukraine Web site.
Viktor Yushchenko, widely seen as the favorite to replace President Leonid Kuchma, called the decision "undeniably political," alleging it was approved by top government authorities, the Interfax news agency reported.
Kuchma's administration has come under increasing fire from Western governments, human rights groups and journalists who accuse him of muzzling the press.
Ukraine's media climate has been under scrutiny since the 2000 death of Heorhiy Gongadze, an Internet writer who crusaded against high-level corruption. His decapitated body was found in a forest outside Kiev.
Opposition groups allege Kuchma was involved in Gongadze's killing. Kuchma denies involvement.
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>> L'AFFAIRE SUHA CONTINUED...
Arafat's Wife Blames Sharon for Reports
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - The wife of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was behind reports of a probe by French prosecutors into alleged transfers totaling millions of dollars to bank accounts she holds, a newspaper reported Thursday.
The preliminary inquiry, opened by the Paris prosecutor's office in October, is looking into the alleged transfer of $11.4 million to Suha Arafat's accounts at the Arab Bank and at French bank BNP between July 2002 and September 2003, French judicial officials have said.
The probe was first reported by a weekly satirical newspaper, Le Canard Enchaine, on Wednesday.
In a phone interview with Suha Arafat from Paris, home to the Palestinian first lady, she told the Al-Hayat daily that Sharon was spreading "the malevolent press leaks" to cover up a bribery scandal that could force him out of office.
Sharon has denied wrongdoing, and has told investigators he did not know of a lucrative marketing contract his son, Gilad, signed with a real estate developer despite apparent lack of experience needed for the job, according to Israeli press reports.
"The predicament that Sharon and his sons are in resulting from investigations into corruption charges is behind such fabricated press reports that are entirely baseless," Arafat told the paper, responding to questions about the report published by Le Canard Enchaine.
"Sharon is trying to fabricate similar scandals (involving) the Arafat family to cover up his scandals," she added, according to Al-Hayat.
In Jerusalem, a senior Israeli official rejected Suha Arafat's allegations.
"We all know about the embezzlement. Sharon doesn't need to be behind it. The evidence is behind it," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Arafat said she has not been summoned for questioning by the French prosecutor, a French court or any bank, according to Al-Hayat. she told the newspaper she first learned of the probe from press reports.
"As long as there is a Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Sharon and the Israelis will not stop vilifying President Arafat and his family," Arafat told the newspaper. "They are trying to efface the Palestinian cause and kill Palestinian children, men and women."
Arafat told Al-Hayat that the money she receives is sent to her and spent legally. In the published interview, she did not specify how much she has received nor did she reveal the amount under investigation.
"What's strange about the Palestinian president sending any amount of money to his family and his wife who cares for Palestinian interests abroad?" Arafat said in the interview.
"All this money has come, and is coming, in a legal way and the way it's spent is legal," she added. "My husband and I are ready to respond to any questioning regarding the source of this money and they way it was spent."
French officials have stressed the investigation is only in its preliminary stages and that police are not involved. Nor has a full investigation been ordered, since the inquiry has not determined that the alleged funds came from illicit sources - a necessity if prosecutors are to file any charges of money laundering, French officials have said.
The investigation originated from a Bank of France inspection of the Arab Bank. The Bank of France found that nearly $1.27 million was allegedly transferred monthly from Switzerland to Suha Arafat's accounts in Paris, French judicial officials have said.
The Bank of France alerted the watchdog Banking Commission, which in turn alerted the Paris prosecutor's office in September, according to those officials. They said that Tracfin, a government organization that collates information about money laundering, confirmed the Bank of France's suspicions about the alleged transfers.
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>> HAGUE WATCH...
Israel Opts Out of World Court Hearings
By LAURIE COPANS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM (AP) -
Israel decided Thursday not to attend world court hearings on the legality of its West Bank separation barrier, saying there is no point in sending a team because it does not recognize the judges' authority.
The decision was made by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and five senior Cabinet ministers, according to an announcement by Sharon's office.
Hearings before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, are to begin Feb. 23. The U.N. General Assembly asked its highest tribunal in December to issue a non-binding ruling on the legality of Israel's separation barrier, a series of fences and walls built in the West Bank.
Israel says the obstacles, which will eventually stretch for 440 miles, are necessary to keep out suicide bombers. Palestinians charge that the barrier constitutes a land grab since it cuts deep into the West Bank at points.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Ghassan Khatib said the Palestinians would present their arguments to the world court - regardless of Israel's decision.
"The wall is destroying our land and our economy and we are looking forward to this court hearing to declare a legal opinion on that," Khatib said.
