Contents:
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers were to meet last Friday; date
still not set for meeting of the presidents.
Rebels shopping for food a tenuous sign of hope for Burundi cease-fire
But to many, the mere sight of exhausted rebels trickling out of their mountain
hideouts is hardly enough to convince them that the bloodshed is over.
Chechen premier's clout leaves war-ravaged region's future in question
Prime minister Ramzan Kadyrov turns 30, the minimum age to become president.
Anna Politkovskaya suffered three shots to her body.
EU drone crashes in Kinshasa, one dead
Two children injured in crash that was due to unknown cause.
Democratic Republic of Congo Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the DR Congo Negotiation Simulation.
Russian ambassador to the UN submitted a resolution urging Georgia to pull
back from the Kodori Valley and to abandon plans to install a "government
of the autonomous republic of Abkhazia" there.
Aceh Negotiation Simulation Click
here to access the Aceh Negotiation Simulation.
ECOWAS
meets on Ivory Coast amid warnings of unrest
West African leaders including Gbagbo met in Nigeria to try to re-start
Ivory Coast's stalled peace process and prevent more unrest in the divided country.
A year after quake, Kashmir peace hopes buried by terror
attacks
Peace looks no closer one year after 73,000 earthquake deaths.
Kashmir Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the Kashmir Negotiation Simulation.
Kosovo
Albanian PM says Serbia must be realistic about Kosovo independence
Prime Minister says that an independent Kosovo would contribute to Serbia's
stability.
Russian parliament supports independence vote in breakaway Moldovan region
Parliament overwhelmingly approved a non-binding statement calling
on the Russian government and the world community not to ignore Trans-Dniester’s
independence referendum.
Nepal Maoists must change to get off US terror list: official
Steven Mann says the rebels use violence and intimidation, and need to undertake
a "fundamental, sustained change in behaviour."
Nepal's
Maoists, government open crucial peace talks
The negotiations are aimed at hammering out a new, temporary constitution
that would bring the insurgents into the political mainstream.
At least 400 people marched through Kismayo to protest plans for a regional
peacekeeping mission.
Sri Lanka: Fighting Deepens Humanitarian Crisis in Jaffna
Half a million people are short of food and fuel on the peninsula.
Sudan presses fence-mending with UN over Darfur
Sudan denied suggestions that it had tried to "intimidate" countries
planning to contribute troops to a proposed UN force for Darfur.
Genocide in Darfur: A Legal Analysis Click here to access the PILPG
Report.
OSCE brokers new round of Nagorno-Karabakh talks between Armenia,
Azerbaijan
Avet Demourian, Associated Press, 10/3/06
Envoys from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Tuesday brokered a new round of talks between foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict following a tense impasse. Yuri Merzlyakov, a Russian diplomat who co-chairs the so-called Minsk group of the OSCE dealing with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said the two nations' foreign ministers were to meet Friday in Moscow. He said a time and venue for a meeting of presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan remain to be negotiated. The foreign ministers' meeting would restart bilateral talks which have been interrupted recently due to the lack of progress.
"We would like to rejuvenate direct contacts between the sides, and I think we have achieved this goal," said U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew J. Bryza, another co-chair. OSCE envoys held talks in Armenia Tuesday a day after visiting Azerbaijan.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a region in Azerbaijan that has been under the control of Armenian and ethnic-Armenian Karabakh forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year separatist war that killed about 30,000 people and drove about 1 million from their homes. The region's final status has not been worked out, and years of talks under the auspices of OSCE mediators have brought little visible result. Talks in France in February between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev and Armenian President Robert Kocharian about the enclave broke down, and the two leaders again failed to agree on principles for settling the conflict when they met again in Romania in June. "We aren't saying that we are on the verge of a grand breakthrough or that the difficult problems have got any easier, but we do sense the willingness of the sides to think in a deeper way and look for a way to move ahead," Bryza said. He said that lack of trust between the parties continued to hinder the talks and said that "an effort to rebuild that confidence" was particularly important.
Earlier this year, OSCE mediators proposed a set of principles for settling
the conflict which included withdrawing Armenian troops from the Azerbaijani
territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh but suggested that a corridor linking
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh would remain under Armenian control. The principles
also included deploying international peacekeepers, resettling displaced people
and a referendum its timing and format to be worked out later on the final legal
status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Merzlyakov said Azerbaijan and Armenia were advised
to proceed from the same set of principles. "It's wrong to say that the
things already done are no longer on the table," he said.
Rebels shopping for food a tenuous sign of hope for Burundi cease-fire
Elizabeth A. Kennedy, Associated Press, 10/4/06
Days after the last rebel group in this beleaguered African nation agreed to stop fighting, the governor of Bubanza province took a phone call. The rebels were on the line and they wanted groceries. "The rebels called us asking if they could leave the hills and come to shop," said Gov. Pascal Nyabenda. His answer was yes if they left their weapons behind.
After a 12-year civil war that killed more than 250,000 Burundians, and measured against the bigger picture of the war in neighboring Congo that sucked in Burundi and a half-dozen other African countries, gunmen shopping for groceries suddenly becomes a fragile image of hope in the heart of Africa. But to many people here, the mere sight of exhausted rebels trickling out of their mountain hideouts is hardly enough to convince them that the bloodshed is over. The region is afflicted with extreme poverty, easy access to weapons, and the human dislocations caused by refugees pouring across borders. Now there are rumors of a shadowy plot to overthrow the Burundian government, and many in this country of 8 million people are wondering whether peace can last.
Burundi's neighbor to the north, Rwanda, suffered the genocidal slaughter of the 1990s. Congo endured six years of what came to be called an African world war. So last month's cease-fire in Burundi is key to long-term peace not only in the Maryland-sized country, but in Rwanda and Congo, where the rebels had bases, said Jason Stearns, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, a conflict prevention center.
"The spiral of violence in Burundi had a strong impact on the lead-up to the genocide in Rwanda," Stearns said. "Further war and conflict in Burundi could have a strong impact on Rwanda or the Congo." Burundi has long been riven by tension between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis, who dominated the government after independence from Belgium in 1962. The war started in 1993, when Tutsi paratroopers assassinated the country's first democratically elected president, a Hutu.
Like Rwanda, which has the same Hutu-Tutsi divide, Burundi became a slaughterhouse. Over the past few years, rebel groups have slowly agreed to disarm, and democratic elections in 2005 produced a new Burundian government under a Hutu president. But the rebels of one group, the National Liberation Force, kept up its attacks until it signed last month's cease-fire, and the government is still marking out safe locations where its fighters can assemble and disarm. Many emerge seeking food, but return to their hideouts for safety, witnesses say.
"They have health problems, no food and no clothes," President Pierre Nkurunziza told The Associated Press in an interview. "So they decided to join the peace process." Nyabenda, the governor of Bubanza, 18 miles from Bujumbura, the capital, said many rebels still have firearms. "We think the government should quickly provide them with food so they don't start stealing again," he said.
