8A Tuesday, December 18, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
WORLD
Postponed Brexit vote to be held mid January
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a speech in the
House of Commons in London, Monday, Dec. 17.
BY JILL LAWLESS
AND DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press
LONDON — Prime Min
ister Theresa May said Mon
day that the postponed vote
in Parliament on Britain’s
Brexit agreement with the
European Union will be held
the week of Jan. 14 — more
than a month after it was
originally scheduled and
just 10 weeks before Britain
leaves the EU.
But even as May insisted
she could salvage her unpop
ular divorce deal, pressure
was mounting for dramatic
action — a new referendum
or a vote among lawmakers
— to find a way out of Brit
ain’s Brexit impasse and pre
vent the economic damage
of a messy exit from the EU
on March 29 with no agree
ment in place.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of
the main opposition Labour
Party, said he would submit
a motion of no-confidence
in the prime minister over
her delays. Losing the vote
on such a motion would
increase the pressure on
May, but unlike a no-confi-
dence vote in the govern
ment as a whole it wouldn’t
trigger a process leading to
the fall of the government
and an early election.
No date was immediately
set for the confidence vote.
The British government
and the EU sealed a divorce
deal last month, but May
postponed a parliamentary
vote intended to ratify the
agreement last week when
it became clear legisla
tors would overwhelmingly
reject it.
She tried to win changes
from the EU to sweeten the
deal for reluctant lawmak
ers, but was rebuffed by the
bloc at a summit in Brussels
last week. May’s authority
also has been shaken after
a no-confidence vote from
her own party on Wednesday
that saw more than a third
of Conservative lawmakers
vote against her.
May told lawmakers in the
House of Commons on Mon
day that they would resume
debate on the deal when Par
liament comes back after its
Christmas break the week of
Jan. 7, with the vote held the
following week.
“I know this is not every
one’s perfect deal,” May
said. “It is a compromise. But
if we let the perfect be the
enemy of the good then we
risk leaving the EU with no
deal.”
Opposition legislators —
and many from May’s Con
servative Party — remain
opposed to the deal, and
accused May of deliberately
wasting time by delaying the
vote for several more weeks.
“The prime minister has
cynically run down the clock
trying to maneuver Parlia
ment into a choice between
two unacceptable outcomes:
her deal and no deal,” Cor-
JESSICA TAYLOR I Associated Press
byn said.
A growing number of poli
ticians from across the politi
cal spectrum believe a new
referendum may be the only
way to break the political log
jam over Brexit.
But May told lawmakers
that staging another referen
dum would ride roughshod
over voters’ 2016 decision
to leave the EU and “would
say to millions who trusted in
democracy that our democ
racy does not deliver.”
May’s deal is loathed both
by pro-Brexit lawmakers,
who think it keeps Britain
bound too closely to the bloc,
and pro-Europeans, who see
it as inferior to staying in the
EU.
The main concern for
pro-Brexit lawmakers is a
contentious insurance policy
known as the “backstop,”
which would keep the U.K.
tied to EU customs rules in
order to guarantee the bor
der between Ireland and
Northern Ireland remains
open after Brexit.
EU officials insisted at last
week’s summit that the with
drawal agreement cannot
be renegotiated, although
they also stressed that the
backstop was meant only as
a temporary measure of last
resort.
May said she had had
“robust” exchanges with
other EU leaders in Brussels,
but that the two sides were
still holding talks about “fur
ther political and legal assur
ances” about the backstop.
European Commission
chief spokesman Margari-
tis Schinas, however, said
Monday that “at this stage,
no further meetings with
the United Kingdom are
foreseen.”
With Britain’s departure
from the bloc just three
months away, it remains
unclear whether the coun
try will leave with a deal or
crash out with no deal— a
chaotic outcome that could
see economic recession,
gridlock at U.K. ports, planes
grounded and shortages of
essential goods.
The Cabinet will discuss
“no-deal” planning at its
weekly meeting on Tuesday,
with details to be announced
soon of 2 billion pounds ($2.5
billion) in government fund
ing to absorb some of the
potential economic shock.
Pro-EU Cabinet ministers,
meanwhile, are seeking to
work with opposition politi
cians to find a way out of the
morass.
One suggestion is to give
members of Parliament
votes on a range of options —
from leaving without a deal
to holding a new referendum
— to see if there is majority
support for any course of
action.
May’s spokesman, James
Slack, said Monday that the
government had “no plans”
to hold such an indicative
vote. But the idea has support
in Cabinet.
62 dead after US
Somalia airstrikes
Saudi Arabia rejects US Senate’s
‘interference’ in kingdom’s affairs
BY ABDI GULED
Associated Press
NAIROBI, Kenya — Six
U.S. airstrikes that killed
more than 60 people in a
coastal Somali town were
pre-emptive strikes to pre
vent a major extremist
attack, according to a Somali
intelligence officer.
The U.S. military said
Monday it carried out four
strikes on Dec. 15 in which
34 people were killed and
two more on Dec. 16 which
killed 28. The air attacks
targeted Gandarshe, south
of the capital, Mogadishu, it
said.
