REUTERS 19 Apr 2002 U.N.: Many Countries Escape Censure- Human Rights Commission Fails to Pass Critical Resolutions on Many Countries (Geneva, April 19, 2002) -- Human Rights Watch sounded an urgent alarm at today's votes by the world's highest human rights body, which chose one by one to ignore severe human rights violations in several countries on its agenda, such as Russia/Chechnya, Zimbabwe, and Equatorial Guinea. Related Material Principal Concerns of Human Rights Watch for the 58th Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights Memorandum to Member States and Observer States of the CHR, March 14, 2002 "This is a frontal attack on one of the most effective human rights tools: the naming and shaming of human rights violators." Joanna Weschler Human Rights Watch U.N. Representative "This is a frontal attack on one of the most effective human rights tools: the naming and shaming of human rights violators," said Joanna Weschler, Human Rights Watch's United Nations Representative. In recent years, many highly abusive governments facing censure by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) successfully fought to gain seats on the U.N. body as a way of fending off criticism. Today, as the period in which the CHR considers the records of individual countries began drawing to a close, that cynical strategy reaped big rewards. Countries with disturbing human rights records now command a significant bloc of votes on the commission. Those countries include: Algeria, Burundi, China, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Kenya, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Togo and Vietnam. In addition, many Western countries, particularly those from the European Union, have been less outspoken this year than in the past. In a bow to the opponents of "naming and shaming," the European Union departed from its long-established practice of naming the worst violators in its speech under the agenda item dealing with country situations. Instead it chose to distribute that part of its statement in a separate written text. "Today's votes underscore a serious crisis at the Commission on Human Rights," said Weschler. "Governments around the world that profess commitment to human rights must undertake immediate steps to prevent the current situation from recurring or degenerating further." Weschler said those steps should include making a country's human rights record the decisive factor in election to the CHR and working year-round on issues related to the CHR, rather than making it a discreet, six-week process largely confined to Geneva.

AP 30 Apr 2002 U.S. Regains Position on U.N. Rights Commission UNITED NATIONS, April 29 -- The United States regained a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission today, a year after losing it for the first time since the commission was established in 1947. The vote last May to drop the United States from the top U.N. human rights body was a humiliating defeat that caused an outcry in Washington, worsened U.S.-U.N. relations and led to intensive behind-the-scenes lobbying by the Bush administration to return to the panel. In March, Italy and Spain pulled out of the running for seats on the commission. That cleared the way for the United States to announce its candidacy as part of an uncontested slate. The U.S. return to the panel was then virtually assured, and today the 54-member U.N. Economic and Social Council approved the slate of candidates from Western nations that included the United States. "We are very pleased that we are back on the Commission on Human Rights," Sichan Siv, U.S. ambassador to the Economic and Social Council, said after the results were announced. "Human rights is a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. We have spoken, and we continue to speak on the issue, whether we are on the commission or not. But now that we are back on the commission we look forward very much to working to continue to promote this very important issue." At the recent Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva, the United States was an observer. As a full member again, Siv said, the United States will be able to introduce resolutions, something it was unable to do as an observer. After last year's vote, many factors were blamed: an excess of European candidates, the absence then of a permanent U.S. ambassador, U.S. withdrawal from the Kyoto climate change accord, U.S. plans to build a national missile defense system and U.S. refusal to ratify a treaty that created an international criminal court.

Africa

Algeria

AP 20 Apr 2002 TIZI OUZOU, Algeria (AP) — At least 100,000 Algerians in the northern city of Tizi Ouzou converged for a peaceful demonstration to mark the first anniversay of a government crackdown on protests by ethnic minority Berbers, in which 60 people were killed. Businesses and offices were closed in Tizi Ouzou, the largest city in the northern Berber region of Kabyle. Marchers also called for the boycott of legislative elections on May 30. The protest ended without arrests or injuries, although security forces sprayed tear gas after several dozen youths hurled stones at a police station. A similar demonstration drew several thousand people in Kabyle's second-largest city of Bejaia, about 160 miles east of Algiers. Protesters demanded the release of about 200 people who had been arrested last month during a renewed outbreak of violence. Kabyle village committees — a driving force behind the protests — called for Saturday's action to mark the one-year anniversary of ``Black Spring,'' an uprising sparked by the death an ethnic Berber youth while in police custody on April 18, 2001. Police said the youth died after an officer's gun went off accidentally, but that version was roundly contested by the Berber population. His death touched off massive riots in Kabyle last spring. A government report in July 2001 criticized Algerian security forces for shooting live ammunition into crowds and beating people during the massive riots. Protests regained intensity last month after a speech by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika disappointed the Berber community. While Bouteflika promised that the Berber language, Tamazight, would be recognized in the nation's constitution, he ruled out another demand — the departure of security forces from Kabyle. Berbers claim to be the original inhabitants of Muslim North Africa and have had strained relations with Algerian authorities for decades. The Berber protests are not directly related to an Islamic insurgency raging in Algeria since 1992. That uprising began after the army canceled elections that a fundamentalist party appeared set to win. More than 120,000 people have been killed since then.

Burundi

Panafrican News Agency (PANA) Daily Newswire April 20, 2002 BURUNDI TO RATIFY THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT SOON Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - Burundian Justice Minister Fulgence Bakana said Friday in Bujumbura his country would ratify the Rome treaty on the International Criminal Court (CPI) in a matter of days. According to Bakana, the delay was simply due to bureaucracy standing in the way of progress. "We had to wait for the recent setting up of the transitional government and parliament to elaborate the bill on the ratification of this international convention," he said. He added that the project has now been sent to parliament for debate and adopting during the ongoing April's ordinary session. "If Burundi is not among the first 60 countries that have already ratified the treaty on the International Criminal Court, it's just a political miscalculation but we are very soon going to change that," the minister said. He also said that Burundi was about to introduce another law on the repression of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Under the law, the inquiry and the qualification of war crimes and other crimes against mankind committed in Burundi from 1 July 1962 (Independence day) to 28 August 2000 (date when the inter- Burundi peace agreements were signed), will be entrusted to an international judicial inquiry commission.

DR Congo

The Monitor (Kampala) April 13, 2002 Five Million Die in Great Lakes Wars Badru D. Mulumba Oxfam is calling for a war crimes tribunal for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which it says accounts for half of all deaths resulting from Great Lakes conflicts. Great Lakes conflicts have left 5 million people dead in the last ten years, Oxfam says in a new briefing paper, Africa at the Crossroads. The dead include the 800,000 during the 1994 Rwanda genocide and 2.5 million in the DRC conflict since 1998, in which eight countries including Uganda are involved. "The shockingly high death toll in eastern DRC continues today," says the paper. It adds that in 2001, one in every eight households in eastern DRC had experienced a violent death since the start of the war, of whom four out of ten were women and children. "As the UN Secretary General recently reported, human rights violations and disappearances continue with total impunity in the DRC," the paper says. It warns that civil and military authorities are increasingly incapable of restoring peace and protecting people. "To date, no single individual has been held to account before a national or international tribunal for these crimes in the DRC," it adds. According to Oxfam the 'culture of impunity' and lack of justice could spark further violence as people take matters into their own hands. "There needs to be a forum where serious war crimes and systematic human rights abuses are dealt with sending out a clear signal that there will be retribution for such crimes," it says. It also wants local justice systems improved to tackle the "culture of widespread criminal activity". The paper says that sub-Saharan Africa is the only region were armed conflict has risen over the past 10-20 years. The region accounts for forty percent of current armed conflicts world-wide, it says. The paper says war is a part of daily life for more than 100 million people. And the absence of 'accountable governance' makes people turn to violence in their search for alternative livelihoods, or fight for 'justice' in the face of impunity, thus igniting a new cycle of violence, adds the paper.

Egypt

AP 10 Apr 2002 Egypt Accuses Israel Of Genocide MADRID, Spain (AP) - Egypt lashed out at Israel at a U.N. meeting Wednesday, accusing it of ``attempts at genocide'' despite protests that the conference on world aging was not the place for Mideast politics. As the World Assembly on Aging neared unanimous agreement on ways to improve the quality of life of the elderly, Arab nations demanded a condemnation of Israeli actions that they said caused suffering among elderly Palestinians. ``Today, as we seek ways of protecting the elderly, this assembly ought to condemn what the elderly suffer at the hands of the Israeli army,'' Fayza Aboulnaga, Egypt's deputy minister for foreign affairs, told representatives from 160 nations and international organizations. ``The attempts at genocide, subjugation and the daily agony that the aged Palestinians incur without regard to their age, that sweeps away their dignity as they are subjected to murder, violence and humiliation, is shown live on television screens,'' she said. ``Isn't it time,'' she said, ``to put an end to sufferings and the tragedy of an entire people whose youth and aged suffer the most extreme inhumane circumstances?'' After the speech, she rejected Israeli accusations that Arab states were trying to divert attention from real issues affecting elderly. ``We're working hard to make sure that this does not derail the conference,'' she said. Bahrain's labor and social affairs minister, Abdul-Nabi Abdulla Al-Shuela, said Israel's ``brutal aggression'' was denying many Palestinians ``the opportunity to reach old age.'' Earlier, Arab delegates met behind closed doors to discuss U.S. and Israeli objections to the words ``foreign occupation'' in two paragraphs of a 50-page document being drawn up by delegates. Israeli delegation spokesman Eyal Sela called the Egyptian speech ``hostile'' and added: ``There are other places to deal with this.'' Alluding to the Camp David peace plan rejected by Yasser Arafat in 2000, he added: ``Palestinians of all ages were offered the chance to end occupation and they responded with violence.'' Other nations split on whether it was appropriate to draw specific attention to the Palestinians. ``If we begin introducing other themes, it will just become too complicated,'' said Antonio Sanchez Diaz of Mexico, who co-chaired the assembly. Milos Alcalay of Venezuela, head of a bloc of 77 developing countries, said: ``If there is an impact on elderly people, of course it's a concern.'' U.N. officials said agreement had been reached on all but 19 paragraphs in an action plan and a six-page political declaration. With a Friday deadline, delegates were discussing proposals for a a UNICEF-like organization devoted to elderly issues, help for older persons with disabilities, and incentives for families take care of aging relatives. In old-age homes in Bahrain, ``we don't accept an elder who has a family,'' said Al-Shuela, the Bahraini delegate. ``We go to the family and talk to them.'' The United Nations predicts that in 2050, for the first time in history, seniors will outnumber children - with one of every five people on the planet over 60 - raising enormous political, economic and social issues for society.

Liberia

Panafrican News Agency Panafrican News Agency (PANA) Daily Newswire April 22, 2002 RIGHTS GROUP WANTS LIBERIA TO RATIFY WORLD COURT PROTOCOL Monrovia, Liberia (PANA) - A Liberian rights group Monday urged the Monrovia government to "take immediate steps" to ratify the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC came into force 11 April after its protocol was ratified by more than 60 countries, the Liberia Human Rights Observer (LIHRO) said in a statement published by the local press. Liberia on 17 July 1998 signed the Rome Statute, but has since failed to ratify the instrument to make it binding on the country, the group charged. It said the purpose of the ICC is to prosecute those accused of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes, to help put an end to impunity for the worst crimes against humanity. The rights group said it believes that ratifying the Rome Statute would help put an end to the war in northern Liberia and serve as a "permanent deterrent" to those considering these crimes in the future. The ICC is to function in collaboration with nations that have ratified the Rome Statute, the group said, adding that the Court would not have jurisdiction over crimes committed before its establishment.

