600,000 on the run in Kenya
The number of people displaced since the riots over election results has reached frightening proportions (BBC News, 02/11/08). Even the middle class have to be constantly watchful for roaming mobs (International Herald Tribune, 02/11/08). Kenya has however put forth a plan for free secondary education throughout the country by the end of the year (BBC News, 02/11/08). Mediator Koffe Annan is in the intermediate phase of brokering a peace deal that will set up power-sharing between the government and the embittered opposition party (The Nation, 02/12/08).
Tsvangirai going it alone as Mutambara-Makoni join forces (SW Radio Africa, 02/11/08)
It may be the undoing of Zimbabwe’s opposition to President Robert Mugabe – opposition leaders are splitting up to run by themselves for next month’s election. With so many groups standing against the embattled president, opposition leaders may be getting to greedy in trying to grab the top post.
Mozambique: Death toll from riots rises (Agencia de Informacao de Mcambique, 02/11/08)
A total of four people have died as a result of the riots in the country between police and demonstrators. Police claim that no live ammunition was used during confrontations, though protesters accuse them of doing just that. At least 30 people have been injured by rubber bullets used by the police.
Journalists flee to neighboring countries after wave of arrests of opposition leaders (Reporters Without Borders, 02/11/08)
After fighting ended in Chad’s capital following a military coup attempt, journalists were high on the list of people to isolate. Several journalists fled just hours before arrest attempts were made. Nouradine Coumakoye, Chadian Prime Minister, threatened on Monday to expel Sudanese refugees sheltering themselves in camps across the country’s border. With over 400,000 Sudanese displace persons in Chad, Coumakoye was candid in saying that he did not want problems from them and that the international community should place them in some other country.
Congo-Kinesha: Leader of militia arrested and transferred to the Hague (Hirondelle News Agency, 02/11/08)
A leader of one of the many militias that had run roughshod over the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has finally been arrested and sent to be tried before an international commission. Mathieu Ngundjolo of the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (NIF) is accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes for murder, sexual slavery and conscripting child soldiers.
Thousands flee deadly attacks on three West Darfur towns= (U.N. News Centre, 02/11/08)
Janjaweed militias and government forces renewed their attacks on Darfur towns, driving as many as 12,000 refugees across the border into Chad. Reports indicate that around 200 people have been killed, and one of the towns has been burnt to the ground.
Little hope to quashing al Qaeda in Iraq
Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr planned on Monday to extend his cease-fire for another six months (UPI, 02/11/08), bringing renewed hope to the government that the insurgency can be pushed back. Recent documents released by the U.S. military showed that al Qaeda had been hit hard by the defection of Sunnis to form state-friendly militias (The Times, 02/11/08), especially since their numbers dropped to mere fractions of what they were before the winter. It may, however, be too early to celebrate since a recent series of bombings showed that the group are still around and thriving (Yahoo! News, 02/11/08). The attacks may have been retaliation to the arrest of a hospital director for supplying al Qaeda with two Down syndrome-afflicted women to use as suicide bombers on February 1 (The Times, 02/12/08). The Iraqi government is at the same time distancing the very Sunni groups that helped them deal such a devastating blow to al Qaeda (The New York Times, 02/10.08). Iraq is still as dangerous as ever as two CBS journalists went missing after masked gunmen raided the Sultan Palace Hotel (Yahoo! News, 02/11/08). Iraqi officials are simultaneously concerned about Iran’s takeover of more than 15 oil wells along the border (UPI, 02/11/08) – with the chaos in the region, little can be done to protest such actions as Iraq becomes a free-for all where no party wants to be left out of the gorging. Being experts at providing too little too late, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense is giving foreign soldiers in the country social interaction guides to hep them communicate more effectively with the populace (Yahoo! News, 02/11/08).
Egypt drops journalist’s jail term (Al Jazeera, 02/11/08)
Al Jazeera journalist Howaida Taha will not have to serve a six-month sentence meted out to her after the government accused her of fabricating tapes alleging torture by state police. Taha will have to pay a fine of around USD $3,600, though her lawyer plans to appeal the result.