Even without thieving rebels, however, Burundi remains plagued by violence. Several crowded pubs have been hit by grenades recently in unexplained attacks. Jerome Ntamagendero's pub, La Grande Etoile, was struck by seven grenades in an attack in September, causing more than 30 injuries. "The fact that there is a cease-fire is a good thing, it can contribute to peace," said Ntamagendero. But he added: "The crisis has not ended yet, and the population is still traumatized."
About 80 percent of Burundians are subsistence farmers, and nearly half its
adults are illiterate. The economy, based on coffee exports, has been ravaged.
But the president, Nkurunziza, points to other harbingers of peace. In April,
13 years of midnight-to-dawn curfew came to an end, and pubs and restaurants
are doing more business. The U.N., confident the country is stabilizing, will
end its peacekeeping mission here on Dec. 31 and instead focus on development.
Politics seem less stable, however. The government has been saying for months
that it uncovered a coup plot and has arrested seven people, including a former
president. Critics say the coup story is a ruse to justify arresting opposition
members. Nkurunziza acknowledges the government is widely distrusted, but insists:
"The justice system has irrefutable proof and that is what has allowed
continued detention." A court hearing for the accused in late September
was closed to the public more than 100 police officers sealed the building then
delayed without explanation. No new date was given.
Chechen premier's clout leaves war-ravaged region's future in question
Steve Gutterman, Associated Press, 10/4/06
Birthdays may be no big deal for most adults, but grownups in Chechnya's Moscow-backed government have been looking excitedly to Thursday, when regional prime minister Ramzan Kadyrov turns 30. That's the minimum age to become president of the war-ravaged southern Russian region, where Kadyrov is the Kremlin favorite and the focus of a mounting personality cult that is stoking speculation he will take over the top job when elections are held within next two years. Kadyrov's reputation has been tainted by widespread accusations of abuse by security forces under his control. His growing power clouds the future of Chechnya as it struggles to emerge from 12 years of war and chaos and raises questions about the Kremlin's strategy in a region whose bloodstained recent history has hampered Russia's own recovery from decades of Communism.
Kadyrov and his forces have been useful for the Kremlin, which is seeking to uproot remaining militants and strengthen control over Chechnya years after the end of the fiercest fighting. Their methods, meanwhile, have come under scrutiny by rights groups that accuse them of abductions and abuse of civilians and call Kadyrov a key figure behind Chechnya's persistent climate of fear. Kadyrov, who has persuaded or coerced militants to switch sides by offering them personal security guarantees, is also at the center of a volatile web of former rebels and competing security forces that analysts worry could explode into severe violence if destabilized.
"Too much depends on Ramzan," said Alexander Cherkasov, a Chechnya expert at the Russian human rights organization Memorial. Any visitor to Chechnya might think Kadyrov is already its president. His face is featured on roadside billboards that picture him with smiling children, and banners proclaim him "a worthy leader of the Chechen people." In a personality cult reminiscent of North Korea's glorification of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il and his late father "Great Leader" Kim Il Sung, Kadyrov is cast as the heir to his father Akhmad Kadyrov, Chechnya's first pro-Moscow president, who was elected in October 2003 and assassinated seven months later.
Kadyrov is sometimes pictured with Vladimir Putin, but his portraits in Chechnya outnumber likenesses of the Russian president to say nothing of Alu Alkhanov, the mild-mannered Chechen president who replaced Akhmad Kadyrov but is seen as less powerful than his boisterous son. After years with little sign of improvement in the region's war-ruined landscape, some Chechens see Kadyrov as the engine of the construction boom that has recently taken off. "Whatever he undertakes, whatever he promises, he gets it done," said Rita Saidulayeva, 27, passing the time with co-workers outside at a jewelry shop on a completely restored street in Gudermes, Chechnya's second-largest city, that is home to a sports complex called Ramzan and is closely guarded by Kadyrov's forces. "We want him to become president."
Kadyrov has appealed to youth in Chechnya by organizing rock concerts and beauty contests. And speaking to reporters last week in the Ramzan Boxing Club, part of the sports complex where he brought former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson to open a tournament last year, Kadyrov projected a boyish energy. There was not a whiff of the ring in the ornately appointed conference room, but Kadyrov casually dressed in a close-fitting black open-neck shirt bounded in like a boxer, sparring playfully with journalists to get on their good side but hitting back hard verbally when challenged.
He angrily denied that forces under his control bore any responsibility for abductions and torture that plague Chechnya, claiming critics who have made such claims were working for "enemies of Russia" out to destroy the nation by sowing further chaos in the region. While he praised Putin, he lashed out at the Russian government, bluntly accusing it of stealing money meant for reconstruction and thwarting Chechnya's efforts to get to its feet. He also vowed revenge against Russian generals he accused of abuse in the wars. The comments also raised the question of the extent of Kadyrov's loyalty to the Kremlin. He insisted he would "be with Russia for life," apparently aiming to ease concerns he could be using his Kremlin ties to gain power and eventually turn against the country.
Another source of potential friction is Kadyrov's advocacy of adherence to Islamic customs in mostly Muslim Chechnya. Kadyrov told reporters that Chechnya does not need Islamic Sharia law, saying Russian law has the same basic precepts, but also said he favors polygamy illegal in Russia because there are more women than men in the region. As for the Chechen presidency, Kadyrov said he was not yet ready but left the door wide open, suggesting he would take stock of the situation at year's end and saying that "if it is the will of the people ... we must agree with them."
Much will depend on the will of Putin, however, and some analysts say the Kremlin is unlikely to boost Kadyrov's power by maneuvering him into the presidency. Alkhanov's term expires in 2008, but an early election could be called if he resigned or were disabled. "Despite Ramzan's extravagance, he is a professional politician, and many in the Kremlin see his activity as quite dangerous," Andrei Ryabov, an analyst with the Gorbachev Foundation, wrote in the weekly Kommersant-Vlast.
Russian journalist critical of Chechnya, Kremlin found murdered
Sebastian Smith, Agence France Presse, 10/8/06
A Russian investigative journalist known for her prize-winning coverage of atrocities during the war in Chechnya, Anna Politkovskaya, was found murdered in Moscow on Saturday. A neighbour found Politkovskaya shot dead in the hallway of the building where she lived in the centre of the Russian capital, police told Russian news agencies and television. "One version of her death is premeditated murder linked to the victim's social or professional duties," first deputy prosecutor, Vyacheslav Rosinsky, said on state-owned Rossiya television. Police quoted by Rossiya said a Makarov pistol and four cartridges were found near her body.
