PEACE NEGOTIATIONS WATCH
Thursday, May 10, 2007
(Volume VI, Number 12)
Contents:
Armenia
Azerbaijan leader's talk of Karabakh settlement principles
angers Armenia
Aliev said the basic principles were the unconditional return of seven
districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh and the return of refugees to
Nagornko-Karabakh.
Bosnia
and Herzegovina
Sacked Bosnian police officers may apply for work, UN rules
Former officers are no longer prohibited from applying for jobs as police
officers.
EU troops in Bosnia search
home of alleged supporter of war crimes suspect
Radovan Karadzic, believed to be hiding in neighboring Serbia or in the
Serb-controlled part of Bosnia, has evaded several attempts by NATO-led
peacekeepers to capture
him.
Burundi
African Great Lakes stability initiative inaugurated
President Pierre Nkurunziza's inauguration of the site followed the opening
of a meeting of foreign ministers from the 11 countries participating in the
initiative, called the International Conference for the African Great Lakes
Region.
Chechnya
Chechen government warns of social unrest if federal police do not stop
torturing detainees
The government later approved a resolution calling on Chechen President
Ramzan Kadyrov to do more to deal with the problem.
Seven killed in Chechnya
clashes
Four servicemen and three guerrillas were killed Sunday in ongoing
separatist violence.
Democratic
Republic of Congo
42 rebels, four soldiers killed in DR Congo military offensive
The United Nations is not taking part in the operation, which is being
carried out by soldiers and former rebels.
Democratic Republic of Congo Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the DR Congo Negotiation Simulation.
Georgia
Three Georgians detained in breakaway region return to hero's welcome
They had been protesting against elections in separatist
Abkhazia.
Indonesia
Child dies while playing with explosive found in Indonesia's Aceh
province
Monday's blast was the fourth in the region, now governed by a former rebel
leader, in less than two weeks.
Blast in Indonesia's restive
Ambon
Police are investigating whether pro-independence rebels were behind the
blasts.
Ivory
Coast
Nationalist leader named Ivory Coast peace ambassador
The nomination comes after Ble Goude was last year placed under United
Nations sanctions for hindering the peace process.
Kashmir
Police fire at protesters in Indian Kashmir, wounding 1
About 200 people demonstrated in the streets of Srinagar demanding that
Papa Kishtwari, a former rebel who now supports Indian counterinsurgency
operations, be hanged for allegedly committing atrocities against other
Kashmiris.
No Indian troop cut in
Kashmir despite drop in killings
India's army opposes an early withdrawal of troops, saying this could help
the rebels whom it says operate with Pakistan's support.
Strike protesting arrest of
separatist leaders shuts down Indian Kashmir
No violence was reported during the strike called by Syed Ali Shah Geelani,
who heads the hard-line faction of the Hurriyat.
Kashmir Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the Kashmir Negotiation Simulation.
Kosovo
Thousands march in support of former Kosovo prime minister charged with war
crimes
Wednesday's march was led by some members of the government, lawmakers and
officials from Alliance for Future of Kosovo.
Russia warns UN against
imposing Kosovo solution
Russia's UN envoy urged more talks between Belgrade and Kosovo
separatists.
Hundreds of Serb ex-militia
members pledge to fight for Kosovo
Police in Krusevac said they detained 27 people dressed in T-shirts with
symbols of the disbanded Unit for Special
Operations.
Kosovo Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the Kosovo Negotiation Simulation.
Liberia
Taylor Witnesses Fear UN Travel Bans
Potential defense witnesses for Charles Taylor are refusing to testify at
the former Liberian president's war crimes trial for fear of being slapped
with U.N. travel bans.
Former Liberian leader's
defense calls for more lawyers
Charles Taylor's lawyer said his client was concerned he was being
"short-changed" with only two attorneys who can attend his trial against a
prosecution legal team of at least 10 people.
Morocco
Morocco, Polisario Agree to Talks
The two sides fighting for control of Western Sahara agreed Monday to hold
talks for the first time in 30 years on the sparsely populated territory in
North Africa.
Nepal
Nepal Maoists threaten mass protests for republic
The leader of Nepal's Maoists threatened to launch massive nationwide
protests by the end of the month unless parliament immediately ousts the king
and declares a republic.
Curfew imposed in west
Nepal
An indefinite curfew has been imposed in a western Nepal border town
following clashes between police and unarmed Maoist cadres that injured at
least 17 people.
Philippines
Two Muslim rebels arrested in Philippines
The two men are suspected members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF).
Philippine phone company
discovers alleged wiretap near former President Aquino's home
The military denied involvement.
Somalia
Somali
reconciliation conference postponed for second time
The Somali ambassador to Ethiopia said the government had not received
money from the international community to organize the conference, initially
set to begin on April 16.
Mayor of Mogadishu Bans
Weapons
A former warlord who has long lived by his gun was sworn in as mayor of
Mogadishu on Friday and immediately ordered residents of the Somali capital to
get rid of their weapons.
Two children killed, seven
people wounded in Mogadishu bomb
The attack came just hours after Somali troops, backed by Ethiopian forces,
cracked down on arms dealers near the scene of the blast.
Sri
Lanka
British
diplomat to meet with Tamil rebels, urge return to peace talks
The Sri Lankan government recently barred the Norwegian ambassador from
making a similar trip to Kilinochchi.
Truce between Sri Lankan
government and Tamil rebels must be re-examined: official
Sri Lanka wants to re-negotiate a cease-fire with the country's Tamil Tiger
rebels, officials
said.
Sri Lanka air force ramps up
strikes in rebel-held north, peace monitor says
The number of unmanned aircraft and spy planes flying over the north had
also
increased.
Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation Click here to access the Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation.
Sudan
Divestment
campaign targeting Sudan over Darfur goes global
The campaigners believe they will succeed where politicians have failed by
pressuring companies to leave Sudan.
Sudan rejects ICC arrest
warrants over Darfur crimes
The arrest warrants charge Ahmed Haroun and Ali Kosheib with a list of 51
counts including murder, torture, mass rape and the forced displacement of
entire villages.
Egypt and other Arab
countries reluctant to pressure Sudan over ending fighting in Darfur
One reason Egypt is supporting the Sudanese government is fear that an
independent southern Sudan could jeopardize Egypt’s access to the Nile River,
which runs through Sudan before going through Egypt.
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.
Azerbaijan leader's talk of Karabakh settlement principles angers
Armenia
Aida Sultanova, Associated Press, 5/4/07
Azerbaijan's president on Friday laid out what he said were basic principles
for the resolution of his country's dispute with Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh, angering Armenian leaders who disputed his suggestion that
they have assented to the terms he described.
Aliev's remarks appeared more likely to deepen distrust between the nations
than to bring them closer to resolving the dispute over the territory, which
is inside Azerbaijan but has been controlled by Armenian and local ethnic
Armenian forces since a six-year war that ended in 1994.
Tensions remain high between Armenia and Azerbaijan, former Soviet republics
in the Caucasus, and more than a decade of coaxing from international
mediators led by the United States, Russia and France has yet to bring an
agreement on the status of the territory.
Aliev said the basic principles of a settlement were the unconditional return
of seven districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh that are also under ethnic
Armenian control and he return of refugees to Nagornko-Karabakh, followed by
the determination of its political status.
Aliev, speaking to refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh in the settlement of Ramani,
outside Azerbaijan's capital Baku, said there was general agreement on the
principles, which he suggested were the basis for settlement talks shepherded
by the international monitors.
The details of settlement talks are usually kept under wraps out of the
concern that revealing them could hurt delicate efforts to resolve the
dispute, which raises strong emotions in both countries. Aliev said he was
discussing them publicly because the Armenian side had broken confidentiality
and made misleading statements.
His words drew a swift and angry response from Armenian officials,
particularly sensitive about the issue ahead of parliamentary elections later
this month, with parliament vice-speaker Vaan Ovannisian calling accusing him
of "obvious lies."
"There is no such agreement," Ovannisian said.
Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian cast doubt on Aliev's statement that there was
agreement on the unconditional return of all seven surrounding districts. In
the past there have indications that Armenia would agree to the return of five
of the districts on condition of independence for Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Let him say what he wants, we have already announce our position," Sarkisian
said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Karapetian said that Armenia's position
has been and remains "based on the recognition of the principle
self-determination for Nagorno-Karabakh," according to a ministry statement.
"Other questions that are on the negotiating table, that are under discussion,
are secondary and will follow from recognition of the basic principle," he
said.
Associated Press Writer Avet Demourian contributed to this report from
Yerevan, Armenia.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sacked Bosnian police officers may apply for work, UN
rules
Agence France Presse, 5/2/07
The United Nations Security Council has ruled that some 700
former Bosnian police officers, dismissed by a UN police task force, may
reapply for their job, a top international official said Wednesday.
