Contents:
Burundi rebels boycott truce commission
FNL said they will boycott the committee until one of their nominees for
the panel is freed from prison.
Russia Slaying Puts Spotlight on Kadyrov
Kadyrov denied any involvement in Politkovskaya's murder, saying it was
enemies trying to make him look bad.
Russian
court orders closure of rights group critical of government's conduct in Chechnya
The decision displayed the government's ability to use new legislation signed
this year by President Putin.
Fourteen arrested in Kinshasa for violating weapons ban
Those seized for carrying weapons without authorization were dispatched
before a military tribunal.
DR Congo
in landmark presidential vote
At midnight Friday, DRC entered the last phase of election process with
runoff in presidential elections set for October 29.
Democratic Republic of Congo Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the DR Congo Negotiation Simulation.
The unanimous resolution also extended the U.N. observer mission until April
15.
Illegal
firearms seized in Indonesia's Aceh: police
The guns were either weapons not yet surrendered by former GAM members or
were linked to a robbery in eastern Aceh earlier this month.
Aceh Negotiation Simulation Click
here to access the Aceh Negotiation Simulation.
ICoast
opposition suggests powersharing deal to boost peace process
Ouattara recommended a transitional collegiate presidency when Gbagbo's
term runs out at the end of the month.
India will "go up in flames" if Kashmiri militant
hanged: politician
Islamic rebels in Indian Kashmir warned last week of "dire consequences"
if India executes Guru.
Suspected
Islamic rebels kill policeman, wounded another in India's Kashmir
Security has been stepped up and police have set up checkpoints across Srinagar.
Kashmir Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the Kashmir Negotiation Simulation.
Kosovo
Deputy premier says Kosovo ready to become independent and
govern itself
Haziri says that within the next 9 months he expects Kosovo to be able to
pass a temporary constitution, hold democratic elections and implement the results.
Moldova's parliament calls on Russian lawmakers to stop supporting separatists
Lawmakers criticized Russia's lower parliamentary chamber for questioning
Moldova's territorial integrity by supporting the controversial Trans-Dniester
referendum.
The confidential report details alleged human rights abuses by Moroccan
authorities against native Saharawis in Western Sahara.
Nepal govt, Maoists struggle in peace talks
The two parties were still unable to overcome differences on power sharing
and what the rebels should do with their weapons.
Philippines
U.S., Philippine officials warn of possible bombings in southern Mindanao
Officials arrested wife of Dulmatin, an Al Qaeda-linked Indonesian militant
who is among Asia's most wanted terrorist suspects.
Security
stepped up in Philippines after deadly bomb attack
A bomb blamed on Al Qaeda-linked militants killed 12 people and wounded
more than 40 others.
U.N. officials did not say who made the threats but said they were investigating
and took them seriously.
Somalia's
Islamic radicals repel attack to recapture port, say witnesses and officials
Militia loyal to defense minister says it will continue to launch attacks
until they recapture Somalia’s third largest town.
New front opens in Sri Lanka after big military losses
Troops and LTTE blamed each other for the new flareup in the eastern
district of Ampara.
Japanese
peace envoy in bid to save Sri Lankan ceasefire
Yasushi Akashi was expected for talks with government and rebel leaders
amid fears that the island is veering dangerously close to all-out war.
Large clashes between rebel and government forces
in North Darfur
The new outburst of fighting is likely to worsen the already dire humanitarian
situation.
Think-tank
urges sanctions on Khartoum over Darfur
International Crisis Group recommended travel bans and asset freezes be
imposed on key members of the ruling National Congress Party.
Genocide in Darfur: A Legal Analysis Click here to access the PILPG
Report.
Burundi rebels boycott truce commission
Agence France Presse, 10/11/06
Burundi peace mediators announced the formation of a much-delayed truce commission on Wednesday, but the key opening meeting was marred by the absence of the country's last active rebel group. The National Liberation Forces (FNL) said they would boycott the joint verification and follow-up committee until one of their nominees for the panel, arrested by Bujumbura earlier this year, is freed from prison. Nonetheless, chief mediator Charles Nqakula, South Africa's safety and security minister who brokered the September 7 ceasefire between the FNL and the government at talks in Tanzania, declared the commission operational. "I officially declare the work of the joint verification and follow-up committee of the ceasefire between the government of Burundi and the Palipehutu-FNL open," he said at a ceremony in the capital.
Nqakula told commission members present -- representatives from the government, African Union and United Nations -- that the FNL had refused to attend and criticized the rebels for their stance. "We sent a plane to Dar es Salaam to bring the FNL representatives here and they told us they were available," he said. "As we were waiting for them this morning, they told us that they would not take part in this committee as long as Jean-Berchmans Ndayishimiye is not released from prison," Nqakula said. Ndayishimiye, the FNL's intelligence and military operations chief, was detained in July. But Nqakula said the rebels' demand could only be met after the truce commission began its work and expressed dismay that the FNL was boycotting the talks. "We told them that they cannot demand the release of political and war prisoners before the formation of the committee," he said. "Therefore, we really do not know why they are not here."
Under the terms of the ceasefire, which calls for the rebels to assemble in camps from where they will either be integrated into the security forces or be demobilised, the panel should have been formed by September 14. But its creation has been repeatedly delayed, most recently when the rebels asked for a one-week postponement in a new October 3 target date. Before demanding Ndayishimiye's release, the FNL had wanted the government to formally grant temporary immunity to their fighters and allow them to have Burundian passports. The FNL is the only one of Burundi's seven Hutu rebel groups to remain outside a peace process that began in 2000 and that led to the election of a new power-sharing government headed by a former Hutu guerrilla chief last year. The war erupted in 1993 with the assassination of Melchior Ndadaye, a member of the Hutu majority and the country's first democratically elected president by elements of the then minority Tutsi-dominated military.
Russia Slaying Puts Spotlight on Kadyrov
Steve Gutterman, Associated Press, 10/12/06
When Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov turned 30 last week, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya said his birthday gift should be a criminal trial. Two days later, she was gunned down in her Moscow apartment building. The high-profile slaying of the crusading journalist has drawn increased scrutiny upon Kadyrov. The Kremlin favorite has brought visible improvements to Chechnya, still violent and wrecked by 12 years of war, but critics say he has gained power behind a phalanx of killers and thugs.
Politkovskaya's newspaper on Thursday published an unfinished article on torture in Chechnya that the journalist was writing when she was died. The article in Novaya Gazeta, accompanied by graphic images taken from a video, described the alleged torture by Chechen security services of two young men branded terrorists. Many Chechen security personnel are under Kadyrov's control. "Are we fighting legally against lawlessness?" Politkovskaya asked in the article. "Or are we thrashing them with our own lawlessness?"
Kadyrov denied on Wednesday any involvement in Politkovskaya's murder, saying it was enemies trying to make him look bad. But less than a month ago he suggested she worked for "enemies of Russia," and he could not put to rest widespread accusations of abductions and abuse by security forces under his control. Politkovskaya was among those critics who say that Kadyrov's brutal tactics might backfire instead of accomplishing Russia's goal of turning Chechnya into a stable, loyal subject not the source of bloodshed and terror attacks such as the 2004 raid on a school in nearby Beslan that led to the deaths 333 people, most of them children. They say he stands at the center of a volatile web of one-time separatist fighters and competing security forces that analysts worry could explode into a new spiral of violence.
