African Union Reuters 28 Feb 2004 African leaders agreed on Saturday to set up a multinational force empowered to intervene across the troubled continent to end civil wars or genocide. The African Standby Force would be deployed at five regional bases by 2005, expanding to a continental force by 2010

Burundi AFP 17 Mar 2004 Fighting between Burundi's army and rebels has claimed between two and 11 lives, according to tolls Wednesday from different sources, while 30,000 civilians took to their heels.

DR Congo BBC 11 Mar 2004 Rebel weapons seized in DR Congo- The UN has reinforced its contingent in Bukavu / AP 19 Mar 2004 UN troops attack and destroy camps for tribal fighters in northeastern Congo

Ethiopia IRIN 5 Mar 2004 Central Government Apologises for [Dec. 2003] Gambella Massacre

Libya BBC 8 Mar 2004 The chief prosecutor at the UN's new court for Sierra Leone has accused the Libyan leader of being behind the past decade of war in West Africa. / WP 11 Mar 2004 Sub-Saharan Migrants in Libya Face Backlash During the 1990s, in the name of African unity, Gaddafi opened the borders to tens of thousands of sub-Saharan Africans to live and work in Libya. For the past four years, resentment over the policy has led to occasional riots and frequent bitter confrontations between the immigrants and Libyans. About 600,000 sub-Saharan Africans are estimated to live among Libya's population of 5.5 million.

Nigeria AP 28 Feb 2004 Rumors stymie polio effort in Nigeria - Some hide their children because they believe the vaccine will sterilize them. . . some Islamic leaders' claims that the vaccine was part of a U.S. plot to render them sterile, U.N. officials said Friday. / IRIN 15 Mar 2004 Army denies alleged massacre in Niger Delta / BBC 17 Mar 2004 Nigeria's northern state of Kano has again rejected a polio vaccine promoted by the UN, despite assurances from the Nigerian authorities that it is safe.

Rwanda Hirondelle news agency THOUSANDS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST UN TRIBUNAL An estimated 10,000 people turned up on the streets of the south west Rwanda town of Cyangugu on Thursday to demonstrate against the acquittal of two senior leaders from the province on genocide charges by the UN International Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). / IRIN 1 Mar 2004 Rwanda: Five Sentenced to Death Over Killing of Genocide Survivor / AP 3 Mar 2004 A decade after the genocide, Rwanda's horror brought to the big screen . . . "Hotel Rwanda," starring Don Cheadle and Nick Nolte, recounts the true story of hotelier Paul Rusesabagina, who sheltered more than 1,200 Tutsis from Hutu militias at the elite Hotel des Mille Collines. / AFP 9 Mar 2004 A French police inquiry blames Rwandan President Paul Kagame for the 1994 rocket attack that killed his predecessor and triggered genocide, Le Monde newspaper reported Tuesday, but Rwanda swiftly dismissed it. / Reuters 17 Mar 2004 President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has accused France of being "directly" involved in the 1994 genocide.

Sierra Leone IPS 11 Mar 2004 RIGHTS-SIERRA LEONE: 'Putting People on Trial May Ignite Fresh Conflict' Lansana Fofana FREETOWN, Mar 11 (IPS) - Sierra Leone's war crimes court has opened in the capital Freetown to try persons who bear the greatest responsibility for the atrocities committed during the country's 1991-1999 conflict.

Sudan AP 28 Feb 2004 Sudanese rebels say at least 70 civilians killed in government raid / BBC 2 Mar 2004 UN warns of 'atrocities' in Sudan / IRIN 3 Mar 2004 One Million At "Imminent Risk" in Darfur, Says US Government / IRIN 10 Mar 2004 Militias ravage Darfur in gangs of hundreds The entire Jabal Si area, previously home to about 70,000 people living in over 119 villages, had been cleared of civilians / UPI 21 Mar 2004 Sudan criticizes U.N. for 'heap of lies'

Uganda BBC 28 Feb 2004 Uganda army targets LRA rebels The East African (Nairobi) 1 Mar 2004 ANALYSIS Why Mighty Kampala is Unable to Defeat Kony's 'Rag-Tag' Murderers . . . Many of Uganda's post-colonial woes were unleashed upon the country by brutal northerners like Amin and Obote. Museveni is the first southerner to rule Uganda for a long time. It seems that he is all too happy to keep the north weak and in crisis. A weak north can never be a threat to the increasingly prosperous south.

Tanzania ICTR AFP 8 Mar 2004 The hunt for about 15 alleged masterminds of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda is set to lose steam and possibly come to a complete halt this year because of a deadline imposed on the UN tribunal investigating and trying the suspects. Some 15 people suspected of planning or organising the slaughter are still at large. / AP 9 Mar 2004 A WELL-KNOWN Rwandan musician pleaded not guilty today to six counts of genocide . . . Simon Bikindi wrote song lyrics that manipulated the politics and history of Rwanda to promote Hutu solidarity.

Zimbabwe Mail&Guardian ZA 1 Mar 2004 Zimbabwe's ruling party is training children as young as 12 to torture and kill its political opponents, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported on Sunday. / News 24 SA 2 Mar 2004 Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon said on Tuesday that it was not impossible that there may be a politically motivated genocide in Zimbabwe in the coming months. . . He said Zimbabwean parliament Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa, who he was tipped to succeed Mugabe as president, was head of the Central Intelligence Organisation during the 1982-87 Matabeleland genocide.

Americas

Haiti BBC 1 March, 2004 Troops fly in to 'lawless' Haiti Canadian special forces secured the capital's airport French troops have landed in Haiti to join US and Canadian soldiers in an international force to restore order. / South Florida Sun-Sentinel, FL 2 Mar 2004 www.sun-sentinel.com Deported war criminal freed in Haiti / AP 2 Mar 2004 Convicted Assassin Gets Role in Haiti By PAISLEY DODDS Associated Press Writer March 2, 2004, 11:13 PM EST PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Rebel leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a convicted killer and accused death squad leader, says he has no plans of fading into the shadows. / Jamaica Observer 2 Mar 2004 Prime Minister P J Patterson says he won't sit with Haitian rebels / Reuters 2 Mar 2004 Rights dilemma as mass killers win Haiti revolt / AP 3 Mar 2004 Rebel leader says he'll arrest prime minister in Haiti / AFP 8 Mar 2004 Six killed, 34 wounded in Haiti violence / WP 17 Mar 2004 CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez offered refuge to ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and said he still recognized him as the legitimate leader of the Caribbean country. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Haiti's interim prime minister appointed a 13-member cabinet that excludes members of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party

United States newsday.com 2 Mar 2004 Surviving atrocities, they became friends BY OLIVIA WINSLOW STAFF WRITER March 2, 2004, 9:28 PM EST David Gewirtzman, a retired pharmacist, and Jacqueline Murekatete, a Stony Brook University freshman, have an unlikely bond, forged through surviving the genocide of their people, though in different lands some 50 years apart. He survived the Holocaust. She lived through the Rwandan genocide a decade ago. / New York Daily News 3 Mar 2004 A new photo documentary chronicling instances of genocide throughout the world during the 20th century is now open at Queensborough Community College / Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA 4 Mar 2004 Survivors teach a lesson against hatred . . . a community forum by Holocaust survivor Renee Firestone, Cambodian genocide survivor Jonathon Dok and Dr. Houri Berberian, a historian whose family were Armenian genocide victims. / AP 4 Mar 2004 20:23 Two of Pres. Candidate John F. Kerry's relatives found in Yad Vashem's Holocaust database

Asia-Pacific

Bangladesh BBC 27 Feb 2004 Leading Bangladesh author stabbed . . . Dr Azad recently wrote Pak Sar Jamin Sad Bad (the first line of the Pakistani national anthem) which was critical about the role of Pakistanis and their Bangladeshi collaborators before the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. Several Islamist party activists denounced the book when it was published. / The Daily Star (Bangladesh) 1 Mar 2004 On February 28, 2004, the Daily Star reporting on attempted assassination of Prof. Azad wrote, "Addressing a demonstration at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque on December 12, leaders of an anti-Ahmadiyya outfit demanded arrest and trial of Prof Azad for the novel." / Xinhua 2 Mar 2004 Police raid opposition headquarters, 150 arrested The bomb attacks were amid a series of violence in the capital Dhaka after professor Humayun Azad was fiercely stabbed by unidentified assailants with butcher's knives in Dhaka University on Friday and Dhanmondi Sporting Club President Khairul Anwar Piaru was gunned down by six armed youths on Sunday night.

China NYT 8 Mar 2004 Dr. Jiang Yanyong, the retired military physician who last year helped expose China's initial cover-up of the SARS outbreak is now calling on the Communist Party to confront one of its darkest periods and acknowledge that it was gravely wrong in violently cracking down on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989. / Dr. Jiang Yanyong's Feb 24, 2004 letter calling for June 4 reappraisal [Full Text below]

Cambodia BBC 5 Mar 2004 The former Khmer Rouge president of Cambodia, Khieu Samphan, has published his memoirs in which he denies taking part in the mass killings in the 1970s. . But human rights activists say he is attempting to defend himself in advance of an expected genocide trial at a United Nations-backed tribunal. The book, the Recent History of Cambodia and My Successive Positions, went on sale in Cambodia on Friday at 13,200 riel ($3.30) a copy. A French-language version of the book was published in France last month. / Reuters 10 Mar 2004 A United Nations legal team has arrived in Cambodia to hammer out plans for the long-awaited genocide trial of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge henchmen. . .During what is its second week-long logistical visit, the U.N. team will look at possible trial venues and discuss issues such as staff pay. Speculation has centred on a total bill of $40 million for a three-year trial

India www.milligazette.com 1-15 Feb 2004 Thaw in Hindu-Muslim relations . . . recent talks between leaders of the RSS and Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind (JUH).

Indonesia AFP 1 Mar 2004 Eight people killed in Indonesia's restive Aceh / BBC 10 Mar 2004 Jailed Indonesian cleric defiant Ba'asyir criticised the US and Australia at a news conference in jail Jailed cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir has vowed to continue fighting for Islamic law for Indonesia once he leaves jail. Australia has also objected to his proposed early release. Most of the 202 people who died in the 2002 Bali bombings - blamed on Jemaah Islamiah - were Australian. At the news conference Ba'asyir said that Australia also intended to "wage war against Islam." "They have the mentality of colonialists. All white people are like that," he said. / HRW 11 Mar 2004 Indonesia: Justice Denied in East Timor Church Massacre - Acquittal of Five Officials Highlights Need for U.N. Mechanism

Iraq Los Angeles Times 29 Feb 2004 www.latimes.com The U.S. Is Brewing Up a Disaster for the Kurds / AFP 1 Mar 2004 Iraqi leaders agree on basic law, amid mounting casualties / NYT 1 Mar 2004 Sunni Clerics Call for End to Attacks on Iraqis / AP 2 Mar 2004 Coordinated Blasts in Iraq Mar End of Shiite Religious Festival / AP 3 Mar 2004 Iraqis put Shiite bombing toll at 271 / AFP 8 Mar 2004 The United States is dispatching a large team of prosecutors and other criminal justice experts to Iraq to prepare for likely genocide trials of Saddam Hussein and his closest associates, a justice official said late Saturday.

