Africa

Algeria

BBC 13 Aug 2001, Analysis: Can the Berber revolt survive? The death of a Berber youth in police custody sparked the current unrest By North Africa correspondent David Bamford Tension remains high in the Algerian region of Kabylia, nearly four months after the death in police custody of an ethnic Berber youth sparked Berber unrest that swept across the region. The crisis has severely shaken the civilian government of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, which was already being undermined by the continuation of the guerrilla war with Islamist militants in spite of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's two-year-old amnesty peace plan. But while the Berber unrest continues, does it have the strength to develop into a full-scale uprising? Berber activists were in action in Algiers again last week, attempting to disrupt a prestigious international youth festival, and, in their regional capital of Tizi Ouzou, besieging the headquarters of the local gendarmerie. Bouteflika: Threatened by Berbers and Islamic militants The police have been blamed on all sides for creating the crisis in the first place. The city streets of Algeria have seen nothing like this turmoil since the rise of the Islamist FIS political movement a decade ago, before it was forced underground by a military coup. The Berbers are very different from the Islamists in terms of their liberal political direction. Contradictory factions But that direction is being compromised by internal political divisions just as it looked as if the Algerian state was preparing to give way to at least some of the main Berber demands. These include cultural recognition, some autonomy, and the withdrawal of the paramilitary gendarmes. The Berber cause is being pulled in three different directions: By the two official Berber political parties - the FFS and RCD - who want to work within the system for improved rights By the village elders, whose grassroot strength can command hundreds of thousands to appear on the streets at any time By frustrated Berber youths, who seem bent on confrontation with the authorities at every opportunity, but who lack any coherent goals. The Berber cause is now dangerously vulnerable. As with the case of a previous Berber uprising in 1980 that became known as the 'Tizi Ouzou Spring', the current revolt may fizzle out or be crushed, having achieved little or nothing in terms of political liberalisation. Berbers march for their rights Bejaia has often been the focus of previous marches By North Africa correspondent David Bamford Tens of thousands of demonstrators from the Berber-speaking region of Kabylie have marched into the Soummam Valley, close to the town of Bejaia. The march was called by Berber leaders to further press their demands for cultural recognition and social justice in the wake of four months of clashes with security forces in which 60 civilians have been killed and thousands injured. The Berber march into the Soummam Valley, 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of Algiers, has been another show of strength to the authorities that Berber agitation will not go away. Organisers of the march called for a peaceful protest and though there are no reports of unrest, Berber elders are wary because youths have often taken it upon themselves to initiate confrontation with the police once formal protests are over. Crossroads Appeals for calm have not been much helped by the recent tour of Kabylie by the hardline Interior Minister, Yazid Zerhouni, who continues to accuse extreme leftists and foreign agents of being behind the unrest. Riot police have stopped previous marches from reaching Algiers This is despite the publication of a preliminary report under the auspices of President Bouteflika into the causes of the violence which firmly blames the military police for over-reacting during the early protests. Mr Bouteflika is at a crossroads right now in which he has to decide whether to open a dialogue with both the Berbers and the moderate Islamist movement to secure some social stability or to maintain a hard line against further political accommodation. Many believe his hands are already tied by conservative minds inside the military and civilian establishment, who believe any concessions now would be a sign of weakness. The date of 20 August is a key one in the history of the Algerian independence struggle. Played down It was on that day in 1956 that the National Liberation Front, the FLN, held a secret congress that set the framework for the next six years of civil war and subsequent military victory against the French. The congress was held in the Soummam valley, close to Bejaia. And its choice of location reflected the leading role played by the Berbers in the independence war, a role they argue which has been consistently played down by the country's majority Arab community.

Burundi

International Herald Tribune 22 Aug 2001 Get Moving Now to Prevent Genocide in Burundi Gareth Evans, BRUSSELS When Nelson Mandela at last coaxed a political settlement out of the Tutsi and Hutu parties in Burundi last month, a collective sigh of relief reached all the way to New York. Wracked by conflict since 1993, Burundi is a country where an explosion of communal violence on the scale of the genocidal horror in next door neighbor Rwanda has long been feared. But none of the key UN players - they will privately admit - has been prepared to contemplate protective intervention in Burundi, any more than they were willing to act in Rwanda in 1994. Maybe now the whole problem would just go away. But it is much too early to be complacent. The possibility of catastrophe is still real, not only because the political transition has still to be consolidated on the ground but, crucially, because the armed Hutu rebel groups remain outside the process. The Security Council has some important decisions to make when it meets on the issue this Friday, and international donors who have pledged but not yet delivered financial assistance need to get their act together fast. The Mandela agreement is certainly good news. It resolves the political transition issue which has plagued implementation of the Arusha agreement signed last year in the presence of then President Bill Clinton. The deal is for President Pierre Buyoya to remain in his post for the first half of the three-year transition period, due to begin on Nov. 1, while a representative of the Hutu parties will become president for the second half. Mr. Buyoya himself is now campaigning for changes that will see him out of office in May 2003. But there remains a big obstacle to Mr. Mandela's continuing peacemaking efforts. Without the involvement of the armed Hutu rebel groups there is no cease-fire, and there is risk of mass violence and the widening of a war that has already cost more than 200,000 lives. Central Africa's stability and the fate of a million refugees and internally displaced persons are the stakes. The rebels have legitimate grievances that have not been resolved in the Arusha negotiations, including reform of the army and security services. Mr. Mandela's facilitation team should urgently open an office in Bujumbura and review its strategy for cease-fire negotiations. The consultations so far held in Pretoria look dangerously cut off from realities on the ground. If the implementation of Arusha goes too far without the rebels, peace in Burundi will remain a distant dream A major international mobilization is urgently needed, first to strengthen the transition's credibility and second to help construct meaningful cease-fire negotiations. Trust in Burundi's immediate future must still be built, and momentum created for the Arusha agreement's implementation. The governments of the Congo, Zimbabwe and Tanzania are the keys to getting the rebels to the negotiating table. The first two have armed and trained the rebels. The third hosts refugee camps that are havens and staging areas for incursions into Burundi. Pressure must be applied to the Congo and Zimbabwe to cut off support for the rebels. Tanzania needs financial and technical help to increase its capacity to control cross-border activities. Further international action is also necessary to support the peace process inside Burundi. The UN Security Council must warn all extremists, Hutu and Tutsi alike, that attempts to undermine the Arusha agreement will not be tolerated. Two coup attempts in Bujumbura in four months are enough. Next time the culprits should be treated as international war criminals and their foreign assets frozen. The Security Council should immediately begin securing standby arrangements with troop contributors for the deployment of a peacekeeping monitoring force within 30 days of a cease-fire signing. This would send a clear signal that the international community is actively behind the peace process. The UN and key donors should also move to support the training and deployment of the special half-Tutsi, half-Hutu security force negotiated by Mr. Mandela, to be trained by South Africans and devoted to protecting transition institutions and the safety of the exiled political leaders who return to Burundi. The further critical element in the equation is money. A substantial portion of the $440 million that the international community pledged at the Paris donors' conference eight months ago must become a reality. Early emphasis should go toward facilitating repatriation and resettlement of refugees and internally displaced persons. Rapid injection of hard currency is also necessary to jump-start Burundi's economy and create confidence in the transition government. Nothing could be more meaningful than lower prices for food and other essential. Time and money are short. Burundi's donors now have less than 100 days to Nov. 1 to mobilize at least $100 million - and begin spending it - so as to restore confidence in the future of this traumatized country. A commitment of this size will bring hope, even with gunshots still heard in the hills around the capital. It is a cheap price to pay when the alternative is all too likely to be another massive humanitarian catastrophe. The writer is president of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, whose latest report on Burundi can be found at www.crisisweb.org. He contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune.

Côte d'Ivoire

BBC 28 August, 2001 Government delays Ivorian talks Ethnic violence exploded last year A proposed political reconciliation meeting in the Ivory Coast has been postponed for a month. The last two years have seen levels of political and ethnic violence unprecedented in Ivory Coast with at least 200 people killed. President Laurent Gbagbo announced earlier on Tuesday that he had invited all the main political figures in the country to a national reconciliation forum on 7 September But the swift decision to postpone it until 9 October suggest that the talks could already be foundering and turn into major embarrassment for the president. Government officials said they would give the reasons for the delay at a press conference on Wednesday. The leaders invited include: ousted president Henri Konan Bedie former military ruler General Robert Guei opposition leader Alassane Ouattara However, none of the three has yet confirmed he will attend and West Africa Correspondent Mark Doyle says it is possible that this is the real reason for the delay. The main opposition leader Alassane Outarra, has implied he will not come unless a ban on his standing for political office is lifted. Former military ruler, Robert Guei, has been vague, about his intentions, and there are also question marks over the attendance of former President Bedie. Over the past two years Ivorian politicians have been subject to mounting criticism from world leaders, and human rights groups alike, for the way in which ethnic violence has been encouraged. Ethnic hatred Meanwhile, the New-York based group Human Rights Watch has accused the security forces of targeting northerners and Muslims, seen as supporting opposition leader Alassane Ouattara in last year's elections. The report, "The New Racism" was released ahead of the United Nations World Conference against Racism, which opens in South Africa on Friday. Peter Takirambudde, head of HRW's Africa Division said: "The World Conference should condemn the Ivorian leaders who have promoted intolerance based on ethnic and religious differences." "Africans have often been the victims of racism but they can also be perpetrators," he said. The group says that more than 200 people were killed in the past year, while others were tortured, raped and arbitrarily detained. It calls this "state-sponsored violence" saying that the paramilitary police, or gendarmes, were largely responsible.