The journalist, who wrote for the bi-weekly newspaper Novaya Gazeta, had been shot three times in the body, before being finished off with a "control shot," Rossiya quoted police as saying. The Moscow city prosecutor's office announced it had opened a murder inquiry, while colleagues, as well as the rights group Amnesty International, said they were sure the daring reporter had been killed because of her work. Even Chechnya's Kremlin-backed president, Alu Alkhanov, voiced outrage and regret overnight at Politkovskaya's murder, urging investigation and punishment of "all who stood behind this." "Though our views on what is happening in Chechnya were completely different, Politkovskaya was not indifferent to the Chechen people's fate," Alkhanov said, adding that "I and my colleagues sincerely regret what happened, and give our condolences to her family and friends."
Politkovskaya, reported by Russian media to have been 48, won fame for her persistent, often harrowing coverage of atrocities by Russian forces and Chechen militias, as well as corruption within the armed forces. Her journalism stood in increasingly stark contrast to the rest of the Russian media, which has largely ignored these politically explosive themes since President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000. "There was always a constant feeling something would happen to her," Oleg Panfilov at the Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situations, a media rights group, told AFP. "It's clear that the first thing that comes to mind is a murder connected to her professional activities," Vitaly Tretyakov, editor of the Moskovskiye Novosti newspaper, said.
Grave-faced, with large reading glasses and grey hair, Politkovskaya, who was born into the Soviet elite, never resembled the cliched image of the war journalist. Yet her angry and passionate reports were backed by detail gathered in interviews conducted everywhere from within military bases to the mountains of Chechnya -- trips rarely made independently by any Russian journalists. In January 2000 Politkovskaya was awarded the Golden Pen Award by the Russian Union of Journalists, and in February 2003 the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe gave her the Journalism and Democracy award. She was also the author of several books scathingly critical of the Russian authorities, including "Dirty War. A Russian reporter in Chechnya" and "Putin's Russia."
As a writer for Novaya Gazeta, Politkovskaya's audience was limited mostly to liberal intellectuals in Moscow and other major cities. However, she aired her strong condemnations of the more than decade-long conflict in Chechnya at every available opportunity on radio and television. On Thursday, in what would be one of her final appearances, she used a debate on US-run Radio Liberty to attack the Kremlin's controversial local strongman in Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. The campaigning journalist described Kadyrov, whose militias effectively control Chechnya, but have been frequently accused of torture and abductions, as "Stalin of our times."
"I dream of him sitting in the accused's box in court," she said, also describing Kadyrov, a close protege of Putin, as a "heavily armed coward." Panfilov said that Politkovskaya had been targeted before, including in an incident at the time of the Beslan hostage crisis in 2004 when she was allegedly poisoned. Within hours of her death, mourners gathered to place flowers and candles outside the door to her apartment building on Lesnaya Street. "There are very few such people. It's like the death of a relative, even though we never met," said Yevgeniya Lavut, standing at the scene with her grandfather, himself a former Soviet dissident.
The United States on Saturday expressed shock at the murder of investigative Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and urged Moscow to bring to justice those responsible. "The United States is shocked and profoundly saddened by the brutal murder of independent Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement. "The United States urges the Russian government to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation in order to find, prosecute, and bring to justice all those responsible for this heinous murder," the spokesman said.
EU drone crashes in Kinshasa, one dead
Agence France Presse, 10/3/06
One person was killed and two injured on Tuesday when a drone from the European Union force in the Democratic Republic of Congo crashed in the capital Kinshasa, witnesses and officials told AFP. "According to our information, a woman was killed and two children injured," said a spokesman for the force, EUFOR, adding that the reasons for the crash -- the second in less than three months -- were still unknown. He said the drone's signal had been lost shortly before the crash, but was unable to say if this was due to a technical fault or an external event such as an accidental collision or gunfire.
The drone, a remote-controlled, unmanned Belgian aircraft equipped with video cameras, came down near the capital's main stadium, just over a kilometre (0.6 miles) from the airbase where EUFOR is headquartered. It smashed to pieces and caught fire at around 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) shortly after taking off from the airbase, witnesses told AFP. Emergency services quickly put out the fire and brought the injured to hospital.
On July 28 another EU drone was shot down over the capital by small-calibre
gunfire, injuring eight people. Before Tuesday's crash EUFOR had four drones,
all provided by the Belgian military. EUFOR was deployed in July to provide
security for presidential and legislative elections in the DRC, reinforcing
the larger United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUC. The EU
force is made up of about 2,300 soldiers drawn from 20 member states plus Turkey,
with 1,100 based in Kinshasa and 1,200 backing up in Gabon.
Democratic Republic of Congo Negotiation Simulation
Click here
to access the DR Congo Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public International
Law & Policy Group.
Russia seeks UN help to get Georgian troops away from Abkhazia
Agence France Presse, 10/3/06
Russia on Tuesday sought help from the UN Security Council to get Georgia to withdraw its forces from an area near the breakaway province of Abkhazia amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi. Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin submitted a resolution in the council urging Georgia to pull back from the area known as the Kodori Valley and to abandon plans to install a "government of the autonomous republic of Abkhazia" there.
In July, Georgian troops mounted an operation in Kodori Gorge which Abkhazians and their Russian allies saw as a Georgian violation of a 1994 Moscow ceasefire agreement and a move toward taking control of the province. Churkin failed to secure the 15-member council's approval of a similar statement last week because of opposition by the United States. "We again are going to try to include very strong signals to the Georgian authorities, which would impress on them that the only way to deal with the situation is to comply with the existing UN Security Council resolutions, and international arrangements," Churkin told reporters. "It is imperative that they refrain from further provocative actions in this area."
Last week, Georgia, a former Soviet republic, arrested four Russian officers on spying charges, a move which Russian President Vladimir Putin described as "an act of state terrorism". The Russian officers were handed back on Monday in a Western-brokered deal after Moscow slapped sweeping punitive economic measures on Georgia. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow had "no intention" of lifting the sanctions despite the men's release, because of a series of other disputes with the former Soviet republic.
The sanctions include a halt to all air, sea, rail and road transport, as well as postal deliveries and money transfers made through the Russian postal system. Georgia is angered by Russia's tacit support for rebel Abkhazia, considered by the United States, the European Union and major international organizations as part of Georgia. In a statement released by his spokesman, UN chief Kofi Annan welcomed the release of the four Russian officers and expressed hope that Moscow and Tbilisi "will refrain from statements or actions that could affect stability in the region."
The new Russian draft was put forward as the Security Council was set to decide whether to extend the mandate of the UN mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), which expires October 15. UNOMIG -- 121 military observers and 12 civilian police officers -- was established in July 1993 after conflict erupted between Georgian authorities and those from Abkhazia, which proclaimed its independence. In his latest report on the situation in Abkhazia, Annan said the presence of UNOMIG "remains essential for maintaining stability in the zone of conflict and facilitating progress toward a negotiated peaceful settlement." He recommended a further six-month extension of UNOMIG's mandate until next April 15. Annan also warned that a negotiated solution for the Georgia-Abkhazia conflict is "undoubtedly difficult to reach today, as the positions of the two sides have grown further apart over the years on the question of political status."