The decision "means that former officers are no longer prohibited from
applying for jobs as police officers" provided they meet conditions set out by
the UN, said a statement by the international community's high representative.
The conditions for the recruitment of the sacked policemen were not disclosed.
"This is the best solution possible," High Representative Christian
Schwarz-Schilling said, welcoming the decision on the long-standing issue.
The UN International Police Task Force (IPTF) was deployed in Bosnia after the
country's 1992-1995 war with the brief to train its police forces.
In charge of overseeing the reduction of local police forces, the IPTF
dismissed some 700 police officers for misconduct, for failing to fulfill
strict service criteria, or for their alleged involvement in war crimes.
The sacked officers were also barred from taking any new law enforcement jobs.
The IPTF was later disbanded and taken over by the European Union in 2003.
Many police officers have protested against their dismissal saying it violated
their human rights.
Last December some of them staged hunger strikes asking the Bosnian government
to assist them in solving the problem.
Around 260 of the officers called for their cases to be reviewed claiming the
sackings were unfair as they had been based on minor disciplinary
proceedings.
EU troops in Bosnia search home of alleged supporter of war crimes
suspect
Associated Press, 5/7/07
European Union peacekeepers searched the home of an alleged supporter of one
of Bosnia's most wanted war crimes suspects, Radovan Karadzic.
The EU force said troops seized a number of items in Monday's raid that they
intended to further analyze. No details were given.
The home, in the village of Rudo in southeastern Bosnia, belongs to Vojislav
Topalovic, who is suspected of being a member of a network supporting
Karadzic, the Bosnian Serbs' leader during the 1992-95 war, the EU force said.
Karadzic is wanted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia,
based in The Hague, Netherlands. He and former Bosnia Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic
are the tribunal's two most-wanted suspects.
The two have been charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, and their
indictments include the slaughter of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys in July
1995 by Bosnian Serbs who overran the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica.
Karadzic, believed to be hiding in neighboring Serbia or in the
Serb-controlled part of Bosnia, has evaded several attempts by NATO-led
peacekeepers to capture him despite a U.S.-sponsored US$5 million (euro4
million) reward for information leading to his arrest.
The EU force and NATO troops have repeatedly raided the homes of suspected
members of a support network that is believed to be providing fugitives with
logistical and financial assistance.
The war killed some 260,000 people and left 1.8 million homeless.
African Great Lakes stability initiative inaugurated
Agence France Presse, 5/3/07
Burundi's president inaugurated the headquarters of a new initiative for
Africa's Great Lakes region on Thursday designed to bring stability and boost
development in the troubled area.
President Pierre Nkurunziza's inauguration of the site in the Burundian
capital followed the opening of a meeting of foreign ministers from the 11
countries participating in the initiative, called the International Conference
for the African Great Lakes Region.
The pact, signed in Nairobi in December 2006, is an attempt to stabilise the
region. It has been signed by Great Lakes countries, as well as states
bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is attempting to emerge from
years of conflict.
"It is a very important day for our countries because it opens a new chapter
in our efforts to transform the Great Lakes region into a haven for peace for
all, stability and shared development," said Liberata Mulamula, the Tanzanian
executive secretary of the initiative.
Chechnya
Chechen government warns of social unrest if federal
police do not stop torturing detainees
Associated Press, 5/5/07
Federal law enforcement units continue to torture detainees in Chechnya, the
regional government said Saturday, warning of a wider social unrest if it
continues.
Speaking at a government meeting Friday in the Chechen capital Grozny,
regional lawmaker Ibrahim Khultygov said members of a unit known as ORB-2 also
routinely abduct relatives of detainees and torture or use them to pressure
the detainees themselves. The unit is affiliated with the federal Interior
Ministry's southern district.
The government later approved a resolution calling on Chechen President Ramzan
Kadyrov to do more to deal with the problem, according to a statement.
Officials with the Interior Ministry's southern federal district refused to
comment on the allegations, which echo those made in a March report by the
Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture.
Following the report's release, Kadyrov complained about the treatment of
inmates at a detention facility controlled by ORB-2 in the town of
Urus-Martan, saying they were "systematically subjected to torture."
Some observers have speculated that the allegations leveled at federal
authorities is aimed at bolstering Kadyrov's standing among Chechens and
helping him assert greater control over law enforcement actions in the
southern Russian region.
Russian and international rights groups have also long accused authorities in
Chechnya of torture and rights abuses. Critics say alleged abuses by security
forces controlled by Kadyrov, as well as police and soldiers, have undermined
attempts to bring order to the North Caucasus region.
Two wars over the past dozen years between Russian forces and separatist
rebels who increasingly voiced militant Islamic ideology have left much of
Chechnya in ruins. Major offensives ended several years ago, but small clashes
continue and rebels attack Russian forces with booby-traps and
remote-detonated explosives.
Seven killed in Chechnya clashes
Agence France Presse, 5/7/07
Four servicemen and three guerrillas were killed Sunday in ongoing separatist
violence in the Russian republic of Chechnya, Russian news agencies reported.
In the first of two incidents, police surrounded six guerrillas in a house in
the North Caucasus republic's Vedensk region, news agency RIA Novosti
reported.
"As a result of the fire fight, a regiment inspector, a policeman, and a
Russian interior ministry commander were killed," RIA Novosti quoted an
unnamed law enforcement source as saying.
Three of the guerrillas were killed, and an additional four policeman were
wounded.
In a separate clash in Shalinsk region, a policeman was killed during the
arrest of another guerrilla, the agency reported.
Russian forces have fought two wars in the last 12 years to crush separatist
rebellions in Chechnya. Moscow has repeatedly declared victory over the
rebels, but clashes continue.
An estimated 100,000 of Chechnya's one million people have been killed in the
conflict, as well as, according to official figures, some 10,000 Russian
servicemen.
Democratic Republic of Congo
42 rebels, four soldiers killed in DR Congo military
offensive
Agence France Presse, 5/2/07
At least 42 Rwandan Hutu rebels and four government soldiers have been killed
in a crackdown by the Democratic Republic of Congo's military in the
strife-torn east, the UN said Wednesday.
The FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda rebel group) have
lost at least 42 men, while four DR Congo soldiers have died in a combat zone
north of the eastern town of Goma, it said.
The United Nations, which released casualty figures provided by the army, is
not taking part in the operation, which is being carried out by soldiers and
former rebels.
DR Congo soldiers began the offensive in North Kivu last week, deploying six
battalions, or about 3,500 men, to secure two arterial roads linking the town
of Goma, the regional capital, and Ishasha on the Ugandan border.
On April 16, suspected FDLR rebels attacked a minibus on the road between Goma
and Ishasha, killing a student. Three days earlier, they exchanged gunfire
with Congolese soldiers on the same road.
The violence has prompted hundreds to flee their homes.
Gabriel de Brosses, a spokesman for the UN force in Congo (MONUC), said about
890 people had been displaced by the latest fighting.
Andrew Zadel, of the UN office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs
(OCHA), said it was "very difficult to have a clear idea of population
movements in the war zone as humanitarian workers lack access."
He said that more than 113,000 people had been displaced since the start of
the year in the province of North Kivu, of which Goma is the capital.
Rwandan Hutu fighters, estimated to be about 10,000-strong by the United
Nations, are still present in eastern DR Congo.
They led 14 attacks last month in the Walungu and Kabare areas, according to
Kemal Saiki, a MONUC spokesman.
Another 72 people were kidnapped and several rapes were reported.
Some of the rebels are accused of having participated in the Rwandan genocide
in 1994. Some 800,000 people, most of them ethnic Tutsis, were killed within
six weeks in Rwanda by members of the Hutu ethnic group.
Democratic Republic of Congo Negotiation Simulation
Click
here to access the DR Congo Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public
International Law & Policy Group.
Three Georgians detained in breakaway region return to hero's
welcome
Associated Press, 5/3/07
Three university students whom Georgian officials said were detained by
authorities of the breakaway Abkhazia region were back in the capital Thursday
and got a hero's welcome from President Mikhail Saakashvili.
Georgia said the three were detained by Abkhazian border guards in early
March, and Abkhazian law enforcement authorities had accused them of illegally
crossing into the region. They had been protesting against elections in
separatist Abkhazia, which Georgian leadership condemned as illegitimate.
Abkhazia's sovereignty claims are not internationally recognized, and
Saakashvili used the students' return to stress that the region is part of
Georgia. In comments during a televised meeting with the students, he said
there is no state border dividing Georgia and Abkhazia.
Saakashvili presented the trio with medals of honor, and they were greeted by
a crowd of hundreds of students outside the president's office after the
meeting. "I want to welcome our three patriots," Saakashvili said, calling
them "real men."
Abkhazia and another region, South Ossetia, have run their own affairs since
breaking away from the central government in wars in the early 1990s.
