Clashes continue, the opposition mediates, the army has not settled the fighting in Maan
Jordan, Politics, 11/13/2002

Eye witnesses in the city of Maan, in the south of Jordan, said that clashes which continued yesterday are taking place in a mountainous area on the eastern side of the desert city where the extremist Islamists Muhammad Shalabi known as Abu Sayyaf is hiding with his armed fighters.

A Jordanian security source described the situation in Maan saying "they are showing resistance in the fighting and refuse to surrender. They say it is 'a fight until death'." Officially, the number of the killing increased to five in addition to scores of wounded and detainees.

Political analysts said that the clashes between the Jordanian government and the Islamists are considered the first of its kind and volume since the "Black September" fighting events against the Palestine Liberation organization PLO in 1970.

While calm prevailed in other parts of the city, the army continued its tough security measures, backed by armored vehicles and military helicopters.

One citizen from the city said that the houses are attacked by the helicopters, while security men burn the houses of the fleeing Islamists, noting that they detained every one who "had a beard."

Maan continued to be besieged with the closure of offices, and schools and cutting of telecommunications. Curfew was alleviated partially by permitting the citizens to be provided with their daily basics.

High ranking Jordanian officials said that the security campaign will not end until the wanted persons are jailed and all unlicensed weapons owned by the people of the city are confiscated, despite the fact that owning weapons is a tribal habit in Maan.

The Jordanian minister of the interior Qaftani al-Majali said that the security forces continue mopping up operations in two of Maan quarters which are al-Tour and al-Wad, noting that number of arrested persons increased to 50 including 8 foreigners of various nationalities. The source added "the role of foreigners will be known after investigations."

Meantime, the chairman of the Shoura council in the Islamic Labor front party, Abdul Latif Arabeyat, said that parties in the opposition especially the Islamists and the vocational trade union as well as local figures will start a dialogue with the government in order to solve the Maan crisis. Arabeyat, who chairs the follow up committee of this move, said that the "the participants in the meeting formed a committee to formulate a memorandum to be submitted to the King ( Abdullah II) to contribute to solving the problem" in Maan.

Arabeyat also presides over the formulation committee. He added that the "participants in the meeting decided to send a memorandum to the King and a contact was made yesterday with the prime minister." He continued that they (the participants ) stressed in the memorandum that they had submitted to the King that they put all we have at the disposal of the officials to solve this problem." Arabeyat, who is the chairman of the Shoura council in the Front which emerges from the Muslim Brothers group said "we believe on the supremacy of the law and that we do live in one country and that Jordan's security and stability are wanted." Jordanian officials expressed their satisfaction over the reconciliatory tone of this coalition, but they simultaneously stressed that the priority is to arrest the outlaws who are hiding in Maan.

Meantime, the Jordanian King performed al-Omra rituals in Mecca after he had arrived in Saudi Arabia, where he had held talks with the Saudi King and with the Crown prince, dealt, according to sources close to the Jordanian delegation, the questions of Iraq and Palestine.

King Abdullah is accompanies in his visit by the prime minister Ali Abu al-Ragheb and the chairman of the Jordanian royal court Fayez al-Tarawenah. A Jordanian diplomatic source said that King Abdullah briefed the Saudi leadership with the development of conditions in Maan.

Previous Stories:
  Calm returns back to Maan   (11/12/2002)
  Scores of wounded, killed persons in Maan, Arabs arrested, the city is besieged   (11/11/2002)
  Jordanians evacuated from the Philippines   (11/9/2002)

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