AFRICA - Egypt and Libya Notes 7/3/2011

"Rebels Briefly Lose Control of Western Libyan Town" by C. J. CHIVERS, New York Times 7/3/2011

Excerpt

Military forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi counterattacked and briefly recaptured this front-line town from opposition forces on Wednesday, but they were beaten back by a large rebel force late in the day.

Though the battle was fluid and its outcome perhaps not final, by evening the fighting appeared to be confined to exchanges of rocket and mortar fire from a mile away or more and some skirmishing beyond the town’s eastern edge. Armed rebels roamed the abandoned town once again — but only after suffering many casualties.

"Egypt Purges Mubarak-Era Police Officers" by DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, New York Times 7/13/2011

Excerpt

Egypt’s transitional military government announced the early retirement of more than 600 senior police officers on Wednesday. It was an effort to mollify thousands of protesters at a six-day-old protest in Cairo’s Tahrir Square who have been demanding swifter justice for those complicit in wrongdoing under President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in February.

The Interior Ministry said 18 police generals and 9 other senior officers were forced into early retirement because they were accused of killing protesters during the 18-day uprising. For the same reason, 54 lower-ranking officers were shifted to jobs where they would no longer interact with civilians, officials said.

More than 800 people were killed in three weeks of nonviolent demonstrations this year.

In another concession to the protesters, the military government postponed parliamentary elections, which had been scheduled for September, until October or November, Egyptian news media reported. Many new political parties had sought a delay to prepare to compete against the Muslim Brotherhood and other well-organized Islamist organizations.

The Interior Ministry said no officers accused of killing protesters remained in their old posts, but it declined to give their names, and it provided no explanation for the forced early retirement of nearly 500 other police generals and about 150 other senior officers.

But Mansour el-Essawy, the interior minister appointed after Mr. Mubarak’s ouster, called the moves “the biggest shake-up in the history of the police,” citing public demands “to get rid of all of the leadership that is accused of killing protesters.” He said, without explanation, that 4,000 police officers were involved in the reorganization.