Africa

IRIN 23 June 2003 African stability threatened by mass migration Hassen Abdella ADDIS ABABA, 23 Jun 2003 (IRIN) - Mass migration in Africa will threaten the region’s stability if it continues unchecked or unabated, a conference in Addis Ababa heard on Monday. Millions who flee conflict or economic crises pose enormous burdens on their new host nations, the four-day meeting on migration and trafficking was told. The meeting - organised by the International Migration Policy Programme (IMP) - brings together top officials from dozens of African countries who will draw up an action plan aimed at curbing migration and introduce a continent-wide policy to tackle the crisis. In Africa, there are an estimated 16 million migrants and 13 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). Hassen Abdella, who heads Ethiopia’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MOLSA), said many migrants were “maltreated” and deprived of basic rights. He also warned that trafficking, which he described as the “demeaning side of migration” was a particular menace to children who were used as cheap labour or in prostitution. He called for strengthening law enforcement in order to combat criminal gangs who prey on children and urged greater help from the international community. “This will not be an easy task as human smuggling has become a lucrative business and the capacity of African states is not strong enough to meet the challenge,” he said. Among the fears surrounding mass migration is the further spread of the AIDS pandemic which is crippling the continent. African officials are backing plans for boosting border controls such as greater data collection on would-be travellers and strengthening checks on travel documents. They are also looking at targeting known trafficking routes and international criminal gangs through strengthening legislation.

IPS 30 June 2003 AFRICA: Still Producing the Largest Number of Refugees Joyce Mulama Joseph Ndarangazi, 24, is still hounded by memories of the 1994 genocide that saw all his family members wiped out in Rwanda. ”People ambushed our house and hacked to death my father, raped my mother then chopped off her head. During the commotion, my two brothers and I managed to slip from the house. The soldiers ran after us. I was ahead of my brothers and just heard gunshots from behind. I suspect they shot at my brothers, but I never looked back. I just ran for dear life,” he says, sobbing. NAIROBI, Jun 28 (IPS) - Joseph Ndarangazi, 24, is still hounded by memories of the 1994 genocide that saw all his family members wiped out in Rwanda. ”People ambushed our house and hacked to death my father, raped my mother then chopped off her head. During the commotion, my two brothers and I managed to slip from the house. The soldiers ran after us. I was ahead of my brothers and just heard gunshots from behind. I suspect they shot at my brothers, but I never looked back. I just ran for dear life,” he says, sobbing. His story is chilling; so is Fatuma Ishmael's, a 30-year-old refugee from Somalia. She fled to Kenya 15 years ago following the war in her country. Thinking that she was now out of harm's way, one evening she was raped just near a refugee camp in Kenya. ”Three men grabbed me, while I was strolling and taking time off from the hassles of the camp. One held my mouth, the other my hands, while the third raped me. It went on like that until each of them had his turn,” she says, tears rolling down her cheeks. Ishmael has a six-year-old son whose future she terms unpredictable. ”I cannot wait to go back home. I want a sense of belonging, a place I can call home and forget about all the bad things I have experienced in the refugee camp,” she says. This year's World Refugee Day, commemorated under the theme ”Refugee Youth, Building the Future”, was dedicated to millions of young people whose futures have been jeopardised by war, persecution and self-exile. But young girls in refugee camps claim their rights have been ignored. They cite lack of access to education at the refugee camps, accusing donors of misplaced priorities. Anne Itto, a community leader who helps refugees in Kakuma camp, last year commented: ”Donors are either not convinced of the necessity of a girls' school in camps, or there is lack of goodwill towards the feminine needs in refugee stations.” Kakuma Refugee Camp is situated in northern Kenya, at the border with Sudan. In his speech to commemorate the refugee day on Jun.20, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, observed: ”If young refugees are not properly protected and denied opportunities to learn the skills they need to live productive, independent lives, they are likely to contribute to the next round of conflicts.” Africa has produced the largest number of refugees, also referred to as uprooted people, in the world. Statistics show that out of the more than five million refugees, 3.5 million are from Africa. The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Africa stands at 13.5 million, out of the 25 million worldwide. Mugambi Kiai, a human rights activist in Nairobi, says Africa has for a long time had a problem of governance. ”It is, therefore, not by accident that thousands of people are fleeing and seeking refuge in other regions,” he says. Most of the refugees, he says, have fled from oppressive systems of government and human rights abuses. To stem out the abuses, Kiai says it is ”a duty” of every citizen to demand better governance. ”We must ask for responsibility and accountability within the leadership,” he asserts. Controlling the influx of refugees in Africa lies in finding lasting peaceful resolutions in areas of conflicts, ”stripping off garments of selfishness and wearing virtues of accountability and transparency,” says a human rights lawyer in Nairobi. Rev. Telewa Johnson of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) says: ”The situation of the uprooted people in Africa is both serious and urgent. We appeal to the International Community to take steps in the mobilisation of the desperately needed resources to raise the standards of living of millions of people whose lives continue to hang pitifully on the balance”. Telewa is the chairperson of the AACC Continental Committee on Uprooted Persons. Sudan is the largest producer of refugees in Africa, with about 500,000 of its citizens forced to flee to neighbouring countries due to civil unrest. The country, which has been held captive by a 20-year civil war, also records the largest number of IDPs (4 million) on the continent. Congo stands second with 1.8 million IDPs, followed by Angola with an estimated 1.1 million, Burundi with 600,000 and Sierra Leone with 500,000.

Botswana

Survival International 20 June 2003 Bushmen served with court orders for entering ancestral land At least nine Bushmen have been served with court orders for 'illegally' entering the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, their ancestral land. Their whole village was forcibly evicted from their land in February 2002, but some returned late last year. If found guilty, they could face jail. President Mogae of Botswana faced many demonstrations over his government's treatment of the Bushmen when he visited Britain in early June.

Burundi

IRIN 24 Jun 2003 Rebels killed as thousands of civilians flee fighting BUJUMBURA, 24 June () - An unknown number of rebels have been killed in fighting against government troops in northern Burundi, forcing up to 65,000 civilians to flee their homes, army and local authority officials told on Tuesday. The fighting between the army and the Conseil national pour la defense de la démocratie-Force pour la défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD) rebel faction led by Pierre Nkurunziza intensified on Monday at Butaganzwa and Matongo communes in Kayanza Province in the north, the commander of the Third Military Region, Brig-Gen Sylvestre Nimubona, said. Fighting continued on Tuesday in Mufunya, Nyarurama and Buramiro in Butaganzwa areas, he said. There had also been fighting in the past week in the communes of Gahombo and Muhanga in Kayanza. "Many of them [the rebels] were killed and others driven back to the neighbouring commune of Butaganzwa," Nimubona said. "I am not able to tell the exact toll as fighting continues in that area." He did not say whether there had been casualties in the army side. Administration authorities were reported to have contacted humanitarian agencies seeking aid for the tens of thousands displaced. "The [UN] World Food Program responded positively to our request, aid distribution can start at any time," Edouard Nkurunziza, the governor of Kayanza, told . CNDD-FDD spokesman Gelase Ndabirabe accused the army of launching attacks on CNDD-FDD positions in Butaganzwa. "What we're doing now is to defend ourselves against army shelling," he said.

IRIN 27 Jun 2003 Burundi: Rebel group objects to cantonment site BUJUMBURA, 27 June () - The larger faction of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Force pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) rebel group is opposed to the cantonment of fighters loyal to leaders of two smaller rebel groups at a site it considers its stronghold, the group's spokesman told on Friday. The spokesman, "Major" Gelase Daniel Ndabirabe, said the cantonment that began on Thursday was a violation of a ceasefire agreement signed between the CNDD-FDD faction led by Pierre Nkurunziza and the government in December 2002. A unit of the African Union peacekeeping force in Burundi cantoned the first group of 22 fighters loyal to the Forces Nationales de Liberation (FNL) rebel faction led by Alain Mugabarabona on Thursday at Muyange, 30 km northwest of the capital, Bujumbura. More fighters are expected at the cantonment site on Monday, an FNL spokesman said. The CNDD-FDD faction led by Jean Bosco Ndayikengurukiye has indicated that its fighters would soon be cantoned. However, Ndabirabe said that according to the ceasefire agreement his faction signed with the government, Muyange, in Bubanza Province, is one of sites that was to be used for the cantonment of fighters loyal to Nkurunziza. "We urge the African peace Mission in Burundi [AMIB] to canton combatants of Ndayikengurukiye and Mugabarabona elsewhere, in areas totally controlled by the government as the two rebel groups are represented in the transitional government," he said. Asked if his movement planned to attack the Muyange site, he responded, "The South African soldiers protecting the site should quit the place, and if there is no reaction, appropriate decisions would be taken." The AMIB commander, Maj-Gen Sipho Binda, said the force was in the country to strengthen peace and security, not to engage in offensive military activities. "AMIB has the necessary means to accomplish its task and protect its troops," he said. The spokesman of the FNL faction led by Mugabarabona, Charles Kabagambe, said they would ignore the CNDD-FDD threat because they believed that the Muyange cantonment site was well secured by AMIB. The larger FNL faction led by Agathon Rwasa, which has refused to enter into negotiations with the government, has said it would not interfere with the cantonment process. "We agreed with Ambassador Mahmadou Bah, representing AU in Burundi and who is coordinating the cantonment process, that our men can move in different areas under our control without any problem; we will not attack the combatants of Mugabarabona, but if they attack us we will respond," Pasteur Habimana, the faction's spokesman, said.

IRIN 30 Jun 2003 Rebels kidnap four MPs BUJUMBURA, Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Force pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) rebels kidnapped on Saturday four Members of Parliament and seven others, as a warning to the Burundian government to end what is says is a propaganda campaign against the group. "It is true our fighters arrested four senior members of FRODEBU at Gisuru. They were in an area controlled by FDD, they are safe," Hussein Radjabu, the CNDD-FDD secretary-general, said. He added that FRODEBU, the Front pour la democratie au Burundi, had tried to discredit the group's image before the international community by "saying that our movement is against peace". FRODEBU leaders told on Sunday that the 11 people were kidnapped in Ruyigi Province, eastern Burundi. "We learnt that four members of our party were abducted by the rebels led by Pierre Nkururnziza at Gisuru commune in Ruyigi," Jean de Dieu Mutabazi, the FRODEBU spokesman, said. Mutabazi said Pierre Barusasiyeko, the vice secretary-general of the Parliament; Leonidas Ntibayazi, the head of the human rights commission at the Parliament; Véronique Nizigiyimana and Fabien Barutwanayo were among the abducted. They were, Mutabazi said, in Ruyigi to prepare for the 10th anniversary of the party's 1993 election victory, scheduled for Monday (30 June). "We demand their immediate and unconditional release," Mutabazi said. "The mediation and the regional initiative for peace in Burundi have already been informed of this kidnapping." Rebels have in the recent past kidnapped or killed several administration authorities who were members of FRODEBU. "The FDD must know that electoral legitimacy will always triumph over military legitimacy, so it's time for them to lay down their guns and accept democratic principles," Mutabazi said.

Côte d'Ivoire - Also read News Monitors for Côte d'Ivoire from 2002 and 2001

PANA 23 Jun 2003 Checkpoints, roadblocks dismantled in central Ivorian city Bouake, Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) - Scores of roadblocks and checkpoints, which dotted the streets of Bouake, stronghold of the former key Ivorian rebel faction, have been dismantled to facilitate free trade and easier movement of the people. Erected since the outbreak of the armed insurrection in the country 19 September 2002, the roadblocks and checkpoints were major hindrances to resumption of socio-economic life. "We have always proclaimed freedom in the zones we occupy. By dismantling these roadblocks, we would like to make life easier for our people, especially for businessmen who continue to denounce their abundance. Henceforth, there will be no more roadblocks in Bouake," the newly appointed military head of Bouake, sergeant Cherif Ousmane told PANA Monday. The rebel factions and national army agreed to enhance free movement of people and goods by reducing checkpoints along the various roads at a recent meeting in Bouake, led by the French Unicorn operation and the West African peacekeeping force. Ousmane said prior to dismantling the Bouake checkpoints, he led a mission aimed at sensitising the troops stationed along the Bouake-Yamoussoukro road, where official checkpoints are now erected and manned by soldiers duly assigned by state authorities. At another meeting in Korhogo, about 650 km north of Abidjan, the political and military leaders of the rebel factions set up an Economic Recovery Council, a civil-military structure, to examine issues impeding the upswing of economic life in the erstwhile war zones.

Reuters 23 Jun 2003 Government must curb Ivory Coast's xenophobia By Sayre Nyce Refugees International advocate Sayre Nyce leads the organisation's field work in West Africa, undertaking missions to Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Ivory Coast. She returned from Ivory Coast in March after completing her ninth humanitarian assessment in the region in three years. She urges the government to take a lead in soothing the rampant anti-foreigner sentiment gripping the country. Since the start of the war in Ivory Coast, approximately 400,000 foreigners have fled the country, including about 200,000 Burkinabes, 70,000 Guineans, 48,000 Malians, and 44,000 Liberians. These people were not simply fleeing the conflict. Instead, many have run from the hostile xenophobia that has grown rampant in the past year in Ivory Coast. Thousands have been harassed, threatened and evicted from their homes or their lands. When I visited Ivory Coast in March I was stunned by what I found. I travelled there expecting to investigate the needs of people fleeing the fighting between the rebels and the government, which had been well documented by NGOs and the media. Instead I discovered a serious problem that was hardly being reported: many people were fleeing persecution because they, or their parents, were foreign-born. Ivoirian civilians and military have harassed, threatened, and in a few instances, killed those considered foreigners. Let's parse the term "foreigner". By the government definition, anyone whose parents were not born in Ivory Coast -- both parents, mind you -- is regarded as foreign. This working definition renders about 30 percent of Ivory Coast's 16 million inhabitants foreign, and, thereby, subject to hostility, even though many of these foreigners have never set foot outside Ivory Coast. The concept of foreigner stands in negative relief against that of ivoirité, or "ivorianness." One's ivoirité is established simply by lacking foreign-born parents, and yet this has become the credential du jour throughout Ivory Coast. LICENCE TO PILLAGE For some Ivorians, it has also become a licence to pillage, intimidate and kill. Military and armed local youth have organised outfits of terror in western Ivory Coast. The 35,000 Liberian refugees that remain in Ivory Coast are in imminent danger of being caught up in the conflict in the west and being targeted by these bands of thugs. In effect, the Liberian refugees who have sought refuge in Ivory Coast in the past decade are again in need of a safe haven. This campaign of xenophobia comes at a high cost, literally. Ivory Coast, the world's biggest cocoa producer, relied on thousands of foreigners to work in the plantations. The violence inspired by the government has had the effect of dispersing this labour force from the cacao and coffee plantations. The hostile and intimidating environment may leave the plantation workers reluctant to return even if Ivory Coast is stabilised. Such disruption of planting and harvesting - even for a short time - would be a severe blow to a major pillar of West Africa's economy. Neighbouring countries have already suffered economic losses. For example, Carolyn McAskie, U.N. humanitarian envoy for the crisis in Ivory Coast, reported: "Mali relied on Ivory Coast for over 70 percent of its imports and exports, and along with Burkina Faso, and to a certain extent Niger, is suffering serious economic setbacks at a time when it is also affected by the drought in the Sahel." The violence and xenophobia in Ivory Coast have had severe economic consequences: the loss of remittances, a poor agricultural season, and the strain for communities in Burkina Faso and Mali of accepting thousands of returnees. Together, these consequences present a major challenge to the region. The origins of ivoirité-based ethnic tension are varied and complex. The notion itself began as a political tactic of former President Henri Konan-Bédié to prohibit some politicians, including prominent northerner Alassane Ouattara, from standing as president. It has increased tensions among ethnic groups and created a division between the mainly Muslim north, which is where most of those considered "foreigners" are living, and the mainly Christian south. CHASED FROM THEIR HOMES In November 1999, the anti-foreigner sentiment resulted in the displacement of 15,000 Burkinabes who were chased from their homes in the southwestern town of Tabou. In the past eight months of conflict, Burkinabes, along with other foreigners such as Malians and Liberians, have been the targets of hostility. An ethnic massacre at Yopougon, outside Abidjan, in October 2000 and the massacre of gendarmes by northern rebels in the town of Bouaké in October 2002 exemplified ethnic hostility. The roadblocks to peace in Ivory Coast are legion. Human rights abuses, including forced recruitment, must be stopped immediately. Liberian refugees need to be moved from western Ivory Coast to a safer area. The government must ensure the protection of immigrants and refugees. It should also establish a new legal framework that liberalises citizenship requirements and protects the rights of foreign nationals living and working in the country. These measures alone will not suffice. The government must also root out its own hypocrisy on the matter. For a government that has occasionally encouraged anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiments by publicly reviling foreigners, taking an active and public role in soothing xenophobic tension is imperative. National reconciliation in any meaningful sense cannot happen until the government defuses ivoirité, and welcomes its citizens - all of them - to a persecution-free Ivory Coast. Until the people of Ivory Coast scrap the identity politics, there is little hope for a lasting peace.

PANA 23 Jun 2003 Ivorian militia group calls for armed resistance Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) - A private militia group with strong ties to the Ivorian government on Sunday in Yopougon, an Abidjan suburb, called for armed resistance against the Marcoussis peace agreement reached near Paris on 24 January. At a gathering near here, the leader of the Grouping of Patriots for Peace (GPP), Groguhet Charles, a former student leader, urged Ivorians to enter into the arena in order to militarily combat the Marcoussis accord, the sons of immigrants within the opposition Rally of Republicans (RDR) and the New Forces composed of former rebel movements. The meeting was attended by several hundred clean-shaven youths who wore T-shits with the grouping's acronym -- GPP. "This is a war of Ivorians against the sons of immigrants. Côte d'Ivoire cannot accept that the sons of immigrants we welcomed, housed and gave work, try today to snatch our dearest possession, our motherland," said Groguhet, amid a wild applause. The former leader of Côte d'Ivoire Student and School Federation (FESCI), one of the pillars of President Laurent Gbagbo's government, appealed to Ivorians to avoid "xenophobia complex," to get mobilised for "the decisive battle against imperialists and their local stooges." Groguhet violently criticised France, Burkina Faso, former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara's RDR and the Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire (MPCI), the ex-rebel group that currently controls the northern part of the country, whom he accused of "killing Ivorians every minute." Two MPs from Gbagbo's ruling Ivorian Popular Front and police officers particularly the well-known riot brigade commander on whose car was installed the public address system, attended the meeting, which later degenerated into violence. Several residents, including a policeman and a local businessman were beaten up and robbed of everything they had. Overzealous militia groups are still mushrooming in Abidjan and upcountry-urban centres in spite of recent government ban. Most Ivorian political parties, civil societies and the Catholic Church have condemned the militia groups because of their unbecoming activities. However, the FPI appears to show tolerance towards them. Receiving their leaders at State House recently, President Gbagbo wondered why certain people were against these "simple runners," in an apparent reference to the jogging GPP members have adopted.