Israel / Palestinian Authority / Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Mar 2004 What Does Israel’s “Demographic Balancing Act” Hold in Store for Palestinians? / ICG 4 Mar 2004 Middle East Report N°25 : Arab/Israeli Conflict Identity Crisis: Israel and Its Arab Citizens Prospects for Israel's long-term stability will remain uncertain unless the systemic inequities facing its Arab citizens are addressed. Mistrust between Israel's Jewish majority and its Arab minority, who make up roughly 20 per cent of the population, runs deep. / Jerusalem Post 8 Mar 2004 15 Palestinians killed in IDF Gaza raid By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH Fifteen Palestinians were killed, among them two children, in an IDF raid on the El-Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday morning. More than 80 Palestinians were wounded in the operation, / AP 14 Mar 2004 Double Palestinian bombing at Israeli port kills 10; Israeli helicopters hit Gaza workshops The bombings raised serious questions about Israel's vulnerability; Israel has been fearing a so-called "mega attack" on a chemical depot or fuel storage facility. Israeli security officials said the bombers apparently used high-grade explosives, indicating a deadly upgrade.

Myanmar AFP 11 Mar 2004 Human rights in Myanmar deteriorate: UN expert

North Korea Xinhua 29 Feb 2004 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) refutes US accusation of human rights abuses

Pakistan WP 3 Mar 2004 Gunmen in Pakistan Kill Scores of Shiites / BBC 13 Mar 2004 For India and Pakistan, Saturday's one-day cricket match in Karachi marked the first time in 14 years that either side's team has toured the other country.

Sri Lanka BBC 3 Mar 2004 Sri Lankan rebels 'deny split'

Uzbekistan ICG 11 Mar 2004 International engagement with Uzbekistan's regime has resulted in continuation of extensive human rights abuses and encouraged economic decline. The regime has been given too free a ride because it is seen as a partner against terrorism and Islamist extremism but engagement must become more critical and investment increased to civil society in order to stem long-term damage to Western credibility in this predominantly Muslim region.


Europe

Austria AP 8 Mar 2004 Jörg Haider, the far-right political leader, brought his party an unanticipated victory in his home province Sunday, increasing the odds for a national comeback.

Bosnia BBC 4 March, 2004 Nato arrests former Karadzic aide General Bogdan Subotic / AFP 9 Mar 2004 NATO releases ex-Bosnian Serb general detained over links to Karadzic

Croatia Reuters 11 Mar 2004 Two retired Croatian generals flew to the Netherlands on Thursday to face ethnic cleansing charges at The Hague war crimes tribunal, in the first concrete sign of the new government's compliance with the court. / AFP 17 March 2004 ZAGREB : In a significant gesture, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader condemned his country's World War II atrocities and paid tribute to the victims of the notorious Jasenovac concentration camp.

Germany www.errc.org 4 Mar 2004 UN Findings on Discrimination against Sinti and Roma Women in Germany

Hungary www.b92.net 3 Mar 2004 Kosovo reacts to Ceku arrest Kosovo Protection Corps commander Agim Ceku . . . was detained yesterday at the airport in Budapest on a warrant issued by the Serbian authorities, accusing him of genocide against the Serb population in Kosovo. / www.B92.net 3 Mar 2004 Ceku released as Croatian citizen BUDAPEST Agim Ceku, a former guerrilla leader and current commander of the Kosovo Protection Corps, was released by Hungarian police today and handed over to Croatian diplomatic authorities.

Italy AP 4 Mar 2004 Pardon Plan for Nazi Sparks Italy Debate. . . Erich Priebke, a former SS captain, was convicted in 1997 for a wartime massacre in which 335 civilians were killed.

Netherlands NYT 3 Mar 2004 Dutch police arrest 2 suspected African war criminals [from Rwanda and DR Congo]

Netherlands - ICTY NYT 1 Mar 2004 At Halfway Point of Milosevic Trial, Prosecutor Is Confident She said she was certain of a conviction on all charges, but conceded that she had presented only circumstantial evidence, "no simple smoking gun," — no written order or letter signed by Mr. Milosevic — to support the gravest charge, genocide.

Russia Scripps Howard News Service 11 Mar 2004 'A Creeping Coup': Is Russia Heading Back to the USSR? By Clifford D. May, Pres. of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

Serbia www.b92.net 3 Mar 2004 Top human rights lawyer Natasa Kandic has said she believes Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitives Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic are in Serbia / BBC 4 Mar 2004 The first substantive talks between Serbian and Kosovo representatives since the war of 1999 have begun in the Kosovan capital, Pristina. . . Serbia's new nationalist Prime Minister, Vojislav Kostunica, on Tuesday told parliament he would not let Kosovo gain independence. Instead, he called for a "partition or cantonisation" of the province along ethnic lines./ BBC 9 Mar 2004 War crimes trial test for Serbs Six men are charged with killing some 200 civilians in the Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991. It is the first major war crimes trial in Serbia and is seen as a test case.

Switzerland BBC 3 March, 2004, Swiss pardon woman who saved Jews -Aimee Stitelmann, 79, was imprisoned for 15 days almost 60 years ago for breaking Swiss immigration laws after the country closed its borders in 1942.. A further 27 people are waiting for similar pardons. /

www.swissinfo.org Swiss foundation honours Rwandan hero swissinfo March 19, 2004 11:44 AM Damas Gisimba, the winner of the Paul Grüninger Prize 2004 The Paul Grüninger Foundation has awarded its prize for humanity and courage to a man who saved hundreds of lives during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Damas Mutenzintare Gisimba is the second winner of the prize, set up in memory of a Swiss police chief who rescued Jews during the Second World War. The prize, which is to be presented at a ceremony in St Gallen on Friday, is given to individuals or organisations deemed to have made a significant contribution towards safeguarding the freedom and dignity of others. In a statement, the foundation said that Gisimba had won the award because he had shown exceptional courage during the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994. Ten years ago tensions exploded between ethnic Tutsis and Hutus, and in the ensuing violence an estimated 800,000 people - mostly Tutsis - were killed. At the time, Gisimba was the director of an orphanage in the capital, Kigali. A Hutu but married to a Tutsi, he sheltered more than 80 adults and 300 children in his orphanage. The 32-year-old managed to feed and shelter them for several months – the massacres took place between April and June – at considerable risk to himself and his family. “The orphanage… which was the home of 64 children, was at the time of the massacres a refuge for about 400 people who practically had no other chance of surviving,” said the foundation. “Damas Mutenzintare Gisimba therefore opposed this genocide with incredible humanity, determination and courage,” it added. Calling Gisimba, who still runs the orphanage set up by his father in 1980, said he felt that he had to do something to help. “I saw that everyone was in danger,” he said in a newspaper interview. “I told myself I just can’t let this happen. “If I had to die, then at least I would have died after having done something.” Every day, Gisimba would find food and water for his charges. He also protected them from the frequent searches by the Hutu militia, as well as dissuading them from joining in the violence themselves. However, Gisimba denies that he was a hero. “I only did what my conscience and my faith told me to do. And with God’s help I survived,” he said. Ceremony Gisimba is due to receive his SFr50,000 ($29,240) prize at a special ceremony at the foundation’s headquarters in St Gallen. It will be handed over by William Schabas, a Rwanda expert and director of the Irish centre for human rights at the National University of Ireland in Galway. It is only that the second time that the triennial prize has been awarded. The first winner was Afghan doctor Sima Samar in 2001. Samar was commended for her work running a network of hospitals and schools for Afghan women and children. The award was set up in memory of the former St Gallen police chief, Paul Grüninger, who took advantage of his position to help Jewish refugees enter Switzerland. Grüninger was posthumously pardoned in 1995 for faking documents to save thousands of Jews from Nazi persecution. Paul Grüninger Stiftung. www.paul-grueninger.ch

United Kingdom Guardian UK 2 Mar 2004 Britain bows to US boycott of war crime court

Africa

African Union

African Leaders Agree to Set Up Peacekeeping Force Sat Feb 28, 2004 11:40 AM ET By Lamine Ghanmi SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - African leaders agreed on Saturday to set up a multinational force empowered to intervene across the troubled continent to end civil wars or genocide. The African Standby Force would be deployed at five regional bases by 2005, expanding to a continental force by 2010, a declaration adopted at an African Union (AU) summit said. Initially, it would involve some 15,000 AU troops, drawn primarily from the continent's military powerhouses -- South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt, AU sources said. With fragile peace efforts in the continent's many troublespots, there has been international pressure on the Ethiopia-based AU to take an active lead in peacekeeping. African leaders are keen to avoid a repeat of mass killings such as the 1994 Rwanda genocide when extremists from the Hutu majority slaughtered 800,000 minority Tutsis and Hutu moderates. Heads of state and prime ministers of the 53-nation AU who met for two days at the Libyan coastal city of Sirte unanimously approved the Common Defense and Security Policy for Africa. The rapid reaction force will have a peacebuilding and humanitarian role, and may intervene unilaterally in the event of "war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, as well as a serious threat to legitimate order," the text said. Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano, current AU chairman, called the new common defense policy "a collective answer to threats, whether internal or external, over the continent." "AFRICA NEEDS NO WMD" Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who hosted the summit in his hometown, said "no country can protect itself with a national army, no country can pretend to achieve security alone." "In Africa, not a single country needs...weapons of mass destruction," he added. Libya stunned the world in December when it announced it would dismantle its weapons of mass destruction program, in a bid to normalize relations with the West. The new force will operate at the bidding of an AU Peace and Security Council, modeled on the U.N. Security Council, which will be set up at a March meeting in Addis Ababa. The council will have 15 permanent members, chosen for their known respect for democracy and human rights, AU sources said. "The members should be an example for what the African Union seeks to build in Africa: peace, security and democracy," one delegate said. Command structures, staffing and the criteria for deploying the force still need to be worked out, AU sources said. African leaders were due to approve the force at last year's AU summit in Maputo but delayed final approval amid questions over how the new army would be funded. African countries have asked developed countries to foot most of the bill, but the plan has not been well-received. European Union Commission President Romano Prodi, however, told the assembled leaders on Friday the EU had pledged 250 million euros ($312 million) "for peace-support operations" under the AU's authority. "It will provide a powerful, innovative instrument to support African peacekeeping efforts and will lay the foundations for development in areas of conflict," Prodi said. An EU spokesman in Brussels said the funding was not specifically for the nascent African Standby Force. ($1=.8012 Euro)

BBC 28 Feb 2004 Africa leaders agree joint force Libya's leader (L) wanted all Africa's armies to merge African leaders meeting in Libya have agreed to set up a joint military force which could intervene to end civil wars or prevent genocide. This is part of a sweeping agreement on defence and security in Africa signed after a two-day summit in Sirte. The agreement is "a collective answer to threats, whether internal or external, over the continent," said Mozambique President, Joachim Chissano. The summit rejected a Libyan plan to set up a single African army. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's plan, tabled at the last minute, had delayed the closing ceremony of the summit. Changing priorities Heads of state and prime ministers of the 53-nation African Union unanimously approved the document called Common Defence and Security Policy for Africa. The African Standby Force will begin deploying about 15,000 troops by 2005. It will have a peace-building and humanitarian role, and may intervene unilaterally in the event of "war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, as well as a serious threat to legitimate order," the text said. It will be composed of troops from countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt and operate under the African Union Peace and Security Council - expected to be set up in March based on United Nations Security Council. In extreme cases, African leaders look ready to accept direct intervention in their own states to prevent genocide or serious threats to security, says BBC regional analyst Martin Plaut. All this is very different from the position taken by the African Union's predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, which vigorously resisted any interference in the activities of sovereign states, our analyst says. At the end of the meeting, the leaders also signed an agreement on a common policy to boost agricultural production and manage Africa's water resources.