Unease in Indonesia's Aceh as morality police get tough
Sophie Boudre, Agence France Presse, 10/6/06
Indonesian teenager Purnama Sari shivers when she recalls how Aceh's religious police ejected her and her girlfriends from their tents in a pre-dawn raid earlier this year. The teenagers were on a weekend camping retreat in the rugged hills of the Indonesian province at the northwestern tip of Sumatra -- and boys of their age were also there, staying in separate sleeping quarters. "They were hitting the tents and screaming 'Get out, get out!'" says the 18-year-old Islamic boarding school student, who wears a demure long skirt, long-sleeved blouse and a pastel-coloured headscarf, or jilbab. The men lectured the dozen girls on the risk of committing the sin of "khalwat" -- being illicitly close to a man -- before lining them up for identification at the nearest village. The boys were discreetly taken to a prayer hall, away from prying eyes.
"We felt like prostitutes," Purnama says. "Villagers were watching us, laughing. All of us girls were crying." Purnama, who says her initial admiration for the police has now evaporated, is a rare voice willing to criticise the implementation of sharia, or religious law, in Aceh, with few others complaining here for fear of being seen as bad Muslims. The pace of acceptance of sharia has accelerated across the province while many Indonesians elsewhere, who largely practise a more moderate version of the faith, follow developments carefully, some with alarm.
Even the UN's World Food Program (WFP) has been targetted. The religious police -- known formally as Wilayatul Hisbah (WH), taking their name from Iran's Vice and Virtue Patrol -- snuck into their compound last month. "There was nothing to find and they found nothing," says WFP spokesman Charlie Higgins of the incident, which highlighted the lack of clarity surrounding just how non-Muslims are affected by sharia. Dubbed the "verandah of Mecca," Aceh has for centuries been a staunchly Muslim heartland, with separatist rebels fighting for independence from Jakarta for the three decades until last year.
The province however only began building a framework for sharia from 1999 and the sharia police were tasked with monitoring compliance and warning offenders in 2004. Islamic courts were given approval to extend their reach to criminal justice in 2001, when a special autonomy law was passed by Jakarta as part of a bid to calm the restive province. Today public canings and fines are used as punishment for the consumption and sale of alcohol, gambling and "khalwat".
People in Aceh refuse to speak out against sharia, rights activist Aguswandi says, because they "are scared of being accused of being anti-Islam, of being targetted and also because there is no support for a different voice in Aceh. "There is no debate yet on sharia," he says. "Allah asked you to wear the jilbab!" For Achenese women, wearing the veil has never been a tradition -- but it may well soon be. "Allah asked you to wear the jilbab, it's a sin!" lectures a member of the mobile sharia police to a bare-headed woman sitting at Banda Aceh's ferry terminal.
Although sharia laws were permitted by Jakarta in a bid to quell unrest in the province, the rebels who signed a peace pact with Jakarta last year did not ask for it and they say the crackdown leaves them uneasy. "It's not up to the state to tell women how to dress," says Mohammed Nur Djuli, who was a senior member of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and helped negotiate the peace pact inked with the government just over a year ago. "A woman who wears the scarf because she's afraid of the police, does it mean she has become religious?" he asks. Raja Radan, the supervisor of Banda Aceh's 45-man morality team, insists patrols are only aimed at protecting them from sin. "If we see a woman date her boyfriend, we take her away from him to save her -- not to target her," he explains.
A recent report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) warns that a rising moral vigilantism triggered by the laws has victimized women and the poor. "There's a wide gulf between the popularity of Islamic law in principle and the unpopularity of how it's being enforced," ICG Southeast Asia project director Sidney Jones said when the report was released.
The head of the sharia department in Aceh, Al Yassa'abubakar, acknowledges that "there is still a lack of staff and training" in his department which can lead to "misunderstandings" such as the WFP incident. But, he says, sharia "helps create a conducive atmosphere for the economy, prosperity and justice in Aceh. People can work with peace of mind".
Raihana Diani, from the Acehnese Women's Organization for Democracy, says women here now feel under constant pressure and that implementing sharia could be counter-productive. "Islam is not an ideology but a culture," she says. "Forcing people will have negative consequences in the future. Sharia is not a need for the Acehnese. What they need is peace and prosperity." "This is the way Aceh should be"
Still, many Acehnese support the tighter restrictions. Near Banda Aceh's main mosque, 40-year-old Rajuna, who sells a traditional chewable mix of betel nut, chalk and betel leaf, says: "Now it's like the old times" when people had stronger principles. "This is the way Aceh should be," she says with satisfaction. In Tangan-Tangan, a small town southwest of Banda Aceh, people cluster to watch a couple about to be caned for committing adultery, among some 200 people who have been punished this way since it began in August last year. Maimuna Ishah, a local civil servant, laments that the punishment is not heavy enough. "In the Koran, the punishment should be 100 canings for the man who cheated on his wife. But here he only received nine and the woman five," she complains. Yuswardi, 17, chimes in: "It's a lesson for us adolescents. Older people being castigated become an example not to follow."
But even those supporting sharia's strict implementation complain it is not being fairly applied to all. "Punish the MPs too, apply the law," says Fatimah Alli, a farmer watching the ceremony. "It shouldn't only be small people who get caned, but also corrupters!" People caned for gambling have mostly been betting sums below 10,000 rupiah (a dollar) -- while notorious gambling rings run by the police or military have managed to elude trouble. "It is harder to find witnesses for big corruption cases," shrugs Yassa'abubakar.
Sharia is likely to be a key element of Aceh's first local elections slated for December 11, while candidates are being screened to ensure they can read the Koran. "This ruling makes no sense. Will they not be corrupt if they read the Koran better? This... creates politics without substance," rights worker Aguswandi warns.
Ivory Coast
UN reminds Ivory Coast of need to protect foreigners
Agence France Presse, 10/5/06
The UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast on Thursday reminded the Ivorian government of its obligation to protect foreigners on its territory, following a warning by President Laurent Gbagbo's party against nationals from other West African states. "It is necessary to remind the Ivory Coast government of its responsibilities with regards to security," Hamadoun Toure, spokesman of the United Nations Operation in Ivory Coast (UNOCI), told a news conference. Pascal Affi N'Guessan, leader of Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), warned the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to beware of the consequences for its citizens in Ivory Coast when it meets Friday to seek ways of helping the fellow member state out of its four-year crisis.
"ECOWAS should not forget that millions of its nationals live in Ivory Coast," he was quoted as saying. "Each one of these countries must think of their people," said the former prime minister, adding that the organisation must not "speak to create disorder". The UN's Toure said: "It comes back to the government to ensure the safety of all the people living in Ivory Coast."
ECOWAS described N'Guessan's statements as "irresponsible, inflammatory and totally unacceptable". "The statements are an affront to the entire ECOWAS region and show complete disrespect to the heads of state and government of ECOWAS," it said, reminding "N'Guessan of his personal responsibility should there be any acts of violence against ECOWAS citizens as a result of these threats."