Saakashvili has vowed to bring the regions back into the fold, but is deeply
distrusted by their leaders, who remain adamant in their independence claims.
Indonesia
Child dies while playing with explosive found in
Indonesia's Aceh province
Associated Press, 5/1/07
A ball-shaped bomb found by children playing on a field exploded in
Indonesia's Aceh province, killing a 12-year-old elementary school boy and
wounding three others, police said Tuesday.
Monday's blast was the fourth in the region, now governed by a former rebel
leader, in less than two weeks.
On Sunday, a grenade hurled by an unidentified assailant went off outside the
house of a former rebel spokesman. Two grenade blasts on April 23 damaged
property. No one was hurt in any of those explosions.
The latest incident was near the village of Teupin Brueh in East Aceh, said
Col. Hasbi, the district police chief who goes by one name. Police were still
investigating, but Hasbi said that in addition to the death of the 12-year-old
boy, two other children were seriously wounded and an adult villager was
slightly hurt.
The two injured children were being treated at a hospital, Hasbi said.
The bomb was believed to be a left over from the region's three-decade
conflict between separatists and government forces which left an estimated
15,000 people dead.
The rebels of the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, signed a peace agreement last
year with Indonesia's government and former rebel leader Irwandi Yusuf, once
jailed for treason, was elected as governor in December.
Blast in Indonesia's restive Ambon
Agence France Presse, 5/2/07
A grenade exploded outside a mosque in Indonesia's restive Ambon city as
worshippers gathered for prayers early Wednesday, but there were no injuries,
police said.
"It can now be ascertained that the blast was caused by a hand grenade,
although we do not yet know the precise type of grenade involved," provincial
police spokesman Tommy Napitupulu told AFP.
He said morning prayers at the mosque on the island of Ambon continued despite
the explosion.
The grenade attack was the latest in the past week.
An explosion at a bus station in the city injured nine people on April 25 and
a few hours later, another grenade was thrown at a house.
Police are investigating whether pro-independence rebels were behind the
blasts. The separatist movement was crushed shortly after its declaration in
1950 but the rebels regrouped following the fall of dictator Suharto in 1998.
Ambon was also ravaged by clashes between Muslims and Christians, which
erupted in January 1999.
A peace pact in February 2002 mostly brought an end three years of strife that
left more than 5,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.
Ivory Coast
Nationalist leader named Ivory Coast peace
ambassador
Agence France Presse, 5/5/07
The anti-French leader of the Ivory Coast's Young Patriot movement, Charles
Ble Goude, said Saturday he has been named "ambassador for reconciliation and
peace" by the government.
The close ally of President Laurent Gbagbo was nominated for his work in
helping resolve the political crisis in Ivory Coast since a failed coup in
September 2002 left the country split in two.
The nomination comes after Ble Goude was last year placed under United Nations
sanctions for hindering the peace process.
He dedicated his nomination, confirmed during a ceremony on Friday, "to all
the victims" of the violence in the former French colony.
"I congratulate myself on the responsiblity that the Ivorian state has put on
me to continue the work of reconciliation," he told AFP.
National Reconciliation Minister Sebastien Dano said the symbolic post "is a
recognition of the work achieved and an encouragement of its continuation in
collaboration with the ministry," the local press reported.
Ble Goude led violent anti-French protests in November 2004, which forced more
than 8,000 westerners, most of them French, to flee.
He was also a strong opponent of the rebel New Forces movement led by
Guillaume Soro, now the country's prime minister, accusing them of treason in
their attempted coup against Gbagbo in September 2002.
But last January, after Gbagbo called for direct dialogue with the rebels, Ble
Goude launched a "peace caravan" across the government-controlled south and
pledged to work from then on to reconcile the country.
A peace deal signed by the government and the New Forces rebels in March aimed
to reunify the Ivory Coast.
During Friday's ceremony, New Forces spokesman Sidiki Konate demonstrated
their reconciliation by urging that UN sanctions against Ble Goude be lifted,
according to the local press.
A similar demand for all Ivorians was included in the March 4 peace deal.
Police fire at protesters in Indian Kashmir, wounding 1
Aijaz Hussain, Associated Press, 5/4/07
Police fired at rock-throwing protesters in Indian-controlled Kashmir on
Friday, wounding one person, a police officer said.
About 200 people demonstrated in the streets of Srinagar, the capital,
demanding that Papa Kishtwari, a former rebel who now supports Indian
counterinsurgency operations, be hanged for allegedly committing atrocities
against other Kashmiris.
As the angry protesters hurled rocks at government forces, police fired "in
panic," said Sajjad Ahmed, a police officer.
One protester was hospitalized with bullet wounds in his leg, Ahmed said.
Police also used tear gas and bamboo sticks to disperse the protesters, who
were incensed by the police shooting, Ahmed said.
Also Friday, about 500 people held a peaceful protest in Kishtwari's hometown
of Pampore, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Srinagar, police said.
Police arrested Kishtwari earlier this month for allegedly firing at residents
of Pampore as they held a demonstration, accusing him of seizing their land
and killing dozens of people since he began supporting the government's
anti-rebel operations about 10 years ago. At least four people were injured in
the shooting by Kishtwari and his guards, police said.
Protests have continued despite his arrest.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where more than a
dozen Islamic militant groups have been fighting for the region's independence
or its merger with neighboring Pakistan. More than 68,000 people, mostly
civilians, have been killed in the conflict since 1989.
Kashmir is divided between archrivals Pakistan and India, but is claimed by
both. The neighboring countries have fought two of their three wars over
control of Kashmir since they won independence from Britain in 1947.
No Indian troop cut in Kashmir despite drop in killings
Agence France Presse, 5/4/07
India should maintain massive troop levels in its part of divided Kashmir even
though the daily death toll from a Muslim insurgency has fallen to an all-time
low, a senior official said Friday.
"The daily rate of killings of civilians, security personnel and militants has
dropped from 10 in 2002 to three in 2006 (and) two a day lately," Jammu and
Kashmir state governor Sriniwas Kumar Sinha said in a statement.
Police officials told AFP that the current average daily toll was the lowest
since the start of the Muslim revolt against Indian rule in 1989.
The governor said the security situation in Kashmir, which is divided between
India and Pakistan, was improving -- but asserted "the guard cannot be lowered
as the threat of violence continues."
"Once peace returns in the state, the forces can return back to their
barracks," he said.
India has an estimated half a million troops and paramilitary soldiers in
Kashmir, the cause of two of the three wars between India and Pakistan since
their 1947 independence from the British.
With violence down thanks to a peace process between the South Asian rivals,
Pakistan and separatists have linked the region's demilitarization to lasting
peace.
But India's army opposes an early withdrawal of troops, saying this could help
the rebels whom it says operate with Pakistan's support. Islamabad denies the
charge.
According to official figures, the insurgency has left more than 42,000 people
dead. Human rights groups put the toll at 70,000, including 10,000 people who
have disappeared since 1989 and are presumed dead.
Strike protesting arrest of separatist leaders shuts down Indian
Kashmir
Associated Press, 5/5/07
Shops, businesses and offices across
Indian-controlled Kashmir shut down Saturday in response to a strike called to
protest the arrest of Kashmiri separatist leaders.
Five leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Kashmir's main separatist
alliance, were arrested last month on charges of anti-India activities and
organizing unlawful gatherings.
In Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, security forces
erected additional checkpoints anticipating protests. Streets were deserted
and public transport stayed off the roads.
No violence was reported during the strike called by Syed Ali Shah Geelani,
who heads the hard-line faction of the Hurriyat.
Besides the Hurriyat, which shuns violence, more than a dozen Islamic militant
groups have fought against India's rule in Kashmir since 1989.
Separatist politicians and armed militants reject Indian sovereignty in
Kashmir, and want to carve out a separate homeland or merge the Himalayan
region with mostly Muslim Pakistan.
More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the conflict.
Kashmir Negotiation Simulation
Click
here to access the Kashmir Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public
International Law & Policy Group.
Thousands march in support of former Kosovo prime minister charged with war
crimes
Garentina Kraja, Associated Press, 5/2/07
Several thousand ethnic Albanians marched Wednesday in Kosovo in support of
the province's former prime minister standing trial on war crimes charges in
the U.N. tribunal.
Some 3,000 supporters of Ramush Haradinaj, Kosovo's former prime minister and
a former rebel commander during the province's 1998-1999 war, chanted his
name, waved Albanian flags and held his pictures as well as banners with
slogans such as "Freedom for liberators" and "We believe in justice."
Haradinaj and two wartime associates face 37 counts of atrocities against
Serbs and their suspected supporters in Kosovo in 1998.
The march was held in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, and is the latest in a
series of similar gatherings in support of Haradinaj held throughout the
province. Wednesday's march was led by some members of the government,
lawmakers and officials from Alliance for Future of Kosovo, Haradinaj's party,
which is part of Kosovo's ruling coalition.