Kenya

The East African Standard 19 Apr 2002 Kenya; Nairobi Will Ratify Charter, Says Wako Attorney-General Amos Wako yesterday said Kenya will ratify the charter on the International Criminal Court. Wako, however, said the move will only be possible after Kenya together with Uganda and Tanzania have put down legislations which are in line with the charter. "We have to be consistent in our laws. They must be the same. Kenya is on the forefront and we are co-ordinating the drafting committee among the three states," noted Wako . Wako was also told to curb the excess of power of the likes of Butere MP Amukowa Anangwe ( Kanu). Gatanga MP David Murathe ( SDP) claimed that Anangwe organised the stoning of Ford People leaders who were on meet- the-people tour in Mumias. Anangwe defended himself. He said that he was not directly involved in the matter.

Madagascar

BBC 13 April, 2002 Deadly battle for Madagascar town The bridge to Fianarantsoa has been sabotaged At least five people have been reported killed in fresh clashes as forces loyal to Madagascar's two rival would-be presidents struggle for control of the key town of Fianarantsoa. The violence broke out when troops backing the veteran president, Didier Ratsiraka, tried to storm the barricades of supporters of the self-declared president, Marc Ravalomanana, according to Mr Ravalomanana's "interior minister". Mr Ravalomanana's supporters are trying to replace the town's incumbent, pro-Ratsiraka governor, Emilson, with their own candidate. Reports said some of those were killed were soldiers arriving to reinforce guards protecting Governor Emilson in his imposing colonial hill-top fortress. Mr Ravalomanana says he won last December's elections outright but official results say that neither he nor incumbent President Didier Ratsiraka gained the 50% of the vote needed to be declared the winner. The country is deeply divided with rival governments, two capitals and splits in the armed forces. The conflict has turned increasingly bloody in recent days, and the BBC's Rachel Harvey says the scene is set for a political crisis to escalate into an all out civil war. Death claims A number of people, including a Canadian Roman Catholic monk, were reported killed on Friday, as both groups claimed to have killed several members of the opposition group. Ravalomanana urged his supporters to hunt down his enemies The 76-year-old monk was hit by a stray bullet as he lent out of the window of his mission, next to the gendarmerie, members of his Sacre Coeur community said. Mr Ravalomanana's "interior minister" Jean-Seth Rambeloalijaona said his men - a combination of police, soldiers and gendarmes - had killed four of their opponents as they fled from the governor's mansion. But Governor Emilson denied the claims, saying seven attackers had been killed and another 20 injured in the fighting. "I am still inside my office and the morale of my soldiers is high," he told the BBC's Johnny Donovan in Antananarivo by phone. "We are well-protected and well-armed and have one month of supplies," one of his bodyguards told the Associated Press news agency by mobile telephone. Blockade Supporters of Mr Ratsiraka based in the port city of Tamatave have imposed an economic blockade on the capital, Antananarivo, which is controlled by Mr Ravalomanana. This has led to shortages of fuel and essential commodities in Antananarivo. Correspondents say that control of Fianarantsoa could now be the key to power struggle, Mr Ravalomanana's supporters believe that taking control of the city would enable them to lift the blockade on Antananarivo. 'Terrorists' Earlier this week, an aide to Mr Ratsiraka died after being taken into custody by security forces loyal to Mr Ravalomanana. This soldier was killed in Fianarantsoa last week On Monday, one person was killed and several others wounded during a shooting incident in Antananarivo between supporters of Mr Ravalomanana and troops loyal to Mr Ratsiraka. The shooting occurred outside the home of Gerard Andrialemirovason, a senior aide to President Ratsiraka. Last Friday, Mr Ravalomanana called on his supporters to hunt down his "terrorist enemies". At the start of last week, a similar bloody attempt by supporters of Mr Ravalomanana to take over the governor's residence in Fianarantsoa failed. At least one soldier loyal to Mr Ratsiraka was killed.

Morocco (see Western Sahara)

Rwanda

WP The Only Way to Bring Justice to Rwanda By Richard Sezibera Sunday, April 7, 2002; Page B01 Two images turn in my mind, incessantly and relentlessly, every time I think of the genocide that began eight years ago today, April 7, in my country, Rwanda. These images are more real to me than the statistics, which are so huge as to resemble fantasy. A recent census carried out by the Rwandan government has confirmed that 1,074,017 innocent people were clubbed, stoned or macheted to death within the space of 100 days. That is slightly more than 10,000 deaths every day including Sundays, as the world stood by for more than three months. The two images help explain why I believe we Rwandans can only reconcile ourselves with those horrendous crimes by seeking justice, not amnesty, for the people who committed them. The first image dates from the first week of the killing spree, when I was serving as a frontline doctor with the Rwandan Patriotic Front, which was trying to stop the mayhem. It is the image of a 5-year-old boy we found playing in the sand with bullets whizzing past him. Knowing that the Interahamwe -- the band of killers whohad already begun slaughtering Tutsis and moderate Hutus -- were closing in on their home, the boy's mother had dressed him up in his best clothes, and sewn a little bag around his left armpit with some food and water. Then she abandonedhim in the middle of a dirt road and made herself visible to the Interahamwe to lure them away from her son. We later found her mutilated body some distance away. When I reached theboy, the first question he asked me was, "What crime did I commit to be born a Tutsi?" In all the chaos and evil that was Rwanda in that spring of 1994, this child and his haunting question remain fixed in my mind. The second image is from a year later. By that time, I had joined the president's office andhad been working 22 hours a day -- a form of therapy -- as my colleagues and I struggled to put a broken country back together. One day, I stole a little time to rest and was lying on my bed at home in Kigalifully clothed and utterly fatigued, when I received a frantic phone call from a woman I did not knowand had never met. She had simply picked my name from the list of people attending an international conference that Rwanda's president had convened to discuss genocide and accountability. Exhausted, I was taking a break from the conference. This distraught woman's husband and children had been killed during the genocide. She herself had been sexually abused and traumatized. And now she had heard that one of the conferencesubcommittees was discussing amnesty as an option for those who hadcommitted genocide. She was almost incoherent with despair and rage. Her voice broke and I was hard pressed to hold my own emotions in check as she periodically burst into tears during our conversation. I gave her whatever assurances I could, jumped into my beat-up truck and sped to the Hotel des Milles Collines, one of the two barely functioning hotels where the committees were still meeting. There, I joined the drafting committee for proposals on justice after genocide. To say we faced moral dilemmas in our quest for justice would be the ultimate understatement. On the one hand, Rwandan President Paul Kagame had made clear that revenge killings were not an option. On the other, the justice system had been completely destroyed in 1994. Judges, prosecutors and others had either been killed during the genocide or had participated in it and fled the country. Furthermore, during Rwanda's history, successive regimes had promoted people, even in the justice system, who had been the most zealous during the anti-Tutsi pogroms of 1959, 1963,1967, 1973 and 1992. To prevent a repeatof the genocide, we had to eradicate the idea that people could kill with impunity. But how? A survey carried out in 1994 in some districts of Rwanda had provided us with evidence that we were dealing with millions of potential defendants if the guidelines in the U.N. Genocide Convention were adhered to rigidly. Some foreigners attending the conference had described the truth and reconciliation commissions in Chile, South Africa and other nations where amnesties had been used to bring swift confessions, uncover the truth of the past, and move forward. While it was clear to some of us that we would have to fashion mechanisms for confession and forgiveness, especially for the foot soldiers of genocide, the idea of a general amnesty was not only abhorrent but morally indefensibleto us. Yet we had the imperative, as leaders, of rebuilding Rwanda as a viable country and promoting national unity and reconciliation. We needed to establish a new political dispensation based on the rule of law and respect for human rights in a country that had known neither during its colonial and post-colonial days. We finally agreed that our own justice systemwas simply inadequate to handle the demands placed upon it. Immediately after the killings, we had a total of 40 lawyers in the country, including the president. And yet, even though we had asked the international community to set up a tribunal for Rwanda, we knew that, given the way international bodies work, the bulk of the cases would have to be handled by our own legal system. So we did the best we could to cope with the problems of crime, punishment and reconciliation ourselves. We decided that we would separate cases by degrees of responsibility. Category One was reserved for the most culpable: the architects of the genocide, or those who used rape or sexual mutilation as instruments of genocide.Defendants in this category, if found guilty, could face the maximum sentence allowed under Rwandan law, which is capital punishment. People in the other three categories would have theopportunity to confess and, if they did so, would be allowed to plea bargain for reductions in sentences. Furthermore, we set up a compensation fund for the survivors of genocide, into which our government puts 5 percent of its annual revenues. We had hoped that, given their sins of omission in failing to stop the genocide, foreign governments also would contribute. But we were to be sorely disappointed in this regard. More than six years after the Kigali conference, those of us who experienced the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath are still struggling with the contradictory demands this catastrophic eventplaces on Rwandans in general and policymakers in particular. Since trials began in Rwanda in 1997, we have dealt with more than 5,000 cases. This is a herculean accomplishment given the fact that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, with a budget more than 10 times that of our entire justice system, has indicted fewer than 100 people and has brought fewer than 10 of them to trial so far. However, we still have 115,000 prisoners in our overcrowded jails who are suspected of committing genocide, and it has become clear to us that the classical justice system cannot achieve the objectives we set for ourselves. This is why we have now decided to revert to our traditional methods of conflict resolution, commonly known as gacaca, to deal with cases apart from those subject to the death penalty before the international tribunal or in Category One. Under this traditional approach, in which ordinary Rwandans serve as judges and jurors as well as witnesses, the aim is not only to punish but to rehabilitate the perpetrator, as well as to restore harmony between the aggrieved community and its persecutors. We have modified the process to meet international standards as much as possible and placed the gacaca courts under the control of our supreme court. The system is designed to be flexible enough to turn a portion of any period of incarceration into community service. It will also allow Rwandans, through their participation, to own the process of justice after genocide. Our fundamental law states that justice is served in the name of the people. We have gone the extra mile and taken it directly to the people. The system will allow us to putmore than 10,000 courts into operation with more than 250,000 judges and jurors hearing cases -- a mammoth undertaking indeed. We expect that this will provide a degree of healing for our still very fragile society. We are sailing through uncharted waters. No expert has ever had to handle the problems that Rwanda is faced with. Furthermore, the remnants of those who organized the genocide are still active. They have reorganized and continue to pose a threat toour people, with the active and direct support of successiveCongo governments from the late Mobutu Sese Seko to the Kabilas, father and son. Today, on theanniversary of the start of the massacres, Rwandans remember the innocent dead. As we move toward gacaca, I know this traditional approach is the right thing to do. I know my society needs to perceive justice as being done. I take solace from the vow we have made that, as long as we live, 1994 will not happen again, no matter what. I know that most of the prisoners we have awaiting trial, and some others at large, are capable of rehabilitation. At some point, they will probably become productive citizens in a land that has seen so much suffering, misunderstanding and indifference. I also know, as Rwanda's current ambassador here, that if the United States, whose assistance has been invaluable on our march toward normalcy, chose to commit more resources to us, our route to justice would be enormously simplified. The few millions of dollars we need would be peanuts for the United States. When I go back to Rwanda, I see the hustle and bustle of my boisterous countrymen trying to earn livings. They have chosennot to make genocide an albatross around their necks, not to let it prevent them from living and breathing. So I know we must have done something right. And yet when I go to bed, I recall that telephone call and that young boy's haunting question. I feel exhausted and yet I wonder whether we are doing enough. Now, as official periods of mourning and remembrance begin in Rwanda, I will not hear prayers for my people offered in churches, mosques and synagogues here in the United States or around the world. So I toss and turn in bed wondering whether the anguish I heard over the phone can ever go away. I wonder whether there is anythingthat can ever assuage the sufferings of my people. If the world made itself part of our healing, showed remorse over its indifference at our time of greatest need, and established an International Coalition Against Genocide that recognized the threat genocide poses to all societies, maybe that would helpquiet those voices and make my sleep less troubled. Richard Sezibera, a physician and former member of parliament, is Rwanda's ambassador to the United States.