WP 29 Feb 2004; Page A23 African Leaders Agree On a Multinational Force SIRTE, Libya -- African leaders agreed on Saturday to set up a multinational force empowered to intervene across the troubled continent to end civil wars and genocide. The African Standby Force would be deployed at five regional bases by 2005, expanding to a continental force by 2010, according to a declaration adopted at a summit of the African Union. Initially, it would involve about 15,000 troops, drawn primarily from the continent's military powers -- South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt -- AU sources said. With peace efforts fragile in the continent's many trouble spots, there has been international pressure on the Ethiopia-based AU to take an active lead in peacekeeping. Heads of state and prime ministers of the 53-nation group, who met for two days at the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, unanimously approved the policy. Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, the summit host, said, "No country can protect itself with a national army, no country can pretend to achieve security alone." He added, "In Africa, not a single country needs . . . weapons of mass destruction."

Daily Times of Nigeria 1 Mar 2004 www.dailytimesofnigeria.com African leaders sign common security plan African leaders signed a sweeping defence and security agreement at the weekend that allows the African Union (AU) to send forces to intervene in civil wars, international conflicts and coup attempts across the continent. Also, Libyan leader, Moammar Gaddafi, said his country decided to dismantle its atomic programme to avoid the dangers it might bring. “The nuclear arms race is a crazy and destructive policy for economy and life,” Gaddafi said at the closing session of the African Union summit. “Any nation state that will adopt these policies cannot protect herself, on the contrary, it would expose itself to danger.” It was the first time Gaddafi publicly addressed Libya’s nuclear programme since agreeing to eliminate its facilities in December. The defense and security agreement aims to prevent tragedies like the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which more than 500,000 people were massacred while the African Union’s predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), did nothing. The 39-year-old OAU was disbanded in 2002 because it was so ineffective. But with funding shortage and the African Union already in $40 million debt, the joint force is not likely to be formed soon, delegates said. A Zimbabwe official said it would not be ready before 2010. “The framework we have just signed includes the necessity to find collective answers to threats, whether internal or external,” Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano said. “But our efforts are not over. ... We have to show a real commitment to the implementation of our decisions.” Chissano told Associated Press the union would establish a “standby force” of African troops for deployment to conflict zones on short notice. He declined to elaborate, but draft copies of the agreement called for creating five regional brigades to be deployed by two bodies modelled on the United Nations. The first is the African Assembly, or parliament. The second is the Peace and Security Council, Africa’s version of the U.N. Security Council. They will be created in a few months. Libya proposed creating a single African army, but many countries viewed that idea as unrealistic. However, Ould Salek, a foreign minister for Western Sahara — a territory in southern Morocco, recognised by the African Union — said the concept would be discussed at the next summit in July. “There is a great need for African troops to intervene in cases of necessity. We must take on fully our duty to stop war in Africa,” he said. Funding will be a major obstacle for the force, and aid will be sought from donor countries, including the United States, Japan and European Union, he said. African nations have had no formal policy on how to react to conflicts on the continent. Charles Muligande, who headed the Rwandan delegation, said nations could have intervened to stop the 1994 genocide but chose not to. “It isn’t about legal frameworks,” Muligande said. “It’s about will. There has to be will.” Saturday’s agreement does not obligate African states to act but provides standards for them to uphold, including protecting democratically elected governments from coups. The standby force could be deployed to enforce disarmament programs and provide humanitarian aid. Shortly after its creation in 2002, the African Union deployed several thousand peacekeepers from South Africa, Ethiopia and Mozambique to Burundi, but that country remains mired in a civil war that has killed more than 200,000 people. African leaders also signed an agreement on a common policy to boost agricultural production and manage water resources.

VOA 10 Mar 2004 Obstacles Face African Peacekeeping Force Cindy Shiner Washington 10 Mar 2004, 12:45 UTC African leaders recently agreed to set up a joint military force to perform peacekeeping functions on the continent. Members of the African Union, meeting in Libya, hope to have part of the force ready by some time next year. The concept has been applauded by the United Nations and donor countries urging African self-sufficiency and responsibility, but analysts say a standby force must overcome many obstacles to be fully functional and successful. The African Standby Force would be formed by brigades from north, west, east, south and central Africa. Troops would intervene on humanitarian and peace-building grounds, as well as in cases of genocide and serious threats to legitimate order. An African body modeled on the U.N. Security Council would have the sole authority to deploy, manage and terminate the force’s missions. The African Union hopes to have a fully operational force ready by 2010. It has already sent peacekeeping troops to Burundi, but the mission has been plagued by financial problems. Barbara Hughes is coordinator for the U.S. government’s Africa Contingency Operations Training Assistance program. It provides training and equipment to armies in 11 African countries. Ms. Hughes says one of the biggest problems facing a Standby Force will be funding. "It’s hard to believe they can function at any stand-by brigade level for some time, largely for financial reasons. It’s going to be an expensive proposition. I imagine that some of these countries are going to have expectations that it’s like an aid program for them, that they’re not going to have to expend their own national resources. There’s a lot of sorting out to do." Tuliameni Kalomoh is the U.N. assistant secretary general for political affairs. He says funding won’t be an insurmountable problem because the troops for the regional brigades will be based in their home countries. He says there will be no cost to maintain a specific base with troops in stand-by mode. Mr.Kalomoh says one advantage of the African force is that it would be able to respond more quickly than United Nations peacekeepers. "You need a rapid reaction because normally the United Nations takes a very long time to mobilize a force – from Bangladesh, Pakistan. The African force is a readily mobilized force that can easily be mobilized and deployed. Then you have a better chance of preventing a conflict from escalating." The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, has been sending soldiers from its member states to intervene in regional crises since 1990. That was when a Nigerian-led force was first sent to Liberia. The troops have operated on shoestring budgets and received a fraction of the pay of their United Nations counterparts. They would become part of the African Union force. Pan-African independence leader Kwame Nkrumah once proposed a standing African army. The idea was that it would help liberate African territories still under colonialism or white minority rule. But the idea failed to gain support. Some African leaders feared such an army could be used to push them aside. Although the African Union pledges goals for the common African good, the sovereignty won during the independence struggle of the 1960s is still important to African states. Barbara Hughes, of the U.S. Military Training Program for Africa: "You have to assume that individual countries will want to exercise their sovereign right to make that political decision about whether or not their troops are going to go to a peacekeeping operation and even if they’re in a standing brigade you would not think that they would want to devolve sovereignty to an organization to say that they can commit their country’s troops to an operation outside of their country. It very much remains to be seen whether that’s possible. It hasn’t been possible in Europe." Mr. Kalomoh says the sovereignty issue won’t be a problem. He says more important issues need to be worked out. These include organizing command structures, staffing and criteria for deploying. Ms. Hughes agrees. "If you would rotate functions – one African leader told me people were thinking that we would rotate functions so that one country in a region wouldn’t become dominant in a specialty area. Can you imagine having a communications unit, say from Nigeria, which is a large military and probably has a lot of equipment and a year from now the communications function is going to go to Benin which has a puny military and not much equipment." Mr. Kalomoh doesn’t foresee a problem in this area. "I’m sure each one country will be asked to provide support or to provide a force in the areas where they have a comparative advantage. I believe once created and once European partners of the African union and continent are convinced this is a force for good I’m sure the logistical and other problems will be overcome." The effort to create the stand-by force is being applauded by the United Nations and Western donors. The European Union has pledged 250 million dollars to support the program. "We think it’s great. Just that level of attention by the leadership makes a difference. It makes it a priority. Seeing leadership talk seriously about peacekeeping about being responsible for peacekeeping outside their own countries really is a sea change." Part of the reason that change came about stems from the creation of the African Union itself. It replaced the Organization for African Unity in 2002. The OAU was established in 1963 and was accused of protecting the continent’s post-colonial despots. Mr. Kalomoh says OAU and the African Union have had different goals. "One of the prime goals of the OAU was to bring about total independence of the continent – there is no greater cost to freedom and democracy than that. But I think the cold war time did distort commitment to really live up to the principles of democracy but right now I think democracy does not mean only elections, but change in people’s lives." The African Union promotes democratic principles and institutions. It also encourages popular participation in what it pledges will be a more peaceful and economically sovereign Africa.

Burundi

AFP 17 Mar 2004 Fighting in Burundi kills at least two, displaces 30,000 by Esdras Ndikumana BUJUMBURA, March 17 (AFP) - Fighting between Burundi's army and rebels has claimed between two and 11 lives, according to tolls Wednesday from different sources, while 30,000 civilians took to their heels. The clashes took place on Tuesday at Kivomo, about 15 kilometres (eight miles) southeast of the small central African country's capital, the army and the rebels of the National Liberation Forces said. "The army killed three FNL rebels yesterday during an operation in the Kivomo sector of Kabezi district," army deputy spokesman Major Adolphe Manirakiza told AFP. "The operations began on Sunday." "There were no losses on our side, but we found the bodies of two soldiers," FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana said. Fleeing villagers said that six civilians had been killed and 18 injured by an army shell on Tuesday morning, while working on a road job, a local administrative source said, asking not to be named. "I've been told about this accident, but this information has not yet been confirmed," the Bujumbura-Rural provincial governor Ignace Ntawembarira said. More than 30,000 people fled their homes, he added. The FNL is the last of seven rebel groups in Burundi still to be fighting the government in a civil war which erupted in 1993, pitting Hutu extremists against the army and government then dominated by minority Tutsis. "There has been massive population displacement since Monday," the governor said. "People are seeking refuge in Ruziba, Mutumba and Mutamba," all in other parts of the Kivomo sector, he explained. "They have nothing, no shelter, no blankets and for food they are counting on the charity of the local people." Rebel spokesman Habimana charged that the army "has been firing shells on the Kivomo from yesterday until this Wednesday morning, without taking any notice of the presence of civilians." The main rebel force, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), five others and all the country's political parties have signed peace agreements and the FDD took up government posts last November. The FNL, however, has until now refused to engage in negotiations with the transitional authorities currently led by a Hutu president, Domitien Ndayizeye, whose government is pressing ahead with plans for elections to be held by October. The war has claimed more than 300,000 lives, mainly those of civilians.

