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A03335

Articles : International

Children targeted for DRC militias - IRIN

By Isaac Oommen

Egyptian newspapers stop printing, Burma reflects on crackdowns, Musharraf awaits election win, DRC erupts in violence, and more

Sudanese Army on Darfur Offensive (BBC News, 10/8/07)
The Sudan Liberation Army has said that the town of Muhajiriya is being attacked by government forces and Janjaweed militia. Such aggression against the SLA comes as a shock considering that they were the only rebel faction to had signed the May 2006 peace deal with the government.

Egypt Newspapers Protest Clampdown (Al Jazeera, 10/7/07)
Hozni Mubarak’s government has been far less than civil to opposition newspapers, going so far as to jail 4 newspaper editors for defamation. More than 20 newspapers have halted printing for a day in protest to the government’s thuggish attitude towards press freedom.

Turkey Pledges Protection to Syria (Al Jazeera, 10/707)
Turkish foreign minister Ali Babacan has promised not to allow Israel to use its airspace to attack Syria. Babacan also hopes that his upcoming visit to Israel will clear up the nature of the mysterious attack that Israeli Defense Forces perpetrated on Syria recently (The Economist, 9/13/07).

Follow Up: Burmese Reactions
GNN and other media have exhaustively covered the Burmese government’s crackdown on protesters over the past week. Unfortunately the U.N. (The Guardian, 10/5/07) and western nations (The Guardian, 10/7/07) took far too long to decry the atrocities that took place in that country. This week marked the funeral of Kenji Nagai, a Japanese video journalist shot dead by Burmese forces during the riots – it was attended by hundreds of Burmese exiles (The Guardian, 10/8/07). Government forces have been continuing their raids (The Guardian, 10/5/07) on monks (New York Times, 10/8/07), although they officially claim to be stepping down security (Herald Tribune, 10/7/07). The government has, however, offered to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and have gone so far as to name a go-between (BBC News 10/8/07) to correspond with the popular figure who is currently under house arrest.

Zimbabwe: Confusion as Some Teachers Stay Home Despite Deal with Government (SW Radio Africa, 10/8/07)
Uncontrollable inflation and the government’s inability to deal with the situation led many teachers to resign in frustration over pay, 10/8/07). Their action forced the government to come to terms with the recession and offer the unions Z$14 million for the teachers to return to their classrooms. Some of the teachers came back, but several Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZITMA) members said they would not do so until the money was in their accounts, showing how much trust they had in the government. The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has in the meantime lambasted the ZITMA for accepting such a paltry amount.

29 Killed in Anti-terrorist Sweep in Algeria, Reports Say (Herald Tribune, 10/8/07)
The death toll was made up of 22 militants and 7 soldiers. Algeria has undergone a recent revival of its insurgency – a movement that had almost completely petered out in the 90s.

Musharraf On Stand-by
Pervez Musharraf has been re-elected as president by legislators (Al Jazeera, 10/6/07), although the Supreme Court has still not officially declared him eligible for the poll. Musharraf has already told the other contenders to accept his victory and not destabilize the nation, and has ominously added that he will decide his actions towards the Supreme Court based on their oncoming decision on whether or not to qualify him for the poll. Musharraf has not as of yet complied to the terms of his presidency, to step down as army chief (although he has picked a successor for the role). His supporters are already toasting the victory (International Heral Tribune, 10/6/07), even though the general’s eligibility will only be decided on the 17th of this month. Musharraf is planning to set up a power-share structure with exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, to whom the general has graciously granted amnesty from corruption charges (Al Jazeera, 10/5/07). Bhutto, being no stranger to coups (Times Online, 10/7/07) such as the one that brought Musharraf to power, should bring some legitimacy to the president’s term and may even help solidify border agreements (10/8/07) with Afghanistan and India. Considering that she instructed her Pakistan People’s Party MPs to refrain from the vote that elected Musharraf to his third term since he was still in uniform, she will definitely not be a mindless drone who will agree voicelessly to all of Musharraf’s policies.

Hamas Men Wounded in Gaza Blast (Al Jazeera, 10/4/07)
Hamas is accusing Fatah party members of setting the bomb that injured 3 Hamas security force members. This could be a sign that Fatah is beginning to fight back (The Economist, 10/4/07).

Turkey Mulls Response to PKK Attack (Al Jazeera, 10/8/07)
The Kurdish issue has been a sensitive one for Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey. Members of the group have for a long time been wanting their own country separate from the three states they live in, and the development of the semi-autonomous Kurdish territories in Iraq have greatly encouraged the cause. Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatists have taken things a step further by killing 13 Turkish soldiers (Al Jazeera, 10/7/07) along the border, followed by 2 more later that day (International Herald Tribune, 10/7/07). Turkey’s first response was to shell a region of northeastern Iraq that it believed hid the culprits (10/7/07). After some thought, the country’s leaders went on to threaten further action in the form of a unilateral attack on Iraq’s Kurdish region in order to quell possible future annoyances from there (The Guardian, 10/8/07).

150,000 Helpless Congolese
Citing recent government attacks against them, General Laurent Nkunda has ordered his forces to defend themselves and respond to any government incursions onto their territories (BBC News, 10/8/07). The general names his Tutsi insurrection in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a fight against oppressive Rwandan Hutu forces and local Mai Mai militia. With both sides targeting vital roads, 150,000 people have been cut off from U.N. Aid (IRIN, 10/8/07). The situation for such people is desperate since they are very likely to be killed by either side and have their children forced to become either soldiers or sex slaves (IRIN, 10/8/07).

‘Militants’ Arrested in the Maldives (BBC News, 10/8/07)
Islamist insurgencies are popping up in the most unusual places. 50 Maldivians were arrested by the police of the small nation in relation to a recent bomb blast in the capital Male that injured 12 tourists. All 50 of those arrested belonged to an Islamic militant group.

Indonesia to Plant 79 Million Trees in a Day (Times Online, (10/5/07)
Indonesia is trying hard to remove its reputation as one of the world’s biggest polluters by taking on this initiative, which is part of the U.N.‘s global campaign to plant a billion trees.

Official Saudi Website for Fatwas (BBC News, 10/6/07)
The Saudi government has launched a website to publish fatwas – judgements that are based on Muslim law. Currently there exists “fatwa chaos” in Saudi Arabia, where religious scholars issue fatwas as they wish that do not necessarily adhere to Islamic law. The website will help standardize fatwas, and coincides with a monumental overhaul of the Saudi judicial system (Al Jazeera, 10/5/07).

.....................................

For exhaustive coverage of important news that has gone under the radar and labor news, check out respectively mwm’s If you knew… and Nathan Coe’s Labor News Roundup both articles this week include examinations into the complicity of oil companies with the Burmese junta.

Posted by mercenary
Six and a half billion people, caught in the imagination of one mercenary.

Disclaimer: Statements and opinions expressed in articles published on this site are those of the authors and not of the staff or editors of GNN, unless otherwise stated.

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