Africa

Algeria

AFP 2 Nov 2001 Thousands of Berbers hold rally in Algeria IGHIL IMOULA, Tens of thousands of ethnic Berbers on Thursday took part in a peaceful protest march in the troubled Kabylie region in northeastern Algeria to press Algiers to cede to their political demands. The march, which covered around 10 kilometres between the villages of Ouadhias and Ighil Imoula, was called by Berber tribal and village councils to keep up the pressure on the government of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Among Berber demands are the official recognition of their language Tamazight, an economic recovery plan for Kabylie, decent unemployment benefits, the departure of gendarmes from their communities, and compensation for victims and their families injured in police-related violence. By ending the march in Ighil Imoula - the village where the National Liberation Front on November 1, 1954 issued a declaration sparking the war of independence against the colonial power, France - the protesters wanted to show the government that Algiers could not stake sole claim to important dates and places in Algeria's war of independence. Heading Thursday's march, Berber youths carried Algerian flags on a black background to indicate they were in mourning for the scores of Berbers who have died since the protest movement in Kabylie began last April when a Berber youth was killed in police custody.

Angola

IRIN 21 Nov 2001 Condemnation of new policy on UNITA "collaborators" JOHANNESBURG- Namibia's National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has condemned a warning by Defence Minister Erkki Nghimtina that anybody found "collaborating" with Angolan UNITA rebels would be shot on sight. In a statement released on Wednesday, NSHR condemned as unconstitutional "the pronounced policy of shoot-on-sight anyone perceived to be collaborating with the alleged enemies". Nghimtina reportedly made the remarks at the weekend in the insecure northern Kavango region, which borders Angola. According to Namibian national radio, Nghimtina issued the warning that "enemies" would be shot when addressing a consultative meeting of government officials, representatives of the private sector, and regional and traditional leaders, the NSHR statement said. According to the NSHR, the minister's comments have provided credence to the human rights group's allegations that Namibian forces in southeast Angola had carried out "massacres, enforced disappearances and summary executions" of civilians suspected of siding with UNITA. Namibian troops operate inside Angola in a bid to prevent the rebels from crossing into Kavango. As a result of Windhoek's support for the Angolan government, UNITA has stepped up raids across the porous border, which have included the laying of landmines. Angola's southeastern Cuando Cubango province bordering Namibia has historically been a key base for the UNITA movement. The Namibian government has long suspected that UNITA raids are assisted by "collaborators" in the Kavango, a region in which kinship ties straddle the border.

Burundi

BBC 6 Nov 2001 Burundi killings shatter peace hopes South African peacekeepers are in Bujumbura A total of 35 civilians have been killed by Hutu rebels in two incidents on Monday, according to military sources. The attacks come just days after the inauguration of a new government, which shares power between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis. Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the eight-year civil war. Front for the Defence of Democracy rebels killed 24 civilians, including women and children, in attacks on southern Bururi province, south-east of Bujumbura. Mandela brokered a deal but failed to secure a ceasefire Earlier, the FDD ambushed three cars in Ruyigi Province, east of Bujumbura, killing 11 passengers. Three soldiers were killed in violence at the weekend. Nearly all political parties are represented in the new cabinet but the FDD and another Hutu rebel group have rejected a ceasefire agreement and vowed to continue their war against the Tutsi-dominated army. Former South African President Nelson Mandela, who has spent two years seeking to bring peace to Burundi, portrayed the new government as a vital step towards ending the fighting. But he became increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress towards a ceasefire and has now stepped down as mediator. Ethnic tension Burundian President Pierre Buyoya, who is a Tutsi, will remain in office for the first 18 months before handing over to a Hutu. Hutus and Tutsis have shared out cabinet posts In the new cabinet 14 out of the 26 portfolios went to Hutus and 12 to Tutsis. The Tutsis hold the positions of defence, foreign affairs and finance whilst the Hutus keep the ministries of public security and interior. The Tutsi minority has dominated Burundi politics for nearly 40 years. The war between a Tutsi-dominated government and Hutu rebels was started in 1993 following the death of an elected Hutu president. Students snatched in Burundi South African peacekeepers are in Bujumbura A large group of male students have been kidnapped in the second mass abduction in Burundi by Hutu rebels in a week. Burundi army spokesman Augustin Nzabampema said the army was pursuing the rebels and their captives after the dawn raid on a school in northwestern Kayanza Province. It is feared that the pupils, aged between 16 and 21, are either intended to be trained as rebel soldiers or to be used as human shields in case of any army attacks. Local official Come Hatungimana told Reuters by telephone that the rebels made off with somewhere between 250 and 300 pupils in total. And he said that only four boys evaded capture, but there is no independent confirmation of this figure. The army is already searching for more than 50 children aged between 10 and 16 and some of their teachers abducted from their primary school on Tuesday in Ruyigi Province. Fighting has intensified in Burundi since the swearing in last week of a new government which shares power between the deeply divided Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups. Fighting On Thursday, the army said their troops had killed 162 rebels in five days of fighting in Ruyigi and Bururi provinces. Mandela failed to secure a ceasefire The United Nations has called for an immediate ceasefire. The UN Security Council issued a statement saying that armed rebellion was an unacceptable means of political expression after the installation of the new government. But our East Africa correspondent says that the rebels' brutal tactic of kidnapping children is a clear signal that they have no intention of laying down their arms any time soon. The two Hutu rebel groups, who remain outside the peace process, have been fighting against the minority Tutsi dominated army since 1993. Former South Africa President Nelson Mandela, who mediated the peace deal, had expressed the hope that they would join the power-sharing arrangement which leads to democratic elections in three years time. He spent more than two years trying to end the fighting but became increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress towards a ceasefire. He stepped down as mediator when the transitional government was inaugurated. Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the eight-year civil war.

Times (UK) 5 Nov 2001 Burundi hopes fade as Hutus reject ceasefire BY MICHAEL DYNES. DESPITE a ground-breaking agreement signed in July and the swearing in of a power-sharing Government on Thursday, Burundi’s hopes of ending eight years of violence in which more than 250,000 have died still hang by a thread. The two main rebel groups in the small Central African state have refused to accept a ceasefire, diplomats said yesterday. Three government soldiers were killed and two wounded in an ambush on Saturday by Hutu rebels near the capital Bujumbura. The three-year interim administration, inaugurated by Nelson Mandela, the former South African President, aims to give the majority Hutu people a greater say in the Government, which has been dominated by the minority Tutsis since the country gained independence from Belgium in 1962. But it faces a mammoth task in ending ethnic fighting, unravelling the deep mistrust that exists between the two communities while at the same time creating a more balanced army by bringing in more Hutus. About 1,400 South African troops will be sent to Bujumbura in an effort to bolster security for politicians returning from exile. But with the two Hutu rebel groups refusing to end the war, and Tutsi extremists calling on their supporters to attack the South Africans, many observers fear that there will be no end to the blood-letting. Under the new interim Government, President Buyoya, a Tutsi soldier who seized power during a coup in 1996, will stay in power for the next 18 months. Domitien Ndayizeye, a Hutu, has been named Vice-President. Mr Ndayizeye will become President for the second half of the three-year administration, while Mr Buyoya has agreed to step down. Hutus, who make up 84 per cent of the population, have been given 14 out of 26 Cabinet posts, including the Ministries of Public Security and the Interior. As part of the new arrangements, 60 per cent of the National Assembly’s seats will be reserved for Hutus, while a new Senate will be made up of prominent citizens from both ethnic groups. Elections have been scheduled for 2004. Mr Ndayizeye has said that contacts have already been made with the Hutu rebels in a bid to draw them into the ceasefire arrangements. The Hutus insist, however, that they were not consulted when the so-called Arusha peace accords were signed, and have no intention of abiding by their provisions. Failure to bring the rebels on board within the next 18 months is widely expected to lead to the collapse of the new Government. The war between the Tutsi-dominated Government and the majority Hutu rebels was triggered in 1993 with the assassination by Tutsi soldiers of Melchior Ndadaye, Burundi’s first elected Hutu President. The assassination unleashed a wave of bloody reprisals and counter-reprisals against Hutu and Tutsi civilians by Hutu rebels and Tutsi soldiers. When Mr Ndadaye’s successor, Cyprien Ntaryamira, was also assassinated with President Habyarimana of Rwanda in 1994, the Hutus began their genocide against Rwanda’s Tutsi minority, which deepened Burundi’s ethnic divide. In the civil war, Bujumbura was ethnically cleansed of Hutus, while in the rural areas hundreds of thousands of Hutu civilians were rounded up by the Tutsi military into concentration camps. Mr Mandela replaced Julius Nyerere as the Burundian conflict’s mediator after the death of the former Tanzanian President in 1999. South African military officials quietly admit that Pretoria is taking a huge gamble by using its soldiers to bolster Burundi’s fragile peace. Bujumbura is a long way from Pretoria, and if the South African forces come under attack from Tutsi or Hutu extremists, it will be hard pressed to defend it. South Africa hopes to withdraw its forces by next June. But most analysts predict that so early a withdrawal is unlikely. While Belgium and the European Union have agreed to pay the £108 million cost of deploying South African troops to protect the transitional Government, the United Nations Security Council has been unable to authorise the African peacekeeping operation formally because of the refusal of the Hutu rebels to sign up to the ceasefire accords. Burundi factbox Population: 6.48 million. 93 per cent are subsistence farmers Capital: Bujumbura Ethnic make-up: 15 per cent Tutsi population have ruled for 40 years over the 84 per cent Hutu and 1 per cent Twa populations Languages: Kirundi and French are the official languages Economy: Coffee accounts for 80 per cent of exports History: After the Second World War the United Nations transferred the former German colony of Ruanda-Urundi to Belgian rule. Gained independence in 1962 as Burundi Conflict: Since 1993 the first two elected Presidents have both been assassinated; about one million Hutus and Tutsis have become refugees and more than 250,000 people have died.

SMH 2 Nov 2001 'Slow genocide' set to end as Hutus, Tutsis share power in Mandela pact Tutsis and Hutus were expected to join a new power-sharing government in Burundi yesterday under a peace deal brokered by Nelson Mandela to end the country's "slow genocide" and bitter history of de facto apartheid. But the new administration faces an uncertain beginning, with two Hutu rebel groups refusing to end an eight-year civil war and Tutsi extremists calling on supporters to attack hundreds of South African troops assigned to protect Hutu politicians recently returned from exile. Mr Mandela described the deal as "a breakthrough which will bring permanent peace and stability". About 300,000 people have died in the civil war since Tutsi soldiers murdered Burundi's first Hutu president eight years ago. Melchior Ndadaye's election by the Hutu majority, who form 85per cent of the population, had ended 30 years of one-party rule by the Tutsi minority. His assassination a few months later unleashed a bitter conflict in which civilians were the primary victims of Hutu rebels and Tutsi soldiers. Ndadaye's successor and Burundi's second Hutu president, Cyprien Ntaryamira, was assassinated with the Hutu president of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana, when their aircraft was shot down in April 1994. That unleashed the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda, which deepened the polarisation in Burundi. During Burundi's civil war, most Hutus in the capital, Bujumbura, were slaughtered. In rural areas, hundreds of thousands of Hutus were herded by the Tutsi military into what the government called protected villages and its opponents called concentration camps. Mr Mandela replaced Julius Nyerere as mediator in the conflict after the death of the former Tanzanian president two years ago and was able to cajole the 19 parties into talks. The new transitional government will sit for three years, with President Pierre Boyoya, a Tutsi soldier who has held office since a coup in 1996, remaining in charge for the first 18 months. He will be succeeded by his new deputy, Domitien Ndayizeye, the leader of the main Hutu party, Frodebu. Hutus will hold 14 cabinet posts, including the interior ministry and public security, which gives them control of the police. Tutsis will have 12 posts, include defence and finance.

Broad-based govt set up in Burundi BUJUMBURA, Nov 1: Burundi swore in a new power-sharing government Thursday, in a major step towards ending eight years of ethnic bloodshed that has left a quarter of a million people dead. Pierre Buyoya, who has led Burundi since seizing power in a 1996 coup, became the president for the first 18 months of the three-year transition regime. The regime aims to establish a more balanced cabinet, parliament and army, giving ethnic Hutus, who make up 83 percent of the population, more power. Tutsis, who make up 15 percent of the population, have dominated politics since independence from Belgium in 1962. Buyoya himself is a Tutsi. A leading Hutu opposition figure, Domitien Ndayizeye, was also sworn in on Thursday as vice president. He will become president during the second half of the administration. The post of vice president will then go to a Tutsi, although Buyoya has made it clear he will not take up this post. Elections are to be staged in three years time. The swearing-in ceremony was attended by former South African president Nelson Mandela, who oversaw two years of difficult negotiations to reach an accord. "A breakthrough is happening today. I always told my colleagues not to be pessimistic. Let's not let the armed wings hold this peace process to ransom," Mandela said. The country's two main rebel movements, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) and the National Liberation Forces (FNL), have still not agreed to a ceasefire. The new government's biggest challenge will be to stem the fighting in the country. Mandela said the two rebel groups were ready to negotiate with the government.

Central African Republic

IRIN 16 Nov 2001 Priests Held in Connection With Coup Are Released, Nairobi Two priests held in the Central African Republic (CAR) capital, Bangui, in connection with the failed coup of 28 May have been released. The Roman Catholic news agency, MISNA, reported on Thursday that the Rev Tolino Falagoista, a 62 year-old Combonian missionary, from Correzzola, Italy, was in good health. Falagoista, director of Radio Notre Dame in Bangui and correspondent of MISNA, was released on Tuesday on condition that he not leave Bangui, AFP reported. He was arrested in mid-October, accused of writing a story in June regarding mass executions of Yakomas which also referred to the existence of three mass graves and warned that the CAR was heading towards extermination and genocide. Falagoista denied the charges and was released pending further investigation of his case. The Rev Julien Koyenguia of the Berberati diocese was released last week, AFP reported, by the committee set up to investigate the thwarted putsch. He was arrested on 2 Sept., accused of preaching violence and tribal hatred in his sermons and of sheltering some of those behind the attempted putsch. Koyenguia is a Yakoma, the ethnic group of failed coup mastermind and former CAR president Andre Kolingba. The failed coup and subsequent 10 days of fighting claimed 59 lives, according to an official toll - though many more according to witnesses. Forces loyal to CAR President Ange-Felix Patasse managed to repel the offensive, with military support from Libya and the Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo, the armed resistance movement of businessman Jean-Pierre Bemba in northwestern DRC.

Egypt

Inter press Sevice 16 Nov 2001 Christians caught in the middle By Kim Ghattas CAIRO - When US President George W Bush used the word "crusade", they froze in their chairs, even if they realized it was not meant literally. When Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, reminded the world of his 1998 pledge to pursue a holy war against Christians and Jews, Middle Eastern Christians started wondering where that left them. In Cairo, the family of Adel Karras feels somewhat stuck in the middle. On September 18, one of their relatives, another Adel Karras, was shot dead in his grocery store in Los Angeles. Karras looked Arab and his shop was near a mosque. Nothing was stolen from his store and his death is being investigated as a hate crime by Los Angeles police. Presumably, the attackers were venting their anger on Muslims, whom they saw as responsible for the September 11 attacks. What they did not know was that Karras, a father of three, was Christian, a Copt from Egypt. But the Karras family, and the Coptic community at large, also fear that the strikes against Afghanistan could make them proxy targets for those angry at the West. The recent killing of 17 Christians in Pakistan has only added to that feeling. Christians in the Middle East, small and dwindling minorities from Iraq to Jordan and Syria, have been feeling a bit uneasy since September 11. "I hear them [Muslims] talking in the street," says Rafik Labib, a mourner at Karras' service in Cairo last week. "They don't know my religion and they say in front of me what they want to do to Christians. It sounds bad." Yet, explains Imad Jad from the al-Ahram center for strategic studies, a Copt himself, Egypt's Copts have long "fought against Western meddling in their affairs and refused foreign protection for fear of being singled out even more". With their own pope, Copts, who are thought to be direct descendants from the Pharaohs, represent about 14 percent of the Egyptian population and have endured for 1,400 years under Muslim rule. But it has not always been easy. Coptic participation in politics or in the army is microscopic and job discrimination is everywhere. The last intercommunal clash led to the killing of 20 Copts in 1998 in rural Egypt. "Christians have enough problems here - this war is the last thing they need," says Jad. He deplores the way the West deals with Christians in the Middle East, saying that complaints about discrimination are only brought up when it suits Western interests. "If there is suddenly a rise in discrimination or there are persecutions of Christians in a country that is allied to the US in this coalition, no one will say a thing or complain to the government about it," he says. In Lebanon, a country with the largest proportional Christian community in the Middle East, there is a feeling that for once it might be a good thing that there will be no special treatment for the Christians. Unlike Copts in Egypt, Maronite Christians in Lebanon have historical ties with the West that date back to the French mandate over Lebanon. "I don't think that there will be Muslim-Christian tensions, because this time we are all the same in the eyes of the US, all Arabs, all in the same bag," says Michele Maria, a young Christian from the predominantly Sunni city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon. But not everybody's heart is at rest. This month, two churches were attacked and a mosque was set on fire. Graffiti on the mosque's wall read "all Muslims are terrorists". The churches were in towns with a Muslim majority and the mosque in a predominantly Christian town. Incidents such as these are not unheard of in Lebanon, which suffered through a 15-year civil war, but at a time like this, the incidents are monitored carefully by the government which has already caught one of the church attackers. The Lebanese are taking it with a pinch of salt. In Furn el Chebbak, a Christian neighborhood of Beirut, the mood is still relaxed. "I don't feel worried but the community as a whole might be worried," says Kamil, 23, sitting in his grocery store. "Even in quiet times, there are parties in Lebanon who try to stir up trouble between Christians and Muslims for personal interests, so what about when there seems to be a war going on between the West and Muslims?" Christian clerics and Muslim sheikhs have sought to cool down tempers and call for understanding between the country's different communities during this precarious period. But drawing from its unfortunate experience of civil war and sectarian strife, Lebanon also has called on other countries to watch out for sectarian strife. After the Pakistan massacre, Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper's editorial said: "It all sounds very familiar to the Lebanese, and the record here might provide a road map to avoid the same deadly route." (Inter Press Service)

Reuters 11 Nov 2001 Syria extradites wanted Islamist to Egypt By Esmat Salaheddin CAIRO (Reuters) - Syria has extradited to Egypt one of its most wanted men, the former chief of the country's largest radical group, which gained notoriety for a tourist massacre in 1997, an Islamic pressure group has said. "The Syrian regime has committed a criminal act that contradicts basic human rights, by handing over Egyptian Islamist Refaie Ahmed Taha to the dictatorial regime in Egypt last month," the Islamic Observation Center (IOC) said. "Taha was arrested in Damascus several months ago, days after his arrival from Khartoum," the London-based group added in a statement faxed to Reuters in Cairo. Syrian and Egyptian officials were not immediately available for comment. Analysts said they had believed Taha, who would be the most senior Islamist extradited to Egypt in recent years, was hiding in Afghanistan, and were surprised by the alleged Syrian and Sudanese links. Taha, 47, headed al-Gama'a al-Islamiya (Islamic Group) when its members killed 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians in the southern resort of Luxor in 1997. He had already been sentenced to death in absentia in the early 1990s by a military court, whose verdicts cannot be appealed, for extremist activities. Taha was considered among Egypt's most influential Islamists in exile. In 1997, Taha appeared on an official list of leading Muslim militants wanted by Egypt. He is not on a U.S. list of alleged terrorists issued after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS The IOC is run by Egyptian Yasser el-Serri, himself sentenced to death by an Egyptian military court for extremist Islamist activities. Serri, who was living in Britain in exile, is now in a London prison pending a criminal trial over five charges linked to terrorism. Sources close to Serri confirmed the statement was authentic and issued by the IOC. The hand-written statement urged "the world community and international governmental and non-governmental organisations that care about human rights to expeditiously intervene and pressure the Egyptian regime to reveal Taha's fate". Human rights advocates have voiced concern that Egypt was cracking down on critics, including Islamists, while the world's eyes were diverted following the attacks on the United States by suspected Muslim militants. Gama'a led a violent campaign from 1992 to 1997 to topple President Hosni Mubarak's government and set up a purist Islamic state. About 1,200 people were killed in the violence. Taha opposed a 1997 truce call issued by jailed colleagues and endorsed by Gama'a leaders in exile a year later. Since the Luxor massacre, Gama'a has been observing the ceasefire. Insiders say the ceasefire call was probably behind Taha's 1998 decision to step down as head of the group. Islamist sources said he still enjoyed high prestige and influence among militants. The statement said Taha had not carried out any activities within the Gama'a or any other group since his resignation.

Kenya

Kenya Broadcasting Corporation 23 Nov 2001 Paramilitary force deployed in clash-hit Tana River By John Muoki The paramilitary General Service Unit-GSU has deployed to the troubled Tana River district to quell ethnic fighting between two local communities. The area Officer Commanding Police Division-OCPD, Mr. Peter Muthike said the move was taken after the renewed clashes that resulted in the killings of 16 people in the last seven days. Two police reservists were shot dead by a group of 30 armed youths as the pasture wars between the Orman and pokomo entered the fifth day. Several other people were injured in a shootout between the reservists and raiders at Kilelengwani village, Kipini division.The raiders also escaped with a gun. They were armed with sophisticated assault rifles as well as other crude weapons including spears and machetes. Garsen District Officer Patrick Muli said, "Yes, it is true that the reservists were killed and the gun seized by the raiders but we are still waiting for more information from the field." The killers then threw the bodies of 35 year old Maulindi Kolde and 50 year old Wayama Hagasa into the crocodile infested River Tana. Tension and panic gripped Golbanti and Odha villages the whole of Wednesday following continuous gun shots by an unknown group of people. The shots, which were fired from different areas but targeting the two villages, prompted another 2000 people to flee their homes. The villagers sought refuge at St. Catherine’s Catholic Church. Children, women and the aged fled in fear of an attack and went to the church which is already accommodating some 2000 people. An African Inland Church (AIC) Pastor Pimston Maneno said they are now accommodating 4,000 people. “Right now there is a lot of panic among us because we do not know where the raiders will strike next. There is too much fear,” said Maneno. The pastor said police officers who had been deployed to the area had not traced anybody. “We cannot sleep as the security situation is not all that good despite the deployment of more security personnel,” he said. The area District Officer has called for calm in the area adding that the government was doing everything possible to see to it that peace was restored in the area. Pokomo and Orma communities are fighting over pasture and water points along the river Tana.

Kenya Broadcasting Corporation 22 Nov 2001 Stop fuelling tension in Tana River, DC tells clergy Web posted on:Thursday, November 22, 2001 By Richard Chacha Tana River District Commissioner James Waweru has told off religious leaders who are capitalizing on ethnic violence between the Pokomo and Orma that left fourteen people at the weekend. The DC asked members of the clergy not to make inflammatory statements over the Orma and Pokomo tribal clashes in the district. In a statement, Mr. Waweru claimed that some leaders were taking advantage of the clashes to gain media publicity. He singled out Anglican Church Bishop Julius Kalu who allegedly claimed in Mombasa that the clashes were politically instigated. Mr Waweru explained that the government was in control of the situation and humanitarian aid was being supplied to the clash victims camping at Tarasa Catholic Church. He announced that many people had returned to their homes and only 300 are camping at the church. The official said homes razed down by the attackers at Shrikisho village were being reconstructed. Mr Waweru also refuted allegations by Bishop Kalu that a lorry loaded with firearms had been apprehended and later released by the security forces in the clash area. More than 90 people have died in the clashes that started in March last year.

The East African Standard (Nairobi) 21 Nov 2001 'Guards Took Part in Tana River Raid' Caroline Mango Orma and Wardei homeguards from Golbanti village in Garsen constituency took part in the raid which saw the killing of 14 people including four minors. Survivors from Golbanti in Garsen constituency said they saw the heavily armed home-guards and called them by their names to save them from the attackers. They said others who were part of the gang were a group of youths from Golbanti village who the villagers claim they clearly identified. During the raid which lasted several hours on Monday morning, the Pokomos are said to have watched helplessly as the homeguards set their houses on fire in Golbanti village. "We called them by their names so that they could spare us because we have lived with them in the same area but instead they turned against us and killed our people," said the Pokomos camping at St. Catherine's Catholic church. Bura MP, Mr Mohammed Galgalo, said that the Government was to blame for the clashes as it had failed to arrest politicians who had made inflammatory statements. Galgalo who spoke to the East African Standard on the telephone from Nairobi said the Government has allowed politicians to preach tribalism in Tana River District. "The Government must first of all apprehend politicians who are known for inciting the Ormas and the Pokomos," said Galgalo. Recounting their ordeal, Mrs Jemimah William and Mr Lawi Jillo said they thought at first that the homeguards had gone to their rescue but later found out they were part of the more than 60-man gang. "We called them by their names as they are people we know and some of them tried to hide from our faces and went ahead to kill our loved ones and set ablaze our houses," said the victims.

IRIN 20 Nov 2001 Fourteen killed in Tana River clashes NAIROBI, Fourteen people were killed and 13 seriously injured in Tana River District, eastern Kenya, on Sunday when tensions between Orma and Pokomo communities over the use of land and water resources erupted into violence. Some 1,200 Pokomo agricuralists were forced to flee their homes to escape the fighting and sought sanctuary in a catholic mission in the village of Tarasaa, Pius Murithi, Assistant Development Coordinator for the international nongovernmental organisations Caritas told IRIN on Tuesday. Many Orma pastoralists had also moved away from the area to seek greater security among relatives elsewhere, Murithi added. Kenya Television Network (KTN) on Monday quoted police spokesman Peter Kimanthi as saying that eight of the dead were members of the Pokomo tribe, and six were Orma pastoralists. Some 80 Pokomo manyattas (dwellings) had also been set on fire, and over 50 armed police officers had been sent to the district to restore calm, Kimanthi said. "The security team that moved into the area was armed to the teeth and was forcing the [Orma] raiders to retreat into the hills," AFP quoted a local trader as saying. Murithi said violence had broken out following a misunderstanding as some Orma tribesmen were driving their cattle past a Pokomo settlement. The Pokomo thought they had come under attack and began fighting the pastoralists with machetes and spears, he said. "The tension between the two communities has been so high that they just needed a trigger," he added. Tension between the two communities rose sharply after the murder by Orma tribesman on Saturday, 17 November, of a Pokomo man as he was collecting firewood, according to Murithi. The man's sons, who had been accompanying their father, fled to a nearby Pokomo settlement and told villagers their father had been kidnapped; on returning to the spot where they had left the man, he was found to have been hacked to death, he added. While the Pokomo accuse the Orma of allowing their livestock encroach on their farms and destroying crops, the Orma complain that Pokomo farmlands are too close to the banks of the Tana River and prevent the herders from using the river to water their cattle. Some 70 people have now been killed over the last year as a result of repeated clashes between the communities, and Pokomo elders have claimed that the Orma have been accumulating firearms in preparation for more attacks. "The clashes will continue," Murithi said. "These are problems that will continue for ever." Following the deaths of four Pokomos during an Orma attack in October, Kenyan police and security forces began an operation to recover illegal firearms in the district. Murithi told IRIN, however, that the police had tried to rid the area of arms many times, but had always failed. "People will only give up their guns if the government can first guarantee their safety," he added. Caritas has recently joined together with several national and international agencies to establish a Local Peace Coordination Committee in Tana River District. According to Murithi, the Committee was working to involve both communities in development activities in the district. "We make them work together to see that their needs are not so different," he said.

The Nation (Nairobi) 20 Nov 2001 10 Killed in New Clashes Over Pasture By Patrick Mayoyo Ten people were reported killed and many others seriously injured following renewed fighting between pastoralists and farmers in Tana River district. A local pastor said they had died in fresh clashes between Orma and Wardei pastoralists on one hand and Pokomo farmers. They were two women and five children from Golbanti village, two other people from Tarasaa and a patient at Ngao hospital, said Pastor Pimson Maneno, of the African Inland Church at Tarasaa. Mr Abdul Mzee, assistant commissioner at Coast provincial police headquarters, Mombasa, initially put the death toll at five but said they were expecting an updated account from their officers in the area. The fighting began over the weekend when a Pokomo boy from Tarasaa disappeared and was later found dead. "Youths from Tarasaa blamed the killing on the pastoralists and sought revenge," said Pastor Maneno. The fighting escalated when an assistant chief opened fire on a group of Pokomo youths, injuring four of them, he said. Witnesses said at least 10 people were seriously injured and a number of houses razed as the warring groups exchanged fire. Some of those injured were admitted at Ngao and Malindi district hospitals. A joint security team from Garsen and Tarasaa deployed in the area to quell more skirmishes was repulsed by the heavily armed pastoralists and reinforcements from Tana River and Mombasa had been sent to the area. They included members of the General Service Unit and Administration Policemen and were accompanied by Tana River DC James Waeweru and the OCPD, Mr Peter Muthike. The perennial feuds pitting Pokomo farmers against the Orma and Wardei pastoralists centre on land and grazing rights. The pastoralists accuse the Pokomos of restricting their movement to water points and grazing, while Pokomos accuse the Orma and Wardei of grazing on their farms and destroying their crops. Efforts to resolve differences between the two groups have been unsuccessful because of what the provincial administration calls inflammatory statements from local politicians. The feud, lasting at least 10 years, erupted again in April this year, leaving scores dead on both sides and many injured, while property worth millions of shillings has been destroyed

The Nation (Nairobi) 2 Nov 2001US Has Shunned Us, Says Family of Terror Victim Wahome Thuku The family of a Kenyan killed in the terrorists attack in New York may not be compensated. The US embassy in Kenya has not told them of any financial compensation, the late Kaaria Mbaya's mother, Prof Vertistine Mbaya, said yesterday. "I have received condolences and goodwill messages from the US government but nothing on compensation," she said terming the silence by the US government as "very insensitive". Prof Mbaya said her children in the US were pursuing the issue. She was speaking to the Nation at the St Andrews Church in Nairobi, shortly after a solemn service for her son. The late Mbaya, 39, was a senior computer analyst with Cantor Fitzgerald based at the collapsed World Trade Centre and was among the 300 people whose bodies were recovered. His remains were cremated in the US and the ashes flown to Kenya for burial in Chogoria tomorrow. Addressing the congregation, Prof Mbaya said it was by the grace of God that her son's body was recovered. Prof Mbaya said financial support for the victims was being organised by individual organisations and humanitarian groups. She said the US government would compensate the victims in a bid to pre-empt any legal action against the airlines involved. The US government has set up a $21 billion compensation fund. Meanwhile, non governmental organisations have called for an immediate end to the military strikes against Afghanistan. Seventeen organisations meeting under the NGO Council condemned the attacks saying the US and its allies had disregarded all international legal structures and diplomatic means of resolving conflicts. Addressing the Press after a meeting in Nairobi, the organisations said the retaliation by the US following the September 11 terror attacks had resulted in "the murder of innocent civilians", abuse of human rights and breakdown of justice. "International humanitarian law prohibits attacks on civilians," said the council chairman Mr Oduor Ong'wen. "Be it locally or internationally, the civil society must advocate justice, rule of law and oppose violence." Mr Oduor said the military action had constrained the humanitarian relief in a country that proclaimed a history of wars, drought and human rights abuse. Among the organisations that filed the petition were the International Federation of Women Lawyer, Actionaid-Kenya, National Convention Executive Council, Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, Muslim Consultative Council, Media Institute, Kituo cha Sheria and Femnet.

The Nation (Nairobi) OPINION 17 Nov 2001 Can We Be Our Brother's Keepers? A while ago, a mixed race Danish-Ghanaian friend told me this story: During the Second World War, the Nazi entered Denmark. When significant parts were under German occupation, the inevitable orders were issued. All Jewish Danes were henceforth to wear the yellow star arm bands. And, although less known, as everywhere under Germany occupation, all gays, the pink triangle arm bands. All lesbians and people with mental disabilities, the black triangle arm bands. And so on. For the easy identification and registration of all "defective" or "undesirable" people was, of course, the first step towards cordoning them off for easy removal and elimination. The day after the notices went up, the Danish king appeared in the streets of Copenhagen wearing a clearly visible, conspicuous, yellow star arm band. The people of Copenhagen wordlessly understood his message, his request of them. And the next day, all of Copenhagen's people turned out wearing the yellow star arm bands. Leadership can inspire action The story maybe apocryphal. But significantly smaller numbers of Jewish Danes were, indeed, subjected to genocide than Jewish people in other European nations and states under German occupation. Yet, regardless of the story's veracity, it moves me. For it reminds me that leadership can inspire action from people's natural impulses to be humane, can make the right ethical and moral choices in even the most adverse and unlikely of conditions. People can resist. People can be their brother's and sister's keepers. And it reminds me of interviews I did several years ago with survivors of the politically instigated clashes in Mount Elgon. One man had been badly injured, his skull cut open by the raiders. When he came to, in a hospital far from his home, he believed his entire family - his wife, his children - had been killed. Yet, by a strange twist of fate, a couple of years later, he was reunited with his family. They had not been killed but had run away believing he was dead. The striking - and shaming - thing about this man was that he held no bitterness, harboured no thoughts of revenge. He told me he knew his neighbours were not responsible. He knew they had tried to help once the raids, the rapes and the murders began. Last week I thought of the Danish king and all the Kenyan survivors of the clashes, discussing the latest, unbelievably greedy, selfish and short-sighted Government decision to destroy no less than 10 per cent of our remaining forest cover. The coalition of concerned civil society is already trying to point out what this means environmentally and economically, trying to organise to stop this destruction. But there is another aspect to the plan, which amounts to yet another more immediate extermination of Kenyans. For we seem to continually forget or gloss over - or even worse - simply not care about the fact that not all Kenyans are agricultural. Pastoralists have managed in recent years to push their concerns onto the national agenda. But forest-dwelling, hunter-gatherer peoples have not. Perhaps we have been too caught up with colonial and post-colonial land assertions and claims to begin to unravel what our own mythologies and oral histories tell us about our own assumptions of who belongs where, what land belongs to whom. Last week, a colleague was telling me about other forest-dwelling communities, the Boni, for example, who live north of Lamu. They are a pacific people. Their language has no words for anger, conflict. When aggression is expressed towards any one of them, they collectively retreat into the forest to pray for the aggressor. They are obviously a dying people, currently numbering only about 500. Five hundred. What will increased forest excisions do to that number? Or the Wata, who live along the River Tana? They currently number only 80. Eighty. What will increased forest excisions do to them? The real issue The issue is actually larger than the proposed (and apparently already ongoing) forest excisions. The issue is how we deal with true minority communities. How can any community with less than 1,000 members have any representation at all in decision-making even if the "one (wo)man, one vote" system we theoretically flaunt actually worked? These are dying communities. If we do not want to contribute to their extermination, we need to stop these forest excisions. We need to fundamentally reassess our notions of natural resource management to take into account the protection of communal user rights in the long-term. And we need to deeply examine our ideas about democracy. For a dying community of 80 people will never be able to elect its own MP in our current electoral system. Perhaps we need a Danish king. L. Muthoni Wanyeki is Executive Director of African Women's Development and Communication Network.

Liberia

WP 9 Nov 2001 Letter Charles Taylor: A Record of Genocide Friday, November 9, 2001; Page A36 The latest attempt by the Liberian ambassador to dress warlord-turned-president, Charles Taylor, in the borrowed robes of a democratic leader [letters, Oct. 30] comes up against an insurmountable barrier: Mr. Taylor's extensive and murderous record of human rights abuses in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Mr. Taylor's notorious record specifically includes his long-standing role in promoting the murderous Revolutionary United Front rebels who have raped, tortured, mutilated and killed tens of thousands of my fellow Sierra Leoneans, while displacing hundreds of thousands more since 1991. Mr. Taylor's record of genocide is fatal to Ambassador William V. S. Bull's attempt to refurbish the ex-warlord's image. Ambassador Bull's allegation that Colbert I. King [op-ed, Oct. 20] "seeks to inflame public opinion by recounting the unfortunate killing of five American nuns during the fratricidal war in Liberia nine years ago" ignores the fact that it was Mr. Taylor who in 1989, following his escape from an American jail, started that same war that has killed tens of thousands of innocent Liberians. Similarly, Mr. Bull failed to acknowledge that the "democratic" elections that resulted in the election of Mr. Taylor as president were conducted amid Liberia's raging civil war, during which 90 percent of the citizenry cowered under the murderous yoke of Mr. Taylor, who had violently seized control over them. MOHAMED A. JALLOH Derwood

Nigeria

This Day (Lagos) OPINION 13 Nov 2001 Tiv Land Massacre; A Breach Of The Law Tunji Adeyemi As the story goes, not long ago, a detachment of soldiers from Yola invaded four Tiv villages, invited the villagers to the village square, separated the men from the women and opened fire on the men killing hundreds. This was supposed to be in retaliation for the death of 19 soldiers who were murdered while on a peace keeping assignment in the clash between the Tivs and their Jukun neighbours. Arguments have been offered both in support of and against the action. We have heard those who believe the punitive expedition in Tiv land was necessary in order to send a clear message to ethnic militias that seem to have taken over every corner of the country, that lives of the men of the Nigerian Army are not cheap. We have also heard that to allow the killers of the 19 soldiers who were murdered in the cause of their lawful duty to the fatherland to go unpunished would amount to surrendering the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to ethnic warlords. And so the soldiers unleashed their fury on innocent villagers in a raid reminiscent of punitive expeditions by the colonial soldiers on those African communities who dared challenge their imperial subjugation. While it is morally defensible to bring offenders to book, it is legally reprehensible to execute mass punishment on both the guilty and the innocent. One of the cardinal principles of the rule of law as propounded by John Locke is that no man should be punished except in accordance with the law. Further expounded, it means no man is to be punished except he has been proved to have violated a known (written) law, and that the punishment to be inflicted should be that which is prescribed by law and not by the mob - see S 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution. It is difficult to justify the massacre in Tiv land (for that is what it actually is) where an 85 year old blind man was brutally murdered in his own house for what he probably did not understand. The duty of the law enforcement agents is the apprehension of lawbreakers and to bring them to book. What ought to have happened is for the government to fish out those who were involved in the killing of the soldiers by careful and painstaking investigation. The Army has attempted a defense of its action though a feeble one at that. What came out of the press conference called for that purpose was the fact that the Army is aware that its action was manifestly illegal. An Army that turns to attack defenceless citizens it is paid to protect does not know a thing about the noble ethics of arms bearing. Not too long ago, the same brutal dose was fed to the people of Odi in Bayelsa State. The Army then commanded by then Lt. General Victor Malu came out with a stout defense of its action. One still recalls the General speaking to newsmen, saying that in the Army they were trained to kill. He even said when on Military assignment even if his father stood on his way he would bring down his head! Today, General Malu sings a different tune - his house being one of the houses destroyed when the soldiers attacked his village. The 85 years old blind man who was murdered was also his uncle. Malu says he has lost faith in the Nigeria, he forgets that several houses were destroyed when he led soldiers to Odi, he also forgets that people who were killed in Odi also had relatives. Where the Rule of Law is subverted, the result can only be anarchy, and where anarchy reigns, the rich also cry! Nothing will be predictable; life will be brutish, nasty and short. The Rule of Law is to be preferred any day to the rule by the mob. Let us hope that the Tiv massacre will be the last of such stories in our land.

18 November, 2001, 03:05 GMT Nigerian ethnic rivals agree ceasefire Leaders of two rival ethnic groups in the Nigerian state of Benue have agreed to end a long-standing conflict which led to the killing last month of more than 200 civilians by the Nigerian army. The leaders of the Tiv and Jukun ethnic groups agreed the ceasefire at a meeting in the city of Kanduna. They have called on the Federal government to withdraw its troops from the area affected by the conflict; a move they said would allow the peace agreement to flourish. The Nigerian authorities say the killings were part of a peace-keeping operation to deal with the conflict between the Tiv and Jukun peoples. The authorities have rejected calls for the soldiers responsible to be punished. 13 November, 2001, 14:54 GMT Bamiyan destroyed by Taleban Hundreds were reportedly killed by the Taleban The BBC has confirmed that the central Afghan town of Bamiyan was totally destroyed by the Taleban before they fled over the weekend. The statues were priceless pieces of Buddhist heritage Evidence has also emerged of Bosnian-style ethnic cleansing in the region involving the execution of hundreds of local ethnic Hazara men. BBC correspondent David Loyn reached Bamiyan on Tuesday, becoming the first journalist to witness the devastation. The Taleban caused international outrage earlier this year by destroying two priceless Buddha statues in Bamiyan in an act of wanton desecration. But it is now not just the ancient treasures that have disappeared. Ethnic cleansing Our correspondent said every building, shop and house had been destroyed before the town fell on Sunday after a two-hour gun battle. Bamiyan finally fell to ethnic Hazara fighters of the Hezb-i-Wahdat faction, who regard Bamiyan as their capital. They can never be replaced Not just in Bamiyan but around the region, it was clear that the Hazaras had suffered horribly at the hands of the Taleban. Bazaars had been torched in town after town and there have been reports of Bosnian-style ethnic cleansing involving the execution of hundreds of local men. The Hezb-i-Wahdat was driven out of Bamiyan by the Taleban in 1998. The city hit the world's headlines in March, when the destruction of the two giant statues provoked widespread international condemnation and criticism from Muslim leaders around the world. The Taleban dynamited the monuments, carved into the Hindu Kush mountains, claiming that all statues were false idols and contrary to their Islamic beliefs. 13 November, 2001, 13:51 GMT Nigerian soldier kills six at prayers Nigeria soldiers have been in trouble for killing civilians Nigerian police say that a soldier has opened fire at a group of people attending open-air Muslim prayers in the northern state of Kaduna killing at least six people. Troops stationed in the area had gone to the meeting in a motor park at the request of residents who feared violence. It is only the army that can tell us whether the soldiers were on official duty or they went to the gathering on their own their Edgar Nanakumo, deputy state police commissioner Open-air meetings are banned in the state and the troops told the gathering to disperse as they were breaking the law, the Nigerian Guardian newspaper reported. An argument ensued which lead to the shooting by one soldier. Last year 2,000 people were killed in violence between Christians and Muslims in Kaduna. Following the introduction of the Islamic Sharia code in the state earlier this month, violence broke out again, claiming another 11 lives. Drunken soldier The BBC's Dan Isaacs in Nigeria says there is no suggestion whatsoever that the soldier's action had anything to do with the introduction of Sharia. "It is understood it was a lone drunken soldier acting on his own accord," says our correspondent. Many residents fled for their lives in last month's revenge attacks by soldiers But the deputy police state commissioner, Edgar Nanakumo told Reuters news agency: "We do not have full details of the incident yet." "It is only the army who could tell us whether the soldiers were there on official duty or they went to the gathering on their own", he added. Obasanjo criticised Nigeria has seen an upsurge of religious and ethnic violence in the two years since President Olusegu Obasanjo was elected. On Sunday he announced a judicial inquiry into last month's killing of more than 200 civilians by Nigerian soldiers in the central state of Benue. The killings in Benue - apparently in reprisal for the deaths of 19 soldiers - have been linked to a long-standing conflict between the Tiv and Jukun ethnic groups. Human rights groups condemned the killings near the border with Taraba state and were disappointed when President Obasanjo failed to criticise the army's actions. Instead, he condemned the deaths of the 19 soldiers at the hands of a local militia.

BBC 15 Nov 2001 Army 'genocide' says Nigerian speaker, Dan Isaacs in Nigeria One of Nigeria's most senior politicians has strongly condemned the killing last month of more than 200 unarmed civilians in central Benue state by soldiers. After a visit with a parliamentary group to the destroyed towns and villages, the speaker of the House of Assembly, Ghalin Na'Abba, described the attacks as an act of near genocide. President Olusegun Obasanjo has justified the army action as part of a peace-keeping operation to deal with the conflict between the Tiv and the Jukun peoples of the area and rejected calls for the soldiers responsible to be punished. Although a judicial inquiry has been ordered into the army's action and events that led up to it, it has not yet started its work. Shaken After inspecting the destroyed town of Zaki Biam and its surrounding villages Mr Na'Abba and his parliamentary colleagues said they were deeply shocked at the destruction they had witnessed. He said that soldiers are supposed to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria and not shoot fellow Nigerians. Mr Obasanjo had said that soldiers are trained to kill and if deployed that is what they will do. Hundreds had to leave their homes Accompanying Mr Na'Abba on his tour was the traditional leader of the Tiv people who bore the brunt of the army operation. Chief Alfred Torkula appealed to the government to withdraw the troops which he said were still active in Benue state harassing and torturing his people. Tiv women, he said, were being particularly singled out by the army. These comments follow similiar statements made in recent days by politicians and traditional leaders both in Abuja and in Benue state who have expressed their disquiet at the government's muted response to the army killings.

This Day (Lagos) 15 Nov 2001 Benue Killings; Na'Abba Soldiers Raids, Near Genocide Chuks Okocha Just Back From Zaki Biam Tiv Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ghali Na'Abba has described the reprisal killings and sacking of Tiv villages in Ukum Local government of Benue State as genocidal. He spoke after inspecting the burnt villages and victims of the soldiers' reprisal action against some Tiv villages where 19 soldiers were kidnapped and killed. According to the Speaker who spoke almost in tears "this act is not what we can support or condone because it is almost a near genocide". Na'Abba who was in Zaki Biam, the Federal Medical Centre in Makurdi and the Daudu Displaced Peoples camp lamented that "never again will the soldiers be used to quell civil riots. The soldiers are supposed to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria and not shoot fellow Nigerians". The Speaker stated that the use of military forces to quell riots was not a panacea to the crisis stressing that "what is important is the use of dialogue and understanding. The military symbolizes a nation and as such it cannot be used on its people". He described the entire incident as "tragic and unfortunate" "I regret the loss of lives on both sides". According to him "democracy should not bring bloodshed and violence to our people. Democracy is all about freedom and unity, nobody should kill a fellow Nigerian." After the visit to the burnt commercial city of Zaki Biam, Na'Abba also visited the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi as well as the Daudu Displaced Peoples camp, one of the several camps where the displaced persons are being kept. Na'Abba visited the palace of the Tor Tiv , Dr. Alfred Torkula in Gboko . At the palace, the traditional ruler of the Tiv cried out against the presence of soldiers in the area, saying that "the soldiers are violating our wives and our female children. Our men are beaten up and our farmlands plundered by the soldiers". He appealed to the Speaker to help persuade President Olusegun Obasanjo to withdraw the soldiers from the Tiv lands. The Tor Tiv said that there were other federal organs like the police that can help maintain peace in the troubled areas. Dr. Tokula also pleaded with the Speaker to assist in the effort to get displaced Tiv people to return to their various ancestral homes in Nasarawa and Taraba states. There have been long standing communal clashes between the Tiv in Benue State and their Jukun neighbours in Taraba State. Last month, 19 soldiers of Nigerian Army were kidnapped and later killed by Tiv militia. When the Benue State government could not produce the perpetrators of the crime, soldiers sacked some Tiv communities in Benue State, including Zaki Biam, killing over 100 people. The Federal Government Sunday set up a judicial commission of inquiry into the Benue killings and warned that it was now an offence for anybody to treat any Nigerian resident in any part of the country, other than his state of origin, as a non-indigene or a settler. Members of the panel would however, be announced at a later date. Following a meeting at Aso Rock at the instance of President Obasanjo and attended by Governors George Akume of Benue, Jolly Nyame of Taraba, Joshua Dariye of Plateau and Abdullahi Adamu of Nasarawa, the government said that it was prepared to invoke Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution as part of effort to check the rising incidence of ethnic and religious clashes in the country. The government announced the setting up of the commission of inquiry into the recent attacks by soldiers on some Tiv communities in Benue State in which over a hundred people died and property running into millions of naira were destroyed. Last Tuesday, Na'Abba warned on the dangers of a prolonged crisis between Benue State and its neighbours. The Speaker's warning came on the heels of assurances by Benue State governor, Chief George Akume to the Tiv communities in Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau and Taraba states that the proposals made to the Federal Government in respect of the crises in the areas were being considered.

BBC 13 Nov 2001, Nigeria tries soldier for massacre Nigeria soldiers have been in trouble for killing civilians By Dan Isaacs in Lagos The Nigerian authorities say prosecution proceedings have begun against a soldier who shot dead seven people at a Muslim prayer service in the northern city of Kaduna on Sunday. Police in Kaduna confirmed that the soldier was currently in army custody. Tensions between Muslims and Christians in the city have been high following the introduction of Islamic law earlier this month. The killings of civilians provoked unrest in the Benue capital, Makurdi Following this latest incident, some soldiers were deployed to the area to prevent reprisal attacks from angry Muslims. By all accounts, this was an isolated incident - a soldier who had been drinking in his nearby barracks wandered into a local bus station where a Muslim preacher was holding a prayer service. The soldier ordered the preacher to stop his sermon and leave the area. His refusal angered the soldier who then apparently opened fire on the congregation. Seven people including the preacher are now known to have died, and many others were injured. Tension Immediately after the incident late on Sunday night, about 50 soldiers were deployed in the bus station and surrounding area in order to forestall any reprisal attacks by Muslims angered by the actions of a soldier who is himself believed to be Christian. Tensions are particularly high in Kaduna at the moment because of the introduction earlier this month of Islamic, or Shariah law in the state. Although the version of Shariah implemented is seen as a compromise to accommodate the sentiments of the Christian community, it is still seen as a contentious issue. Just 10 days ago clashes were reported in a community in the south of Kaduna state in which 10 people died. This is seen as one of Nigeria's most volatile states because of its large Christian as well as Muslim population. Last year, over 2,000 people died in communal clashes in Kaduna, before the army was eventually sent in to restore order.

BBC 11 Nov 2001 Inquiry planned into Nigeria killings The town of Zaki Biam was destroyed by the soldiers The killing of more than 200 civilians by Nigerian soldiers in the central state of Benue last month is to be investigated by a judicial commission. The decision was announced on Sunday by President Olusegun Obasanjo, after talks in the capital Abuja with leaders from Benue and three other central states wracked by ethnic violence. If there is evidence that anyone flouted the law, of course they will be punished - however, the emphasis is on reconciliation Information Minister Jerry Gana The killings in Benue - apparently in reprisal for the deaths of 19 soldiers - have been linked to a long-standing conflict between the Tiv and Jukun ethnic groups. Nigerian Information Minister Jerry Gana said they expected the commission to establish the truth so that a healing process could begin. Human rights groups condemned the killings on 22-24 October near the border with Taraba state and were disappointed when President Obasanjo failed to criticise the army's actions. Instead he condemned the deaths of the 19 soldiers at the hands of local militia. Army veterans helped The soldiers had been sent to quell tensions between the Tiv, the majority group in Benue, and the Jukun, the biggest group in neighbouring Taraba. Sunday's talks in Abuja have been focusing on the worsening inter-tribal conflict which has also spilled over into the states of Nasarawa and Plateau. The commission of inquiry was agreed at those talks along with measures to improve security in the regions and provide better welfare for thousands of army veterans. The killings of civilians provoked unrest in the Benue capital, Makurdi Mr Gana said the president would announce the composition and mandate of the inquiry after consultations. "If there is evidence that anyone flouted the law, of course they will be punished," Mr Gana said. "However, the emphasis is on reconciliation." Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have demanded an independent inquiry. Mr Gana said a separate committee would consider ways of guaranteeing the constitutional rights of all Nigerians to live in peace anywhere in the country. He said they were also arranging a larger peace forum involving more states of the so-called Middle Belt region for 19-20 December in Kuru, in Plateau State. Threat to democracy Mr Gana said the meeting had been held in an atmosphere of "peace and cordiality". Analysts say the ethnic warfare, coupled with fighting between Christians and Muslims further north, threatens the survival of Nigeria's young democracy. President Obasanjo condemned the killings of the soldiers President Obasanjo has deployed soldiers in seven states to quell unrest and some Nigerians fear this could give the army a pretext for taking back power. The military ruled Nigeria for decades until May 1999. Last week, Tiv leaders demanded the resignation of Defence Minister Theophilus Danjuma - an ethnic Jukun - following the killings in Benue. He has denied claims that he had put the army in the service of the Jukun. Also at Sunday's talks as observers were envoys from Kaduna and Kano states, where Muslim-Christian fighting in the past year has left thousands dead.