"We believe strongly in his innocence," said Ahmet Isufi, a senior party
official. "We are convinced that he and his co-fighters do not belong in the
Hague."
"We will all celebrate their release in an independent Kosovo," Isufi said.
Posters have sprung up across the province since early March when Haradinaj
appeared before the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands on
charges of involvement in a criminal plot to murder, rape and torture Serbs
and Gypsies in the Albanian-dominated province.
All three defendants have denied the charges. They face maximum life sentences
if convicted.
Building on his popularity as a fighter for the Kosovo Liberation Army, which
fought Serb forces in the province, Haradinaj entered politics after the
1998-99 war and rose to serve 100 days as prime minister before resigning in
March 2005 following his indictment. He immediately turned himself in to the
U.N. court and declared his innocence, but was later allowed to return home
and resume limited political activities.
Haradinaj is the highest-ranking Kosovo Albanian to be indicted by the
tribunal. Former rebels are reviled by the Serbs, but many ethnic Albanians
regard them as heroes.
Kosovo has been run by U.N. and NATO since mid-1999 when an alliance air war
halted Serb forces crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
Diplomatic efforts are under way to resolve the dispute over Kosovo. Serbia
demands it remains within its borders, and province's ethnic Albanian majority
seeks independence.
Russia warns UN against imposing Kosovo solution
Agence France Presse, 5/2/07
Russia's UN envoy on Wednesday again warned the Security Council against
imposing independence for the Serbian province of Kosovo and urged more talks
between Belgrade and Kosovo separatists.
"This is not the time for the Security Council to consider any kind of
imposition of decisions on Kosovo," Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said after the
15-member body held consultations on a recent mission by its members to
Belgrade and Kosovo.
"The two sides have not accepted the proposals so we need to continue
negotiations, we need to encourage them to continue negotiations," he said,
pointing out that major requirements set by the council for protection of Serb
minority rights had yet to be carried out.
The council is expected to rule in coming weeks on Kosovo's future status,
particularly on UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari's plan for supervised
independence.
Russia has sided with Serbia, a traditional ally, in opposing Ahtisaari's
plan.
But the plan has the backing of the United States, the European Union, and
leaders of ethnic Albanians, who comprise around 90 percent of Kosovo's two
million inhabitants.
"It is very difficult to argue that the international community is anywhere
near implementation of (UN Security Council resolution) 1244," Churkin noted.
Security Council 1244, adopted in 1999, set UN-set democracy standards in
areas such as creating a multi-ethnic democracy, respecting human rights, and
ensuring the security of minority Serbs.
Churkin, who was part of the Security Council mission that visited Kosovo and
Belgrade last month, spoke of a "palpable atmosphere of fear and uncertainty
in Kosovo."
"The fear is there and much work needs to be done to ensure normal life in
Kosovo," he added.
Kosovo, a southern province of Serbia, has been under UN administration since
mid-1999, following NATO bombardments that forced the Serbian military to
cease a crackdown on the ethnic Albanian majority and to withdraw.
Hundreds of Serb ex-militia members pledge to fight for Kosovo
Jovana Gec, Associated Press, 5/5/07
Hundreds of ex-Serb militia members from the Balkan wars gathered in a central
town Saturday and pledged to fight for Kosovo if the breakaway province is
granted independence as proposed in a Western-backed plan. Police detained
more than two dozen people.
The former Serb fighters gathered in the town of Krusevac, about 150
kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Belgrade, to form a paramilitary unit
similar to the ones that roamed the Balkans during the wars of the 1990s.
Police in Krusevac said they detained 27 people dressed in T-shirts with
symbols of the disbanded Unit for Special Operations, whose former commander
and several members are on trial for the 2003 assassination of Serbia's
reformist Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.
The event is an illustration of the mounting nationalism here over prospects
that Kosovo will split from Serbia as demanded by its ethnic Albanian
majority.
Talks on the formation of a new pro-Western government in Serbia, meanwhile,
remain deadlocked, triggering a political crisis that could pave the way for
the return to power of the nationalists loyal to ex-leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Such a scenario would undermine Western efforts to find a lasting solution for
Kosovo and the troubled region.
Many of the ex-volunteers in Krusevac wore military uniforms with nationalist
symbols typical of the notorious units accused of committing atrocities during
the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s. Some wore T-shirts with
images of most wanted U.N. war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic.
"We will never give up Kosovo, we are ready to fight," one of the organizers,
Andrej Milic, said at the gathering held in front of a Serb Orthodox Church in
the town.
Milic added their unit will be available to the state authorities in case
Serbia decides to wage a war for Kosovo, and called for a "new Serb uprising
and a new battle for Kosovo."
Kosovo is formally part of Serbia, but is dominated by ethnic Albanians who
are seeking independence for the region. Kosovo has been run by the United
Nations since a 1998-99 Serb-Albanian war.
The United States and its allies favor internationally supervised independence
for the province, as proposed in the U.N. plan, but Russia opposes it,
signaling a possible showdown at the U.N. Security Council, which will have
the final say on the matter.
Most Serbs consider Kosovo the heartland of their history and culture.
Belgrade has strongly rejected the plan drafted by U.N. envoy Martti
Ahtisaari, saying it would never agree to let go of the province.
There was no immediate reaction from the Serbian government to the veterans'
gathering in Krusevac, although creation of paramilitary units in Serbia is
illegal.
The volunteer units were first founded in the early 1990s, during the rule of
late Milosevic, who took Serbia to four wars during his decade-long rule.
Those units later became notorious for their brutality against civilians and
enemy troops, but were disbanded after the wars and Milosevic's ouster from
power in 2000.
Dragoljub Vasiljevic, one of the volunteers who came to Krusevac on Saturday
denied the brutality allegations, telling the Beta news agency that they were
"honorable and brave" fighters.
The organizers said that their unit will be named after a medieval Serb
leader, Czar Lazar, who reportedly led the Serb army in a crucial battle
against the Ottoman Turks in Kosovo in 1389. The Serbs lost the battle but
cherish the event as one of the most important in their history.
Kosovo Negotiation Simulation
Click
here to access the Kosovo Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public
International Law & Policy Group.
Taylor Witnesses Fear UN Travel Bans
Mike Corder, Associated Press, 5/7/07
Potential defense witnesses for Charles Taylor are refusing to testify at the
former Liberian president's war crimes trial for fear of being slapped with
U.N. travel bans, Taylor's lawyer told a court Monday.
Taylor, 59, is to go on trial June 4 on 11 charges, including terrorism,
murder, rape, sexual slavery, mutilation and recruiting child soldiers linked
to his alleged support for rebels in Sierra Leone's brutal 1991-2002 civil
war.
He has pleaded innocent and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if
convicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
At a pretrial hearing in The Hague, Taylor's lawyer Karim Khan said his
efforts to build a defense were being hampered by the perceived threat of U.N.
sanctions.
"Numerous individuals ... are unwilling to speak to the defense (because) they
are petrified of having travel bans imposed upon them and having their assets
frozen by the Security Council because they are associated to the defense of
Mr. Charles Taylor," Khan said.
Khan said he would file a motion asking judges at the court to grant witnesses
protection from sanctions.
He said that the possibility of sanctions, "would amount to witness
intimidation, whether it comes from a group or a party or even as august a
body ... as the Security Council of the United Nations."
The Sierra Leone court usually sits in the capital, Freetown, but Taylor's
trial is to be held in a court room rented from the International Criminal
Court in The Hague because of fears the case could trigger fresh violence.
Taylor sat in court listening to proceedings wearing a dark suit and brown
tie. Judges also allowed him to wear sunglasses in the windowless courtroom
because of an eye infection.
At Monday's hearing, slated to be the last before the trial starts next month,
Khan also complained that the court was not funding an adequate defense team
for Taylor.
Taylor has two attorneys and three legal assistants, while prosecutors have a
trial team twice that size.
"The concern of my client is that he is being shortchanged," Khan said, adding
that Taylor was having trouble meeting court officials to discuss the problem.
Presiding judge Julia Sebutinde of Uganda said court officers responsible for
funding Taylor's defense needed to sort out the problem to ensure the trial
can start on time.
"I do not want to hear afterwards that as a result of some decision taken
somewhere that Mr. Taylor is not in a position to start trial," Sebutinde
said. "This would be very, very unfortunate if it did happen."
Taylor's lawyers are seeking to appeal the decision setting the start date for
the trial, arguing that they have not had enough time to prepare.
Prosecutors say that in exchange for diamonds smuggled out of Sierra Leone,
Taylor provided rebels with arms, ammunition, communication equipment, as well
as alcohol, drugs and cigarettes.