A former rebel himself, Kadyrov has been amassing so much power that many predict he will soon move up from prime minister and become president of Chechnya, now that he's reached the legal age. A visitor to Chechnya might think he is already president. His bangs-and-beard-framed face is displayed on roadside billboards that picture him with smiling children, and banners proclaim him "a worthy leader of the Chechen people." In a personality cult like that of North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il and his late father, Kadyrov is cast as the heir to his father Akhmad Kadyrov, a former rebel who became Chechnya's first pro-Moscow president in 2003 part of the Kremlin's strategy of putting Chechens in charge and was assassinated seven months later.
After years with little sign of improvement in the region's war-ruined landscape, some Chechens see Kadyrov as the engine of the recent boom in construction. There are sleekly paved streets and freshly refaced buildings among the bombed-out homes and apartment houses. Kadyrov greeted reporters recently in a black, open-neck shirt in an ornate room at the Ramzan Boxing Club in the city of Gudermes. The look is part of his appeal to war-weary youth, who attend schools he has helped reopen and rock concerts and beauty contests he's organized. He hosted former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson last year.
"Whatever he undertakes, whatever he promises, he gets it done," said Rita Saidulayeva, 27, relaxing with co-workers outside a jewelry shop on the refurbished street near the club. "We want him to become president." Kadyrov insists he's not ready for that yet, but it may be President Vladimir Putin with the power to appoint Russian regional leaders, subject to approval from pliant legislatures who is hesitant to hand him too much clout too soon. Kadyrov praised Putin during the boxing club meeting, but he also accused Russian officials of hobbling reconstruction by stealing money meant for Chechnya. He demanded for Chechnya a larger share of revenues from its oil remarks that raised questions about the depth of his loyalty.
"Russia is now strong and he is oriented toward Russia, but what will happen if Russia weakens and there is no alternative to Ramzan in Chechnya?" Alexei Makarkin of the Center for Political Technologies think tank said on Ekho Moskvy radio. "He will no longer ask, he will demand." Alexander Cherkasov, a Chechnya expert at the Russian human rights organization Memorial, said too much power is concentrated in Kadyrov, and people beholden to him have stirred anger and made enemies by abusing the authority that comes with a gun or an official position. "They have simply done too much to provoke vengeance," he said. "Too many people have been wounded by their actions."
Russian court orders closure of rights group critical of government's
conduct in Chechnya
Steve Gutterman, Associated Press, 10/13/06
A Russian court on Friday ordered the closure of a human rights group that has exposed abuses against civilians in Chechnya, its leader said, denouncing the ruling as part of an effort to silence critics of the government's conduct in the violence-torn region. Other rights groups said the decision displayed the government's ability to use new legislation on extremism and non-governmental organizations signed this year by President Vladimir Putin despite opposition at home and abroad to rein in civil rights. The highest court in central Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region granted a request from prosecutors seeking to shut down the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, its director, Stanislav Dmitriyevsky, told The Associated Press by telephone.
Dmitriyevsky said the organization would appeal to the Supreme Court but that a reversal was unlikely, calling the order a politically motivated decision and part of "a campaign to prohibit people to talk about what is happening in Chechnya." His non-governmental organization has vigorously campaigned against the more than decade-old conflict against separatists in Chechnya and published reports alleging torture, abductions and murder of civilians by Russian forces and their pro-Moscow Chechen allies.
The verdict "appears to be the latest move in a carefully calculated strategy to get rid of an organization that has been outspoken on behalf of the victims of human rights violations in Chechnya," Amnesty International quoted its regional director, Nicola Duckworth, as saying. The court ruling order came less than a week after the killing of Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist also known for her reporting on abuses in Chechnya. Speaking earlier in the week, Dmitriyevsky linked the prosecutors' efforts to close the organization with her slaying. His rights group successfully fought off an attempt to close it last year and has faced increasing pressure from the authorities in recent months. In February, a court convicted Dmitriyevsky of inciting ethnic hatred and gave him a two-year suspended sentence.
Prosecutors justified the demand for the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society's closure under a new law that makes it illegal for an NGO to be headed by a person with a criminal record, the group said in a statement. According to the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, prosecutors also argued that the society qualified as an extremist organization because it failed to publicly denounce Dmitriyevsky following his conviction. The court ruling showed "how easily Russia's anti-extremism legislation and the NGO legislation ... can be used for the disproportionate and illegitimate curtailment of human rights," the Vienna-based group said. The NGO law imposed government oversight of NGO work and financing, giving the authorities scope to close down groups whose activities are perceived to contradict their stated goals or harm state interests. It provoked a tide of criticism from Western governments amid concerns that it could herald a tightening of state control over non-governmental organizations. Putin has been accused of stifling media freedoms and rolling back post-Soviet democratic freedoms since coming to power in 2000.
Fourteen arrested in Kinshasa for violating weapons ban
Agence France Presse, 10/11/06
More than a dozen soldiers and police officers have been arrested for violating a ban on illegal weapons in Kinshasa since the measure went into effect October 2, the United Nations announced Wednesday. None of the 14 people arrested during mixed patrols by Congolese and UN officers carried an order authorizing their weapons, the UN said. Those seized were dispatched before a military tribunal. The patrols have seized a total of 23 weapons since the start of the October patrols. The rounds aim to enforce last month's pledge by President Joseph Kabila and opponent Jean-Pierre Bemba to make the country's capital "gun free".
The two men face a run-off presidential vote October 29. Following the first round of elections in August, forces loyal to the two men clashed in Kinshasa for two days, leaving 23 people dead. Since then, a relative calm has descended over the city and both men have pledged to confine their troops to barracks -- a promise that has been generally, although not entirely, respected.
But last Friday, the conflict-prevention International Crisis Group said Kabila and Bemba should have their armed guards reduced to prevent fresh violence in the country ahead of the vote. The August clashes were "dramatic proof of the fragility of the electoral process" in DR Congo, which is carrying out its first full multiparty elections in more than 40 years, the group said.
A separate report released Wednesday by the human rights group Amnesty International found 11,000 children in DR Congo still belong to armed groups or are unaccounted for despite a two-year effort to release and re-integrate child soldiers into civilian life. Besides the patrols in Kinshasa, teams of UN military observers have also been sent to one military base in the capital to enforce the weapons-free ban. More teams would be dispatched to other bases in the city, a UN spokesperson said.
DR Congo in landmark presidential vote
Agence France Presse, 10/14/06
The Democratic Republic of Congo was set Saturday to start down the final stretch of a long road towards democracy after decades of tyranny and war. At midnight Friday it entered the last phase of a process set to yield the first freely elected head of state in nearly half a century. A 15-day campaign period begins for the runoff in presidential elections set for October 29.
The re-emergence of electoral politics in the DRC -- known as Zaire until 1997 and the Belgian Congo before independence in 1960 -- is an achievement in itself. Following 32 years of misrule under former dictator Mobutu Seso Seko, the country was plunged into five years of war. "Africa's World War" claimed more than three million lives through fighting, famine and disease, and ruined what was left of the resource-rich country's fragile economy and infrastructure.
Historic parliamentary elections culminated on September 22 in the opening session of the country's first genuinely representative assembly in 46 years. The favourite to win the presidential election is the incumbent Joseph Kabila, whose 31-party Alliance of the Presidential Majority holds more than 200 out of 500 seats in the newly elected parliament. His opponent is Jean-Pierre Bemba, a vice president who leads 100 deputies forming an opposition bloc in the new parliament.