Weekly Trust (Abuja) 9 Nov 2001 Obasanjo Exposes Self And Senators, Wada Nas "I removed the Senate president and you are still looking for a big fish...", President Obasanjo said in response to a question as to when his administration would deal with those in high places accused of corruption either then or now. We do not want to recall the trauma our democracy went through in the process of removing Dr Chuba Okadigbo as Senate president. The invasion of his official residence by the police on 'instruction' from above' remains a dark spot in the take-off of the democracy project. Like an invading army, the police sealed up his residence in the early hours of the day on the excuse that they were looking for the Senate Mace Chief Okadigbo phoned the president to complain, but from his response, he was all for what was happening. Never in the history of Nigeria's democracy was such an undemocratic show of power displayed against the number three citizen. Before then, when the president was commissioning the official residence of the Senate president, some senators, perhaps in collaboration, were meeting, hatching and perfecting plans to remove him. Even as they denied collaborative actions to so remove him, the activities of his deputy left no one in doubt that there was an executive plot, sold to senators, to remove their president. Even the handling of the Kuta report, from beginning right through to the end, the sudden change of mind by Senator Nzeribe, left no one in doubt that the Presidency was determined to remove Okadigo at all costs. And according to sources, the cost was allegedly heavy in terms of various scenarios. Dr Okupe, then President Obasanjo's mouthpiece, kept on shouting himself hoarse that the matter was a Senate affair. The whole of the Senate establishment was up and doing, trying to patch up what some members of the public saw, rightly or wrongly, as their stooge image, of always playing to presidential music. The more they were denying the involvement of the Presidency in propelling them into action, the more they sounded unconvincing. Dr Okadigbo, in a news interview, accused them of receiving inducement to remove him. They rose up like wounded lions out to smash his head. They demanded apology or they would excise him from the Senate. Now, Obasanjo has exposed the racket: that it was he, apparently using our distinguished senators, who removed Dr Okadigbo as Senate president. Truth, they say, is a living phenomenon which can be suppressed but cannot be killed. All along our elected representatives were telling us untruth that they were never collaborators in the removal of Okadigbo, while in truth they knew the fact of the matter. It was not that they were lying to us, but rather they were not telling us the truth on honour. It ought to worry us that those we entrusted our collective affair into their care, those we expect to tell us the fact or truth, those whom we have confidence in, however, chose early in the day, to dish us misinformation on a matter they were fully in the know of the facts. We ought to feel disappointed and betrayed as electorates. Worse was the gross indecency of the action and manner it was executed, all of which was more about democratic misconduct, and a betrayal of the rule of democracy. Anyway, if as the president said that he removed Okadigbo because he was found wanting, what was the nature of his offence and why hasn't he been taken to Justice, Akanbi? It is not enough to make such serious allegations on the networks without backup evidence, except if there are still more plots to finish the Oyi senator completely. Whatever, Nigerians are entitled to believe Okadigbo' s accusations that some form of inducement took place before his colleagues were persuaded to remove him, particularly since the president said ...I removed the Senate president...' We never saw him on the floor plotting to remove Okadigbo. He was doing so from the background, using his cronies in the Senate. There was some level of political immorality involved in this. And I have the belief that between political immorality and corruption, there is only a thin thread, if indeed there is any. Corruption is not just about the misuse of public funds it is about the misuse of office or power, it has so many forms, all of them ugly, none justifiable under whatever guise. The Senate and the Presidency, in the face of the revelation by Mr President, that he was the real brain behind the removal of Dr Okadigbo, as Senate president, and in the face of persistent denials by the two organs in the beginning, owe Nigerians apology for misleading them in a way quite unbecoming of the stature of those two offices. Those doubting Thomases over the N4 billion money offered the House of Representatives to remove Speaker Ghali Umar Na'Abba now ought to rethink their position in view of this damaging revelation by our number one citizen. If anyone still has some doubt, let him wait until the horse opens its mouth once more. While we are waiting, let us say that the House of Representatives emerged very distinguished, as defenders of democracy, from the attempts to use some quislings to remove their leader. They stood glorious in the eyes of Nigerians and so far they have been living up to expectations. I hope I would have the occasion and reason to say the same of our senators. And when the opportunity offers itself, count me among those who would be the first to say so. Meanwhile, I worry over some of the remarks of Mr President over highly sensitive issues. Asked in Paris, France, how he felt about the Kano crisis, he reportedly said it never bothered him. For Mr President to have made such a remark, when fellow Nigerians were brutally and mercilessly killing themselves ought to be of serious concern to us. Perhaps he said so out of frustration, due to frequency with which violence has been occurring in recent time. Still, he could have been more circumspect and moderate in his remarks. What happened in Kano is nothing compared to what happened in some parts of Benue State. Reports have it that about four villages were completely razed and property looted. Death toll has been put variously at between 100-400. The country home of the immediate Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Victor Malu was also among the houses destroyed. His blind uncle, 85 years of age and his wife were burnt to ashes. These acts were done by Nigerian soldiers. Even if they have a right to be provoked, they had no right to engage in such a massive destruction as if they were fighting an enemy. What crimes have the Tivs committed worse than the OPC who almost on a daily basis have been engaging in killing and the destruction of police stations? In the face of the devastation that happened, all the president could offer was to warn citizens against provoking the military. Without any doubt, what happened to the 19 soldiers was callous, primitive and downright inhuman. In such tense moments, moderation is the expected language of a leader. Both our soldiers and Tiv brothers were very angered by what happened. None of the actions could be justified in line with the president's sermon. It was too costly at that material time and indeed for all times. In the meantime, there is no wisdom, bearing in mind current happenings, to insist that soldiers be excluded from handling situations which the police, for one reason or the other, are unable to manage. But for the army, the death toll arising from the various clashes we have been having could have been more than what we have witnessed. This call, therefore, could only be justified if the police are well equipped to handle such explosive situations. For now, this is not the case and until it is so, the military remains the only protection against some of the madness we have been seeing so far. This reminds me of the issue of the National Guard in the form of a stronger police formation that could be a buffer between the police and the military. The import here is that we need a better-trained police force than we currently have so that there may be no need to invite the military in times of serious crisis. Finally, asked when he is going to visit Benue State, the president in a Network Programme, remarked that he visits a state only on the invitation of the governor if he has something to show as dividend of democracy. What a remark! Even if Gov. Akume has nothing to show as dividend of democracy, he has at least something to show as the ugly side of democracy, and the president, as the National Chief Security Officer, ought not to wait to assess what damage this ugly episode has brought to the people of the state. I hope the violence in that part of the country was never part of our democracy dividends. Meanwhile, now Gani Adams is freely insulting everyone that he has no regret about his role in the Nazi-style massacre in Lagos and may perhaps do it again. The other time, Faseun, his companion in chief, remarked that they would no longer deal deadly blows at small Northerners but their big men. This is a confirmation that they have been deeply involved in the genocide against Northerners in the South-West. And today they are free while the Bamaiyis are languishing in detention. These people killed thousands and thousands and they are free, while Bamaiyi and Danbaba, in particular, have been in detention for two years for attempted murder of two people. And this is our great Nigeria. Recently, Adesanya was indulging in wishful thinking that an Ilorin oba would soon join his peers in Yoruba Council of Obas. Wishful thinking indeed. Let me say it, no amount of OPC antics would change the status quo in Ilorin. It is important here for Obasanjo to know how some people are making it possible for blood to flow in Ilorin. This is what the tribalist OPC is attempting to do and when it happens, the Gani Adams of this world and their backers would go scot-free as usual.

November 5, 2001 Ethno-religious conflicts claim 1,000 lives in 2000, say police By Ben Akparanta THE spate of ethno-religious conflicts witnessed by the country in the recent period, have claimed no fewer than 1,000 lives while 5,000 suspects have been arrested across the country, according to police force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Haz Iwendi. Random arrest of suspects at scenes of violence and the incarceration of potential troublemakers, which were hallmark of previous military dictatorship, is now being adopted by the police to stem the tide of violence, especially in the Middle Belt states of Benue, Taraba and Nassarawa as well as other states in the North-Central zone Kaduna, Kano and Plateau. Although Iwendi an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) declined to disclose figures of the dead for security reasons, he confirmed that the police have started a crackdown troublemakers. "Henceforth religious fundamentalists, hostile ethnic groups and policy thuggery will not be tolerated. The police have invoked relevant portions of the law to deal squarely with this menace'', Iwendi said. According to him, 230 persons were picked up during the recent religious riot in Kano and a similar arrest is being made in Benue State, where military authorities are aiding the police to disarm the Tiv militia. It was gathered that the Presidency and members of the security council including the Inspector-General of Police Mr. Musiliu A.K Smith, resolved that law enforcement agencies should henceforth pre-empt ethno-religious violence in the country through arrest and prosecute potential trouble makers before they could carry out their plans. Of the 5,000 persons arrested in connection with the Jos, Kaduna, Kano and Benue ethnic and religious violence, more than half are still facing various charges ranging from arson, theft to murder.

Daily Trust (Abuja) 5 Nov 2001 How Safe is Abuja? Austine Odo, Uwem Umo, and Hammeed M. Bello Piqued by the current influx of people into the Federal Capital Territory following ethnic and religiously inspired uprising in some parts of the country, residents of the city are now becoming increasingly apprehensive over the security of their lives and property. Crises have of recent, engulfed Nasarawa and Plateau States, the closest to the FCT, resulting in the influx of refugees to the satellite towns and villages of Abuja for protection. But reports have indicated that apart from increased crime wave in these areas, fears and rumours of spill over of such crises have made residents to fear for their safety, more so as a great percentage of the city's new entrants are idle youths. Abuja Trust reports that in the past 24 months, the city has received more new entrants fleeing communal violence in other parts of the country than it had of people seeking decent jobs. So restless have the satellite residents been that, they at some point, began to openly express fears on their vulnerability, in view of the obvious deprivation in the areas. Mr. Kanayo Kashmir, a resident of Karmo, an Abuja suburb, told Abuja Trust that the satellite residents live on divine security, "you see, in Karmo, with all the population, there is only one police station which also serves Idu, which is equally densely populated. People here live in constant fear of harassment from armed robbers. When they come, they rob at will, even for hours. If such a thing is possible, imagine what a communal uprising can be," he said. Reports from Gwagwa, another suburb, indicate that apart from the normal robbery, robbers break walls to gain entry into residences. In Karu, robbers were recently reported to have appealed to government for help, saying they were graduates who only took to stealing to earn a living. The frequency of these incidents has given rise to the setting up of vigilante groups in several of the satellite towns to complement police efforts. Commenting on the activities of the vigilante groups, FCT Police PRO, Mr. Ofem Arikpo, said the police were not averse to their activities, more so as they help complement their efforts. Arikpo said the police, despite its current state of combat readiness, would require the services of the recruits currently being awaited to perfect their handling of arms before deployment to the various divisions. While residents can count on the police and the vigilante to, at least, reduce crime to a manageable level, the fear of their ability to contend with communal crisis or a spill over of ethnic or religiously inspired violence from other parts remain pronounced. So worried have the residents been that efforts have been made in several of the area councils to dispel such fears. Security consultative meetings have been organised at Gwagwalada and Bwari Area Councils where the council chairmen had stressed the need for ethnic and religious harmony. Recently, Gwagwalada Area Council Chairman, Alhaji Isa Ega Dobi, directed security agents in the area to deal with any person or group caught causing friction. He said he gave the directive following reports that some people were attempting to cause confusion in Zuba. Residents of Mararaba, a boundary town between the FCT and Nasarawa State, where many FCT workers reside, recently fled to barracks and safe locations in the city centre after hearing rumours of an impending spill over of a communal crisis. The rumours of such upheavals became so much in Kubwa that the Kubwa Inter Religious Committee had to meet to discuss it. Speaking on the development, the leader of the committee, Mr. Demola Ijabiyi, said Kubwa is not a safe ground for mischief-makers. The rumours had created such panic that parents started withdrawing their wards from schools while shop owners closed business for fear of attack. The fears expressed by the satellite residents can be understood, considering the large population of those areas, and the fact that police presence is relatively low. In Karmo and Idu for instance, only one police station serves the entire area. Efforts to get the Divisional Police Officers in the satellite towns to comment on their state of preparedness, failed, as they referred our reporters to the FCT Command. Abuja Trust however, gathered from the Area Commander, FCT Command, ACP Moses Saba, that each of the police divisions in the FCT has no fewer than nine operational vehicles with which to effect rapid deployment of anti-riot policemen at any given point in time. ACP Saba said situation reports from the divisions speak of pockets of armed robbery perpetrated by night marauders and gangs of armed men with locally made weapons. He dismissed the possibility of any spill over of an ethnic or religiously inspired violence in Abuja, more so as the police are ready to deploy at the slightest signal to every part of the FCT. He pointed out that with the cosmopolitan nature of Abuja where no tribe or religion dominates, and the strict surveillance of his men, Abuja is safe, as far as the police are concerned. "We have the men, we have the logistics, we have the knowledge of the terrain. We are in constant touch with all the divisions, and we monitor everything very closely, Abuja is quite safe," he assured. ACP Saba however complained of inadequate supply of fuel for the available vehicles. Abuja Trust learnt the police had conducted raids in several parts of the city to flush out people considered to be of questionable characters, including about 54 people who were recently arrested from the UTC complex in Maitama at night. The assurances of the police chief not withstanding, efforts are being made at the local levels to enhance ethnic and religious harmony among residents. Receiving a delegation of such leaders from Kubwa recently, FCT Police Commissioner, Mr. Dika Bwala, commended the level of religious tolerance among the various ethnic groups in the territory. Residents of the territory will however live with the memory of Kelvin Krekpe, a robbery kingpin, who operated in the posh areas of the city, including Maitama, Wuse and Asokoro for most parts of last year until his gang was smashed early this year. Efforts by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bwala and the AIG Zone 7, Mr. Rilwanu Akiolu are reported to have kept capital crimes in check since they assumed offices. The problem of policing the FCT is however more pronounced in the suburbs, where an army of idle, illiterate youths malinger aimlessly in all corners at all times.

This Day (Lagos) 4 Nov 2001 Illegal Arms; FG Moves Against Rtd. GeneralsChuks Okocha Abuja Police arrest 52 suspects of Tiv-Jukun crisis Following the discovery of a cache of arms in the official staff car of a former Military Administrator of Delta State (name withheld) by a detachment of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) in Shendam, Plateau State, the office of the Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI) has directed the withdrawal of all staff cars and vehicles attached to retired senior military officers from the rank of Brigadier General and above or its equivalent. The directive, THISDAY gathered was issued on October 16, 2001 and sent to all the concerned authorities for implementation just as the police in Taraba State have arrested 52 persons suspected to have participated in the Tiv-Jukun crisis in Dan Anacha in Gassol local government area of the state. The Police Public Rela-tions Officer (PPRO) of the Command, Mr. Clement Robert, who disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jalingo yesterday said the suspects were arrested with arms, ammunitions and looted property. The recovered items, according to him, included one police rifle (LAR), 13 single barrel locally made guns, two locally made pistols, cartridges, charms and goods worth millions of naira. According to the police spokesman, 20 of the suspects, who were mostly non-indigenes of the state have been charged to court for being in possession of illegal property and unlawful possession of firearms, adding that many more would be charged to court soon. According to a senior presidency source who commented on the issue of arms to reporters on the condition of anonymity, President Olusegun Obasanjo and the office of Chief of Defence Intelligence were worried at the misuse of the official staff car of the officer, a retired Air Commodore which was stocked with different categories of arms. The Presidency source said that the Police in Shendam, Plateau State on September 26, 2001 apprehended a 504 Peugeot Car belonging to the Air Commodore. The source explained that the staff car of the Air Commodore was impounded with an ex-sergeant, Bala Tsokojo and four other civilians inside the car with the following categories of arms: Two Double Barrelled gun, one FG Riffle with registration number 98.051947, a Barrette pistol, one Amalat Riffle no 526814 and one AK. 47 Riffle with the registration number 1991 CK 3172 . According to the presidency source, the directive that all staff cars attached to senior military officers be withdrawn was aimed at reducing the usage of such official vehicles in ferrying arms to some troubled spots across the country. Also, the source said that President Obasanjo has directed the office of Chief Defence Intelligence to investigate the involvement of the former Military Administrator in the supply of arms to the warring Jukuns against the Tivs. Meanwhile, a member of the House of Representatives representing Katsina -Ala Federal Constituency in Benue State, Hon. Gabriel Suswam has reacted to news report credited to Brigadier -General Dyaji that the Nigerian Army stationed in Wukari have discovered a sand model which the Tiv people are using to train 6000 militia for the purposes of carrying a counter offensive saying it is all a plot towards the preparation of the minds of Nigerians for another attack on the Tiv people. Hon. Suswam who spoke in Abuja over the weekend said that "there is no iota of truth in the allegation," explaining that "it is a grand plot to use a helicopter gunship for the purpose of looking for a non existing Tiv 6000 militia and in the process a continued cover up for the cleansing and carrying out of the planned genocide against the Tivs" He said that the exercise was a pre-plan to run down the other senatorial districts and federal constituencies in Tiv land on the guise of searching for the 6000 Tiv militia. Accordingly, Suswam pleaded with President Obasanjo to exercise caution in the handling of the Tiv crisis. He also called on the President to investigate the allegation made by Brigadier-General Dyaji that the Tiv people are training 6000 militia-men for the purpose of carrying out a counter offensive against the Nigerian Army. Commenting on the arrest of Tiv-Jukun suspects, the PPRO said that the suspects were arrested in Mutum Biyu and Sabon Gida towns of Gasol local government and Ardo Kola, adding that a vehicle loaded with goods was also arrested and the passengers confessed that they were looted property. He reiterated the determination of the police to ensure security of lives and property, as well as maintain law and order in the state. A NAN correspondent who was conducted round the office where the arms and ammunitions were kept, observed that most of the offices were replete with recovered weapons and goods.

This Day (Lagos) 3 Nov 2001 Tiv Killing: Akume Appeals to UN, ICJ Benue State Governor, George Akume, has appealed to the United Nations to arraign those behind the killing of the Tiv people in Taraba State before the International Court at the Hague for genocide. The appeal was contained in a release signed by Mr. Yahav Agerzua, Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Thursday, at Government House Makurdi, when a team of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) officials led by resident representative in Nigeria, Professor Mbaya Kwakwenda visited the governor. Mbaya said that those behind the killings be treated like Slobodan Militinovic to serve as a lesson to others. Governor Akume who lamented the continued killing and haunting of the Tivs in Taraba and Benue States by the Nigerian Army and the Jukun of Taraba State particularly appealed to the UNDP representative to prevail on the UN for the sake of humanity to bring the sponsors and killers to trial. The governor who regretted the killing of soldiers in the state noted that the act should not be used as an excuse to destroy the Tiv race, whose responsibility and hospitality as a people can be seen in their refusal to revenge against the Jukun in the state. He restated his commitment and that of the state to respect the nation's leadership and indissolubility, and also appealed to the UNDP to assist the state in the proposed rehabilitation, reconstruction and reconciliation of the thousands of displaced persons as it was beyond the scope of the state government alone. He assured the UNDP of his government's assistance and continued cooperation and directed the Ministry of Finance to compute all outstanding counterpart funding due to the agency for payment adding that at an appropriate time the state would host the delegation. Earlier, Kankwenda had told the governor that the team was in the state to familiarise itself with the workings of its agency as well as find ways of cooperating with the state government. He announced the agency's introduction of the Human Development Fund to replace the UNDP Poverty Alleviation Fund which would be launched at Abuja in December this year with the state chapters to be formed thereafter.

BBC 2 Nov 2001 Sharia compromise for Nigerian state Plans to introduce Sharia last year led to horrific violence in Kaduna The northern state of Kaduna has introduced a modified version of Sharia or Islamic law in an attempt to keep Muslims and Christians in the state happy. Plans last year to introduce Islamic courts were put on hold after riots in the city of Kaduna in which more than 2,000 people were estimated to have died. This arrangement is only part of what is desired by Muslims, but given the nature of the state, there is a need for compromise Muslim mechanic Umar Ibrahim The situation in the mainly-Muslim city is reported to be tense and no formal ceremonies are being held which correspondents say is a sign of how nervous the state authorities are. The political capital of mainly Muslim northern Nigeria has for years been divided along religious lines but, residents say those divisions have hardened considerably since the violence. Compromise Islamic punishments are not being incorporated into the criminal code in Kaduna, as has happened in several other northern Nigerian states - but local communities are being given more power, through new customary and sharia courts, which will deal with civil matters. The extension could also mean drinking alcohol is outlawed in some areas, but Christians should be exempt from this ban. Mukhtar Sirajo, an adviser to Kaduna State Governor Ahmed Makarfi, told AFP news agency the system was designed to keep everyone in Kaduna happy. "Given the complex nature of our state and the unfortunate events we experienced last year, we will not implement the sharia as is done in other states," he said. Reaction More than 70 sharia courts will be opened across the state and a similar number of customary courts will also be set up. The Anglican Archbishop of Kaduna, Benjamin Achigili, told AFP that Christians would object to Islamic law if it affected them but would accept it it were only to affect Muslims. "Christians have a stake in the Sharia issue as long as it affects their lives. But if the Sharia is exclusively for Muslims we have no worries about it. Let it be," he said. Muslim mechanic Umar Ibrahim, whose brother died in the violence in February last year, said the arrangement was only partly what Muslims wanted but was acceptable given the violence in the state. Kaduna is one of more than a dozen states in predominantly Islamic northern Nigeria which have adopted Sharia law in the past two years.

IRIN 2 Nov 2001 US should address killings ABIDJAN, Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a statement issued on Thursday, has urged U.S. President George Bush to use a scheduled visit by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to "raise concerns" about last week's civilian massacre by soldiers in central region Benue State. Although Obasanjo's visit in Washington will focus on anti-terrorism efforts, HRW wants Bush to condemn the killings in which more than 200 people died. "The anti-terrorism agenda must not prevent President Bush from condemning human rights violations by Nigerian security forces", the statement said. Last week Nigerian soldiers killed ethnic Tiv people in several communities in Benue State and destroyed homes and property in retaliation for the killing of 19 soldiers by a local Tiv militia. The 19 had been sent on a peacekeeping mission to the area to fend off hostilities fighting between Tivs and their neighbours, the Jukuns. HRW also called on the U.S. to press Obasanjo "to investigate the events and bring those responsible to justice". For HRW's full statement go to: http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/11/Nigeria1101.htm

Rwanda (see Tanzania)

IRIN 21 Nov 2001 Court Sentences Seven to Death For Genocide A lower court in the northern Rwandan prefecture of Ruhengeri sentenced seven people to death and five others to between 18 years and life imprisonment "at the weekend", Rwandan radio reported on Wednesday. At this last stage of a joint trial, which began on 17 April, the Court of First Instance convicted the defendants for genocide and crimes against humanity, the radio reported. Another 10 people were acquitted. Rwanda has thousands of genocide suspects in its prisons and is seeking to speed up trials by employing traditional Gacaca courts in parallel with regular courts. The UN is also hearing genocide cases in Arusha, Tanzania.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution 17 Nov 2001 Rwandan educator returns to rebuild Minister of education reared in U.S. Kelly Simmons - Staff Saturday, November 17, 2001 At age 4, Clark Atlanta University professor Romain Murenzi left his native Rwanda amid a raging civil war. He'll return this week --- 38 years later --- to help pick up the pieces of his home country. "In my life, Atlanta has given me a lot," Murenzi said. "I would like to share the experience with my people." Murenzi returns to Rwanda as the country's minister of education, charged with rebuilding the nation'sSouth Africa Press Association 13/11/2001 22:57 - (SA) E-mail story to a friend Genocide child suspects sent home Kigali - Some 550 Rwandan young people who had been accused of genocide and crimes against humanity have been sent back to their villages, official sources reported on Tuesday. "These young people were acquitted by the 'pre-Gacaca' (traditional courts) in their home villages," officials in the Ministry of Justice told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa). The 539 boys and 13 girls underwent two months of re-education training in Gaculiro centre, on the outskirts of the capital Kigali, sponsored by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and the Rwandan government. The Kigali-based non-governmental organisation Rwandan Women's Association was also involved in taking care of the young people during the training, and will follow them up once back in their villages. Justice Minister Jean de Dieu Mucyo encouraged the young people to work for the development of their respective communities. Some were responsible for terrible crimes under the instigation of elders, authorities say. Agenda to respect rights of children Jean de Dieu Sindikubwabo, now 21, was 13 years old when genocide broke out in April 1994. He has confessed to killing his two Tutsi brothers by hitting them repeatedly with a club. He now regrets this act and blames it on his mother, uncle and grandmother. "My mother had married a Tutsi man. After he was killed during the genocide, she took his three children with her and came back to stay with her parents," Sindikubwabo told dpa. "I was told by my uncle to kill them because they were allegedly Tutsis. I refused. When I asked my mother and grandmother, they also urged me to kill them," he said. He said he was given a club and hit two of the boys repeatedly on the head, killing them. A third boy managed to escape and survived, the killer said. The release of the young people, some of who were younger than 14 during the genocide, is said to be part of the government's agenda to respect the rights of children. So far, more than 1 500 minors accused of genocide have been released from Rwandan prisons and sent back to their home villages.

AP 17 Nov 2001 Rwndan PM Denies Genocide Link BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (AP) — A former Rwandan prime minister wanted in the 1994 genocide of 500,000 ethnic Tutsis denies any involvement in the deaths. Pierre-Celestin Rwigema, 47, was forced to resign from office in February 2000 after a parliamentary vote of no-confidence over allegations of corruption and mismanagement. The central African country has delivered an international arrest warrant to the United States for Rwigema to face charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in the death of ethnic Tutsis. Rwigema said the allegations were trumped up to drive him out of office. ``I have been accused formally of mismanagement of funds,'' Rwigema said in an interview with The (Toledo) Blade in Saturday's editions. ``I went before parliament and was found not guilty. Why, if I was a killer, did they not accuse me in parliament? The charges are not correct. It's political.'' Rwigema fled to the United States and sought asylum, claiming persecution by the government. He began studying at Bowling Green at the recommendation of a friend. Rwigema, from the mainly Hutu Democratic Republic Movement, became prime minister in the Tutsi-dominated government of national unity in 1995. Rwigema applied for political asylum when he entered the United States on a visa in July 2000. His application is pending. The United States can't send Rwigema back home because it has no extradition treaty with Rwanda. He is not being sought as a suspect by the United Nations tribunal investigating the genocide. But investigators from Rwanda want to see Rwigema returned, said Guillaume Kavaruganda, first secretary of the Rwandan Embassy in Washington. University officials said they checked with the FBI and the State Department before letting Rwigema enroll and were told that the allegations against him are unsubstantiated.

IRIN 14 Nov 2001 Government Frees 552 Child Genocide Suspects Another 552 children suspected of genocide and other crimes against humanity regained their freedom on Monday after spending three months in the Gaculiro re-education camp in the capital, Kigali, UNICEF Information Officer Cyriaque Ngoboka told IRIN. He said on Wednesday that 13 girls were among those freed, after a traditional village tribunal heard testimonies of their innocence. Monday's release brings to 1,500 the minors the government has so far released from detention. The government says that one million Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed in the 100-day genocide of 1994. A local NGO, ASOFERWA and Rwanda's national Unity and Reconciliation Commission, provided reorientation courses for the children to ease their re-entry into society.

BBC 13 Nov 2001 Rwanda frees child genocide suspects Hundreds of thousands were massacred by Hutu extremists Rwanda has begun the large scale release of hundreds of children who have been held for years on the grounds that they took part in the 1994 genocide. The children, who were aged between five and 12 at the time of the mass killings, are among 600 young people who will be freed to their families or foster families. Others speak and act like adults and have been commanders in the militia army. Others you could put on your knees and console The BBC's Helen Vesperini They have spent the last three years in rehabilitation centres run by the Rwandan government and UNESCO, being taught literacy and technical skills. Most were originally held in prison after the genocide in which up to a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists. The BBC's Helen Vesperini in Kigali says that before the children were taken to resettle in an area, the government had done preparatory work with villagers, explaining to them the logic of the programme. Acceptance vital "There were small boys and there were others who speak and act like adults and have been commanders of the militia army. Others you could take on you knees and console," our correspondent adds. She said some had earlier been taken to their communes for approval by villagers before they were finally handed over to their families. Tuesday's release is the largest, even though not the first. Since 1998 children have been sent home in small numbers to test whether villagers were ready to accept them back into the community. President Kagame's government has been cautious releasing child suspects But our correspondent says there had been the tragic case of a child who had been released in the preliminary programme and had drowned another child in the Lakes. Rwanda has so far tried more than 3,000 genocide suspects, and sentenced more than 500 of them to death. Cases backlog But well over 100,000 are still crammed into the country's prisons awaiting trial. The problem of the backlog of cases is worsened by the fact that most of the country's judges perished in the genocide. People calculate that if trials continue at the current rate, tens of thousands of genocide suspects will die in prison before their cases are heard. In an attempt to speed things up, the Rwandan authorities are introducing a system of community justice called "gacaca courts", where judges appointed at community level are given summary training. The gacaca courts will start functioning next year. school system, which suffered a devastating blow in the past decade from an extremist government that killed as many as one million people. In June, four Rwandans, including two Roman Catholic nuns, were convicted in the killings, considered the worst case of widespread genocide in Africa's history. The situation is bleak but hopeful in Rwanda now, Murenzi said, where a coalition of eight governments is trying to restore its infrastructure. The school system is in poor condition. Only 66 percent of the teachers in the country's high schools have high school diplomas themselves, Murenzi said. At the college level, most instructors have only bachelor's degrees --- fewer than 30 percent have doctorates. Meanwhile, school enrollment is increasing. In 1995, there were 50,000 children in secondary schools. Today, there are nearly 141,000. University enrollment has increased from 2,800 to 12,000. "This is a remarkable achievement," Murenzi said. "The Rwandan government understands that education is key." The problem is getting the teachers and supplies to the country. Murenzi is hoping his relationships with U.S. institutions will help. He's talking to metro Atlanta universities about faculty exchange programs, through which U.S. professors would travel to Rwanda to teach and Rwandan teachers would come to the United States to train. Emory, Georgia State, Georgia Tech and Clark Atlanta have expressed interest in such a program, Murenzi said. Already, Clark Atlanta has donated textbooks for Rwandan students. Also contributing books and money is the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, which is based in Atlanta. Murenzi met the organization's president and CEO, Atlanta resident Clare Richardson, the year of the Olympics. Richardson wanted to develop a system to track gorillas in order to preserve their habitat. Murenzi, who holds a doctorate in physics, was able to help. In partnership with Georgia Tech, Clark Atlanta and the National University of Rwanda, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International last year opened a remote sensing center in Rwanda, using satellite imaging to track the endangered animals. The Rwandan government recently used the system to create a map of the country --- the first ever produced in Rwanda. "It was a very symbolic thing to have that happen," Richardson said. Education, Murenzi says, is the key to preventing future atrocities in Rwanda. "People were taught to hate each other; they were not taught to think," Murenzi said of previous generations. "If money is invested in education, there will be a payoff at some point."

Sierra Leone

WP 2 Nov 2001 Al Qaeda Cash Tied to Diamond Trade Sale of Gems From Sierra Leone Rebels Raised Millions, Sources Say By Douglas Farah, Page A01 FREETOWN, Sierra Leone, Nov. 1 -- The terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden has reaped millions of dollars in the past three years from the illicit sale of diamonds mined by rebels in Sierra Leone, according to U.S. and European intelligence officials and two sources with direct knowledge of events. Diamond dealers working directly with men named by the FBI as key operatives in bin Laden's al Qaeda network bought gems from the rebels at below-market prices and sold them for large profits in Europe. Investigators in the United States and Europe are still trying to determine how much money al Qaeda derived from its dealings with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), but they estimated the amount to be in the millions. Since July, the sources said, the diamond dealers have changed their tactics, buying far more diamonds than usual and paying premium prices for them. Investigators said that is a strong indication that al Qaeda, perhaps anticipating its accounts would be frozen after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, sought to protect its money by sinking it into gemstones, a commodity that can be easily hidden, holds its value and remains almost untraceable. "When prices go up and supply goes up, it means someone is seeking to launder or hide cash, and we believe that is the case here," a U.S. official said. "Diamonds don't set off alarms at airports, they can't be sniffed by dogs, they are easy to hide, and are highly convertible to cash. It makes perfect sense." U.S. and European intelligence officials, overwhelmed after Sept. 11 and with very few agents in West Africa, said they realized only recently how important the diamond flow was to fund al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. "I now believe that to cut off al Qaeda funds and laundering activities you have to cut off the diamond pipeline," said a European investigator. "We are talking about millions and maybe tens of millions of dollars in profits and laundering." The Diamond Dealers The diamonds are mined by RUF rebels, who became infamous during Sierra Leone's civil war for hacking off the arms and legs of civilians and abducting thousands of children and forcing them to fight as combatants. The country's alluvial diamond fields, some of the richest in the world, were the principal prize in the civil war, and they have been under RUF control for the past four years. Small packets of diamonds, often wrapped in rags or plastic sheets, are taken by senior RUF commanders across the porous Liberian border to Monrovia, according to sources. There, at a safe house protected by the Liberian government, the diamonds are exchanged for briefcases of cash brought by diamond dealers who fly several times a month from Belgium to Monrovia, where they are escorted by special state security through customs and immigration control. The diamond dealers are selected by Ibrahim Bah, a Libyan-trained former Senegalese rebel and the RUF's principal diamond dealer, the sources said. The buyers' identities are known only to Bah and a few others. Bah's contacts and sympathies were forged on the battlefield, according to intelligence reports and sources who know him well. After fighting with the Casamance separatist movement in Senegal in the 1970s, Bah trained in Libya under the protection of Col. Moammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader. Like bin Laden, he spent several years in the early 1980s fighting alongside Muslim guerrillas against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Bah then joined the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia to fight Israeli forces in southern Lebanon before returning to Libya at the end of the 1980s. In Libya, Bah met and trained several men who would go on to lead rebellions in West Africa, including Charles Taylor of Liberia and Foday Sankoh of Sierra Leone, the RUF's founder. Bah himself later fought in both Liberia and Sierra Leone. According to intelligence sources and two people who have worked with him, Bah now acts as a conduit between senior RUF commanders and the buyers from both al Qaeda and Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim organization linked to Lebanese activists who have kidnapped numerous Americans, hijacked airplanes and carried out car bomb attacks on U.S. installations in Beirut. Bah, who lives in the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, declined through intermediaries to be interviewed for this article. In the past, he has refused to talk to U.N. investigators probing the region's weapons-for-diamonds trade. Senior RUF officials, who are overseeing the disarmament of the rebel movement as part of a U.N.-brokered peace agreement, said this week in response to a query from The Washington Post that they were shocked by allegations of Bah's dealings with terrorist organizations and would thoroughly investigate the matter. Virtually Untraceable Funds How much money terrorist organizations made in diamond sales brokered by Bah is difficult to ascertain. A U.N. panel of experts estimated the market value of RUF "blood diamonds" sold in 1999 at about $75 million. But since the government of Sierra Leone and the RUF agreed to a cease-fire last year, diamond mining has greatly accelerated. Sources in the diamond trade estimate that the RUF receives less than 10 percent of market value for the diamonds it sells, paid mostly in the form of weapons, food and medicine. Taylor, who is now Liberia's president, receives a commission on each transaction in Monrovia, and Bah and the other brokers share the rest, according to sources involved in the dealings. Taylor repeatedly has denied involvement in illicit diamond dealings. "Even if only 10 percent went to terrorist organizations, you are talking about millions of dollars in virtually untraceable funds, every year," said a European investigator. "That is enough to keep a lot of people going." European and American intelligence sources have long known that Hezbollah has raised significant amounts of money in West Africa through the largely Shiite Muslim Lebanese communities in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Togo. There are an estimated 120,000 Lebanese in West Africa, mostly involved in import-export businesses. "Hezbollah is active in all these countries and are deeply involved in many businesses across the region," said one European official tracking the movement. "It is only a small part of the Lebanese community that is sympathetic, but many people contribute to them just to keep Hezbollah off their backs." For at least 20 years, Hezbollah had also raised some cash through the sale of diamonds from Sierra Leone, intelligence sources said. Bah, they said, was long suspected of brokering diamond deals through buyers connected to Hezbollah, assisted by sympathetic Lebanese businessmen across the region. After Sept. 11, U.S. officials began focusing more intently on the West African diamond network. Transcripts from court cases against al Qaeda members contained evidence that the network has people with expertise in the diamond business and who previously dabbled in the gemstone trade in Tanzania. • Understanding Bin Laden A look at the network and reach of the prime suspect behind the attack on America. The connection to al Qaeda was cemented in September 1998, when Bah arranged for Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah to visit Monrovia, according to two sources. Abdullah was described on the FBI's recent poster of most wanted terrorists as a "top bin Laden adviser" who "helped plan a number of Al Qaeda's attacks." After spending one night in Monrovia, the sources said, Bah and Abdullah flew in a Liberian government helicopter to the town of Foya, on the border with Sierra Leone. There Abdullah met with a senior RUF commander, Sam Bockerie, better known as Mosquito, to discuss buying diamonds on a regular basis. The sources said the RUF did not know who Abdullah was but agreed to do business with him because of Bah's presence. A few weeks later Bah arranged a visit for two more al Qaeda operatives now on the FBI list, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani and Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, the sources said. Together, they also met Bockerie, taking him $100,000 in cash and receiving a parcel of diamonds in an introductory deal, the sources said. Ghailani, the FBI alleges, is an al Qaeda operative from Tanzania who helped buy the truck used in the 1998 bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Fazul, from the Comoros Islands, is identified by the FBI as the "head of Al Qaeda's Kenyan cell" who had trained at a bin Laden camp. A Growing Business Since the 1998 contact was made, Bah, through several Lebanese businessmen based in Belgium, has steadily expanded his operations in Monrovia. Sources identified the key brokers working with Bah as Aziz Nassur and Sammy Ossailly, two Lebanese diamond dealers based in Antwerp, Belgium. Nassur did not respond to numerous messages left on his voice mail. Ossailly's telephone was not in service. By the summer of 2000, Ossailly had moved to Monrovia, the Liberian capital, to oversee Bah and Nassur's diamond operation, according to people who knew them. He stayed until April. Last January, Bah and the diamond buyers signed a three-year lease on a four-bedroom house in Monrovia. Ghailani and Fazul, who had left the region, returned to Liberia, then spent at least two weeks in the Kono mining fields in Sierra Leone, according to RUF members who identified them from photographs. They said the two had a satellite telephone they used to talk to "Alpha Zulu," the code name given to Nassur, according to sources. Sources said that because Ghailani and Fazul were light-skinned strangers who spoke little English, and therefore attracted attention, Bah asked Nassur to send in darker-skinned people, at which time he brought in Africans from Senegal. The Senegalese now staff the Monrovia safe house, where they watch videos of Hezbollah suicide attacks on Israeli troops and have plastered the walls with pictures of bin Laden and Hezbollah posters, according to two people who visited the house. Two sources with direct knowledge of a meeting at the Monrovia safe house in mid-July said Nassur visited and asked the RUF to step up its mining activities. "At the meeting, Aziz Nassur, whom we call Alpha Zulu, asked the RUF to double its mining production and offered to pay a better price for what we mined," a source said. "General Bah sent Nassur to Monrovia to meet with us because he said it was very important." Nassur, according to the sources, was met at the airport by senior Liberian security officials and escorted through the VIP lounge without going through immigration or customs formalities. Now, said a U.S. investigator, "Antwerp is awash in Sierra Leonean diamonds, and they are going through Monrovia."

Somalia

AFP 23 Nov 2001 Ethiopian troops enter Puntland: witnesses MOGADISHU - Some 1,000 heavily armed Ethiopian troops entered the Somali autonomous region of Puntland on Friday at the invitation of the administration of Colonel Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed, one of Puntland's leaders, witnesses said. The Ethiopian troops entered the town of Galcayo, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) north of the Somali capital Mogadishu. They were supported by heavily equipped armoured vehicles and pick-ups mounted with heavy machine guns, witnesses who declined to be named for security reasons said. Witnesses told AFP that Galcayo locals, who support Abdullahi Yussuf, welcomed the Ethiopian troops. Prominent Galcayo elder Islam Bashir Islam Abdule -- one of a group of Darod clan elders from Puntland who visited Ethiopia last month to urge Addis Ababa to intervene militarily in Puntland to resolve the constitutional crisis there -- said the troops were invited by Puntland elders and supporters of Abdullahi Yussuf. During last month's visit, the elders told Ethiopia that Abdullahi Yusuf had been attacked by an extremist religious group, which tried to overthrow him in August. Their accusation was a reference to the Al Itihaad Al Islamiya, a Somali Islamic extremist group which the United States recently put on its list of terrorist organisations. But a senior Ethiopian official denied that troops had moved in. "We don't have a single soldier there," said the government official, who asked not to be named. He said Addis Ababa was "committed to peace and security" in Somalia. Puntland, once an island of peace in war-torn Somalia, has been embroiled in a major power struggle over the past three months. On Wednesday, 13 people were killed when fighters backing Abdullahi Yussuf raided the capital Garowe and seized it from supporters of Jama Ali Jama, who was named president by a congress of elders of the Darod clan on November 14. Abdullahi Yusuf immediately rejected the appointment. Jama is a former military officer in the army of Somalia's ex-dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, who was toppled in 1991. "The people of Puntland recognise the leadership of Puntland which has been popularly elected, and they will not give attention to an illegal conference funded by religious extremists of Al Itihad Al Islam," a senior official at Abdullahi Yusuf's office said at the time. But the Somali Transitional National Government (TNG) Prime Minster Hassan Abshir Farah, who is currently in neighbouring Djibouti, warned Abdullahi Yusuf in an interview over the BBC Somali service to leace Garowe immediately, or "face the consequences." Abdullahi Yusuf emerged as president of Puntland when the northeastern Somali region was founded as an "autonomous state" in August 1998. Under Puntland's constitution, his mandate was due to end in August, but parliament voted to extend it for another three years in June. Greater Somalia has been riven by clan warfare for a decade, and lacked a central government until August 2000 when Somali politicians, exiled parliamentarians and civic leaders set up a transitional administration. But the TNG is opposed by most Somali warlords and controls little more than part of the capital. The TNG has repeatedly accused Ethiopia of undermining its authority by backing armed opposition groups and deploying troops inside Somalia, a charge Addis Ababa denies.

South Africa

News 24 (South Africa) 22 Nov 2001 Bisho massacre trial continues East London - The former commander of the Ciskei Defence Force's Second Battalion told the Bisho High Court on Thursday that he saw injured people being carried away by marchers after the soldiers had opened fire on an ANC march on September 7, 1992. Lieutenant-Colonel Malibongwe Zulu was testifying for a second day in the murder trial of former Ciskei soldiers Vakele Mkosana and Mzamile Gonya. The two men had unsuccessfully applied to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for amnesty for the shootings which left 30 people dead, including a Ciskei soldier. The trial is a sequel to the shootings by the Ciskei soldiers, who were commanded by Mkosana at the time. During cross-examination Zulu told the court he had thought that the order to fire by Mkosana applied only to the soldiers deployed in Jongilanga Crescent in Bisho, north of the Bisho stadium, who were facing the advancing marchers. He said he had not seen any soldier other than Gonya carrying a grenade launcher. He had subsequently asked Gonya why he had fired the grenade launcher at the crowd but Gonya had not replied. Replying to a question by Judge Colin White, Zulu said if he had been in charge of the soldiers he would have acted according to the regulations. He said he heard the grenade explosion but could not say where it had landed. In response to questions by defence advocate Phillip Zilwa, he said he had never been approached to give evidence to the Ciskei military board of inquiry on the shootings. He had only been approached by the South African Police Service in 1996 for evidence in the trial. He denied that had been influenced by the fact that Minister Ronnie Kasrils - who had been one of the march leaders - was deputy Minister of Defence at the time and therefore his superior. He said he had not spoken to Kasrils. Zulu said he had never heard Mkosana ordering the soldiers to use minimum force. He conceded that he too had panicked when the marchers advanced on the soldiers. Zulu said he had seen no reason for soldiers at Fort Hare University and the Legislature to shoot. The court heard that when the soldiers deployed in Jongilanga Crescent started firing, all other soldiers deployed around Bisho Stadium started shooting. White is assisted by retired Transkei regional magistrate Delby Ndema and retired Lusikisiki chief magistrate Max Tantsi. The trial continues on Monday.

Sudan

AFP 23 Nov 2001 Government planes continue bombings in southern Sudan: rebels NAIROBI- At least 8 people were seriously injured when Sudanese planes bombed civilian targets and a camp for displaced persons in southern Sudan, Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) rebels said. In a statement released here Friday, SPLM/A spokesman Samson Kwaje said eight people were seriously injured in Malual Kon, where seven bombs were dropped. A displaced persons camp in Pariang was also targetted in the air raids, but no casualty figures were given for that attack. Malual Kon is a major relief centre for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and other non-governmental organisations, and a refugee base for thousands of people displaced from their ancestral homes by Arab militias raiding and hunting for slaves, Kwaje said. Kwaje recalled that on November 12, Sudanese government forces shelled Kauda airstrip in Nuba Mountains, while WFP planes were on the ground. Those attacks came just 24 hours before US Special Envoy to Sudan John Danforth was due to arrive in the region during his recent visit to government- and rebel-held areas. Danforth's mission was part of US efforts to bring an end to the long-running civil war in Sudan. Earlier this month, the US lashed out at the Sudanese government for bombing targets in the south and disrupting UN food distribution operations, and called on Khartoum to halt the raids. Kwaje also alleged that government forces carried out a raid at Kumo village, about 10 kilometres (six miles) from Kawuda, and killed prominent Nuba judge, Augustino el Nur himela, and civilians. The SPLA has been fighting against successive regimes in Khartoum since 1983 in a bid to end domination of the mainly animist non-Arab south by the Arabised Muslim north.

Reuters 9 Nov 2001 Church sues Talisman The Presbyterian Church of Sudan on Thursday sued Talisman Energy, alleging it participated in human rights abuses against non-Muslim residents of southern Sudan. The suit, filed in Manhattan federal court, alleged that the oil company helped Sudanese armed forces in a "brutal ethnic cleansing campaign" against civilians based on their ethnicity or religion. The suit alleged the company has participated in the armed campaign to enhance its ability to explore and extract oil from areas of southern Sudan. The case, which seeks class action status, was brought by an unincorporated association of Presbyterians who live in the Sudan. The suit states that its churches have been bombed and destroyed and parishioners have been killed, enslaved and displaced by government forces because of their ethnic background and religion and their proximity to the oil fields. "Our response to the action is that we dispute the allegations and we will defend ourselves," Talisman spokesman Dave Mann said. "We've actively promoted transparency, respect for human rights and an end to the civil war in Sudan. Our overriding statement is that we've have respect for the human rights of all individuals everywhere in the world," Mann said from the oil company's head office in Calgary, Alberta. The plaintiffs in the case seek unspecified damages and a court order stopping Talisman from continuing to cooperate with the government of Sudan in "waging genocidal warfare against its African, Christian and traditional believer minorities." The suit was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows non-US citizens to sue for violations that occur in foreign countries. As an alien, Talisman can be sued in any federal district, however the suit states that it conducts substantial business in New York.

Tanzania

IRIN 22 Nov 2001 Zanzibar violence demands prompt inquiry NAIROBI, The human rights body Amnesty International on Tuesday welcomed the recent agreement to establish an independent commission of inquiry to investigate alleged human rights violations during political demonstrations in Zanzibar in January, part of a broader political agreement between the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party and the opposition Civic United Front (CUF). The advocacy group welcomed the decision as "an important step for the future of human rights in Tanzania" and said it was important that it should be "prompt, independent and impartial". Amnesty said it had set out details, in a memorandum sent to the governments of Tanzania and the semi-autonomous island chain of Zanzibar, of human rights violations by the security forces during political clashes in Zanzibar in January, including killings, mass arrests, torture and rape. [http://www.amnesty.org] At least 22 people were shot dead by armed police on the Zanzibari island of Pemba in circumstances suggesting unlawful use of lethal force during demonstrations by the opposition CUF against the outcome of October 2000 elections, according to Amnesty. There were also mass arrests, and some of those arrested were subjected to torture and ill-treatment, it stated. More than 2,000 refugees fled Zanzibar for neighbouring Kenya following the clashes, with the last of those in the main body of refugees having been repatriated by the UN Refugee agency only in early November. Most of the refugees had returned to Zanzibar by the end of May, but a number of the remainder left Dadaab refugee camp, northeastern Kenya, for Somalia in October, while others, who were not officially repatriated by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), returned by their own means. [see Tanzania stories at http://www.irinnews.org/] The government of Tanzania gave assurances that, on their return to Zanzibar, the refugees would not be prosecuted as a group for any involvement in the January unrest. UNHCR protection staff on Unguja and Pemba monitoring the refugees' repatriation from May to October reported no serious problems with their return or reintegration, regional spokesman Paul Stromberg told IRIN on Thursday. "There have been no reports of harassment or arrests, nothing of that nature [from returnees, the government or CUF], and really no undue attention paid to the returnees," he said. UNHCR would be sending protection officers in December to follow up on the returnees who had returned earlier this month, but was not expecting any undue problems, he added. Hopes for a lasting solution to the Zanzibar crisis improved on 10 October when the CCM party [Party of the Revolution] and CUF signed an agreement to end a year of political turmoil on the islands, and a spell of unrest that dates back to what CUF terms "the stolen elections" of 1995. The agreement included a number of human rights issues, including establishing an independent commission of inquiry and providing those affected by the January violence with compensation. Afterwards, 109 criminal cases related to January's unrest were dropped by the state, including murder charges against CUF Deputy Secretary-General Juma Duni Haji and the party's security director, Machano Khamis, who had been detained for months after the violence. However, hopes of smooth political progress after the CUF-CCM agreement appear to have dimmed as a result of changes reportedly made to the agreement, without CUF's consultation, in preparing its legal implementation. In a separate but related development, Zanzibar's High Court on Monday gave the government and police until 27 January 2002 to file their defence in a suit brought against them by 18 former treason suspects, all CUF members, and including four former members of the Isles legislature. The 18 have alleged that they were "unlawfully detained" on trumped-up treason charges for protesting against the outcome of the 1995 elections. Arrested in 1997 for alleged incitement to violence, they were later accused of high treason for allegedly plotting to overthrow the Zanzibari government of President Salmin Amour. Tanzania's Inspector-General of Police Omari Mahita, Zanzibar Police Commissioner Khalid Nuizani and Zanzibar Attorney-General Iddi Pandu Hassan have been named as respondents in the case, in which the petitioners are seeking some US $6.55 million compensation for degrading incarceration, denial of freedom and the opportunity to earn a living, and being barred from contesting elections, AFP news agency reported on Tuesday. "For too long human rights violations have gone unpunished in Zanzibar. The authorities now have the opportunity to correct this culture of impunity and to provide justice and compensation for those whose rights were violated," Amnesty stated on Tuesday. The organisation also called for compensation to be provided to the victims of the violence or their families, and for anyone found responsible for human rights violations to be brought to justice. "It is our hope that the report on the violations and the recommendations set out in the memorandum will be a starting point for the commission of inquiry when it begins its work," Amnesty added.

Hirondelle News Agency (Lausanne) 16 Nov 2001 Genocide Suspect Killed to Encourage Others, Says Convict, Arusha Former Kangura newspaper editor and genocide suspect Hassan Ngeze killed a Tutsi during the 1994 genocide to encourage others, a genocide convict told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Friday. According to Omar Serushago, Ngeze told militiamen in Gisenyi, northwest Rwanda: "Why have you kept these Tutsis waiting? I'm going to set you an example, to show you how these Inyenzi (pejorative term for Tutsis) die". Serushago, a former Gisenyi militia leader, said Ngeze shot his victim in a Gisenyi cemetery, where Tutsis were killed and buried between April and July 1994. "In that place known as the commune rouge, he (Ngeze) incited Interahamwe (militia) and members of the CDR (hardline Hutu political party) to kill," the convict told the court. "There were people who cut up the bodies, who undressed the women and abused them before killing them." Serushago was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1999, after pleading guilty to genocide before the ICTR. He is testifying against Ngeze and two other accused linked to media that incited Hutus to kill Tutsis during the genocide. The other two are Ferdinand Nahimana, a founder and alleged ex-director of RTLM radio; and Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, who was a policy advisor to the Rwandan foreign ministry and RTLM board member. The witness told the court that Ngeze and Barayagwiza had also distributed arms to militiamen in Gisenyi. Serushago said Ngeze moved around town with a group of militiamen, selecting and picking up Tutsis at roadblocks. He said Ngeze and a certain Hassan Bagoyi then took the Tutsis to "Commune rouge", where they were killed. Serushago is the 32nd prosecution witness in this trial.The case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Navanethem Pillay (presiding), Erik Mose of Norway and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka.

The East African Standard (Nairobi) 8 Nov 2001 Mother, Son Charged With Rape, Genocide Correspondent Sheila Wambui is in Arusha covering the gripping hearings in the cases arising from the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and she files this brilliant report on one of the many cases. Since 1998, when an international court ruled that rape could be counted as a war crime, only men had been charged with the crime. However, just next door in neighbouring Arusha, Tanzania, a woman is before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) charged with, among other genocide-related crimes, rape. The woman, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, was a minister in Rwanda in 1994 during the April-June genocide. Moreover, Nyiramasuhuko is jointly charged with her son, Shalom Arsene Ntahobali, who was a student leader and alleged militiaman during the genocide. The mother and son duo are charged together with four former Rwanda government officials in a trial that has been dubbed the "Butare Trial." The case is referred to as the Butare Trial because all the six defendants are from Butare Province of southern Rwanda. Nyiramasuhuko, 65, becomes the first woman to be tried by an international court for genocide and also to be charged with rape. The other defendants are: Former mayor of Ngoma Joseph Kanyabashi, former mayor of Muganza Elie Ndayambaje and two former governors of Butare, Sylvain Nsabimana and Alphonse Nteziryayo. The Butare Trial is the largest before the ICTR. The Butare Six allegedly planned and participated in the massacres of the Tutsi in Butare. Their trial started on June 12 this year, but adjourned on June 27 because it is alternating with two others currently being heard by the same judges. It is estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus died during the 1994 genocide. In Butare alone, approximately 26,000 people died. The Butare Trial is before Trial Chamber II of the ICTR, comprising Judges William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho and Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar. After the trial resumed on October 22, the third prosecution witness described how she was gang-raped by 16 militiamen, including Ntahobali, in May 1994. The protected witness, identified only as "TA" for her security, told the court that Ntahobali raped her twice. It is alleged that Nyiramasuhuko encouraged her son Ntahobali to rape Tutsi girls and women during the massacres in Butare. The Rwanda tribunal set a precedent when it became the first international court to consider rape as a crime against humanity in the context of genocide. Jean Paul Akayesu, a former mayor of Taba District in Rwanda, became the first man in history to be charged with genocide and for using rape as a tool of genocide. The ICTR found him guilty and in 1998 sentenced him to life in prison. The ICTR Appeals court quashed Akayesu's appeal against the sentence on June 1st this year. At the start of the Butare Trial, the prosecution claimed that while killings started in many parts of Rwanda soon after the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6 1994, Butare remained relatively calm. But from April 19, the six set to work inciting the population against the minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. In fact, the prosecution claimed that the man responsible for the relative calm in Butare was the governor, Jean Paul Habyarimana (no relation to the late president), who however, became the first to die at the behest of the six. With Habyarimana out of the way, the six then prepared to "correct" the situation, the prosecution alleged. According to an indictment prepared by the prosecution, Nyiramasuhuko was born in Ndora District in Butare. She was a minister in the late Habyarimana's government and maintained the same post in the interim government of Theodore Sindikubwabo. Sindikubwabo's government lasted until July 1994 when the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) took control. Nyiramasuhuko and her son face five counts including genocide, crimes against humanity, complicity in genocide and serious violations to the Geneva conventions. Ntahobali faces an additional two counts of rape. The prosecution maintains that Nyiramasuhuko was a member of the Movement of the Republic for Development and Democracy (MRND) and a prominent figure in Butare and throughout Rwanda. Ntahobali was a store manager and alleged former militia leader. The prosecution alleges that a roadblock was set up near the Nyiramasuhuko's house, which she and Ntahobali controlled. The two allegedly used the roadblock, with the help of soldiers and others, to identify, kidnap and kill Tutsis as they tried to pass by. Silvana Arbia of Italy, the lead prosecuting attorney, told the court that Nyiramasuhuko had lost all feeling and encouraged rapes of the cruellest nature. "People being raped before their parents, a mother watching her children being raped," Arbia said in her opening statement. "We know that this type of trauma is irreversible such as a woman being raped before her children," Arbia said. The prosecution further alleges that Nyiramasuhuko donned military attire to enhance her role of a "militant" minister. The indictment states that Nyiramasuhuko and Ntahobali, with the help of militias went to the provincial offices where Tutsis sought refuge and forcibly collected refugees in vehicles and led them to various locations where they were murdered. "As well as being forcibly kidnapped, the victims were often forced by (Pauline) Nyiramasuhuko and (Arsene Shalom) Ntahobali to completely undress before being forced into the vehicles and led to their deaths," the indictment reads. In addition, the indictment states, Ntahobali participated in the kidnapping and raping of Tutsi women. Both Nyiramasuhuko and her son were arrested in Kenya on July 18 and 24, 1997 respectively. The trial continues with the testimonies of the third prosecution witness.

