PEACE NEGOTIATIONS WATCH
Thursday, March 1, 2007
(Volume VI, Number 4)
Contents:
Burundi
Suspected Burundi
rebels kill two police officers
Two others wounded
in the ambush.
Chechnya
EU aid package for
Chechnya
$23 million in aid
to help with shelter, water and sanitation, mine-risk education and
"psycho-social assistance.”
Rights activists boycott Chechen strongman's conference
Human Rights group claims that the conference is a move to try to legitimize the “illegitimate regime in Chechnya.”
Democratic
Republic of
Congo
Congo army says 23
dead in clashes with militias
Clashes forced
thousands to flee.
DR Congo's new government gets parliament go-ahead
New government program aimed at boosting development, increasing security and justice, and fighting corruption and poverty.
Democratic Republic of Congo Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the DR Congo Negotiation Simulation.
Kashmir
Kashmir group denies
role in India train bombing
Group says its activities are confined to the Kashmir region.
Separatist leaders from Indian Kashmir to meet Pakistani foreign minister
Separatists will
press their demand that India and Pakistan speed up
talks on the future of the region.
Kashmir Negotiation Simulation
Click here to access the
Kashmir
Negotiation
Simulation.
Kosovo
Serbians, Kosovo
Albanians meet for final round of Kosovo talks
Although hopes for a
compromise solution were “almost nil.”
Kosovo Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the Kosovo Negotiation Simulation.
Moldova
Moldova criticizes
Russia for calling separatist leader president of
Trans-Dniester
Moldovan Foreign Ministry said the
statement raises questions about Russia's objectivity as
a mediator in the Trans-Dniester negotiations.
Nepal
Maoists flee UN
camps in Nepal
They fled because of food shortages.
Nepal
Maoist MP produce pistol in parliament, threatens
legislators
He was apparently annoyed because police
confiscated his pistol last week.
Somalia
U.N. Security
Council votes to authorize African Union force to help stabilize
Somalia
The vote was unanimous.
Ugandan
military officials to help train Somali army
Troops will
also help provide security for the transitional government.
Sri
Lanka
Sri Lanka's Tiger
rebels to resume 'freedom struggle'
Statement followed recognition that the 2002 cease-fire agreement has totally collapsed.
Military: Sri Lankan troops capture 3 Tamil Tiger bases in northeast
The move forced the insurgents to flee into the jungles.
Tamil Tigers admit firing at helicopter carrying U.S., Italian ambassadors
But they blamed the Sri Lankan military for triggering the attack.
Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation.
Darfur Rebel Chief Calls for Cease-Fire
Says they will agree to an immediate cease-fire if there is a framework for new peace talks.
Sudan rejects ICC authority over Darfur
Sudan argues that its judiciary is capable of trying its own criminals.
Sudan
minister and militia chief accused over Darfur 'war crimes'
ICC
Prosecutor accused the two of 51 crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Genocide in Darfur: A
Legal Analysis
Click
here to access the
PILPG
Report.
Peace Negotiations Watch is prepared by the
Public
International Law & Policy Group in cooperation
with
American
University and is made possible by a grant from the
Carnegie
Corporation of New York and the
Ploughshares
Fund.
Suspected Burundi rebels kill two police officers
Agence France Presse, 2/22/07
Suspected members of Burundi's last active rebel group killed two policemen in an ambush, officials said Thursday, in the first serious violence since a September ceasefire that has yet to be applied.
"Police officers were ambushed by an armed group in Nkenga", some 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) southeast of capital Bujumbura, on Wednesday night, Interior ministry spokesman Ildephonse Mushwabure told AFP.
Two were killed, two others were wounded and taken to hospital and two others escaped, Mushwabure said.
The attackers decapitated one of the officers and tied up the wrists and feet of the other before stoning him to death, an AFP reporter said.
A local official was arrested for suspected involvement in the attack, Mushwabure said, adding that "everything seems to indicate that the FNL are responsible for the ambush".
The FNL (National Liberation Forces) was the only one of Burundi's seven Hutu rebel groups to have remained outside a peace process that began in 2000.
A local resident, who asked not to be named, said that the dead police officers had been involved in theft and that residents were grateful to the FNL who they also claimed to be behind the ambush.
On Monday, the FNL joined the government in a panel overseeing the implementation of a landmark ceasefire deal signed last September. It was aimed at returning peace to the tiny central African state emerging from more than a decade of civil strife.
The death of the police officers would not affect the work of the so-called Joint Verification and Monitoring Committee to begin implementing the ceasefire, said colonel Ahmed Mohamed, military advisor to the African Union in Burundi.
EU aid package for Chechnya
Agence France Presse, 2/21/07
The European Commission announced on Wednesday a 17.5-million-euro (23-million-dollar) humanitarian aid package to support victims of the conflict in Chechnya.
Homeless families and other vulnerable groups in the restive Russian province will receive aid in a wide range of areas including shelter, water and sanitation, mine-risk education and "psycho-social assistance," via the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO).
"Although the conflict in Chechnya has receded, humanitarian needs remain acute," the EU's executive arm said in a statement.
"Some 180,000 people, almost one quarter of the population, continue to be internally displaced. Many of them are returnees who have come back from Ingushetia over the past few years but could not go home because their houses were destroyed during the conflict," it added.
Located in the Caucasus mountains between the Caspian and Black Sea, the small province of Chechnya has long been a symbol of resistance to Moscow and in the post-Soviet era has been a thorn in the Kremlin's side, as rebels have fought for independence, with massive losses on both sides.
Moscow has fought two full-blown wars in Chechnya in the post-Soviet era -- a 1994-96 war in which Russian forces suffered humiliating defeat and a second assault on the province that began in 1999 and continues today in the form of low-level skirmishes and attacks.