HRW 28 Aug 2001 Côte d'Ivoire: Politicians Incite Ethnic Conflict Racism Conference Should Condemn Abidjan's Xenophobia (New York, August 28, 2001) Leading government officials in Côte D'Ivoire have incited a violent xenophobia that is threatening to destabilize the country, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today. The World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, which begins in Durban on August 31, should condemn the Ivorian leaders who have promoted intolerance based on ethnic and religious differences. The 70-page report, The New Racism: The Political Manipulation of Ethnicity in Côte d'Ivoire, describes atrocities committed during presidential and parliamentary elections in October and December 2000, and is based on extensive interviews of victims and witnesses in Abidjan in late 2000 and early 2001. The report documents more than 200 killings, as well as torture, rape, and arbitrary detention. The political and social climate remains volatile today as intolerance and xenophobia continue to shape daily life. "Africans have often been the victims of racism, but they can also be its perpetrators," said Peter Takirambudde, Executive Director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. "In Côte D'Ivoire we see the kind of intolerance and bigotry that the Racism Conference is designed to address. The Ivorian leaders and security forces responsible for these atrocities must be widely condemned, and brought to justice." The election violence began with security forces targeting civilians on the basis of these political affiliation. Following Gbagbo's victory, security forces began targeting civilians solely and explicitly on the basis of their religion, ethnic group, or national origin. The overwhelming majority of victims come from the largely Muslim north of the country, or are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants to Côte d'Ivoire. About one-quarter of the population of Cote d'Ivoire was born abroad or is descended from immigrants. Opposition leader Alassane Ouattara and his party, the Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR), largely draw their support from these groups. In an incident that was widely reported in October 2000, security forces massacred fifty-seven young men, who were then buried in a mass grave in a forest on the outskirts of Abidjan. The new Human Rights Watch report uncovers many more atrocities committed by security forces during the electoral period. These include: The gunning down of civilians in several smaller massacres; The torture of hundreds of detainees held by police and gendarme; and The disappearance of at least fifteen young men and the sexual abuse by gendarmes and police of numerous young women. On August 3, 2001, following a flawed trial, a military tribunal in Abidjan acquitted the eight gendarmes accused of the October 2000 massacre on the grounds of "lack of evidence." The prosecutor says he will appeal the verdict and take the case to a civilian court where survivors might be more willing to testify. No other members of the security forces alleged to be responsible for abuses have been charged. Instead, President Gbagbo announced that a national "Forum of Reconciliation" would take place on September 7, 2000. International condemnation of the killings of the fifty-seven young men has largely focused on pursuing justice in this case alone, while there has been relatively little international attention to pursuing justice in the scores of other atrocities documented in the report. Since 1995, when then-President Henri Bédié first invoked a conception of "Ivorité," or "Ivorian-ness," there have been several outbreaks of violence against people of foreign descent. Military ruler General Guei, who briefly took power following a coup in late 1999, had introduced a constitutional amendment that required any presidential candidate to have both parents born in Côte d'Ivoire. The amendment was transparently designed to exclude Ouattara, the leader of the strongest opposition party. Just before the presidential elections, a controversial Supreme Court decision disqualified fourteen of the nineteen candidates on citizenship grounds, including Ouattara. Laurent Gbagbo, who claimed victory in the presidential elections when Guei fled the country in the midst of protests at his attempts to rig the result, used the same standard of parental citizenship to ensure that Ouattara was once again not allowed to run during the December parliamentary elections. "The exploitation of ethnic divisions for political gain is all too familiar in Africa," said Takirambudde. "When politicians incite hatred to further their own careers, the victims are the people they should be serving. Ivorian leaders should step back from this course now, before it is too late." Human Rights Watch urged President Gbagbo to direct the justice ministry to promptly investigate, prosecute, and punish those responsible for these serious violations of human rights. Human Rights Watch further called on President Gbagbo to ensure that his tenure is characterized by the rule of law -- and not by military impunity. http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/08/cote-0828.htm

DR Congo

Boston Globe 23 August 2001 Horror in the Congo - Tales of atrocities emerge from hidden war Declan Walsh, Katanga, -- Even the vast bush country offers little cover from the depravities of war. Two weeks ago, an emaciated mother struggled into Manono, the town she had fled a year earlier, carrying a dying child in her arms, bringing terrible tales. "We ate wild fruit and leaves and slept under a tree," Wakibawa Kyakudju said, sitting in a corner of a crowded hospital. "The soldiers raped some women. Other people were murdered. When we arrived here, I was completely naked, not even underwear." She lifted the shirt of her 4-year-old son, Kibwe, showing scab-encrusted skin and swollen limbs, signs of severe malnutrition. "Really," she added quietly. "We have suffered." The horror of the Congo war, a bewilderingly complex conflict that started three years ago this month, is now coming to light. Accounts of mass rape, looting and the indiscriminate murder of civilians are emerging as aid workers, empowered by a recent U.N. troop deployment, are hearing directly from the victims of the world's largest war. The grisly statistics have been around for some time: 2 1/2 million people have died, mostly from war-related famine and disease, according to the U.S.- based International Rescue Committee. The United Nations estimates that another 1 million have been displaced from the east, where fighting has been most prevalent. The true nature of the Congo war has remained obscured, largely because it involves six countries and at least four armed groups, and because much of the country was out of reach to Western aid agencies for security reasons. Some of those who have ventured out have paid the ultimate price, such as six Red Cross workers who were hacked to death in a remote region in April. But now, in the southeastern province of Katanga, security is slowly improving, mostly because of an injection of confidence from the U.N. deployment. And a new aid operation slowly is gathering steam. As a result, thousands of people like Wakibawa Kyakudju have come out from their hiding places and given observers a rare glimpse into the mayhem and suffering caused by the war. "In this war, nothing is sacred and nobody is neutral," said Claude Jibidar of the U.N. World Food Program in Kongolo, where another hospital is full of starving children with thin hair and glazed eyes. "The civil population is everybody's enemy. You wonder who is fighting for whom." Officially, the fighting in Congo is on hold. An agreement between Joseph Kabila's government and the main rebel movements is taking root, and thousands of troops have been withdrawn from front-line positions. But inside the vast eastern sector, which is nominally under rebel control, a deadly "second war" continues to rage, involving a variety of soldiers driven by nationalism, ethnic hatred or simple greed. Its victims are almost always civilians. The fight is between the Congolese Rally for Democracy rebels, who are heavily supported by the Rwandan Army and despised by the local population, and the Mayi-Mayi, a traditional village militia that once believed water protected them from enemy fire. In certain areas, such as South Kivu, the Mayi-Mayi have developed into a popular resistance force. In other places, such as Katanga, the fighters seem to be little more than bandits. In the village of Sola, 150 miles north of Manono, a Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Raphael Katunda, described a recent incident. "Our local chief was denounced as a rebel collaborator," Katunda said. "When they killed him, they cut off his hand, tied it on a string, and paraded it around for everyone to see." The conflict is complicated by the presence of other militia. The Interahamwe, a group of Hutu extremists involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, are still roaming the forests of eastern Congo, preying on local villagers and committing atrocities. International observers say this group must be disarmed if there is any hope for peace. Rwandan citizens, meanwhile, have profited handsomely by exploiting Congo's vast reserves of coltan, a mineral used in mobile phones and in children's handheld electronic game devices. "It seems to be the trend that wherever there are coltan mines, there are Rwandans," a Western aid worker said in the largest eastern town, Bukavu. For now, aid agencies are trying to reach those most affected by the fighting. The arrival of more than 2,000 armed U.N. troops has allowed workers to reach remote towns such as Kongolo and Manono and deliver humanitarian aid. But the agencies now have another problem -- money. The United Nations says it needs $112 million to feed 1.3 million war victims through the end of next year. So far, the agency has received $37 million, most of it from the United States. Three international aid agencies issued a joint report last week detailing the gulf between the scale of the crisis and the lukewarm response of international donors. "What is being done right now is so minuscule," said Vincent Lalai of Oxfam, one of the agencies involved, "that it's not even a drop in the ocean."

Guardian (UK) 24 Aug 2001 Apocalypse now - Our efforts to bring peace to the Great Lakes have been focused on Rwanda. It's time we helped the Congo too, By MP Oona King. On the streets of Kinshasa, the most notable products are coffin marquees decorated with brightly coloured ribbons. The death industry is buoyant. There are 2,500 doctors to cover a population of 50m. On a recent trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of the first delegation of British MPs to visit, I am told by the health minister that in the eastern Congo, 300 women die in childbirth each day. I find this hard to believe, but when I speak to a group of street children in Kinshasa, none of them have ever seen a doctor. "No money, no doctor," they explain. "When we get sick we pour water on our heads, and go to sleep." A UN World Food Programme plane flies us to Goma, a town that symbolises the international community's heinous reaction to the Rwandan massacre. Paul Kagame, now Rwanda's president, defeated the "genocidaires" - known as the interahamwe - who then fled to the Congo. Once there, the UN "humanitarian" programme inadvertently facilitated their rearmament. They remain in eastern Congo. The Rwandans argue - with some justification - that the interahamwe's presence as an active fighting force legitimises Rwanda's occupation of Congolese territory. Until the Congolese government is capable of neutralising the interahamwe threat, Rwanda must do the job instead. However, the presence of the interahamwe can never legitimise Rwanda's alleged rape of the Congo's resources. The horror of genocide does not confer the right to inflict suffering - a point lost on some Israelis and Rwandans. We heard numerous accounts of Rwandan soldiers involved in the displacement of Congolese civilians living in mineral-rich areas. The soldiers aren't the only ones with an interest in the Congo's bounty. Anyone with a mobile phone or PlayStation has an interest. The mineral coltan is the magic ingredient that makes the manufacture of these products possible. Globalisation means that a conscripted child labourer in a Congolese mine is linked to a teenage PlayStation addict in Bethnal Green. The geographical location of Ugandan and Rwandan troops tells the story: their military positions mirror lucrative mines. Exports of precious minerals from Rwanda have jumped from 97 tonnes before 1996, when the Rwandan army backed Laurent Kabila's Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire to take power in Kinshasa, to 224 tonnes after. Wherever the Congo's riches are going, they are not going to the people. We visit a health centre in the hills around Masisi which serves 7,000 people with one nurse and one bed. Surgical equipment consists of a few scissors. There is a fridge for vaccines but it's broken, and medicine cannot be stored. On the bed lies a woman in labour. It's a breech birth. The nurse explains that the woman can't be taken to hospital because there is no transport, so she will die. "W e'll take her in our Land Rover," volunteers Andrew Robathan (Tory MP for Blaby). Impossible, says the nurse, it's not just a problem of transport. She has to be accompanied by a family member to pay for her. With out money, she won't be treated. "We've got dollars, we'll pay." It's not as simple as that, she can't be taken without her husband, but he hasn't been seen since this morning; you don't understand the local situation. "I understand," says Eric Joyce (Labour MP for Falkirk West), "that she's going to die. For God's sake, we've got five Land Rovers, let's just take her to hospital!" David Lammy (Labour MP for Tottenham) points out the irony that two of our five Land Rovers are emblazoned with "Save the Children." I have visited enough disaster zones to know that local aid workers are driven mad by bleeding-heart political tourists. We arrive for 48 hours and think we know best. A local aid worker tries to explain: "It's not that simple. The hospital doesn't even have food, so every patient needs someone accompanying them with a sack of potatoes." At this point, bleeding-heart political tourist or not, I snap. "You mean this woman is going to die because we can't find a bag of potatoes?!" Maybe the health minister in Kinshasa is right. I'm amazed that any pregnant women survive. Finally, a solution is found. Later, we hear that her Land Rover has encountered a car crash. Five seriously injured people are piled into the Land Rover with the pregnant woman. Whether any of them are still alive is anyone's guess. Compare and contrast the scale of our efforts to bring peace in Kosovo, Israel, the Gulf and East Timor to those in Africa. Africans are off our radar screen. The governments that have done most to bring peace to the Great Lakes region are the British and the Dutch. But our efforts have been almost exclusively directed towards Rwanda. We must bring greater equilibrium to our policy in the region. Without peace in the Congo, we will continue to see refugees arriving in Tower Hamlets, Glasgow and elsewhere. The UN must increase the level of its response, and so must we. We responded belatedly in Rwanda to what was an apocalypse then. In the Congo there is an apocalypse now. • Oona King is Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow.

