Global - Focus on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights

Freedom House 31 Mar 2005 www.freedomhouse.org PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Michael Goldfarb 917-353-5408 (Geneva mobile/dial U.S.) WORLD'S WORST REGIMES UNVEILED Several of the World's Greatest Human Rights Violators Sit on UN Human Rights Panel GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, March 31, 2005 -- Freedom House today released its annual list of the world's most repressive regimes at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Six are members of the UN body, charged with monitoring and condemning human rights violations. The report, "The Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies 2005," includes detailed summations of the dire human rights situations in Belarus, Burma (Myanmar), China, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. Chechnya, Tibet, and Western Sahara are included as territories under Russian, Chinese, and Moroccan jurisdictions respectively. The report is available online. Significantly, six of the eighteen most repressive governments--those of China, Cuba, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe--are members of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), representing nearly 11 percent of the 53-member body. "Repressive governments enjoying CHR membership work in concert and have successfully subverted the Commission's mandate," said Freedom House Executive Director Jennifer Windsor. "Rather than serving as the proper international forum for identifying and publicly censuring the world's most egregious human rights violators, the CHR instead protects abusers, enabling them to sit in judgment of democratic states that honor and respect the rule of law," she said. A report issued March 21 by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan acknowledged that the presence of these nations on the CHR has dealt a severe blow to the UN body's credibility. Mr. Annan recommended that states elected to a reformed "Human Rights Council" be chosen based on their compliance with the "highest human rights standards." "The Secretary General's recommendation is welcome: the solution to restoring the UN human rights panel's credibility lies in the establishment of strict membership criteria," said Ms. Windsor. "In the short-term, however, it is incumbent upon the CHR's democratic member states to work together as an effective bloc that upholds the Commission's mandate by strengthening and promoting human rights and democracy." An additional nine countries Freedom House rates as "Not Free" enjoy membership on the Commission: Bhutan, Egypt, Guinea, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Swaziland, and Togo. Together, "Not Free" countries comprise just over one quarter of the Commission's membership. A breakdown by Freedom House ranking of CHR members available online. The "Worst of the Worst" report is excerpted from Freedom House's forthcoming annual global survey, Freedom in the World 2005. The countries deemed the most repressive earn some of the worst numerical ratings according to the survey's methodology, which measures the state of political rights and civil liberties worldwide, and classifies countries as Free, Partly Free, or Not Free. Freedom House is a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the United Nations.

Prensa Latina 1 Apr 2005 www.plenglish.com Cuba Denounces US Attempt to Control Commission on Human Rights Geneva, Apr 1 (Prensa Latina) Cuba denounced here Thursday US manoeuvres and proposals aimed to control the UN Commission on Human Rights Commission (UNCHR), and considered Washington´s attempt to become the tutor of the so-called Community of Democracies a fraud. The acting representative of the Cuban delegation, Rodolfo Reyes, asserted that President George W. Bush´s government is now insisting on transferring its criminal electoral and political practices to the works of this forum. In this respect he said the US delegation seeks to consolidate a lobby at the service of their interests, made up by several countries under the title of Community of Democracies. "Is it possible to build a Community of Democracies under the aegis of the country that represents the main threat to liberty, peace, democracy, human rights and the sustainable development of the world?" asked the diplomat of the full meeting. The Cuban delegate criticized the proposals distributed by the US regarding the reforms to the CHR. He emphasized the US commission is trying to eliminate the socio-humanitarian Commission on Human Rights, "of universal composition and where the States´ sovereign equality prevails", from the General Assembly By this method, he pointed out, its purpose is to get it far from the Economic and Social Council and with it the value of the economic, social and cultural rights Washington now questions. He launched a savage attack on the US recommendation for the elaboration of a Code of Conduct for the membership, stressing that the one who proposes those measures is the same that does not permit the CHR rapporteurs to visit the international centers of torture in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Reyes also called the current Republican administration hypocritical in claiming to fight against terrorism in the world while it provides protection to groups that practice it with impunity against Cuba from Miami. At the same time, the US arbitrarily imprisons Five Cubans who were working to neutralize the sort of criminal activities that have caused over three thousands death to the Cuban people. The Cuban representative opened the list of speakers from many countries who will speak on political and civil rights issues over the final week. Hundreds of non governmental organizations who have been actively working in areas addressed by the agenda are also waiting to speak. See Council for a Community of Democracies A leading advocate of the Community of Democracies movement www.ccd21.org

BBC 7 Apr 2005 Annan says rights body harming UN Kofi Annan has proposed sweeping reforms of the United Nations UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has accused the UN Human Rights Commission of failing to uphold human rights and said a new, permanent body is needed. Speaking in Geneva, Mr Annan said the commission was undermining the credibility of the entire UN. Human rights groups say the body's member nations are too concerned with protecting their national interests. Current members include Sudan, Zimbabwe, China, Russia and Saudi Arabia - all accused of rights abuses. Unless we re-make our human rights machinery, we may be unable to renew public confidence in the United Nations itself Kofi Annan "We have reached a point at which the commission's declining credibility has cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system," Mr Annan said as he addressed the commission's annual six-week session at its Swiss headquarters. "Unless we re-make our human rights machinery, we may be unable to renew public confidence in the United Nations itself," he said. Greater status As part of his programme of UN reforms, Mr Annan wants to create a smaller Human Rights Council, whose members must uphold the highest human rights standards. Mr Annan said the UN needs the new council if it is to prevent appalling suffering occurring around the world. He said the council must be more accountable and more representative. It would, he explained, allow for a more comprehensive and objective approach, which, in turn, would produce more effective assistance. "The main intergovernmental body concerned with human rights should have a status, authority and capability," Mr Annan said. Sudan controversy The commission was launched in 1946 to uphold human rights worldwide, and has 53 members. Libya chaired the commission in 2003, despite opposition from the US and human rights groups. In his annual address last year, Mr Annan warned that the conflict in Sudan's province of Darfur bore worrying similarities to the Rwandan genocide. The commission had before it strong evidence of atrocities being committed in Darfur and of the Sudanese government's involvement in them, but no resolution was passed condemning Sudan. Instead, Sudan was elected to the commission for another year. There is talk of a resolution this year, but the countries drafting it include Sudan itself and Zimbabwe, also in the spotlight for human rights violations. Activists also want the commission to condemn the US for its treatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Africa

Cameroon

ICRC 29 Mar 2005 ICRC News 05/26 Cameroon: Pan-African course on international humanitarian law The ICRC held a pan-African course on international humanitarian law in Yaoundé between 14 and 25 March. This seminar – the second of its kind – brought together around 40 French-speaking lawyers with an interest in the incorporation of IHL into their domestic legislation or in the teaching of this branch of law at universities and similar institutions in a dozen of Africa’s French-speaking countries. The course had two aims: to promote IHL as a separate subject at universities and educational institutions that prepare students for careers as diplomats, administrators or judges, and to encourage countries to incorporate IHL into their domestic legislation. Subjects included the application of international humanitarian law to peace-keeping operations, the relationship between human rights and IHL and the protection of different categories of victim during armed conflict. The participants also discussed how the conduct of hostilities could be regulated in contemporary conflicts. The ICRC’s regional delegation for central Africa has been based in Yaoundé since 1992. It undertakes a range of humanitarian activities in the region, specializing in the promotion of IHL among the armed forces and civil society.

DR Congo See Rwanda

AP 4 Apr 2005 Leader of Hutu rebel group agrees to cooperate with criminal court for Rwanda's 1994 genocide AP A Rwandan rebel leader operating in eastern Congo said Monday his group would cooperate with an international court prosecuting people accused of the 1994 genocide in his country. Ignace Murwanashyaka, president of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, denied his Hutu group was involved in the killings of some 500,000 ethnic Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus, but said it was willing to collaborate with officials from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a U.N. court based in Tanzania. "This is not to say that we are genocidaires or that we accept everything people say about us," Murwanashyaka said by telephone from Rome. "If there are suspected genocidaires among us, they must surrender." Since it was set up in November 1994, the court has convicted 21 people and acquitted three. He spoke after his group announced in Rome last week that it would end its decade-long armed struggle against Rwanda and return home from eastern Congo, following talks with Congo's government organized by the Sant'Egidio Community, a Catholic group that mediates world conflicts. Murwanashyaka said his group, better known by its French acronym FDLR, would transform from ragged rebels lurking in the forests of eastern Congo to a legitimate political party. Hutu rebels fled into eastern Congo following the bloody 100-day pogrom ordered in 1994 by Rwanda's extremist Hutu government. The killing stopped only after Tutsi rebels - led by current Rwandan President Paul Kagame - pushed the killers out of the country. The announcement by the Hutu rebels could possibly halt nearly a decade of war and viciousness that has plagued Congo in the wake of the genocide. Rwanda invaded Congo to hunt down the rebels twice, in 1996 and 1998, sparking a devastating five-year war in Congo that sucked in six African nations and killed nearly 4 million people, aid groups say. In December, Rwanda threatened to invade a third time, and Congo sent thousands of soldiers to the border in a tense face-off. The United Nations estimates about 10,000 Hutu rebels remain in Congo, but it is not clear how many fall under any central command. Until last week, few in Rwanda or Congo had even heard of Murwanashyaka. One Hutu rebel commander in eastern Congo, Augustin Nsabimana, indicated his fighters would obey him. "Some of our combatants on the ground accused the political headquarters of badly negotiating our return to Rwanda," said Nsabimana, reached on a cellular telephone at his base in Lubero, 300 kilometers (186 miles) north of Goma. "But because the military branch wouldn't have political support if we continued on, we finally joined their position." Rwandan officials say the Hutu rebels may have buckled under severe pressure from U.N. peacekeepers, who recently began aggressively dealing with thousands of Congolese militia. The United Nations gave them until last week to surrender their weapons or confront the full force of their mission, and followed up the threat Saturday with an hours-long battle in which they said they killed 18 militiamen at a camp where hundreds refused to disarm. So far, more than 8,000 militia have surrendered their weapons in northeast Ituri province, in a campaign U.N. peacekeepers plan to pursue with the Hutu rebels. Tim Reid, leader of the U.N. disarmament program in Bukavu, said U.N. peacekeepers were waiting for negotiations in Rome to end before making any formal plans. "They're telling us they'll go home as a group," Reid said by telephone. "We'll have to wait to decide what to do with those who decide not to go home." Associated Press writers Bryan Mealer in Kinshasa and Jack Kahora in Goma contributed to this report.

