SYRIA: Assad not fooling anyone about unrest, says U.S. envoy.
The U.S. Embassy in Syria says President Bashar Assad is not fooling anyone by blaming terrorists and thugs for the unrest in his country. In comments posted on the embassy’s Facebook page, U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford says it is clear Assad’s regime has no capacity for reform. Ford’s comments Tuesday came the same day that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon leveled some of his strongest criticism yet at the Syrian regime, saying Assad must take “bold and decisive measures before it’s too late.”
YEMEN: Prime minister holds Cabinet meeting in show of defiance.
Yemen’s prime minister conducted his first Cabinet meeting since returning from Saudi Arabia for treatment of wounds he suffered in the same June attack that seriously injured the country’s embattled president. Ali Mohammed Mujawar, who returned to Yemen last week, presided over the Cabinet meeting in a symbolic show of defiance by President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government. Saleh is still in Saudi Arabia, rebuffing international pressure to step down. Yemen’s political infighting has spurred al-Qaeda activity in southern Yemen.
TUNISIA: Security forces stepping up crackdown.
Tunisia’s prime minister said Tuesday that authorities are stepping up enforcement of a state of emergency after violence in recent days. Prime Minister Beji Caid-Essebsi’s nationally broadcast remarks come ahead of Tunisia’s Oct. 23 election for an assembly that will write a new constitution, as Tunisia tries to build a new government after years of authoritarian rule.
Denver Post wire services