Former Liberian leader's defense calls for more lawyers
Agence France Presse, 5/7/07
The defence of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, due to go on trial
for war crimes here next month, said Monday that they needed more senior
counsels for the complex case.
In a pre-trial hearing of the case before the Special Court for Sierra Leone
(SCSL), Taylor's lawyer Karim Khan said his client was concerned he was being
"short-changed" with only two attorneys who can attend his trial against a
prosecution legal team of at least 10 people.
The trial, which was moved to The Hague to the premises of the International
Criminal Court (ICC) for security reasons is set to start on June 4 and the
defence is trying to get a more senior lawyer on board, Khan said.
Before the hearing adjourned Monday the judge called on the registry of the
court to help with the defence's problem.
"There is a bottleneck somewhere," presiding judge Julia Sebutinde said.
"I do not want to hear afterwards that as a result of a decision of somebody
somewhere mister Taylor is not ready to stand trial," she added.
Taylor, who is detained in The Hague, has asked to meet the court's defence
liason to discuss the arrangements but the trip was cancelled.
The defence has asked for more time before the trial starts because of the
problems but the court has denied it. Khan is now asking for leave to appeal
that ruling but the court has not yet made a decision.
Taylor is seen as the single most powerful figure behind a series of civil
wars in Liberia and neighbouring Sierra Leone between 1989 and 2003 which left
around 400,000 people dead.
The former warlord-turned-president has been indicted by the United
Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone on charges of crimes against
humanity, war crimes and violations of international human rights. He
maintains his innocence.
Taylor was in court Monday listening attentively to the proceedings and making
notes. Dressed in a dark grey suit Taylor also wore sunglasses in court
because he suffered from an eye infection, his lawyers said.
On Monday the defence also complained they had difficulty getting witnesses to
testify in the case because of a UN Security Council resolution that imposes
travel bans on people deemed close associates of Taylor.
According to Khan many witnesses are reluctant to testify because they are
afraid of being slapped with a travel ban if they appear on his behalf during
the trial.
Morocco
Morocco, Polisario Agree to Talks
Justin Bergman, Associated Press, 5/1/07
The two sides fighting for control of Western Sahara agreed Monday to hold
talks for the first time in 30 years on the sparsely populated territory in
North Africa, which the U.S. says is critical to preventing the spread of
terrorism.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution calling for Morocco
and the Polisario Front independence group to enter into negotiations over the
phosphate-rich region which Morocco annexed in 1975, sparking a 16-year war
with Polisario guerrillas.
Both Morocco and the Polisario Front agreed to discuss the future of the
region, although Ahmed Boukhari, the Polisario representative to the U.N.,
said talks were doomed if the Moroccan government does not agree to a
referendum on independence.
"We are ready to engage now but for something credible," he told reporters
after the vote. "Morocco wanted ... to force the hand of the Security Council
to endorse only their plan which says Western Sahara belongs to Morocco
without a referendum."
Morocco's U.N. Ambassador El Mostafa Sahel said "there will be appropriate
answers to the question of self-determination," but he did not mention the
possibility of a referendum, which Morocco has steadfastly opposed.
Morocco presented an autonomy plan to the U.N. earlier this month that would
permit the election of a parliament and create a regional government in
Western Sahara to oversee day-to-day affairs. But sovereignty over the
territory would remain with Rabat.
The Polisario Front, which is backed by neighboring Algeria, also presented a
plan this month that reiterated its demand for a referendum offering the
Saharawi people who live in the region a choice of autonomy or independence
from Morocco.
The U.S. believes resolving the conflict could be a catalyst for improved
counterterrorism cooperation in North Africa and for a free trade agreement
that would promote economic growth and reduce the appeal of terrorist groups
to unemployed youth.
In a letter Thursday, 180 members of the U.S. House of Representatives urged
President Bush to support Morocco's autonomy plan, saying the U.S. has a major
national security interest in the resolving the dispute.
"With al-Qaida and other terrorist groups expanding their presence into North
Africa, we are concerned that the failure to resolve this conflict of more
than 30 years poses a danger to U.S. and regional security," the letter said.
Forty-five House members signed an opposing letter backing a referendum as
called for by the Polisario.
Concerns over the spread of terrorism in North Africa were heightened earlier
this month after suicide bombers launched attacks in Morocco's largest city,
Casablanca, and the Algerian capital of Algiers, killing dozens. Officials
blamed al-Qaida.
Boukhari, the Polisario representative to the U.N., said there are no known
terror groups operating in Western Sahara, nor did he believe the territory
could become a launching pad for attacks because it is largely desert and
lacks infrastructure.
"The threat of terrorism in Morocco, in North Africa will be there for other
reasons. It is not linked to Western Sahara," he said.
But analysts say resolving the Western Sahara dispute could be vital to
countering al-Qaida's rise in the area.
"The Western Sahara conflict is the number one impediment standing in the way
of regional cooperation, especially between Morocco and Algeria. A peaceful
negotiated solution would pave the way for more cooperation on security and
economics," said Jacob Mundy, a Western Sahara expert at the Middle East
Research and Information Project in Washington, D.C.
Morocco and Mauritania split Western Sahara after its Spanish colonizers left
the territory in 1975. Full-scale war broke out, and Morocco took over the
whole of the territory after Mauritania pulled out in 1979.
The fighting, which pitted 15,000 Polisario guerrillas against Morocco's
U.S.-equipped army, ended in 1991 with a U.N.-negotiated cease-fire that
called for a referendum on the region's future. But after 15 years and the
expenditure of more than $600 million, the U.N. has been unable to resolve the
standoff or hold the referendum.
Former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker also tried for years to broker a
settlement on behalf of the U.N., including an eventual referendum on
independence, autonomy or integration with Morocco. That effort failed and he
gave up in 2004.
The mandate of the 225-member U.N. mission in Western Sahara, which expired
Monday, was renewed by the Security Council for another six months.
Associated Press Writer John Thorne contributed to this report from Rabat,
Morocco.
Nepal
Nepal Maoists threaten mass protests for
republic
Agence France Presse, 5/1/07
The leader of Nepal's Maoists on Tuesday threatened to launch massive
nationwide protests by the end of the month unless parliament immediately
ousts the king and declares a republic.
"We will organise a third movement in the country from late May if the interim
parliament delays the declaration of a republic," Prachanda told a crowd at a
May Day celebration in Kathmandu.
Nepal's Maoists and government signed a landmark peace deal late last year
that ended a decade of civil war, a conflict the Maoists refer to as their
"first movement" or "people's war."
Their "second movement" saw bloody street protests that forced King Gyanendra
to relinquish absolute rule prior to the signing of the peace accord.
"We are starting this protest programme in order to pressure the political
parties and the government to go for a republic," Prachanda, whose name means
"the fierce one", told a crowd of about 5,000 people.
The decision about the future of Nepal's embattled monarchy was supposed to
have been decided in a constituent assembly election scheduled for June, but
Nepal's top election official has said that this date was too soon and more
time was needed to prepare for the poll.
The delay has seen the former rebels step up demands for a republic, even
though the king has already been stripped of most of his powers, including his
title of head of state.
"The unity of the eight parties (seven mainstream political parties and the
Maoists) hinged on elections by June, but now since they are not happening,
the basis of unity among the eight parties has been broken," Prachanda said.
"To build a new foundation among the eight parties, declaring a republic is
the only way," the Maoist leader told the cheering crowd.
Prachanda said the Maoists had already begun their publicity campaign in the
run-up to planned protests later this month, adding the group would also start
"mobilising the masses" on May 8.
The former rebels have confined their "People's Liberation Army" to
UN-monitored camps, and have been granted five ministerial portfolios in a new
interim government.
"We have shown maximum flexibility and patience in making this peace process
successful, but we will not tolerate it if our patience is taken as weakness,"
the former school teacher-turned-revolutionary said.
At least 13,000 people were killed in the bitter civil war launched by the
Maoists in west Nepal in 1996.
Curfew imposed in west Nepal
Agence France Presse, 5/3/07
An indefinite curfew has been imposed in a western Nepal border town following
clashes between police and unarmed Maoist cadres that injured at least 17
people, officials said Thursday.
The clash erupted Wednesday after "Maoist cadres attacked policemen who were
evicting Maoists from government-owned land they had occupied for the past
five years," said Keshav Raj Sharma, an official at Bardiya around 500
kilometres (300 miles) west of Kathmandu.
He said that at least 17 people including seven policemen and several Maoist
cadres were injured in the incident.
"The indefinite curfew was imposed to prevent any violence," said Sharma.
The Maoists have opposed the local authority's decision to station Armed
Police Force personnel at a government-owned building in the area for security
duty along the Nepal-India border, the official said.
The Maoists have had their army and weapons confined to UN-monitored camps,
but continue to face accusations that they have not stopped using violence and
intimidation.