i-newswire.com Suppressed Evidence in Security Council Reports on Darfur and Congo Another scandal is taking place at the UN Security Council. Two member nations are exploring allegations that the UN Security Council covered up the fact that the most recently released report by the UN Experts on the Congo contained misreprentations and false accussations. i-Newswire, 2005-04-04 - PERMISSION GRANTED BY WILLIAM CHURCH TO REPRINT IN WHOLE OR PART@COPYRIGHT 2005 Suppressed Evidence in Security Council Reports on Darfur and Congo On the heels of sex abuse and corruption scandals, an internal United Nations report charges the United Nations contributed to the destabilization of the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC ). The consultant involved in the investigation alleges the Sanctions Committee allowed the publication of a UN Expert Report that reported rumors as fact and contained misrepresentations and omissions of material facts to support their conclusions. In addition to the DRC, highly credible sources in the US government allege the Darfur genocide report ignored credible evidence of Sudanese government control and direction of the killings and rapes in Darfur. The internal investigation points to consistent fraudulent reporting in Security Council Expert Reports. This includes the alleged falsification of environmental scientific findings in the late 1990’s and the more recent DRC Resource Exploitation Report that charged individuals and companies with exploiting the resources of the DRC without sufficient evidence. The impact of these UN Expert Reports has been described as potentially devastating by government and human rights sources, The Eastern DRC, already a powder keg of ethic violence, has been inflamed by false reports of Rwandan government soldiers in the city of Goma, which has been the site of two other Rwandan invasions. Across the border in Rwandan refugee camps, the unsubstantiated UN report of the Rwandan government recruiting soldiers for another invasion has increased the tension between the Rwandan and DRC governments. William Church, a UN data quality consultant, claims during the review of the July 2004 DRC Expert Report and his current work on the January 2005 report the Experts made unsubstantiated charges against South Africa, Rwanda, and Uganda and the Experts intentionally withheld evidence that would have cast doubt on their findings. Church also charges that the Experts falsely claimed their investigation met their Evidentiary Standards even though they had full knowledge that it was not properly supported. In the most damaging allegation, the UN Report claimed the presence of Rwandan government soldiers in Goma in eastern DRC who had been wounded during skirmishes with the DRC government. “The Group,” the UN Experts claim,” is cognizant of the presence of RDF soldiers in North Kivu. According to doctors, hospital staff and soldiers interviewed, approximately 30 Rwandan military personnel were being treated in two hospitals in Goma.” However, the UN data quality consultant reviewed the original field report of that incident and the Experts clearly state they did not interview nor investigate the soldiers. This is in direct contradiction to their UN findings which claims they interviewed the soldiers. In addition, the independent review of the Expert Report found it highly unlikely and unbelievable that the Experts did not report the presence of Rwandan soldiers inside the DRC to MONUC, the UN force in the DRC, to local military police, nor any appropriate intelligence agency for further investigation and accurate identification. This step is vital considering the consistent rumors of Rwandan soldiers in the DRC which has lead to the death of innocent civilians on the streets of Goma by angry mobs fearful of another invasion. The independent consultant alleges these false UN Expert findings are not an isolated case. The consultant examined a June 2004 report of militarization and recruitment in Rwandan refugee camps. The UN alleges the following: “Between 5 and 6 a.m. on 18 June 2004, members of the Rwandan military entered the premises of the UNHCR transit camp in Cyangugu, rounded up 30 young men and forced them into one of their trucks. Some of the young men interviewed by the Group of Experts described having been taken to a police compound and then to a Rwandan military compound, where they were asked to enter into military service on behalf of Mutebutsi’s forces inside the Democratic Republic of the Congo” Once again the independent review found the Experts withheld vital evidence and misrepresented the incident. The Experts had full knowledge that the Rwandan government was invited into the camp by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees ( UNHCR ) staff after they had reported the presence of combatants in the camp mixed with the legitimate refugees. Contrary to the scenario described by the Experts, the Rwandan military government was carrying out a screening process which is required by international law and their intent was not to recruit. In addition, the Experts give the impression that the young men were detained and only after complaints were filed were they returned to the camp. However, this is not accurate, according to an Expert investigative report filed at the time of the incident. The report states the young men were returned within hours except for two individuals who were correctly identified as combatants. This incident prompted another independent investigation by the Small Arms Survey in Geneva because reports of militarization of refugee camps sparked the mid-1990s war in the region. The report, awaiting publication, by Greg Salter interviewed the UNHCR staff and supports the view that the purpose of the Rwandan army in the camp was to separate combatants and not to recruit, as falsely stated by the UN Experts. Church states that he informed the representative of the Sanctions Committee of these misstatements and omission of facts in the Expert Report some two months prior to publication. In addition, Church and another independent consultant worked with the Experts during the editing of the final report and pointed out significant errors that were included in the report over their objections. Both consultants informed the Sanctions Committee of these problems and were assured the report would receive a proper vetting process. The governments of the United States, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and European Union have reviewed the charges by the independent consultant and have expressed support for a proper review of the Expert Report. The Rwandan government has gone on record and denied each of the charges and demonstrated that the Experts did not conduct a complete investigation and spent a very limited time in Rwanda. -30- For additional information contact: William Church wchurch@sms.intranets.com ### If you have questions regarding information in these press release contact the company listed below. Please do not contact us as we are unable to assist you with your inquiry. We disclaim any content contained in this press release. More Information William Church Arms Trade Monitor

BBC 9 Apr 2005 DR Congo's atrocious secret By Hilary Andersson BBC Africa correspondent Despite a peace deal signed two years ago to end the long-running civil war, violence is continuing in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. And in the province of Ituri, Hilary Andersson finds evidence of cannibalism by some rebels. There is a part of the world where atrocities go beyond all normal bounds, where evil seems to congregate. Almost everyone who has ever worked there will know where I am talking of. The area is not very large on the map of Africa. But the region in and north of the forests of central Africa has hosted Rwanda's genocide, the massacres in Burundi, the devastation of southern Sudan, the mutilations in Uganda, and the atrocities of the north-eastern Congo. And so I had the usual feeling of dread when we flew into the area on this trip. We left the acacia-lined, sunswept plains of east Africa and, as we approached, the sky began to darken. We began to descend through black clouds that hugged the huge forests below. We landed in a ferocious rainstorm in the small town of Bunia in the north-east of the Congo. 'Hole in Africa's heart' The Congo is a vast territory, the size of western Europe. The war is not about any principle at all, violence has just moved in where there is no authority But it has been called the hole in the heart of Africa, because much of it is a giant power vacuum. In the north-east, at least seven warlords are locked in brutal scramble for personal power and control. Lots of the fighters are children. Rape is more widespread than possibly anywhere else on Earth. And the war is not about any principle at all, violence has just moved in where there is no authority. Mutilation We visited a refugee camp set in a small valley, a piece of land like a basin. Around its rims the United Nations patrolled to keep the militia out. It reminded me of the atrocities in Bosnia, where at a certain point individuals turned into human devils In an afternoon every person we spoke to, without exception, had witnessed not just killing but horrific mutilation. The children had sunken, troubled eyes. The women looked exhausted and the men were bursting with what they had to tell. Their relatives had their hearts ripped out, their heads cut off, their sexual organs removed. This, it seemed, was the standard way of killing here. Why? You want to know why? Yes there is war, but this is different. This is not just killing, or taking territory. It is deliberate mutilation on a scale that makes you reel with horror. It reminded me of the atrocities in Bosnia, where at a certain point individuals turned into human devils, bent on doing not just the worst they could but the most atrocious. Militia attack We met a woman who I will call Kavuo, not her real name. Survivors of militia attacks remain in hiding for fear of further violence To talk to her about her story we had to travel to a remote location in the jungle, where we could not be seen or heard by others. What she had to speak of is an atrocity shrouded in secrecy here, an atrocity. It is taboo to even speak of it. The events she told me about happened two years ago and hers was one of the first public testimonies of its kind. Kavuo was on the run with her husband, her four children and three other couples. They had spent the night in a hut, and got up in the morning to keep moving. But they had barely left the hut when six militia men accosted them. Kavuo and the women were ordered to lie with their faces on the ground. The militia ordered Kavuo's husband and the other men to collect firewood. Then the women were told to say goodbye to their husbands. They obeyed. The militia then began to kill the men one by one. Kavuo's husband was third. Her testimony is that the militia men lit a fire and put an old oil drum, cut into two, on the flames. I will omit other details. But Kavuo says the militia cooked her husbands parts in the drums and ate them. Beliefs perverted Those who have studied the region say cannibalism has a history there but as a specific animist ritual, carried out only in exceptional circumstances. Fighters told us that those who carry out such acts believe it makes them stronger What has happened now is that the war has turned Congo's society upside-down. Warlords are exploiting this, and perverting existing beliefs for their own ends. Fighters told us that those who carry out such acts believe it makes them stronger. Some believe they are literally taking spiritual power from their victims. That once they have eaten, they have the power of the enemy. These atrocities are also designed to instil utter fear into the enemy. Anarchy It is estimated that four million people have died in the Congo as a result of the long running war. That is truly staggering. It is more than those killed by Cambodia's Pol Pot and more than those killed in Rwanda. Most people have died of hunger and disease that the violence has left in its wake. Kavuo lost four of her children to illness and malnutrition even before her husband was killed. Now she lives in a remote village in the forest, and cannot afford to look after her surviving children. If this is her story, imagine how many others are like it and the numbers begin to make a horrifying sort of sense. As we flew out of the Congo, I could see the vast forests below, thick with trees, infested with malaria, and barely accessible. A huge area that few outsiders venture into an area where evils happen that are rarely reported. The blood red sunsets, the streaks of black clouds a weird sort of echo. Anarchy is not just a word. In the north-eastern Congo we saw its reality. What is happening there is proof of the scale of devastation that chaos can invite, and of the terrifying human capacity for unleashing deliberate evil on the innocent.

Ethiopia

Independent Online ZA 2 Apr 2005 www.iol.co.za Ethiopian court jails five for 'massacre' April 02 2005 at 06:24PM Addis Ababa - An Ethiopian court has sentenced five people to up to 14 years in prison for the ethnically-motivated murder of 28 people in western Gambella region, state media said on Saturday. The five convicted of the July 2002 massacre of Nuer refugees from south Sudan had committed the killings "with an intent to eliminate all Nuers", the state-run Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) quoted the federal high court as saying. "The five accused stopped a passenger vehicle on its way to Funido refugee camp, ordered 28 Nuer refugees from south Sudan out and brutally murdered them by slashing them with pangas (machetes) and shooting them," the court said. One of those convicted was a former policeman, ENA said. Five others detained on suspicion of involvement in the massacre were set free for lack of evidence, the agency said. The Nuer are southern Sudan's second-largest ethnic group. Their presence in Gambella has caused strife for the past several years. Nuer native to Ethiopia and members of the Anuak ethnic group have also traditionally fought over land in Gambella, west of Addis Ababa. Violent clashes broke out in December 2003, killing an estimated 1 100 people over three months. The government has charged six soldiers with involvement in the bloodshed. Opposition and human rights groups have accused the military of murdering and raping hundreds of Anuaks during the violence. Addis Ababa has denied the charges, saying the military was only involved in restoring order.

Namibia

New Era (Windhoek) 8 Apr 2005 Where Were the Damaras in the German Genocide? Windhoek IN an effort to get all Namibians of Damara origin involved in the national discussion on the impact the German genocide had on them, the Damara Culture and Heritage Forum (DCHF) plans to hold a meeting on this issue next week Tuesday in Windhoek. Chairperson of the DCHF, Rosa Namises, told New Era that the purpose of the meeting would not only be to focus on how Damara-speaking Namibians were affected in the German genocide, but also to restore the many misconceptions about the historical origin of this group of people. "We realised that there's a lot of distortions in our history, identity and culture as Damaras. Therefore, we realised it has become vital for these people to know the culture and language," explained Namises. The motive of the up-coming discussion is also to develop a possible information curriculum for schools on this topic. With regard to the German genocide talks especially during the course of last year, Namibians of Damara origin were left out of this discussion. "We were also part and parcel of the slave trade and genocide committed by the Germans. Therefore, it is important to ask what was the role of the Damara people in this regard?" The Damara Culture and Heritage Forum was formed on January 22, 2005. The meeting will take place on April 12, at 18:30 at the Namibia Breweries Customer Care Centre in Ka-tutura, right next to the Katutura Community Hall/Central Shops.

