War Crimes Prosecution Watch

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea (ECCC)

The Official Website of the Khmer Rouge Trial Task Force

Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea 'very ill'
Bangkok Post
August 10, 2006

Pailin, Cambodia (dpa) - Members of a recently beefed-up police guard around former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea's home said his health was in serious decline and he was no longer able to see visitors.

However, they added that the sharply increased police presence was for Nuon Chea's own protection and stressed that he was not under house arrest and was free to seek hospital treatment should he request it.

Media reports in mid-July claiming Nuon Chea and another Pailin resident, former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan - both prime candidates for indictment in an upcoming trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders - were flight risks were strongly denied by the government and local leaders.

"His health is serious right now," a member of the group of up to a dozen police guards at Nuon Chea's house, all of whom declined to be identified, said at the weekend. "He is very ill. It has become much worse recently. Right now he is treating himself at home."

He said he believed Nuon Chea was suffering from high blood pressure in particular.

Police cordoned off the 81-year-old's home on the Thai border on "orders from the top" as of three weeks ago, the plainclothes officer added. Rather than enlisting local police from the former Khmer Rouge stronghold, most of the new guards were from Battambang, nearly 100 kilometres away.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said by telephone that the government had placed guards on Nuon Chea's home to protect him and prevent the unwanted attention of journalists in particular but that Nuon Chea was free to go where he wanted and speak with whom he wanted until the event that the joint UN-Cambodian Extraordinary Chambers issued a warrant for his arrest. He said he was not aware of Nuon Chea's state of health.

Advocates for a trial have long urged a speedy process to ensure justice is found for the victims of the Khmer Rouge's 1975-to-1979 Democratic Kampuchea regime while the ageing and ailing former leaders could still stand trial. Up to 2 million people died during the ultra-Maoist's rule.

The proceedings were dealt a serious blow last month when the movement's former military commander, Ta Mok, died of respiratory failure in a Phnom Penh military hospital at 82 after spending seven years in jail awaiting trial. The movement's leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998 while in Ta Mok's custody.

Nuon Chea, also known as "Brother Number Two," was deputy general secretary of the Communist Party and chief lieutenant to Pol Pot but was never jailed after he made a deal and surrendered to the government in 1998.

The octogenarian suffers from a number of health problems, including diabetes and high blood pressure, and has previously suffered at least one stroke.

Opposition Sam Rainsy Party candidate for the area, Van Ra, still mourning the death of her uncle, Ta Mok, said she hoped Nuon Chea would be afforded the best possible medical care if he required it - something she claims her uncle was not able to access while in custody.

"These are old men," she said. "They need to be taken care of, and I hope the government will do that for them."

In Pailin, former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan's former home has been rented out to an aid worker. Neighbours and friends said he has moved to Phnom Penh, 370 kilometres away, and they were unsure if or when he would return to Pailin.

The Extraordinary Chambers was expected to try a handful of the Khmer Rouge's elderly former leaders, three decades after they took power, and was expected to issue indictments within six months.

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Democratic Republic of the Congo (ICC)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Uganda: UN Stalls on Kony
AllAfrica.com - New Vision (Kampala)
by Emmy Allio
August 8, 2006

THE UN Security Council has delayed passing a resolution that would have okayed or denied the UPDF permission to hunt Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in the DR Congo.

Sitting in New York last Friday, the Security Council agreed that the on-going peace process in Juba should be given an opportunity to progress.

The director of the media centre, Robert Kabushenga, said the debate was a follow up of earlier ones held in New York and Geneva in January and February. He said UN Secretary General Koffi Annan's report of last month also comprehensively addressed the LRA issue.

"It is a significant step taken by the Security Council to allow the peace process to continue. Uganda is happy that there is global concern on the LRA issue," Kabushenga said.

Council members said the UN missions in Congo (MONUC) and in Sudan (UNMIS) neither had the capacity nor the mandate to enter Garamba National Park in Congo to capture the indicted LRA leaders or enforce the warrants of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

If passed, the Security Council resolution will have far reaching effects because it calls for the indictment of not only LRA leaders but also LRA collaborators and those who facilitate their activities.

The Council noted that because of ICC investigations, the full extent of the plunder and destruction of lives and property by the LRA was globally known.

The debate was sponsored by Britain, which wanted the Security Council to recognise Uganda's specific security interests with respect to the LRA in Garamba. Present at the debate was Uganda's representative to the UN, Francis Butagira.

Indicted LRA leaders are Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Raska Lukwiya and Dominic Ongwen.

Congo-Kinshasa: ICC - A New Role for Victims
AllAfrica.com - Institute for War and Peace Reporting
by Katy Glassborow
August 8, 2006

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo made history when he became the first person to be arrested by the fledgling International Criminal Court, ICC, and imprisoned in its cells in The Hague.

The warlord from the Congo province of Ituri is the leader of the Union des Patriotes Congolais, UPC, a Hema ethnic militia in Ituri. He faces charges of kidnapping children and using them in front-line activities against the Lendu, the Hema's ethnic rivals, United Nations peacekeepers and the Congo National Army.

He should have appeared at the ICC for a pre-trial hearing in early June but this was postponed until September. Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo explained it was because escalating violence in Ituri - ahead of the country's first democratic elections in over 40 years - meant the safety of witnesses and victims who were due to work with the ICC could not be guaranteed.

The right to have victims' voices heard has been fundamental to the development of the rules and procedures of this four-year-old court since the very beginning. It is also central to the ICC's goal of having a solid impact on peace and transition in the countries in which it is involved.

Explaining his decision to put the June hearing on hold, Moreno-Ocampo said, "Witnesses and victims are part of the trial. They have a role to play and that is why we have to protect them."

For the first time in the history of prosecuting war crimes, victims from conflicts such as the Congo can apply for permission to be involved in the judicial process in ways other than testifying as witnesses.

Significantly, they will be granted the right to question defendants and participate in the early stages of investigations.

This new way of prosecuting alleged war crimes perpetrators was borne out of a sense of frustration that victims have been too far removed from events at bodies like the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, ICTR, established by the UN to deal with the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

A spokesman for an African NGO which supported the creation of the ICC told IWPR that many of the victims of that genocide do not know what is going at the ICTR - in the Tanzanian town of Arusha - and the only way their voices are heard by the court is by testifying as witnesses.

"No-one asks them what went on or what is happening to them, so they can't raise concerns," he said.

So how does victim inclusion work in practice?

In the Lubanga case, the pre-trial chamber ruled in January that six victims could participate in proceedings before the ICC, including at the stage of the investigation currently being conducted in the Congo.

Ekkehard Withopf, who is leading the prosecution of Lubanga, told IWPR that in principle they have similar rights to those of the prosecution and defence teams.

ICC officials or judges can appoint counsel to represent victims, or refer them to the Office of Public Counsel for Victims, OPCV, whose lawyers are able to act as legal representatives for victims in court, appear before a chamber of judges on issues surrounding victim involvement or support a victim's existing legal team.

In practice, however, the level of victim involvement, and the extent to which their own representatives will be able to question the accused, will be at the discretion of the trial chamber.

Judges must make certain that the rights of the victim do not affect the accused's right to a fair trial, said Withopf. However, he expects they will take a "very liberal approach" otherwise the concept of victim participation "would not work".

But Withopf does have concerns that allowing victims to take a more active role in the courtroom will slow down the process. "Unnecessary delays are to the detriment of the victim's interests," he said. "So the ICC must also ensure that cases are completed within a reasonable time."

There are also question marks over which cases victims should take part in.

In early June, Moreno-Ocampo argued that they should only participate in trials of defendants whose actions have affected them personally, saying wider participation could "jeopardise investigations".

Carla Ferstman, director of London-based REDRESS, which helps victims of torture, suggests that more needs to be done to encourage victims to participate, because she says only small numbers of people have come forward so far.

But even if more decide to take part and are then selected, getting them to The Hague could be complex, expensive and potentially distressing.

Congo-Kinshasa: LRA Trades in Congo Gold
AllAfrica.com - New Vision (Kampala)
by Charles Etukuri
August 12, 2006

THE Government has accused the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) of breaching its own unilateral ceasefire by raiding villages for food and killing civilians. It has also accused the LRA of getting reinforcements from its collaborators and planning for war.

Sources also said the LRA, under the leadership of Joseph Kony, is engaging in diamond and gold trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Last year the LRA relocated to Garamba National Park in the mineral rich Congo. The central African country has vast deposits of minerals. Analysts say like other rebel groups, the LRA could use the proceeds from the trade to rebuild their war machinery.

According to sources, the army has received information that the LRA had joined the diamond and gold business in the area.

"There is no effective Congo force in the area and the chiefs who were involved in the mining now have to pay homage to the LRA. We have information that one of the LRA contacts has been dealing in gold," the sources said.

Intelligence sources said yesterday that security had intercepted information showing that the LRA was moving towards Koboko in West Nile and threatening to attack the area.

"Locals in the Garamba area have observed that the LRA units were moving closer to West Nile. It is estimated that they are about 60km from Koboko, so they are moving in a belligerent manner," the sources said.

The Uganda People's Defence Forces Spokesperson, Maj. Felix Kulayigye, confirmed yesterday that the LRA raided Acholi Bur in an attempt to steal food. "This is not the only raid. They have carried out several raid within the period they themselves declared a ceasefire," he said.

On Thursday, one LRA unit under one Koyello attacked Ngukedi village and abducted seven people who had gone to cultivate their gardens.

"They abducted seven people. One of them escaped and reported to the UPDF detach, which responded and rescued five, while two were shot by the LRA," said the source.

The army identified the dead as D. Aneka and Vincentino Ayo while Francis Omona, Cosmas Ojara, Onek, Mrs. Christine Auma and Rose Aneno were rescued.

"They have been actually in breach of their own ceasefire and we think that is not accidental. We know that after declaring the unilateral cease fire, Kony ordered Dominic Ongwen to break forces under his command in very small units cross from Southern Sudan into Congo and warned him that if any of the soldiers were hit he would be in severe trouble," the source said.

