Whistleblower phone app seeks to outsmart corruption

Yahoo – AFP, Amy Fallon, 28 Sep 2014

Gerald Businge, the project co-ordinator of Action for Transparency (A4T),

 demonstrating how his anti-corruption app works, in Kampala, Uganda, September 19,

2014 (AFP Photo/Isaac Kasamani)

Kampala (AFP) - Douglas Buule, a teacher at Kiwenda primary, a government school outside Uganda's capital Kampala, has a recurring problem.

"The money used to access the chalk comes late, even towards the end of term," explains Buule. "It is a big burden to keep on writing on a chalk board. So sometimes the head teacher buys chalk on credit or even uses her own money."

Funds arriving late or going missing altogether also mean the school's 529 students usually only take exams twice a term instead of monthly, said the teacher.

Gerald Businge, the project co-ordinator of 

Action for Transparency, demonstrating how

 his anti-corruption app works, September 19, 

2014 (AFP Photo/Isaac Kasamani)

"There is lack of transparency in many government institutions on the funds that are supplied and used," said Buule, complaining of the country's endemic corruption. "That lack of transparency is affecting day-to-day learning."

But now, a new project is shifting the balance of power.

Through the Action for Transparency (A4T) Smartphone app, being piloted in three Ugandan districts, communities are being armed with information allowing them to report anonymously when budget allocations for health centres and schools fail to match public expenditure.

Using the GPS-enabled A4T app, a user can receive the location of a school or health centre, the number of staff allocated to them by both the government and the institution, and the amount of money approved and dispersed.

If they suspect money is being misused -- for example if the government provides funds for an ambulance which then is nowhere to be seen -- the user can simply click on the app's whistle icon to send an instant report to the A4T website and their Facebook page.

"If it is a police case we'll report it to the police," said Moses Karatunga, the programme officer for Transparency International (TI) Uganda. "If it's an advocacy issue we can take it up with the ministry."

Keeping tabs on the cash flow

In the past year, Uganda's corruption rating has deteriorated, according to TI. They are introducing the app along with the Fojo Media Institute, part of Linnaeus University in Sweden, the Uganda Media Development Foundation (UMDF) and the African Center for Media Excellence (ACME).

Gerald Businge, the A4T project coordinator, said Ugandans feared blowing the whistle on corruption.

"They think they could get sacked, they could get victimised," he said. "There is also that worry 'I report and nothing is done.' So we're saying 'take this to the public court'."

President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni address

 the United Nations General Assembly on

 September 24, 2014 in New York. An app is

 helping to tackle corruption in Uganda (AFP

Photo/Andrew Burton)

But it's hoped that through A4T, which has been funded by SIDA, the Swedish International Development Agency, mismanagement of money can be prevented.

"When people know they're being monitored they're less likely to squander or misuse money," said Businge.

Community monitors such as Twahah Musoke visit schools and health facilities in their area a minimum of two times in a quarter. The institutions and facilities can also access the app from the TI representatives.

Already Musoke has been to five schools, including Kiwenda primary, and three health centres in the Busukuma area, home to about 16,000 people, in Wakiso district.

Challenges related to monitoring money include financial committees not knowing how much government money is being sent, and information and money staying with one person, for instance a school headmistress, instead of a team, he said.

"We need to empower people to realise it's their responsibility to access this information," said Musoke.

"If they go and seek the information the administrators of these facilities will be in a position to account for and utilise (the money) the way it's meant to be utilised."

Businge said phones were chosen for the project as "very many Ugandans have mobile phones and at least every family has a mobile phone".

"We're telling people that phones can do much more than what you're already doing," he said.

Will ET Be Here Soon? NASA Brings Scientists, Theologians Together To Prepare

Huffington Post, Lee Speigel, 09/22/2014

Looking for extraterrestrial life is akin to a search for a cosmic needle-in-a-haystack, as evidenced by the above incredible Hubble Space Telescope image showing approximately 10,000 galaxies.

In large part, thanks to NASA's Kepler spacecraft, more than 1,400 planets have been identified beyond Earth.

A few days ago, NASA tried closing the gap between life on Earth and the possibilities of life elsewhere. The space agency and the Library of Congress (image below left) brought together scientists, historians, philosophers and theologians from around the world for a two-day symposium, "Preparing For Discovery." Their agenda: To explore how we prepare for the inevitable discovery of extraterrestrial life, be it simple microbial organisms or intelligent beings.