No civilians were injured
or killed in the attacks, it
said.
The strikes were carried
out in close coordination with
Somalia’s government and
were “conducted to prevent
al-Shabab from using remote
areas as a safe haven to plot,
direct, inspire, and recruit
for future attacks,” said the
U.S. military statement.
The U.S. airstrikes were
aimed at al-Shabab fighters
who were preparing a major
attack on a Somali govern
ment military base in the
Lower Shabelle region, said
a Somali intelligence official,
who insisted on anonymity
because he was not autho
rized to speak to the press.
“The strike has neutral
ized an imminent attack,” he
said. The airstrikes hit both
a military camp and battle
vehicles in Gandarshe, the
official told The Associated
Press.
Al-Shabab has long used
historic Gandarshe town,
roughly 30 miles southwest
of Mogadishu, as a launch
ing pad from for attacks,
including car bombs that hit
the capital.
Al-Shabab uses parts
of southern and central
Somalia to plot and direct
extremist attacks, steal
humanitarian aid, extort
the local populace to fund
its operations, and shelter
radicals, said U.S. military
statement.
With these attacks, the
U.S. military has carried out
at least 46 airstrikes so far
this year against al-Shabab,
which is allied to al-Qaida
and Africa’s most active
Islamic extremist group. A1
Shabab, which is fighting to
establish its version of Sha
riah law in Somalia, controls
parts of rural southern and
central Somalia and contin
ues to stage deadly attacks in
Mogadishu and other cities.
The U.S. airstrikes have
picked up dramatically since
President Donald Trump
took office and approved
expanded military opera
tions in the Horn of Africa
nation.
Airstrikes also target a
small presence of fighters
linked to the Islamic State
group. The U.S. has about
500 military personnel in
Somalia and earlier this
month opened a perma
nent diplomatic presence in
Mogadishu.
Several years ago, al-Sha-
bab controlled large swathes
of Somalia, including much
of the capital city. The Afri
can Union forces succeeded
in pushing the extremists
from Mogadishu and most
other major cities. How
ever, al-Shabab continues to
be active in Somalia’s rural
areas and launches suicide
car bomb attacks in the capi
tal. In October last year, a
massive truck bomb killed
more than 500 people.
BY AYA BATRAWY
Associated Press
RIYADH, Saudi Ara
bia — Saudi Arabia
issued an unusually strong
rebuke of the U.S. Senate
on Monday, rejecting
a bipartisan resolution
that put the blame for
the killing of Saudi jour
nalist Jamal Khashoggi
squarely on the Saudi
crown prince and describ
ing it as interference in
the kingdom’s affairs.
It’s the latest sign of
how the relationship
between the royal court
and Congress has dete
riorated, more than two
months after Khashoggi
was killed and dismem
bered by Saudi agents
inside the kingdom’s
consulate in Istanbul.
The assassins have been
linked to Saudi Crown
Prince Mohammed bin
Salman.
U.S. Senators last
Thursday passed the
measure that blamed the
prince for Khashoggi’s
killing and called on
Riyadh to “ensure appro
priate accountability.”
Senators also passed a
separate measure call
ing for the end of U.S. aid
to the Saudi-led war in
Yemen.
In a lengthy statement
early Monday, Saudi Ara
bia said the Senate’s reso
lution “contained blatant
interferences” in the king
dom’s internal affairs and
undermines its regional
and international role.
The resolution was based
on “unsubstantiated
claims and allegations,”
the statement also said.
“The kingdom categori-
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cally rejects any interfer
ence in its internal affairs,
any and all accusations, in
any manner, that disrespect
its leadership ..
and any attempts to
undermine its sover
eignty or diminish its
stature,” it said.
Such language
is usually reserved
for those who criti
cize the kingdom’s
human rights
record, such as Swe
den in 2015 after the public
flogging of a blogger, and
Canada this year over the
arrests of women’s rights
activists.
But the statement was also
tempered in saying the king
dom “reaffirms” its commit
ment to relations with the
United States and describing
the Senate as “an esteemed
legislative body of an
allied and friendly
government.”
President Donald
Trump has been
reluctant to con
demn the crown
prince, despite U.S.
intelligence offi
cials concluding
that Prince Moham
med must have at least had
knowledge of the plot. Trump
instead has touted Saudi
arms deals worth billions of
dollars and has thanked the
Saudis for lower oil prices.
Saudi Arabia denies
Prince Mohammed was
involved in the Oct. 2 kill
ing of Khashoggi, a Wash
ington Post columnist who
wrote critically of the crown
prince. Under intense inter
national pressure, the king
dom recently acknowledged
that the plot was master
minded by top Saudi agents
close to Prince Mohammed.
After shifting accounts
about what happened to
Khashoggi, Saudi Ara
bia said its investigations
concluded that the crown
prince’s aides had plotted
to bring Khashoggi by force
back to Saudi Arabia and
that the agents on the ground
exceeded their authority and
killed him.
Khashoggi
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