The Media Centre Director, Robert Kabushenga, yesterday said that the developments would not affect the talks. "We are committed to the peace process and we have invested significant amount of time and resources in trying to pursue the peace option and offer the LRA a soft landing and we will pursue it to its logical conclusion," he said.

Sources said Ongwen, one of the five commanders indicted by the ICC, had contacted the UPDF to surrender. Sources said some of the visitors to Garamba carried supplies for the rebels.

"These are people stocking food for the long haul and they are not about to come back. It was also observed that they had acquired new uniforms from the Sudan Armed forces (SAF) and new gumboots given to them by Riek Machar so these fellows are obviously not planning to come out.

"They are trying to buy time and find a way of embarrassing the Government and blame it on the failure of talks and go away," added the source.

Meanwhile, the Uganda and British governments are reportedly working on a Security Council resolution to punish countries that support and do business with LRA collaborators.

DR Congo: Stop Army Clashes in North Kivu
Human Rights Watch
August 14, 2006

Civilians Killed and Injured in Battles Between Rival Army Factions

(Brussels, August 14, 2006) - The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo must immediately stop fighting between rival army factions and seek to ease ethnic tensions in the eastern province of North Kivu during the ongoing electoral process, Human Rights Watch said today. Those individuals responsible for the deaths and injuries to civilians as a result of the fighting must also be held to account.

On August 5, Congolese army soldiers of the 9th Brigade fought those of the 83rd Brigade in the town of Sake, 30 kilometers east of Goma, the provincial capital, killing 2 civilians and injuring 13 others. Thousands of Sake residents sought refuge in Goma and other neighboring towns following the attack, which came just days after Congo’s historic elections. Results of the first presidential polls are to be announced August 20.

“The government, with help from U.N. peacekeepers, must resolve these conflicts within the Congolese army before more civilians are killed or injured,” said Alison Des Forges, senior advisor to the Africa division of Human Rights Watch. “If soldiers can’t keep order in their own ranks, how can civilians look to them for security?”

The 83rd Brigade includes many ethnic Congolese Tutsi officers, formerly members of the Congolese Rally for Democracy-Goma (RCD-Goma), a Rwandan-backed rebel group turned political party. Nominally part of the Congolese army, many of these soldiers have remained loyal to Laurent Nkunda, a former RCD-Goma military officer who claims to protect the rights of the minority Tutsi community.

The battle in Sake is the latest in a series of incidents between soldiers loyal to the Congolese government in Kinshasa and those who support Nkunda. In February forces loyal to Nkunda attacked the town of Rutshuru, causing thousands of civilians to flee.

These clashes heightened tensions between the Congolese Tutsi community and other ethnic groups. After the Sake attack, young men in the town said that they wanted to establish a local defense group to counter Nkunda’s forces.

On July 25 Nkunda launched a new military and political movement, the National Congress for the People’s Defense, at a press conference at his military base in Bwito, in the eastern province of North Kivu. Nkunda said his movement would react to any attempt to exclude minority groups from the new government.

There is a warrant for Nkunda’s arrest on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities perpetrated by troops under his control in Bukavu in June 2004. To date no action has been taken by the government or U.N. peacekeeping forces to arrest him and bring him to justice.

Soldiers of the 83rd Brigade have refused to enter the Congolese army integration program intended to bring former belligerents into one national army, claiming that they face discrimination in the new army. In February 2006, a number of Congolese Tutsi soldiers were attacked and injured in one of the newly established army integration camps at Kitona, in western Bas-Congo province, giving credence to such fears.

In an interview with Human Rights Watch, Lieutenant Colonel Kabundi of the 83rd Brigade said, “We cannot accept army integration because we are not considered Congolese.” He added, “War is better than army integration.”

Soldiers of the 83rd Brigade have also interfered in the demobilization process which is seeking to reduce the number of combatants in the Congo. In June they ambushed a minibus carrying 13 demobilized child soldiers and held seven people hostage for two days in an effort to prevent their demobilization. In July soldiers of the 83rd Brigade abducted two of these children in Goma and offered each of them $20 plus a promotion to rejoin the army.

“The government must address the fears of Tutsi soldiers and guarantee that they will be fairly treated in the integration process,” said Des Forges. “At the same time, military authorities must take disciplinary action against those resisting legitimate orders and ensure that those who have caused civilians harm are held to account. They must also arrest Nkunda and ensure that he faces a fair trial for war crimes charges.”

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Darfur, Sudan (ICC)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in Darfur, Sudan

AU orders Darfur rebel officials to leave its camps
Reuters
by Opheera McDoom
August 16, 2006

KHARTOUM, Aug 16 ( Reuters) - The African Union's peace monitoring force in Darfur has ordered all representatives of rebel groups who did not sign a May peace deal to leave its camps, officials said on Wednesday.

Prior to the AU-brokered deal signed between the government and one of three rebel factions, the pan-African body employed representatives of all three groups to help investigate violations of a shaky truce agreed in 2004.

"The AU have ordered us to leave their camps within 24 hours from this morning," Hamad Hassan Hamad of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) told Reuters.

"This includes all those who did not sign the peace deal, the JEM and the Abdel Wahed faction," said Hamad, who was a JEM representative at the AU base in el-Geneina town in West Darfur state.

One AU official confirmed the decision, which had been requested by the government in Khartoum, but did not give further details. The government says those who did not sign the agreement in May are outlaws.

The move could hinder investigations of truce violations as AU troops may not be able to travel safely in areas controlled by the two factions that did not sign the peace deal.

The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction led by Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur and the JEM refused to sign the accord despite international pressure, saying it did not meet their demands.

MORE VIOLENCE

Many Darfuris did not support the peace deal, saying they want increased compensation for war victims, more political posts and a monitoring role in disarming Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, blamed for much of the violence.

Non-signatories, including the JEM, formed a new alliance called the National Redemption Front (NRF) and renewed hostilities with the government, which calls them "terrorists."

They say they now control large areas of North Darfur, although this has not been independently verified.

Tens of thousands have been killed since non-Arab rebels took up arms in 2003 accusing the government of neglect. Some 2.5 million fled their homes and many more need food aid.

Violence has escalated since May with aid agencies involved in the world's largest humanitarian operation complaining that fighting between rebel factions and increased banditry has left huge swathes of land out of their reach.

Eleven aid workers have been killed since the deal was signed, more than during the entire three-year conflict.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday that they could not distribute food to 470,000 people in need in Darfur in July, a big increase from the previous month. It added that high malnutrition rates have been reported in recent months.

"The safety of staff is crucial and we take great precautions to avoid dangerous situations," Kenro Oshidari, the head of WFP in Sudan, told reporters in Khartoum. "It would be a disaster for the people of Darfur if security deteriorated to the point where we were unable to deliver more widely."

UN food aid organization warns of food cuts for 6 million people in Darfur
UN News Service
August 16, 2006

16 August 2006 UN News Centre – With food stocks running short, rations for 6 million people in Darfur could be scaled back as early as October unless funds are raised, the United Nations food agency warned today, calling on the international community to help the region’s beleaguered population.

“While the news cameras are focused on the conflict in Lebanon, the situation in Sudan has quietly grown more dangerous and desperate than ever,” said World Food Programme (WFP) Sudan Representative Kenro Oshidari. “As we continue to press for peace in Darfur, we must ensure that food aid gets to millions of hungry people trapped by violence.”

In May, WFP was forced to cut food rations by half due to funding shortages. This time, unless $350 million in funds are raised, the agency could be forced to put beneficiaries on a reduced-calorie diet. “The minimum standard food basket represents some 2,100 calories per person. With such a diet one person can survive. If you reduce the calories the implication will be a slow degradation of the nutritional status ending ultimately with starvation,” WFP spokeswoman Ellen Gustafson told the UN News Service.

The escalating violence has been another hindrance in getting food to nearly half a million people living in camps as the deaths of 11 relief workers has prompted concern by humanitarian actors working in the region.

“The safety of staff is crucial and we take great precautions to avoid dangerous situations,” Mr. Oshidari said. The organization says it can limit the risk on the ground by moving staff by air only, advocating for a political solution and raising awareness of the dire conditions on the ground through the media.”

The three-year conflict in Darfur between Sudanese government forces, pro-government militias and rebels has seen many thousands killed and more than 2 million forced to flee to camps. There have been widespread charges of civilian massacre, rape and other atrocities.

Sudan: Darfur needs a UN peacekeeping force that can provide security for civilians
Amnesty International
August 17, 2006

The African Union and the Darfur Peace Agreement are failing the people of Darfur, Amnesty International said today, as the UN Security Council prepared to discuss the possible mandate of a UN peacekeeping force to protect civilians in Darfur. Only a renewed and determined engagement by the UN and the international community can offer hope for an end to the people's suffering.

"The international community must admit that no solution has been offered to the suffering in Darfur -- on the contrary things are getting worse," said Kate Gilmore, Executive Deputy Secretary General of Amnesty International. "What the people of Darfur need now is an international peacekeeping force with the power to put a stop to the killings, to the raping, and to the displacement. Personal security is the basic need -- and fundamental right -- of all people in Darfur."

Amnesty International researchers have just returned from eastern Chad, where they gathered testimonies from refugees who have recently fled Darfur. The refugees' testimonies revealed that most people in West Darfur are effectively prisoners in camps and towns, with almost the entire area still controlled by the Janjawid militias.

"Once again the world at large is ignoring the conflict in Darfur, playing along with the charade that peace is in progress, when, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth," said Kate Gilmore. "There has been more conflict since the Darfur Peace Agreement was signed, not less, more displacements of people, not fewer, and more human rights violations perpetrated without any progress towards justice. And what's more, there now is a very real danger that this conflict, as it spills over the border, will continue to spread beyond Sudan."

The African Union mission in Sudan (AMIS) does not have the means -- or, frequently, the will -- to protect civilians. A refugee woman who spent two years in Mornay camp before fleeing to Chad told Amnesty International that AMIS "does not take any action when displaced people complain. Even if a woman is raped, they just take her back to the camp."