Internews (Arusha) 1 Nov 2001 Mary Kimani, Arusha An expert witness for the prosecution, Canadian journalist Hugh McCullum, today testified before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that the church and the interim government in power in 1994 were responsible for Rwanda's genocide. "The church was the number one apologist for the genocide and the number one apologist for the interim government," McCullum said. Mc Cullum is a journalist trainer for the South African Development Commission (SADC). He has written a book, 'The Angels Have Left Us,' detailing the role of the church in the Rwandan genocide. Led by prosecution attorney Wallace Kapaya of Tanzania, McCullum told the court that he visited Rwanda more than 10 times during the April-June 1994 genocide and gathered information about the church's failure to stop the killings. McCullum is testifying against Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, a former Adventist pastor and his son Gerard Ntakiturimana, who was a doctor at the Mugonero Adventist Complex, Kibuye Province, in 1994. The father and son are accused of planning and participating in massacres of ethnic Tutsi at the Mugonero complex, the Murambi Adventist Church and in the hills of Bisesero, all in Kibuye Province. The expert witness gave his opinion on the relationship between the Rwandan government and the church over the past 100 years. McCullum said the Roman Catholic and the Protestant churches have maintained close relations with Rwanda's political leaders for most of the country's history. McCullum explained how the churches helped to develop "ethno-genesis," which he described as the development and institutionalization of ethnic identities for political purposes. He argues that the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant churches helped to develop this way of thinking in order to maintain close ties with successive governments, adding that this relationship increased through the years. During the genocide, according to McCullum, the Tutsi sought refuge in churches because of an age-old belief that churches are sacrosanct and cannot be attacked. In addition to people voluntarily seeking refuge in churches, McCullum said, church leaders in many places urged them to go there. "They were told by pastors and bishops to come to the churches and they will be safe. This happened in many places in Rwanda." Although McCullum admitted that he did not visit Kibuye, where Gerard and Elizaphan allegedly committed the crimes, he said the behavior of the churches, including the Adventist Church, indicated their general apology for genocide. "Since the genocide, the church leadership has shown no repentance, no remorse. They have, in many cases, justified the genocide," stated McCullum. Regarding the response of the Adventist Church to the allegations against Elizaphan, the expert witness said that although the church distanced itself from Elizaphan's personal actions, it urged forgiving "those who have hurt us and going on with life." "That is very bad theology. Justice comes before reconciliation, just as truth comes before reconciliation," Mc McCullum stressed. Under cross-examination by former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, counsel for Elizaphan, McCullum admitted that he does not hold any undergraduate or graduate degrees. He also agreed with Clark that he knows little about the Adventist Church. Clark asked the witness why he quoted extensively from other people's writings and McCullum denied this, stating that he has not "over quoted from any of them." The trial is held before Chamber I of the ICTR comprising Judges Erik Mose of Norway (presiding), Navanethem Pillay of South Africa and Andresia Vaz of Senegal.

Internews (Arusha) 1 Nov 2001 Genocide Suspect 'Cut Up Refugees Into Pieces,' Witness Claims Sukhdev Chhatbar Arusha Genocide suspect Shalom Ntahobali killed ethnic Tutsi refugees by cutting them up into pieces when they sought shelter at the Butare provincial offices during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, a witness today told judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Ntahobali is one of six former senior officials of Butare Province, southern Rwanda, who are charged, in the so-called "Butare Trial," with genocide and crimes against humanity. All six have denied committing the offences between April and June 1994. The other defendants are: Ntahobali's mother, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, a former minister for family and women's affairs; Elie Ndayambaje, a former mayor of Muganza commune, Alphonse Nteziryayo, a former commanding officer of the military police in Butare; Sylvain Nsabimana, a former governor of Butare and Joseph Kanyabashi, a former mayor of Ngoma commune. "I saw Shalom slashing the refugees with a machete," the witness -- identified only as "TA" for her security -- told the court. TA began her testimony last week. She estimates that there were 6000 refugees at the Butare provincial offices. TA, 27, has testified that she was gang-raped by 16 men, including Ntahobali. The witness alleged that Ntahobali raped her twice. She told the court that she was gang-raped by eight militiamen in one incident and by seven others a few days later, on Ntahobali's "invitation." The rapes occurred in May 1994, TA said, although she could not recall the dates. The witness said saw Ntahobali raping another woman named Immaculate. "Immaculate was breastfeeding her baby when Shalom grabbed the baby and hurled her [baby] to the ground." Under cross-examination by Duncan Mwanyumba of Kenya, Ntahobali's lead counsel, TA claimed that as Ntahobali raped Immaculate she went to the baby's rescue and picked her up. "After Ntahobali completed raping the baby's mother, I heard Immaculate calling for help to remove two thick logs of wood placed on her feet." Poupart of Canada, co-counsel for Nyiramasuhuko, also cross- examined TA, the third prosecution witness. Meanwhile, Nyiramasuhuko and Ndayambaje yesterday ended their boycott of the court's proceedings. They began the boycott last week claiming that their rights were violated when the court rejected the defense's application to the prosecution to disclose certain witness statements. The trial is held before Trial Chamber II of the ICTR, comprising Judges William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Winston Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho and Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar.

Zimbabwe

NYT 17 Nov 2001 Political Violence Strikes Zimbabwe's Second Largest City By RACHEL L. SWARNS JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 16 — Violence swept across Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city, on Friday as supporters of President Robert Mugabe stoned and burned the headquarters of the opposition party to protest the killing of a colleague who the government said was strangled by members of the opposition. Supporters of the opposition party denied that they had anything to do with the killing of Mr. Mugabe's colleague, Cain Nkala, and accused the government of using the case as an excuse to crack down on its opponents. The opposition supporters retaliated by burning a college owned by an ally of Mr. Mugabe and by assaulting members of the state-controlled media, the police said. The protesters also tried to march on Mr. Mugabe's party office in Bulawayo, but the police blocked them. "The situation has been stabilized," a spokesman for the national police, Wayne Bvudzijena, said in a telephone interview. Mr. Bvudzijena said that he could not confirm the extent of the damage but that houses belonging to opposition members were also burned in Bulawayo this week by government supporters. Those supporters were angered by the murder of Mr. Nkala, leader of a group of retired guerrillas who fought in the 1970's to end white rule. Mr. Nkala was abducted last week, the police said, and his body was found on Tuesday in a shallow grave. More than 11 members of the opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change, have been arrested and charged with murder, including a legislator in Parliament. Officials said the opposition had killed Mr. Nkala to avenge the killing of Patrick Nabanyama, an opposition member who disappeared before the parliamentary elections in June 2000. Party officials acknowledged that Mr. Nkala was widely believed to have been behind Mr. Nabanyama's disappearance. Although they denied a connection to Mr. Nkala's death, many opposition members in Bulawayo went into hiding, fearful that they would be attacked by government-backed militants. "The M.D.C. has nothing to do with the abduction of Nkala," the party leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, said in a statement today. "We are a peace- loving and nonviolent party. We believe that the police know the real killers of Nkala and are seeking to protect them by shifting the blame. "If our members are guilty, let the law take its course. But we believe that the people who abducted Nkala are among the war veterans' leadership themselves, arising out of their own power struggles." Opposition officials said they believed that Mr. Nkala had been killed by his colleagues because he was preparing to disclose the involvement of other government supporters in Mr. Nabanyama's death. Political tensions have been mounting as Zimbabwe braces for presidential elections, widely expected early next year. Mr. Mugabe, who has run the country since white rule ended in 1980, is running against Mr. Tsvangirai and is facing one of the toughest contests of his career. The economy is crumbling. Businesses are closing. Investors are fleeing, and food shortages are spreading. This month, the United Nations announced that it would start delivering emergency food rations to 550,000 people in December. Last year, disillusioned voters shocked Mr. Mugabe by electing opposition legislators to nearly half the contested seats in Parliament. The government has since resettled black squatters on hundreds of white-owned farms in an effort to win support from rural communities hungry for land. Voters in the two largest cities, Bulawayo and Harare, have been among the opposition party's most vocal supporters. But police officials said Mr. Nkala was challenging the opposition's popularity in Bulawayo. The government announced today that Mr. Nkala had been officially deemed a national hero and would be given a state funeral on Sunday. "We are convinced that this shocking action is nothing but a terrorist action," Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said of Mr. Nkala's killing in an interview broadcast by the state news agency. "We will not accept it, and we will call on our government to take every step that is necessary to protect individuals, to protect families and to protect the people, indeed to protect our nation."

Americas

Argentina

AP 18 Nov 2001 Argentina rejects 'Dirty War' extradition requests BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)- Argentina has rejected extradition requests for former army Gen. Guillermo Suarez Mason and 18 others wanted in connection with atrocities committed during the 1976-83 dictatorship, officials said. Suarez Mason was sought for prosecution in the German city of Nuremberg in connection with the 1977 abduction and killing of a German citizen, Elisabeth Kasemann, during the so-called "Dirty War." Argentine authorities rejected an Italian extradition request this year for the same officer, who had commanded the key Buenos Aires military zone during the dictatorship's crackdown on leftist dissidents and other foes. RESOURCES At a glance: Argentina Defense Ministry officials said Argentina had rejected the petition for Suarez Mason on the grounds of "territorial principle" -- that any acts committed on Argentine soil are matters for local courts to judge. Defense Minister Horacio Jaunarena signed the resolution Friday rejecting extradition of Suarez Mason as well as 18 other military officials and former police wanted by overseas courts. During the dictatorship, Kaseman was a university economics student in Argentina involved in a leftist movement. Abducted in March 1977, she was reported to have been held and tortured at a clandestine detention center before being handcuffed, hooded and taken out and shot dead on May 24, 1977. According to a prosecutor's account, she was killed with shots to the nape of the neck and to the back. Nuremberg court authorities contend that Suarez Mason was ultimately responsible even though he is not accused of direct involvement in the actual abduction or killing. But as chief of the first army corps and commander of the Buenos Aires zone of the army in 1977, court officials allege he had absolute power to make life-and-death decisions involving those detained in the state-led crackdown. Suarez Mason, now 74, is under house arrest by a judge probing separate accusations that babies born to mothers in captivity at clandestine detention centers during the "Dirty War" had been abducted and their identities changed. In the other decision, officials said they had rejected a request by Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzon for 18 former military officers or police agents sought on accusations of genocide, terrorism and torture involving Spanish citizens during the dictatorship. Many of those sought by Garzon reputedly had worked at the Navy Mechanics School, a military academy in suburban Buenos Aires that housed one of the most-feared detention centers of the dictatorship. Others were police or state agents in Santa Fe province north of Buenos Aires. Jaunarena signed the resolutions rejecting extraditions in place of Foreign Minister Adalberto Rodriguez Giavarini, who was traveling Friday with President Fernando De la Rua in Europe. The "territorial principle" has been invoked on several occasions in the past when foreign courts have sought the extradition of military officers wanted for the disappearance and killing of foreign citizens during the past dictatorship. Argentina contends many military officers already were tried for human rights abuses before their subsequent pardon last decade under then-President Carlos Menem. At least 9,000 people are officially listed as disappeared or dead from the so-called "Dirty War" that right-wing military officers waged on leftists and other political dissidents they opposed during the dictatorship. Human rights organizations put the toll of dead and missing at nearly 30,000.

Irish Times 8 Nov 2001Spain asks Argentina to extradite Dirty War suspects Spain asked Argentina today to extradite 18 people to face possible charges ranging from kidnapping to genocide during the so-called Dirty War of Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship. "We can confirm that Argentina has been asked to extradite 18 people on behalf of (Judge Baltazar) Garzon," a Spanish Foreign Office spokesman said. In September, a Federal Judge in Buenos Aires ordered the arrest of 12 former military men and six civilians to await an extradition request from Judge Garzon. Eleven were arrested but were released 10 days later when the request failed to arrive. Judge Garzon, who is investigating the disappearance of Spanish citizens during the Argentine dictatorship, is best known for his unsuccessful attempt to arrest former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet on torture and other charges.

Canada

Montreal Gazette 22 Nov 2001 Crowd jeers Radio-Canada over reporter's suspension A small crowd of students and sovereigntists jeered the CBC's French-language network Thursday over the suspension of a reporter who wrote a book critical of English Canada. Radio-Canada journalist Normand Lester faced a disciplinary board Thursday morning over contentions he breached impartiality clauses of the public broadcaster's code of ethics. A union spokesman said a decision should be made in a few weeks. The network suspended Lester last Sunday, saying his book undermines its reputation for impartial journalism. The book - Le Livre noir du Canada anglais (The Black Book of English Canada) - depicts Canadian history as a series of infamies committed by English Canada, from "the attempted genocide" of the Acadians to the internment of Japanese-Canadians by the government in the Second World War. "They're interpreting what they think their bosses in Ottawa have in their minds," said Guy Bouthillier, president of the Montreal chapter of the Societe St-Jean Baptiste, as he accused Radio-Canada of promoting national unity. "I suppose they've said that's the way we must treat these guys, that's the way we must treat these separatists, that's the way we must treat those who are in favour of Quebec." Bouthillier also said the suspension was an infringement on freedom of the press. The book has sold about 5,000 copies in Quebec. Its publisher said an English-Canadian publisher is considering a translated version.

Colombia

Reuters 25 Nov 2001 Rightist Gunmen Said to Kill Colombian Indian Leader By REUTERS Filed at 7:55 p.m. ET BOGOTA, Colombia - Suspected far-right gunmen have killed a prominent Indian activist in the western Colombian countryside as he prepared to leave for a national native conference, an indigenous leader said on Sunday. Luis Angel Charrua was gunned down together with at least two other men near the village of Rio Sucio in Caldas province on Saturday night by suspected members of the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia -- known by the Spanish initials AUC, said national Indian leader Armando Valbuena. Police and army officials said that they could not confirm the killings, because combat with illegal armed groups had made it impossible to reach the area so far. Charrua was a founder of Valbuena's National Organization of Indigenous Peoples of Colombia -- ONIC --, which in August made a plea to the United Nations for help to prevent the ''extinction'' of Indians caught in the cross-fire of a 37-year war. Colombia's 84 indigenous groups are falling victim to killings, kidnappings and attacks carried out by illegal armed groups on the left and the right fighting in a war which has killed 40,000 civilians in the last decade. Denouncing Charrua's killing, ONIC leader Valbuena accused President Andres Pastrana of complicity by failing to stop the killings. ``We insist that Andres Pastrana's government has a clearly defined policy of genocide toward our peoples,'' Valbuena said, speaking at the national indigenous meeting in the central province of Cundinamarca at which Charrua had been expected. INDIANS RECRUITED, KILLED Indians are forcefully recruited into Marxist guerrilla groups or right-wing paramilitary vigilante militias, and ancestral lands have become the scene of fierce territorial battles, forcing thousands, including entire tribes, to flee. According to figures from the United Nations, 10 Indian leaders were killed in the first six months of 2001. Many more have received death threats or have disappeared. The majority of the attacks have been attributed to the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, which targets suspected leftist collaborators, and the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- known by the Spanish initials FARC. But in at least one recent incident in Cauca province, unarmed Paez Indians managed to shame a group of FARC guerrillas into abandoning an attack on the lonely village of Caldono, local media has reported. Indians have also condemned Pastrana's U.S.-backed ``Plan Colombia'' offensive against drugs -- which combines economic assistance to grow alternative crops with a massive spraying campaign against cocaine's raw ingredient, coca leaf. The Indians say the chemical used in the spraying, glyphosate, is destroying crops in their lands and has forced thousands of impoverished Indian peasants who grow coca to try and scratch a living deeper in the jungle. According to ONIC, there are about 1 million Indians among Colombia's population of 40 million.

AP 11 Nov 2001 Gunmen Massacre 12 Men Colombia By MICHAEL EASTERBROOK, BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Paramilitary gunmen accused 12 villagers in central Colombia of being leftist guerrillas and shot them dead in front of their homes, the army said Sunday. Fighters from the outlawed United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, the AUC, killed the men late Saturday in El Choco, 100 miles north of Bogota, said Capt. Luis Hernandez, an army spokesman. The AUC is waging a brutal war against the guerrillas and those it suspects of collaborating. The gunmen arrived with a list in hand and shot the victims in the head after accusing them of being members of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, he said. The ELN is one of two major leftist rebel groups in Colombia, whose 37-year civil war kills about 3,500 people a year, mostly civilians. Fighting between government troops and the other rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, killed two soldiers and six rebels this weekend, Hernandez said. Combat was still raging Sunday in southern Putumayo province, where FARC fighters attacked soldiers from a counternarcotics battalion trained and equipped under a $1.3 billion U.S. aid program to fight drugs. The soldiers were securing a zone early Sunday so that crop dusters could spray drug crops with herbicide when guerrillas attacked them. One rebel was killed, Hernandez said. Separately, gunmen officials suspected were ELN guerrillas kidnapped one Italian man on a roadside - and released another, Italy's ambassador said Sunday. Gianluigi Ravotti was abducted Saturday morning outside Guadalupe in Antioquia province, Ambassador Felice Scauso told The Associated Press. The region is 170 northwest of the capital. Scauso said that Colombian police told him the ELN was holding Ravotti, 47, a turbine engineer in Colombia with the Italian company Ansaldo Energy. Also Saturday, the ELN released Gaetano Izzia to the Red Cross in the mountains of Antioquia, Scauso said. Guerrillas kidnapped Izzia, 26, last September along with two other Italians who remain in captivity. The three were working in Colombia as technicians with the Italian company Carle & Montanari, which makes machinery for chocolate factories, Scauso said. Izzia was being examined by doctors and was expected to return to Italy this week. More than 2,000 people, including 30 foreigners, were kidnapped in Colombia in the first nine months of this year.

AFP 5 Nov 2001 AT least 18 people, including a judge and a journalist, have been kidnapped in a series of incidents on just one day in Colombia, police said. Armed men suspected of being leftist rebels kidnapped eight truck drivers working for oil companies in the eastern state of Casanare. The rebels, believed to be with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), also stole eight cargo trucks, three bulldozers and two backhoes, police said. In the rural town of El Cabrero in central Meta province, FARC guerrillas took hostage three state radio and TV technicians working in the area. Unknown kidnappers burst into a country home and took away Judge Juan Posada Soto and three others in northern Antioquia province, authorities added. In Cundinamarca province, just north of the capital, a journalist and his driver were taken hostage, although police could not say who was responsible for the kidnapping. Finally in northern Caldas province, FARC rebels kidnapped Jaime Betancur, the sixth person to be kidnapped from that area in the past two weeks, according to Mayor Jose Gonzalez. Leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary groups often resort to kidnapping wealthy individuals to finance their operations. So far this year, there have been nearly 2,000 reported kidnappings, officials say. According to an army report released in early October, 231 foreigners have been kidnapped in Colombia since 1996.

Mexico

Reuters 22 Nov 2001 Six Indian Convicts Freed in Mexico Acteal Massacre MEXICO CITY - A Mexican court freed six members of a paramilitary group imprisoned in the 1997 massacre of 45 indigenous residents in strife-torn Chiapas state, citing lack of evidence, Reforma newspaper said on Thursday. The court ratified the 35-year sentences of another 34 members of the armed group of Tzotzil Indians who attacked fellow-Tzotzil townspeople in Acteal, killing 45 men, women and children, Reforma said. The Acteal massacre was the worst single act of violence surrounding the 1994 launch of the Zapatista rebel uprising over Indian rights in Chiapas. Eight others convicted in the case, among them former members of the military and security forces, have been freed after serving half of their 2-year, seven-month sentences, the newspaper reported. The right-wing armed band that attacked Acteal villagers on Dec. 22, 1997, has been linked to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which then ruled Mexico. The massacre was described as an act of vengeance for the death of one of the group's members in a clash with Zapatista rebels. The people of Acteal, who had fled their homes and moved to the town center due to escalating violence in the countryside, had declared their neutrality in the Zapatista rebellion and were praying for peace when they were attacked. Witnesses said military and security officials knew about the attack but failed to act to stop it. Mexico's Attorney General has said it is still investigating the crime, and more arrests could be forthcoming.

United States

Boston Herald Pilgrim, 23 Nov 2001 Indian worlds collide again by Marie Szaniszlo While others celebrated the holiday with food and cheer, hundreds of people descended on the birthplace of Thanksgiving yesterday to mark what Native Americans call a ``national day of mourning.'' On a hill overlooking Plymouth Rock, the United American Indians of New England denounced the ``racist mythology'' surrounding the first Thanksgiving Pilgrims celebrated in 1621. ``It's a bunch of lies,'' said Moonanum James, the group's co-leader. ``Native people have certainly not lived happily ever after since the arrival of the Pilgrims. We want to put a stop to the racist mythology that is perpetuated in Plymouth.'' For the Pilgrims and their ancestors, Thanksgiving marked the beginning of a new nation, protesters said, but for Indians, it was only the beginning of the end, a precursor to centuries of genocide that would leave them a minority marginalized in their own land. The group walked through Plymouth's downtown, held a rally and listened to a half dozen speakers talk about the problems many Native Americans face today, from poverty and inadequate health care to a shortage of affordable housing. The group also called for freedom for Leonard Peltier, an American Indian serving two life terms in connection with the 1975 shooting deaths of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. This year's rally was unmarred by the kind of melee that erupted the gathering in 1997, when police scuffled with protesters, arresting 25 people on disorderly conduct charges. At the time, several accused officers of misconduct. But the following year, Plymouth reached a settlement with the protesters, agreeing to dismiss all charges in return for protesters' pledge not to pursue a lawsuit. Herald wire services contributed to this report.

NYT November 23, 2001 ART REVIEW | ALBERT BIERSTADT If Some Say Glory, Others Cry Hubris By GRACE GLUECK MONTCLAIR, N.J. — Was Albert Bierstadt, the 19th-century American painter of visionary Western landscapes, an unconscious racist? Did he take for granted the supremacy of white European settlers over native peoples? Of course. Although he considered himself a friend of American Indians and collected their artifacts, like most Americans of his day, Bierstadt (1830-1902) did not question the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, the imperative of continuous territorial expansion, which meant a push to the West by European settlers regardless of existing populations. So ingrained was the 19th-century conviction that Europe should inherit America that it stood without examination. And so an ambiguity permeates "Primal Visions: Albert Bierstadt `Discovers' America," the politically conscious show that inaugurates the handsome new special exhibition galleries at the Montclair Art Museum. Organized by Diane P. Fischer, associate curator at the museum, the show ranges over Bierstadt's entire career and includes some 50 paintings and objects, among them examples from Montclair's noted collection of Indian jewelry and artifacts. There are 33 works by Bierstadt, along with paintings, photographs and prints by other artists, including Sanford Gifford, Thomas Cole, Emmanuel Leutze, Eadweard Muybridge, Carlton E. Watkins and Kay WalkingStick, a present-day painter with Cherokee roots. But the emphasis is on two massive Bierstadt works that have long been part of the local heritage: "Autumn in the Sierras" (1873) and "The Landing of Columbus at San Salvador" (1893), both owned by the City of Plainfield, N.J. They share the theme of New World discovery, exhibiting in one case the artist's gift for landscape and in the other his approach to history painting. For years, the paintings have hung in Plainfield's Municipal Courthouse, where public access to them is generally limited to court sessions. But for a while, beginning in 1975 with the raising of American Indian consciousness, "The Landing of Columbus" — depicting Indians worshipfully kneeling on a beach at the arrival of a glorified Columbus and his men — was actually covered with draperies during court meetings and public sessions. Some citizens actually called for its removal. To offset its impact now, the museum has commissioned a contemporary response to it, a painting by Peter Edlund called "Another America: From Columbus to Wounded Knee — 400 Years of Colonial Genocide" (2001), which hangs nearby. In his revision of the original, Mr. Edlund has reduced the Indians to nothingness, evoking deaths said to be brought about by Columbus's visit, and has changed the discoverers' ships — on which native peoples had been impressed for service — into ghost vessels; the whole picture is cast in an eerie blood red. The emptiness of the scene symbolizes the destruction wrought by the Europeans as they moved on to the rest of the continent. Technically, "Another America" is by no means as good a painting as the original, but then, the subject matter of the original is a typical 19th-century folly, wallowing in adulation of the European discoverers. It is done in by its own staginess and insincerity, so Mr. Edlund's painting does not count for much in the way of a coup de grâce. But it does call attention to the current strong revisionist take on earlier American art. The two Bierstadt paintings were given to the city in 1919 by Jonathan Ackerman Coles, a physician, collector and philanthropist who presumably bought them after an 1895 bankruptcy sale at Bierstadt's studio. Bierstadt had mounted a heavy campaign directed at federal purchase of "Autumn in the Sierras," a theatrical canvas depicting majestic mountain peaks in the remote South Sierra and imbuing them with an Olympian grandeur. But after dallying with him, the government didn't bite. As for "The Landing of Columbus," it was painted for the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893, which commemorated Columbus's first encounter with the Americas. And it was a failure from the get-go. Bierstadt was out of fashion by then, and the grandiosity of his work was beginning to wear thin. He withdrew the painting before it could be officially rejected, three months before the opening of the fair. In creating his glorified views of the Great American West, Bierstadt was not the most infallible of reporters. His theatrical compositions of wind-swept summits, steep escarpments, rushing rivers, verdant valleys and glistening gorges were pieced together in the studio from on- the-spot sketches, a not-uncommon practice for grand panoramists of his era. Putting these fragments together, he often distorted the elements of a real site to give his views more drama. What's more, although he made no discoveries on his own, some of his spectaculars were intended to give the impression that his was a "primal vision," a view of a place before anyone else had seen it; of course, that was not the case. For "Sierras," Bierstadt used live sketches made in 1872, when he accompanied the federally sponsored Clarence King survey into the region. But the work itself is a composite, a tightening of foreground space, a merging of peaks and an exaggeration of their ruggedness, to give the scene more punch. All this is not to say, however, that this Prussian-born, American- reared artist wasn't a superb talent, a well-schooled painter who knew how to make landscape come alive with meticulously rendered detail, a strong gift for color effects and skilled handling of light and atmosphere, along with a firm grasp of geological matters. That talent is abundantly evident, not only in the "Sierras" painting but also in others, like the earlier "View From the Wind River Mountains" (1860), another studio-created composite in which the scene is amplified and prettied up. But its panoramic view, over a rocky outcropping in the foreground to a distant plateau and serene horizon, seems a vision of present harmony and future promise for the still-young nation. Some of the other paintings in the show were brought in presumably to emphasize that artists other than Bierstadt also had a considerable stake in American landscape and shared his philosophy. Among them are two owned by the Montclair Art Museum: "Scene on the Snake River" (circa 1879) by Thomas Moran, a Bierstadt rival, depicting a brace of steep escarpments on the brink of a quiet backwater, and "A View of the Hudson" (circa 1835) by Thomas Cole, a pioneer of the Edenic American vision that affected Bierstadt. This show is by no means the definitive Bierstadt exhibition. But the issues it raises give it added dimension.

LA Weekly (Los Angeles) November 21 05:12 PM EST The Deep End - First AIDS, now genocide . . . Diamanda Galás won’t lighten up By John Payne LA Weekly Writer. You might call Diamanda Galás a singer, but that’d be a paltry account of it. Singers make us snap our fingers and tap our toes, even fill us with joy and all that. Galás can play that role, but she does it as the bearer of really bad news. Yes, she’s the one they call the Beacon of Bleak, the Dark Diva of Doom ’n’ Disease, all that trivializing stuff. The sneeringly stately, black-haired, wild-eyed Greek-American with the ferocious four-octave vocal range and the blood-freezing stage presence; she’s the one who feels true hatred. Do not cross this bad bitch — she’ll slit ya face. But Diamanda Galás is a bit anxious today. “This is such an important interview for me that I have to tell you I’ve been very nervous about it.” “That makes two of us.” “The subject is so unbelievable, so unspeakable — especially at this particular time — the resonance is almost killing me.” She laughs, ambiguously. We’re trying to get a fix on Galás’ new piece, Defixiones, Will and Testament: Orders From the Dead, a solo voice and piano work she’ll perform at Royce Hall on November 29. A typically harrowing thing based on texts related to the Armenian and Anatolian Greek massacres of 1915 and 1922, its arcing theme is genocide in its various guises, and its cowardly denial. Which, owing to issues arising post–September 11, now seems a bit relevant. Galás, the monstrously mighty vocal virtuoso who has received both acclaim and infamy as the creator of AIDS -related music/performance pieces such as Plague Mass, Litanies of Satan and The Masque of the Red Death trilogy, as usual has already gotten her serving of flak stemming from the “controversial” nature of Defixiones’ subject matter. After performances in Ghent and at London’s Royal Festival Hall, she was scheduled to perform it in Armenia, but the powers that be got shaky. “The problem with a lot of countries that are very impoverished,” she says, “is that the ruling classes are greedy, and in this case the director of the opera house — a throwback to the Bolsheviks — he started to censor my work. He was very worried about it even before I came there, even though it was dealing with the Armenian genocide. And so, at the last minute, he canceled me.” That was a big mistake. If you’re going to deny Diamanda Galás, you’d best have convictions you can stand on, and be prepared to defend them — because Galás the ardent researcher/scholar will always have done her homework. And she wasted that guy: “I sent out a worldwide press release to humiliate him. I succeeded because he said the Armenian people were too conservative and too timid for this kind of work. He was speaking from his own fear and his own greed.” Fear and greed piss off Diamanda Galás no end. But for her, to tell lies — to break faith, to distort facts, to deny history — is an abomination. “The U.S. doesn’t want to recognize the Armenian genocide because it’s going to bed with Turkey. Now is not the time to discuss an Armenian genocide, and now will never be the time to discuss these things ‘because we have our national security to think of and that of Armenia,’ said the Clinton administration one year ago. Selling billions of dollars of attack helicopters to Turkey to safeguard its national security and that of Israel — these things get in the way of settling an old score of minor players, so to speak. “Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres calls the Armenian Genocide Resolution ‘meaningless’ and says to the Turkish Daily News [April 10, 2001], ‘We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. It is a tragedy what the Armenians went through, but not a genocide.’ Peres does this while asking Turkey to support Israel against the Palestinians, and going into business with them in their purchase and possible co-production of the Arrow anti-tactical ballistic missile interceptor — developed by the U.S. and Israel —and while discussing the sale of Turkish water to Israel. Turkey threatens not to renew the mandate for U.S. forces using the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey to patrol the no-fly zone in northern Iraq — if there is any mention of ‘an Armenian genocide.’ “We have a lesser but nonetheless painful situation with our leaders in Greece, who are so crazy about peace with the Turks that they turned in [Kurdish separatist rebel leader] Abdullah Ocalan as a gesture of friendship. It is never the time to give any kind of importance to people of no importance.” Galás’ beliefs are in part a byproduct of hearing her father, a Greek immigrant to the San Diego area, tell her stories of growing up disqualified from being human in his own country, his friends hunted down by the Turks, literally pushed into the sea. Galás was further radicalized by her brother’s death from AIDS in 1986. She has taken themes of death, degradation and demoralization to heroic extremes, in the process becoming a spokesperson for the unspeakable, usually for those who can’t speak for themselves.As with her Insekta piece, the particulars that inspire the works fan out into analagous other concerns. “Insekta means something that is too small to be seen — it’s perceived as invisible, because it’s no longer there,” she says. “It’s something, but because you don’t see it, it’s perceived as invisible to us, and therefore it doesn’t exist. It’s like people talking about anthrax here, and all of us in the AIDS community are saying, ‘Anthrax? Those are just drugs coming from the graves of the dead of AIDS. Come on, give me something to be scared of!’ You deal with an insane situation for 20 years and grieving for people for 20 years, you gotta try harder to scare people like us. You gotta try to scare — you may make us very sad, but you’re not gonna scare us with shit like that.” For members of the Eastern Orthodox religions, attacks like those on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are nothing new. Defixiones addresses, among other things, the devastation on entire cultures as inflicted by the Turks, among others. It’s a scenario that has been played out in Armenia and Greece, in Assyria and with the Kurds for hundreds of years. While Galás’ piece has actually been in preparation for several years, its premiere at this time seems prophetic. “You know what kills me? What is truly horrible is to create work that very few people understand, or people think you’re fuckin’ nuts doing, and then feel the prescience of it. It just drives me — I can’t sleep, because all these things, these realizations, they co-exist in my mind. I see, in the case of the Greeks of Asia Minor and the Pontic Greeks, the Assyrians and the Armenians, as well as the Hindus, for that matter, what many groups of people who have suffered through for centuries — this idea of purging the infidel, jealously coveting what he has and wanting to destroy him, but wanting to retain the unseemly creations and ‘parasitic’ enterprises of this ‘enemy of God.’ “The Armenian Genocide Resolution was blocked by the combined interests of Turkey, Israel and the United States. The same genocide denial will occur with the Anatolian Greeks and the Assyrians, who were starved to death and slaughtered in death marches under the guise of deportation. [More than one million Greeks were forced to leave their Asia Minor homeland in 1922-1923, during the Greek-Turkish exchange of ethnic minorities.] Now that the Eastern Christians have been finished off, the Kurds have become the new irritant to the concept of the national [Turkish] order. When the Turks buried the Greeks in mass graves, they said, ‘We don’t know what happened to these people. You are exaggerating the numbers of deportees.’ And we know what happened to the Greek Cypriots: Los Desaparecidos. “Some of the Greeks in power, they don’t need the Turks to fuck them, they fuck themselves. They just say, ‘Okay, we want to be Europeans, too,’ and a lot of people I know who are Greek activists, Armenian activists, Assyrian activists, Kurdish activists, we have to fight that all the time, because it’s like saying, ‘Okay, I accept you killing my culture.’ The analogy is very close to the way the Indian culture was killed by the Spanish culture: ‘You don’t exist, you don’t exist. We are raping your culture, you don’t exist.’” These are the biggest, saddest of themes, and require music of wide extremes. And one of the strangest and sickest facts about music and art that addresses horrific subjects is that, in order to persuade, it has to be pleasurable. So the startling thing about Diamanda Galás, who’s currently without an American record label, is the exhilaration one experiences upon witnessing her onstage. To have any performer deal articulately with topical monstrosities is rare; to have such a badass musician saying it is a gift from God. We know Galás reigns as the queen of extended vocal technique, a voice that has only gained in power and versatility over the years (she trains constantly, like a boxer); she has also, in recent years, become one of the greatest, most original piano players on Earth, with a strong lower-two-octave/highest-octave attack that perfectly stabs the drama of her lyrical concerns. So, yeah, Diamanda Galás is katharsis — since the worst human conditions call for new harsh responses. She’s also someone from whom anyone looking for new inspired music can derive maximum thrills — whether or not he gives one big shit about human suffering. Chances are, however, that he won’t remain unscathed after hearing it. Diamanda Galás says: “I never, never do work because I feel that people are going to relate to it. I do it because I feel that I need to do it. I could say I have my own religion during this time — the truth of my own convictions. I think one has to search one’s soul very, very, very much. I’m not sure how many people do that. But I’m willing to search my soul. I expect everyone else to do the same.” Diamanda Galás performs at UCLA, Royce Hall, on Thursday, November 29.

NYT 11 Nov 2001 November 11, 2001 Remembering the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 By ADAM NOSSITER You won't find any mention of what has come to be called, erroneously, the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 in a number of standard histories of the 1920's. This hideous episode doesn't fit well with images of flappers, colorful speakeasies and giddy prosperity. And yet, as one of the more appalling incidents in the nation's racial history, it has good claim to be considered emblematic, at least of what can happen when everyday race hatred is augmented by still darker impulses. On a hot spring day in June 1921 the whites of Tulsa, Okla., gave in to those impulses: in a frenzy of violence rich and poor, men and women, waged full-scale war on the city's blacks, shooting, burning and looting for hours. When it was over, the once thriving black district called Greenwood was a smoldering ruin, perhaps several hundred black citizens were dead, and thousands more had been herded like animals into various holding pens in the city. Even after 80 years, the facts still shock, and not like some terrible, distant episode in a history book. There is something contemporary about what happened in Tulsa, perhaps because the context -- a thriving, optimistic Southwestern boom town -- is so recognizable. White Tulsa knew that this story had more than enough ugliness to linger, and aided by a forgetful nation, it persisted until quite recently in what the Texas journalist Tim Madigan calls a ''remarkable conspiracy of silence.'' For decades, memory of the Tulsa Race Riot was forced into hiding, an unmentionable subject even in private settings. ''The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921'' is a powerful book, a harrowing case study made all the more so by Madigan's skillful, clear-eyed telling of it. The principal character is the white mob, an army of fire ants: here spreading gasoline or kerosene, there shooting an elderly couple praying by their bed, dragging blacks behind cars, looting homes and businesses. The instant transformation of a rough-edged community, fitfully prone to violence, into something far worse is one of the sobering mysteries of this terrible tale. It is also an underlying theme of Rilla Askew's novel ''Fire in Beulah,'' which is set in Tulsa and environs around 1920 and culminates in the destruction of Greenwood. Like Madigan, Askew is haunted by the sheer ferocity of the mob, and she sets out, in a series of sketched characters and relationships, to get behind it. Madigan's main focus is on what happened in Greenwood on June 1, 1921, and the elements of that story are powerful enough. There is Tulsa itself, a brash young town full of oil money and oil field roustabouts, a place where post-World War I nativism was second nature and Ku Klux Klan recruiters found a happy hunting ground. There is Greenwood, the bustling black district across the tracks, where professionals and businessmen were making money in solid brick buildings, a neighborhood whose very success inspired dangerous resentment among the whites. And there is the swaggering publisher of The Tulsa Tribune, Richard Lloyd Jones, a cousin of Frank Lloyd Wright and a celebrity journalist in his day. Madigan pins a large amount of blame for the destruction of Greenwood on Jones, and he may be right. Jones was a Klan sympathizer who sought to win a circulation war with thundering morality and racism. When a black shoeshine boy was arrested for assaulting a white elevator girl, he published a front-page editorial with the headline ''To Lynch Negro Tonight.'' (The exact contents of the editorial are uncertain, since copies of that day's paper survive, mysteriously, only in altered form.) Soon after the paper hit the streets, whites began to gather outside the courthouse where the shoeshine boy was being held. Blacks in Greenwood, World War I veterans among them, were determined not to let the mob get away with a lynching, and they flocked to the courthouse too. A shot was fired, a barrage of gunfire followed, and Greenwood's hours were numbered. At first blacks tried to hold their own, firing back. But they were overwhelmed by superior white numbers -- the mob was over 10,000 strong, Madigan reports -- and firepower, along with a white police force happy to lend a hand. It is possible that the frenzied mob did not initially intend to level the black district. But Madigan reports: ''It soon became evident that the whites would settle for nothing less than scorched earth. They would not be satisfied to kill the Negroes, or to arrest them. They would also try to destroy every vestige of black prosperity.'' He is particularly successful at conveying the mob's methodical efficiency, describing the white women carrying shopping bags for loot, accompanied by armed men toting gasoline. Our engagement with this horrific vision is only slightly marred by the author's acknowledgment of having in some places ''taken the license of approximating dialogue for the purpose of maintaining the narrative'' -- a dubious practice for a journalist. What fueled the mob? A dehumanizing vision of blacks, accompanied by spasms of hatred, is the answer provided in the historical novel by Rilla Askew, a native Oklahoman and the author of several previous works of fiction. ''Fire in Beulah'' features a lynching oilman, a satanic white roustabout and smug, cruel white ladies. The novel centers around the relationship between the troubled wife of a white oilman and her black maid, who is initially treated with a savagery worthy of Simon Legree. The best parts of Askew's book come near the end, where she gives us a mob member's internal monologue, effectively getting inside the mind of the beast. Elsewhere, she is not well served by prose that can be overwrought, and by a tendency to spell out internal states that the reader should merely sense. Yet Askew, in her suggestion of a heedless and profligate white elite, does penetrate the willful amnesia that forms a bitter coda to Madigan's narrative. The oilman's wife, getting over an encounter with her maid, ''pushed it quite comfortably to a confined corner of her mind, and dismissed it.'' This talent for forgetting is itself a partial explanation for the horror of June 1, 1921: a society so deeply unreflective is capable of just about anything. Adam Nossiter is the author of ''The Algeria Hotel: France, Memory, and the Second World War."

NYT November 14, 2001 Turning Away From the Holocaust By MAX FRANKEL AND then there was failure: none greater than the staggering, staining failure of The New York Times to depict Hitler's methodical extermination of the Jews of Europe as a horror beyond all other horrors in World War II — a Nazi war within the war crying out for illumination. The annihilation of six million Jews would not for many years become distinctively known as the Holocaust. But its essence became knowable fast enough, from ominous Nazi threats and undisputed eyewitness reports collected by American correspondents, agents and informants. Indeed, a large number of those reports appeared in The Times. But they were mostly buried inside its gray and stolid pages, never featured, analyzed or rendered truly comprehensible. Yet what they printed made clear that the editors did not long mistrust the ghastly reports. They presented them as true within months of Hitler's secret resolve in 1941 to proceed to the "final solution" of his fantasized "Jewish problem." Why, then, were the terrifying tales almost hidden in the back pages? Like most — though not all — American media, and most of official Washington, The Times drowned its reports about the fate of Jews in the flood of wartime news. Its neglect was far from unique and its reach was not then fully national, but as the premier American source of wartime news, it surely influenced the judgment of other news purveyors. While a few publications — newspapers like The Post (then liberal) and PM in New York and magazines like The Nation and The New Republic — showed more conspicuous concern, The Times's coverage generally took the view that the atrocities inflicted upon Europe's Jews, while horrific, were not significantly different from those visited upon tens of millions of other war victims, nor more noteworthy. Six Years, Six Page 1 Articles Only six times in nearly six years did The Times's front page mention Jews as Hitler's unique target for total annihilation. Only once was their fate the subject of a lead editorial. Only twice did their rescue inspire passionate cries in the Sunday magazine. Although The Times's news columns in those years did not offer as much analysis or synthesis as they do today, the paper took great pride in ranking the importance of events each morning and in carefully reviewing the major news of every week and every year. How could it happen that the war on the Jews never qualified for such highlighted attention? There is no surviving record of how the paper's coverage of the subject was discussed by Times editors during the war years of 1939-45. But within that coverage is recurring evidence of a guiding principle: do not feature the plight of Jews, and take care, when reporting it, to link their suffering to that of many other Europeans. This reticence has been a subject of extensive scholarly inquiry and also much speculation and condemnation. Critics have blamed "self-hating Jews" and "anti-Zionists" among the paper's owners and staff. Defenders have cited the sketchiness of much information about the death camps in Eastern Europe and also the inability of prewar generations to fully comprehend the industrial gassing of millions of innocents — a machinery of death not yet exposed by those chilling mounds of Jews' bones, hair, shoes, rings. No single explanation seems to suffice for what was surely the century's bitterest journalistic failure. The Times, like most media of that era, fervently embraced the wartime policies of the American and British governments, both of which strongly resisted proposals to rescue Jews or to offer them haven. After a decade of economic depression, both governments had political reasons to discourage immigration and diplomatic reasons to refuse Jewish settlements in regions like Palestine. Then, too, papers owned by Jewish families, like The Times, were plainly afraid to have a society that was still widely anti- Semitic misread their passionate opposition to Hitler as a merely parochial cause. Even some leading Jewish groups hedged their appeals for rescue lest they be accused of wanting to divert wartime energies. At The Times, the reluctance to highlight the systematic slaughter of Jews was also undoubtedly influenced by the views of the publisher, Arthur Hays Sulzberger. He believed strongly and publicly that Judaism was a religion, not a race or nationality — that Jews should be separate only in the way they worshiped. He thought they needed no state or political and social institutions of their own. He went to great lengths to avoid having The Times branded a "Jewish newspaper." He resented other publications for emphasizing the Jewishness of people in the news. And it was his policy, on most questions, to steer The Times toward the centrist values of America's governmental and intellectual elites. Because his editorial page, like the American government and other leading media, refused to dwell on the Jews' singular victimization, it was cool to all measures that might have singled them out for rescue or even special attention. Only once did The Times devote its lead editorial to the subject. That was on Dec. 2, 1942, after the State Department had unofficially confirmed to leading rabbis that two million Jews had already been slain and that five million more were indeed "in danger of extermination." Even that editorial, however, retreated quickly from any show of special concern. Insisting in its title that Jews were merely "The First to Suffer," it said the same fate awaited "people of other faiths and of many races," including "our own `mongrel' nation" and even Hitler's allies in Japan if he were to win the war. In only one 48-hour period, in early March 1943, was the paper moved to concede in multiple ways that Europe's Jews merited extraordinary attention. The impetus apparently came from Anne O'Hare McCormick, the foreign affairs columnist, a favorite of Sulzberger and a member of his editorial board, who thought that a Madison Square Garden rally pleading for the rescue of Jews had exposed "the shame of the world." "There is not the slightest question," she wrote, "that the persecution of the Jews has reached its awful climax in a campaign to wipe them out of Europe. If the Christian community does not support to the utmost the belated proposal worked out to rescue the Jews remaining in Europe from the fate prepared for them, we have accepted the Hitlerian thesis and forever compromised the principles for which we are pouring out blood and wealth." Beside her column on March 3, the last of seven editorials allowed that Hitler had condemned the Jews to death "where others are sometimes let off with slavery." Vaguely urging the United States to revise "the chilly formalism of its immigration regulations," it urged other free nations to let no "secondary considerations" bar entry of those refugees who might yet escape from the Nazis' control. On the previous day, that same Garden rally was described in an exceptional half-page article, beginning with three paragraphs on Page 1 under the smallest of 11 front-page headlines: SAVE DOOMED JEWS, HUGE RALLY PLEADS As never before or after, that day's coverage included long quotations from speeches and even the text of the rally's "resolution" calling for urgent measures to move Jews out of Hitler's grasp. When more than a year later the editorial page returned to the subject and supported the idea of temporarily housing refugees in isolated American camps, it urged saving "innocent people" without ever using the word "Jew." On its dense inside pages, however, The Times was much less hesitant about offering persuasive and gruesome details of the systematic murders of Jews. Hundreds of short items and scores of longer articles from different corners of Europe bore out the prophetic dispatch from the Berlin bureau that had appeared on Page 5 on Sept. 13, 1939, two weeks after Hitler invaded Poland: NAZIS HINT PURGE OF JEWS IN POLAND "First intimations," it began, "that a solution of the 'Jewish problem' in Poland is on the German-Polish agenda are revealed in a `special report' of the official German News Bureau." Given the report's claim that Polish Jewry "continually fortified and enlarged" Western Jewry, the Times correspondent added, it was hard to see how their "removal" would change things "without their extermination." On March 1, 1942, just seven weeks after the notorious Wannsee Conference distributed orders about the mass-murder weapons to be used against Jews, an article on Page 28 bore this headline: EXTINCTION FEARED BY JEWS IN POLAND Polish intellectuals and officials cited underground sources for the warning that 3.5 million Jews stood condemned "to cruel death — to complete annihilation." By June 13, the threat became official: "Nazis Blame Jews/For Big Bombings" read a headline on Page 7. The accompanying article quoted Joseph Goebbels as vowing that the Jews would pay for German suffering "with the extermination of their race in all Europe and perhaps even beyond Europe." Two weeks later, two paragraphs appended to the end of a related article brought the news that "probably the greatest mass slaughter in history" had already claimed the lives of 700,000 Jews in Poland — a slaughter employing "machine-gun bullets, hand grenades, gas chambers, concentration camps, whipping, torture instruments and starvation." By June 30, a brief item said the World Jewish Congress put the death toll at one million. Still greater detail followed, on Page 6 of the July 2 issue, in a London report quoting the Polish government in exile. It cited the use of gas chambers to kill 1,000 Jews a day in different cities and the staging of a blood bath in the Warsaw ghetto. It said that "the criminal German government is fulfilling Hitler's threat that, whoever wins, all Jews will be murdered." Typically, the headline, "Allies Are Urged/To Execute Nazis," was no larger than that on a neighboring article about a Polish diplomat who died in a plunge on Riverside Drive. Extermination Order on Page 10 On Nov. 25, a lengthy London dispatch on Page 10 cited roundups, gassings, cattle cars and the disappearance of 90 percent of Warsaw's ghetto population. It said Heinrich Himmler, the Gestapo head, had ordered the extermination of half of Poland's Jews before the end of 1942. That same month, the State Department finally conceded that it had confirmed the extermination campaign but insisted that the Allies were helpless to prevent it. By Dec. 9, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was reported on Page 20 to have promised Jewish petitioners eventual punishment of the Nazi murderers. He was told that "the scientific and low-cost extermination" had claimed almost two million lives. There followed a rare front-page notice, on Dec. 18, under the smallest of a dozen headlines: "11 Allies Condemn/Nazi War on Jews." A brief editorial that day observed that this protest responded not just to the outcry of victims but to "officially established facts." For once, The Times Magazine now felt free to offer a passionate plea for Europe's Jews. A brief essay by the novelist Sholem Asch on Feb. 7, 1943, recounted "the inhuman process of transportation in sealed, unventilated, limed freight cars, which are death traps." "Those that survive," he wrote, "become as human waste to be thrown into mass- slaughter houses." The magazine's next and last article on the subject, by Arthur Koestler on June 9, 1944, dealt mainly with the difficulty of comprehending "the greatest mass killing in recorded history." Yet comparable emotion appeared in The Times only in a half dozen large advertisements pleading for "ACTION — NOT PITY!" They were from groups urging the rescue of Jews or the formation of an avenging Jewish army in Palestine. Only passing notice recorded the mounting Jewish death toll: 3 million in August 1943, 4 million in July 1944, 5.5 million in November 1944. Never the Lead Article of the Day No article about the Jews' plight ever qualified as The Times's leading story of the day, or as a major event of a week or year. The ordinary reader of its pages could hardly be blamed for failing to comprehend the enormity of the Nazis' crime. As Laurel Leff, an assistant professor at the Northeastern School of Journalism, has concluded, it was a tragic demonstration of how "the facts didn't speak for themselves." She has been the most diligent independent student of The Times's Holocaust coverage and deftly summarized her findings last year in The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics. "You could have read the front page of The New York Times in 1939 and 1940," she wrote, "without knowing that millions of Jews were being sent to Poland, imprisoned in ghettos, and dying of disease and starvation by the tens of thousands. You could have read the front page in 1941 without knowing that the Nazis were machine-gunning hundreds of thousands of Jews in the Soviet Union. "You could have read the front page in 1942 and not have known, until the last month, that the Germans were carrying out a plan to annihilate European Jewry. In 1943, you would have been told once that Jews from France, Belgium and the Netherlands were being sent to slaughterhouses in Poland and that more than half of the Jews of Europe were dead, but only in the context of a single story on a rally by Jewish groups that devoted more space to who had spoken than to who had died. "In 1944, you would have learned from the front page of the existence of horrible places such as Maidanek and Auschwitz, but only inside the paper could you find that the victims were Jews. In 1945, [liberated] Dachau and Buchenwald were on the front page, but the Jews were buried inside." A story buried but not, over time, forgotten. After the Nazis' slaughter of Jews was fully exposed at war's end, Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger, the influential daughter, wife and mother of Times publishers, changed her mind about the need for a Jewish state and helped her husband, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, accept the idea of Israel and befriend its leaders. Later, led by their son, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, and their grandson Arthur Sulzberger Jr., The Times shed its sensitivity about its Jewish roots, allowed Jews to ascend to the editor's chair and warmly supported Israel in many editorials. And to this day the failure of America's media to fasten upon Hitler's mad atrocities stirs the conscience of succeeding generations of reporters and editors. It has made them acutely alert to ethnic barbarities in far-off places like Uganda, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo. It leaves them obviously resolved that in the face of genocide, journalism shall not have failed in vain. Max Frankel is a former executive editor of The Times.

Chicago Tribune 18 Nov 2001 Tribunals of war: A history lesson in mass crimes By Dennis J. Hutchinson. Dennis J. Hutchinson teaches constitutional law and legal history at the University of Chicago When President Bush issued an executive order last week establishing military commissions to try non-citizen terrorists, the decision naturally provoked comparisons with choices the government faced at the end of World War II. With all of the top Nazis in custody except Adolf Hitler and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels (who had killed themselves), the question was what to do with them. President Truman selected U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson to represent the U.S. in any post-war proceeding, and Jackson squarely presented the options to the president: "We could execute or otherwise punish them without a hearing. But undiscriminating executions or punishments without definite findings of guilt, fairly arrived at, would . . . not set easily on the American conscience or be remembered by our children with pride." For Jackson, the "only" appropriate "course is to determine the innocence or guilt of the accused after a hearing as dispassionate as the times and horrors we deal with will permit, and upon a record that will leave our reasons and motives clear." Jackson's judgment has been vindicated by history, and the International Military Tribunal for the Prosecution of Major War Criminals of the European Axis--as the Nuremberg trials were formally known--has been a symbolic model ever since. The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which is trying Slobodan Milosevic in The Hague, is the latest fruit of Nuremberg. But the Nuremberg trials were not a foregone conclusion once Germany surrendered. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill wanted the Nazi leaders shot with no fanfare, in order to avoid providing them with a self-serving propaganda forum. But Jackson feared that summary executions would erode the moral high ground the Allies then enjoyed, and he also worried that as time passed the Third Reich's sympathizers would be able to deny Nazi atrocities absent concrete documentation: "Unless we write the record of this movement with clarity and precision, we cannot blame the future if in days of peace it finds incredible accusatory generalities uttered during the war. We must establish incredible events by credible evidence." By insisting on documentary evidence and by requiring scrupulous attention to procedural fairness, Jackson created a nightmare for his prosecution team and prolonged what he and others hoped would be a month's exercise into a year-long affair. Jackson hoped that the trials would be a major first step in establishing an international rule of law. How much of that larger ambition he helped to achieve remains to be seen, but the trials demonstrated to the world, document by document, the scope and detail of the Nazi infamy. And Jackson, who was accused by a colleague on the Supreme Court of running a "high-grade lynching party," provided an eloquent defense to open trials conducted before multinational panels. Responding to claims by the Russians that guilt had already been established by the Allied proclamations of victory, Jackson said: "The president of the United States has no power to convict anyone. He can only accuse. He cannot arrest in most cases without judicial authority. Therefore, the accusation made carries no weight in an American trial whatsoever. These declarations are an accusation and not a conviction. That requires a judicial finding. Now we could not be parties to setting up a formal judicial body to ratify a political decision to convict. Then judges will have to inquire into the evidence and give an independent decision." Jackson again prevailed, and in fact several of the Nuremberg defendants were acquitted of the charges against them. For Jackson, preserving the values of due process and judicial independence while documenting Nazi evil was central to the integrity and achievement of Nuremberg. The defendants enjoyed the full measure of due process: - an open, public trial; - burden of proof on the prosecution to establish evidence of specified crimes; - evidence that could be scrutinized by the court and by history; - the right to counsel, to confront accusers and to answer charges. In sum, as he said in his famous opening statement, "That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury, stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of law is one of the most significant tributes that power has ever paid to reason." The Nuremberg trials occurred in a different time and under different circumstances than the military commissions contemplated by President Bush's recent executive order. There was no ongoing threat from the Nazi regime, the trial evidence had all been captured and was under Allied control, and the trials were likely to promote support for the Allies rather than provoke any substantial backlash worldwide. But Jackson foresaw what the president and the secretary of defense, who is charged with supplying the detailed marching orders for the military commissions, must face: a stacked judicial deck, especially if it does not operate openly. Nothing is yet set in stone about the composition and operation of the military commissions, so there is time to contemplate the lessons of Nuremberg and the legacy that Justice Jackson worked so hard to establish.