Reuters 21 Apr 2002 Former Rwandan President Arrested KIGALI, Rwanda -- Former president Pasteur Bizimungu has been arrested over what police said was illegal political activity. Police spokesman Tony Kuramba said Bizimungu's right-hand man, Charles Ntakirutinka, was also detained. Bizimungu, an ethnic Hutu, resigned as president in March 2000 after a falling-out with members of the country's Tutsi-dominated governing party and was replaced by Paul Kagame. When Bizimungu was president, he was held up as a symbol of reconciliation after a genocide in 1994 left 500,000 people dead.

South Africa

BBC 17 April, 2002 S Africa grapples with new racism Racism is suspected in some inter-ethnic violence By the BBC's Carolyn Dempster Johannesburg Scratch the surface of post-apartheid South Africa, and deep-rooted racism lurks underneath. Almost every week, newspapers carry reports of another racist attack, or a racially motivated murder. "People's attitudes haven't changed," says Dr Zonke Majodina, a commissioner at the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). A mother mourns a victim of an apparently racial attack Apartheid bred racial hatred, but what does it take for a person to act on these deep-seated hostile impulses? The crime intelligence unit of the South African Police Service says alcohol abuse plays an important contributing role. In 60% of murders it has been found to be a key factor. Pieter Odendaal told the court he couldn't remember what happened on the night in August 2000 when he tied his black employee, Mosoko Rampuru, to the back of his pickup truck by a length of wire, and drove through the industrial outskirts of the town of Sasolburg, until Rampuru's lifeless body had been stripped of flesh. Alcohol Mr Odendaal's defence was that he was on anti-depressants and had been drinking heavily at the time. Police conducted blood tests that revealed he was five times over the legal limit. Dr Majodina of the human rights commission thinks that people act on their racist impulses not only because alcohol lowers their inhibitions, but because they think they can still get away with it. "There are serious flaws in the criminal justice system. "People have been cowed into submission over decades. They don't know their rights. "And when they do complain about abuse, particularly on the farms, sometimes the system operates like nothing has changed. The criminal justice system is failing these people," she said. Click here to see international murder rates compared Some of the worst racial crimes have occurred in remote areas on rural farmsteads. Dr Majodina claims that in parts of the Northern Cape, black farmworkers are still subjected to subhuman employment conditions. Farm attacks Since the early 1990's there has also been an increase in violent attacks on white farmers. A commission of enquiry set up by former president Nelson Mandela has failed to find the root cause of the attacks. Some white farmers fear they are political targets Criminologist Neels Moolman has said that the attacks are symptomatic of a deep hatred of Afrikaners and a desire to drive the white farmers off their land. Martin Schonteich, a senior crime analyst with the Institute for Security Studies, doesn't agree. But he does believe that race plays a part: "Young black South Africans had high expectations of what democracy would bring. Jobs, a better quality of life. That hasn't happened. "So there is a certain amount of disillusionment and anger against white people because they DO have wealth." While race has underscored crime in South Africa for centuries, a new phenomenon of democracy has been a rise in xenophobia. Magnet for migrants Once South Africa opened its borders to the rest of Africa in 1994, the country became a magnet, not just for refugees, but economic migrants from the rest of the continent. As a result, literally millions of illegal immigrants have flowed across South Africa's porous land borders from as far afield as Somalia and Nigeria in search of a better life and greater opportunities. Reports of racial attacks are common Locally they are known, and widely despised as the "Amakwerekwere", a derogatory term for foreigners. The popular perception among South Africans struggling to survive is that the foreigners represent competition in the fight for jobs. Where this resentment boils over is usually at street level, in violent clashes between hawkers trading on the sidewalks of the cities. In more extreme cases, the foreigners are targeted for murder. In September 1998, three Senegalese nationals were murdered on a crowded train going from Pretoria to Johannesburg. This high-profile killing, coupled with the rise in xenophobic attacks prompted the Human Rights Commission to launch a national plan of action "Roll Back Xenophobia". Dr Zonke Majodina says it has had limited success: "We've seen a slight shift in attitudes as a result of better media reporting. But from what we can see there has been no shift in official policy-making attitudes." Abuse of power South African officials currently carry out policy according to the Aliens Control Act which gives the police and Home Affairs officials virtually unfettered power to apprehend, detain, and expel illegal immigrants. Security forces are accused of having unfettered power The worst abuse of this power was revealed on national television in 2000, when six policemen from the Police Dog Unit east of Johannesburg were videoed using three Mozambican men as live bait to train their dogs. A report into the treatment of immigrants by police and detention centre officials conducted by the Human Rights Commission found that abuses, extortion and physical attacks on foreigners are quite frequent. And, says Dr Majodina, the new legislation governing illegal immigrants which is due to go before parliament this year is "just as xenophobic" as the old law. Self-hate Dr Majodina ties in this "new racism" with the apartheid of old. "Black on black attacks are sometimes an expression of self-hate. That's what oppression does to people. "But if we keep the focus on this, on racism, then gradually we will change attitudes, we will make some headway," she added.

Tanzania

IRIN 12 Apr 2002 ICTR Preparing to Indict First Tutsis UN Integrated Regional Information Networks April 12, 2002 Posted to the web April 12, 2002 The prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Carla del Ponte, is currently investigating members of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) for crimes allegedly committed against Hutus in 1994, but is "not satisfied" with the level of cooperation received thus far from Rwandan authorities, her spokeswoman, Florence Hartman, told IRIN on Friday. Following two meetings held respectively with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and with representatives from the RPA in 2001, del Ponte had requested and received guarantees of cooperation with all ICTR investigations, including those into alleged RPF atrocities, said Hartman. But the reality was proving to be quite different. While investigations into three separate massacres were going well outside Rwanda, those inside were not as successful. The prosecutor was dissatisfied with access to archives, documents and witnesses in Rwanda itself, Hartman said. "We haven't been given the support that we expected," she said. The prosecutor was, however, hopeful that the situation would improve, and hoped to issue an indictment by the end of 2002. The ICTR was established to investigate and indict those responsible for Rwanda's 1994 genocide. So far no Tutsi members of the RPA, which overthrew the extremist Hutu regime responsible for the killing of about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus, have been charged by the court.

Tunisia

AFP 12 Apr 2002 DJERBA, Tunisia: Eight people died after a fuel tanker crashed outside Africa's oldest synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba and exploded in a ball of fire, officials said on Friday. Announcements made by Tunisia, France and Germany gave a total casualty figure of eight dead, including three women and an 11-year-old boy, and more than 30 injured, most of them Germans. The governor of the Medinine region, Mohamed Ben Salem, said six people -- two female German tourists, their French-Tunisian guide, two maintenance workers and the driver of the tanker -- were killed in the explosion on Thursday at the Ghriba synagogue. He said 32 people were injured, 16 seriously. The German foreign ministry later said another German women and a badly injured 11-year-old boy had also died. Ben Salem had earlier described the boy as being in "a desperate way". French foreign ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau said the tour guide "unfortunately died of his injuries" on Thursday night. "We want to express our emotion and our sympathy to the families of the victims," Rivasseau said. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said he was shocked by the news and also offered his condolences to the victims' relatives. He refused to speculate whether the blast was an accident or an attack. The identities of the victims were not released but two of the dead women are reported to be from the southwest German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the third from Bavaria. The injured, many of them with burns, had been ferried to hospitals in Tunis and in Sousse, some 150 kilometres (95 miles) south of the capital. Tunisian officials say the blast was an accident which occurred when the tanker mounted the pavement and crashed into the perimeter wall of the Ghriba synagogue before exploding in flames. But the Israeli foreign ministry claimed it was deliberate. It came on the heels of a series of attacks on synagogues around the world in apparent retaliation for Israel's bloody two-week military offensive against Palestinians in the West Bank. "According to the information we have, this was an attack," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said on Thursday, without giving further details. A Paris-based Tunisian human rights group said the authorities' version of events had to be "treated with caution", noting that the synagogue was on a no-through road. And Shalom Cohen, Israel's foreign ministry official in charge of North Africa, said it was not possible the explosion could have been an accident. "You have to call a spade a spade. To arrive at this synagogue, you have to really want to go there... There is even a roadblock. It could not be an accident," Cohen said. But Ben Salem "categorically" denied the explosion had been deliberate, noting the "close cohabitation" of Tunisia's Arab and Jewsish communities. The Tunisian authorities cordoned off the area around the synagogue immediately after the explosion and launched an inquiry. The German embassy in Tunis said on Thursday a consular attache had been sent to the scene and sources said the embassy had set up a crisis unit. German tourists are especially numerous at this time of the year in Djerba, with several direct flights arriving every day from Germany. The blast was heard at least five kilometres away from the synagogue, which is one of Judaism's holiest sites and is visited by pilgrims from around the world. Witnesses said the blast provoked panic inside the narrow synagogue, which does not have any safety exits, with people suffocating and fleeing exploding window glass.