An AMIS officer, complaining about diminishing resources, told Amnesty International in despair, "We can't protect people as we ought to. It's a sham."

In north Darfur, in the Korma region, 72 people were killed over the course of five days in early July. Their attackers were members of the Minni Minawi faction of the Sudan Liberation Army -- the only party, in addition to the government, to have signed the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). The attackers told their victims that they were being punished for opposing the DPA. AMIS troops did not answer the victims' cries for help, nor apparently did AMIS investigate the killings -- saying that the villagers attacked were associated with a group that had not signed the DPA.

In the meantime, in direct defiance of the UN Security Council ban on offensive military flights over Darfur, Antonov aircraft of the Sudanese government continue to bomb areas under the control of those who oppose the DPA.

"The people of Darfur have a deep -- and understandable -- distrust of a peace agreement that depends primarily on the Sudanese government for its implementation," said Kate Gilmore. "If there is to be a meaningful peace in which respect is given to people's human rights, concerns about the peace agreement must be addressed."

"A UN peacekeeping force charged and resourced to provide genuine protection for civilians could offer the people of Darfur some hope for the future -- and the Sudanese government must not stand in the way of such a force being deployed."

This week, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir reiterated his opposition to UN forces in Darfur, reportedly saying that he would "confront any UN-sponsored forces" and "fight them as Hezbullah beat Israeli forces" in Lebanon.

"Considering that 10,000 UN troops and other staff have already been authorized -- with the agreement of the Sudanese government -- to be deployed to Sudan, the President's opposition to the peacekeeping force in Darfur is incomprehensible to say the least," said Kate Gilmore.

"Far more seriously, it is an outrageous and inexcusable denial of the basic protection Darfuris desperately need and to which they are absolutely entitled."

Background
The African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) was established in Darfur to monitor an April 2004 ceasefire between the government of Sudan and armed political groups. A mandate to protect civilians in certain circumstances was extended and reaffirmed by the AU Peace and Security Council in June 2006.

The Darfur Peace Agreement was signed on 5 May 2006 by the government of Sudan and one of the rebel factions of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), led by Minni Minawi (from the Zaghawa ethnic group). Other factions of the SLA, including the group with support of most of the Fur, the largest ethnic group in Darfur, and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) did not sign the DPA. Over the past three months the armed groups have split into factions and alliances which support or oppose the DPA and have fought with each other and with the government of Sudan and its Janjawid militias.

In his report to the UN Security Council of 28 July 2006, the UN Secretary-General recommends the establishment of a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur mandated to protect civilians, as well as the strengthening of the UN to enhance AMIS capacity in the transitional period leading to the deployment of such UN force.

In an Open Letter to the UN Security Council sent on 4 August 2006, Amnesty International called on the UN to deploy a force that can, among other things:

provide security for those in camps, towns and villages;
ensure the safe and voluntary assisted return for displaced people and refugees;
actively monitor and verify the disarmament of the Janjawid.

The need to act promptly to curb human rights violations in Darfur is further highlighted by the spreading of this conflict in eastern Chad, where Amnesty International has recently documented killings and forced displacement of civilians by the Janjawid. (See Chad: Sowing the seeds of Darfur,http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr200062006.)

U.N. Official Warns of Major New Sudanese Offensive in Darfur
The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler
August 18, 2006

Three months since the signing of a tenuous peace deal, Sudan appears to be preparing a major military offensive in its troubled Darfur region, aid workers are increasingly at risk, and the population "may have to relive the horrors of late 2003 and early 2004, and hundreds of thousands of lives will be at risk," a top United Nations official warned the Security Council in a private briefing yesterday.

The blunt assessment by the deputy head of the U.N. peacekeeping forces, Hedi Annabi, came as Britain and the United States introduced a Security Council resolution to send 17,000 U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur over the opposition of Khartoum. China and Russia, however, suggested they would reject the resolution, and the Sudanese government reiterated its opposition to a U.N. force.

The force is intended to replace an African Union mission, which has proved ineffective at halting the violence. Annabi told the council that the African Union force is "plagued by funding shortfalls that could force its withdrawal a few weeks from now," according to a copy of his remarks.

He said the force of 6,171 military personnel and 1,560 civilian police "is by all accounts an inadequate force for the task at hand" and is "highly unlikely" to continue beyond September without more funding.

The conflict broke out in early 2003 when two African rebel groups attacked police stations and military outposts in Darfur. The United Nations and human rights groups accuse the Arab-led central government of supporting militiamen, called the Janjaweed, in order to crush the rebellion.

About 2,000 villages have been destroyed across Darfur, and violence and disease have left as many as 450,000 people dead and 2 million homeless.

Two years ago in September, then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell accused the Khartoum government of being complicit in genocide, but little has since been accomplished to end the suffering.

The Darfur Peace Agreement was signed by the government and the leader of one rebel group faction in May, after heavy pressure from Robert B. Zoellick, then deputy secretary of state and the administration's point man on Sudan. Zoellick resigned in June to join a Wall Street investment house, and the administration has not named a replacement and has ignored calls from Congress for a special Sudan envoy.

The agreement brokered by Zoellick sought to dismantle marauding militias, fold thousands of rebel forces into the national army and pave the way to wealth- and power-sharing between the central government and an impoverished area the size of France. U.S. officials said the deal was necessary to persuade Khartoum to accept the U.N. force, but other rebel groups refused to sign.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has since declared that Sudan's army will fight any U.N. forces sent to Darfur, even though U.N. forces are already based in the southern part of the country to monitor a separate accord.

Khartoum has told the United Nations that it plans to deploy 26,500 armed forces to Darfur by year's end, which would violate the peace agreement, Annabi said. He said there are reports that the buildup of forces has already commenced and that extra battalions have been deployed.

Annabi told the Security Council that since the signing of the deal, "instead of reconciliation and building of trust, we see more violence and further polarization."

Eleven aid workers have been killed since the signing of the peace agreement, "an unprecedented level of deadly attacks," and humanitarian organizations have access to only half of the 3.6 million people affected by the conflict, he said. He said aid workers may be forced to withdraw completely from North Darfur, where more than 1.2 million need help.

The peace agreement lacks the support of larger segments of the population, Annabi added. Minni Minnawi, the rebel leader who signed the accord, is from a different ethnic group than is much of the Darfur population, adding to the tensions, experts have said.

Annabi said the violence between the rebel groups since the accord was signed has "resulted in hundreds of deaths, systematic looting, new displacements and horrendous acts of sexual and gender-based violence."

Staff writer Colum Lynch at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Deteriorating situation in Darfur leaves UN ‘extraordinarily concerned’ – Annan’s deputy
UN News Service
August 18, 2006

18 August 2006 UN News Centre – Warning that “something very ugly is brewing” in Darfur, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown today urged the international community to pay close attention to the crisis in the impoverished and strife-torn region of western Sudan.

“We are extraordinarily concerned,” Mr. Malloch Brown told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, calling attention to the worsening humanitarian and security situation in the remote region in recent months and “the absence of a clear political path to the deployment of a UN force.”

A draft resolution circulating among Security Council members outlines the size and scope of a possible UN peacekeeping operation, which would replace the current mission of the African Union (AU). But so far the Sudanese Government has said it is opposed to having blue helmets in Darfur.

In a closed-door briefing yesterday, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi told the Council that Khartoum is building up its armed forces in Darfur, an apparent sign that it is determined to pursue a major military offensive there soon.

The period since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) in early May has been marked not only by fierce fighting, but also by an unprecedented number of attacks on humanitarian workers – in July alone there were 36 reported incidents that led to nine deaths.

Mr. Annabi said some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have indicated they may be forced to withdraw entirely from North Darfur, one of three states which comprise the region, because of the dangers to their staff members. Last week Secretary-General Kofi Annan wrote to the Council to express his alarm about the situation, pointing out it has become much harder for those aid workers who remain to direct humanitarian assistance to those in need. As many as 1.6 million people are currently inaccessible, Mr. Annan said in his letter. Today, Mr. Malloch Brown urged the reporters to not forget about Darfur, despite the importance of other crises in the world.

He acknowledged that it is “hard to keep two stories in the air at once” but stressed that “it is very, very important that we all pay lots of attention to Darfur.” Scores of thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million others have been displaced since conflict erupted in 2003 between rebels, Government forces and allied militia groups in Darfur, a region roughly the size of France.

UN call to stop Sudan demolitions
BBC News
August 18, 2006

The UN has protested to the Sudanese authorities about the demolition of a camp that was home to 12,000 displaced people outside the capital, Khartoum.

Residents said bulldozers began destroying their houses on Thursday morning with little warning.

United Nations officials in the area were barred from entering the area, but heard gunshots. There are reports of deaths, including a child.

The camp has hosted people from the Darfur region for more than 20 years.

Heavily armed policemen and tanks had surrounded the squatter camp at Dar es Salaam, some 40km from the capital, before moving in at 0800 local time, the UN said in a statement on Thursday.

Th UN special rapporteur for human rights in Sudan, Sima Samar, said later there had been reports of deaths and injuries of residents in the operation.

"I call on the authorities to immediately halt the forced relocation and allow access to the area so services can be provided to the population," she told reporters.

Millions of Sudanese displaced by war and famine live in informal squatter settlements around the capital.

Correspondents say forced relocations have become increasingly common in and around Khartoum as land values have soared.

Those made homeless are often forced further away from the city to desert areas that lack basic services.

"The United Nations demands that the Sudanese authorities cease this operation immediately and return to the process of dialogue with residents," the UN statement said.

There has been no comment from the Sudanese authorities about the demolition.

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Uganda (ICC)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in Uganda

Uganda-LRA talks delayed after top rebel killed
Reuters
August 15, 2006

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Peace talks between Ugandan negotiators and Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) representatives were delayed on Monday after the rebels called for time to mourn a guerrilla commander killed by Ugandan troops over the weekend.

