Contents:
Pleased with progress but cautious of work to be done, Carolyn McAskie leaves Burundi after two years as UN Mission chief.
Main opposition party boycotts key DR Congo election
Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) announces it will not participate in historic elections, draws criticism from UN.
ICC prosecutor probes war crimes in DR Congo
Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo, has begun an official visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to investigate war crimes in the country of the court's first detainee.
Security Council renews mandate for UN mission in Abkhazia
UN's observer status in breakaway republic is extended for another six months.
Indonesia misses Aceh law deadline
Lawmakers and separatists need more time in order to pass a law granting Aceh partial self-rule, and challenges lie ahead.
Leading Kashmir rebels ready for talks, truce with India: report
Pakistan-based militant leader wants talks between India, Pakistan and Kashmiris to proceed before agreeing to a ceasefire.
Kosovo
UN tells Kosovo Serbs that province won't be split
UN mediator Rohan opposes any internal division in Kosovo.
Kosovo independence inevitable, Pristina insists
Third round of the direct Belgrade-Pristina talks in Vienna focus on Kosovo's future status.
Britain takes first step to transfer Charles Taylor's war crimes trial to the Netherlands
In response to threatened peace and regional security, Britain drafts a Security Council resolution expected to pass next week.
Nepal's rebels announce ceasefire in the capital
As mass pro-democracy protest this week nears, a unilateral, though limited, ceasefire is welcomed.
International donors pledge more support for Philippine peace effort
World Bank announces increased assistance for peace and development in Mindanao.
Former UN commander in Bosnia blasts genocide claim against Serbia
General Sir Michael Rose testifies on behalf of Belgrade before International Court of Justice.
Serbia-Montenegro president offers to mediate after independence referendum
President Marovic volunteers to serve as mediator and expresses hope of friendly relations.
Somali warlords making cease-fire deal in capital difficult, says mediator
In Mogadishu, warlords are reluctant to agree to a cease-fire accepted by Islamic Courts' Union.
Norway's new envoy launches Sri Lanka peace mission
Jon Hanssen-Bauer's first visit to the island marked with discussions on a ceasefire prior to talks in Geneva.
South Sudan risks new war if peace pact is not followed: ICG
International Crisis Group warns of renewed conflict between the ruling party and rebels in south unless a landmark agreement is reached.
EU, NATO stress help for U.N. in Darfur
EU and NATO discuss actions and cooperation with the UN and African Union missions to help end the violence in Darfur.
Genocide in Darfur: A Legal Analysis Click here to access the PILPG Report.
Agence France Presse, 3/30/06
The outgoing head of the UN peace mission in Burundi on Thursday lauded the work done by the world body but called on the government and the country's last active rebel group to end hostilities.
Carolyn McAskie, who is leaving the tiny central African nation after nearly two years as chief of the United Nations Operation in Burundi (ONUB), said she was pleased with progress made during her tenure but stressed that much remained to be done. Critical to attaining lasting peace is an end to the continuing conflict between the government and the National Liberation Forces (FNL), the only one of Burundi's seven Hutu rebel groups still fighting in a nearly 13 years of civil war, she said."It is absolutely necessary that the government and the FNL reach a ceasefire," McAskie told reporters at a farewell news conference before being replaced by her current deputy, Nourldine Satti.
Earlier this month, FNL leader Agathon Rwasa reiterated his group's willingness to hold peace talks with the government after making a similar gesture in January. But President Pierre Nkurunziza, who has confirmed that he had been officially approached by the rebels, has expressed reservations, noting that the FNL has repeatedly refused to recognise his government and kept up attacks against civilians and military installations.
Earlier rounds of peace talks, which were hosted by Tanzania, were adjourned last June with a pledge to avoid hostilities that has been repeatedly violated.
Local and international rights groups have criticised Bujumbura and the rebels for various human rights abuses, which McAskie said were also among areas needed for the restoration of a lasting peace. "There is the question of respect of human rights, the need for the establishment of a peace and reconciliation commission, the conclusion of the disarmament and demobilisation of ex-fighters and ongoing defense and security reforms," she said.