Rights activists boycott Chechen strongman's conference
Agence France Presse, 2/21/07
Russian rights activists said on Wednesday they would boycot a human rights conference in Chechnya led by the province's acting head, Ramzan Kadyrov, who has been accused of overseeing abuses.
"We are not going to participate in this conference," said a statement signed by by Moscow Helsinki Group president Lyudmila Alexeyeva, For Human Rights head Lev Ponamaryov, as well as other leading activists.
The conference is scheduled for March 1.
"Today's Chechnya is the site of crude and massive human rights violations, including summary executions, disappearances, torture and the embezzlement of humanitarian aid," the statement said.
"The organisation of a 'human rights' conference in Chechnya is a cynical move amied at using the authority of human rights defenders... to legitimise the illegitimate regime in Chechnya," it said.
The conference comes after President Vladimir Putin named Kadyrov as acting president of the Chechen provincial administration last Thursday, a post he is expected to be confirmed in by Chechnya's assembly.
"Our participation would be political support for Kadyrov," one signatory, Svetlana Ganushkina of Memorial, told AFP.
Ponamaryov told AFP the signatories would "not criticise those who participate in the conference with Kadyrov," saying that many organisations working in Chechnya had no choice if they wished to continue their work.
Kadyrov has played a prominent and controversial role in reining in separatism in Chechnya, which has been rocked by fighting for much of the last 12 years and where clashes continue almost daily despite claims by Moscow to have ended the conflict.
Rights activists blame him for numerous abductions carried out by the personal militia he led and its widespread use of torture, including at a jail at his home at Tsenteroi.
Congo army says 23 dead in clashes with militias
Eddy Isango, Associated Press, 2/21/07
Days of clashes between the army and Rwandan and Congolese militias in eastern Congo have killed at least 23 combatants and forced thousands to flee, the army and U.N. officials said Tuesday.
Fighting broke out four days ago in North Kivu province, which borders the frontiers with Rwanda and Uganda, and continued Tuesday, said Col. Delphin Kahindi, a top army commander responsible for the volatile province.
Rwandan and Congolese fighters were trying to stop Congo's fledgling national army from being deployed in the area, Kahindi said.
"We are determined to totally secure the province," Kahindi said.
Rwandan Hutu militia have operated in eastern Congo since fleeing Rwanda in 1994 after that country's genocide, in which hardline Hutus organized the slaughter of an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Kahindi said fighting was reported in several parts of the province. He said 20 militiamen and three soldiers were killed.
A U.N. spokesman, Lt. Col. Didier Rancher, confirmed the clashes but had no word on casualties.
Speaking from the provincial capital, Goma, another U.N. official, Andrew Zadel, said 8,620 displaced people had fled to the nearby village of Nyanzale and 14,000 others were receiving aid from the Red Cross at Kikuku. But it was unclear how many in Nyanzale had fled the latest clashes and how many were simply in need of aid.
Backed by 18,000 U.N. peacekeepers, Congo's government, based in the faraway capital, Kinshasa, has struggled for years to improve security in the east. The region was once divided into various rebel fiefdoms, but united with the rest of the country after a 2002 power-sharing deal ended the country's 1998-2002 war.
DR Congo's new government gets parliament go-ahead
Georges Tamba, Agence France Presse, 2/24/07
Democratic Republic of Congo's new prime minister on Saturday received overwhelming parliamentary support for his government programme, aimed at putting the war-torn country on the road to economic recovery.
Of 397 parliamentarians present -- out of a total of 500 -- 295 voted in favour of the new government programme, while only 94 voted against, with eight abstentions, president of the National Assembly Vital Kamerch said.
"As a result, the assembly has approved of the government programme presented by Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga and has vested in his government," Kamerch said amid thundering applause.
The parliament also said Saturday that it had created a commission to probe the post-electoral bloodshed that erupted following a governorship election in the western province of Bas-Congo last month, killing 134 people, according to the UN.
Former opposition leader Gizenga, 81, who along with his 61-member government was elected in DR Congo's first free elections in 41 years, presented his programme, titled "New Foundation", on Thursday.
The programme's main focus was boosting development in the war-torn central African nation, one of the world's poorest and most corrupt countries, through new measures to increase security and justice and to fight corruption and poverty.
Gizenga said the government, which is scheduled to take charge next week, would take an open-market approach, including privatisations, to make progress on the five priorities named by President Joseph Kabila: infrastructure, employment, education, water and electricity, and health.
The government is counting on 14.35 billion dollars (10.90 billion euros) over five years to finance the ambitious programme. More than half would come from international financial backers.
The opposition Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC), whose leader Jean-Pierre Bemba lost to Kabila in last year's presidential election, criticised the programme as just a "string of good intentions."
Francois Muamba, MLC deputy leader, said the government appeared to consider foreign financing a given, "something that is not the case," and chastised Gizenga for not aiming high enough with his target of eight percent economic growth.
Gizenga responded on Saturday, insisting that he would soon "engage in negotiations" with the International Monetary Fund in order to re-establish the required conditions needed to access budgetary aid, which was halted last year after the country failed to control public spending.
The prime minister also told parliament Saturday that he had launched a search for Andre Kasongo Ilunga, the minister for external trade, who has not turned up since his nomination on February 5 and who media have charged is a "ghost".
Ilunga was nominated after his name figured on a list presented by the Union of Congolese Nationalists and Federalists (Unafec), which is part of Kabila's coalition.
That party has since informed Gizenga that Ilunga had resigned, but the prime minister has refused to accept his resignation until it is given in person.
Unafec's chief Honorius Kisimba Ngoy has meanwhile been accused of "promoting a fictitious name" and could face criminal charges if Ilunga is not found.