"We're looking at all scenarios about finding life. If you find microbes, that's one thing. If you find intelligence, it's another. And if they communicate, it's something else, and depending on what they say, it's something else!" said astronomer, symposium organizer and former chief NASA historian, Steven J. Dick.

"The idea is not to wait until we make a discovery, but to try and prepare the public for what the implications might be when such a discovery is made," Dick told The Huffington Post. "I think the reason that NASA is backing this is because of all the recent activity in the discovery of exoplanets and the advances in astrobiology in general.

"People just consider it much more likely now that we're going to find something -- probably microbes first and maybe intelligence later," he added. "The driving force behind this is from a scientific point of view that it seems much more likely now that we are going to find life at some point in the future."

Among the many speakers at last week's astrobiology symposium, one has raised a few international eyebrows in recent years.

"I believe [alien life exists], but I have no evidence. I would be really excited and it would make my understanding of my religion deeper and richer in ways that I can't even predict yet, which is why it would be so exciting," Brother Guy Consolmagno, a Jesuit brother, astronomer and Vatican planetary scientist told HuffPost senior science editor David Freeman.

Consolmagno has publicly stated his belief that "any entity -- no matter how many tentacles it has -- has a soul," and he's suggested that he would be happy to baptize any ETs, as long as they requested it.

"There has to be freedom to do science. Being a good scientist means admitting we never have the whole truth -- there's always more to learn." Consolmagno also doesn't think the public would panic when or if it's revealed that alien life has been found.

"I really think it would be a three-day wonder and then we'd go back to worrying about reality TV or the crazy things going on in Washington -- that's the way human beings are. Because I think most people are like me: we expect it's out there. And our reaction would be, 'Wow, thank heavens. It's about time."

Earth is no longer the center of the universe, nor is it flat -- at least that's the currently accepted thinking among most scientists. And we now know, conclusively, that there are a lot more planets than the ones in our own solar system.

"The number of habitable worlds in our galaxy is certainly in the tens of billions, minimum, and we haven't even talked about the moons. And the number of galaxies we can see, other than our own, is about 100 billion," Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at California's SETI Institute told HuffPost.

Watch this video zooming and panning through the night sky to show 10,000 galaxies photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope.

At the NASA/Library of Congress symposium, Shostak gave out some startling numbers about how many stars there are in the part of the universe that we can see. "It's a big number: 10,000 billion, billion. And we know that most of those stars have planets -- 70 or 80 percent. If all of those planets are sterile, and you're the only interesting thing happening in the cosmos, then you are a miracle. That would be exceptional in the extreme. So, the middle-of-the-road approach is to say, 'You're not a miracle, you're just another duck in a row of ducks.'"

"The bottom line of this," Shostak said, "is something like one in five of all stars may have an analog to Earth. That's a lot of habitable worlds, and, indeed, the number of Earths in our own galaxy might be on the order of 50 billion."

Those are big numbers to ponder.

The D.C. conference included a great deal of discussion about the upcoming mission of the Hubble's long-anticipated successor: the James Webb Space Telescope. As large as a tennis court, this deep space observatory is scheduled for a 2018 launch and will orbit beyond our moon. The Webb telescope will focus on new planetary discoveries and collect data from the atmospheres of those planets, looking for certain things that might point to what we would consider possible indicators of life.

HuffPost asked Dick, an astrobiologist, for his opinion on the continuing output of UFO reports around the world.

"I try to keep an open mind on this. Ninety-some percent can be explained by natural phenomena, etc. The question is what to do with the other 3 or 4 percent," Dick said. "My opinion is that they should be studied further, on the one hand. By definition, they're something that we don't know what they are. They could be some physical, psychological or social phenomena that we don't know about. But I think it's jumping to a conclusion that they're extraterrestrial. I don't see that evidence.

"I haven't looked at the evidence close enough to say that there's intelligence behind it. But I've seen enough to know that there are unexplained things that we should look at more, and right now, the U.S. government is not doing that."