More than 25 million voters in a country roughly the size of western Europe are eligible to vote for Kabila or Bemba, who respectively took 44.8 percent and 20 percent in the first round in July. The Congolese are also set to select deputies for regional assemblies who will in turn vote for senators and provincial governors. Local elections are to follow.
In 2003 an internationally brokered peace agreement set the terms for a transitional government leading to this year's series of elections. The road to the final vote at the end of this month has not been smooth. The announcement on August 20 of preliminary results of first-round presidential voting sparked three days of clashes in the capital Kinshasa between forces loyal to Kabila and Bemba, leaving 23 dead.
The United Nations mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, is the largest UN peacekeeping operation anywhere, with some 17,600 troops supported by an additional 1,400 civilian personnel. MONUC is authorized to use all means necessary to ensure the safety of civilians, and plays a critical role in discouraging election-related violence. Most of the UN force, composed of troops from some 50 nations, is based in the east, where armed rebels remain active. Working alongside MONUC is a European Union force known as EUFOR with 2,300 soldiers drawn from 20 member-states and Turkey, with nearly half based in Kinshasa and 1,200 on standby in Gabon.
Kabila has struck a deal with ex-opposition leader Antoine Gizenga, who scored 13 percent in the first round and heads the country's third largest party, the Unified Lumumbist Party. Gizenga's support comes at a price: his party has been promised the post of prime minister. Former rebels behind a third major player on the political scene, Azerias Ruberwa, leader of the formerly Rwandan-backed rebel Congolese Democratic Rally (RCD), announced Thursday that they would not take sides in the runoff campaign. "The RCD opts for positive neutrality in the second round of the presidential poll," said a party statement read in Kinshasa by a founder member, Leon Muheto. "It follows that all members and followers of the party are invited to vote massively, but according to their conscience," said the RCD, which "reaffirms its determination to safeguard the achievements of the democratic process."
Voting is to be protected by 80,000 DRC police, supported by MONUC and EUFOR troops. The count will be monitored by 45,000 national and 1,500 international observers. An international committee overseeing the transition in DRC appealed Friday to candidates to "exhort their supporters to abstain from any acts of violence" in the forthcoming campaign period. The panel links the Kinshasa envoys of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council
Democratic Republic of Congo Negotiation Simulation
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Security Council urges Georgia to avoid threatening steps in breakaway
region
Paul Burkhardt, Associated Press, 10/13/06
The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Friday that extends the mandate of a U.N. observer mission in Georgia and urges the former Soviet republic to avoid threatening steps in the Russian-backed breakaway region of Abkhazia. The resolution, which extends the mission until April 15, backed all efforts to settle peacefully the Georgia-Abkhaz conflict and appealed to both side "to refrain from any action that might impede the peace process." Abkhazia is a Black Sea province that has had de facto independence since 1993, when two years of fighting with Georgian troops ended. Russian troops have been deployed there and it is one of two Georgian regions seeking independence or union with Russia. The United Nations has maintained an observer mission since 1993 to monitor the cease-fire between Georgia and Abkhazia. It now has about 400 people.
Tension between Tbilisi and Moscow has heightened sharply since Georgia arrested Russia officers on espionage charges last month. Despite their swift release, Russia retaliated with sanctions against its small, southern neighbor, including a transport blockade. Georgia accuses Russia of backing the separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in a bid to maintain its influence and undermine the government of President Mikhail Saakashvili, who has pledged to rein in the breakaway regions. Last month, Saakashvili flew to Kodori Gorge, a part of Abkhazia controlled by government forces, to rename it Upper Abkhazia to try to reassert control over the region.
The resolution "once again urges the Georgian side to address seriously legitimate Abkhaz security concerns, to avoid steps which could be seen as threatening and to refrain from militant rhetoric and provocative actions, especially in upper Kodori valley." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cast the resolution as a triumph for Moscow, saying it "reflected all of Russia's fundamental suggestions" and asserting it "unequivocally" attributed heightened tension between Georgia and Abkhazia to Georgia's "illegal actions in the Kodori Gorge," Russian news agencies reported.
A patrol of the gorge Friday by U.N. observers and Russian forces in Abkhazia as Commonwealth of Independent States peacekeepers turned up a sizable arsenal of weapons and ammunition, as well as 550 Georgian police, according to the commander of the peacekeepers, Maj. Gen. Sergei Chaban. Lavrov demanded the immediate removal of the weapons and ammunition, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported, and Abkhazia's separatist President Sergei Bagapsh said Abkhazia would not resume negotiations with Georgia on a settlement of their conflict before the "complete withdrawal of Georgian forces and weapons" from the gorge, Interfax reported. Chaban said Georgian authorities claimed the cache had belonged to forces led by Emzar Kvitsiani, a local militia leader whose refusal to disarm prompted Georgian forces to enter the upper portion of the gorge and take control over the summer in an operation condemned by Russia and Abkhazia.
The Security Council resolution reaffirms the U.N. commitment "to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Georgia." Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters the main purpose of the resolution is to bring peace to the region. "It is mostly a resolution calling all the parties to the conflict to go back to (the) negotiating table to work out their difficulties and differences amicably," he said, stressing Russia's "important part in trying to settle that long-standing conflict." The United States had opposed the Russian draft but U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said an agreement was reached during a conversation between Lavrov and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Aceh committee rejects election candidates
Agence France Presse, 10/15/06
The electoral committee of Indonesia's Aceh province said on Sunday it has disqualified three pairs of gubernatorial candidates, citing their failure to pass a Koranic reading test. Candidates in Aceh, the staunch Muslim province that is to hold elections for the posts of governor and vice governor on December 11, are required to pass a reading test before they are accepted. The elections are part of a historic agreement reached in August last year between the government and the then separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) that ended some 30 years of conflict.
The Independent Electoral Committee (KIP) also said three of the eight remaining pairs of candidates had been given a week to meet the required minimal vote support for each candidate. "When the factual verification was conducted, it was found that there were candidature requirements that needed to be improved," the head of the KIP's verification team, Rasyidin Hamin said in a statement. Candidates must gather copies of the identity cards of three percent of the population to be eligible to compete in the elections. KIP officials have said many people whose ID was submitted as proof of their support said the copies had been taken without their knowledge. The KIP will conduct another verification next month before publishing the final list of candidates.
Illegal firearms seized in Indonesia's Aceh: police
Agence France Presse, 10/14/06
Police in Indonesia's Aceh province have seized illegal firearms from civilians following a string of armed robberies in the tsunami-hit region, a spokesman said Saturday. Three handguns were seized during a raid overnight in the eastern Aceh area of Idi Cut, some 400 kilometres (248 miles) east of Banda Aceh, said provincial police spokesman Jodi Heriyadi. They were among nine weapons confiscated across Aceh over the past month, Heriyadi said.
The guns were either be weapons not yet surrendered by former members of the now defunct Free Aceh Movement (GAM), or were linked to the shooting dead of two robbers during a botched heist in eastern Aceh earlier this month, the spokesman said. Residents have said that many former GAM rebels had turned to crime due to economic pressure in the province, which was devastated wrecked by the December 2004 tsunami that killed 168,000 people.
Ivory Coast
West African leaders recommend another year's extension for Gbagbo
Agence France Presse, 10/9/06
West African leaders have recommended that Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo's tenure be extended again by a year as the country's political crisis continues, diplomats and government officials said Monday. The agreement was reached at a meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the end of last week on the Ivory Coast crisis. "ECOWAS leaders agreed for an extension of the term of office of President Laurent Gbagbo by 12 months, paving the way for presidential and general elections in Ivory Coast," the Liberian government said in a statement Monday.