Democratic Republic of Congo Negotiation Simulation
Click
here to access the DR Congo Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public
International Law & Policy Group.
Kashmir group denies role in India train bombing
Agence France Presse, 2/21/07
An Islamic militant group Wednesday denied involvement in this week's bombing of a cross-border India-Pakistan train, saying its activities were confined to the restive Kashmir region.
Indian detectives believe they have evidence linking the bombing, which killed 68 passengers aboard the Friendship Express, to a Pakistan-based Muslim militant group, The Times of India reported.
"Investigators ... have picked up a vital terror trace -- a phone call made to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir from Delhi after Sunday night's attack," the newspaper said.
"The recorded conversation reveals links to a Pakistan-based terrorist group," it added.
The evidence turned "the needle of suspicion more firmly towards" Lashkar-e-Taiba, the main Islamic group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, it said.
India blamed the same guerrilla group for an attack on its parliament in December 2001, which almost pushed the two South Asian neighbours to war.
However, Lashkar denied any role in a statement published Wednesday on the website of Greater Kashmir, a regional English-language daily.
"We don't believe in such brutal acts and killing of innocents; our activities are confined to Jammu and Kashmir where mujahideen (holy warriors) are fighting occupational forces," Abdullah Gaznavi, the group's spokesman, said in the telephoned statement.
Lashkar has carried out deadly suicide attacks against Indian troops battling a 17-year-old insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir.
"It's the handiwork of the Indian agencies and the Shiv Sena," Gaznavi charged, referring to a hardline Hindu political group.
Linking Lashkar to the bombing is a "malicious propaganda aimed at maligning the image of mujahideen," Gaznavi added.
The insurgency has claimed more than 44,000 lives by official count.
Separatist leaders from Indian Kashmir to meet Pakistani foreign minister
Associated Press, 2/22/07
Separatist leaders from India's part of Kashmir were scheduled to meet Thursday with Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri to press their demand that New Delhi and Islamabad speed up talks on the future of the Himalayan region.
During the talks, leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella group of non-violent Kashmiri separatist organizations, also plan to reiterate their demand to be included in the India-Pakistan talks over Kashmir, said Shahidul Islam, a spokesman for conference's leader.
"Hurriyat leaders will insist that the effects of the peace process between India and Pakistan should be felt on the ground in Kashmir," Islam said.
"The peace process has been dragging on. We want to see early progress from the talks," he added.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim region divided between them but claimed by both.
Tensions between the two have eased considerably since the start of a fitful peace process in 2004, but there has been little progress on reaching a settlement over Kashmir, which lies at the heart of their rivalry.
Further complicating matters are the more than a dozen Islamic militant groups some of them based in Pakistan that have been fighting in India's part of the territory, seeking independence for Kashmir or its merger with Muslim Pakistan.
More than 68,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since the conflict began in 1989.
Kasuri, who arrived in India Tuesday and is to depart Thursday night, held talks with Indian officials on Wednesday, after which the two sides said they would work together to combat terrorism.
The talks came days after a train bound for Pakistan was set ablaze by two bombs as it raced through northern India, killing 68 people in an attack that officials from both countries said was aimed at disrupting the peace process.
Kashmir Negotiation Simulation
Click
here to access the Kashmir Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public
International Law & Policy Group.
Serbians, Kosovo Albanians meet for final round of Kosovo talks
Agence France Presse, 2/21/07
Serbians and Kosovo Albanians met Wednesday in Vienna for a final round of talks with UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari over his plan for Kosovo's future, although hopes for a compromise solution were almost nil.
The talks are expected to continue until March 1, after which Ahtisaari will present the final draft of his proposal on March 10 in Vienna, diplomatic sources said.
But few held out any hope that the southern Serbian province's ethnic Albanian majority will strike any deal with the Serbian government or water down their demands for full independence.
Ahtisaari's Kosovo plan, published on February 2, would give Kosovo all the trappings of statehood -- self-government, its own flag and anthem, and membership of international organisations.
It stops short of granting full independence but Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has welcomed the proposal as vindication of their stance that independence is inevitable some time in the near future.
Belgrade meanwhile insists that Kosovo is an integral part of Serbian territory, the cradle of Serbian culture and religion, and has angrily rejected Ahtisaari's right to meddle in its sovereign affairs.
Under the envoy's plan, Kosovo's government would be overseen by a new European Union-led mission which would take over from the UN, which has administered the province since the end of the Kosovo war in 1999.
The UN envoy is expected to submit his plan to the UN Security Council in mid-March.
"These consultations are one more opportunity for both parties to make their points," Ahtisaari told the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna on Tuesday.
"I am willing to consider constructive amendments and to incorporate compromise agreements," he said.
The Kosovo team in Vienna was led by moderate opposition leader Veton Surroi, Ahtisaari spokesman Remi Dourlot told AFP. Advisers of Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica represented the Serbian side.
But almost a year since the start of negotiations between Belgrade and Kosovo Albanians in Vienna, Ahtisaari said he was "pessimistic" they could compromise over the future of the tiny territory.
"It regrettably appears highly unlikely that the two parties will be able to reach a compromise on the Kosovo status," he said.
Kosovo Serbs and Albanians remain bitterly divided after the brutal bloodshed of the 1998-1999 war, when Serbian forces battled ethnic Albanian separatist guerrillas and their civilian supporters.
The Serb minority now lives in isolated enclaves under constant threat of reprisals from ethnic Albanian extremists. The flashpoint northern town of Mitrovica is divided along ethnic lines with NATO peacekeepers in the middle.
Belgrade's last hope may be its traditional ally Russia, after President Vladimir Putin said last week he would oppose Ahtisaari's plan in the Security Council if it did not have Serbia's backing.
The Serbian parliament voted overwhelmingly last week to condemn the plan as a violation of the country's territorial integrity.