Kenya

The Nation (Nairobi) OPINION August 20, 2001 The Country Must Remain United Or Perish, by George Mwicigi Even the most ardent proponents of the majimbo proposal have not come out clearly to define the concept, how it will work in Kenya, and how it will impact on the citizenry. Currently, Kenya is beset by a myriad of problems, many of which find root in bad governance since independence. Lack of public accountability through the years has created a situation where the country has been used as an enterprise to foster individual and partisan economic and political interests at the expense of statehood. The 1999 census was Kenya's sixth since 1948 and the fourth since independence. The census figures indicated that the country's population has grown from five million in 1948, to nine million in 1962, 11 million in 1969, 15 million in 1979, 21 million in 1989 and 28.7 million in 1999. The census results also reflected a very high rate of inter-ethnic diversity, especially in urban areas. Today, Kenya finds herself sinking deeper into the abyss of poverty. Her economic performance last year was negative (-) 0.2 per cent of the GDP. Close to 65 per cent of the population or more live in abject poverty. Politically, Kenya is now more polarised than at any time in its history. Ethnic animosity and racial intolerance are at a peak, and all that is required is some reckless utterances to sparka conflagration. The calls for majimboism could be the trigger. Human and economic repercussions These are facts of life and not mere fears as has been amply proved by the ethnic skirmishes (largely politically incited) and the flight of Asians in recent years, both of which have had profound human and economic repercussions. When Kenya became independent in June, 1963, it had a unitary bicameral parliamentary government with certain powers devolved from the centre to seven new regional authorities. The regional structure provided for elected assemblies with powers to administer land-use, raise their own finances, provide such services as education and health, and run their own civil service, including the police force. The Regional Secretary (equivalent to the Provincial Commissioner), was an appointee of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which held the regional administration portfolio. Majimboism was introduced in April, 1963, to address the fears and uncertainties of some Kenyans who feared the predominant Kikuyu-Luo Kanu leadership under President Kenyatta. Once these fears were put to rest through assurances of a congenial unitary government, majimboism became irrelevant. Those calling for majimbo are rekindling the same fears. The uncertainties that fuelled the clamour for majimboism were mainly from white settlers, whose political Ieaders - Mr Michael Blundell, Mr Wilfred Havelock and Mr R. S. Alexander - were convinced that a Kanu government led by former KAU nationalist and Mau Mau detainee would overwhelm white power and adopt radical, or communistic land policy. Blundell and Havelock convinced Kadu leaders that an African government with Kikuyus and Luos as a majority would marginalise the smaller tribes. They knew they could not stem the tide of independence, but they could divide Kenya into autonomous regions. Under such arrangements, Kadu would control three states - Rift Valley, Western and Coast regions. It appears as if history is repeating itself, with the main characters in Kadu (now in Kanu) reviving their quest. In reality, however, the regions never had time, nor the opportunity to exercise these powers because by June 1964, five of them could not raise salaries for civil servants amongst other financial obligations. Inter-regional migratory patterns Between 1963 and 1978 when President Kenyatta died, his Government had encouraged Kenyans to buy the farms of former white settlers. It had also established a settlements fund to resettle those who had been displaced by the colonial government. This exercise resulted in inter-regional migratory patterns which brought a rich inter-ethnic mixture across traditional tribal homelands. The same land policy continued throughout the Moi Government, but with less emphasis on largescale tribal resettlement. This means that large portions of ethnic populations such as the Kikuyu, Luo, Kamba, Luhya and others today find themselves outside their ancestral homelands and in territories which could become hostile jimbos. Majimbo proponents argue that federalism would not entail the eviction of the so-called non-indigenous people from their migrant jimbo. They should perhaps enlighten Kenyans on what is happening to the report compiled by the Judicial Commission on Tribal Clashes led by Mr Justice Akiwumi two years ago, and what is going on in the killing fields of Molo, Laikipia, Enoosupukia, Gucha-Transmara, Tana River and pockets of the North-Eastern Province. There seems to be mass eviction and other acts of ethnic cleansing even before majimboism is official policy. The lessons learnt in the 1960s were very good. The infant regions could not finance their survival without funds from the central government. Some 40 years later, the central government is literally broke and has to pass the hat around from Washington to Osaka via the Paris Club. How will small political and economic mini-states survive without the financial umbrella provided to Kenya by donors? Afraid for their overnight fortunes Majimboism is being propagated by ethnic chauvinistic plutocrats who hold key positions in Government and parastatal bodies, and who enjoy lucrative state contracts to import sugar and other industrial goods which are killing indigenous agriculture and manufacturing industries. These people are afraid for their overnight fortunes and their continued plunder of state coffers when Moi's term of office expires. They should not instil fear and despondency among their communities with the argument that the communities' future and security lies in majimboism. Kenya's ethnic diversity should be an asset, not a liability. During the colonial era and in the first decade of independence certain economic policies were put in place. Each province had specific economic activities which brought in wealth for its inhabitants. Nairobi was an industrial base. Central Province was agricultural with cash crops such as coffee, tea and diary industry taking the lead. So was Eastern Province especially around Mt. Kenya. North-Eastern had livestock as a major player in the beef industry before the Kenya Meat Commission collapsed. The Rift Valley was both agricultural and pastoral. Nyanza led in fish and cotton production while Western came in with sugar. The Coast had the Port of Mombasa, supplemented by marine life as its economic lifeline. Today, the provinces which would form the basis of a jimbo, are to a very large extent, economically unstable. The Kenya Constitution Review Commission has a responsibility to protect Kenyans from destruction through politically expedient ways of covering up for political inadequacies and failures.

News 24 (South Africa) 1 Aug 2001 Kenya 'shelters' genocide suspect Jean Baptiste Kayigamba Kigali - Rwandan authorities on Wednesday said a wealthy Rwandan accused of helping plan the 1994 genocide lived in Nairobi and Kenya should arrest him. An official of Rwanda's External Security Organisation intelligence agency said exiled Hutu millionaire Felicien Kabuga lived in Nairobi under the protection of influential Kenyans. "If there were real co-operation by the Kenyan government, Kabuga could be arrested any time, because his whereabouts are known to the Kenyan authorities," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. He said the ESO had records of phone calls Kabuga had made from Nairobi to relatives in Brussels, among other evidence. "It is deplorable that some countries, Rwanda's neighbours, and even those pretending to be our friends continue to show very little or no co-operation in netting and extraditing well- known genocide suspects who have found a safe haven in those countries," said Rwandan Justice Minister Jean de Dieu Mucyo. Kenya ‘not aware’ of Kabuga’s presence In Nairobi, Kenyan Foreign Minister Chris Obure said the government was not aware that Kabuga lived in Kenya. "The government would be prepared to co-operate in extraditing Felicien Kabuga if such extradition is sought and should it be proved that he is anywhere within our jurisdiction," Obure said in answer to questions at a joint news conference with visiting French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine. Rwanda's Tutsi-led government has long complained that the international community has worked far harder to arrest alleged war criminals in the Balkans and other regions than their equivalents in Rwanda, despite what they call a profound moral obligation created by the United Nations' catastrophic decision in 1994 to withdraw UN troops as the genocide began. Rewards offered Kabuga is one of 13 Rwandans named this year as key genocide suspects by the US State Department, which has offered rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to their arrest. The 13 have been indicted by the International Criminal Court for Rwanda on charges related to the Rwandan genocide, in which Hutu extremists massacred at least 800 000 Rwandan Tutsis and their Hutu moderate allies. Diplomats in the region said the exact charges against Kabuga were being kept confidential so as not to prejudice efforts to capture him. Rwanda welcomed this month's arrest in Europe of four prominent genocide suspects but says many others remain free in Africa under the protection of African governments. Told Hutus where Tutsis were hiding Kabuga was president and part-owner of the Radio Television Milles Collines media company which ran a radio station that fanned ethnic hatred against Rwanda's Tutsis, told Hutus where Tutsis were to be found and offered advice on how to kill them. Kabuga, who also controlled many of Rwanda's tea and coffee plantations and factories, is now believed by diplomats to help fund the activities of Congo-based Rwandan Hutu Interahamwe militiamen who are fighting Rwanda's current government. Like Protais Zigiranyirazo, one of the four arrested in Europe, Kabuga was a member of the "akazu" (little house), a small but powerful ruling elite of Hutu family members and relatives who plotted the extermination of Tutsis. The Rwandan intelligence official added Rwandan Hutu rebel leaders and genocide suspects Augustin Bizimungu and Tharcisse Renzaho were living in Kinshasa and were in effect part of the high command of the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bizimungu, chief of staff of the Rwandan army at the time of the genocide, and Renzaho, then governor of the capital Kigali, helped direct the 1994 killings, Rwandan officials alleged. "Pressure should be put on Kabila to hand them over," one official said, referring to DRC President Joseph Kabila.

Nigeria

San Francisco Chronicle 1 August 2001 Nigeria's war of terror Women, children being mutilated in brutal ethnic conflict, by Ivan Watson, Lafia, Nigeria -- One-year-old Hope Anya lay silently in bed, watching the world around her with large, frightened eyes. Adhesive bandages arced across her swollen belly. Hope had been partially disemboweled when she arrived at Lafia Hospital earlier this month. During a dawn raid on the nearby village of Tudun Adabu, attackers slashed her stomach with a machete after killing both of her grandparents. Hope was just one of 13 patients in the children's ward of Lafia Hospital. All under the age of 10, these were the youngest victims in Nigeria's latest ethnic war. Nigeria, which is Africa's most populous country with 123 million people, is also one of the most diverse, with more than 200 ethnic groups. But extreme poverty and a stagnant economy have aggravated tensions, leading to clashes along ethnic and religious fault lines. The unsolved murder and subsequent beheading of the traditional leader of the Asara ethnic group in June aggravated a conflict between ethnic Tivs and other local tribes in Nasarawa state. According to the Nigerian Red Cross, the latest raids and revenge killings have displaced more than 55,000 people. Police say more than 100 people in the state have been killed in clashes during the past month. Local doctors say most of the victims were women and children. Nasarawa state is nestled in the hills and fertile farmlands of central Nigeria that are known as the Middle Belt. Though Tivs have lived in the Middle Belt for centuries, they originated elsewhere in Africa and are widely seen as newcomers and unwanted settlers by the dozens of other indigenous ethnic groups in the area, including the Asara, Eggon and Fulani tribes. The "Tiv wars" are just one of the many ethnic and religious conflicts that periodically erupt in Nigeria. Last October, hundreds died in the commercial capital of Lagos when members of two of Nigeria's largest ethnic groups, the Hausas and the Yorubas, clashed. Thousands were killed in 1999 during Muslim- Christian riots in the city of Kaduna. And for years, the country's oil-rich yet impoverished Niger Delta has been in a constant state of armed uprising, as youths from a handful of small ethnic groups have fought for their share of the region's rich oil revenues. Since the transition from decades of disastrous military dictatorship to civilian government two years ago, elected President Olusegun Obasanjo has tried to combat Nigeria's fractious tribal divisions by promoting ideas of unity and national integration. Despite his efforts, ethnic warfare continues to flare up. "It's because of the failure of the state," said Julius Ihonvbere, a Nigerian program officer at the New York offices of the Ford Foundation. "If you go to the city, the government has no welfare program for you. It is your ethnic group that will take care of you until you find a job. When you die in the city, the government has no program to take your corpse back to the village. It is your ethnic group that does it." More than 50 people were killed in the raid early last month on Tudun Adabu, a community of ethnic Eggons. Survivors said the attackers were Tivs. They said they recognized some of the attackers as neighbors -- even friends -- from surrounding villages. In the women's ward of Lafia Hospital, Halina Yakobo sat upright in her bed and described the attack in the local Hausa language. "At about 5 a.m., we heard gunshots and we started running," she said through a translator. Yakobo, who has been partially blind from birth, had little chance to escape. She and her two children were quickly caught by a man wielding an ax. "He just gave me a deep cut on this hand. But the other hand, he just cut it off. So I fell down and he took the ax again, trying to attack me on the head," she said. "He also attacked the two children, (saying) that they should kill them. 'Kill them, they are monkeys.' " Yakobo's 2-year-old son Joseph wore a bloody bandage covering a gash on the right side of his face. His 4-year-old sister, Anatu, had a long cut on the top of her head. Barely an hour's drive away, thousands of Tivs who recently fled Nasarawa state when they in turn came under attack were living in a former school now serving as the Daudu refugee camp, just inside neighboring Benue state. "What is mama carrying?" asked the camp's doctor, Sunday Ochogwu, as Mkaanen Aondokume, a small Tiv woman in her 60s, shuffled into his makeshift office. Aondokume's right arm was wrapped in a large bundle of rags. A nurse unwrapped her wrist, and the stench from a heavily infected wound filled the doctor's small office. During a raid on her village, an ethnic Fulani man cut Aondokume on the head, the arm and the back of the neck and then left her for dead. It took her a week of walking and traveling by public bus to reach the camp. The doctor said she would probably lose her right hand due to the infection. "This is a war on the Tivs," said Peter Igache, the leader of a Tiv youth group, amid the crying children and piles of hastily gathered belongings in the refugee camp. "We will not go (back to Nasarawa state) because we are fearing for our lives." Ethnic conflict in the area is not new. In 1992, more than 5,000 people were reported killed in the Middle Belt during a virtual civil war between Tivs and another group called the Jukuns. "These things are mainly economic, mainly issues of high levels of poverty, " said Labaran Maku, a spokesman for the Nasarawa state government. In Nigeria, the average person struggles to earn just $300 a year. "So any little thing can flare up," said Maku. "People are hungry; people can't get sufficient opportunities. They want to address their immediate problems." Nasarawa's governor, Abdullahi Adamu, called the fighting during the past month a "bitter lesson." He quickly created reconciliation committees and organized emergency meetings between leaders of the rival ethnic groups. But the conflict followed them there; last week a crowd of villagers attacked Nasarawa's deputy governor, as well as the traditional leaders from the Tiv and a rival community, during a reconciliation meeting. Although Adamu said he was trying to bring back the Tivs who fled his state, he acknowledged that he did not have the resources or the manpower to stop the killing in remote villages. Some of the responsibility for the ethnic animosity also lies with Britain, Nigeria's former colonial ruler. In 1914, London created Nigeria by arbitrarily drawing borders around a grab bag of independent kingdoms, sultanates and city-states. In the years after Nigeria won independence in 1960, Nigerian politics focused more on ethnicity than ideology. But much of the fighting now is driven by local struggles for economic or political clout. "What is happening is people are abusing ethnicity and religion to promote some other interest they have. It's simply an excuse. What is at stake is power," said Chinua Achebe, the celebrated Nigerian author of the novel "Things Fall Apart." "This is where leadership of a high order comes in. And we've not had too much time (since the 1999 hand-over from military rule to elected government) to address this seriously." Achebe, also the author of a scathing 1983 manifesto titled "The Trouble With Nigeria," said the country "has certain clear prospects of success if it could keep it together. But if it can't work, then perhaps it may be better to split up into tiny postage-stamp states."