ONUB now has 3,901 peacekeepers in Burundi since the gradual drawdown of the 5,364 troops deployed in the country in mid-2004 began last December. The mission is expected to close down by year's end after overseeing the conclusion on a political transition that saw the election last year of a democratic government headed by Nkurunziza, a former Hutu rebel chief. Burundi is emerging from more than a decade of an ethnically driven civil conflict that has claimed some 300,000 lives since it began in 1993 with the assassination of the country's first democratically elected president, a member of the Hutu majority, by elements of the Tutsi-minority dominated military.
Agence France Presse, 4/2/06
The main opposition party in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is boycotting this year's elections, a key step in the country's transition from its devastating 1998-2003 war, party members said Sunday.
Members of the opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) of former prime minister Etienne Tshisekedi were not among the would-be candidates submitted to the country's Independent Electoral Commission (CEI). "It's done. We won't go" to the elections, a UDPS official told AFP, one of several party members to confirm the boycott which has not been announced by Tshisekedi himself. The boycott will be announced early this week, he added. The CEI recorded 72 applications to run in the presidential elections and 4,000 applications for legislative elections, the DRC's first free and democratic polls in 40 years.
A junior UDPS official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP the absence of Tshisekedi as a presidential candidate would deprive voters of a "safety raft" against former warring parties that "plunder the state". The UDPS has consistently refused to participate in post-war transition institutions and has denounced what it called "cheating" and "manipulations" by the CEI and ruling parties in the electoral process.
The boycott decision drew criticism from diplomats in Kinshasa, where world figures including United Secretary General Kofi Annan visited in recent weeks calling for open elections. "Not taking part in the elections is to refuse to ... face reality," said one diplomat. "Tshisekedi wants to die in opposition, but he is also signing the death sentence of his party."
The elections, initially fixed for June 18, are due to be subject to a new electoral schedule to be announced by the CEI on Tuesday.
ICC prosecutor probes war crimes in DR Congo
Agence France Presse, 4/3/06
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has begun an official visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to investigate war crimes in the country of the court's first detainee.
Thomas Lubanga, head of an armed militia that rampaged through the northeast DRC, was brought before The Hague-based court on March 20 where he was charged with having recruited and conscripted children as soldiers, forcing them into active combat. Lubanga is the first detainee of the world's only permanent war crimes court, which was created in July 2002.
The inquiry in the DRC looking at "different crimes committed by several armed groups in the Ituri region" and will probably lead to more indictments based on the evidence discovered, the ICC said in a statement released in Kinshasa. "One of the objectives of the prosecutor's office is to help prevent the commission of crimes in the region" and "to put an end to impunity," the statement added.
Moreno-Ocampo has previously indicated that he wanted to "expand" the indictment against the ex-chief of the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo, one of several armed groups active in the volatile Ituri region. Lubanga was arrested in March last year after DRC President Joseph Kabila asked the ICC to investigate war crimes committed in the vast central African state, which emerged from a five-year conflict in 2003.
Ituri has for years been the scene of devastating clashes between rival militias and inter-ethnic violence, often fuelled by competition for control over the region's gold and other mineral resources. Since 1999, fighting between the militias and violence between the Hema and Lendu tribes have caused more than 60,000 deaths in the region, according to humanitarian groups.
Democratic Republic of Congo Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the DR Congo Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.
Security Council renews mandate for UN mission in Abkhazia
Agence France Presse, 3/31/06
The UN Security Council on Friday extended by six months the mandate of a United Nations observer mission in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia.
The council, which unanimously adopted the resolution, reserved the right to revise the mission's mandate if security conditions change or if the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) alters the mandate for peacekeeping troops deployed there. The resolution also affirmed Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The northwestern region of Abkhazia broke with Tblisi following the collapse of the Soviet Union and has been de facto independent since a 1991-1992 separatist war. The renewal of the observer mission came two days after Georgia said it planned to reopen negotiations with Abkhazia leaders after nearly four years. Abkhazia has received support from Moscow, which has stationed troops in the area. The Georgian parliament has demanded that Russia withdraw its troops, and Moscow agreed last year to pull out its remaining soldiers from the country.
The Security Council endorsed the diplomatic efforts of Britain, France, Germany Russia and the United States to secure a peaceful solution to the conflict. The governments are part of the "Group of Friends of the Secretary General" designated to pursue talks with the two sides. The resolution also called on both parties to agree final details on the proposed return of displaced persons and confidence-building measures designed to avert a return to violence. The UN mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), which began in 1993, has a staff of 428, including 121 military observers.