At their meeting in Nigeria's capital Abuja, which wrapped up late on Friday, the 11 heads of state did not announce a new date for Ivorian presidential elections, which have already been postponed twice. In a statement following their summit the leaders expressed their "profound concern with obstructions" to the stuttering Ivorian peace process that again rolled back elections scheduled for end October. But they did not give precise details of their decisions.
According to several Western European diplomatic sources, ECOWAS "recommended the extension" by one year of the current transitional government, with Gbagbo and Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny remaining in office. Gillaume Soro, leader of the New Forces rebels who are fiercely opposed to the lengthening of Gbagbo's mandate, also confirmed the decisions. "We are informed that the head of state is to stay in position for one year period, and that Prime Minister Banny remains in office," rebel chief Soro, who is the second in command after Banny in cabinet, told the daily newspaper Le Patriote.
The leaders' recommendations will be subject to scrutiny at an African Union meetings on the Ivory Coast peace process scheduled for mid-October. Two weeks later, the same dossier faces the UN, which in September postponed Ivorian presidential elections for a second time. The elections were originally scheduled to take place last October, but UN resolution 1633 extended Gbagbo's tenure for a year while empowering the Ivorian prime minister to oversee a transitional period until presidential and general elections. But a year later, Gbagbo remains in power, the elections have yet to take place, the country is still divided, and the FN rebels -- along with pro-government militia groups -- have yet to disarm in line with the UN resolution. The 15 members of ECOWAS are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
ICoast opposition suggests powersharing deal to boost peace process
Agence France Presse, 10/11/06
Ivory Coast's leading opposition politician Alassane Ouattara recommended Wednesday the introduction of a transitional collegiate presidency, to which he would be party, when President Laurent Gbagbo's term runs out at the end of the month. The former prime minister also called for the suspension of the constitution to allow the implementation of UN resolutions in a bid to advance the stalled peace process in the west African country divided into two after a brief war four years ago. Faced with the probability of the renewal of Gbagbo's term for another year, Ouattara proposed in a document received by AFP the installation of a "presidential council" collegiate. The council would group Ivory Coast's main political leaders Gbagbo, Ouattara, former president Henri Konan Bedie and Guillaume Soro, leader of the rebel New Forces (FN) which has controlled the north of the country since a 2002 foiled coup bid to oust Gbabgo.
Ouattara's proposal is similar to that floated by Gabon's President Omar Bongo several weeks ago which suggested the appointment of Ouattara, Bedie and Soro as vice-presidents to Gbagbo, copying the example set in the Democratic Republic of Congo where President Joseph Kabila had four vice-presidents drawn from his political rivals. The African Union's Peace and Security Council is to discuss the Ivory Coast situation on October 17, examining a recommendation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which on Friday called for Gbagbo's tenure to be extended again by one year amid the continuing political crisis.
Gbagbo was elected in 2000 for a five-year mandate. Elections were set for last October, but the UN extended Gbagbo's tenure for a year while empowering the Ivorian prime minister to oversee a transitional period until presidential and general elections. But a year later, with Gbagbo still in place, the country is as divided as ever and the rebels -- along with pro-government militias -- have yet to disarm in line with the UN resolution.
India will "go up in flames" if Kashmiri militant hanged:
politician
Agence France Presse, 10/14/06
A senior politician from Indian Kashmir warned in an interview shown Saturday that India would "go up in flames" if the authorities execute a Kashmiri Muslim sentenced for plotting a 2001 attack on India's parliament. "You want to hang him? Go ahead and hang him ... this nation will go up in flames because the terrorists will do things which will destroy the relationship of the Hindus and Muslims," Farooq Abdullah, the former chief minister of Indian Kashmir told CNN-IBN news channel. "Kashmir will anyway go up in flames ... there will (also) be turmoil which India will have to face. I am telling you," he warned in the interview, televised Saturday.
Last month a court set October 20 as the date for the execution of Mohammed Afzal Guru, triggering violent protests in Indian Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority region. Guru, who is held in New Delhi's maximum-security Tihar prison, was found guilty of helping plot the 2001 parliament attack that left 14 people dead, including the five attackers.
India blamed Pakistan-backed militants fighting against its rule in Indian Kashmir for what it called a terrorist strike at the heart of Indian democracy, but Islamabad denied the charge. Islamic rebels in Indian Kashmir, battling New Delhi's rule there since 1989, warned last week of "dire consequences" if India executes Guru. More than 44,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of a Muslim insurgency in the region in 1989.
Guru's wife, Tabassum, met Indian President Abdul Kalam in New Delhi last week, accompanied by the couple's seven-year-old son, to plead for mercy for her husband. The execution seems unlikely to take place October 20, which marks the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, as a decision by the president usually takes months and sometimes years. In his interview Abdullah, whose pro-India National Conference party has ruled Kashmir several times, warned that executing Guru would amount to "making him a hero for centuries." "You are giving a massive weapon to the separatists in ... Kashmir," Abdullah said. India's Hindu nationalists are seeking Afzal's execution in a bid to send a message to Islamist militants.
Suspected Islamic rebels kill policeman, wounded another in India's
Kashmir
Associated Press, 10/15/06
Suspected Islamic militants shot and killed a policeman and wounded another in a shootout in the main city of India's Jammu-Kashmir state on Sunday, police said. The policemen were on guard duty at the Lal Chowk market in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir, when the rebels shot at them from close range, killing one instantly, said Farooq Ahmed, a senior police officer. Police are searching for the militants, who fled after the attack, Ahmed said. Security has been stepped up and police have set up checkpoints across the city, he said.
More than a dozen militant groups have been fighting Indian security forces
since 1989, seeking Kashmir's independence or its merger with neighboring Pakistan.
Nearly 68,000 people, most of them civilians, have died in the conflict.
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Deputy premier says Kosovo ready to become independent and govern itself
Llazar Semini, Associated Press, 10/10/06
Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister Lutfi Haziri said Tuesday his province expects to become independent next year and govern itself with a small international mission to monitor it. "I believe that within the next nine months Kosovo will have its status, Kosovo will pass a temporary constitution, Kosovo will hold democratic elections and implement their result," Haziri said, speaking on Albanian public television. "We shall take the responsibility to manage public institutions, protect the rights of minorities and there will be a small international presence that will monitor not share Kosovo's sovereignty, security and judiciary," he said.
Kosovo, formally a Serbian province, has been run by the United Nations and NATO since a 1999 war. The United States and the Contact Group for Kosovo, which includes Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia, are seeking to wrap up talks on the province's future by the end of the year. But the negotiations, which started early this year, have produced no result, with both sides entrenched in their positions the ethnic Albanians demanding independence from Serbia and Belgrade offering broad autonomy but no independence. U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president who in 1999 negotiated with Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic to end the fighting in Kosovo, said Monday he sees no solution in the talks on the status of Kosovo because the two sides are too divided. Ahtisaari is due to report to the United Nations within the next few months on the status of the Kosovo talks. He stressed that an agreement must be reached in Kosovo to bring calm to the troubled region.
Haziri said that Serbia's calling of a referendum on a constitution that sets
out that Kosovo is part of its territory, followed by elections, were a pretext
to postpone the final decision on the province's status, and an effort to "discredit"
Ahtisaari's mission and cause division among Contact Group members. The deputy
premier, just back from Washington where he had met with State Department officials
and U.S. envoy for the talk Frank Wisner, said he had received clear confirmation
there would be no delay in talks.