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"FUTURE AND PHYSICS (#)" - May 16-17, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) -

(#) New major Discoveries (This channel will become a historical channel in the future, prove that Kryon is a real communication to humanity from the Creative Source) - (Text version Physics)

1 To see and measure multi-dimensional/quantum physics, instrument (super cooling quantum plasma lens)

2 Two more laws of multi-dimensional physics revealed: explanation of dark matter & acknowledgement of free energy (controlling mass)

3 God in the atom. God has - provable - part in physics. Intelligent/benevolent design. (Will bring religion and science together.)

4 Human Consciousness is an attribute of physics. (Pleiadians - Humans ancestors / Humans free choice only planet in the Milky Way Galaxy. Other galaxies have their own spiritual systems and physics)

5.Coherent DNA. Multidimensional DNA coherent between dimensions will give Enhanced DNA

"Earth, the only planet with free choice in the Milky Way Galaxy"

"The Big Picture - You Are Not Alone" - (a message from Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

"The Quantum Factor" – Apr 10, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Galaxies, Universe, Intelligent design, Benevolent design, Aliens, Nikola Tesla (Quantum energy), Inter-Planetary Travel, DNA, Genes, Stem Cells, Cells, Rejuvenation, Shift of Human Consciousness, Spontaneous Remission, Religion, Dictators, Africa, China, Nuclear Power, Sustainable Development, Animals, Global Unity.. etc.) - (Text Version)


"Recalibration of the Universe"– Jan 25, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text Version)

“… The entire galaxy revolves as one plate, in a very counter-intuitive way. The stars and the constellations do not orbit within the rules of Newtonian physics that you are used to seeing all around you in your own solar system. For the stars and clusters in your galaxy, distance from the center does not matter. All the stars rotate as one. This is because the galaxy is entangled with the middle of itself. In that state, there is no time or distance. The change of consciousness on this planet has changed the center of the galaxy. This is because what happens here, dear one, is "known" by the center.

It's interesting to us what your reaction to all this is scientifically. You saw that the "creative event" of your Universe is missing some energy in order for it to have formed as it did. In addition, the unusual way the galaxy rotates, as I just stated, was also noted. So you have calculated that for all this to be in place, there has to be missing 3D matter, and you have given it a name - dark matter. How funny! Did you ever think that there could be a multidimensional effect going on that you now can observe and calculate - that has immense power, but can't be seen? It's not "matter" at all and it's not 3D. It's quantum energy.

Let me tell you something about physics. Yet again, I'll make it simple. Everything your scientists have seen in physics happens in pairs. At the moment, there are four laws of physics in your three-dimensional paradigm. They represent two pairs of energy types. Eventually, there will be six. At the center of your galaxy is what you call a black hole, but it is not a single thing. It is a duality. There is no such thing as "singularity". You might say it's one energy with two parts - a weak and a strong quantum force. And the strangest thing is it knows who you are. It is the creator engine. It's different in other galaxies than this one. It's unique.

The very physics of your galaxy is postured by what you do here. The astronomers can look into the cosmos and they will discover different physics in different galaxies. Could it be that there's something going on in the other galaxies like this one? I'm not going to answer that. … “

Nigeria military claims Boko Haram leader dead

Yahoo – AFP, 24 Sep 2014

A screengrab taken on August 24, 2014 from a video released by Boko Haram

 shows the leader of the Nigerian Islamist extremist group, Abubakar Shekau

 delivering a speech at an undisclosed location (AFP Photo)

Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's military on Wednesday claimed for the first time that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau was dead, as it said troops had killed a lookalike who had been posing as the militant commander.

Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade told reporters in Abuja that a heavily bearded Islamist fighter identified as Mohammed Bashir died during fighting in the town of Konduga, in Borno state.

Bashir, who was said to have had several aliases, had "been acting or posing on videos as the deceased Abubakar Shekau, the eccentric character known as leader of the group", he added.

A screengrab taken on May 12, 2014, from a video

 released by Nigerian Islamist extremist group

 Boko Haram and obtained by AFP shows a man

 claiming to be the leader of Nigerian Islamist extremist

 group Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau (AFP Photo/Ho)

The announcement is the first time the military has said publicly that Shekau was dead after two previous claims by security sources that he had died in July 2009 and in late June 2013.

The military did not, however, say how or when Shekau died.

Earlier this year, the spokeswoman for the country's secret police, Marilyn Ogar, said "the original Shekau is dead" and that the person appearing in numerous videos was an imposter.