This Day (Lagos) August 29, 2001 Christian Association Raises Alarm Over Another Crisis in Kaduna Agaju Madugba in and Tokunbo Adejoja Kaduna And Bauchi Kaduna appears set to explode again as the state branch of the Youth Christian Association of Nigeria (Youth CAN) warned yesterday that it would no longer fold its arms against allegations of selective killing of Christians in parts of the state. This alarm was raised just as Christians in Tawafa Balewa and Bogoro local governments called on President Olusegun Obasanjo to declare a state of emergency in the councils. In February and May last year, violence had swept through Kaduna metropolis and environs as indigenous Muslims and Christians in the state clashed over alleged plans then by the state government to introduce the Sharia law. "Government should beef up security all over the state to protect Christians and prevent a re-currence of last year's crisis, the Kaduna youth CAN said at a press conference, adding that, "CAN shall continue to resist all forms of religious intolerance in the state as nobody has any monopoly of violence in Kaduna State." Specifically, CAN alleged that Christians in Narayi, a suburb of Kaduna and Kateri village, located on the Kaduna-Abuja road, have been subjected to various forms of intimidation. "Two weeks ago, also, and precisely on August 8, 2001 or thereabouts, a bomb was discovered planted in Narayi village, a predominantly Christian settlement. It took the combined effort and ingenuity of the police bomb disposal outfit and the army to discover and remove the said bomb," said the chairman. Chairman of Youth CAN, Mr. Danladi Yerima and Secretary, Mr. Sunday Oibe, who jointly addressed the press conference at the CAN secretariat on Ibrahim Taiwo Road. According to the group, "the most devastating of this surreptitious plan by the Muslims is the wanton destruction of lives and property in Birnin-Gwari (on the Kaduna-Lagos Road) on August 21, 2001. "A corpse was discovered in Birnin-Gwari and the Muslims concluded that whoever killed that person must be a Christian. Muslims went on the rampage and as at August 22, 2001, three Christians had been confirmed slaughtered. "Two of these victims had earlier taken refuge at the Birnin-Gwari police station but were brought out by the rampaging Muslims, and murdered in cold blood, while other Christians fled into the bush for safety. "There has been no word from government and till now, no arrest has been made." Apparently alarmed that the situation may recur, CAN demanded the unconditional withdrawal of all Christian civil servants working in Birnin-Gwari and their reposting to more humane areas as a panacea to peaceful co-existence in that war-torn environment. A text of the press briefing read in part: "The attention of the Youth CAN, Kaduna State has been drawn, once more to another round of skirmishes resulting in unwarranted killings of Christians in certain parts of Kaduna State. "Kaduna State has hardly fully recuperated from the blood bath of year 2000 when incidence of brutal attacks were unleashed on law-abiding Christians in certain parts of the state. "CAN deems it proper to bring to the notice of both government and the general public that it can no longer continue to embrace peace when its members are being harassed, intimidated, maimed and killed by intolerant and fanatical Muslim faithfuls. "This release has become imperative particularly as it is apparent that the state government is pretending to be ignorant of these happenings even in the face of torture and elimination of Christians. "We call on Christians to be clam, law-abiding and pray for the unity and progress of Kaduna State." Meanwhile, the Nigeria CAN in Tafawa-Balewa and Bogoro Local Government Areas of Bauchi State, has called on Obasanjo to declare a state of emergency in the area. This followed the persistent killings of Christians in the areas by people suspected to be Chadian Jihadists. A statement jointly signed by the chairmen and secretaries of CAN in the two local governments, Reverend Markus Musa, Micheal Lulu, Rev. Eluwa and Yunusa Manzo respectively stated that the call became necessary because the state government was in support of the killings in order to exterminate Christians in the state. This development, the statement noted, is not only a threat to national security, but to the corporate existence of Nigeria. While noting that the Muslim Jihadists first invaded the two local governments between June and August this year when the state government attempted to extend the implementation of Sharia to the areas, the statement added that the invasion led to the death of over 200 Christians and destruction of properties worth millions of naira. Justifying the call for declaration of state of emergency, CAN said that there was actually a breakdown of law, public peace and security in the areas, arguing that there can only be restoration of peace and security through an urgent constitutional measure. It would be recalled that religious crisis broke out in the two local governments early this year following attempt by the state government to extend the implementation of Sharia to the areas which have a high concentration of Christians.

Rwanda

Independent (UK) 4 Aug 2001 Rwanda warns of Hutus preparing second genocide By Alex Duval Smith in Kigali. Rwanda's Tutsi-led government is warning of preparations for a new genocide by militias of the Hutu majority based in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. In the latest alarmist statement, the defence minister of Rwanda, Emmanuel Hayarimana, said more than 40,000 rebels were marching from their Congolese bases at Kabalo, some 280 miles from the south-west Rwandan border, and from Kamina, 500 miles from the frontier. The Rwandans are parading Hutu prisoners in support of their claims. In the face of increasing international scepticism, Rwanda's military government needs to justify the presence of 11,000 of its troops in the DRC. Pierre Habimana is one of the prisoners. If this Hutu's captors are to be believed, their prisoner was part of the advance guard of the foiled second genocide, a repeat of the savage machete rampage that left up to 800,000 Tutsis dead in three months in 1994. The prisoner clutched his crucifix as he spoke. "We had a revelation that the land was going to be ours," said the Interahamwe militia leader, captured last month by the Rwandan military. "It was a sign from the Lord, and so all means were acceptable to conquer the land." Because of the threat of people such as Habimana, still hiding in the Congolese jungle just a few kilometres away, Rwanda can justify its role in the three-year war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Forty-year-old Habimana, whose nom de guerre is Bemera, is in military custody and must negotiate his way out of death by firing squad. So he may, for the benefit of journalists brought by his captors to meet him at a hilltop barracks, be overstating the size of the Hutu offensive. But Colonel Bemera ("My name signified 'Those who believe'") may be telling the truth. "I was the chief of staff of Alir 1, which was born through God's work in the refugee camps in Congo. Alir means Armée de Liberation du Rwanda. A Congolese woman at Masisi camp told us her vision - if we continued to kill the pigs belonging to the locals, we would perish. But God was ready to give us Rwanda and it was our mission to return." Thousands of Rwandans fled to neighbouring Congo during and after the 1994 genocide. They were Tutsis, the minority élite caste that had been the target of the frenzied murder, as well as their Hutu friends. Others who fled included the Interahamwe (the killers). Many have now returned to Rwanda and the stragglers are increasingly suspected of having something to hide or planning a final solution. The Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), which has governed the small country since crushing the genocidaires in July 1994, claims that Alir is acting with the support of Joseph Kabila and his allies from Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia and Burundi. The accusation is serious: to gain military advantage over Rwandan troops occupying the DRC, Mr Kabila is allegedly prepared to destabilise Rwanda by raising the spectre of a new genocide. "The Interahamwe are unrepentant," said the RPA deputy chief of staff, Brigadier-General James Kabarebe, at his Kigali headquarters. "They want to finish the job. If two or three of them are picked up in Europe from time to time, just imagine how many are hiding in Congo. They have received airdrops of arms from Kabila." Elaborating with a surprising amount of detail, he added: "Alir 1 consists of at least 13,000 men but it has been neutralised now. Alir 2, which is preparing an offensive from the south, is made up of 40,000 men." In his hilltop prison near the capital, Habimana, wearing a new, lime-green shirt and jeans, sat behind his interrogation table and outlined his view of events in 1994. "In Alir, we do not use the word genocide. What happened in 1994 was, to us, a massacre. To have been a genocide, the killings would have had to be premeditated. There was incitement to hatred but there was not a pre-planned annihilation of the Tutsis. They were killed because of their possessions and because they were at war with the government. "I was innocent of genocide. I was like a technician. I was defending the government of the day. It is not true that we wanted to bring back the genocide. We Hutus just want our power back," he said. It is clear from his vocabulary that Habimana has spent the last seven years in the jungle. Rwandans living at home since the genocide do not use the H-word or the T-word. Such talk is detonator rhetoric and everyone knows that only the R-word, reconciliation, will keep international aid flowing. So the rebels captured at the same time as Habimana went to a "re-education camp". Yet even as the Rwandan military government is engaged in a grandiose exercise to prove to the world it can turn the other cheek, every fibre in its being is imbued with the terrible fear of the Interahamwe and the plethora of militias and mercenaries it can enlist. That is why Rwanda will never fully pull out of the DRC - and why there cannot be stability in this key region of Africa - until there is the international will for thousands of United Nations peace-keepers and observers to launch a disarmament programme in the Congo that will be the biggest the world has ever seen.