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Moldova's parliament calls on Russian lawmakers to stop supporting
separatists
Associated Press, 10/12/06
The Moldovan parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution calling on Russian lawmakers to stop supporting separatists controlling the separatist Trans-Dniester province in eastern Moldova. Lawmakers criticized Russia's State Duma, the country's lower chamber of parliament, for questioning Moldova's territorial integrity by supporting a controversial Trans-Dniester referendum where 97 percent of the region's voters endorsed a proposal to unite with Russia. Last week, the State Duma adopted a statement, approved by a 419-0 vote, saying the referendum had been conducted legally and that its results "should be taken into account by the international community" in order to protect human rights, peace and security and resolve the dispute over the region. Russia should also take into account "the free expression of the will of the people of Trans-Dniester" when building its policy, it said, suggesting that the government should be more aggressive about supporting their hopes of joining Russia.
Moldova's parliament said that statement was unacceptable under international law and that Russian lawmakers openly acted as an advocate for the separatists. Moldova and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe did not recognize the referendum. The Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has said the Trans-Dniester region was run by an undemocratic regime that fosters organized crime, and has called on Russia to withdraw its 1,500 troops stationed in Trans-Dniester.
Morocco indignant over U.N. criticism of alleged human rights abuses
in Western Sahara
John Thorne, Associated Press, 10/10/06
Moroccan officials on Tuesday denounced as biased a U.N. human rights report that detailed alleged Moroccan abuses in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. "It's a partial report," government spokesman Nabil Benabdallah said in a telephone interview. He stressed that far more attention was paid to Western Sahara than to refugee camps in southern Algeria of the Polisario, which seeks independence for the vast, mineral-rich territory. The report "accords only a single paragraph to Algeria," considered a main backer of the Polisario, the spokesman said. A lengthy commentary by the government-run MAP news agency was more blunt, calling the report by a team from the U.N. human rights office a "propaganda bulletin." The report is "an open attempt to put bald-faced lies and gratuitous calumny at the service of international legality," it said.
The confidential report, obtained by some members of the media, details alleged human rights abuses, including torture and suppression of free speech, by Moroccan authorities against native Saharawis in Western Sahara, a large strip of desert coast that Morocco has occupied since 1975. A team from the Geneva-based U.N. human rights office visited the region in May, followed in June by a trip to refugee camps in Algeria where some 160,000 Saharawis live under the Polisario, the independence movement that contests Morocco's rule of the territory. "Overall, the human rights situation is of serious concern, particularly in the Moroccan-administered territory of Western Sahara," said the report, which also questioned the degree of freedom in the Polisario camps.
The U.N. visits, carried out with the cooperation of Morocco and Polisario, came as a response to a wave of reported crackdowns by Moroccan police against pro-independence activists in Western Sahara that began in May 2005. "The report contributes nothing toward a solution" to the Western Sahara question, Benadballah said. The United Nations has for years worked to find a solution to the conflict and brokered a truce in 1991. However, peace negotiations are stalled. The Polisario wants an independence referendum, initially proposed by the United Nations. Morocco has held out a form of regional autonomy to end the more than three-decade crisis. Morocco last week abruptly canceled a planned visit to Western Sahara by a human rights team from the European Parliament because "some of the members were aligned with ... Polisario," Benabdallah said, adding that visiting delegations "must be balanced."
Nepal govt, Maoists struggle in peace talks
Deepesh Shrestha, Agence France Presse, 10/12/06
Nepal's Maoists and government officials held brief talks on Thursday with the two sides still unable to overcome differences on power sharing and what the rebels should do with their weapons. Officials said the two-hour meeting ended with the seven-party coalition government asking for more time to prepare its position. Further negotiations are due Sunday. "The talks have been delayed because we are dealing with all these political issues that need to be settled," Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula told reporters.
The main bones of contention between the rebels and government are the role of the monarchy, arms management and finalising an interim constitution that will allow the rebels to join an interim government. "The spirit of the talks is very positive and we are near to reaching a conclusion," said Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the coordinator of the rebels' talks team. The brief meeting followed talks on Sunday and Tuesday aimed at bringing the rebels into the impoverished Himalayan kingdom's political mainstream by sharing power with the coalition government.
On Tuesday, the two sides agreed to hold elections by mid-2007 for a body that will rewrite the constitution and decide on whether the monarchy can stay. But they were unable to reach a deal on the future of the arms and soldiers from the 35,000-strong Maoist People's Liberation Army. The Maoists have said that they are prepared to keep their weapons and personnel in camps supervised by the United Nations, but the multi-party government wants them to disarm.
The rebels want to see Nepal's 90,000-strong army confined to barracks in the run-up to the elections. Thursday's talks also saw around 1,000 people protest outside the venue over the slow-moving pace of negotiations. Dozens of police watched as the protesters chanted "make the peace talks successful" and "declare an interim government immediately".
Before Thursday's talks, rebel leader Prachanda and second-in-command Baburam Bhatterai met with the UN special envoy on Nepal's peace process, Ian Martin. "They (Martin and the rebel leaders) discussed the modalities of arms management which will be undertaken after agreement on political issues," said Gurung, the rebel negotiator.
An editorial in the Kathmandu Post urged the two sides to resolve their differences
on weapons. "So long as armed militias move freely in towns and villages
and intimidate people, there cannot be a fair election," said the editorial
in the English language daily. The Maoists control large swathes of the countryside.
A ceasefire has been in effect for the past five months between the government
and the rebels since massive street protests forced King Gyanendra to give up
14 months of absolute rule and restore parliament. This is the third time the
two sides have tried to hammer out a peace deal to end an insurgency that has
claimed more than 12,500 lives. The other two attempts ended in a return to
fighting.
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U.S., Philippine officials warn of possible bombings in southern Mindanao
Jim Gomez, Associated Press, 10/10/06
U.S. and Philippine officials said Tuesday they had received credible intelligence that a terrorist group may be planning to carry out bombings in southern Mindanao, where the wife of a top Indonesian militant was captured last week. Istiada Binti Oemar Sovie was arrested on southern Jolo island, in the Mindanao region. She is the wife of Dulmatin, an Al Qaeda-linked Indonesian militant who is among Asia's most wanted terrorist suspects, mainly for his alleged role in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. The U.S. Embassy warned that it had received "credible information" that a terrorist group may be plotting bomb attacks, particularly in cities in central Mindanao, "over the next several days." "Although there is no specific targeting information, U.S. citizens should avoid travel to that area," the embassy said in an advisory to its citizens without specifying the source of the threat.
Two Philippine security officials monitoring the area said Dulmatin's group, the Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah, and its local ally, the Abu Sayyaf, have long planned bombings in Mindanao. They said the capture of Dulmatin's wife may expedite the plans in retaliation for her arrest. The officials requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
A bomb wounded at least six people Tuesday in a public market in Tacurong city, in southern Sultan Kudarat province. A security guard found the bomb, stashed in a bag filled with packs of corn chips, and hurled it away from a crowd before it exploded, preventing more casualties, army Col. Felipe Tabas said. No group claimed responsibility. Tabas called it an act of terrorism. "Nobody can do this except terrorists," he told The Associated Press by telephone.
The bomb was made from a small mortar round and could be remotely triggered using a cell phone but it apparently went off prematurely after the guard tossed it to an area near a toilet, police Chief Superintendent German Doria. Such bombs have been used in the past by Al Qaeda-linked groups like Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf but investigators were trying to determine if other groups, like extortion gangs, were involved, Doria said.