Gbagbo's partisans meanwhile have asked the ECOWAS summit to lend "an attentive ear" to proposals the Ivorian hardline president will submit. "The heads of states going there must have an attentive ear to the proposals ... the president will make," said parliament speaker Mamadou Koulibaly, one of the most staunch Gbagbo loyalists. Gbagbo had not yet confirmed Thursday if he would go to Abuja.
International peace mediators working to end the political crisis in Ivory Coast have proposed boosting transitional Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny's powers while weakening those of Gbagbo to push forward the stalled peace process. But Ggagbo has said he will remain in office until elections are held in this cocoa-rich country which has failed twice in as many years to hold a vote following an unsuccessful coup attempt in 2002 that left the country effectively split in two, with a rebel-held north and the government in control of the south. ECOWAS is on Friday expected to chart a way out of the political crisis in Ivory Coast. Its recommendations are to be examined by the African Union before being endorsed by the UN Security Council.
ECOWAS meets on Ivory Coast amid warnings of unrest
Agence France Presse, 10/6/06
West African leaders including Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo met in Nigeria on Friday trying to re-start Ivory Coast's stalled peace process and prevent more unrest in the divided country. Leaders of the 15 nations of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which includes Ivory Coast, were due to try in one day to outline a new framework for political transition there. The peace process in Ivory Coast has been stalled since the postponement of a presidential election scheduled for late October. A closing statement drafted at Friday's summit was not yet available on Friday evening, but ECOWAS executive secretary Mohamed Ibn Chambas earlier said that the countries hoped to limit delays to the election process. "We will really send a strong message to these people (the Ivorians) and we will look forward to a situation whereby this will be the last postponement of an election date," ECOWAS executive secretary Mohamed Ibn Chambas told AFP before the plenary session began.
Meanwhile the Ivorian rebel group the New Forces (FN) warned that progress was needed to prevent further disorder in the country, in a stern statement against Ivory Coast's leaders. In a statement on its website, the FN's leader Guillaume Soros demanded that a "courageous decision" be taken against Gbagbo, so that "the sounds of boots heard in the south" should not "turn into the sound of bombs". "The path of democracy will not be sought by the current leaders" of Ivory Coast, Soros said.
Opened by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Abuja summit hopes to come up with concrete proposals prior to other meetings on the Ivory Coast peace process scheduled for later this month by the African Union and the United Nations. "This affair concerns everyone in West Africa and in Africa in general," ECOWAS chairman Mamadou Tandja declared before the leaders went into their closed-door meeting. "We are going to find the path towards peace and reconciliation. Concrete proposals must be adopted to lead to democratic elections in Ivory Coast."
The UN is expecting "clear proposals" from ECOWAS and from the forthcoming AU summit to be held on October 16 and 17 in Ethiopia. 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. The presidents of all but four of the member states were attending the meeting. Sierra Leone, Ghana, Gambia and Guinea sent senior officials. The summit is to examine the thorny question of what prerogatives the Ivorian government should enjoy.
The Ivorian opposition wants transitional Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny to have plenary power. The rebel New Forces, which have controlled the north of the country since September 2002, want Gbagbo to be replaced with a three-person transitional presidency. But Gbagbo, sheltering behind the constitution, firmly intends to stay president of the divided country until the next presidential election. The postponement of the October vote, which had already been delayed from October 2005, was officially announced by the UN in New York on September 20.
Gbagbo chose to boycott the UN meeting. But although his relationship with
his African counterparts is often difficult, he attended the ECOWAS summit Friday,
as did Banny, former president Henri Konan Bedie and former prime minister Alassane
Ouattara. ECOWAS member states are concerned that the Ivorian crisis, sparked
by a failed coup on September 19, 2002, will destabilise the whole region. Declarations
made earlier this week by Pascal Affi N'Guessan, head of Gbagbo's party, the
Ivorian Popular Front, stoked their fears. "ECOWAS must not forget that
there are millions of people from its members who live in Ivory Coast. Each
country should keep this in mind," he said. The organisation reacted immediately,
declaring the statements "irresponsible, inflammatory and totally inacceptable".
A year after quake, Kashmir peace hopes buried by terror attacks
Izhar Wani, Agence France Presse, 10/5/06
High hopes that 73,000 earthquake deaths would spur India and Pakistan to finally make peace over disputed Kashmir today lie buried beneath the rubble of repeated terror attacks. The scale of the tragedy that struck both sides of the Line of Control dividing the Himalayan state on October 8, 2005, appeared to offer the best chance in six decades to set aside suspicion and hatred. But peace looks no closer one year later.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh bluntly warned this week that Pakistan had to "walk the talk" on terrorism if their peace process was to move forward. The warning came in the aftermath of public accusations from Mumbai's police chief that Pakistan's ISI spy agency had orchestrated a series of blasts that left 186 people dead and 800 more wounded in India's economic capital in July. Pakistan denied involvement and renewed offers to cooperate if any evidence was presented.
But the angry tone could not have been further from the heady diplomacy of one year ago. President Pervez Musharraf had called for India's "donation" to Pakistan's quake recovery efforts to be an early resolution of the bitter fight over Kashmir that has sparked two of their three wars. India did deliver some aid to Pakistan-held Kashmir, where the vast majority of the victims died and three million were left homeless.
Five border posts briefly opened to allow aid to flow more easily from Indian-controlled Kashmir and relatives to visit their families. Some telephone lines were also opened. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan saw a window of opportunity and called on the nuclear-armed rivals to harness the mood of cooperation forged by the disaster and strike a lasting peace. But the positive mood quickly soured.
When Indian troops reported a sortie across the de facto border to help quake-stricken Pakistani soldiers, the Pakistan army dismissed it as nonsense, sparking an unseemly squabble of claim and counter-claim. The sub-continent's legendary red tape wrapped up aid and travel, slowing the flow of goods and people to a trickle. Pakistan security forces tear-gassed hundreds of Kashmiris trying to cross the border without permits. And deadly attacks by Muslim militants, often infiltrating from Pakistan, soon resumed.
New Delhi initially believed the giant quake had dealt a blow to the rebels. Indian intelligence said guerrilla groups in the Pakistani zone had suffered major personnel and infrastructure losses. However, only 10 days later on October 18, hardline militants walked into a high-security residential compound and shot dead the Indian region's education minister and two of his guards. The violence has not stopped since. On October 29, three bombs exploded in New Delhi killing 66 people on the eve of Diwali, the biggest Hindu festival.