Early this week, the former rebels in west Nepal overran a police post and
kidnapped 11 officers but later freed them.
Nepal's Maoists signed a peace deal with the government late last year that
ended a decade of bloody civil war.
At least 13,000 people were killed in the conflict that crippled an already
fragile economy and displaced tens of thousands of people.
Nepal Negotiation Simulation
Click
here to access the Nepal Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public
International Law & Policy Group.
Two Muslim rebels arrested in Philippines
Agence France Presse, 5/4/07
Two suspected members of a Muslim separatist group have been arrested with
bomb-making equipment in the southern Philippines, officials said Friday.
Police raided the hideout of Thaos Alimpain and Nasser Mindu in Midsayap town
on the island of Mindanao on Thursday, seizing an artillery shell, bomb
components, two mobile phones, two firearms and documents on how to assemble
bombs, said Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando.
The two men are suspected members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF),
a Muslim separatist group that signed a ceasefire with the government in 2003
to pave the way for peace talks.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said that the rebel group was investigating the
report.
"If the two men are really involved in terrorism then they should be punished
severely. We do not harbor terrorists or criminals," Kabalu said.
The MILF has denied it is linked with other Muslim groups that engage in
bombings or kidnappings but its peace talks with the government have been
stalled several times amid sporadic clashes with security forces.
In March, MILF forces clashed with the military in Midsayap, leaving at least
18 people dead.
Philippine phone company discovers alleged wiretap near former President
Aquino's home
Hrvoje Hranjski, Associated Press, 5/3/07
Repairmen working near the home of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino
found a tape recorder and alleged wiretapping device on her line in a
telephone switching box, Philippine officials said Thursday.
Aquino, 74, a political icon who restored democracy in the Philippines after
leading a 1986 "people power" revolt with mass protests, said she had
suspected her phone was bugged "ever since the martial law" period in the
1970s.
"I've been through the worst times before," she told reporters. "All of us in
the opposition then were almost sure our phones were bugged. Even when I was
president, there was some wiretapping also."
She did not say who she thought might be wiretapping her phone.
Quezon City police chief Senior Superintendent Magtanggol Gatdula said police
were investigating and plan to question the phone repairmen.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. confirmed in a statement its
maintenance crew recovered "an instrument which appeared to be a tape recorder
attached to a black box" in the cross-connect cabinet near Aquino's home.
"Upon further investigation, the PLDT crew discovered that the black box to
which the ... tape recorder was attached was connected to the telephone line
installed at the residence of ex-President Corazon Aquino," it said.
The company said it was conducting its own investigation.
The military denied involvement.
"One thing is definite: There is no such effort by the Armed Forces of the
Philippines to bug the former president," spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro
told reporters.
"This could be the handiwork of some groups with interests that only they know
of," he said.
Aquino was swept to power in 1986, after a peaceful protest against late
dictator Ferdinand Marcos. She led the country until 1992.
She recently had a falling out with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, joining
opposition figures in calling for Arroyo's resignation over allegations of
vote-rigging in the 2004 elections.
In the last three months, Aquino has been campaigning for her son, Benigno
"Noynoy" Aquino III, who is running for senator in an opposition coalition.
Allegations of wiretapping have been an explosive issue since the disputed
2004 polls, when the opposition alleged Arroyo conspired to rig the vote.
The allegations are based on wiretapped phone calls allegedly between an
election official and Arroyo, in which they purportedly spoke of ensuring a
million-vote victory margin for her.
Arroyo has apologized for talking to an election official, but it never became
clear who wiretapped the president. She has denied any wrongdoing, and has
survived two impeachment attempts in the House of Representatives, where her
allies are in majority.
The Black and White Movement, an opposition group calling for Arroyo's
resignation, said it was "shocked and dismayed to learn of the wiretapping of
Cory Aquino."
"If she can be tapped, we are all in danger," the group said, adding that
those responsible for the alleged 2004 election wiretaps were never brought to
justice.
Somalia
Somali reconciliation conference postponed for second
time
Agence France Presse, 5/2/07
A reconciliation conference for feuding Somali factions planned for May 16 has
been postponed by one month and will only be held if funds are made available,
a top Somali official said Wednesday.
Somali ambassador to Ethiopia Abdikarin Farah said the government had not
received money from the international community to organize the conference,
initially set to begin on April 16.
"The conference should start on June 16 if we have the money. So far we
haven't received any. The international community has put nothing on the table
yet," Farah told journalists here.
Somali interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed announced in March that the
country would hold the conference, involving some 3,000 people from Somalia
and abroad, in a bid to stem continuing cycles of violence.
Since the beginning of the year, the Somali capital Mogadishu has seen an
upsurge in clashes between Ethiopian forces and Islamist insurgents and clan
fighters opposed to their presence.
Ethiopian-Somali troops drove out a powerful Islamist movement from swathes of
central and southern Somalia, including Mogadishu, at the start of the year.
Farah pleaded for help for tens of thousands of people displaced by recent
fighting, which died down last week.
"Somalia is facing a major humanitarian crisis," he said. "The international
community has no more excuses (not) to bring in humanitarian aid."
According to the United Nations, around two-thirds of Mogadishu's one million
residents have been displaced since February.
Up to 400,000 fled the city, while another 300,000 were displaced within the
coastal capital.
Yusuf said the Islamists had been defeated and urged residents to return to
their homes, many of which have been reduced to rubble.
"Every Somali today needs some humanitarian help," Farah said.
"In the short term we need direct humanitarian aid, to provide needs for food,
water and shelter against the rains, and medical supplies including doctors."
"We need all the help the international community can give us."
Mayor of Mogadishu Bans Weapons
Mohamed Olad Hassan, Associated Press, 5/4/07
A former warlord who has long lived by his gun was sworn in as mayor of
Mogadishu on Friday and immediately ordered residents of the Somali capital to
get rid of their weapons.
But Mayor Mohamed Dheere offered no clear details on how that could be
accomplished in a city awash in Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns and hand
grenades. Previous efforts to get residents to give up their weapons have been
unsuccessful.
"No weapons are allowed in the city," Dheere, who spent 16 years as a warlord
struggling for power in this Horn of Africa nation, said at his inauguration
ceremony. "Anyone who violates this directive will be punished."
The new police chief, Abdi Qeybdiid, also called for residents to disarm
Friday, and said cars with blacked-out or tinted windows must go.
"Anyone who fails to abide by these rules will be brought before the court,"
he said a surprising assertion in a city that has seen little more than chaos
for more than a decade.
Dheere is trying to build on a fragile peace carved out by clan deal-making
and a fierce military crackdown on Muslim militants.
Aid groups say 1,670 people were killed between March 12 and April 26 and more
than 340,000 of the city's 2 million residents fled for safety as the
government, backed by Ethiopian troops, pressed to wipe out an Islamic
insurgency.
It was not clear how long the calm would last extremist Islamic leaders have
vowed their forces would rise up again. But the violence was also spurred by a
struggle for power among Somali clans, and that element may have subsided
because of efforts to appease the clans, including the weekend appointment of
Dheere as mayor. Dheere's powerful clan, the Hawiye, had complained of being
ignored by the government.
Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator
Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned against each other. The current government
was established in 2004, but has failed to assert full control.
With the crucial aid of troops from neighboring Ethiopia, Somali forces ousted
a militant Islamic group known as the Council of Islamic Courts over the New
Year. But the group promised to launch an Iraq-style insurgency, and the
capital was soon enduring weeks of artillery battles and shelling between the
warring sides.
The relentless violence is among the reasons many Somalis have been reluctant
to give up their arms. But in a hopeful sign for the government, several
members of the powerful business community in the capital handed over 25 boxes
and 20 sacks filled with weapons, saying they would now depend on government
forces to protect them.
But violence and crime continues to be a challenge. On Thursday, gunmen seized
three boats off the coast of Somalia's semiautonomous Puntland region, said
Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance
Program. Mwangura had no update on the situation Friday.
Two children killed, seven people wounded in Mogadishu bomb
Agence France Presse, 5/7/07
Two children died and seven people were wounded Monday when a bomb exploded
under a police car near the presidential palace in Somalia's volatile capital
Mogadishu, police and witnesses said.
The attack came just hours after Somali troops, backed by Ethiopian forces,
cracked down on arms dealers near the scene of the blast.
The police car exploded near the Villa Somalia presidential palace in southern
Mogadishu, police and witnesses said, prompting security forces to seal off
surrounding areas and fire into the air.
"Two children who were playing nearby were killed by the bomb. One died
instantly and the other died in hospital," said local resident Farah Darod.
"The bomb hit a police car somewhere not too far from the presidential palace
and four policemen were wounded," police officer Ibrahim Mohamed told AFP.
A southern Mogadishu resident, Mohamed Ali, said three civilians were also hit
by shrapnel.