Security at the market had been bolstered because of intelligence reports it could be targeted. About 10 security guards were deployed there recently, he said. Muslim and communist guerrillas have operated in the past in Tacurong, a predominantly Christian agricultural region 950 kilometers (590 miles) southeast of Manila. In southern Zamboanga city, police have been placed on alert to safeguard an annual Roman Catholic festival this week that culminates with a public parade on Thursday.
The predominantly Christian city of about 700,000 has been hit by deadly bomb attacks in recent years that were blamed on the Abu Sayyaf, which is on a U.S. list of terrorist groups. The United States has offered a US$10 million (euro7.9 million) reward for the capture of Dulmatin and US$1 million (euro0.79 million) for another Indonesian, Umar Patek. The two are believed to be hiding in Jolo with Abu Sayyaf guerrillas.
Security stepped up in Philippines after deadly bomb attack
Tony Ninok, Agence France Presse, 10/11/06
Security was stepped up across the Philippines Wednesday after a bomb blamed on Al Qaeda-linked militants killed 12 people and wounded more than 40 others. The attack on the southern island of Mindanao came amid warnings from security experts that the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and Abu Sayyaf militant groups were plotting attacks in retaliation for Manila's continued support of the US "war on terror". "The military has issued a directive to intensify intelligence gathering and security in our areas of responsibility," said Major Eugene Batara, a spokesman for the armed forces in the south. Police were also placed on heightened alert in Manila.
The US and Australian governments issued warnings to their citizens to restrict travel to Mindanao amid intelligence reports that more attacks would be carried out in cities and urban areas in the region. Twelve people were killed and at least 42 wounded in a bomb blast in Makilala on Mindanao during a celebration to mark the town's 52nd anniversary.
The attack followed an earlier bombing in the busy market of Tacurong City, just 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Makilala, North Cotabato province which wounded four people. In Makilala, grieving and dazed relatives gathered at the cordoned off blast site Wednesday as ordnance experts gathered evidence. Dried blood could be seen on the ground, while mismatched shoes and pieces of clothing littered the area. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but police and the military say they bore the hallmarks of JI and Abu Sayyaf.
Key JI figures Dulmatin and Umar Patek, who are wanted for the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali which killed more than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists, have joined forces with Abu Sayyaf militants while on the run on the southern island of Jolo. Local military chief Colonel Ruperto Pabustan said the bomb blast may be a diversionary tactic to weaken the offensive against JI and Abu Sayyaf on Jolo. It may also be in revenge for the arrest of Dulmatin's wife, Istiada H. Oemar Sovie, last week. "This is the signature of terrorist groups like JI and Abu Sayyaf," he said, citing similarities to past bombings in the area. "We have intelligence reports that more attacks are planned in Mindanao urban centers." Sovie is being held by military intelligence, and under questioning had told them that her husband would fight to the death. She also said attacks would be carried out against key targets in the south, where she said JI operatives were also training with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The 12,000-strong MILF has signed a truce with Manila, but has recently warned of fresh hostilities after an impasse in peace talks. It has also denied persistent reports of having links with JI. "We deny having a hand in the latest attack," MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu told AFP. "While there is an impasse in talks, the truce is still holding."
The US embassy in a notice to its citizens in the Philippines said it had "received credible information that a terrorist group may be planning to carry out bombing attacks" on Mindanao in the next several days. Australia warned its citizens Tuesday to avoid parts of the Philippines, saying credible reports indicated attacks on places frequented by foreigners remained imminent.
UN temporarily pulls international staff out of Somalia after threats
Anthony Mitchell, Associated Press, 10/12/06
The U.N. said Thursday it had temporarily pulled international staff out of parts of Somalia after receiving threats in the chaotic nation where Islamic extremists are consolidating control. U.N. officials did not say who made the threats but said they were investigating and took them seriously. Aid workers, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of matter, said three threats via e-mail and letter came from Islamic extremists in Somalia. A leader of the Islamic group, which controls most of southern Somalia, said the move was unwarranted. "The pullout by humanitarian agencies is a new war against the Somali people because there is stability in Somalia," top Islamic leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed told a Somali radio station late Thursday. "I urge Somalis to unite together so as not to depend on foreign aid." Abdirahim Ali Mudey, a spokesman for the group, also said the U.N. move was unnecessary: "They have seen the stability in the capital." Officials for the Somali government, which has been increasingly sidelined by the Islamic group, were not immediately available for comment.
Some 46 international U.N. staff were pulled from northeastern, south and central Somalia on Sept. 21. Among them were 16 from Baidoa, the seat of the virtually powerless government, and the nearby town of Wajid, the base of the U.N.'s operations in southern Somalia. The anonymous threats were issued at the time an Italian nun and her bodyguard was gunned down in the capital, Mogadishu on Sept. 17 and Somalia's president narrowly escaped a suicide car bombing a day later in Baidoa, 250 kilometers (150 miles) from Mogadishu. The Somali government blamed both those attacks on Islamic radicals. The Islamic movement denied involvement. As well as humanitarian work the U.N. is also helping rebuild government institutions and infrastructure through training and supporting the police force, parliament and judiciary. "We take threats to our staff very seriously," said U.N. spokeswoman Sandra Macharia. "Clearly the situation in Somalia is quite fluid so we relocate all the time."
She declined to reveal the nature of the threats or when the U.N. would return to the south. Some 30 staff returned to the semiautonomous region of Puntland, in northeastern Somalia last week, an area that is not occupied by Islamic radicals who control most of southern Somalia. However the south remains out of bounds and missions to Mogadishu, which was taken over by the Islamic group in June after days of bloody fighting, are suspended until further notice. The U.N. is currently assessing the security situation before making any decision to return, she added. Despite the pullout, Somali U.N. staff were still carrying out humanitarian work. Already the war-ravaged country is facing a dire humanitarian situation with 1.8 million Somalis needing aid because of poor rains in the region.
Meanwhile Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki called for greater international support to help stabilize Somalia, saying his country was facing a mass influx of refugees more than 30,000 have flooded across the border into Kenya since the beginning of the year. In a statement from the presidential press service, he said unrest in Somalia also worsening the problems of small arms trafficking in the region. Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohammed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy. The transitional government was formed in 2004 with U.N. help in hopes of restoring order. But it has struggled to assert authority and the Islamic movement stepped into the vacuum.
The Islamic group's strict and often severe interpretation of Islam raises memories of Afghanistan's Taliban, which was ousted by a U.S.-led campaign for harboring Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida fighters. It has brought public floggings and executions to Mogadishu. The United States has accused Somalia's Islamic group of sheltering suspects in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Bin Laden has said Somalia is a battleground in his war on the West.
Somalia's Islamic radicals repel attack to recapture port, say witnesses and
officials
Nasteex Dahir Farah, Associated Press, 10/15/06
Somalia's Islamic radicals repulsed an attack by pro-government forces to recapture a vital seaport, officials said, amid warnings of a new offensive. Militia loyal to defense minister, Col. Barre "Hirale" Aden Shire, tried to retake Kismayo, Somalia's third largest town, late Friday, three weeks after losing control of the port. "We will continue to launch attacks until we recapture the city," Col. Abas Gurei, a military commander with Shire told The Associated Press by telephone on Saturday.
