Media shushed as conditions worsen in Somalia
The latest round of clashes between government and militias left 17 dead and 80 wounded in Mogadishu (Garowe Online, 02/03/08). The U.S. has also focussed its cross-hairs on the capital temporarily, bombing precise areas in an effort to target terrorists (Yahoo! News, 02/03/08). Somalian elders claim that the attack was not as precise as planned, having killed in its wake at least four civilians (AFP, 03/03/08). All sides in the conflict seem to be united in one respect – silencing the media (Yahoo! News, 02/03/08). This week the government closed down three radio stations (Reporters Sans Frontiers, 02/03/08), consequently raiding offices and beating up journalists. Such events are not uncommon in the country where nine journalists in total have been killed and 50 have fled since February 2007 (Amnesty International, 02/03/08).

Pohamba urges restraint (The Namibia, 03/03/08)
Namibia’s President Hifikepunye Pohamba asked supporters to refrain from violence as a heated bi-elections heave into view. The last round of elections were called off when the opposition objected to 54 names on the voters’ roll.

Sierra Leone child and maternal mortality worst in the world – UNICEF (IRIN News, 03/03/08)
At 200 deaths per 100,000 births, Sierra Leone leads the world in infant mortality rate. Underdeveloped health programs, malnutrition and harmful cultural practices have led to this high number. The U.N. wishes to scale up food and nutrition programs in the area to remedy the situation.

Dark days in Cameroon (The Post Online, 03/03/08)
Order has recently been restored in Cameroon after a week of demonstrations followed by riots. What began as a strike action by the Syndicate of Transporters turned into rioting as unemployed youths took on the police in running battles. 150 of the demonstrators have been arrested, and are reportedly undergoing torture at the hands of authorities.

In South Africa, a racist video’s fallout (Yahoo! News, 03/03/08)
Students and faculty at the University of the Free State have had to drastically re-evaluate race relations in the country that is still trying to heal from the apartheid. A video depicting white college students who forced black housekeepers to beg for food and drink allegedly laced with urine has been causing an uproar throughout the country. The college students claim that they were creating satire along the lines of Borat.

Fighting kills 70 in Sudan oil region (UPI, 03/03/08)
Renewed fighting this week in the Abeyi region left 70 dead dead, according to the U.N. Sudan People’s Liberation Movement clashed with the area’s Misseriya community, and later blamed the government for arming the locals.

No end to violence as Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza
Israeli troops claimed to have given the Gaza region a two-day respite in conjunction with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit to the region (Al Jazeera, 03/03/08). Even as Hamas celebrated what it called a victory (Reuters, 03/03/08), Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned that attacks would resume (The Guardian, 03/04/08), especially as long as Palestinian fighters continue to fire rockets into Israeli cities (UPI, 03/03/08). Israel during the temporary halt has launched a PR campaign to convince the international community that the country is being attacked non-stop with rockets and that its military is just protecting its cities (UPI, 03/02/08). Air strikes have continued in the Gaza region despite the troop pull-out (International Herald Tribune, 03/02/08), particularly with the use of drones (Yahoo! News, 03/03/08). Israel, having killed and injured over 100 Palestinians since the invasion, has been accused of war crimes by Arab rights activists (UPI, 03/03/08). In lieu of the attacks, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas called off peace talks (International Herald Tribune, 03/02/08), though Rice is planning to re-start them when she arrives in the region (The Times of India, 03/02/08).

Egypt arrests dozens from Brotherhood as vote nears (Yahoo! News, 03/03/08)
It must be election time in Egypt if Muslim Brotherhood members are being arrested without charge. Dozens of members from the opposition group have been targeted by security forces ahead of local council elections, making clear the government’s fear that radical Islam is spreading throughout the region.

Dozens arrested in Saudi Arabia (Al Jazeera, 03/03/08)
28 people were arrested by police in Saudi Arabia for trying to collect funds on behalf of al Qaeda. Agents were using a recording by the group’s second in command, Ayman al Ziwahri, to raise money from Saudi citizens to help with regrouping.

Journalism squeezed as censors close in on satellite channels (The Guardian, 03/04/08)
Not content to control local media, several Arab governments are gearing to censor satellite channels such as al Jazeera. The initiative comes from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, both of which host multiple satellite TV stations and wish to squash any anti-regime ideals.

Al Qaeda is 10 years old and thriving: experts (Al Arabiya, 02/03/08)
The World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, later named al Qaeda, is said to have begun on February 22 a decade ago. The group is said to have changed the very dynamics of international diplomacy, since the U.S. now designates nations on the basis of if they are pro- or anti-terror. Experts agree that the future of al Qaeda depends on the power the U.S. wields in the Middle East, and will only disappear if and when the U.S. stops its attempts to dominate the region.

Gaddafi abolishes ministries (The Times of India, 03/04/08)
Moamer Gaddafi this week ordered several government ministries abolished and demanded that their power and administrative money be handed over to the people. The Libyan leader blamed the ministries’ misuse of funds and corruption, sparing only the departments of defense and internal security as well as foreign affairs from his wrath.

Ahmedinejad in Iraq
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s visit to Iraq was set to start things anew, according to the enthusiastic leader. Among other gifts, Ahmedinejad offered Iraq a U.S. $1 billion loan for development projects (Asia Times Online, 03/04/08), as long as they would be handled by Iranian companies. The President also made it clear that U.S. presence in the region was crippling the country (Yahoo! News, 03/03/08), and called for a complete troop withdrawal from the U.S. and its allies (The Times, 03/03/08). Back home in Iran, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, echoed Ahmedinejad and denounced Israeli attacks on Gaza, calling it systematic genocide. Iran has been re-targeted by the U.N. for not suspending nuclear enrichment and related activities (Reuters, 03/04/08).