Cote d'Ivoire

IRIN 25 Mar 2004 Côte d' Ivoire: Violence flares up as protest goes on ABIDJAN, 25 March (IRIN) - Suburbs across Cote d'Ivoire's main city were plagued by violence on Thursday after security forces shot at crowds in an attempt to disperse a banned opposition protest, residents said. According to the leaders of the main opposition parties, security forces have shot dead up to 31 protestors, who gathered in densely populated neighbourhoods like Abobo and Yopougon for a march against President Laurent Gbagbo. "We count up to 13 in Abobo, five in Yopougon," said Pascal Tano of the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI), who was injured by tear gas fired by government forces into his party headquarters. An Abobo resident, known simply as 'Ouattara', said groups of paramilitary and anti-riot police were firing tear gas there too. "I saw myself four bodies, shot by people dressed in military fatigues," said Ouattara, a militant of the former ruling party PDCI and protest organiser. Most suburbs of the city have been under fire since the early hours of the morning. "They're firing with real bullets on people gathered for the march," said Ouattara. "They're trying to prevent us protest, stopping those who want to go out of their compounds." PDCI spokesperson, Alphonse Djedje Mady, told IRIN that the political leaders of the so-called Group of Seven (G7) had called on all demonstrators to return home. "We ask for protesters to return home and avoid confrontations with security forces," Mady said, adding, "It's a march for peace, we don't want to seize power!" By midday local time, the authorities had confirmed five deaths. State broadcaster RTI said the five included two police officers, two 'bandits' and one civilian. State television confirmed there had been confrontations in Abobo, but reported that most of Abidjan was like a 'dead city' with schools, shops and businesses all closed. The airport, in the Port-Bouet district of Abidjan, has remained open. Tension have been building in the near empty streets of the port city of Abidjan as march organisers pledged to press ahead with their protest, despite the risk of a showdown with the army. The demonstrators had planned to march on the presidential palace in the Plateau business district. But the army said anyone coming near the area would be considered an "enemy" and treated as such. The G7, which gathers together Gbagbo's opponents, is demanding the full implementation of a French-brokered peace deal, signed last year to end civil war in the West African nation. The opposition parties accuse the president of stalling on reforms. Gbagbo's supporters have accused the rebels, now known as the 'New forces', who control the north of the country, and their political allies, of being criminals, intent on attaining power illegally. MI-24 helicopter gunships have been seen circling over Abidjan's suburbs, coordinating their flights with the movement of security forces on the ground. Residents noticed that many protesters had been arrested by security forces. "It's becoming very difficult to move because security forces are patrolling everywhere," one protestor in Yopougon suburb told IRIN by phone. "They seal off most of the places and then they cart us off," he said. Opposition leader, Cisse Bakongo of the Rally of Republicans (RDR), told IRIN that two people had been killed by shots fired from helicopters in the suburb of Port-Bouet, near the international airport. "We've ordered our people to resist," he said. "The march could last two or three days." UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said late on Wednesday he was deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in Cote d'Ivoire and called on all parties to "exercise utmost restraint." The UN are preparing to deploy 6,240 peacekeepers to Cote d'Ivoire in early April. They will work with around 4,000 French and 1,400 West African troops already in the country, split in two since the civil war broke out in September 2002. Kofi Annan's appeals were reinforced by Ghanaian President John Kufour, who warned on Wednesday: "This demonstration must not bring into question the arrival of UN peacekeeper". Kufuor, who is also chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) flew to Abidjan on Wednesday in a last-minute bid to defuse the rising tensions. "The entire world is watching the situation in Cote d'Ivoire at this moment. We must make every effort to bring peace and to avoid any violence," Kufuor said. .

DR Congo

BBC 11 Mar 2004 Rebel weapons seized in DR Congo- The UN has reinforced its contingent in Bukavu The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Monuc, says it has confiscated weapons from former rebel military commanders. UN spokesman Sebastien Lapierre said the weapons were found in houses of several colonels of the rebel RCD-Goma. He told the BBC the discovery was made in the strategically important town of Bukavu, on the border with Rwanda. The former rebels - who are now part of the government - say the weapons belonged to their bodyguards. Last month similar finds were made in the house of the town's governor. A UN official has said the Congolese military should take appropriate measures to control the flow of weapons in the town. A BBC correspondent in DR Congo says this will not be easy, due to serious divisions in the local army command. Despite the peace process and the setting up of a government of national unity last year, the situation is still tense in the far east of the country. A 3,500-strong brigade of UN peacekeeping troops has been deployed in Bukavu after reports of incidents between former rebels and supporters of the President Joseph Kabila in the town.

AP 19 Mar 2004 UN troops attack and destroy camps for tribal fighters in northeastern Congo KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) _ United Nations troops attacked camps used by tribal fighters in the volatile northeastern Congo on Thursday, killing three combatants and detaining at least 30 others, a U.N. spokesman said. At least 300 U.N. troops on foot, in helicopter gunships and with armored personnel carriers destroyed three camps for 200 fighters of a Hema tribal faction in the troubled Ituri district, said Leocardio Salmeron, spokesman of the U.N. mission in Congo. «We liberated one prisoner from an underground prison and we seized several weapons and ammunition ... The rest of the fighters fled,» Salmeron told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that there were no U.N. casualties. Congo's transitional government declared Ituri a weapons-free zone last month and some tribal factions agreed to keep fighters in designated camps to disarm, demobilize and prepare to rejoin civilian life. The raid on Thursday is part of a military offensive that began Monday to destroy camps that are not part of the program, Salmeron said. Some 15,000 fighters of the Hema and Lendu tribes are targeted by the 2-year program intended to end tribal fighting in the region. But some factions resist the program in which fighters will not be paid for turning in weapons, but will receive job training and household items to set them up in civilian life. The Hema and Lendu traditionally fought for land and other resources, but formed murderous militias when they were armed by the former Congolese government and neighboring Uganda and Rwanda during the civil war in Congo that began in 1998. The fighters degenerated into bands of thugs bent on controlling access to Ituri's mineral wealth as foreign armies withdrew from Congo. Main Congolese rebel groups joined the transitional government. The tribal factions were not part of Congo's peace process.

AP 29 Mar 2004 Congo Quashes Apparent Coup Bid By Eddy Isango Associated Press Monday, March 29, 2004; Page A19 KINSHASA, Congo, March 28 -- Government forces put down an apparent coup attempt in the Congolese capital on Sunday, battling attackers believed to be loyal to former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. The assault represented the first major threat to a power-sharing government meant to stabilize Congo after a devastating five-year civil war in which an estimated 3 million people died, mainly through war-induced hunger and disease. The government refused to characterize the deadly firefights as an attempted coup. Interior Minister Theophile Mbemba said the attack would not destabilize President Joseph Kabila's government, which has struggled to assert control over its vast, rebellion-splintered territory since the war, which ran from 1998 to 2003. Vital Kamerhe, a government spokesman, said, "We have the situation under control." Kabila was believed to be in the country Sunday, but his whereabouts were not made public. The British ambassador, Jim Atkinson, said, "I have it on good authority that he's safe." Fighters loyal to Mobutu, the late Cold War dictator, were among those who launched what Atkinson characterized as a "coup attempt." Mobutu was overthrown in 1997 by Laurent Kabila, the current president's father. When the elder Kabila's insurgents entered Kinshasa, thousands of Mobutu loyalists scattered; they now live in surrounding countries. Joseph Kabila assumed power in January 2001 after bodyguards assassinated his father. Sunday's attacks began before dawn and lasted through four hours of gunfire that kept most Kinshasa citizens indoors. Hundreds of Congolese took to the streets to cheer government troops as the shooting eased in the early afternoon after government forces apparently overcame the attackers. [After the fighting, authorities seized six rocket-propelled grenades, two mortar tubes, 30 grenades, 75 AK-47 assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition, the army said. Officials paraded about 15 bare-chested men, some wounded, in front of reporters in the capital, the Reuters news agency reported.] Since the civil war, the government has tried to reestablish state control in Congo's restive east and north, where sporadic battles among tribal fighters, rapes and looting continue. The United Nations has 10,800 peacekeepers in Congo helping the transitional government prepare for elections scheduled to be held in less than two years.

Ethiopia

IRIN 5 Mar 2004 Central Government Apologises for Gambella Massacre Addis Ababa The Ethiopian government said on Friday that it had apologised to local tribes for its inadequate response to prevent a massacre in the troubled western region of Gambella. A statement released by the federal affairs ministry said the government had not performed "proactively", but promised that the killers would be brought to justice. At least 60 people were murdered when fighting erupted in Gambella town in December, almost all of them members of the Anyuak ethnic group. UK officials say up to 150 were killed. "The government has apologised for not acting proactively and promised to stand on the side of the victims to see that justice is done," said the statement, issued on Friday. Federal authorities have started sifting through evidence of the massacre with the aim of ensuring that the alleged instigators can be tried. Some 37 people have been identified. Forty others, suspected of involvement in clashes at a gold mine in Dima, in Gambella region, on 30 January, in which up to 200 people were killed, had also been seized, the statement added. The Ethiopian government has come under pressure from the international community to ensure that a full inquiry is instituted and to investigate claims that troops and police were involved in the killings. "Now that a sizeable contingent of the federal police have taken over, the victims might feel more confident than before," the ministry's statement said. A strong military presence was reported in the area in response to an appeal by the local authorities in Gambella for federal intervention after the crisis got out of control. However, clashes in the remote region, which is rich in oil and gold, were still continuing, with sporadic attacks and killings having occurred throughout February. The latest troubles were sparked by the murders of eight government refugee workers when their vehicle was attacked in December. The bodies of the men, which were badly mutilated, were paraded around Gambella town, provoking brutal reprisal attacks on Anyuaks, who were blamed for the killings. An investigation team, led by the minister of federal affairs, Gebreab Barnabas Gezahe, said the reprisals infuriated the local Anyuak. "They regretted that the government, including the federal government, should have [but had not] detected the danger and prevented the violence," the statement noted. "They argued that there were adequate signals and symptoms suggesting a mounting tension." Anyuak children have stopped going to school, and large numbers of the group have fled the area, many of them across the border into neighbouring Sudan. Gambella, which has a total population of 228,000, is ethnically diverse in that it is home to members of the Nuer, Anyuak, Majanger, Komo and Opo tribes. Also resident in the region are about 60,000 people from other parts of Ethiopia, known locally as highlanders. The federal authorities are currently training some 300 indigenous police officers to help stabilise the situation and prevent further outbreaks of violence. The authorities are also now looking to traditional elders to help restore calm, and appealing to the youth and working with civil servants to bring the situation under control.