The trail of terror, to which India links Pakistan, has this year taken in not just Mumbai, but also the holiest Hindu city of Varanasi where 15 people died in bombings last March. Muslim militants were also blamed for a series of grenade attacks in Kashmir last May that left 15 tourists dead and 70 others hurt. In the western Maharashtra town of Malgaon, 30 people were killed by a bomb outside a mosque this September. "The hopes (of reconciliation) were dashed at the onset when they (India and Pakistan) rejected help from each other," says political analyst Tahir Mohiudin. "Things worsened as attacks in Srinagar, Mumbai and New Delhi were blamed on Pakistan. "The lack of trust remains. As long as that continues we will not see any change in India-Pakistan relations," said Mohidin, editor of Indian Kashmir's leading Urdu weekly Chattan.
The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are scheduled to sit down next month for a new round of peace talks in a process that has produced a series of confidence-building measures and plenty of recrimination. Individuals caught up in the Kashmir dispute despair at the failure to make real progress. "Both India and Pakistan have remained indifferent to our feelings," said Jameel Ahmed, 22, from Uri, a mountainous area devastated by the quake on the Indian side. "I lost my 11 relatives in the other part of Kashmir. Initially, we thought they would allow us to cross the border freely to comfort our loved ones," he said. "My mother and I applied for permission (to travel) which was not granted," he said.
Ahmed said Kashmiris feel the "peace process is not moving. Had it moved a bit we would have a direct telephone facility between the two parts of Kashmir." Today only one border crossing remains open for a select few who can obtain approval papers from police, army and intelligence services. Senior separatist Shabir Shah, who has spent more than 20 years in jail for supporting Kashmir's independence, today pleads for flexibility. "The earthquake had generated a ray of hope," he says. "India and Pakistan wasted that golden opportunity." Shah said he tried to send 300 men -- carpenters, engineers and masons -- to help reconstruction in Pakistani Kashmir. "Most people are not cleared for travel ... India didn't clear my men. "Confidence-building measures are all right but New Delhi should enter into a serious dialogue with Pakistan on the real issue of Kashmir," he said. "The violence might have set back the process, but blaming Islamabad for every attack without any evidence complicates the issue."
For Noor Ahmed Baba, head of political science at the University of Kashmir, little has changed and distrust rules India-Pakistan relations. "The earthquake provided a golden opportunity to make borders irrelevant. People had high hopes that India and Pakistan would work together," he said. "But that didn't happen because of the old mindset on both sides, particularly on the Indian side. The mindsets have not changed."
Kashmir Negotiation Simulation
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Albanian PM says Serbia must be realistic about Kosovo independence
Associated Press, 10/3/06
Albania's prime minister said Tuesday an independent Kosovo would contribute to Serbia's stability and said Belgrade's opposition to independence for the breakaway province was unrealistic. "Despite all the changes that have occurred in Belgrade since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic's regime, still the ghost of greater Serbia persists ... and a lack of realism still dominates Belgrade's stance toward Kosovo," Prime Minister Sali Berisha told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The United Nations has administered Kosovo since 1999, when NATO air strikes drove out Serb troops who had carried out a bloody crackdown on the province's independence-seeking Albanian majority. Albania has been the biggest supporter of Kosovo's independence, leading to frosty relations with Serbia. Tirana has, however, always said it has no territorial claims and does not intend to change its border. "Rest assured, in Pristina they all hope to join Brussels. I have not found a single person there who wants to join Albania," Berisha said, alluding to the capital of Kosovo and the seat of the European Union. "The only thing we can do is to abide by the will of these people who want to have an independent state integrated into Europe."
Ethnic Albanians insist they should not be under Belgrade's authority. Serbia,
as well as the Serb minority in Kosovo, say Kosovo is the heart of Serbia's
ancient homeland and should remain within its borders. The United Nations hopes
to resolve Kosovo's status by the end of the year, but talks have stalled with
both sides unwilling to compromise on their demands. "I believe that independence
of Kosovo would contribute to the stability of Serbia, marginalize its radical
forces," Berisha said. "Due to the absence of realism ... the agreement
between Pristina and Belgrade is elusive." Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk
Draskovic has warned independence for Kosovo without Serbia's approval could
spark war in the Balkans, and instead suggested Kosovo should have full autonomy.
Belgrade and Serb leaders in the province worry about the safety of Kosovo's
100,000 Serbs, most of whom live in small, scattered enclaves. Few of the 200,000
Serbs who fled Kosovo during and after the 1998-99 war have returned.
Kosovo Negotiation Simulation
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Russian parliament supports independence vote in breakaway Moldovan
region
Associated Press, 10/6/06
Russia's parliament overwhelmingly approved a statement Friday offering support for a separatist region of Moldova, calling on the Russian government and the world community not to ignore a referendum in which the residents of Trans-Dniester voted for independence and eventual union with Russia. The non-binding statement was more enthusiastic than the responses from Russian officials after the vote last month in Trans-Dniester, a predominantly Russian-speaking region that has been de facto independent from the ex-Soviet republic's central government for 16 years. The statement by the State Duma, approved by a 419-0 vote in the 450-seat lower parliament chamber, said the referendum was 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.
Russia made no promises to the internationally unrecognized Trans-Dniester, with which it shares no border, following the vote. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said it "reflected the legitimate will of the people" but called on Moldova and Trans-Dniester to return to negotiations. The Duma, dominated by Russia's main Kremlin-controlled party, is less bound by pragmatic concerns than the government. Moscow has supported to pro-Russian movements in neighboring states in order to mainitaining influence in the region, but a move to make Trans-Dniester part of Russia would badly damage relations with the West.
Nepal Maoists must change to get off US terror list: official
Agence France Presse, 10/6/06
Nepal's rebel Maoists need to change their behaviour fundamentally if they want to be taken off the United States' list of terrorist organizations, a US official said Friday. "The Maoists are on the terrorist list because of their actions. If they wish to get off the terrorist list, the path to that is through actions as well," said Steven R. Mann, the principal deputy assistant secretary for south and central Asian affairs. The rebels continued to use violence and intimidation, and needed to undertake a "fundamental, sustained change in behaviour," the US official said. "What I have heard throughout every point in my discussion here is concern about extortion, concern about coercion," Mann told journalists at the end of a four-day visit to Nepal. He was cautiously optimistic about a second round of high-level peace talks between the multi-party government and rebels slated for Sunday. "On the side of the seven parties there is every expectation that detailed discussions are going to continue and there is hope that those discussions will be productive," he said.
Nepal's rebels and government have observed a ceasefire since April, when massive protests forced King Gyanendra to end 14-months of direct rule. The fledgling peace process has been moving slowly. Only one round of high-level talks has taken place and the rebels have accused the seven-party coalition government of dragging its feet and reneging on promises. The Maoists' 10-year insurgency, aimed at creating a communist republic, has claimed over 12,500 lives.
Nepal's Maoists, government open crucial peace talks
Deepesh Shrestha, Agence France Press, 10/8/06
Nepal's government and Maoist rebels opened crucial peace talks here Sunday in their latest bid to turn the page on a decade of conflict. The negotiations, resuming after a four-month pause, are aimed at hammering out a new, temporary constitution that would bring the communist insurgents into the impoverished Himalayan kingdom's political mainstream. But the process has been slow-moving amid disputes over the future of Nepal's 238-year-old monarchy and what the rebels should do with their weapons.