Agence France Presse, 3/31/06
Indonesia on Friday missed a deadline to pass a law granting autonomy to Aceh under a peace pact with separatists but both sides said the delay would not derail the process.
The pact signed last August by the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) called for a law granting Aceh partial self-rule by March 31. Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, chairman of a parliamentary committee debating the bill, said lawmakers needed more time. "We have said all along that there's no way we can finish the discussion on March 31. We won't be able to finish discussing a bill in one month, let alone one dealing with an issue as big as Aceh," Baldan told AFP. "It won't undo the the process that has taken place in Aceh. We are doing our best and this bill is a priority," he said. Baldan said contentious issues included relations between the central government and the Aceh government, revenue-sharing from the region's natural resources, and the participation of independent candidates in local elections.
A GAM spokesman, Teuku Kamaruzzaman, said the delay was justified and did not consider it a blow to the peace process. "There are many issues that need to be discussed bit it is not reasonable to expect them to finish today," he told AFP.
A report by the International Crisis Group think-tank warned that the law had been diluted by the home affairs ministry and that the toughest times were ahead for the peace accord. The GAM agreed to drop its demand for independence in return for -- among other concessions -- the right to form local political parties, which are banned elsewhere in Indonesia to discourage separatism. Nationalist lawmakers say Jakarta may have gone too far in its concessions, but they have insufficient numbers to block the bill.
Aceh Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the Aceh Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.
Leading Kashmir rebels ready for talks, truce with India: report
Agence France Presse, 3/30/06
A Pakistan-based rebel group fighting India over Kashmir said a ceasefire is possible if New Delhi recognizes groups like his as a party to the dispute, according to a report published Thursday.
"Not only Hizbul Mujahedin but also the entire militant leadership would consider (a) truce only if Indian government acknowledges the disputed and tripartite nature of Kashmir issue," Hizbul's supreme commander Syed Salahudin told the Kashmir News Service in a telephone interview from Pakistan.
India has engaged in a peace process with Pakistan since January 2004 that includes attempts to settle their dispute over Kashmir, which both claim in full and occupy in part. They have observed a ceasfire in the region, the scene of two of their three wars since 1947. But India has declined to discuss ceding territory, as demanded by the militants, saying the Himalayan region is an integral part of the country with an elected state government. It has said however that it is willing to make the current ceasfire line "irrelevant" and allow divided Kashmiris to meet.
Salahudin -- who is also the chairman of a Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant alliance, the United Jihad Council -- wants talks between India, Pakistan and Kashmiris before agreeing to a ceasefire. New Delhi has met moderate Kashmiri separatist groups in the past year as part of an effort to discuss the dispute and reduce violence. At least 44,000 people have been killed since the insurgency was launched in 1989.
But Salahudin said those talks have not helped. "The dialogue process initiated by the moderate leadership has so far failed to produce any breakthrough in terms of Kashmir resolution," he said. Salahudin, who tops the security force list of most wanted militants, said violence would decline as the dialogue process moves forward.
"In Afghanistan, Vietnam and other conflict areas war and dialogue have run side by side. Armed confrontation would automatically recede as serious dialogue process moves forward," he said. However, he said groups such as his will continue to boycott elections in Indian Kashmir. "As we don't recognise the Indian constitution, taking part in Indian-held elections is immaterial," he said.
Kashmir Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the Kashmir Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.
Agence France Presse, 3/30/06
A senior UN mediator warned Kosovo's minority Serbs on Thursday that they would not be allowed to divide the province by setting up separate entitites.
Speaking ahead of the third round of talks on the status of the province, Albert Rohan said Serbs would be given maximum rights and "should be able to run their affairs ... within the limits of Kosovo's legal system." But "we made clear in our principles that this cannot mean the creation of separate entities taken out of the normal legal, institutional structure of Kosovo," he told reporters at the end of a three-day visit to the province."We shall oppose any internal division in Kosovo," added Rohan, the deputy chief UN negotiator who chaired the first two rounds of UN-backed talks between Serbia and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders.