Iraq clears execution of ‘Chemical Ali’ (The New York Times, 02/39/08)
Iraqi leaders are set to execute Ali Hassan al Majid, also known as Chemical Ali. The decision comes after months of discussion during which several leaders opposed the act since it would send a respected former general to the gallows. The presidency council recently stopped blocking the execution for unspecified reasons.

Vatican and Muslims prepare to meet with Pope (Reuters, 03/03/08)
After two years of tensions, Muslim and Catholic leaders have begun talks on setting up a leadership meeting. Five representative from each side will set up the grand meeting later this year that will include Pope Benedict.

Bombs shatter the peace as Pakistan election fades
Even as journalists and the general public continue to decry the vote-rigging that occurred during last month’s general elections (Yahoo! News, 03/03/08), the coalition government is getting ready to pick a prime minister this Thursday (The Times of India, 03/04/08). Demonstrations are still going on, the latest of which were organized by lawyers to force President Musharraf to reinstate the chief justice (Yahoo! News, 03/03/08). A suicide blast in the northwestern tribal region killed 40 people this week (Al Jazeera, 03/02/08) – a promise from militants to show that President Musharraf’s support for the U.S. will lead to only more trouble. The region is said to be the both al Qaeda’s and the Taliban’s stronghold in the region (Reuters, 03/03/08), and threatens to be from where all schisms in Pakistan will originate. The government is set to retaliate to the recent surge in rebel activity in the area with an offensive (The Times of India, 03/03/08) that may include NATO forces (Asia Times Online, 03/01/08).

Surviving torture in Bangladesh (International Herald Tribune, 03/02/08)
Bangladeshi intelligence agents are talking state security to extreme levels, torturing and obtaining forced confessions from supposed enemies of the state. The military regime, though welcomed when it brought peace to the feuding political climate in Bangladesh, has arrested over 400,000 people in just a year.

India will pay families to have girls to end foeticide (The Guardian, 03/04/08)
A rapidly-dropping sex ration has pushed the Indian government to announce a scheme yesterday whereby poor families receive cash payments to give birth to and bring up girls. The government wishes to discourage selective foeticide of females, a practice that has increased over the years because of cultural preferences towards male heirs. Families will receive a total of Rs. 15,500 (around U.S. $ 400) over several years.

Putin’s choice Medvedev wins Russian presidential election
With 99.45% of the ballots counted, Dmitry Medvedev had won 70.23% of the vote in the first round of elections (Reuters, 02/03/08). Already Communist party runner Gennadi Zyuganov has condemned the vote, saying that even the 64% turnout does not hide Putin and his successor’s muddying up the vote (The Times, 02/03/08). Voters turned up from both sides of the support spectrum to either decry or honor the new president (International Herald Tribune, 03/03/08). Moscow police were quick to stop opposition demonstrators (UPI, 03/03/08). Little was done to stop pro-Kremlin youth from marching on the U.S. embassy in Moscow (Yahoo! News, 03/03/08). The main question remains to be about Vladimir Putin’s role as prime minister now that he has given his presidency over to Medvedev. With arms and petroleum deals with Russia’s increasingly competitive neighbor China coming to a halt, Medvedev will have to think globally as well as nationally over the next four years (International Herald Tribune, 03/02/08). The new president’s claim has been than the state has two primary economic interests (Asia Times, 03/01/08) – to help Russian companies compete on the global market, and to combat poverty. His initiative is to re-brand Russia for foreign investors (Yahoo! News, 03/02/08), though many wonder why he has few plans of his own for Russia in terms of foreign policy. Medvedev has made it plain that he will have Putin advising him on many levels (The Guardian, 03/03/08). He has even agreed to serve a single four-year term (The Times, 03/02/08), according to government sources, paving the way for Putin to take back the top job when the term ends. If nothing else, Medvedev plans to continue Putin’s stance against the West on every level (International Herald Tribune, 03/03/08). U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has already congratulated Medvedev (The Times, 03/04/08), wanting to repair sliding relations between the two countries. One of Russia’s newest international acts was to cut petrol supplies to U.S.-friendly Ukraine by 25% after neither country conceded in their recent pricing dispute (AFP, 03/03/08).

China’s cartoon police not amused (Asia Times Online, 03/04/08)
Wanting to protect the local animation industry, China is banning all foreign cartoons for an additional hour of time per day. China’s animated film and TV industry has a hard time competing with foreign fare from Japan, South Korea and the U.S. Some criticize the initiative because the Internet and recorded media such as DVDs still allow plenty of access to foreign cartoons.

Court bans veiled terror suspect (BBC News, 03/03/08)
A woman being charged with having links to al Qaeda and posting a threatening video on the Internet was removed from the Austrian court where her case was being argued. The judge decreed that the woman would have to unveil herself in order for the jury to pronounce judgement upon her.

Anti-Quran film to air in Netherlands (Yahoo! News, 03/03/08)
Dutch law-maker Geert Wilders is all set to show his 15-minute film that has been called an anti-Islamic piece that will incite violence. Amidst protests and even threats against Dutch ministers, Wilders promises that if broadcasters do not show the film in its entirety, he will post it on the Internet.

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

For more of GNN’s exclusive weekly roundups, have a gander at Nathan Coe’s Labor News Roundup, Alfonzo Torrez’s The Rebel Communique and mwm’s If you knew….