The negotiations, hosted by the regional government of southern Sudan, are due to resume on Tuesday after LRA delegates said they were shaken by the news of Raska Lukwiya's death.

Lukwiya was one of five top LRA commanders wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The rebels called for three days to mourn him, but said they would resume discussions with mediators on Tuesday.

"Due to the death (of Lukwiya) ... we regret to have to inform you that we were disoriented and were unable to complete some of the papers we were preparing to present to the mediation team today," the LRA said in a statement to mediators.

"However, after consultation with our high command, the field commanders and our cultural, religious and political leaders ... we firmly commit ourselves to presenting our position papers on cessation of hostilities and accountability and reconciliation tomorrow," it said.

The talks, which began on July 14, were adjourned over the weekend as both sides failed to agree ceasefire terms.

South Sudan's government says it wants to broker an end to the LRA's 20-year insurrection, which has uprooted nearly two million people in northern Uganda and destabilised south Sudan.

Uganda: Fresh Rebel Demand Rejected By Government
AllAfrica.com - IRIN
August 18, 2006

The demand by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) that South Africa send a senior official to help to mediate peace talks with the Ugandan government has been rejected by the authorities in Kampala.

The talks, which are taking place in the southern Sudanese town of Juba, were due to resume on Friday after a three-day break to allow the rebels to mourn one of their top commanders, Raska Lukwiya, who was killed by the Ugandan army at the weekend.

The LRA wrote to the South African government asking it to be a co-mediator in the talks earlier this week. On Wednesday, the LRA's deputy commander, Vincent Otti, told the BBC that the rebels had questioned the neutrality of the chief mediator, southern Sudanese Vice-President Riek Machar.

However, the Ugandan government rejected the LRA position. Ruhakana Rugunda, leader of the delegation at the talks, said: "The statement that the LRA has once again lost confidence in the mediator and wants the Republic of South Africa to take over is another contradiction.

"The government of Uganda wishes to reiterate its support for the peace initiative being spearheaded by the government of south Sudan. We are convinced that the mediation mechanisms in place are sufficient."

On Thursday, visiting Ugandan members of parliament met Salva Kiir Mayardit, Sudan's First Vice-President and President of the government of southern Sudan in Juba. One of the MPs, Amongi Betty Ongom, told reporters that Kiir assured them his government was impartial and committed to the talks.

According to Ongom, Kiir also said he had contacted various governments to lobby for the lifting of an indictment by the International Criminal Court against LRA leaders.

"Kiir pledged his personal support and that of his government in protecting the LRA top commanders should they accept to come to Juba," the MP said.

The talks, which began last month, aim to end northern Uganda's 21-year civil war, which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands and displaced nearly two million people.

The LRA is led by Joseph Kony, who believes Uganda should be governed according to the Ten Commandments and claims to be guided by spirits. Thousands of children have been abducted and forced either to fight alongside Kony's troops against the Ugandan army or become concubines to rebel commanders.

Uganda resumes talks with rebels
BBC News
August 18, 2006

Peace talks between the rebel Lord's Resistance Army and Uganda's government have resumed in Juba in southern Sudan.

The talks were adjourned as the LRA requested a mourning period for an officer killed a week ago.

A Ugandan spokesman rejected an LRA request that South Africa help mediate, saying he trusted the current mediator, south Sudan's vice-president.

The talks have been greeted as the best chance of ending a 20-year war in which thousands have died or been abducted.

"We respect South Africa's experience in conflict resolution but we do not see the urgency of involving new people given the progress we have made," Paddy Ankunda, the government delegation spokesman, told AFP news agency.

"We feel confident in the mediation of (south Sudanese vice-president) Riek Machar," he said.

End of mourning

Talks are proceeding in a hotel in Juba.

"Today has marked the end of mourning of our slain commander killed by the Ugandan forces in cold blood," LRA spokesman Obonyo Olweny told Reuters news agency.

"We have come back for negotiations and we are also ready for face-to-face interaction with the Ugandan government."

The LRA has declared a unilateral ceasefire but Uganda insists that a comprehensive peace agreement - with the rebels providing details of their forces and deployment - needs to be in place before a ceasefire can be agreed.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has set a 12 September deadline for thrashing out a final peace deal.

The government also wants a guarantee the LRA will not use the halt in fighting to reinforce its positions.

International Criminal Court wants the LRA's top officials - including leader Joseph Kony - to face charges including murder, rape and forcibly enlisting children.

Against the wishes of the ICC, Uganda has offered amnesty to LRA leaders in exchange for peace talks.

The LRA has abducted thousands of children and forced them to fight since the conflict in began.

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International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Official Website of the ICTY

Serbs allege Bosnian, Croatian war crimes
United Press International
August 9, 2006

BELGRADE , Serbia, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Bosnian Muslim and Croatian officials have rejected Serbia's claims of war crimes against Serbs 11 years ago.

Serbia's government-controlled RTS television and Belgrade's private B92 television in the past week have broadcast two amateur videotapes allegedly showing the killing and torturing of Serbs and torching of Serbian villages by Bosnian and Croatian paramilitary units in August 1995.

While Sarajevo and Zagreb officials dispute the allegations, they said police and judges will investigate the incidents shown on the tapes, Belgrade media reported Wednesday.

The U.N. tribunal in The Hague said it no longer has the authority to raise charges against war crimes suspects in the 1991-95 ethnic wars in the former Yugoslavia. But, the tribunal said it was ready to help local prosecutors in Zagreb and Sarajevo in investigating reported war crimes.

The alleged crimes were committed during Croatia's military campaign in August 1995, when Croatian units retook an area on which rebel Serbs set up the self-declared Serb Republic of Krajina in 1991.

In that offensive, more than 200,000 Croatian Serbs fled into Bosnia and Serbia, and hundreds of Serb civilians were killed.

War, Crimes and Videotapes
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
by Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo
August 11, 2006

A series of videos of apparent war crimes against Serbs stir controversy across former Yugoslavia.

Videos aired this week showing abuses against Serbs in 1995 have triggered angry reaction in the region and sparked debate on whether broadcasting possible war crimes on national television is the best way to serve justice.

While most analysts agree that such videotapes coming to light is a positive development, they also warn against local authorities using them for political gain - manipulating the situation by releasing only what they see fit and when it suits them.

It is hardly a coincidence that the first in this series of videos was broadcast in Serbia on the eleventh anniversary of Operation Storm – a large scale operation carried out by the Croatian army in conjunction with Bosnian Muslim forces to recapture the Serb-held Krajina region in August 1995.

It was the Croatian army’s most successful military operation during their 1991-1995 war with Serb forces. Hundreds of ethnic Serbs were killed during the offensive, which also forced about 200,000 to flee Croatia, mostly into Bosnia and Serbia. Although it officially lasted only four days, smaller operations continued until November of that same year.

One of the videos released this week shows members of the Croatian army’s Black Mamba unit harassing Serb refugees attempting to flee Krajina. Bosnian Muslim soldiers, members of the Fifth Corps’ special squad Hamze, are seen apparently shooting dead a Serb man who had surrendered and was sitting down with raised hands.

This videotape - like the others - was broadcast on Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian television.

In Croatia, authorities reacted angrily, accusing the Serb media of deliberately choosing the date of the anniversary of Operation Storm in order “to spoil their celebrations”. They denied Croatian soldiers were involved in the killings, placing all the blame on Bosnian soldiers.

Serbia’s B92 was one of the stations that showed the disturbing images. Ljubica Gojgic, a B92 reporter who regularly covers war crimes cases, dismissed the Croatian government’s accusations that the channel got the video two months ago but waited until the anniversary to broadcast it.

“That’s not true,” she said. “We received this tape from what we think is a credible source just a few days before we aired it.”

But she agrees the date it was delivered to B92 was probably chosen on purpose.

“I’m not surprised we got this tape now, because our source knew the anniversary was the time when this footage would receive the most attention,” said Gojgoc. She added that the infamous Scorpions video showing the abuse and killing of six Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica in July 1995 came to public attention in June last year, shortly before the tenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre.

Just days after the first videotape came to light, a second explosive video was also aired on Serbia’s state-run television.

It was apparently recorded in Bosnian Krajina in September 1995 during the Bosnian army operation to take control over Serb-held towns in the north-west. The Bosnian army’s Fifth Corps carried out the attacks, led by former Muslim general Atif Dudakovic, with the help of Croatian forces.

In this video, Dudakovic apparently orders his troops to burn down Serb villages in the area of the operation. “Burn them all,” he allegedly said.

The Serbian government has accused Dudakovic of war crimes and has demanded his immediate arrest.

Dudakovic, now retired, was widely regarded among Bosnian Muslims as one of the best and most capable wartime commanders. Bosnian forces under his command managed to regain control over the western Bosnian towns of Sanski Most and Mrkonjic Grad in autumn 1995 - one of the biggest Bosnian successes in the 1992-95 war.

Until now he hadn’t been implicated in any war crimes. He told Bosnian television on August 8 that he did not violate the Geneva conventions and received no reports about any of his soldiers that did.

“I can say with full moral responsibility that members of the Fifth Corps did not commit crimes. There may have been individual cases but only individual,” he said.

A third video broadcast on Croatia and Bosnian television on the same day as the one purporting to show Dudakovic was the most shocking of all the videotapes which surfaced this week.

Although it’s not new - Gojgic said B92 aired it several years ago - it was nonetheless shocking, showing members of the Hamze unit as they brutalised a captured Serb soldier in September 1995. His body was filmed seconds later - dead with a cut throat. Muslim soldiers are also seen torturing a Serb civilian, who was then tied to a tractor and pulled around until he died.

Bosnian media have reported that the commander of this unit - which was apparently under the Fifth Corps and Dudakovic - was a foreign fighter Tarik El Harbi, who left Bosnia in 2001.

Many in the region are questioning why these videos - with potentially crucial evidence of war crimes - are emerging only now, more than a decade after the war. They are also asking why those who have this footage prefer to give it to the media rather then to the judiciary.