In the negotiations that began in February, the leaders of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority are seeking full independence from Serbia, a demand Belgrade and Serbs firmly oppose. Rohan said his visit to Kosovo was to make preparations for the third round of the talks starting in Vienna on Monday next week. It would conclude discussions on decentralisation, aimed at establishing "a good government and bringing the administration close to the citizens," said the Austrian diplomat. "The second motive, which in the case of Kosovo probably is even stronger, is to address the concerns of various ethnic minority groups here." Decentralisation would be based on the Council of Europe's charter on local government, according to which municipalities would be devolved as much power as possible, he added.
Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since mid-1999, when NATO's air war halted a Serb crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanian forces fighting for independence, forcing Belgrade to relinquish control of the province. The province officially remains a part of Serbia.
Rohan said that once decentralisation talks were completed, the focus would switch to ensuring the protection of centuries-old Serbian Orthodox religious sites, human rights and financial issues. He urged Kosovo Serbs to take an active part in the process to help resolve Kosovo's future status. "I told them absenteeism is counter-productive. They should engage, they should cooperate, and they should participate ... It's their future and they must be part of shaping their future," he said.
Kosovo independence inevitable, Pristina insists
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 4/3/06
Current Vienna negotiations on Kosovo's future status will lead to only one conclusion, independence, Kosovo- Albanian chief delegate Lutfi Haziri said Monday.
Attending the third round of the direct Belgrade-Pristina talks, he said his side had compiled a document "leading an a final status which could only mean a sovereign and independent Kosovo." Haziri, who is Minister of Local Self-Administration, added in comments to journalists that guarantees for national minorities would be observed.
So far the central question of Kosovo's future status has apparently been avoided in the talks, as otherwise there would be immediate stalemate. Pristina demands nothing short of full independence for the Serbian province under UN administration since 1999, while Belgrade offers far-reaching autonomy but refuses to consider independence. Instead, the two previous rounds on February 20-21 and March 17 have concentrated on such issues as local government reform, local finance, protection of religious sites, and inter-municipal and cross-boundaries cooperation.
Under consideration on Monday was a document of the Vienna UNOSEK (UN Office for the Status Talks on Kosovo), presented last week by Albert Rohan, deputy to UN Kosovo Envoy Martti Ahtisaari. Proposals included giving communities maximum powers and decision rights, but only in an all-Kosovo legal framework. Allowed would be inter-community partnership relations on concrete matters such as health, education and culture. The communities would also be allowed support, including financial support, from institutions outside Kosovo. But the document stressed this did not mean forming an autonomous entity. Rohan also explicitly once again excluded any partition of Kosovo.
Kosovo Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the Kosovo Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.
Associated Press, 4/1/06
Britain circulated a draft U.N. Security Council resolution on Friday that would move the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor from Sierra Leone to the Netherlands because of the danger he poses by remaining in the region.
The resolution was in response to a request from the U.N.-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone, where Taylor faces 11 counts alleging war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations committed during the country's 1991-2002 civil war. Council diplomats said the resolution would likely be adopted early next week. The text recognizes that Taylor's continued presence in West Africa is "an impediment to stability and a threat to the peace of Liberia and of Sierra Leone and to international peace and security in the region."
The Sierra Leone court is handling cases stemming from more than 10 years of fighting for control of Sierra Leone and its diamonds, a conflict that saw rebels hacking off the limbs, lips and ears of civilian victims. Taylor is accused of directing Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front rebels and trafficking in guns and diamonds while in office. The Sierra Leone court would try Taylor at The Hague, the headquarters of several U.N.-backed courts. A nearby Dutch prison has housed war crimes suspects from the former Yugoslavia and for the International Criminal Court from the Congo.
Nigeria had granted asylum to Taylor under a 2003 agreement that helped end Liberia's 14-year civil war. Earlier this month, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said Liberia wanted Taylor sent to Sierra Leone to stand trial, not to Liberia, where it was feared he could upset the country's fragile stability. Taylor disappeared from his home in exile in southern Nigeria on Monday night as he was about to be handed over to the Sierra Leone court. He was captured on the run Tuesday night in northeastern Nigeria as he was trying to cross into Cameroon.