"All the parties have put forward their views and we are trying to reach a common consensus," said Jhalanath Khanal, a member of the peace talks team with Nepal's second largest party, the Nepal Communist Party (Unified Marxist-Leninist). "The taskforce of the eight parties (seven parties from the government and the rebels) will discuss the agenda in the next sitting and prepare a draft list of the outstanding issues," Khanal told journalists.
It is the second time the two sides have held top-level talks since mass protests in April, spearheaded by the Maoists and political parties in a loose alliance, forced King Gyanendra to end 14 months of absolute rule and restore parliament. Nepal's Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala -- who is hosting Sunday's talks at his residence -- has voiced cautious optimism. "All the issues cannot be resolved immediately and at a single sitting. We need adequate patience. The talks may continue for two to four days but the dialogue will be successful," Koirala stressed Friday. At least 12,500 people have been killed since the Maoist insurgency began a decade ago.
The rebels, who control large swathes of the countryside and have warned they will call for mass protests in the capital Kathmandu if talks fail, have been less upbeat. "We're not 100 percent confident," Dev Gurung, a member of the rebel negotiating team, said in the run-up to Sunday's meeting. The first meeting between Koirala and rebel leader Prachanda in June led to breakthrough plans for a temporary constitution to be drafted and for the Maoists to join a new interim government. Little headway has been made since then.
The temporary constitution remains unfinished because the ruling seven-party alliance is divided on such issues as whether the king should stay, go or take on a more symbolic role. The second round of high-level talks had been scheduled for late September, but was postponed because the alliance could not reach a consensus. "If need be, the Maoists could go back to war tomorrow, they still have the strategy and they have kept their cadres prepared for it," said Rhoderick Chalmers, the deputy South Asia project director of the International Crisis Group, an organization working to prevent conflict worldwide. "But for now it is still the least attractive option for them," he said. The rebels have pledged they will not return to war.
Ordinary Nepalis are tired of war, said Tribhuvan University political science professor Kapil Shrestha. "There's immense pressure from the Nepali people. The people have had enough of the conflict," the professor said. This is the third time the rebels and government have tried to hammer out a peace deal, with previous attempts in 2001 and 2003 failing and plunging the impoverished nation back into conflict.
Nepal Negotiation Simulation
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Somali Islamists vow holy war against planned peacekeepers
Agence France Presse, 10/4/06
Hundreds of Muslims took to the streets of this key southern port on Wednesday, vowing to fight a holy war for Somalia's powerful Islamist movement against proposed foreign peacekeepers. A day after a militia allied to the country's weak government vowed to retake Kismayo from the Islamists who seized it last week, at least 400 people marched through the town to protest plans for a regional peacekeeping mission. And, as a United Nations envoy shuttled through the region to prevent the Somalia unrest from spreading through the greater Horn of Africa, the demonstrators also vowed to crush any forces sent by neighboring Ethiopia to support the government. "We will never allow any foreign soldier to set foot on Somali soil," Sheikh Adam Elmi, an official in the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS), told the crowd in Kismayo, which was taken by the movement on September 24. "I tell you that the holy war against the enemy of Allah is near Kismayo," he said to robust cheers from the crowd, mainly religious students who turned out for the SICS-sponsored event. "This will be the first place where the soldiers of Allah and his enemies will face each other," Elmi said.
Another speaker, cleric Mohamed Aden, identified Somalia's "enemy number one" as Ethiopia, which supports the weak transitional government and its call for peacekeepers and is alleged to have sent troops to defend it. "Ethiopia is encouraging defeated warlords to invade Kismayo," he said. "They are part of the forces that will fight in Kismayo soon. "Ethiopia has proved itself to be enemy number one of Somalia."
The Islamists say they seized Kismayo, about 500 kilometres (310 miles) south of Mogadishu, to prevent the proposed, African Union-endorsed regional peacekeeping force of nearly 8,000 troops from landing at the port. Wednesday's demonstration was the first in support of the Islamists in Kismayo, whose takeover of the town from the government-allied Juba Valley Alliance (JVA) militia sparked several protests against their rule. It followed an announcement Tuesday from the JVA that they had signed an agreement with the government to retake Kismayo and would soon launch attacks on the town. Government officials would neither confirm nor deny such a deal but said the people of Kismayo and the region had a right to self-defense.
The Islamists also demanded that authorities in Somalia's breakaway northwest region of Somaliland release Muslim clerics who they have detained on suspicion of having links to Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya, a Somali extremist group. "The Islamic Courts are calling on Somaliland to release all Muslim clerics in its jails," Sheikh Hassan Turki, an Islamic commander, told reporters in the southern town Afmadow that the movement seized Tuesday.
In September 2005, Somaliland authorities detained Muslim clerics and expelled outsiders from the region after a shootout between police and suspected extremists with alleged links to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network. It is unclear how many clerics were detained in the operation.
The Islamists seized the capital, Mogadishu, from warlords in June and have rapidly expanded their territory to include much of southern Somalia, drawing concern from some neighbors, particularly Ethiopia and Kenya. But the east African regional bloc that is to supply troops for the peacekeeping mission is deeply divided on the matter, with arch-foes Ethiopia and Eritrea heading opposite camps. In a bid to keep the Somalia from becoming a proxy battleground for regional disputes, the UN special envoy for Somalia, Francois Fall, began a seven-nation tour of the region and concerned countries Tuesday in Ethiopia. From there, he is to visit Eritrea, Djibouti, Yemen, Sudan, Egypt and Uganda for meetings aimed at easing tensions over Somalia. The internationally backed but largely powerless government is the latest in more than a dozen attempts to restore stability to Somalia, which was plunged into anarchy after the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Sri Lanka: Fighting Deepens Humanitarian Crisis in Jaffna
Amantha Perera, Inter Press Service, 10/6/06
As the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels quibble over where and when to hold peace talks, aid officials say a massive humanitarian crisis is building in the Jaffna peninsula, where half a million people are short of food and fuel. A government bombing campaign entered its fourth day Friday on the peninsula, where the A9 arterial road connecting the peninsula to the rest of the country remained virtually cut off after two months of fighting between the government and the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Heavy fighting was also reported Friday at Mankerni town in the eastern district of Batticaloa, threatening to cut supplies to some 34,000 refugees camping in the area after losing their homes following pitched battles in August to gain control over Muttur town at Trincomalee Harbor. Although government agencies have continued to sporadically supply the peninsula, aid agencies warn that if the two sides do not reach a compromise soon, the results could be disastrous for the primarily ethnic Tamil civilian population. "No citizen of Sri Lanka should be forced to depend on uncertainties, such as if a ship will arrive in the coming weeks or not," the head of the Nordic peace monitors in Sri Lanka, Lars Solvberg, told IPS earlier this week. Solvberg, just back from a tour of Tamil areas in the north and east, described the situation as "totally unacceptable."