Nigeria

April 9, 2005 Jim Wiwa, Nigerian Chief and Father of Dissident, Is Dead By MARGALIT FOX Jim Wiwa, a chief of the Ogoni of southern Nigeria who became a symbol of his embattled people after the execution of his son, the dissident environmentalist and playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa, in 1995, died on April 1 at his home in Bane, Nigeria. He was believed to have been 101. Mr. Wiwa's grandson Ken Wiwa confirmed the death. An outspoken critic of Nigeria's military government, led by Gen. Sani Abacha, and of Royal Dutch/Shell, which had operated for years in oil-rich Ogoniland, Ken Saro-Wiwa was arrested in May 1994 on charges of inciting his followers to murder and was sentenced to death after a trial his defenders said was a sham. With worldwide attention focused on the case, Mr. Wiwa pleaded with the Nigerian authorities to spare his son's life. Mr. Saro-Wiwa, then 54, and eight other Ogoni men were hanged on Nov. 10, 1995. Jim Beeson Wiwa was born in Bane in 1904. Educated in Nigeria, he worked as an interpreter and later as a forest ranger and a trader in palm oil and other goods. At his death, he was chairman of the Council of Chiefs of Bane and a patron of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, the organization founded by Mr. Saro-Wiwa. Mr. Wiwa married several times. His wife Jessica, Mr. Saro-Wiwa's mother, died in 2003. He is survived by many children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Even after the death of General Abacha in 1998 and the advent of democratic rule in Nigeria the next year, Mr. Wiwa remained bitter about his son's death, and about the persistent poverty among the Ogoni. "There has been no reconciliation," he told the magazine In These Times in 2001. "There is no water, there is no electricity, there is no good school. And yet it is here where the resources of Nigeria come out, from this Ogoniland."

Rwanda see France, Tanzania

Reuters 31 Mar 2005 Rwandan Hutu Rebels Denounce 1994 Genocide Thu Mar 31, 2005 05:13 AM ET By Crispian Balmer ROME (Reuters) - A Rwandan Hutu rebel group denounced the 1994 genocide in their country and said on Thursday they would halt military operations against Rwanda to help ease the "catastrophic humanitarian" crisis in the region. A delegation representing the rebel organization, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), made the announcement in Rome after two days of talks at the Sant'Egidio religious community. The declaration was a first from Hutus rebels, accused of killing 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus in a spasm of violence over 100 days in 1994. "The FDLR condemn the genocide committed against Rwanda and their authors. It is committed to fight against all ideologies of ethnic hate and renews its commitment to cooperate with international justice," FDLR President Ignace Murwanashyaka told a news conference. "From this moment forward (the FDLR) announces that it is halting all offensive operations against Rwanda." A statement by the group, some of whom traveled from eastern Congo to Rome, said they recognized the "catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Great Lakes" and were aware of the "incredible suffering of men, women and children in the region." "The FDLR is committed to end the armed struggle. The FDLR has decided from henceforth to transform their armed struggle into a political one." Some FDLR rebels were members of the former Rwandan army and the notorious Hutu militias, or Interahamwe, which took part in the genocide. CONTINUING TENSIONS The Hutu rebels in Congo have been at the center of continuing tensions in the vast country's eastern region where violence and disease have created a major humanitarian crisis. Their presence has also fueled instability within Congo, as it tries to rebuild after years of war, and regionally where lingering mistrust threatens to erupt into full-fledged fighting. Rwanda says the Congolese government and U.N. peacekeepers in Congo have failed to disarm the Rwandan rebels and Kigali has threatened to launch fresh cross-border raids unless something is done to neutralize them. "I think they have realized they have nowhere to go. They have seen the progress in Congo, the possibility of elections and the initial steps of the integration of the army," said Henri Boshoff, military analyst at the Johannesburg-based Institute for Security Studies. "A lot of these people had nothing to do with the genocide and just want to go home. We will have to see how the hard-core leaders on the ground react." In its statement, the FDLR said, "following further developments and assurances," it would accept voluntary disarmament and the peaceful return of its forces to Rwanda. The group did not specify what assurances it was seeking. The FDLR also called for an immediate international inquiry into "terrorism and other crimes committed in the Great Lakes region and to identify and punish those responsible." It called for Rwandan refugees to be allowed back into their country. Disarmament officials estimate there may be as many as 30,000 FDLR dependants in Congo. The Community of Sant'Egidio is a Roman Catholic movement of lay people who strive to broker peace around the world. Nicknamed "the U.N. of Trastevere" for the Rome neighborhood where it is based, Sant'Egidio scored its greatest diplomatic success in 1992 when it helped build a deal to end 16 years of civil war that killed 1 million people in Mozambique. (Additional reporting by Katie Nguyen in Nairobi, David Lewis in Kinshasa)

Guardian UK 1 Apr 2005 Hutu rebels apologise for Rwanda genocide Jeevan Vasagar in Nairobi Friday April 1, 2005 The Guardian A Rwandan Hutu rebel group offered an unprecedented apology yesterday for the 1994 genocide, announcing that it would lay down its weapons before peacefully returning home. The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the main Hutu rebel group, includes the Interahamwe militia who participated in the mass murder of 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus during 100 days of violence. About 2 million Hutus fled Rwanda in the last days of the genocide, as Tutsi-led forces swept across the country. In refugee camps in the jungles of the eastern Congo, Hutu extremists rallied their followers and plotted a counter-strike to bring Rwanda back under their control. The presence of the rebel militias prompted Rwanda to invade its huge neighbour in 1996, to drive home the refugees. Large numbers of former Interahamwe, their families and other refugees fled deeper into the rainforest, vowing to keep up a guerrilla war. That led to a second Rwandan invasion in 1998, triggering a wider war which sucked in several neighbouring countries and cost an estimated 3 million lives. Yesterday, the rebel group's president, Ignace Murwanashyaka, declared an end to their struggle, marking a turning point for both Rwanda and the war-ravaged eastern Congo. "The FDLR condemn the genocide committed against Rwanda, and their authors," he said. "It is committed to fight against all ideologies of ethnic hate and renews its commitment to cooperate with international justice. "From this moment forward [the FDLR] announces that it is halting all offensive operations against Rwanda." He spoke at a press conference in Rome after talks with the Sant'Egidio religious community, a Roman Catholic group which brokered a peace deal in Mozambique in 1992. A statement by the FDLR, which has an estimated 30,000 followers in the Congo, said it recognised the "catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Great Lakes" and was aware of the "incredible suffering of men, women and children in the region". The militia said it would transform its armed struggle into a political one, though this might prove impossible under a Rwandan government which tolerates little dissent. In its statement, the FDLR said it would accept disarmament and the peaceful return of its forces to Rwanda. It called for an international inquiry into "terrorism and other crimes committed in the Great Lakes region". The news will come as a relief to the Congolese government, which is struggling to rebuild a shattered country, draw former militias into a national army and hold elections later this year. "I think they have realised they have nowhere to go," a military analyst, Henri Boshoff, told Reuters news agency. "They have seen the progress in Congo, the possibility of elections and the initial steps of the integration of the army. "A lot of these people had nothing to do with the genocide and just want to go home. We will have to see how the hardcore leaders on the ground react." A spokesman for the Rwandan government said the country was ready to receive them, but no conditions could be attached to their return. The government says that any former rebels who committed genocidal crimes must face justice. Community courts, known as gacaca, have begun trying 761,000 genocide suspects.

Times UK 4 Apr 2005 'I know all about the killing. I was in the gang that killed him. I ask for forgiveness' From Jonathan Clayton in Shyogwe Rwanda aims to tackle the backlog of genocide cases with traditional justice MUHAMMED MUHIGIRA, 64, a kindly, grandfather-type figure with a greying, close-cropped beard, stood up and strode purposefully towards the long wooden desk, behind which sat seven “judges”. “I know all about the killing of Peter Twigiredute. I was in the gang that killed him. I ask for forgiveness,” he said. He recounted in detail how he and a group of other Hutu villagers in this tiny hamlet in southwestern Rwanda had set out in the early hours of April 25, 1994, to kill Peter, one of their Tutsi neighbours. Sitting on the grass around the makeshift Gacaca court, several hundred fellow villagers leant forward, straining to catch every word. Some were Tutsis who survived Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. Others were fellow murderers waiting to see if their crimes are about to come to light. Others are there to join Mr Muhigira in confessing their guilt and begging forgiveness from their neighbours. Slowly, but precisely, Mr Muhigira named the other gang members. The crowd murmured loudly, prompting one of the panel of four women and three men judges to demand quiet. Mr Muhigira, nervously fingering his anorak, continued his story. “Peter’s door was locked, so we gathered grass to burn his place down, but it had rained and would not light. We kicked the door open and he ran out. Someone hacked at his leg and he fell to the ground. Then we hit him with a hammer and his brains spilled out.” Then he confessed to his role in a second murder and the burning down of another victim’s house. Then he returned to his seat. “Is that all? What happens if evidence comes up today that you killed someone else, too,” the presiding judge, a distinguished-looking woman, asked He replied: “Then they would be lying, I have confessed to everything I did.” Under the Gacaca (pronounced Ga-cha-cha) system, the accused, most of whom languished for years in hugely overcrowded prisons until last April, can stay free if the judges — who are elected by the local communities — accept that they have confessed their full role. If they are caught lying or are accused of other crimes, they are sent back to prison to finish a 30-year term. Gacaca means grass in Kinyarwandan and for centuries Gacaca courts were the traditional way of settling village disputes. The Government has revamped Gacaca justice as a means of dealing with the country’s almost 800,000 genocide suspects, more than 120,000 of whom were detained until last year in facilities designed for 15,000. It was estimated it would take 100 years for traditional courts to clear the backlog of cases. Across the country some 200,000 Inyangamugayo — people of high moral integrity — have been chosen as “judges”. They are presiding at some 9,013 village and 1,545 regional courts. The courts do not deal with Category One cases, the planners and architects of the genocide, who will still go before the state courts or the United N ations-backed international tribunal in Tanzania. More than a decade after the genocide, the latter has handed out only 23 judgments. Gacaca courts deal with the footsoldiers, those who carried out the orders of national and local leaders and constitute the vast majority of the suspects. The courts are also charged with powers of investigation to ensure that other culprits do not escape justice. Human rights organisations have expressed concern, but supporters of the process say that the confessions, along with a full account of what happened on a particular day to someone’s relative, are crucial to national reconciliation. After Mr Muhigira had finished, two villagers named as being part of the gang vehemently denied their participation. One said that he had had an injured foot and could not walk that day. To show how friendly he was to Tutsis, he said that he had agreed to look after a Tutsi villager’s cow — but then implicated himself by saying that he had walked half a mile to fetch it. Then another villager stood up and said that no one was talking about Peter’s two children, who were killed the same day. Mr Muhigira was called back to the desk. “I know they were killed, too, but I was not there then. I went back home after Peter was killed,” he said to murmuring from the crowd. The courts can take several weeks to make a decision. “I feel remorse about what I did, about what happened here. There are people who like what happened and others who regret it and I am one of those,” Mr Muhigira, who spent nine years in prison, told The Times.