www.biddho.com (Eritrean web portal) 16 Mar 2004 Genocide in Ethiopia - A Case for UNSG Kofi Annan's Special Rapporteur “…the approaching 10-year anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda must give us pause and compel us to reflect on how to avoid similar atrocities in the future. We can no longer afford gaps in existing capacity to provide early warning of genocide or comparable crimes. I have proposed the establishment of a Special Rapporteur or Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide—to make clear the link, which is often ignored until too late, between massive and systematic violations of human rights and threats to international peace and security…” Ottawa, Canada, 9 March 2004 - Secretary-General's address to the Canadian Parliament I read UNSG Kofi Annan's address to the Canadian parliament and was encouraged. It seems that the UN is finally going to take responsibility for genocides that occur under the watch of this world body. Mr. Annan said " we can no longer afford gaps in existing capacity to provide early warning of genocide or comparable crimes ." He said a rapporteur would "compel us to reflect on how to avoid similar atrocities [to Rwanda in 1994] in the future," adding the post would make clear the link "between massive and systematic violations of human rights and threats to international peace and security ." I must say that I was pleasantly surprised, because finally, someone was going to pay attention to the impending genocide in Ethiopia. On March 10 th , 2004, Insight writer John Powers reported as follows: “…uniformed soldiers of the Ethiopian government attacked a remote town in the western part of the country on Dec. 13, 2003, and killed more than 400 members of the Anuak tribe.” But he is not the only one that has been reporting on genocide in Ethiopia. Mesfin Wolde Mariam, chairman of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRC) warned the Addis based diplomats on January 13, 2004 that: "What happened in Gambella verges on genocide as a result of the ethnic policy adopted by the EPDRF government…EPRDF's preference for ruling through an ethnic-based federation… dominated by the minority ethnic Tigrayans… the federal structure in effect divides and rules larger ethnic groups such as the Oromos and Amharas and bars non-members of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front” BBC reported early this year that: “Some 16,000 people have fled ethnic clashes in Ethiopia for Sudan over the past month…” But yet, Melles Zenawi's Minister of Information Bereket Simon dismissed these allegations as being “fabrications”. Genocide, massacres and religious warfare have become the way of life in today's Ethiopia. The Tigrayan regime is trying to hide these facts by using deceptive and diversionary tactics such as the Eritrea Ethiopia border conflict. Had the border been demarcated a year and a half ago as scheduled, the headlines about Ethiopia would have read as follows: "ETHIOPIA: TPLF's Policy of Genocide against the Anuak and Nuer intensifies" “ETHIOPIA: 40 University students massacred in cold blood by the Tigrayan regime in Addis Abeba” “ETHIOPIA: Tigrayan Prime Ministers security and police forces beat and kill journalists” “Apartheid regime in Ethiopia uproots and slaughters peasants in Oromia, Somali, Gambela etc. etc”. “The minority regime in Ethiopia massacres more than 100 people in Awassa” “ETHIOPIA: More than 200 people died in ethnic conflicts between the Walaita and Kambata people” "Ethiopia:, Oromo and Somali ethnic groups clashed in Western Hararge; 19 dead, 21 wounded and over 287 houses burnt" How can UNSG Kofi Annan explain/ignore this genocide that is taking place right under the watchful eyes of thousands of international and local NGO's, diplomats, humanitarian aid workers etc. in Ethiopia? This time, he cannot feign ignorance. These and several other reported incidence of genocide (state-directed or state-authorized killing of populations identified by race, ethnicity, and/or religion, such as the people of Gambela, Somali, Awassa etc. etc.) and politicide (wholesale killing of populations identified by political affiliation, groups such as the OLF and all others opposed to TPLF) is today's Ethiopia and no amount of cover up will absolve Melles Zenawi of these and other crimes against the people of Ethiopia. I read a most shocking statement from the US Ambassador to Ethiopia Aurelia Brazeal on IRIN about the Gambela massacres, in which she stated: “we have released a statement on our position on Gambella, which is to support the government's stated intentions to have an investigation to get to the root causes and also to investigate those people who took part in the violence and take them into the legal process here and [so that they can] be tried for being participants in the violence. And from our point of view, we hope that investigation would include allegations that individual military people and police were also participants in that violence... Ambassador Brazeal obviously chooses to stick her head in the sand, just as all of the other Addis based diplomats seem to have done so far. Asking the TPLF regime to investigate itself is like asking Hitler to head the investigations on the Jewish Holocaust. As if that is not disturbing enough, Insights John Powers reported that: “…Despite these government-sponsored killings… U.S. tax dollars continue to flow into Ethiopia. The country received $32 million of aid in 2002, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) requested $77.335 million for fiscal 2003 to support programs and initiatives in Ethiopia that, in addition to humanitarian aid, "promote good governance and the rule of law…" For those who follow the Ethiopian situation closely this “I have not seen or heard anything” attitude of the international community is not new. For example, in 1984 a prominent international journalist and writer Robert Kaplan in his book “Surrender or Starve” , expressed his frustration with “experts” at the State Department who under the pretext of “Ethiopia is strategic ally”, “Ethiopia is a big country” etc. etc. chose to look the other way and remained silent as successive Ethiopian regimes violated human rights and international law. Robert Kaplan explained that “it was not just the media” that looked the other way at Ethiopia's transgressions or that “human rights organizations that weren't interested, but Western Governments as well” . Déjà Vu! Today the minority regime in Ethiopia is: A regime that is violating all tenets of human rights A regime that has defied international law and believes in the law of the jungle A regime that is reneging its international commitments, obligations and treaties The case in point being, its rejection of the final and binding Eritrea Ethiopia Border Commissions decision of April 13, 2002. In spite of all these crimes against humanity and its defiance of international law, the US led international community is treating this spoilt, lawless, belligerent, intransigent and arrogant minority regime in Ethiopia with kids' gloves. Although the crimes committed by the Melles Zenawi's minority regime in Ethiopia are crystal clear, the international community has remained curiously mute. Addis based diplomats and journalists are selfishly reluctant to rock boats. It is about time for the international community took proper punitive measures against this racist and criminal regime, before we see another Rwanda in Ethiopia, and before we see additional innocent Ethiopians being used as cannon fodder and minesweepers in its expansionist war of aggression against Eritrea. Hopefully, this Special Rapporteur will be permitted to do his work honestly, and will be allowed to call a spade a spade, and will be allowed to act and not remain silent. If not, the people of Ethiopia might not be spared from the genocidal tendencies of Melles Zenawi's paranoid regime. If not, there will surely be Rwanda style genocide in Ethiopia, which will result in the deaths of thousands and threaten the peace and stability of the Horn. According to Genocide Watch: “Impunity gives the green light to those who commit genocide. If they are not arrested, they and their followers will know they can literally get away with mass murder. They will kill again, and the massacres could become full-scale genocide.” The rule of law must prevail over the rule of the jungle! Sophia Tesfamariam

Kenya

24 March 2004 e-news from Survival International Hunter-gatherers attacked Two people were killed, another was wounded and 200 houses were burnt down when a community of Ogiek hunter-gatherers was attacked on February 26 on the forested slopes of Mount Elgon, in western Kenya. The attackers are from the Pok people, who dominate the area and look down on the Ogiek. The Ogiek, fearing further attacks, have taken refuge in the forest which was their original home as hunter-gatherers. In the 1970s a fraction of what had been their land was legally assigned to them, but since then it has been mostly taken over by the Pok. This attack was apparently intended to drive out the remaining Ogiek. Thirty Ogiek have been arrested, but none of the attackers.

Liberia

BBC 6 Mar 2004 US targets Liberia leader's funds - Liberia's former leader lives in exile in Nigeria The US has put forward a United Nations resolution seeking to freeze the assets of Liberia's former President, Charles Taylor, his family and his allies. It says they could be used to undermine peace and stability in Liberia. The draft resolution, expected to be debated by the Security Council within the next week, calls on all UN members to locate and freeze the funds. Mr Taylor resigned and fled to Nigeria last year after the Liberian capital Monrovia was surrounded by rebels. He has been accused of acquiring a personal fortune through illegal trading in diamonds and arms. His former residences in Liberia have been searched by investigators from a UN-backed war crimes tribunal. The court has indicted the former president for alleged offences during the civil war in Sierra Leone. According to French news agency AFP, the proposed UN resolution says: "All members shall freeze without delay all such funds, other assets and economic resources." It stipulates that these should eventually be transferred "to a future democratically elected government of Liberia, once that government has established transparent accounting and auditing mechanisms to ensure the responsible use of government revenue to benefit directly the people of Liberia". Army funding In another development, the US has pledged $35m to help rebuild Liberia's army after more than a decade of civil war. The announcement was made by the US Deputy Under Secretary of State, Pamela Bridgewater, following a meeting with Liberia's transitional leader, Gyude Bryant. She said the possibility of US officers training the Liberian army was under consideration. Ms Bridgewater said Washington was prepared to support the cancellation of Liberia's debts, but insisted that transparent economic policies would have to be introduced first. She added that the US was committed to help rebuild Liberia - a country which was founded by freed American slaves, and has had close ties with Washington.

BBC 10 Mar 2004 Sierra Leone tribunal set to open By Mark Doyle BBC correspondent in Freetown The war was marked by the deliberate maiming of civilians The UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone opens its new courthouse on Wednesday at a ceremony attended by the president and UN officials. The decade-long war in Sierra Leone was characterised by deliberate attacks on civilians, including murder, rape, torture and mutilation. The court aims to prosecute top militia leaders from both sides in the war. But it does not have the main backer of the rebels, the former president of neighbouring Liberia, Charles Taylor. The new court follows the establishment of war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Prosecution and defence lawyers have been preparing their cases for the Sierra Leone war crimes court for some time now, but the opening of the courthouse itself marks an important step, as this country tries to move on from a war which left it quite devastated. The hacking off of people's hands and feet to terrorise the population was common. The court has nine senior militia leaders in detention from the government and rebel sides. We want Africans to turn this African over to this African international war crimes tribunal, so he can be fairly tried before the bar Prosecutor David Crane But Charles Taylor - who the prosecution allege was responsible for crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone - has been given safe haven in Nigeria. The Nigerian government said the move was designed to end the related war in Liberia. The chief prosecutor of the Sierra Leone court, the American David Crane, called on Nigeria to hand Mr Taylor over. "We want Africans to turn this African over to this African international war crimes tribunal, so he can be fairly tried before the bar, so Africans see that no one is above the law, to include heads of state," he said. One of the more controversial indictments by the court is the detention of the leader of the pro-government militia, Sam Hinga Norman, whose trial should begin, with others, in a few weeks' time. Mr Norman protests that he was fighting for democracy and indeed at the time his militiamen cooperated with the United Nations and British forces, which were on the same side against the rebels. But the prosecution alleges that Mr Norman is responsible for war crimes and that, in these circumstances, the side he was fighting on is irrelevant.