South Africa

Al-Ahram (Egypt) 30 August 2001, Issue No.549 In a fast changing world With all eyes on Durban and the issue of race, Pierre Sané and Jérôme Bindé look to the hidden dangers of modern science and the trends of globalisation Over the last two centuries, pseudo-biological theories of "racial" inequality have often been enlisted in an attempt to bolster ideologies of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance. In recent decades, however, the inanity of these theories has been demonstrated. Science, and modern genetics in particular, has constantly affirmed the unity of the human species, and denied that the notion of race has any foundation. Article 1 of the "Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights", states that the human genome "underlies the fundamental unity of all members of the human family, as well as the recognition of their inherent dignity and diversity". This declaration was unanimously adopted at UNESCO's 29th General Conference on 11 November 1997, and then by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1998. Yet racism and racial discrimination have hardly vanished. They have not only survived the scientific deconstruction of the concept of race, but even seem to be gaining ground in most parts of the world. Powerful transformations are currently under way in the world's technology, economy, politics, society and culture. These transformations, associated with the third industrial revolution in history -- the revolution of new technologies -- are often summed up by the word "globalisation" and seem to favour the spread of new forms of racism and discrimination. Social inequality and uncertainty have increased in the age of globalisation, as have explosive communitarian reactions and the flaring up of passions regarding ethnic, national, "racial" and religious identities. In every region of the world, these passions increasingly give way to violence, all too often in fanatic guises that end in massacres among neighbouring populations. Thus, even as we celebrate the dismantling of institutional apartheid in South Africa, in most regions of the world, we are forced to recognise that various forms of social and urban apartheid are on the rise. Very often these forms are based on a structural discrimination, which is racial in character; they can be explicit or implicit, but it is remarkable that they no longer need to rely on conscious reference to racist thematics. In this universe of walled-up housing developments and impenetrable neighbourhoods, the very concept of public space -- which is inseparable from the concept of democracy -- is on the wane, and sometimes even disappearing. Forms of social, urban and educational apartheid have spread rapidly, and they comprise a system of "invisible racism" and veiled discrimination as formidable as more outward varieties. For these reasons, the questions of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance need to be thought out anew, in a forward-looking way. Racism and racial discrimination have often been carried to their farthest extremes in countries with the highest levels of education. Contemporary scientific progress, and particularly the gene revolution, has raised great hopes but also alarming questions. In the temptation to perfect our species, are we not seeing the return of eugenics -- more specifically, a commercial form of eugenics that threatens to create a "two-track humanity"? Have the risks been properly understood concerning humanity's dream of taking control of itself -- or should we say, of being controlled by those who master the new procedures? Does the progress in modern genetics not threaten to lead to that "brave new world" prophesied by Aldous Huxley, with a new species of genetically engineered "supermen" dominating masses of "subhumans" excluded from the new genetic paradise? More than ever, ethics needs to keep step with scientific progress and technological applications. It must be determined whether there is a risk in identifying characteristic gene sequences in populations living in a given geographic area: could this lead to the use of data for purposes of racial or ethnic discrimination? Also, what are the risks that new techniques of human reproduction will lead to discrimination in the selection of embryos? Selection may be employed to favour certain phenotypes, so that fewer people will be born with a genetic profile which is deemed undesirable; or on the contrary, to favour the birth of individuals with desirable characteristics, for example, the physical qualities needed to perform a certain kind of work. Research on human genetic heritage could increase the temptation to deny the existence of human liberty. Many geneticists today are studying human genome sequences which may predispose individuals to certain kinds of behaviour (depression, rage, the use of memory, etc.). If individual and group behaviour is reduced to biology, we are in danger of being dispossessed of the concept of human liberty. New forms of racism and discrimination based on the idea of inequality among cultures threaten to emerge in the 21st century. These tacit forms of racism and racial discrimination are essentially structural. But in the impoverished ghettos of the Northern and Southern hemispheres, they have already led to conditions of social and urban apartheid. This new social and cultural racism has almost no need for an ideology and an articulated discourse. It can, of course, be reinforced by inequalities in revenue and by conflicts related to a person's sense of belonging to a social category. But it may also converge with another threat: the possible emergence of a new kind of eugenics, based primarily on consumerism and commerce, and leading to new forms of discrimination fostered by the progress made in modern genetics and the new, almost demiurgic powers of technology and science. Preventive measures need to be taken at the international and national levels, especially with regard to education, bioethics and urban policies. We must not overestimate the role of education in the fight against new forms of racism and discrimination -- it would be unfair to expect educational institutions to cure the ills which society itself has been unable to face -- but education could be a precious tool in this struggle, so long as we refuse the various forms of "educational apartheid" which are currently being implemented. Educational programmes, textbooks and pedagogical methods should be revamped in order to meet these new challenges. Safeguards must also be established to prevent misapplications of the new genetics. There is a real danger that humanity's old demons will come back if groups are allowed to be stigmatised as genetically "less capable". The risk of eugenics and the manipulation of the human species is greater than ever. A bioethical framework should be established to deal with this gravest of dangers for human rights. Manifestations of "urban apartheid" have become increasingly extreme, thereby challenging the fight against poverty and threatening democracy. If we wish to change our lives in the 21st century and carry on an effective fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance, it will be necessary to change our cities as well. Governments need to display their civic sense by adopting policies which can prevent the most serious kinds of dangers. Leading figures in civil society must also mobilise their efforts to ensure that the rights of every human being are fully recognised, and that their societies do not become essentially uncivil.

Jerusalem Post 30 Auguat 2001 Robinson in Durban: I am a Jew By Herb Keinon and Janine Zacharia JERUSALEM - Waving a book of anti-Semitic cartoons distributed at the anti-racism conference in Durban, UN High Commissioner Mary Robinson - in a dramatic act of identification with the Jews vilified in the pamphlet - declared "I am a Jew" at an NGO dinner there last night. Shimon Samuels, of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Paris, said that after he showed Robinson the booklet, she stood up, waved it and said, "This conference is aimed at achieving human dignity. My husband is a cartoonist, I love political cartoons, but when I see the racism in this cartoon booklet, of the Arab Lawyers' Union, I must say that I am a Jew - for those victims are hurting. I know that you people will not understand easily, but you are my friends, so I tell you that I am a Jew, and I will not accept this fractiousness to torpedo the conference." Samuels, head of the Jewish caucus at the anti-racism conference, said that the booklet, which he said contained vile anti-Semitic cartoons, was handed out at registration, and that several of the Jewish groups in Durban had complained about it. Meanwhile, less than 24 hours before the Israeli delegation's plane to the UN anti-racism conference in Durban is scheduled to take off, no decision has yet been made on whether it will participate, or at what level. "We'll have to decide in the morning, because our last plane out is tomorrow evening," one Foreign Ministry official scheduled to attend the conference said last night. The US announced yesterday it is dispatching Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Michael Southwick and a small delegation to South Africa to try to amend language in a proposed final communique that is offensive to Israel and Jews, before the conference opens tomorrow. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Southwick could leave Durban before the conference's official opening, if the language singling out Israel is not taken out. The State Department announced earlier this week that Secretary of State Colin Powell would not attend the conference because of the anti-Israel clauses. President George W. Bush said last week that the US would not take part at all if the conference "picks on" or denigrates Israel for its treatment of Palestinians. "We felt it was necessary for us to have representatives out there to do what the president asked us to do, and that's to work to eliminate this language," Boucher said yesterday. "If we can do that, then we can make the further decisions on how we participate." If Southwick remains, Israel will have to decide whether to send Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior or dispatch a lower-level official. Some American Jewish leaders, who lobbied Powell not to attend, are said to have urged Melchior not to go. One Foreign Ministry source said if a delegation is sent, it should be at a level that will enable it to be as effective as possible. Attempts by the US to have the anti-Israel language taken out of the proposed resolutions have not yet yielded any fruit, Israeli officials said. A source briefed on the US plans said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had persuaded Powell that the language - including clauses describing Zionism as a movement based on racial superiority and others describing Israeli actions as ethnic cleansing - could be struck from the document only if an American delegation were present to support such a move. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley said he still hasn't decided whether to attend and that Canada has "very serious" concerns about a push to single out Israel. Echoing earlier comments by Powell, Manley said, "The purpose of this conference should be to set a mark for countries to observe in trying to eradicate racist practices. It shouldn't be targeted at any countries. The text such as it is that I've seen goes much too far in singling out one country, in this case Israel." According to a report received by the Foreign Ministry, a group from the World Union of Jewish Students, which set up a booth yesterday at the non-governmental organization part of the conference, was confronted by Palestinian students chanting anti-Israeli slogans. According to the ministry, the Jewish students sang: "All we are saying is give peace a chance." The Palestinians responded by chanting, "We will redeem Palestine through blood and fire." This was only one of many complaints registered by Jewish groups about harassment at the conference, though conference director Moshe More said no serious incidents have been reported so far. "I feel besieged, there's anti-Semitism and hate literature at the world racism conference. It couldn't get much worse," said Anne Bayefsky, a professor from New York's Columbia University Law School. "Some of the Jewish delegates are hiding their accreditation badge because it identifies them as from Israel or as Jewish. Some are considering leaving Durban altogether." More said "protesters can express their views, but we have a strong contingent of police. There have been no physical attacks on anyone." Stacy Burdett, representing the Anti-Defamation League, said some of the 200 Jewish representatives in Durban were shocked by their treatment, and felt unfairly singled out. Pamphlets circulated at the NGO meeting caricatured Jews, and posters carried slogans overlapping the Star of David with the swastika. Many pro-Palestinian delegates wore T-shirts with a slogan equating Israel with apartheid and colonialism, and calling it an occupying power that kills civilians. "There is a real sense of hostility toward Jewish people," said Karen Pollock, director of the London-based Holocaust Education Trust. "We are being intimidated." The South African police have said that the safety of the 7,000 delegates attending the meeting is a high priority, and more than 3,000 police and soldiers have been deployed.

Tanzania

BBC 27 August, 2001 Islamists charged with violence in Tanzania The authorities in Tanzania have charged 41 people with rioting, illegal assembly and violence following a religious protest. The group of Muslims went on a banned demonstration to protest over the arrest of a man who was jailed for blasphemy against Christians. They pleaded not guilty and were remanded in custody for a hearing next month. Several Islamic groups had called for the release of a man who walked through the streets of Morogoro west of Dar-es-Salam, shouting: Jesus is not God." His sentence was revoked after an appeal at the High Court.

Americas

Argentina

ICRC 23 August 2001 Argentina: Strengthening international humanitarian law On 16 August a seminar on strengthening international humanitarian law was held in Buenos Aires to mark the anniversary of the adoption on 12 August of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. The seminar, organized jointly by the ICRC and the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship, was attended by some 140 participants from government, parliamentary, judicial, academic, diplomatic and military circles. The discussions centred on recent developments and challenges in the fields of humanitarian law and humanitarian action. Special emphasis was placed on international criminal responsibility and ICRC initiatives concerning restrictions on the use of certain conventional weapons. Also attended by the Secretary of State for Worship and the Under-Secretary of State for External Policy, who gave the closing address, the seminar included presentations by the Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ICRC regional delegate, the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee in charge of defining the crime of aggression in the Statute of the International Criminal Court, a professor of humanitarian law from the University of Buenos Aires and a senior representative of the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the armed forces.