Amnesty International 24 Jun 2003 - Côte d'Ivoire: Liberian refugees caught between two conflicts: a solution is urgently needed On the eve of a visit by United Nations Security Council delegation to West Africa, and as fighting intensifies around Liberia's capital, Monrovia, Amnesty International urges the countries of the subregion and the international community to do everything possible to protect Liberian refugees and all others caught in the middle of these two conflicts. In a document published today, Côte d'Ivoire: No escape. Liberian refugees in Côte d'Ivoire, Amnesty International appeals to the international community to implement a humanitarian evacuation programme that includes resettlement in other countries for these refugees, who do not know which way to turn to. At the beginning of April 2003 thousands of people who, a few weeks earlier, had sought refuge from the Côte d'Ivoire crisis by fleeing to Liberia, crossed the border in the opposite direction after increasingly violent clashes in the region where they had sought asylum. These hasty and panic-stricken displacements illustrate the situation of tens of thousands of people -- Liberian refugees, Côte d'Ivoire nationals and people from elsewhere in the subregion -- caught in the middle of two conflicts, one in West Côte d'Ivoire and one in East Liberia, and who do not know where to go to for effective protection. The lives of some 70,000 Liberian refugees, who had successfully sought asylum in Côte d'Ivoire after the war broke out in Liberia in 1989, have been shattered by the crisis that has shaken the country since September 2002. "The Liberian refugees are the victims of atrocities committed by various parties to the conflict, who loot their possessions and ill-treat them, and sometimes forcibly recruit them into their ranks, while at the same time accusing them of supporting their opponents; they cannot return to Liberia, where the situation gets worse every day; and no other neighbouring country seems disposed to welcome them, because they are often perceived as trouble-makers," Amnesty International said. The document published today includes accounts made by many Liberian refugees an Amnesty International delegation met in Abidjan in March 2003. These accounts show why they feel they cannot escape from the situation they find themselves in. One Liberian refugee told the Amnesty International delegation: "Many Liberians now feel that they would even prefer to be put out to sea on a boat than to remain in Côte d'Ivoire". The situation of Liberian refugees is of particular concern in the west of Côte d'Ivoire, where most of these refugees live, and where they have for months been the victims often of forced recruitment by armed opposition groups and government forces alike. "Refugees, especially those living in Abidjan, have been victims of harassment, humiliation and sometimes arrest. Members of the security forces and certain segments of the Côte d'Ivoire population, encouraged by some xenophobic media, consider them to be accomplices of the armed opposition groups that appeared in the west of the country at the end of November 2002," Amnesty International asserted. Unable to remain safely in Côte d'Ivoire, tens of thousands of desperate Liberian refugees have returned to their own country despite the war that is raging there. In addition to these Liberians, tens of thousands of Côte d'Ivoire nationals and people from other countries of the subregion have also fled to Liberia. Figures published by the UNHCR in March 2003 showed that about 100,000 people had fled to Liberia since the beginning of the Côte d'Ivoire conflict, although many of them have been forced to return to Côte d'Ivoire. In these circumstances, Amnesty International believes that these population movements represent de facto 'refoulement'. Even if the Côte d'Ivoire and Liberian authorities do not directly expel these refugees and the civilian population fleeing the war zones, it is nevertheless obvious that the conflict is forcing these people to go to regions where their security is under serious threat. Amnesty International therefore reminds the international community of its duty to assume responsibility for finding a solution to this problem. A major concerted effort by the international community is indispensable, especially in relation to fundraising for humanitarian action in the field, if this crisis, in which hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything, is to be resolved. Unfortunately, the international community has been slow to react, despite the efforts of the UNHCR, the World Food Programme and UNICEF. The United Nations has launched several appeals for funds, but the sums collected have, so far piled against the enormous needs created by one of the most serious current humanitarian crises. Amnesty International appeals to the Côte d'Ivoire government and armed opposition groups operating in Côte d'Ivoire to immediately cease attacks on Liberian refugees. The organization also urges the international community to urgently find a comprehensive and long term solution to the crisis that ensures the effective protection of Liberian refugees and others who cannot stay in the subregion and who should therefore be resettled elsewhere. Background The Liberian refugee problem is only one aspect of the serious humanitarian crisis that has shaken Côte d'Ivoire since the armed uprising of September 2002. The conflict has caused the massive displacement of civilians, who have fled from areas where fighting is taking place. Hundreds of thousands of people -- Côte d'Ivoire nationals as well as other people from the subregion, especially Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea -- have had to leave their homes to escape the atrocities committed by all parties to the conflict. The number of people displaced within Côte d'Ivoire itself is more than one and a half million according to the Côte d'Ivoire authorities. Since the September 2002 uprising, about 50,000 Mali citizens and 150,000 Burkina Faso citizens have fled to Mali and Burkina Faso where they face serious reintegration problems, despite the efforts made by the governments and civil society in these countries. It is, therefore, the entire subregion that faces a very serious humanitarian crisis. For the full text of the report, please see: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr310122003

AFP 25 Jun 2003 Ivory Coast's "wild west" normal after being secured by peacekeepers BANGOLO, Ivory Coast, June 25 (AFP) - Ivory Coast's lawless western border with war-ravaged Liberia has returned to normal a month after French and west African peacekeepers entered the troubled area and secured it. Brutal excesses occurred in the region, a stronghold of two western-based Ivorian rebel groups which joined the main insurgent movement after it launched a rebellion on September 19, cutting the world's top cocoa grower in half. Liberian combatants were also active in the area and accused of fighting alongside both government forces and rebels. The Liberians and both the belligerents were accused of widespread rights abuses including murder, rape and looting. French military officials told an AFP journalist visiting the region on Tuesday that the "confidence zone" stretching across 200 kilometres (125 miles) and about 50 kilometres (83 miles) wide was back to normal and "respected 95 percent." In late May, peacekeepers launched an operation to secure the west. The "zone of confidence" refers to a plan to secure the border area near Liberia. Peacekeepers and rebels are tasked with ensuring safety along the northern part of the border, while government troops are responsible for the south. In the beginning of March, some 60 civilians were butchered in cold blood in Bangolo, a key town in the west. Both the rebels and the government forces denied responsibility. Following the killings, civilians fled their homes. But people have slowly started coming back. On Tuesday, Ivorian chief of staff General Mathias Doue, visited the area to reassure the population that their safety was assured "thanks to our brothers" in the French and west African peacekeeping forces. Former rebel leader Gaspard Deli from the Movement for Justice and Peace (MJP) insurgent group added: "It's the time now to work in the fields. Everyone should return soon." The securing of the west follows a French-brokered peace plan for Ivory Coast which was signed in January. Rebels fighting President Laurent Gbagbo have since joined a unity government to end the war. The accord calls for the regrouping of troops in military camps. France has nearly 4,000 troops deployed in Ivory Coast, its former colony, and the west African regional grouping ECOWAS has around 1,300 but has pledged to triple that number.

DR Congo

Campaign to End Genocide July 2003 Update *Urgent Action: Crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo* The current conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRCongo), has been raging for over four years and has taken more lives than any other war since World War II. This conflict in the DRCongo is severe enough to likely be classified as crimes against humanity. There are documented cases of cannibalism, rape, torture and murder. Since the DRCongo is a party to the International Criminal Court, the Court has jurisdiction to investigate the perpetrators of these atrocities. On May 30, 2003 the UN Security Council authorized Resolution 1484 which called for the deployment of the Interim Emergency Multinational Force (IEMF) to the DRCongo. However, the restrictions of the mandate of the IEMF make it very difficult for the soldiers to achieve their objectives. Specifically, the IEMF cannot operate outside of Bunia or use appropriate force against combatants in the area. The situation in the DRCongo requires a UN response, and this UN intervention must be supported by the international community. Learn more: http://www.endgenocide.org/warnings/congo.htm

AFP 1 Jun 2003 At least 100 people massacred in northeast DR Congo: Uganda army by Vincent Mayanja KAMPALA, June 1 (AFP) - At least 100 people were massacred at the weekend in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), near the southern tip of Lake Albert, a Ugandan army officer said Sunday. A DRC rebel official put the number of dead at more than 250, including about 20 babies. The killings come in the wake of a spate of massacres in DRC's Ituri region and amid preparations for a major French-led international force to deploy over the next week in Bunia, Ituri's capital, to protect civilians. Ugandan army Brigadier Kale Kaihura told AFP that fighters from Ituri's majority Lendu ethnic group attacked the rival Hemas "in Kyomya, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Ugandan border, when they realised that withdrawing Ugandan forces, stuck there due to heavy rains, had finally withdrawn." Thousands of Ugandan troops deployed in northeastern DRC have withdrawn over recent weeks under international pressure. "What annoys me and frustrate some of us is that all this is happening after we forewarned the United Nations through MONUC (the UN military mission in DRC) that this situation was volatile and needed careful handling," Kaihura said. "But they thought that we were just manipulating the situation and they kept their mindset and pressurized us to leave without adequate arrangement for security of these people," he added. Bawunde Kisangani, the secretary general of the Party For the Unity and Safeguard of Integrity of Congo (PUSIC), a Hema group, told AFP he had just visited the site of the killings and that the toll was much higher. "We counted 253 dead bodies at Kyomya who had been killed by Lendu combatants and they included about 20 babies," he told AFP by phone. He said the attackers used machetes and rifles to kill their victims, who included people they found in a local hospital. "They stormed a hospital and killed people they found there," he added, saying the attackers included fighters of another rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation Movement, as well as Kinshasa government troops. Later Sunday Kisangani gave AFP some photographs he said were taken the previous day in Kyomya, although it was not possible to verify exactly when or where they were taken. They show the bodies of about 25 people, some in a hospital ward, others in a collective grave, others still in a street. One of them is young baby, several of them women. They all bear multiple machete wounds. One depicts a headless body. Some pictures show people carrying bodies for burial. Ituri's Hema groups, including the Union of Congolese Patriots, which controls the region's largest town, Bunia, and has close ties with PUSIC, repeatedly accuse Kinshasa of siding with the Lendu. Kisangani said 18 of the attackers -- 12 Lendu fighters and six Kinshasa soldiers -- were killed during the counter fighting that ensued. "They took our forces unawares but we fought them from around 5:00 am (0300 GMT) Saturday until slightly after mid-day when we managed to chase them, but we could not chase them any further than the hills they climbed because they were heavily armed," Bawundu added. On Friday, the UN Security Council gave the green light for a heavily armed French-led international force to protect refugees from interethnic massacres in Bunia. The force will not be a UN mission, but the 15-member council voted unanimously to authorise it to use deadly force if necessary. Britain has said it would contribute troops to the force, expected to number some 1,400 soldiers. There are already some 700 MONUC troops in Bunia, but they lack the resources and mandate to tackle the situation in Ituri. More than 50,000 people have been killed in Ituri and some half a million displaced since 1999. A long-running feud between the Lendu and Hema groups has become even more deadly since the onset of DRC's wider war in 1998 led to an influx of weapons and numerous politico-military groups eager to recruit fighters and more than willing to exploit deep-seated animosities. DRC's war officially ended early last month, when rebel groups, the government, civil society and the political opposition signed the final act of a peace agreement that provided for the creation of a transitional government.

BBC 1 Jun 2003 Fresh massacre in DR Congo Ethnic Hemas and Lendus have a long-standing land dispute Fresh reports have emerged about mass killings in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo where bitter ethnic conflict broke out after Ugandan troops withdrew last month. A Ugandan military commander Brigadier Kale Kaihura has told the BBC that fighters from the majority Lendu community have slaughtered at least 100 people in a village of Kyomna populated by Hema people. Hema leader Bawunde Kisangani told the French news agency AFP that he visited the village and counted 253 dead bodies, including about 20 babies. He said the attackers used machetes and rifles to kill their victims. "They stormed a hospital and killed people they found there." The attackers included fighters of another rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation Movement, as well as Kinshasa government troops, he said. Peacekeepers agreed "What annoys me and frustrates some of us is that all this is happening after we forewarned the United Nations through Monuc (the UN military mission in DRC) that this situation was volatile and needed careful handling," Brigadier Kaihura told AFP. BUNIA CONFLICT More than 400 dead in May 50,000 killed in recent years Ethnic rivalries made worse by foreign armies Q&A: Ethnic flashpoint Eyewitness: Mother's heartbreak "But they thought that we were just manipulating the situation and they kept their mindset and pressurised us to leave without adequate arrangement for security of these people." The United Nations Security Council has given the go-ahead for a French-led international force to restore order in the area. More than 1,000 peacekeepers will be deployed to the Ituri province in order to halt the ethnic fighting that has left more than 400 dead in recent weeks. In the regional capital Bunia local radio stations have begun broadcasting hate messages that threaten civilians. Force sanctioned A small lightly-armed UN force already in the province has been unable to stop the widespread atrocities that have caused thousands of civilians to flee. The UN has been unable to end the violence Under the UN charter, the new troops - who will be in place until September - are authorised to use force to keep control. France has said it will provide half of the international force, with other soldiers expected to come from both western and African countries. The UK has pledged to send troops, and the United States said it may provide logistical and financial support for the troops but ruled out contributing soldiers. The French ambassador to the UN has already said troops could be deployed as soon as next week.

Independent UK 1 Jun 2003 'We will meet UN troops with violence,' Congo militias warn Multinational force dispatched to try to prevent repetition of last month's massacre By Declan Walsh in Bunia, Congo 01 June 2003 Any attempted disarmament of warring factions in the north-eastern Congo town of Bunia - where 1,400 French, British and other UN troops are due to deploy this week - will be violently resisted, the main militia leader warned yesterday. The emergency international force is being sent to the region to prevent a repetition of a massacre last month that left over 400 dead and raised fears of slaughter to rival the genocide in nearby Rwanda nine years ago. Bodies littered the streets of Bunia and some remains were cannibalised. An uneasy calm prevails as volatile gunmen, many of them children, patrol the streets. If the UN tries to disarm them it could lead to "an explosive situation" said Thomas Lubanga, the leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) militia. "It is impossible to disarm my forces. They would have to send an entire army to do that," he said, speaking at an abandoned Catholic retreat near Bunia. Both the UPC, from the Hema tribe, and a rival Lendu militia have a reputation for brutal slayings using guns, machetes, knives and spears. Some of the recent victims had their stomachs slashed open or were decapitated. Although disarmament is not explicitly authorised in the mandate issued in New York on Friday, many believe it is essential to prevent further bloodletting. "As long as they are only observing, it will change nothing," said Benoit Kasereka, who narrowly avoided being shot by a drunken UPC soldier three days ago. Aid worker Nigel Pearson, standing outside the razor-wire-surrounded UN base, said: "They can't just concentrate on this place. They have to demilitarise the town, otherwise we can't do our job." During the recent killing spree the 700 mostly Uruguayan troops stationed in Bunia remained at base, provoking a storm of criticism. Under the fresh mandate, French and British troops are allowed to use military force in response to any act of aggression. But they will be heading into a situation fraught with danger and muddled with ethnic and political complexities. Most of the 300,000 townspeople have fled; those remaining live in fear of looting or rape. Hema militia as young as 10 patrol Bunia, on foot or in battlewagons. Some of the remaining Lendu have been quietly assassinated. Neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda, which have extensive military and economic interests in Congo, have recklessly fanned the generations-old rivalry between the two tribes. Now Lendu forces, armed by the Kinshasa government, are only a few miles outside town. "If the UN troops cannot come very soon the town could descend into chaos, even this weekend," said Marcus Sack, an aid worker with German Agro Action. France is expected to contribute about half of the emergency force. While the MoD has not confirmed British numbers, one source said it was "likely to be less than 200". British troops would "not have a frontline role", but could instead take charge of communications. French involvement was initially opposed by Rwanda, which supports the UPC, because of France's tarnished record during the 1994 genocide. "We had some fears that the French would take sides. But we can accept a multinational force," said Mr Lubanga of the UPC.

AFP 1 Jun 2003 Rebels deny charge of blocking peacekeepers in DR Congo KIGALI, June 1 (AFP) - The biggest rebel group in the strife-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Sunday denied allegations that it and Rwandan backers had launched an offensive to thwart deployment of an international peacekeeping force. "Why should we put a spoke in the wheel of the French soldiers?" a spokesman for Rebels of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) in the Rwandan capital told AFP. "We were against deployment of a monolithic French force, not to a multinational force with a United Nations mandate," spokesman Jean-Pierre Lola-Kisanga said. Under UN Security Council resolution 1484 adopted last Friday, a multilateral interim emergency force under French command was set to start deploying this week at Bunia in the restless region of Ituri, in northeast of the vast African state. Another rebel group, rivals of the DRC, had earlier claimed the RCD and Rwandan troops had Sunday launched an offensive in the northern Kivu area in the east of the country. Mbusa Nyamwisi, leader of the Congolese Rally for Democracy Liberation Movement (RCD-ML), said the joint RCD-Rwandan forces had attacked RCD-ML positions near Lubero on the Ugandan border. "Their tactics are clear: to seize control of all sites with aerodromes, in order to ensure a continuous supply of arms and ammunition, and deprive the neutral force of the landing bases necessary for its deployment," he said. South African peacekeeping troops involved in a UN operation to disarm and repatriate foreign armed groups began deploying in central and eastern DRC last month, and some 200 are due to be stationed at Lubero in north Kivu. "The aggressors are armed with mortars, heavy artillery and grenade-launchers and their aim is clearly to cut the road between Lubero and Kanya-Bayonga," Nyamwisi said. The RCD was backed by Rwanda in a 1998 coup bid which boiled over into all-out war, drawing in more than half a dozen African countries and claiming some 2.5 million lives directly or indirectly through disease or starvation. The RCD, the country's main rebel group, controls much of the east and centre of the country. Nyamwisi has repeatedly accused the RCD and Rwanda of seeking to block the deployment of international peacekeepers. Rwanda and its RCD allies had initially opposed the idea of French troops arriving in DRC. The United Nations deputy head of peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, voiced concern on Saturday about the situation in the Kivu provinces, following an escalation of fighting between the RCD and local militias. DRC's war officially ended early last month, when rebel groups, the government, civil society and the political opposition signed the final act of a peace agreement that provided for the creation of a transitional government.

BBC 2 June 2003 DR Congo militia 'will not disarm' Ishbel Matheson BBC correspondent in Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo The head of the Hema militia says his soldiers are well-disciplined The head of the militia controlling the town of Bunia in the Democratic Republic of Congo has warned he will not allow his troops to be disarmed when a French-led intervention force arrives. Thomas Lubanga of the Hema Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) says he is willing to withdraw his forces from Bunia but there can be no question of giving up weapons. Bitter ethnic clashes have enveloped Bunia since 9,000 Ugandan troops withdrew last month as part of a peace deal in the DR Congo. The UN has approved the deployment of a strengthened peacekeeping mission with the power to intervene to protect civilians. But many inhabitants fear that without widespread disarmament of the militias, there will be no solution to the ethnic killing between the Hema and Lendu groups. Gun-toting children Mr Lubanga says he is happy to cooperate with the French led force. After all, he says, his troops control security in the town so the foreign troops need them. But he flatly denies his men will be disarmed, describing his soldiers as disciplined. The residents of Bunia may see that differently. Pick-up trucks full of gun-toting children career around town, despite Mr Lubanga's insistence there are no child soldiers in his army. Many Congolese believe the top priority of the international force has to be disarming the militia, not just in Bunia, as specified in the UN mandate, but in all of the Ituri region of which it is the capital. It is not clear whether the French-led mission will take on this difficult and dangerous job. But as one local priest made plain, if they do not then this peacekeeping force, like the ones before it, will fail. It is the ready availability of weapons that has fuelled this ethnic conflict. The presence of foreign troops may deter killing in Bunia, but elsewhere in the surrounding countryside the massacres are likely to continue.

