french – The Milli Chronicle

French warship docks in Egypt, could treat Gaza children this week – minister

NewsDesk Milli Chronicle — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 11:04:39 +0000

Paris (Reuters) – The French helicopter carrier Dixmude has docked in Egypt and could start treating wounded children from Gaza later this week, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Tuesday, as Western powers look to ramp up efforts to aid the enclave.

It is the first Western military ship to dock in Egypt since the conflict started and moored on Monday at al-Arish 50 km (31 miles) west of Gaza, now a hub for international aid for Gaza.

The ship’s arrival comes amid a truce in fighting between Israel and Hamas, in which Israeli hostages abducted by the militant group during its attack on Oct. 7 are being exchanged for Palestinians prisoners.

The temporary ceasefire has provided an opportunity to get further aid into Gaza and create processes for evacuating wounded civilians.

“We have this ship, which has been transformed into a hospital and which arrived yesterday. It has 40 beds,” Lecornu told Europe 1 radio, adding he hoped it could start receiving patients this week.

The Dixmude’s medical capacities have been adapted to create a military-civilian medical force, notably in paediatrics. With two operating theatres and 40 beds, it could treat those with light injuries before they are moved to hospitals on the ground.

Paris has made available, if necessary, 50 beds in France for gravely wounded and sick children in Gaza, which could include cancer patients.

Once treated on the Dixmude, the children will need to be moved to larger hospitals in Egypt or field hospitals in Gaza so that more patients may be tended to.

Some 22 civilians doctors, including 16 surgeons and six paediatricians, are on board, French officials said.

Egypt has said it could integrate children into its medical system, but has asked France for more specialised equipment and financing, officials said.

Lecornu said a team of seven French military officials were liaising with Egyptian and Israeli authorities over the arrangements.

Authorisations from Egypt and Israel will first be required, as well as background checks of adults accompanying children.

The deployment of the carrier comes after policy mishaps and hesitations that have seen President Emmanuel Macron face criticism at home as he treads a fine line in a country with the European Union’s largest Muslim and Jewish populations.

French officials have dismissed this, saying Paris is looking to lead a humanitarian coalition and convince others to also send military assets to the region.

Italy has sent a naval medical ship and diplomats said Britain could soon deploy a ship transformed for medical purposes.

Saudi Arabia condemns Prophet cartoons, says no link between Islam and Terrorism

Millichronicle — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 05:54:20 +0000

Riyadh – Saudi government has condemned all types of cartoons that offend Islam’s Prophet Mohammed, which hurt the sentiments of millions of Muslims worldwide, and it has also rejected any attempt to link Islam with terrorism.

Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted Kingdom’s Foreign Ministry as stating, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rejects any attempts to link Islam with terrorism and condemns the offensive cartoons of the Prophet of Guidance and the Messenger of Peace Mohammed bin Abdullah, may God bless him and grant him peace, or any of the messengers, peace be upon them”.

“Saudi Arabia condemns all terrorist attacks and rejects all practices and actions that lead to hatred and violence”, the source said.

Kingdom’s stance has come out amidst the growing anger worldwide over French President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial statements about Prophet Mohammed’s caricatures.

A French teacher was beheaded last week by an Islamist after he had shown the cartoons of the Prophet during a class on free speech.

Meanwhile, Saudi social media users on Sunday have called for a boycott of French products. They argue that free speech does not mean to hurt the sentiments of people and incite hatred. They term such free-speech as hate-speech when it does not care the sensitivity of millions of people.

However, the foreign ministry source has not called to boycott the products.

Thousands protest in Pakistan over reprinting of Prophet Mohammad cartoons in France

Millichronicle — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 19:44:42 +0000

Karachi (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of people protested across Pakistan on Friday against French magazine Charlie Hebdo’s reprinting of cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad, chanting “Death to France” and calling for boycotts of French products.

“Decapitation is the punishment of blasphemers,” read one of the placards carried by protesters.

The cartoons sending up the Prophet Mohammad triggered outrage and unrest among Muslims around the world in 2005 when they first published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

Earlier this week, Charlie Hebdo – a satirical weekly – revived the cartoons to mark the start of the trial of suspected accomplices in an Islamist militant attack on its Paris office in January 2015.

The Islamist gunmen who stormed into Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people, sought to avenge the Prophet Mohammad, a French court heard on Wednesday on the first day of the trial. Publication of the cartoons was cited as the reason for the attack.

Friday’s protests were organized by the hardline Islamist Tehreek-e-Laibak Pakistan (TLP) party with rallies held in Karachi, the country’s largest city, as well as in Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Lahore and Dera Ismail Khan.