Colombia

AP 17 August, 2001 Colombia put on war footing The Colombian army is modernising and re-equipping By Jeremy McDermott in Medellin Colombia's President Andres Pastrana has signed a controversial new law giving the military sweeping powers, despite international opposition and army's abysmal human rights record. The legislation gives the military new powers of detention and the right to set up martial law in specific places, giving them authority over civilian officials. The legislation has been fiercely opposed by human rights groups and politicians in the United States. Many fear it will herald a new chapter in human rights abuses by the military, which has proven links to right-wing death squads and often turns a blind eye or even aids paramilitaries in their massacres of guerrilla sympathisers. Abuses Rights groups say that no military force should have the judicial powers the bill grants, especially when not officially at war. Amnesty International released a statement saying "there is serious concern that these provisions could facilitate torture or other forms of human rights violations of those captured during counter-insurgency operations". Powerful voices in the US, which is supporting the Colombian military to the tune of over $1bn, have also been raised in protest. Hands tied But the Colombian army insists the legislation is necessary and that until now it has been fighting the civil conflict with one hand tied behind its back. Human rights groups just hope the other hand will play fair now it has been unleashed.

WP 27 Aug 2001 Colombia's Zone of Fear By Jose Miguel Vivanco Page A15 There is a place in this hemisphere where people vanish without a trace. Fear is so pervasive that few are willing to meet publicly with international human rights investigators. It is as large as Switzerland, but ruled by the gun. That place is the zone ceded by the Colombian government to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC), Latin America's oldest and largest insurgent group. In November 1998 Colombian President Andres Pastrana ceded to the rebels five municipalities in southern Colombia, hoping to further talks aimed at negotiating an end to decades of armed conflict. International attention has focused primarily on human rights abuses committed by right-wing paramilitaries, which operate with the tolerance and even open support of units in Colombia's military. Acting with impunity, paramilitaries commit gross atrocities in Colombia and are responsible for most civilian massacres. But guerrillas also deserve condemnation for the barbarity that is sweeping Colombia. Prior to withdrawing soldiers and police, Colombia's leaders did nothing to establish mechanisms to protect the rights of the estimated 90,000 residents of the zone. Guerrillas forced out employees of the attorney general's office, who would normally investigate and prosecute allegations of crimes. So far, the Colombians living in the zone have paid a high price for these mistakes. During a mission to the zone in May and June of 2000, Human Rights Watch gathered evidence showing that the FARC has abducted and threatened residents, committed extrajudicial executions and recruited children for combat. One of the most dramatic cases involved a teenager, Guillermo Lombana Lizcano. According to his family, Lombana was abducted by the FARC on April 16, 1999, in front of his home in San Vicente del Caguan, the unofficial capital of the zone and its most populated urban center. His father, also named Guillermo, said that the family watched as guerrillas seized the boy. "My son went out to talk to a friend, and they were waiting for him. Two of them grabbed him while one stood aside. They put him in a taxi. We ran outside because friends had yelled, 'Look, they're taking your boy!' We hadn't had any threats from the FARC. We never had any kind of problem with them. It was a surprise." Since then Lombana has searched doggedly, but guerrillas have never told him what happened to his son. Cases such as Lombana's would qualify as forced disappearances under international human rights law if they were carried out by government officials or groups acting with government support. But the fact that these abuses do not qualify at the moment as a violation of specific human rights treaties should not lead to any confusion about their nature. These abductions are serious violations of international law and should spur international outrage. Outside the zone, the FARC is equally abusive. Last year human rights groups reported that rebels killed 496 civilians nationwide, many accused of being members of the paramilitary or army sympathizers. Guerrillas continue to kidnap for ransom, seizing 701 people in 2000 alone. Some victims are elderly. Some are in diapers. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, among those held hostage by the FARC in 2000 were Andres Felipe Navas Suarez, 3, and Clara Olivia Pantoja, 5, both seized from their parents in Bogota and taken to the zone until their families paid a ransom for their release. In June and July, FARC made headlines by releasing 350 police and soldiers, some it had held for more than three years. Although this was a positive step, the release also underscored the desperate conditions in which these men had been kept -- without adequate shelter, medical care or clean water. In a few cases, international pressure has led FARC to acknowledge responsibility for certain gross violations and to announce that it will sanction the perpetrators. For example, during our visit to the zone, FARC commanders told Human Rights Watch that the two FARC combatants who killed American civilians Terence Freitas, Lahe'ena'e Gay and Ingrid Washinawatok on March 5, 1999, had been found "guilty." The FARC sentenced the two killers to dig 55 yards of trenches and clear land, an absurd punishment for so grave a crime. In October, Pastrana will decide whether to renew the zone, which he may do to further peace negotiations. Before he does, it is imperative that effective measures be taken to ensure the protection of the zone's residents. For its part, FARC should make a public commitment to permit a system of independent national and international monitoring within the zone and to respect basic humanitarian law standards. Colombia remains the recipient of several hundred million dollars in U.S. aid, a significant portion of which will fund a military that has ties to paramilitary organizations. The international community rightly continues to focus on paramilitary violations. But the grave abuses committed by the guerrillas deserve no less attention. The writer is executive director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch.

Asia-Pacific

Afghanistan

BBC 6 August, 2001 Taleban crackdown on Christian relief The agency gives food and shelter to victims of war Afghanistan's ruling Taleban have closed down a Western aid agency, Shelter Now International, and arrested 24 of its staff, alleging that the group was spreading Christianity. Eight foreigners - six of them women - were among those arrested. Taleban officials said two of the foreign women workers were arrested while trying to convert an Afghan family to Christianity using computer material. Last year, the Taleban introduced the death penalty for any Muslim converting to another religion and for anyone responsible for causing Muslims to convert. Two of the women are Americans in their 20s. Jorge Taubmann - Shelter Now's director and a German national - was also arrested, along with an Australian man. The official Bakhtar news agency said Shelter Now International was "teaching Christianity to Afghans and we found Bible books in a house of its Afghan staff". A senior Taleban official, quoted by the official Voice of Shariat radio, said the eight foreigners had "confessed to the crime" and asked for a pardon. School closed The Bakhtar news agency accused the women of "propagating Christianity" by showing a video stored on a computer to an Afghan family. Officials of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice police found the books and the video in a raid on the family's house. Bakhtar also said a school run by the agency for 65 children had also been closed and the children had been shifted to a reform centre where they would receive an Islamic education. Relief work Shelter Now International is a non-governmental organisation supported by Germany, Britain, Holland and the United Nations World Food Programme, the agency said. It was running projects to provide emergency shelter, as well as food and other necessities, to Afghans affected by drought and war. It has also been offering emergency aid to Afghan refugees in Pakistan. But the BBC's Afghanistan correspondent Kate Clark says that as an openly Christian agency, Shelter Now has always been vulnerable to charges of proselytising.

Cambodia

AP 10 August 2001 Cambodia Signs Khmer Rouge Law By Chris Decherd PHNOM PENH, Cambodia –– Cambodia took a big step toward obtaining justice for victims of the murderous Khmer Rouge as King Norodom Sihanouk signed a law Friday enabling the establishment of a U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal. Sihanouk's action brings the prospect of a trial closer than ever, but its timing and nature remain open to questions. Cambodia and the United Nations must work out details of international involvement in the tribunal, in which foreign judges and prosecutors would participate along with Cambodians. The United Nations took a cautious approach to news of the signing, saying it wants to review the law and an official translation. While the Khmer Rouge is blamed for the deaths of some 1.7 million people when it ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, most of its former leaders live freely here. Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998 and no one has been tried for the regime's atrocities. Under the law, surviving leaders of the group could be prosecuted for crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes. "About the judgment and condemnation of those Khmer Rouge arch criminals, I don't have any objection," King Sihanouk said this week. In a letter to The Sunday Times of London dated Thursday and faxed to news organizations, the king said he has prayed every week for years for the souls of the victims of the Khmer Rouge. "I am, like the people of Cambodia, still mourning with my heart and spirit the horrible suffering of all those who were slaves under the tyranny of Pol Pot and his lieutenants," Sihanouk wrote. In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher welcomed Sihanouk's action. He called it an important step in bringing justice to victims of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge who defected at an early stage of the group's brutal rule, has said Cambodia would hold the trial alone if the world body refuses to participate. Human rights groups in and out of the country believe Cambodian courts by themselves cannot deliver real justice because of a relative lack of competence, along with a history of being open to corruption and willingness to do the bidding of Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party. Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia – an independent organization that has been gathering evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities – said the law's promulgation is a "turning point in Cambodia's history." "This is beyond words," said Youk Chhang, who lost 10 close family members during the Khmer Rouge regime. "Many of us have lost many loved ones and it has been more than 22 years. "We have asked and we have asked and we have asked and now, finally, there's a response, an answer has been provided. It's like what you have wished for with all your heart finally comes true." Only two senior Khmer Rouge leaders are in custody: military leader Ta Mok and Kaing Khek Iev, better known as Duch, the director of the Khmer Rouge torture center in Phnom Penh. Other senior figures include Nuon Chea, the regime's No. 2 man, who was in charge of ideology; Ieng Sary, the Khmer Rouge foreign minister; and Khieu Samphan, who was the nominal head of state.

BBC 10 August, 2001 King signs Khmer Rouge trial law Will those responsible for the Killing Field be tried? Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk has signed legislation for a special tribunal to prosecute members of the Khmer Rouge, responsible for the deaths of almost two million people in the mid-1970s. It is unclear when the trials - presided over by three Cambodian judges and two foreign judges - will begin, but Prime Minister Hun Sen has said he would like to see prosecutions by the end of the year. Khmer Rouge leaders Pol Pot: Died in 1998 Ta Mok: The Butcher, captured and awaiting trial Kang Kek: Chief executioner, in jail awaiting trial Ieng Sary: Foreign minister, pardoned Nuon Chea: Chief political theorist and "Brother Number Two", at liberty Khieu Samphan: Public apologist, at liberty Although the king's signature establishes the legislation as Cambodian law, further negotiations with the United Nations are necessary to finalise details of the court. Critics say the trials will be a whitewash, because many of the most notorious Khmer Rouge leaders have already been given amnesty under a deal in the 1990s to end the country's long-running civil war. But Prime Minister Hun Sen has said that, if handled incorrectly, the trials might re-ignite civil war, especially if Khmer Rouge leaders who gave themselves up under the amnesty deal are prosecuted. The Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998. UN reservations Four years ago, Cambodia asked the United Nations for help in establishing a special tribunal to judge the architects of genocide, but agreement on how it should be set up and run has been elusive. The UN wanted a panel of international judges, sitting outside Cambodia to run the tribunal; the Cambodians wanted only local judges on the panel. In the end, a compromise was reached. Under the agreement, trials will be held on Cambodian soil, but the UN is insisting that international standards of justice must be met when trials begin. Cambodia says it will not change the legislation approved by both Cambodia's houses of parliament whether the UN approves or not. But the UN insists it will back out of the whole process if it excludes key figures in the Khmer Rouge regime.

India

BBC 3 August 2001 Police fire on Kashmir rally India is worried about pro-independence gestures At least one person has been killed and six wounded as Indian security forces opened fire on a demonstration in support of separatist guerrillas in Indian-administered Kashmir, reports from the region say. Some 50,000 attended a special prayer ceremony for a commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group, Mustafa Khan, who was killed along with another two militants in a clash at Magam north of the capital, Srinagar, on Monday. The BBC's Altaf Hussain in Kashmir said the demonstration was apparently peaceful. Security sources were not available for comment, our correspondent says. The people later marched in a procession chanting pro-freedom slogans. Earlier more than 20,000 people had attended the funeral of Mustafa Khan on Tuesday. Open support There have been several instances of open public support to the militants this year. There have been open demonstrations recently Indian authorities say they are worried about the phenomenon. Meanwhile eight people, six of them militants, were killed in separate incidents of violence on Friday. Police say four militants were killed in a clash with the Indian troops near Drehgam in the frontier district of Kupwara on Friday. In another incident two militants of Hizbul Mujahideen groups were killed in a landmine explosion in the southern township of Dral. The landmine appears to have gone off accidentally while they planted it on a road.