The New Yorker Issue of 2 June 2003 THE CONGO TEST by Philip Gourevitch "There is but one solution—to restore the unity of the international community,” Dominique de Villepin, the French foreign minister, announced last week on French radio just hours before the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1483, rescinding economic sanctions against Iraq. Given France’s steadfast opposition to the invasion of Iraq, de Villepin insisted that the U.N. vote should not be understood as bestowing retroactive legitimacy on the American-led war. But, by granting the Anglo-American occupying forces a virtually unfettered dispensation over Iraq—and its oil wells—for the foreseeable future, that is exactly what the resolution does. For the Bush Administration, then, the resolution was a diplomatic triumph, and de Villepin was at pains to argue that his government’s accession to it was not, by the same token, an admission of defeat. “What’s really at stake here is to see to it that the U.N. is restored,” he said. To be sure, he added, “There are two visions of the world”—the multilateralist, U.N.-centered vision of collective security under international law touted by France, and the unilateralist, imperial vision represented by the United States—“but we need to work together.” So one hand washes the other, and, de Villepin said, “The U.N. is back.” Not so fast, Monsieur. Certainly the cessation of hostilities at the Security Council and the patching up of the ruptured transatlantic alliance merits a brief international sigh of relief. But the measure of the U.N.’s vitality will not be taken in Iraq. The true test lies in those vexed areas of the world that hold no compelling strategic or economic interest for the United States or for any of the other veto-wielding members of the Security Council. Most immediately, the U.N. is facing that test in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where seven hundred poorly armed U.N. peacekeepers in the northeastern Ituri region have watched helplessly over the past few weeks as massacres by tribal militias have filled graves with fresh corpses at about the same clip that the dead of Saddam Hussein’s reign of terror have been exhumed in Iraq. Accounts of the horror in Ituri have the quality of Hieronymus Bosch’s grotesque tableaux of apocalypse: torched villages; macheted babies in the streets; stoned child warriors indulging in cannibalism and draping themselves with the entrails of their victims; peacekeepers—mostly Uruguayans—using their guns only to drive off waves of frantic civilians seeking refuge in their already overflowing compound; a quarter of a million people in frenzied flight from their homes. For nearly five years, such suffering has plagued much of the eastern Congo along the tangled battle lines of warring political and tribal factions, stirred up and spurred on by the occupying armies of neighboring Rwanda and Uganda. Hundreds of thousands of Congolese have been killed in the fighting, and many more have died as a consequence of the displacement, disease, and hunger that attend it. By any measure, Congo is one of the most hellish places on earth, and of all the hells within that hell Ituri province has come to be known as the most infernal. The trouble in Ituri was fostered during five years of occupation by the Ugandan Army, which sought to assert control over the mineral-rich region by recklessly arming proxy militias of rival tribal groups. When massacres began in and around the provincial capital of Bunia, in the summer of 1999, Uganda restored a semblance of order. As this pattern repeated itself, tens of thousands of civilians were killed, and Human Rights Watch described the Ugandans as arsonists masquerading as firemen. Last December, when Congo’s latest peace deal set a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces, everyone in Ituri predicted a bloodbath. Toward the end of April, the U.N. sent in the Uruguayans, but without the capacity to protect civilians, or even themselves. (Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni, mocked the peacekeepers as “dangerous tourists.”) The pullout came on May 6th, and, sure enough, the killing began at once, with one tribal militia overrunning Bunia, only to be driven out by another, before a tentative ceasefire was established, allowing the U.N. blue-helmets to begin counting the dead. By the end of last week, that ceasefire was breaking down. “We’ve been sending messages every day to New York that this was going to happen, that we need more troops,” the French commander of the U.N. peacekeepers told a reporter. “Nothing was done.” This has become a routine scenario: massacres foretold, warnings ignored, slaughter erupting under the noses of U.N. forces with useless mandates. The mutilated remains of two peacekeepers were found in Bunia last week, and the commander, who has given shelter to some thirteen thousand civilians, was slashed with a machete at the gates of his compound. As Bunia burned, the U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan—haunted by his failure to heed warnings of the impending genocide in Rwanda in 1994—sent a letter to the Security Council asking its members for a “rapid reaction force” to pacify the region. France, which is also tainted by complicity in the Rwandan slaughter, has said it can muster troops to maintain order until the U.N. can field a plausible force, but only on the condition that other nations join in. At least five governments have said they would consider contributing to a French-led operation. The Bush Administration has expressed support for the project but has refused to commit any troops to it. During one of the 2000 Presidential debates, the moderator, Jim Lehrer, raised the issue of Rwanda. “There was no U.S. intervention,” he said. Then he asked George W. Bush, “Was that a mistake?” In a rare show of solidarity with the Clinton White House, Bush answered, “I think the Administration did the right thing in that case. I do. It was a horrible situation. No one liked to see it on our—you know, on our TV screens. But . . . they made the right decision not to send U.S. troops into Rwanda.” In the run-up to the Iraq war, it appeared that Bush had changed his mind. Speaking on Al Jazeera television, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice dismissed the U.N.’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq by reminding her interviewer, “The U.N. Security Council could not act when in Rwanda there was a genocide that cost almost a million lives. There was a very poignant statement by the President of Rwanda recently when he said sometimes the Security Council is not right when it does not act. President Bush believes that, too.” And, lest the mantle of the memory of Rwanda’s dead be wasted on only Arab audiences, the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, struck the same note: “From a moral point of view, as the world witnessed in Rwanda . . . the U.N. Security Council will have failed to act once again.” The disingenuousness of these remarks lies, of course, in the fact that it was the United States that prevented the Security Council from acting during the Rwandan genocide, even though no American troops were ever involved or required for the U.N. force there. As Dominique de Villepin observed, the international order hangs suspended these days between two competing visions, each of which justifies itself by pointing to the limitations, failures, and abuses of the other. The people of Ituri couldn’t care less about those debates, as they plead for salvation. It is for such people and such places—places that nobody in what Kofi Annan likes to call “governments with capacity” can find any political grounds to care about—that the U.N.’s system of international humanitarian law matters most. The idea behind that system is that common humanity ought to be reason enough to take an interest in preventing such terrors as extermination campaigns. And the premise behind that idea is that, while action may be costly, the price of inaction must finally be greater. But is that really how the world works? What if the ultimate horror of the Congo nightmare is that there is no price for ignoring it? .

AFP 2 Jun 2003 Heavy fighting reported in northern DR Congo KINDU, DR Congo, June 2 (AFP) - Heavy fighting broke out Monday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between the country's main rebel group and a splinter faction, military sources said. The reports of heavy fighting follow accusations Sunday by the RCD-ML splinter group that the main rebel group Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) had launched with its Rwandan backers an offensive aimed at thwarting deployment of an international peacekeeping force. "This morning, the RCD-ML retook control of the small town of Bingi, near Lubero, after heavy fighting was reported in the area," a military source told AFP. For the past few days, the town had been held by the RCD after it launched a north-bound offensive one week ago, the source said. The source said it was uncertain how many people had been killed in the fighting at Bingi, where some of the latest clashes are taking place in the complex war in the eastern DRC, being fought by rebel groups with foreign backing and government and militia forces. "The greatest implication of this fighting, is that like in Bunia, the humanitarian problem continues, with both the RCD and pro-government militia (Mai-Mai) fighters harassing the local population," he said. There were also isolated reports of rape and looting, the source said. South African peacekeeping troops involved in a UN operation to disarm and repatriate foreign armed groups began deploying in central and eastern DRC last month, and some 200 are due to be stationed at Lubero in north Kivu. Under UN Security Council resolution 1484 adopted last Friday, a multilateral interim emergency force under French command was set to start deploying this week at Bunia. The RCD was backed by Rwanda in a 1998 coup bid which boiled over into all-out war, drawing in more than half a dozen African countries and claiming some 2.5 million lives directly or indirectly through disease or starvation. The RCD, the country's main rebel group, controls much of the east and centre of the country. The RCD on Sunday denied it had launched a offensive to thwart the deployment of an international peacekeeping force to the strife-torn Ituri province, which lies to the north.

AFP 2 Jun 2003 Rebel group says almost 350 killed in northeast DR Congo massacre NAIROBI, June 2 (AFP) - A Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) armed faction said Monday that nearly 350 people, mostly civilians, were killed in a weekend massacre in the northeast of the country. On Sunday, the Ugandan army said "at least 100" people had been killed Saturday in Tchomia, near the Ugandan border, while the same armed faction, the Party For the Unity and Safeguard of Integrity of Congo (PUSIC), put the toll at around 250. PUSIC spokesman Kisembo Bitamara, whose movement is drawn from the Hema minority of northeast DRC's volatile Ituri region, said Monday the killers were fighters of the majority Lendu tribe "accompanied by government troops from Kinshasa." This new toll could not be immediately confirmed by independent sources. Bitamara spoke to AFP's Nairobi office, saying he was in Tchomia.

IRIN 2 June 2003 French-led UN force for Bunia seeks to use Ugandan airport A delegation of French officials was due to arrive in Uganda on Monday for discussions with President Yoweri Museveni over the possible use of Uganda's Entebbe airport as a rear base for a French-led international peacekeeping force to patrol Bunia, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to French diplomatic sources. "The first question we had to ask is will the Ugandan government accept to allow us to use Entebbe?" Jean-Bernard Thiant, the French Ambassador to Uganda, told IRIN on Sunday. "To this the answer is yes." The move follows the unanimous decision by the UN Security Council to authorise the deployment of an international emergency force to help stabilise the situation in the embattled Ituri District of northeastern DRC. The multinational force, expected to consist of 1,400 men, of whom 700 would be French, would ensure the protection of the Bunia airport, internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the camps in Bunia and, if the situation requires it, to participate in the protection of the population, UN personnel and the humanitarian presence in the town, UN News reported. Thiant told IRIN that Entebbe was chosen because Bunia airport was too small to land the large aircraft needed to ferry supplies from France. "That leaves Kisangani as far as Congolese sites are concerned," he said, "but this has the problem that Kisangani's international and domestic airports are miles apart. Equipment would have to be transported between them on poor roads." "After studying various solutions we realised that Entebbe is the only solution," he said. "Since then we have been cooperating closely with the Ugandan government. But we still have to negotiate the conditions." The French-led multinational force has been constituted under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which authorises it to use military force in response to "any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression". The Council said that the force is to be deployed on a strictly temporary basis - until 1 September 2003 - to reinforce the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known as MONUC. In that regard, Resolution 1484 authorised UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to deploy a reinforced UN presence in Bunia by mid-August. Resolution 1484 also called on UN member states to contribute personnel, equipment, financial and logistical resources to the multinational force, and called specifically on countries in the Great Lakes region to provide all necessary support to facilitate its swift deployment in Bunia. Bunia has been the scene of periodic eruptions of economically motivated ethnic violence for several years, most recently with the withdrawal of the Ugandan army at the end of April. The number of corpses collected by Friday the local Red Cross and MONUC reached 415, according to UN News. On Monday, Bunia was reported to be calm but tense. Speaking on Friday after the international emergency force was approved, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, said: "This is the Security Council at its best, and a demonstration that the Secretary-General and the Security Council can act swiftly, hand-in-hand, to protect the lives of the civilian population in conflict areas, a paramount human rights and humanitarian concern." However, certain humanitarian observers expressed reservations about Security Council Resolution 1484, as it does not make any reference to the disarmament of militia elements or a demilitarisation of the region. "It should be noted that an interim force which is not equipped with a clear mandate to prevent violence against the civilian population by means of force will most likely only be able to maintain the current status quo in Bunia and Ituri, thus implying an unimpeded UPC [Union des patriotes congolais, the ethnic Hema militia that controls central Bunia] reign of terror in Bunia and areas under their control," a humanitarian observer told IRIN. "The interim force as well as MONUC and the IPC [Ituri Pacification Commission] initiating and supporting entities will have no impact whatsoever on activities of all warring factions in areas other than Bunia," the observer said. "Thus insecurity will prevail and access to beneficiaries outside Bunia will most likely not be able to be extended beyond the present limitations." Meanwhile, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on Friday that the refugee influx from DRC into western Uganda had subsided, with no new arrivals reported in the last week in Bundibugyo or Nebbi districts. UNHCR reported that the last significant group of refugees - about 1,500 - arrived in Uganda on 20 May in the border town of Nebbi, behind the last of Uganda's withdrawing armed forces. The majority of the Congolese refugees have opted to stay with friends and relatives in Uganda, and have not been willing to be moved to government-designated refugee settlements, UNHCR stated. However, Ugandan government officials have continued to register new arrivals for possible relocation to two designated camps: Kyaka II in Kabarole District and Imvepi in Arua District. A joint government/UNHCR assessment mission was planned for Monday to Bundibugyo District to assess the numbers of refugees willing to relocate to settlements and to make logistical arrangements for their transfer. Also on Monday, news agencies reported the killing on Saturday of between 100 and 250 Hema militia fighters and civilians in the Congolese town of Tchomia, allegedly by Lendu militias. "The Lendus attacked the Hemas in Kyomya, located about 30 km from the Ugandan border, once they determined that the Ugandan forces, who had been stuck due to heavy rains, had withdrawn from the zone," Brig Kale Kayihura, the commander of the Ugandan troops that left Bunia, was quoted as telling AFP. However, no confirmation was available from MONUC, as access to the area was not yet possible.

IRIN 5 June 2003 Bunia "stabilising but still precarious", says MONUC KINSHASA, 5 Jun 2003 (IRIN) - The security and humanitarian situation in Bunia, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was "stabilising but still precarious" on Wednesday, the UN peacekeeping mission there, known as MONUC, reported. In a news conference in the capital, Kinshasa, MONUC's director of public information, Patricia Tome, said the local Red Cross had recovered 429 bodies and that 74,000 people had been displaced from Bunia, the principal city of Ituri District, since the latest round of fighting erupted in early May. Tome added that 128 children had been separated from their families. She said that MONUC continued to receive reports of rape, kidnapping and extortion in and around Bunia. "Villages situated along the Kilo-Mongbwalu axis were abandoned by their residents who fled exactions by armed militias," she said. However, in a positive development, Tome reported that several hundreds of people who had found refuge in MONUC sites had now returned to their homes. Tome also reported that MONUC was still unable to confirm the alleged killing of between 250 to 350 civilians in Tshomia on Saturday [see earlier report, "Lendu militias accused of massacre of more than 250"]. While nearly 10,000 people had received 21-day food rations from NGOs operating in Bunia, Tome warned that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had reported a massive shortfall in funding for humanitarian efforts in the DRC, with only 18.5 percent of the needed US $232 million for 2003 having been received to date. On the military front, Tome reported that the Union des patriotes congolais (UPC), an Hema militia which claims to have 15,000 troops and currently controls central Bunia, informed MONUC of the beginning of the cantonment of its troops in a perimeter of six to 20 km from the city. "MONUC visited a camp where it noticed the presence of 600 UPC troops,” Tome said. “For the Mission, the announcement of this cantonment is unilateral and was not discussed with MONUC and the multinational force." She said that the cantonment of armed militias outside of Bunia was required by a mid-March agreement reached among Ituri belligerents. Sources in Bunia reported that UPC leader Thomas Lubanga had named the outlying locations of Similiabo (along the Bunia - Mandro route), Dele (along the Bogoro - Kasenyi route), Rwampara (along the southwest approach to Bunia) and Kambaokabo (along the Songolo - Komanda route) as the areas to which his forces would withdraw ahead of the arrival of a French-led multinational peace enforcement mission. However, a humanitarian observer in Bunia warned that should the UPC follow this plan, all access routes into Bunia would be under the control of UPC forces, in which case the humanitarian community would "most certainly" have very limited access to areas beyond UPC force concentrations. This, the observer stated, would "constitute an unbearable security risk for any logistics activities and therefore be totally unusable for relocating humanitarian assistance commodities". The observer said: "It should be noted that [the multinational peace enforcement] mission would be insufficiently mandated to prevent the asphyxiation of Bunia by UPC armed elements."

IRIN 13 June 2003 US sends emergency aid for Ituri IDPs KINSHASA, 13 Jun 2003 (IRIN) - The US government has sent a consignment of emergency supplies to help 55,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) from Bunia and surrounding areas, officials at the US embassy in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), said on Thursday. The consignment, organised by USAID, represents the first part of a 165-mt emergency aid delivery. It included plastic sheeting, blankets, jerry cans, water purification equipment and medical kits, the officials said. The supplies, which arrived in Goma on Sunday, would be distributed through the UN Children's Fund and its partner NGOs, they said. The estimated 55,000 IDPs fled south when fighting between Hema and Lendu militias erupted at the beginning of May in and around Bunia, the capital of Ituri District. The IDPs are now camped in a zone around the town of Beni, in North Kivu Province. Meanwhile, fighting continued Thursday around the town of Lubero, 70 km south of Beni. The UN Mission in the DRC, MONUC, appealed to the belligerents - the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie-Goma and the RCD-Kisangani-Mouvement de Liberation to disengage and withdraw their forces from the area. The appeal came as the government and the two movements were due to meet Thursday in Bujumbura, Burundi, under the mediation of the UN Secretary-General's special representative, Amos Namanga Ngongi, to try to end the fighting. "We would like to withdraw our soldiers but those who have helped people to attack us, government troops and the Interahamwe must first draw back," Adolphe Onusumba, the RCD-Goma president, told IRIN. The Interahamwe are Rwandan Hutu militiamen who fled to the DRC after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. DRC Defence Minister Irung Awan told IRIN there were no government troops around Lubero. "There is no reason for us to have troops there," he said. "It is the RCD-K/ML that has forces there to try to end a difficult situation brought about by RCD-Goma and Rwanda which are looking to occupy this portion of Congolese territory." Rwandan army spokesman Maj Jill Rutaremara has denied involvement in the fighting saying, "Rwanda has not had any troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo since last year."

IRIN 16 June 2003 UN confirms 70 killed in Ituri village KAMPALA, 16 Jun 2003 (IRIN) - The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) confirmed on Monday that Lendu militiamen had killed 70 people in the eastern Congolese village of Nkora, near Mahagi town, Ituri District, close to the Ugandan border. "I have reliable reports of the massacre from an independent source," Col Pieter Harmse, MONUC's spokesperson in Uganda, told IRIN in Kampala. "Basically, the Lendu fighters attacked the village itself, chopping up and killing pretty much all civilians - I don't know if they were all Hema or what ethnic group they were." He said the information had come from a Congolese farmer in the village, not from any member of armed belligerents in Ituri's war. The attack was the second by Lendu militiamen reported in less than three weeks. At the end of May, the Hema-dominated Parti pour l'unite et la sauvegarde de l'integrite du Congo (PUSIC), led by chief Kawa Panga Mandro, distributed photographs of some 250-300 dead unarmed civilians in the predominantly Hema town of Tchomia, on the shores of Lake Albert, which divides southern Ituri from neighbouring Uganda. Meanwhile, Bunia town was reported to be calm after an armed Lendu gang attacked French troops of a multinational force who were moving in convoy about six kilometres from the town centre on Saturday. "The situation is now under control again," Capt Frederick Solano, the French army spokesperson, told IRIN. "There was a fight between our troops and the Lendus. We opened fire, as we are mandated to do, to protect ourselves and repel the gunmen." He said no injuries occurred on the French side and that he did not know of casualties among the attackers. Solano said that the deployment of the multinational peace enforcement troops in Bunia was progressing as planned, despite of the skirmish. He said about 1,200 troops were mobilised between Entebbe and Bunia and that 600 of them were already in Bunia by early Monday. "We also have two more French 'Gazelle' attack helicopters coming in today, to increase our firepower," he said. At a news conference at Entebbe airport on Sunday, a UN Security Council team that had just ended its six-nation tour of Africa implored the countries in the Great Lakes region - particularly Uganda and Rwanda - to help restrain the various warring parties in eastern Congo's conflicts. The delegation's leader, French Permanent Representative to the UN Secretary Council Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, told Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni that states in Africa's Great Lakes region needed to play their part in preventing further fighting in Ituri. [For related report, go to www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34764] Uganda and Rwanda armed and trained both Lendu and Hema fighters in 1999 when they needed them to fight in their opposing proxy rebel factions, splintered from the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie, which had tried to unseat Congo's late President Laurent-Desire Kabila.