Officials confirmed the vehicle belonged to regional police chief Ali Said,
and that he was not in it when it was attacked.
The blast occurred after Ethiopian forces raided the Bakara market, the city's
largest, and seized two truckloads of weapons, causing local arms dealers to
flee their stalls.
"Ethiopian and Somali military ... surrounded and entered the market, broke
several stores, collected guns and loaded them into trucks," arms dealer Dahir
Faqash told AFP.
"The weapons included heavy and small machine guns," Faqash added.
Another arms dealer, Suleyman Adbi Barra, said the soldiers ransacked the
market -- which also sells clothes, spare parts and foreign currencies -- for
around 45 minutes before loading the weapons into military vehicles.
Ethiopian-Somali troops drove out an Islamist movement from central and
southern Somalia, including Mogadishu, at the start of the year.
The city has since seen an upsurge in deadly clashes between Ethiopian forces
and Islamist insurgents and clan fighters opposed to their presence but the
fighting has abated since April 26.
Efforts to disarm civilians have failed due to their reluctance to hand over
weapons to an interim government largely seen as ineffective and unable to
guarantee security.
Sri Lanka
British diplomat to meet with Tamil rebels, urge
return to peace talks
Muneeza Naqvi, Associated Press, 5/3/07
A senior British diplomat will travel to northern Sri Lanka to urge Tamil
Tiger rebels to return to peace talks, a British official said Thursday, amid
intensified fighting on the troubled island.
Britain's Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Lesley Craig had been due to
travel Thursday to Kilinochchi, the main rebel-held city, but the trip was
postponed, British High Commission spokesman John Culley said.
While no reason was given for the delay, Culley said Craig would travel soon
to meet with leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as the rebels
are formally known.
The Sri Lankan government recently barred the Norwegian ambassador from making
a similar trip to Kilinochchi.
Norway helped broker a 2002 cease-fire between the government and rebels, and
the Scandinavian country has continued to serve as a mediator as sporadic
fighting has degenerated into all-out war in the past 18 months.
The cease-fire has officially remained in place as fighting has intensified,
but both sides insist they respect the truce and are only responding to the
other's aggression.
The government has already ousted insurgents from bases in eastern Sri Lanka,
and officials say they soon plan to make a push against the Tiger's heartland
in the north, where the rebels run a mini-state complete with border guards,
schools and traffic police.
The Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland for Sri
Lanka's 3.1 million Tamils, a largely Hindu minority concentrated in eastern
and northern Sri Lanka. The Tamils have faced decades of discrimination from
the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese, who make up a majority of the Indian
Ocean island nation's 19 million people.
At least 65,000 people were killed before the 2002 cease-fire. Air raids, bus
bombings, suicide attacks and jungle clashes have left an estimated 4,000 more
dead since December 2005.
Truce between Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels must be re-examined:
official
Bharatha Mallawarachi, Associated Press, 5/7/07
Sri Lanka wants to re-negotiate a cease-fire with the country's Tamil Tiger
rebels, officials said Monday, as the air force bombed a rebel military base
and training camp in the country's war-torn north.
The cease-fire agreement "has been violated over and over again," government
spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said. The government wants to take a fresh look
at the cease-fire, he said, adding that it was up to the Norwegian sponsors to
discuss the matter with the rebels.
Rambukwella did not say why the government was talking about renegotiating the
cease-fire. In the last week, however, at least 32 rebels and four soldiers
were killed in gunbattles, a naval battle and a land mine blast. Rebels bombed
fuel facilities just outside the capital on April 29.
Earlier, the military said the Sri Lankan air force bombed a rebel military
base and training camp in the northern, rebel-held town of Mullaitivu on
Monday morning. Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe gave no casualty figures but said a
large number of rebels were at the base at the time.
There was no immediate rebel response to the government and military
statements.
A statement from the European truce monitors in the country has said that the
air force has increased airstrikes and spy plane activity over Tamil Tiger
rebel-held areas in the north.
Combat seems to have "shifted from the east to the areas closer to
Kilinochchi, the main rebel-held town in the north," The Sri Lanka Monitoring
Mission said in its weekly media statement.
The government spokesman reacted angrily to the mission's statement, saying
that it had no mandate to comment on a matter of Sri Lankan national security.
The mission, in its weekly statement, had said there were up to eight
airstrikes in northern rebel-held areas in the week of April 23-29.
It said the number of unmanned aircraft and spy planes flying over the north
had also increased.
In 2002, Norway brokered a government-rebel truce that officially remains in
place, although the fighting has worsened. Both sides insist they are
respecting the cease-fire, and are only fighting in response to the other's
aggression.
The government has already ousted insurgents from bases in eastern Sri Lanka,
and officials say they plan to make a push soon into the rebels' heartland in
the north, where they run a mini-state complete with border guards, schools
and traffic police.
The Tamil Tigers have fought government troops since 1983 for an independent
homeland in the north and east for Sri Lanka's minority ethnic Tamils after
decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
The conflict killed at least 65,000 people before the 2002 cease-fire. Air
raids, bus bombings, suicide attacks and jungle clashes have left an estimated
4,000 more dead since December 2005.
Sri Lanka air force ramps up strikes in rebel-held north, peace monitor
says
Muneeza Naqvi, Associated Press, 5/7/07
The Sri Lankan air force has increased air strikes and spy plane activity over
Tamil Tiger rebel-held areas in the north, European truce monitors said
Monday.
Combat seems to have "shifted from the east to the areas closer to
Kilinochchi, the main rebel-held town in the north," The Sri Lanka Monitoring
Mission said in its weekly media statement. Kilinochchi is the main rebel-held
town in the north.
The statement said there were up to eight air strikes in northern rebel-held
areas in the week of April 23-29.
"Half the air strikes have taken place within eight kilometers (five miles)
from Kilinochchi town, and one as close as three kilometers (two miles) from
the SLMM (Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission) office," the statement said.
It said the number of unmanned aircraft and spy planes flying over the north
had also increased.
In 2002, Norway brokered a government-rebel truce that officially remains in
place, although the fighting has worsened. Both sides insist they respect the
cease-fire, and are only fighting in response to the other's aggression.
The government has already ousted insurgents from bases in eastern Sri Lanka,
and officials say they plan to make a push soon into the rebels' heartland in
the north, where they run a mini-state complete with border guards, schools
and traffic police.
In the latest round of intense fighting at least 32 rebels and four government
soldiers have been killed in a series of gunbattles, a naval battle and a land
mine blast this week.
The Tamil Tigers have fought government troops since 1983 for an independent
homeland in the north and east for Sri Lanka's minority ethnic Tamils after
decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
The conflict killed at least 65,000 people before the 2002 cease-fire. Air
raids, bus bombings, suicide attacks and jungle clashes have left an estimated
4,000 more dead since December 2005.
Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation
Click
here to access the Sri Lanka Negotiation Simulation prepared by the Public
International Law & Policy Group.
Sudan
Divestment campaign targeting Sudan over Darfur goes
global
Louise Watt, Associated Press, 5/1/07
For groups hoping to stop the violence in Darfur with economic pressure,
Rolls-Royce's announcement that it was withdrawing from Sudan was a milestone.
Rolls-Royce PLC was high up on a hit list drawn up by activists who believe
that foreign money is fueling a crisis that has killed more than 200,000
people and driven 2.5 million from their homes. The company, which supplies
diesel engines to the oil and gas industry in Sudan, announced last month it
was starting a gradual pullout.
Armed with the kind of tactics that helped end apartheid in South Africa a
generation ago, the Sudan divestment campaigners believe they will succeed
where politicians have failed. It is part of a growing movement to bring
citizen pressure to bear that saw protests around the world on Sunday.
The campaign, focusing on the lucrative oil industry, is pressuring certain
companies to leave Sudan, where the government is accused of arming janjaweed
militia blamed for widespread rapes and killings of Darfur civilians.
Campaigners also are encouraging investors across the globe, from banks to
retired teachers with pension funds invested in companies doing business in
Sudan to take their business elsewhere.
In the U.S., officials with the Save Darfur Coalition unveiled Tuesday the
Divest for Darfur campaign, urging Fidelity Investments and Berkshire Hathaway
Corp. to cut off their relationships with PetroChina Co., China's No. 1 oil
producer. PetroChina is known to be a major investor in government-owned oil
exploration in Sudan.
Anoushka Marashlian of Global Insight, an independent market analysis firm,
said Rolls-Royce's decision shows that companies are worried about the
negative publicity of doing business in Sudan.
"I think at a private level (Sudanese government officials) are worried this
could produce a ripple effect and deter others from Sudan," she said. "It
doesn't necessarily mean they are going to amend their conduct."
The U.S.-based Sudan Divestment Task Force started its campaign in 2005. The
idea has come more recently to Europe. The new global edge, activists say, has
helped give it powerful momentum.