Western Sahara

Western Sahara Mission for UK and Ireland (London) PRESS RELEASE April 21, 2002 The Sahrawis Will Never Accept to Live Under Moroccan Flag London Catherine Lalumière's report blindly adopts the Moroccan expansionist theses and supports the attempt of political genocide of the Sahrawi people. The French MEP Catherine Lalumière drafted a report on Western Sahara which supports the French and Moroccan attempt of political genocide - prelude to the physical genocide - of the Sahrawi people. The former French minister, head of the observation mission of the European Parliament to Western Sahara, which visited recently both the Sahrawi territories occupied by Morocco and the Sahrawi refugee camps in the South-West of Algeria, drew up indeed a report which has nothing neither with the history neither with the right nor with the raelity, and which openly and blindly adopt the Moroccan expansionist theses on Western Sahara. The clear goal of this tendentious report is to influence the UN Security Council which is getting ready to make a decision on the settlement of the Western Sahara issue, on the basis of the four options presented on 19 February 2002 by Kofi Annan and his Personal Envoy, James Baker. By minimising the force of law replaced by the law of force - and thus the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination, replaced by "the Moroccan right" to illegal occupation of Western Sahara -, the Catherine Lalumière's report expresses not the European Parliament position but the hostile French official position vis à vis the Sahrawi people and aims at giving again life to the Moroccan proposal of autonomy, strongly rejected by the Frente POLISARIO and the Sahrawi Government. If Paris thinks that this is the way to defend the stability of Morocco, at the moment when the Moroccan civil society awakes up and wants to re-examine the question of Western Sahara, it makes a big mistake. It is the opposite that would be likely to occur, because the Sahrawis will never accept to live under the Moroccan flag and are ready to form alliance, if necessary, with the devil to impose the respect of their national rights. Fadel Ismail Head of Mission London, 21 April 2001

Americas

Guatemala

Reuters 20 Apr 2002 GUATEMALA Guatemalan human rights worker shot dead REUTERS in Guatemala City Gunmen on Monday shot and killed a member of a Guatemalan human rights organisation founded by Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu, sparking alarm at a time of mounting death threats against activists in the Central American nation. Witnesses said Guillermo Ovalle, 28, an administrative worker for the Menchu organisation, was shot with an automatic rifle by unidentified gunmen while he was ordering a takeout lunch in a Guatemala City restaurant. At least one bystander was struck by bullets in the attack, witnesses said. Officials with the rights organisation said it was not immediately clear if Ovalle was targeted or if he was killed in a robbery attempt at the restaurant. Police indicated they were treating it as a robbery. ''This looks like a robbery but at the same time we got four calls to the office playing terror music down the phone,'' the group's executive director Eduardo de Leon said. He described the music played over the phone as sounding like a soundtrack from a horror film. The group, founded by 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Maya Indian activist Menchu, is campaigning to have former Guatemalan civil-war era dictators tried for genocide. Monday's incident comes as Guatemalan human rights activists investigating abuses during a 1960-96 civil war have said they and their families have been threatened at gunpoint and have received menacing phone calls and letters.

United States

WP 21 Apr 2002 Bystanders to Mass Murder By Samantha Power Sunday, April 21, 2002; Page B07 Last week, for the first time in history, a Western government resigned because it was a bystander to genocide. On Tuesday the popular Dutch prime minister, Wim Kok, and his cabinet stepped down in response to a 7,600-page report that faulted the Dutch government and army for sending a flimsy posse of some 400 Dutch peacekeepers on an "ill-conceived and virtually impossible" mission to protect Bosnian Muslims in the U.N. safe area of Srebrenica. In July 1995 the safe area became the most dangerous spot on earth when Bosnian Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic strolled into town. After meeting little resistance from Dutch soldiers on the ground or NATO bombers overhead, Mladic presided over a 10-day killing spree, systematically executing every Muslim man and boy he could lay his hands on -- more than 7,000 in all. Kok, who was prime minister at the time of the massacre, reportedly burst into tears when he read the Dutch report. Kok's resignation marked the first time in our age of genocide when an outside power has paid a tangible political price for its sins of omission. It is a refreshing act that testifies to the tirelessness of Dutch journalists and citizens. But on this side of the ocean, the move was greeted by silence -- a silence that is in fact the trademark of American policy before, during and after genocide. Neither the United States nor any of the Security Council powers that ordered the creation of the safe areas and then abandoned Srebrenica's civilians in their hour of need have stepped forward to shoulder their portion of the blame for the massacre. "The international community is big and anonymous," Kok told the Dutch parliament. "We are taking the consequences of the international community's failure in Srebrenica." I spent several years investigating the Clinton administration's response to Srebrenica, analyzing an ad hoc assortment of declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and conducting some 50 interviews with U.S. officials involved in shaping this country's Bosnia policy. Even this unofficial inquiry yielded startling evidence of extensive American knowledge of the peril to Srebrenica's Muslims: • Senior Clinton administration officials knew the safe areas were likely to come under attack. Indeed, several expressed private hope that the Muslim territory would fall into Serb hands, because it would facilitate the partition of the country. • Once Mladic seized Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, American policymakers were keenly aware that the men and boys were being separated from the women and children, that Dutch soldiers were barred from supervising the "evacuation," and that the Muslims' fate lay in the hands of Mladic, the local embodiment of "evil." U.S. officials received hysterical phone calls from leading members of the Bosnian government who pleaded with Washington to use NATO air power to save those in Mladic's custody. One July 13 classified cable related the "alarming news" that Serb forces were committing "all sorts" of atrocities. On July 17 the CIA's Bosnia Task Force wrote in its classified daily report that refugee reports of mass murder "provide details that appear credible." In a July 19 confidential memorandum, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights John Shattuck described "credible reports of summary executions and the kidnapping and rape of Bosnian women." Yet, despite this knowledge, neither President Clinton nor his top advisers made the fate of the men and boys an American priority. The president issued no public threats and ordered no contingency military planning. Spokesman Nick Burns told the Washington press corps that the United States was "not a decisive actor" in the debate over how to respond. The most powerful superpower in the history of mankind had influence only "on the margins," in Burns's words. Because more intimate knowledge of Mladic's designs would have been inconvenient, senior U.S. officials ordered neither a change in the flight pattern of American satellites snapping images overhead nor the reassignment of intelligence analysts. Toby Gati, assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research at that time, recalls: "We weren't analyzing these pictures in real times for atrocity; we were analyzing whether NATO pilots were vulnerable." Another official remembers, "Once the men were in Mladic's custody, we forgot about them because we knew we could no longer address their futures." Three precious weeks passed after the safe area's fall before a senior official ordered a sustained review of satellite images gathered the previous month to confirm rumors that Srebrenica's Muslims had indeed been murdered. By then virtually all of Mladic's captives were dead and (hastily) buried. After the massacre, neither the Clinton team nor Congress looked back. I have found no evidence that Clinton commissioned an internal after-action review of the U.S. response to Srebrenica. The Senate had individual members -- Joseph Biden, Bob Dole, Joseph Lieberman, John McCain and others -- who took principled stands throughout the Bosnian war, urging intervention. But Congress never summoned Clinton administration officials to Capitol Hill to publicly answer for being bystanders to mass murder. When the United Nations conducted its own Srebrenica inquiry in 1998, its investigators say, Clinton administration officials did not return their phone calls. The U.N. team was granted access only to a group of hand-picked junior and midlevel officials who revealed next to nothing. Dutch investigators complained that they met a similar stone wall in Washington. Holland has looked inward because its troops were there. But America's distance from the crime scene is not an alibi. It is a source of shame. The Bush administration has a unique opportunity to look backward in order to move forward. By reviewing thousands of still-classified government documents and debriefing officials from the intelligence community, State Department, Pentagon and Clinton administration, it can follow the Dutch lead and establish the facts of how and why the United States chose to look away from the largest single act of genocide in Europe in 50 years. If the president won't do it, Congress must take the lead, as this kind of accountability can help shape the calculus -- and change the behavior -- of future generations of U.S. officials. The United States remained disengaged from Srebrenica even while our bombers were flying overhead and our politicians were well briefed. It is time Washington broke the silence and shared the responsibility. Samantha Power is the author of " 'A Problem from Hell': America and the Age of Genocide," published last month.

WP 26 Apr 2002 Massacre, but No 'Genocide' By Nora Boustany Friday, April 26, 2002; Page A24 Armenian Americans held their collective breath Wednesday as they awaited a final acknowledgment by Bush of the "genocide" of more than 1 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915, as Bush had promised during his presidential campaign. The statement Bush sent to commemorate the massacre's 87th anniversary fell short of using that term. "Today, we commemorate an appalling tragedy of the 20th century, the massacre of as many as 1.5 million Armenians through forced exile and murder at the end of the Ottoman Empire," the president said, invoking the words of Henry Morgenthau, U.S. ambassador at the time, who described the killings as the "murder of a nation." "Today is an occasion for the world to reflect upon and draw lessons from these terrible events," the president said. "It is a day for recognizing that demonizing others lays the foundation for a dark cycle of hatred." Peter Vosbikian, board chairman of the Armenian Assembly of America, expressed appreciation for Bush's statement "at a time when Turkey is a major ally in the war on terrorism," but vowed to continue to "press for the full and definitive characterization." Ottoman leaders sought to justify the campaign in the waning days of the empire by citing their fears that Armenians were helping hostile Russian troops in World War I.

AFP 25 Apr 2002 Bush asks Turkey to normalise ties with Armenia SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota: US President George W. Bush on Wednesday called on Turkey to move forward to a new stage in its history with Armenia and normalize its relations with the former Soviet state. Commemorating the 1915 genocide of some 1.5 million Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey, Bush urged the world to learn from the "appalling tragedy." "Today is an occasion for the world to reflect upon and draw lessons from these terrible events. It is a day for recognizing that demonizing others lays the foundation for a dark cycle of hatred," said Bush. "Transcending this venomous pattern requires painful introspection about the past and wise determination to forge a new future based on truth and reconciliation. "In this spirit, I look forward to Turkey restoring economic, political, and cultural links with Armenia," Bush said. The president also underlined American solidarity with Armenia, and expressed gratitude for Erevan's support of the US-led war on terrorism in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the United States. "In months to come America will continue to increase its security cooperation with Armenia and with Armenia's neighbors to combat terrorism and pursue a lasting and just settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which will strengthen peace and stability in the Caucasus," he added. Turkey categorically rejects genocide claims, saying that around 300,000 Armenians, along with thousands of Turks, died in fighting after siding with invading Russian troops to carve out an independent state in eastern Anatolia. The 30,100 square kilometer (11,620 square mile) republic now has a population of around 3.5 million, with another seven million Armenians scattered around the world, including one million in the United States.

