Summit fails to mask sensitivities over EU-Africa ties (AFP, 12/10/07)
All the predictions came true. The European leaders were not ready enough to take on Mugabe together. U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s attempt to have the Zimbabwean president barred from the summit failed when other African nations threatened to back out of the proceedings if Mugabe were not present. Even a chiding remark from German Chancellor Angela Merkel was rebuffed with contempt by Mugabe; Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir showed similar anger at being accused of not allowing U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur.

‘Vulture’ investors an unlikely ally against graft in Congo (International Herald Tribune, 12/10/07)
Vulture investors – they sue to recover debts for pennies on the dollar. Often the countries they sue cannot afford to fend off the law suits when they have barely enough to build hospitals and schools. However, anti-corruption campaigners are beginning to call these investors national boons, since they force the state to stop corruption to prevent law suits.

Islamists do not not recognize ‘colonial government,’ says war chief (Garowe Online, 12/9/07)
Yusuf ‘Inda Ade’ Mohamed Siad of the Somalia Islamic Courts movement dismissed the transitional federal government and discouraged the international community from sending peacekeepers to the region. He said that the group did not recognize the Somali government because it was not set up by the Somali people, and that any African Union peacekeepers would be seen as colonial troops.

The rewards of playing by their rules
It seemed to be a dream, seeing Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi shake hands with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. After years of America shaking an ineffective stick at him, Gaddafi finally saw reason under Sarkozy’s watchful eye, and bent knee to the West. It turns out that Sarkozy was using a carrot all long (Guardian Unlimited, 12/10/07). A newly-signed deal between France and Libya is said to be worth billions of Euros, and involves planes and even nuclear cooperation (Yahoo! News, 12/10/07). With fewer trade embargoes over it, Libya has also set up several lucrative gas exploration contracts with a bevy of fuel giants like Shell and Polski (AFP, 12/9/07). Not everyone is willing to let the dictator smile and get by – France’s Minister for Human Rights, Rama Yade, attacked both her government and the Libyan leader for using his visit to France to wipe ‘off the blood of his victims’ (The Times, 12/11/07).

Niger: News filtering out of north suggests grave conditions (IRIN, 12/10/07)
Problems in the region began in February 2007 when the Nigeria Movement for Justice (MNJ) announced that it was launching an armed campaign to win more autonomy from the government. Heavy flooding in August and September added to problems in the country. 20,000 people have been displaced – 9,000 from the floods, and 11,000 because of heavy fighting between government and rebel forces.

Sierra Leone: World’s poorest country (Concord Times via AllAfrica, 12/10/07)
Sierra Leone has fallen behind Niger in the U.N.‘s human development index. Infant mortality is horrifying; poverty is everywhere. The ravages of war are still very visible, and are creating new problems for the small African nation.

Organic agriculture can contribute to fighting hunger, but chemical fertilizers needed to feed the world (FAO Newsroom, 12/10/07)
Dr. Jaques Diouf, FAO Director-General, commented that the FAO should promote organic agriculture, but should not imagine that it such farming techniques could feed 6 billion people today or 9 billion people in 2050. Chemical inputs, he said, are what will help boost production in nutrient-starved areas like sub-Saharan Africa.

Water shortage fears in Darfur camps (IRIN, 12/10/07)
21 camps in Sudan, home to 800,000 of the 2,400,000 refugees from Darfur, are vulnerable to water shortages in the case of a draught. The report by Tearfund documented the shocking inequity among camps, where some have excess water that is wasted, while others have people lining up to use single pumps.

Cameroon’s Melabo rescue mission (BBC News, 12/10/07)
It all began when Cameroonians were blamed for two armed robberies in Equatorial Guinea. Authorities raided the homes of Cameroonians, forcing them to flee to embassies. Cameroon is sending a delegation to resolve this problem as soon as possible. To be fair, Cameroonians responded to the harassment of their compatriots by attacking students from Equatorial Guinea living in Cameroon.

An isolated Israel
Iran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was proof enough to most that the state was willing to be reasonable (Reuters, 12/10/07). Even the U.S. has pulled back its veiled threats and is glowering as Iranian officials welcome IAEA members for another round of talks about their country’s nuclear plans and potential (International Herald Tribune, 12/10/07). Iran may be showing such cooperation to smooth things out for its new USD $2 billion oil contract with China (AFP, 12/9/07), but it has nonetheless been less rebellious as of late. Israel sees the aforementioned report as the product of Iranian back-dealing, and refuses to accept its findings that Iran does not have nuclear weapons (Asia Times Online, 12/8/07). In fact, Israel is adamant in declaring that even if Iran does not have a nuclear weapon set to go, it does have the ability to have one operational by 2010 (Reuters, 12/9/07). Israel has been just as hostile with the Palestinians – although Vice Premier Haim Ramon mentioned that it would be wise to hand over Arab regions of Jerusalem to the Palestinians for the sake of peace (United Press International, 12/10/07), Palestinians have drawn attention to the fact that Israel is planning to erect new homes on occupied land (Reuters, 12/10/07). Amongst scores of other groups, the largest Dutch trade union, FNV ABVAKABO is planning to increase pressure on Israel to obey the international laws and agreements that it is breaking by performing activities such as this (Electronic Intifada, 12/7/07). The situation within Israel is growing similarly uncertain for ethnics Arabs, against whom racist incidents have increased by 26% this year (BBC News, 12/10/07). Israeli authorities have even gone to the extent of arresting 3 journalists for traveling to what it has called “enemy countries,” these being Lebanon and Syria (Menassat, 12/10/07).