Olukolade said on Wednesday that the actual identity of Boko Haram's leader was not relevant. The name "Shekau" had become a "brand name for the terrorists", he told a news conference.

"The Nigerian military remains resolute to serve justice to anyone who assumes that designation or title, as well as all the terrorists that seek to violate the freedom and territory of Nigeria," he added.

The United States last year put up a $7 million reward for Shekau's capture as part of its Rewards for Justice programme and designated him a "global terrorist".

There has long been speculation in Nigeria and beyond about whether he was actually still alive.

It has been claimed that he actually died in 2003 and his name has since been used by at least two others.

They include Boko Haram members called Abdullahi Damasak, who was succeeded on his death by a Mustapha Chad, according to sources close to the group.

Olukolade told the briefing that Bashir had several identities: "Bashir Mohammed, alias Abubakar Shekau, alias Abacha Abdullahi Geidam, alias Damasak, etc."

- Continued scepticism -

Whether the announcement will end speculation about Shekau's true identity or death is unclear and there was no independent verification of the claims.

The military showed footage of an amateur video recording of the fighting in Konduga, in which bodies littered the streets.

"That character tallies with the one that has been showing himself on the video," said Olukolade, pointing to a bearded man lying dead on the ground alongside another slain fighter.

A close-up still photograph of the man's face was also shown alongside a screengrab from a Boko Haram video of Shekau holding an assault rifle.

An arrow pointed to a small growth on the forehead of both men.

Analysts said earlier this week that they were sceptical about claims that he had been killed, as the same photograph shown by the military circulated online.

Ryan Cummings, chief Africa analyst at Red24 risk consultants in South Africa, said he thought it unlikely that Boko Haram's commander would be in the thick of battle in Konduga or anywhere else.

But Jacob Zenn, from the Jamestown Foundation think-tank in the United States, said the death of a body double in Konduga was plausible.

"It's important to note, however, that Shekau may have had 'doubles' who appeared in some videos. And the army has a record of being incorrect about claims of Shekau's death," he said.

He said see whether another video emerged "from Shekau -- or someone who purports to be Shekau".

Nigeria's military has been under pressure to regain territory lost to the Islamists in the far northeast in recent weeks, and has been trying to push back against the extremists.

Olukolade claimed that during fighting in and around Konduga, a number of Boko Haram fighters were captured along with their equipment, while scores of others allegedly surrendered elsewhere.

Related Article:

Nigeria claims hundreds of Boko Haram fighters surrender

Hague court opens probe in Central African Republic

Various factions in the Central African Republic's conflict are facing a probe by the International Criminal Court. Hague-based prosecutors say they're examining allegations of murder, rape and child soldier recruitment.

Deutsche Welle, 24 Sep 2014

International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda (pictured) said her team was examining an "endless list" of atrocities committed since the Central African Republic (CAR) slid into chaos early last year.

The prosecution's statement did not name suspects, but said there was clear evidence that mainly Muslim Seleka rebels had targeted non-Muslim civilians, since early 2013.

And mainly Christian majority forces appeared to have systematically targeted Muslims.

"I cannot ignore these alleged crimes," said Bensouda, who was formerly a senior prosecutor in her home country of Gambia.

She said there was a "reasonable basis to believe that both the Seleka and the anti-bakaja [anti machete] groups have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes."

These included murder, rape, forced displacement, persecution and using child soldiers, she said.

Violence persistent

The landlocked Central African Republic and its population of 4.6 million was plunged into conflict after a coup in March 2013 by Seleka.

The group overthrew president Francois Bozize and installed its own appointee, Michel Djotodia.

Last January, foreign leaders persuaded Djotodia to step down after widespread atrocities.

Violence has continued even though President Catherine Samba-Panza appointed a senior Seleka leader, Mahamat Kamoun, as the country's prime minister in August to head a broad coalition including representatives from rival armed groups.

Further measures

A new UN mission has taken charge of peacekeeping operations in the Central African Republic. It includes troops from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and Morocco alongside African soldiers.

The 7,600-strong UN force known by its French acronym, MINUSCA, takes over from MISCA, a smaller Security Council-mandated African deployment that has been stationed in the country since December, alongside 2,000 French soldiers.