LA Times April 25, 2002 T LOS ANGELES Marchers Protest Armenian Genocide Anniversary: About 20,000 call on Turks to admit guilt in the deaths of 1.5 million beginning in 1915. By GEORGE RAMOS, TIMES STAFF WRITER About 20,000 marchers took to the streets of Hollywood's Little Armenia on Wednesday to call on Turkey to acknowledge its historical role in the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians that began in 1915. The most vocal in the procession were, primarily, high school students in black T-shirts who shouted, "1915, never again!" Maggie Melikyan, a 17-year-old senior at North Hollywood High School, typified the attitude of many young people as she watched marchers pass the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue under threatening skies. The Armenian genocide "is something that you feel in your heart, that you feel in your soul," said Melikyan, who recounted stories that a surviving relative told of the killings carried out by the Ottoman Turkish authorities during World War I and shortly afterward. "It's definitely alive for me," Melikyan said. The march was one of several events staged in Southern California on Wednesday to mark Armenian Genocide Day. April 24 is the date that Armenian historians and activists say the mass slaughter began. Such observances are particularly meaningful in Greater Los Angeles, where more than half a million people of Armenian descent live. It is the largest enclave of Armenians anywhere outside their traditional homelands in Turkey and the nation of Armenia. In Montebello, hundreds gathered at the Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument to rally and call on Turkey to accept responsibility for the victims' deaths and the displacement of 500,000 people from their homes in Turkish lands. Later, protesters picketed the mid-Wilshire offices of the Turkish consul general. Calls to the Turkish Consulate went unanswered. Officials of the Turkish republic, which succeeded the Ottoman Empire in 1923, have long denied that the Turks committed genocide. That mattered little to the marchers in Little Armenia, who carried signs that read, "Turkey guilty of genocide," "We condemn terrorism and genocide" and "Armenians united forever." They walked for nearly two miles, partially closing Sunset and Hollywood boulevards and Normandie and Western avenues. Most of Little Armenia businesses were closed to mark the day. At a rally after the march, speakers told the crowd, in Armenian and English, never to forget the genocide. "Our land was taken from us," said Archbishop Vatche Hovsepyan of the Armenian Apostolic Church. "We were massacred on our own land." Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti, who represents Little Armenia, added that April 24 stands as "one of the [most] horrible days in human history." The crowd cheered loudly when a representative of Gov. Gray Davis said the state's chief executive had recognized Wednesday as a day of remembrance throughout California for the Armenian genocide. Not to be outdone by Democrats, ranking Republicans also issued statements of solidarity with Armenians. President Bush and Bill Simon Jr., the GOP nominee for governor who faces Davis in the November election, said the genocide should never be forgotten. Bush in his message called on Turkey to lift its blockades and normalize relations with Armenia. In his statement, Simon said, "We are grateful for the countless ways in which Armenian Americans continue to enrich California's science, culture, commerce and, indeed, all aspects of our life."

AP 27 Apr 2002 Casino Plans to Give Massacre Site to Tribes By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ENVER, April 27 — A casino management company plans to buy and donate to Indian tribes the site of the Sand Creek Massacre, where militia troops killed more than 150 Indians in 1864. The company, Southwest Entertainment of Minneapolis, will pay $1.5 million for the 1,465-acre Dawson Ranch, about 160 miles southeast of Denver near the town of Chivington. In 2000 the National Park Service proposed special protection for Sand Creek, the first step toward designating it a historic site. Meanwhile, the sale will give the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma full access to land they consider sacred. "We are very excited about it because it has been over a century and we haven't had the opportunity to take care of the land properly," said Robert Tabor, a tribal chairman. Militia members led by Col. John M. Chivington, a Union officer, attacked a sleeping village of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians on Nov. 29, 1864, on the gently rolling hills dotted with sagebrush and yucca. The Indians had been told to camp there by the Army. Most of those killed were women and children. Congress condemned the attack, but no one was punished and no reparations were made. In recent years, historians have debated the exact site of the Sand Creek Massacre. William Dawson says it occurred on the ranch land he bought in 1965, and he has allowed descendants of victims to visit. But they have had to ask for permission. "That land is sacred land to us," Mr. Tabor said. "It is like a church. It should be open. You shouldn't need anyone's permission." Jim Druck, president of Southwest Entertainment, said that his company, which operates two casinos for the tribes in Oklahoma, had a long history with the Indians and wanted to help. "It is not often that business and social and emotional interests can come together," Mr. Druck said. The Sand Creek Massacre Historic Site is expected to cover 12,500 acres when finished.

PRNewswire Harry Belafonte to Speak and Receive Honorary Degree at Monmouth University's 2002 Commencement Preston R. Tisch, Joseph Buckelew and Dr. Carol Rittner Will Also Receive Honorary Degrees WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J., April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Monmouth University is pleased to announce that singer/actor Harry Belafonte will address graduates and receive an honorary degree at its 68th commencement ceremony on Wednesday, May 22 at 1:30 p.m. on the Great Lawn. Mr. Belafonte -- who will not be performing -- was chosen for this honor because of his artistic achievements in the world of entertainment and his lifelong dedication to humanitarian causes. Dr. Rittner is a Sister of Mercy from the Dallas, Pennsylvania Regional Community and distinguished professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. She was the executive producer of "The Courage to Care," a documentary film that was nominated for the 1986 Academy Award(R). She has written several books and organized numerous international conferences that dealt with issues related to the World War II holocaust, diversity and combating hate. She is the recipient of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey's Ida E. King Medallion for outstanding scholarship and international service to the human community. In 1998 she was honored by Governor Tom Ridge as a "Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania." Monmouth University's commencement is closed to the general public and only graduates and their guests will be admitted. Members of the news media who plan to cover the event should contact the office of public affairs at 732-571-3526 by May 10 to receive press credentials for admittance. About Monmouth University Located in West Long Branch, New Jersey, Monmouth University is a leading comprehensive, private institution that offers coeducational undergraduate and graduate degrees and 50 distinctive curricular programs. Sprawled across a magnificent, historic campus, the University is approximately 50 miles from Manhattan and Philadelphia and is within walking distance to the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean. Monmouth University combines the state-of-the-art facilities and vibrant environment of a large institution with the individual attention of a small, liberal arts college. For more information, visit Monmouth University on the World Wide Web at http://www.monmouth.edu.

AP 9 Apr 2002 Okla. Groups Donate to Riot Survivors TULSA, Okla. -- A coalition of religious groups has donated $28,000 to compensate survivors of a 1921 race riot that left at least 38 people dead and thousands of blacks homeless, officials said Tuesday. The 131 survivors were sent checks last week by The Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry Reparations Gift Fund, which was set up in January to raise funds. Tulsa leaders in 1921 promised victims compensation for their losses. Some emergency aid was provided, but full restitution has not been granted. "We are calling this a gift from the religious community that acknowledges the need for reparations," said Steve Cranford, executive director of the ministry, noting that four survivors have died since January. According to some estimates, as many as 300 people may have been killed during the riots that began when a white lynch mob exchanged gunfire with a group of blacks who sought to protect a shoeshiner accused of assaulting a white woman. Tulsa WorldOne Step Toward Restorative Justice: 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Survivors Receive Reparation Payments - UUA Is Leading Contributor Tulsa Race Riot survivor Otis Clark, 99, is thankful for the $214.03 he received in reparations for the loss and suffering that resulted from the 1921 violence. Photos by KELLY KERR / Tulsa World (Boston, MA - April 11, 2002) On Wednesday, April 10, 2002, 131 survivors of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, the bloodiest in U.S. history, received the first reparations payment from Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry, an interfaith religious coalition. Reparations payments totaled $28,000, of which $20,000 was contributed by the Unitarian Universalist Association. Other contributors to the fund were the Tulsa congregations of All Souls Unitarian Church, the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration, College Hill Presbyterian Church, and Metropolitan Community Church United. The Rev. William G. Sinkford, president of the UUA, said, "Unitarian Universalists believe that direct reparations to the Tulsa survivors is a first step in a journey of restorative justice. Our faith community is honored to be a part of this effort by Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry." UUA participation in the reparations project was supported through an Action of Immediate Witness at the 2001 General Assembly. Sinkford said the UUA has sent an additional $5,000 contribution to Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry to initiate anti-racism programs in the community. Greenwood section following the riots. Courtesy ABC News. UUA support of the effort came primarily from the James Reeb Fund, which is designated to support victims of racism. Additional support comes from funds designated to promote anti-oppression and anti-racism efforts in Tulsa. The Rev. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister of All Souls Church in Tulsa, OK, has acted as spokesperson in Tulsa for the Metropolitan Ministries' reparations effort. "The community knows we're standing behind this issue," he said. "Most of all, it's been a significant step in furthering the process of healing, justice and reconciliation in our city." The Tulsa Metropolitan Ministries intends to continue collecting funds to make additional reparations payments to the survivors of the 1921 riots. Those who wish to contribute to this effort may do so by mailing checks to: Tulsa Metropolitan Ministries 221 S. Nogales Tulsa, OK 74127. http://www.uua.org/news/2002/020411.html