Separately, the U.S. Justice Department said that Taylor's son, Charles Emmanuel, who also goes by Charles Taylor Jr., was arrested late Thursday at the Miami airport. Emmanuel Taylor, 29, headed his father's anti-terrorist and security unit until he went into exile in 2003, U.S. authorities said. A U.S. citizen, he is being held on a charge of making false statements on a passport application, the Justice Department said.
Nepal's rebels announce ceasefire in the capital
Agence France Presse, 4/3/06
Nepal's Maoist rebels Monday announced a unilateral ceasefire in Kathmandu before a mass pro-democracy protest this week, a move hailed by political parties who urged it be extended nationwide.
"We have decided to stop our military offensive in the capital until further notice to expose the claims of the autocratic regime that we were planning to infiltrate the seven-party protest programme," Maoist leader Prachanda said in an e-mailed statement. The seven parties last month reached an agreement with the rebels to hold mass protests nationwide this Saturday against King Gyanendra, who seized power 13 months ago. They have also announced a four-day general strike between April 6 and 9.
"This is a welcome move. The positive gesture by the Maoists will help the peaceful movement of the seven-party alliance," Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Nepali Congress spokesman, told AFP.
A senior leader from the Nepal Communist Party, Unified Marxist-Leninist, or NCP-UML, welcomed the move but said the Maoists could go further."Since this has been declared just in the (Kathmandu) valley it is not enough, and it will not provide the proper environment for restoring peace in the whole country. But nevertheless it is welcomed," said Khardav Prasad Oli.
Army spokesman Nepal Bhusan Chand declined detailed comments on whether the ceasefire would be matched by the military. The army had declined to match an earlier Maoist four-month nationwide ceasefire than ended in early January. But Chand said "it would have been a lot better if they had declared a nationwide ceasefire."
The royal government has warned the public not to take part in the protests and urged people to stay away from the capital. The government disrupted a similar protest in January by detaining hundreds of political and human rights activists, imposing a curfew, cutting mobile phone lines and banning public gatherings.
The United Nations rights body in Nepal urged the government to avoid such a step this time. "The right to peaceful assembly should be respected and nobody should be arbitrarily arrested or detained for exercising their right to a peaceful assembly," Ian Martin, high commissioner in Nepal for the UN office of human rights, told journalists.
Prachanda said the ceasefire was called to ensure the demonstration was held peacefully. "To create a conducive environment for the public to participate in the peaceful demonstration, and after discussions with the seven party alliance and civil society, we have decided to stop our offensive from Monday evening in the Kathmandu valley," he said.
The political parties reached a loose alliance with the rebels last November to jointly press for a return to democracy after Gyanendra's crackdown on leading politicians, including house arrests. The parties have called for the rebels to shun violence as a condition of further cooperation. Since the Maoists launched an insurgency to turn Nepal into a communist republic a decade ago, at least 12,500 people have been killed.
Nepal Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the Nepal Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.
Agence France Presse, 3/31/06
International donors have pledged to increase assistance to support the Philippine government's efforts to bring peace to the southern island of Mindanao, long troubled by a Muslim insurgency, a World Bank official said Friday. The commitment was made during a development forum Thursday in the southern resort city of Tagaytay attended by President Gloria Arroyo and representatives from 17 countries and donor agencies.
"Yesterday, the president told us about the progress being made on the Mindanao peace process. She emphasized the importance of an early peace dividend on growth and greater inclusion," World Bank country director Joachim von Amsberg told reporters. "The Mindanao Working Group subsequently considered ways to support the government's peace and development initiatives, especially to conflict-prone areas that have thus far been neglected," said Amsberg who recently visited Mindanao to check on development projects. "The participants agreed on a much deeper level of coordination and an immediate increase of resources for the conflict-affected areas."
Philippine officials said sustaining development was vital to achieving peace in the region where the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has been waging a separatist rebellion since 1978. "Knowing that the uncertain peace and order situation is a major impediment in attaining economic growth for the island, we are anticipating that the current peace efforts will strengthen the enabling environment for investment and growth," said Jesus Dureza, presidential adviser on the peace process. He was referring to a ceasefire accord and an ongoing peace negotiations with the MILF. President Arroyo on Thursday said a final peace agreement would likely be signed with the rebels this year.