Tension rises from all sides in Lebanon
Monday saw three army officers and 16 soldiers of the Lebanese army being charged for killing opposition protesters during the January 27 riots (02/11/08). Tensions would have ceased except for the elephant in the room – the constant setbacks to selecting a president. A party leader recently pointed out Hezbollah’s polarizing role and criticized its links with Syria (Al Jazeera, 02/11/08); Hezbollah responded with threats. Socialist leader Walid Jumblatt has gone so far as to threaten an all-out war in light of the current situation (UPI, 02/11/08).
The Gaza siege resumes
Gaza smugglers picked up their tools again this week as Egypt shut down the border between the two regions (Yahoo! News, 02/11/08). The smuggling of goods, medicines and weapons had almost ceased completely while the border was open over the last few weeks, with Gazans rushing to border towns to stock up on necessities. The resumption of smuggling will once again provide lucrative tithes for Hamas. Calls to strengthen Israel’s latest blockade of the Gaza region grew after rocket attacks injured two Israeli youths over the weekend (International Herald Tribune, 01/10/08). Hamas leaders have taken up low profiles after Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak threatened to assassinate those involved in the recent rash of attacks (Yahoo! News, 02/11/08). Barak even called for a ground invasion (UPI, 02/1/08), saying that air strikes were not enough. Israel’s attacks have so far killed one and injured 24 (Electronic Intifada, 02/10/08), as well as having destroyed property. The blockage so far has taken 91 Gazan lives (Al Arabiya, 02/10/08), the latest being that of Mounir Ali who was refused to leave to treat bile duct blockages. A recent census has shocked all sides by revealing that the Palestinian population has grown by 30% (The Guardian, 02/11/08) over the past decade, meaning that it is one of the fastest-growing ones in the world.
Saudi backs limit on foreign residency in Gulf (Al Arabiya, 02/11/08)
The Saudi labor minister was candid in saying that his nation did not want the laborers to gain political strength. Millions of migrant laborers work in the oil-rich region, and are increasingly getting media attention because of the slave conditions they endure. GCC states in the Gulf region are afraid that international pressure because of these conditions will force them to acknowledge workers’ rights and other such profit-cuts. Bahrain this week “moved to settle what it termed to be an “illegal strike” by 1,300 migrant laborers”:http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/02/11/45513.html (Al Arabiya, 02/11/08); acts like this are what scare these states about the the hidden populations in their countries that they both mistreat but on which they are also heavily dependent.
Oil money cultivates Mideast Ivy League (International Herald Tribune, 02/11/08)
If post-secondary education is becoming just another business, it’s franchising nicely into the Middle East. With money to spend, locals and expatriates are flocking to universities promising an American-quality education without leaving the Gulf.
Iran celebrates revolution, and muzzles reformers (02/12/08)
Even as Iran celebrated the 29th anniversary of its Islamic revolution, the Guardian Council vetoed around 2,400 candidates from Parliament because of their stance on immediate reform. Reformist politicians will only be allowed to stand for 20 out of the 290 seats in the assembly.
Peace at a deadly cost in Afghanistan
British Foreign Secretary David Milliband called for sustained presence by the international community in Afghanistan, claiming that only continuous monitoring would stop the country from tumbling into turmoil (The Guardian, 02/11/08). Afghanistan has not been calming down as of late, with the latest incident being one in which Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb exploded next to his convoy. Three civilians were injured in the blast (Yahoo! News, 02/11/08). Pakistan’s ambassador, Tariq Azizuddin, went missing in the Khyber tribal region as he was readying to travel into Afghanistan n Monday. What peace exists in the region only seems to be sustained by the government’s own prescription of violence and injustice (Asia Times Online, 02/08/08). Germany’s armed forces are the latest to be accused of handing prisoners over to Afghan authorities for interrogations involving torture (Der Spiegel, 02/11/08).
Security companies fall foul of gun controls (The Times, 02/11/08)
Security companies at present employ around 30,000 people. Even with a single gun per person, the governments that host these agencies have much to worry about. The Afghan government is cracking down on private security guards in Kabul in an effort to curb the illegal weapons trade. The effort has affected several organizations that rely on security companies for protection.