IRIN 18 June 2003 Children suffer torture, rape and cruelty, NGOs report NAIROBI, 18 Jun 2003 (IRIN) - Children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have suffered systematic torture and cruelty during the country's five-year war, according to a new report by a consortium of NGOs. Foreign and domestic governments as well as armed groups have committed gross violations against children, including assault, rape, abduction, sexual torture, forced displacement, underage recruitment into armed forces and forced participation in the illegal exploitation of natural resources. "The Impact of Conflict on Children in the Democratic Republic of Congo", a 36-page report released on Monday by the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict to coincide with the end of a UN Security Council mission to the country and the Day of the African Child, documents the grim reality of the DRC. Among the most striking statistics: over 12 percent of children do not reach their first birthday; three million children are without access to education; malnutrition rates exceed 40 percent in some areas; 400,000 children have been displaced from their homes; tens of thousands of children have been recruited as child soldiers; and gender-based violence, including rape of girls, is widespread. The ongoing conflict in the country has claimed an estimated 3.3 million lives since 1998, mostly women, children and elderly, according to a report by the International Rescue Committee, titled "Mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Results from a Nationwide Survey, Conducted September to November 2002, reported April 2003". In Ituri District in the northeast, according to the Watchlist report, children had been forced to witness parents and grandparents being hacked to death; young girls raped in front of their families; children forced to kill their close relatives; children and other hospital patients dragged from their beds and killed; children, including infants, dying after being locked up without food or water; and children killed, some shot in the back, in massacres along with hundreds of other civilians. Speaking to the media for the launch of the report, Anne Edgerton of Refugees International said that the situation in the DRC was "the largest humanitarian crisis on the planet right now with the smallest amount of response". She added: "If somehow the response can be much more appropriate to the actual crisis, it could be ended. It's not so large that it could not be done." The report recommends that all parties to the conflict, the UN Security Council, and to the UN Mission in the DRC take "urgent action" to address the situation in eastern DRC. The Watchlist is a network of local, regional and international NGOs working to protect the security and rights of children in armed conflicts. [For the complete report, go to: www.watchlist.org ]

WP 18 June 2003 At a University in Congo, Lessons Are Hard-Learned Some Students, Professors Remain Despite Chaos of War By Emily Wax Washington Post Foreign Service BUNIA, Congo -- More than anything else, Charles Cwinyaay was determined to remain a university student. So during this town's most recent gun battles, he sat in his room and by the glow of a naked light bulb continued to read his fraying copy of James Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time," the impassioned plea for an end to racial discrimination in 1960s America. On a tiny cot in a musty dormitory where the paint is chipped down to the bumpy concrete and bathrooms are mud-floored, Cwinyaay made a promise to himself as bullets crisscrossed the campus on a Saturday afternoon earlier this month. No matter how bad the fighting became, he would stick with his studying. He would not flee. He did not, but then the militiamen who roam this town came and looted the university. They stole Cwinyaay's radio, his clothes, his bedsheets and, worst of all, his books. "They took my Langston Hughes, my Shakespeare, my Emily Dickinson," said the English major, as a group of fellow students in this French- and Swahili-speaking region of northeast Congo listened to his story and nodded. "So now all I have left is the one notebook I had with me. I will just sit here and read. I won't give in." Shot at in their classrooms, robbed in their dorms, students and teachers at the Institut Superieur Pedagogique somehow keep to their studies in a school built by the U.S. government in 1970 as a gift to Africa. Since the war began five years ago, classes have been canceled more than 30 times. The school's two computers have been stolen and the cafeteria and health center closed down, their windows and furniture riddled with bullet holes. In fighting last month, four professors were killed, more than half of the student body fled and the radio station was taken over by an ever-changing cast of rebel groups, people here say. "Does the world care about Congo?" said the school's senior administrator, Raymond Mandro Kalongo, who came here as a history teacher 27 years ago. "We really want to believe they do. We need so much help, but we can't wait. We have to carry on." There is cautious hope that the recent arrival of French-led multinational peacekeepers will restore order to Bunia and the outlying Ituri region, where the central government has ceded control to a variety of ethnic militia and rebel groups backed by neighboring Rwanda and Uganda. But until then, the school is left with little more than its pride in the midst of a five-year war in which about 3.3 million people have probably died from fighting and disease, according to the International Rescue Committee, a refugee aid group. The university is a series of low-lying and connected buildings in the hills above Bunia. The dorms are four stories high. There are chemistry labs and wings for math, languages and literature. In peaceful times, it could look like a community college in small-town America, with its long fields of rolling grass and basketball court. The Belgian colonial rulers who went home in 1960, people here say, discouraged Congolese from attending college, though most valued education highly. So when the U.S. Agency for International Development completed the school in 1970 as part of a program to train a national corps of African teachers, people celebrated. "We had a beautiful opening day ceremony, with Congolese music and food," recalled Kalongo, who sat at a desk with only his patched-together datebook, in which he tries to record every gunshot. "This place was an example of what a strong, well-educated country ordinary Congolese wanted to become." But the school soon fell on hard times. During the 1980s, under dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, a U.S. ally, school funds often disappeared into the pockets of Mobutu and his allies, people here say. Students were left without new books, chemicals for chemistry class, paper or even food. The university closed the cafeteria, where three meals a day of beans, potatoes, rice and fish used to be served. After the war began, the capital stopped funding the school altogether. Today only about 100 students remain in a facility intended for 700. They are taught by about a dozen professors. The school limps along with the $180 in annual fees charged to each student. Students help out their teachers by paying small fees, about 60 cents, for each session in the classroom. Officially, classes have been canceled since March because of the fighting, but students don't accept that, and they continue to show up. Teachers ask for things like pencils and notebooks the way Western educators ask for tenure. Yet at times, the scene on the campus here is reassuringly normal. Edward Dhelo-Dhena, an English professor, glides by on his bicycle. He wears a straw hat and plaid shirt. He looks as if he could teach at any college in the United States. But he was educated in the capital, Kinshasa, and had never spoken with a native speaker of English. "Hi, John," he says, addressing a student who is practicing English from a textbook and pronouncing every letter. "Hello, sir," answers the student, John Kabaseke, one of Dhelo-Dhena's favorites, bowing in respect. The 52-year-old professor takes off his thick glasses and asks how Kabaseke is doing. He has heard that bullets whizzed through Kabaseke's room recently, shredding his only suit jacket, which he wore to look like a professional. "It's still okay," Kabaseke says with a shrug. Kabaseke and his professor sit and talk about the war and about how peace will come. Then they talk about Kabaseke's career goals. "My appetite is to be a writer," the student says. Then he lists his favorites: Emily Dickinson. "Her ideas, oh, they are wonderful," he tells his smiling professor. William Faulkner. "He understood sadness," Kabaseke says. To that his professor nods. But it is William Shakespeare whom he finds the most outstanding. He jokes with his teacher about favorite lines, sonnets and plots, and then states that his favorite quote is from "The Taming of the Shrew." He poses theatrically, looking out over the landscape, then utters one of the play's most famous lines: "I will be free, even to the uttermost, as I please, in words."

Reuters 19 Jun 2003 - French troops mingle with Congo's child soldiers By Matthew Green CHARI, Congo, 19 June (Reuters) - The French special forces stopped at the bridge, fearing their armoured vehicles would crash through its rickety planks. Across the river, a small group of Congolese children cradling battered rifles watched the strangers arrive. Both sides wondered what would happen next. "These militiamen aren't real guerrillas, they don't really know how to fight," said one of the French soldiers, wearing mirrored sunglasses and manning a machinegun. "We have to watch out, but I don't think they'll attack us." French troops are taking wary steps outside the town of Bunia in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where child soldiers, drunken militiamen and landmines could all prove potentially fatal. The French form the bulk of 1,500-strong international force that began deploying this month under a U.N. mandate to protect Bunia from ethnic slaughter, before pulling out at the end of their mission on September 1. The European Union is leading the force in its first military deployment outside Europe, hoping to prove it can handle a peacekeeping mission without resorting to NATO, an alliance strained by the war in Iraq. The troops on the ground are treading into a world where people living in mud huts worry about being hacked to death with machetes and children wander around with hand grenades. Massacre survivors speak of ritual cannibalism. For the soldiers of France's Special Operations Command, whose names are kept secret, the recces beyond Bunia are more about staying vigilant than trying to win hearts and minds. "It only takes one person with one weapon," said one of the men, who unlike normal soldiers wear no badges of rank or country. "Someone could be hiding behind a tree and shoot at a convoy, killing or wounding one of us." The French troops shot two militiamen dead on Monday, saying the gunmen had drunkenly aimed their rifles at them. Gaggles of locals peered at the French, an unprecedented sight in their village of Chari, about two miles (three km) west of Bunia. One recommended the local brew. "If they stay here in Congo, they'll have to start drinking it," said Ndio Bitamazire, 29, waiting for a sip of the maize beer in a thatched hut. "It will make them feel good." A French radio operator, asked if he might venture a taste of the sour-smelling, porridge-like drink, was categorical. "No," he said. "I'm working." AFRICA VETERANS While some French forces at a logistics base in Uganda might sport shorts, these men are on a war footing in fatigues and floppy jungle hats. Some speak in deliberately vague terms of missions elsewhere in French-speaking Africa -- Gabon, Ivory Coast, Senegal. And they have no shortage of firepower. The 90mm cannon of a six-wheeled "Sagaie" light tank swivelled across the horizon, while Mirage warplanes roared overhead, new sights for militia with bows and arrows. "They're impressed by all this stuff," said one of the French troops. "They're scared of the armoured vehicles." But no amount of hardware makes the idea of being forced to gun down one of Congo's child soldiers any easier. "That's what would be the worst thing that could happen here, that would really traumatise me," said another special forces member as a small boy trudged past with a rifle slung across his back. "That's what makes this mission hard."

Sapa-AP 21 June 2003 Hesistation on peacekeeping mandate United Nations - France and many African nations are backing Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for a larger UN peacekeeping force with a more robust mandate to help stem tribal violence in eastern Congo, but the United States appears reluctant to agree. At present, UN troops in Congo are deployed under a mandate that only allows them to fire in self-defence. They have not attempted to stem the violence between rival factions of the Hema and Lendu tribes that has killed more than 500 people in and around the eastern town of Bunia since the beginning of May. On May 30, the council authorised the deployment of a French-led emergency force of 1 400 to Bunia. Their three-month mandate is to secure the airport and protect displaced people and aid workers and they are authorised to shoot to kill, but they can't disarm the fighters or demilitarise the town. With the mandate for UN peacekeepers in Congo expiring on June 30, Annan asked the Security Council earlier this month to increase the UN force from 8 700 to 10,800, to focus mainly on ending unrest in Bunia and surrounding Ituri province. He also asked for a stronger mandate. At the first council meeting on Thursday to discuss Annan's report, US Ambassador John Negroponte said the United States asked for an extension of the current mandate without specifying for how long. France's UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere proposed a 15-day extension, stressing that the council has to act quickly to give a clear signal that there will not be a weaker military presence once the French-led force departs at the end of August, council diplomats said. France's Deputy Ambassador Michel Duclos said on Friday that Paris would like an extension of "even less" than 15 days. Negroponte said the United States didn't respond to the French request and council members agreed that the length of the extension was still to be determined. Council experts scheduled a meeting Monday to discuss the issue. The United States is open to a UN peacekeeping contingent led by Bangladesh replacing the French-led force but "we would want to look ... very, very carefully" at increasing the size or mandate of the UN force, Negroponte told reporters on Wednesday. "Our view is that fundamentally no amount of peacekeeping forces are going to be able to help resolve this situation if there isn't the political will among the parties in the Congo and in the neighbouring countries to achieve a satisfactory political outcome," he said. "The Congo is just too large a country to be able to hope or think that a large foreign intervention can make that much of a difference over the long-term," Negroponte said. The US ambassador said the French-led force "is playing an extremely useful role in terms of stabilising the situation in Ituri and in Bunia in particular," but now "other elements need to fall into place," including a cease-fire and establishment of a transitional government in Congo. Angola's UN Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martens expressed hope on Friday that Washington would eventually support a larger force with a more robust mandate. "Especially after the multinational force, we cannot have a response which is less effective, less robust than what it is now," he said, adding that this view has strong support in the council. "I know they are reluctant," Gaspar Martens said of the United States. "But from what we have seen, it's clear that there is a need for a response from the international community. And I think if we are able to come together to respond to crises which exist in other places ... I think we should also speak with one voice" on Congo. The war in Congo erupted in August 1998 after Rwanda and Uganda sent troops to back rebels attempting to oust Laurent Kabila, then president of Congo. Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia sent troops to support Kabila. While it began over regional security issues in the wake of Rwanda's 1994 genocide, the war is now largely about the control of the gold, coltan, a mineral used in the electronic industry, and timber in the eastern part of the country.

AFP 21 Jun 2003 UN officers kidnapped in DRCongo handed over to MONUC KAMPALA, June 21 (AFP) - Two military observers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) kidnapped in the northeast of the country and released on Saturday have been handed over to the UN, officials said in Kampala. "The two have been handed over to us. They are in good health, but look tired," UN Mission in DRC, MONUC, Liaison Officer Colonel Pieter Harmse told AFP by telephone. He said the two -- a Tunisian and a Russian -- were unharmed when they were handed over to MONUC officers in Beni by officials of the local Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation Movement (RCD-ML) rebel group. They were kidnapped in the town of Beni, in Kivu region, on Thursday. RCD-ML spokesman in Kampala, Frank Lusambo, told AFP on Friday that the two were being held for their safety by officials he did not name, but on Saturday said that the "RCD-ML was just negotiating their release." "The situation was tense and some people thought that these people would be harmed, so they took them aside for their safety, because if they got any trouble while on our territory, everybody would be on us," Lusambo said. RCD-ML leader Mbusa Nyamwisi admitted earlier on Saturday, while announcing the safety of the two, that some elements in his rebel group might have been behind the kidnapping of the officers. The DRC was plunged into war four and a half years ago when an uprising boiled over into a conflict that drew in half a dozen African countries. The war officially ended in April, with the conclusion of a peace accord, but fighting has continued in parts of the vast central African country, mainly in the northeastern Ituri region and in Nord-Kivu. MONUC was mandated in November 1999 by the UN Security Council to deploy in DRC military personnel, including observers, backed by specialists in human rights, child welfare, humanitarian, public information, political affairs, and medical and administrative support.

AFP 23 Jun 2003 Women in war-torn DR Congo region deplore UN's "guilty silence" KINSHASA, June 23 (AFP) - Women's organisations in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday accused the United Nations mission there of turning a blind eye to ongoing fighting which has ravaged this part of the vast African country. In a letter addressed to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, a copy of which was sent to AFP, four women's groups slammed the UN mission in DRC, called MONUC, for maintaining a "guilty silence" during the "war of aggression and occupation" in their Nord-Kivu province. MONUC seemed to be "out for a stroll in the countryside" in the Nord-Kivu towns of Lubero and Beni, where UN military observers are stationed, as well as in other DRC flashpoints including strife-torn town of Bunia, in Ituri province, they said. The groups singled out the main rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), which receives backing from neighbouring Rwanda, as the aggressors in Kivu's ongoing violence. The women also said the world body should urge the Kinshasa government to send troops and aid to Nord-Kivu. The DRC government already backs one of the rebel groups fighting in the area -- the RCD's rivals Congolese-Rally for Democracy - Liberation Movement (RCD-ML). Both the Kinshasa-backed RCD-ML and the Rwanda-backed RCD have accused the other of breaking a brand-new ceasefire agreed last week. The UN mission on Saturday sent military observers to the Kivu area around Beni, Butembo and Lubero to assess claims made by both rebel groups that the other is mobilising its troops -- a violation of the truce -- in preparation for a military offensive. Despite the signing of a final peace pact for DRC last April which formally ended a four-and-a-half year war in the country, fighting rages on between the rebel groups aided by their government backers in the mineral-rich east.

AFP 24 Jun 2003 Most gunmen quit Bunia, although ultimatum extended by Anthony Morland BUNIA, DR Congo, June 24 (AFP) - The vast majority of the factional gunmen that used to roam Bunia had left the volatile northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo town on Tuesday, when an ultimatum for their departure was extended by a day to finalise technicalities. "The ultimatum was put back by 24 hours so that everything could be properly understood," Colonel Gerard Dubois, spokesman for the French-led EU force that imposed the deadline told reporters. "It is better to clarify things before declaring Bunia a town without arms than to to sort matters out after the start of the operation," he said. The extension was granted during a meeting earlier in the day between Thomas Lubanga, the leader of the faction controlling the town, and senior officers from the EU force. Dubois did not clarify exactly what would be discussed at another meeting scheduled for Wednesday morning, but said the issue of the exact size of Lubanga's security contingent, which is exempt from the no-guns rule, had not been settled. The deadline extension did not greatly effect the force's activities, which are focussed on ensuring the free movement of Bunia's residents, hundreds of whom died in fierce inter-ethnic clashes last month. Reports of an attempted incursion by armed groups opposed to Lubanga's Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) prompted both his men and those of the EU force to go into action. According to Dubois, the incident prompted French troops to fire a single warning shot and led the force to formally remind the UPC to move their gunmen outside of the town. In recent days, Lubanga had repeatedly stressed he had already withdrawn most of his fighters from Bunia on his own initiative. The demilitarisation of Bunia is a key provision of various formal engagements made by most of the armed groups active in the area. The process is not a full-scale disarmament operation and the only weapons the EU force says it will confiscate are those found on the streets. Dubois has repeatedly stressed the force has no plans and lacks the manpower to conduct exhaustive house to house searches. On Monday evening, Lubanga complained that the force had failed to take control of several key access points to the town previously held by his men, "which could be used by outside forces to spread devastation." In some outlying areas of town, the departure of UPC fighters, many of whom have not yet reached adulthood, prompted many residents to leave their homes, either following the withdrawing gunmen or moving towards the city centre. The rebel leader added that despite this complaint, "we will not go back on our undertakings." According to Dubois, French patrols were later deployed to secure the areas vacated by the UPC. The force has not disclosed exactly how weapons would be confiscated from any recalcitrant gunmen, insisting only that its soldiers would be vigorous in enforcing the rule. The precise geophrapical limits of the ban were conveyed to Lubanga on Tuesday, but were not released to the press. Force patrols have on several occasions dealt sternly with armed men who dared defy French troops, on one occasion shooting dead two youths when the pair pointed their weapons in the direction of the troops. The force had two minor encounters Monday, one in the morning when a shot was fired at its airport base and a second that led to the disarmament of three men whom Dubois said had acted in a "hostile manner."

AP 25 June 2003 Congo Fighters Withdraw BUNIA, Congo, June 25 (AP) — Dozens of tribal fighters withdrew from this unstable northeastern Congolese town today, complying with a deadline set by a French-led international peacekeeping force in the area. Most of the fighters appeared to have pulled out by Tuesday, the original deadline. The deadline was extended by a day when it became apparent some of the fighters from the Hema tribe were still in town. Officers of the peacekeeping force said that soldiers would disarm any of the fighters who remained in Bunia after the deadline. Bunia is the main city in the resource-rich Ituri region. The province has been the scene of some of the worst atrocities in the five-year-old civil war in Congo.