Libya

AFP 28 Feb 2004 Gadaffi won't take no for an answer Sirte, Libya 28 February 2004 18:15 Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi's insistence that all African armies should merge into a single military force delayed the closing ceremony of a major African Union summit by several hours on Saturday, delegates said. "It's never going to work, never. Nobody supports it," said one west African delegate, hours after heads of state from dozens of countries had been due to wrap up the meeting in the Libyan coastal town of Sirte. When asked why the closing ceremony had not begun on time, several other delegates explained that Gadaffi had once again put the plan on the table. "Gadaffi thinks that by summoning us here he can impose his views on us. This shows a lack of understanding and respect," said a delegate from another west African state. Foreign ministers meeting in Libya earlier in the week to prepare the summit's agenda agreed that the single army idea was "ahead of its time" because Africa had yet to reach the necessary level of integration. Instead, the vast majority of AU member states favour the establishment of a standby military force that would have peacekeeping duties and, in certain dramatic circumstances, such as genocide or other crimes against humanity, would intervene militarily and not necessarily with the approval of the state concerned. "Within the next year or so we hope to have the capacity to prevent the kind of tragedy that arose in Rwanda" in 1994, Kenyan Foreign Minister Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka explained to journalists. Up to a million people were killed over 100 days in Rwanda that year as the government of the day tried to exterminate the central African country's Tutsi minority. The international community did nothing to intervene and nor did the Organisation of African Union, the AU's relatively impotent predecessor. This is not the first time that Gadaffi, who portrays himself to his own citizens as a champion of Africa's emancipation and development, has seen his ideas dismissed by his African peers. His plans for a "United States of Africa," a single sovereign entity, never found any support outside of Tripoli. Once the heads of state overcome the last-minute military debate in Sirte on Saturday, they are expected to adopt several declarations committing themselves to a multilateral response to the interlinked and critical issues of water, agriculture and common defence.

Mail&Guardian ZA www.mg.co.za Ministers pour cold water on Gadaffi's big idea Sirte, Libya 27 February 2004 07:42 Foreign ministers and delegates from more than 50 African states showed more skepticism than enthusiasm on Thursday for Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi's idea of creating a single African army to defend the continent. Convening on the eve of a pan-African summit, Libyan officials touted the proposal as "a progressive idea," but delegates from other nations cautioned that it needed a lot of research. They questioned how the continent could unite militarily if it cannot unite politically. The idea of forming a single African army was broached in July 2002 during the first summit of the African Union, which replaced the 39-year-old Organisation of African Unity. The OAU was widely criticised for doing little to prevent African despots from plundering their countries and oppressing their people. The young African Union aspires to be more effective, but it labours under financial constraints, including a $40-million debt inherited from the OAU. Gadaffi first proposed the single continental army at the 2002 summit in Durban, South Africa. He renewed his proposal three days ago at a meeting of African defence ministers. The Libyan foreign minister, Abdel Rahman Shalqam, took up the cause on Thursday on the sidelines of preparatory meetings for the two-day summit that opens on Friday. "This is a progressive idea," Shalqam said. "If we had said in the past that we are going to connect the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea (by digging) the Suez Canal, nobody would have believed us. But big ideas start like that." He added: "Africa needs $15-million every year for its military forces. To do what? To fight each other." Africa is one of the most troubled regions in the world. Devastating local wars, including those in Sudan, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia, fuelled the idea of having some kind of regional security force that could stay aloof from internal wars and help bring peace. A senior African diplomat, speaking on condition neither he nor his country were identified, said the formation of a united army is a long-term project and requires more cooperation than currently exists on the continent. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said that a united African army was "a worthy cause." But he cautioned it would "take a lot of research and time and we shouldn't rush things". After the African Union summit opens on Friday under the chairmanship of Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, members are expected to finalise a "peace and security protocol" that would allow for an exchange of information and strategies to combat criminal activity and political instability on the continent. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Sirte late on Thursday to attend the summit. - Sapa-AP

BBC 8 Mar 2004 Libya blamed for W Africa wars By Mark Doyle BBC correspondent in Sierra Leone The chief prosecutor at the UN's new court for Sierra Leone has accused the Libyan leader of being behind the past decade of war in West Africa. The accusation against Muammar Gaddafi was made by David Crane in an interview with the BBC. It comes at a time when Libya is trying to improve relations with the West. The Sierra Leone war crimes court officially opens its doors this week, in the wake of international courts for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. 'Potentially explosive' It has been known for some time that several West African rebel leaders were trained in Libya, but the fresh accusations from war crimes prosecutor David Crane come at a politically sensitive time. The Libyan leader has improved his relations with the United States and Britain, and sanctions have been lifted. The plan was to put in surrogates who were beholden to Muammar Gaddafi David Crane, chief prosecutor UN war crimes tribunal However, the US and Britain also support the new Sierra Leone war crimes court where - when cases start in the coming weeks and months - potentially explosive allegations will be made against the Libyan leader. David Crane said there was a detailed plan by Mr Gaddafi to destabilise several West African countries which had caused widespread suffering in the region. "We know that, specifically up until last year, that there was a 10-year plan to take down Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, then move to Guinea and then elsewhere as the situation developed," he said. "The 10-year plan was to put in surrogates who were beholden to Muammar Gaddafi," Mr Crane said. The new Sierra Leonean war crimes court has indicted those deemed to have, in the legal phrase, the greatest responsibility for crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone. When asked whether Muammar Gaddafi might be indicted, the Chief Prosecutor said he could not confirm this, but that all options were still open. [ Special Court for Sierra Leone www.sc-sl.org ]

WP 11 Mar 2004 Sub-Saharan Migrants in Libya Face Backlash - Gaddafi Ratchets Back Pan-African Policies By Daniel Williams Page A24 TRIPOLI, Libya -- Maxim Kwadwo set up his sales cart with cold cream and hair oil in a narrow alley in the decayed old city of Tripoli to avoid the competition on the bigger streets nearby. A group of young Libyans came by and complained that he was making it hard for pedestrians to pass. They called him obscene names, slapped him and told him to go back to Ghana. Kwadwo, who has lived in Libya for less than a year, said the abuse was not unusual. "We are worse than dogs to the Libyans. If we were slaves, they would treat us better," he said on a recent day as he gathered up his jars, scattered in the muddy alley. It was a brief sample of the tensions over one of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi's international experiments. During the 1990s, in the name of African unity, Gaddafi opened the borders to tens of thousands of sub-Saharan Africans to live and work in Libya. For the past four years, resentment over the policy has led to occasional riots and frequent bitter confrontations between the immigrants and Libyans. In effect, the problems mark the end of an officially ordained dream. Last month participants at an African Union meeting in Libya's coastal city of Sirte, Gaddafi's home town, rejected his proposal for a continent-wide army. A few days later, the General People's Congress, a consultative assembly that meets annually, ratified laws to restrict immigration and to expatriate Africans and other immigrants who live in Libya but have no steady jobs. "You have work, you stay. You don't, you go home," said Giuma Abulkher, a government spokesman. "There will be strict controls." The closed door is part of a shift in Libyan priorities. After decades of presenting himself first as a leader of the Arab world and then the African continent, Gaddafi has turned to the West. He is giving up chemical and nuclear weapons programs and declared that Libya would no longer support rebel movements across the globe. The United States is moving to restore diplomatic and trade relations cut off during decades of hostilities. Libya plans to privatize its state-dominated economy. Shutting out other Africans will probably prove popular. In a closed, politically fearful society, opposition to Gaddafi's immigration policy is one of the few outward signs of discontent with his government. While Libyans are usually reluctant to openly discuss such issues as democracy, succession and economic policy, the immigration question provides a vent for complaints that quickly spill over into expressions of general unhappiness. "It's about time. How can we have all these poor people here when we are poor ourselves?" said Osama Tayeb, a tout at a chaotic taxi stand in the old city. "First we help revolutionaries everywhere, then we give Libya to the Africans. Enough of this. Libya for the Libyans." Mohammed Mabrouk, a waiter, blamed immigrants for a wide variety of societal problems -- crime, prostitution, dirty streets. "Look, they get away with everything. We could not touch our African brothers. They bring drugs, they smuggle people. We don't need this," he said. Just over three years ago, resentment boiled over into violence. Libyans attacked African immigrants in several cities and killed as many as 130. Thousands of foreigners fled to their home countries carrying horrific tales of stabbings, shootings, beatings and robberies. Libyan officials, who said the violence was between African gangs, deported 6,000 Nigerians and 3,000 Ghanaians. About 600,000 sub-Saharan Africans are estimated to live among Libya's population of 5.5 million. They were lured by a relatively stable currency and jobs that many Libyans, in their highly socialist economy, decline to do. They sweep streets, work in restaurants and peddle a dizzying collection of merchandise -- cosmetics, pirated recorded music, clothes and secondhand auto parts. Raggedy men selling single articles of clothing and knit caps stand in line inside an arched stone gateway to the old city. Their headdresses and wool or cotton robes indicate origins across a wide swath of Africa: Nigeria, Ghana, Chad, Mali, Somalia, Sudan and Congo. Some of the migrants come to make the perilous journey to Europe across the Mediterranean Sea. Last summer, 200 Africans traveling to Italy by fishing boat drowned when their rickety craft capsized. During peak summer season last year, as many as 2,600 Africans arrived each month by boat on the Italian island of Lampedusa, an isolated stop between Libya and Sicily. The influx prompted Italian officials to press Libya to stem the flow. The two countries agreed to exchange information to combat the migration, but Gaddafi balked at letting the Italians enter Libyan waters to intercept boats at sea. Libya periodically announces roundups of migrants headed for Italy. Last week, Libya extradited an Eritrean woman known as Madame Gennet to Italy for allegedly smuggling 500 people into Italy last summer. Police also recently said they deported 200 Somalis who were preparing for a Mediterranean passage north. African migrants speculate that the withdrawal of Libya's welcome will cause a spike in the number of people making the trip by boat next summer. "We are trapped. Life here is not going to get better, and no one wants to go back across the Sahara to his home," said Harbi Abdulahi, a Somali customer at the Barber Boss hair salon inside a little nook in the old city. "I think Africans may try to take any risk to get to Italy." Badou Zaituni, a shoe repairman from Sudan, said he has lived in Libya for eight years and has grown fearful of his future. "A Libyan comes and asks me for money. I don't dare say no. The police will do nothing for us. We are surrounded by hate," he said. Kwadwo, 19, said he would hang on and try to save money to get to Italy. He had come to Libya on the heels of his older brother, who works in a car repair shop. He traveled by bus across the vast Libyan desert, sometimes spending hours waiting under the hot sun as the driver made a series of repairs. "I almost fainted," he said. "I don't want to face that again, and there is little good work in Ghana." Kwadwo said he thought it would cost him $1,000 to find a place on a boat heading north. "Why not?" he said. "If I make it, I can send money home and help my family. If I don't, well, my life is not worth much as it is. I thought I could do something in Libya. If I can't do it here, I will have to try somewhere else. What do you know about Spain?"