UN News Service 4 Apr 2005 Partnership Unit Welcomes New Fund to Help Rwanda Genocide Survivors UN News Service (New York) NEWS April 4, 2005 Posted to the web April 4, 2005 On the eve of the 11th anniversary of the massacre of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda, a senior United Nations official welcomed the establishment of an international fund to help with projects to aid Rwandans with their recovery from the 1994 genocide. The International Fund for Rwanda, established by people who worked on the film "Hotel Rwanda" and by the UN Foundation (UNF), is "a very timely initiative" in light of a General Assembly resolution adopted last December that deals with assistance to survivors of the mass killings, particularly orphans, widows and victims of sexual violence, said Amir A. Dossal, Executive Director of the UN Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP). With collaboration of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the funds, expected to come especially from mobilized grassroots people, would support genocide survivors, especially orphans heading households, and returning refugees. It would also train doctors and nurses, replacing those who were killed or took part in the killing, establish gender-sensitive HIV/AIDS income-generating projects and support a film school in Rwanda's capital, Kigali. "It is not too late to help those who survived the Rwandan genocide and will create the country's future. This project shows the value and the power of private-public partnerships to transform countries devastated by conflict," UNF president Tim Wirth said. UNF dispenses the $1 billion gift donated to the UN in 1997 by communications tycoon Ted Turner.

BBC 5 Apr 2005 Stadium premiere for Hotel Rwanda The crowd erupted in boos and cheers during parts of the film Almost 10,000 people packed the main stadium in the Rwandan capital Kigali on Monday for the country's premiere of Oscar-nominated film Hotel Rwanda. The movie tells the true story of hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina's attempts to shelter refugees and rally global help during the 1994 genocide. Mr Rusesabagina, played by Don Cheadle, missed the screening due to illness. Survivor Anne, 46, who took shelter in the hotel, saw the film and said: "They portrayed human nature well." Hotelier Paul Rusesabagina (left) was played by actor Don Cheadle She added: "I was there. It reminds me of my family, I stayed there for a month, separated from my husband and children." Hotel Rwanda has received worldwide acclaim, culminating in three Oscar nominations in January, including one for Cheadle for best actor. Boos erupted during a scene when machetes were dumped on the ground, with cheering when Hutu extremists were killed by the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front. The screening at the Amahoro stadium came three days before the country marks the 11th anniversary of the start of the genocide, in which about 800,000 people were killed. The city's stadium is playing host to a string of new genocide movies Mr Rusesabagina's absence was officially blamed on illness, but there was speculation he stayed away because he recently claimed genocide was still going on. Belfast-born director Terry George was there. He said: "It was really important to come back here and show the movie to people in Kigali to let them see that the world is starting to get a message of what took place in 1994. "We are trying to see how we can use the emotion generated by the film to help the people of Rwanda, most especially the survivors." In January, the same stadium hosted a premiere of another genocide film, Sometimes in April, while yet another, Shooting Dogs, will be shown there later this year.

The New Times (Kigali) 8 Apr 2005 New Genocide Memorial Sites to Be Constructed By John Bayingana Ruhengeri The expected decent burial of over 130 remains of the 1994 genocide victims would lead to the construction of three more genocide memorial sites in the province. According to the coordinator of FARG, an association of genocide survivors in Ruhengeri Province, Javan Sebasore, only 138 victims in the two sectors of Kiliba and Buranga would be handed a decent burial, in an event to take place in Nyarutovu. "The district has many victims of the genocide buried in mass graves, which are scattered all over the district, while others were thrown in pit latrines. FARG has decided to give them a decent burial and as a result, three memorial sites chosen due to their strategic location on the main roads will be constructed," Sebasore explained. He cited the lack of sufficient funds as the main handicap towards the interring of the remains of the 1994 genocide and the construction of more genocide memorial sites. "Nyarutovu District has only Frw 500,000, yet the whole exercise requires about Frw 3 million."

Sudan See Netherlands

NYT 30 Mar 2005 U.N. Council Approves Penalties in Darfur By WARREN HOGE UNITED NATIONS, March 29 - The Security Council voted Tuesday to impose sanctions on individuals in the conflicted Darfur region of Sudan who commit atrocities or break cease-fire agreements. The vote was 12 to 0, with three countries - Algeria, China and Russia - abstaining. Under the resolution, all 15 countries would contribute members to a new panel that would decide who was eligible for punishment. The measure, drafted by the United States, bans travel by individuals who are deemed guilty of offenses and freezes their assets. It also forbids the Sudanese government in Khartoum from conducting offensive military flights into Darfur and from sending military equipment there without first notifying the Security Council. It did not contain an oil embargo, a step that probably would have brought a veto from China, which is a principal buyer of Sudanese oil. It was the second Sudan resolution in a week. Criticism of the Council has been rising after two months of inaction on Darfur. The other one, also written by the United States, passed Thursday and authorized a 10,715-member peacekeeping force to monitor the peace agreement in the south of Sudan and to lend assistance to the 2,000-soldier African Union force in Darfur. A third resolution, which would determine what court should handle war-crimes suspects, is scheduled for action Wednesday. The resolution, drafted by France and supported by 11 of the Council members, proposes that suspects be tried in the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The United States opposes the court, and Stuart Holliday, a deputy American ambassador, declined Tuesday to say whether the United States would veto the measure. The United States suggested creating a new court for Sudanese crimes in Arusha, Tanzania, but the idea attracted little support. Nine of the 15 Council members have ratified the treaty creating the international court, and three others, Algeria, the Philippines and Russia, have signed it. The Darfur sanctions resolution said the people subject to its terms would be those who were found to "impede the peace process, constitute a threat to stability in Darfur and the region, commit violations of international humanitarian or human rights law or other atrocities." In statements by their ambassadors, the three abstaining countries said they felt that putting pressure on Sudan would be counterproductive. "You may end up complicating the situation and making it more difficult to resolve," said Andrei Denisov, the Russian ambassador. Passage of the measure brought a rebuke from Elfatih Mohamed Ahmed Erwa, the Sudanese ambassador, who complained that the real impulse had come from members of the United States Congress who he complained were beholden to "pressure groups and drum-beaters." He charged that American lawmakers knew nothing about his country and never visited or read about it, a critique that brought a rejoinder from Mr. Holliday. Saying he had not meant to make a statement, Mr. Holliday asked for the floor to "defend the honor of the United States Congress." He told Mr. Erwa that, contrary to his assertion that the lawmakers ignored his country, many of them had gone there to see the situation firsthand. The United Nations office in Khartoum reported Tuesday that the number of people displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict in Darfur had reached 2.4 million. The United Nations estimates that 180,000 people have died, but other reliable estimates place the figure at 300,000. Pro-government Arab militias, including those known as the janjaweed, have been blamed for most of the violence, including rape, murder and arson. The Security Council has been pressing the government to arrest and prosecute the militia leaders, and this week Khartoum announced that it had taken 24 people into custody on suspicion of crimes including rape and murder in Darfur.

www.forward.com NY 1 Apr 2005 Call the Massacre In Darfur by Its Name: Genocide By WILLIAM KOREY April 1, 2005 As the United Nations Security Council deliberated this week on whether to send suspected Sudanese war criminals to the International Criminal Court for atrocities committed in Darfur, one man was noticeably absent from the proceedings. Not once in the recent U.N. report on which the Security Council decision was to be based was Raphael Lemkin's name mentioned. Lemkin, a Jewish refugee who escaped from Nazi-occupied Poland in 1939, invented the term "genocide," single-handedly got the U.N. General Assembly to adopt the historic resolution branding genocide an "international crime," and played a key role in drafting and winning approval for the historic Genocide Convention. Yet the 176-page report of the U.N. commission of inquiry, carrying extensive footnotes, avoids any mention of Lemkin's classic work, "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe," in which the term "genocide" is defined for the first time. Neglected, too, are Lemkin's numerous published and unpublished articles elaborating on genocide and providing illustrative historical examples. The valuable but flawed report's ignorance of Lemkin's work goes a long way toward explaining why the U.N. commission of inquiry concluded after a three-month investigation that Sudan had "not pursued a policy of genocide." Instead, the commission argued, the reported killing by the Sudanese government and its allied Janjaweed militias of a quarter-million Darfurians and the displacement of another 2 million by the destruction of their farmland and cattle constituted "gross violations of human rights." Had the authors of the commission's report paid closer attention to the man who quite literally wrote the book on genocide, however, they would have found that the Sudanese government and the janjaweed militias clearly committed the most heinous of crimes. According to the report, what was lacking was evidence of intent to commit genocide, as required by the genocide treaty. From the commission's perspective, the systematic pattern of massive killings, expulsion and destruction did not reveal genocidal intent. This finding flies in the face of Lemkin's definition of genocide as "the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of a national group." Certainly the liquidation of the Darfurians' agricultural means of subsistence would fit Lemkin's definition. The commission of inquiry, though, found that "the destruction and burning down of villages" and "the forced displacement of civilians" could be perceived as the result of "counter-insurgency warfare" — even if they display "persecutory and discriminatory" motivation. The commission's odd legalistic arguments are at times strikingly contradictory. While the Sudanese government is exonerated from committing genocide, the report notes that "in some instances individuals, including [Sudanese] government officials, may commit acts with genocidal intent." To square this circle, the commission simply avoids taking responsibility: "Whether this was the case in Darfur, however, is a determination that only a competent court can make on a case-by-case basis." Lemkin, however, expressed no such hesitancy. In his unpublished work "History of Genocide," he cites the Roman killing of the Carthaginians and Christians, Germany's massacre of the Hereros in Africa in the early 20th century and the murder of Armenians in Turkey during World War I — all without a specific discussion of intent. His documentation and interpretation of former genocidal events were never discussed in the U.N. commission's report. While the U.N. commission of inquiry has shied away from the charge of genocide, other investigators have drawn conclusions that validate Lemkin's definition. This past September, a State Department team, together with the American Bar Association and the Coalition for International Justice, found a "consistent and widespread pattern of atrocities" conducted against Darfurians by the Sudanese government and its Janjaweed allies. That same month, former secretary of state Colin Powell testified before a Senate panel that what was happening in Darfur was indeed genocide. Powell's assertion is supported by a February report by Physicians for Human Rights, which found in its investigation that there was "substantial evidence of intentional destruction" of Darfurian livelihoods. This nongovernmental organization had no hesitancy about labeling the destruction "genocide." International law also backs Powell's charge. The Statute of the International Criminal Court, which was adopted in Rome in 1998, argues that genocide is committed when a racial, ethnic or religious group has conditions inflicted upon them that are "calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part." The danger of shying away from the genocide label was brought home by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan last year, as the Darfur events were reaching a crescendo level. Annan, who as the head of U.N. peacekeeping operations during the Rwandan tragedy, knows all too well the cost of inaction, expressed profound concern about the hesitancy of governments to use the term "genocide." He bitterly complained that U.N. member states refuse to call genocide by its name in order to avoid fulfilling their obligations under the Genocide Convention. While Annan was specifically referring to the horrors perpetrated in Srebrenica and Rwanda during the 1990s, he was very much conscious of the ongoing developments in Darfur. He posed the issue more sharply later that year, while speaking at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva on the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. Determined to avoid a repeat of the international community's failure in Rwanda, Annan cried out that "we must not be held back by legalistic arguments" over Darfur. Tragically, legalistic arguments continue to inhibit forceful action by the international community. As the U.N. Security Council deliberates on how to respond to the genocide in Darfur, it would do well to heed the lesson learned by the secretary general: "By the time we are certain, it may often be too late to act." William Korey is the author of the monograph "An Epitaph for Raphael Lemkin"(2002) and a half-dozen books on human rights.