The fighting on the town's outskirts lasted for two hours as rival forces used heavy machine guns and rocket propelled grenades, witnesses said. Shire's forces then retreated, an Islamic group official said. Three civilians and two militia, one from each side, were injured in the fighting, said Abdi Yusuf, an official from Kismayo's local hospital. Abdi Ahmed, head of security within the Islamic group in the region, said locals who they believe helped plan the attack by the pro-government militia were being arrested. Among those arrested was the wife of Shire, he said. "We are prepared for further attacks and we have put our forces on alert," he told journalists. "We will defend Kismayo."
Armed Islamic militia are patrolling the streets and tensions remained high. The Islamic courts militia has swept through southern Somalia since taking over the capital in June. Its strict and often severe interpretation of Islam raises the specter of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, and contrasts with the moderate Islam that has dominated Somali culture for centuries. They have introduced public executions and floggings.
Earlier Friday, Shire's militia and those of the Islamic group clashed briefly in the town of Bu'aale, some 350 kilometers (220 miles) south of Baidoa, the only town controlled by Somalia's weak government. Shire had been regrouping his forces near Bu'aale. Islamic militia took Kismayo 400 kilometers (260 miles) southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, from Shire on Sept. 23 without a shot being fired. But their arrival met with local protests. Meanwhile the Islamic group continued to expand Saturday, with the symbolic takeover of Brava, a coastal town 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of the capital, and one of the small pockets in the south still outside of their control. The town's leaders are sympathetic to the Islamic group, but pledged to hand over their weapons. Among those attending the ceremony was Aden Hashi Ayro, the military commander of the Islamic movement and allegedly received al-Qaida training in Afghanistan.
Many residents credit the courts with bringing a semblance of order, but Somalia still remains chaotic and violent. An Italian nun was shot and killed on Sept. 17. A day later, the president of Somalia's interim government survived an assassination attempt when a suicide car bomb exploded outside parliament. Islamic leaders have denied responsibility for both attacks. Days after the attacks, the U.N. pulled international staff out of central and southern Somalia, saying it received threats. Aid workers, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, said the threats came from Islamic extremists. Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy. A government was formed in 2004 with U.N. help in hopes of restoring order after years of lawlessness. But it never asserted much authority and the Islamic group has stepped into the power vacuum.
The United States has accused the Islamic group of sheltering suspects in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden has portrayed Somalia as a battleground in his war against the U.S.
New front opens in Sri Lanka after big military losses
Agence France Presse, 10/13/06
Sri Lanka's military and the Tamil Tiger rebels opened a new front after an earlier fierce battle killed 129 soldiers, casting a shadow over peace talks planned for late October. Troops and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) blamed each other for the new flareup in the eastern district of Ampara, which followed heavy fighting on the northern Jaffna peninsula on Wednesday. "LTTE terrorists launched artillery and mortar shells towards the police Special Task Force (STF) defences," at Kandjikudiaru in Ampara, the defence ministry said. "The Liberation Tigers fighters were engaged in defensive clashes with the STF troopers, according to the Tiger political chief of Ampara district," the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website said. There were no reports of casualties in the overnight artillery exchanges which began late Thursday.
The LTTE meanwhile handed over 74 bodies of government soldiers killed in the Jaffna battle. The government said 129 soldiers were killed. "The handover took place yesterday evening at 8 p.m. local time at Omantai checkpoint on the A-9 road," said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which acted as an intermediary.
Omantai, 260 kilometres (160 miles) north of Colombo, is on the de facto border separating government and rebel-held territory. Reporters were not allowed to witness the military receiving the bodies, which were transported from rebel-held territory and handed over by the ICRC. The military casualties were the worst suffered by troops in a single battle since a Norwegian-brokered truce agreed in February 2002 but which is almost in tatters. The military claimed it killed over 200 Tigers but the guerrillas said they lost 22 men, revising up their earlier claim of 10 dead. The heavy bloodshed cast a shadow over peace talks planned to be held in Switzerland in late October. Britain, Sri Lanka's former colonial power, urged both sides to resume negotiations.
"Our firm view is that dialogue, not violence, is the only viable route to resolving the conflict," the British High Commission said in its annual human rights report released Thursday. The report also accused both the government and the Tamil Tigers of killing civilians.
Meanwhile, two men were shot dead in the government-held town of Vavuniya on Friday, police said. Scandinavian truce monitors began probing the killing of the unidentified men in the de facto border town, which has seen a spate of similar murders. Despite the ongoing violence, diplomats said Norway, the top peace broker in Sri Lanka, was planning to dispatch special envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer to work out details for the peace talks set for October 28 and 29. "They have now agreed on a time and venue, but there is the question of logistics and a lot of details to be sorted out," a diplomat said. He said Japan, Sri Lanka's main financial backer, was also sending special peace envoy Yasushi Akashi to the island on Sunday to meet with the government and the secretive Tiger leadership.
Neither the government nor the Tigers have said they would not attend the proposed talks in Switzerland, but they have yet to announce their negotiating teams. The United States, a key backer of Sri Lanka's faltering peace bid, said it was "deeply concerned that ongoing violence in Sri Lanka is putting the agreement (to resume talks) at risk." Norway has been working to restore the 2002 ceasefire and end spiralling violence which has claimed more than 2,200 lives since December, according to an official tally. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the three-decades-old conflict for a Tamil homeland on the Sinhalese-majority island.
Japanese peace envoy in bid to save Sri Lankan ceasefire
Seth Meixner, Agence France Presse, 10/15/06
Japanese peace envoy Yasushi Akashi was expected in Sri Lanka Sunday for talks with government and rebel leaders amid fears that the island is veering dangerously close to all-out war. His arrival follows reports of overnight shelling and other bloodshed that capped off one of Sri Lanka's most violent weeks since a 2002 ceasefire between Colombo and Tamil Tiger rebels that was meant to end decades of bloodshed. Both the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) maintain they are committed to peace talks planned for later this month, and claim to have only been defending themselves in the recent eruption of fighting. But "the big fear is they may not stick to that position for too long" and go on the offensive, one diplomat, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
During his six-day visit, Akashi will hold talks with senior government officials and hopes to meet top LTTE leaders, although a sit-down with the Tiger's reclusive commander Velupillai Prabhakaran is unlikely. Akashi would "exchange views on the peace process and its future with leaders of political parties, international organisations and others," the Japanese embassy said in a statement. His arrival is the first of several by foreign envoys this week as the international community struggles to salvage the October 28-29 peace talks in Switzerland that many fear have been doomed by the upsurge in fighting.
Norway, the main peace broker in Sri Lanka, was planning to dispatch special envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer Tuesday to work out details for the talks, while US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher was also expected later this week as diplomatic pressure is stepped up on the warring sides.
More than 2,200 people have been killed in spiralling violence since December, according to official figures. Both sides have accused each other of sporadic violence since a major clash last week, including shelling and air strikes against villages. Two soldiers were killed and 13 wounded when Tigers fired on defense lines Saturday in the northern Jaffna peninsula, the defense ministry said. A suspected Tiger trawler was sunk off the northwest coast Sunday after it opened fire on navy patrols, the military also said. In the capital, security patrols could be seen searching vehicles at several points around the city. Concerned with the escalation in fighting, the European Union at the weekend urged both sides "to cease all hostilities immediately and create an environment for constructive discussion".
In a sign of growing international frustration, Sri Lanka's second-largest donor behind Japan has frozen more than 38 million euros (47.5 million US dollars) in aid projects, local media reported. The Finnish EU presidency also added that it was "deeply concerned about the increasing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law". "The presidency urges the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to ensure that humanitarian aid deliveries be granted free access to conflict-affected areas and that the security of humanitarian workers will be guaranteed," a statement said.