"We want to be constructive in Vienna, but there will be of course no compromise related to the preservation of our national interest in Kosovo," Tadic's adviser Vuk Jeremic said.
Pristina meanwhile "doesn't see any space for further compromises with Belgrade," Skender Hyseni, the spokesman for the Kosovo negotiating team, said.
Kosovo Negotiation Simulation
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here to access the Kosovo Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public
International Law & Policy Group.
Moldova criticizes Russia for calling separatist leader president of Trans-Dniester
Associated Press, 2/22/07
Moldova's Foreign Ministry accused Russia on Thursday of trying to legitimize the breakaway province of Trans-Dniester by calling its leader "president" in an official statement.
The statement was published by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday after a meeting in Moscow between Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Igor Smirnov, the separatist leader in the pro-Russian Moldovan province.
Last month, the Russian Foreign Ministry called another Trans-Dniester official "foreign minister."
The Moldovan ministry urged Russia to refrain from using such language in the future, considering that Russia recognizes Moldova as a sovereign, undivided country.
By using terms normally reserved for independent states in its statement, Russia "is trying to artificially create the appearance of legitimacy and can mislead the public opinion and the international community," a statement from the Moldovan Foreign Ministry said. "Such propaganda raises questions and suspicions regarding Russia's objectivity ... as a mediator in the settlement negotiations in the Trans-Dniester conflict."
Moldova's communist government, which wants closer ties with the European Union, has clashed with Russia repeatedly over Moscow's support for the separatists.
Trans-Dniester, a province in eastern Moldova where large numbers of Russian troops were deployed, broke away in 1992 after a bloody war with Moldova which left over 1,500 people dead. Russia, which now is a mediator in the conflict, backs the separatists but does not officially recognize Trans-Dniester's independence.
Russia maintains about 1,500 troops in Trans-Dniester despite calls by the United States and the European Union to respect a 1999 pledge to withdraw them. Russian officials say Trans-Dniester is strategically important for Russia and withdrawing the troops would cause instability.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently warned the West that granting independence to the Serbian province of Kosovo, whose future is the subject of current talks, would serve as precedent for other nations with similar cases, including pro-Russian breakaway provinces in the ex-Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova.
Maoists flee UN camps in Nepal
Agence France Presse, 2/21/07
Nepal's Maoists who agreed to live at camps across the country monitored by the United Nations as part of a peace deal are leaving in droves because of food shortages, commanders said Wednesday.
"Two thousand walked out Wednesday seeking employment in nearby villages to feed themselves," said Samthing Budha, a commander at a camp located in the southwest Chitwan region.
Budha said more were preparing to leave his and other camps because the government failed to ensure food and shelter were in place as agreed in a peace deal signed in November 2006 to end a decade of war.
Under the peace deal, the government was to fund the camps while the United Nations monitored the registration of Maoist arms and soldiers. At the weekend, the United Nations said the registration process had been completed.
But the Maoists said the 350 million rupees (4.92 million dollars) the government budgeted for the camps has run out.
"The amount provided by the government has already been spent. There is a serious financial crisis in the camps to feed our comrades," said Nanda Kishor Pun, a deputy commander of the Maoist army.
The United Nations expressed concern over the former rebels' move calling it a "breach of the Agreement on Monitoring of Arms and Armies" reached between the government, the Maoists and the UN in December last year.
"Maoist commanders are obligated to ensure that combatants under their command return to the cantonment (temporary quarters) site without delay," Kieran Dwyer, spokesman of the UN Mission in Nepal, said in a statement issued late Wednesday.
Ian Martin, the head of the UN monitoring commission in Nepal, said last week he was worried about the state of the seven main camps and 21 satellite sites which house thousands of people.
The Maoists claim to have 35,000 fighters but independent estimates put the figure closer to 12,000.
The former rebels received 83 seats in a new 330-seat interim government's parliament in January, and the arms registration -- if accepted as accurate by the government -- is expected to pave the way for the Maoists to join the cabinet.
Nepal Maoist MP produce pistol in parliament, threatens legislators
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 2/27/07
A Maoist member of the interim legislature threatened Members of Parliament belonging to other parties with a pistol and challenged them to take action against him, newspaper reports said Tuesday.
Maoist MP Lokendra Bista told parliamentarians that he was carrying a pistol and verbally abused MPs in the interim legislature during Monday's deliberations, the Kathmandu Post reported.
"I had the weapon registered with the UN and brought it here. If you have the capacity to take action for my rough remarks, you can arrest me," the Post quoted Bista as saying.
Bista was apparently annoyed that the police confiscated his pistol for several hours last week when he tried to enter the parliament building with the weapons.
The Post reported that none of the MPs protested his remark and instead, Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula apologised to the Maoist MP.
"Whoever commits a mistake, as the convener of the government's peace negotiating team, I apologize for everything," the newspaper quoted Sitaula as saying.
Sitaula's remarks are bound to cause concerns among many in the Nepalese capital as a sign that he is unwilling to take any action against the Maoists.
He has been at the centre of a controversy with the ethnic Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF) demanding his resignation.
The MPRF and other groups have alleged that Sitaula is protecting Maoists involved in killings and other violence.
Political observers said the latest Maoist action shows their unwillingness to adapt to the changing political situation.
Maoists have been involved in clashes with various groups in southern Nepal demanding ethnic equality and a voice in the country's politics.
The protests, by the MPRF and other ethnic groups, have been seen by the Maoists as an attempt to take credit for the gains for which the Maoists fought.
Political observers said that as the Maoists lose their political initiative in several areas, they are once again resorting to violence by beating up opponent groups and disrupting their programmes.
On Monday, a MPRF supporter was killed in Bardiya district in clashes with Maoists cadres.