www.timesonline.co.uk 2 Apr 2005 Darfur genocide trials to reach world court after US 'climbdown' From James Bone in New York THE United States has granted its first formal recognition of the International Criminal Court by agreeing to allow perpetrators of atrocities in Darfur to be brought before the new global tribunal. After two months of negotiations, Washington backed down on a threat to use its veto and abstained in a late-night vote on Thursday to refer the mass killings in the western Sudanese province to the court in The Hague. The 11-0 vote marked a victory for Europe in an ideological clash with the United States over the creation of global institutions. Washington, fearing that the court could mount politically motivated prosecutions of American soldiers and officials, had vowed not to co-operate with it. Its turnaround suggested that pragmatists in the Bush Administration had won out over hardline “neo-cons” opposed to the court, indicating that the President may take a more conciliatory line in foreign policy in his second term. It was surprising because President Bush had nominated John Bolton, a leading critic of the court, to be Washington’s next Ambassador at the UN. It was Mr Bolton who formally rescinded President Clinton’s signature on the treaty establishing the court, describing it as “the happiest moment in my government service”. Anne Patterson, the acting US Ambassador, told the Security Council: “We decided not to oppose the resolution because of the need for the international community to work together to end the climate of impunity in Darfur.” She added: “We have not dropped, and indeed continue to maintain, our longstanding and firm objections and concerns regarding the ICC.” Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, called the vote “a further step forward in the development of international justice and the fight against impunity for the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide”. Human rights groups were jubilant at what they described as an historic American climbdown. “Given the history of US opposition to the ICC, it has been very big of them to compromise and abstain on this,” James Smith, the chief executive of the Aegis Trust, which co-ordinates the newly established “Protect Darfur” campaign, said. The vote marks the first time that the Security Council has referred a case to the ICC — which otherwise would not have had jurisdiction over Sudan because it is not a party to the 1998 Rome Treaty setting up the court. Britain and France led the diplomatic campaign to force the United States — the only council member to describe the killings in Darfur as genocide — to refer the crisis to The Hague, but to secure a US abstention supporters of the court had to offer a broad exemption from prosecution for Americans on UN duty in Sudan. Up to 300,000 people have died since war broke out in Darfur in February last year. A UN inquiry has identified 51 Sudanese officials and army officers, Arab tribal leaders and rebels who could face prosecution for war crimes. Sudan complained yesterday that the ICC’s involvement would undermine peace efforts. “I believe it is unfair, ill-advised and narrow-minded,” Najeeb al-Kheir Abdul Wahab, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, said. “It undermines the Government’s quest for justice in Darfur through reconciliation.” Last night Sudan’s ruling party rejected a UN resolution on sending Darfur war crime suspects to court and signalled that it would not co-operate in bringing them to trial abroad. Rebel groups in Darfur welcomed the resolution. “This is a big day for justice in our country,” said Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur, leader of the Sudan Liberation Army

Reuters 2 Apr 2005 Sudanese President Vows to Defy U.N. Vote KHARTOUM, Sudan, April 2 -- President Omar Hassan Bashir said Saturday that Sudan would not allow any national to be tried in courts outside the country, after the U.N. Security Council voted to send those accused of war crimes to the International Criminal Court for trial. In a speech broadcast on Sudanese radio, Bashir said the Sudanese justice system was good enough to try any Sudanese for crimes and that trials had already started for crimes in Darfur. "We will never give up any Sudanese national for trial outside Sudan," he told the final meeting of the leadership council of the ruling National Congress party on Saturday. The party dominates government and parliament. The leadership council of the party made similar comments and rejected the U.N. resolution Friday. The Security Council voted late Thursday to refer alleged crimes against humanity committed during more than two years of rebellion in the remote Darfur region to the international court. The United States is opposed to the court but dropped its opposition to the resolution in return for guarantees that its citizens in Sudan would be exempt from prosecution by the court. The United States calls the Darfur violence, which has forced more than 2 million people from their homes, genocide. A U.N.-appointed commission stopped short of the U.S. declaration but said heinous crimes against humanity had taken place in Darfur, where tens of thousands have been killed in fighting, and gave a sealed list of 51 accused to the U.N. secretary general, recommending they be sent to the ICC for trial. The list includes senior government and army officials, militia leaders and some rebel and foreign army commanders. The court's prosecutor is expected to request the list and the documents gathered by the commission in the next few weeks. Neither Sudan nor the United States has ratified the treaty establishing the court.

Reuters 3 Apr 2005 Gaddafi rejects outside trials for Darfur crimes TRIPOLI, April 3 (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has condemned a U.N. vote to refer Sudanese accused of war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a blatant violation of Sudan's independence. Muammar Gaddafi "The Sudanese laws are the only ones that apply on Sudanese citizens in Sudan. Sudanese courts are the only ones entitled to try people inside Sudan," said Gaddafi, in a statement reported by state news agency Jana late on Saturday. Gaddafi enjoys strong links with Khartoum government leaders and their rebel foes in the Darfur region. The U.N. Security Council on Thursday voted 11-0 to refer alleged crimes against humanity committed during more than two years of rebellion in Darfur to the ICC. A U.N.-appointed commission said heinous crimes against humanity had taken place in Darfur where tens of thousands have been killed in fighting. It gave a sealed list of 51 accused to the U.N. Secretary-General, recommending they be sent to the ICC for trial. The list includes senior government and army officials, militia leaders and some rebel and foreign army commanders. Gaddafi said the Security Council had no right to "mingle in the internal affairs of countries". "That decision (of the U.N. Security Council) aims at fanning the conflict in Darfur and will not at all help resolve the crisis in that region," he said. "It is an affront to all Sudanese and a blatant violation of Sudan's independence," Gaddafi added.

Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) 5 Apr 2005 Thousands protest in Sudan against U.N. Darfur resolutionKhartoum (dpa) - Thousands of government supporters on Tuesday demonstrated in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum against the recent United Nations resolution on the country's war-torn Darfur region. Workers, students, professionals and members of Moslem sects handed a letter of protest to the office of the U.N. Resident Coordinator in the capital. "We the people of Sudan demonstrate in support of our government against the UN Security Council's unsuccessful endeavours to tarnish the image of Islam and Moslems in Sudan,'' the letter said. The protest was organized by the National Authority for Defending Religion and the State, a body formed by the Islamist government in 2001 to regulate and coordinate the activities of trade unions, student unions and professional associations. A copy of the same letter was handed to the embassies of Britain and France, where an angry mob chanted "death to President Chirac'' in Arabic. Sudan's leading National Congress party last week mobilized its supporters in the wake of U.N. Security Council resolution 1593, which it rejected, vowing not to hand any Sudanese individuals over to foreign institutions. Tensions are mounting in Sudan over the issue of the U.N. list of suspects, an issue that has caused grave divisions among Sudan's various ethnic groups. Abdalla Ahmed Osman, a lecturer at the University of Khartoum, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Tuesday that the Islamists "will not abandon their government to fall prey to Western agitation'', adding that they are ready to die for the sake of Sharia (Islamic) law. The then Sudanese dictator Jaffer Mohammed Numeiri implemented Sharia law in 1983, a process that caused war between the Christian south and Moslem north Sudan. The current situation in Darfur is a result of the unfair distribution of wealth and resources in addition to the issue of power-sharing between the centre and the regions. The war in Darfur has claimed more than 100,000 lives and displaced nearly 2 million.

AFP 5 Apr 2005 AU report says Sudan's Darfur force should be doubled by August ADDIS ABABA, April 5 (AFP) - An internal African Union (AU) report has called on the 53-member bloc to double the size of its military force in Sudan's troubled western region of Darfur over the next four months, diplomatic sources said Tuesday. The report, compiled by officials from the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations who toured Darfur last month, recommends that the AU mission be expanded to 6,000 troops by August, the sources said. "It proposes that from June to August, the AU mission be doubled to 6,000 soldiers and some 1,000 police officers," an AU diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. The AU now has some 2,200 troops in Darfur protecting AU observers monitoring a shaky ceasefire between Khartoum, its proxy militia and two rebel groups who have been fighting the government for two years. By the end of May, the AU plans to have boosted that number to 3,200 soldiers. The report, the findings of which must still be approved by the AU's Peace and Security Council which must authorize such an expansion, also says the pan-African body should decide in September whether to increase the mission even further to 12,000 troops, the diplomat said. The two-year-old conflict in Darfur has killed at least 180,000 and displaced more than 1.8 million others, while about 200,000 have fled to neighboring Chad. Early last month, UN Humanitarian Affairs Secretary General Jan Egeland called for an urgent troop reinforcement to curb the rising number of refugees fleeing violence from the area. Egeland said a 10,000-strong force was needed to ease security risks that he said could lead to the number of refugees rising to between three and four million.

Reuters 8 Apr 2005 WFP: Funds Shortage Forces Food Cuts in Darfur Fri Apr 8, 6:08 PM ET?World - Reuters KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Food rations will be cut for more than one million Darfuris who have fled fighting to makeshift camps in the region because of a drastic shortage of funds, the World Food Programme said on Friday. More than 2 million Darfuris have fled their homes during 26 months of open revolt in the remote west of Sudan and are dependent on food aid in camps. Tens of thousands have been killed in the fighting, which the United States calls genocide -- a term Khartoum rejects. "We have done everything to avoid this including borrowing supplies. We are simply left with no alternative," said Carlos Veloso, WFP's Emergency Coordinator for Darfur. WFP said the cuts of non-cereal items would not affect malnourished children and nursing mothers, but would impact the diet of more than one million poor and vulnerable people. It said it had received only 41 percent of the required funds for the emergency program in 2005 and that the food shortage would worsen in July and August when the rainy season would increase the number of people needing food aid to 2.8 million from 2.3 million. Poor rains last year would hurt this year's harvest, and continuing insecurity in the region was hindering aid operations, it said. The United Nations and aid agencies say donors have been slow to aid Sudan in 2005 after funds flooded in last year when the Darfur humanitarian crisis was at its height.

BBC 9 Apr 2005 Darfur village rampage shocks UN The UN and African Union have condemned with "disbelief" a village rampage by militiamen in Sudan's Darfur region. They said 350 militiamen torched all but two buildings in Khor Abeche, 75km (47 miles) from Nyala on Thursday. The organisations named Nasir al-Tijani as the militia leader and demanded action from Sudan's government. A two-year conflict between Sudanese pro-government Arab militias and black African rebels has left at least 180,000 people dead in Darfur. Cattle revenge The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Khartoum says reports speak of 17 people killed in the raid by militiamen riding horses and camels. A joint statement by the UN and African Union said: "We condemn this senseless and premeditated savage attack." The UN decision on war criminals sparked Khartoum protests It said the militiamen "rampaged through the village killing, burning and destroying everything in their paths and leaving in their wake total destruction with only the mosque and the school spared". The statement said the raid appeared to be in revenge for villagers allegedly stealing 150 cattle. Mr Tijani had also accused a rival militia of failing to return the bodies of two of his men killed in an earlier raid, it said. The organisations said the militia leader had previously threatened to destroy the village but the government had not taken steps to prevent it. The naming of Mr Tijani comes after the UN Security Council voted recently to refer those believed guilty of war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. That decision sparked protests in Khartoum. Sudan says it can bring war criminals to justice. The attack was the worst since a raid on the village of Hamada in January in which about 100 people died. The Darfur conflict began in February 2003, when Sudanese rebels of African origin took up arms against the government. Khartoum is alleged to have armed Arab militiamen to fight the rebels. The fighting has displaced about 1.8 million people.