In a separate investigation, the ICC is already trying former Democratic Republic of Congo Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba on charges of crimes against humanity. Forces under his command invaded CAR in 2002 and allegedly committed rape, murder and pillaging.

The ICC currently has eight investigations open, all of them in Africa.

ipj/mkg (Reutres, AP, AFP)

Structural tests ordered after fatal Lagos building collapse

Yahoo – AFP, Chris Stein, 17 Sep 2014

A caterpillar tries to excavate rubble of the collapsed building in search of missing

 persons at the Ikotun headquarters of the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos

on September 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Pius Utomi Ekpei)

Lagos (AFP) - Engineers in Nigeria's financial capital, Lagos, on Wednesday ordered urgent structural tests to be carried out at a popular preacher's church after 70 people were killed in a building collapse.

The Lagos State Building Control Agency daubed red X-marks on buildings in the sprawling compound of televangelist TB Joshua's Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in the city's Ikotun area.

Rescue workers clear the debris of a 

collapsed guesthouse of the Synagogue 

Church of All Nations at Ikotun in Lagos 

on September 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Pius

Utomi Ekpei)

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday said 67 of his compatriots were killed when a guesthouse for Joshua's foreign followers collapsed at the site last Friday.

But rescuers said the death toll had since risen, as a hunt for survivors neared a close.

"We have to ask for the tests because of what has happened," LASBCA general manager Abimbola Animashaun told AFP at the scene, pointing to one building which had an extra three storeys added.

"This one has been overloaded," she said. "If a disaster can happen here, we don't want it to happen elsewhere."

The structural integrity inspections should take 10 days to complete before a report is submitted, she added.

According to Joshua's website, scoan.org, three of the church's previous buildings were destroyed before the new church -- described as an "architectural masterpiece" -- was built.

"There was only one architect involved in the planning -- the Holy Spirit," he said.

The preacher, known to his followers as "The Prophet" because of his purported visions and miracles, has not publicly commented on the deaths.

Instead he has tried to shift suspicion on to Boko Haram militants and a low-flying plane seen over the building before the collapse.

Since Friday, he has only posted a series of Bible verses on his Facebook page and Twitter account. On Tuesday night he tweeted: "Hard times may test me, they cannot destroy me."

Nigerian red cross workers gather at the scene of the collapsed church guesthouse

 of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in the Ikotun neighborhood in Lagos

on September 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Pius Utomi Ekpei)

The investigation will look at Joshua's claim of low-flying aircraft, Lagos state commissioner for town planning and urban development Toyin Ayinde told Nigeria's Channels television.

Initial indications were that the building came down because extra floors were being added without strengthening the foundations and samples would be taken from the site, he added.

Rescue effort

Rescue workers were meanwhile picking through what remained of the guesthouse using excavators and even their bare hands in the hope of finding more survivors.

The southwest coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, said the rescue operation was likely to end later on Wednesday.

"We have 70 dead, 131 rescued alive," he said. "Early this morning, we got two (bodies). Since day break we got three. Yesterday night we had two, making seven."

A woman was pulled alive from the building on Monday and escaped with minor injuries, fuelling hopes that others may yet be found alive.

"The challenges are coming much more, so we have to slow down our recovery," said Farinloye. "If we say we should rush or give time limits, definitely it would affect somebody or survivors."

Headquarters of the Synagogue Church of

 All Nations in the Ikotun neighborhood in 

Lagos on September 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/

Pius Utomi Ekpei)

There was a large police presence at the church and onlookers were moved away. A team from a Chinese engineering firm were seen on site helping rescuers.

The Lagos state government, NEMA and the South African authorities have all complained that Joshua, whose followers include top-level politicians and presidents, was not co-operating.

Rescuers were prevented from fully accessing the site until Sunday, raising fears that some of the victims could have been saved earlier.

Nigerians took to social media to voice their anger at the incident, arguing that Joshua should not be above the law.

Zuma said five South African church tour groups totalling about 300 people were thought to have been at the Pentecostal church at the time of the tragedy.

One South African travel agent, who asked not to be named, said some of the survivors flew back from Lagos on Sunday but were too distraught to recount their ordeal.

"It's a sensitive issue. They don't want to talk to anyone about what they saw. They are in shock, they are traumatised," he said.