Times of India 25 Aug 2001 VHP's temple agenda set with eye on UP polls AMBIKANAND SAHAY TIMES NEWS NETWORK LUCKNOW : Contrary to the public posturing of the beleagured Vajpayee and Rajnath Singh governments and the different offshoots of the Sangh Parivar, the connection between the renewed war cry for the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya and the coming elections in Uttar Pradesh has been established with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Friday finally unfolding the temple agenda. The first concrete move for temple construction will be made on March 12, 2002. Nine days later, saints owing allegiance to the VHP would stage their ``Ayodhya to New Delhi march''. And the term of the UP Assembly expires on March 26. This means that the elections will have to be held at a time when the freshly-generated communal frenzy is likely to be at its peak in the state. Local VHP leaders on Friday emphasised their demand. ``We are not asking for a Mecca or Medina; all that we want is the birthplace of Lord Ram be handed over to us so that we can build a temple there,'' Praveen Bhai Togadia, international general secretary of the VHP said. He reminded the media that the land which the VHP is seeking was under the possession of the Union government and attacked the Vajpayee government for its failure to protect the lives of Hindus who had fallen prey to the jehadis in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere. Togadia alleged, in an apparently algebric formulation, that madarssas, various Muslim organisations and the ISI were together equal to jehadi antakwad, adding that it had all resulted in the genocide of Hindus. Togadia, who was addressing a news conference at the VVIP state guest house, also circulated a statement elaborating his thesis as well as details of the temple construction movement. Togadia said, replying to questions, ``The country's citizens are no longer safe and the nation is moving towards anarchy. And whenever the state fails to protect its citizens, people resort to protecting themselves. They may even take to arms. We want the government to act before it is too late.'' While giving details of the temple construction programme, he said that 30 lakh volunteers were already being recruited under the banner of the Bajrang Dal. Rallies would be staged in the next few months in 750 district headquarters across the country and activists would reach out to all the six lakh villages in an effort to create awareness. Asked why his organisation preferred to lie dormant all these years under the BJP's rule at the Centre and in the state, Togadia said that the VHP was busy carving stone pillars for the temple project. ``You don't fix the marriage of your child on the day he is born,'' he said, adding that there had been a natural time-gap between the demolition of the mosque and the launch of construction work for the temple. On the face of it, he denied that his organisation had anything to do with the coming elections. Whatever Togadia and his followers in the VHP may have to say about the timing of the renewed temple movement, it will hardly be surprising if election-bound Uttar Pradesh witnesses communal frenzy yet again. The VHP has already set the agenda.

BBC 31 August, 2001, Militants killed in Kashmir battle' The militants were killed in a border district The Indian army says it has killed 12 militants along the border in Indian-administered Kashmir. A defence spokesman said that a fierce gun battle broke out as Indian troops intercepted a group of armed infiltrators near the line of control at Kupwara. The line of control separates Indian and Pakistani forces in Kashmir. The spokesman said that 12 bodies had been recovered by the Indians and a search operation was under way. In a separate incident, suspected militants shot dead three members of a family in the town of Bandipora in the north. A group of militants were said to have stormed into the house of Mohammad Abdullah and opened fire, killing him, his son and daughter-in-law. Police said the militants suspected the victims of having informed the security forces about two guerrillas who had previously hidden in their house. Strike Life in the Kashmir valley has also been affected by a strike called by the separatists to protest against human rights violations by the Indian security forces. Shops, businesses and educational institutions were closed and traffic stayed off the roads. The protest is being led by the main separatist alliance, the All Party Hurriyat [Freedom] Conference. "The strike call has been given to draw attention of world organisations towards the sinister plan of a systematic genocide of Kashmiris by Indian security forces," it said in a statement.

Indonesia

BBC 18 August, 2001 Four die in latest Aceh violence The bodies of two men have been found with bullet wounds in the Indonesian province of Aceh, a day after they were abducted by masked, armed men. The two civilians were kidnapped from a village in southern Aceh - the identity of their abductors is not known. In eastern Aceh, one soldier and a separatist rebel were killed in a gunbattle between security forces and guerrillas. Several thousand people have been killed in the past decade of conflict in Aceh - more than 1,000 have died this year alone. The security forces and the rebel Free Aceh Movement each accuse the other of carrying out atrocities.

BBC 18 August, 2001 Religious tolerance in Indonesia - Muslims in Medan live in peace with Christians Every couple of months, there's a story from Indonesia about vicious inter-ethnic violence. But most Indonesians seem to think of their vast nation as a peaceable and tolerant place. The BBC's Hugh Levinson found one answer to this contradiction woven into the fabric of the city of Medan. Fon Pravira was not expecting visitors. But luckily, he's a hospitable chap. He came to the gate of his house - a deceptively modest gate - wearing jeans and an undershirt. A little girl hid behind his legs. Dark glasses hid his eyes but his mouth was all smiles. "Welcome!" he shouted, ushering us down a side-alley with potted palms at either side. He paused to point out a set of tiny bright frescos painted on medallions high on the walls. "Still the original colours. We never repainted!" he said, and swung open a set of heavy internal doors. And there it was - the courtyard of his grandfather's magnificent house, the home of Chong Ah Fee. It is a hidden treasure, the finest Chinese-style mansion in Indonesia. A century ago Chong Ah Fee was the richest man in Medan. A merchant - the merchant really - in a merchant city. And this was his legacy. Secret splendour Fon waved us past the scarlet family altar and an enormous carved screen, out into a garden facing onto the city's busiest street. Here was what he really wanted to show us - the messages built into the house. On the front wall were Chinese inscriptions, praising the Confucian virtues of filial piety. Above were Western-style casement windows, painted green and yellow - green for Islam, yellow for the Malay Sultan. The house was an ethnic symbol, a religious symbol, a symbol of tolerance. "I think this was my grandfather's philosophy, to get unity for all religions," Fon said, still beaming. Five minutes walk away was more evidence of his grandfather's philosophy - a silver-roofed mosque. Traders used to gather in the courtyard to take advantage of the crowds arriving for Friday prayers. Chong Ah Fee had paid for the mosque buildings -and he'd also helped build the local cathedral. The rich Chinese should, so Chong Ah Fee believed, help other communities. One is no better than another. City of minorities It's a belief that's still shared in this bewilderingly diverse city. There are eight significant ethnic groups - not just Chinese and Malay but also Indians, Batak, Minang and Acehnese. No one group has a majority. They're all minorities, which perhaps explains its inter-communal calm. Because this is a story about a dog which didn't bark. This is a story about a lack of conflict, an absence of violence. It's the type of story that editors say "won't make". And the editors have a point. There are plenty of Indonesian stories that should "make". Stories of ethnic savagery, churches burned, Muslims hacked to death, Islamic separatism and ethnic cleansing. But this country - as Indonesians frequently remind visitors - is a very big place. Most of this vast archipelago, with its thousands of islands, is peaceable and tolerant. And the violence is often apparently the work of agents provocateurs. In fact the phrase has jumped from French to Indonesian: "provokator." They've had reason to use the word in Medan - there have been bombs in churches and attacks on mosques. But the population has not been stirred. Maybe that's because of the complexity of the social system. Religion is not the same thing as ethnicity. Living side by side Two members of the Minang people might belong to the same clan, with a common ancestor. But one could be Christian and the other Muslim. It's hard to work out who your potential enemy might be. Tradition plays a part too. That's the way it was explained to me by a remarkable man called Dede Oetomo, on my last trip here. He's a tall, smiley academic, with a discriminating mind and a vast store of knowledge. When I met him in Central Java, he wanted to take me to a sacred mountain called Gunung Kawi. As we toiled up a narrow street, lined with noodle stalls and souvenir shops, Dede explained that it was a holy site way back under the old Javanese animist beliefs. Then Islam arrived, a Javanese Islam, which adopted many of the old practices. So there's a mosque on Gunung Kawi, where pilgrims remember a local Muslim. The Chinese decided it must be a special place and they built a temple near the summit too. As he spoke, I noticed one of the stalls was selling icons of a fourth religion - little green plastic Jesuses. I couldn't resist buying one. My Gunung Kawi Jesus still watches serenely over my bathroom.

Iraq

BBC 31 Aug 2001, Iraqi Kurds face uncertain future Iraqi Kurds - waiting for what the future holds BBC journalist Hiwa Osman has just returned from the little-visited Kurdish region of northern Iraq. In the first of four features, he examines the internal political situation as well as the Iraqi Kurds' relations with their neighbours and their view of Western protection. I was interviewing a Kurdish journalist on press freedoms under Kurdish rule when pictures of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on BBC World TV flashed across the big screen dominating the lobby of a hotel in Arbil. We can't afford to lose Western protection. If Saddam was here, we would not be able to have this conversation Kurdish journalist Saddam Hussein was asking the Kurds to "kick out the foreigners from their land" and reach an agreement with him. I asked the journalist whether the Kurdish leadership should respond to Saddam Hussein's call or not. "No way," was his immediate reaction. "How can we trust him after what he did?" "I hope we do not have to leave our village again" - villager Since the 1991 Gulf War and the establishment of a safe haven with Western protection, Iraqi Kurds have controlled two-thirds of their land. During this decade, shifts in the regional political scene have reshaped the status of the Kurdish-controlled area of Iraq and modified Kurdish aspirations to establish a greater Kurdistan. Dual administration In 1992, after the Iraqi administration withdrew from the Kurdish region, the Iraqi Kurds elected a regional parliament and established their own government. Power was equally shared by the two main parties; the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Mas'ud Barzani - "Our people have for so long fought for freedom, we won't deprive them of it" The joint administration lasted until 1994 when the two parties began a protracted armed conflict that led to military interventions by Baghdad and neighboring countries. In September 1998, a ceasefire was announced and the two parties signed an agreement in Washington. The Kurdish region has since been divided into two areas, with the KDP in Arbil and the PUK in Sulaymaniyah. Click here to see map of the region Kurdish strategy "We need to foster civil society and invest in the people", said the PUK's Prime Minister, Barham Salih. "Should the situation changes in Baghdad, we have to provide an element of stability in Iraq." We were not afraid of bullets. Why should we be afraid of words? Jalal Talebani The Kurds seem to be making genuine efforts to establish some form of civil society. Words like democracy, civil liberties and respect for human rights are heard in political, intellectual and social circles. "Our people have for so long fought for freedom, we won't deprive them of it," was the KDP leader Mas'ud Barzani's reply when I asked him about his policy on openness. Internet access and satellite dishes are readily available without restriction. Hundreds of newspapers and magazines in Kurdish and other languages are published in the main cities. PUK leader Jalal Talabani "I'm an advocate of women's rights and individual freedoms" I asked the PUK leader Jalal Talabani about a weekly newspaper, Hawlati, published in his area, which openly criticises his party. "We were not afraid of bullets. Why should we be afraid of words?" he said. Turkoman, Assyrian and other minorities in the area also have their own political parties, newspapers and schools. "We never had such freedom in the history of Iraq", said a Turkoman leader in Arbil. "This is a golden age for the Iraqi Turkomans." Regional players The landlocked Kurdish region's only access to the outside world is through Iran, Syria or Turkey. These regional powers warily view the Kurdish region as a possible base for separation for their own Kurds. Turkey and Iran in particular view the region as a potential threat to their own national security and internal stability. About 100,000 people were expelled from the Baghdad-controlled Kurdish city of Kirkuk The Iraqi Kurdish leadership finds itself constantly needing to reassure its neighbours that their goal is not to establish a greater Kurdistan, but rather, a "more realistic option" - a relationship with Baghdad based on federalism. To prove this, they had to prevent the Kurdish parties in the neighbouring countries from using Iraq as a base from which to launch attacks. The Kurdish region is also a commercial transit area between the regional players and Iraq. Daily, hundreds of Turkish trucks haul beer, household goods and processed food into Iraq, and return with cheap Iraqi fuel. A planned second road between Iraq and Turkey will bypass the Kurdish area and may threaten the weak Kurdish economy. "The proposed road does not have any economic benefits," said the KDP's Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani. "It is merely for military purposes. We will oppose it." What is next? While enjoying an unprecedented era of self-rule, the Kurds fear the future. Iraqi troops are stationed but a few kilometres to the south of their areas. The ever-present possibility of an Iraqi attack casts a pall over the political, social and economic spheres. Baghdad's Arabisation campaign led thousands of Kurds to flee to the Kurdish-controlled areas While there are US promises, Kurds have no clear assurances about the form and speed of any Western response should Baghdad attack. It is this uncertainty coupled with the internal political division and the recent memories of chemical attacks and forced migration that leaves Kurds with a distinct unease about their future. Before continuing our interview on Kurdish press freedom, the journalist succinctly expressed what I was to hear from Kurds of every walk of life. "We can't afford to lose Western protection. If Saddam was here, we would not be able to have this conversation".