ABCNEWS.com 18 Nov 2001 Critics: Tribunals Put U.S. Ideals at Risk By Bryan Robinson Critics fear that President Bush 's military tribunal order for non-U.S. citizen terror suspects will violate their civil rights. President Bush's order establishing military commissions to put non-U.S. citizens accused of terrorism on trial will make it easier for the government to win convictions - a decision civil libertarians believe could compromise the basic rights the United States has defended. On Tuesday, President Bush signed an order authorizing military tribunals to conduct trials involving non-U.S citizens accused of terrorism, the first move of its kind since World War II. In the emergency executive order, which did not need Congress' approval, Bush said the detention and trial of accused terrorists by a military tribunal was necessary "to protect the United States and its citizens, and for the effective conduct of military operations and prevention of terrorist attacks." Under the order, the president determines who is considered a terrorist suspect to be detained by the Department of Defense . The Department of Defense is developing policies and procedures governing military commissions, rules of procedure and evidence, as well qualifications for counsel in the proceedings. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld would then be responsible for setting up the meeting time and location of the commission, including whether or not it would meet outside the United States. The Secretary of Defense would also ensure that suspects are provided with care while under arrest and that their rights are not violated. However, some critics believe a military commission will only be used to target and condemn suspects the Bush administration believes are terrorists in a tactic lacking due process. "The government gets to decide first that you're guilty, then it puts you through the process to affirm that you're guilty," Morton H. Halperin, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations told The Associated Press . "I don't think constitutionally you can do that." Some are disturbed by the Bush administration's decision and believe that the order's focus on non-U.S. citizens — including lawful permanent residents — could jeopardize people's rights. "The use of military tribunals would apparently authorize secret trials without a jury and without the requirement of a unanimous verdict and would limit a defendant's opportunities to confront the evidence against him and choose his own lawyer," said Laura Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C. Rights as Citizens of the World When asked about whether a tribunal would violate the rights of terrorist suspects, administration officials said they were not entitled to the same rights as the American citizens they are accused of targeting. "They don't deserve the same guarantees and safeguards that we use for an American citizen," Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday. "They will have a fair trial under the procedures of the military tribunal." Stressing that a military commission was the most appropriate place to try terrorists captured in Afghanistan or elsewhere, Attorney General John Ashcroft said, "Foreign terrorists who commit war crimes against the United States in my judgment are not entitled to and do not deserve the protections of the American Constitution." But some experts noted that if the United States' war on terrorism is a global issue, the tribunal must make sure suspects' fundamental rights at a trial are preserved. "As a citizen of the world, one could assume they ought to be entitled to the same human civil rights under various international treaties the United States has co-signed on," said Philip Cave of the National Institute of Military Justice in Washington. A Prosecution’s Court Unlike a more conventional criminal court, a military trial could be held secretly. It is considered a prosecution-friendly environment, where prosecutors could present evidence that would not normally be allowed in regular legal proceedings. Hearsay evidence and information obtained from wiretapping — not allowed in some regular court proceedings — could be allowed in military trials. Suspects retain the right to have a lawyer and a trial by jury, but experts say it is unclear whether the defense would have access to all the evidence prosecutors would present. Military commissions are called in secret to preserve confidential information and the methods and sources investigators used to gather evidence against suspects. "The discussions normally revolve around the secrecy of the presentation of evidence and possibly even classified information, and intelligence gathering," Cave said. "It's [defense access to evidence] been an ongoing issue in military courts during court-martial proceedings. But prosecutors are able to present more evidence and it's easier for them to convict." Still, critics argue that Bush's order was not justified and that confidential information and methods were at stake when the U.S. legal system convicted terrorists in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings and the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa. "It is difficult to understand how the administration can justify the use of a tribunal when the United States has successfully tried in our courts non-citizens accused of terrorist acts, organized crime, and others in situations where the safety of jurors and the disclosure of government intelligence methods were at issue," said Murphy. "There is already a system established to handle classified information in the course of a trial — the Classified Information Procedures Act. For decades, CIPA has adequately balanced national security and due process concerns. The government has made no showing that CIPA procedures would not be adequate in these circumstances as well." An Informal War Military commissions date to the late 17th century. They were last convened in the United States under orders from President Franklin Roosevelt, who used a tribunal to convict six German saboteurs who secretly landed on U.S. shores in 1942. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the proceeding. Military tribunals have also been used during the Civil War and World War II after the United States has formally declared war. Though administration officials have repeatedly referred to the United States' campaign in Afghanistan against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban as a "war" on terrorism, Bush has not made a formal declaration of war. Experts are not sure whether the absence of a formal declaration of war affects Bush's order for a military tribunal. The enemy in the war on terrorism is not one particular nation or a uniformed army, and some believe formal declaration of war at this point could leave the United States vulnerable to accusations of war atrocities. "There are raging discussions about this as we speak," Cave said. "No one really knows. As of the moment, we're not in a formal declaration of war. We've heard a lot of people refer to it as a 'war' but there's a big difference between rhetoric and an actual war. What that [a declaration of war] does is that it has a dramatic impact on those who are fighting the war. … You may have to start dealing with Taliban accusations of Northern Alliance members committing atrocities and executing people right in front of American soldiers."

Dawn (Pakistan) 18 Nov 2001 Anti-Arab campaign in the US media By Edward W. Said The extraordinary turbulence of the present moment during the US military campaign against Afghanistan has crystallized a number of themes and counter themes that deserve some clarification here. I shall list them without too much discussion and qualification as a way of broaching the current stage of development in the long, and terribly unsatisfactory history of relationships between the US and Palestine. We should start by perhaps re-stating the obvious, that every American I know (including myself I must admit) firmly believes that the terrible events of September 11 inaugurate a rather new stage in world history. Even though numerous Americans know rationally that other atrocities and disasters have occurred in history, there is still something unique and unprecedented in the World Trade Centre and Pentagon bombings. A new reality, therefore, seems to proceed from that day, most of it focused on the United States itself, its sorrow, its anger, its psychic stresses, its ideas about itself. I would go so far as saying that today almost the least likely argument to be listened to in the United States in the public domain is one that suggests that there are historical reasons why America, as a major world actor, has drawn such animosity to itself by virtue of what it has done; this is considered simply to be an attempt to justify the existence and actions of Bin Laden who has become a vast, over-determined symbol of everything America hates and fears: in any case, such talk is and will not be tolerated in mainstream discourse for the time being, especially not on the mainstream media or in what the government says. The assumption seems to be that American virtue or honour in some profoundly inviolate way has been wounded by an absolutely evil terrorism, and that any minimizing or explanation of that is an intolerable idea even to contemplate, much less to investigate rationally. That such a state of affairs is exactly what the pathologically crazed world-vision of Ben Laden himself seems to have desired all along--a division of the universe into his forces and those of the Christians and Jews--seems not to matter. As a result of that therefore, the political image that the government and the media--which has mostly acted without independence from the government--wish to project is American "unity." There really is a feeling being manufactured by the media and the government that a collective "we" exists and that "we" all act and feel together, as witnessed by such perhaps unimportant surface phenomena as flag-flying and the use of the collective "we" by journalists in describing events all over the world in which the US is involved. We bombed, we said, we decided, we acted, we feel, we believe, etc., etc. So, American unity is being projected with such force as to allow very little questioning of US policy, which in many ways is heading towards a series of unexpected events in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Just like bin Laden, Bush tells the world, you are either with us, or you are with terrorism, and hence against us. In the meantime both George Bush and Tony Blair have realized that indeed something needs to be done about Palestine, even though I believe there is no serious intention of changing US foreign policy to accommodate what is going to be done. In order for that to happen, the US must look at its own history, just as its media flacks like the egregious Thomas Friedman and Fouad Ajami keep preaching at Arab and Muslim societies that that is what they must do, but of course never consider that that is something that everyone, including Americans, needs also to do. Then Bush declares that the US favours a Palestinian state with recognized boundaries next to Israel and adds that this has to be done according to UN Resolutions, without specifying which ones and refusing to meet Yasser Arafat personally. For the past six weeks there has been an organized media campaign in the US more or less pressing the Israeli vision of the world on the American reading and watching public. Its main themes are that Islam and the Arabs are the true causes of terrorism, Israel has been facing such terrorism all its life, Arafat and bin Laden are basically the same thing, most of the US's Arab allies (especially Egypt and Saudi Arabia) have played a clear negative role in sponsoring anti-Americanism, supporting terrorism, and maintaining corrupt, undemocratic societies. Underlying the campaign has been the (at best) dubious thesis that anti-Semitism is on the rise. All of this adds up to a near-promise that anything to do with Palestinian (or Lebanese) resistance to Israeli practices--never more brutal, never more dehumanizing and illegal than today--has to be destroyed after (or perhaps while) the Taliban and Bin Laden have been destroyed. That this also happens to mean that Iraq must be attacked next, and indeed all the enemies of Israel in the region along with Iraq must totally be brought low, is lost on no one. So brazenly has the Zionist propaganda apparatus performed in the weeks since September 11, that very little opposition to these views is encountered. This concentrated pro-Israeli campaign has kept the US administration from anything like a real re-assessment of US policies towards Israel and the Palestinians. Even during the opening rounds of the American counter-propaganda campaign directed to the Muslim and Arab world, there has been a remarkable unwillingness to treat the Arabs as seriously as all other peoples have been treated. Take as an example an Al Jazeera discussion programme a week ago in which bin Laden's latest video was played in its entirety. It accused the US of using Israel to bludgeon the Palestinians without respite; bin Laden of course crazily ascribed this to a Christian and Jewish crusade against Islam, but most people in the Arab world are convinced--because it is patently true--that America has simply allowed Israel to kill Palestinians at will with US weapons and unconditional political support in the UN and elsewhere. The Doha-based moderator of the programme then called on a US official, Christopher Ross, who was in Washington to respond, and then Ross read a long statement whose message was that the US, far from being against Islam and the Arabs, was really their champion (e.g. in Bosnia and Kosovo). Then the moderator asked Ross to explain why the US backed Israeli brutality in its military occupation of Palestine. Instead of taking an honest position, Ross chose instead to defend the US as the only power that has brought the two sides to the negotiating table. As an exercise in propaganda, Ross's performance was poor of course; but as an indication of the possibility of any serious change in US policy, Ross (inadvertently) at least did Arabs the service of indicating that they would have to be fools to believe in any such change. Whatever else it says, Bush's America remains a unilateralist power, in the world, in Afghanistan, in the Middle East, everywhere. It shows no sign of having understood what Palestinian resistance is all about, or why Arabs resent its horrendously unjust policies in turning a blind eye to Israel's maleficent sadism against the Palestinian people as a whole. It still refuses to sign the Kyoto convention, or the War Crimes court agreement, or the anti-landmine conventions, or pay its UN dues. In short, there is absolutely no reason at all why Yasser Arafat and his ever-present coterie should grovel at American feet. Our only hope as a people is for Palestinians to show the world that we have our principles, we occupy the moral high ground, and we must continue an intelligent and well-organized resistance to a criminal Israeli occupation, which no one seems to mention any more. My suggestion is that Arafat should stop his world tours and come back to his people (who keep reminding him that they no longer really support what he does: only 17 per cent say they back what he is doing) and respond to their needs as a real leader must. Israel has been destroying the Palestinian infrastructure, destroying towns and schools, killing innocents, invading at will, without Arafat paying enough serious attention. He must lead the non-violent protest marches on a daily, if not hourly basis, and not let a group of foreign volunteers do our work for us. It is the absence of a self-sacrificing spirit of human and moral solidarity with his people that Arafat's leadership so fatally lacks. I am afraid that this terrible absence has now almost completely marginalized him and his ill-fated and ineffective Authority. Certainly Sharon's brutality has played a major role in destroying it too, but we must remember that before the intifada began, most Palestinians had already lost their faith, and for good reason. What Arafat never seems to have understood is that we are and have always been a movement standing for, symbolizing, getting support as a movement embodying principles of justice and liberation. This alone will enable us to free ourselves from Israeli occupation, not the covert manoeuvring in the halls of western power, where until today Arafat and his people are treated with contempt. We must not as Palestinians or Arabs fall into an easy rhetorical anti-Americanism. It is not acceptable to sit in Beirut or Cairo meeting halls and denounce American imperialism (or Zionist colonialism, for that matter) without a whit of understanding that these are complex societies not always truly represented by their governments' stupid or cruel policies. In this respect, we need to make our resistance respected and understood, not hated and feared as it is now by virtue of suicidal ignorance and indiscriminate belligerence.

Asia Times (Inter Press Service) 13 Nov 2001 US lawmakers snub noses at world court By Jim Lobe and Abid Aslam WASHINGTON - The administration of President George W Bush faces a potential new obstacle to maintaining international support for its "war against terrorism" - this one erected by US legislators. At issue is the American Servicemen's Protection Act (ASPA), an amendment to the State Department budget bill for 2002 that, if signed by Bush, would bar any US cooperation with the nascent International Criminal Court (ICC), even on a case-by-case basis. A key congressional conference committee approved the ASPA late last week. The amendment also would prevent the administration from even sending a US delegation to negotiations to hammer out operational details of the tribunal, which is being set up in the Netherlands to prosecute war crimes, genocide, and other crimes against humanity. The decision attracted little immediate attention but could prove momentous, observers say. ICC proponents denounced the lawmakers' action, calling it especially counterproductive at a moment when Washington needs international support in pursuit of the administration's crusade against terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia, and as yet unidentified terrorists and their supporters worldwide. European countries have pleaded with Washington not to oppose the ICC. They include Germany, which has pledged troops to the US-led "war". "This is the worst possible time to do something like this," said Steve Dimoff, director of the Washington office of the non-governmental United Nations Association-USA. "It's like telling everyone, 'We really don't need you guys.'" The move also came as Bush prepared to appeal for greater international support of US efforts on Saturday, at the opening of the UN General Assembly's annual general debate. "I'll make the case," Bush said of his speech, "that the time of sympathy is over. We appreciate the condolences. Now is the time for action." However, a State Department official poured water on the president's chances. "Unless Bush vows to veto the bill - something I don't think he'll do - this is going to be seen as a real slap in the face by the other delegations," said the official, who asked not to be identified. It is not yet clear what precisely the administration will do about the conference committee's action. The committee was formed to reconcile two different versions of an appropriations bill that includes the State Department's budget. The House of Representatives version included nothing about the ICC, but the House majority whip, unilateralist Republican Tom DeLay, prevailed upon the House conferees to yield to the Senate version of the bill, which included the ASPA. The provision most objectionable to critics, the so-called Craig Amendment, states: "None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act shall be available for cooperation with, or assistance or other support to, the International Criminal Court or the Preparatory Commission. This subsection shall not be construed to apply to any other entity outside the Rome Treaty." The last reference suggests that the amendment would not apply to tribunals already set up for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Under this provision, "if the ICC were in the future to prosecute the world's worst criminals, including those who attack the US or its interests, the US would be prohibited from working with the court", said Heather Hamilton, program director at the non-governmental World Federalist Association. This would appear to make it impossible, for example, for US troops to turn over Osama bin Laden or anyone else in Al-Qaeda to the ICC. Apart from this provision, the Bush administration endorsed the ASPA in a September 25 letter to Senator Jesse Helms, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Helms has said that he opposes the court because "instead of helping the United States go after real war criminals and terrorists, [it] has the unbridled power to intimidate our military people and other citizens with bogus, politicized prosecutions". The administration opposes the creation of the court for similar reasons but told Congress that the Senate provision would impede its efforts to promote US interests related to the court. Among its other provisions, the ASPA bars military aid to other countries unless they agree to shield US troops on their territory from ICC prosecution and similarly restricts US troops from participating in UN peacekeeping operations unless the UN Security Council explicitly exempts them from prosecution. The bill also authorizes "any action necessary" to free US troops who may be handed over to the court "improperly". "I cannot believe that at the very moment we are asking the world to join in apprehending the thugs and criminals who claimed 6,000 lives," Senator Christopher Dodd, a Democrat, said last month, when the Craig amendment was approved, "we would say we will have nothing to do with the establishment of an international criminal court." Proposals for an international criminal court have been circulated in one form or another since the Nuremberg Nazi war crime trials after World War II. A framework for the creation of the ICC was established under the 1998 Rome Treaty. It will enter into force when 60 of the 120 nations that signed the pact have ratified it. So far, 43 have and some observers believe the target will be reached by the middle of next year. Only seven countries voted against the treaty, including the United States, China, Israel and Iraq.

WP 10 Nov 2001 Hate Groups Use Attacks to Recruit Members By Robert E. Pierre, Page A06 CHICAGO, Nov. 9 -- The goodwill unearthed across the nation by September's terrorist attacks has done little to stop the spread of hate, according to a new report detailing the activities of 338 white nationalist groups in 10 Midwestern states. In fact, some groups are using the events as a recruiting tool. White supremacy groups have used images of the burning World Trade Center towers on fliers as a way to argue that the United States needs to close its borders to new residents. Others have argued that it was U.S. support of Israel that led to the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. Some are using the images on their magazine covers and Web sites to whip up support and to increase their numbers at rallies. "White nationalist organizations are really trying hard to capitalize on the events of Sept. 11," said Devin Burghart, author of the report titled, "State of Hate: White Nationalism in the Midwest 2001-2002." "They are beginning to gain some footing. They are actively out there seeking to use the issue as a recruiting tool." However, there is scant hard evidence that membership numbers are rising. The report, to be released today, details 338 white nationalist groups active in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin. They break down this way: 98 Christian patriot-militia groups, 50 Christian identity groups, 37 Ku Klux Klan chapters, 95 neo-Nazi and skinhead groups and 58 groups that are a mix of anti-immigration advocates, neo-Confederates and Holocaust deniers. Burghart, who authored a similar report two years ago, directs the democracy initiative of the Center for New Community, a nonprofit, faith-based organization in suburban Chicago. The group is committed to countering, among other things, racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia in the Midwest by monitoring the activities of groups they believe fit these categories. Not everyone singled out as a hate group agrees with the moniker. Take the Council of Conservative Citizens, which came under national scrutiny in the past year because high-profile politicians, including Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), have spoken at its meetings. The council succeeds the Citizens Council, which led the fight against integration in the 1950s and 1960s, and it supports those who oppose interracial marriage and believe that African Americans are less intelligent than whites. "We don't think we're a hate group," said Gordon Lee Baum, the group's chief executive officer and a St. Louis attorney. "We don't preach hate against anyone. We do have some black members, some Oriental members, some Arabic members." Baum said there has been renewed interest in membership since Sept. 11, mainly people attracted by the ideas of closing U.S. borders, deporting all those here illegally and ditching for good the notion of giving amnesty to illegal immigrants. But he didn't give any numbers. He does not deny that the group opposes affirmative action and busing, and that many of its chapters in the South are strong advocates of keeping the Confederate flag flying. What's different now from even a couple of years ago, said Burghart, is that many groups like the Council of Conservative Citizens have moved from anti-government rhetoric and violence to more mainstream issues such as immigration. "They are trying to move from the margins to the mainstream," he said. But not everyone wants to be part of the mainstream. "Is our involvement in the Security of the Jewish State Worth This?" said one headline above a picture of the collapsing towers. The image and headline were issued by the National Alliance, which says it promotes "White schools, White residential neighborhoods and recreation areas, White workplaces, White farms and countryside." A posting on the National Alliance Web site on Sept. 11 read: "The enemy is, for now at least, our friends. We may not want them marrying our daughters, just as they would not want us marrying theirs. We may not want them in our societies, just as they would not want [us in] theirs. But anyone who is willing to drive a plane into a building to kill jews is alright by me. I wish our members had half as much testicular fortitude." Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino, said these extreme views will be their undoing. "Today, [hate groups] tend to be marginalized but they still are appealing to a small but elastic reservoir of discontent, particularly among young people," he said. "But I don't think they are getting much traction."

WP 9 Nov 2001 Lawmakers Accept Provision Against World Court Friday, Page A24 After last-minute intervention yesterday by House GOP Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), House and Senate negotiators agreed to prohibit any U.S. cooperation in the establishment of the International Criminal Court, which is being established in the Netherlands to prosecute war crimes, genocide and other crimes against humanity. DeLay and other members of Congress fear that the court's broad reach could be extended to the prosecution of U.S. servicemen abroad. But although the administration also opposes the establishment of the court for similar reasons, it told Congress that the Senate provision, in the bill funding the Commerce, Justice and State departments, would "impede our efforts to advocate U.S. interests" related to the court. Nonetheless, House negotiators, led by Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), agreed to accept the Senate provision after DeLay weighed in on the side of the Senate, sources said. -- Dan Morgan

AP 9 Nov 2001 U.S Hate Groups Under Scrutiny By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, SPOKANE, Wash. American hate groups have talked for years about using anthrax to strike at the U.S. government. But experts who monitor extremists doubt that neo-Nazi, Ku Klux Klan or domestic militia organizations have the scientific know-how or the financial means to carry out the anthrax-by-mail attacks. ``Obviously we don't know, but we have leaned toward a foreign explanation or a madman with a microbiology degree,'' said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., which tracks hate groups. Some white supremacist, anti-Semitic organizations cheered the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, finding common cause with the Israel-hating terrorists. They are among the many suspects in the mailing of anthrax-contaminated letters. Four people have died of anthrax over the past few weeks. On Wednesday, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said the investigation has not been able to determine if the attacks were the work of domestic criminals or overseas terrorists. Hate groups are under scrutiny because of past activities. In 1995, Larry Wayne Harris, a microbiologist and alleged white supremacist, was arrested in Ohio with three vials of bubonic plague toxin he had ordered fraudulently by mail from a supplier in Maryland. He was given 18 months on probation. He wrote ``Bacteriological Warfare: A Major Threat to North America,'' which some regard as a how-to book. Alexander James Curtis, arrested this year in San Diego on charges of harassing civil rights leaders and vandalizing two synagogues, published an Internet guide in 2000 called ``Biology for Aryans'' that described the use of botulism, anthrax and typhoid for terror. In 1995, members of the Patriot's Council were arrested in Minnesota and charged with manufacturing ricin, a deadly biochemical substance, to kill law enforcement officers. In 1998, members of a Texas anti-government group were charged with plotting to infect people with cactus needles dipped in anthrax or the AIDS virus. While some extreme right-wing groups have talked about using anthrax to disrupt society since the 1980s, most such organizations have little money and their members are often misfits with little education, Potok said. ``You wonder if they could manage a pipe bomb,'' Potok said. ``There is no evidence of American hate groups with the money or expertise needed to produce weaponized anthrax.'' Brent Smith, a University of Alabama professor who studies domestic terrorists, said he, too, doubts domestic right-wing extremists had anything to do with the anthrax attacks. ``The average Joe Blow redneck off the street is going to kill himself before he can make it,'' he said. Scientists agree it would take specialized knowledge in several fields to obtain and process anthrax into a terrorist weapon. But hate groups have brought suspicion upon themselves by cheering the Sept. 11 attacks as a first blow against what they consider the Jewish-dominated U.S. government. Some have suggested the attacks were the work of Israeli agents trying to spur the United States into destroying Islamic militants. ``The people who flew those planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon did it because they had been pushed into a corner by the U.S. government acting on behalf of the Jews,'' wrote William Pierce, head of the neo-Nazi National Alliance in Hillsboro, W.Va. ``We may not want them marrying our daughters, just as they would not want us marrying theirs,'' said Billy Roper, a leader of the National Alliance right-wing group. ``But anyone who is willing to drive a plane into a building to kill Jews is all right by me.'' - On the Net: www.splcenter.org

Reuters 9 Nov 2001 France Blasts U.S. Yahoo Ruling PARIS -- The United States will turn into a haven for extremists and racists using the Internet to spread their beliefs if a U.S. court ruling exempting Yahoo from foreign jurisdiction is upheld, a French lawyer said on Friday. The lawyer, Stephane Lilti, represented Jewish and human rights groups who won a landmark case a year ago forcing the U.S. Internet portal to block access from France to online sales of Nazi memorabilia. He said on Friday that an appeal would be filed against a ruling on Wednesday by a U.S. federal judge who said Yahoo was not bound to comply with foreign laws governing the Internet.

Chicago Sun Times 5 Nov 2001 Amid terror, Wiesel clings to faith BY CATHLEEN FALSANI Try to imagine what his eyes have seen. At 15, German troops drove his family and all of his Jewish neighbors from their homes in the middle of the night, beat them in the street, loaded them into trains like cattle and took them to concentration camps. He never saw his mother or younger sister again. At 20, he watched helpless as his father died an agonizing death, without any medical help, in a filthy bunk, in a deathly cold barracks in Buchenwald, just two weeks before the concentration camp was liberated. At 73, he sat in the back of a taxicab in midtown Manhattan as huge clouds of black smoke pierced the bright morning skyline over the World Trade Center's twin towers. Then he waited for more than one hellish hour to hear that his son, who works on Wall Street, was alive. Elie Wiesel has seen terror. He has witnessed more hatred, death and horror than one person should. And yet, he has not lost faith. In God or humanity. In an interview with the Sun-Times during a visit Sunday to Chicago, where he spoke to a sold-out crowd at Temple Sholom in Lake View, Wiesel spoke of death, terror, sins of the past and hope for the future. "For the first time in history, in the history of terror, terrorists chose death--to inflict it and receive death--without using words," said Wiesel, a native of Sighet, Transylvania, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. "'We are doing it because we hate the world and the world hates us. We are doing it because we have no choice. We are doing it because of Israel. We are doing it because of America's riches.' They didn't give us the words, as if to say, 'You don't deserve our words. The only language you understand is death,' " he said. "I had a feeling that it was a watershed. Sometimes you feel that history with a capital 'H' is shaking itself up. And all this through a human being. . . . The question that kept working itself through my mind was: What does it mean? What does it mean? How could some man just do that?" In his 1960 book Night, which recounted in stark detail his experiences in Nazi concentration camps in Germany during World War II, Wiesel said witnessing such inhumane acts made him abandon his faith. "Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.. . . Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust," he wrote. Such horror makes some people run to God and others run from God, Wiesel said. Eventually, he returned to the Jewish faith that had once consumed his life as a teenager who studied and prayed for hours each day. He still prays, he said, but the prayers are different. "I argue with God," Wiesel said, a smile cracking the seemingly permanent furrow in his brow. "When I see injustice, tragedy, excessive hate, I ask, 'Why don't you do what you can do, what only you can do? Why do you let this happen. . . .' I said to myself, 'Look at what some of your children have done in your name.' And I feel sorry for God." If given the chance to talk to Osama bin Laden, Wiesel, who lives in New York City, knows exactly what he'd tell him. "Stop. Just stop. You are killing, and in the killing you are hurting your religion and your own people. So just stop," he said. "Big deal to kill. I don't understand this. What do they think, it's so special? It makes them so great to be able to kill. I have seen enough. I will never understand. Pascal said that man is a rose. A little pebble could kill us." Wiesel doesn't believe in capital punishment. He'd like to see bin Laden captured, put on trial and imprisoned. "I want to hear them. I want to know what made them do what they did. We must listen well, be human enough to listen," he said. "We must defeat terrorism. If we could do it with words, I'd say let's use words. "Once we stop this, then there can come a time for our own soul-searching. But not now. Now we must organize all our energies and stand behind President Bush and the alliance. There will be a time for spiritual and moral soul-searching." The final acts of so many victims of the Sept. 11 attacks give him hope for the future and comfort in the midst of this present turmoil, Wiesel said. "They were going to die. They knew it, and their last words to their families were, 'I love you.' Even in great pain, their last words were words of love.. . . People who actually could have saved themselves and they ran back in to save others instead. If humanity is capable of that, how can I lose hope in humanity?" Education is the key to preventing the cycle of violence and hatred that marred the 20th century from repeating itself in the 21st century, Wiesel said. Children learn to hate. They can also learn not to hate. "It is necessary, it is possible," he said, "and because it must be, it can be."

Al-Ahram Weekly Online 25 - 31 October 2001 Issue No.557 The very model of a rogue state US support for Israel has led to a logical and political impasse, writes Ibrahim Nafie. It seems the Middle East is condemned to contend with the most glaring violation of all human rights conventions and principles of international law. The US veto is forever at hand to forestall the implementation of UN resolutions on the Middle East conflict and to prevent the passing of new resolutions that would force Israel to halt settlement construction, refrain from the use of force against the Palestinians and accept an international monitoring team. Not only does Washington continue to abet Israel's attacks on Palestinian rights and lives, it also exempts it from the category of terrorism. It is always ready to indulge the Israeli spin that calls its brutal repression of the Palestinians "self-defence" and its official policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders "targeted killing." Clearly, Washington has developed a singular definition of terrorism, one tailored to its own interests and those of Israel. Hence the schizophrenia we see today in its massive assault on Afghanistan, described as a "comprehensive" war on terrorism, and its unwavering support for the terrorism perpetrated by the Sharon government. In an attempt to placate Arab and Islamic opinion, Washington has argued that the present campaign must focus on the Taliban and Al-Qa'ida, after which attention will turn to the plight of the Palestinians. But the hints that it will target other Arab and Islamic countries have only incensed public opinion further. People already suspect that the US's declared motives are not those behind a war on an impoverished, strife-ridden people. It is common knowledge that the US's new enemy is the same terrorist group it fostered and supported during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan; nor has it escaped anyone that the US still condones Israel's occupation of Palestine territory and the government's crimes against the Palestinian people. In his interview with members of the General Secretariat of the Federation of Arab Journalists, President Mubarak predicted that a broadening of the US military campaign will drive public opinion not only in the Arab world, but in the entire world, to oppose Washington. Mubarak put his finger on the pulse of ordinary Arabs. They feel that a truly impartial anti-terrorist drive should begin with Israel, which, with its daily bombardment and deliberate starvation of Palestinian civilians, is the foremost perpetrator of terrorism in the world. Washington, however, has yet to issue so much as a condemnation of Israeli brutality and the UN has yet to take action against the violations committed by Israeli occupation forces. As the US bombardment of Afghanistan intensifies, Israeli forces have moved into PA controlled cities in Area A, snubbing US "appeals" to withdraw, in an obvious bid to create a situation that will annul the Oslo accords. If this plan succeeds, it will make it impossible to speak of peace and preclude the US's pledges to resolve the crisis in Palestine once it has accomplished its goals in Afghanistan. Alert to this danger, President Mubarak has cautioned the Bush administration, which recently announced its support for the creation of a Palestinian state, "to translate this new stance into practical steps that will ensure the restoration of peace in the Middle East." US action against Afghanistan and its inaction toward Israel has put the governments Washington describes as moderate in a very delicate position. Public opinion is now protesting US double standards and the racist stereotyping of Arab and Muslim peoples. This is precisely the situation Arab and Muslim leaders warned against when they urged Washington and its partners in the coalition against terrorism to make a clear distinction between terrorism and Islam. If this distinction is not made apparent, they cautioned, the coalition will fracture. The Arab countries will be unable to rally popular support, for they cannot argue credibly that it is not targeting innocent Arab and Muslim civilians. Above all, concrete steps must be taken to curb the Sharon government's mass murder of the Palestinian people if Arabs and Muslims are to believe that no special agenda is at work. Egypt was among the first nations in the world to condemn the suicide attacks on New York and Washington and declare its support for the US's campaign to bring the perpetrators to justice. This position emanates from the belief that terrorism is an outrage, regardless of the ethnic, religious or ideological affiliations of those who commit it. Simultaneously, Egypt, like most of the international community, draws a sharp line between terrorism and the universally recognised right to resist foreign occupation. Egypt has long called for an international conference that will allow the world to define terrorism clearly. The situation has shown the need for such a conference in the wake of operations in Afghanistan. Once the US had obtained support for a global anti-terrorist battle, it abridged this war to its current operations in Afghanistan, forsaking the principle of universality to appease the government of the war criminal Sharon. It is not surprising that US policy should come under heavy criticism from Arab and Muslim quarters, or that tensions should be surfacing. The US has endorsed Israel's terrorist agenda in the Middle East while mobilising international support for attacks on terrorist bases in another part of the world. Washington could have done much to avert growing anti-American hostility had it resolved to focus solely on its own agenda, which is to root out terrorist cells in Afghanistan and elsewhere. It remains determined to cater to Israeli priorities, however, thereby rendering itself vulnerable to inordinate problems that will only grow more acute with time. The Sharon government's determination to defy international law and universal principles of human rights, its efforts to impose its warped conception of security, make it the model of a "rogue" state. The US's continued support for it flies in the face of the values America espouses -- values it cited in mobilising support for the fight against terrorism. This is a predicament that Washington will have to resolve in the near future.

Asia-Pacific

Afghanistan

BBC 26 Nov 2001 'Hundreds dead' in Taleban prison revolt Tanks were used to quell the revolt A revolt by foreign pro-Taleban fighters who were being held prisoner in a fort near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif appears to have been brought under control. US planes and special forces troops fought alongside opposition Northern Alliance forces to quell the uprising, which reportedly left hundreds dead. The prisoners had surrendered to the alliance on Saturday There is no clear picture of the number of casualties, but a Northern Alliance spokesman said the fighting, which is thought to have involved at least 300 Taleban, left most of the prisoners dead. The foreign fighters, believed to have links to Islamic militant Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, had been detained in Qala-e-Jhangi fortress following their surrender to the Northern Alliance outside Kunduz on Saturday. They were being guarded by about 100 Northern Alliance soldiers. US Defense Department spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dan Stoneking said the Chechens, Pakistanis and Arabs tried to fight their way out in a battle which raged for several hours. The prisoners are reported to have seized weapons from their guards, whom they killed. The huge mud-walled 19th-century fort was under the control of Northern Alliance warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum. Colonel Stoneking confirmed that US special forces troops had been deployed, and said General Dostum had sent in 500 of his men to quell the uprising. 'American wounded' An American Central Intelligence Agency operative is reported to have been wounded in the uprising, but this has not been confirmed. A reporter for the American magazine Time said the uprising began when the prisoners were being interviewed by a British reporter, whom they badly beat up before overpowering their guards. US special forces who were already in the fort called in air support as the revolt took hold, he said. Foreign fighters have been frequently beaten or killed when territory has fallen to the Northern Alliance in the course of the current conflict. But on Sunday, the head of the Northern Alliance, Burhanuddin Rabbani, promised his forces would spare foreigners, and suggested they might be handed over to the United Nations.

NYT 25 Nov 2001 How to Put a Nation Back Together Again By BARBARA CROSSETTE THE assignment is Afghanistan. But even after a decade or more of rescuing imploded countries, the United Nations and its members have never faced anything like this. A quarter century of war and repression in the name of Islam has left Afghanistan less a country than a drought-stricken shambles of a battlefield with up to a fifth of its 27 million people huddled in refugee tents or makeshift hovels with scant food and no medicine. And, yet again, they are at the mercy of narrow-minded warlords. The Bush administration, which once scorned "nation building," now pins its hopes on the United Nations to rebuild Afghanistan. A planning meeting is scheduled in Bonn this week. Fortunately — after a decade of trial and error in Cambodia, the Balkans, Somalia, Haiti and East Timor — there is a corps of experts and a formidable body of expertise to draw on this time. Many lessons have been learned, often painfully, about what works or does not. Somalia was a disaster. Ethnic cleansing raged in Bosnia until NATO stepped in, and Rwanda endured genocide. Haiti seemed to defy most good efforts. More successful have been recent moves into Kosovo and into East Timor, where a United Nations administration is building new political, judicial and economic institutions. Meanwhile, an instinctively undemocratic government in Cambodia finds it can't quite rid itself of the rule of law, which a United Nations mission introduced, nor silence dissenters who have gathered strength under international tutelage. Officials who have played a role as the United Nations has tried to untangle the ruins of failed states have refined similar lists of rules to go by. In conversations, they suggested a few cardinal principles: 1. Neither the U.N. nor any one country can perform miracles; a new way of living, however humane, should not be forced on people who don't want it. "The world has learned a degree of humility in the last decade," said David Malone, a Canadian diplomat who is president of the International Peace Academy, a United Nations agency that tracks conflict resolution. "Ideal social engineering projects devised in the United Nations Security Council or in regional organizations cannot be imposed on populations." "This was particularly true in Somalia," he said. The United Nations' vision of a state strong enough to displace clan rule "was simply not shared, and ultimately was resisted by the Somalis with incredible loss of life — and loss of heart by the international community, leading to our abdication of responsibility in Rwanda." Mr. Malone sees warning signs in Afghanistan — "a fractious and fractured country beset by warlordism, where war in many ways is sport as well as livelihood to many of the men. To wean them from the only life they know is going to be extremely difficult." What the United Nations does well, he added, "is peace-building in the right conditions when the parties are actually interested in stability and economic growth, which are taken for granted by us. But they are not taken for granted in many parts of the world where clan honor, ethnic survival or religion may be more important." 2. Don't wait for the peacekeepers. Or count on blue helmets to restore order. Faster-moving armies are necessary. The Australians in East Timor, the Nigerians in Sierra Leone, NATO in Bosnia and Kosovo, all conducted operations led (with or without United Nations blessing) by national armies, and their quick action made a difference. Nancy Soderberg, a member of President Bill Clinton's National Security Council who later represented Washington at the United Nations Security Council, said the debacle in Somalia, where warlords had reduced the country to violent fiefs, occurred because the international presence was weak and miscast. "The U.N. didn't have an international force occupying Somalia to keep the peace," she said. "Our troops were there to provide humanitarian assistance." When that proved impossible, the mission collapsed and Americans died. Ms. Soderberg is now vice president of the International Crisis Group, an organization that issues rapid- fire reports on areas of unrest and conflict. In Bosnia, she said, the troops sent by the Security Council were inadequate to handle the murderous rivalries. "In the early days of Bosnia, you had a bunch of U.N. guys who weren't there to fight a war and it was disastrous — U.N. people chained to lampposts watching ethnic cleansing going on," she said. The key to peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan will be the quick introduction of an outside force to provide enough safety for work to begin, she said. "It's entirely possible that the Afghans will reject an outside force," Ms. Soderberg said. "If you can't get an international force in there, then the U.N.'s ability to help the Afghans would be severely hampered." 3. Set the table for talks and leave the room. Richard Goldstone, the South African judge who was the first prosecutor for United Nations tribunals on war crimes in the Balkans and Rwanda, said South Africa's transition to majority rule and the hunt for Balkan war criminals taught him that "clearly the first priority — not always attainable — is getting local people talking to each other, preferably on their own." "The key to South Africa's success," he said, "was that negotiations were handled by South Africans themselves but with crucial input, support and encouragement from the international community." In the Balkans he sees still-unfinished business. He said he has seen people there "consumed by their own history, a very selective history." The sense of victimization still runs high and could be addressed by a truth commission like those in South Africa and Central America. 4. Make the talks all-inclusive. Sir Brian Urquhart, a former under secretary general of the United Nations who worked on early peacekeeping missions in the Congo and the Middle East, said that excluding anyone associated with the Taliban from the meetings in Bonn is a mistake reminiscent of early Mideast policy errors involving the Palestine Liberation Organization. The Taliban, after all, spring from the country's largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns. "You can't have a Middle East peace conference without the P.L.O.," he said. "But that's what we tried to do for 40 years and got into a hell of a mess. It's an old, old story: we don't deal with somebody for supposedly moral reasons, and then we get something infinitely worse. We wouldn't deal with the P.L.O., and now we've got Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Some element of the Taliban should be there in these talks. They were the previous government, after all." Representatives of Mohammed Zahir Shah, the last Afghan king, will be present, although he has not been in the country since his overthrow in 1973. The Taliban are out because the Northern Alliance, fighting in support of the United States, refuses to entertain their presence. Pakistan, which once supported the Taliban, still argues that the Northern Alliance, which wrecked Afghanistan by infighting and looting after the Soviet Union withdrew and its puppet Afghan government collapsed, should not dictate the country's future. But Pakistan lost this round. 5. Whatever the lessons, they will mean little unless applied by leaders with skill, creativity and wisdom. The people in any nation being built need to trust the builders. Mr. Goldstone said his own country, South Africa, was fortunate to have had its own political and judicial leadership and institutions that people could trust at a critical moment. For Afghanistan, Secretary General Kofi Annan has chosen two talented and experienced international troubleshooters, Lakhdar Brahimi of Algeria and Francesc Vendrell of Spain. The Bush administration has also sent in pros: Richard N. Haass, the State Department's policy planner, and James F. Dobbins, a career foreign service officer with experience in Haiti and the Balkans. But there have to be local counterparts, and in Afghanistan, Mr. Goldstone warned, towering symbols of wisdom and strong institutions have been noticeably absent.

Los Angeles Times 25 Nov 2001 DIPLOMACY Hopping on U.N. Special Envoy's Bandwagon Diplomacy: Back in the job he had quit in frustration, Lakhdar Brahimi is leading global effort for post-Taliban Afghan government. By WILLIAM ORME, TIMES STAFF WRITER UNITED NATIONS -- The last time Lakhdar Brahimi had the job of special envoy to Afghanistan, he quit in disgust. Nobody cared enough about Afghanistan, despite his steady stream of reports about Taliban massacres of Shiite villagers, the point-blank killings by state gunmen of foreign diplomats and U.N. emissaries, and the rising danger to relief efforts posed by Osama bin Laden's network. And all those problems were set against a dire and volatile backdrop of draconian civil liberties restrictions, raging guerrilla warfare, famine and earthquakes. The Security Council had authorized him to promote dialogue among rebel factions and between the opposition and the Taliban, but all sides brazenly broke pledges to cease fighting during their initial discussions. And there were no guarantees that wealthy nations would deliver the huge humanitarian aid package needed to undergird reconciliation and reconstruction in Afghanistan. The Taliban was openly rebuffing U.N. demands that it surrender Bin Laden, under pain of sanctions--proof to many that the world body was wielding neither a sufficiently enticing carrot nor a convincingly threatening stick. So on Oct. 20, 1999, after two years of dead-end diplomacy, the famously calm and cautious Algerian diplomat shocked his U.N. associates by announcing his resignation as Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy. Afghanistan is "a sad, sad country," Brahimi said with uncharacteristic emotion. Its biggest neighbors--Iran and Pakistan--were making a dangerous situation worse, he said. But if neither the warring factions there nor the world community was committed to confronting the crisis, he was wasting his time, he said. "It was a stunning moment," said a close U.N. colleague here, requesting anonymity. "You don't hear U.N. diplomats at that level speaking like that." Now everybody cares intensely about Afghanistan, and Brahimi has no problem getting the world's attention. Coaxed back into the job last month, the reappointed envoy almost immediately became the driving strategist in the global effort to replace the Taliban regime with a broad-based government and rebuild the devastated country with massive foreign aid. His blueprint for a governing coalition was quickly and unanimously endorsed by the Security Council, a show of support that one U.S. diplomat termed "extraordinary," considering the stakes involved. On Tuesday near Bonn, Brahimi will chair the first gathering of major Afghan political forces since the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif. He alone will represent the interests of the United Nations and the West, while striving to act as an impartial intermediary among rival Afghan factions. At the urging of U.S. Ambassador John D. Negroponte, the Security Council has given him unusually broad latitude. Brahimi has not been ordered to push for Afghan backing for a multilateral peace force, for example, despite requests from some council members. Nor has he been asked to follow any specific ethnic or political formula for the composition of a viable new Afghan regime. Afghans 'Must Have Ownership' From the beginning, the U.N.'s post-Taliban plan bore Brahimi's personal stamp, drawing on the lessons associates say he has learned not just from his Afghanistan experience but also from U.N. assignments in Haiti and elsewhere--and from the bloody ethnic and religious strife of his own Algeria. He has insisted that the U.N. avoid the kind of caretaker role it assumed in Cambodia and East Timor. The Afghans "must have ownership" of the rebuilding process, he has repeated like a mantra. Many close observers of Afghanistan were surprised that Brahimi was persuaded to take his old job back. "He gave up in total frustration before, with basically the same players we have now, though in a different political context," said Sidney Jones, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, which also had been sounding early warnings about the violent and volatile situation in Afghanistan. "At least he doesn't have any illusions about everything moving smoothly." Brahimi answers skeptics by portraying his patrons in the Security Council--the United States very much included--as chastened by the realization that they are reaping the whirlwind of past policy failures. "What makes us more optimistic now than in the past," he said recently, "is the fact that there is a very strong international political will that was not there in the past. The international community, the biggest countries in the world, recognize publicly that they failed Afghanistan in the past, that they left the Afghan people to themselves, and they are saying--and I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt--that they want to now help the people of Afghanistan." At 67, effortlessly trilingual in English, French and Arabic, and unflappably cordial, Brahimi today seems the epitome of the urbane, pinstriped diplomat. Though known for a keen analytical intelligence that even close associates can find intimidating, he is praised by colleagues as a careful listener and a natural conciliator. "I have never seen him lose his temper," said Brian Atwood, a former head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, who worked under Brahimi for months on a task force examining U.N. peacekeeping operations. "He is a consensus builder." In his youth, though, this polished product of the finest schools of Paris and Algiers was an ardent revolutionary. For five years, he was the Algerian National Liberation Front's Jakarta-based emissary to Southeast Asia, and after Algerian independence he spent much of his early diplomatic career in the Cairo headquarters of the Arab League. Later, in 1991, as the league's undersecretary-general, Brahimi gained world prominence as a peacemaker by brokering an end to Lebanon's ruinous civil war. Two Tumultuous Years as Foreign Minister Returning to Algeria, he served for two tumultuous years as the foreign minister of a military regime that suspended elections when it became clear that the Islamist opposition would win. In the vicious civil war that followed, more moderate Islamists were overshadowed by the Armed Islamic Group--a North African counterpart to the Taliban--which routinely killed secular female professionals encountered at its roadblocks and collaborated clandestinely with Bin Laden's Al Qaeda network abroad. The experience strongly shaped Brahimi's views on Afghanistan, friends say. The U.N. then enlisted Brahimi as a specialist in difficult tasks, sending him to negotiate with then-President Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire and President Saddam Hussein in Iraq. As the leader of a team of U.N. observers in South Africa, Brahimi witnessed--and some say helped secure--the historic presidential election of Nelson Mandela in 1994. Then Brahimi was dispatched for two years as the U.N. special representative to Haiti. Though his immediate objectives were achieved--military despots were forced out; a democratically elected president was sworn in--Haiti today is still a political shambles, riven by corruption and violence. But Brahimi had few illusions about the ability of outsiders to create lasting institutions there, associates say. "His view was that we had to give them the opportunity to start all over again, on their own," said Nicole Lannegrace, a U.N. official who worked with Brahimi in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. When he abruptly left the Afghanistan post two years ago, Annan tapped him for another sensitive assignment: the analysis of U.N. peacekeeping problems. The "Brahimi report" greatly burnished the Algerian's reputation for independence. It pulled no punches, critically assessing the performance of the Security Council and powerful U.N. personalities, most notably Annan, who ran U.N. peacekeeping operations during the period under review. In Central Africa and the Balkans, the report said, U.N. efforts were often undermined by poor planning, insufficient military resources and shifting political goals. Yet U.N. insiders say Annan welcomed the criticism, calculating that the report's candor would help win support for its plea for more money, managers and materiel for U.N. peacekeeping missions--and for clearer definitions of these missions from the Security Council. Brahimi is now seen almost as a surrogate for Annan, associates say, sharing his affable yet detached demeanor and, more important, his broad political views. But Brahimi's biggest asset in his current job may be his high standing in Washington, diplomats say. The Brahimi report was welcomed on Capitol Hill, and the envoy's tenure in Haiti was marked by unusually close collaboration with U.S. policymakers, former Clinton administration aides say. Still, Brahimi has been openly critical of U.S. bombing strikes and has publicly positioned himself as a spokesman for the Afghan people. Afghanistan's problems are "compounded by this military campaign that is affecting a number of civilians," he said recently. "Yet there is nobody in the whole world, including the Americans and other members of the coalition, who believe that the Afghans themselves have been guilty of anything."

Dawn (Pakistan) 23 Nov 2001 Genocide in Kunduz feared Bureau Report PESHAWAR, Nov 22: Two former speakers of the NWFP Assembly belonging to PPP, Barrister Masood Kausar, and Abdul Akber Khan, have expressed their fear of genocide of Pakistanis and Pukhtoons in Afghanistan especially in Kunduz and have asked the government to make efforts for safe exit of these people from the besieged areas. Commenting over the siege of Kunduz and war on various fronts, including Kandahar, the PPP leaders said the Northern Alliance forces had been misled about true identity of these Pakistanis present in Afghanistan. Mr Kausar said that most of the Pakistanis were the misled-lot who were asked to go to Afghanistan to fight against the US and its allies. He said they were not informed that the Taliban were in fact fighting against the Northern Alliance and not the American ground troops. Mr Kausar said the Northern Alliance should understand the fact that these Pakistanis were not against them and they had only gone to Afghanistan for safeguarding its sovereignty. He said that the Pakistan government should prevail on the United Nations and other forces to make the safe exit of Pakistanis possible from the troubled areas. Abdul Akber said that if the trapped Pakistanis were against the Northern Alliance they would have gone to Afghanistan in 1996 and not now. "These are not Al-Qaeda people and in fact they are innocent Pakistani youngsters who were misled by some of their leaders in backward areas," he added. Moreover, they said that most of the besieged people in Kunduz were Pukhtoon settlers who had got nothing to do with the Taliban movement or Al-Qaeda. They warned of severe repercussions if the Northern Alliance went ahead with the genocide of those people, fearing that the fall out of any step aimed at ethnic cleansing would be more severe in Pakistan.

Independent (UK)22 Nov 2001 Leaders in Kunduz linked to massacres War on Terrorism: War lords By Justin Huggler in Taloqan, Afghanistan. The desperate men holding out inside the besieged Taliban stronghold of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan are no strangers to murder and massacre – the two most senior Taliban commanders in the city have both been linked to one of the worst massacres that took place in Afghanistan under the Taliban, in which a 16-year-old boy was skinned alive. And a close ally of Osama bin Laden, a Chechen warlord with a reputation for cutting the throats of Russian prisoners-of-war in public, is the leader of the 2,000 al-Qa'ida fighters also holed up inside Kunduz vowing to fight to the death. There are growing and well-founded fears of a potential bloodbath in the city. As many as 20,000 Taliban fighters are trapped inside, according to the Northern Alliance, whose forces are besieging Kunduz. The Alliance is desperately trying to negotiate a surrender, but says that more than 10,000 foreign Taliban volunteers, including some 2,000 al-Qa'ida fighters, are vowing to fight to the death. The United States has harmed hopes of a peaceful surrender. The Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said he would rather the al-Qa'ida fighters were killed or imprisoned than allowed safe passage to a third country, as the Taliban have been asking. And the United Nations, which the Taliban was calling on to guarantee a safe passage for the foreigners, has said it does not have the means to organise one. If more blood is spilled in Kunduz, the leaders of those trapped inside are men already steeped in it. The man in charge of Mr bin Laden's men inside Kunduz has been named by the Northern Alliance as Omar al-Khatab. He is known to be an associate of Mr bin Laden, who has had links with him since the eighties, according to Russian intelligence. He fought as a warlord in Chechnya, and the Russians have accused him of triggering the 1999 war in Chechnya by invading the neighbouring Russian republic of Dagestan. He is an ethnic Arab of mixed Saudi and Jordanian descent, and is known for using car bombs. The Northern Alliance has claimed that most Afghan Taliban are prepared to surrender, and that it is the foreigners alone who are preventing them – all over Afghanistan, the foreigners are becoming the scapegoats for all the crimes of the Taliban. The two most senior Taliban commanders in Kunduz, Mullah Mohammed Fazil, and Mullah Dadullah, recently travelled to Mazar-i-Sharif to meet the Uzbek warlord, General Rashid Dostum, and negotiate the city's surrender, according to General Dostum's people. But Mullah Fazil and Mullah Dadullah are far from blameless – and the ruins of an Afghan town called Yakaolang is a testament to why. In January this year, in one of the worst massacres known to have taken place under the Taliban, at least 178 people were tortured and killed by Taliban forces in Yakaolang, a district of Bamiyan province, according to a confidential 55-page report, including eye-witness accounts, prepared by the UN. One of the victims was a 16-year-old boy skinned alive "from head to chest". His body was dumped behind the offices of the British charity Oxfam. Witnesses interviewed by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan describe unarmed civilians being lined up, their hands tied with their turbans, and then shot in the back. Many were apparently killed by foreign fighters – possibly members of al-Qa'ida. Arab fighters carried long knives used for slitting throats and skinning victims, the witnesses said. But the man in command of the massacre is named in the UN report as Mullah Fazil. He is the head of the Taliban's army corps, and the most senior Taliban leader believed to be in Kunduz. The report also says that Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban's supreme leader, was in constant contact by radio with Taliban forces in Yakaolang while the massacres were being carried out. Mullah Dadullah, the next most senior Taliban leader in Kunduz, has also been accused of involvement in the atrocities at Yakaolang in January. And, while Human Rights Watch says it has no evidence that he was in Yakaolang in January, he is known to have been in command of Taliban troops who committed a second "mopping-up operation" in the same town only six months later, in June this year. Then, Taliban forces returned to the town and burnt it to the ground. Few people were still living in the town, but Mullah Dadullah's men killed many of those that were. His forces then went on the rampage through Bamiyan province, burning the tents of refugees who had fled into the mountains, and killing even the elderly who had stayed behind in the towns. Mullah Dadullah – a former mujahedin leader who fought against the Soviets and is known to Afghans as Dadullah the lame – is a notorious killer, accused of taking part in massacres all over the country. The Taliban claimed the motive for its operation in Yakaolang was to send a clear signal to opposition forces allied to the Northern Alliance, for whom it said the town was a base. But a more likely motive was ethnic cleansing. The majority of the victims were ethnic Hazara, who are Shia Muslims. The Hazara have been consistently persecuted for their religious beliefs – and the Taliban, who are Sunni Muslims, took it to new depths. These are the men in whose hands the fate of Kunduz lies. Yesterday the Northern Alliance said it was distributing ammunition to its soldiers on the front lines around the city. The accused Omar al-Khatab A Saudi-Jordanian warlord who brought his fierce brand of Islam to the Chechen conflict. Named by Russia's secret services as a source of money and logistical help for Islamist brigades who aided Chechen rebels against Russians. He unleashed the last war in Chechnya by leading a disastrous invasion of Dagestan in 1999. Notorious for car bombs and slitting the throats of Russian prisoners-of-war in public. Mullah Dadullah Known as Dadullah the lame, he is a senior Taliban commander in Afghanistan's northern zone and in some Taliban government lists is named as the Minister of Construction. He is a notoriously brutal man linked to the most serious atrocities of recent years – the massacre of Hazara civilians this year. Mullah Fazil Head of the Taliban Army Corps and a hardline member of the six-man Taliban ruling council. Responsible for numerous human rights abuses and a key link between the Taliban and al-Qa'ida fighters, including the massacre of Uzbeks in Mazar-i-Sharif.