Qatar-Gulf deal forces expulsion of Muslim Brotherhood leaders

Move comes under heavy pressure from Saudi Arabia, UAE and other neighbours, with threat posed by Isis used as lever

theguardian.com, Ian Black, Middle East editor, Tuesday 16 September 2014

The Qatari capital, Doha, is is seen by the Egyptian government and its conservative
Gulf backers as a centre of subversive Islamist activity. Photograph: Rex Features

Qatar has pledged to expel exiled leaders of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood as one of the conditions of an agreement forced on the wealthy Gulf state by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other neighbours.

In a move that reflects shifting political alignments in a deeply divided Middle East, seven senior Brotherhood figures were ordered at the weekend to leave Doha, which is seen by the Egyptian government and its conservative Gulf backers as a centre of subversive Islamist activity. They include its acting leader, Mahmoud Hussein, and two other senior colleagues.

Qatar also agreed to stop attacking Egypt in al-Jazeera broadcasts. The TV network is based in Doha and is seen across the region as a reflecting the emirate's policies and preferences.

The conditions were part of an agreement signed in Riyadh in November 2013 and designed to patch up an angry quarrel in which Qatar was blamed for backing the Brotherhood in Egypt and Islamist groups from the neighbouring UAE to Libya. It has never been made public, and until recently had not been implemented.

Fears about the threat from Islamic State (Isis) in Iraq and Syria helped to convince Qatar to back down, diplomats said.

Turkish media reported that the country's president, Recep Tayep Erdoğan, had extended a welcome to the exiled leaders. Amr Darrag, the Brotherhoods's foreign relations officer, has already arrived in Turkey, according to al-Jazeera Turk. Gamal Abdul Sattar, the former deputy head of Egypt's religious affairs directorate, was planning to move to Istanbul, it said.

For the last four years Qatar and Turkey have been the chief backers of the Islamist movements that flourished during the Arab spring uprisings only to experience crushing defeat in Egypt when the Brotherhood's democratically-elected president Mohammed Morsi was overthrown by the army. Morsi's fall was openly supported by the other Gulf states and implicitly backed by the west. Under his successor, Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, hundreds of Brotherhood supporters have been killed or imprisoned and the group has been outlawed as a terrorist organisation.

The departure of the Egyptian Brotherhood leaders from Doha was announced at the weekend and described as intended to spare Qatar embarrassment.

Details of the Riyadh deal, revealed by Gulf sources, underline the heavy pressure brought to bear. In March, in one of the worst spats the region has seen in recent years, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain all withdrew their ambassadors from Doha. Kuwait and Oman, the other two members of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), are less hawkish. Riyadh tried to impose new conditions, including the closure of US thinktanks based in Doha. "The Saudis wanted to go beyond the original agreement and dictate to the Qataris, and the Qataris said no," said a well-placed Arab source.

Palestinian sources denied reports on Tuesday that the Hamas leader, Khaled Meshal, had also been asked to leave Doha. Qatar has played an important role backing the group, which is linked to but distinct from the Muslim Brotherhood. Israel has attacked Qatar in recent weeks for its support for Hamas. Doha has also been under fire for alleged links with Isis, which it has flatly denied. Like Saudi Arabia, it backed Islamist groups in Syria, some of which morphed over time into Isis.

Pressure on Qatar to implement the Riyadh agreement peaked in late August, when the Saudi foreign minister, interior minister and intelligence chief visited Doha. On 6 September, Qatar was given one further week to begin implementation.

"The Qataris have been forced into a situation where they have had to step back," said Michael Stephens of the Doha office of the Royal United Services Institution. "They tried as best they could to maintain their foreign policy without interference from other parties, but they were always going to have to make some kind of compromise. I am only suprised it has taken so long.

"This is a big deal in terms of understanding the balance of power in the Gulf. There's definitely a sense that they have to give some ground, that they can't just be this maverick state with its fingers in so many pies in the region."

Qatar has signalled that it will continue to support the Brotherhood more discreetly, while backing Gulf-wide efforts to fight Isis.

Emir assures Merkel: Qatar has never supported 'IS' militants

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Arab states offer to help attack Isis, diplomats say

Countries believed to include the UAE and Saudi Arabia are prepared to fight Islamic State in major boost to the US

theguardian.com, Ian Black and Martin Chulov, Sunday 14 September 2014

John Kerry said the US had Arab allies who were prepared to join in strikes
on Isis. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AP

Several Arab states, believed to include the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have offered to help attack Islamic State (Isis) targets in Syria and Iraq, in a major boost for US efforts to build a broad coalition against the Sunni insurgent group.