The head of the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Centre Natasa Kandic, who discovered the Scorpions video a year ago, told IWPR there are several reasons why these videotapes have been kept in private archives for so long.

“Those who recorded war crimes are usually those who also participated in those atrocities, so if they are still in possession of those tapes, they’ll be very careful not to give them to the wrong person,” said Kandic.

She speculated that those who have these recordings may use them to blackmail people on the video or try to sell them on the black market. Sometimes they use this material to make a deal with the prosecutors. When all that fails, she says, they turn it over to the authorities or to the media.

Gojgic believes there are “many more similar tapes out there”.

“It’s fascinating how some people enjoy recording themselves as they carry out terrible crimes, just as they enjoy watching that video later on private parties and boasting to their friends about it,” she said.

The head of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Banja Luka, Branko Todorovic, agrees.

“Over the next several years, we will be seeing more and more evidence of war crimes committed during the wars in the 1990s, and it will often be shocking,” he said.

While he recognises that local authorities and political parties in Bosnia may try to use this latest series of videotapes to manipulate the public and strengthen their own positions in the general elections scheduled for October this year, he says it is important that the videos continue to appear, regardless of the repercussions.

“The key question here is how the public will react to what they see on these tapes and whether they’ll be able to distance themselves from the perpetrators of those crimes,” he said.

He also believes that to accept the truth, sometimes we all need a little push, “We will have to face the truth about war crimes sooner or later, so the sooner it happens, the better for all of us.”

But the director of Sarajevo-based Research and Documentation Center Mirsad Tokaca disagrees. He thinks airing videotapes showing war crimes only degrades the victims.

“If those who distribute these tapes to the media cared about the victims as they claim they do, they would give them as an important potential evidence to the prosecutors and would demand investigation into those crimes. This way, they use this material for their own purposes, releasing it only when it suits them,” said Tokaca.

B92’s Gojgic told IWPR it is rumoured that Bosnian Serb police had these videotapes for quite some time and probably have more at their disposal. That infuriates Milan Ivancevic, head of the Association of Killed and Missing Soldiers and Civilians of Republika Srspksa, RS.

“I am angry as a man and as a Serb that they waited until now to reveal them,” said Ivancevic in an interview with Bosnian Serb television. “If they wanted them to be used as evidence, why didn’t they do something before?”

Observers say the zeal with which Republika Srpska and Serbia’s authorities demanded arrests of unindicted Bosnian Muslim commanders is in sharp contrast with their own unwillingness to arrest a number of indicted Serb officials. They include RS military and political wartime leaders Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.

The irony of the situation was not lost on a Muslim member of Bosnia’s joint presidency Sulejman Tihic.

“If they are truly committed to processing war criminals, let them prove so by arresting Karadzic and Mladic, because they have been hiding and financing them for 11 years,” said Tihic in a statement issued on August 9.

Tihic is running for the presidency in Bosnia’s general elections set for October.

Serbian deputy prosecutor for war crimes Dragoljub Stankovic went to The Hague earlier this week to personally deliver some of the Operation Storm videotapes to prosecutors. The tribunal, however, will not be able to make much use of them. All its investigations ended in 2004, and its prosecutors cannot launch new investigations or issue new indictments. They cannot even use this material in the ongoing or pending trials. That means local prosecutors will have to do all the work and under difficult circumstances.

“It’s much easier for the prosecutors to do their job without political pressure and pressure from the public,” said the spokesman for the tribunal’s prosecutor Anton Nikiforov. “Politicians have already been too much involved in this case.”

It was in response to that pressure that war crimes prosecutors from Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia met in Zagreb on August 10 to discuss what they should do about the Operation Storm footage. In the statement issued the same day, they said they exchanged all information they had on this case and confirmed their determination to cooperate.

“This is a very positive outcome,” said Nikiforov. “This meeting is the best example that these three countries can work together on processing war crimes.”

Meanwhile, television viewers in the region await the next videotape. Sead Numanovic, a reporter for the Srajevo daily Avaz, also expects to see more videos in the coming months, showing gruesome details of war crimes committed by various people.

“There is a new war going on – a war with video tapes – and the only ones who will lose for sure are the victims,” he said.

Merdijana Sadovic is manager of IWPR’s Hague tribunal programme.

Koštunica: Plan being implemented
Blic via B92
August 19, 2006

BELGRADE -- Vojislav Koštunica says his government’s Action Plan is being implemented successfully. Drašković calls for a media campaign.

Koštunica told Tanjug news agency that the plan is being realized with the full coordination of all the relevant state offices. He also said there was firm political determination to deliver Mladić and the others to the Hague, should they happened to be hiding in Serbia.

“The government has many times made public statements that it will honor all the international obligations and respect the international laws as well as the interests of Serbia”, the state television reported.

Krstić fired over Mladić

The government has relieved Ninoslav Krstić from his duties as the vice president of the Coordinating body for the south of Serbia.

Krstić was dismissed from the position at the request of the international community, after his public statements concerning Ratko Mladić, Bic daily reports from government sources. “The international community has asked the government to do so after Krstić told the media he too would shelter Mladić if the Hague fugitive were to knock on his door”, the source said.

The dismissal was the government’s expected reaction. “This was a test for the government, a chance to prove how it treats officials who protect Mladić”, the daily’s source concluded.

Drašković: Plan and a media campaign

Serbia ’s Foreign minister Vuk Drašković said that a strong media campaign in support of the Hague tribunal cooperation activities was needed alongside the Action Plan. Drašković called on the country’s top officials to address the nation and clearly state the reasons why the Hague tribunal has indicted the persons currently in hiding, while the fugitives need to be asked why they choose to hide if they are innocent. Otherwise, if these persons are indeed guilty, Drašković believes they should be asked what right they had to hold the entire nation hostage. “All the high ranking officials suspected of aiding the Hague fugitives need to be interviewed”, Drašković concluded.

Nato troops hunt for ex-Bosnian leader
AFP via The Peninsula
August 19, 2006

SARAJEVO • Nato forces in Bosnia conducted raids yesterday aimed at locating Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader wanted for war crimes, the military alliance said in a statement. In the second such operation this week, Nato said it searched an apartment belonging to Bosnian Serb citizen Tomo Djuric in northern Banja Luka, and his family home in the town of Strbci.

“The search was conducted in an effort to find additional information about Radovan Karadzic’s support network and in an effort to determine his location,” it said.

It added Djuric was believed to be “associated” with the support network of Stojan Zupljanin, another one of the six Serbs wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). In addition, NATO reminded Bosnians that it had offered a reward for any information leading to the arrest of the six men, most of whom have been on the run from justice for more than a decade.

A reward of up to 4.1m euros ($5.3m) ... may be paid for Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, Vlastimir Djordjevic, Goran Hadzic, Stojan Zupljanin and Zdravko Tolimir,” said the Nato statement. Earlier this week, Nato forces and EU peacekeepers searched the Banja Luka homes of another two men suspected of being linked to Karadzic, saying they found evidence without taking any further action.

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International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

Official Website of the ICTR

Genocide Fugitive Nabbed
AllAfrica.com - The New Times (Kigali)
by Felly Kimenyi
August 9, 2006

Just three months after the publication of the list of genocide suspects, the Dutch government on Monday night arrested Joseph Mpambara, one of the 93 genocide fugitives on the list.

"This is a very good gesture by the Dutch, given the fact that The Netherlands is the world's hub of justice, home to world courts. The Dutch came here and were satisfied by the evidence we had against him," the Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga, said on phone yesterday.

He said that that is how the Dutch government got interested in Mpambara's case together with scores of others holed there.

Ngoga said that after the release of the list, many countries including The Netherlands, Canada, Denmark and Sweden had responded positively by sending police officers and Prosecutors to carry out investigations.

"Actually, they are doing it the way we wanted it to be done; sending their own people to carry out the survey is more effective than asking us to send indictments," Ngoga said adding: "We are expecting others from France within the next two weeks."

Ngoga said the Prosecution is planning to restructure the group charged with tracking genocide fugitives known as the Mobile Group, and that it is going to be called Genocide Fugitives Crack Team.

"It will be launched soon," he emphasised.

The head of Mobile Group Emmanuel Rukangira, told The New Times that Mpambara is a brother to Georges Rutaganda, a genocide mastermind who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

"They were together throughout the killings that took place in Kibuye especially the massacres of tens of thousands that took place in Bisesero," Rukangira, a Prosecutor, said.

Rukangira said that soon another list of suspects covering the former provinces of Cyangugu, Gitarama and Gikongoro will be published.

According to Rukangira, Mpambara, who was arrested in Amsterdam together with other unidentified people, who are said to have been in a meeting, had changed names.

By press time the identities of the other people had not yet been established but sources said they were members of the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR).

Genocide Suspect Appears Before Court
AllAfrica.com - IRIN
August 11, 2006

An asylum seeker suspected of involvement in the 1994 Rwanda genocide has appeared before a magistrate at The Hague District Court, the suspect's lawyer said.

"The judge wanted to check whether the arrest had not violated the law and whether there was a clear indictment," A.B.G.T. von Bóné, the lawyer, said on Thursday.

"At this stage, I cannot reveal or comment on the contents of the indictment," he added.

However, a spokeswoman for the National Prosecutor's Office (the Landelijk Parket), Desirée Leppens, said the suspect, Joseph M, had been accused of killing Tutsis in the western Rwandan locality of Mugonero in the Kibuye Province; of ordering the deaths of Tutsis; and of having been a member of the Hutu Interahamwe militia, largely blamed for the genocide.

According to the Rwandan government, the 100-day genocide claimed the lives of 937,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.

Joseph M, 38, was arrested on Monday in the Netherlands capital, Amsterdam. His arrest was the result of an investigation by the Ministry of Justice and the National Investigation Bureau into the allegations.

Under Dutch law the name of a suspect cannot be revealed, for his own security.