NYT 12 Apr 2005 World Leaders Pledge $4.5 Billion for Sudan While Pressing for Peace Pact By JOEL BRINKLEY SLO, April 12 - Leaders from more than 50 nations pledged more than $4.5 billion for Sudan in a donors' conference here today, but one official after another warned that continuing violence in Darfur would undermine the peace agreement they were here to support. The Sudanese government and rebels in southern Sudan reached a peace agreement in January after more than 20 years of warfare. But the violence in Darfur's western province - that has already claimed 300,00 lives - broke out anew while those negotiations were under way. "This is time of choosing for Sudan," Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick said in an address to the conference this morning. "The leaders of Sudan must realize that the eyes of the world are on Sudan. The world knows what is happening in Darfur, and the government cannot escape the consequences of that knowledge." German and Norwegian officials, among others, echoed that sentiment. The Norwegian prime minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik, said, "There is no peace in Sudan until the situation in Darfur has been solved." The United States pledged between $1 billion and $2 billion to support the north-south peace agreement. The monetary span results from uncertainty over how much Congress will approve of the administration's requests for Sudan. A report by the United Nations and the World Bank found that Sudan needs $2.6 billion in outside aid to meet its $7.9 billion budget for humanitarian assistance and reconstruction in the south over the next two years. The European Commission promised about $760 million. Britain offered $545 million and Norway, $250 million. Several officials speaking at the conference praised the donor nations for their pledges while urging them to make the actual payments. Pledges made at conferences like these are often followed by failure to make all of the payments promised. In remarks to reporters on Monday and in his speech today, Mr. Zoellick said the United States and other countries would have trouble meeting their funding commitments if the government in Khartoum does not quell the violence in Darfur. Sudan, he said today, "could slip back into the depths." Sudan's vice president, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, told the conference that his government was committed to reaching a peace agreement with rebel groups in Darfur. However, the government in Khartoum has made such promises many times in the past year. As Mr. Zoellick put it after Mr. Taha made his statement: "We'll have to follow up on that."

Tanzania - ICTR

Hirondelle News Agency (Lausanne) 11 Apr 2005 Defence Challenge the Existence of the 1994 Genocide Arusha Defence counsels in the trial of four military officers facing genocide charges before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), on Monday challenged prosecution evidence describing what happened in 1994 in Rwanda as a genocide. Making his opening statement, before defence witnesses will be called, the lead defence counsel for the former director of cabinet in the Rwandan Ministry of Defence, Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, told the court that 11 years on, "The prosecutor has never proved that the genocide occurred". Raphael Constant from France said, "Genocide has not been proved before this tribunal because premeditation has not been established and neither has it been established that Theoneste Bagosora participated in it". "It is not enough to say that there have been massacres between April and July 1994 and then conclude that there was a genocide", Constant continued. Constant stated that when the trial started in April 2002, the tribunal's prosecutor at the time, Carla Del Ponte, said, "the tribunal will not be able to mathematically re-write the whole history of the Rwandan tragedy and notably the beginning of the genocide because we do not have any proof or mandate for that." He also quoted the lead prosecutor in this case, Chile Oboe Osuji from Canada and Nigeria as saying, "we don't have to be entangled in what the cause of the genocide was". Constant argued that those statements from the prosecutors prove that the prosecution has been unable to demonstrate the causes of crime. Bagosora's counsel also challenged the prosecution for failing to bring high ranking officers to prove that there was a conspiracy to commit the genocide. Constant said 32 out of the 83 prosecution brought were military personnel. Among them, only one was a lieutenant, while the rest were junior soldiers who could not testify to any proof of conspiracy. Another defence counsel, also making his opening statement, professor Peter Erlinder, representing Major Aloys Ntabakuze, who was a former commander of Kanombe Paramilitary battalion based in Kigali, also contested the existence of the genocide saying that "the mere mention of the word genocide (by the Prosecutor) is not evidence it occurred". Colonel Bagosora and Major Ntabakuze are co accused with Brigadier General Gratien Kabiligi, who was head of military operations of the former Rwandan Army, and the former military commander of Gisenyi (North-West Rwanda) region, Lieutenant Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva. The four former military officers of the former Rwandan army (EX-FAR) on trial in this so-called Military I case have all pleaded not guilty to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. This trial started on April 2, 2002. The first defence witness has begun testifying in closed session before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR presided by Judge Erik Møse of Norway.

Togo

IRIN 8 Apr 2005 Police shoot dead opposition protestor [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © IRIN "Write down my name, I want to vote," says an opposition demonstrator LOME, 8 Apr 2005 (IRIN) - One man was killed and several were injured as opposition protestors clashed with police in the capital Lome and several towns in the interior of Togo on Friday, an alliance of the country's main opposition parties said on Friday. Police opened fire on demonstrators with automatic weapons in the town of Tabligbo, 60 km north of Lome, killing one man and injuring several others, the opposition alliance said in a statement. It also reported that protestors were hurt in clashes with the security forces in Kpalime and Keve on the Ghanaian frontier. In Lome, eyewitnesses said police used tear gas and fragmentation grenades to try and disperse several thousand opposition protestors who marched on the town hall to demand voting cards so they could take part in a landmark presidential election due on 24 April. Voter registration was due to have ended on Tuesday, but the government, which faces opposition charges that it is planning to rig the election, has pledged to make voting cards available up to the last minute so that nobody will be left out. However, it has rejected opposition demands for the election to be postponed so that a free and fair election can be properly organised under international supervision. The European Union has declined to send observers to monitor the poll and the United States is still mulling whether or not to do so. The six main opposition parties have united behind a single candidate to challenge the son and heir apparent of the late president Gnassingbe Eyadema. He died in February after ruling this small West African country with an iron hand for 38 years. The formerly fragmented opposition is demanding a new era of freedom and change. The election is likely to be straight fight between Faure Gnassingbe, the 39-year-old son of Eyadema, and Emmanuel Bob-Akitani, the candidate of the opposition alliance. Two other minor candidates are only expected to attract a handful of votes. However, the opposition parties have accused the authorities of withholding voting cards in opposition bastions and of playing havoc with the electoral roll ahead of the hastily arranged presidential election, which is just over two weeks away. Interior Minister Akila-Esso Boko, said two big hand-outs of cards were being organised in Lome this weekend “for people who were unable to put their names on the electoral roll and pick up cards” before the initial deadline for registration expired. “In any case voting cards will be distributed up to the eve of the election,” he said at a meeting with party leaders on Thursday. The interior minister said that during the initial 10-day period allocated to update the electoral roll, 450,000 new voters had been registered and 100,000 names had been struck off. A further two million registered voters had been handed new cards, he added. Interim President Abass Bonfoh declared campaigning officially open in a speech urging “each one of us to avoid feeding tension and upsetting our climate of peace and security.” Gnassingbe, who briefly seized power with the help of the army after his father’s sudden demise on 5 February is standing as the candidate of the ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), which controls the government and virtually all the seats in parliament. He launched his election campaign on Friday in the Eyadema family's traditional stronghold in northern Togo.

Uganda

washingtonpost.com 7 Apr 2005 End This African Horror Story By John Prendergast Thursday, April 7, 2005; Page A31 GULU, Uganda -- Sitting in the main town in war-riddled northern Uganda, you get the feeling you are not in the middle of a conventional peace process -- not when two local women have just been abducted by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and had their hands chopped off in the name of divine retribution. You know something evil lurks just out of sight when you see thousands of children streaming into town every evening seeking refuge from abduction by the LRA. And yet you are sure that history is somehow being made when the lead mediator in the process turns out to be a dynamic Ugandan woman who is shunning her comfortable office at the World Bank headquarters and risking her life to bring peace to the long-suffering people of northern Uganda. Her name is Betty Bigombe, and she will probably have to play a major role in the coming month if there is to be any hope of ending the madness. This country may have its best chance for peace in 18 years -- a period marked by brutal warfare that has displaced 1.6 million people and sparked the first investigation into crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC). But the peace process is in trouble and needs a high-risk, high-reward gamble to move it forward. The actions of the LRA's leader, Joseph Kony, will be crucial. My discussions with LRA commanders paint a portrait of a man rooted in a grotesquely distorted view of the Old Testament. Kony seeks revenge for past transgressions the government committed against northerners -- literally an eye for an eye. He likens himself to Moses bringing the Ten Commandments to a people who are largely deaf to his message. He attacks civilian targets within his reach because he believes he is instructed by God to punish anyone who collaborates with the government. For all the havoc Kony has wrought, his insurgency is on the ropes. The Ugandan military has become more effective, and the government of Sudan, after years of providing support, has cut most of its links to the LRA. Robbed of its camps and supply lines, the LRA has gone into survival mode, stealing food and abducting children to replace those killed, captured or surrendered. But the LRA has a track record of coming back from near oblivion, and premature pronouncements of its defeat could prove deadly. Massacres over the past couple of weeks, in which hoes and machetes have been the sadistic tools of death, are reminiscent of the tactics used in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. To be sure, if Kony is killed or captured, the LRA will unravel just as rebellions did in Angola and Sierra Leone. But pursuing this "one bullet" solution could end up killing thousands more abducted child soldiers and LRA dependents, while costing more than the alternatives and making reconciliation more difficult. Those hard-core commanders remaining in the bush would continue to terrorize civilians. In a country whose post-colonial history has been marred by extreme sectarian violence and some of the most murderous dictators in Africa, including the psychotic Idi Amin, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has demonstrated ways to bring conflict to an end other than through violence alone. Negotiations would isolate hard-liners, make it more difficult to oppose a final agreement and provide an exit strategy for the LRA, or, as Museveni put it to me, a "soft landing." The window of opportunity for a peace settlement will not be open long. The U.S. role is crucial. Its support for Ugandan military efforts has led many Ugandans to believe that the United States does not support a peaceful resolution. As one LRA commander told me, "The U.S. is too quiet. The LRA can't hear that the U.S. supports peace." Assigning a senior diplomat from Washington to support the peace effort would provide a boost to the negotiating process, giving the LRA commanders confidence that if they did lay down their weapons they wouldn't walk straight into an ambush. The next month will be decisive and requires a major diplomatic gambit. Bigombe, as lead mediator, must go to the source in neighboring southern Sudan and meet with LRA leader Kony. Once there, she should present a comprehensive settlement, rather than the current cease-fire proposal, for which the necessary levels of good faith and confidence simply do not exist. The settlement involves security and livelihood guarantees for the LRA. Getting the meeting requires the direct help of the Sudanese regime, which has provided a lifeline to Kony for the past decade. The United States and others would need to lean hard on Sudan to influence it to act. Without such a diplomatic gambit and increased international support, the process could crumble. This would unleash a new round of conflict and leave military defeat and ICC prosecution as the only means by which the war might be ended, a path that would be much longer and bloodier than that afforded by a peace deal. The writer is special adviser to the president of the International Crisis Group. He has worked at the State Department and the National Security Council.