Extremists try to close Mumbai’s open arms (International Herald Tribune, 02/11/08)
Raj Thakeray is nothing new. Mumbai has always had a slew of extremist politicians groaning about preserving Marathi culture against the onslaught of migrant workers. Thakeray is, however, taking it to a disturbing level. His goons have recently publicly beaten northern Indians for not integrating into local culture.
Bhutto from beyond the grave
A spokesman for the deceased Banazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said that it does not agree with the Scotland Yard report that the former Prime Minister was killed by the suicide bomb blast (The New York Times, 02/09/08), but insists that it was the assassin’s bullet that did it. Bhutto’s upcoming book even notes that she knew the names and cell phone numbers of the assassins (Reuters, 02/11/08), also having been told that their leader was Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza. Bhutto also attacks Pakistan’s President Musharraf for not doing enough to protect her. Musharraf has in the meanwhile dropped in popularity (Yahoo! News, 02/11/08) to the point that 75% of the country wants him out (Reuters, 02/11/08). While Musharraf continues his one-line goal of eradicating terrorism in Pakistan (Al Jazeera, 02/11/08), Pakistan continues to be host a fatal climate for politics – the most recent suicide bomb blast killed Eidak election candidate Nisar Ali Khan and seven others, and wounded 13 people (Al Jazeera, 02/11/08). Bhutto’s widower is busy using her legacy to try and win the PPP the lion’s share of votes in the upcoming general election (The New York Times, 02/10/08). Ironically, the people rather than Musharraf are putting the pressure on Islamist factions by not voting for them (Reuters, 02/10/08), especially in the violent northwestern region.
Russia’s greatest love machine?
The new film A Kiss – Not for the Press may have a tough time recreating it’s inspired main character as a sex symbol (The Times of India, 02/07/08). Its subject, Russian President Vladimir Putin, is more of a power-hungry tyrant. His latest whim was to have officials close the European University of St. Petersburg (EUSP) on claims of certain buildings being fire risks. The closure,according to opposition parties, has more to do with a grant given to the university by the EU to run a program to raise the effectiveness of election monitoring in the country (The Guardian, 02/12/08). Russia has also been selective with its international handouts – it closed a USD $12.9 billion debt owed by Iraq (AFP, 02/11/08), with hopes of increasing Russian investment into the doddering nation. Russia has not been so generous with Ukraine, threatening to cut gas supplies to the former Soviet Bloc nation because of the former’s USD $1.5 billion debt (Al Jazeera, 02/11/08). Putin is clearly pushing forth his own agenda (The Guardian, 02/11/08), using every state department that was originally meant to check his power as a mere tool to help spread post-communist “sovereign democracy.” In the meanwhile, many towns in Russia, because of labor movement to industrial cities and low life expectancy among men, are left populated by only impoverished elderly women (The Guardian, 02/11/08). Not even Putin’s hand-picked successor’s promises of multi-billion dollar agricultural subsidies can reverse this blight, according to social geographers.
East Timor president serious but stable after attack (12/02/08)
The injuries President Jose Ramos-Horta sustained during the assassination attempt made at his home required two rounds of surgery within a 24 hour period. Gunmen also targeted the home of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, but were unsuccessful.
U.S. marine charged over Japan rape (Al Jazeera, 02/11/08)
A 38-year old staff sergeant is being accused of raping a 14-year-old girl on Sunday. The marine confesses that he held her down and kissed her, but says that he did nothing else. Hirokazu Nakaima, governor of Okinawa, said that he could not forgive such a crime. The incident is not the first in the country that hosts around 50,000 U.S. troops.
Myanmar’s announcement of new elections met with skepticism (International Herald Tribune, 02/10/08)
The military junta announced on Saturday that it would hold a referendum on the new constitution in May, and elections in 2010. With its current track record, the military can only be trusted once it delivers.
............
For more of GNN’s exclusive news roundups, read Alfonz Cortez’s The Rebel Cmmunique, Nathan Coe’s Labor News Roundup, and mwm’s If you knew….