Maoists have also disrupted several meetings of the MPRF and other parties in southern Nepal in recent days.
Maoists became part of the interim legislature as part of a peace deal with the government. They are now the second largest group in parliament with 83 members.
Nepal Negotiation Simulation
Click
here to access the Nepal Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public
International Law & Policy Group.
Somalia
U.N. Security Council votes to authorize African Union force to help stabilize Somalia
Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press, 2/21/07
The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize an African Union force to help stabilize Somalia, setting the stage for U.N. peacekeepers to take over the long-term job of bringing peace to the Horn of Africa nation.
The action came as Somalis fled their violent capital by the hundreds on Tuesday, in cars and on foot, pulling carts heaped with belongings in a desperate attempt to leave an onslaught of mortar and rocket attacks behind them.
The resolution adopted by the council urges the 53 African nations to contribute troops to the 8,000-strong force and urges other U.N. member states to provide financial support and any needed personnel, equipment and services.
The measure gives the AU force international legitimacy. Most African countries will not deploy troops in any peacekeeping mission without such authorization.
"For the first time in 15 years, the Somali people have a prospect of being governed by representative institutions that will provide them with security and stability," said Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, the main sponsor of the resolution.
"The international community for its part must lend its support to Somalia's transitional federal institutions to turn this opportunity into a reality," he told the council after the vote.
In Mogadishu, government forces and Ethiopian troops exchanged heavy fire overnight with insurgents, leaving 15 dead and 45 injured in the heaviest fighting this year in the city.
Mogadishu's escalating violence threatens to plunge Somalia back into the years of anarchy and chaos that dogged the nation after 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, igniting a 16-year conflict.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since clan-based warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, sinking the poverty-stricken nation of seven million people into chaos.
The rout in December of the Islamic fundamentalist movement that controlled most of Somalia by Somali government troops and Ethiopian soldiers allowed the country's weak U.N.-backed transitional government to enter the capital, Mogadishu, for the first time since it was established in 2004. But escalating violence threatens to plunge Somalia back into the years of anarchy and chaos.
The latest fighting has also raised questions about the deployment of the AU force, whose first troops a small Burundian advance team were scheduled to be on the ground as early as Friday.
Nigeria reiterated its commitment to establishing stability in Somalia, saying Tuesday that its 850-troop contribution to the peacekeeping force should arrive by mid-April.
The resolution adopted Tuesday noted the Aug. 19 communique of the African Union Peace and Security Council stating that the AU will deploy a mission to Somalia for six months to help stabilize Somalia which "will evolve into a United Nations operation that will support the long-term stabilization and post-conflict restoration of Somalia."
It asks Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to send a technical assessment mission to AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and to Somalia as soon as possible to report on the political and security situation "and the possibility of a U.N. peacekeeping operation following the AU's deployment." It asked Ban for a report in 60 days.
The resolution authorizes the AU force to protect the transitional government's institutions, to help re-establish and train Somali security forces, and to help efforts to promote dialogue and reconciliation.
France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said "Somalia stands today at a turning point in its history which has been scarred for 15 years by violence and suffering."
He called the AU force "a source of great hope" for the Somali people, but stressed that the international community cannot impose peace on Somalia.
"It is for the Somalis and for them alone to seize the unique opportunity which the African Union is offering them to embark upon and consolidate a process of national reconciliaition," de La Sabliere said.
South Africa's U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said his government hopes the resolution "will demonstrate to the people of Somalia that the international community does care about their situation."
Ugandan military officials to help train Somali army
Mohamed Olad Hassan, Associated Press, 2/24/07
Ugandan troops will arrive in Somalia within two weeks to help train a national Somali army and to provide security for the transitional government, a Somalia official said, as fresh fighting left seven dead in the capital.
Heavy gunfire and shelling broke out Friday between Ethiopian troops and unknown gunmen near the former Defense Ministry in southern Mogadishu. Four people were killed and eight wounded, including two children, said resident Abdullahi Hassan Fidow, who witnessed the hit-and-run attack by 30 insurgents.
In northern Mogadishu, a mortar struck a house, killing three people and wounding five, according to a woman in a neighboring house, Medina Abdi Ali.
Ugandan Defense Minister Crispus Kiyonga and Chief of Defense Forces Aronda Nyakairima traveled to Somalia a day after Islamic extremists threatened suicide attacks against Ugandan and other foreign troops deployed as part of an African Union peacekeeping force.
"We expect the troops to be here in two weeks," Hassan Abshir Farah, who represented the Somali government at one meeting with Ugandan officials, told The Associated Press.
The African Union has received more than US$44 million (euro34 million) in donations from the European Union, U.S. and Britain to pay for the Somali peacekeeping mission, an AU spokesman, Assane Ba, said from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday unanimously approved its deployment.
In December, Somalia's transitional government, backed by Ethiopian troops, drove out a radical Islamic movement that had gained control of the capital and most of the south.
Ethiopian troops have started to pull out, to be replaced by the peacekeeping force, which will have to confront the growing violence that has plagued Mogadishu since the interim government took over.
An advance team of Burundian peacekeepers was scheduled to begin arriving Friday but defense officials have been unwilling to comment on the deployment.
Meanwhile, a senior Ethiopian official denied a report Friday in The New York Times that said the U.S. military had waged a covert campaign from Ethiopia to capture or kill suspected al-Qaida leaders in Somalia.
"This is simply a total fabrication," Bereket Simon, special adviser to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, told the AP.
U.S. officials had earlier acknowledged two airstrikes over Somalia in January, but provided few details. The strikes reportedly were conducted by U.S. forces based in another Horn of Africa country, Djibouti, though officials did not confirm that.
U.S. ships also have patrolled Somalia's coast in search of suspected al-Qaida members thought to be fleeing Somalia.