NYT 25 June 2003 Doing It Right in Congo For more than four years, the deadliest fighting since World War II has raged in the vast Central African nation of Congo. More than 3 million people are dead. In some parts of the country, organized society has collapsed, with tribal vengeance giving way to genocide. For those in the war's path, childhood ends abruptly. Parents are butchered in front of their children and militias turn the orphans into killers by their early teens. Neighboring countries are inflaming the conflict, arming rival militias and looting resources. Sadly, the United Nations has seemed powerless to reverse Congo's deadly disintegration. Before the arrival of a small French-led military force this month, international action has been timid. The new contingent, better equipped and with a stronger U.N. mandate to use force, may now contain the anarchy in one particularly violent area, the northeastern regional capital of Bunia. But the new force has only about 1,400 soldiers and is scheduled to begin pulling out in September. The rest of Congo remains at the mercy of marauding militias. To expand the Bunia operation nationwide could require a U.N. army as large as 100,000. There is no chance of the Security Council's sending or paying for a force that large. Peace will come to Congo, if it comes at all, only by strengthening diplomatic efforts to bring together the country's main factions in a transitional government. Even that won't have a chance unless the neighboring governments of Rwanda and Uganda order their local proxies to stop fighting. But while peacekeeping is not the long-term answer for Congo, it is needed in the short term. One immediate issue, to be decided by the Security Council in the next few weeks, is what will replace the French-led contingent after September. A new version of the weak U.N. force that proved unable to protect Bunia before is not an acceptable answer. The next U.N. peacekeeping mission must have legal authority to use sufficient force to protect civilians. It must be strong enough to prevent anarchy from returning to Bunia. And it must be available to move around the country to enforce compromises negotiated between the rival Congolese factions. The U.N. should also consider sending peacekeepers to the Lake Kivu area near the Rwandan and Ugandan borders. That is where some of the ethnic conflicts that touched off the long Congo conflict still fester. Fears of cross-border raids by militias based in this area continue to drive Rwandan and Ugandan involvement. An effective U.N. force of 10,000 to 20,000 troops, used this way, could encourage an eventual political settlement and ease the plight of civilians. No American troops are expected to go to Congo, but Washington will pay more than a fourth of the U.N.'s costs. Through its veto power, America will shape the Security Council's ultimate decision. The Bush administration should push for a peacekeeping mission that is militarily adequate and legally empowered to use appropriate force. Washington also needs to lean harder on its Ugandan and Rwandan allies to stop stoking the Congo conflict. No quick or easy solutions are available. The damage to Congo has simply been too extensive, the killing too vast, the many decades of past misgovernment too destructive. But the world must not abandon the Congolese people. Their agony challenges our humanity.

WP 29 June 2003 Whispers of Genocide, and Again, Africa Suffers Alone By Lynne Duke Sunday, June 29, 2003; Page B01 How bad does it have to get this time? How many Africans must die before the world is moved to action? Once again, there is bloodletting in Africa, this time in a place called Ituri, in the dense equatorial forests in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). Machetes and Kalashnikovs are the preferred weapons. Ethnic rivals are the preferred victims, especially in batches and whole families. At the United Nations this spring, whispered fears of "genocide" were in the air again. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who has been down this road before, warned that the pattern of killing in Ituri could presage a far more disastrous conflict. He called for a more robust U.N. peacekeeping force than the 8,700-strong contingent already in Congo, and France is now leading a supplemental emergency force of 1,400 to try to quell the Ituri violence. President Bush will travel to the continent next month. Among his stops will be Uganda, across the border from Ituri, where Ugandan troops once patrolled and supplied arms to combatants. Bush's trip will look nice. Last Thursday, in a speech to the Corporate Council on Africa, Bush outlined a broad-brush agenda on Africa, including an end to Congo's war. "To encourage progress across all of Africa, we must build peace at the heart of Africa," he said. But don't count on the White House to support a beefing up of the U.N.'s role in Congo. And don't expect Washington to do anything aggressive to stop the killing. That is not Washington's way -- at least when it comes to Africa. This has happened many times before. It happened under President Clinton, when the world failed to deter genocide in Rwanda. With indignation and rhetorical flourishes, the Bush administration recently cited that episode as a cautionary tale to shame members of the U.N. Security Council reluctant to throw in their support for the war against Iraq. "From a moral point of view, as the world witnessed in Rwanda . . . , the United Nations Security Council will have failed to act once again," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. But with violence once again threatening Africa's Great Lakes region, the United States is doing just what it did in 1994 -- sitting on the sidelines. So I wonder: Just how many dead Africans would it take for the United States to intervene? The answer may come soon if Ituri and other ethnically riven Congolese regions continue to smolder. But historically, Washington's and the rest of the world's tolerance for mass African death has been quite high. Perhaps I sound cynical, even a bit macabre. I admit it. I am bitter. That's because I've been there. I've seen these policy failures up close. It all goes back to a place called Nyabibwe, a Zairian town caught at the fluid front lines of war, where I came to understand -- with a sting I still feel sharply today -- that the West was willing again and again to let Africans die in mass slaughters. I was covering Africa for The Washington Post, and for several days in November 1996, armies of journalists, aid workers and U.N. personnel were vexed by the question: Where were the Rwandan war refugees? Their location and number would determine whether a U.N. peace mission would deploy to help them or would fold. The area around Nyabibwe was a logical place to look. Roughly 1.1 million people had fled to eastern Zaire after the massacres in Rwanda in 1994 and were housed in a string of 30 U.N. refugee camps along the border. Then, when war broke out in Zaire and engulfed the camps in November 1996, about 600,000 of them fled back to Rwanda. That should have left half a million, scattered by the fighting. That's what the U.N. said and what U.S. reconnaissance imagery, seen by aid groups, showed. The aid groups were outraged, then, to hear U.S. diplomats say there were no more than 200,000 refugees left in Zaire, dispersed in relatively small groupings. Moreover, the diplomats said, those refugees who remained in Zaire had probably taken part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide and were thus unworthy of being saved. This last point was hotly debated, for the refugees included huge numbers of children and elderly and throngs of people being herded through the region like human shields. In search of the "missing" Rwandan refugees, I happened upon a blasted-to-smithereens refugee convoy at Nyabibwe, where the steady report of automatic weapons fire told us that fighting was still raging in the nearby hills. The Clinton administration's reasoning was clearly a crock, I realized. I counted 30 charred and twisted cars, trucks, buses and gas tankers choking the main road along Lake Kivu's western shore. In a region where few vehicles are ever spotted, of course reconnaissance flights would have seen all these vehicles plodding up the Kivu road. That road was lined for miles with the remnants of cooking fires and tents used by the refugees. Eyewitnesses I met on the road told me that hordes of people had moved with the convoy until forced to march off into the hills near Nyabibwe -- the same hills where I had heard the shooting. But there would be no rescue. The peace mission was aborted. Washington won the day, leaving 500,000 Africans to their fate. Months later, hundreds of thousands of refugees started emerging from the rain forest in search of aid only to be greeted by massacres that left untold numbers dead. The United States obviously cannot police the entire world. It cannot be expected or obligated to jump in and save the day in each and every conflict. Liberia, for example, also cries out for help. But it's the way Washington decides where to intervene, and for whom, that stirs indignation. It has become a chronic feature of U.S. policy -- dating back to the 1993 debacle that left 18 U.S. Rangers dead in Somalia -- to send no troops into harm's way in Africa. Over and over, U.S. diplomats will say that Africa, unlike the Balkans or Iraq, is not of strategic interest to the United States. But the U.S. aversion to intervention in Africa is deeper than that; Washington has prevented other nations' troops from intervening, as well. Rwanda, where 800,000 people died, is one case. Ituri, where the peacekeeping mandate comes up for Security Council reconsideration in the coming month, could become another. It is not a matter of asking why can't the Africans solve their own problems. It is, instead, a matter of asking: If the United States can help Kosovo Albanians, Iraqis, Bosnians, Israelis and Palestinians trying to settle their conflicts, why can't it help Africans? Many may be forgiven for believing it is about race and the lesser value that the United States places on African lives. Even by the standards of Africa's many catastrophes, the five-year-old Congo conflict rates high in terms of the sheer numbers of casualties. The conflict -- of which Ituri is one theater of battle -- is part of a domino effect caused by Rwanda's genocide. This war started in 1998, when a rebel faction supported by Rwandan and Ugandan troops mounted a failed military push on the Congolese capital, Kinshasa. Since then, the Congolese war has claimed more than 3 million lives, not just in battle, but also as a consequence of the sustained degradation in the region's quality of life. People are dying from malnutrition and from disease. In Ituri, aid groups estimate the death toll to be 50,000. The Western powers, we must surmise, find these deaths tolerable, for they have evoked no more than the usual tut-tutting and shaking of heads that accompany bad news about Africa. So Bush, like Clinton before him, will now travel to Africa. And, like Clinton before him, Bush will break bread with President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Museveni is one of Washington's favored African leaders, in no small measure because of his leadership in bringing Uganda's stunningly high HIV-AIDS infection rate of a decade ago under control. But Uganda has played a destructive role in the Congo crisis. The United Nations has accused the Ugandan military and business elite of plundering Congo's natural resources. Aid groups have accused Uganda, along with Rwanda, of training and arming some of the fighters now ripping the Ituri region apart. Both Uganda and Rwanda have maintained military forces in Congo-Zaire since the 1997 ouster of Mobutu Sese Seko. The withdrawal of their forces earlier this year under a Congo peace accord has bequeathed the fighting to their respective militia proxies. That is what is fueling Ituri's violence. It is not some inevitable spasm of innate African violence, not some stereotype of darkest Africa as summoned up during Rwanda's nightmare. It is mere cause and effect, and thus highly predictable -- and preventable. Let hundreds of thousands of people die, and you can expect enmities to fester, leading to still more bouts of extreme violence. It is a cycle that can be slowed, even broken. The combatants in the broader Congolese war already have begun negotiating a transitional government, as called for in their peace accord. But that peace process could easily be sabotaged if the Ituri conflict goes unchecked. With a firm and consistent international commitment, plus a muscular military mandate and sufficient troop strengths, it can be done. It won't be easy, to be sure. Congo is a vast nation -- the size of the United States east of the Mississippi River. It is a dysfunctional state, with little electrical infrastructure, a collapsed road system and a dearth of telephones in most places outside the capital. The country was picked clean under Mobutu, the infamously corrupt dictator of 32 years, and plunged into more confusion by his power-hungry successor, the late Laurent Desire Kabila. Spreading peacekeepers around such a large and problematic place would admittedly be a logistical nightmare. Yet it must be done, and more than the 8,700 troops in the international force are required. And they need more muscle; they need to be authorized to shoot to kill, as is the emergency French-led force in Ituri. If the goal is to stabilize Congo's embattled regions, save lives and stave off more of the kind of ethnic cleansing that already has taken place, the United States needs to be more aggressively and actively engaged. That is my wish. Now I must wait and see, again, how many Africans must die first. Author's e-mail: dukel@washpost.com Lynne Duke is a New York-based staff writer for the Style section. She was The Post's correspondent for southern and central Africa from 1995 to 1999 and is the author of "Mandela, Mobutu and Me; A Newswoman's African Journey" (Doubleday).

AFP 28 Jun 2003 DR Congo: Hundreds of displaced residents return to Bunia BUNIA, DR Congo, June 28 (AFP) - Hundreds of residents of battle-scarred Bunia on Saturday streamed back into the northeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town, where security has greatly improved over the last few weeks, thanks in large part to the presence of a French-led European Union force. Most of the town's population, estimated at between 200,000 and 350,000, fled in early May with the onset of another round of inter-ethnic clashes. Onda Tubaya, 28, carrying a mattress on his head, had walked some 35 kilometres (21 miles) from the village of Medu, to where he and his family had fled "because of the war." "We were afraid of the explosions. We left without looking back," said Tubaya, one among a stream of people encountered by AFP on one of the roads leading into Bunia. Luckily for them, this is the mango season, and many of the returning residents were enthusiastically feasting on nature's succulent windfall, while here and there small boys climbed the fruit trees to gather more. Tubaya said he had sold all his other modest possessions -- clothes, shoes and kitchen utensils -- to pay for food for his family while in Medu, where thousands of other Bunia residents had also sought shelter. "When I heard on the radio that Bunia was calm again, I came back on my own to check things out before fetching my family," he said. A French soldier at one checkpoint said he had counted more than 700 civilians returning between 7:00 and 10:00 am. On another road into Bunia, Jeanette Bombali was walking with her eight children; her husband had been killed in the May fighting. "There was not much food there, and so as soon as we heard that the French had secured the town, we packed up and came home," she said. Whereas the clashes reduced Bunia to a virtual ghost town littered with corpses and roaming gunmen, much of its former urban buzz gradually returned following the deployment in early June of some 700 French troops with a United Nations mandate to secure the town and its airport and protect its population from inter-tribal violence. Most shops, which were all looted, are still closed, but the streets are lined with traders in fruit, vegetables, charcoal and local currency. Gunmen who were not pulled out by Bunia's dominant faction, the Union of Congolese Patriots, were obliged to leave when the EU force imposed a "no visible guns" rule last week. Still, the town cannot yet be described as fully back to normal. Many of those coming back will find their front doors broken in and their houses looted of anything of value. Several districts are still deserted, while thousands of people continue to live in makeshift camps under the protection of a separate UN mission. And security is still a problem. A young man hired by AFP as a translator and occasional reporter went missing early Thursday afternoon and has not been heard of since.

AFP 29 Jun 2003 - DRC rebels say up to 2,500 people killed in Ituri region in two months KAMPALA, June 29 (AFP) - One of the rebel groups in the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) northeast Ituri region claimed Sunday that up to 2,500 people have been killed there since the Ugandan army withdrew its troops in April. "Our findings indicate that between 2,000 and 2,500 people have been killed in Ituri since April 25, when the Ugandan army withdrew," Hema-dominated Party for the Unity and Safeguard of the Integrity of Congo (PUSIC) leader Chief Kawa Mandro told reporters in Kampala. "A week ago, there was a massacre of people in Katoto area, but as we sent a team to investigate these killings, other people were being killed elsewhere," Mandro said, adding that 37 people had been killed in Katoto. "We want the international community to investigate killings at Tchomia, Katoto and other areas of Ituri so that those responsible could be taken to court," he said, adding that 500 were killed in Bunia town alone. The Ugandan army withdrew from Ituri due to international pressure but left a security vacuum, which was quickly filled by rival ethnic militias. Their conflicts led to the deployment of a French-led EU peacekeeping force that has since deployed in Bunia and has largely managed to secure the town and its airport. Before the Ugandans withdrew, hundreds of people were killed in the villages of Drodro, in apparent systematic killings, while others were later killed in the areas of Tchomia near the southern peak of Lake Albert that straddles the Uganda-DRC border. Refugees fleeing the killings to Uganda said that they passed by decomposing bodies. The four-year war in the DRC, which at one time sucked in armies from six African countries, ended officially in 1999. But it continues to smoulder in the Ituri region, where deep-seated ethnic hatred has been exacerbated by the proliferation of modern weaponry.

Liberia

AFP 2 Jun 2003 Key dates in Liberia's four-year rebel war MONROVIA, June 2 (AFP) - Liberian President Charles Taylor has been grappling since 1999 with a war waged by the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel movement. A second insurgent group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) appeared in March in the country's south-west. Here follows a history of key dates in the war. 1999 - 23 April: Monrovia says armed men, coming from neighbouring Guinea, have attacked Voinjama, the provincial capital of the northern Lofa County. - 10-11 August: Fighting rages between government forces and the "dissident forces," who seized the key town of Kolahun in the north-west. A state of emergency is declared. - 14 September: President Taylor states that "many hundreds" have been killed between April and August. On September 23, government troops retake the north. 2000 - 9 July: Monrovia claims an attack has been launched on the town of Koryamah, in Lofa County, from Guinea. Conakry denies involvement. - 7 October: "Dissidents" attack Zorzor for the second time in three weeks. - 29 Nov: Rebels seize the area of Douley and stage their first attack in Nimba County. 2001 - 8 February: Charles Taylor accuses dissidents coming from Guinea of staging attacks on Foya and Kolahun. Guinea meanwhile alleges that Monrovia is backing combatants active in southern Guinea. - 11 May: Taylor says there is proof that "big powers" are involved in the unrest in Liberia. - 1 August: London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International accuses both Liberian government troops and rebels of torturing, raping, killing and detaining hundreds of civilians. - 29 November: Charles Taylor says "hundreds" have died in a rebel attack on Belle Fassama in the north-west. 2002 - 26 January: Fighting breaks out around a camp near Tubmanburg, to the north-west of Monrovia, sparking panic and sending tens of thousands fleeing. - 8 February: Taylor declares a state of emergency as rebels steadily make their way towards Monrovia. - 12 May: Liberia's second city, Gbarnga, falls to the rebels before being recaptured by government soldiers. - 21 August: LURD denies that their headquarters of Voinjama has fallen to the government as announced by Monrovia. - 12 September: LURD, Sekou Damate Conneh says the only way to bring back peace is to oust Taylor and for that "there is no other means but force." - 14 September: Taylor lifts state of emergency. - 17 September: An International Contact Group on Liberia is created with the sole objective of ending the war. 2003 - 23 January: Abidjan accuses the Liberian army of fighting alongside rebels in western Ivory Coast, torn by conflict since September. Monrovia denies the charge. - 4 February: LURD rebels approach Monrovia after taking several big towns in the north west. - 29 April: The town of Greenville seized by MODEL, a new rebel group. - 6 May: The United Nations extends sanctions on Liberia for a year. The sanctions were originally imposed for Taylor's perceived support to rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone. They include an arms embargo and a ban on international travel of top officials of the regime. - 6 May: Monrovia announces the death of former Sierra Leonean warlord Sam Bockarie after a gunbattle with government troops near the Ivory Coast border. - 15 May: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers calls upon Taylor to share power with rebels to end the war. Taylor snubs Lubbers, cancelling a meeting at the 11th hour. - 19 May: Taylor rules out sharing power. The MODEL seizes the south-eastern ports of Harper and Pleebo. - 27 May: The government accuses the UN refugee agency of backing the MODEL, an accusation rejected by UNHCR officials. - 27 May: The LURD conditionally agrees to take part in peace talks with Taylor in Ghana from June 4, according to former Nigerian president Abdusalami Abubakar, who has been mandated by West Africa to mediate in the conflict. - 28 May: The peace talks will include all parties to the conflict with the rebels sitting separately, according to a UN official.

IRIN 12 June 2003 Taylor demands lifting of indictment in exchange for peace MONROVIA, 12 Jun 2003 (IRIN) - President Charles Taylor demanded on Thursday that his indictment for war crimes by a Special Court in Sierra Leone be rescinded as a condition for peace in Liberia and the sub-region. "Peace in Liberia is dependent and hangs upon that particular situation [the indictment]. It has to be removed," Taylor told a hastily arranged news conference He warned that the trial of a Liberian president by the UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone would "cause a long standing conflict" between the two countries. The court indicted Taylor last week on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his backing of rebels who committed widespread atrocities during Sierra Leone's 1991-2001 civil war. Taylor's government also faces UN sanctions that include an arms embargo and a ban on diamond and timber exports as a result of its support for insurgents in Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire as well as Sierra Leone. Taylor said the international community must remove the stigma of indictment from him, if efforts to bring peace to Liberia were to succeed. "It is racist, politically motivated and aimed at disgracing an African leader...Washington, London did it. They can help to fix it," the embattled president said. "It is not about Taylor, it is about the question if Africa can be free." "It sets an unhealthy precedent. Tomorrow it could be Museveni, Kagame, Mugabe, Gbagbo," he added, refering to the presidents of Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Cote d'Ivoire. Taylor said that he was willing to stand down in January 2004 and hand power over to a vice president on condition that incentives and security were given to his fighters and cabinet members. "It requires just a stroke of a pen," he said However, he did not say who would take over the vacant post of vice-president. Taylor sacked and arrested his previous vice-president, Moses Zeh Blah, last week accusing him of plotting to launch a coup d'etat. "He will soon explain to Liberians what happened," Taylor said at the time. Taylor continued to resist demands by the two rebel movements which now occupy more than half of Liberia that he step down immediately. He stressed that he would only quit if he and his top officials were given guarantees. "We want a negotiated ceasefire. The peace process is not just silencing the guns. For me it must be a total comprehensive package where there will be no harassment against me and my cabinet," he said. "I am prepared to be a whipping post, whatever it takes to bring peace to my people and stop the atrocities and genocide by powerful nations. My people must live. They are dying too much. I will sacrifice," Taylor said. "But I want a transition from war to peace that is smooth, sensible and smart." Sierra Leone's Special Court published its indictment against Taylor on June 4 and sent a warrant for his arrest to Ghana where he was attending the formal opening of peace talks with Liberian rebels. But the Ghanaian government ignored the request to detain him and allowed him to leave for Monrovia unhindered. The indictment and a rebel push into the outskirts of Monrovia however stalled the peace talks in their tracks, but they resumed on Thursday after all sides agreed in principle to a ceasefire and rebel forces withdrew from the capital. The talks in Akosomobo, a town 100 km north of the Ghanaian capital Accra, resumed on Thursday with a closed session chaired by former Nigerian leader General Abdulsalami Abubakar and attended by the Ghanaian Foreign Minister Nana Akufo-Addo. Diplomatic sources said the delegates were discussing the more sensitive aspects of a ceasefire proposal laid before them. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), who has been helping to bring all sides to the negotiating table, told IRIN that everything required for a successful take-off of the peace-talks was in place. Initially only one rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), turned up to discuss peace in Ghana. Its forces launched the simultaneous attack on Monrovia. A second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), which controls the southeast of the country, only turned up this week. Taylor's Defense Minister Daniel Chea flew to Ghana on Wednesday to lead the government delegation at the talks. Human rights groups welcomed the Special Court's indictment of Taylor last week and the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Betrand Ramcharan, said it was highly significant. David Crane, the court prosecutor, said Taylor had fled Ghana as "an international fugitive." He added: "The fight to bring this indicted war criminal to justice has begun. It will not end until the people of Sierra Leone and West Africa see him in a courtroom."