"It is four years since the beginning of the Darfur crisis," says Nick
Donovan, head of policy and research at the U.K.-based Aegis Trust, an
independent organization that campaigns against genocide. But the
international community's approach of peacekeeping and prosecutions in the
International Criminal Court has failed to stop the violence, he said.
"The government of Khartoum has never felt under sufficient pressure," Donovan
said.
During the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, the African National
Congress and other campaigners called for an international boycott of South
African products as a form of protest.
Donovan said campaigners want something similar for Sudan, but also want to be
careful not to hurt ordinary Sudanese.
Instead of a broad boycott, the Sudan Divestment Task Force has drawn up a
list of around 50 companies to pressure to withdraw from Sudan. Most are in
the oil, energy and construction sectors.
According to Donovan, between 40 percent to 60 percent of Sudanese government
revenue comes from oil.
From 1999 to 2005, the government's oil revenue rose from $61.1 million to
$2.3 billion, according to the Aegis Trust. In the same period, the Sudanese
government's military expenditure rose from $248 million to $452 million,
according to figures from the International Institute for Strategic Studies in
London.
Rolls-Royce was one of the "top dozen" targets of the divestment campaign. The
British company has not publicly acknowledged that the campaign spurred it to
withdraw, but cited "international humanitarian concerns" in its decision.
"We just felt that this was the time to review the position and that prompted
the decision we made," said Martin Brodie, a company spokesman.
French oil services company Schlumberger Ltd., another on the activists' hit
list, was discussing the nature of its involvement in Sudan with the Sudan
Divestment Task Force, according to Schlumberger spokesman Stephen Whittaker.
Maria Hamilton, spokeswoman for Lundin Petroleum AB, a Swedish company on the
list that is involved in exploratory drilling in Sudan, argued that oil
revenues were helping to rebuild the country. She noted that war-battered
southern Sudan, just emerging from its own war with Khartoum, depended on oil
revenue for reconstruction.
Helped along by the involvement of celebrity actors George Clooney and Mia
Farrow, and links between evangelical churches in the U.S. and southern Sudan,
to date, 10 U.S. states and more than 40 universities have agreed to divest
their funds from Sudan, according to Adam Sterling, Task Force director.
Sudan Divestment U.K. started in November 2006 and since then campaigns have
been initiated in Australia, South Africa and Italy, and are being developed
in Brazil, France, Germany and Malaysia.
"There is an increasing awareness on the part of institutional investors of
what is going on which comes from investors in the U.S. approaching investors
in the UK," said Ebba Schmidt, spokeswoman for the U.K. Local Authority
Pension Fund Forum.
Smuts Ngonyama, a spokesman for South Africa's ANC, said divestment was a
powerful weapon against apartheid, but could not say whether it would work in
Darfur.
"Divestment is an important tool in any struggle to put pressure," he said.
"But it is applied when all other means have been exhausted."
Sudan rejects ICC arrest warrants over Darfur crimes
Mohamed Hasni, Agence France Presse, 5/2/07
Sudan rejected the first arrest warrants issued Wednesday by the International
Criminal Court over the Darfur conflict for a Sudanese minister of state and a
militia leader accused of murder, torture and rape.
"Sudan rejects the ICC prosecutor's decision and our position is in line with
international law because Sudan is not a member of the treaty that founded
this jurisdiction," Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardhi told reporters.
In documents released Wednesday, ICC judges said there were "reasonable
grounds" to conclude that Ahmed Haroun, Sudan's secretary of state for
humanitarian affairs and a former minister in charge of Darfur, and Ali
Kosheib, a principal leader of the Khartoum-backed Janjaweed militia, were
"criminally responsible" for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The arrest warrants, dated April 27, charge the pair with a long list of 51
counts including murder, torture, mass rape and the forced displacement of
entire villages during a series of attacks in western Darfur in 2003 and 2004.
ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo hailed the move as "a big and
important step ahead".
"These two will have to face justice, they will be in the dock, in two months
or two years ... they know that," he told AFP.
But Khartoum remained defiant and rejected the ICC's legitimacy.
"Sudan has nothing to do with this decision and had already announced that it
would not cooperate with the ICC when it comes to trying Sudanese nationals
outside of Sudan," Mardhi said.
When the two suspects were first named in late February by the Hague-based
court, Sudan rejected the move and insisted it had already dealt with both of
them.
Khartoum said it interrogated Haroun and found him not to be a suspect.
Kosheib was detained last year by the Sudanese authorities but the opening of
his trial has been postponed until further notice.
Mardhi argued that the ICC's decision to issue arrest warrants was a
"political decision" and further evidence that the court was being used by the
West to "pressure Sudan" into accepting an international force in Darfur.
The international community has been urging Sudan to accept the deployment of
a robust UN peacekeeping force in Darfur to prop up the embattled African
Union contingent which has been deployed there since 2004.
Khartoum last month accepted the second phase of the UN peacekeeping plan but
has yet to give its green light to the final stage, which provides for the
deployment of a joint AU-UN force of up to 20,000 troops.
Observers argue that Khartoum also fears that an increased UN presence in
Darfur could lead to the arrest of senior regime officials suspected of war
crimes in the conflict-ridden western region.
According to the United Nations, at least 200,000 people have died and more
than two million fled their homes since the conflict erupted more than four
years ago. Some sources say the toll is much higher.
Egypt and other Arab countries reluctant to pressure Sudan over ending
fighting in Darfur
Sebastian Abbot, Associated Press, 5/7/07
Western countries looking for ways to pressure Sudan to curb violence in
Darfur are getting little support from the Khartoum regime's Arab neighbors.
Egypt, whose president met Monday with Sudan's leader, has the greatest
influence with its neighbor, but analysts said it is leery of pushing Khartoum
for fear of jeopardizing access to Nile River water and because of Arab
sentiment against outside interference in the region.
The meeting produced a call by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for Sudan to
pursue a comprehensive Darfur peace deal. But that echoes Sudanese President
Omar al-Bashir's position that a broad peace accord should be the focus in
Darfur, rather than a U.N. plan to deploy large numbers of peacekeepers.
A peace agreement was signed last year between al-Bashir's government and one
rebel group in Darfur, but it has failed to stop four years of fighting that
has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million. Other rebel
factions called the deal insufficient.
Mubarak's spokesman, Suleiman Awad, told reporters that Egypt would provide
army and police forces for an expanded Darfur peacekeeping mission only if a
peace deal is reached.
Egypt announced last month that it would send 750 soldiers and 130 military
supervisors for the next phase of U.N. troops deployed in Darfur, but Awad's
statement indicated Egypt was placing conditions on that offer.
"Mubarak emphasized that Egypt sees no use of some international powers'
inclination for increasing pressure on Sudan," Awad told reporters.
Mubarak, who also spoke about Darfur during a telephone call with President
Bush on Monday, emphasized that dialogue and not sanctions will solve the
conflict, Awad said. Egypt has opposed U.S. threats of sanctions if Sudan
doesn't allow U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur.
Al-Bashir agreed in November to a U.N. plan to strengthen an ill-equipped
force of 8,000 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur.
But it took five more months of talks before he recently gave the go-ahead for
deploying 3,000 U.N. soldiers, police and civilian personnel and six attack
helicopters. He still staunchly opposes the plan's final phase creating a
20,000-soldier "hybrid" U.N.-AU force.
Analysts say one reason Cairo is supporting the Sudanese government is to
preserve its access to the Nile River, which runs through Sudan before
reaching Egypt.
Eric Reeves, a Sudan expert at Smith College in Massachusetts, said that
includes backing Khartoum's efforts to prevent southern Sudan from voting for
independence in a 2011 referendum that will be held under a 2005 peace
agreement that ended a 21-year civil war in the south.
Sudan's government opposes secessions because much of the country's oil is in
the south, and Egyptians fear an independent southern Sudan could jeopardize
the amount of Nile water that reaches Egypt.
"What you see is a convergence of interest between Cairo and Khartoum," Reeves
said.
While Washington is calling for the bigger peacekeeping force in Darfur,
experts say the U.S. government is reluctant to pressure Egypt too strongly
because it needs Egyptian help elsewhere in the region.
"The U.S. relationship with Egypt in other areas, like the Israeli-Palestinian
peace process, is so central, so strategic, the U.S. doesn't want to hint at
jeopardizing those other issues," said Tom Cargill, a Sudan specialist at
Chatham House, a think tank in London.
Sudan's government has also played on Arab worries about outsiders by arguing
that the arrival of U.N. troops in Darfur would signal the return of
colonialism in Africa.
Associated Press writer Nadia Abou el-Magd contributed to this report.
Genocide in Darfur: A Legal Analysis
Click
here to access the Report prepared by the Public International Law &
Policy Group.