Leppens said the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda, in Tanzania, had been informed of the arrest. The tribunal is conducting the trial of major genocide suspects. So far, it has delivered 28 judgments, three of which are acquittals. The trial of another 27 suspects continues.

A Dutch judicial investigation is under way to confirm the findings of the National Investigation Bureau. Based on its results, a panel of three judges will decide whether to free the suspect. Joseph M is due to appear before the court in two weeks for this hearing.

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]

Gacaca Body Trains Judges On Case Trials
AllAfrica.com - The New Times (Kigali)
by Eugene Kwibuka in Southern Province
August 13, 2006

Over 100 provincial Gacaca court judges on Thursday, August 10, completed a course on conducting genocide trials in the second and third categories, held at Huye District hall.

The workshop, an initiative of the National Gacaca Commission, had Gacaca judges trained on laws and procedures regarding genocide trials in Gacaca courts.

According to Néhémie Ntazika, a Gacaca Courts lawyer who trained the judges, commonly known as "inyangamugayo", the training aimed at equipping the latter with skills to better execute genocide trials during the Gacaca proceedings.

"This training was aimed at providing Gacaca judges in cells with skills to try genocide trials classified in third level because we want to start genocide trials on the cell level. We will also have other Gacaca judges trained on how to try genocide trials on second level in sectors," Ntazika, who is also the envoy of the National Gacaca Commission in the province, said.

Suspected genocide criminals are classified in three categories. The first category is made up of those who are considered by prosecution as the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide and those who committed rape during the mayhem; the second is made up of those who executed the Genocide by participating in killing people; while the third category is composed by those who looted property during the Genocide but did not kill.

Suspects classified in the third level are to be tried by the traditional courts in the cells, while those in the second category will be tried by Gacaca courts at the sector level. Suspects in the first category are to be judged by contemporary courts.

According to Uwase Claudine, one of the participants, the training helped them to know how to apply what is written in Gacaca statutes about genocide trials.

"This training helped us to understand law books we read on genocide trials. Like today, we did an exercise about trying a genocide case and we now know very well what to do when we start trying genocide suspects," Uwase said.

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Iraqi High Tribunal

Official Website of the Iraqi High Tribunal
Grotian Moment: The Saddam Hussein Trial Blog

Shiite to Preside Over 2nd Saddam Trial
Associated Press via The Washington Post
by Qassim Abdul-Zahra
August 13, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A 54-year-old Shiite jurist will preside as chief judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein and six others for their role in the 1980s campaign that killed an estimated 100,000 Kurds, a court official said Sunday.

Judge Abdullah al-Amiri will head the five-member panel that will convene Aug. 21, the official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. Munqith Takleef al-Firuan will serve as the chief prosecutor, he said.

A Kurdish judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, headed the panel for Saddam's trial in the killing of Shiites in Dujail. That trial adjourned last month until Oct. 16, when the verdicts are expected for Saddam and seven other defendants.

The upcoming case involves Saddam's alleged role in Operation Anfal, Arabic for "spoils of war." The regime launched the 1987-1988 operation to crush independence-minded Kurdish militias and clear the Kurdish population along the sensitive Iranian border area. Saddam had accused Kurdish militias of ties to Iran.

Saddam and the six others face genocide charges over the campaign, which left thousands of Kurdish villages razed and their inhabitants either killed or displaced.

They could face the death penalty if convicted.

Iraq: Tribunal Must Improve Work in Anfal Trial
Human Rights Watch
August 18, 2006

Saddam Hussein Faces Genocide Charge in Kurdish Case

(New York, August 18, 2006) – The Iraqi High Tribunal must improve its practices if it is to do justice in the upcoming Anfal trial in which Saddam Hussein and Ali Hassan al-Majid are accused of genocide, Human Rights Watch said today.

The trial, which begins on August 21, could provide a public airing of the Ba’ath Party’s 1988 extermination campaign against Iraqi Kurds that included the regime’s use of poison gas.

“The Anfal campaign was a genocide carried out against part of the Kurdish population,” said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program. “Genocide is the most serious crime there is, and it’s essential that the tribunal conducts the Anfal trial fairly.”

Based on extensive observation of the tribunal’s conduct of its first trial, where Saddam Hussein and seven others were charged with crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch believes that the Iraqi High Tribunal is presently incapable of fairly and effectively trying a genocide case in accordance with international standards and current international criminal law.

The Anfal campaign of 1988 was the culmination of a long history of assaults against Kurds in northern Iraq, whom the Ba’ath Party government saw as “a threat to the nation.” The regime designated traditional Kurdish lands “prohibited zones,” and declared the Kurds who refused to leave to be non-Iraqi “traitors,” before marking their villages for destruction.

Human Rights Watch conducted extensive research in northern Iraq in 1992 and determined that at least 50,000 and possibly as many as 100,000 Kurds were deliberately and systematically murdered over a six-month period in 1988. Innumerable villages were bombed and some were gassed. The surviving residents were rounded up, taken to detention centers and eventually executed at remote sites.

The genocide consisted of an eight-stage military campaign, which moved methodically from the southeastern part of the Kurdish region to the northwestern corner during the period from February 23 to September 6, 1988. The campaign was led by the secretary of the Ba’ath Party’s Northern Bureau, Ali Hassan al-Majid, (who became known as “Chemical Ali”).

“Our investigation showed the Iraqi government ordered the extermination of part of its Kurdish population,” said Dicker. “But individual guilt or innocence in the Anfal case can only be determined through a fair trial, where the accused are able to mount an effective defense.”

Human Rights Watch’s observation of the Dujail trial, in which the defendants are accused of ordering the murder of villagers from Dujail after a failed assassination attempt on Hussein, indicated a number of serious shortcomings in the institutional functioning of the court. None of the Iraqi judges and lawyers has shown an understanding of international criminal law. The court’s administration has been chaotic and inadequate, making it unable to conduct a trial of this magnitude fairly. And the court has relied so heavily on anonymous witnesses that it has undercut the defendants’ right to confront witnesses against them and effectively test their evidence.

These shortcomings have been compounded by the sharp deterioration of the security environment in Iraq, including the tribunal’s failure to protect defense counsel targeted for assassination.

“The victims of the Anfal won’t see justice done unless the Iraqi tribunal does a much better job on its second case than it did in the Dujail trial,” Dicker said.

The Anfal Trial: Questions and Answers
Human Rights Watch

1. What was the Anfal?

The Anfal (meaning the “the Spoils” in Arabic) was an eight-stage military campaign that resulted in the deliberate murder of at least 50,000 and possibly 100,000 Kurds. During the Anfal, Iraqi forces used chemical weapons on numerous occasions against the Kurds. The Anfal lasted from late February to early September 1988. The victims, including women, children and the elderly, were selected because they were Kurds who remained on their traditional lands in zones outside of areas controlled by Baghdad. Following its investigations in 1992-1993, Human Rights Watch categorized the Anfal as a genocide against part of the Iraqi Kurdish population in the north.

2. Who are the defendants at trial?

The Iraqi High Tribunal will try seven defendants, including Saddam Hussein, who held key positions during the Anfal campaign. They include (listed by their positions at the time):

Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq;
Ali Hassan al-Majid, secretary-general of the Northern Bureau of Iraq's Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party who was granted special powers over Northern Iraq equivalent to that of the president;
Sultan Hashem Ahmed, military commander of the campaign;
Sabir Abdul-Aziz al-Duri, director of military intelligence;
Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, deputy of operations for the Iraqi forces;
Tahir Tawfiq al-Ani, governor of Mosul
Farhan Mutlak al-Jubouri, head of military intelligence in Northern Iraq.

Both Saddam Hussein and Ali Hassan al-Majid stand accused of genocide.

All seven defendants are charged with crimes against humanity. Charges include willful killing, enslavement, and imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty.

All defendants, except Tahir Tawfiq al-Ani, are charged with war crimes. These charges include intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population; intentionally directing attacks against cultural, religious, medical, educational, or other buildings not used for military purposes; and the destruction or seizure of property not imperatively demanded by the necessity of conflict.

3. What is the significance of the Anfal trial?

Unlike the recently-concluded Dujail trial, which concerned horrific killings in one village, the crimes of the Anfal were massive in scale. Although nominally a conflict with Kurdish militia, known as pershmerga, the Anfal involved mass executions and disappearances of tens of thousands of ordinary Kurdish citizens - men, women and children. Government forces used chemical weapons and destroyed some 2,000 villages. Hundreds of thousands of villagers were forcibly displaced.

The charges against Saddam Hussein include genocide, the most serious of international crimes. Proving that Saddam Hussein bears individual criminal responsibility for genocide will require the prosecutor to present strong evidence of Saddam Hussein’s specific intent to eliminate the victims because they were Kurds. As a mass crime, evidence from multiple crimes scenes will be necessary. These factors will likely pose a real challenge for the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT), which showed serious shortcomings in the Dujail proceedings (See further Q.8).

4. What acts constitute the crime of genocide?

The widespread commission of the following acts, together with a specific intent to eliminate the Kurds, in whole or in part, based on their ethnicity, would constitute genocide: killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction, imposing measures intended to prevent births, or forcibly transferring children from their community.

To prove genocide took place the IHT prosecutor will have to show that some or all of the above acts were committed and that they were done with the specific intent and purpose of destroying a part of the Iraqi Kurdish population.

5. How many people need to be eliminated for killings to be considered a genocide?

In previous genocides (e.g. the Holocaust, the Armenian and Rwandan genocides) the number of murders was vast. This scale by itself helped to demonstrate that the killing was carried out on the basis of the victims’ religious belief or ethnicity. There is, however, no specific quantitative threshold that must be crossed in order for widespread killings to be considered a genocide. Genocide involves the destruction of either the “whole” or a “part” of the targeted group.

The targets of the Anfal were the Iraqi Kurds living in northern rural areas designated as “prohibited zones” by the government. With the Anfal, evidence other than sheer numbers can show that the Kurds were targeted because of their ethnicity.