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 21 Apr 2002 Millersville U. debate raged on whether Nazi-era pope rescued Jewish people or did too little to save them By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer Was Pope Pius XII akin to a war criminal who dithered while Jews died during World War II or a fearless opponent of Nazism who rose above other world leaders to rescue Jews during the Holocaust? Those were the two sharply differing views of the controversial pontiff that emerged at a Holocaust conference last week at Millersville University in Lancaster County. The gathering was the first to bring together scholars divided on the subject of whether Pius is worthy of condemnation or of sainthood. Some participants had given scathing reviews to each other's books, but had never met. Discussion of Pius has, unfortunately, been welded to other agendas involving the Roman Catholic Church, said Jose Sanchez, author of "Pius XII and the Holocaust -- Understanding the Controversy." "Now we have Pius blamed for the current issue of sexual abuse of priests," he said, citing a Catholic newspaper that called Pius the model for silence by church leaders. Pius' detractors and defenders at the conference could not be predicted by faith. Rabbi David Dalin, a historian at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, offered glowing praise. "He was not silent but a persistent critic of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime," Dalin said. He cited Vatican Radio broadcasts protesting atrocities against Jews and Catholics in Poland, and its airing of anti-Nazi letters by French bishops. He believes that Pius played a significant role in the rescue that allowed 80 percent of Jews in Italy to survive while 80 percent of Europe's other Jews perished. In Rome alone, 155 church properties sheltered 5,000 Jews, with up to 2,000 others at Pius' summer home, he said. Dalin was answered by Sergio Minerbi, author of "The Vatican and Zionism: Conflict in the Holy Land 1895-1925," who was hidden in one of Rome's churches. When his mother tried to warn other Jews to flee mortal danger, few believed her. They would have heeded if Pius had warned them, he said, and 1,000 Jews would not have been sent to Auschwitz on Oct. 16, 1943. He is grateful to the priests who hid him, but he does not believe Pius was responsible for their actions. The pope kept silent because the Germans told him, "We will respect the Vatican if you help us to keep calm and quiet," Minerbi said. Rabbi James Rudin, author of "Twenty Years of Catholic-Jewish Relations," said that while some of Pius' wartime Christmas messages were viewed as protests of Nazi persecution of Jews, he never uttered the word "Jew" and he used "non-Aryan" just once. His most consistent and explicit concern was for prisoners of war, Rudin said. The most damning assessment was from Richard Rubenstein, director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and a one-time Hillel rabbi in Pittsburgh. Given the history of Catholic anti-Semitism, Pius viewed the "elimination" of Jews from Europe as "a benefit," he said. "The pope never advocated the elimination of Jews," but that doesn't mean that he didn't regard it as beneficial, Rubenstein said. The Catholic Church had taken the historical lead in forcing Jews to live in ghettos without the full rights of citizens, he said. Many problems in the debate over Pius XII remain because scholars have never tried to reach consensus, said J. Michael Phayer, author of "The Catholic Church and the Holocaust 1930-1965." In 1970, there were similar divisions over whether the Holocaust was planned as far back as 1919 or as late as 1942. Those scholars met often and now agree that the plans began between 1939 and 1941, he said. Phayer suggested key questions for Pius scholars to address. One was why, after Vatican Radio broadcast bold condemnations of Nazi atrocities in 1940, it toned down its moral rhetoric. Another was how to interpret a March 1944 letter that Pius wrote to Berlin Archbishop Konrad von Preysing, explaining why he had not made stronger statements about the murder of Jews. Phayer, who is critical of Pius, took the opportunity to rebut Rubenstein's thesis that Pius was tacitly in favor of eliminating Jews. In the letter to von Preysing, "Pius admits he is deeply sorry about what is happening to the Jews," Phayer said. He urged scholars to stay out of the debate over whether Pius XII should be canonized a saint, saying it was beyond their competence. Pius is a candidate for beatification, but the process is stalled. "We have a difficult enough time trying to understand what the pope did do and what he failed to do," he said. At the center of much of the debate are 12 published volumes of wartime documents from the Vatican Secretariat of State. Pope Paul VI was so outraged by the portrayal of Pius as a Nazi sympathizer in the 1963 play "The Deputy," that he ordered four Jesuits to catalog and publish the pertinent documents from archives that remain closed otherwise. It took them 17 years, and Pius critics suspect that they left out damaging records. Most documents are in Italian. The introductions and footnotes are in French They are so difficult to work with that when John Conway, author of "The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933-1945," asked who at the conference had read all 12 volumes, not one hand was visible. Last year, a Vatican-appointed team of Catholic and Jewish scholars that had been assigned to study Pius XII fell apart after they asked for full access to the archives and Vatican officials refused. The Vatican announced in February, however, that next year it would begin releasing some Vatican documents on the Vatican's relationship with Germany in the 1930s and records of its humanitarian efforts for prisoners of war and civilian internees during the war. Sanchez cited areas of consensus based on the published archives. There is agreement that Pius did not prefer Nazism to communism and near agreement that he was not an anti-Semite, Sanchez said. Debate continues over Pius' actions with regard to the Nazi roundup of Roman Jews on Oct. 16, 1943, he said. There is deadlock on whether Pius gave orders to rescue Jews, or whether Catholic rescue efforts were spontaneous. Sanchez supports those who say Pius must have ordered or approved rescue efforts, because Jews were hidden in Vatican properties, including the pope's summer home. But Susan Zuccotti, author of "Under His Very Windows -- The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy," argued that Pius had little to do with rescue efforts. No written order to save Jews has been found, she said, and there are reasons to distrust the later claims of some rescuers that Pius gave them oral orders. Worst of all, she said, the Vatican Secretariat of State issued an order to expel fugitives from Vatican property because they endangered Vatican neutrality. Ronald Rychlak, author of "Hitler, the War and the Pope," responded that the lack of a written directive to rescue Jews does not mean that Pius didn't violate his publicly proclaimed neutrality. Pius' participation in a plot to overthrow Hitler is well-documented, but never mentioned in the Vatican records, he said. "A whole lot of risky and daring things were never reported," he said. Rychlak is a law professor whose earlier book was on use of evidence. "No defendant in history has had such an impressive array of witnesses," he said. He cited praise heaped on Pius by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and the wartime chief rabbi of Rome. Pius' critics discount both, claiming that Meir sought Vatican diplomatic support of Israel and that the chief rabbi converted to Catholicism after the war. But it is sheer speculation to say that such motives made them gloss over Pius' alleged failures, Rychlak said. It is fair to ask whether Pius could have done better, he said. "But if this were a court of law, there would be enough evidence to get the case dismissed," he said. At the end of two days, no one had conceded any ground. But Rychlak and Zuccotti, who hold bitterly opposing views of Pius, acknowledged that they had held a civil conversation. "This conference has been a good step," Rychlak said. "I realized that some of us are not so far apart as I thought."

Asia-Pacific

Afghanistan

WP 30 Apr 2002 Turkey To Lead Force In Kabul From News Services Tuesday, April 30, 2002; Page A15 ANKARA, Turkey, April 29 -- Turkey announced today that it would assume command of international peacekeepers in Afghanistan for six months, putting the 4,500-member force under the control of a Muslim-majority nation and bolstering the U.S. position that the war against terrorism is not between Islam and the West. The Turkish government gave no date for the shift of command, but officials from Britain, which is currently in charge of the mission, said they did not believe that a handover would take place before June. Turkey has deployed about 270 peacekeepers in Afghanistan and is the only mostly Muslim country that has contributed to the force, which is responsible for patrolling the capital, Kabul. Though the Turkish military has participated in peacekeeping operations in the Balkans and Somalia, this was the first time its military leadership had agreed to take full command of a multinational force. The United States had been urging Turkey, NATO's sole Muslim member and a staunchly secular state, to head the force. Today's announcement came after Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sent a letter to the Turkish government assuring full U.S. support if Turkey took command, Turkey's private NTV television reported. In London, British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon welcomed Turkey's announcement and said a British contingent would remain with the force after Turkey took command. Britain, which has led the force since the U.N. Security Council established it in late December, had wanted to hand over command in April.

Australia

Courier Mail (AU) 29 Apr 2002 Beattie warns of genocide risk news.com.au. GENOCIDE was a very real possibility in some Aboriginal communities partly because of the failures of successive state governments, Premier Peter Beattie said yesterday. Mr Beattie said alcohol abuse and related violence in remote Aboriginal communities in Queensland had already come close to killing a generation and was in danger of destroying another. He said the tragedy was partly due to the failed policies of past governments, and called on all parties to work together to turn the tide. "There are young children bashed, there are young children whose lives are being impaired, scarred for life emotionally and physically," Mr Beattie told Channel Nine's Sunday program. "There are women being blinded, women being bashed, women being raped, largely due to alcohol. "Now we are facing genocide in a number of communities (and) I don't have any pleasure in saying that. It's bloody awful. "No one can allow this to continue, and governments of all political persuasions have been incompetent, lazy, inconsiderate or paternalistic about this forever." Earlier this month, the Beattie Government announced a four-year, $14.5 million push to attack alcohol abuse and its associated high rates of illness, violence and sexual abuse. The changes were the Government's response to a controversial report into alcohol abuse in Cape York by former judge Tony Fitzgerald. Mr Fitzgerald linked the alcohol abuse with horrific community violence and health problems which he said had made some communities unviable. He called for consideration of an alcohol ban in some communities if community-driven measures failed within three years. Mr Fitzgerald's report was commissioned by the State Government after a long-running campaign by The Courier-Mail exposed the problems facing many of Queensland's Aboriginal communities. Mr Beattie yesterday appealed for a "fresh beginning" and called on Aboriginal leaders to work with his government to make the plan work. "I'm saying, let's put all the past behind us – no one can change it," he said.

Bangladesh

The Independent (Bangladesh) 6 Apr 2002 April 6, 1971: The day two of our diplomats defected by Special Correspondent April 6, 1971 is a significant date in the history of war for liberation of Bangladesh. On this day, two of our diplomats had defected from Pakistan to Bangladesh and declared their solidarity with the Bengalee people who were subjected to atrocities and genocide unleashed by occupation army. This was the first defection from Pakistan by Bengalee diplomats that had encouraged many others to follow suit and strengthen the war for liberation. These two brave diplomats were K M Shehabuddin and Amjadul Huq. Shehabuddin, a member of Pakistan Foreign Service, was then a Second Secretary at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and Amjadul Huq was the Assistant Press Attaché at the same mission. Their early defection was considered historic since they did it before the formation of Mujibnagar Government on April 17 that year. Following the defection, the two diplomats addressed a press conference in New Delhi on the night of April 6 and denounced in strongest possible terms the atrocities committed by Pakistan and declared that ‘Pakistan was dead and buried under the blood of millions of martyrs on the soil of Bangladesh.’ They declared that they would work for Bangladesh and join the liberation war. In a statement issued at the press conference, they said : "We have severed our connection with fascist military dictatorship in Islamabad as our conscience no longer permits us to act against our deepest convictions. From now on our allegiance is to Bangladesh which derived its authority from the unambiguous mandate of 75 million Bengalee people." The defection of Shehabuddin and Amjadul Huq had set the stage for further defections by Bengalee diplomats abroad, shaking the foundation of Pakistan’s highly professional diplomatic service. Just 12 days after their defection, the Bengalee diplomatic and non-diplomatic staff of the Pakistan Deputy High Commission in Calcutta under the leadership of Hossain Ali declared their allegiance to Mujibnagar Government on April 18, 1971 and hoisted Bangladesh flag atop the chancery. Since then, Bengalee diplomats and non-diplomatic staff at different Pakistani missions across the globe continued to defect from Pakistan’s service, declared allegiance to independent Bangladesh and worked for liberation of the country. The defection of Bengalee diplomats took place at the missions in New York, Washington, London, Baghdad, Manila, Kathmandu, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Lagos and Berne and other capital cities.

Cambodia

Hindustan Times 9 Apr 2002 India offers judge to try leaders responsible for Cambodia genocide Sujit Chaterjee (PTI) Phnom Penh, April 9 Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday night offered to Cambodia an Indian Judge to try Khmer Rouge leaders responsible for the genocide of two million of people from 1975 to 1979, if the United Nations refused to participate even as the two countries signed three accords including an air services agreement. "The question of assistance in the trial of Khmer Rouge leaders was discussed. We had offered to send a Judge to participate in the trial. If the UN finally says no, then a decision will be taken," Vajpayee, who arrived here from Singapore on the second leg of his two-nation tour told reporters after the three agreements were initialled in the presence of the two Prime Ministers. The UN has stated that due to differences in the approach to set up an international tribunal and flaws in Khmer Rouge law as passed by Cambodia, it is unlikely to associate itself with any trial for Khmer Rouge leaders. The air services agreements, signed by the Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie and Cambodian Senior Minister Sok An Lays the foundation for Indian commercial aircraft to fly to this country. Another agreement provides for Indian assistance in restoration of the famous Ta Prohm temple in the world heritage site of Angkor Wat while the third accord gives visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders. Vajpayee, who held wide-ranging talks with his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen, said Phnom Penh has declared support to India's candidature for a permament seat in the UN Security Council and backed New Delhi's policy on a peaceful settlement of Jammu and Kashmir. On Pakistan-backed cross-border terrorism, Vajpayee said Hun Sen agreed that the civilised world has to take measures to stamp out the menace