Dawn (Pakistan) 23 Nov 2001 Assault on Afghanistan: the legal aspect By Dr Aziz Kurtha In the absence of any credible evidence that the state of Afghanistan, as opposed to a group of disparate individuals, had launched an "armed attack" on the United States, there could be no legal "collective or self-defence" arguments which could justify engagement in military hostilities against that country. As a precedent the World Court at the Hague had itself ruled in the Nicaragua case of 1986 that the United States had acted illegally by engaging in military action against Nicaragua and that the alleged collective self-defence argument did not apply. The US was ordered to pay compensation in what is perhaps the nearest judicial determination of guilt in an international case which raised many issues including what today may be called state terrorism as it involved the death of thousands of civilians. However, the question arises as to how the enormity of the terrorist attacks of September 11 can be legally addressed and punished if indeed an "armed attack" as required under Article 51 of the UN Charter cannot be proven. Under Resolution 1373 which was passed unanimously by the Security Council on September 28 there is outlined a course of action in "the war on terrorism" in general but it does not specifically entitle states to join in a collective military attack against any particular state. Under the self-defence doctrine as enshrined in customary international law there has to be proven "an instant and overwhelming necessity" for hostile retaliation and it cannot really be asserted that invading Afghanistan is necessary in this sense to protect America. But it has recently been suggested by eminent lawyer Geoffrey Robertson Q.C. (author of the reputed work "Crimes against Humanity") that the international law principles permitting action even across state frontiers to prevent and punish "Crimes against humanity", may well provide legal cover for the assault on an alleged criminal state. He has said that the September 11 atrocities fit the definition of "crimes against humanity" which covers not only genocide and torture but also "multiple acts of murder committed as part of a systematic attack against a civilian population." Much has rightly been written about the need to address the root causes of terrorism and the intolerable situation existing in many Arab regions including the illegally dispossessed people of Palestine. However these situations cannot blind one to the fact that Osama bin Laden has consistently incited the murder of Americans and has practically confessed to involvement in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. However, he has denied any involvement in the September 11 attacks and has challenged anyone to produce any proof to the contrary. Nevertheless he clearly has the blessings of the Taliban government and he could be said to be their agent and ally. As such the Taliban regime could at least be accused of aiding and abetting bin Laden's allegedly murderous actions against the Americans and their client states One's strong disapproval of the policies of such states cannot alter the fundamental criminality of violent attacks against civilians on their territories. However, the most important caveat against taking any military action under International Law including action to prevent and punish crimes against humanity, is the need to protect civilians at all costs and the requirement to bring the alleged assailants to trial before an impartial court which has the confidence of the whole international community and not just of a few western states. The United Nations has already established international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda and they are working efficiently under difficult circumstances. Dozens of machete wielding murderers in Rwanda have been convicted and Slobodan Milosevic and many others are being tried at the ICT for their atrocities in Yugoslavia, sitting at the Hague. Another such court could be established for Afghanistan under the auspices of the UN. There is, however, an even more preferable option, which is to try the accused before the international criminal court whose establishment has already been ratified by 44 countries including Britain, France and Russia but regrettably not yet by the US, which is said to fear prosecution for its actions in Vietnam, Latin America and other places. Although this court has not yet been formally established (it requires 60 states to ratify it), it cold easily be set up by a further Security Council resolution initiated by a group of states and this time around the US is bound to agree to it in the present circumstances. One thing is clear, justice American style like a quickie trial in Florida, New York etc. with a summary judgment for incarceration for 30 years or more in a US prison, or execution by lethal injection, would certainly not be good enough and would only lead to more recriminations, and perhaps produce even more lethal Osama bin Ladens in the future. The recent lifting of the ban against CIA assassinations by the Bush administration is already ominous. It is worth recalling that even Churchill preferred the straight forward execution of the top Nazi leadership at the end of the Second World War and it was President Truman who insisted on their trial at Nuremberg because in his own remarkable words "undiscriminating executions or punishments, without definite findings of guilt fairly arrived at, would not sit easily on the American conscience or be remembered by our children with pride." These are fine and honourable sentiments which should be remembered by President George W. Bush to control his crude desire to get certain culprits "dead or alive." Trial by an open international criminal court, composed partly also of recognized Arab jurists is what should be insisted upon for the Taliban and their allies and the verdict should be left to such a tribunal and not to the media spin pronouncements of the Oval Room. In this context, Pakistan as the old ISI-led ally of the Taliban, and which for reasons of economic expediency is now part of the US-led coalition, should rigorously impress on the US and its allies that a fair trial on neutral territory should be the goal at the end of the hostilities, whenever that may be. Moreover, the international community will not for long tolerate or absolve any glib and "crimes against humanity" labelled intervention in Afghanistan which is carried out with huge cluster bombs whose specific function is to maim and kill human beings.

Telegraph UK 19 Nov 2001 Al-Qa'eda massacre Taliban By David Harrison in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan (Filed: 18/11/2001) OSAMA BIN LADEN'S elite al-Qa'eda guard, mainly Arabs and Pakistanis, are slaughtering Taliban troops to prevent them surrendering to the Northern Alliance army besieging Kunduz, the Taliban-controlled northern enclave. Burhanuddi Rabbani: former Afghan president has retuned to Kabul In the first eye-witness accounts of life inside the city, escaping civilians last night told The Telegraph that an Arab al-Qa'eda commander had ordered the massacre of 150 Afghan Talibs who wanted to defect. As alliance commanders prepared for their latest offensive on Kunduz, refugees described atrocities committed by al-Qa'eda militiamen. Mohammed Ibrahim, 50, who escaped from the city yesterday, said: "A commander who was foreign gave the order for 150 local Afghan Taliban to be killed because they wanted to surrender. They showed them no mercy." He said the massacre took place on Friday and followed the defection of 1,000 Afghan Talibs under Gen Mirai Nasery, a local commander. Al-Qa'eda soldiers had arrested more than 100 prominent Kunduz citizens and were holding them hostage to stall an alliance attack. Mr Ibrahim said the Taliban leadership and al-Qa'eda were also refusing to allow civilians to leave. He said: "All the shops are closed and the streets are deserted except for the Taliban soldiers walking around with their guns. The people are terrified. They are trapped in their homes and too frightened to go out." Mr Ibrahim said that the Taliban and al-Qa'eda were forcing local men to fight for them, and beating or killing them if they refused. Some civilians were using this as a means of escape, agreeing to go to the front line then running away when night fell. Details of the Kunduz massacre came as alliance forces consolidated their grip on areas of the country captured from the Taliban last week. There were reports that Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban supreme leader, was trying to negotiate guarantees for his own safety and the safety of his fighters in their last remaining stronghold of Kandahar before surrendering. Earlier claims that the Taliban were fleeing the city proved to be premature, and large numbers of fighters are still believed to be based there. They vowed not to give up without a fight. Negotiations over their fate took place as final preparations were being made for the deployment of up to 4,000 British troops in Afghanistan. At least 680 members of 2 Para are expected in the region later this week. Special forces troops hunting bin Laden believe that they are now closing in on him. Last night a Ministry of Defence official said that special forces were "only hours" behind bin Laden as he fled from one hideout to another. Military commanders are convinced that he is constantly on the move in the mountains of southern Afghanistan, despite Taliban claims that he had slipped over the border into Pakistan. The Qatar-based al-Jazeera television station quoted the Taliban envoy to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, as saying that bin Laden had left Afghanistan "with his wives and children" for an unspecified destination. Mr Zaeef, however, later told reporters that bin Laden was still in Afghanistan and that his exact location was unknown. Mr Zaeef was speaking after crossing the border into Pakistan from visiting Kandahar. A Pentagon spokesman said that the United States military had no evidence that bin Laden had left Afghanistan and was still hunting him. Taliban officials dismissed reports that Omar had ordered the Taliban to retreat from Kandahar and head for the hills. Last night the Afghan Islamic Press said the Taliban, facing a popular uprising even among fellow Pathans in the south, had agreed to leave the city and hand over control to two former mujahideen commanders. Meanwhile Burhanuddi Rabbani, the former president ousted by the Taliban five years ago, returned to Kabul, where the alliance was reported to have said that it did not want foreign troops in the country. One senior alliance commander insisted that most of Britain's 100 special forces must be immediately withdrawn, claiming that they had arrived at Bagram air base without consultation. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said, however, that the British troops would not leave Bagram and said the mission was not in doubt. He said: "We can confirm that we have not had any such approach from the Northern Alliance leadership. We have spoken to our people in Kabul and they say there are no difficulties with the presence." Alliance forces committed a series of atrocities when they ran the country during the 1992-96 civil war. The fear of a return to bloodletting has prompted some countries to discuss the prospects for a peacekeeping mission. Mr Rabbani, who still holds Afghanistan's UN seat, is unpopular even within some factions of the alliance. Many anti-Taliban groups want the deposed former King Zahir Shah, in exile in Rome, to be the figurehead of a new regime rather than Mr Rabbani. Mr Rabbani said: "We have not come to Kabul to extend our government. We came to Kabul for peace. We are preparing the ground to invite peace groups and all Afghan intellectuals abroad who are working for the peace."

Reuters 17 Nov 2001 Taliban Leave Behind Corpses and Tales of Torture By Jon Hemming SHINDAND AIRBASE, Afghanistan - Abdolsalam and Nurahmad -- father and son -- returned from Iran together six months ago to join the mujahideen and fight harsh Taliban rule in their homeland Afghanistan. Now their semi-decomposed bodies lie side by side, their hands bound behind them, ears cut off and the backs of their skulls smashed by bullets fired into their mouths. Abdolsalam's brother sits on the ground, his head bent, weeping over the heaps of bones, rotting flesh and rags that were once his close relatives. Nearby lay the bodies of two more men captured by the Taliban, tortured, killed and buried in a ditch about four months ago according to local officials. Soon after forces loyal to anti-Taliban warlord Ismail Khan overran the huge Shindand airbase on Thursday, they began to uncover gruesome evidence of apparent atrocities. The remains of 26 prisoners have already been exhumed and the mujahideen, helped by locals, say they expect to find more. "There were many prisoners executed by the Taliban," said local mujahideen commander Golamresul Shehidzadeh. "We are trying to find the bodies and hold a ceremony for them." PUTRID STENCH Battle-hardened mujahideen covered their faces against the putrid stench as the bodies were removed for a proper burial. Beyond them stretched a vast scrapyard of Soviet military hardware -- jet fighters, transport planes and tanks, the rusty legacy of an earlier conflict. Large craters scarred the runway where U.S. bombs had hit. The fighters displayed two thick posts about two yards long they said they had found in a building in the base used by the Taliban intelligence forces. The posts had a series of short metal bars sticking out of them each with a small hole in the end through which a long bar could be passed, trapping the feet of up to 10 prisoners. One former prisoner said he had been repeatedly beaten across his feet with a length of cable by his Taliban captors, a punishment known as the falaka. "I received the falaka five to 10 times a day," said Golahmad, a truck driver arrested by the Taliban a month ago on suspicion of being a spy for Ismail Khan. "Any guard who felt like it would come along and beat us." Golahmad was lucky. Imprisoned in the nearby town of Shindand, he and about 35 others were freed when local people rose up against the Taliban as Khan's forces took the airbase and began to bear down on the town's dusty streets. Dozens of heavily armed Taliban militiamen in the town joined more fleeing from the city of Herat to the north and withdrew in four-wheel drive pick-up trucks to nearby mountains. Shindand marks a boundary between the Persian-speaking northwest of Afghanistan and the Pashto-speaking south, the heartland of the Taliban with its capital in Kandahar. Mujahideen commanders say although there is no longer any organized opposition facing them, bands of desperate Taliban fighters were in the territory beyond preying on passing travelers. While their commander Ismail Khan says he intends to advance on Kandahar, his forces have halted their drive toward the city for now and say they are waiting to see whether local Pashtun opposed to the Taliban manage to overcome the hardline militia.

Independent (UK) 16 Nov 2001 Opposition admits to massacre of 520 soldiers By Anne Penketh Northern Alliance soldiers admitted yesterday they had killed hundreds of pro-Taliban fighters holed up in a school, providing the first direct evidence of massacres by the victorious opposition forces. An ITN journalist went to the school in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif where the bodies of 520 mostly Pakistani fighters were still being brought out from the rubble yesterday – three days after the massacre. The stand-off between the forces of the veteran Uzbek commander Abdul Rashid Dostum and more than 700 fighters lasted all weekend, after the Alliance forces captured the strategic city on Friday. According to the Alliance, the fire-fights at the school intensified when the pro-Taliban fighters refused to surrender. Andrea Catherwood, a reporter, said: "They claim they sent elders into the school to try and persuade them to give themselves up. When they wouldn't, the Northern Alliance went in with tanks." General Dostum's forces, reputed for their brutality from their previous spells in power in Mazar, crushed the resistance. "I saw those tanks today and they demolished most of the school," Ms Catherwood said. The Red Cross was bringing out bodies on stretchers from the ruins of the school yesterday. Reports had circulated since Monday that Pakistani fighters had been massacred after surrendering, but the British television crew was the first to confirm what happened by talking to the soldiers. Theydid not deny having killed the 520 fighters, but refused to describe their actions as a massacre. "They are saying that they were, in fact, trying to make these men give up," Ms Catherwood said. Human Rights Watch pointed out yesterday that it had to be established whether the Pakistani fighters were killed after surrendering or not. If they were already prisoners or had expressed their intention to surrender, this would constitute a war crime by the Northern Alliance, the organisation said. In a further chilling move, the Alliance troops based in a building across the street from the school, displayed 42 Taliban prisoners who had been kept inside a freight container in the dark – traditionally the Alliance's detention centre of choice for Taliban prisoners.

WP 9 Nov 2001 War Widens Ethnic Divides Among Pashtuns in North, Fears of Reprisal By John Pomfret Page A01 CHAMAN, Pakistan -- Taradar Otak is just a face in the crowd, a skinny, bearded Afghan refugee with scars on his wrists and ankles from the manacles he once wore. But he has something important to say about the latest round of war in Afghanistan: It could produce more ethnic division in a land already torn by tribal-based conflict. Otak's warning is an ominous but increasingly real possibility for a country that embraces a mosaic of different ethnic groups, from Uzbeks in the north to Pashtuns in the south. And it could become an obstacle for the United States and other countries if they are interested in fostering a stable Afghanistan as a way to end the country's role as a way station for terrorism. While Afghan elders meet here in Pakistan, in Rome and in other places around the world trying to unite Afghanistan's rival groups into a coherent alternative to Taliban rule, people like Otak are on the move -- in the opposite direction, gathering into their own ethnic communities. "I want to live with my own people," said Otak, a Pashtun who hails from Shebergan in Jowzjan province in Afghanistan's far north, near the embattled city of Mazar-e Sharif. "Where I come from, I am a minority." Otak traveled 800 miles with his blind mother, his 25-year-old wife and his 7-year-old daughter Jemilah, moving from the northern corner of Afghanistan to the far southeast and then into this Pakistani border settlement. His voyage, one of many such trips by wary Afghans, showed that traditional ethnic rivalries have sharpened in more than a decade of warfare and the shifting alliances it has brought about. The United States has said from the beginning that this was not a war against Islam, but a war against terrorism. But here in the dust by Otak's tent flap, neither of those categories really fit. Like many others of his ethnic group, Otak has come to believe that it is a war against the Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, accounting for an estimated 40 percent of the country's 26 million people, and the main power base of the ruling Taliban militia. This idea has been reinforced by the fact that the United States and Russia are backing the Northern Alliance, a mix of ethnic Uzbeks, Tajiks and Hazaras in the far north of the country, as a spearhead against the Taliban. "When the United States began killing civilians and helping the Northern Alliance, Pashtuns united around the Taliban," said Nadir Bakht, head of the political science department at the University of Baluchistan and a member of the Hazara ethnic group. In that light, Washington has had difficulty persuading Pashtuns to join its side. One Pashtun leader who tried to rally Afghans to oppose the Taliban, Abdul Haq, was killed by the Taliban after he sneaked into Afghanistan. U.S. officials say another, Hamid Karzai, was helicoptered out of Afghanistan by the U.S. military on Sunday after three weeks of agitating against the Taliban. Karzai says he did not get U.S. assistance. Over the past few weeks, Otak and hundreds of other Pashtuns have walked, hitchhiked, ridden donkey carts and hired cars to flee northern Afghanistan, where they are in the minority. Most have stopped in Pashtun-dominated regions in southern Afghanistan. Others, like Otak, have kept on going. Pashtuns from the north make up 90 percent of the Afghan refugees in the first camp established by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees at this border crossing 60 miles southeast of the Afghan city of Kandahar. "The trend right now is for the ethnic groups to separate," said Peter Kessler, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency in Pakistan. "Anyone who is a minority now feels very vulnerable." Afghanistan's ethnic rivalries, which have flared and waned over the years, have intensified since the U.S. bombing began Oct. 7. This follows a pattern set in past conflicts, in which outside powers often have sought to wield influence in Afghanistan by backing one ethnic group against another. Otak's reasons for leaving home, for instance, are a complicated mix of fear of U.S. bombs and terror at the Northern Alliance fighters threatening his home town. "I was fleeing for my life," Otak said. "I was fleeing the Northern Alliance there. If they win, I know they will kill me and steal my woman. They've done it before." Otak has cause for concern, according to human rights investigators. For the past decade his region has been the scene of tit-for-tat ethnic massacres by the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. Hazaras killed Pashtun Taliban fighters; the Taliban massacred Hazaras. Uzbeks lured the Taliban into one city and killed hundreds; the Taliban returned and slaughtered Uzbeks. Tajiks massacred Hazaras and Pashtun Taliban members; the Taliban massacred Tajiks. Squatting in the dirt, Otak recalled what for him were the "good times" under Afghanistan's pro-Soviet dictator, Najibullah, who ruled Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992. Then, Otak was a functionary in a government company that bored water wells. "Under Najibullah, life was actually a little sweet," he said. "Najibullah gave me shaving blades for my beard, sugar and tea. I had a government identity card, transportation money and free electricity." That changed in 1992 when a coalition of Afghan guerrilla groups, supported by the United States and Pakistan, ousted Najibullah. A radical Islamic guerrilla faction, Hezb-i-Islami, took over Otak's region and he soon found himself jailed and manacled, and suffering regular beatings. His crime was that he had been a government employee. After six months, he was released. But his job was gone. He started doing odd jobs, laying bricks and working as a janitor. In 1996, the Taliban began its takeover of Afghanistan. By May of the following year, Taliban forces, with the help of a turncoat Uzbek general, had taken Mazar-e Sharif and his region as well. But shortly after the fall of Mazar-e Sharif, the general, Abdul Malik Pahlawan, switched sides again and went after the Taliban. According to an investigation by Human Rights Watch, more than 3,000 Taliban soldiers were executed. A mass grave of the mostly Pashtun Taliban soldiers was unearthed near Shebergan. Other Pashtuns in the region also suffered, Otak recalled. Uzbek fighters stole 50 of his sheep. Pashtun civilians were murdered; women were raped. A year later, the Taliban retook Mazar-e Sharif and exacted retribution, killing 2,000 civilians and executing scores of soldiers, Human Rights Watch said. Life under the Taliban, Otak recalled, was rough, but no one ever dug up his past as a worker in Najibullah's government. He grew a beard, long and curly, for the first time. His family burned its photographs, responding to a Taliban edict that such items were un-Islamic. His wife taught his daughter the Arabic alphabet in secret because the Taliban had banned education for girls. "I feel like I am in an alien land," Otak remarked, pointing at men without beards wandering through the refugee camp. "Where I come from, they all have hairy faces." When the latest round of war began, Otak said he and other Pashtuns in his community all seemed to sense the same thing. "We knew that if the Northern Alliance won, they would kill us all," he said. One of the top alliance commanders, Gen. Abdurrashid Dostum, hails from Shebergan and is notorious for his repression of dissent. Otak said he made his decision to leave while returning home one afternoon. That night at 11 p.m., the family walked out of their house with two small packs and headed south. They took no trinkets or mementos from home, not even a Koran or a good-luck charm. "I have forgotten luck," he said. Along the way, Otak met many fellow Pashtuns from the north. They were fleeing the same thing: the prospect of a massacre. One was Mohammed Salim Shah, 28, a who arrived in Quetta in late October. Shah came from Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, escaping possible conscription and also what he feared could be the fall of the city. "People are very concerned now about what ethnic group they belong to," said Shah, who worked as a nurse in a hospital in Kabul. Another was Saba Sahir, 33, a woman from Herat, a mostly Shiite city in Afghanistan's west. Sahir, also a Pashtun, said that although the city remains in Taliban hands, her husband ordered her to take their children and leave. "Of course we are worried about what will happen if the other side wins," she said. "Now the ethnic groups hate each other. Everybody is hungry for blood." Otak said that some of his Pashtun neighbors remained in Shebergan. In his region, the Taliban had been distributing guns to Pashtun civilians, warning them of genocide if its defenses collapse. "I am sure it will happen," Otak said. "We did it to them."

Telegraph UK 11 Nov 2001 Bin Laden: Yes, I did it By David Bamber OSAMA BIN LADEN has for the first time admitted that his al-Qa'eda group carried out the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, the Telegraph can reveal. In a previously undisclosed video which has been circulating for 14 days among his supporters, he confesses that "history should be a witness that we are terrorists. Yes, we kill their innocents". In the footage, shot in the Afghan mountains at the end of October, a smiling bin Laden goes on to say that the World Trade Centre's twin towers were a "legitimate target" and the pilots who hijacked the planes were "blessed by Allah". The killing of at least 4,537 people was justified, he claims, because they were "not civilians" but were working for the American system. Bin Laden also makes a direct personal threat against Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, for the first time, and warns nations such as Australia, Germany and Japan to stay out of the conflict. The video will form the centrepiece of Britain and America's new evidence against bin Laden, to be released this Wednesday. The footage, to which the Telegraph obtained access in the Middle East yesterday, was not made for public release via the al-Jazeera television network used by bin Laden for propaganda purposes in the past. It is believed to be intended as a rallying call to al-Qa'eda members. In the video, bin Laden says: "The Twin Towers were legitimate targets, they were supporting US economic power. These events were great by all measurement. What was destroyed were not only the towers, but the towers of morale in that country." The hijackers were "blessed by Allah to destroy America's economic and military landmarks". He freely admits to being behind the attacks: "If avenging the killing of our people is terrorism then history should be a witness that we are terrorists. Yes, we kill their innocents and this is legal religiously and logically." In a contradictory section, however, bin Laden justifies killing the occupants of the Twin Towers because they were not civilians - Islam forbids the killing of innocent civilians even in a holy war. He says: "The towers were supposed to be filled with supporters of the economical powers of the United States who are abusing the world. Those who talk about civilians should change their stand and reconsider their position. We are treating them like they treated us." Bin Laden goes on to justify his entire terror campaign. "There are two types of terror, good and bad. What we are practising is good terror. We will not stop killing them and whoever supports them." He directly threatens the lives of President Bush and Mr Blair. "Bush and Blair don't understand anything but the power of force. Every time they kill us, we kill them, so the balance of terror can be achieved." He also calls on all Muslims to join him. "It is the duty of every Muslim to fight. Killing Jews is top priority." Bin Laden warns other nations to keep out of the conflict, implying that they could face terror attacks if they do not. In the video, he also claims responsibility for an unspecified terrorist outrage in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which he claims was sparked by secret messages in one of his videos. He admits for the first time using public pronouncements on video to whip up terrorism - a danger about which the British and American governments have warned broadcasters. It is significant that throughout the video he uses the personal pronouns "I" and "we" to claim responsibility for the attacks. In the past, he has spoken of the attackers only in the third person. Bin Laden has publicly issued four previous videos since September 11, always denying carrying out the atrocities. He now claims to have access to nuclear and chemical weapons. Bin Laden made the claims on Friday night during an interview with the English language Pakistani newspaper Dawn. He said: "If America used chemical or nuclear weapons against us, then we may retort with chemical and nuclear weapons. We have the weapons as deterrent." Defence analysts dismissed these claims. They said that although bin Laden could have access to nuclear material through links with Pakistan or former Soviet republics, he was unlikely to have the technology to cause an explosion. A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We know that he was looking for that capability. We believe he does not have it." Emergency powers to imprison suspected international terrorists indefinitely using special closed courts will be announced this week. The measure, which will require exemption from human rights legislation, will be used to round up about 20 suspects hiding in Britain beyond the reach of existing laws.

Dawn (Pakistan) 2 Nov 2001 Merciless US bombing obliterates village: 60 killed CHOKAR KARAIZ Rubble and fresh graves marked with the flags of martyrs are all that remains of this tiny Afghan village after US bombing killed at least 60 people, survivors said Thursday. Locals said about 20 villagers survived attacks on October 19 and 20, when wave after wave of US jets pounded the community with heavy bombs and cannon fire, destroying everything in sight. Foreign reporters brought here by the Taliban militia saw the devastation first-hand: every house had been flattened and huge craters could be seen in the surrounding fields. "Around midnight the bombing started. It lasted for two hours and then the next night it began again and lasted all night and the rest of the following day," said 36-year-old farmer Mehmood. "When it started everyone just fled their homes and ran in every direction. We didn't know where to go." He said he knew 19 people who had died in the attacks, including members of his extended family. The village, 60 kilometres north of Kandahar, was a scene of utter ruin. Long cracks had opened up in the ground where the bombs struck. Trees were broken and splintered, cars burned and torn. Even cooking pots were riddled with bullets holes. Huge chunks of shrapnel lay everywhere. One bore the words "Guided Bomb" while another was marked with "For use of MK82". "Many bodies were blown apart and all we could do was collect their limbs and put them together in the same grave," said 65-year-old Mungal as he showed a freshly-dug graveyard. "I brought some of the remains here in a tractor," he said, pointing to a line of 18 new graves, some of which had been marked with small coloured flags on long, thin poles, signifying martyrdom. Mungal, who said he lost most of his friends and family in the attack, claimed that the remains of 30 people were buried in the graves. Although he could not understand why the United States had attacked an innocent farming village, he refused to curse the Americans. "I'm not aware of our crime and why we were bombed. There were no Taliban here," he said. "If the aircraft did not know who we were they should have checked before they bombed and killed innocent civilians. "I don't know about politics. But I'm angry, and I leave it up to God." The village was littered with the debris of village life, including children's clothes, women's sandals, and the rotting carcasses of dead sheep. Villagers said another three or four people were killed when bombs struck a small community of nomads who had pitched their tents nearby. The US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday that based on interviews with survivors in hospital in Quetta in neighbouring Pakistan, up to 35 civilians were killed in the attack here, which it said took place on October 22. "None of the witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch knew of Taliban or al-Qaeda positions in the area of the attack," the group said in a statement, which urged the Pentagon to "do more to avoid these deaths." "If there were military targets in the area, we'd like to know what they were," Sidney Jones, HRW's director for Asia, said. A makeshift Taliban base, surrounded by anti-aircraft guns, was seen on the road to the village some 15 kilometres outside Kandahar. Two vehicles, their radio antennae removed, were parked in a ditch. There has been no formal comment from the Pentagon on the attack here, but US officials have dismissed Taliban's claims that more than 1,500 Afghan civilians have died in the bombing. The Taliban earlier took foreign journalists to see another village which they claimed had been destroyed in a US attack on October 8, a day after the airstrikes began in retaliation for the Islamic militia's alliance with alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden. Witnesses said that Kadam village, 40 kilometres west of the eastern town of Jalalabad, appeared to have been destroyed but could not confirm residents' claims that up to 160 people had been killed.

WP 2 Nov 2001 Pashtun Uprising Reported in Afghanistan, By Marc Kaufman November 2, 2001; Page A01 A prominent Afghan tribal leader has begun the first known armed uprising against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan since the U.S.-led airstrike campaign began, fighting off a Taliban attack yesterday and claiming to control part of a southern province, according to his family and media reports. Hamid Karzai, an influential figure from the leading ethnic Pashtun tribe, said he survived a Taliban attack on a meeting of tribal elders he convened in Uruzgan province, and that his forces captured 12 Taliban soldiers in the skirmish. Karzai, who is close to Afghanistan's exiled former king Mohammed Zahir Shah, returned to Afghanistan last month to promote a national gathering aimed at forming a broad coalition government to replace the ruling Taliban, according to his brother, Qayum Karzai. Although any rebellion led by Karzai would seem to be in its infancy, its onset would be welcomed by U.S. officials, who have been eager for the Taliban to come under attack in the Pashtun heartland, where the hard-line Islamic militia is strongest. The Bush administration has been working to foment a Pashtun insurgency in the south to match the military campaign being waged by the Northern Alliance coalition led by ethnic Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara minorities in the north of the country. Absent a local uprising in the south, some Bush administration officials say they fear the U.S.-led anti-terrorism war could become too closely associated with the Northern Alliance, further cementing support among the Pashtuns for the Taliban. The Taliban is overwhelmingly made up of Pashtuns. Karzai told the British Broadcasting Corp. yesterday that his forces had been attacked by the Taliban and had fought them off. Another Pashtun tribal leader, Mahalem Abdul Ghader, told the BBC that Karzai's group had withdrawn to the mountains with supporters and local people to start an armed rebellion. The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, also reported that a battle with Karzai had taken place. He said that Karzai was being chased in the mountains and that some of his group had been killed or wounded. Karzai's brother Qayum, who lives in the Washington area, said he had spoken with Karzai yesterday morning and that he was safe and well protected. "The Taliban and foreign soldiers did not get too close to the meeting -- we anticipated they would come and had good security arrangements," Qayum Karzai said in an interview. "The tribal forces are supporting my brother, and the Afghan people have an enormous amount of weapons to use. They are not running from the Taliban." Until yesterday, there had been no reports of fighting against the Taliban in the south, and few confirmed defections of local commanders. Another anti-Taliban leader who tried to return last week and recruit Pashtuns to the opposition, Abdul Haq, was captured and executed by the Taliban. Haq's supporters feared that his death would set back the Pashtun opposition, but other Americans and Afghans involved in the anti-Taliban effort said that Abdul Haq did not have significant support inside Afghanistan to match Karzai's. Zaeef also told the Afghan Islamic Press that four U.S. helicopters had come to Karzai's aid during the battle. But Karzai's brother said the report was false and that Karzai was not receiving American support. There was no independent confirmation of the battle or Karzai's location. A U.S. official said that he knew nothing about Karzai's battle with the Taliban, or about the Taliban report that U.S. helicopters were sent in to help. He said the U.S. government is aware of Karzai's effort, however, and knows that he is better armed "than Abdul Haq," who reportedly entered the country with few weapons or soldiers. • Understanding Afghanistan A look at the country, the ruling Taliban, and the opposition forces. Qayum Karzai said his brother entered Afghanistan on Oct. 8 -- the day after the United States and Britain launched the airstrike campaign -- and spent a week in his home village less than five miles from the headquarters of Taliban leader Mohammad Omar in the southern city of Kandahar. "These are our tribal forces, and we can go in and around the country on our own footing," Qayum Karzai said. "We know the Taliban is not 10 feet tall, and that many Afghans hate what they have done to our religion, our culture and our country." Hamid Karzai is well educated, speaks fluent English and served as deputy foreign minister during the mujaheddin government of the early 1990s. He was elected the leader of the Popalzai tribe in 1999 after his father, Abdul Ahad Karzai, was assassinated in Quetta, Pakistan. His sons accused the Taliban and the Pakistani secret service of organizing the murder. The Karzai family at first supported the Taliban in the belief it could help Afghanistan recover from its lawlessness after a 10-year Soviet occupation and civil war, but soon went into opposition. Qayum Karzai said that his family has been opposing the Taliban since 1996, "when the U.S. was still supporting them." The CIA has sought to encourage Pashtuns to desert the Taliban, using money and offers of future prominence. But the agency has few people who can speak Pashtu, the local language, and reports say it has been relying on Pakistan to make the contacts. The Karzais, however, have strained relations with Pakistan. Qayum Karzai said that his brother was possibly "safer now in Afghanistan than in Pakistan." Staff writers Alan Sipress and Thomas E. Ricks contributed to this report.

Times (London) 2 Nov 2001 Fight to preserve Afghanistan's cultural heritage BY NORMAN HAMMOND, ARCHAEOLOGY CORRESPONDENT WHILE the Taleban have been demolishing Afghanistan’s Buddhist monuments and destroying the contents of the Kabul Museum, a Pakistan-based charity has been shoring up endangered Islamic buildings that have survived the past millennium of strife. The Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan’s Cultural Heritage has also organised and funded salvage work on the museum’s remaining collections, which date from the Stone Age to medieval times. Probably the most important monument to be saved in the past year has been the great Minaret of Jam, an elaborately decorated brick tower built in the 12th century by Sultan Ghiasuddin of the short-lived Ghorid dynasty. The minaret lies in a valley deep in the Hindu Kush, close to the dynasty’s original home, only a few yards from the torrent of the Hari Rud. The minaret has improbably survived eight centuries, to almost its original height, and stands at 204ft. It is only 26ft in diameter at the base, and the waters of the Hari Rud, and those of the smaller Jam (or Djam) which flows into it at right angles, have been steadily eroding the ground towards the monument. The society reports that a wood and stone reinforcement was built to stabilise the bank of the Jam River early last year, and during last autumn and winter a protective wall of gabions (stone held in steel wire baskets), approximately 15ft high, was constructed for 480ft along the Hari Rud; local workers carried out the work, using materials brought in from Herat and Iran, while the World Food Programme provided 40 tons of wheat to feed the labour force. The wall along the Jam was also upgraded, and stones were removed from both river- beds to lower the water level by some 4-5ft, but the society is now concerned that road- building will endanger the minaret through vibration and increased traffic. In Herat, Afghanistan’s westernmost city, attempts are continuing to protect the Mausoleum of Queen Gawhar Shad, one of several structures from the late medieval Timurid period which have miraculously survived British and Russian invasions as well as internecine strife. Sayed Jawed, an engineer who heads the Helping Afg- han Farmers Organisation and also directed the work at Jam, managed to secure the Taleban’s co-operation. At the same time, Unesco has funded the restoration of the 16th-century Mausoleum of Sultan Abd-ur-Razzaq in Ghazni, midway between Kandahar and Kabul, which had been damaged by rocket and artillery fire during the Taleban advance in the mid-1990s. The society has quietly paid for the staff of the Kabul Museum to make an inventory of the collections, including thousands of potsherds and stone tools, which were not looted or destroyed in previous fighting; the society has also been buying back looted museum pieces — many still with clear accession numbers — that had been smuggled to Peshawar in Pakistan. Mullah Omar, the Taleban leader, issued edicts against illegal excavation and smuggling last year, but the society notes that its report on the museum “was written before the events of March 2001”, when the great Buddhas of Bamiyan were blown up and the museum’s collections wrecked on the mullah’s orders. “The optimistic forecast no longer applies,” it concludes. The Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan’s Cultural Heritage can be contacted at spach@comsats.net.pk

Telegraph (UK) 2 Nov 2001 Ankara's Muslim soldiers join campaign By Amberin Zaman TURKEY yesterday became the first Muslim country to commit troops to the American-led attacks on Taliban, saying it was sending elite troops to take part in the campaign in Afghanistan. The move, which is expected to lead to widespread controversy within Turkey and the Islamic world, followed a request from America, Turkish officials said. In a statement, the government said: "Those who attempt to portray this drive as an action against Islam are in contradiction with the great values of Islam, which is a religion of peace." A unit of 90 special forces troops will help to train Northern Alliance forces fighting the Taliban. Ankara already has close intelligence ties to Afghanistan's anti-Taliban forces. With winter approaching, the Northern Alliance needs re-equipping and training, for which the Turkish forces are ideally equipped from their campaigns against Kurdish separatists in the mountains of south-eastern Turkey. In a statement, Turkey said the move was aimed at securing "stability in Afghanistan" by providing training of the alliance as well as providing humanitarian help and aiding "the formation of a broad-based administration with the participation of all ethnic groups in Afghanistan". Sebahattin Cakmakoglu, the Turkish defence minister, said the troops would not see any action. Turkey is Nato's sole Muslim member and Israel's closest ally in the region. It has already opened its air routes and bases to US military aircraft and is sharing what Western diplomats term its "considerable" intelligence on Afghanistan. Last month, Bulent Ecevit, Turkey's Left-wing prime minister once known for his anti-American sentiments, secured parliamentary authorisation to send troops overseas. But recent opinion polls show that a majority of Turks are firmly opposed to involvement in military action against Afghanistan or Turkey's Muslim neighbours. The Islamic opposition, the Felicity Party, has filed a censure motion against the government over its Afghanistan policy. "Every war is a swamp, and Afghanistan is a complete swamp. Turkey should not take part in this war," said Husnu Ondul, chairman of the Turkish Human Rights Association, echoing widespread views. But the government believes that the September 11 attacks provide a golden opportunity for Turkey to prove its indispensability to the West once again as a strategic pivot on which the Balkans, the Middle East and the oil-rich, Turkic-speaking republics of Central Asia converge. For the past decade British and US aircraft based at the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey have patrolled the no-fly zone over Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, often hitting Iraqi military targets. More immediately, Turkey hopes that its military participation will ensure that it gets an additional £6 billion in emergency loans, which it says it needs to prop up its economy. In the longer term, in throwing its lot squarely with the West in the campaign against global terrorism, Turkey hopes that it will be accepted finally as a full member by the European Union. Turkey's ever-powerful and militantly pro-secular generals also reckon that Western governments will now be less critical of their twin campaigns against Islamic fundamentalists and separatist rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Turkey's military links with Afghanistan date back to the early 20th century when Turkish officers helped to form and train the Afghan army. Ankara says it is opposed to the presence of the Taliban, whose militant policies are anathema to Turkey's own moderate brand of Islam, in any future government in Afghanistan. Turkey has traditionally backed Turkic-speaking ethnic minorities in northern Afghanistan, in particular the Uzbeks led by Rashid Dostum, plus the Turkmens, Tajiks and Aymaks, who together make up more than 30 per cent of the Afghan population. But Afghan sources say Turkey's role in shaping the future of their country will be minimal. "We don't really regard the Turkey as a true Islamic country but rather as a lackeys of America and Israel," said a senior Northern Alliance official.

Independent (UK) 2 Nov 2001Amnesty calls for commission on Afghan atrocities By Matthew Beard An international commission should be set up to prosecute Afghanistan's military leaders and improve the country's lamentable human rights record, Amnesty International said yesterday. Individual commanders from the Taliban and opposition forces should be "brought to justice" through a United Nations body, which should begin gathering evidence immediately for possible prosecutions, the human rights group said. The proposal, which would mirror measures to bring alleged war criminals from the former Yugoslavia before UN judges, forms part of an Amnesty charter launched yesterday to end human rights abuses in the country since 1978. The Amnesty report, Afghanistan: Making Human Rights the Agenda, said perpetrators should be brought to justice "regardless of rank or other status in accordance with international fair trial standards". Diplomatic sources have highlighted the difficulty of pursuing opposition warlords such as General Rashid Dostum in a post-Taliban era. The arrest and prosecution of such figures would prove complicated because the West was likely to rely on the Northern Alliance in a new government. But Irene Khan, Amnesty's secretary general, said she was "more optimistic than ever" that the present conflict provided an opportunity to end human rights abuses. "The international community will commit a grave injustice against [the people of Afghanistan] if it does not put their human rights at the core of any process for establishing peace," she said. "It is essential that an agenda for human rights and social justice for all Afghans is developed on the basis of broad consultation and participation by the widest possible cross- section of Afghan society." A new government must guarantee that there would be no preclusion of minorities, and groups that had abused human rights in the past must not be given immunity. Amnesty gave a detailed account of massacres and human rights abuses in Afghanistan over the past 23 years. One of the largest massacres was in August 1998, when Taliban guards systematically killed thousands of ethnic Hazara civilians in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The Northern Alliance had also reportedly killed civilians on the basis of their ethnic identity or affiliation with the Taliban. The report said indiscriminate arming of different warring factions by outside countries had fuelled the human rights problem.

AFP 1 Nov 2001 Osama asks Pakistanis to confront 'crusade' DOHA, Osama bin Laden has called on Muslims in Pakistan to "confront the crusade against Islam", Qatar's satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera reported on Thursday. The call came in a statement in which Osama accused the Pakistan government of "standing under the banner of the Cross while Muslims are being slaughtered in Afghanistan", the network said. Al-Jazeera TV said it had obtained a copy of the statement signed by Osama bin Laden, adding that the signature was identical to "the signature which appeared in a previous statement" by him.

Independent (UK) 11 Nov 2001 Howard surfs home on a wave of xenophobia By Kathy Marks in Sydney 11 November 2001 A strategically played race card and a fortuitous international crisis combined to give John Howard a third term as Australian Prime Minister last night, setting the country on course for three more years of right-wing government. Mr Howard, written off as a spent force only a few months ago, was returned to office with an increased majority after an election campaign dominated by controversy over asylum seekers and fought in the shadow of the war in Afghanistan. "To all of my fellow Australians, I feel an enormous sense of honour and privilege at what has been given me tonight. I won't let you down," he said to loud applause from supporters of his conservative Liberal Party gathered in a central Sydney hotel. Mr Howard rode to victory on a wave of xenophobia, his political fortunes restored by a tough new policy of preventing refugees from landing on Australian shores. The policy, which included sending asylum seekers to remote Pacific islands for processing, provoked international outrage but was supported by 70 per cent of people at home. Events overseas, meanwhile, made voters unlikely to risk a change of government. Kim Beazley, the Labor leader, conceding defeat in his home city of Perth, said it had been "an extraordinarily difficult thing to conduct an election campaign against a background of ... war and in circumstances where people feel a great sense of insecurity". A swing of more than three per cent to Mr Howard's coalition of Liberals and the rural based National Party, means that reconciliation with the nation's Aborigines is off the agenda for the foreseeable future, as is the question of an Australian republic. Mr Howard is a staunch monarchist who helped engineer the defeat of a referendum two years ago on whether Australia should dispense with the Queen as head of state. He has steadfastly refused to apologise to Aborigines for past injustices including the practice – abandoned only in the early 1970s – of removing black children from their families. On the international scene, he is expected to make relations with the US and Europe a priority, rather than seek closer ties with Asian neighbours. His hard line on refugees, which began with his barring entry to the Afghans rescued by the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa in August, was credited with neutralising Pauline Hanson's anti-immigration One Nation Party. The party did not win a single seat in the lower house of parliament, and Mrs Hanson appeared unlikely to succeed in her ambition to be elected to the Senate. Mr Beazley, who has resigned as party leader, is thought to have alienated some traditional Labor voters by backing the government on asylum seekers. With the electorate disillusioned by both main parties, the Greens doubled their share of the vote to nearly five per cent. Australia has contributed 1,550 defence personnel to the military action in Afghanistan, and Mr Howard has called on voters to display "that Australian spirit, that mateship that allows us to pull together in times of adversity and challenge". Australian Electoral Commission figures indicated yesterday that the coalition had won 80 seats in the 150-seat lower house. Labor had 68. But while the crackdown on asylum seekers has played a significant role in the election, it does not appear to be having the desired effect. Nearly 2,000 boat people tried to reach Australia in September and October – a four-fold rise on the same period last year.

Australia

The Age 9 Nov 2001 Accused war criminal Konrads Kalejs dies at 88 By ANDRA JACKSON Accused Latvian war criminal Konrads Kalejs died in his nursing home bed in Melbourne's eastern suburbs yesterday afternoon, it was reported today. The 88-year-old had been fighting a magistrate's decision that he be extradited to Latvia on genocide and war crimes charges. His appeal was before the Federal Court. Mr Kalejs' lawyer, Gerrard Lethbridge, said last night he had heard reports of his client's death and said a statement would be made today. According to his lawyers, Mr Kalejs had dementia and cancer and was legally blind and partly deaf. For his last appearance in court on October 23, he arrived by ambulance and stayed only 10 minutes before he was excused by Judge Susan Kenny. He was brought into court on an ambulance trolley, and lay motionless with his eyes closed. He was the first Australian citizen to face extradition over war crimes after Latvia brought charges against him last year over the alleged murder of up to 300 jews in World War II. Last May, Victorian Magistrate Lisa Hannan ruled he was "eligible for surrender" to Latvia. Lawyers for the Latvian Government insisted Mr Kalejs was commander of a guard unit at the Salaspils police and labor camp outside Riga, when up to six prisoners were shot while trying to escape a claim he denied. Latvia claimed he instructed the camp guards to shoot escaping prisoners and was aware of the inhumane conditions inside the camp the use of attack dogs to maintain "unbearable inner order". It claimed he "embraced Nazism" and was a commander in a mobile killing squad. After the war he lived in several countries and became a millionaire through real estate dealings. He migrated to Australia in 1950. Eventually Nazi-hunters from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre tracked him down. He became an international fugitive and was deported from the US, Canada and Britain. In January 2000, he returned to Australia to face claims made against him by former camp victims who claimed to recognise him.

Bangladesh

Bahrain Tribune 19 Nov 2001 India restarts fencing Bangla border Kolkata: India has hurriedly resumed fencing its border with Bangladesh amid reports of a large-scale influx of refugees from the neighbouring country. Fencing of the international border has begun in West Bengal’s Nadia district, through which hundreds of Hindus are fleeing Muslim-dominated Bangladesh, a top official in the Border Security Force (BSF) told IANS. West Bengal has a 2,216-km border with Bangladesh, and only one-fourth of it is fenced. The porous border is used by a large number of Bangladeshi Hindus to cross into India to allegedly escape religious persecution at the hands of Islamic radicals who have become active after a nationalist coalition came to power last month. Though Bangladesh claims that such reports are “blown out of proportion”, hundreds of Hindus have reportedly taken shelter in West Bengal’s border districts of South Dinajpur, Malda and North 24 Parganas since October 15. Many of them are putting up with their relatives in these districts, while others have taken shelter in makeshift shanties. Indian authorities are trying to fence off the 112-km border in Nadia district and move on to “other areas where the infiltration level is high”. Work on the erection of border pillars, which was being carried on jointly by the BSF and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), had been suspended in April in the wake of a border clash. The work was also halted in parts of Malda district after protests by villagers demanding rehabilitation of hundreds of families that would be displaced because of the fencing. The fence is set to run through hundreds of houses and schools and acres of farmland in the six villages of Soneghat, Taltala, Ghuntadaha, Bottoli, Nandinadah and Rangamati. Villagers claimed that the fencing would displace about 700 families and that three villages would fall on the wrong side. The villagers began demonstrating in November last year when they demanded that the fence be shifted back towards the international border so as not to disturb habitations. But BSF officials turned down the suggestion because of “technical difficulties”. n DHAKA: The Bangladeshi government has pledged to investigate alleged atrocities on members of the country’s minority Hindu community and their reported exodus to India, official sources said yesterday. A committee headed by the principal secretary to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has been asked to submit a report on the situation within a week, the sources said. The decision was taken during a meeting Zia chaired late on Thursday on law and order in the country, they said. Media reports said Zia expressed her displeasure at the prevailing crime situation across the country and asked the home ministry to improve security. The official committee has been asked to make recommendations for the government if it proves reports of violence against Hindus. The move followed allegations from minority groups, opposition politicians and Bangladeshi and Indian media reports that thousands of Bangladeshi Hindus have fled to India amid atrocities and threats since Zia’s Islamist-allied Bangladesh Nationalist Party government came to power in last month’s general election. The groups said they were being targeted because they were thought to have been supporters of defeated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s Awami League. – Agencies

BBC 28 Oct 2001 Opposition boycotts Bangladesh assembly Awami League supporters complain of violence The opposition in Bangladesh has boycotted the first session of the newly-elected parliament. Fifty-six MPs from the defeated Awami League party of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed stayed away from the first session, in protest at what they called a rigged election. Khaleda Zia's BNP has a two-thirds majority Sheikh Hasina also refused to attend and said she would launch a campaign for a new election. The Islamist coalition led by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won a record majority of two-thirds in elections on 1 October. BNP leaders Jamiruddin Sircar and Mohammad Akhtar Hamid Siddiky were chosen as speaker and deputy speaker respectively. No opposition - again Prime Minister Zia's coalition won 214 of parliament's 300 seats in the poll. Domestic and international monitors viewed the election, supervised by a non-party caretaker government, as free and fair. Hindu protesters in Delhi have backed the Awami League's protests The opposition MPs said they would not attend parliament until the government showed a greater commitment to stopping violence it says its supporters suffered both before and after the vote. The decision to boycott parliament means that once again, the country's legislature will function without an opposition party. Both the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have repeatedly boycotted parliament over the last 10 years. The opposition says it plans to hold a protest rally in Dhaka later on Sunday to raise public awareness over attacks against its supporters. It says that the government must do more to prevent such attacks, especially against members of the country's Hindu minority. New programme The newly-installed government heard President Shahabuddin Ahmed announce the administration's policy priorities. Opposition leader Sheikh Hasina led the boycott High on the list were measures to address the country's deteriorating law and order situation and initiatives to stimulate a flagging economy. The figurehead president condemned Sheikh Hasina's five-year rule as a period of "economic plunder, corruption, terrorism and partisanship". He said said the country had been "ushered into a new era of hope" with the elections.

Bhutan

BBC 7 Nov 2001 Nepal and Bhutan discuss refugees A two-day meeting of Nepalese and Bhutanese officials has begun in Kathmandu to discuss the repatriation of ethnic Nepalese refugees who claim to be Bhutanese nationals, allegedly forced out of their own country a decade ago. The meeting will focus on agreeing the classification of refugees. Correspondents say one of the main stumbling blocks has been defining who is a refugee. Nepal says that almost all the 100,000 refugees living in camps in eastern Nepal have valid documentation proving they are Bhutanese nationals. Bhutan says it's willing to take back only genuine refugees who, it says, number no more than a few thousand. Bhutan says that many had left the country voluntarilyand some had committed economic offences, which under their law, disqualifies their right to be Bhutanese citizens.

Cambodia (see Japan)

AP 13 Nov 2001 Pol Pot Site to Become Tourist Spot PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia wants to make a tourist attraction out of the site where brutal Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot spent his final days, complete with explanatory signs and a replica of the wooden house where he died. A high-level government team will travel to the northern village of Anlong Veng on Wednesday to begin work on a ``tourism master plan,'' Thong Khon, secretary of state in the Tourism Ministry, said Tuesday. ``It's a history which might disappear if we do not preserve it,'' Thong Khon said, adding that Prime Minister Hun Sen endorsed the idea. The proposal reflects Cambodia's gradual willingness to face its gory past. More than two decades after the Khmer Rouge was overthrown, most Cambodians do not like to talk about their horrific experiences under the Maoist regime's 1975-79 rule. Pol Pot's name is hardly ever mentioned in casual conversation. About 1.8 million people died of starvation, executions and diseases under the Khmer Rouge as it sought to create an agrarian utopia by forcing every Cambodian to work in the fields. Dissenters were jailed, tortured and killed. After the Khmer Rouge was overthrown by the invading Vietnamese army, Pol Pot withdrew into the jungles and led a guerrilla war against the new Cambodian government. In July 1997, after losing a power struggle to a rival, Pol Pot was brought before a jungle ``people's tribunal'' of his former comrades and sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering one-time Khmer Rouge defense chief Son Sen. Pol Pot died on Apr. 14, 1998 at age 73 of heart failure, according to colleagues and Thai military intelligence. The circumstances of his death, in the captivity of a ruthless rival, raised unproven suspicions that he may have been poisoned. The despot was cremated on a pile of old car tires and furniture on Dangrek Mountain, about a mile from the border with Thailand. Anlong Veng ``is a historical place where Khmer Rouge leaders last lived,'' Thong Khon said. ``The last political life of the Khmer Rouge ended there.'' He said the government envisioned an attraction like the former Khmer Rouge prison S-21, which is now a genocide museum in Phnom Penh. The plan would include fences and signs, as well as replicas of the buildings where Pol Pot lived, was tried and died. The homes of his top lieutenants, Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, will also be rebuilt, he said.

China

AP 14 Nov 2001 China Increases Anti-Terror Efforts By TED ANTHONY, BEIJING - More emphatically than ever before, China sought Wednesday to link a rebellion in its restive Xinjiang region with global efforts against terrorism, saying its battle with Afghanistan -trained Muslim separatists bolsters the world's push toward post-Sept. 11 security. In an invitation-only briefing for a group of Beijing-based journalists, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao outlined China's stance toward terrorism both inside its borders and across Asia. His assessment: By combating what the government considers a violent, ``splittist'' movement by Turkic-speaking ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang, in the country's far northwest, China is striking at a tentacle of the very terror network that felled the World Trade Center two months ago. ``These people have been trained by the international terrorists. So the fight against separatists in Xinjiang is part of the fight by the world against terrorism,'' Zhu said. ``They have become a part of the international terrorist mechanism.'' Such assertions are not new; China has been making them with varying vehemence since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. But the forum - what the ministry called a ``briefing on terrorism'' - suggests the leadership wants to amplify the message. China has long called its effort to quell Xinjiang's separatist movement an internal affair. But it suddenly stands to benefit by framing the fight as exactly the opposite - despite continuing condemnation of its crackdown by human rights activists. The government's basic argument - safeguarding against separatist violence - remains. But the shift of the terrorism debate since Sept. 11 presents Beijing with an unusual opportunity to further its own agenda while being seen as embracing the global coalition against Osama bin Laden 's al-Qaida network. China has received no explicit international support of its view on Xinjiang. President Bush , in Shanghai last month for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meeting, said anti-terrorism efforts ``must never be an excuse to persecute minorities,'' an apparent reference to Uighurs. And the U.N. human rights chief, Mary Robinson, said in China last week that reports of official abuses against Uighurs have increased since the global anti-terrorism campaign began. Uighur separatists advocate greater autonomy and have waged a scattered, low-intensity campaign of bombings, armed attacks and assassinations. Uighurs briefly ran the independent Republic of East Turkestan in Xinjiang before the Chinese communists seized power in 1949. Chinese officials say most Uighurs oppose the separatists, but they draw support from abroad - something seized upon by Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan at the U.N. General Assembly this week. ``Opposing `East Turkestan,''' he said, ``is an important aspect of the international anti-terrorist struggle.'' Zhu said many members of Uighur separatist movements were trained in Afghanistan, presumably by al-Qaida. He rattled off a list of attacks that he called ``clear evidence'' separatist groups in Xinjiang were receiving outside help from Muslim extremists. ``We know they've been getting financial support and other support. It's very hard to find out more,'' Zhu said. He furnished little proof of any direct link. Dilxat Raxit, a Sweden-based spokesman for the East Turkestan Information Center, an exiled Uighur group, said persecution against Uighurs continued this week with 22 arrests and two executions of people charged with ``splitting the state'' and ``endangering security.'' No independent verification was available. ``The Chinese government has deliberately connected terrorism with East Turkestan and has taken advantage of the 9-11 incident to purge the Uighurs,'' he said. ``It is the Chinese government that is the terrorist.'' Zhu, asked how China defines terrorism, demurred. He said the world and the region - both China and central Asia - need to devise common definitions. Such beyond-the-borders remarks, more common in recent weeks, suggest China's rhetoric, if not its mindset, is becoming more international. ``That makes me hopeful,'' said Stephen J. Hood, a China expert at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. ``They always make these claims that they don't want people meddling in their internal affairs. But suddenly they're engaged in this discussion with what to do with international terrorism,'' he said. ``And they open the door now to people saying, `OK, you do recognize there are international standards.'''

BBC 8 Nov 2001 Robinson warns China on repression More than half of Xinjiang's 15m population are Muslim The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, has warned China not to use the American-led campaign against terrorism as a pretext to suppress ethnic minority groups. Speaking on the first day of a trip to China, she said she was worried about the Uighur population in the Western province of Xinjiang. She also expressed concern about the situation in Tibet. Mary Robinson torture was "widespread" in China China later denied there were abuses in the two regions. A foreign ministry spokesman said the real problem was sabotage carried out by separatist groups. Beijing has called for international support for its campaign against ethnic Uighur Muslim separatists in Xinjiang. It has also accused supporters of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, of terrorist activities. Coinciding with her visit, the Chinese State Council has released a white paper on Tibet, which argues that Tibetans have seen improvements in wealth and freedom under Chinese rule. Balance Mrs Robinson's comments came after she signed an agreement with China on improving human rights education among police, judges and lawyers. She said: "It is necessary to take measures, but there must be also a very clear balance." "I am worried specifically about the Uighur population in the province of Xinjiang [and] I am worried about the situation in areas such as Tibet." Mrs Robinson said it was difficult to see how a balance between anti-terrorism and anti-discrimination action could be struck because terrorism itself is not defined. She also said she would press Beijing to set a date for a visit by the UN rapporteur on torture. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya said the agreement showed the Chinese government was serious about co-operating with other countries and with UN agencies. Mrs Robinson is also due to meet President Jiang Zemin during her two-day visit.