The offers, reported by senior western diplomats, came in the wake of widespread international condemnation of the murder of the British hostage, David Haines, and a pledge by Australia to help the military effort. John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said on Sunday he was "extremely encouraged" by pledges made so far. Kerry is to join Iraqi, Arab and other western ministers at a conference in Paris on Monday to agree ways to support the new Baghdad government in the war against the jihadi group. Arab participation in military action would help give a wider sense of legitimacy to the campaign.

US officials declined to say which countries had offered help, but one appeared to be the UAE, whose aircraft recently bombed Islamist militia targets in Libya from bases in Egypt.

A senior western source told the Guardian that Saudi Arabia felt so threatened by Isis that it was prepared to act in a frontline role. "There is a very real possibility that we could have the Saudi air force bombing targets inside Syria. That is a remarkable development, and something the US would be very pleased to see."

Another senior official said that Saudi Arabia was now far more willing to play an open role in the campaign against Isis than during the 1991 Gulf war and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In both previous campaigns, Riyadh allowed its military bases to be used by US forces, but did not commit its own troops or airmen.

This time, Riyadh sees Isis as a direct threat to Saudi Arabia. "They actually see themselves as the real target. "They know that they have to step up, and they are ready to, from what we can see," the official said.

A US official told the New York Times that the US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, had received offers from several Arab states. "There have been offers both to Centcom and to the Iraqis of Arab countries taking more aggressive kinetic action."

France has indicated that it will back US air strikes against Isis after its president, François Hollande, expressed support for the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, and moves to undercut Sunni support for Isis. But Turkey, which borders on both Iraq and Syria, has quietly made clear that it would not take part or allow its bases to be used for combat operations – a disappointment coming from Nato's only Muslim member.

Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Photograph: AP

Syrian ministers have repeated calls for Damascus to join the coalition, though the US and Britain – backed by their Gulf allies – have insisted president Bashar al-Assad cannot take part because he has "lost all legitimacy" in the course of a war that has cost 200,000 lives.

Kerry said the US would not coordinate any attacks with Syria, but added in an interview on CBS's Face the Nation: "We will certainly want to deconflict and make certain that they're (Syria) not about to do something that they might regret even more seriously."

Britain will be represented at the Paris talks by Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, with David Cameron facing conflicting pressures over whether to participate in air strikes or restrict the country to delivering humanitarian aid, surveillance, and arming and training Kurdish and Iraqi forces. Cameron made clear on Sunday that he supports US strikes and "whatever steps are necessary" while keeping options open. The Haines murder may change the dynamic of the arguments.

Details of how the anti-Isis campaign will be waged are still sketchy, though the US reportedly discussed basing and overflight rights at talks in Jeddah last week with the Saudis and the other Gulf states as well as Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. All expressed support for a "coordinated military campaign".

"I can tell you right here and now that we have countries in this region, countries outside of this region, in addition to the United States, all of whom are prepared to engage in military assistance, in actual strikes if that is what it requires," Kerry said.

Officials familiar with high level discussions between Riyadh and Washington say both sides are determined to avoid the perception in the Sunni world that the upcoming campaign will benefit Iran and its Shia and Alawite proxies. "The Saudis are the power base of the Sunni world and it is time for them to provide an alternative to Isis," said a regional official. "They know what is expected of them and this time you will see them acting directly."

Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff, said that while air strikes would weaken Isis, "it's going to be Iraqi and other boots on the ground" that would the key to defeating the terrorists.

"To destroy Isil[Isis] we need to have a force, an anvil against which they will be pushed," McDonough said on CNN's State of the Union.

"It will be a coalition that includes not only our friends in Europe and Asia but also our partners in the region, Muslim states, Sunni states. We're going to use our unique capabilities, air power, ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] and our training ability to make sure Iraqi forces on one side and Syrian opposition forces on the other side of the border can take the fight to Isil."

Obama's condemnation of Haines's murder was echoed in other capitals, with the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, calling the killing "an abhorrent act of barbaric violence beyond all limits of human civilisation."

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