6. How do we know the killings were carried out against the rural Kurds because they were Kurds? Wasn’t the Anfal a counter-insurgency operation?

Iraqi Kurds had been under assault by the Iraqi government since the 1970s. The Anfal was the culmination of that assault. Baghdad had frequently referred to the Kurds as a threat to the nation. The government tried to "Arabize" Kurdish-populated areas by encouraging Arab migrant farmers to move there. It wanted to do this because the region is strategically located close to the Iranian border.

After 1980, and the beginning of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, Kurds in the north gained more control over the region and developed closer ties to Iran. By 1986 the Kurds had established a formal political and military agreement with Tehran. The Iraqi government, feeling that the region was not secure, began the Anfal campaign, and the ensuing repression targeted all Kurds living in the “prohibited zones.”

7. What evidence is there that crimes committed against the Kurds were intended to destroy them as a group?

The Iraqi government created so-called “prohibited zones” in Iraq with the order to execute anyone found living in those zones. The boundaries of those zones corresponded to the areas of Northern Iraq populated almost exclusively by rural Kurds.

The claim that those killed or removed from the “prohibited zones” were insurgents, or insurgent sympathizers, is not credible because young children were among the tens of thousands of Anfal victims. In addition, the Iraqi government did not make exceptions on the basis of political loyalties; chemical weapons were threatened against Kurds who were loyal to the government as well.

The government claimed that the Kurds supported Iran in the Iran-Iraq war. However, even if this were true, it could not justify the extent of the killing in the prohibited zones, in particular the killing of women, children and men who did not take part in hostilities. They were killed because they were Kurds.

8. What does Human Rights Watch see as the main obstacles to a fair trial?

Human Rights Watch's observed the Dujail trial and saw a number of serious shortcomings in how the Iraqi High Tribunal functioned.

These include: 1) An almost complete lack of familiarity with international criminal law on the part of all Iraqi lawyers and judges involved in the trial; 2) Chaotic and inadequate administration which has given rise to major problems in performing basic administrative tasks necessary for a trial of this magnitude to run fairly; and 3) Such extensive use of anonymous witnesses that the defendants did not get right to contest the evidence against them.
These shortcomings have been compounded by the sharp deterioration of the security environment in Iraq which has resulted in the murder of three defense lawyers, the reluctance of numerous witnesses to come forward, and serious limitations on the defense's capacity to investigate and test evidence gathered by the prosecution.

For justice to be done, this important trial must be conducted fairly. Based on extensive observation of the IHT's conduct of its first trial, Human Rights Watch believes that it is presently incapable of fairly and effectively trying genocide in accordance with international standards and current international criminal law.

9. What is Human Rights Watch’s view of the death penalty for those who are found guilty?

Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty. From a human rights perspective, the death penalty constitutes a cruel and inhuman punishment. The trend in international law is towards abolition of the death penalty. However horrific the alleged crimes, the death penalty is unwarranted.

10. What was Human Rights Watch’s role in documenting the Anfal?

In 1992, after the Gulf War, Human Rights Watch sent a team of researchers to northern Iraq. For several months the team conducted extensive investigations. Its members interviewed some 350 Anfal survivors and witnesses and conducted soil analysis in areas where chemical weapons had been used. For purposes of safe keeping and analysis, Human Rights Watch was given 18 metric tons of Iraqi security documents that had been seized by Kurdish militias when government security forces abandoned the region. On the basis of the field research and analysis of documents, Human Rights Watch concluded that the Anfal constituted genocide. In 1994-95, Human Rights Watch attempted to persuade several human rights-minded governments to bring a case against the government of Iraq under the provisions of the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice. Unfortunately, nothing came of this initiative.

Saddam’s second trial - a complex case
Radio Netherlands
by Sebastiaan Gottlieb
August 18, 2006

On Monday 21 August, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will stand trial once again, this time for his part in the ‘Anfal’ campaign - the genocide of somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 Kurds in northern Iraq in 1988.

This second trial begins before a verdict has been announced in the first case against the former Iraqi president’ for his alleged role in the murder of 148 Shi’ite inhabitants of the small Iraqi town of Dujail. Judgment in that case is now expected to be handed down on 16 October.

This new trial focuses on the ‘Anfal’ campaign (‘al-Anfal’ is the name of a chapter in the Koran, which translates as ‘spoils of war’ or ‘booty’), and is much more complex than the Dujail case.

This complexity is the reason why the Human Rights Watch (HRW) organisation is concerned that the court in Baghdad will not be capable of conducting a proper and just trial. Nehal Bhuta of HRW says there is sufficient evidence to prove that genocide took place, but he believes the Iraqi court is not equipped to ensure the trial is brought to a satisfactory conclusion: “No one in Iraq has handled a case like this before, which means it could easily go wrong due to poor presentation or procedural errors.”

Gassed

It’s been estimated that around 180,000 Kurds were killed during the Anfal campaign; a large number of them losing their lives in poison gas attacks by the Iraqi army. The infamous attack on Halabja, where some 5,000 people were gassed, does not figure in the charges relating to the Anfal campaign and will be dealt with separately at a later date.

The mass murder of the Kurds began in 1986, during the Iran-Iraq war, and reached a climax in 1988. It was led by Ali Hassan al Majid, one of Saddam Hussein’s cousins, better known outside Iraq as ‘Chemical Ali’. On his instruction, many villages were the scene of mass executions, with tens of thousands of people - including women, children and the elderly - disappearing without trace. The populations of a number of villages disappeared completely. Not only were people murdered on a massive scale, but around 3,000 villages were razed to the ground - houses, schools, mosques, power plants were completely destroyed, along with orchards, farmland and wells.

'Sympathisers'

In many places, people were arrested at random for trespassing on forbidden ground, when they were in fact on their own land or in their own homes. They were held - without charge and in wretched conditions - for months on suspicion of sympathising with the Kurdish opposition. Hundreds of them died in jail as a result of disease and malnutrition.

The Shi’ite judge Abdallah al-Amiri has been appointed to preside over these proceedings against Saddam Hussein and six co-defendants, taking the place of Kurdish judge Raouf Abdel Rahman, who handled the first trial. The prosecuting lawyer will probably be another Shi’ite, Munqidh Taklif al-Far‘awn, who may be the first lawyer in Iraqi history to be assisted by a female prosecutor. Saddam Hussein’s defence team will again be led by Khalil Dulaimi,

Public prosecutor Jafar Al-Musawi says dozens of survivors of the Anfal campaign have now also submitted claims for compensation, He doesn’t see a problem in the fact that this second trial is opening while a verdict is still pending in the Dujail case. He says that even if Saddam Hussein is found guilty and jailed for life, he’ll still be present in court for the Anfal trial. However, things will be different if Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death. In that case - provided the sentence were upheld on appeal - the execution would have to be carried out within 30 days.

Saddam Hussein's co-defendants in the Anfal trial

1. Ali Hasan al-Majid (former head of the Baath party in northern Iraq)
2. Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Juburi (former defence minister)
3. Husayn Rashid Muhammed al-Tikriti (former Iraqi army chief of staff)
4. Farhan Mutlak al-Juburi (former head of intelligence in northern Iraq)
5. Tahir Tawfiq al-Ani (former Baath party secretary in northern Iraq)
6. Sabir Abd-al-Aziz Husayn al-Duri (former head of secret intelligence)

“Lessons from the Saddam Trial”
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Frederick K. Cox International Law Center War Crimes Research Symposium
Friday, October 6, 2006

For more information, including how to register or watch the symposium live online, click here to download the symposium brochure.

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Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) &
Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Offical Website of the Special Court for Sierra Leone
The Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme

Liberia: Crumbling camps a health hazard for lingering residents
IRIN
August 10, 2006

MONROVIA, 10 Aug 2006 (IRIN) - The vast camps for displaced Liberians that circle the capital city Monrovia officially closed in April, but some 13,000 people live on there even as the shelters collapse around them.

“Look at my hut, it is almost falling,” said Joseph Kanneh who lives on the muddy remains of what was one the biggest camps, Wilson Corner, for internally displaced people (IDPs) on the outskirts of Monrovia.

“Each time it rains at night I can not sleep, I have to be awake or move to another friend’s shelter,” he said.

It’s the rainy season in Monrovia, one of the wettest capitals in the world, receiving up to 4,000 mm of rain between April and October. The families living in the collapsing temporary shelters built before war ended in 2003 say they want to go home to their villages, but couldn’t due to administrative blunders.

“We want to return home,” said Ma-Hawa Massaley, a mother of seven living at Jah Tondo camp for IDPs, “but since the government came out on the radio and they closed down the camps, we see no sign of going back home.”

Massaley says that she missed out on a resettlement programme because her name was not on the food distribution list. Ration cards issued by the United Nation’s World Food Programme were used as identification for entitlement to assistance by one of the agencies that trucked over 300,000 IDPs since guns fell silent.

Louis Imbleau, the head of the UN World Food Programme in Liberia said a process has commenced to verify the list of those former IDPs that had been left out of camp ration list.

“We are in the process of identifying those left of the feeding list and we have been working closely with the [the UN’s Refugee agency] UNHCR on this issue and some sort of agreement will be reached to finalise it soon,” Imbleau told IRIN, though declined to provide reasons why some IDPs were not on the feeding roster.

However, some of the IDPs themselves blamed camp managers and their IDP representatives.

“Those camps management committees and some of our IDP leaders let our names out of the lists. They kept delaying and assuring us that we would be added on to the lists, but this went on until the camps were closed,” Stephen Musa who used to be an IDP representative, working as an intermediary between aid workers and the camp residents.

When the camps officially closed, the food and social services support that the IDPs had been receiving was cut. UN and other aid agencies moved on and some of the families left in their wake say they get odd jobs to get by, other complain of being forced to beg.

“There is no NGO at all in this camp. There is no clinic here at all and when any of us gets sick, we are constrained to beg someone in the street for help to afford our medical bills,” said Musa.

Last week the IDP Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee Council said the poor state of the camps were a health hazard for the people still living there.