East Timor

San Francisco Chronicle 17 Nov 2001 p A15 Test case for Timor war crimes 10 Timorese on trial for 1999 ambush Ian Timberlake, Dili, East Timor -- Sister Erminia somehow survived the volley of rifle fire that tore into her van at a militia roadblock two years ago. The Catholic nun, almost 70 years old, got out and knelt down to pray while the militia made sure none of the seven people with her survived. The driver of the van was already dead, killed by a shot fired by militia members hiding in a roadside ditch near Baucau city, 75 miles east of the capital, Dili. They hacked one man to death with a sword as he tried to get out of the van, which was punctured by 21 bullet holes. They doused it with gasoline, set it on fire with people still inside and shot at anybody who still tried to run. Then they pushed the van into a river. A second nun, two deacons, a student priest, Indonesian journalist Agus Mulyawan and two other people in the van all died in the ambush on Sept. 25, 1999. The prayers of Sister Erminia, an Italian nun who had served in East Timor for more than 30 years, didn't save her in the end. Joni Marques, the militia commander, shot her twice, threw her into the water and then lobbed a grenade in after her. These are the allegations prosecutors have tried to prove against 10 East Timorese accused in the first trial for crimes against humanity in connection with violence at the time of East Timor's 1999 referendum on independence from Indonesia. They are based on statements from two militia members, the victims' families and forensic reports as well as a statement by a witness to the planning of the ambush. Two years after departing Indonesian forces went on a rampage and left East Timor's entire government structure, including the judiciary, in ruins, the first efforts to secure justice are being made here in a refurbished courtroom -- not in Indonesia or at an international war crimes tribunal. In addition to the attack on the clergy, whom the militia considered to be pro-independence, the defendants are charged with murdering four independence activists beginning in April 1999, as well as burning more than 100 homes and forcibly expelling residents in the eastern village of Leuro from Sept. 8-12, 1999. ONE SUSPECT AT LARGE Eleven men were indicted, but only 10 are on trial. Seven of the 10 have challenged the testimony in court, and the others have remained silent. The remaining suspect, Lt. Syaful Anwar, is a soldier who prosecutors allege was deputy commander of the Indonesian Army's special forces, known as Kopassus, in the eastern town of Los Palos. Anwar remains at large. It is a start, but it is not enough, says Sergio Vieira de Mello, who heads the U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). "No. I believe it is in the interest of East Timor and Indonesia to put this behind them, and the only way to do that is to face the realities, face the truth, face the facts, and to indict and try those who are suspects of crimes against humanity," de Mello said in an interview with The Chronicle. Indonesian authorities say a special tribunal will begin later this year to hear cases related to the East Timor violence. Indonesian prosecutors named 23 Indonesian military and other suspects last year in the campaign of terror, but none have been formally charged. De Mello supports bringing those 23 suspects before Indonesian tribunals. Other observers doubt it will happen. "I have little hope that they will ever be tried in Indonesia," a Western diplomat said. 'I've seen a lot of talk but not much done." Two U.S. congressmen, Reps. James McGovern, D-Mass. and Lane Evans, D-Ill., have co-sponsored legislation in the House of Representatives calling for an international war crimes tribunal for Indonesian military officers and militia leaders. "Many of these officers remain active in the Indonesian military, and they will continue to perpetrate human rights crimes unless and until they are exposed and brought to justice," McGovern said. INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL East Timorese nongovernmental organizations sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Oct. 24 asking it to create an international tribunal. But one Western diplomat thinks the council is unlikely to endorse such a body because some members, like China, are wary of setting a precedent that could later be used to push for rights tribunals in their own countries. On a visit to East Timor in August, James Kelly, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, would not say how the United States would vote if the Security Council discusses a tribunal for East Timor. But Kelly did concede: "Bygones really cannot be bygones in the case of some of the crimes that were committed." Xanana Gusmao, who is almost certain to be elected East Timor's first president next year, takes a more conciliatory approach than many toward Indonesia's attempt to find justice. "I believe it is time to put an end, to put a stone on the past, and to start building a new environment for the future," he told The Chronicle. Referring to East Timor's poor health care system and many other challenges the new country faces, he said, "We cannot only focus our attention on justice, putting people in prison, when independence means that we must pay attention to social justice, economic justice." Gusmao's attitude makes Manuel Carrascalao uncomfortable. Carrascalao's teenage son, Manuelito, was among about a dozen people murdered in April 1999 when militias stormed Carrascalao's home in the capital, Dili. The house had become a shelter for refugees fleeing terror in the countryside. The Carrascalao case is under investigation by UNTAET's serious-crimes unit of 31 international police officers and nine prosecutors specializing in militia crimes, led by Jean-Louis Gilissen, the deputy general prosecutor. Officially, his team says it has evidence that 674 murders were committed in East Timor during 1999. Gilissen, a Belgian, admits that the unofficial number of killings is probably much higher. Even the lower figure is too much to handle for his small team, which has been forced to focus on key cases like Carrascalao's and the ambush of Sister Erminia. EXTENT OF PROSECUTION East Timorese human rights organizations recently alleged that the serious- crimes unit has only pursued lower-level suspects rather than commanders for prosecution. But Gilissen calls it "maybe a miracle" that his office has issued several indictments for crimes against humanity, including the attack on the clergy. At the trial, which began in July and is expected to reach a verdict early next month, prosecutors have tried to prove that the Sept. 25 attack by the Team Alfa militia against Sister Erminia and the others in the van with her was part of a widespread or systematic attack upon the civilian population: a crime against humanity. The ambush was the culmination of a number of crimes reportedly committed by Team Alfa, which the prosecution alleges shared a headquarters with Kopassus, the special forces unit, and worked under their direct command. Team Alfa, based in the eastern East Timor town of Los Palos, was just one of many anti-independence militias operating in East Timor. "They were part of a campaign carried on across East Timor," the prosecution alleged in its opening statement at the trial. "That campaign was carried out with the support and cooperation of the Indonesian civilian and military authorities."

Indonesia

Reuters 14 Nov 2001 Indonesian Police Urge Patience in Eluay Death Probe By Darren Whiteside JAYAPURA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Police in the remote eastern Indonesian province of Papua have urged patience while they investigate the mysterious death of separatist leader Theys Eluay. Analysts say the 64-year-old leader's death at the weekend could be a setback to Indonesia's hopes of calming separatist tensions in the resource-rich province, another headache for President Megawati Sukarnoputri as she grapples with the huge nation's problems. The sleepy seaside capital of Jayapura -- about 2,300 miles east of Jakarta -- and surrounding areas have been relatively peaceful over the past two days but that could quickly change if investigations are not concluded swiftly or the evidence points to murder. ``We are carrying out the investigation but please do not push us,'' Jayapura police chief Daud Sihombing told Reuters. ``The investigation is not as easy as you might think.'' On Tuesday, around 10,000 pro-independence supporters marched peacefully behind the body of Eluay as it was brought back to his home town. In the only report of violence so far, police fired warning shots on the outskirts of the capital on Sunday as scores of angry pro-independence supporters torched several buildings. On Wednesday, women wept openly as they paid their respect to the dead leader, lying in state with the Papuan Morning Star Flag draped over him. Eluay's younger sister Hindom said the local people believed the military was behind her brother's death and demanded the investigation be finalized. ``The locals are angry and do not want the military at the funeral because they killed him,'' Hindom told Reuters. She said the funeral was planned for Saturday, followed by a burial at the Papuan hero's cemetery, formerly a soccer field, in Eluay's home town of Sentani. Photos Reuters Photo ``Theys wanted to be buried in front of the house where the Papuan flag flies but his family and ethnic leaders decided to bury him at the hero's cemetery which is dedicated to the Papuan people's struggle,'' she said. On Wednesday afternoon, men were seen digging a grave for Eluay ahead of the funeral which was expected to attract thousands of Papuans. MAY NOT BE MURDER The cause of Eluay's death remains a mystery, three days after his body was found in an upturned car, with doctors saying the white-haired chief might not have been murdered. Doctor Kelemen Mayakori, head of the Jayapura General Hospital, has told local media Eluay choked to death but ruled out strangulation because there was no sign of bruising on the Papuan leader's neck. Police have said the father of seven, who met a local commander of Indonesia's elite special forces on the night before his body was found, had been kidnapped. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has said Eluay's death was a well-planned assassination and has called for a high level inquiry with international participation. Jakarta recently handed greater powers to Papua to manage its own affairs, but this overture was rejected by Eluay's Papuan Presidium Council -- an umbrella group of Papuan leaders seeking independence peacefully. The council eschews the hard line taken by the pro-independence Free Papua Movement rebels who have been fighting a low-level guerrilla war for decades. The jungle-clad province was known as Irian Jaya until the national parliament changed its name to Papua last month.

Reuters 12 Nov 2001 Papua March Draws 10,000, Leader's Death a Mystery By Darren Whiteside SENTANI, Indonesia (Reuters) - Around 10,000 pro-independence supporters in Indonesia's remote Papua province marched peacefully behind the body of their dead leader on Tuesday, making the long trek to his home town. Police presence was light as the vast crowd made the winding 30-mile journey from the local capital Jayapura to the family home of Theys Eluay in Sentani under cloudy skies. The throng arrived around dusk after the day-long march. Analysts have said Eluay's death at the weekend could be a setback to Indonesian hopes of calming separatist tensions in the resource-rich province, especially if evidence points to murder. Most of the marchers sang patriotic songs or shouted ''Merdeka (Independence)! Merdeka!'' while others carried the separatist Papuan Morning Star Flag as they walked. A few wore elaborate head dresses made of feathers and some women wept. In Jakarta, President Megawati Sukarnoputri called for a probe into the death of Papuan Presidium Council chairman Eluay, who some years ago honored her as an adopted daughter of indigenous Papuans. ``She has asked for and hopes (for a probe). This has been conveyed through the chief security minister,'' the official Antara news agency quoted Theo Waimuri, Jakarta's ambassador to Namibia, as saying after meeting the president. Theo, himself a Papuan, said Megawati had also called for calm following Eluay's death. The cause of Eluay's death remains a mystery, with doctors who examined him quoted by local media as saying the eccentric white-haired chief might not have been murdered. But the New York-based Human Rights Watch has called Eluay's death a well-planned assassination while the council insisted its leader had been killed. ``Despite some speculation, his death was clearly murder...We call on the authorities to solve this,'' Thaha Al-Hamid, secretary-general of the council, told Reuters. CHOKED TO DEATH Doctor Kelemen Mayakori, head of the Jayapura General Hospital, told the Jakarta Post newspaper Eluay had choked to death but he ruled out strangulation because there was no bruise on the Papuan chief's neck. ``What we found was the usual condition of a person who hangs himself...He did not die of a gunshot wound,'' he said. Doctors were not immediately available to comment. Photos Reuters Photo Jakarta recently handed greater powers to Papua to manage its own affairs, but this overture was rejected by the council, an umbrella group of Papuan leaders seeking independence peacefully. The council eschews the hard line taken by the pro-independence Free Papua Movement (OPM), rebels who have been fighting a low-level guerrilla war for decades. The jungle-clad province was known as Irian Jaya until the national parliament changed its name to Papua last month. Jayapura -- a sleepy seaside town perched on steep heavily jungled hills about 2,300 miles east of Jakarta -- was calm on Tuesday as business began returning to normal, although many shops remained closed in the provincial capital. Eluay's supporters had followed his body from the local parliament building, where it lay overnight. People lined the roads along the way to Sentani, offering flowers to people in the procession. Family members plan to hold Eluay's funeral on December 1 -- the 40th anniversary of the declaration of independence by Papuan separatists. ``The situation (in Papua) is calm,'' Janner Pasaribu, the province's police spokesman, told Reuters. Police have said the 64-year-old Eluay was kidnapped and found dead on Sunday in his upturned car at Koya, a town 30 miles east of Jayapura, where tribal chiefs wearing little but penis gourds still walk the streets. SPECULATION ABOUT HIS DEATH Some members of the council said there appeared to have been foul play in Eluay's death, and pointed fingers at the military. The military has denied any role in the death and speculated Eluay had been murdered by his own men because he had moderate views. While the council represents various tribal leaders and other figureheads in the province of some two million people, some doubt whether it represents the many who live in the jungles and remote mountain areas of the vast province. Theys himself was once a parliamentarian in the ruling Golkar party, for decades the political vehicle of former President Suharto . Several council members were also close associates of Suharto's family. Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1963 after heavy diplomatic pressure on the Netherlands, Indonesia's former colonial ruler. In 1969 a U.N.-run plebiscite was held among local leaders, including Eluay, which resulted in a vote to join Indonesia. The vote has been widely criticized as unfair.

Reuters 7 Nov 2001 China's Zhu Begins Indonesia Trip, Meets Megawati JAKARTA (Reuters) - Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji arrived in Indonesia Wednesday on a four-day visit aimed at strengthening economic cooperation between two Asian giants that have a history of troubled relations. President Megawati Sukarnoputri welcomed Zhu and kissed his wife's cheeks during an official ceremony in Jakarta while presidential guards shot a series of salvoes into the air as a salute. Zhu, the first Chinese prime minister to visit Indonesia in more than a decade, has been accompanied by an entourage of senior officials from a range of ministries including trade. Later in the day, Zhu and Megawati will sign a number of agreements including agricultural and tourism pacts. After two days in Jakarta, tourism will be the focus of Zhu's visit. Friday he will go to the ancient royal city of Yogyakarta in central Java, where he will visit the famous Buddhist temple of Borobudur. Zhu will then travel to the resort island of Bali before returning to China Sunday. Diplomatic ties between the two countries were broken in 1967 after Jakarta accused Beijing of backing an attempted coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party, which was later outlawed. Relations were not restored until 1990, but intermittent violence against Indonesia's ethnic Chinese community, which arouses public anger in China, makes for a wary friendship.

Iraq

KurdishMedia.com 3 Nov 2001 Iraqi troops close to border with Kurdistan 03/11/2001 Erbil - Kurdistan – There are increasing reports that the Iraqi authorities are massing troops in areas close to contact line with the liberated Kurdish areas in south Kurdistan. Iraqi Troops in Kurdistan - Archive Photo Dozens of military trucks, tanks, artillery and missile batteries have been deployed close the city of Dahouk , travellers coming form area said. There are roamers that the authorities were preparing for an imminent U.S. military attack backed by Turkey. Turkish Helicopter gunships engaged in an usual activities for the past few days and can be seen clearly on the sky near border town of Zakho.

KurdishMedia.com (Translated) 31 Oct 2001 Iraqi government continues the policy of ethnic cleansing and forced deportations By R. M. Ahmad Cairo on 30th October 2001. The Iraqi Authority continues the implementation of the policy of ethnic cleansing and forced deportation against Kurdish citizens in part of Kurdistan under its control. In the latest campaign, the Iraqi Authority has confiscated the lands in the village of Glabat of A-Jabbar and deported the citizens of the village to liberated areas of Kurdistan. In a speech to the correspondent of Anba’ of Kurdistan, the citizen Baqi Neriman, who has been deported with his family, said that the security apparatus of the government lately started intimidating the citizens of A-Jabbar village to force them to leave. He added that the campaign of deportation included the confiscation of the lands and properties of 35 families and the Iraqi government has prepared a list by the name of Arab families who will get the confiscated lands. The list includes 200 Arab families from Al-Laheeb and Al-Jabbour tribes. The deported Kurdish citizen made it clear that the security apparatus not only deported Kurdish families forcefully but also distributed nationality correction forms to force Kurdish families to change their national identity to Arab. Any family refuses to fill and sign the form, deported to liberated Kurdistan. The deported citizen Baqi Nariman, now lives in Kifre, ended his speech by saying that his reward from Iraqi government for 23 years service in teaching and 8 years military service was his deportation with his family from the land of his ancestors. Source: www.puk.org Anba’ Kurdistan, PUK Kurdistan-based Arabic-daily, 31st October 2001

KurdishMedia.com 31 Oct 2001 Nazi-style gas-chamber – new method for mass murder by Iraqi regime ) 15 prisoners were executed on 10 August 2001 inside a purpose-build gas chamber, the Centre For Human Rights of Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) in Shaqlawa – South Kurdistan revealed. The horrific crime, which took only 27 seconds, committed under direct supervision of Qusay, the younger son of the Saddam Hussein, Nazi-style gas chamber used. In the graphic description the ICP said that the bodies of the victims were left in the chamber for one hour until the gas was extracted through a special vent. This barbaric crime was filmed on a video and was shown to the Qusay. The operation was closely supervised by members of the “Special Security” apparatus headed by Qusay. The perpetrators of the crime were revealed by ICP: - Sarmad Salah al-Rawi, a chemical engineer. (He is the nephew of Hamed al-Rawi, a member of the so-called Iraqi National Assembly). - Mohammed Nasser Hussein al-Nasseri - a researche - Lt. Col. Abdul Wahab Abdul Razzaq - He was Qusay’s representative from “Special Security” The following people have been identified among the victims: - Karim Karkoush al-Anbaki - from Diyala - Ali Abdul Kadhem al-Ka’bi - from Umarah - Hashem Hmeidan al-Mousawi - from Kut - Hayder Rahim - from Baghdad - Ali Jassem Abadi - from Baghdad According to the ICP, “the Gas Chamber was installed last year and its operation began after approval by Qusay. It seems that this barbaric method was designed to facilitate mass physical liquidation of prisoners and detainees in a shorter time and with less effort.” This is part of Iraqi regime’s notorious “Prison Cleanup” campaign which has so far claimed more than 3000 prisoners and detainees.

Israel

Jerusalem Post 6 Nov 2001Melchior planning international body to fight anti-Semitism By Etgar Lefkovits - A new international forum to combat anti-Semitism is being launched, Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior said yesterday. "Anti-Semitism is today not just a Jewish problem, but a problem for all of humanity, which encompasses an existential danger to democratic values," Melchior told The Jerusalem Post, after a Sunday meeting of Israel's Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism, which he heads. Declaring that he sees a direct link between the UN anti-racism conference in Durban which ended with a castigation of Israel and the September 11 terror attack on the US, Melchior said that the Israel sensed a necessity to "upgrade" its struggle against anti-Semitism beyond the local level. "The idea is to garner the support and input of groups around the world and form a coalition against anti-Semitism," said ADL Israel director Wayne Firestone, who, along with representatives of various Jewish groups, took part in the meeting. After having its own monitoring body for anti-Semitism, which was set up five years ago, Firestone said that it was only a natural step for Israel to internationalize it and look for "supportive voices around the world." Firestone said yesterday that a date for the first conference of the international forum has not been set. Melchior noted that as part of a "new anti-Semitic" trend, an unholy alliance of Islamic extremists and neo-Nazi fascist groups has been formed. "Hatred starts with the Jews, but doesn't end with them," he said. Melchior said that Israel felt that it needed to be at the forefront of the struggle, and not leave the battle against anti-Semitism around the world to Diaspora Jewish groups. The new international body, which Melchior termed a "coalition for decency" will be headed by Irwin Cotler, a law professor and Canadian parliamentarian, and Prof. Per Almark of Sweden. As a worldwide body, the forum will be made up of mainly non-Jews.

Jerusalem Post 6 Nov 2001 Bishara could be first MK to be tried for ideology, not acts Background By Dan Izenberg - MK Azmi Bishara (Balad) could become the first Knesset member to have his immunity stripped and face criminal charges in court on ideological grounds and for things he said rather than did. But even if the Knesset plenum accepts the House Committee's recommendation to lift the firebrand MK's immunity, Bishara will not be the first legislator to be punished on these grounds. And even then, there will still be a long way to go before Bishara sits in the defendant's seat. Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein asked the Knesset to lift Bishara's immunity to face two charges. The first is that he made inflammatory speeches on two occasions, one in Umm el-Fahm and the other in Syria, thereby violating the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance; the second is that he organized visits by Israeli Arabs to Syria, violating the Emergency Defense Regulations. The plenum will have to determine whether Bishara's activities constitute a violation of the 1951 Knesset Members' Immunity Law, Rights and Obligations. Article 1 of the law grants MKs sweeping freedom to act in the fulfillment of their duties as public representatives. According to Paragraph 1a, "an MK will not be held criminally or civilly responsible and will be immune from any judicial action, regarding any vote, any opinion expressed in public or in writing or for any act conducted in the Knesset or outside of it, as long as the vote or expression of opinion or act is performed in the fulfillment of his duty or for the sake of fulfilling his duty as an MK." This paragraph is known as substantive immunity, and it is iron-clad. According to MK Amnon Rubinstein (Meretz), who is an expert in constitutional law, the immunity clause allows MKs to stretch their public activities beyond the legal limits but does not determine precisely how far they may go and still be within the realm of fulfilling their duties. Even when an MK commits an act that cannot be justified as being in the line of duty, he enjoys procedural immunity and cannot be indicted unless the Knesset agrees to it. Yesterday, the House Committee ruled Bishara's speeches in Umm el-Fahm and Syria did not fall under the umbrella of substantive immunity and he could and should be put on trial. It is not the first time the Knesset has punished MKs for their words. In 1993, it voted to restrict the movements of MK Hashem Mahameed - then representing Hadash - for a speech he made in the Gaza Strip where he declared "as long as the occupation continues, so will our struggle. And not by stones alone. The Palestinian people must fight occupation using any possible means." Mahameed told The Jerusalem Post yesterday he waited for two years to see whether the Attorney-General would seek to lift his immunity altogether in order to prosecute him on criminal charges. The request never came, and the punishment remained in-house, limited and temporary. Eight years earlier, the Knesset also restricted the free movement of another MK, Muhammad Miari (Progressive List for Peace) by barring him from entering Gaza for three months. Miari petitioned the High Court of Justice, which repealed the Knesset decision. It said the prohibition imposed on Miari was punitive, and the Knesset Members' Immunity Law had not been passed in order to enable the Knesset to punish its members. Bishara will no doubt remember the Miari precedent if the plenum upholds yesterday's House Committee ruling. Nevertheless, he has already made history by being the first MK to have his immunity lifted rather than restricted by the House Committee for things he said.

Japan

News Japan, China, S. Korea to launch cooperation meetings By Naoko Aoki BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Nov. 5, Kyodo - Japan, China and South Korea agreed Monday to launch separate regular meetings of their economic, foreign and finance ministers to boost cooperation among the three major economic powers of Asia. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he reached the agreement with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung at a breakfast meeting on the sidelines of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its Northeast Asian partners in Brunei. The three also agreed to work together on steps against terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States as well as on issues that affect the region such as piracy and the environment, Japanese government officials said. Thorny historical issues did not take center stage in the talks, which were the third by Koizumi and the leaders of China and South Korea in a month, they said. Japan's relations with its two neighbors deteriorated earlier this year following Tokyo's approval of school history textbooks that critics say whitewash Japan's wartime atrocities. The ties deteriorated further after Koizumi visited Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honors war criminals along with Japanese war dead. The only reference to the issue was made by Zhu, who the Japanese officials quoted as saying that Japan's relations with the two countries are becoming ''frank'' due to Koizumi's ''initiatives'' to improve them. Zhu was believed to be referring to Koizumi's one-day visits to the two countries in October aimed at mending relations. They included messages to the public about Japan's ''heartfelt apology'' over its aggression before and during World War II. Asked by reporters whether he thinks Japan's relations with China and the South have fully recovered through his talks, Koizumi replied, ''Yes, I think so.'' Perhaps in a sign of warming ties, the three leaders agreed to launch the ministerial-level meetings, which would be the only talks on that level aside from discussions by their environment ministers. Their finance ministers have met, but only for ad hoc meetings. In Monday's discussion, the trio decided to cooperate on efforts to eradicate terrorism by such means as sharing information, the Japanese officials said. Koizumi told reporters he did not explain Japan's plan to send its Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to lend rear noncombat support to the U.S. military strikes on Afghanistan because he thinks he gained sufficient understanding through earlier talks. Japan's parliament enacted a law last Monday that makes the assistance possible. Tokyo is drawing up a plan specifying the size and activities of the SDF units to be dispatched. The three leaders also decided their police forces should boost collaboration to tackle issues such as international crime, terrorism and drug trafficking, the Japanese officials said. Kim emphasized the need for such teamwork to prevent possible attacks at the 2002 World Cup soccer finals to be jointly hosted by Japan and South Korea. On the economic front, Kim presented a report jointly drawn up by research institutes in the three countries on ways to boost trilateral trade and investment. The report was compiled after the countries agreed to launch joint economic studies in their first trilateral summit held on the sidelines of the ASEAN-plus-three summit in Manila in 1999. Kim also said business sectors in the three states should work together by inaugurating a trilateral business forum, according to the Japanese officials.

Japan Times 3 Nov 2001 Japan offers judge for Khmer Rouge trial By HISANE MASAKI Staff writer Japan plans to nominate Kuniji Shibahara, a professor of law at Gakushuin University, to serve as a judge at a United Nations-assisted tribunal to be set up in Cambodia to bring leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime to justice, government sources said Friday. The sources said that Shibahara, who concurrently serves as a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, will almost certainly be chosen by the U.N. as one of the tribunal's nine non-Cambodian judges, given the fact that Japan has played a key role in peace and development of the war-torn Southeast Asian country. Shibahara has already agreed informally to run for the post, the sources said. If selected as a judge at the Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal, the professor will become the fourth Japanese to serve as a judge at an international court. Japan's nomination of Shibahara is part of its strong drive for boosting its international prestige by making greater "intellectual," as well as financial, contributions to global peace, the sources said. At present, Shigeru Oda serves as a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague and Soji Yamamoto at the International Tribunal for the Law of Sea in Hamburg, Germany. Chikako Taya, a veteran female public prosecutor, was also elected by the U.N. in mid-June as an "ad litem," or nonstanding, judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague. The U.N.-assisted tribunal in Cambodia will try leaders of the notorious Khmer Rouge regime for such offenses as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The communist regime is blamed for the deaths of about 1.7 million Cambodians due to disease, overwork, starvation and execution during its rule from 1975 through 1979. The regime's leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998, but most of his deputies -- including Nuon Chea, the regime's No. 2 man and chief ideologue; Ieng Sary, foreign minister; and Khieu Samphan, who was the nominal head of state -- still live freely in the country. No one has been brought to justice for the atrocities. Only two senior Khmer Rouge leaders are in custody: military leader Ta Mok and Kaing Khek Iev, better known as Duch, the director of the Khmer Rouge torture center in Phnom Penh. In August, Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk signed a law authorizing the establishment of the Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal following the law's approval in the country's bicameral parliament. Foreign prosecutors as well as judges will participate in the trial of Khmer Rouge leaders. The trial will be made at three stages -- at a first court, an appeals court and a final court. Of the 21 judges, 12 will be Cambodians. The first court will have five judges, including two foreigners, the appeals court seven judges, including three foreigners, and the final court nine judges, including four foreigners. Although Cambodian judges make up a majority of each court, any ruling must be supported by at least one foreign judge. Before the Khmer Rouge tribunal is actually set up, the Cambodian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the U.N. must sign a memorandum of understanding concerning the legal status of non-Cambodian judges and other things. After signing the memorandum of understanding, the U.N. will choose the foreign judges through consultations with the Cambodian government. Prime Minister Hun Sen has said it is possible that the tribunal will be established by the end of this year. But it is still uncertain exactly when the tribunal will be set up because of the apparent lack of progress in negotiations between his government and the U.N. on the memorandum of understanding. It is also uncertain whether all of the Khmer Rouge leaders will actually be prosecuted. Japan, the United States, Russia, Britain and France -- four of the U.N. Security Council's five permanent members -- Australia and other nations have expressed a readiness to send judges to the Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal. It remains unclear whether China, the fifth permanent U.N. Security Council member and a staunch backer of the Khmer Rouge, will get behind the trial.

Iraq

3 November, 2001, 08:50 GMT Iraqi Kurds' story of expulsion Thousands of women and children are left without husbands or fathers Iraq's Kurdish region is dotted with refugee camps and collective towns created over years of expulsion and mass deportation. In the last of four features, BBC journalist Hiwa Osman reports on the situation in the camps. Binaslawa is a collective town outside the city of Arbil in the Kurdish region. It is a hot, dusty pile of grey cement houses and tents for more than 50,000 displaced people. The Iraqi Government created many "modern villages" like Binaslawa in the 1980s to remove the Kurdish rural population from the countryside into camps near the major cities. In this era of globalisation, justice should also be global Bakhtiar Amin, Coalition for Justice in Iraq Hamid, a Kurd from the city of Kirkuk, has been living with his family in Binaslawa since 1997, when they were expelled from their home by the Iraqi Government. He had received a visit from a security official who told him that he had to leave and go to the Kurdish-controlled area. His house, appliance shop and farm were confiscated. He was not given a reason for his expulsion by the security official, but didn't have to ask. As a Kurd, he knew it was his turn to join perhaps 100,000 others who had been forced out of the oil-rich areas in and around Kirkuk. Arabisation Hamid's scenario is a typical one for Kurds, Turkomans and Assyrian Christians who have lived under the control of the Iraqi Government. But recently, a new deportation method has been put in place. "They did not let us take anything with us" Any non-Arab who needs to have any official dealings with the Iraqi Government - whether property conveyance, vehicle registration, or enrolling children in schools - has to fill in a form that says: "I wish to correct my ethnic origin into Arabic." Those who refuse to sign the form are automatically expelled to the Kurdish-controlled area. Those who "correct" their ethnic identity are told that "since they are Arabs," they should move to the south of Iraq. Al-Ta'mim (nationalisation in Arabic) is the new name of the traditionally Kurdish governorate of Kirkuk. It is also the name of a government newspaper published in Kirkuk, which carries regular reports about "the leader president's gifts to the people". President Saddam Hussain's "gift" for new Arab settlers is a plot of land in Kirkuk, a lump sum of money, and arms for "protection". Hamid's shop, farm and house are amongst these gifts. Scorched earth The Anfals A campaign of mass displacement and disappearance Conducted by the Iraqi Government in the late 1980s An estimated 182,000 Kurds were buried alive in the southern deserts Shorish is another former "modern village" not far from Kirkuk inside the Kurdish region. The people who live there tell a different story of forced expulsion. The majority of Shorish's inhabitants are what Kurds call "Anfal widows". Anfal, (spoils in Arabic), was a campaign of mass displacement and disappearance conducted by the Iraqi Government in the waning days of the Iran-Iraq war in the late 1980s. Using a scorched-earth policy that included chemical bombing, thousands of villages were depopulated and razed to the ground. Anfal's goal was to prevent Kurdish opposition parties from relying on the Kurdish villages. Eyewitness accounts, documents seized from Iraqi security during the Gulf War uprising and international organisations estimate that 182,000 people, mostly men, were forced from the Kurdish areas and buried alive in mass graves in the southern deserts. Hamid's son, Azad, was born in the camp The Iraqi Government refuses to confirm the fate of those who were taken, despite repeated requests from Kurdish officials. The social, economic and psychological impact of this issue is enormous. Without a death certificate, women with missing husbands cannot remarry and their children cannot inherit family property. Without a working head of household, women are sometimes forced into the smuggling trade or worse. House after impoverished house in Shorish is filled with women and children. International Tribunal The Anfal and Arabisation campaigns are "acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing", says Bakhtiar Amin, head of the Washington-based Coalition for Justice in Iraq (CJI), which includes more than 260 non-governmental organisations from 120 countries. Tent cities are the first stop for expelled families The 14 tonnes of security documents seized in the uprising, make "Iraqi genocide, in which one million Iraqis were killed, the most documented case since WW II," Amin said in an interview with BBC News Online. The CJI is calling for an expert commission under a UN mandate to study the available evidence and decide whether there is a case for crimes against humanity in Iraq. "Unaccountability means a continuation of violence and encouraging other dictators to commit similar crimes," Amin said. "In this era of globalisation, justice should also be global."

Israel

Scotsman (UK) 21 Nov 2001 Barak claims clear conscience at inquiry into security forces’ massacre of Arabs Ben Lynfield In Jerusalem EHUD Barak, the former Israeli prime minister, yesterday distanced himself from the killings of 13 Arab citizens by security forces last year, but his testimony did nothing to heal a country polarised into two angry ethnic communities. "There was no way to foresee the intensity," of demonstrations in Arab areas, Mr Barak told a commission of inquiry into the violence inside Israel in October 2000. Forced to return to the public eye for the first time since being trounced in elections last February, Mr Barak issued an impassioned defence of his failed policies as prime minister. "I have a clear conscience about our attempts to achieve peace with our neighbours - it was the most important thing to do." The deaths inside Israel, which came amid a wave of Arab protests, marked the worst instances of shootings by security forces against citizens in Israeli history and left wounds in the relations between the Jewish majority and Arab minority that both sides say may never heal. For Arab citizens, the police behaviour pointed up racism and the cheapness of their lives in the eyes of the state. For most Jewish Israelis, the demonstrations by Arabs, which included blocking roads and destroying property, conjured up fears of the Arab minority emerging as a dangerous fifth column. The violence broke out days after the then opposition leader, Ariel Sharon, paid a provocative visit to a Jerusalem holy shrine, and as deaths of Palestinians mounted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Mr Barak said the guidelines to police had been to "prevent friction" in the Arab areas but that in practice this was not always possible. "The decisive factor was clarity of thinking by the commander in the field," he said. Arab demonstrators had set up roadblocks and burned property, necessitating that police act to uphold the law, the former premier added. Mr Barak testified that the clashes followed a pattern in which "a small group of policemen were attacked by hundreds of violent rioters, causing distress among the police, who perceived a life-threatening situation and responded accordingly". His recollections differed from those of Moran Eisenbaum, an 18-year-old Jewish woman, outside the hearing. She was a close friend of Asel Asleh, one of the Arabs killed. "Asel’s death was so discouraging and depressing," she said. "It wasn’t just losing him. It was the way people reacted. Everyone responded in an illogical way. The Palestinian-Israelis made him a martyr. I don’t think Asel would have wanted to see 13 martyrs used as a weapon to fight Israel. "We used to make fun of Asel that he was a mediator. He spoke Arabic, Hebrew and English," she said. "He was a big believer in non-violent actions. "The Jewish reaction was horrible. I came to school and the minute I said Arab, it was okay that he died. "This inquiry won’t really do anything," predicted Ms Eisenbaum. "Putting those responsible on trial would shatter the Israeli point of view. It would be seen as giving the wrong education for kids. Israeli education is that there are good guys and bad guys and that we are the good guys. It’s a black and white view of the world, the comfortable way to think and survive."

Jerusalem Post 9 Nov 2001 Palestinians say intifada has failed - report By Gil Hoffman JERUSALEM - Most of the Palestinian Authority's top military and political leaders favor a political rather than a military approach to solving the conflict with Israel, a Foreign Ministry research team found, in a report issued this week to the Director-General Avi Gil. The report states that many of the PA's top officials believe that the intifada has failed and that the time has come to return to the negotiating table. It singles out Gaza Preventive Security Service chief Muhammad Dahlan, Palestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qurei, and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's deputy Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). "Among a significant portion of Palestinians and their leadership, the feeling is growing that the intifada has run its course and a turning point is rapidly approaching," states the first sentence of the report, which was leaked to Ma'ariv. When it comes to Arafat, the report says that he heads both the militant and pragmatic camps in the PA, straddling the fence between the two. The report does not discount the strength of militant elements in the PA, but says that pragmatists are succeeding in convincing the masses that an end to the violence will put them in the good graces of the eyes of the world and advance their cause. According to the report, the change in Palestinian public opinion has been caused by their economic hardships, the end of the rule of law in the PA, and the feeling that the intifada has shifted Israelis more to the Right. "The Palestinians no longer understand where Arafat is leading them," one top Foreign Ministry official said. "Enthusiasm has died down for the intifada, which left them with no money and an image as terrorists. They're beginning to realize there's something wrong with their strategy." Peres is expected to use the report to advance his ideas when he begins formulating a diplomatic plan with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this afternoon at his office in Tel Aviv.

Jerusalem Post 9 Nov 2001 Second Arab MK suspected of seditious remarks By Etgar Lefkovits JERUSALEM - The day after the Knesset lifted the immunity of MK Azmi Bishara (Balad) for making speeches praising Hizbullah actions against Israel, Jerusalem police questioned MK Taleb a-Sanaa, (United Arab List) for more than two hours yesterday afternoon, on suspicion of sedition. A-Sanaa had allegedly voiced support for a Palestinian shooting attack outside Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv in August and written a letter to the Arab League urging that Mauritania be ostracized for maintaining ties with Israel. Following the machine-gun assault at the intersection near the Defense Ministry offices and the Azrieli Center that wounded eight soldiers and two civilians, a-Sanaa said in an interview with Abu Dhabi television that "this was an act of special quality, since it was not directed against civilians - it was aimed against soldiers in the heart of the state of Israel. Israelis must understand that if there is no security for Palestinians, there can be no security for them either... There are no feelings of guilt in this instance, and we are not going to indulge in special pleading and apologies." After the interview, which was rebroadcast on Israel Television and sent shock waves through the Jewish public in Israel, Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein instructed police to investigate whether a-Sanaa broke the law when he expressed support for a terrorist attack. "There is no country in the world which would be prepared to tolerate a statement from one of its legislators which regards an attempt to kill soldiers in the middle of its cities as legitimate, whatever his political point of view," said Rubinstein at the time. A-Sanaa had been summoned to appear at the main Jerusalem police station on Tuesday of this week but failed to report, raising concern on the part of Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau. A-Sanaa said yesterday that he had answered the interrogators' questions but did not intend to return for any further questioning. "I am very busy man," he said. "The police would be better off doing their job and not harassing Arab members of Knesset." A-Sanaa maintained that both his media interview and letter to the Arab League were legitimate political actions that in no way could be considered criminal offenses. "It is no secret that Arab MKs are not Zionists, but rather see themselves as Palestinian Arabs," a-Sanaa said. He also accused Rubinstein of the "political persecution" of Arab MKs, adding that "the attorney-general's political views are determining his decisions."

Jerusalem Post 2 Nov 2001 B'tselem report focuses on settler violence By Dan Izenberg JERUSALEM - B'tselem yesterday published a report spotlighting settler rioting against Palestinians in revenge for Palestinian attacks on Jews. It said the riots are routine and the authorities do little to stop them. The report published a quote from Ha'aretz military reporter Amos Harel to describe the alleged phenomenon. In July, Harel wrote: "The understanding of the settlers' distress, the strong connection between their leadership and senior officials in the occupied territories, and no less than this, the IDF and police helplessness in handling Jewish rioters, has turned settler violence into an expected, almost customary, aftermath to every attack against them." According to the human rights organization, settlers have killed at least 124 Palestinians since the beginning of the first intifada in 1987. Eleven Palestinians have been killed since the outbreak of the current intifada. None of the examples included in the report involves killings of Palestinians. "As noted," the report said, "Palestinian attacks on settlers are absolutely forbidden by international law. However, such attacks can never justify settler acts of violence against Palestinians. Even where the attacks on settlers are extremely serious, the official authorities, and not private individuals, are responsible for enforcing the law." One of the examples noted in the report involved six days of settler riots in Hebron in March and April, after 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass, who lived in there, was shot and killed. "Despite being prepared to cope with the anticipated events, the IDF did not make a serious effort to prevent settler riots in the city," the report said. "For several days, settlers attacked Palestinians, damaged their property, and endangered Palestinian lives. The rioting included burning shops, theft, stone throwing, burning buildings belonging to the Wakf, and other acts of abuse and vandalism." According to B'tselem, the army issued a condemnation only on the sixth day of the riots and only after a gas canister blew up in a Palestinian shop. The IDF statement said the explosion "endangered IDF soldiers." The Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza rejected the Palestinian claims that appeared in the report and raised doubts about their validity. "The council opposes anyone who takes the law into his own hands even after terrorist attacks occur," its statement said. "However, one should take note of the background to the incidents mentioned in the report. The Palestinians are the last people on Earth who have the right to complain about violence of any kind, as among their society are those who send out terrorists and support terror that does not differentiate between the old and young, civilians and soldiers." The council declared settlers should be praised for their restraint while being the victims of "thousands of shooting attacks and scores of dead in the last year." [B'Tselem 1 Nov 2002 New Report: Free Rein: Vigilante Settlers and Israel's Non-Enforcement of the Law, http://btselem.org/]

Nepal

BBC 25 Nov 2001 Nepal considers state of emergency The government is expected to boost its security forces The Nepalese Government has postponed a decision on whether to declare a state of emergency following a devastating new offensive by Maoist rebels. A cabinet meeting was held on Sunday amid calls to deploy the army and reports of a bomb blast in the eastern town of Itahari which killed three people. The rebels have killed more than 40 people, including members of the security forces, since they broke a ceasefire on Friday. The interior minister wants tough measures to be taken against the rebels The ruling party, the Nepali Congress, has authorised the government to use "all constitutional and legal provisions" against the rebels. "At a time when the government was trying to hold the fourth round of peace talks with them, the Maoists have foiled all such efforts and resorted to violence and terrorism," it said. "The ruling party condemns the Moists for their terrorism." Party officials said the army might be mobilised to crush the guerrillas. To date, police have mainly been used in the fight against the rebellion, which has claimed more than 1,850 lives. But there are unconfirmed reports that the army has insisted on the declaration of an emergency before it begins any offensive. The district administrator in Itahari, Ram Prasad Khatiwada, told Reuters news agency that he suspected the Maoists were behind an explosion there on Sunday which caused three deaths. Local officials also told the agency that another explosion outside the town on Sunday had injured four children. No rebel claim for Sunday's attacks has been reported. On Saturday, rebels attacked police in the Sunsari and Surkhet districts, killing a total of nine officers. The attacks came only a day after the rebels ended their four-month ceasefire, killing 37 members of the security forces in assaults on police stations and army barracks in the west. Government 'blocking peace talks' The senior rebel leader, Prachanda, said the decision to end the ceasefire had been taken because the government was blocking peace talks aimed at ending the conflict. The government denies this, and accuses the rebels of running away from dialogue. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba came to power in July promising to bring an end to the five-year old insurgency. The two sides held their first substantive peace talks in August, but these stalled two weeks ago over a rebel demand for elections for a constituent assembly to pave the way for a new constitution. Our correspondent says the renewed attacks may indicate that a split has developed between hawks and doves in the rebel ranks. The Maoists stepped up their attacks after the massacre of the royal family on 1 June - apparently by a family member.

Pakistan

Al-Ahram Weekly Online 8 - 14 November 2001 Issue No.559 Caught in a cruel crossfire Pakistan's Christians, among the most impoverished and persecuted sections of the population, were the latest victims to the can of worms which the war against Afghanistan has opened across its borders. Iffat Malek writes from Islamabad On Sunday, 28 October, six bearded men burst into a Protestant service in Saint Dominic's Church, Bahawalpur, in south Punjab. Locking the doors behind them, they took AK-47 rifles out of their bags and opened fire indiscriminately. Eighteen people, including the priest and a number of women and children, were killed. Dozens more were injured. The extent of the carnage was such that Pakistanis -- sadly, no strangers to violence on their streets -- were all stunned. Condemnation of the attacks was instant, with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declaring that he was extremely shocked by the tragedy and promising to "track down the culprits and bring them to justice." Two federal ministers, one a Christian and the other the minister for religious affairs, were promptly dispatched to Bahawalpur to pay their condolences in person. The fear of retaliation was palpable. While condemning the massacre, Christian leaders in Pakistan made a plea for restraint. All the main political and religious party leaders unequivocally denounced the killings, though many of them added that no Muslim could have carried out such acts. The usual charge that such an attack had to be the work of India's intelligence agency (RAW) was quick to follow. At a time when the international media spotlight is firmly focused on Pakistan, it was no surprise that news of the killings spread globally and prompted criticism from the highest levels. Pope John Paul II described the event as a tragic act of intolerance. The archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, condemned the violence and appealed for people to recognise that the conflict in neighbouring Afghanistan was not one between Islam and Christianity. Christians form about one per cent of Pakistan's population of 140 million. Many are concentrated in the country's largest province, the Punjab. While some enjoy wealth and good positions, in general, Christians form the poorest class in Pakistani society. They are typically employed as rubbish collectors, street sweepers and sanitary workers. Ordinary Pakistani Muslims look down on them and their limited socio-economic opportunities make them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. In many cases, the discrimination against Pakistani Christians is comparable to that suffered by the untouchables in India. Many Muslims will not, for example, let Christians share their eating and drinking utensils and they regard many of the jobs performed by Christians as unclean. More serious is the way in which Christians are targeted through abuse of the blasphemy laws. Pakistan has some of the strictest blasphemy laws in the Muslim world. Charges of blasphemy can be made on the flimsiest of evidence -- even one man's word against another. The ease with which blasphemy charges can be made to stick has led to a spate of accusations against Christians. Often these are malicious complaints, with the real motive being personal enmity, land disputes and the like. But violence against Christians has, for the most part, not been a big problem in Pakistan. Rioting that broke out in south Punjab among Muslims in 1997 led to a rampage that attacked Christian homes, churches and schools -- again, the result of anger over blasphemy accusations against some Christians -- but there were no killings. Sunday's massacre thus marks a huge escalation in the violence against Pakistani Christians. Archbishop Carey's reference to Afghanistan in his condolence message, along with reports by witnesses that the gunmen shouted "Graveyard of Christians -- Pakistan and Afghanistan," give a good indication of what prompted the escalation. Tension in Pakistan has been high since the 11 September attacks in America, and even more since the US military campaign against Afghanistan started on 7 October. Few in Pakistan support the campaign, but most accept that their government had no choice but to cooperate in it. The religious parties and their supporters, however, have strongly condemned both the US and President Musharraf's government, and are now openly calling for its violent overthrow. Most of their protests have been directed against the government, but there have been fears that resentment could be vented out against foreigners and Christians. Most foreigners have long since left the country, or are safe in the heavily protected capital Islamabad. Christians, though, have no such protection. Even before the Bahawalpur killings, many were complaining of harassment and said they felt vulnerable. An employee with an international organisation in Islamabad said her family felt so scared in their Muslim- majority neighbourhood that they moved to a Christian one. She said local religious leaders would point to them and say, "They're the ones -- they are responsible," referring to the killings of Muslims in Afghanistan. According to local newspaper reports, the intelligence agencies had warned the government that Christians could be attacked. Some measures had already been taken to tighten security around Christian targets. There was one police constable outside Saint Dominic's Church on Sunday. He was killed first. But the fact that three others who should have been on duty with him were away "having breakfast" indicates that orders to tighten security were not always followed through. The massacre in Bahawalpur thus appears to have been the work of people angry about the US campaign against Afghanistan. President Musharraf said the attack bore all the hallmarks of a trained terrorist organisation. In the days after it, police rounded up activists belonging to a number of militant Islamist organisations for questioning. A week later it was announced that those responsible for the attacks had been arrested -- again, members of an extremist religious group. Whether this is true or a case of police scapegoating remains to be seen. But even if the police have caught the right men, the problems for Pakistan's government are far from over. Religiously- motivated violence is already a big problem. Dozens of people have been killed this year in sectarian and inter-sectarian attacks. Mosques and imambargahs (places of Shi'a worship) in Pakistan are regularly sprayed with gunfire and armed guards outside places of worship are the norm, especially during Ramadan and Muharram. The Bahawalpur massacre makes the task of dealing with religious violence even more difficult. Pakistan's economy is already heading for a free fall, thanks to its position as a front-line state in the latest Afghan war. The negative reports of protests and demonstrations regularly aired by international news channels have only worsened Pakistan's image. The massacre in Bahawalpur will simply add to this image of instability and insecurity, and hence investors' lack of confidence. The only consolation for the government is that -- unlike with previous Shi'a or Sunni killings -- this latest attack is unlikely to lead to a tit-for-tat cycle of revenge attacks. Appeals by Christian leaders for restraint will be heeded. That is not because there is no anger among the Christian community, but because the community is simply too small and vulnerable to go on the offensive. Needless to say, their sense of vulnerability has increased manifold since the killings in Bahawalpur. Nonetheless, with growing opposition from the religious parties, a war on his doorstep, India making threatening moves in Kashmir and a looming economic crisis, the attack on Pakistan's Christians is an additional problem Musharraf could well have done without.

Syria

BBC 24 Nov 2001 New amnesty in Syria The late president jailed over 1,000 dissidents The Syrian authorities have freed 113 political prisoners, some of whom have been in jail for 20 years, in the second wave of an amnesty begun earlier this week. The prisoners, released by presidential pardon on Saturday, included members of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iraqi branch of the Al-Baath Socialist Party, according to a Syrian human rights group. The Syrian authorities gave no reason for the releases, although they coincide with the 31st anniversary of the rise to power of the late President, Hafez-al-Assad. Bashar al-Assad ordered the prisoners' release Aktham Nueisa, head of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, said that two of the released prisoners were senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood who had been behind bars for 15 years, while some of the Baath party members had spent 20 years in jail. Mr Nueisa said most of the dissidents were detained before Hafez-al-Assad's death in July 2000, after which his son, Bashar Assad, became president. Syria imprisoned many members of Islamist groups after crushing an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood in the city of Hama in 1982, in which 25,000 people are believed to have died. More detainees Nine prisoners from the Syrian Communist Labour Party were released earlier this week. But human rights groups say that the Syrian authorities are still detaining 1,200 more political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. In response to the first wave of releases, Mr Nueisa said there was no indication that Syria would free a separate group of opposition figures arrested in September after calling for greater political freedom. They include two liberal members of parliament, Maamun Homsi and Riad Seif. The MPs have been on trial since the end of October, charged with trying to change Syria's constitution by illegal means. If convicted, they face sentences of between five years and life in jail.

BBC 19 Nov 2001 Syria frees political prisoners The amnesty marks Hafez al-Assad's rise to power The Syrian authorities have released nine political prisoners as part of a presidential amnesty, according to a Syrian human rights group. The detainees belong to the Syrian Communist Labour Party and in some cases had been held since 1987. Bashar al-Assad ordered the prisoners' release They were freed under pardons marking the 31st anniversary of the late President Hafez al-Assad's rise to power. One of the prisoners released on Sunday evening, Akram Bounni, told the AFP news agency he had spent more than 14 years in jail and was freed without completing his sentence. Mr Bounni called for the release of his colleagues, some of whom, he said, had been in prison for 27 years. Aktham Naesa, president of the Defence Committees for Human Rights in Syria, said prisoners from the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and the Iraqi branch of the pan-Arab Baath party were also expected to be released in the coming days. Crackdown Syria imprisoned many members of Islamist groups after crushing an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood in the city of Hama in 1982, in which 25,000 people are believed to have died. Mr Naesa said there was no indication that Syria would free a separate group of opposition figures arrested in September after calling for greater political freedom. They include two liberal members of parliament, Maamun Homsi and Riad Seif. The MPs have been on trial since the end of October, charged with trying to change Syria's constitution by illegal means. If convicted, they face sentences of between five years and life in jail. Human rights organisations estimate there are 1,300 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Syria.

San Francisco Cronicle 18 Nov 20001 Syrian slaughter of Muslim Brotherhood left a message By Jonathan Curiel. Hama, Syria -- The onslaught lasted 27 days, and when the Syrian military finally finished leveling the neighborhood, at least 10,000 people had been killed by bullets, bombs and the collapse of buildings. The suppression of Syria's Muslim Brotherhood in 1982 was decried by human rights groups as an enormous atrocity. "Hama rules," a term coined by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, describes the extremes to which Syria, and other secular Arab governments, are prepared to go to crush dissent from their own populations, Muslim or otherwise. But the events of that February almost 20 years ago are recalled with fondness in this small, picturesque town where a fundamentalist Islamic movement lived and died. "We are lucky we have a wise government -- otherwise (the Muslim Brotherhood) would have destroyed everything," said Abdul Kareem Qashush, a 75- year-old resident of Hama. "It was good for the government to stop it." And there is little sympathy for contemporary Muslim extremists like Osama bin Laden. The suspected terrorist leader is seen here as an "outsider" trying to impose himself on the Afghan people, much as the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, tried to foist itself on Syria. "The Muslim Brotherhood -- they weren't from Syria," said Basem Issa, 32, a bartender at the Apamee Cham Palace Hotel. "They were against the nature of Syria. They're not cultured. They're not civilized." The luxury hotel was built on the exact ground where Muslim Brotherhood members were executed in cold blood. Wealthy Syrians and tourists swim in the blue waters of the pool and walk on the hotel's manicured grounds, seemingly unaware of what once lay underneath. There are no plaques remembering the dead, and no witnesses who want to talk about the people obliterated into dust. Instead, visitors to Hama are greeted with a 30-foot-high statue of Hafez Assad, the Syrian dictator who ordered the destruction of the Muslim Brotherhood, fearing its members would kill him the way Islamic extremists assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat four months earlier, in October 1981. Since Assad died of cancer in June of last year, his son and handpicked successor, Bashar, has shown some flexibility toward opposition groups. A "Damascus spring" has seen the publication of the first independent newspaper in three decades. Hundreds of dissidents, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood, were released from prison. The Brotherhood says it intends to become a peaceful political party, as in neighboring Jordan. But the Damascus spring may have its limitations. Even as Syria has applied to join the World Trade Organization, Assad over the past three months has ordered a series of arrests of well-known intellectuals, artists and politicians. The flow of Muslim Brotherhood members out of Syrian prisons, or returning from exile, has slowed. "Syria isn't an open society," said Judith Kipper, co-director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "(Extremists) still exist -- they're just more careful, and more underground." According to Western officials, Syria also continues to support terrorism, if not the kind practiced by bin Laden. Still officially at war with Israel, it helps fund the Lebanon-based Hezbollah -- and continues to occupy Lebanon with 20,000 troops. And Syria, which remains on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist nations, still plays host to a variety of militant Palestinian guerrilla groups. How long Hama will continue to serve as an example to dissidents in Syria -- and in countries like Egypt and Jordan -- is also open to question. "It's certainly a technique that works for a while," said Kipper, "but it won't work in the long haul." "Hama rules," according to Kipper and other analysts, need to be replaced with economic reforms, especially in countries like Syria where the majority of the population is under 25. "Unless you start producing decent educations and jobs (in these countries), the tendency toward radical identification with the mosque is going to exist, " said Kipper. Faisal Killane, 29, who runs an import-export business across from the Apamee Cham Palace Hotel, would just as soon forget all about the massacre. His family owned property destroyed when the military stormed in. It included a historic guest house once used for ambassadors that was taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood. "We are the new generation -- we have our own things," Killane said. "We don't cry for the old house. We just build a new one." The Syrian government compensated those who lost property in the Hama destruction, letting them build new tax-free homes in a nearby neighborhood. But most visitors want to see the centuries-old norias (wooden water wheels) that still spin around and splash water from the Orontes River by the original city. The wheels convey a gentler sense of Syrian life, and a reminder of a history stretching back thousands of years. Damascus is the oldest continuously inhabited capital in the world, Syrians will tell you, and the Phoenicians who lived here invented the alphabet. "Syrians are a highly sophisticated people," said Kipper. "They're basically a secularized, Westernized society." That doesn't mean they support the United States. Syrians interviewed here all decried American support for Israel and the civilian casualties resulting from the bombing of Afghanistan. "The United States should be going after Israel's terrorists," said Issa, the hotel bartender. "Every day, Israel is killing hundreds of Palestinians." The Syrians killed in Hama are another story. Even those who lived through the 27 days of abject terror don't recall much. Although Amnesty International estimated as many as 25,000 people may have been killed, Qashush insisted the numbers have been exaggerated. Sitting in front of a shop near the neighborhood that was leveled, he said, "There were victims, but not as many as people say in the West." In Syria, it's hard to know if people are saying things because they believe them, they want to show solidarity with the regime or are just plain scared. Perhaps it doesn't matter. Maybe someday there will be a plaque in Hama. For now, there is nothing but fading memories of an event that still defines modern Syria and the way it rooted out what Hafez Assad described as "terrorists." E-mail Jonathan Curiel at jcuriel@sfchronicle.com.