AP 6 August 2001 Activists Protest Iraq Sanctions By Chris Hawley NEW YORK –– Opponents of U.N. sanctions against Iraq marked the 11th anniversary of the measures Monday by holding vigils outside U.N. offices in New York and in Bagdhad, where demonstrators fasted in 122-degree heat. Fifteen people protested in New York, including eight who were beginning a 40-day fast, said Chicago-based Voices in the Wilderness, a group campaigning against the measures. In the Iraqi capital, 10 Americans and Britons sat outside U.N. offices on plastic chairs in a tent, observing a one-day fast. "We are here to tell the world we are against sanctions. Sanctions kill children and elderly and this is rejected by all international laws," Jeff Guntzel, head of Voices in the Wilderness, said in Iraq. The group said similar events were held in 15 cities around the world, including in Canada and Britain. The demonstrations were aimed at pressuring the United Nations to reconsider the sanctions, which were imposed on Iraq on Aug. 6, 1990, four days after its forces invaded Kuwait. Among those fasting at the New York vigil was Denis Halliday, a former assistant U.N. secretary-general who resigned in 1998 as the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Iraq to protest the sanctions. He said thousands of Iraqi children had died from dysentery and other diseases because the U.N. restrictions had complicated the repair of water treatment plants and stunted food production. "It is of great urgency for those (U.N.) member states not yet irreparably corrupted by the United States to end the killing," Halliday said. "How will we explain to our children and grandchildren when the truth of U.N. genocide in Iraq comes out, as it surely will?" The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, but they have been criticized for hurting Iraqi civilians while failing to shake Saddam Hussein's autocratic regime. Last month, the United States and Britain proposed changes that would have given Iraqis unrestricted access to civilian goods to further ease the impact of sanctions while targeting military supplies and toughening enforcement. The plan was supported by 14 of the 15 members of the U.N. Security Council, but it was withdrawn in the face of a threatened Russian veto. On Monday, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations directed questions about the protests to the State Department in Washington, which declined comment. Halliday, who is Irish, has become a symbol for activists campaigning to lift sanctions. He was sent to Iraq in 1997 as a 34-year U.N. veteran to oversee the oil-for-food program, which the Security Council adopted in 1995 to help ordinary Iraqis cope with sanctions. The program now allows Baghdad to sell unlimited amounts of oil – provided the money goes into a U.N.-controlled account for humanitarian relief, oil industry repairs and war reparations. Halliday resigned in 1998, saying the sanctions were devastating the Iraqi population. His successor, Hans Von Sponeck of Germany, quit in 2000 for the same reason. Along with former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter of the United States, they have become vocal opponents of the sanctions. On Monday, Halliday called on other U.N. staff members to rebel against the sanctions. "There is a time to question authority and to refuse orders," he said. The protesters said they oppose Saddam Hussein's autocratic regime but worry that international efforts against him are more harmful to regular citizens. "A lot of times people have the idea that it's like a vending machine – you just deposit some change and regime change occurs," said Kathy Kelly, one of the founders of Voices in the Wilderness. "But it doesn't work that way in a country." Sanctions cannot be lifted until U.N. weapons inspectors determine that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction. That certification is unlikely because Baghdad has barred inspectors from the country for more than 2½ years. Iraq contends that it has met all U.N. demands and wants sanctions lifted.

Israel

ABC News 17 August 2001 A Fearful Potentiality Looking at a Possible, But Unlikely Scenario for Mideast War News Analysis By John K. Cooley— Though they rarely discuss it in public, Arab and Israeli statesmen are aware of a scenario that could turn the intensifying conflict between Israel and the Palestinians into a broader Arab-Israeli war. It's a scenario that has lurked since Israel's foundation in 1948, and it was a concern for the late King Hussein of Jordan, before he signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. It remains so for many Palestinians, other Arabs and dovish Israelis today. It is the idea of forced deportation — early Zionist theorists and Israeli politicians called it "transfer" — of some or all of the Arabs in pre-1967 Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank eastward to Jordan. This would leave Israel, theoretically, as an entirely Jewish state. Jordan would be swamped with up to a million new Palestinian refugees, an obvious threat to the existing parliamentary monarchy of King Abdullah with the potential to turn Jordan into a Palestinian state. In the past, some of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's senior advisers — like the extreme rightist Herut Ihud party's tourism minister, Rehovam Zee'vi — publicly advocated "transfer" as a solution to Palestinian question. So did fiery Jewish extremists like the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, head of the outlawed Kach party. However, as prime minister, Sharon has carefully avoided mentioning it. Taking his lead, senior politicians of his ruling Likud party coalition, as well as leading military figures, have rarely done so either. Expecting Trouble From Baghdad Several years before his death, King Hussein confided to this reporter in a private conversation in 1991 that if Jordan were to be faced by a new Palestinian refugee tide — like those in 1948 and 1967, and forced this time by Israel's army — the Jordanian armed forces would have no choice but to resist by waging war on Israel. This in turn, as in earlier Arab-Israel wars since 1948, could draw an eager Iraqi regime to send its troops and tanks into Jordan. Israel has always warned that it interprets the entry of Iraqi troops into Jordan as an act of war, and acted accordingly. During the 1967 war, at least one Iraqi brigade tried to engage Israeli tank forces then knifing through Jordan's West Bank near Nablus. But the Iraqis lacked any air cover. Israeli air power wiped them out. The resulting Arab defeat saw the loss of East Jerusalem and the West Bank to Israel. Iraq also fought in Palestine in 1948 and on Syria's Golan Heights in 1973. In the 1991 Gulf war, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein attempted to drive a wedge between Israel and the U.S.-led Arab coalition forces pushing Iraqi occupation troops from Kuwait, by firing dozens of Scud missiles at Israeli cities, causing destruction and casualties. At Washington's request, Israel did not respond. Recently, Saddam has claimed with great fanfare that he is raising, training and equipping several Iraqi divisions, to be sent to "liberate Jerusalem," if only his neighbors Jordan and Syria will permit their entry. Jordan could not do so without breaking its 1994 peace treaty with Israel. Syria has no peace treaty with the Jewish state; only a U.N.-supervised "disengagement" accord from 1975. Plans for Ethnic Cleansing King Abdullah and Jordan's present leadership may consider the "transfer" war trigger as unlikely, despite the daily conflict worsening west of the Jordan river. However, they do fear a new refugee tide. Last May, the Interior Ministry in Amman banned entry of certain categories of Palestinians, even those arriving from Israel or the occupied territories who held Jordan residence permits. About half of Jordan's over 4 million people are now Palestinians, including those still in refugee camps. Theodore Herzl, considered Zionism's founder, wrote in his Diaries in 1895 that jobs should be found for "penniless" Palestinians in "transit countries" but denied jobs in the future Jewish state. "Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly," he added. Joseph Weitz, an early director of the Jewish National Fund, wrote in December 1940 about "transferring the Arabs from here to neighboring countries ...The transfer must be directed to Iraq, Syria and even to Transjordan ... There is no other way out." Sharon’s Unspoken Opinion? According to published Israeli records, in 1964, Ariel Sharon, then an army colonel, asked experts for a memo on "the number of buses and military vehicles" capable of transporting "about 300,000 Arabs" across the river to Jordan. No action followed his request, since the incumbent government vetoed the idea. Sharon states in his autobiography, Warrior, that in 1970 both he and the late defense minister Moshe Dayan thought it foolish to bow to American wishes to save King Hussein's throne, by massing Israeli tanks to help the King's army defeat the Syrian-backed Palestinian forces then destabilizing Jordan. "If it had now become possible to resolve the most crucial of these Palestinian problems, through the formal creation of a Palestinian state in Jordan, that is the direction I believed we should move in," he wrote. This idea has given rise to a favorite slogan of the Israeli extreme Right, "Jordan is Palestine." This arouses almost as much concern in Washington and other Western capitals as it does in Amman.

Japan

BBC 15 August, 2001 Japan schools 'reject controversial textbook' Critics say the book downplays Japanese atrocities Almost all of Japan's school districts have rejected a controversial new text book which critics say glosses over Japan's wartime atrocities, a civic group has said. Education boards had until Wednesday to give their response to the book, called the New History Textbook, which was written by nationalist historians. Japan's Asian neighbours had denounced the textbook and called on the government to make changes to the content. We must not use such a book for teaching children who carry the future on their shoulders Ayako Okino, civic group critic Japan has said the book, which was approved by the Ministry of Education in April for use in junior high schools, does not represent the official government view of the country's history. Although official figures on which schools will use the book as part of their curriculum will not be released until later this month, critics say it has been overwhelmingly rejected. "Our survey shows 98% of education boards in the 542 public school districts are not going to adopt the textbook," Ayako Okino, from a group called Children and Textbooks Japan Network 21, told French news agency AFP. Japanese broadcaster NHK said its own nationwide poll showed out of 542 districts, 532 told them they had rejected the book. Japan's neighbours have denounced the book NHK said only six state-run schools for handicapped children and six private schools will use the book, Reuters news agency reported. Critics say the New History Textbook plays down many of the events surrounding Japan's occupation of neighbouring countries in the first half of the 20th century. They say the book, for example, belittles Japan's use of 200,00 Asian women as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers, its use of germ warfare and the 1937 Nanjing massacre in China. China and South Korea demanded Japan make 35 revisions to the text, but the authors, from the Society for History Textbook Reform, agreed to make just two minor changes.

Children and Textbooks Japan Network 21 (Kodomo to Kyokasho Zenkoku Netto 21) http://www.ne.jp/asahi/kyokasho/net21/

BBC 15 August, 2001 Koizumi's 'deep remorse' for war War veterans were joined at the shrine by po