Vigilantes kill 40 women in Iraq’s south (Yahoo! News, 12/9/07)
The area around Basra does not hold only vast quantities of oil, but also the buried bodies of women who violated strict interpretations of Islamic law. Religious vigilantes are being blamed for the murders of at least 40 women this year, all for un-Islamic behavior.

Muslim Brotherhood leader decries trial (Yahoo! News, 12/10/07)
Khayrat el-Shater is the third highest leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and one of 40 members being put on trial into front of a military court in relation to charges of money laundering and terrorism. El-Shater called the entire trial a sham, noting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s fear towards the group that holds 20% of the parliament seats in the country.

Prisoners shipped to Saudi halfway-houses (United Press International, 12/10/07)
The U.S. has started a program to transfer several prisoners out of Guantanamo Bay. Out of 138 Saudis once held there, only 20 remain – 10 will be repatriated while the other 10 will be put on trial.

AP photographer gets first hearing (Yahoo! News, 12/9/07)
Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein has been detained by the U.S. military for over 20 months without charges. Hussein’s lawyers saw the charges for the first time on Sunday, but were restricted by the magistrate from divulging any particulars. No formal charges have been made against the photographer, which begs the question why he was taken into custody for such a long time.

Hamas torches $4m drug find (Al Jazeera, 12/9/07)
Hamas and Fatah have been accusing each other for allowing such traffic into the Gaza Strip. Both groups accuse the other of allowing the trade to flourish and of even profiting from it. The Gaza Strip has some of the worst poverty in the world, where people are desperate enough to grow such heavily controlled substances as cannabis for profit.

As Iraqis vie for Kirkuk’s oil, Kurds become pawns (International Herald Tribune, 12/9/07)
Kurds, Turks and Arabs are all very interested in the fate of Tamim Province, which may eventually be allowed to rule itself autonomously of Baghdad. A referendum will decide whether this region, which is a microcosm of the ethnic divisions between Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Shiite Arabs, will stay administered by Baghdad or will rule itself.

Turkey ready for another political burial (Asia Times Online, 12/11/07)
Turkish officials may try to shut down the Democratic Society Party (DTP), a pro-Kurdish group. The chief prosecutor in charge of the allegations wants all 221 members, including eight MPs, banned from politics for five years. Some have accused the party of being an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Banning the party will most likely affect Turkey’s bid to join the EU negatively.

Vladimir Putin rejects hardliners to anoint Dmitri Medvedev as heir to Kremlin throne (The Times, 12/11/07)
In a well-marketed ceremony, Russian President Vladimir Putin chose First Deputy Minister Dmitri Medvedev as his successor. Medvedev usurped Sergei Ivanov, who was seen as Putin’s favorite for the position. With 72% of the votes being delegated among his United Russia party, and with the guarantee that almost half the voters will stand by his choice, Putin is performing a precarious but so-far successful balancing act to keep himself in the Kremlin.

Musharraf’s end-game
The emergency rule invoked by President Pervez Musharraf will end on 15th December 2007, said Pakistan’s attorney-general Malik Mohammad Qayyum (Al Jazeera, 12/8/07). The party behind Musharraf, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, are getting ready to launch their vote manifesto ahead of the upcoming general elections (AFP, 12/10/07). Astonishingly, although Musharraf is concentrating part of his party’s campaign on fighting al Qaeda, he has rejected the U.S. decision to send American troops into his country to track down militants (Reuters, 12/9/07). The opposition parties, led respectively by former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, have acquiesced to take part in the elections (International Herald Tribune, 12/10/07). Meanwhile, former Supreme Court judge Rana Bagwan Das commented that the upcoming elections could not be free in any way unless he and his colleagues were reinstated over the puppet court that Musharraf set up to replace them (BBC News, 12/10/07). Saudi Arabia has offered guest statuses for Das’ colleague Iftikar Mohammad Chaudhary – the chief justice who tried to stop Musharraf from standing for the election – and his family for a pilgrimage to Mecca (United Press International, 12/10/07). Pakistan’s government was candid in saying that Chaudhary’s absence would help stabilize the political climate in the country. Times have indeed been unstable, with the most recent suicide attack being aimed at a bus carrying children (BBC News, 12/10/07).

Troops overrun Taliban town, British PM in Afghanistan (AFP, 12/10/07)
Militants holding Musa Qala were numbered to be around 2,000. When the NATO-assisted Afghan troops began their push into the stronghold, they were met with surprisingly little resistance. Both the army and militants say that the rebels ‘melted away’ as the army advanced. The town that was once occupied almost completely by militants in now in the hands of the Afghan army. Taliban forces say they retreated to prevent civilian casualities from air strikes. British prime minister Gordon Brown, on his first visit to Afghanistan under the vestiges of his new office, encouraged progress in the region.

Malaysian Indian activists ‘warned’ (Al Jazeera, 12/8/07)
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi cautioned ethnic Indian activist group Hindraf that its members would be dealt with severely if they were found to have links to armed organizations. Hindraf’s chairman P. Waythamoorthy responded by filing a police report against the state attorney-general and police chief for making such claims. Immigration and ethnicity are touchy subjects in Malaysia, which has a volunteer group of 500,000 called Rela that hunts down illegal immigrants (Internaltional Herald Tribune, 12/9/07)

China deepens religious repression in Tibet: report (Reuters, 12/9/07)
Authorities are putting increasing pressure on monks to denounce the exiled Dalai Lama, take loyalty exams and even allow the set-up of police stations within monestaries.

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

For a look at some interesting stories from around the world, such as the use of rape as a weapon in Angola, check out mwm’s If you knew…. Also read Alfonzo Torrez’s The Rebel Communique for an in-depth look at the EU’s stance on Darfur and other important stories.