Namibia

The Namibian, Namibia 5 Mar 2004 www.namibian.com.na Everyone should back Herero reparations A HUNDRED years ago the German High Command, acting on instructions from the Kaiser of the time, issued a terrible proclamation to their troops in colonial Deutsch Suedwestafrica. Annihilate the native Herero nuisance, or an order to that effect. This was not the first 'Final Solution' war cry issued by German warriors in history. The barbarian invasions of Attila the Hun [Attila was not German but a central-Asian invader of Europe. Ed.] into ancient Rome (sic.) also followed proclamations that gave the order for a scorched-earth policy. The Herero challenge to the colonisers was no doubt a pain in their backside and could not to be tolerated for long by the militarily superior Schutztruppe. That they had infringed upon the rights of the people who inhabited the country before them was of no consequence to the imperial army. 'Might was right' in those terrible days of white supremacy and black people who dared to stand in the way of the explorers, colonisers, hunters and discoverers were simply shot without compunction. And so it came about that the Herero people who saw their land being taken away by white men, took up their spears to challenge the Kaiser's might. Continuous Herero harassment of the Schutztruppe and the many colonial officials who were daily entering the country in big numbers, finally led to the order by Von Trotha to exterminate the whole Herero nation. The imperial army needed no second bidding. In those days, human rights were not even considered an issue when it came to dealing with black people. White men killing black people were thought to be doing Europe a good service. Nobody even complained afterwards about the killings, except some missionaries. And, although Germany eventually lost the country to other foreign powers after the WW I, exterminating those they regarded as their enemies remained a part of their national strategy during war. This bizarre policy was to be repeated 36 years later during the WW II when the Germans gave another imperial order to exterminate the Jews. The world stood helplessly by as Jews were collected in cattle trucks across Europe and transported to the extermination camps of Adolf Hitler in what became known as the Final Solution. There are strong similarities here. Herero people were also herded into extermination camps and either shot or hanged in large numbers. Those who took to their heels were followed on horseback by the bloodthirsty troops and put to the sword. Jews were herded into extermination camps and either shot or simply gassed and then burnt in huge ovens. Today, many people in Germany do not want to even hear a 'whisper' about this ugly story. No, it humiliates their country and destroys their dignity in the eyes of the world. After all, Germany is a highly developed, civilised and prosperous country. Why should such a first-world nation be linked to such barbaric acts? Well, well, well...it happened, period. There's nothing any well-respected German priest, human rights lawyer, businessman or politician can do about it today. Much as many citizens of Germany would wish to see the whole sordid affair being swept under a carpet, this ugly stain will haunt them until the Lord comes back. The time for reparation is therefore due now. What is reparation actually? It is the 'Please Forgive Me' or 'Good Neighbourliness' approach. When someone has been hurt in southern Africa we have inherited the word Sorry from the Afrikaans word 'Ekskuus/Askies'. We hear this word all the time and it is even whispered in churches. 'Askies' makes all the difference. One can never buy off hurt, but one can say ''askies followed by a small token to the one who is hurt, to make up for the hurt. In Africa, if a man's cattle destroy a neighbour's crops, he has to make for this by either giving a sum of money or sharing his harvest with the party that lost everything. That is his 'askies'. Those who travel the Trans-Kalahari highway know what happens when they accidentally hit a cow and it is killed in Botswana. 'Askies' to the owner means Pulas on the spot to make up for the loss of his cow or goat. But the issue of the Herero people in this case is not about crops or livestock, but human beings. Lets think about a whole race wiped from the face of the earth - the Herero people nearly became extinct last century. Anybody who says reparation must not be paid to the Herero people betrays them and betrays the cause of liberation in Africa. Namibians must not look at this serious matter from the point of view of (Chief Kauima) Riruako getting millions and becoming rich, as this is very often the shallow way that some of us Africans look at such matters. No, a people was brutalised and traumatised by men on horseback, mercilessly hunting them down like wild animals. There is no other country in Africa where such an order was ever given by colonisers and executed. And so there are those who are totally against reparation to the Herero people for reasons only known to them of course. Others argue that Germany is already pumping millions into the Namibian economy in the form of aid and so on. The crux of the matter is: When the Herero people were exterminated. Namibia did not exist. There was no general call to arms such as the one made in the Sixties for the total liberation of South West Africa. No, no one came to help the Herero people except the Nama people, who were fighting their own battles anyway. Furthermore, the Herero people of that period occupied land that was theirs and they would fight any other tribe - be it Owambo, Kavango or Caprivi, if they had come to settle on it. To refer to Namibia in this matter is totally out of (historical) context. Furthermore, as far as is known, the Herero people started with the campaign of demanding reparation before Namibia's independence. In like manner, the state of Israel was non-existent when the Jews were exterminated by Germany. In fact, Israel was only created three years after the WW II - long after six million Jews were killed in Germany. It is obvious that if the Hereros were not exterminated by the German army, their population would be much bigger than it is today. Germany cannot bring back those souls whose bones lie scattered all over the Kalahari plains. But a sum of money can be paid to the Herero people as a gesture of friendship - to ask for forgiveness. The amount should be commensurate with the number of people killed. The eighty-six years that have elapsed and the pain caused by the extermination process must be taken into account. This should go a long way towards healing the wounds of a very angry people. All Namibians should support this demand without question. It should be left to the Herero people themselves to decide what they want to do with such reparation money and not the state of Namibia. Should Germany pay the reparation, and we hope they will, that country can only win friendship and trust among the people of Africa in general and Namibians in particular. After many years of arguments, lies, subterfuge and sanctions, Libya has owned up for the bombing of an America plane over Lockerbee and has paid US$ 2 billion for fewer than three hundred people. In Namibia we are talking about between sixty to a hundred thousand souls. Let no one escape the wrath of generations whose forebears were simply killed like chickens in flu-riddled South East Asia. The process of globalisation will strengthen the brotherhood of humanity to the extent that racial prejudices, intolerance, apartheid and all the unholy schemes and -isms that are hatched in the minds of dictators and communists can disappear from the face of the earth. We are waiting. Andrew Matjila Windhoek

The Namibian, Namibia 12 Mar 2004 www.namibian.com.na As for the San and Damara genocide Mr. Matjila: - Responding to your letter entitled "Everyone should back Herero reparations" in The Namibian of the 5th of March. YOU have the audacity to compare the Germans with Attila the Hun and did not hesitate to describe the Germans as barbaric etc. Why did you, however, not say the same about the Herero nation? Before the Herero people settled in this country, it was populated by the San and the Bergdama. In order to obtain the land from these two nations, the Herero had to practically wipe them out by brutal and barbaric means. Yet you state that the Herero fought for the land that was RIGHTFULLY theirs. What a joke. If a thief steals a stolen object from another thief, then who is the thief? The Herero nation was the first coloniser of Namibia but they do not want to talk about their dark history or the crimes they perpetrated against other nations. No - now they want reparations from Germany as a small token. What token have they given to the San and Bergdama and what do they want to buy with the billions they are claiming? Do they want to create another scenario of where a minority owns the majority of the fertile farms? Pohamba will tell you something else in this context, as the Herero do not seem to be favoured by the present Government anyhow. Or how does one explain the absence of their weak leader, Samuel Maharero, on any of our country's currency. I say weak, because it was he who sold off hundreds of the Herero farms for his own profit, and it was he who voluntarily joined a war against his own people (Refer to the war against [the Mbanderu chiefs - Ed.] Kahimemua and Nikodemus in 1896) His own headmen and even Leutwein tried to stop him from disposing of land that belonged to the Herero people, but his high-flying lifestyle demanded it and he could therefore not be stopped. You say that every Namibian must support the Herero claim for reparations. All right, let's do it. Once the Herero have their money, we will support the San and the Bergdama with their claims against the Herero etc, etc. The Herero must start to act like Namibians and stop thinking along tribalist lines. So stop this call for reparations for the Herero. Rather support a call for help to the Namibian Nation. Germany is no longer the prosperous land that you think it is and has more domestic problems to sort out then you could ever dream of. Ernst Ahrens P.O. Box 80301 Windhoek Note: This letter has been shortened - Ed

Nigeria

BBC 20 Jan 2004 WHO moves to calm polio fears By Orin Gordon Religious leaders are yet to be convinced over vaccine safety The World Health Organisation (WHO) is trying to reassure African countries where polio cases have reappeared, that the vaccines to eradicate the disease are safe to take. The organisation's special representative for Polio Eradication, Dr David Heyman said they are working at the state level to help traditional and religious leaders understand the importance of vaccination. "We're trying to help them understand that these vaccines are safe, and that other countries throughout Africa have used them and have had success in getting rid of a disease that causes permanent disability in children," Dr David Heyman told the BBC Africa Live! programme. Muslim clerics in northern Nigeria view the polio vaccines with suspicion. They stopped the immunisation programme in three states last year saying the vaccines were contaminated with contraceptives. Efforts to reassure them have been frustrated by conflicting laboratory test results on the disputed vaccines. While the federal government's tests have given the vaccines the all-clear, northern leaders say that their own test results showed traces of the female hormone, oestrogen, in the vaccines. Polio cases Have Your Say Since the Nigerian Muslim clerics' campaign against the vaccine, polio has reappeared there and spread to neighbouring countries. Officially polio is present in six countries: Nigeria, Niger and Egypt in Africa, and Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. Egypt and India may soon be declared free of polio. But the WHO says that the disease has reappeared in the past few months in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Chad, Togo, Benin and Cameroon. Ghana's health minister has already told the WHO that it has had to budget $1m to fight polio in a country that had been declared free of the disease. They believe the new cases have been spread from Nigeria. Tests Dr Heyman admits it is hard work convincing the local government officials in the African countries affected. "We are very concerned that these leaders are convinced that these vaccines are safe," he said. "The manufacturers of these vaccines have all written to the governors of these states indicating that the vaccines are safe and giving them the evidence of this." Nigeria's health minister, Professor Eyitayo Lambo told the BBC that the national immunisation campaign would restart next month and would cover all of Nigeria's northern states.

AP 28 Feb 2004 Rumors stymie polio effort in Nigeria - Some hide their children because they believe the vaccine will sterilize them. Associated Press LAGOS, Nigeria - An emergency drive to immunize millions of Africans against polio ended with mixed results in Nigeria's heavily Muslim north, where many families heeded some Islamic leaders' claims that the vaccine was part of a U.S. plot to render them sterile, U.N. officials said Friday. Families in some northern states hid their children from the door-to-door immunization teams despite the spreading polio outbreak, said Mohammed Belhocine, World Health Organization representative to Nigeria. Belhocine called U.N. officials "a bit frustrated" at what he called pockets of resistance in the Muslim north. Organizers had hoped to reach 63 million children during the Monday-to-Thursday campaign in 10 African nations. In Nigeria, U.N. officials say polio has been spreading since Muslim religious leaders began telling their followers last year that the vaccines cause infertility or AIDS. Several predominantly Muslim states boycotted the campaign after Kano, one of the states, said its scientists found trace levels of estadiol, a type of the female hormone estrogen found in oral contraceptives, in a batch of the vaccines. Some Islamic leaders seized on the discovery, declaring it a plot by the United States and its allies to spread AIDS and render African girls infertile. U.N. and Nigerian federal government officials repeatedly sought to assure Muslims that the vaccines were safe, emphasizing that any hormones found at the levels alleged would be harmless, amounting to less than what is found in breast milk or even drinking water in some developed nations. Belhocine said he and others observed "quite a high number of rejections" in Katsina, a northern state where some families concealed their children from volunteers. Other mothers sought out the vaccines but asked volunteers not to record the immunizations on paper or with paint on their children's fingernails for fear of angering husbands opposed to the vaccines, he said. Some parents in states where officials refused to allow the vaccinations were forced to cross state borders to get their children immunized, said Bruce Aylward, head of WHO's polio campaign in Geneva. WHO estimates it is achieving 80 percent immunization in predominantly Christian southern Nigeria and 75 percent in multireligious central regions. It has given no estimates for the Muslim north.