Protesters paralysed traffic in Karachi, Pakistan’s financial and business capital.

“It (re-printing of cartoons) amounts to big terrorism; they repeat such acts of blasphemy against Prophet Mohammad every few years. It should be stopped,” said Razi Hussani, TLP district leader in Karachi.

Similar rallies held in Pakistan in 2015 turned violent, with scores injured as police clashed with protesters trying to make their way to the French consulate in Karachi.

Pakistan’s government also condemned the reprinting of the cartoons. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the South Asian country believed in freedom of expression but such liberty does not mean a license to offend religious sentiment.

Charlie Hebdo has long tested the limits of what society will accept in the name of free speech.

“We will never lie down. We will never give up,” Charlie Hebdo editor Riss Sourisseau wrote in explaining the decision to re-publish the cartoons.

Macron vows to help mobilise aid for Lebanon after devastating blast, warns on reforms

Millichronicle — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 21:30:25 +0000

Beirut (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday promised aid to blast-stricken Lebanon but reassured angry citizens reeling from a lethal explosion that killed 145 people that no blank cheques will be given to its leaders unless they enact reforms.

Speaking at a news conference at the end of a dramatic visit to Beirut, Macron called for an international inquiry into the devastating explosion that generated a seismic shock felt across the region, saying it was an urgent signal to carry out anti-corruption reforms demanded by a furious population.

Dozens are still missing after Tuesday’s explosion at the port that injured 5,000 people and left up to 250,000 without habitable homes, hammering a nation already staggering from economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus cases.

A security source said the death toll had reached 145, and officials said the figure was likely to rise.

Macron, paying the first visit by a foreign leader since the explosion, promised to help organise international aid. But he said a fully transparent international investigation into the blast was needed, and that the Lebanese government must implement economic reforms and curb corruption.

“If reforms are not carried out, Lebanon will continue to sink,” Macron said after being met at the airport by Lebanese President Michel Aoun. “What is also needed here is political change. This explosion should be the start of a new era.”

He told reporters later in Beirut that an audit was needed on the Lebanese central bank, among other urgent changes, and that the World Bank and United Nations would play a role in any Lebanese reforms.

“If there is no audit of the central bank, in a few months there will be no more imports and then there will be lack of fuel and of food,” said Macron.

Earlier, wearing a black tie in mourning, Macron toured the blast site and Beirut’s shattered streets where angry crowds demanded an end to a “regime” of Lebanese politicians they blame for corruption and dragging Lebanon into disaster.

“I guarantee you, this (reconstruction) aid will not go to corrupt hands,” Macron told the throngs who greeted him.

“I see the emotion on your face, the sadness, the pain. This is why I’m here,” he told one group, pledging to deliver “home truths” to Lebanon’s leaders.

He told reporters later at the French ambassador’s residence, where a French general declared the creation of the state of Lebanon exactly 100 years ago, Macron said it was no longer up to France to tell Lebanese leaders what to do.

But he said he could apply “pressure”, adding: “This morning, many people told me, ‘Bring back the mandate’. In a way you are asking me to be the guarantor of the emergence of a democratic revolution,” he said.

“But a revolution cannot be invited, the people will decide. Do not ask France to not respect your sovereignty.”

The government’s failure to tackle a runaway budget, mounting debt and endemic corruption has prompted Western donors to demand reform. Gulf Arab states who once helped Lebanon have baulked at bailing out a nation they say is increasingly influenced by their rival Iran and its local ally Hezbollah.

One man on the street told Macron: “We hope this aid will go to the Lebanese people not the corrupt leaders.” Another said that, while a French president had taken time to visit them, Lebanon’s president had not.

At the port, destroyed by Tuesday’s giant mushroom cloud and fireball, families sought news about the missing, amid mounting public anger at the authorities for allowing huge quantities of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, used in making fertilisers and bombs, to be stored there for years in unsafe conditions.

The government has ordered some port officials be put under house arrest and promised a full investigation.

“They will scapegoat somebody to defer responsibility,” said Rabee Azar, a 33-year-old construction worker, speaking near the smashed remains of the port’s grain silo, surrounded by other mangled masonry and flattened buildings.

A central bank directive seen by Reuters later and confirmed by the bank said it had decided to freeze the accounts of the heads of Beirut port and Lebanese customs along with five others.

The directive, dated Aug. 6, from the central bank special investigation commission for money laundering and anti-terrorism efforts, said the decision would be circulated to all banks and financial institutions in Lebanon, the public prosecutor in the appeals court and the head of the banking authority.