The Civil Monitoring Committee (CMC), formed recently in Colombo by Tamil and
Sinhala politicians, reported Saturday that at least 29 people remained missing
and sounded the alarm over "many acts of disappearances, abductions, killings
and extortions." At least eight Sinhalese migrant workers were gunned down
over the weekend by suspected rebels near the frontline town of Vavuniya, 260
kilometres (160 miles) north of Colombo, police said. More than 60,000 people
have been killed in the three-decades-old conflict for a Tamil homeland on the
Sinhalese-majority island.
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Large clashes between rebel and government forces in North Darfur
Alfred de Montesquiou, Associated Press, 10/10/06
A bout of intense fighting has erupted in the northern part of Darfur, with hundreds of rebels and Sudanese government troops wounded or captured in clashes this week near the border with Chad a flareup likely to worsen the humanitarian situation, international observers and a rebel group said Tuesday.
Separately, the Sudanese air force has extended its attacks on villages in rebel-controlled areas north of the regional capital of El Fasher, the international groups said. The number of civilian casualties in these bombings, which the Sudanese military denied Tuesday was continuing, is not known, the United Nations mission in Sudan said.
The new outburst of fighting is likely to worsen the already dire humanitarian situation. At least 18,000 people have fled fighting in North Darfur in the past month alone, streaming into refugee camps in El Fasher, the U.N. says. That has worsened a refugee problem that already had seen 2.5 million people displaced from their homes in the last three years. More than 200,000 people are believed to have been killed. The latest violence, which began Saturday, pits Sudanese government forces against a relatively new group of Darfur rebels known as the National Redemption Front. The coalition loosely regroups various rebel factions who oppose a peace agreement signed in May between the government and one rebel movement.
That peace deal has largely become moot amid increased rebel infighting in recent weeks and the large Sudanese government offensive. The U.N. says both the government offensive and rebel attacks violate the agreement. But Sudan's government opposes a plan to replace a current, underfunded African Union peacekeeping force with a 20,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission. Meanwhile, more than 350,000 people are cut off from humanitarian aid in Darfur's north because the area is too dangerous for aid workers.
Low-level clashes, tribal raids and looting of refugee camps make up most of the violence in Darfur, a vast, arid region nearly the size of Texas. But several larger-scale battles have taken place north of El Fasher since the government launched the offensive against NRF rebels in August. The latest fighting began Saturday near Bahia, along the porous border between Sudan and Chad in the far northwest of Darfur. Rebels said in a statement that they were attacked by a force of Sudanese army and a pro-government militia of Arab nomads known as the Janjaweed, accused of some of the worst atrocities against ethnic African villagers. Government forces attacked with 2,000 fighters on camels, horses and more than 100 armored vehicles, the rebels said, claiming they had won the clashes.
The governor of North Darfur declined several requests for an interview. The Sudanese military confirmed Tuesday the clashes in North Darfur but would not say how many of its forces were killed or wounded. "The army is only trying to defend its positions after it was attacked by rebels," a spokesman for the military said on condition of anonymity for security reasons. An aid worker in Chad, speaking on condition of anonymity also for security reasons, said Sudanese soldiers had crossed the border into eastern Chad during the attack. But three international observers based in Darfur said they believed the assault was jointly launched by NRF rebels and a unit from the Chadian army that had crossed the border into Sudan. Each of the three is from a different international group and all three talked on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity. One of the observers showed the Associated Press a document by an international group that outlined details of the recent fighting. Some 350 Sudanese soldiers were captured with their weapons and more than 70 vehicles taken, the observer said, citing the battle reports. Four-by-four pickup trucks are the most widespread means of transporting troops in Darfur.
Chad has had little comment except to say, in a statement on state-run radio, that 103 Sudanese soldiers had asked for help after a battle, and that six were still receiving medical treatment while the rest were to be repatriated to Sudan. It had no comment on whether its forces had crossed into Sudan. Sudan has long accused Chad of supporting the Darfur rebels, and Chad has in turn accused Khartoum of backing a rebellion in eastern Chad. Both countries reopened their borders in August, and resumed diplomatic relations that they had severed in April, but analysts warn the ongoing war in Darfur threatens to destabilize the entire region. The international observers in Darfur estimate that the NRF has a couple of thousand fighters opposing about 5,000 Sudanese soldiers backed by aircraft and at least 2,000 Janjaweed militia. They say the rebels are holding their own because of support they receive from Chad and also because the Sudanese soldiers are from other parts of the country, not Darfur, and thus unused to fighting in a desert environment. While the main clashes occurred in far northwest Darfur, Sudanese government air raids against rebel zones have been taking place across other parts of the north, the observers said. Villagers in the northeast told an AP reporter they were bombed last week.
Think-tank urges sanctions on Khartoum over Darfur
Agence France Presse, 10/12/06
International diplomacy has failed to stem the bloodshed in Sudan's western region of Darfur and tough sanctions are the only way to break the deadlock, a think-tank said in a report published Thursday. The International Crisis Group recommended travel bans and asset freezes be imposed on key members of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir's ruling National Congress Party. It also said oil sanctions should be considered as well as a no-fly zone enforced over Darfur, which has been in the grip of conflict and a humanitarian crisis since February 2003.
At least 200,000 people have died as a result of fighting, famine and disease, and more than two million have fled their homes in Darfur since the conflict erupted between local rebels and pro-government militia. The ICG report warned that the humanitarian disaster unfolding in the impoverished region could worsen if Khartoum was allowed to continue exploiting international divisions. "The impasse over deploying a major UN peacekeeping force to Darfur results directly from the international community's three-year failure to apply effective diplomatic and economic pressure on Sudan's government and its senior officials," the 19-page report said.
The UN Security Council adopted on August 31 a resolution calling for the deployment of up to 20,000 peacekeepers in Darfur, where cash-strapped and ill-equipped African Union monitors have failed to quell the violence. The Sudanese government has consistently rejected such a deployment. "This now requires tough new measures to concentrate minds and change policies in Khartoum," the report said, stressing that "patient diplomacy and trust in Khartoum's good faith has been a patent failure." Khartoum officials stand accused of genocide and war crimes over the fierce repression of the rebellion.
ICG said the peace agreement signed in Abuja last May by the Sudanese government and the largest rebel faction was "all but dead" and that a new peace process framework needed to be studied. The report pointed out that while the international community has used "generally strong rhetoric" against Khartoum, it "has only rarely brought meaningful pressure to bear on the Sudanese government." "This has given Sudan's ruling elite the belief it can act with virtual impunity in Darfur."
The think-tank urged the United States, United Nations, European Union and African -- together or unilaterally -- to slap travel bans and asset freezes on officials responsible for atrocities in Darfur. It said the Security Council should also commission an investigation into the accounts of the NCP and its affiliated businesses to cut funding for pro-government militias in Darfur. The international community should also "explore sanctions on aspects of Sudan's petroleum sector, the NCP's main source of revenue for waging war in Darfur," the report said. It also advised "immediate planning for enforcing a no-fly zone over Darfur by French and US assets in the region, with additional NATO support." The ICG is an independent non-profit organisation headquartered in Brussels and funded by government agencies, charities, companies and individual donors. Its president is former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans.
Genocide
in Darfur: A Legal Analysis
Click
here to access the Report prepared by the Public International Law & Policy
Group.