Arroyo's spokesman Ignacio Bune meanwhile said in a statement that there would soon be a "comprehensive peace with justice, restitution and restoration in Mindanao anchored on Filipino solidarity and international support." He thanked "all our friends and allies," who have supported the peace process, citing in particular Malaysia which hosted the formal peace talks with the MILF and sent ceasefire monitors to the Philippines.
Agence France Presse, 3/28/06
General Sir Michael Rose, the former UN commander in Bosnia, blasted Bosnia's genocide claim against Serbia-Montenegro in evidence he gave before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), court records made public Tuesday showed.
"I believe that to punish successive generations of young Serbs who are trying to put the past behind them for crimes, however atrocious, that were committed by a government, which many of whose leaders are either dead or here in The Hague, is not conducive to peace, particularly when the state of Bosnia-Hercegovina itself, at the time, was party and complicit to war crimes," Rose told the UN's highest court when he testified on March 24.
Bosnia has accused Serbia of masterminding the widespread ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims and Croats during the 1992-95 war, which claimed up to 200,000 lives and left millions homeless. Sarajevo further claims that such acts amount to genocide.
Rose, who testified on behalf of Belgrade, told the court that in his view there was no "formal agreement" that the Bosnian Serbs were under the command of Belgrade during the Bosnian war. "My impression was that materiel support was being given in terms of fuel, ammunition, reinforcements of soldiers being recruited 'voluntarily' to fight for the army of Republika Srpska in Serbia, but there was no formal military command arrangement," he said. According to Rose, although, there were occasions when the international community was able to influence Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic by putting pressure on then Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic. "It was always a long process and often did not produce results. So, again, one's impression is that it was not a formal arrangement," Rose said.
Earlier another British general Sir Richard Dannatt, the former commander of the British forces in Bosnia who testified on behalf of Bosnia, told the ICJ that Belgrade did control the Bosnian Serb army. "We do see a degree of delegated operational control from Belgrade to the (Bosnian Serb Army), as one would expect of an apparently independent army, but both armies were operating to a common intent, originally orchestrated and predominantly orchestrated from Belgrade," Dannatt said.
The court had forbidden that details of the testimony of the witnesses during the ICJ case of Bosnia against Serbia-Montenegro be made public before Tuesday. The last witness in the case took the stand Tuesday and the court insisted on the special measures to make sure witnesses would not be influenced by the testimony given by others. The genocide case, the first of its kind, will continue with a second round of oral pleadings that lasts until May 9.
Serbia-Montenegro president offers to mediate after independence referendum
Associated Press, 3/31/06
The president of Serbia-Montenegro offered on Friday to mediate between the two Balkan republics after an independence referendum in Montenegro planned for May.
Svetozar Marovic, himself a Montenegrin serving as the head of state of the Serbia-Montenegro union, told state-run Montenegrin television that talks will be necessary whatever the May 21 referendum outcome. "I see myself on May 22 as a mediator in negotiations about new relations between Montenegro and Serbia," Marovic said. There was no immediate reaction from either Serbia or Montenegro to Marovic's proposal.
The two Balkan countries are the only former Yugoslav republics that stayed together after the bloody breakup of the former, six-member federation in the early 1990s. However, relations between Serbia and Montenegro have worsened over the years, as Montenegro decided to schedule a vote to determine whether it will remain in the joint state or break away.
Marovic expressed hope that there will be no tension in relations between Serbia and Montenegro after the referendum. "There will be no passports," he said. There are also deep divisions within Montenegro over the issue. The European Union brokered the deal in 2003 which created Serbia-Montenegro.
EU reprieve for Serbia talks, but spotlight on Mladic
Agence France Presse, 4/2/06
Talks on bolstering Serbia's ties with the European Union will go ahead this week after the bloc extended a deadline to capture a top war crimes suspect, amid rising hopes for his arrest.
But the 25-nation bloc has made it clear that it expects concrete progress within days or weeks in the hunt for former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic, whose fate is threatening to keep his homeland out in the Balkan cold.
Belgrade, desperate to stay on the west-wards track a decade after the end of wars which ripped Yugoslavia apart, breathed a sigh of relief after the EU suspended a threat to cancel talks scheduled for Wednesday. "The decision is ... extremely important," said Serbia-Montenegro's Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic after the EU move Friday, hinting that Mladic may be caught "very soon."