Taiwan

Reuters 22 Nov 2001 Violence Mars Campaigning for Taiwan's Dec Polls TAIPEI (Reuters) - Supporters from two small Taiwanese political parties with opposing views on the issue of ties with China clashed on Thursday, as tempers flared in the run-up to elections on December 1. Supporters of the fledgling Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) party protested outside New Party parliamentary candidate Fung Hu-hsiang's campaign headquarters, accusing Fung of being a stooge for Beijing. The protestors, led by TSU candidate Chiu Kuo-chang held banners saying Fung was Beijing's representative in Taiwan and set fire to a flag of the People's Republic of China. The protest sparked a counter-attack from Fung's supporters, who attacked the cars of the TSU candidate. During the ruckus, one of the cars hit Fung's daughter, Fung Fu-hua, who was hospitalized with a leg injury. ``I feel distressed the Taiwan Solidarity Union is such a violent party,'' said Fung. Chiu held a news conference saying the accident was a ''set-up'' by Fung's camp. Ties with China are one of the island's most divisive political issues and often sparks emotive debate. The New Party split from the main opposition Nationalist Party in 1993, but the two parties share a dream of reunifying with a democratic China. The Solidarity Union has the blessing of former president Lee Teng-hui, who is credited with democratizing Taiwan during his 12 years in power, but critics accuse him of fanning enmity between native Taiwanese and mainland immigrants. China considers Taiwan a renegade province that should be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary. It was not the first time the two small parties scuffled with each other. On Tuesday, a New Party parliamentary candidate hurled eggs at Lee during an election campaign rally, prompting an angry crowd to punch and kick the assailant. The eggs missed Lee, who stiffened briefly onstage and urged the crowd to ignore the commotion and continued to address the rally of a Solidarity Union candidate outside a Buddhist temple in Yunlin county. The New Party candidate suffered a minor concussion and was rushed to hospital. Next month's general elections are expected to feature a close race between Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party and the Nationalists, who along with their allies currently command a majority in parliament. Chen was the first opposition figure to become Taiwan's president after winning last year's presidential election and ending a 55-year monopoly on power by the Nationalists.

Europe

Austria

Guardian 29 Oct 2001 A life's work After surviving the camps, Simon Wiesenthal dedicated his life to tracking down Nazis: he brought more than 1,000 to justice. Now, at 93, he's finally giving up the hunt. There's no one left to chase. By Simon Hattenstone. The Vienna is shrouded in fog, and Simon Wiesenthal's offices are barely visible. The nonagenarian Nazi hunter has lived here for 40 years. A tiny plate, one of a dozen or so, says "Dokumentazionszentrum". I ring, and Rosemary, one of his secretaries, lets me in. To the left of his office, sitting on the stairs, and again barely visible, is a guard. It seems both perverse and logical that Wiesenthal chose to live out his post-Holocaust life in Austria - a country he claimed was responsible for half the six million Jewish dead. The door is open. "You're late," says Rosemary, who has worked for Wiesenthal for 26 years. I apologise. She glares. The three small rooms are claustrophobic, crammed with terrible reminders of the Holocaust and tributes to Wiesenthal. Numerous doctorates, a bronze bust, a poster of Ben Kingsley playing him in a film, take their place alongside photographs of Nazi victims and a huge map of Hitler's Germany. "You are late," Wiesenthal says. "You should have come at 10.30am." He doesn't smile. I apologise and say that it was beyond my control; the plane was late. He says he will be leaving for home in half an hour. I remind him that I have come over from England, ask him if he please could see his way to giving me a little extra time. "No," he says. Wiesenthal looks much as he did 30 years ago. His belly is bigger, his trousers are hoiked that little bit higher up his chest, but he still presents a dapper image - grey suit, grey pullover, grey handkerchief, grey socks, all beautifully coordinated with his grey 'tache and hair. His rheumy eyes weep a little as he talks. Outside his office there is the constant clicking of heels as his two secretaries strut back and forth depositing their files. Stern and rigorous, they have an air of the dominatrix about them. A few weeks ago, a newspaper ran a story saying that Wiesenthal was finally hanging up his boots. I ask him why he's retiring. "Ach," he says. "I have not decided to retire. It was a false interpretation of what I have said. I said that I have survived the majority of all the people I have searched for in 50 years. And now I am not searching for more people." That sounds pretty much like retirement to me. No, he says, there is still so much to do in the way of documentation. It will take three years to computerise the records, and he is determined to see it out. Anyway, he says, he may not be searching for more Nazis, but that doesn't mean that no more will come his way. "From time to time we may wish to find someone." He says another part of the work is of increasing importance - documenting the rise of the neo-Nazis and historical revisionists. "There are now small groups in Germany and Austria who say not everything about nazism was bad. And one day when the situation is good for them, these small groups could grow into a bigger group of neo-Nazis." Wiesenthal's huge family came from the Austro-Hungarian town of Buchach. He was a mature man, in his early 30s, when his mother was carted off to Belzec. He ran after the railway truck to no avail. By 1941, both he and his wife Cyla were in concentration camps. He was moved from death camp to death camp - 13 in all - but somehow managed not to die. He tried to kill himself twice, and failed. He was lined up to be shot three times, but each time the gunmen failed to reach him. Once the executions were halted when a church bell tolled. As the Germans retreated at the end of the war, he was shot at point blank range by an SS officer. Somehow the bullet missed him. In 1944, an SS corporal asked Wiensenthal how, in the unlikely event of escaping, he would describe the camps. Wiesenthal replied that he would tell the truth. The corporal told him that no one would believe anyone was capable of such brutality. That was when Simon Wiesenthal decided it was his responsibility to document the holocaust, to root out the architects of Nazism, to make sure we never forget. When he was liberated from Mauthausen, the strong young man who had entered the camps was a skeletal 100lbs. But he was still proud and tough. More than 80 members of his family, including his mother, had been wiped out. He was told Cyla had been killed. She was told he had killed himself. Wiesenthal was born with a photographic memory. After liberation, he provided a list of war criminals who ought to be brought to trial, and of the 91 names, he tracked down 75. Since then, Wiesenthal has caught, or helped catch, more than 1,000 Nazis. He used a motley crew of former concentration-camp victims, his "agents", to track them down. They often spent years looking for evidence in the form of photos and first-hand accounts, but it was never going to be easy - most of the witnesses were dead. His most famous find was Eichmann. During the search, he asked one of his agents, a concentration camp survivor, to seduce Eichmann's former girlfriends as a means of getting hold of a photograph of him. The agent delivered, and the photograph was used as evidence in convicting Eichmann. I ask him what he regards as his greatest achievement. "Ach. Look. I had many cases. One case I was working on for nine years, and I finished it. Hermine Braunsteiner was responsible for the death of many hundreds of children in a concentration camp." Eventually, he tracked her down to America, and she was tried and given a life sentence. "Six or seven months ago, the judge informed me that she had become so sick that he must relieve her from prison, and do you know what had happened?" He smiles for the first time. "She had lost both legs. Her American husband bought an apartment in Dusseldorf so he could see her in prison twice every week, and now he has the apartment and the wife that could not walk. So!" Did he feel there was a form of justice in her having her legs amputated? He doesn't answer. Often, I ask Wiesenthal one question and he answers another. The one that he wants to answer. It's not age, just obduracy. "Look. We have only small cases because the bigger ones were all made by the Americans, and we didn't have enough money to send people to Argentina and Brazil." The most common criticism thrown at Wiesenthal is that he exaggerated his role in capturing war criminals and that for many years the likes of Mengele roamed around Sao Paolo, known and unchallenged. "When I had the money, I sent people to Argentina and Brazil," he says. "We had a few cases from there, but we needed 100, maybe 200 officers at my office. What can be done by one person alone with two secretaries?" The heels continue to click up and down the corridor outside. It's funny, I say; I presumed the Wiesenthal Centre, with its offices in Vienna and California, was huge. "Nah, nah." He shakes his head with disappointment. The US centre, a museum of tolerance, uses his name, but doesn't do his work. Has he never been tempted to put the horror of the Holocaust behind him? Did he not feel he had suffered enough? "Yes, I understand. This is absolutely the reality. Look. For 12 years before the war I worked as an architect. When I started doing this a few weeks after my liberation, I was so naive, thinking, I will not build houses now, I will build justice. In two or three years we will have justice." He says there were other Nazi hunters who also thought the same, but realised that the search for justice was endless and gave up. He is dismissive of them. "They left, they emigrated to the United States, one to Israel, one to Australia. And now I feel my office is the last office in the world. Could you close the last office?" Eight months after he was liberated, he found his wife in Poland. Cyla, who was in the same class at school with him, is, like Wiesenthal, 93 years old. Did she not want them to live a normal life? "Look. When I found my wife, she said to me, 'You have studied architecture seven years, you were working 12 years, why not go back to it? You are not the only one who has suffered through the Nazis.' " She was desperate for him to stop hunting Nazis and earn a decent, calm living? "Yes. She says, 'Why can't we live a normal life, let us go to Israel, let us go to another place and be normal people.' And I couldn't." His obsession is total. He finds it impossible to turn his attention to anything else. He has said that to talk of the slaughter in Bosnia or Rwanda or Iraq in the same breath is to undermine the unique suffering of the Jews in the Holocaust. I ask him how he would go around capturing Osama bin Laden, and whether he should have to face a tribunal. I expect him to light up at the thought of tracking down Bin Laden. But he simply bypasses the question and returns to the Holocaust. "Look. Today, we have one person that we know killed 130,000 Jews and he lives in Syria, in Damascus. Alois Brunner." He tells me of Anton Gecas, an alleged Nazi who died a few months ago in Edinburgh, just before he was due to be extradited to Lithuania. Did he feel anger, a sense of failure, or simply relief that the man was dead? "A trial is very important," he says. "We need the trial of the man. We need this in newspapers, this is the best way against repetition." I ask him whether he thinks there is a pattern to abuse - so many abused people end up being abusers. Does he think the same could be said of the people of Israel? Again, he ignores the question. "I hope that Israel will survive. When I was a young man it was my hope to live in what was then Palestine, so I feel this is a part of my heart." His daughter and three grandchildren live there now. What has given him most happiness in life? "My son-in-law: he's a lawyer," he answers instantly. Wiesenthal wags a finger at his watch. "My dear friend, I told you at 11.45 I must leave, and now it's 11.55." But there is nothing friendly in the voice. He doesn't seem tired, or in a hurry, just impatient. I ask him whether the Holocaust made him lose his faith in God. "I will not answer that. That is a personal question." Did it make him lose his faith in humanity? "For humanity we must work." Does he feel his experience has made him less humane? "That is not relevant; it is about justice." The trouble is, he says, so many people allow their judgment to be warped by by sentimentality. "You should write this down. I myself am 93. When you bring for a trial a person over 80, the whole sympathy of the public is for him. Young people come to me and say, 'Let this old man die in peace.' " Does that upset him? "Yes, and I tell the young people how many old people he killed. Because the Nazis did not care whether it was a baby or an old man." "Look," he suddenly whispers with savage intensity. "A few years ago groups in different countries decided that we need help, so they collect money for us. Because without money you can do nothing. And now the situation, the tragic situation, is I have enough money, but we have not enough cases." Wiesenthal has been telling me that I must leave for 15 minutes. Now he gets up to leave. Rosemary wraps him up in a coat and his black beret. For a second, I see the ghost of a tough, young resistance fighter. As they get into the lift, I join them. They look annoyed. We reach the ground floor. "OK," Rosemary says. "We go this way." She points to the car park. "And you go that way." She points to the front entrance. They disappear without another word.

Jerusalem Post 2 Nov 2001 No deadline for bringing Nazis to justice By Efraim Zuroff Despite Wiesenthal’s statement, there are quite a few reasonably healthy Nazi murderers who can still be brought to trial, and whose prosecution is an undoubtedly worthwhile undertaking Relatively overlooked in the deluge of recent news events was the announcement that veteran Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal had officially retired. In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Telegraph (and reported in The Jerusalem Post (“Nazi-hunter Wiesenthal announces retirement,” October 8), Wiesenthal said that he had found all the Nazis that he had searched for and in fact, had “outlived them all.” “Even if there are any that I had not looked for that are still alive, it is too late to bring them to justice. They would be too old now, so my work is done.” This somewhat startling statement, which officially marks the conclusion of the career of the world’s most-famous Nazi-hunter, might also appear to signal the end of the efforts to bring Holocaust perpetrators to justice. Given the advanced age of the suspects, as mentioned by Wiesenthal, and the fact that those unprosecuted Nazi murderers still alive were not the initiators, architects, or the most prominent implementers of the Final Solution, perhaps the time has come to close the book on the attempts to bring such criminals to the bar of justice. After all, if the person who for so many people personifies the efforts to track down and bring to trial Nazi war criminals publicly announces that “My real work – the search for criminals – is over,”perhaps the time has indeed come to divert our energies elsewhere to more worthy and pressing problems. The truth is, however, that despite Wiesenthal’s statement, there are quite a few reasonably healthy Nazi murderers living in different countries all over the globe who can still be brought to trial, and whose prosecution – given their crimes – is an undoubtedly worthwhile undertaking. Some that come to mind are, for example, the Latvian Konrad Kalejs, currently living in Australia, who served as an officer in the infamous Arajs Kommando which actively participated in the murder of at least 30,000 Jews in Latvia. Or the Lithuanian Kazys Ciurinskas who served in the 12th Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalion which murdered at least 19,000 Jews in Lithuania and Belarus. Others, like Estonian Harri Mannil, presently living in Venezuela, or Ukrainian Bogdan Koziy, currently in hiding – presumably – in Costa Rica, served in local police units which actively participated in the murder of numerous Jews in their native countries. THESE criminals do not deserve to be ignored simply because the person who has, over the years, symbolized the efforts to bring Nazis to justice is going to celebrate his 93rd birthday this coming December and has justifiably decided to retire. Such a conclusion would create the mistaken impression that the search for Nazi war criminals is exactly equivalent to Wiesenthal’s efforts. Yet as successful as he might have been, and as admirable as his efforts were, a cause of such import cannot be solely identified with a single person – even if that individual has exhibited the most outstanding dedication and commitment. The truth is that even now, many governments,and especially the US, are successfully prosecuting Nazi perpetrators and the continuation of such programs is extremely important. In fact, if there is a lesson to be learned in this regard from an assessment of Wiesenthal’s activities, it is that the ultimate responsibility for the prosecution of Nazi war criminals rests with governments, and that the roles of private individuals – and even of public organizations – is therefore limited. If the onus of the search for Nazi war criminals appears to have been borne by Wiesenthal and the organization which bears his name, it is because various governments had to be coaxed, cajoled, and/or embarrassed into taking the necessary legal measures to enable the prosecution of Holocaust perpetrators. In conclusion, Wiesenthal’s place in Jewish and general history is assured but the efforts to hold Nazi war criminals accountable deserve to continue as long as possible. In that regard, it was Wiesenthal himself who tried so hard to convince the world that the passage of time in no way diminishes the crime or lessens the culpability of the perpetrator. And that is exactly why the campaign to prosecute Nazi murderers must continue with or without the active involvement of its most famous advocate. The writer is the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem.

Belgium

Jerusalem Post 19 Nov 2001 Victims of Arab Terror Org. seeks to try Arafat in Belgian court By Margot Dudkevitch JERUSALEM (November 19) - The Victims of Arab Terror group plans to file a claim against Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat at the Palais de Justice in Brussels next Tuesday, charging him with genocide, murder, and crimes against humanity. So far, 30 Israelis whose relatives were murdered by terrorists have signed the petition initiated by the group, and will be represented by the former head of the Israeli Bar Association, lawyer Ya'akov Rubin, and well-known Paris criminal lawyer Robert Goldnadel. Both lawyers agreed to represent the plaintiffs on a voluntary basis and will not charge a fee for their work. In addition, Yehudit Shahor - who became a lawyer after her son was murdered by terrorists in Wadi Kelt - is also assisting the lawyers. Speaking to The Jerusalem Post yesterday, Rubin said he plans to represent the case to the investigating judge in Brussels, who would review the material submitted and rule whether the suit can be filed in the Belgian courts. "I was approached by Meir Indor, the head of Victims of Arab Terror, and he asked me if I was willing to volunteer. The case to me is of supreme importance, particularly on a national basis," he said. Rubin denied the suit is in response to the current case presented in court in Belgium against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, saying, "You cannot compare the two." "Sharon is accused of knowing but failing to act. Yasser Arafat's crimes are far more serious: he gave orders to execute murders," Rubin said. According to the group, Arafat will be charged with murders committed by terrorists who left PA-controlled areas to perpetrate them. Under the Oslo accords, Arafat promised to prevent incitement, combat terrorism, and to arrest terrorists. But instead of honoring his commitments, the group says, Arafat allowed terrorists to undergo training in areas under his control and plan attacks against Israeli targets. In addition, the group says Arafat has released terrorists from prison and granted them a safe haven to return to after committing their attacks, which led to the murder and maiming of Israelis. Victims of Arab Terror, together with relatives of terror victims, also plans to charge former Gaza Preventive Security chief Mohammed Dahlan, West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, and West Bank Preventive Security Service chief Jibril Rajoub of similar charges. Volunteer Tzvi Fishman, who has taken on the job of compiling all the information necessary for the court case, said that already on September 11, VAT met to discuss the idea. This Wednesday, the VAT plans to hold a press conference at the Ramada Renaissance Hotel in Jerusalem to discuss the suit. Present will be family representatives who signed the petition and Rubin, who will explain the process and answer questions.

AP 19 Nov 2001 Peres blasts Belgium over Sharon case RUSSELS, Belgium: Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres lambasted Belgium on Tuesday over legislation that has allowed a group of Palestinians to bring a war crimes case against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Peres said he doubted Belgian judges could comprehend the situation in Israel that forced politicians to take tough decisions. "I wonder very much if one country can judge another," Peres told a news conference in Brussels, where he attended a conference of European, Middle Eastern and North African foreign ministers. "What can a judge in Belgium understand about, for example, suicide bombers?" A 1993 Belgian law gives local courts jurisdiction over violations of the Geneva war crimes convention and allows claimants to pursue cases against foreigners suspected of war crimes no matter where they occurred. After the successful prosecution of four Rwandans accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide of that nation's Tutsi minority, a series of complaints have been lodged against world leaders including Sharon, Cuban President Fidel Castro, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, and former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Lawyers representing 23 Palestinian survivors of a 1982 massacre in Lebanon lodged a complaint with a Belgian judge in June demanding Sharon's indictment on war crimes charges. A court is to hear on Nov. 28 if Belgian law has jurisdiction in the case. Sharon was Israeli defense minister in 1982 when 800 Palestinian civilians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps south of Beirut were slaughtered by a Lebanese Christian militia allied with the Israelis. Survivors believe Sharon was responsible for ordering the raid. Israeli inquiries into the massacre found Sharon indirectly responsible, prompting his resignation from the defense minister post. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt declined to answer questions on the case a news conference with Peres Monday, saying it was a judicial matter beyond the government's control. His government is seeking parliamentary support to amend the laws to make it harder to bring cases against serving leaders.

BBC 16 Nov 2001 Burundian Tutsis accuse Hutus A radical Burundian Tutsi group has filed charges in a Belgian court accusing the leaders of Burundi's main Hutu party, Frodebu, of genocide. Those accused include the current speaker of parliament, Leonce Ngendakumana, and party president Jean Minani. The case is being filed under under a Belgian law which allows such serious charges to be heard in Belgium irrespective of where the alleged crimes took place. The lawsuit refers to the revenge murder of thousands of Tutsis in the days after the assassination of the country's first Hutu president by Tutsi soldiers in 1993. Analysts say the lawsuit seems designed to sabotage a power-sharing government including Frodebu, which two weeks ago took over under a peace accord designed to end the long civil war.

BBC 16 Nov 2001 Belgian BBC broadcast angers Israel Israel has reacted angrily to plans by Belgian television to broadcast a BBC documentary about the alleged role of the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, in the massacre of Palestinians in Lebanon in the 1980s. A spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry Emmanuel Nachshon said the government was shocked and dismayed by the decision to show what he described as a biased documentary. The spokesman said the timing of the broadcast is also inappropriate, coming just two days ahead of a visit to Jerusalem by the Belgian prime minister,Guy Verhofstadt. Belgium holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, which is sending a delegation to the Middle East this week in a bid to help resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Belgian courts are also due to consider this month whether to admit a case in which Mr Sharon is accused of war crimes.

AFP 16 Nov 2001Tutsis file genocide charges against Burundi's Hutu leaders BUJUMBURA, A radical Tutsi group said late Thursday it has filed charges of genocide in a Brussels court against leaders of Burundi's main Hutu party, the Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU). Among those cited in the law suit are current speaker of parliament Leonce Ngendakumana, FRODEBU president Jean Minani and Burundi's president from 1994 to 1996, Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, Tutsi group Amasekanya, based in Belgium, said in a statement. Charges, including of genocide and incitement to genocide, were filed on Wednesday, it added The case is being brought under a 1993 Belgian law which stipulates that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide can be tried in Belgian courts, regardless of where they took place or the nationality or residence of either the victims or the accused. Four Rwandans, including two Catholic nuns, were in June sentenced by a Belgian court to prison terms for their part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in a case brought under the same law. Burundi has been torn by ethnic violence since a failed coup in October 1993 in which the country's first democratically-elected Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye, was assassinated by Tutsi soldiers. The murder of thousands of Tutsis following the assassination was labelled "genocide" by a 1995 inquiry into the bloodletting by the United Nations. The failed putsch sparked the start of a civil war that continues to this day and which has seen bitter and bloody fighting in which some 250,000 people have died. A transitional government of national unity came into effect this month, with FRODEBU taking most of the cabinet posts. Two rebel Hutu groups played little part in the negotiations that led to its creation, and have continued to fight, with a ceasefire remaining elusive.

Bosnia

AFP 22 Nov 2001 305 Bodies Exhumed by Bosnia Muslims From a Mass Grave — The remains of 305 Bosnian Muslims, probably killed by Bosnian Serb forces in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, have been excavated from a mass grave in northeastern Bosnia, the head of a commission on missing persons said today. Amor Masovic, the president of the Muslim-led commission, said the mass grave was in the village of Litje, near Zvornik. The total number of victims has not been determined because the exhumed skeletons are incomplete, probably crushed by bulldozers, said Murat Hurtic, a member of the panel, which completed the exhumation today after four weeks of work. Mr. Hurtic said that bullet holes had been found in some of the skulls and that the hands of many of the victims had been bound with rope. After Bosnian Serbs captured Srebrenica, in a zone protected by the United Nations, more than 7,000 unarmed Muslim men and boys were slain in the worst mass killing of the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Their remains were later moved by Bosnian Serb forces to several mass graves. The killings were deemed "a genocide" by the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague. In August, the tribunal found the Bosnian Serb general Radislav Krstic guilty of genocide in Srebrenica and sentenced him to 46 years in prison. Since the end of the war, the remains of more than 5,000 people have been exhumed around Srebrenica, most of them from mass graves discovered around Zvornik, 18 miles north of Srebrenica.

BBC 9 Nov 2001 Srebrenica gets multi-ethnic police The massacre at Srebrenica claimed 7,500 lives By Alix Kroeger in Srebrenica The fresh paint - blue and white - makes Srebrenica's new police station stand out dramatically. Most of the buildings around it are still pockmarked with bullet holes, the last time they were painted was some time before the 1992-95 war. Little appears to have changed since then. Police officers line the route into town. Two are standing under a tree in a cornfield, guarding the cornerstone laid earlier this year as a memorial to the victims of the Srebrenica massacre. Police have to guard over the memorial to those who died Around 7,500 Muslim men and boys were killed when the town fell to the besieging Bosnian Serb army in July 1995, at a time when Srebrenica was supposed to be under UN protection. Inside the new station, though, there are changes afoot. The building will house a multi-ethnic police force - almost all Serbs, but with five Bosnian Muslims who have volunteered to return. The process has been fraught with difficulty. Originally 25 Muslim officers put their names forward, but all of them later withdrew their applications. The UN blames political pressure from the nationalists, including the Muslim nationalist party, the SDA. The head of the UN mission in Bosnia, Jacques Klein, says without the Muslim police officers, it will be impossible to get other people to come back. One of the Muslim officers who has returned is Alija Hasic, who made enough money for the rest of his life working as the manager of a rock band in Germany. Six years since the end of the Bosnian war, the Bosnian Serb Government has not arrested a single war crimes suspect He has come back to Bosnia to work as a police officer for $90 a month in one of the most difficult parts of the country. The UN has banned him from talking to the media - it is too politically sensitive now. The commander of the new police station, Zeljko Vidovic, admits there were problems when the subject of Muslim police officers returning was first raised. But he says it is all right now, and he hopes the new multi-ethnic force will prevent further violence against returnees. There have been 12 attacks on returnees in Srebrenica alone since March 2000, another 11 in the neighbouring town of Bratunac. In Vlasenica, around 50km away, a 16-year-old returnee was shot and killed in July, the day after the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre. Radovan Karadzic is still at large But many incidents go unreported and uninvestigated, and the vast majority of serious crimes against returnees remain unsolved. Many refugees say they will not feel safe to return while those who committed crimes against them remain at liberty - in particular Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his general, Ratko Mladic, both indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal for genocide at Srebrenica. Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic says his government has no knowledge of the whereabouts of the two fugitives. He asks the war crimes tribunal in The Hague to hand over any information it might have - and says his police forces are ready to act. Srebrenica is now populated largely by displaced Serbs from the Sarajevo area who left after the war But in six years since the end of the Bosnian war, the Bosnian Serb Government has not arrested a single war crimes suspect. Srebrenica is now populated largely by displaced Serbs from the Sarajevo area who left after the war, when their leaders told them not to live under the Muslim-dominated government there. So they packed up their lives and came to Bosnia's eastern edge, living illegally in abandoned Muslim-owned houses. Excavations on mass graves around Srebrenica are still continuing The Serbs are now beginning to go back to where they came from - slowly and without much fanfare. Across Bosnia, 26,000 Serbs have returned to their pre-war homes in areas where they are in a minority so far this year - up 40% already on the year before. Better laws on property rights have helped - allowing the area's pre-war Muslim population to reclaim their homes. One official told me the displaced Serbs in Srebrenica were finally beginning to realise that they could not stay for ever, that their government would not keep its promise to give them all a plot of land and a house - usually belonging to someone else. But progress is slow: less than 10% of claims for Srebrenica have been settled. And many people - Serbs and Muslims alike - simply want to get their property back so they can sell up and get out for good, shutting the door on a painful past.

WP 8 Nov 2001 Bagging Karadzic By Richard Cohen, Page A31 For much of World War II, Joseph Stalin called upon the Allies to open a second front. His reasons were transparent -- he wanted Germany to have to divide its forces -- but they were also sound. It is in that very same spirit that I suggest the United States open a second front in its war against terrorism. I propose Bosnia. Specifically, I suggest that the United States drop in unannounced and arrest Radovan Karadzic, formerly the president of the Bosnian Serbs and currently an indicted war criminal. While we are at it, we also ought to get -- dead or alive, as the saying goes -- his former military commander, Ratko Mladic. He too is wanted for crimes against humanity. As it happens, the victims of those alleged crimes were mostly Muslims. About 6,000 of them were massacred in 1995 at Srebrenica alone -- a slaughter perpetrated near a cowed contingent of Dutch peacekeepers. Mladic, a figure reminiscent of the Holocaust, was on the scene. His involvement is beyond doubt. Together, Karadzic and Mladic waged a campaign of terror and genocide against Bosnia's Muslims. Their goal was to make their envisioned state free of Muslims (and Croats) by inducing most of them to flee and killing the ones who remained. In their mad view, they were continuing the centuries-old conflict between Christians and, as they would have it, "Turks." In much of the Muslim world, the war against terrorism, limited for the moment to Afghanistan's Taliban regime and its guests, Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization, is seen as an attack on Islam itself. Bin Laden made just that argument in his most recent videotape, and other, more moderate Islamic spokesmen and leaders have said something similar. Even the off-hand utterance of the word "crusade" by President Bush triggered alarms in the region, as if Dubya had any idea of what he was saying or the Sept. 11 attacks were not reason enough to go to war. Nonetheless, even Islamic moderates seem to be sniffing glue from an anti-American tube. The semi-official Egyptian press has even accused the United States of "deliberately" bombing Red Cross facilities in Afghanistan and of dropping "genetically treated" food into Afghanistan "with the aim of affecting the health of the Afghan people." This from Al Ahram, whose editor, Ibrahim Nafi, is a crony of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Imagine if he were not a moderate. Only a naif would think that the capture or deaths of Karadzic and Mladic would in and of itself bring the America-haters in the Islamic world to their senses. It would not remove the irritant of the Israeli-Palestinian situation, and it would do nothing to ameliorate the clash between Western modernity and Eastern tradition. As for the Islamic world's anti-Semites, they will find some way to blame the Jews and their purported lackey, America, no matter what. Still, it might help. It would give the Bush administration a debating point -- not to mention a needed lift -- in the propaganda war that, alas, is going about as well as the actual one in Afghanistan. It might also remind the Islamic world that in yet another part of the Balkans, Kosovo, the United States and NATO came to the rescue of Muslims, the ethnic Albanians. Not only would it be in our self-interest to put the cuffs on Karadzic and Mladic but it's also the right thing to do. The two are the personification of the term "war criminal." They established concentration camps the likes of which had not been seen in Europe since World War II. They countenanced -- if not ordered -- torture, starvation, rape and murder. They authorized the sniper attacks on civilians in Sarajevo, and they used U.N. peacekeepers as human shields. They have the mentality of Nazis without the might and expertise of Germany. Still, they tried. Little by little, the alleged war criminals indicted by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague have been picked up. Thirty are being sought, among them Karadzic and Mladic. To take them would hardly be easy, but if we are looking for bin Laden in all of vast Afghanistan then surely we can find two men in little Bosnia. What keeps Karadzic and Mladic free is not their cunning but our lack of will. If Bonnie and Clyde had gotten the same treatment, they would have died in a retirement community. I do not casually propose that even more Americans lose their lives -- and taking Karadzic and Mladic might mean that. But their crimes are monstrous and their victims mostly Muslims. This would be the happy marriage of justice with self-interest -- a second front that at least should be given a second thought.

BBC 2 Nov 2001 Five Bosnian Serbs who worked at the notorious Omarska prison camp during the Bosnian civil war have been found guilty of crimes against humanity by the United Nations war crimes tribunal. Four camp guards and a taxi driver, who entered the camp to beat prisoners, were sentenced to between five and 25 years in prison. Images of the camp which appeared in 1992 caused an outcry abroad and led, in part, to the creation of the UN court in The Hague the following year. Zigic: Visited camp to beat prisoners Camp commanders Miroslav Kvocka, Dragoljub Prcac, Milojica Kos and Mladjo Radic were sentenced to seven, five, six and 20 years respectively for crimes committed between April and August 1992. Zoran Zigic, a local man who entered three major Serb detention camps in north-western Bosnia to beat prisoners, was sentenced to 25 years. Omarska was one of three camps in the Prijedor region of northern Bosnia, along with Keraterm and Trnopolje. The camps operated for about five months in the spring and summer of 1992 in what prosecutors said was a drive to clear northern Bosnia of non-Serbs in an attempt to create a greater Serbia. About 6,000 Muslims and Croats were held in appalling conditions at Omarska. Hundreds are believed to have died from starvation and beatings. The trial heard that new arrivals at Omarska were beaten with batons and rifle butts and kept locked up in suffocating heat. The prosecution said a small number of women inmates at the camp were regularly raped by guards. In all, judges heard 140 witnesses give testimony. The chief prosecutor at the trial, Susan Somers, said the five defendants "had not shown one shred of mercy to the victims". The five had maintained their innocence of any crime. Their defence lawyers argued that they had not committed any crimes and had helped detainees whenever possible.

Croatia

BBC 25 Nov 2001 Croatian holocaust still stirs controversy By the BBC's Nick Higham in Washington For 23 days in January 1942, Andela Hrg had no food. She passed the time by writing a recipe book. In tiny handwriting in a child's exercise book, she copied out from memory the ingredients for mouth-watering dishes stuffed with sugar, chocolate, eggs, butter, orange juice and whipped cream. Many years later she gave the book to her children - as a memento of her time in one of the most brutal concentration camps of World War II. When she wrote down her recipes, Andela Hrg was a political prisoner in one of a complex of camps at Jasenovac in Croatia. The camp population included not only Jews and political prisoners like Andela, but Serbs, gypsies and Muslims. 2,000 photographs, eight reels of film, personal effects, even human remains wrapped in old newspaper - all thrust haphazardly into crates and cardboard boxes The complex was run by the fascist Ustasha, the Croatian nationalist regime allied to the Nazis. Up to 100,000 people died there. The numbers are small compared to the million or more who died at Auschwitz, but at Jasenovac they never managed to turn killing into an industrial process. Instead the Croatian camp's inmates were killed individually - shot, bludgeoned or hacked to death, their bodies buried or simply dumped in the nearby Sava River. Some inmates, especially children, were shackled and put into boats on the river - the boats were then overturned. Evidence of evil In the years that followed World War II, a memorial was established to those who died. A museum was set up and Angela Hrg's recipe book found its way into the collection along with many other grim mementos of life - and death - at Jasenovac. A few days ago some of them were laid out, for the benefit of journalists, on a table at the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. The numbers of people who died at Jasenovac is still disputed in Croatia There were killing implements like an axe head, the sort you'd use for chopping wood, with the splintered remains of its shaft still attached. There were the badges and armbands worn by inmates to distinguish different racial groups. There was a small boy's schoolbook, full of written exercises and drawings of stick men. There were even tiny clay figures of horses made by Slavko Bril, a Serbian artist who was allowed to go on working so that Ustasha propaganda could claim that Jasenovac was a work camp, not an extermination centre. He didn't survive. These and other items had remained at Jasenovac until the early 1990s. Then they vanished, spirited away for safe-keeping as fighting raged in the area during another war, this time the civil war that tore the old Yugoslavia apart. Resurrecting the past They came to light again in August of last year, when they were tracked down by a researcher from the Holocaust Museum, Sanja Primorac. She was born in Yugoslavia, and remembers at the age of 13 being sworn in as a young communist at Jasenovac. After the ceremony she and her friends were ushered into the dark and musty theatre at the memorial, to be shown a film of the liberation of the death camps. More than a million people died at Auschwitz It was, she says now, an event that changed her life - alerting her for the first time to the horrors of the holocaust. So when she discovered the collection, literally rotting away in a damp cellar, she says she felt personally responsible for ensuring its survival. The material had ended up in Banja Luka, in the Serb part of Bosnia. Tens of thousands of documents, 2,000 photographs, eight reels of film, personal effects, even human remains wrapped in old newspaper - all were thrust haphazardly into crates and cardboard boxes. Still controversial Putting the collection back on display in Croatia will help keep alive the memory of the holocaust. But it may have a less desirable effect in a part of the world, the Balkans, where ethnic tensions still fuel political differences. Ever since World War II, Jasenovac has been a focus of controversy. For their own political purposes, successive regimes have distorted the numbers who died there. Dinko Sakic was jailed in 1999 for running the Jasenovac camp Under Marshal Tito, for instance, Yugoslavia's communists greatly exaggerated the number of ethnic Serbs killed by the hated Croat Ustasha. In the 1990s, the Croatian nationalist regime of Franjo Tudjman played down the numbers. It's still going on today. At the end of the Holocaust Museum's press conference to announce plans for the return of the collection, a Croatian diplomat approached the museum's director and its chief historian. It was, he said, a good day for Croatia finally to open up these sad, black pages from its history. But he took issue - politely but vigorously - with the museum's best estimates of the numbers of Serbs and Muslims who died. The Holocaust Museum is well aware of the dangers of appearing partisan. Its former chairman, Miles Lerman, himself a holocaust survivor who fought as a partisan in the forests of southern Poland, says the museum is careful not to get involved in present-day political squabbles. Our task, he says, is history not politics. But in the former Yugoslavia it seems the two aren't so easily separated.

Jerusalem Post 1 Nov 2001 Croatian president Mesic apologizes to Jews from Knesset podium By Miriam Shaviv JERUSALEM - Croatian President Stipe Mesic publicly apologized yesterday for the second time during his current state visit here for the crimes of the Nazi puppet Ustashi regime that ruled his country during World War II. "I profoundly and sincerely deplore the crimes committed against the Jews in the area controlled during the Second World War by the collaborationist regime which, unfortunately, carried the Croatian name," Mesic said in a historic appearance before the Knesset. "I take every opportunity to ask forgiveness from those who were hurt by Croatians any time and any place, but first of all from the Jews. Mesic had read out a similar apology during a meeting with President Moshe Katsav on Tuesday. The apology to the Knesset was added at the last minute, following the intervention of Efraim Zuroff, head of the Israel office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. "Today's Croatia does not see itself as a successor to the fascist state which ruled that territory between 1941-1945; so although Mesic was going to deplore their crimes, he did not feel he had to apologize for them. It was a cultural misunderstanding," Zuroff, who had seen an early draft of the speech, told the Post. "As soon as I pointed out that Israel expected an apology, they gladly added one," he said. Mesic also added a sentence calling for the continued prosecution of Nazi war criminals. It is estimated 30,000 Croatian Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Mesic, who is known as a defender of minority rights, is the first Croatian president to come to Israel. A visit by his predecessor, Franjo Tudjman, was nixed after locals protested his anti-Semitic record. Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg acknowledged "the meeting between us is unusual, loaded with emotions and meaning. We cannot deny our history." Burg and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon both predicted Mesic's track record would contribute to a more positive relationship between the two countries. "Your policy of standing up to a wave of racism, anti-Semitism and fascism is remarkable," said Sharon. "This policy is paving the way for a new era in the relations between our two peoples." MK Tommy Lapid (Shinui), who was a child in Yugoslavia during the Holocaust, said Israelis of Balkan origin had begged him not to address the president of Croatia. But Mesic, he said, was "made of different stuff" from previous Croatian leaders. "You are a democrat, with good intentions, even instructing that Croatian schoolbooks include a chapter on the Holocaust. "There is no reason why we should not develop good relations with the new, different, enlightened, liberal Croatia that you head," Lapid told Mesic.

Cyprus

Reuters 16 Nov 2001 Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit warned the European Union and United Nations yesterday that their policies on Cyprus could pitch the island back into the ethnic violence of the 1960s and 1970s. In stern comments to his party's deputies in Parliament, Ecevit said international attempts to unite the island into a single state would only bring a return to fighting between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. "If the wishes of certain foreign circles, the EU and the UN secretary-general are agreed to and Turkish Cypriots are forced to live alongside Greek Cypriots on the island, they will be confronted with worse than the genocide that was faced before the Turkish peace operation," Ecevit said. "We will not be willing, we cannot be willing, to allow Turkish Cypriots to fall under Greek Cypriot domination." The details of any settlement are the subject of lengthy debate and Ecevit's comments highlight to what extent the issue of the return of Greek Cypriot property in the north is a thorny one. "They must know that if they persist on this issue they will take on a heavy responsibility," Ecevit said. "If the two states are forcibly united, then the following day Greek Cypriots from the south will raid the north. They will invade the houses in the north - Turkish houses." [The Greek government yesterday rejected Turkish claims that Greek warplanes had violated Turkish air space on November 2.]

Georgia

19 October 2001 ICRC News 01/41 Georgia: ICRC visits detainees in Abkhazia On 15 October, ICRC delegates visited nine persons arrested during the recent hostilities in the Georgian region of Abkhazia. The detainees, who are being held by the Abkhaz authorities, were visited in accordance with standard ICRC procedures (which include private interviews) and wrote personal messages to their families which will be delivered by the Red Cross. The visits will be repeated in the near future. The ICRC has had a constant presence in Abkhazia since 1992 and regularly visits detainees. It has offices in Sukhumi, Gagra and Gali staffed by eight expatriates and 103 local employees. In addition to detainee-welfare work, it provides food aid to the needy and support to medical facilities. Some 6,500 particularly vulnerable individuals receive daily hot meals at 27 centres and seven mobile canteens, while some 12,000 people receive other types of food assistance on a regular basis. Hospitals are assisted with monthly deliveries of surgical supplies. In the wake of the recent hostilities, the ICRC stands ready – security conditions permitting – to step up food, medical and other aid if required by the situation. At present, 26 expatriates and over 250 Georgian staff are working in the country, with ICRC offices in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Sukhumi, Gagra and Gali. This year's total budget for ICRC activities in Georgia amounts to 15 million Swiss francs (about 9 million US dollars). 18 kidnapped in one day.

Greece

Kathimerini (Athens) 8 Nov 2001 ATHENS, Christodoulos meets Simitis ANA Archbishop Christodoulos (r) visited Prime Minister Costas Simitis in his office yesterday for the first time since his announcement in August of the results of a Church petition calling for a referendum on whether religion should be declared on state identity cards. The occasion was the visit to Athens of Archbishop Anastasios of Albania. The three discussed the situation in Albania, keeping away from contentious issues.

Kathimerini (Athens) 31 Oct 2001 Religious freedom 'improvement' US State Department report sees more tolerance but Greek police must stop detaining Jehovah's Witnesses By Miron Varouhakis Religious freedom in Greece saw a "general improvement" over the last year, according to representatives of religious minorities in the country, a US State Department report said. "Overall, leaders of minority religions noted a general improvement in government tolerance during the period covered by this report, citing fewer detentions for proselytizing; the conscientious objector law; and an effective, well-run Ombudsman's office, which successfully handled an increasing number of cases," the report declared. Released this month by the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the International Religious Freedom Report covers the period from July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001. In its seven-page report on Greece, the State Department notes that "the generally amicable relationship among religions in society contributed to religious freedom." At the same time it underscores that while the Constitution provides for the right of all citizens to practice the religion of their choice and "the government generally respects this right, non-Orthodox groups sometimes face administrative obstacles or encounter legal restrictions on religious practice." The State Department devoted a good part of its report to the national debate that was sparked by the government's decision last summer to remove mention of religious affiliation on national identity cards, a debate which still continues though the government stands firm. "Archbishop Christodoulos vociferously criticized the government and launched a campaign to collect signatures to petition the government to allow religious affiliation as an option on national identity cards," the State Department report notes. "In March 2001, Archbishop Christodoulos blamed 'the Jews' for the government's decision to remove notation of religious affiliation on national identity cards. The government distanced itself from Christodoulos's statement." The report also highlights the two religious protests that Archbishop Christodoulos organized in Thessaloniki and Athens in June 2000, with both drawing over 100,000 supporters, as well as that the Orthodox Church alleges it has collected 3 million signatures for its petition. In Greece, a country where the Constitution establishes the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ (Greek Orthodox) as the "prevailing" religion, "approximately 94 to 97 percent of the population identify themselves, at least nominally, with the Greek Orthodox faith," there are "approximately 500,000 to 800,000 are Old Calendrists." According to the State Department, of the estimated population of 10.9 million people, some 98,000 Muslims are officially estimated to be living in the country - "though some Muslims claim to number 130,000 to 140,000 nationwide." The report underscores that the Greek State maintains official figures only for the Greek Orthodox and the Muslim religions and, according to the State Department, that Greece is also home to 50,000 Jehovah's Witnesses; 50,000 Catholics; 30,000 Protestants, including evangelists; 5,000 Jews; 300 Mormons (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), while "Scientologists claim 12,000 members, a figure observers believe to be high." "Approximately 250 members of the Baha'i faith are scattered throughout the country, the majority of whom are Greek citizens of non-Greek ethnicity. There are also small populations of Anglicans, Baptists and non-denominational Christians," the report states. The State Department finally notes that the "majority of non-citizen residents are not Greek Orthodox. The largest of these groups is the Albanians (approximately 700,000, including legal and illegal residents); of these, a few are Orthodox and Roman Catholics but the majority are non-religious." Although no major incidents were recorded during the period covered by the report, non-Orthodox groups sometimes faced administrative obstacles or encountered legal restrictions on religious practice. According to the State Department, on October 17, 2000 the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs rejected an application from the Scientologists of Greece for recognition and a permit for a house of prayer on the grounds that Scientology "is not a religion." The report notes that, "the Scientologists reapplied for a house of prayer permit in late February 2000 in a step toward gaining recognition as a religion" since, according to its president, "the group chose previously to register as a philosophical organization because legal counsel advised that the government would not recognize Scientology as a religion." The Scientologists appealed the ministry's decision with the Council of State and the case is scheduled to be heard in December. Under the Constitution, only the Orthodox Church and the Jewish and Muslim religions are considered by law to be "legal entities of private law." Under current laws, the establishment of "houses of prayer" for religions other than the Orthodox Church, Judaism, or Islam is regulated by general provisions of the Civil Code regarding corporations. Thus, these religions cannot, as religious entities, own property; the property must belong to a specifically created legal entity rather than to the church itself. Other administrative-related incidents that are included in the State Department's report include certain alleged career limitations that non-Orthodox citizens faced within the military, police, and firefighting forces, as well as the civil service, because of their religion, and reports of difficulties in renewing visas by foreign representatives of several religious denominations, including Protestants and Mormons. Finally, under the section "Abuses of Freedom of Religion," the State Department notes: "Church leaders report that their permanent members (non-missionaries) do not encounter discriminatory treatment." However, the report continues, "police occasionally detained Mormons and members of the Jehovah's Witnesses (on average once every two weeks) after receiving complaints that the individuals were engaged in proselytizing." As noted in the report, in most cases these individuals were held for several hours at a police station and then released with no charges filed, while "many reported that they were not allowed to call their lawyers and that they were verbally abused by police officers for their religious beliefs." No court cases against proselytizing were heard during the period covered by this report.

Kathimerini (Athens) 24 Oct 2001 IN BRIEF Identity crisis. The Church of Greece yesterday said it would draft a directive to the faithful regarding its campaign to keep the mention of religious belief listed on state identity cards. During a session of the Church ruling body, the Holy Synod decided to explain to congregations next month why the campaign was held. A Synod spokesman said there was no question of believers being instructed not to accept the new ID cards - which have yet to be issued - and conceded that "the law may be tough, but it is the law."

Kathimerini (Athens) 25 Oct 2001 (abridged) ATHENS, Simitis's tailor-made Cabinet Prime Minister surpassed even Andreas Papandreou in way he exercised absolute authority Man with the plans. Prime Minister Costas Simitis, well into his sixth year in office, has just reshuffled his Cabinet in his own image. From now, any credit - or blame - will be his. By Stavros Lygeros Kathimerini The government reshuffle is by definition a decision for the prime minister, but this time he exercised absolute authority, surpassing even the leadership style of Andreas Papandreou in his heyday. Costas Simitis distributed the portfolios solely on the basis of his own criteria, meaning that he assumes entire responsibility, without recourse to any of the excuses used in the past. .... Revenge is a dish that is best eaten cold. Dissenters dropped in the reshuffle Three ministers, one deputy minister (Elisavet Papazoe) and nine deputy ministers in the previous administration are not on the new Cabinet list. Christos Papoutsis, the former merchant marine minister and European commissioner, had made statements critical of the reformist bloc, particularly within the various PASOK committees. Therefore his stance toward the party leader from his place on the party's Executive Bureau will prove to be exceptionally interesting. The removal of former Justice Minister Michalis Stathopoulos, one of the most controversial due to the dispute with the Church over the removal of the mention of religion from state identity cards, was only to be expected, as was that of Miltiades Papaioannou, the former labor minister.... Following his call for a "clear mandate" at the party congress earlier this month, Prime Minister Costas Simitis chose not to give ministries to cadres who had either criticized him over the past year or who had been actively supportive of Akis Tsochadzopoulos, the former defense minister, in the period before the party congress.

Holy See (Vatican)

Jerusalem Post 2 Nov 2001 Hebrew U. prof quits Vatican Holocaust panel By Haim Shapiro JERUSALEM Hebrew University Prof. Robert Wistrich said yesterday he is resigning from the Catholic-Jewish commission appointed to study the role of the Vatican during the Holocaust. Wistrich, who made the announcement at a session of the World Jewish Congress meeting in Jerusalem, said that as a result of the failure of the commission, Catholic-Jewish relations are at their lowest point since the formulation of Nostra Aetate, the 1965 Vatican document that expresses the church's new outlook toward Jews and Judaism. He said his was a private decision, but a second Jewish scholar, Bernard Suchecky of the Free University of Brussels, is also resigning. The two resignations make it unlikely the commission will be able to continue. Wistrich said he feels this was his only option in the face of continued Vatican refusal to open its archives to commission members. The commission was established in October 1999. Its three Jewish members were appointed by the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations. The third is Michael Marrus of University of Toronto. The Catholic members, appointed by the Pontifical Commission on Religious Relations with the Jews (PCRRJ), are Eva Fleischner, of Montclair State University in New Jersey; Rev. Gerald Fogarty, of the University of Virginia; and Rev. John Morley, of Seton Hall University in New Jersey. In July, the commission suspended its activities, following the Vatican's failure to answer 47 preliminary questions put to it by the entire commission and its refusal to give the scholars access to unpublished material in its archives. In response to the questions, Rev. Peter Gumpel, whose duties include gathering material for the beatification of Pope Pius XII and who published his own selection of 12 volumes of Vatican papers relating to the Holocaust, accused the Jewish scholars of initiating a "slanderous campaign" against the church. Even more serious for Wistrich was the response of Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the PCRRJ, who said the Jewish members had not read the published documents. The allegation was particularly galling, Wistrich said, because he had spent many months reading and studying the 12 volumes, in Italian, French, German, English, and Latin. He said Kasper never spoke to him before making his allegation. He characterized Cardinal Edward Cassidy, the former president of PCRRJ, as well-meaning, but said he should have been more frank and not implied access would be given. He described Kasper as "heavy-handed," with no background in Jewish-Christian dialogue. Wistrich said he sent a long letter to Pope John Paul II in April, noting the contradiction between earlier papal statements and actions and the present atmosphere. The answer, conveyed by the "mutual friend" who delivered the letter, was the pope is not going to get involved. "I believe that if we were dealing with a figure like John Paul II in his heyday, we would perhaps never have come to this point," Wistrich said. However, he said, the pope is one of the many figures within the Church who favors the beatification of Pius XII. Wistrich said he is neither a Pius XII backer, nor does he accept the apologetics of the Church. He is, however, grateful because his membership on the commission had led him to read all the published material, which he described as "a damning indictment of insensitivity and moral failure, of indifference to the humiliations and suffering of the Jews under anti-Semitic laws and of a refusal to even consider any rupture with Nazi Germany." He said the reasons given for this failure are inadequate in relation to the enormity of what was happening in Europe. Wistrich also said in the way the Church presented material about the rescue of Jews, it blurred the fact that in well over 90 percent of the cases, the rescue work was on behalf of baptized Jews. "The attempt to present Pius XII as a kind of hero of the resistance is a form of Catholic revisionism which I find has nothing to do with historical truth, but more to do with the internal political agenda of the Church," he said. In reaction to the announcement, Papal Nuncio Pietro Sambi said to resign from a commission whose work has already been suspended serves no useful purpose other than propaganda.

Ireland

Unision (Ireland) 2 Nov 2001 OBJECTION TO 1798 PLAQUE OBJECTION TO 1798 PLAQUE Dear Sir, The proposal of Wexford Corporation to erect six plaques in Wexford Town on the 6th December has come to our attention and we are in possession of copies of the wordings for all but one. As witness for our dead, we protest at Corporation proposals for the following. 1. The Valloton Monument erected to a British Officer, who murdered John Moore as he was under a flag of Truce, negotiating the release of some comrades in 1793. The further murder of over 80 of our people by the British 56th Regiment, including four Protestants in John's Street. They were free holders and at that time no Catholic could be a freeholder or a member of the Corporation. The four brave Protestants gave their lives for their Catholic friends. Fifteen days later, the British murdered by hanging five men - James Kenny, Patrick Flannery, Patrick Neil, Michael Carthy and John Crawford. For the Corporation to re-dedicate this monument or use if for any purpose including placing a plaque on or near it to John Moore, is an insult to his memory and to the memory of all who suffered and died for Liberty, Equality or Fraternity. This black crumbling monument is a reminder of British Imperial rule in Ireland and the genocide committed on our people. Wexford people in the past with stones erased the inscription on this monument. 2. To place a plaque on Wexford Bridge to Our United Men and include the name of the bigoted loyalist Magistrate, Edward Turner, who had our ancestors pitchcapped, whipped, and murdered. If this man was here to-day he would be brought before a court for crimes committed against humanity. To include any Loyalist on this plaque is wrong. To say that only 65 United Irishmen were murdered on Wexford Bridge is wrong (This is from the loyalist historian Musgrave). Captain Andrew Farrell was murdered on this Bridge with many others in 1800 two years after the Insurrection was brutally put down. The blood of our United Irishmen, the blood of their women and children, their inspiration to the following generations, and their blood has given you the right to hold your positions and your power, it is for the people that you hold this power, do not sully their memory, do not sully the name of Wexford by erecting this plaque. As you know The Wexford Town Pike Group has marched in Mayo, Dublin, Wicklow, Carlow and all over Wexford, commemorating 1798 with dignity and pride in remembrance of our dead with inspiration from Captain Richard Monaghan, ('Dick Monk') of the John Street Corps of United Irishmen. They have produced their own plaque and purchased it with their own money. They should be allowed to have it permanently in John St. To them we know that all true Irishmen/Women and pike groups will say 'Beir Bua'. Peter Farrell, Graiguebeg, Bunclody and An Tochar Cill Mhantain. Bill Murray, Templenacroha, Co. Wexford.

Kosovo

Reuters 23 Nov 2001 Kosovo Serb woman shot dead, husband hurt PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a 60-year-old Kosovo Serb woman and seriously injured her husband in a drive-by shooting, a U.N. spokesman said on Friday. Spokesman Andrea Angeli for the U.N. mission in Kosovo said they were shot near the town of Obilic west of the provincial capital Pristina on Thursday evening after getting off a train. He said Milica Mirosavljevic and her 70-year-old husband Stojadin were attacked with gunfire from a passing vehicle. He said an explosion was also heard. It was not immediately clear whether the shooting was ethnically motivated. Minority Serbs in Kosovo have been targeted in numerous attacks by majority Albanians, angry at years of repression from Belgrade, after NATO's 1999 bombing campaign drove out Yugoslav forces from the southern province. But international officials have said the number of violent incidents has declined this year. Thursday's attack was the first such killing since Saturday's landmark election, designed to establish self-rule in the U.N.-run Yugoslav province.