BBC 2 Mar 2004 Nigeria leader's fight against polio drops By Yusuf Sarki Muhammad BBC, Nigeria Governor Ibrahim Shekarau has said repeatedly that it is wiser to sacrifice a few number of children to polio today than to endanger a whole generation in the future. To some people this statement sounds controversial and unreasonable. [Ibrahim Shekarau] Governor Shekarau has become popular among Muslims But the governor has maintained his position and indeed Kano, the most populous state in northern Nigeria, is not taking part in the polio vaccination exercise. Governor Shekarau started work as a mathematics teacher, after graduating from the Ahmadu Bello University in the ancient city of Zaria. He rose through the ranks, to become a principal, then a director and ultimately a permanent secretary, the highest office in the Nigerian civil service. Powerful backers He is a newcomer to Nigerian partisan politics. Governor Shekarau served as permanent secretary under his predecessor. He was said to have fallen into the bad books of his boss and was demoted and then sent back to work as a classroom teacher. This eventually forced him to retire from the civil service. But he bounced back when powerful interest groups who wanted to oust the former governor supported Mr Shekarau's candidature. He won elections last year and today he is governor. Sharia code On assuming office, he promised to make human development the main focus of his administration and also pledged to implement Sharia, strict Islamic law. Governor Shekarau is a down to earth person. He always mixes with local people and does not wear expensive clothes. To Islamists, Governor Shekarau today surpasses Zamfara state governor Ahmad Sani, the first man to reintroduce Islamic law in northern Nigeria. His total rejection of polio vaccines has now gained him even more publicity, surpassing by far what his supporters could have imagined. At every opportunity - and these come daily - Governor Shekarau maintains that Kano state will only allow the polio vaccination exercise to be held if his trusted scientists are proved wrong. They say that the polio vaccine is in fact a western plot to make African women, in particular Muslims, infertile. These claims are emphatically denied by the World Health Organisation. [Polio victims in Kano] Health officials say polio incidents are high in Kano But Mr Shekarau says that any agency or government contesting the results of the findings of his scientists must bring their own scientists to work alongside his trusted team. In the end, the team should come up with a joint result. If his scientists are proved wrong, then and only then will he give in. So far this has not happened.

BBC 9 Mar2004 Nigeria seeks Asia polio vaccines The polio immunisation campaign was abandoned The northern Nigerian state of Kano is seeking polio vaccines from Asian countries to be used in a mass immunisation programme. The governor's spokesman Sule Yau Sule told the BBC that they had already ordered the vaccines and they expect the first batch to arrive soon. Mr Sule however says their boycott of the anti-polio campaign will not be lifted until the vaccines are tested. Half of the world's new polio cases originate in northern Nigeria. 'Polio radiates' Kano suspended immunisations following reports by Muslim clerics that the vaccine was contaminated with an anti-fertility agent as part of a US plot to render Muslim women infertile. Mr Sule said they opted to seek the vaccine from Muslim states in the Asian continent where they had developed their own. "We shall also test the vaccines which we expect soon and if they are safe we will announce when the immunisation programme will begin," he said. The northern states of Niger, Bauchi and Zamfara also pulled out from an anti- polio campaign that is targeting 60 million children. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has denied the claims by Muslim clerics opposed to the immunisation drive. Polio has already radiated out from northern Nigeria to infect people in at least six west and central African states>

IRIN 15 Mar 2004 Army denies alleged massacre in Niger Delta LAGOS, 15 Mar 2004 (IRIN) - Nigerian troops have denied a claim by an activist group that they opened fire last week on unarmed villagers near the southern oil town of Warri, killing at least 51 people, hours after a soldier was killed in a clash with an armed gang. The Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC) group said in a statement on Saturday that 10 women, 19 children and 20 men were initially counted dead in the alleged 9 March dawn attack on Fenegbene by members of a special military task force stationed in the volatile region. Two more bodies, of a mother and a child, were recovered on Friday,FNDIC leader Bello Oboko told IRIN. Oboko said the ethnic Ijaw community of Fenegbene was attacked in an apparent reprisal for the killing of a soldier, a few hours before, by unknown gunmen at the mainly Ijaw Awor quarters of Warri - separated by a river from Fenegbene. “The Ijaw are at a loss finding the correlation between the Awor crime and the Fenegbene massacre,” said Oboko, “and feel it is perhaps meant to serve a deterrent to the Ijaw of Warri against agitating for their rights.” However, Maj. Said Ahmed, spokesman for the special military task force, “ Operation Restore Hope” said on Saturday the authorities had no records of any additional casualties to those released earlier. “Operation Restore Hope” was set up in October last year to police the rise in violence between the Ijaw and Itsekiri communities, fuelled by competition for compensations and other payments made by oil companies to local authorities. The two communities have been fighting since early 1997 over the relocation of a local government headquarters from an Ijaw to an Itsekiri area. Ijaws claim electoral boundaries drawn for last year’s general elections disenfranchised most of their communities in favour of the Itsekiris. An estimated 3,000 troops are currently stationed in the Warri area, where more than 200 people have been killed during the last year. The commander of “Operation Restore Hope”, Brig-Gen. Elias Zamani, said on Tuesday that only five people had been killed, one soldier and four civilians, in the shootout at Awor. He said 79 people had been arrested and that the authorities were investigating the incident. Ahmed said of the 79 initially arrested, 58 have already been freed. He accused the Ijaw activist group of deliberately "whipping up sentiments" with the claims of massacre so as to play down the killing the soldier, and he insisted that troops did not attack Fenegbene. However, he did not rule out the possibility that there may have been victims of a "crossfire." "If a gun battle ensues between two parties, the crossfire can go anywhere, but they only attribute the crossfire to the soldiers," said Ahmed. In two separate incidents, one in the Niger Delta town of Odi in 1999 and another in central Nigeria in 2001, troops killed hundreds of people in reprisal attacks after local militias killed policemen and soldiers. Local and international human rights groups have blamed President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government for failing to punish soldiers responsible for those killings Heirangoithong massacre remembered Source: The Sangai Express Imphal, March 14: In memory of the 14 innocent civilians who were mercilessly gunned down by CRPF personnel at Heirangoithong Volley ground on March 14 1984, "Heirangoithong Meehat Ningshing Ashil Lup" today organized a memorial function at the Heirangoithong volleyball ground today. Relatives and friends of the victims who attended the function paid tribute to the departed souls by offering floral wreaths and prayers at the memorial stone built at the ground. Higher and Technical Education Minister Dr T Meinya also visited the site and paid his respect to the departed souls.

BBC 17 Mar 2004 Nigeria polio jab row rages on Kano officials are still not happy with the vaccine Nigeria's northern state of Kano has again rejected a polio vaccine promoted by the UN, despite assurances from the Nigerian authorities that it is safe. Kano opted out of an immunisation campaign last year, when some Islamic leaders said it was part of a western plot to render Muslim women infertile. On Wednesday an official study into the allegations said the jab was harmless. Health experts have warned that the delay in vaccination in Kano has already resulted in new polio cases. At issue is a mass immunisation programme supported by the World Health Organization, based on the oral polio vaccine. With due respect I believe our professionals know better Sule Yau Sule Kano government spokesman The programme targets about 60 million children and centres on northern Nigeria - where half of the world's new polio cases originate. But the states of Kano, Bauchi, Niger, and Zamfara have opted out of the programme. Alternative On Wednesday President Olusegun Obasanjo said that a report by experts and Muslim leaders sent by the government to conduct independent tests in South Africa, India and Indonesia "categorically attests to the safety of the oral polio vaccine." However the conclusions were quickly rejected by Kano government spokesman Sule Yau Sule. "With due respect I believe our professionals know better," he told the Associated Press news agency. He said State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau was going ahead with plans to procure vaccines from Muslim countries in Asia. Kano suspended immunisations following reports by Muslim clerics that the vaccine was contaminated with an anti-fertility agent. The WHO has denied the claims. Polio has already radiated out from northern Nigeria to infect people in at least six west and central African states.

Rwanda (see France)

NYT 26 feb 2004 10 Years Later in Rwanda, the Dead Are Ever Present By MARC LACEY MURAMBI, Rwanda — If, for whatever reason, one has the desire to relive the horror of the Rwandan massacre of 10 years ago, Emmanuel Murangira is the man to see. Mr. Murangira, 48, is a survivor of a schoolyard blood bath that killed tens of thousands of people seeking refuge on the hilltop campus of a technical school here that has become one of the country's many memorials to the dead. He walks soberly and silently as he guides visitors down the hallways. He unlocks classroom after classroom and pushes open the doors. "This is genocide," he says. Inside, the rooms are full of the partially preserved remains of hundreds of those who were killed by Hutu extremists. The stench is overpowering. The scene is worse still. Closer inspection of the remains, which have been treated with a traditional substance to slow decomposition, reveals exactly in what manner many of them died. A woman has her arms over her face, as if protecting herself from attack. One of her forearms has been hacked off. Another, a youngster, has a thin crack across his skull, the imprint of a machete. All across Rwanda, there are similar scenes of butchery, preserved by survivors just as they were. But with the 10th anniversary of the mass killing approaching in April, the Rwandan authorities are working to bury the bones while still preserving the memories of the estimated 800,000 Tutsi, who make up a minority in the country, and moderate Hutus who died. "We want the memorials to be centers for the exchange of ideas, not collections of bones," said Ildephonse Karengera, the country's director of memorials. But just what to do with all the remains is the question. Some want the bones displayed for as long as they last as evidence of what happened, just in case doubters emerge. But Rwandans traditionally bury their dead and some people say it is disrespectful to leave so many bones and bodies exposed. A compromise is emerging, one that calls for burying more bodies without sanitizing the horror of what occurred. "For those who say it is undignified to show bones, we're burying them, in a sense, behind dark glass," said Dr. James Smith, who runs Beth Shalom Holocaust Memorial Center in Britain and is working with the Rwandan government to revamp some of its memorials. "For those who say it is necessary to see the death, we're accommodating them, too." The memorials are just one part of Rwanda's attempt to recover from the events of 1994. The Tutsi-led government that now runs Rwanda has eliminated ethnicity from identity cards and made it a crime to say or do anything that can be construed as "divisionist." As for prosecuting those who killed, an international tribunal is slowly working its way through the big fish while Rwandan courts handle the lieutenants. With too many offenders to possibly try, President Paul Kagame recently released tens of thousands of people from jail and ordered them to face community trials, known as gacacas. Those proceedings, which will begin countrywide in the coming months, are already having one unforeseen effect. Defendants are pointing out