IRIN 19 Jun 2003 Minister warns of "bloodbath" if Taylor is forced out MONROVIA, 19 Jun 2003 () - The Liberian Information Minister, Reginald Goodridge, warned on Thursday that "an immediate and unceremonious departure" for President Charles Taylor, could lead to a "bloodbath" in the war-torn West African country. His remarks were the latest indication that Taylor intends to resist pressure for him to step down within 30 days of Tuesday's ceasefire agreement to make way for a transitional government that is due to organise fresh elections. Goodridge told a news conference in the capital Monrovia: "Taylor's unceremonious departure from the presidency would lead to a bloodbath in Liberia." Even though Taylor had mentioned the possibility of stepping down at some point, Goodridge said, that was "immaterial". The June 17 ceasefire agreement between the Liberian government and the two rebel groups, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), stipulates that a transition government will be named within 30 days that will exclude Taylor. At the opening of peace talks with the rebels in the Ghanaian capital Accra on June 4, Taylor said he was prepared to resign if this would bring peace to the country. But last week, the Liberian leader told reporters he would not consider stepping down before the end of his current term in January 2004 unless an indictment against him for war crimes were rescinded. The indictment was announced by the UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone on as Taylor flew to Accra for the opening of the peace talks. Goodridge told reporters that "any disorderly transition of power which excludes Taylor could lead to a bad precedent, continuous violence, political revenge and instability" in Liberia. "What is important to this government is that Taylor should be part of the disarmament and demobilization process and the transition from war to Peace," he added. The information minister said: "He (Taylor) has to settle the anxieties of tens of thousands of combatants, both regular army personnel and government militias out there in the forest region of the country.". He argued that LURD and MODEL commanders would be responsible for disarming their own fighters and Taylor should be given an opportunity to do the same. Diplomats said a high level of distrust still existed between the government and the rebels. "They talk, but don't trust each other at all. The rebels want Taylor out now. But Taylor's men insist that he and other officials must have some guarantees against possible prosecution before they leave," said one diplomat who has been following the peace talks in Accra. Taylor's indictment for supporting rebel forces who committed atrocities during Sierra Leone's 1991-2001 civil war, threw other top officials in Liberia into a panic. One told in Monrovia on Wednesday: "We want a security guarantee [at the talks] that we would not be embarrassed after leaving power. This indictment is posing a problem for us. Today it is President Taylor, tomorrow it could be us." Goodridge dismissed allegations by LURD and MODEL that government forces had continued to attack their positions after the ceasefire took effect as "predictable and simplistic" . The government, he said, was delighted to have signed the truce and was prepared for its implementation. Goodridge said government fighters had been ordered to obey the ceasefire, which took effect at midnight on Tuesday.

IRIN 20 Jun 2003 Taylor rejects transition government within 30 days MONROVIA, 20 June () - Liberian President Charles Taylor rejected on Friday the proposed formation of a transitional government within 30 days that would exclude him. Taylor said he would only step down at the end of his term in January 2004, and even then, he might stand for re-election. "There can be no such thing as an interim government within thirty-days," Taylor said in a radio broadcast. "The vast majority of our Liberian people [and] traditional chiefs do not want me step aside." The president's back-tracking from a pledge given two weeks ago that he would stand down if that would help bring peace to the war-torn country, is likely to complicate peace talks between his government and two rebel movements in Ghana. On Tuesday, the government signed a ceasefire agreement with the two groups, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL). This stipulated that a transition government that excluded Taylor would be appointed within 30 days. The truce was designed to pave way for talks on a lasting political settlement to end 14 years of almost continuous civil war in Liberia. At the start of the peace talks on 4 June, Taylor said he was prepared step aside if this would bring peace to the country. But on Friday, the president contradicted himself: "I intend to complete my tenure as president and turn over to the vice-president. I reserve the right, my constitutional right, following the transition, to run for general elections if I decided to do so." "I still enjoy the confidence and popularity of Liberians," Taylor added. His vice-president is Moses Zeh Blah. Taylor sacked him and placed him under house arrest on charges of plotting a coup the day after peace talks began. But he released Blah a few days later and re-instated him. In Friday's radio broadcast, Taylor tried to minimise the importance of the current discussions in Accra, saying they were "not a sovereign conference but peace talks". He said the forum could not postpone elections as proposed by eight opposition parties. "All controversial matters will be decided by the Supreme Court," he added. Before the talks began,Taylor had announced legislative and presidential elections on 14 October. But other parties at the peace conference suggested that a transitional administration should rule Liberia for two years before fresh elections are held. The first indications that Taylor would resist strong international pressure to quit emerged last week. Taylor told reporters then that he would not consider stepping down before January 2004, unless an indictment against him for war crimes were rescinded and immunity from prosecutionn was granted to him. But David Hecht, Special Court spokesman told afterwards: "Under international law there is no such thing as immunity for those accused of crimes against humanity." The indictment was announced by the UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone as Taylor flew to Accra for the opening of the peace talks. It arose from Taylor's alleged support to the Revolutionary United Front rebels of Sierra Leone, who amputated, raped and murdered thousands of Sierra Leoneans during the country's 1991-2001 civil war. On Thursday, Information Minister, Reginald Goodridge said an unceremonial departure for Taylor could lead to a "bloodbath" in Liberia. "What is important to this government is that Taylor should be part of the disarmament and demobilization process and the transition from war to Peace," Goodridge said. Meanwhile, international relief agencies took advantage of the guns falling silent to renew their efforts to bring food and medical aid to Liberia's beleaguered 2.7 million population. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it flew 15 tonnes of medical and logistical supplies into Monrovia on Friday to help people displaced by the conflict. The consignment included medicines, supplementary and therapeutic feeding kits, emergency water and sanitation supplies and enough supplies to keep a 30-bed hospital going for three months. World Vision meanwhile started distributing food to 9,524 displaced people at the D. Tweh high school in Monrovia. World Vision said a many of the displaced who fled to the city centre to seek refuge after a rebel attack on the capital two weeks ago had started returning to their camps on the outskirts of the city. These housed over 100,000 people before the LURD attack on Monrovia led to five days of heavy fighting in the city's western suburbs. Thousands of foreign nationals have left Monrovia since the rebel assault on the city. The Nigerian government evacuated over 3,000 Nigerians in two chartered planes which operated an air shuttle to Lagos that ended on Thursday, according to sources at the Nigerian embassy. Hundreds of Liberians and Ghanaians were still camped at the port of Monrovia on Friday in the hope of leaving by sea. A Ghanaian naval vessel was due to take out 300 to 400 more Ghanaian nationals at the weekend.

AFP 21 Jun 2003 - War-weary Liberians ask Taylor to honour pledge to quit by Terence Sesay MONROVIA, June 21 (AFP) - War-weary Liberians Saturday joined the United States in asking President Charles Taylor to honour his pledge to step down for a unity government in line with a truce to end one of Africa's worst conflicts. "Taylor had promised he will move out, and for him to change so dramatically means that he is mocking not only the Liberian people but the international community," Jackson Korkollie, a priest, said. "It is worrisome because this means that violence is inevitable. He has to be made to comply with his promise." Residents of this battle-scarred city who let out cries of joy on Tuesday, when Taylor's government signed a truce with rebels who control four-fifths of the country, on Saturday voiced anger and frustration. Under Tuesday's deal, Taylor was to step down for an interim government. But on Friday, the warlord-turned-president backtracked, saying he would not quit until his term expired in January. He also said the caretaker government would be led by his deputy Moses Blah, whom he had sacked and then restated early this month for his alleged role in a supposed coup. Dennis Samukai, a health worker, said: "We are confused about the future. He has thrown a spanner in the works. The international community now has to put pressure on this madman. "We want the world to know that it is his militia which is looting our homes, raping our women and harassing us every day. How can a man who cannot control his troops hope to control the country until January?" Washington on Friday rapped Taylor just hours after the Liberian leader disavowed his earlier promise. "We believe that there's no place for Charles Taylor in a transitional government or in any future government of Liberia," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said. Despite Taylor's posturing, witnesses on Saturday said they saw the president's four-wheel-drive vehicles crammed with heavy arms, furniture and other belongings moving from Monrovia to his farm in Gbanga, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of the seaside capital. Taylor, who was indicted on June 4 -- the day west African-brokered peace talks on Liberia opened in Ghana -- by a UN-backed court in Sierra Leone for war crimes in that country's brutal 10-year civil conflict, has stressed that the charges would have to be lifted for the peace process to succeed. Taylor announced early this year that there would be early presidential and parliamentary elections in October but did not specify if any handover of power would happen then or in January. The Liberian opposition and the United States have asked him to defer the elections, saying conditions do not exist for free, fair and transparent polls. A local humanitarian worker, who identified himself as Kollie, was bitter with the United States for not "doing enough. "Liberia was founded by freed American slaves. The US intervened in Iraq but we have a dictator who makes life miserable for his people. But we don't have oil so they are not doing anything. "Look at the British in Sierra Leone," he said, referring to London's intervention in the neighbouring country's barbaric 10-year civil war which claimed up to 200,000 lives. "The Sierra Leoneans don't have any great economic benefit to offer England but she did her duty as a former colonial power to bring back order." Liberia has been ravaged by almost uninterrupted war since the 1990s. The first conflict, which was started by Taylor himself, dragged on for seven years until 1997 when Taylor was elected to power. A new rebel war started in 1999.

AFP 25 Jun 2003 UN envoy says most nations want military intervention in Liberia UNITED NATIONS, June 25 (AFP) - The British ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday that a foreign military operation in strife-torn Liberia would be welcomed by many nations. As fierce fighting raged in the Liberian capital, the ambassador, Jeremy Greenstock, said the United States, which has long maintained ties with Monrovia, would be a "natural candidate" to lead such a force, but added that no decision had been taken. Greenstock, who is to lead a UN mission to six West African countries from Thursday, told a press conference: "If a lead nation is ready to take action in Liberia, that would be broadly welcome but we are not there yet. "The US would be a natural candidate for such an action. Discussions are going on in Washington," he added. Britain led a force that intervened in Sierra Leone's civil war and France recently sent troops to the Bunia region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The UN mission is scheduled to go to Monrovia but this stop of the tour could be cancelled if security cannot be guaranteed. Fierce fighting erupted overnight between rebels and partisans of Liberia's beleaguered president, Charles Taylor. Greenstock would not say whether his mission was prepared to meet with Taylor. "I have not yet received instructions on this," he said. Taylor has been charged with crimes against humanity by a special international tribunal looking into the Sierra Leone civil war. Taylor's government, which controls only one-fifth the country, last week signed a truce with rebels. The accord provides for a new government of national unity that excludes Taylor. But he has since said he will stay put until his mandate ends in January and any transitional government that excluded him would be led by his deputy. The Security Council trip, which includes nine ambassadors, four heads of mission and six high-ranking diplomats, is to go, via Paris, to Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia (unless cancelled), Ghana and conclude July 3 in Sierra Leone.

Medical Emergency Relief International 26 Jun 2003 Civilian casualties mounting as fresh violence breaks out in Monrovia Monrovia, Liberia, 26th June (Merlin) - Fighting continues today in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, with reports of mounting civilian casualties and large-scale population movement, following the second major rebel attack this month on the capital.Thousands of people, including many of the 200,000 internally displaced people (IDP) in outlying camps, have fled to join the 1.3 million already in the city and there are reports of many civilian fatalities. Panicking crowds yesterday forced down the gates of the US embassy compound but were held back by marines guarding the site and thousands of people are currently seeking sanctuary in local schools, houses and markets and at compounds where aid agencies have set up makeshift medical camps. Shops have been boarded up for fear of looting and the atmosphere in the streets is extremely tense. Merlin, the UK-based agency which provides healthcare in crises, is one of the few remaining NGOs in the city. The charity is providing emergency healthcare to around 70,000 IDPs at a number of sites around the city, including the stadium, local schools and their own and neighbouring compounds. Magnus Wolfe-Murray, Merlin's Country Manager in Liberia, describes conditions as "desperate." "Food and water supplies are running out. In the Merlin compound, where 300 national staff and their families are sheltering, we have only 2 litres of water per person for the next 2 days, which falls drastically short of what we need. We are working around the clock to secure water points and dig latrines in an attempt to prevent an outbreak of infectious diseases such as cholera, which has already killed around 18 people in the area," he said. Merlin is also assisting with referral and ambulance services to ensure the wounded can access the few hospitals in the city and has established a cholera treatment centre in the Samuel K Doe stadium, where around 50,000 IDPs are sheltering. Merlin is a UK-based charity committed to providing healthcare for people in crisis. We provide medical relief to people suffering as a result of conflict, natural disaster or epidemic disease anywhere in the world, regardless of race, religion or political affiliation. Since our foundation in 1993, we have worked in over 30 countries including Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, Georgia, India, Kenya, Russia, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan and Chechnya. www.merlin.org.uk

AFP 27 Jun 2003 Liberian rebels declare truce to prevent humanitarian disaster in Monrovia ABIDJAN, June 27 (AFP) - Liberia's main rebel group declared an immediate ceasefire starting at 10:00 am (1000 GMT) Friday to avoid a "grotesque catastrophe" in the war-ravaged capital Monrovia, a statement said. The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel group said the truce would "provide needed relief to the civil populace and subsequently avoid a grotesque humanitarian catastrophe in Monrovia." Tens of thousands of people are living rough in the Liberian capital amid an acute shortage of food, water and medicines. Fighting between the LURD and forces loyal to President Charles Taylor resumed in Monrovia this week after the rival sides signed a west African brokered truce last week. LURD however said it would "mount a potent defensive posture in maintaining its present forward positions."

AFP 29 Jun 2003 220 dead in latest fighting in Liberian capital: minister MONROVIA, June 29 (AFP) - At least 220 people, mostly civilians, died in fighting between Tuesday and Friday between Liberian government forces and rebels around the capital city Monrovia, Health Minister Peter Coleman said. Coleman told AFP Sunday that a further 300 had been injured in the same period. On Thursday the minister said about 300 civilians had died in recent fighting in and around the capital of the west African state. The city has been relatively since Friday when the main rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) said it was calling a truce to avoid a humanitarian disaster. It was not immediately clear Sunday if there was an overlap in the two figures given by the health minister.

BBC 30 June 2003 US urged to join Liberia force A tense calm has returned to Monrovia West African leaders have called on the United States to send troops to join a multinational peacekeeping force in war-torn Liberia. The formation of an intervention force is high on the agenda at discussions between the West African regional body, Ecowas, and UN Security Council ambassadors, which are continuing in Ghana. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked the council to put together a peacekeeping force for Liberia, where fighting killed about 500 people last week. Monrovia is reported to be relatively calm on Monday and the International Committee of the Red Cross says that a plane has arrived, carrying 12 tons of badly needed medical supplies for the surgical teams at JFK hospital in the city. After days of widespread looting, President Charles Taylor has tried to warned government militias that they will face courts martial if they continue to steal. Some Liberians have resorted to using dug-out canoes to flee their war-ravaged country. The BBC's Kate Davenport in south-western Liberia saw 10 boats each carrying up to 100 passengers, desperately fleeing to Ghana. There was a huge commotion, when hundreds of refugees fought for "places in the canoes, some of them capsizing and causing pandemonium," she said. Historic links Ecowas has promised to send a 5,000-strong peace force after the warring sides commit to a lasting ceasefire. Rebels declared a truce last week after they were repelled from the Liberian capital, Monrovia, by forces loyal to President Charles Taylor, although previous ceasefires have failed to hold. Ecowas chief Mohammed Ibn Chambas said he hoped America would contribute to the peacekeeping effort. Aid worker's diary Q&A: Liberia's conflict Pictures from Monrovia "We need to see the United States at this point rise up to this occasion," he told reporters in Abuja. America has historic ties to Liberia, which was founded by freed American slaves more than 150 years ago. France and Britain have also urged the United States to lead a multinational force. Washington, however, has appeared unwilling to send troops to keep the peace. "The American position has been that there should be no help for a force unless there is a political agreement among Liberians," an unnamed State Department official told Reuters news agency. Looting Correspondents say that members of the government militias, who do not receive regular payment for their services, are behind much of the looting which is continuing in the capital, Monrovia. Mr Taylor has ordered a special army unit to patrol the city's streets. Thousands have fled the fighting Some aid operations are being hampered because vital equipment and supplies have been stolen. The BBC's Paul Welsh in Monrovia says there are occasional bursts of gunfire as looters fire into the air or use their weapons to break open locks and doors. He adds that militiamen are now being paid to guard property from other militiamen, leading to the sight of night watchmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles. Meanwhile, Mr Annan has warned that the situation should not be allowed to 'spiral out of control' and cause more damage for Liberia, and other countries in the region, especially neighbouring Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast. About one million people, or a third of Liberia's population, were seeking refuge in an already overcrowded Monrovia and nearly all international relief operations have stopped in the capital and most of the country, he said.

Malawi

BBC 28 June 2003 Malawi leader warns rioters Muluzi ordered troops to arrest suspects The President of Malawi, Bakili Muluzi, has told security forces to arrest anyone suspected of involvement in religious violence, after a second day of rioting in the southern African country. Troops were deployed after Muslim mobs went on the rampage in the district of Mangochi, about 180 kilometres (120 miles) north-east of the capital, Blantyre. Protesters took to the streets in anger over the deportation of five suspected members of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Malawian officials say the five suspects - two Turks, a Kenyan, a Saudi Arabian and a Sudanese - were arrested in a joint operation with the American CIA last weekend and then flown out of Malawi. An earlier court ruling had forbidden their deportation. On Saturday, Muslim gangs targeted Mangochi's Christian community, vandalising churches and attacking a priest, according to witnesses. An uneasy calm is reported to have returned to Mangochi on Saturday night, with tensions running high before Christian church services on Sunday. Churches targeted Speaking at a consecration ceremony for a Roman Catholic bishop, President Muluzi said he would not tolerate religious violence. "You know that I am a Muslim, I don't hide that, but I am a peaceful Muslim. "I will not allow anyone [to] start violence in the name of religion," he said. Witnesses said six churches had been vandalised and a priest dragged form his car before it was overturned and set on fire, Reuters news agency reported. "Our Muslim brothers were marching against the extradition of... al-Qaeda suspects. We had nothing against their march. But what has amazed us is that they are attacking our churches," Father Mathews Likambale of the Mangochi Parish told the news agency. The violence in Mangochi followed riots in Blantyre on Friday. Malawi's Muslims, who form a minority in the country, accused the government of complicity with the United States by secretly handing the al-Qaeda suspects to CIA agents. The Americans reportedly spirited them away on a chartered Air Malawi flight on Monday night to an American army camp in Botswana. American officials have not yet commented on the reports.

