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U.S. Denies Shipping out Sailors Involved in Bahrain Fight
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U.S.
military presence in Bahrain unwanted |
MANAMA,
May 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The U.S. military denied
Wednesday it had flown out any servicemen from Bahrain following a
fight with a local shop owner that turned into an anti-U.S. protest
Sunday, May 26, 2002.
"None
of the servicemen have been flown home," Lieutenant Chris Davies,
spokesman of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The
investigation is ongoing and we are cooperating with the local
authorities," Davies said.
Bahrain's
Gulf Daily News reported that "several U.S. military
personnel" had been flown out late Tuesday, while two others
remained in hospital and "would be flown out as soon as they were
well enough."
The
main Shiite Muslim opposition group in Bahrain, the Islamic National
Accord Association (INAA), meanwhile, demanded an "official
apology" from the Fifth Fleet over the incident, AFP said.
"We
request the formation of an inquiry commission ... and an official
apology to the Bahraini people from the institution to which these
young Americans belong," it said in a statement received by AFP
in Dubai.
According
to AFP, the statement accused the U.S. servicemen of having attacked
Bahraini citizens and Bahraini security forces of "having done
nothing to stop the assault."
The
fight started with a dispute between a Bahraini shop owner and the
Ethiopian wife of a U.S. serviceman over a down payment for a wedding
dress.
Dozens
of young Bahrainis protested at what they called the police's failure
to intervene in the incident and demanded "the departure of U.S.
military personnel" from Bahrain.
Anti-U.S.
sentiment in the country, home to the Fifth Fleet, over Washington's
perceived bias for Israel, has been recently increasing.
Bahrainis
staged a series of anti-Israel and anti-U.S. demonstrations after
Israel launched a military incursion in the West Bank in late March.
Hundreds
of U.S. military and civilian personnel at the U.S. Navy facilities at
the Al-Jufair naval base east of Manama were called to two meetings
Tuesday to remind them they were "guests" in the kingdom,
AFP said.
Naval
Support Activity commander Captain Roy Holbrook advised personnel to
walk away from potentially aggressive situations, Davies of the Fifth
Fleet said.
"Current
anti-U.S. sentiment amongst some people could ignite even a normal
disagreement," Holbrook warned. "The U.S. Navy is not here
to support trouble of this kind."
Meanwhile,
the embassy advised Americans in Manama to "take seriously"
security advice offered by the State Department and keep a low
profile, avoid large public gatherings and vary travel routes and
times.
Between
4,000 and 5,000 Americans reside in Bahrain, the majority Fifth Fleet
personnel, who have been stationed in Manama since the early 1970s
when Bahrain granted the U.S. navy facilities at Al-Jufair.
Many
demonstrations broke out in Bahrain in April 2002 protesting U.S.
policy in support of continued Israeli incursions into autonomous
Palestinian towns. There were numerous calls, moreover, to boycott
American products.
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