Israel has challenged the world court's authority to rule on the barrier, arguing that the issue is being manipulated for political ends.
A Sharon adviser, Zalman Shoval, said earlier Thursday that "the court should not be consigned to rule on political issues and this is clearly a political issue."
Alan Baker, the Foreign Ministry's legal adviser, said Israel had already made its views known in writing.
"After having examined all the written statements that were submitted by other countries, Israel does not feel it has anything to add," he said. "Israel has decided not to accept the invitation."
However, Israel will apparently not stay on the sidelines entirely.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has said it will send spokespeople to the world court. The Israeli rescue service ZAKA wants to display the mangled skeleton of a Jerusalem bus outside the court to illustrate the threat of terrorism. And dozens of Israelis are expected to fly to the Netherlands to participate in demonstrations.
Shoval said any court ruling would pre-empt peace talks outlined in the U.S.-backed "road map" plan.
Several dozen countries, even those that have objections to the barrier, have submitted briefs saying the matter should not be brought before the court. In previous cases, if the court's jurisdiction was challenged, it has addressed the issue of jurisdiction in its final ruling.
A former chief of the Mossad security service, Ephraim Halevy, urged Israel not to participate in the hearings.
If Israel joins the process, "it will damage the struggle of liberty-seeking countries against terror," Halevy wrote in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper on Thursday.
The Palestinians cannot expect to proceed in efforts to reopen peace talks while trying on a legal track to back Israel into a corner, Halevy said.
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Isra?l d?cide de boycotter les audiences de la Cour internationale de justice sur le mur de s?curit?
LEMONDE.FR | 12.02.04 | 20h44
Le gouvernement isra?lien d'Ariel Sharon a d?cid?, jeudi 12 f?vrier, de boycotter les d?lib?rations de la Cour internationale de justice de La Haye (CIJ), qui examinera ? partir du 23 f?vrier la l?galit? du mur de s?paration qu'Isra?l construit en Cisjordanie.
La commission minist?rielle pr?sid?e par M. Sharon "a d?cid? d'adopter les recommandations des ?quipes d'experts et de ne pas participer aux audiences de la CIJ qui d?buteront le 23 f?vrier", a indiqu? la pr?sidence du conseil dans un communiqu?.
Selon le texte, la commission a d?cid? "de s'en tenir au document ?crit" de 150 pages remis le 30 janvier ? la CIJ par Isra?l, qui y estime que ce tribunal "n'a pas comp?tence pour d?battre de la question de la cl?ture de pr?vention du terrorisme car il s'agit du droit fondamental d'Isra?l ? assurer sa d?fense".
"La recommandation des ?quipes d'experts a ?t? faite apr?s l'examen de la position des pays principaux, dont celle des Etats-Unis, de la Grande-Bretagne, de l'Allemagne, du Canada, de l'Australie et celle d'autres pays qui ont ?tabli que la CIJ n'avait pas comp?tence sur cette affaire", ajoute le communiqu?.
Ces pays ainsi que d'autres ont certes estim? que la CIJ n'?tait pas l'enceinte appropri?e pour examiner l'affaire, mais ils ont critiqu? le trac? de la barri?re qui s'enfonce en Cisjordanie occup?e et rend extr?mement probl?matique la cr?ation d'un Etat palestinien viable comme pr?vu par la "feuille de route", le dernier plan de paix international.
Dix-sept pays, pour la plupart arabes et musulmans, de m?me que les Palestiniens, ont en revanche affirm? que le dossier sur la l?galit? de la ligne de s?paration ?tait bien du ressort de la CIJ.
Un ministre palestinien a estim? que la d?cision d'Isra?l de boycotter les audiences de la CIJ traduisait son ?chec ? d?fendre cet ouvrage. "Ils ont anticip? leur ?chec ? convaincre le monde de leurs arguments, et pour cette raison ils ont d?cid? de boycotter" le tribunal, a dit le ministre des collectivit?s locales, Jamal Choubaki. "Cette d?cision d?montre qu'Isra?l ne peut pas affronter la v?rit? et la justice internationale, et qu'il se lance dans une bataille perdue", a d?clar? pour sa part Nabil Abou Roudeina, principal conseiller du dirigeant palestinien, Yasser Arafat.
Pour le ministre palestinien charg? des n?gociations, Sa?b Erakat, la d?cision d'Isra?l prouve sa d?termination ? "imposer des faits accomplis et des mesures unilat?rales". "Tous les pays doivent tenir compte de la d?cision de la CIJ. Quant ? Isra?l, il cherche par sa d?cision (de boycott) ? provoquer une escalade et imposer des faits sur le terrain", a-t-il ajout?.