The government maintains that there are ample supplies in Jaffna. The commissioner general of essential services, S. D. Divarathana, said that by the end of this week Jaffna's monthly need of 10,000 metric tons of food should have landed. "There is absolutely no shortage, we have been supplying (the peninsula) using ships. No one has complained of shortages," he said. However, the United Nations and other agencies estimate that only about 6,000 metric tons of food reached the peninsula between August and September, severely straining the civilian population. "The sum of food supplied by the government after Aug. 11, of 6,014 metric tons is approximately half of the food required to meet the World Food Program/government minimum food requirement," the Inter Agency Standing Committee Country Team said in one of its reports late August.
Aug. 11 is when fighting erupted between government forces and the Tigers. Supply lines, including air and sea transport, have been disrupted and international agencies such as the Red Cross have stopped accompanying government convoys, citing security reasons. While the government, under pressure from an international donors' group, announced on Wednesday readiness to resume talks with the LTTE on Oct. 28-30, the two sides are yet to agree on where in Europe the meeting would be held. The LTTE favors Oslo while the government prefers a venue in Switzerland. Meanwhile, the government has kept up military pressure on the LTTE by bombing its positions in Jaffna and exchanging artillery fire. Except on paper, the fighting ended a February 2002 ceasefire between the two sides brokered by Norway.
The ceasefire, aimed at ending three decades of violence between the Sinhalese majority and the minority ethnic Tamils, has been under strain ever since parallel negotiations abruptly ended in April 2003. At least 65,000 people are believed to have died so far in the ethnic conflict centered on the drive to create a separate homeland for the Tamils in the north and east of the island. A growing international chorus has accused both the government and the Tigers of turning a blind eye to the suffering of civilians. "It is an obligation of the parties to the conflict, according to International Humanitarian Law, that the civilian population is guaranteed access to basic necessities such as food, water, shelter and medicine, even in times of war," the Red Cross's Peter Krakolinig said. The Red Cross stopped accompanying supply ships to the north when the LTTE warned them in writing in mid-August that they could not guarantee the safety of the vessels. "The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) can only operate in transparency with all parties, and only when all parties agree and give the necessary security guarantees. This is not the case currently for maritime movement and the ICRC can only continue its negotiation efforts," Krakolinig said. "It is the ICRC that has stopped accompanying the ships. What are we to do? As a government we keep supplying with or without their participation," defense spokesman and minister Keheliya Rambukwella said, commenting on the Red Cross' reluctance to operate under prevailing conditions.
On Aug. 5, 17 aid workers from Action Internationale Contre la Faim (ACF) were lined up and shot dead in and around their office in Muttur town. On Wednesday, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) expressed concern that the Sri Lankan government has refused to allow its official representative to enter the country and observe an inquest into the slaying of the aid workers. "It is regrettable that the government has chosen not to allow our independent international observer to attend this vital inquest," said Nicholas Howen, secretary-general of the ICJ, in a statement. "At a time when the (U.N.) High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions have warned that investigations and accountability mechanisms have failed to bring justice to victims in Sri Lanka, it is particularly important for the government to demonstrate that every stage of its processes, including inquests and trials, are open, transparent and credible."
Hopes for resumption of regular supplies are now being pinned on the late October meeting. The LTTE's political wing leader S.P. Tamilselvan has said in a statement that if the talks fail it could mean all-out war and that the violence could spill into the Sinhala-dominated south.
Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation
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Sudan
Sudan presses fence-mending with UN over Darfur
Agence France Presse, 10/6/06
Sudan on Friday pressed efforts to mend fences with the United Nations, denying suggestions that it had tried to "intimidate" countries planning to contribute troops to a proposed UN force for war-torn Darfur. Thursday the Security Council held a special meeting to discuss a Sudanese letter sent to African and Arab countries Tuesday warning them that providing troops for the UN force would be seen by Khartoum as a "hostile act" and "a prelude to an invasion of a member country of the UN." The letter restated Khartoum's "total rejection" of a Security Council resolution passed in August mandating the deployment of up to 20,000 UN peacekeepers to Darfur to shore up the fragile peace accord.
Japan's UN Ambassador Kenzo Oshima, in his capacity as the council president for October, briefed the council on his talks a day earlier with his Sudanese counterpart, ambassador Abdalmahmood Mohamad, to discuss what some members viewed as an "inappropriate" and "offensive" letter. Mohamad told reporters here Friday that the letter had not sought to intimidate anyone but came in response to queries from potential troop-contributing countries about how they should respond to a UN appeal for troops. "There was no hostility in the letter at all. We did not intimidate. We are the victim of intimidation," he noted. "Our intention has always been dialogue (with the UN) and not confrontation." Sudan's ambassador in Washington also went to the US State Department to clarify Khartoum's stance.
State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said the Sudanese had "clarified their position" following the earlier letter "and have basically backed off those assertions." "In fact, they've made clear to us that that idea that somehow offering contributions to a UN force could be some kind of hostile act in fact does not reflect the policy of their government," Casey added. The Sudanese envoy here urged the council to instead focus a conciliatory letter Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir sent to both UN chief Kofi Annan and Alpha Konare, the chairman of the African Union Commission. The Beshir letter welcomed a recent UN offer of logistical support to the ill-equipped AU force in Darfur and pointed to a number of actions taken by Khartoum to ensure "effective implementation" of the Darfur peace agreement reached last May.
Meanwhile UN chief Kofi Annan welcomed Beshir's letter and Khartoum's acceptance of UN technical support for the ill-equipped African Union force in Darfur. Annan's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement that Annan welcomed Sudan's "expressed readiness to pursue its dialogue with the United Nations in the interest of an early resolution of the Darfur crisis." Meanwhile the Security Council unanimously voted to extend at least until next April the mandate of the UN force deployed in south Sudan but made no decision on beefing up the force or changing its mandate. Last August, the council had suggested beefing up that force known as UNMIS and using it for peacekeeping duties in Darfur. Some Council members led by Britain are pushing for a four-stage Darfur strategy, beginning with a beefing-up of the cash-strapped AU force with rapid technical assistance from the UN.
Another key step would be to get full implementation of the Darfur peace agreement,
notably by getting the two Darfur rebel groups which have not yet signed it
to do so promptly. The strategy would also involve continued international efforts
to persuade Beshir that allowing a UN force into Darfur was in Sudan's best
interest. Britain is also pushing for better security provided by a police force
for displaced persons in camps in Chad, which has been reeling from the spillover
for the Darfur conflict. Since war broke out in Darfur in February 2003, at
least 200,000 people have died from the combined effects of fighting, famine
and disease, according to the UN. Some sources say the toll is much higher.
Genocide
in Darfur: A Legal Analysis
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