Rwanda (see Tanzania)

IRIN 11 June 2003 More genocide suspects rearrested KIGALI, 11 Jun 2003 (IRIN) - The Rwandan government has rearrested 5,770 genocide suspects who had been provisionally released in early 2003, an official in the Ministry of Justice told IRIN on Wednesday. They were rearrested after fresh allegations were made against them, Hannington Tayebwa, head of judicial services in the ministry, said. The allegations were made in two reports by IBUKA, an umbrella organisation that groups associations of the 1994 genocide survivors, he said. "We had to arrest them as we embark on investigations into these new accusations," he said. He said some who had confessed to killing one person were now being accused of killing more than three. "We need time to verify these facts," he said. The rearrests began in May with 787 of them being held soon after they left camps where they had undergone three months of reintegration and rehabilitation. The suspects were taken from their homes back to prison, Tayebwa said. They were among 22,567 suspects who completed the training in the camps across the country. Most had spent between seven and eight years in prison awaiting trial for genocide-related crimes. IBUKA listed some of the suspects, accusing them of "not being open and telling the truth" about the crimes they committed during the 1994 genocide. In January, President Paul Kagame issued a decree provisionally releasing up to 25,000 suspects, mainly the elderly and the sick as well as those who were minors during the genocide. Soon after the arrests of the initial 787 suspects, judicial officials claimed that those held had been implicated in new offences during their rehabilitation in the camps. Tayebwa said that some of them were accused of selling illicit drugs such as marijuana. He said that they had received reports that some of them had raped. Genocide survivor groups had criticised the provisional release of the suspects, saying that those pardoned could intimidate survivors into silence - jeopardising the planned Gacaca communal courts, due to begin operating shortly.

IRIN 20 June 2003 Main opposition candidate returns after years in exile KIGALI, 20 Jun 2003 (IRIN) - Former Rwandan Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu arrived in Kigali on Friday from Brussels, ending his eight-year exile to challenge President Paul Kagame in the first post-genocide elections. Twagiramungu, a moderate Hutu, was prime minister in the first government installed by Tutsi rebels in Rwanda after the country's 1994 genocide. He resigned after 13 months and has lived in exile in Belgium since September 1995. "I am happy to be back in Rwanda after eight years in exile," he told reporters upon his arrival. He was received at Kigali airport by hundreds of his supporters who amidst tight security could not openly cheer for their candidate. Twagiramungu, however, said that he would formally declare his bid for the presidency at a later date. "I am still active in politics, but I will formally declare my stand for presidency at a later date, I cannot say much at the moment," he told reporters. "There must be an ample atmosphere for Rwandans to freely come back to their country regardless of their status. Not every opponent of the government is a genocidaire," he added. Meanwhile, the stage seems to be set for Rwanda's first post-genocide elections. The transitional national assembly has been busy debating two major laws that will pave the way for both presidential and parliamentary elections. The two laws include one governing the conduct of political parties during campaigns, while the other sets guidelines for both presidential and parliamentary candidates. Rwandans also recently voted overwhelmingly for a new constitution that would enable multiparty elections slated for August. The elections are seen as a major test for a country groping for stability following the genocide and a four-year civil war that preceded it. Twagiramungu has been quoted from his exile as saying that he would campaign on restoring national unity to the ethnically divided country and peace to a region beset by conflict. He has also promised to implement economic measures that would improve the lives of the 60 percent of Rwanda's population living below the poverty line. Twagiramungu has returned to find his political party, the Mouvement Democratique Republicain, dissolved for allegedly spreading politics of ethnicity and breaching national unity. However, he has said he would run as an independent if his party remained banned.

BBC 26 June 2003 Extra genocide judges 'no use' 800 000 people were killed in the genocide The chief prosecutor in Rwanda has said that the appointment of extra judges to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICT) is not the solution to the problems facing the trials of genocide suspects. The 18 judges, elected on Wednesday by the United Nations Security Council, will join the court's current 16 permanent judges to help speed up the work of the tribunal. Many people who are involved in running the tribunal have an interest in perpetuating its existence because they make a livelihood out of it Gerard Gahima Rwanda's chief prosecutor Gerard Gahima told BBC Focus on Africa that people should not expect miracles because of the additional judges. "The ICT has fundamental problems such as bad management, severe corruption, problems relating to the abuse of the procedure by the defendants and their defence lawyers," he said. The tribunal, set up in 1995 and based in Arusha, Tanzania, is dealing with the cases of major figures accused of being behind the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. More than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by armed militias in 100 days of violence. The court has worked very slowly and so far only 12 people have been convicted of genocide-related crimes, and one person has been acquitted. Six of the convicts are serving their jail sentences in Mali. Ms Del Ponte blames Rwanda for not co-operating with the court The Rwandan Government has criticised the tribunal over the pace of justice and for what it sees as the tribunal's failure to protect witnesses testifying against those accused of crimes. The ICT has an annual budget of more than $180m and the trial of each suspect costs more than $50m. But on average they do not conclude even a single case a year, Mr Gahima said. He says that many people who are involved in running the tribunal "have an interest in perpetuating its existence because they make a livelihood out of it". The tribunal has defended the slowness of the court, saying that international justice "is a very special kind of justice, it is very unique, it is perfectionist". Not co-operating The chief prosecutor of the tribunal, Carla del Ponte, told the UN Security Council in 2002 that Rwanda had stopped co-operating with the tribunal. She said the Tutsi-led government there did not want tribunal staff to investigate allegations of crimes by its supporters during the genocide. Mr Gahima denies claims that the Rwandan Government does not cooperate with the court. "We have facilitated their investigations, access to the documents and witnesses and the movement of suspects to Arusha," Mr Gahima said. "I think the modest success they have had they owe it to us." The search for perpetrators of the genocide continues, with the United States offering a reward of up to $5m for information leading to arrests. The new judges will begin serving on trials after the tribunal's summer recess.

Sierra Leone

BBC 1 Jun 2003 Body of 'warlord' back in Freetown Bockarie's death remains shrouded in mystery A body believed to be that of former Sierra Leone rebel commander Sam Bockarie has been brought home from Liberia. Mr Bockarie - alias Mosquito - was indicted by Sierra Leone's war crimes court in March, but less than a month ago he is believed to have been killed in Liberia. He was a general in the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which became notorious for its systematic rape of women and abduction of thousands of children who were forced to fight. Due to suspicious circumstances surrounding his alleged death, the special court demanded his body for forensic examination. But only now has the Liberian Government released it. The coffin was opened at Freetown's airport, revealing the body wrapped in a white cloth, except for his face. Those who have seen the corpse and knew Mr Bockarie well say they have no doubt about his identity. But the court has said it will not withdraw the indictment against him until DNA tests are carried out. We are taking home the body of a man who over the years has brought pain and suffering to the lives of Sierra Leoneans Patrick Foyah Profile of Sam Bockarie Days before Mr Bockarie was killed, the court's prosecutor had accused Liberia of harbouring him and threatened President Charles Taylor with action if he did not hand him and former Sierra Leonean junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma over. The prosecutor says several members of Mr Bockarie's family, who lived in Monrovia, were murdered by Mr Taylor's forces shortly after his death. Liberia says an investigation is under way to determine what happened to them. Observers say Mr Bockarie may have been intentionally killed to prevent him giving evidence in court. Amputations Throughout Sierra Leone's civil war, he is believed to have acted as the senior liaison between the rebel RUF and President Taylor - a relationship the Liberian Government would not have liked made public. A disco-dancing champion, who will be remembered for heralding the deliberate and widespread practice of hacking off the limbs of his victims, Mr Bockarie died in a shoot-out when government troops tried to arrest him, Liberian officials say. Many Sierra Leoneans however would have preferred to see him brought back alive and well, to stand trial for war crimes. "We are taking home the body of a man who over the years has brought pain and suffering to the lives of Sierra Leoneans," Sierra Leone's ambassador in Monrovia, Patrick Foyah, told reporters at the airport. Since the end of the war, Mr Bockarie has fought as a mercenary in Liberia and in Ivory Coast. The BBC's Tom McKinley in Freetown says the court will probably maintain its focus on Liberia and Mr Taylor who may yet be asked to account for his role in Sierra Leone's brutal conflict.

IRIN 2 June 2003 UN-Backed Court Takes Custody of Alleged Body of Former Rebel Leader United Nations (New York) June 2, 2003 Posted to the web June 2, 2003 New York Officials from the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone have taken custody of the body reported to be that of indicted war criminal Sam Bockarie and are set to conduct an independent forensic examination to confirm its identity and determine the cause of death. According to a statement issued yesterday, the alleged body of Mr. Sam Bockarie was finally returned from Liberia on Sunday, following weeks of diplomatic pressure on the Government of Liberia. Liberian authorities claim Mr. Bockaie was killed on 6 May during an alleged arrest attempt by Government forces. However, last week, the Government changed its story and announced that the former rebel leader had been plotting a coup attempt against President Charles Taylor's regime. David Crane, the Court's Chief Prosecutor, said given their "delaying tactics and obstruction," he seriously doubted the Liberian authorities' account of the incident. He promised, however, that the truth would be uncovered "in due time," saying "the people of Sierra Leone deserve to know whether Bockarie is dead, and if so, in what manner he died." On 7 March, the Court indicted Mr. Bockarie and another rebel leader, Johnny Paul Koroma, for alleged atrocities - ranging from murder and sexual slavery to forced conscription of children and attacks on UN peacekeepers - committed during Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war. Both were connected with the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Mr. Koroma remains at large, purportedly holed up in a small Liberian village. Mr. Crane again called for Liberian authorities to arrest and transfer Mr. Koroma to the Court's custody. "If there is to be any lasting peace and security in the region, Koroma must have is day in Court," he said. The Special Court, created through an international agreement between the United Nations and Sierra Leone, is mandated to try those who bear "the greatest responsibility" for atrocities committed during the country's civil war.

IRIN 27 Jun 2003 Special Court indicts two former militia leaders FREETOWN, 27 June The UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone has indicted two former leaders of a disbanded pro-government militia movement for crimes against humanity committed during the country's 10-year civil war. These ranged from unlawful killings to human sacrifice, cannibalism and the use of child soldiers. The Special Court published on Thursday an indictment against Allieu Kondewa, the Chief Initiator of the Civil Defence Force (CDF), whose fighters were also known as the Kamajors, and Moinina Fofanah, the CDF's Director of War. Both men were detained on May 27. They have been charged with crimes against international humanitarian law and violations of the Geneva Conventions which govern the international rules of war for their conduct during Sierra Leone's 1991-2001 civil war. The eight counts against them include unlawful killings, terrorising civilians, causing physical and mental suffering, looting, burning and using child soldiers. The CDF was formed to help the army fight against rebels seeking to overthrow President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's first elected government in the 1990s. The Special Court has now indicted three of its leaders for war crimes. On March 7 it charged and arrested Sam Hinga Norman, a former army captain who became CDF National Coordinator and subsequently interior minister in Kabbah's present government until his arrest. The court has so far indicted a total of 12 people for war crimes. Most are former leaders of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel movement, which became notorious for killing civilians and hacking off the arms and legs of thousands of others. However, the court has also brought charges against Johnny Paul Koroma, who led the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), a military junta which deposed Kabbah's first government in 1997 and sought a rapprochement with the RUF, and one of his lieutenants, Brima "Bazzy" Kamara. It has also indicted Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is accused of arming and supporting the RUF in exchange for contraband diamonds. The indictment against Kondewa and Fofanah said: "Civilians, including women and children, who were suspected to have supported, sympathised with, or simply failed to actively resist the combined RUF/AFRC forces were termed as collaborators and specifically targeted by the CDF...These 'collaborators' and any captured enemy combatants were unlawfully killed." The indictment went on: "Victims were often shot, hacked to death or burnt to death. Other practices included human sacrifices and cannibalism." Court officials said the two men were expected to plead not guilty before Special Court judge at a hearing next week. Nine of the 12 people so far indicted by the court are in custody, one is dead and two are still at large. Sam Bockarie, the former military commander of the RUF, was killed in Liberia by forces loyal to Taylor in Liberia in early May. Taylor, who is fighting to survive a rebel onslaught on the Liberian capital Monrovia, is still free. Koroma disappeared from his Freetown home in January and the court now believes that he has been living in Liberia under Taylor's protection. The Liberian government has denied that he is in the country. Earlier this month, the Special Court's chief investigator, Alan White, said he had received credible information that Koroma may have been killed on Taylor's orders in northwestern Liberia, where he was believed to be training a new military force for the Liberian leader. But David Crane, the court prosecutor, said on Thursday he was keeping an open mind about Koroma's fate. "We are carefully investigating the reports that Johnny Paul Koroma may have been murdered by Taylor, but at this time we have nothing that confirms that definitively," Crane said. "He is an indicted war criminal and will remain so until we have confirmation that, one, he is alive and, two, that he is turned over, or that he is actually dead." Diplomats in Freetown said they expected the Special Court, which is working with a US $60 million budget provided mainly by the United States and Britain, to indict about 15 people altogether.

Sudan

IRIN 24 Jun 2003 Monitoring body documents more violations NAIROBI, 24 June () - The US-led Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) has documented violations by both the Sudanese government and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). In its latest report, the international monitoring body said up to 30 people had been killed and property destroyed in Eastern Upper Nile by Arab militia, who are supported by the government of Sudan. All the interviewees involved in the investigation said between 20 and 30 people were killed in the attacks in late April 2002, in the villages of Liang, Dengaji, Kawaji and Yawaji, the report stated. In a separate report, it was confirmed that in September 2002, the SPLM/A had abducted 48 civilians from their homes 16 km northeast of Abyei - including pregnant women, children and the elderly - and looted their property. While the motive for the abductions remained unclear, the culpability of the SPLM was not in doubt, the CPMT reported. While all the abductees had since been released and had returned to their homes - due to intervention from the UN, local NGOs and the highest levels of the SPLA and government - they had all lost considerable property, it said. "The SPLM/A must assume responsibility for the actions of its officials," the CPMT stressed. "Both parties to the Sudanese peace agreement must work harder to assert restraint and control over the people in their respective areas of responsibility," it added.

IRIN 25 Jun 2003 Nuba mountains ceasefire extended until January NAIROBI, 25 June () - The ceasefire in the Nuba mountains, which was signed by Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in January 2002, has been extended for the third time until 19 January 2004. "The population in the Nuba mountains has now enjoyed freedom of movement for the past 17 months and living and working conditions have significantly improved," said a statement released on Tuesday by the Joint Monitoring Mission (JMM) and the Joint Military Commission (JMC), which are mandated by the two sides to supervise the ceasefire. The monitoring bodies said they had observed "no major violations of the ceasefire". The statement also said the JMM and the UN Mine Actions Service had demined, opened and improved a series of roads, from Kadugli to Kauda, Dilling to Julud, various roads in Miri Jebels, and they were working on the road between Kadugli and Talodi. This had led to the delivery of "vast quantities" of humanitarian aid by the UN and other agencies, the statement said. A group of 12 nations supporting the peace process in the region, known as the Friends of the Nuba Mountains, had indicated that they were willing to secure the financial needs of the monitoring mission, the statement added. Commenting on the ceasefire, JMC head Brigadier General Jan Erik Wilhelmsen said it was "clear that the people want peace and development and they believe that JMC is an important factor in the process of achieving this for the future".

ICG 25 Jun 2003 Sudan's other wars OVERVIEW The two-party framework in which Sudan's peace talks are being held is not adequately addressing all the country's current armed conflicts: especially the long-running rebellions in the "Three Areas" (Abyei, the Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile) in the North, and the more recent outbreak of armed conflict in Darfur in western Sudan. The discontents in these regions have thus far largely been viewed as of secondary importance to those of the South, but they must be taken into account if a sustainable national peace agreement is to be reached. There is a real potential for those who feel ignored by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) peace process to undermine any deal that is between only the Khartoum government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). It is therefore incumbent upon the IGAD mediation team and the international observer countries to ensure that the grievances driving conflict in these areas are fully dealt with in any comprehensive peace deal. The Three Areas lie in the geographic North but have been fighting alongside the SPLA since the mid-1980s. Much of the tension there is fed by the same factors that led to the long running war in southern Sudan: a central government that has exploited local resources, imposed its religious and cultural beliefs on historically diverse populations and consistently pitted local tribes and ethnic groups against each other for short term tactical gain. Many communities across Sudan feel deeply marginalised a result of these practices. Failure to achieve change peacefully has pushed more and more of them into armed confrontation with central authorities. Their fear of being shunted aside in an SPLA-government peace has led them to intensify conflict as a way of calling attention to their problems before any agreement is signed. The nascent armed rebellion in Darfur, now at risk of escalation, has shocked much of Sudan. The concerns of communities in this region - particularly the Fur, Zaghawa, Massaleit, and other African peoples of western Sudan - mirror not only the situation in the Three Areas and the South, but also that of the Beja in eastern Sudan and the Nubians in northern Sudan. A threatened massive military response by the government in Darfur would take a tremendous toll on the civilian population while only deepening resentment. Thus far IGAD's general strategy has largely been to focus on resolving Sudan's civil war within the North-South paradigm that led to the Machakos Protocol in July 2002, including provisions for a self-determination referendum to be held in the South and sharia law to continue in the North. Yet the continuing difficulties in the Three Areas and recent violence in Darfur make clear that all Sudan has a shared problem: the marginalisation of peripheral regions and groups by successive governments in Khartoum. The clear danger is that as long as these groups continue to feel marginalised and their views are not represented in the IGAD process, the pull toward violence will remain compelling. The discussions on the Three Areas must be clearly linked to the IGAD process and the interests of the disaffected populations further accommodated. The violence in Darfur should be the subject of a separate and concentrated initiative - by the Khartoum government, strongly encouraged by the international community - to end hostilities and ensure that the issues are also addressed within the IGAD process. Khartoum/Brussels, 25 June 2003

Tanzania

NYT 27 June 2003 MORE JUDGES FOR GENOCIDE COURT The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda will receive 18 backup judges to help speed up its work prosecuting central figures in the mass killings of ethnic Tutsi and moderate Hutu that took place in Rwanda in 1994. The General Assembly approved the additional judges in an effort to expedite a backlog of cases before the tribunal, which was set up in 1995 in Arusha, Tanzania. Marc Lacey (NYT)

Uganda

AFP 1 Jun 2003 Four killed as rebels make rural northern Uganda inaccessible KAMPALA, June 1 (AFP) - At least four people have been killed and seven others injured after suspected Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels attacked a trading centre in northern Uganda's Kitgum district, officials in the region said. "Four people, including a teacher, a local militiaman and two civilians were killed and seven others were admitted to Kitgum Hospital, two in a critical condition," Kitgum district council chairman Nahaman Ojwe told AFP by telephone. Ojwe said the dawn attack took place at Omiya Nyima Trading Centre, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Kitgum town, on Saturday. A house belonging to a local Roman Catholic parish priest was set ablaze, along with other semi-permanent buildings. "We are facing a humanitarian crisis here, as many of the people around the centre have had all their earthly belongings destroyed in the attack," Ojwe said and appealed to both government and international relief agencies for assistance. "The people are in dire need of both food and non-food items, including medical supplies, and we want the government to deploy more troops in Kitgum, as three quarters of the rural areas are now inaccessible to us," he added. He said the situation had become more dangerous, with rebels roaming the whole countryside. He said that roads leading from Kitgum to other regional towns like Gulu and Lira were prone to ambushes, three of which were recorded this week. An army report said Friday that at least 84 people, mostly rebels and civilians, had been killed in May in northern Ugandan, where the army has been battling the LRA rebels since 1988. But Northern Uganda army spokesman Lieutenant Paddy Ankunda said the figures were a "conservative" estimate, because they did not include those of the army's 5th Division, charged with policing a large part of Uganda's rural north, including Kitgum. The LRA started fighting President Yoweri Museveni's secular government in 1988, ostensibly to replace it with a regime based on the biblical Ten Commandments. But their campaign has been marked by its violence against northern Ugandan civilians, 800,000 of whom have been displaced and live in squalid camps dotting the northern region.