Insurgents have staged near-daily attacks since the Islamic militants were driven out, with Mogadishu's civilian population bearing the brunt of the violence.
Families have begun fleeing the coastal city of 2 million people, and hospitals are struggling to cope with the daily influx of wounded.
On Thursday, at least two mortar rounds exploded near the runway of the capital's international airport but caused no damage and no injuries, airport director Mohamed Ahmed Siyad said.
Two local government officials were killed Thursday.
A newly formed extremist group, the Popular Resistance Movement in the Land of the Two Migrations, posted a new warning to peacekeepers this week.
"We promise we shall welcome them with bullets from heavy guns, exploding cars and young men eager to carry out martyrdom operations against these colonial forces," said a man who read from a statement in a video posting to an Islamic Web site.
In London, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf said in a speech Thursday that a broad-based national reconciliation conference will open soon in his country as a step toward peace and democracy.
He said he was willing to include moderate members of the Islamic movement in those discussions.
Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a dictator, carved up the capital into armed, clan-based camps, and left most of the rest of the country ungoverned.
Yusuf's transitional government was formed in 2004 with U.N. help. Weakened by clan rivalries, it has struggled to assert authority, leaving a vacuum that the Islamic movement moved to fill.
The Islamic movement chased the warlords from Mogadishu last year and was credited with restoring order in areas of southern Somalia it controlled.
But some Somalis chafed at its fundamentalist version of Islam, and the U.S. and Yusuf's government accused it of harboring al-Qaida suspects.
Sri Lanka's Tiger rebels to resume 'freedom struggle'
Amal Jayasinghe, Agence France Presse, 2/22/07
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels Thursday announced a resumption of their "freedom struggle" after declaring that a truce arranged by peace broker Norway had collapsed.
The Tigers said the truce, which came into effect five years ago on Friday, was now virtually non-existent and warned that Colombo's military drive against them would only add to the "bloodstained pages of the island's history."
"It has also compelled the Tamil people to resume their freedom struggle to realize their right to self-determination and to achieve statehood," the Tigers said in a statement.
It blamed the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse for trying to find a military solution to the drawn-out Tamil autonomy campaign, which has claimed over 60,000 lives in the past 35 years.
"Even though today it exists only on paper, it (the ceasefire agreement of 2002) remains a unique document in the search for an end to the national conflict in the island of Sri Lanka," the Tigers said.
The statement came as Sri Lanka's navy said it sank two suspected Tiger boats off the island's north-western coast, killing at least nine people.
There was no reaction from the rebels, but a pro-rebel website said eight fishermen had gone missing in the same area where the navy said it sank the boats.
Security forces also launched ground attacks against Tiger rebels Thursday as the guerrillas said thousands of civilians in the north fled their homes in fear of an upsurge of fighting.
Military officials confirmed they were retaliating against rebel harassment, but said there was no major offensive in the region.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said thousands of men, women and children from half a dozen villages along the de facto border between the two sides were on the move, seeking refuge deeper inside rebel territory.
On Wednesday, 25 Tamil civilians carrying white flags entered a government-held area in the northern district of Vavuniya and were provided with shelter and food by the troops, a military official said.
An exodus of civilians from the island's troubled regions is usually a first sign of stepped-up fighting between troops and Tamil Tiger guerrillas, who are campaigning for independence.
The escalation of fighting in the past year has claimed nearly 4,000 lives and tattered a ceasefire arranged by peacebroker Norway on February 23, 2002.
At least five people were killed earlier on Thursday in clashes linked to the conflict, police said.
Norway's top peacebroker, Erik Solheim, Thursday offered to continue to try to revive peace talks, even as thousands of Sinhalese nationalists took to the streets here calling for the truce to be scrapped.
"Norway is willing to go the extra mile to assist their peace endeavours at their request," Solheim said. "As soon as the parties renew their peace efforts, we will be ready to do all we can to help."
Military: Sri Lankan troops capture 3 Tamil Tiger bases in northeast
Dilip Ganguly, Associated Press, 2/24/07
Troops have captured three Tamil Tiger rebel bases in northeastern Sri Lanka, forcing the insurgents to flee into the jungles, the Defense Ministry said Saturday.
"The military had to carry out the operation as the terrorists were targeting our camps in the area and risking supply lines," said military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe.
"During the past 72 hours the army, supported by artillery and mortars, successfully neutralized the three LTTE bases," Samarasinghe said, using the acronym for the Tigers' official name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The area is near the port city of Trincomalee, which has a major Sri Lankan navy base and serves as an important supply line to the north.
No casualties were reported, as the rebels had fled before the troops moved in. Soldiers recovered a large number of roadside bombs, anti-personnel mines, rocket propelled grenades, assault rifles, mortars and large quantities of ammunition.
"Search operations and the consolidation of positions by the army are still continuing," Samarasinghe said.
The rebels could not immediately be reached for comment.
But the Tamil National Alliance, seen as a proxy party of the rebels in the Parliament, said Sri Lanka's military campaign leaves Tamils with no option but to go for "self-determination and self-rule."
"In the face of the Sri Lankan state's insistence on pursuing a military solution to the Tamil National question, the Tamil people are appealing to the international community to recognize their struggle for self determination and self-rule," the TNA said in a statement.
Violence has occurred almost daily since December 2005, and a Norway-backed cease-fire signed in 2002 exists only on paper.
European cease-fire monitors said Friday that nearly 4,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka over the past 15 months compared to 130 deaths in the previous three years.
Violence has escalated since Mahinda Rajapakse became president and moderate Ranil Wickremesinghe, who signed the truce with the rebels, left the government.
The separatist Tamil Tigers began fighting in 1983 for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.1 million ethnic Tamils in the north and northeast, following decades of discrimination by the country's majority Sinhalese.