“Remaining shelters are in a state of collapse, water and sanitation facilities are severely lacking and respiratory illnesses in particular are rife,” the report said.

Liberia’s Refugee, Repatriation and Resettlement Commission, which is coordinating the return of hundreds of thousands of IDPs and refugees, on Wednesday told IRIN that they planned to help the remaining IDPs home within the coming weeks.

“We have been discussing with our various partners and putting together the process where those IDPs who are the residual cases be returned home in a similar manner as those in the organised resettlement programme,” said LRRRC’s Saar Nyumah.

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United States

Human Rights First Experts Available For Analysis Of Administration Proposal To Redefine War Crimes
Human Rights First
August 9, 2006

NEW YORK , NY – Human Rights First today highlighted the severe consequences of the Bush Administration’s proposal to dilute humane treatment protections by exempting certain military, intelligence, and other U.S. government personnel from prosecution for certain offenses.

If enacted, the Administration proposal would:

Destroy the ability to prosecute as war crimes the kind of atrocious conduct that occurred at Abu Ghraib;
Put our soldiers at increased risk of inhumane treatment if captured;
Conflict with the McCain amendment, recently passed by an overwhelming majority in Congress to require humane treatment of detainees;
Send a message that the United States no longer considers itself bound to treat detainees humanely and that other countries are free to do the same; and
Serve as a lightning rod for criticism abroad, undermine U.S. efforts to advance democratic values abroad, and increase anti-American sentiment.

Marine Corps officer charged in Iraq assaults
Reuters
August 16, 2006

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The military has charged a U.S. Marine Corps officer with assaulting three Iraqi civilians in April, accusing him of beating and choking them and placing a pistol in one victim's mouth, the Marines said on Wednesday.

The officer, 2nd Lt. Nathan Phan, was charged with three counts of assault and one count of making a false official statement relating to the incident on April 10, near Hamdania, a town west of Baghdad.

Phan, 26, was the platoon leader of the troops charged with premeditated murder in the fatal shooting of an Iraqi man on April 26 in the same town, the Marines said, but he was not charged in relation to that incident.

Seven Marines and a Navy medic were charged in June with premeditated murder in the man's killing. All could face the death penalty if convicted.

Six other Marines were charged in the April 10 assaults earlier this month, including three who also were charged in the April 26 killing.

There has been a number of cases involving misconduct by U.S. troops in Iraq, although U.S. military leaders maintain the vast majority of American troops have conducted themselves honorably. Very few of those charged have been officers.

"The charges are baseless. Lieutenant Phan has served the Marine Corps honorably, and will continue to do so," said David Sheldon, Phan's lawyer. Phan is assigned to Camp Pendleton in California.

Prosecutors accused Phan of putting an unloaded M9 pistol into the mouth of one of the civilians and choking him. They said Phan struck another civilian with closed fists and knees in the face, head and torso, and choked a third civilian.

The military said Phan in all three cases used "force likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm."

The military identified as male the three civilians Phan was charged with assaulting and provided their names but not their ages.

Sheldon said he believes prosecutors may have based the charges against Phan on statements made to them by "some of the people implicated" in the April 26 murder, but did not say who. "I think you have to look at the source," he said.

Sheldon said he believed prosecutors have investigated whether Phan played a role in the April 26 murder but have not come forward with charges in the incident.

Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a Marine spokesman, said he could not say one way or the other whether Phan was under investigation in the murder case.

The Marines said their leadership first learned of the April 10 assault incident in early May while investigating the April 26 murder. Phan returned from Iraq to Camp Pendleton in May.

The next step in the assault case will be an Article 32 hearing, roughly the military equivalent of grand jury proceedings, which will be influential in determining whether Phan will be brought to trial. The military said no date had been set.

Meanwhile, the military has not yet decided whether to bring charges against Marines suspected of killing two dozen civilians in the town of Haditha last November.

Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the new top Marine general in U.S. Central Command, is due to decide on whether charges are warranted, officials said.

CIA Contractor Guilty Of Abusing Detainee
Human Rights First
August 17, 2006

Clear Guidance Needed to Prevent More Abuse in U.S. Custody

NEW YORK- Following the guilty verdict in CIA contractor David Passaro's detainee abuse trial, Human Rights First called on the CIA to issue clear guidance to its agents and contractors that legal prohibitions on cruel, degrading and humiliating treatment applies to all detainees in CIA custody.

"While it is important to hold David Passaro accountable for his actions, future abuses will be prevented only if interrogation polices are clear and unambiguously ban cruelty and other unlawful abuse," said HRF Associate Attorney Priti Patel, who monitored the trial in Raleigh, North Carolina. "Beginning in 2002, the administration approved the CIA's use of unlawful techniques that led to abuse. Now, the CIA has an opportunity to turn the page and make sure that its interrogation policy is in line with U.S. and international law."

David Passaro, a CIA contractor, was charged with four counts of assault in connection with his role in the death of Abdul Wali, a detainee held by the United States in Afghanistan. Passaro is the only individual working for the CIA to be charged in connection with detainee abuse, even though internal government investigations implicated a number of CIA officials.

Human Rights First released a landmark report "Command's Responsibility," which analyzed the U.S. government's handling of nearly 100 detainee deaths in U.S. custody since 2002, including Abdul Wali. The report called for senior-level officials, including members of the CIA, to be held accountable for the abuse and deaths of detainees in their custody. For a copy of the report, please visit

http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/06221-etn-hrf-dic-rep-web.pdf

Officer Called Haditha Routine
The Washington Post
by Thomas E. Ricks
August 19, 2006

The Marine officer who commanded the battalion involved in the Haditha killings last November did not consider the deaths of 24 Iraqis, many of them women and children, unusual and did not initiate an inquiry, according to a sworn statement he gave to military investigators in March.

"I thought it was very sad, very unfortunate, but at the time, I did not suspect any wrongdoing from my Marines," Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marines, said in the statement.

"I did not have any reason to believe that this was anything other than combat action," he added.

Chessani's statement, provided to The Washington Post by a person sympathetic to the enlisted Marines involved in the case, helps explain why there was no investigation of the incident at the time, despite the large number of civilian deaths, and why it took several months for the U.S. military chain of command to react to the event.

It also provides a glimpse of the mind-set of a commander on the scene who, despite the carnage, did not stop to consider whether Marines had crossed a line and killed defenseless civilians.

It suggests that top U.S. commanders have been unsuccessful in urging subordinate leaders to focus less on killing insurgents and more on winning the support of the Iraqi people, especially by providing them security.

Chessani told investigators he concluded that insurgents had staged a "complex attack" that began with a roadside bomb, followed by a small-arms ambush that was intended to provoke the Marines to fire into houses where civilians were hiding.

"I did not see any cause for alarm," especially because several firefights had occurred in the area the same day -- Nov. 19, 2005 -- Chessani said. Because of that conclusion, the commander added, he did not see any reason to investigate the matter, or even to ask how many women and children had been killed. "I just saw this as a large combat action that had been staged by the enemy," he told investigators.

The Haditha incident first attracted notice when Time magazine reported in March that the official U.S. account attributing most of the Iraqi deaths to a roadside bomb was incorrect, and that the Iraqis instead had been killed by U.S. troops. It became more controversial in May when Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), who had been briefed by top Marine officers, said at a news conference that what happened in Haditha was "much worse than reported in Time magazine" and that Marines had "killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

Commentators likened the incident to the Vietnam War's My Lai massacre and predicted that it would damage the U.S. effort in Iraq more than the Abu Ghraib detainee abuse scandal had.

Several Marines are under criminal investigation in connection with the incident. Their lawyers have indicated they intend to argue that those Marines followed the rules of engagement during a difficult day on a chaotic battlefield.

Defense lawyers involved in the case said Friday that they have been told that a criminal inquiry by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service concluded about two weeks ago, and that military prosecutors are working on charges that may be brought next month.

A separate review of decisions by Marine officers, including Chessani and his superiors, was conducted by Army Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell. The findings of his investigation, which concluded many weeks ago, has not been released, but people familiar with its contents have said that he found multiple failures by Marine leaders in the training they mandated, in the tone they set and in how information was reported up the chain of command.

Chessani's statement, which was given at a base in Iraq starting at midnight on March 20, is the first formal evidence to emerge in the case. Until now, media reports contain accounts provided by Iraqis and Marines rather than those from official documents produced by the investigatory process.

The statement provides the first public look at comments from a key commander who oversaw the action there and bolsters the defense argument that troops involved in the Haditha incident saw the events as part of the normal course of combat.

Chessani has not made any public comments about the case. He waived his rights when he provided the statement and did not ask for an attorney, though he had the right to do so. He was told at the outset of the questioning that he was suspected of dereliction of his duty.

Chessani was relieved of command about three weeks after he gave his statement, in early April, soon after his battalion returned to its home base at Camp Pendleton, Calif. It is not clear whether he has retained defense counsel. He could not be reached for comment by telephone Friday and did not respond to e-mails.

Chessani said in his statement that when he was first informed by a military investigator that Marines under his command may have intentionally killed civilians, "the allegations seemed baseless." But the investigator then told him, he said, that "we had killed civilians and did not have positive identification in this instance. . . . He described it that we had made entries into rooms and shot women and children. He believed, if I recall right, that some of the rooms, some of the houses that we entered, the Marines weren't being fired at at the time."

After the killings, the Marine Corps issued a statement that Iraqis had been killed in Haditha by a roadside bomb. Chessani said that he did not see the statement then, and that the first time he read it was when an investigator showed it to him about three months later.

"I knew this was inaccurate when I saw it," he stated. The Marine Corps has not issued a retraction, saying the entire matter is under investigation.

At one point, Col. John Ewers, the Marine lawyer who took the statement, seemed almost exasperated with Chessani's passive approach to the incident. Using a profanity, he told Chessani his own reaction was "15 civilians dead, 23 or 24 total dead, with no real indication of how it was that we arrived at the enemy KIA number."

Ewers asked: "Did