Ali al-Safari of the Communist Party said: “Nobody, not even al-Qa’ida, could have done this alone.” Mohammed al-Sabri, of the Nasserite Party, added: “This is a serious setback and puts the country in a very embarrassing position. Following the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the US, facing an ultimatum from Washington, the Yemeni government announced it was cracking down on extremists and carried out a number of arrests.Diplomats in the capital, Sanaa, spoke of “serious errors” that allowed the escape to take place and the probable culpability of Yemeni officials Opposition parties blamed the government. The worst of the violence was outside Bagram, the main US base, with Afghan police firing on some 2,000 protesters as they tried to break into the facility.. A major international hunt is under way for 23 al-Qa’ida activists who escaped from their prison in Yemen by digging a 460ft tunnel to emerge in the woman’s section of a mosque.
Interpol has issued a global security alert warning that the escapers – including men who had carried out attacks on the American warship USS Cole and the French oil tanker Limburg – were a “clear and present danger to all countries”.
The jailbreak was seen as a significant propaganda coup for Islamist groups and a severe blow to Yemen’s attempts to portray itself as a strong ally of the West in the “war on terror”.Guards at the high-security prison, which also served as the military intelligence headquarters, were being questioned by police.There is widespread suspicion that the audacious escape could not have succeeded without the help of officials in Yemen, the country Osama bin Laden’s family came from.The news of the escape came as 15 other alleged Islamists went on trial in Yemen on terrorism charges and as reports emerged of increasing presence of Islamist fighters in the region.Yemen was long regarded as a haven for Muslim militants and had seen a series of abductions of foreigners by armed gangs. But he denies specific prior knowledge of the 9/11 suicide attacks on New York and Washington, in which 3,000 people died.. Four people were killed and 19 injured as hundreds of Afghans clashed with police and soldiers yesterday during demonstrations against the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed. The uproar began at the start of proceedings in Alexandria, Virginia, when Moussaoui demanded of the judge that he be allowed to speak, saying that his lawyers did not represent him. “This trial is a circus,” he shouted, before federal marshals led him out.
Shortly afterwards the first group of prospective jurors began to answer questions about their religious beliefs, their feelings about Muslims and Arabs, their reaction to the 11 September 2001 attacks, and their attitude to the death penalty.Jury selection will take up to a month before the start of the sentencing trial on 6 March.Moussaoui, a 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent, has admitted six counts of conspiracy, acknowledging that he came to the US to take part in al-Qa’ida operations. They are problems that represent what is at stake in today’s election.”The state … has never sought to meet the basic needs of its citizens,” Ms Spraos said.
“Instead, it has been run in the interests of a small elite.”. Zacarias Moussaoui was taken out of a federal courtroom yesterday, proclaiming “I am al-Qa’ida,” as selection began of the jury that will decide whether the only person charged over the 9/11 attacks in the United States will be executed, or spend the rest of his life in jail. The UN has had to use mules to transport ballot papers to remote areas.However difficult it has been to organise, most observers believe that after two years of repressive rule by an interim government imposed by the US, France and Canada after Aristide’s ousting, the election is crucial. Camille Chalmers, an economist at the University of Haiti, said: “It is a mobilisation It is new opportunity. There is a lot of popular enthusiasm in the political process.”Helen Spraos, a Haiti-based worker with Christian Aid, listed some of Haiti’s problems – a literacy rate of 50 per cent, a life expectancy of just 52 years, a situation where one in eight children die before they reach the age of five, and where one in 38 women die as a result of pregnancy. Officials have admitted many will have to walk more than six miles to vote.
Leslie Manigat, who served for a few months as the country’s first democratically elected president before he was ousted in a military coup in 1988, is in third place. To win outright, a candidate must achieve 50 per cent of the vote. For Mr Pr?l, avoiding a second round run-off will depend on how many of the 3.5 million voters turn out.Initially it was feared the threat of violence would intimidate many potential voters, but officials say they hope the deployment of 9,000 UN troops will persuade people to turn out.Organising the vote has been a vast logistical challenge and there have been many complaints that there are insufficient polling stations. Outspoken and sometimes fiery, he says his personal wealth acts as a motivational inspiration for the poor.The most recent polls have put Mr Pr?l at 37 per cent with Mr Baker between 10-15 per cent. There is no running water, no electricity and the only law-and-order is that of the various gangs Pigs and dogs eat from huge piles of rotting rubbish.
A single bucket of water can cost 15 US cents.Yet many in Cit?oleil hope and believe that today’s election could be their salvation. This week the slum has been unusually calm and gang leaders invited the media to visit and witness the support for Mr Pr?l in this long-time Aristide stronghold.”The Haitian people have a destiny to support people who will do good things for them,” one gang leader known as Ti Blanc told The Independent as he was organising an election rally in support of Mr Pr?l “With Pr?l we can bring the country out of misery. The white, US-educated industrialist, who is supported by the business groups who organised the ousting of Aristide, claims he is the best equipped to turn Haiti around. Ordinary Haitians credit him with building roads and bridges and “getting things done”.By contrast, his nearest rival, Charles Baker, is barely considered Haitian by many of the poor.