China

South China Morning Post 9 Apr 2002 Atheist state errs in setting limits to religious belief FRANK CHING Last month, in what has become something of a ritual, the United States issued its annual report on human rights all over the world except, of course, the United States itself. And, as expected, the State Department report accused China of a wide array of human rights violations. These included religious persecution and suppression of ethnic minorities, in particular the Uygurs of Xinjiang. China, in response, unveiled its human rights report on the United States, focusing primarily on the country's social problems. Ironically, perhaps, the criticism of China's religious policies comes just as China appears to be planning more tolerance in that field. However, more tolerant religious policies will not solve the problem. Although Article 36 of the Chinese constitution says "citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief", in practice, this freedom is limited to the five religions officially recognised by the Government - Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. Even so, the leaders of those religious organisations have to pledge to support the leadership of the Communist Party and the socialist system. So we have a situation whereby an atheistic party decides which religions are legitimate and which ones are to be labelled "evil cults", and religious leaders must support atheists as the country's leaders. This unedifying spectacle is a reflection of the Communist Party's determination to control all groups in the country so as to ensure that it remains in power permanently. So religion, in addition to serving the people's need to worship, also serves the party's need for control. Similarly, ethnic minorities are controlled by the party through the leaders of each of China's 56 minority nationalities. Each Chinese citizen carries an identity card that gives his or her ethnic status. While the Han, or ethnic Chinese, make up more than 90 per cent of the population, the party makes sure the minorities, many of whom live in sparsely populated border areas, are controlled by minority leaders who also support the leadership of the Communist Party. Many of these minority leaders, like religious leaders, are co-opted by the party and given high-sounding positions in the National People's Congress or the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top advisory body. In fact, many individuals are simultaneously both minority and religious leaders. For example, Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai, a living Buddha and vice-president of the Chinese Buddhist Association, is a vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. In fact, something like 17,000 religious figures are deputies to the NPC and the CPPCC at various levels. To be sure, China has reason to be fearful of ethnic and religious strife. Its history is full of examples of rebellions led by pseudo-religious figures, such as Hong Xiuquan, the 19th-century Taiping leader who claimed to be the brother of Jesus. Similarly, China has witnessed ethnic wars, some of which saw ethnic Chinese being subjugated by warlike nomadic peoples, including both the Mongols and the Manchus. The Communist Party should end the system of attaching an ethnic label to each citizen. For one thing, there are Chinese citizens who don't belong to any of the 56 groups. Moreover, the party should also abandon the practice of limiting religious belief to five official religions. This, too, is no longer in accord with reality, if it ever was. It is certainly incongruous to insist that China has only five authorised religions when, in Hong Kong (which has been part of China now for five years), there are Jewish synagogues and Hindu temples as well as adherents of other religions, such as Bahaism. Moreover, even within the mainland, there are Chinese citizens who do not fall into any of the recognised ethnic groups or the five authorised religions. One example is Israel Epstein, a Polish Jew whose parents took him to China as an infant. Epstein studied and worked in China as a journalist before going to the United States in the 1940s - where he also worked as a journalist - before deciding to return to China, where he became a Chinese citizen and joined the Communist Party. Of course, there are only a handful of people like Epstein. However, China's nationality law, adopted in 1980, does allow foreign nationals to become naturalised as Chinese citizens. And it says nothing about limiting applicants to adherents of one of the five official religions, or to members of one of the recognised ethnic groupings in China. That being the case, China must assume the trappings of a pluralistic society, where individuals can decide for themselves whether they want to be considered to be a member of a minority group and whether they wish to be part of an organised religion. The state should not be in the business of telling its citizens which religions they are free to believe in. Frank Ching (frankching1@aol.com) is a Hong Kong-based journalist and commentator.

India

BBC 13 April, 2002, Violence returns to Gujarat The Gujarat violence has tarnished the image of the BJP Two people have been killed in renewed violence between Hindus and Muslims in the Indian city of Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat. It comes as partners in India's governing coalition decide whether to withdraw their support from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over its refusal to sack the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi. They want to count votes over dead bodies Congress Party member Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi Mr Modi is accused of turning a blind eye when Hindu mobs went on the rampage in Gujarat last month in violence that resulted in the deaths of more than 700 people, most of them Muslims. If a significant number of parties withdraw their support for the BJP, it could lead to the fall of the government. Correspondents say the BJP's allies have also been upset by a speech by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in which he appeared to blame Muslims for provoking the violence. A BBC correspondent in Delhi says it was probably the most partisan speech of any prime minister since independence. A meeting of the BJP leadership on Friday urged Mr Modi to hold early elections in Gujarat, which has a Hindu majority - a move denounced by the opposition. Army called in A curfew has been imposed in the area of Ahmedabad where the two people were killed on Friday night. Vajpayee's speech was more hardline in tone Nearly 30 people were injured in the clashes, Reuters news agency reports, and the army has been called in to maintain order. A key ally of the BJP, the Telugu Desam Party, which holds nearly 30 seats in the lower house of the federal parliament, says it will decide on Sunday whether to withdraw its support for the BJP. It has been adamant that Mr Modi should be dismissed to avoid "eroding public confidence" in the government. Last month's violence in Gujarat started after Muslims attacked a train carrying hardline Hindus from the disputed holy site of Ayodhya in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Nearly 60 Hindu activists died in that attack. Shortly afterwards, a wave of Hindu-led rioting, burning and killing engulfed Ahmedabad and other parts of Gujarat. Thousands of Muslims are still homeless. Mr Modi's administration in Gujarat was heavily criticised by India's human rights commission for its handling of the riots, in which the police were seen to stand by as Hindu mobs killed Muslims. Muslims criticised The BJP's Hindu nationalist agenda has left many of its avowedly secular allies in the governing coalition uneasy. Mr Modi has become increasingly unpopular Prime Minister Vajpayee did little to dispel those fears in a speech on Friday which analysts say marks a return by him to a more hardline Hindu stance. "Hindus stay in millions but never hurt others' religious feelings," he told a three day summit of the BJP in the western city of Goa. "But where ever Muslims are, they do not want to stay peacefully." Mr Modi has still to decide whether to accept his party's advice to hold elections in Gujarat. Reuters quotes one BJP member as saying it would be a good time to hold elections, as Gujarat is now "burning with strong" Hindu revivalist fever. A senior member of the opposition Congress Party, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, said the timing was wrong. "They want to count votes over dead bodies," he said. The BJP summit, being held in Goa, was called to discuss the party's disastrous performance in a number of state elections in February, as well as widespread criticism in India of its handling of the Gujarat riots. [ Send this story to a friend | Easy-print version | Search archives ] A BOSTON GLOBE EDITORIAL Torturers in America 4/12/2002 OR GOOD REASON, the US government has launched a global campaign against terrorists. President Bush has said the purpose of this struggle against criminals who murder and maim innocent civilians is to bring them to justice or bring justice to them. Viewed against the backdrop of the war on terrorism, a report issued this week by Amnesty International, ''United States of America: A Safe Haven for Torturers,'' suggests a blatant contradiction. The report documents case after case of the vilest killers and torturers living at liberty in this country, at times in proximity to their surviving victims. An awful question hovers over these accounts of torturers who come to America to hide from justice. How can it be that the United States - which proposes to teach the rest of the world lessons about the rule of law, respect for human rights, and protection of the individual against the overweening power of the state - makes so little effort to identify, prosecute, or extradite foreign torturers living here? When court cases are filed against foreign torturers, they are usually brought by immigrants who were victims, not by the US government. The case of Kemal Mehinovic, a Bosnian Muslim civilian who was tortured mercilessly for months in his hometown of Bosanski Samac in Bosnia, is representative. After surviving the brutality, Mehinovic was transferred to a concentration camp and eventually released in a prisoner exchange after 21/2 years of incarceration. He then found his family and emigrated to this country, where he was granted permanent residence. In 1998 Mehinovic learned that a man he remembered as one of his torturers, Nikola Vukovic, was living in a suburb of Atlanta. The same year, Mehinovic filed a lawsuit against Vukovic under the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act. A final ruling in that trial is pending. Similarly, Haitian refugees living in the United States have made the desolating discovery that torturers and death squad leaders from Haiti's former military dictatorship have found refuge here. Former top officers from El Salvador's military junta, suspects in the torture and murder of many Americans as well as Salvadorans, have also been discovered living in the United States, like those Nazi fugitives who found comfortable havens after World War II in Argentina, Bolivia, or Chile. One of the Guatemalan generals who supervised the genocidal massacres conducted there in the '80s even received a degree in public administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in 1991. It makes no sense to be tightening visa requirements and border security in the war on terrorism while such monsters can cross US borders and live here with impunity. This story ran on page A22 of the Boston Globe on 4/12/2002.

PTI 22 Apr 2002 Five killed in Ahmedabad violence; toll 26 PTI Ahmedabad, April 22 At least five persons, including a 30-year-old woman, were on Monday killed in police firing and 15 injured as fresh violence raged through Shahpur and Behrampur localities of Ahmedabad for the second successive day, taking the toll in riots in the city since Sunday to 26. A dozen houses and shops were set on fire in Khanpur and Nagoriward localities under Shahpur police station prompting authorities to impose indefinite curfew from 2 pm, police said. Two persons were stabbed and police opened fire to quell a rioting mob in its aftermath resulting in injuries to four at Gheekanta locality of Mirzapur. The Army was deployed in all sensitive areas of the walled city at 7.30 am. Two more companies of Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) were deployed in violence-affected areas of the city. Three persons were killed in police firing and nine others injured in Shahpur and Behrampura areas in fresh eruption of violence in the city on Monday afternoon. Earlier, four more persons succumbed to injuries on Sunday night. The army was deployed at 7.30 am on Monday to keep a check on any untoward incident, police said. Two more companies of Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) were also deployed in the affected areas of the city, they said. As many as 125 people received injuries in large-scale violence in Gomtipur, Bapunagar, Rakhiyal areas of the city, Kadi town of Mehsana district and Kapadvanj and Mehmdavad of Kheda district since yesterday, police said adding curfew continued in all the trouble-torn areas. At least 17 people were killed, 13 of them in police firing, yesterday and over 100 injured over last two days here and at Kheda and Mehsana districts in the state. In Ahmedabad, police fired 633 rounds and burst 382 teargas shells to countain the violence in city areas till late last night. Adequate security arrangements have been made to enable school and college students to appear for the on-going examinations, police added. India warns against criticism over Gujarat riots Palash Kumar

AFP 22 Apr 2002 New Delhi, April 22 India on Monday tried to stem growing international criticism of communal violence in riot-torn Gujarat state, saying it did not appreciate "interference" in its affairs. "We would like to make clear that India does not appreciate interference in our internal affairs, including the utilisation of the Indian media by foreign leaders as well as by visiting dignitaries to make public statements in order to pander to their domestic lobbies," foreign ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao told reporters. Rao was reacting specifically to an interview visiting Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomiojaa gave The Indian Express newspaper on Friday, in which he called the Hindu-Muslim violence in Gujarat "a matter of great concern." "The pictures of carnage are very disturbing," the minister said. "We are concerned, as we are when something of that nature happens anywhere in the world." India has lodged a protest with Finland through diplomatic channels, Rao said. A European Union fact-finding team has travelled to Gujarat and is expected to raise concern about the situation, according to Western diplomats in New Delhi. Rao said New Delhi would wait for the EU findings before giving a reaction. Rao said the international community needed to recognise how much India was doing to handle the situation in Gujarat. "We have the wherewithal to deal with the situation," she said. Asked if India would react similarly if the United Nations were to make an adverse comment on the situation, Rao said, "We will make it perfectly clear that the government of India is taking all the necesary steps to deal with the situation. "India is a pluralistic democracy... India has the resilience and capacity to deal with the situation. That must be recognised by the international community," she said.