The EU commission had threatened to suspend talks with Belgrade on a Stabilization and Association Agreement -- a key step towards eventual EU membership -- due to lack of progress on rounding up war crimes fugitives. But the decision to go ahead, at least for now, came after talks between EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and Carla del Ponte, the chief prosecutor from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Rehn said that Del Ponte had given him reason to believe there could be progress soon. "Carla Del Ponte... reported progress in Serbia and Montenegro's cooperation with the ICTY, which gives a credible possibility of concrete results in the weeks to come," he said in a statement. In effect he gave Belgrade a reprieve of one month, saying that the EU will "reassess the situation and whether to continue the negotiations" at the end of April. "We will continue to monitor closely the performance of the authorities and expect them to further improve their level of cooperation with the ICTY," he said.
Draskovic also appeared to hold out hope for movement on Mladic in the near future, saying that Belgrade "will honour its commitment to cooperate fully very soon." Belgrade has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks to track down Mladic, the former military leader accused of ordering the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims at the end of Bosnia's 1992-1995 war. Mladic is second on the Balkans' Most Wanted list, after his political boss Radovan Karadzic, also charged with genocide over Srebrenica. Both remain at large more than a decade after being indicted by the ICTY. Serbia has persistently denied knowledge of Mladic's whereabouts, although it recently admitted he had been under military protection until mid-2002 and received a pension from Belgrade until last December.
The EU standoff with Belgrade echoes the brinkmanship last year between the EU and Croatia, which saw the start of its EU entry talks delayed for seven months due to lack of progress in finding fugitive general Ante Gotovina. In that case Zagreb's talks eventually began in October despite failure to find Gotovina -- although he was eventually arrested on a Spanish island and transferred to the ICTY in The Hague in December. A rash of reports in February suggested that Mladic -- who, like Gotovina, remains a hero to many nationalists in his homeland -- was on the point of being captured, or turning himself in. Those turned out to be false, and few are willing to say if anything will come of the latest indications that his capture may be near.
Associated Press, 3/30/06
A Somali mediator said Thursday a group of warlords were refusing to commit themselves to a cease-fire aimed at ending two months of fighting in the capital, Mogadishu.
The group, calling itself the Alliance for Restoration of Peace and Counter Terrorism, has had on-off clashes with radical Islamic militiamen in Mogadishu since February, arguing that they are ridding Somalia of people allied to international terrorist networks. The group of warlords-turned-Cabinet ministers and businessman have been involved in fighting that has seen at least 93 people killed in two months.
"The Islamic Courts' Union has accepted our call of a cease-fire agreement but the warlords are still reluctant to accept it," said Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Muhidin, a prominent moderate Islamic scholar who is mediating between the two groups. The warlords' group, "have been regularly postponing promises to answer our calls for peace asking for time to consult among the Alliance Members but after having long and separate meetings there is no official statement from them," said Muhidin.
There has been an uneasy calm in Mogadishu since the radical Islamic militiamen and those allied to the warlords and businessmen clashed last week. During that fighting the radical Islamic militiamen took control of the roads leading to a disused Mogadishu port and one of the city's airstrips. Control of roads leading to such infrastructure is significant because the militias charge for their use by setting up control points, raising critical funds in a country that has not seen an effective government in 15 years.
In 1991, warlords ousted a dictatorship and then turned on each other, carving the nation of 8.2 million into a patchwork of fiefdoms. Last year, U.N. experts monitoring an arms embargo on Somalia reported that Islamic hard-liners were importing heavy weapons and establishing military training camps. Among them were members of Al-Ittihad al-Islami, who want to impose an Islamic state in Somalia and who allegedly have ties to al-Qaida. The International Crisis Group last year reported the emergence of a Mogadishu extremist cell led by a young Somali militant trained in Afghanistan, where al-Qaida once was based.
Agence France Presse, 4/3/06
Norway's new peace envoy to Sri Lanka began work Monday, discussing how to shore up a fragile ceasefire ahead of meetings with Tamil rebels and the government.
Jon Hanssen-Bauer, on his first visit to the island, went straight into meetings with experts from think-tanks and development organisations after his arrival, Norwegian embassy spokesman Tom Knappskog said. During a four-day initial visit the envoy is scheduled to travel to the northern rebel-held town of Kilinochchi to discuss the outline of negotiations later this month between the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Switzerland. He will be joined on Thursday by Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim who is flying in to see President Mahinda Rajapakse about the truce talks, officials said.