With banks in crisis, a collapsing currency and one of the world’s biggest debt burdens, Economy Minister Raoul Nehme said Lebanon had “very limited” resources to deal with the disaster, which by some estimates may have cost the nation up to $15 billion. He said the country needed foreign aid.

Offers of medical and other immediate aid have poured in, as officials have said hospitals, some heavily damaged in the blast, do not have enough beds and equipment.

Many Lebanese, who have lost jobs and watched savings evaporate in the financial crisis, say the blast is symptomatic of political cronyism and rampant graft among the ruling elite.

Crooks and Liars

“Our leaders are crooks and liars. I don’t believe any investigation they will do. They destroyed the country and they’re still lying to the people. Who are they kidding?” said Jean Abi Hanna, 80, a retired port worker whose home was damaged and daughter and granddaughter injured in the blast.

Veteran politician Walid Jumblatt, leader of Lebanon’s Druze community, called for an international investigation, saying he had “no trust” in the government to find out the truth.

An official source familiar with preliminary investigations blamed “inaction and negligence” for the blast.

A Lebanese security source said the initial blaze that sparked the explosion was caused by welding work.

People who felt the explosive force said they had witnessed nothing comparable in years of conflict and upheaval in Beirut, which was devastated by the 1975-1990 civil war and since then has experienced big bomb attacks, unrest and a war with Israel.

“All hell broke loose,” said Ibrahim Zoobi, who works near the port. “I saw people thrown five or six metres.”

Seismic tremors from the blast were recorded in Eilat on Israel’s Red Sea coast, about 580 km (360 miles) away.

Operations have been paralysed at Beirut port, Lebanon’s main route for imports needed to feed a nation of more than 6 million people, forcing ships to divert to smaller ports.

French leader Napolean restarted Miladun-Nabi festival while Salahiddin Ayubi stopped it

Millichronicle — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 18:21:06 +0000

Miladun-Nabi was purposely stopped by Sultan Salahuddin Ayubi, and later restarted by French military commander Napolean Bonaparte.

After defeating the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt, Saladin abolished all the ceremonies and celebrations that Fatimids had in Egypt.

Researchers say that he was aiming to strengthen the state to be able to face external threats, and that he also wanted to uproot the Shiite doctrine by erasing all social events that characterized the Fatimid era.

No textual evidence can be found regarding the Milaadun-Nabi celebrations from Prophet himself nor his companions, while it was introduced by a Shitte King of Erbil in the seventh century.

Miladun-Nabi was purposely stopped by Sultan Salahuddin Ayubi, and later restarted by French military commander Napolean Bonaparte.

According to the famous Muslim scholar, Ibn Katheer in his book al-Bidaya wal-Nihaya, Miladun-Nabi was first introduced by a Shitte king – Muzaffaruddin Abu Saeed Kowkaburi – “he used to decorate the festival/gathering of Eid Milad in the Rabbi ul Awwal and one Sheikh Ibne Dehiya gave a book prepared concerning to this Milad on which this king happily gave 1000 Dinar to Ibne Dehiya, the (people who) entered to the prepared/decorated festival/gathering of Muzaffaruddin describes the scene this way that there were numerous camels, cows and goats used to be slaughtered for entertainment with same there were halwa (dense sweet confection), gathering used to begin by Zuhr (noon) till Fajr (Dawn) and along with mystic, king also used to dance.”

During the Mamluk era, sultans were keen to hold religious celebrations and to celebrate the Prophet’s birth in particular, but it was not that great.

Politics exploiting the Prophet’s birth did not only happen in the Middle Ages, it also extended to the modern era.

In August 1798, which was the second month for Napoleon in Cairo, it was the day to celebrate Prophet Mohammed’s birth, and the famous French leader realized that he can exploit this occasion to his benefit in Egypt.

The Egyptian historian Abdulrahman al-Jabarti gave a precise description for what happened on that occasion in his famous book “The Marvelous Chronicles: Biographies and Events”.

In the book he says: “The Leader of Napoleon’s army asked why Egyptians were not celebrating the birth of the Prophet as usual, and Sheikh Khalil al-Bakri, apologized and said that the celebrations have stopped.

“The leader refused his answer and gave him money for celebrating and ordered putting up decorations.”

On the occasion, the book says that the French gathered and Napoleon joined al-Azhar sheikhs and supervised the festival night.

Napoleon participated in the festival by eating with his bare hands, which was how the Egyptian used to eat at that time, and he listened to the Sufi singers who praised the Prophet, according to the book.

After the French left Egypt, Egyptians kept celebrating the birth of the Prophet.

Article extracted from Al Arabiya English.