About 65,000 people were killed in the conflict before the cease-fire.
Tamil Tigers admit firing at helicopter carrying U.S., Italian ambassadors
Associated Press, 2/27/07
The Tamil Tigers admitted firing mortars at a helicopter carrying the U.S. and Italian ambassadors on Tuesday, but blamed the Sri Lankan military for triggering the attack.
The helicopter used by U.S. Ambassador Robert Blake and his Italian counterpart Pio Mariani had just landed in eastern Batticaloa when several mortars landed close to the aircraft, said Sri Lankan government minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, who accompanied them.
The two diplomats were slightly injured.
"I express our regret at this unfortunate incident," said Rasiah Ilanthirayan, the spokesman for the Tamil Tiger rebels.
However, he said the Sri Lankan army had in the past used the same landing area to launch attacks on Tamil Tiger targets and that rebel fighters had attacked the helicopters on Tuesday fearing further military assaults.
"Even this morning they had used the place to launch artillery fire at us," he said. "We are shocked at how the Sri Lankan state childishly exposed very high level diplomats."
Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation
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International Law & Policy Group.
Darfur Rebel Chief Calls for Cease-Fire
Alfred de Montesquiou, Associated Press, 2/21/07
The head of one of Darfur's main rebel groups said he is willing to call a cease-fire if Sudan's government stops attacks on civilians in the war-torn region and agrees to renegotiate a peace deal but warned of a new offensive if it fails to do so.
Khalil Ibrahim heads the Justice and Equality Movement, which along with most other rebel groups has refused to sign onto the Darfur Peace Accord. The United Nations is trying to get the government and rebels into negotiations to rework the deal.
Since the accord was signed last May, violence has only increased in the western region of Sudan, with fighting between government and rebels and continued attacks by the pro-government Arab janjaweed militia, which is accused of widespread atrocities against Darfur civilians.
The United Nations warned this week that a large number of militiamen apparently janjaweed were massing near El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, raising fears of more violence. U.N. spokeswoman Radhia Achouri said the reason for the gathering was not known and would not say how many militiamen were there. The West Darfur governor denied the report.
"If Khartoum doesn't reopen peace negotiations and doesn't immediately cease janjaweed attacks, we will have no choice but a large-scale offensive," Ibrahim said in an interview with the Associated Press.
"We will agree to an immediate cease-fire if there is a framework for new peace talks. We are waiting for the government's response," Ibrahim said. "Either we get the opportunity to negotiate a real treaty, an acceptable peace that we can sell to our people, or we will proceed."
Ibrahim, whose JEM leads a coalition of rebel groups, spoke outside the town of Abeche in eastern Chad, close to the border with Sudan and Darfur. Around 40 of his fighters were with him, sitting in the shade of trees in a dried-up riverbed.
Ibrahim made clear his forces were ready to keep fighting. He dismissed reports that Sudan was using a flood of new oil income to build up its armed forces, saying the rebels capture many government weapons.
"This is all provided by the Sudanese government," he said, pointing to five pickup trucks that looked like the ones used by the Sudanese army, laden with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns.
Ibrahim spoke last week after coming out of a meeting with a senior Chadian general. Sudan accuses Chad of backing the Darfur rebels. Ibrahim insisted JEM whose leadership is a mix of former Islamists and former communists gets no foreign support, but acknowledged that Chad gave free passage to his men.
"Our men our fighting for a cause, for our land and for our people," he said. "Every time the (Sudanese) army comes out in the open, we defeat them."
The size of the rebel forces has long been "murky" and in constant flux, but the JEM is thought to number only several hundred fighters, said Stephen Morrison, the director of the Africa Program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The faction of the Sudan Liberation Army that continues fighting is larger, with about a thousand.
But in more than three years of fighting, they have proved resilient and have the advantage of popular support, an abundant supply of weapons in the region and knowledge of the terrain, he said. They also benefit from the relative weakness of the Sudanese military. The janjaweed are "more of a marauding force ... They're better at raping and pillaging than engaging in standing battles," Morrison said.
Ibrahim claimed to have far more than several hundred fighters, but would not specify how many.
He cited a major battle last September in Umm Sidir in northern Darfur, where rebels crushed a 4,000-strong government force capturing over 100 vehicles, heavy armament and a Sudanese army general, along with hundreds of soldiers.
"Do you really think there's only a few hundred of us?" he said. JEM troops also downed two army helicopters in December during a raid against the Abu Jabra oil fields in Kordofan, halfway between Darfur and Khartoum.
More than 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur since 2003, when ethnic Africans launched their rebellion against the Arab-led government. More than 2.5 million people have fled their homes, and the conflict has begun to spill over into neighboring Chad.
The May peace deal was rejected by most Darfur refugees and rebels, who said it gave no guarantees the government would stop fighting, did not provide compensation and did not directly provide for a U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur.
Only one rebel leader, Minni Minawi of the Sudan Liberation Army accepted. He has since received a top government post but has lost much support in Darfur, and a faction broke away to continue fighting.
Ibrahim said he felt cheated by the May deal, which he said was imposed by American and European envoys, who "wanted to tell their people they'd solved the problem in Darfur, when in fact they only made it worse."
Ibrahim urged the U.N. to send peacekeepers to Darfur despite Sudan's rejection of a plan to send some 22,000 U.N. troops to replace the overwhelmed African Union force there.
Sudan rejects ICC authority over Darfur
Mohamed Hasni, Agence France Presse, 2/26/07
Sudan on Monday rejected the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court in pressing charges over the conflict in Darfur, still ravaged by war and famine four years after the violence erupted.