"MUR DE L'APARTHEID"
Le premier ministre palestinien, Ahmed Qore?, qui effectue une tourn?e en Europe pour mobiliser l'opinion contre l'?dification du mur, a obtenu l'appui du pape Jean Paul II. "La Terre sainte a besoin de r?conciliation : de pardon, non de vengeance, de ponts, non de murs", a dit le Saint-P?re en recevant M. Qore? en audience au Vatican.
"De toute fa?on, la vraie bataille n'aura pas lieu devant la Cour mais vis-?-vis de l'opinion publique internationale. C'est pourquoi nous allons lancer une vaste campagne sur ce front en Europe et aux Etats-Unis", avait d?clar? ? l'AFP, fin janvier, un responsable isra?lien, parlant sous le couvert de l'anonymat.
Con?ue pour emp?cher l'infiltration de kamikazes palestiniens, la cl?ture de s?paration devait au d?part ?pouser la "ligne verte" s?parant Isra?l de la Cisjordanie, mais son trac? actuel s'enfonce profond?ment en Cisjordanie pour prot?ger des colonies juives.
Les Palestiniens la qualifient de "mur de l'apartheid". Des dizaines de localit?s palestiniennes et des faubourgs de J?rusalem-Est seront encercl?s par cette ligne qui isolera 350 000 Palestiniens, les annexant de facto.
La CIJ a ?t? saisie par l'Assembl?e g?n?rale de l'ONU, qui a vot? le 8 d?cembre 2003 une r?solution lui demandant de se prononcer sur les cons?quences juridiques de la construction de cet imposant ouvrage que l'ONU condamne. Ses avis n'ont pas d'effets contraignants, et il appartient aux institutions qui les ont demand?s de les ent?riner ou pas par les moyens qui leur sont propres.
Anticipant la d?cision isra?lienne, un porte-parole de la CIJ a affirm? mercredi que l'Etat h?breu avait parfaitement le droit de ne pas participer aux audiences sur la l?galit? de la ligne de s?paration, sans que cela remette en cause la proc?dure d'avis consultatif. "De mani?re g?n?rale, les Etats ont toute latitude pour choisir s'ils participent ? la proc?dure orale", a expliqu? un membre du service de presse de la Cour. "Si un Etat d?cide de ne pas participer ? la proc?dure orale, cela ne remet pas en cause cette proc?dure", a-t-il ajout?.
Avec AFP
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French General Says He Warned Milosevic
By TOBY STERLING
ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The French general who declared Srebrenica a U.N. safe area before thousands of Muslims were massacred there in 1995 testified Thursday he asked Slobodan Milosevic two years earlier to pull back Bosnian Serb troops to avoid "something terrible."
At Milosevic's war crimes trial, retired Gen. Philippe Morillon recalled urging Milosevic to stop advancing Bosnian Serb forces in 1993, two years before more than 7,000 men and boys were executed while trying to flee mountainous eastern Bosnia.
Speaking on the second anniversary of the start of Milosevic's trial, Morillon provided some of the most direct testimony so far linking the then-Serbian president to neighboring Bosnia. He claimed Milosevic had power over Bosnian Serb leaders until at least May 1993 and used it to prevent a massacre then.
Milosevic, who is defending himself against 66 counts of war crimes allegedly committed during the Balkan wars of the 1990s, says he is innocent.
Milosevic denies responsibility for atrocities committed by troops under the command of Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic and his top general, Ratko Mladic. Mladic and Karadzic are fugitives since being indicted for genocide by the U.N. court more than eight years ago.
Morillon commanded the outgunned U.N. protection force in Bosnia from September 1992 to July 1993, when Bosnian Serb troops were attempting to carve out an independent Serb-dominated state within eastern Bosnia, including the Muslim enclave Srebrenica.
Morillon visited Srebrenica in March 1993, when it was already suffering sporadic shelling and a shortage of food and supplies because of Bosnian Serb blockades. He said the United Nations would protect the area and two other Bosnian enclaves under Bosnian Serb threat.
Morillon feared that attacks by Muslim forces on Serbian civilians had enraged the Bosnian Serbs and would result in fierce retaliation.
"I knew the only person who could assist me was Mr. Milosevic, and I went to tell him. I have a very clear memory of that," Morillon said.
He recalled telling Milosevic that "in Srebrenica something terrible could happen and it will block the peace process."
"Unfortunately two years later - and I'm still haunted by this - my fears came true," Morillon said.
Under-armed and inexperienced Dutch U.N. troops could not prevent Bosnian Serbs from advancing on Srebrenica in July 1995, when the massacres occurred. Srebrenica is now part of Republika Srpska, the Serb-dominated half of Bosnia.