Indian Express 25 Apr 2002 Grand conspiracy behind riots in Gujarat, says Sahmat report Express News Service New Delhi, April 25: SAHMAT released a comprehensive and updated report on the recent Gujarat carnage - Genocide 2002, in the city today. The report prepared by a Mumbai-based Communalism Combat, gives a background to the current situation starting with the Ayodhya buildup, the Godhra incident and the subsequent genocide across Gujarat. Holding the BJP-led government responsible for the situation in the state, Communalism Combat editor Teesta Seetalvad said the situation was still not under control and steps need to be taken to ensure minorities’ safety. ‘‘The government led by Narendra Modi is throwing up a new challenge to secularism everyday. The situation is still very bad and fresh incidents are reported daily,’’ said Seetalvad. Calling the Godhra carnage an unfortunate incident which needs to be condemned, she insisted that it should be viewed in the backdrop of events in the state over the last four years. ‘‘Though no provocation can justify the Godhra incident, those involved should be punished for it. However, the incidents should be viewed in the backdrop of the happening in the state since BJP came to power four years back and the row over the Ram Janmabhoomi issue.’’ The report released today starts with the recent quotes of the leaders of BJP, RSS and VHP with messages of communal hatred and moves to the event of February 27. The excerpts from a chapter on the Godhra carnage and the reasons for the same — ‘‘While no provocation whatsoever can justify a heinous crime like burning people to death. But the misconduct of kar sevaks is nonetheless important to record for two reasons: One, given the persistent hooliganism, where was the intelligence machinery? And why no preventive measures were taken by the police? Two, if the attack on the kar sevaks was pre-planned, as Chief Minister Modi and Union Home Minister L.K. Advani have maintained, was outrageous conduct of kar sevaks a part of the pre-planning?’’ In a chapter entitled ‘‘Mapping the Violence’’, the report says ‘‘Sixteen of Gujarat’s 24 districts were engulfed in one of the most organised armed mob attacks in February 2002. In some parts of Ahmedabad and Mehsana districts, they are still on the loose. Nowhere were the mobs less than two to three thousand, more often five to 10,000. This and the fact that they were armed with swords, trishuls and agricultural implements that could kill, the fact that the matter of arson, hacking and killings were chillingly similar, all suggested a carefully laid out plan behind the attacks.’’ She also spoke of the ‘‘vicious climate’’ that had been gradually building up through the publication of provocative pamphlets. And this did not happen overnight. The campaign with the help of pamphlets had been going on for nearly four years, the time the BJP government has been in power in the state. She flayed the regional media. The language press had behaved, she said, in an extremely partisan manner and had even egged on citizens of the majority community to take up arms.

Financial Times (UK) 26 Apr 2002 West labels 900 deaths in Indian riots genocide By Edna Fernandes in New Delhi India's worst race riots in a decade, in which nearly 900 people, mostly Muslims, have died, were on Friday described by western diplomats as genocide. It is the first time foreign observers have issued such a damning verdict on the recent communal violence in the western state of Gujurat, in which there have been mass killings of the minority Muslim community by Hindu mobs. The criticism came at the end of a week of tense relations between India and the diplomatic community in Delhi. On Friday new curfews were imposed on parts of Ahmedabad, Gujurat's largest city, after fresh Hindu-Muslim clashes. Many of the latest casualties were caused by police firing as the authorities struggled to break up gangs of Hindus and Muslims hurling stones and acid at each other. A spokesman for a group of senior western diplomats told the Financial Times the Gujurat killings were not just an internal matter for India but also a human rights issue of international concern. He rejected comments by Atal Behari Vajpayee, the prime minister, that foreigners should not interfere in the Gujarat troubles, which have damaged his Hindu-nationalist BJP-led government. Findings of several reports from the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, leaked to the media, said there was evidence of pre-planned killings of Muslims, that the BJP state government was complicit in the killings and that the death toll might be more than 2,000. The leaked findings echo investigations by non-governmental organisations and human rights groups that have accused the state government of complicity in the killings of Muslims. Relations between India and the diplomatic community hit a low last week when three ambassadors were rebuffed in an attempt to present concerns to Jaswant Singh, India's foreign minister. One western diplomat involved said: "We see this as stonewalling and a sign of bad conscience. "As for India's insistance that Gujarat is an internal matter, that's a specious argument. It's not an internal matter. It's genocide."

Milli Gazette (Indian Muslims' Leading English Newspaper -bimonthly) 27 April 2002 New dimensions of Gujarat genocide By N Jamal Ansari When Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Ahmedabad, he said, ‘I have not came here for counting dead bodies’. The statement came from heart. It has been established now that more than ninety percent victims of Golwalkarite Doctrine were Muslims and as per his own earlier statement at the time of assembly elections in four states, ‘BJP did not need votes of Muslims’. Hence it was quite natural for him to avoid any count. It is also known to the outside world that the objective of Sangh Parivar for herding terrorised Muslims into camps and isolating them from localities they inhabited is achieved. In short, media has exposed saffron brand of governance under which Muslims should be second class citizen. For enlarging the ambit of saffron Hinduism, the media was taught a lesson on April, 7, on that day Godse overtook Mahatma Gandhi in his own Sabarmati Ashram. Not only Medha Patkar was assaulted but police was pressed to silence media. Some deeper analysis point out that the whole ethnicide of Muslims is not confined to Gujarat alone. The issues involved are not merely dead bodies, burning of houses or humanism. Let us discuss the issues and their impact on Indian Nation. Gujarat is one of the most prosperous and industrialised states of Indian Union. Edible oil, milk, dairy products, diamond and textiles trading are backbone of state revenue. In short economic health of the state is far better than other states. Rule of law, peace and communal harmony are pre-condition for economic prosperity-Gujaratis themselves irrespective of religious tag are prime business community. But television channels showed people in cars looting and burning Muslim establishments. How this middle and upper middle class gentry changed itself into a group of looters and killers? Behind their attitudinal change lies the Hinduism of Savarkar and Golwalker brand. I must point out that Zionism and Jews are two different concepts. Likewise Hinduism of Golwalkar and Mahatma Gandhi or Swami Vivekananda are poles apart. If one closely follows the culture of Sangh Parivar, one will find out it violent, racist, anti-women and separatist. In the name of Lord Rama, they have done everything which is anti-thesis of his preachings. Coming back to the economic activity, Muslims are engaged in several trades and businesses. Motor workshops and other mechanical jobs are their one of the main jobs. In garment industry Muslims have fair share. Needlework and embroidery traditionally belongs to them. In industrial workforce, Muslim constitute the biggest section. Hoteling and restaurant running are also their prime sectors. In the transport sector, they run majority of local auto-rikshawas and taxis. In truck business also they have stake. Primarily the segment of driving the vehicles of all sorts is a job done by Muslims. Beside Muslims, trading and industrial activity in general also made a downward slide due to violent and hostile atmosphere of the state. Gujarat Chamber of Commerce has given an assessment. The total loss of nearly Rs 2500 crore within a week includes Rs 1500 crore from closure of markets. Production loss is of Rs 650 crore whereas Rs 100 crore loss is that of self employed people. Diamond trading alone accounted for a loss of Rs 300 crore. Keep in mind that these figures do not include the losses suffered by Muslims. Naredra Modi is so much busy in experimenting as well as implementing saffron agenda that he has no time to assess these losses. Industry and business associations should have been more active and vocal but they are keeping a deadly silence. Only one of them, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh spoke. He called Gujarat genocide as ‘a national failure’. He categorically admitted in an interview that, ‘the carnage after Godhra has hit business sentiment badly. Can you believe that the sales of many manufacturing companies have collapsed in Gujarat in the crucial fiscal end month of March due to riots. Beside riots have damaged India’s reputation more in international forums than what is happening in Pakistan’ (Indian Express, March 28). Another national daily quotes industry sources to say that, ‘the Prime Minister must announce punitive measures against the people responsible for the mayhem and take steps to resurrect the state economy which has been dealt a body blow’ (The Hindustan Times, April 5). Beside trading and industrial losses, another problem has cropped up in Gujarat. Muslim employees of government and public sector like Banks and Railways are desperate to leave Gujarat at the earliest. According to the Indian Express of April 14, at least 27 employees of western Railways have applied for transfers on humanitarian grounds. The State Bank of India has already transferred eight employees, two or three more transfers are expected. The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has also received half a dozen applications for transfer outside Gujarat. There are reports that some IPS officers also want to leave the state. Considering the above mentioned facts published by a national daily one can easily conclude that there is a constitutional breakdown in Gujarat besides law and order collapse. Is it not a fit case of implementation of Article 356? Finally analyse some points. Narendra Modi has got clean chit from Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, Home Minister L.K. Advani, BJP President Jan Krishnamurthy and the whole Sangh-Parivar despite the fact that each and every responsible forum from media to human rights organizations have questioned his direct role in the genocide of Muslims. National Human Rights Commission has indicted him. The British High Commission has reported to the British Foreign Office in London that, ‘the violence in Gujarat was pre-planned. If the Sabarmati Express tragedy had not happened, another flashpoint would have been created to justify premeditated violence as reaction’ (Hindustan Times, April 15). The role of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is very dubious. On April 4, at Shah Alam Camp in Ahmedabad, he said, ‘I don’t know with what face I will go abroad’. He climbed down from false emotions on April, 9 and April, 11 in Singapore and Cambodia where he stated that, ‘India is an ancient country with one billion people. Let not some of the recent unfortunate happenings in India create any unease in you’. And lastly on April, 12, he shouted at Goa- ‘Wherever there are Muslims there is strife. Don’t teach us secularism. We allow (Muslims and Christians) to follow their religion’. Not even once, he displayed decency to declare that the guilty will be punished. Now what can be done? Replacement of Narendra Modi is not a solution. Article 356 should be imposed in Gujarat. As the state Governor also belongs to RSS, he should be replaced and any centralist intellectual or diplomat may be appointed Governor. At this time elections cannot be held there. Former Chief Election Commissioner, TN Seshan has clearly pointed out that, ‘the EC has access to reports from the NHRC, National Minorities Commission, media and opposition parties. It depends upon it to decide about it. Presently conditions in Gujarat are not conducive for free, fair polls’ (Indian Express, April 15). Hence declaring elections will be nothing but a conspiracy. It is high time for people who believe in rule of law to rise in unison and take determined measures to confront Hindutva Brigade frontally. Otherwise, I am afraid, that we will loose our fruits of independence. We are slowly but surely moving towards a fascist state and we have to reverse this situation.

Milli Gazette 27 Apr 2002 Unprecedented outpouring, unbecoming of a prime minister Vajpayee equates Islam with terrorism Less than a fortnight ago Vajpayee had condemned the killings and the continued riots in Gujarat as a kalank (blot) on India’s face. But now he says: ‘Gujarat mein kya hua? Agar Sabarmati na hota to jo hua who nahi hota (What happened in Gujarat? If the attack on Sabarmati [train] had not taken place, then what followed [anti-Muslim violence] would not have happened). Mr Vajpayee did condemn the aftermath of the