Observer (UK) 18 Nov 2001 Serbs 'face threats at polls' Elections in Kosovo promise confirmation of self-rule but peacekeepers step up efforts to prevent voters being intimidated Special report: Kosovo Nicholas Wood in Pristina Sunday November 18, 2001 The Observer Kosovo's first parliamentary election in more than 10 years took place yesterday amid fears that the province's Serb population had been intimidated to stay away from the polls. The election will give the UN-run Yugoslav province self-governing powers two and half years after Nato bombs ended Serbian rule. The Albanian majority hopes - and many minority Serbs fear - that the territory will move closer to independence as a result. Election organisers asked for more troops in the north of the province after local Serb leaders opposed to the ballot threatened to photograph people as they went to elect a 120-seat legislative assembly which in turn will choose a Kosovo government. Dr Milan Ivanovic, a doctor and politician in the northern town of Mitrovica, home to the province's largest Serb population, made the threats on a local radio station. With dozens of self-styled security groups operating in the town under his control, and left relatively unhindered by the K-For troops, the announcement was thought enough by some politicians to keep people away from the polls. 'We normally have about 50 to 60 per cent, judging by past elections,' said Oliver Ivanovic, a member of a coalition of Serbian parties taking part in the elections. 'This time we expect 40.' But by mid-afternoon estimates of Serb turnout put it as low as 7 per cent. Overall turnout was about 24 per cent of eligible voters. The participation of the Serbs in the vote is seen as critical by UN officials as they prepare to hand over control of key institutions to the elected government. With Albanians making up 90 per cent of the population, they said the lack of Serb deputies in the new parliament would undermine the legitimacy of the new institutions in the eyes of the international community. Many Serb politicians in Kosovo have argued this is exactly why they should boycott the elections. There were no recorded incidents of voter harassment, but the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is organising the election, said it would be hard to prevent people from feeling intimidated. The fact that Belgrade gave its approval to the election just 12 days before voting day was thought by officials to be another factor that could affect the turnout. Preliminary results are expected tomorrow, with final figures being confirmed at the end of the week. Serbs could make up as many as a quarter of the seats in the parliament, with 10 seats already allocated to them as the province's biggest minority. An opinion poll taken by a local election observer group, KACI, five days before voting day predicted the results would be close to last year's local elections, won by the moderate Democratic League of Kosovo, led by Ibrahim Rugova. This would instal him as the President of the new government. All three main Albanian parties stand on an independence platform. Differences in policy are hard to find. Ramush Haradinaj, former Kosovo Liberation Army commander and leader of the third biggest Albanian grouping, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), admitted as much during a lacklustre campaign. 'If anyone asks you why you think the AAK is the best, I would ask you not to say we are patriots, because we are all patriots and we all love Kosovo,' he said. Both Serb and Albanian voters appeared to be voting to secure the status of their own communities. 'We are not against the Serbs,' said Ramush Demaj, a 32-year-old post office worker, voting in the ethnically mixed town of Kamenica. 'We are willing to co-operate, but the thing we need first and foremost is independence.' Near by, Serbs were doing the same but for the opposite reason. 'We came here to vote for a better future. The election will not influence Kosovo to leave Yugoslavia,' said 40-year-old Stojan Pavic as he waited in line to vote. 'This is to show that Kosovo will never leave Serbia.'

AFP 16 Nov 200 Few Serb refugees dare return to Kosovo by Jean-Eudes Barbier OSOJANE, Yugoslavia, Only about 1,000 Serbs out of some 150,000 who fled Kosovo after the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces in 1999 have since returned to the predominantly ethnic Albanian province. Most of the returns have been sporadic and scattered and without the assistance of the international community. But in August the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with financial help from the European Union, set up the first large-scale operation to return dozens of Serb families to the Osojane valley, in western Kosovo, the Yugoslav province where crucial legislative elections are scheduled for Saturday. Three months on, the reconstruction and repair of houses damaged or destroyed by the Albanians after the swift departure of the Serbs is in full swing. Few buildings were spared. The first part of the program envisages the restoration by the end of November of about 55 houses, and of 122 others during the first quarter of 2002 in a zone that has been "secured" and surrounded by a Spanish contingent of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force. In the center of Osojane, about 30 UNHCR tents serve as shelters for some 80 people, the first beneficiaries of the project. Before the 1998-99 Serb-Albanian conflict in Kosovo, the locality was home to some 1,500 Serbs, almost all farmers, in five villages. "These are mostly heads of families," said Claire Bourgeois, a UNHCR official. "When the houses are ready for them and the four classrooms of the small school are restored, we will bring back the women and children. We are talking about weeks." "I abandoned everything to become a refugee near Belgrade with my mother, my wife and my two children," said Streten Djuric. "When I came back, I found my house without a roof, looted from top to bottom." Djuric, who is about 40 years old, considers himself one of the lucky ones compared to his compatriots still living far from their Kosovar homes, and is optimistic about the future. "I feel no hatred toward Albanians," he said. "It was the war. I only hope that we can live together and move around freely." But not everyone shares that feeling. A few Serbs recently blocked the entry into Osojane of Albanian employees of a Kosovo electricity company who came to hook up the area to the regional network. The result was that the work was postponed, and UNMIK is trying to find a solution. "A number of the villagers are still resistant to a multi-ethnic future, the young especially," said shopkeeper Ljubisav Popovic. "They need more time to overcome their bitterness, to draw a line. Us older people, we try to reason with them." Belgrade's representatives in Kosovo have threatened to expel the troublemakers from Osojane, considering that the success of the pilot project in the region is necessary to ensure the return to the province of other Serbs who were displaced in 1999. In the Osojane valley, daily life continues: food and grain are distributed, tractors rented, chickens and cattle delivered, a shuttle bus service has been set up with the town of Mitrovica, workers come and go. But behind the surface, Osojane constitutes a new de facto Serb enclave, hermetically sealed by KFOR troops. Popovic's hope is that "The foreign troops will leave as soon as possible and that the Serbs and the Albanian, once more alone, will learn to talk each other again."

Macedonia

BBC 21 Nov 2001 Analysis: Macedonia's political fallout The war crimes tribunal is opening two investigations By the BBC's Bill Hayton In what is being seen as another setback for Macedonia's peace process, the country's main moderate ethnic-Macedonian party - the Social Democratic Alliance - has announced it is leaving the governing coalition. Their departure is likely to strengthen the position of Macedonian nationalists who have taken a hard-line attitude towards unrest by ethnic Albanians in the northwest of the country. The Social Democrats' departure means they will give up control of the Foreign and Defence Ministries, forcing a government reshuffle A bomb explosion in the north-western city of Tetovo caused no injuries and little physical damage, but it did underline the ongoing tension in the country's ethnic Albanian areas. So far no group has claimed responsibility for the device - which was reportedly thrown from a car near the offices of the European Union's mission in the city. A shadowy militant group calling itself the Albanian National Army has claimed responsibility for a more serious blast on Sunday, but a spokesman denied being behind the latest explosion. Mass grave Monitors from the EU are among several international observers overseeing the excavation of a suspected mass grave site in the nearby village of Trebos. Government officials believe 13 people, allegedly abducted and killed by ethnic Albanian fighters in July, could be buried there. Attempts, 10 days ago, by Macedonia security forces to enter the area sparked a series of shooting incidents in which three policemen were killed and two wounded. That operation was criticised by European diplomats who called it unnecessarily provocative. Ethnic Albanian fighters are suspected of abducting and illing 13 people in July But this time around the excavation is going ahead with international approval and monitoring. Local Albanian leaders have objected to it, but so far there have been no incidents of violence. And the excavation is now taking place in co-operation with the UN's International War Crimes Tribunal. The Tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, announced she was opening two investigations in Macedonia - one into alleged abuses by the security forces and another into suspected crimes by the now-disbanded ethnic Albanian NLA rebel group. It is the first time the tribunal has looked into allegations of human rights abuses in Macedonia during the months of fighting between rebels and security forces earlier this year. Peace accord The fighting ended with a peace agreement signed on 13 August at the lakeside resort of Ohrid. As part of that peace accord the national parliament finally ratified a series of constitutional amendments improving the status of the country's Albanian minority. That was only possible because of the combined efforts of all of Macedonia's main political parties. But now that the vote has taken place, the coalition has begun to splinter. Ljubco Georgievski's nationalist party is one of three that remain The left-leaning Social Democratic Alliance has pulled out, together with the much smaller Liberal Democrats. That has left the more nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski governing with two Albanian parties - the DPA and the PDP. The Social Democrats' departure means they will give up control of the foreign and defence ministries, forcing a government reshuffle. Hard liner International observers are concerned that this may strengthen the hand of the country's hawkish interior minister Ljube Boskovski. He has taken a particularly tough line against the Albanian rebels and analysts in Macedonia fear that with the Social Democrats moderating influence now gone, heavy-handed operations by the security forces could spark a new confrontation. A spokeswoman for the Social Democrats said the party was leaving so that it would no longer share the blame for what she described as the government's confrontational tactics. She also called for new elections which had been expected to take place in January. But the governing VMRO is unwilling to call an election so soon - mainly because they have fallen behind the SDSM in opinion polls.

BBC 20 Nov 2001 War crimes prosecutor visits Macedonia The chief prosecutor of the international war crimes tribunal, Carla Del Ponte, is visiting Macedonia. A spokeswoman for Mr Del Ponte says the aim of the visit is to establish whether there are grounds for a formal inquiry into crimes allegedly committed during the ethnic Albanian insurrection that began in February. There have been allegations that both guerrilla fighters and government troops committed atrocities. Tribunal investigators have been gathering evidence on the ground, and the prosecutor will be briefed on the latest findings. She will also meet Macedonian officials.

Reuters 16 Nov 2001 Macedonia Accepts Pact With Albanians - Macedonia's Parliament ratified a milestone peace accord with minority Albanians in a surprise early morning vote today. Fifteen constitutional amendments were proclaimed to be law just 20 minutes after legislators adopted them one-by-one by comfortable two-thirds majorities. Hardline nationalists had almost wrecked the peace accord days before when the hawkish police minister sent special forces into the rebel Albanian heartland, leading to fighting, arrests and retaliatory kidnappings. The amendments would decentralize power and grant ethnic Albanians jobs in public service, above all the police, reflecting their one-third share of the two million population. They would allow limited official use of Albanian language, require two-thirds support from Albanian members of Parliament for legislation affecting civil rights, and remove references in the Constitution's preamble that imply minorities are second-class citizens. The hour chosen for the vote — just after midnight — was intended to avoid any repeat of violent nationalist protests outside Parliament and reduce publicity for an accord widely unpopular among majority Macedonians.

BBC 12 Nov 2001, Macedonia police killed in ambush Macedonian special police sealed off a suspected grave Three Macedonian police officers have been killed in an ambush by ethnic Albanian gunmen in the north-west of the country. Macedonian state television reported that the officers died near the village of Trebos, near Tetovo, after an operation to take control of an alleged mass grave. Rebel fighters handed in their weapons. Police officials say the guerrillas have seized nine hostages. Officials quoted by Reuters news agency say the officers died when they came under a rocket attack. Shooting has also been reported in other villages around the town of Tetovo. The BBC's Nicholas Wood in Pristina says the violence is the most serious incident in the country since early August, when ethnic Albanian and Macedonian politicians signed a peace deal designed to end seven months of conflict. Albanians arrested The deaths followed the deployment of an elite police unit in the region by Macedonia's Interior Minister, Ljube Boskovski, a fierce opponent of the peace process.Ministry of Interior officials say their task was to seize control of the alleged mass grave and arrest former ethnic Albanian guerrillas. It is believed the grave is that of 12 Macedonians killed by ethnic Albanians during the recent conflict. Ethnic Albanian MPs want equal status Local reports say seven ethnic Albanians were arrested in spite of an amnesty declared by the Macedonian Government for members of the guerrilla army. Hours later, police say 12 ethnic Macedonians were taken hostage, although three - two women and a young girl - were later released. The Macedonian Information Agency says President Boris Trajkovski has appealed for the release of the hostages. The violence takes place just as Macedonia's parliament was expected to ratify the August peace deal after three months of debate. Peace process delayed The ethnic Albanian insurrection began in February but guerrillas voluntarily disarmed in a Nato-led operation after a peace deal was struck in August. A former rebel commander, speaking on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press, said that the disbanded group, the National Liberation Army, was not involved in the hostage-taking incidents. Nato spokesman Craig Ratcliff said: "We are monitoring the situation. The international community is very concerned about this, but for now it's an internal issue."

Netherlands

ICTY 23 Nov 2001 The Hague, X.T./P.I.S./638e JUDGE RICHARD MAY CONFIRMS INDICTMENT CHARGING SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC WITH GENOCIDE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA On 22 November 2001, Judge Richard May confirmed an indictment against Slobodan Milosevic, charging the accused with 29 counts for crimes committed between 1992 and 1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The indictment, which includes genocide and complicity to commit genocide, was submitted to Chambers by the Prosecutor of the ICTY, Carla Del Ponte on 12 November 2001. According to the indictment, Slobodan Milosevic participated in a joint criminal enterprise, the purpose of which was the "forcible and permanent removal of the majority of non-Serbs […] from large areas of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina." The enterprise was carried out during a series of offensives by "Serb forces" against the non-Serb population. It is alleged that during the take-over of territories within Bosnia and Herzegovina, thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats were killed and thousands more were imprisoned in over 50 detention facilities under inhumane conditions. Many more were forcibly transferred and deported from their homes. The total number of people expelled or imprisoned during the above period is estimated at over a quarter million. The indictment further charges Milosevic with the execution of several thousand Bosnian Muslim men and boys after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995. They were executed at their place of capture or at locations where they were transported to for execution. Before confirmation of the indictment on 22 November 2001, Judge May specified that he "requested the Prosecutor to submit additional material and also adjourned the review to give her the opportunity to modify the indictment." Slobodan Milosevic is charged on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility under Article 7(1) of the Statute and superior criminal responsibility under Article 7(3) of the Statute with: (1) Genocide and complicity in genocide under Article 4 of the Statute; (2) Crimes against humanity involving persecution, extermination, murder, imprisonment, torture, deportation and inhumane acts (forcible transfers) under Article 5 of the Statute; (3) Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 involving wilful killing, unlawful confinement, torture, wilfully causing great suffering, unlawful deportation or transfer, and extensive destruction and appropriation of property under Article 2 of the Statute; (4) Violations of the laws or customs of war involving inter alia attacks on civilians, unlawful destruction, plunder of property and cruel treatment under Article 3 of the Statute. The indictment is available on the Internet site of the Tribunal THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA Case No. IT-01-51-I THE PROSECUTOR OF THE TRIBUNAL AGAINST SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/mil-ii011122e.htm

WP 24 Nov 2001 Milosevic To Stand Trial for Genocide Bosnian War Charges Raise Stakes in Case By William Drozdiak, Page A01 BRUSSELS, Nov. 23 -- Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic will stand trial on charges of committing genocide during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, a U.N. war crimes tribunal announced today. The 60-year-old Serbian nationalist will be the first head of state to be taken to court on allegations of genocide, the most grievous of all war crimes. The charge is a major escalation in the case against Milosevic, alleging the broad offense of plotting the full or partial destruction of an ethnic group. It also represents a major risk for the prosecution at the Hague tribunal, because the allegation is difficult to prove. An indictment filed earlier this month by Carla Del Ponte, the tribunal's chief prosecutor, charged Milosevic with 29 counts stemming from the Bosnian war, including genocide and crimes against humanity. With today's announcement, the tribunal disclosed that it has agreed a trial is warranted based on that indictment. The indictment, the third filed against Milosevic at the tribunal, claims that he orchestrated a brutal ethnic-cleansing campaign carried out by the Yugoslav army and Bosnian Serb militias. The drive left 200,000 dead and spawned 1 million refugees. "Slobodan Milosevic participated in a joint criminal enterprise, the purpose of which was the forcible and permanent removal of the majority of non-Serbs, principally Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats, from large areas" of their country, the indictment charges. He could face life imprisonment; the tribunal has no death penalty. There was no immediate response from Milosevic, who since June has been held for the United Nations at a jail in The Hague. But Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general who has been advising Milosevic, told CNN that "this whole trial is a waste of money and a terrible injustice against the traditions of international law. . . . Even Slobodan Milosevic deserves to have a trial in which he is considered innocent until proven guilty, and it's hard to find anybody who thinks that way." The Hague tribunal, known formally as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group." Those acts include murder, inflicting living conditions so abominable that they could eliminate a community of people, preventing births or transferring children against their will or that of their parents. Legal scholars said Del Ponte was taking a major gamble in charging Milosevic with genocide because of its sweeping definition. "Genocide is a very difficult charge to prove from a purely legal point of view, because special intent must be proven," said Avril MacDonald, an international law scholar in The Hague. In a statement today, Del Ponte acknowledged that she will face a difficult legal challenge, because she must prove that the Yugoslav leader wanted to annihilate a community of people. "I know I will have to prove subjective elements," Del Ponte said. The indictment gives little indication of the evidence that Del Ponte will present. But legal analysts say she probably will try to establish Milosevic's ultimate responsibility for the crimes by focusing on the financial, logistical and political support that he provided to the forces led by Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic. Both men have been charged with war crimes and top the list of the tribunal's most wanted fugitives. In the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, Muslims welcomed the news today. "It will not bring people back from the dead or rebuild houses, but it does show that a crime cannot be outdated and that no one can escape justice," said Amer Kapetanovic, a Muslim spokesman for the Bosnian Foreign Ministry, Reuters reported. The State Department praised the tribunal's work. Spokeswoman Eliza Koch said, "The numerous crimes committed during the conflict in Bosnia demand accountability and justice. . . . We have always supported the tribunal following the evidence wherever it may lead." Milosevic is already scheduled to go on trial in February for alleged offenses in other parts of the former Yugoslavia, the scene of ethnic wars when the old federation broke up in the early 1990s. He is charged with crimes against humanity in 1999 during the Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, a province of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia, and during the 1991-95 war in Croatia. Milosevic was forced from power last year by a popular uprising and placed under detention in Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital, then spirited to a prison cell in The Hague in June. During three appearances he has made before the court, he has rebuked it as illegitimate and biased, a political tool of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which bombed his country in 1999 to force his army out of Kosovo. He has refused to appoint a lawyer in his defense and has declined to enter any pleas to the charges filed against him. The tribunal agreed to allow Clark to serve as Milosevic's legal adviser and to consult with him on defense strategy, but he will not be permitted to defend the former Yugoslav leader in court. Milosevic has told visitors to his cell that he is innocent, that his actions in Kosovo were intended to put down an armed insurrection and that he tried to rein in security forces involved in atrocities there. Many Serbs argue that in Bosnia, the military actions their ethnic group took were necessary to protect it from Croats and Muslims. In August, the tribunal found Bosnian Serb general Radislav Krstic guilty of genocide for his role in the July 1995 massacre of as many as 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica. Krstic was sentenced to 46 years in prison. Staff writer Alan Sipress in Washington contributed to this report.

NYT 24 Nov 2001 A Full Charge of Genocide for Milosevic- Indictment Portrays an Architect of War By SUZANNE DALEY PARIS, Nov. 22 — The United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague issued a sweeping new indictment today of the former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, charging him with genocide in connection with the war in Bosnia in 1992-95. In its third and gravest indictment, the tribunal charged that Mr. Milosevic "participated in a joint criminal enterprise, the purpose of which was the forcible and permanent removal of the majority of non-Serbs from large areas of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina." In addition to genocide — the most serious charge the tribunal can bring — the indictment contains charges of complicity to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The indictment lists 29 counts against Mr. Milosevic, the first head of state to be charged with genocide, who has defiantly appeared before the tribunal three times in recent months to face charges of war crimes in Kosovo and Croatia. Throughout, he has refused to appoint a lawyer or to defend himself, calling the tribunal a farce and vowing to fight to "topple this tribunal" and the "mastermind behind it." Added to the earlier indictments, involving war crimes in Kosovo in 1999 and Croatia in 1991, the new accusations appear to complete the prosecution's picture: that Mr. Milosevic was the chief architect of three Balkan wars that tore up Yugoslavia. The new indictment links Mr. Milosevic to the Bosnian Serb leadership that carried out the campaign of ethnic cleansing, saying he had "exercized substantial influence over, and assisted" the Bosnian Serbs in driving out Muslims and Croats. It holds him responsible for the expulsion of thousands of people from Bosnia and the killing of more than 7,000 Muslims in July 1995 in Srebrenica, a town that the United Nations had declared a protected zone. The indictment also refers to the thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Croats who were held under "inhuman conditions" in more than 50 detention centers where many died. "The total number of people expelled or imprisoned is estimated at over a quarter million," according to the prosecution. The prisoners, the indictment said, were held in "conditions of life calculated to bring about the partial physical destruction of those groups, namely through starvation, contaminated water, forced labor, inadequate medical care and constant physical and psychological assault." The indictment was submitted by the prosecutors on Nov. 12 after years of preparation, and was confirmed on Nov. 16 by Judge Richard May of Britain, who has presided every time Mr. Milosevic has appeared before the panel. Mr. Milosevic, who ruled first Serbia and then Yugoslavia for 13 years before being toppled by a popular revolt in October 2000, was extradited from Belgrade on June 28. In Bosnia, the government said the new charges would help prevent such atrocities from occurring in the future. "The indictment of one man cannot return all the dead people or fix the ruins, but it can lift the burden of collective responsibility and send a message to others that they won't get away with the crimes," said Amer Kapetanovic, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. Several dozen people have been working for months to prepare the evidence needed to link Mr. Milosevic to the crimes with which he is charged. Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor, has said that she will ask the tribunal judges to join the three packages of indictments so Mr. Milosevic can be tried in a single, all- encompassing process. Prosecutors have said that the trial, tentatively set to begin in February, could take about two and a half years. Ms. Del Ponte is expected to call hundreds of witnesses and to present thousands of documents. The new indictment names a number of Bosnian Serb politicians as Mr. Milosevic's accomplices, including the wartime leader, Dr. Radovan Karadzic, and his military commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic, who top the tribunal's most-wanted list. It also names a former Bosnian Serb president, Biljana Plavsic, and a former speaker of the Bosnian Serb assembly, Momcilo Krajisnik, who are awaiting trial in The Hague.

AP 22 Nov 2001 Bosnian massacre suspect surrenders to tribunal By Eugene Brcic ZAGREB, Croatia — A former Bosnian Croat military police chief surrendered yesterday to the U.N. war crimes court on the charges that he ordered a 1993 massacre of Muslim civilians. The tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, unsealed the indictment against Pasko Ljubicic last month. It accused him of commanding militias that killed at least 113 persons in and around the central Bosnian village of Ahmici in April 1993, including dozens of women and children The U.N. indictment against Mr. Ljubicic was made public shortly after three Bosnian Croats were acquitted by the tribunal of the Ahmici massacres and released from their four-year stay in the tribunal's prison. Mr. Ljubicic was in hiding for more than a year after Zagreb authorities issued an arrest warrant for him and three associates on suspicion of taking part in the Ahmici massacre. The warrant was based on documents found in archives of Croatia's late president, Franjo Tudjman, indicating a conspiracy under the former leader to help key suspects in the Ahmici slaughter by giving them false identities. Vowing to prove his innocence, Mr. Ljubicic, 35, surrendered to police in Zagreb earlier this month. His associates remain at large. Mr. Ljubicic was accompanied to Amsterdam by his lawyer, Tomislav Jonjic, who said that Mr. Ljubicic "is not afraid to face the indictment and we'll do all to counter the allegations." Croatian newspapers speculated that the case against Mr. Ljubicic could also vindicate his superior officer, Bosnian Croat Gen. Tihomir Blaskic, who was sentenced to 45 years by the tribunal in March 2000. At his trial, Blaskic suggested that Mr. Ljubicic's unit violated his commands and committed atrocities he only learned about much later. The tribunal has indicted more than 100 persons.

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing Date: 2 Nov 2001 REGISTRY AND CHAMBERS Jim Landale, Spokesman for Registry and Chambers, made the following statement: First, I would like to announce that the President of the Tribunal, will be addressing the General Assembly in New York on 26 November and then the Security Council the following day. We will endeavour to provide you with the texts of those addresses once they have been delivered in New York. Next, a reminder that tomorrow, Thursday 22 November 2001, the six new permanent Judges of the Tribunal will make their solemn declarations at 5.30 p.m. in Courtroom I. The new Judges, elected by the General Assembly on 14 March 2001, are: Mr. Theodor Meron from the United States of America, Mr. Mohamed Amin El Abbassi Elmahdi from Egypt, Mr. Carmel A. Agius from Malta, Mr. Alphonsus Martinus Maria Orie from the Netherlands, Mr. Wolfgang Schomburg from Germany, and Mr. O-gon Kwon from the Republic of Korea On the same day, the Tribunal will host a Diplomatic Information Briefing, at which representatives from The Hague’s diplomatic community will be given an overview of the work of the Tribunal and the challenges that lie ahead. They will be addressed by the President of the Tribunal, Judge Claude Jorda, the Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, and the Registrar, Mr. Hans Holthuis. The following day, Friday 23 November 2001, during an extraordinary plenary session, the permanent Judges will elect the President and Vice President of the Tribunal and the new President will announce the composition of the Chambers. We have received copies of the Defence brief in the Talic case in French. Copies are available for you after this. Finally, I want to announce the publication by the Outreach Programme of the latest volume of all the public indictments in BCS; a collection of all of the current case information sheets in BCS; and the Judges report of 13 September 2000 on compensation for victims.

AP 17 Nov 2001 Ramsey Clark to Be Milosevic Adviser THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The U.N. war crimes tribunal is allowing a former U.S. attorney general to be a legal adviser to former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. The tribunal said Ramsey Clark, a civil rights activist who was attorney general under President Lyndon Johnson, and British attorney John Livingston will be granted full privileges of defense council to meet and advise Milosevic, who is awaiting trial on war crimes charges in Kosovo and Croatia. The decision, adopted Thursday, means Milosevic will be able to hold unmonitored conversations with the two lawyers, and that the tribunal cannot refuse to let them meet "without reasonable grounds." Milosevic has refused to appoint an attorney to represent him in hearings before the tribunal, saying he considers the court illegal and doesn't recognize its right to try him. But during his four months in detention, Milosevic was visited by several lawyers, including Clark. Some of the meetings were not monitored by U.N. authorities. The appointment of the two legal advisers followed a request from Milosevic "to meet with them," the tribunal said. However, Milosevic's Belgrade lawyer, Zdenko Tomanovic, was quoted as saying Saturday by Dutch national television that Milosevic was rejecting the tribunal's appointment of legal advisers. Milosevic, who was ousted from power last year, was transferred to The Hague by Serbian authorities in June to face charges of persecution in Kosovo in 1999. Prosecutors subsequently charged him with war crimes in Croatia, and last week submitted another indictment for genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Clark, who has taken part in rallies in support of Milosevic, has also represented a former Rwandan pastor charged with five counts of genocide, complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against humanity. Reuters 9 Nov 2001 Judges Throw Out Objections in Milosevic Case THE HAGUE - War crimes judges have thrown out challenges to the legality of the U.N. tribunal, filed on behalf of ousted Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, court officials said on Friday. "All the motions were rejected," a spokeswoman for the tribunal told Reuters. Milosevic has argued his transfer to The Hague in June by the reformists who ousted him in elections last year was unlawful and the court illegitimate and biased. A similar challenge in 1995 by Bosnian Serb Dusko Tadic was also rejected by the court. Milosevic, 60, is accused of crimes against humanity for atrocities carried out by Serbs in Kosovo in 1999 and for crimes in Croatia in 1991-1992. Prosecutors also plan to file a new indictment for war crimes in Bosnia, including the gravest charge, genocide. Milosevic has refused to appoint defense counsel out of contempt for the court, but judges appointed three lawyers to ensure he receives a fair trial. The three "amici curiae" or "friends of the court" filed the motions on behalf of Milosevic. Other lawyers filed a case in a Dutch municipal court but failed in their attempt to secure Milosevic's release.

BBC 29 Oct 2001 Milosevic: The legal battle ahead Milosevic may not recognise the tribunal in The Hague By Tarik Kafala The trial of Slobodan Milosevic is expected to be an epic legal battle that could run for months, if not years. The case against Mr Milosevic looks like a strong one, but proving it in a court is another matter. And despite what many see as Mr Milosevic's demonisation in the West, he is still innocent until proven guilty. [The trial] will be a real test to see if the judges that have been appointed to this international criminal body can rise above the politics of their own countries and deliver justice Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson There are questions about the strength of the evidence against Mr Milosevic. Legal analysts say the crux of the case is likely to be whether or not the prosecution can establish Mr Milosevic's "command responsibility" for the war crimes in Kosovo. There are also several unknown elements that surround the case. New evidence of possible atrocities committed in Kosovo continues to be uncovered, and the tribunal has brought further charges relating to alleged crimes committed in Croatia and Bosnia. The prosecution's case would be greatly strengthened if a senior official in the Milosevic government, perhaps one of his co-accused, were to give himself up to the tribunal and testify against the former president. The president of the tribunal, Claude Jorda, has said the trial is likely to last for more than a year. Tactics The former Yugoslav leader still refuses to appoint a defence counsel. At his first appearance before the international tribunal Mr Milosevic appeared without legal representation. He said that he regarded the court and its indictment as illegal and false, and therefore he did not have to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. There is no convincing evidence whatsoever that he is guilty of any crime or atrocity... unless they concoct it Christopher Black of the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic Mr Milosevic had indicated before his court appearance that he would not recognise the international tribunal and has rejected his trial as being "politically motivated". The presiding judge, as the rules of the tribunal require, entered a plea of not guilty on Mr Milosevic's behalf. Tribunal officials hope that there will be a single trial at which the former president will face all the charges the tribunal wants to bring at the same time. Test of international justice The ability of the tribunal to try such an important figure as Mr Milosevic in a way that is perceived to be transparent and fair is very important for the process of international justice. Milosevic is escorted through the prison yard in The Hague Currently, Mr Milosevic is charged with "command responsibility" for the expulsion of thousands of Kosovan Albanians from their towns and villages and specific massacres in Racak, Velika Krusa, and Bela Crvka. The Hague prosecutors will have to prove that Mr Milosevic knew and approved of the killings and ethnic cleansing, or that he knew about them but did not take steps to stop them. Prosecutors are expected to rely on documentary evidence, the testimony of witnesses, and communication intercepts - probably provided by Nato - to secure their case. Tribunal investigators interviewed thousands of survivors and refugees from the 1999 fighting in Kosovo. Their testimony, corroborated by other witnesses, is expected to be one of the pillars of the prosecution case. Prosecutors will also be seeking to establish two other principles of authority to prove Mr Milosevic's guilt. The first is Mr Milosevic's "de jure", or legal responsibility as president of Yugoslavia for the actions of the army. The prosecution will also be attempting to demonstrate Mr Milosevic's "de facto" responsibility - that he was in reality, or practically, the final authority at the top of Yugoslavia's military and security apparatus. 'Clear conscience' Defenders of Mr Milosevic argue that the evidence against him is flimsy. Christopher Black, a Canadian criminal lawyer and member of the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic, told the BBC: "There is no convincing evidence whatsoever that he is guilty of any crime or atrocity whatsoever. UN estimates now of all the bodies found in Kosovo is less than 1,000 - half of which are Serbs. "You have more than that in Northern Ireland. We should be arresting British leaders if we apply the same standard," he said. Carla Del Ponte, the tribunal prosecutor, visits a mass grave in Kosovo In a recent meeting, Mr Milosevic apparently told Mr Black that he had a clear conscience. "There is no evidence going to be found against him unless they concoct it. I looked the man right in the eye, a man I have never met before, and he looked me straight in the eye and did not blink. "Yes I believe him. I have been a criminal lawyer for 25 years and I have spoken to a lot of witnesses - I know when a man is telling the truth," Mr Black said. Mass graves However the evidence is building up against Mr Milosevic. Investigators from the tribunal have, despite Christopher Black's assertion, exhumed 4,000 victims of the conflict in Kosovo. There is also evidence that Serbian special forces burnt hundreds of corpses in an attempt to hide evidence of killings. Serbian police are investigating Mr Milosevic's role in this alleged cover-up operation. And in the days before his extradition to The Hague, Serbian public opinion moved increasingly against the former president because of media reports alleging the mass transport of corpses from Kosovo to Serbia. On the same day that Mr Milosevic was extradited to The Hague, Yugoslav investigators exhumed 36 bodies from a mass grave near the capital Belgrade.

Poland

Boston Globe 18 Nov 2001 LETTER FROM POLAND From devastating revelation, an inquiry By Judy Rakowsky, WARSAW - An awkward silence has returned to Poland after months of debate over a book about a dark day in 1941 when 1,600 Jews were slain in a small town northeast of the capital. Revelations that Jewish villagers in Jedwabne and nearby towns were massacred by their Polish neighbors have rocked the country over the past year. The evidence that it was Poles who herded hundreds of Jews into a barn and burned them alive devastated an enduring belief that Poles were always victims, and never collaborators, in Nazi-era atrocities. That belief was nurtured in the communist era, when a monument was built in Jedwabne (pronounced Yed-vab-na) that pronounced the Nazis responsible for the Jews' deaths. But after the book ''Neighbors'' appeared, followed by a television documentary of the same name, President Aleksander Kwasniewski publicly apologized in Jedwabne for the murders by his compatriots. The book, by a New York University historian, Jan Tomasz Gross, describes villagers chasing down Jewish neighbors for slaughter, and guarding the barn doors as screaming Jews burned inside. It recounts acts of horrifying cruelty, such as when villagers decapitated a Jewish girl and used her head as a soccer ball. ''Neighbors'' has led to an investigation by a new commission, the Institute for National Memory, which is looking into crimes committed in Poland during the Nazi and Soviet eras. The institute is gathering evidence on Gross's findings, which are largely based on witness accounts and trial testimony in communist-era prosecutions of a few Poles, to see if charges should be brought against any living participants. The Polish right has challenged Gross's assessment of the Jewish death toll, and has asserted that Poles were following Nazi orders, even though Gross offered evidence that no German-led killing squads were in the area on July 10, 1941. As part of the inquiry, prosecutors conducted exhumations over the summer at the sites of mass graves in Jedwabne. A number of religious Jews living in Poland - who had opposed disturbing the graves, citing Jewish burial laws - were on hand to try to limit the offenses to those laws. It was at their urging that the exhumations ended after the remains of more than 200 people were found. This only fueled debate over the death toll. The digging drew the glare of press attention. Leading up to the 60th anniversary of the massacre, on July 10, the debate over Jedwabne so permeated newspapers, magazines, and television that one poll found that 83 percent of the country knew about the town and Gross's book. But knowledge was not to be confused with assent. Fewer than half of those polled, in fact, approved of the president's apology. The ceremony, which drew international media coverage, was boycotted by Jedwabne's local priest, most of the city council, and many of the town's residents. A new monument was dedicated at the July ceremony, which records the killings and lists many of the victims. But now no one is blamed for committing the murders. Since July, scarcely a word about Jedwabne has appeared in the Polish or international media. A rare mention was made in late summer when Jedwabne's mayor announced that he was resigning because of the stress of the ordeal, and that he planned to move. While the country awaits the prosecutors' decision, which could be announced by the end of the year, the Jedwabne hangover has wearied the Jewish community. Religious Jews, who worship at the one remaining synagogue in Warsaw, shake their heads at the mention of Jedwabne. As much as they appreciate the president's apology, the images from the graves of the tiny teeth and bones of children, and the glint of gold-wrapped molars in grown-up jaws, have not dimmed. Neither, said one member of the Jewish group overseeing the exhumations, does the image of skeletons jumbled in piles. There is awkwardness, too, in Jewish-Catholic relations because of the controversy. In July, Cardinal Josef Glemp declined to attend the ceremony in Jedwabne, saying he would not be directed by politicians. And he said that the Jews in turn should apologize for communism, reflecting a view held in some quarters here that Jews were too willing to help the Soviet-era secret police. The controversy has not helped Poles who are learning after decades, or even lifetimes, as part of the overwhelming Catholic majority that they are in fact Jewish. It is a disclosure that parents make in old age, or when their offspring reach a significant birthday. This story ran on page A33 of the Boston Globe on 11/18/2001.

AP 9 Nov 2001 Poland's Last Communist Chief on Trial By Karol Malcuzynski WARSAW, Poland –– Poland's last communist leader, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, refused to answer questions Friday at his trial over the fatal shooting of protesting shipyard workers in 1970. The former general is accused of issuing orders for soldiers to fire at the workers who were protesting food-price increases on Dec. 17, 1970. At least 44 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in the Baltic coast cities of Gdynia, Gdansk, Szczecin and Elblag. Jaruzelski contends that prosecutors who prepared the indictment against him are biased and ignored key evidence. He says the case against him was motivated by political revenge. "I refuse," Jaruzelski, 78, repeated defiantly more than 50 times as questions were read out in Warsaw District Court. Jaruzelski was defense minister at the time of the accusations. He was Poland's communist leader from 1981 until the regime's demise in 1989. The trial, delayed for years by politics, legal wrangling and illness, is part of Poland's often frustrated effort to bring former communist officials to account for crimes of the old regime. "The prosecutor already has suggested that what happened then was an act of genocide against the Polish nation" Jaruzelski said Friday, dismissing such charges as emotion-driven accusations "spread by the media." Questions Friday dealt mainly with circumstances surrounding the unrest and decision-making processes. The trial resumes Monday. In his opening statement, which he finished reading in court Thursday, Jaruzelski said prosecutors failed to consider whether soldiers acted in self-defense against attacks by workers trying to break into locked shipyards. Jaruzelski and six co-defendants, mostly former military commanders, could face long prison terms if convicted. But the trial is widely viewed as more of an effort to exact moral justice than to imprison aging former communist officials. A previous effort to try Jaruzelski in Gdansk in 1996 collapsed after he and several others were excluded for health reason. Poland's Supreme Court later ordered a new trial and moved it to Warsaw, where Jaruzelski lives.

Russia

AFP 3 Nov 2001 3,500 Russian troops killed in Chechnya: Kremlin MOSCOW, Nov 1: The Kremlin conceded on Thursday that nearly 3,500 Russian soldiers and 11,000 rebel fighters have been killed in Chechnya in a 25-month war that officials again vowed would continue until the last rebel was dead. A Kremlin spokesman responsible for information on Chechnya told AFP that 3,438 Russian soldiers had died and another 11,661 had been injured since Moscow launched its "anti-terrorist" operation on October 1, 1999. The office of Sergei Yastrzhembsky gave no estimates of civilian casualties, which human rights group fear may stand in the tens of thousands. The spokesman added that between 1,500 and 2,000 rebels, many of them mercenaries from Arab states, were still operating in the republic, primarily in the southern mountains which have served as the fighters' base since the start of the war. The official toll has been consistently disputed by Russia's Soldiers' Mothers Committee, which, quoting hospital and morgue documents, says that the true casualty figure may be three times higher than Moscow admits. The latest toll approaches the number of casualties from the 1994-96 war, which ended with a humiliating withdrawal of federal forces that granted Chechnya de facto independence. A senior Russian commander in that campaign, General Alexander Lebed, later estimated that up to 80,000 people were killed in Chechnya in the first, 19-month war. Lebed then encouraged former president Boris Yeltsin to sue for peace, with the retired Kremlin chief later describing the offensive as the gravest political mistake of his career. But federal forces rumbled back into Chechnya after a series of rebel incursions into the neighbouring Russian republic of Dagestan and a wave of September 1999 apartment bomb blasts that killed nearly 300 people. The attacks on civilians were pinned on Chechen rebels, although direct proof has never been presented to support the claims, and separatist leaders deny all responsibility. Representatives of Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov - whose rule is no longer recognized by Moscow - and President Vladimir Putin in recent weeks have held a series of telephone consultations in an effort to set up the first direct negotiations since the start of the second campaign. However Moscow has made the Chechens' complete disarmament a pre-condition for any future ceasefire. The demand has been flatly rejected by the rebels and it appears unclear how the two sides plan to bridge their differences. Reaffirming Russia's tough line, the head of the pro-Moscow administration in Chechnya dismissed recent speculation that federal forces were scaling back the offensive in hope of seeing the two sides launch talks. "The anti-terrorist operation will not be stopped, and we are continuing our work in this respect in full," RIA Novosti quoted Stanislav Ilyasov as saying. Moscow has further been encouraged by recent sentiments in Washington and London, which have both scaled down their criticism of Putin's campaign following the September 11 terror strikes on Washington and New York. Russian news agencies reported that federal forces had "liquidated" 14 fighters and arrested another 36 under suspicion of being rebel supporters over a 24-hour span ending Thursday morning.

Turkey

OneWorld UK 14 Nov 2001 British Firm Pulls Out of Turkish Dam Scheme By Daniel Nelson, A British company's pull-out Tuesday from a controversial Turkish dam project accused of fomenting "ethnic cleansing" against Kurds has been welcomed by rights advocates as a "demonstration of the power of shareholder pressure and publicity campaigns." Construction firm Balfour Beatty's decision to pull out of the US$1.2 billion Ilisu hydro-electric dam project follows months of campaigning by environmental and human rights groups, and opposition by the League of Arab States. By helping control water flows on the Tigris river, said the environmental group Friends of the Earth, the scheme threatened water conflicts with downstream states Syria and Iraq. The project was also expected to uproot as many as 50,000 members of Turkey's Kurdish population. Balfour Beatty's withdrawal from the Swiss-led consortium--together with that of the Italian civil engineering company, Impregilo--increases pressure on the British government to stop supporting the scheme. "We now call on the UK government to confirm that it will not back the Ilisu Dam," said Kerim Yildiz, executive director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project and chairman of the anti-dam campaign. Balfour had been seeking guarantee from the British government that it would underwrite the project to the value of a US$200 million . Friends of the Earth reacted by calling for export credits to be ruled out where the environment and human rights are put at risk. "The story of the project shows the need for laws which require British companies to adopt clear ethical and environmental standards in their work abroad as well as at home," said the group's director, Charles Secrett. The London-based World Development Movement has previously aimed sharp criticism at the British government over its backing of the dam and other potentially damaging projects, calling the practice a "corporate welfare scandal." Balfour Beatty said this week that although the Turkish economy needed additional electricity, no solutions were in sight for the still unresolved "commercial, environmental and social issues" surrounding the Ilisu dam scheme.

United Kingdom

Telegraph (UK) 6 Nov 2001 Duncan Smith refuses to sign Islam pledge By Sarah Womack. IAIN DUNCAN SMITH, the Conservative leader, yesterday refused to sign a pledge committing his party to religious tolerance of Muslims as part of Islamic Awareness Week. His shadow home secretary, Oliver Letwin, attended the Westminster launch of the pledge - drawn up by the Islamic Society of Britain - and delivered a statement of support for its aims. Conservative spokesmen, however, said the party was not willing to sign itself up to declarations drafted by other organisations. They insisted that the decision was not in response to race rows which dogged their general election campaign after William Hague signed a Commission for Racial Equality "compact" not to play the race card. Mr Duncan Smith said he did not want to sign something that might prove divisive and encourage a witch-hunt. The Islamic Society is a cultural body, not officially recognised as being representative of all Muslims in Britain. The awareness week is being coordinated by Hobsbawm Macaulay, the public relations firm half-owned by Gordon Brown's wife, Sarah. An Islamic Society spokesman said it did not want to "name and shame" those who did not sign. "This is a voluntary act. Iain Duncan Smith has declined to sign it. He has his reasons not to sign. Organisers would have loved to have cross-party support, of course." It remained unclear last night whether the Chief Rabbi and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who were asked, had agreed to be signatories. John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, both signed the pledge, to which Tony Blair had already put his name, at yesterday's launch. It commits signatories to seek better community relations between faith groups and to avoiding using language of an inflammatory or discriminatory nature. The pledge "recognises that British Muslims joined people of all other faiths, and none, in reacting with horror to the September 11 atrocities". Mr Duncan Smith's statement of support, said: "British Muslims, along with those of other faiths, contribute greatly to the cultural, social and economic life of our country, so I am particularly pleased to have the chance to state my full support for the aims of Islamic Awareness Week. "I would like to reiterate our beliefs in tolerance and respect for all religious groups. We will uphold the right to religious expression no less vigorously than the other freedoms we hold dear in the months and years ahead. "Protecting people's freedom to worship is an essential part of a free society. We will always be intolerant of those who are intolerant of others." Mr Prescott read a message from Mr Blair describing the religion of Islam as "peaceful and tolerant" and saying that he would not allow it to be equated with the action of terrorists. We must not honour them with a religious justification, or a badge of faith." Yusuf Bhailok, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said there had been a "very worrying" upsurge in violence against Muslims since the US attacks. "We condemn those acts as sincerely, wholeheartedly and completely as any section of British society." Charles Moore, editor of The Daily Telegraph, was among newspaper editors who, while saying they fully supported its sentiments, also refused to sign the pledge.

BBC 5 Nov 2001, Mother calls for calm at protest school Elaine Burns tells of her daughter Nieve's trauma A Holy Cross parent has urged the Protestant community to end the protests at the school which she says have traumatised her daughter Nieve. As the school resumes after the half-term break with new hopes for an end to the protests, Elaine Burns told the BBC she is "sick" of the angry scenes she has witnessed daily. Residents from the Glenbryn area of Belfast, where the school is situated, have been protesting at the school because of alleged attacks by the larger Catholic community in Ardoyne. Mrs Burns said: "Let the parents and children get back to school because I may have just as many grievances but I wouldn't block Protestant children from going to school. "That would be unthinkable, so why are these people doing this? There's no justification for it." Mrs Burns said her daughter has become more aggressive since her first journey to her new school in September, when a bomb was thrown by protesters. "How can a parent be honest with their child and tell them that people tried to kill them because they're a Catholic?" Elaine Burns Holy Cross parent "I told her that it was a firework, that it was a party because it was her first day at school and she was a big girl now. "How can a parent be honest with their child and tell them that people tried to kill them because they're a Catholic?" Hopes rose over the weekend that peace may resume on the route after Protestant residents said they had reached an understanding with the police. Mrs Burns added: "If this thing isn't resolved by Monday morning, I'm going to be sick because they've suffered horrific abuse." Hatred She said she had to teach Nieve that the Union Jack was not a "bad flag" as her daughter began recognising the symbols of hatred known to the province. Security forces have been escorting the pupils of the Catholic Holy Cross Girls' School past the loyalist protesters along the Ardoyne Road since the beginning of term in September. Meanwhile, Education Minister Martin McGuinness has announced that Holy Cross and nearby Wheatfield Primary School are to get extra funding. Pupils going to the mainly Protestant Wheatfield school have had their journey to school disrupted because of the security presence in the area. The two schools will get a total of £154,000 between them.

BBC 1 Nov 2001 Rise in racist attacks reported There has been a marked increase in racial incidents in Wales following the the 11 September attacks, according to the Commission for Racial Equality. Speaking to the Welsh Assembly on Wednesday, the commission's Dr Mashuq Ally said school bullying incidents had trebled, women and children - particularly members of the Muslim community - had been abused in the streets. Added to that, he said, nearly all the country's Muslims settled in Wales in the 19th Century mosques had either been attacked or received abusive mail. His address comes a day after Prime Minister Tony Blair - in his inaugural speech to the assembly - spoke out against attacks on Muslims, including those in Wales. In the 10 days immediately after the terrorist strikes in America, there were around 110 incidents within Swansea, Cardiff and Newport on the Muslim Community. A third of those were in Swansea - a place Dr Ally said had been hardest hit. Abused In the other cases, a number of Sikhs have been targeted apparently by mistake. "Regrettably the post 11th of September situation is not very good within the communities, we have seen a triple increase in the number of bullyings that are going on in schools, we have seen, regrettably, on the streets, women being abused, and children also being abused, on the street, and particularly the Muslim community," he said. "I would also like to bring to the attention of the members the fact is that nearly all the places of worship for the Muslim community have either been attacked or received abusive mail." Dr Ally, head of CRE Wales, said examples of the incidents included children being bullied at school or on their way home and Muslim women abused while they were shopping. Concerns He said people's fear of reporting racial incidents meant that the true number of cases could be twice the number actually recorded. He suggested a practical way to help young people in schools deal with the issues arising from Septmeber 11th was for them to have a way of venting their concerns in a constructive way. He proposed that schools with the highest incidence of bullying and harrassment could hold workshops with pupils and teachers, to allow young people to bring up their concerns. He added that it was clear that the 11 September attacks and post September 11th issues had raised a tremendous amout of hate between pupils, which would have a long-term effect if it was not addressed.

Yugoslavia

Reuters 13 Nov 2001 Serb Police Block Road To Protest UN Arrests BELGRADE More than 100 angry Serbian special police blocked a main road into Belgrade with armored cars Monday in an escalating dispute over cooperation with the United Nations war crimes tribunal. . The "red berets" protested that they had been tricked into arresting two war crimes suspects who were sent to The Hague last week, an act they see as illegal because Yugoslavia does not have a specific law on cooperation with the court. . The police, dressed in camouflage fatigues, blocked the road with 15 armored vehicles, causing a traffic jam. Some motorists appeared furious, but others saluted and honked their horns in support or gave the police cigarettes and chocolate. . While the red berets say they are aggrieved only at the lack of legislation and manipulation by their superiors, many Serbs object on principle to helping the tribunal. . "This really reflects existing dilemmas about cooperation with The Hague tribunal," a Belgrade political analyst said. . Up to 30 red berets blocked a road in northern Serbia on Saturday, protesting that colleagues who arrested the Bosnian Serb twins Predrag and Nenad Banovic on Thursday had been told they were common criminals rather than war crimes suspects. The twins are accused of beating prisoners to death while working as guards at a detention camp in Bosnia in 1992. . Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic of Serbia waded into the controversy Sunday, championing cooperation with The Hague and telling the police to keep out of politics. He then drove to their base for three hours of late-night talks that failed to defuse the dispute. . An officer at the Belgrade roadblock, which lasted from dawn until late afternoon, insisted the unit had no political agenda. "We are only defending our professional honor and trying to stop irresponsible behavior within the Interior Ministry," he said. . The protesters want Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic to resign and say they will arrest no more war crimes suspects until a specific law on cooperation with the tribunal is passed. Tribunal officials say no law is necessary, arguing that Yugoslavia is obliged as a member of the United Nations to cooperate fully with all the world body's institutions. . In The Hague, UN war crimes prosecutors said Monday that they had asked the tribunal to confirm a third indictment against Slobodan Milosevic, including the charge of genocide, for alleged atrocities in Bosnia. The former Yugoslav leader already faces two indictments accusing him of crimes against humanity. For Related Topics See: Europe < < Back to Start of Article BELGRADE More than 100 angry Serbian special police blocked a main road into Belgrade with armored cars Monday in an escalating dispute over cooperation with the United Nations war crimes tribunal. . The "red berets" protested that they had been tricked into arresting two war crimes suspects who were sent to The Hague last week, an act they see as illegal because Yugoslavia does not have a specific law on cooperation with the court. . The police, dressed in camouflage fatigues, blocked the road with 15 armored vehicles, causing a traffic jam. Some motorists appeared furious, but others saluted and honked their horns in support or gave the police cigarettes and chocolate. . While the red berets say they are aggrieved only at the lack of legislation and manipulation by their superiors, many Serbs object on principle to helping the tribunal. . "This really reflects existing dilemmas about cooperation with The Hague tribunal," a Belgrade political analyst said. . Up to 30 red berets blocked a road in northern Serbia on Saturday, protesting that colleagues who arrested the Bosnian Serb twins Predrag and Nenad Banovic on Thursday had been told they were common criminals rather than war crimes suspects. The twins are accused of beating prisoners to death while working as guards at a detention camp in Bosnia in 1992. . Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic of Serbia waded into the controversy Sunday, championing cooperation with The Hague and telling the police to keep out of politics. He then drove to their base for three hours of late-night talks that failed to defuse the dispute. . An officer at the Belgrade roadblock, which lasted from dawn until late afternoon, insisted the unit had no political agenda. "We are only defending our professional honor and trying to stop irresponsible behavior within the Interior Ministry," he said. . The protesters want Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic to resign and say they will arrest no more war crimes suspects until a specific law on cooperation with the tribunal is passed. Tribunal officials say no law is necessary, arguing that Yugoslavia is obliged as a member of the United Nations to cooperate fully with all the world body's institutions. . In The Hague, UN war crimes prosecutors said Monday that they had asked the tribunal to confirm a third indictment against Slobodan Milosevic, including the charge of genocide, for alleged atrocities in Bosnia. The former Yugoslav leader already faces two indictments accusing him of crimes against humanity. BELGRADE More than 100 angry Serbian special police blocked a main road into Belgrade with armored cars Monday in an escalating dispute over cooperation with the United Nations war crimes tribunal. . The "red berets" protested that they had been tricked into arresting two war crimes suspects who were sent to The Hague last week, an act they see as illegal because Yugoslavia does not have a specific law on cooperation with the court. . The police, dressed in camouflage fatigues, blocked the road with 15 armored vehicles, causing a traffic jam. Some motorists appeared furious, but others saluted and honked their horns in support or gave the police cigarettes and chocolate. . While the red berets say they are aggrieved only at the lack of legislation and manipulation by their superiors, many Serbs object on principle to helping the tribunal. . "This really reflects existing dilemmas about cooperation with The Hague tribunal," a Belgrade political analyst said. . Up to 30 red berets blocked a road in northern Serbia on Saturday, protesting that colleagues who arrested the Bosnian Serb twins Predrag and Nenad Banovic on Thursday had been told they were common criminals rather than war crimes suspects. The twins are accused of beating prisoners to death while working as guards at a detention camp in Bosnia in 1992. . Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic of Serbia waded into the controversy Sunday, championing cooperation with The Hague and telling the police to keep out of politics. He then drove to their base for three hours of late-night talks that failed to defuse the dispute. . An officer at the Belgrade roadblock, which lasted from dawn until late afternoon, insisted the unit had no political agenda. "We are only defending our professional honor and trying to stop irresponsible behavior within the Interior Ministry," he said. . The protesters want Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic to resign and say they will arrest no more war crimes suspects until a specific law on cooperation with the tribunal is passed. Tribunal officials say no law is necessary, arguing that Yugoslavia is obliged as a member of the United Nations to cooperate fully with all the world body's institutions. . In The Hague, UN war crimes prosecutors said Monday that they had asked the tribunal to confirm a third indictment against Slobodan Milosevic, including the charge of genocide, for alleged atrocities in Bosnia. The former Yugoslav leader already faces two indictments accusing him of crimes against humanity. BELGRADE More than 100 angry Serbian special police blocked a main road into Belgrade with armored cars Monday in an escalating dispute over cooperation with the United Nations war crimes tribunal. . The "red berets" protested that they had been tricked into arresting two war crimes suspects who were sent to The Hague last week, an act they see as illegal because Yugoslavia does not have a specific law on cooperation with the court. . The police, dressed in camouflage fatigues, blocked the road with 15 armored vehicles, causing a traffic jam. Some motorists appeared furious, but others saluted and honked their horns in support or gave the police cigarettes and chocolate. . While the red berets say they are aggrieved only at the lack of legislation and manipulation by their superiors, many Serbs object on principle to helping the tribunal. . "This really reflects existing dilemmas about cooperation with The Hague tribunal," a Belgrade political analyst said. . Up to 30 red berets blocked a road in northern Serbia on Saturday, protesting that colleagues who arrested the Bosnian Serb twins Predrag and Nenad Banovic on Thursday had been told they were common criminals rather than war crimes suspects. The twins are accused of beating prisoners to death while working as guards at a detention camp in Bosnia in 1992. . Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic of Serbia waded into the controversy Sunday, championing cooperation with The Hague and telling the police to keep out of politics. He then drove to their base for three hours of late-night talks that failed to defuse the dispute. . An officer at the Belgrade roadblock, which lasted from dawn until late afternoon, insisted the unit had no political agenda. "We are only defending our professional honor and trying to stop irresponsible behavior within the Interior Ministry," he said. . The protesters want Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic to resign and say they will arrest no more war crimes suspects until a specific law on cooperation with the tribunal is passed. Tribunal officials say no law is necessary, arguing that Yugoslavia is obliged as a member of the United Nations to cooperate fully with all the world body's institutions. . In The Hague, UN war crimes prosecutors said Monday that they had asked the tribunal to confirm a third indictment against Slobodan Milosevic, including the charge of genocide, for alleged atrocities in Bosnia. The former Yugoslav leader already faces two indictments accusing him of crimes against humanity.