In 1993, Karadzic and Mladic followed orders from Belgrade to prevent the massacres, proving that he did have power over them, Morillon said.
But in cross-examination, Milosevic said that only showed he deserved credit for preventing a massacre.
"The influence I could have yielded - and that was political influence - was used to stop the bloodshed over there ... Everything was stopped, isn't that right?" Milosevic asked.
"Precisely," Morillon replied.
Prosecutors are expected to conclude their case against Milosevic next week. Milosevic then will have three months to prepare his defense.
Also Thursday, Biljana Plavsic, the most senior political figure from the former Yugoslavia to be convicted of war crimes, was summoned from a Swedish prison to The Hague to testify in a war crimes case, but apparently will not be called to the stand, authorities said.
U.N. prosecutors have said previously they hoped Plavsic would testify in Milosevic's trial.
Plavsic, part of the troika of leaders in the Bosnian Serb government during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, is serving an 11-year sentence in Sweden. She is the only woman among more than 120 people indicted by the tribunal set up in 1993.
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>> OUR FRIEND VLADIMIR....
Putin Laments Death of the Soviet Union
By ANNELI NERMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin used a campaign speech Thursday to declare the demise of the Soviet Union a "national tragedy on an enormous scale," in what appeared to be his strongest-ever lament of the collapse of the Soviet empire.
Putin, a former agent of the Soviet KGB spy agency, has praised aspects of the Soviet Union in the past but never so robustly nor in such an important political setting.
"The breakup of the Soviet Union is a national tragedy on an enormous scale," from which "only the elites and nationalists of the republics gained," Putin said in a nationally televised speech to about 300 campaign workers gathered at Moscow State University.
The president's language was sure to send a chill through the 14 other former Soviet republics that have been independent from Moscow rule for more than a decade.
In the past and to audiences from the former republics, Putin has sought to ease fears about Russia having designs on rebuilding the old empire.
In September remarks after a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States - the grouping of former Soviet republics - Putin said:
"The Soviet Union (was) a very complicated page in the history of our people," adding "that train has left."
But on Thursday, he spoke in a much stronger tone, appearing to play to Russian nationalism.
"I think that ordinary citizens of the former Soviet Union and the post-Soviet space gained nothing from this. On the contrary, people have faced a huge number of problems," he said.
"Today we must look at the reality we live in. We cannot only look back and curse about this issue. We must look forward," he said.
Across town, meanwhile, Putin challengers in the election next month refused to debate among themselves in a television program called for that purpose. The candidates said a debate was meaningless without Putin, who says he doesn't need the free television advertising.
At the taping of what was to be the first debate ahead of the March 14 vote, four of Putin's six challengers answered questions from the studio audience, but then rejected the host's appeal that they debate each other.
"Bring Vladimir Putin here and we will have a debate," independent liberal candidate Irina Khakamada said, winning applause from the audience.
Calling it pointless to debate with anyone but Putin, "my main competitor", Communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov said that by ignoring the debates, "Putin is depriving the population of the right to choose."
Also at the taping were candidates Sergei Glazyev of the populist-nationalist Homeland Party and Oleg Malyshkin of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party.
Regardless of Putin's public declarations about campaign advertising, state-controlled television channels already lavish him with extensive coverage - as on Thursday when state-run Rossiya showed his remarks live.
Addressing a packed auditorium at Moscow State University, Putin said: "The head of state should not engage in self-advertising."
"Nevertheless," he continued, "I am simply obliged before my voters and the entire country to account for what has been done during the past four years, and to tell people what I intend to do during the next four years."
Responding to a question after his state-of-the-nation-style speech, Putin said that the 1991 Soviet collapse - which most Russians regret - led to few gains and many problems for ordinary citizens.
Turning to global politics, Putin said that Russia must become a "full-fledged member of the world community" and assailed those in the West who still have a Cold War-era distrust of Russia. They "can't get out of the freezer," he said.
Putin reiterated his stated opposition to prolonging his time in office, limited to two terms. But he indicated he would choose a preferred successor, saying that the task of any top leader "is to propose to society a person he considers worthy to work further in this position."
Some Putin opponents had considered boycotting the presidential election, saying a fair vote was impossible in Russia today, and the refusal to debate in Thursday's program reflected the candidates' anger at the president's dominance of the campaign.
Some political analysts said, however, the public does not expect Putin to debate.
"They see the head of state as a monarch who shouldn't participate in discussions with those below him in the hierarchy," said Andrei Ryabov of the Carnegie Institute in Moscow said.
The Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe said the state-controlled media's parliamentary campaign coverage was slanted toward pro-Putin forces and accused the government of pressuring news media, to limit opposition views.
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at 4:18 PM EST