CRISIS GROUP 11 Apr 2005 Shock Therapy for Northern Uganda's Peace Process The peace process aimed at ending the eighteen-year old conflict in Northern Uganda is in critical condition, with neither the Ugandan government nor the insurgent Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) appearing fully committed to a negotiated solution. The LRA leadership is reorganising for intensified conflict and has launched an aggressive campaign of abductions and mutilations of civilians. Kampala appears to be losing patience with mediation efforts, refocusing instead on a military solution. If the process is to be rescued, Ugandan government mediator Betty Bigombe needs to replace the government's ceasefire-first approach with a deal that includes appropriate security guarantees for LRA leader Joseph Kony and his commanders, and a peace dividend to help rebuild war-ravaged communities. If such a proposal is to be credible, however, it will require increased support from the European troika of Norway , the UK and the Netherlands and a more engaged United States. Crisis Group reports and briefing papers are available on our website: www.crisisgroup.org

Zimbabwe

Reuters 3 Apr 2005 Zimbabwe's restive south glum over Mugabe victory ZIMBABWE'S southern Matabeleland region, long chafing under President Robert Mugabe's rule, was in gloomy mood on Sunday after his ruling party's victory in a disputed parliamentary election. Matabeleland voters, still bitter over an army offensive 20 years ago which rights groups say killed 20,000 civilians, voted heavily for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), giving it all but 5 of the province's 19 seats. But as with elections in 2000 and 2002, Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF took the national vote -- this time extending its dominance with a two-thirds parliamentary majority that will permit it to change the constitution at will. The victory was labelled a fraud by the opposition and western governments, who charged Mugabe with stealing his third election in five years. In Matabeleland, there was grim resignation. "As you can see, we are trying to drown our sorrow. We thought there would be change this time but it's the same old story," said 40-year-old Dan Tabisa as he sat in a bar in Zimbabwe's second largest city of Bulawayo, listlessly sipping a beer with a couple of friends. "This means five more years of suffering for us here in Matabeleland. Industries are closing down so unemployment is high and I don't see any hope of a change now," he added. DESPAIR His sentiments were echoed by scores of people in Bulawayo and surrounding areas, with most shrugging their shoulders despairingly when asked about ZANU-PF's victory. "I'm very unhappy because my party lost. There's no development in this region and people are suffering. I haven't had a real job for five years now and I'm just scratching around for a living," said a 42-year-old man in Nyamandlovu, 40 kms (25 miles) southeast of Bulawayo, who gave his name as Diba. Analysts say Thursday's election will worsen a crisis that has ruined the once-prosperous nation and which critics blame on Mugabe's mismanagement and his chaotic seizure of white-owned land for redistribution to landless blacks. Unemployment is 70 percent, inflation at about 130 percent and food and fuel are in short supply. Matabeleland has been a thorn in Mugabe's side ever since a rebellion against his rule two years after independence in 1980. The army assault followed government accusations that Matabeleland supported plans for an armed revolt against Mugabe's rule led by a rival nationalist leader, Joshua Nkomo. The crackdown in the minority Ndebele-speaking region fuelled ethnic tensions with the Shona who dominate Mugabe's government that only subsided with a 1987 peace pact. For many in Matabeleland, the ruling party's victory was no surprise, although the opposition's poor performance did leave many questioning the way forward. "I think the MDC needs to change its tactics if there is to be any hope of defeating ZANU-PF because we keep voting for them but they keep losing," said a store security guard in Bulawayo who declined to give his name

washingtonpost.com 4 Apr 2005 Zimbabwe's Enabler South Africa Falls Short As Monitor of Democracy By Sebastian Mallaby Monday, April 4, 2005; Page A21 Thursday's election in Zimbabwe was not merely stolen. It was stolen with the complicity -- no, practically the encouragement -- of Africa's most influential democrat. If you think too long about this democrat, moreover, you reach a bleak conclusion. For all the recent democratic strides in Africa, the continental leadership that was supposed to reinforce this progress is not up to the challenge. The bankrupt democrat in question is Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's president. For the past few years, he's been promising a pan-African Renaissance, a new era in which Africans would take charge of their own problems. Mbeki led the creation of the grandly titled New Partnership for Africa's Development, which commits members to the rule of law and other principles of good government; he's the driving force behind the peer-review mechanism that's supposed to police compliance with those pledges. The New Partnership's principles are quoted frequently by Africa sympathizers who advocate more foreign assistance, and they've boosted Mbeki's profile marvelously. Mbeki has become a fixture at the rich countries' annual Group of Eight summits. He has been treated by George Bush and Tony Blair as a player. He has felt emboldened to advance South Africa as a candidate for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. But do Mbeki's New Partnership principles mean anything? In the run-up to Zimbabwe's election, when the regime's thugs were denying food to suspected opposition sympathizers, Mbeki actually undercut the international pressure for a fair contest. He expressed a serene confidence that the election would be free and fair. He allowed his labor minister, who was serving as the head of the South African observer mission in Zimbabwe, to dismiss the regime's critics as "a problem and a nuisance." He quarreled with the Bush administration's description of Zimbabwe as an outpost of repression. He did everything, in other words, to signal that mass fraud would be acceptable. And so Zimbabwe's thugs obliged him. Before the election, they arranged for ballot boxes made out of see-through plastic and a voter's roll stuffed with fictitious names. When polling day came, about a tenth of the voters were turned away from election stations for mysterious reasons. One constituency, in which 14,812 people voted according to election officials, was announced the next day to have awarded more than 15,000 votes to the president's nephew. In this way, the regime won a famous victory -- and with it the power to change whatever's left of Zimbabwe's constitution. If South Africa, which could strangle its smaller neighbor's economy by switching off its electricity, had been tougher beforehand, this fraud might have been forestalled. If Mbeki had protested after the election, events also might have been different. Some brave Zimbabweans called for an African version of Ukraine's Orange Revolution. But as one opposition politician said wistfully, regional conditions provided no encouragement. Ukraine benefited from proxi- mity to pro-democratic Europe. But Zimbabwe's democratic neighbor sent the opposite signal. After the election was stolen, the head of the South African observer mission heaped praise on the process, declaring that the outcome reflected "the free will of the people of Zimbabwe" and that "the political climate was conducive for elections to take place." Zimbabwe isn't the only place where Mbeki has been disappointing. On New Year's Day he visited Sudan and addressed that country's government. If ever there was an opportunity for some peer-to-peer truth-telling, surely this was it: Sudan's Arab leaders are engaged in the systematic killing of ethnic Africans in the western province of Darfur. But Mbeki spoke understandingly of "the challenges facing the government," and reserved his toughest comments for the easy scapegoat of imperialism. "When these eminent representatives of British colonialism were not in Sudan, they were in South Africa, and vice versa, doing terrible things wherever they went," he lectured. Mbeki is undoubtedly an able man -- thoughtful in conversation, workaholic in habit, a wizard in the dark arts of backroom politics. But he is a tragic figure: He personifies the flaw that his own New Partnership is intended to inhibit. Open and accountable government is desirable because it exposes leaders to criticism, obliges them to listen and so reduces the risk of blatantly bad policy. But Mbeki, who leads a democratic government but one without electable opponents, is no more willing to accept criticism than to dish it out. He surrounds himself with yes men and spits viciously at critics. He lacks the humility to admit errors, even when the consequences are plain for all to see. Mbeki's error on Zimbabwe is almost as terrible as his earlier one on AIDS, when he opposed anti-retroviral treatment. Zimbabwe is the poster child for the emphasis on governance in the New Partnership for Africa's Development; it shows how bad government can take a promising society and ruin it. A country that was once a breadbasket for the region now depends on food aid; a country that once took in migrants now exports desperate people by the million. And yet Mbeki, the mastermind and guiding light of the New Partnership, will not speak out against this tragedy.

BBC 7 Apr 2005 Mugabe defies ban for Pope burial Mugabe denies rigging the vote Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has arrived in Rome for the Pope's funeral on Friday despite a European Union travel ban. Italy is obliged to let him enter under accords with the Vatican, which is legally a separate state. Mr Mugabe is a Catholic and often attends Mass in Harare's cathedral. The trip was denounced by one of his leading critics - the Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube. Mr Mugabe's party is accused of rigging last week's poll. Mr Mugabe and about 100 of his associates were banned from the EU and the US after being accused of using fraud and violence to ensure victory in the 2002 presidential election. He has nevertheless attended several international summits in both EU countries and the US. Sympathy "That man will use any opportunity to fly to Europe to promote himself. The man is shameless," Archbishop Ncube told the Associated Press news agency. FINAL ELECTION RESULTS Zanu-PF: 78 seats MDC: 41 seats Independent: 1 seat Elected seats: 120 seats Seats appointed by the president: 30 Mugabe sweeps to victory Muted opposition AP also reports that Mr Mugabe used a service for the Pope in Harare's cathedral to denounce his western critics on Monday. Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party won a two-thirds majority in parliament after last week's elections - enough to enable it to change the constitution. He denied accusations that the polls were rigged as "nonsense". But on Wednesday, the main opposition party released figures it said proved the elections were tainted by "massive fraud". The Movement for Democratic Change said that in 11 constituencies, ballot box stuffing accounted for Zanu-PF victories. It notes that these candidates were mostly ministers or senior party officials. For example, in Mutare South, it was initially announced that 14,054 votes had been cast, the MDC says. But the final results showed 28,575 ballots, with 16,412 for Zanu-PF and 12,163 to the MDC. The MDC says it has been unable to get the breakdown of results countrywide, but this has been denied by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. The results were endorsed by Southern African observers but a local group of monitors and western countries said the poll was seriously flawed. Mr Mugabe says he is the victim of a Western plot, led by the UK in opposition to his seizure of white-owned land.

Americas

Brazil

www.diamonds.net 31 Mar 2005 Amnesty Int'l Finds Human Rights Violations in Brazil By Ketan Tanna Posted: 3/31/2005 7:05 AM (Rapaport...March 31, 2005) Amnesty International has accused Brazil of failing to guarantee or enforce the rights of Brazilian Indians on their lands, leaving indigenous people poverty-stricken, and generating the hostilities which led to the massacre of 29 illegal diamond miners in 2004. On March 30, Amnesty released a study entitled: Foreigners In Our Own Country, Indigenous Peoples In Brazil, which asserts that the campaign of violence against Brazilian Indians has involved businesses and prospectors who mine in indigenous territories as well as ranchers, logging companies, and the military. "Impunity for human rights violations in Brazil is pervasive and persistent," Amnesty International writes. "In addition to the violence that is so often generated in the context of land disputes, Indians also suffer when there is a failure by the state to protect them from invaders on their land, as was the case in the Cinta Larga Roosevelt territory in 2004." Cinta Larga Indians allegedly massacred 29 illegal diamond miners in April 2004 in what is believed to have been a dispute over mining revenues. Brazil's Mines and Energy Ministry estimated that $2 billion worth of diamonds have been mined on the seven million acre reserve. The massacre exposed questions concerning the ownership of the region's mineral resources, and flaws in legal applications for the reservation to when and how mining exploration may be conducted on indigenous lands. web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR190022005

washingtonpost.com 2 Apr 2005 At Least 30 Are Killed In Rio Shooting Spree Gunmen Thought to Be Rogue Policemen Reuters Saturday, April 2, 2005; Page A18 RIO DE JANEIRO, April 1 -- Gunmen believed to be rogue policemen killed at least 30 people in a shooting spree in a Rio de Janeiro suburb. Officials said Friday that the attack may have been a response to a crackdown on corrupt and brutal officers. Men, women and children were killed at random in Thursday night's attack in Baixada Fluminense on Rio's rough north side. The victims of the city's biggest death-squad massacre in more than a decade included a civil servant drinking in a bar, a young boy playing pinball, a cook on his way home from work and a transvestite prostitute, morgue officials said. Marcelo Itagiba, Rio's public security secretary, said outlaw police likely carried out the massacre in reprisal for the arrests Thursday of eight officers suspected of a separate double murder. In that case, police were filmed throwing the severed head of one victim over the wall of a police station. "This is a public calamity, a barbarous crime," Itagiba said at a news conference Friday. Early signs from the investigation ordered by Rio's governor, Rosinha Matheus, appeared to support the assertion that police officers were the killers. Bullets collected from the crime scene were shot from the same guns used by the police, said lvaro Lins, head of the state's investigation force. "The crimes were committed by professionals," he said. It was Brazil's deadliest urban massacre since 1993, when 21 people were murdered by a police death squad. "Any hopes that such actions were horrors of the past have been dashed by the events of last night, which show the lengths that 'death squads' will go to in order to spread terror and resist attempts by the authorities to stop their activities," Amnesty International said in a statement. International human rights groups often accuse Rio police of having a history of summary executions. Officials said police killed 983 suspects last year and 1,195 in 2003. Last year, about 50 Rio police were killed in the line of duty.

