UAE Live Blog

Emirati authorities have cancelled the residencies of dozens of Syrians for taking part in a protest against their government outside the consulate in Dubai, Syrian activists told AFP on Sunday.

Nearly 2,000 Syrians took part in a demonstration outside the Syrian consulate in Dubai on February 10.

Two of them have already fled the Gulf country, arriving in Cairo on Saturday, after "all efforts failed to convince Emirati authorities to retract the decision," one of the activists said.

"My son can't go to Syria" for fear of being arrested there, the father of  one of the protesters told AFP.

"They have no mercy. They didn't even give him a warning. They just cancelled his residency right away."

The opposition activist told AFP that the UAE "authorities went ahead with the measures to cancel residencies despite promises to retract the decision."

The Emirati authorities recalled several dozen of them and asked them to sign a pledge not to take part in any future demonstrations.But days later, they were summoned by the immigration authority, which took their passports and cancelled their visas.

Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister speaking at meeting with his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, says there should be further dialogue to end the problems in Syria but that this should take place "without outside interference". 

Lavrov said: "We have joint efforts to help the Syrian people... we have the joint effort to as soon as possible to put an end to this bloodshed.

"For this reason we need [wide inter-Syrian] dialogue and cooperation in syrian dialogue - which will rule out interference from outside." 

Consulate Dubai 2009-10-18

Former Crown Prince of Ras al Khaimah claims that RAK facilitates illicit trade with Iran, and was negligent to prevent al Qaeda and Fatah al Islam infiltration of the emirate.

"Another of Shaykh Khalid's accusations is that RAK is a staging ground for Al Qaeda operations in the Emirates.  The charge presumably relates to the March 2009 discovery of a Fatah al-Islam cell with plans to attack targets in the UAE.  The cell was identified by UAE intelligence and special operations forces and disrupted before its planning reached the operational phase, however, the cell had stockpiled explosives.  As with the previous allegation regarding RAK complicity in Iran proliferation activity, there is no evidence to suggest that RAK officials had prior knowledge of or provided any support to the Fatah al-Islam group, which was composed of non-RAK citizens. Within the UAE's federal structure, intelligence responsibilities for all Emirates apart from Dubai are handled by the State Security Department (SSD) in Abu Dhabi.  Extremism born of discontent remains a concern in Ras Al Khaimah, as it does in each of the UAE's poorer regions.  One of the two Emirati 9/11 hijackers came from Ras Al Khaimah at a time when the former Crown Prince now lodging the allegations was in power. "

Libya's rebels have bought close to 100,000 tonnes of wheat and flour in recent weeks, the first major commercial food deals done by those fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, trade sources said.

They said food consignments were being routed mainly by land through Egypt and Tunisia, with little coming in by sea as ship owners remained reluctant to risk their vessels.

Sources said Qatar and possibly the United Arab Emirates were providing the financing, enabling the rebels to do deals.