Last week the ICC -- which is authorised to judge war crimes or crimes against humanity if national jurisdiction lacks the ability to do so -- announced that its prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will present evidence on Tuesday of alleged war crimes committed in Darfur.
The judges will then decide whether to open an inquiry against the suspects with the aim of eventually issuing international arrest warrants.
But Sudan has rejected the ICC's authority, arguing that the country's judiciary is perfectly capable of trying its own criminals.
"The position of Sudan is that this court has no jurisdiction when it comes to trying Sudanese," Minister of Justice Mohammed Ali al-Mardhi was quoted by the Akhbar al-Yom as saying.
This applies to Sudanese officials, members of the security forces as well as the rebel groups in the troubled western Sudanese region, Mardhi said.
Sudan's judiciary is "sufficiently independent and impartial" and has the "will and capacity to try all persons responsible for crimes in Darfur," he said.
Mardhi is currently in Darfur conducting an inquiry into violations in the region, but Sudanese authorities insist his visit is not related to the ICC report.
Most experts say the war in Darfur, an arid desert region the size of France, officially started on February 26, 2003 when rebels attacked a garrison in North Darfur. Government forces backed by Janjaweed militia responded with a fierce scorched-earth campaign.
The human cost of what some observers describe as the first genocide of the 21st century has been huge. At least 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million diplaced according to the United Nations, though some sources say figures are much higher.
Moreno-Ocampo has investigated accusations of presection, torture, rape and murder since June 2006. He has focused on events alleged to have occurred between 2003 and 2004, considered the most violent period involving the crisis in Darfur.
His team has visited 17 countries and conducted more than 100 interviews.
However, he has been criticised by non-governmental organisations and the UN high commissioner for not sending investigators to Darfur itself, citing security concerns.
Violence has never ebbed since the start of the war four years ago, despite a peace deal signed under intense international pressure in the Nigerian capital of Abuja in May 2006 between Khartoum and one rebel faction.
The two groups which launched the rebellion at the start of the war have split into dozens of warring gangs, complicating the search for peace amid a profound humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations and other aid agencies are running the world's largest relief operation in Darfur, with a budget of one billion dollars and around 130,000 workers operating in an increasingly dangerous environment.
The African Union launched its first-ever peacekeeping operation in Darfur in April 2004 but the ill-equipped and under-funded contingent has failed to quell the violence there.
At a November meeting in Addis Ababa, the United Nations decided to work with the AU on two main points: reviving the political process and getting Khartoum's approval for the deployment of UN troops.
But Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir has consistently resisted pressure, and has warned that Darfur wold become a graveyard for all Western troops who ventured there.
Sudan minister and militia chief accused over Darfur 'war crimes'
Stephanie Van Den Berg, Agence France Presse, 2/27/07
The International Criminal Court on Tuesday named a Sudanese minister and a Janjaweed militia leader as the first war crimes suspects in the Darfur conflict.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo accused the pair of 51 crimes against humanity and war crimes -- including murder, torture and rape -- as the stricken Sudanese region entered a fifth year of the civil war which has left more than 200,000 dead, according to UN figures.
Ahmed Haroun, Sudan's minister for humanitarian affairs and a former minister in charge of Darfur, and Ali Kosheib, a principal leader of the Janjaweed militia accused over some of the worst Darfur atrocities, could become the first Darfur suspects to face a war crimes trial.
Moreno-Ocampo alleged in a statement that Haroun and Kosheib "jointly committed crimes against the civilian population of Darfur." He said there were "reasonable grounds" for formal war crimes charges.
He was to present evidence to ICC judges who will decide whether to issue international arrest warrants, even though Sudan does not recognise the court's authority.
Moreno-Ocampo and his investigators have been looking into accusations of atrocities in Darfur since June 2006, visiting 17 countries and conducting more than 100 interviews.
Their focus has been on events alleged to have occurred between 2003 and 2004, the most violent period in the crisis.
The Arab Janjaweed militia, armed and backed by the Sudanese government, are accused of the worst violence, involving attacks targeting civilians of black African origin.
Kosheib, who is also known as Ali Muhammed Ali, is one of the key leaders of the militia. According to the Human Rights Watch group, witnesses said Kosheib led attacks on many villages in western Darfur in which hundreds of villagers were massacred.
The United Nations says some 200,000 people have died in the fighting and 2.5 million have been displaced since 2003.
The United States has described the Sudanese government's repression in Darfur as "genocide".
Fighting continues today despite the signing last May of a peace agreement between the Khartoum government and the main Darfur rebel faction.
Two other rebel groups that took part in the peace talks held in Nigeria rejected the agreement and fight on.
The United Nations and other aid agencies are running the world's largest relief operation in Darfur, with a budget of one billion dollars and around 130,000 workers operating in an increasingly dangerous environment.
In April 2004, the African Union launched its first-ever peacekeeping operation in Darfur but the ill-equipped and under-funded contingent has failed to quell the violence.
Last November the United Nations decided to work with the AU on two main points: reviving the political process and getting Khartoum's approval for the deployment of UN troops.
But Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir has consistently resisted the international pressure, and has warned that Darfur would become a graveyard for all Western troops who ventured there.
Sudan has rejected the ICC's authority, arguing that the country's judiciary can try its own criminals.
"This court has no jurisdiction when it comes to trying Sudanese," Minister of Justice Mohammed Ali al-Mardhi was quoted as saying on Monday.
This applies to Sudanese officials, members of the security forces as well as the rebel groups in the troubled western Sudanese region, Mardhi said.
Sudan's judiciary is "sufficiently independent and impartial" and has the "will and capacity to try all persons responsible for crimes in Darfur," he said.
Mardhi is currently in Darfur conducting an inquiry into violations, but Sudanese authorities insist his visit is not related to the ICC report.
Genocide in Darfur: A Legal Analysis
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