The government and the LTTE met in Switzerland in February and agreed to a further round of talks there this month. Hanssen-Bauer's appointment coincides with a change of guard at the Scandinavian truce monitoring operation known as the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). A top Swedish army officer, Major General Ulf Henricsson, took charge of the SLMM from this month, replacing Norwegian Hagrup Haukland. The SLMM comprises monitors from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland.
Norway's shuttle diplomacy coincides with a sweeping local election victory by Rajapakse's party, giving it a chance to break away from hardline allies opposed to the Norwegian-backed peace process. The president could call parliamentary polls four years ahead of schedule if his two key nationalist allies try to block efforts for a political settlement to the festering ethnic conflict, according to analysts.
More than 60,000 people have been killed in the ethnic conflict since 1972.
Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.
South Sudan risks new war if peace pact is not followed: ICG
Agence France Presse, 4/4/06
Southern Sudan risks plunging into fresh conflict if Khartoum fails to genuinely implement a landmark peace agreement with former southern rebels signed last year, bringing an end to 21 years of fighting, a policy panel warned Monday.
International Crisis Group (ICG) said the ruling party had the capacity to ensure the peace deal is implemented but lacked the political will, while the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), with which it signed the pact, had its commitment dented by disorganisation.
"There is a real risk of renewed conflict down the road unless the NCP (National Congress Party) begins to implement the (agreement) in good faith, and the SPLM becomes a stronger and more effective implementing partner," the group said in a report entitled "Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement: The Long Road Ahead" "Sudan's peace agreement is on shaky ground," warned David Mozersky, ICG's analyst for Sudan, in the report. "The unstable partnership between a strong but unwilling NCP and a weak but committed SPLM is making the implementation process highly volatile," Mzersky said.
Part of the January 9 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) granted southern Sudan six years of self rule after which it will vote in a referendum on whether to remain part of Sudan or secede in addition to exempting it from Sharia law. The group said the ruling party was exploiting SPLM's weakness and gaps in the CPA to "delay and frustrate the process." It added that the death of Sudan's former vice president and SPLM leader John Garang last year had weakened the party and that the NCP "has abandoned its strategy for a political partnership with the SPLM."
The report also blamed the international community for failing to ensure that the peace pact was implemented. "The international community has an enormous physical presence in Sudan today... but it has failed to live up to its envisioned role as a guarantor and seems unwilling to seriously engage the parties politically," the group said.
The war in the south erupted in 1983 when the rebels, led by Garang, rose up against Khartoum to end Arab and Muslim domination and marginalisation of the black, animist and Christian south, claiming at least 1.5 million lives and displacing more than four million.
EU, NATO stress help for U.N. in Darfur
Asscociated Press, 4/3/06
NATO military experts are drawing up plans for increased support to international peacekeepers in Darfur, but the alliance's chief diplomat on Monday again stressed that the deployment of NATO troops was not an option.
Negotiations to resolve the Darfur conflict, which has forced more than two million from their homes and killed tens of thousands, revolve around how to share political power, economic resources and deal with the region's militias. "That can very much be done without speaking of a NATO force," Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said. "It's the African Union, it's the U.N. which are the guiding organizations." He told reporters that the military were considering increasing training, planning and transport support to the existing African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur and a U.N. mission that may replace it in September.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called de Hoop Scheffer last week to request additional NATO support for the mission as the AU prepares to hand over to a U.N. force. NATO has said it is willing to extend its existing back up to the African force including airlift, training for officers and planning but not sending European or North American troops.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana held talks at NATO headquarters to discuss how the two organizations can cooperate to help end the violence in Darfur. "We are very, very, very concerned with the situation," Solana said. He added that the EU would aim to boost peace talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. "The Abuja talks have to be not only a place where we spend hours and hours and days and days, but they have to come through with a road map, with an end that will allow the international force to be deployed," Solana said.
Talks in Abuja between Sudanese government and Darfur rebel officials slowed last year because of differences within a key Darfur rebel group.
Genocide in Darfur: A Legal Analysis
Click here to access the Report prepared by the Public International Law & Policy Group.