AP 4 Apr 2005 Two officers arrested in killing spree RAMPAGE: The two police officers accused of killing 30 people are thought to have been angry over the arrest of eight officers caught on camera dumping bodies AP , RIO DE JANEIRO Monday, Apr 04, 2005,Page 7 People walk beside graves during a funeral at a cemetery in Nova Iguazu, Brazil, on Friday. In what was described as a ''massacre'' and ''bloodbath,'' police murdered 30 people in three separate shootings in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, officials said Friday. PHOTO: AP Two police officers suspected of going on a shooting spree that left 30 people dead in Rio de Janeiro were arrested and questioned after an intensive manhunt, authorities said. Composite sketches and anonymous tips led police to officers Jose Augusto Moreira Felipe, 32, and Fabiano Goncalves Lopes, 30, police said. The two officers, who worked in the district where the shootings occurred Thursday, were taken into custody Saturday afternoon at their home, police said. A .380-caliber pistol was also found, though authorities have not said if that weapon was used in the shootings. The killings Thursday were the bloodiest massacre in years in a state already famous for its homicide rate. Authorities had suspected the killings were likely the work of rogue police angered by the arrest of eight other officers caught on film while disposing of two bodies. The two men were questioned, but had not been charged yet, said Marcela Lobo, a spokeswoman for the Rio de Janeiro Public Safety Department. Authorities did not immediately release details about the interrogation. A warrant for their arrest had been issued Friday based on the sketches, and Rio de Janeiro state Governor Rosinha Matheus had offered a US$1,900 reward for information leading to the capture of the gunmen, whose victims included five teenagers who were shot while playing video games at a bar. "We want this case to be rigorously investigated because it can't go unpunished," Matheus said Saturday on her weekly radio program. "As a mother I'm shocked. Only monsters are capable of that." Elite police units had searched for the suspects in two squalid neighborhoods on Rio's outskirts on Saturday and, aided by federal agents, set up roadblocks and searched houses in the impoverished Baixada area -- a sprawling network of shantytowns some 35km north of Rio where the shootings took place. Authorities were still searching for at least two other men. Police believe the men are linked to death squads -- shadowy associations often made up of off-duty or retired officers who are hired by local businessmen to kill undesirables. The death squads created an international uproar 12 years ago when they were believed to have killed eight children sleeping outside a church in Rio's downtown. Marcelo Itagiba, Rio's state security secretary, said the crime was likely the work of police angered by the arrest of eight officers caught on film while disposing of two bodies. But Justice Minister Marcio Thomaz Bastos said it was too early to say for sure that the killings were the work of corrupt officers. "We must follow all lines of investigation so nobody gets away, whoever they may be," Bastos said. According to witnesses, the shooting started around 10pm when four men got out of a silver Volkswagen and opened fire on the crowd at a street corner bar in Nova Iguacu. Fifteen people were found dead in and around the bar, and three more died in the hospital Friday. The gunmen left the scene, firing randomly and killing two bicyclists along the road, then killed 10 people more in Queimados, a neighboring town. Victims were buried Saturday, as families wept and held up banners calling for justice. A memorial mass for the victims was planned late Saturday at the Santo Antonio Cathedral in Nova Iguacu.

Canada

Canadian Jewish News www.cjnews.com Student organizations hold benefit concert for Darfur Students Taking Action Now: Darfur Canada (STAND) co-founders Ben Fine and Meredith Herman with Sudanese refugee Acol Dor, middle. By MEREDITH HERMAN Special to The CJN United Nations emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland recently estimated that 10,000 people have died each month over the past year in Darfur, the western region of Sudan. This rapid death rate will continue unless pressure is placed on the Sudanese government to stop perpetrating what the UN has labelled the “worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.” In response, representatives of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND) have set for themselves the goal of collecting 10,000 signatures for a petition urging the Canadian government to take further action in the region. STAND Canada was formed during the One Weekend Jewish student conference hosted by Hillel Montreal late in January. What began as a small group of Jewish students determined not to let the message “never again” become a hollow symbol has grown to include representatives on 16 Canadian campuses. STAND’s goal is to give students the means with which to educate themselves and to enable them to take action. A series of educational programs began at McGill and Concordia universities, with the hopes that a heightened sense of awareness about the crisis will lead to an increase in pressure on the Canadian government to help end the conflict. Two awareness days took place recently at the entrance to Redpath, McGill’s main library. The event included a photography exhibit, a DVD documentary, information sheets and the selling of green wristbands and ribbons to raise awareness. Students were asked to sign the petition urging the Canadian government to do more to stop the killing in Darfur. Ben Fine, a co-founder of STAND Canada, said education amounts to nothing if it does not lead to action. “We need to push the government to act, and the way to do that is through petitioning.” The event was a success, raising more than $500 for humanitarian aid and collecting 931 signatures. Many McGill students were relieved to discover that attention is finally being paid to the crisis in Dafur, and STAND members were thrilled with the number of McGill students eager to join their group. But this enthusiasm was not unanimous among students. Many responded with apathy, refusing to sign the petition, or even to pick up the information sheets being distributed. Several group members said that disinterest has been the group’s biggest obstacle. “Apathy has been our biggest challenge,” STAND representative from Concordia, Josh Fisher, said. “Some people don’t care because they don’t know what’s going on. Others don’t care because they live in a country where their security is a given, and can’t be bothered to help those who don’t share that liberty.” To combat this feeling of apathy among students, STAND and Hillel Montreal are holding a benefit concert called Give It Up For Darfur, to raise awareness about the crisis and money for the victims. It takes place on April 7 at Just for Laughs Cabaret. The concert includes an eclectic lineup of Montreal musicians, among them Mike Evans, Hearts of Palm and Throwback. The show also features Mosaica, McGill’s professional modern dance group, and keynote speakers Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz and Sudanese refugee Acol Dor. Hillel Montreal President Yacov Fruchter said the success of the event “will not be determined by the event itself, but rather by what comes out of it. Education about the crisis coupled with a call to action is what is needed to combat the apathy that has infected our society. I am confident that the passion Hillel members have for this cause will spread rapidly, and that we will soon see positive changes on campus.” See Canada STAND "Students Taking Action Now: Darfur. Canadian Students. Fighting Today's Indifference." We are students from across Canada concerned frustrated by the lack of international response to the atrocities in Darfur, Sudan, which have left over 200,000 dead and 2 million without homes, and the sluggish pace of political progress in bringing an end to the violence. As we commemorate 60 years of the lesson of “never again”, the world again sits idle. As Canadian students, we believe it is our responsibility to speak out, and are determined not to let the world remain indifferent as hundreds of thousands of innocents die in ethnically-motivated conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan."www.cfjs.ca/darfur/ or write neveragain@cfjs.ca

www.gateway.ualberta.ca The Gateway | Thursday, 31 March, 2005 | Volume XCIV Issue 43 Abortion is not genocide Tess Elsworthy The latest trend sweeping North American anti-abortion groups in the past few years has been the strategy of categorizing legal abortion as genocide, and comparing fetuses to traditionally oppressed groups, like women, Jews, Black slaves and Aboriginal people—as if a fetus’ legal termination is a part of such racist and misogynistic histories. Just last year, the Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) brought the “Genocide Awareness Project” to this very campus to treat passersby—including a few buses full of children—to photos of aborted fetuses compared with Nazi atrocities and the lynching of African-Americans in the southern US. I recall that the people standing proudly next to this absurd display claimed that they were not there to highlight the commonalities between Nazis, the KKK and women who undergo abortions, but if you’re going to compare fetuses to lynching victims and those who went to the gas chambers in World War II, you have to link the perpetrators, an act that inevitably places people like my mother on the same plane as Hitler or Colonel Custer. Indeed, the CBR happily makes this connection, proclaiming that, “Latter-day feminists dehumanize unborn children with the chant ‘it’s my body,’ but racists preceded them by dehumanizing slaves with the refrain ‘it’s my property.’” The CBR likes to claim that abortion is genocide because, “Genocide is always built on the ‘choice’ of those in power to systematically destroy those who are not in power.” This discourse seems fishy to me, but perhaps I didn’t read the part in the history texts where Hitler defined “choice” as part of the Final Solution, nor have I been spending time in abortion clinics filled with women muttering about Lebensraum as their reason for ending a pregnancy. It seems too obvious to me that perpetrators of racism do not typically link their acts of hate with civil rights, a fact that makes the GAP project and others like it both misleading and ridiculous. When it comes to the definition of genocide, I stick to the original definition coined in 1944 by a Polish jurist named Raphael Lemkin. He defines genocide as “the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.” The Genocide Convention of 1948 decided to expand the definition to include ethnic, racial and religious groups as well. The fact that the women who have abortions are of the same national/ethnic group as their potential offspring deflates the logic of the CBR. Perhaps the Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform might appropriately borrow a term like “race traitor” from white supremacists in the effort to attack women for killing members of their own racial groups—after all, if abortion was about an ethnically motivated hate, it would be about self-loathing, rather than a secret plan to destroy an ethnicity, as the Nazis and KKK sought to do. Or maybe I’m wrong; maybe potential mothers who don’t follow through with pregnancies are plotting against their fetuses and wish they were capable of sending them to plantations or residential schools because of nationalistically motivated hatred. Should this be true, I hope the CBR will accept my sincerest apologies. Something tells me, though, that such a conspiracy is no more than a fiction. If the CBR really wants to spread awareness on the issue of genocide, maybe it should start by running a campaign to teach North Americans about the Aboriginal holocaust that is still occurring on this continent.

Colombia

maryknoll.org 29 Mar 2005 Take action on San Jose de Apartado massacre Mar 29, 2005 - In late February, eight members of the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community in northwest Colombia, most of them women and children, were massacred. Internationally respected peace leader and co-founder of the San Jose Peace Community Luis Eduardo Guerra, his son and partner were among the victims; their assassins were identified by witnesses as members of the Colombian military. The following alert is from the Latin America Working Group, a coalition of faith-based and human rights organizations of which the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns is a member. Reports from the field allege involvement of the Colombian army in the massacre, and a thorough investigation should be a first priority for the Colombian government. The massacre has generated outrage and crucial momentum on Colombia policy issues, including a strong letter from 32 members of Congress to President Alvaro Uribe, and another letter from 28 national NGOs to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. But we need your help to ensure