BBC Monitoring International Reports June 19, 2003 UGANDA: EDITORIAL RAPS STATE FOR AGREEING TO SHIELD US TROOPS FROM PROSECUTION Text of editorial entitled "Uganda joins list of shame" by Ugandan newspaper The Monitor web site on 18 June President Yoweri Museveni has signed the so-called Article 98 agreement with the United States of America. By this action, he has exposed this country to a situation where an American soldier can commit crimes against humanity here and get away with it. The soldier would escape because the US is presently carrying out a diplomatic operation that frees it from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Let us reflect on what the ICC is all about. The final act establishing this court became enforceable after 17 July 2002. It was a culmination of a process following the United Nations General Assembly adoption of Resolution 51/207 on 17 December 1996. Months after, when all the legal niceties had been worked out, Uganda as a "states party" signed into this agreement and our parliament subsequently ratified our signature. The ICC was a conscious effort by the world community to put an end to the impunity of perpetrators of war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and aggression. This was an attempt to end crimes, vivid examples of which are provided by the illegal internment of Afghan prisoners of war by the US on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the ongoing killings inside Iraq. But almost from stage one, the United States, a country that purports to uphold human rights and dignity in all its forms, thwarted this noble effort enshrined in the ICC. First, the US Senate has not ratified their signature. Second, the US is presently going around signing Article 98 agreements with countries - as obscure as Tonga. The essence of the Article 98 is that it annuls the "cooperation (of a given state) with respect to waiver of immunity and consent to surrender". This means that the US is not compelled to waive the immunity of, or surrender its nationals for prosecution by the ICC. Mr Museveni's decision was unilateral in a matter that definitely required discussion in parliament and the cabinet. He single-handedly committed Uganda in a process that comes very close to abetting the commission of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, etc. Did our president sign because he believed it was in the national interest or was he buying some hidden favours from the Americans, who as we all know are increasingly acting in near criminal fashion worldwide?

AFP 24 Jun 2003 Rebels abduct some 100 schoolgirls in northeast Uganda: army KAMPALA, June 24 (AFP) - Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels abducted at least 100 schoolgirls overnight Tuesday, as the security situation in northeast Uganda deteriorated, an army spokesman said. "They raided Rwara Girls Secondary School in northeast Uganda's Kaberamaido district and took away about 100 girls," army spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza told AFP by telephone. "But our helicopters are trying to locate them so that they may be rescued," Bantariza said. Roman Catholic Church sources in the northeastern regional capital, Soroti, confirmed the mass abduction at the Catholic school, situated some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Soroti town. In another attack, the army said suspected LRA rebels earlier on Tuesday killed three people and injured several others when they ambushed a passenger bus near Soroti, 280 kilometres (175 miles) northeast of the capital Kampala. The army said that 40 other people have been abducted in the past two days in the northern Gulu district. A 70-year-old missionary of the Mill Hill Order was beaten by the rebels in the kidnap attack on the school near Soroti, the army said. The rebels, who recently extended their areas of operation from mainly northern Uganda to the northeast region, were now said to be moving towards the eastern border with Kenya. Major Bantariza said another attempt to attack schools in eastern Uganda were thwarted by the army, which went on to kill three rebels and injure another, while two civilians were also reported killed during the fighting. Reports from Soroti said there was panic in the town, with many people struggling to catch any transport available heading to Mbale further east towards the Kenyan border. But Bantariza said that escalation of fighting in northeastern Uganda was not a show of strength for the rebel group, but was precipitated by the routing of the rebels from northern Uganda. The LRA has been fighting government forces since 1988, ostensibly to replace President Yoweri Museveni's secular regime with one based on the biblical Ten Commandments. But their campaign has been notorious for its brutality against the people of northern Uganda characterized by abductions of boys, who are forced into rebel ranks as soldiers, and girls who are turned into concubines for rebel commanders.

AFP 25 Jun 2003 At least 82 abducted Ugandan children found: official KAMPALA, June 25 (AFP) - At least 82 of the 100 schoolgirls kidnapped in northeast Uganda by rebels have been found, after some were rescued by the army and others set free by their captors, a local official said Wednesday. "Only 18 of the abducted girls from Rwara Girls Secondary School are still missing, the rest have been recovered," Soroti district council chairman Captain John Otekat said. Otekat said the army was still looking for the rest of the girls, who were abducted on Tuesday by Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels. Otekat said that the rebels had on Wednesday morning also ambushed a vehicle heading for Soroti from Katakwi district and wounded five occupants, who were all admitted at Soroti hospital. Heavy gunfire was heard again in Soroti town overnight on Wednesday and a Catholic priest, who asked not to be named, said the LRA rebels had tried to stage another attack on the town. Army spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza confirmed the shooting, saying that the army had exchanged gunfire with a group of rebels that attempted to attack Roman Catholic Mission's Madela School. "We exchanged fire with them and they run away," Bantariza said. The LRA has been fighting government forces since 1988, ostensibly to replace President Yoweri Museveni's secular regime with one based on the biblical Ten Commandments. But their campaign has been notorious for its brutality against the people of northern Uganda, as it was characterized by abductions of boys, who are forced into rebel ranks as soldiers, and girls who are turned into concubines for rebel commanders.

AFP 28 Jun 2003 Rebels kill four civilians in northern Uganda: army KAMPALA, June 28 (AFP) - At least four people were hacked to death on Saturday when rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) attacked a village in northern Uganda, an army spokesman said. "They attacked Bar village in Erute county of Lira at around 3:00 am (0001 GMT) and hacked to death four people, three of them members of the community, while a fourth person was abducted from a nearby village, but was brought and killed there," Lieutenant Paddy Ankunda told AFP by telephone from northern Uganda. Ankunda said that the rebels set ablaze an unspecified number of houses before fleeing. "We dispatched a force to pursue the rebels and lure them into a fight," Ankunda said. At least 12 rebels were killed, four captured and 25 civilians rescued on Thursday in an army counter-offensive against the insurgents' recently renewed spate of violence in northeast Uganda. The rebel insurgency, normally confined to the three northern Ugandan districts of Gulu, Pader and Kitgum, has spread into northern Lira and Apac districts, from where the LRA has carried out daring raids into two other areas. Earlier this week, the LRA attacked the town of Soroti, engaging the army in a fight for control of the airfield, but were repulsed before they went on a kidnapping spree that culminated in the abduction of 100 schoolgirls from a school early on Tuesday. Twenty of the girls have since been released, but those freed said 48 more were still with the rebels. The LRA has fought Ugandan government forces since 1988, with a declared mission to replace President Yoweri Museveni's secular regime with one based on the Ten Commandments. The LRA relies on abductions to boost its ranks and is believed to have kidnapped some 10,000 children since 1995 -- some 4,000 of whom are still missing, either presumed dead or still in captivity. Captured boys are forced into rebel ranks as soldiers, and girls are often turned into concubines for rebel commanders. They have also killed and maimed thousands and displaced some 800,000 people in northern Uganda, who are currently living in squalid camps dotting the entire region.

Americas

Argentina, See Mexico & Spain

Bolivia

AP 8 June 2003 Villagers battle, and sometimes die, as tourists watch By Graham Gori MACHA, Bolivia -- A bus loaded with tourists pulls into this desolate pueblo on Bolivia's high plains to watch 6,000 drunken Indians beat themselves to a pulp in a three-day festival known as Tinku. "A friend asked me if I wanted to watch two villages beat the ... out of one another and I said, 'Yes,"' says Beth Pullan, a 24-year-old Briton among the 30 visitors lured by the bloody - and sometimes deadly - ritual battle. Tinku, an ancestral ritual that predates the Spanish conquest, consists of rival villages engaging in hand-to-hand combat that tradition says will secure richer, more prosperous crops in the coming year. "If a person dies it is better for the fields," says Rafael Gongora, a nurse at a clinic where a heap of soiled gauze pads will soon overwhelm the waste basket. "If there are no deaths, the custom suffers." Death, violence and occasional cannibalism have been central to Tinku for 700 years. But as Tinku's fame has risen among tourists, so has the government's concern over international opinion. In recent years, it has cracked down on the violence, threatening the extinction of Bolivia's strangest Andean festival. Tinku takes place in early May, when the men of rival villages gather to settle feuds, often over stolen sheep and llama. Macha, a town of 600 that is 19 hours by bus from the capital, La Paz, hosts the largest and what's believed to be the most authentic Tinku. Thousands of people from rival villages, dressed in native war garb, meet in the central square at midnight after trekking days over barren mountain desert. By dawn, the plaza is packed with brightly dressed Indians dancing, whipping each other with braided leather and drinking 96 percent grain alcohol from plastic jugs. Dancing soon turns to violence and fighting erupts like liquid in a blender. Dust rises from a thousand scuttling feet as hundreds of fists thud against cheekbones. Bloodied faces puff beneath the Andean sun. An Indian woman with a baby sleeping in cloths slung over her back drags her tattered husband from the scrum. Tourists gather along the margins to snap photos, drawing scorn from a drunken elder: "Our culture you take away! We don't want you here! Go home!" The visitors stare silently, and migrate to the balcony of the mayor's residence to watch the mayhem from a safer distance. Disbelief creeps into their faces. "This is barbarous and I don't know if it's a good or bad thing," says Justin Hall, a cartoonist from San Francisco. An Indian woman screams and struggles to save her husband from six men kicking his head. The odor of grain alcohol is heavy in the air. "It's like watching a car accident. Now it's all pure emotion," says Jerry Tal from Israel. "I don't know if I should be watching this." A police officer appears. A warning shot cracks. Tear gas billows. The fighters scatter, leaving the plaza empty save for one woman choking on the gas and men sprawled unconscious from alcohol and beatings. The bewildered tourists scurry into the mayor's office, where explanations are offered by a guide. "Tinku is violent, but above all peaceful. It is a friendly meeting to test one's energy. It is like man and woman, above and below, light and shadow," says Tito Burgoa, a former miner who would like to see Tinku become a controlled tourist event. "When they are done fighting, they say: 'Thank you brother; we have tested one another."' Young men and old alike fight to test their valor and sometimes to secure a bride. "It is done to improve our culture. Let them see Bolivian peasant culture!" roars Renato Teculkano, a young fighter with dried blood on his face. "It is beautiful and full of emotion." The combatants see the violence as a means to keeping the peace among neighboring villages, concentrating a year of anger and slights into a single clash. "We fight today, and hug tomorrow," says Juan Capichiri, 27. "We fight clean, man to man, fist to fist, face to face. We fight as brothers." Few tourists see any beauty in the bloodletting. "I came determined not to judge this on my Western values," says Alex Kent from England. "But this is sick. Women and children crying; this is sick." A stream of bloody and broken bodies limp to the clinic and wince as Dr. Ilda Martinez sutures split lips for 30 cents a stitch. "Booze is their anesthesia," she says. She has seen no one die, but is sure deaths will occur at some Tinku. Newspaper reports said two people died this year in Macha, despite six police officers patrolling with whips, billy clubs and tear gas. Worried about international reaction to the bloodletting, the government outlawed the use of traditional helmets six years ago in hopes of discouraging more men from fighting. The ban resulted only in more head injuries. Three years ago, authorities paved over Macha's plaza to keep fighters from using cobblestones as weapons, but rocks still fly. Most people in Macha, which got electricity just two years ago and has but one telephone, believe Tinku eventually will be stamped out. "Before there was more fighting, but now it is changing," says Fausto Romero. "The laws of the state prevent us from expressing ourselves."

Canada (see Ukraine)

The Ukrainian Weekly, No. 26, 29 June 2003 Canadian Senate adopts motion on Famine-Genocide by Peter Stieda OTTAWA - In a historic move, the Senate of Canada on June 20 unanimously adopted a motion calling on the government of Canada to recognize the Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 which killed 7 million to 10 million people in Ukraine. The motion, originally moved by Sen. Raynell Andreychuk, calls for the recognition of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 and for the condemnation of any attempt to deny or distort this historical truth as being anything less than a genocide. It also calls for the fourth Saturday in November to be designated as a day of remembrance for those who perished during the time of the Famine; and for all Canadians, particularly historians, educators and parliamentarians, to include the true facts of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 in the records of Canada and in future educational material.

Colombia

AFP 21 Jun 2003 Six die as Colombian police defend town from rebels BOGOTA, June 21 (AFP) - Four civilians and two police officers died as rebels attempted to take a town in southern Colombia Saturday, officials said. Rebels of the National Liberation Army, known by their Spanish initials ELN, attacked a police patrol in San Pablo, 900 kilometers (560 miles) south of Bogota, police commander in the province of Narino Guillermo Chavez told reporters. The wounded, including a child, were taken to the provincial capital Pasto for treatment of injuries which were not serious, he said. "The information we have is that the guerrillas wanted to take the town of San Pablo but were stopped by the authorities," Chavez said. The rebels fled into the hills. In northern Colombia, the army rescued eight hostages held by the ELN, a defense official said. They were released in a rural area, San Juan del Cesar, 850 kilometers (500 miles) north of Bogota, the official said. The army said no rebels were captured in the operation. Meanwhile, the army reported that four rebels died in separate skirmishes. Two rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish initials FARC, were killed in the southern province of Neiva, near the municipality of Hobo. Two rebels of the pro-Cuba ELN were killed, one in La Union, northwestern Colombia and another in Arboledas in the northeast. Four right-wing paramilitary fighters were captured in the eastern municipality of Pore, the army said. The army also reported the destruction of eight minefields in the western municipality of Samana, in California and Charta, both in the northeast. FARC, with 17,000 troops, is Colombia's largest and oldest guerrilla band. The ELN has about 4,000 irregular troops, making it the second-largest band. Several paramilitary groups have about 10,000 armed members. There are about 3,000 kidnappings annually in Colombia. About half of these are committed by the rebels and paramilitaries. The other half is the work of criminals seeking ransom.

BBC 30 June 2003 Colombia unveils security plan Uribe's strategy is popular, but he has little time to implement it President Alvaro Uribe has unveiled plans to end almost 40 years of civil war in Colombia - including measures to combat the drugs trade, which fuels the conflict. President Uribe's long-awaited policy for defence and democratic security sets out to tackle left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries that between them dominate about 40% of the country. "We want to end this war, not to diminish its intensity. We are going to achieve this by striking terrorist organisations on the military, economic and judicial field," said Defence Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez on Sunday, who was in the village of Orito in one of Colombia's most violent areas. Security is not principally law enforcement. It is the permanent and effective presence of democratic authority throughout the territory, the product of a collective effort by all members of society Security document The president received a boost when he made his announcement as the army seized 2.5 tonnes of cocaine down by the Pacific coast in the town of Tumaco worth an estimated $300m. According to the authorities, the cocaine was camouflaged in an underground cache. During the army's operation, five people were detained and pistols and several million pesos in cash were seized. Warring factions The key point of the new peace plan is the establishment of police forces in all parts of the country. Colombia is one of the world's largest producers of cocaine Over the years, the guerrillas have driven police out of certain areas and the president is now seeking to reverse that process. As well as aiming to defeat the warring factions, the government also wants to destroy all drug crops in Colombia - one of the main sources of revenue for the illegal armies - and end the scourge of kidnapping in a country where one abduction is reported every four hours. The president's tough strategy has won him 60% approval ratings. The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Medellin says Mr Uribe faces two major problems in implementing his strategy: money, as the state coffers are empty, and time, as his mandate only runs until 2006 and he is constitutionally barred from a second term. Our correspondent reports that the guerrillas have decided to retreat to their mountain and jungle strongholds - they have already seen 10 presidents come and go and are prepared to wait until Mr Uribe leaves power.

Guatemala

Rightsaction.org 18 June 2003 GUATEMALA: THROWING STONES AT A LEADER OF GENOCIDE The article below describes a confrontation between Maya-Achi residents of Rabinal (department of Baja Verapaz, Guatemala) and politician-members of the ruling FRG party that occurred on the day that Achi massacre survivors were re-burying the remains for their loved ones who had been massacred during the years of genocide [1978-1983]. They had only recently completed the legal-forensic process of exhuming the mass graves. The President of the FRG ruling party in Guatemala is former General Efrain Rios Montt, who was one of two military leaders that oversaw and implemented the policies of massacres and genocide. GLOBAL BUSINESS AS USUAL During the years of genocide and repression, the regimes of Guatemala were supported – militarily, politically and economically -- by the United States, other ‘western’ nations, the World Bank (WB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and an endless number of western-based companies and banks. Today, the FRG –headed by Rios Montt– has full military, political and economic relations with the USA, Canada, western nations, the WB, IDB, … and an endless number of western-based companies and banks. IMPUNITY This confrontation is to be understood in the context of historic and on-going impunity. Despite the documented repression and genocide [leaving over 200,000 mainly Mayan people killed and disappeared], next to no justice has been done in Guatemala. The ruling economic and military elites –-empowered by their extensive relations with the international community-- continue to run the country as they have in the past – with impunity. COURAGE Despite the impunity and on-going human rights violations [including economic exploitation], there are courageous and visionary groups across the country – like ADIVIMA – that are challenging the impunity at every step of the way. Over the next weeks, Rights Action will publish a series of articles about local and regional efforts to have justice done, despite the impunity of the national power holders and their international supporters. If you want on/ off this e-list, info@rightsaction.org. Please publish and circulate this information, citing source.=== GUATEMALA: THROWING STONES AT A LEADER OF GENOCIDE by Annie Bird and Grahame Russell (Rights Action) On September 15, 1981, Rabinal (center of the Maya-Achi world in Guatemala) celebrated its biggest annual town fair. As villagers auctioned their cattle and children climbed into a Ferris wheel, the Guatemalan national army blocked all the exits from the town square and began massacring indiscriminately the fairgoers; even the Ferris wheel operator was killed. Witnesses estimate more than 1,000 people were killed that day and their bodies dumped into mass graves on the edge of town. This was the largest of dozens of massacres in the municipality of Rabinal that left more than 5,000 Maya-Achi dead, more than a quarter of the total local population at the time. Family members of the victims of the September 15 massacre recently exhumed the remains of some of the victims (with the support of the FAFG exhumation team), and planned to properly bury their loved ones on June 14, 2003. On June 2, ADIVIMA (Association for the Development of the Maya Achi Victims of Violence) began plans for the re-burial. They placed radio announcements and on June 9 got the required permit from the mayor. What is on-going impunity? This mayor is an active local leader of the FRG political party and a man personally accused of killing hundreds while he served as Military Commissioner during the years of repression and genocide. In spite of the surviving victim’s plans, on June 12 the FRG announced a political campaign visit to Rabinal for their Presidential candidate in the upcoming November elections, Efrian Rios Mott. Rios Mott was the military dictator of Guatemala during the second half of the ‘scorched earth’ military campaign whose strategy was to massacre civilian, mostly Mayan villagers, including many whose remains were to be re-buried June 14. Rios Montt has been formally accused of genocide in two separate complaints, one in Guatemalan courts and another in Spain. His eligibility to run for president is in question because of a constitutional provision preventing those who came into power through a military coup from running for president. Though lower courts have rejected his candidacy, the Constitutional Court will make the final ruling. What is national and global impunity? Whether the courts rule in his favor or not, he remains the president of the ruling party and the most powerful politician in the country, maintaining a whole host of economic, political and military relations with western countries, international financial institutions and global companies and banks. On the day of the re-burial, more than 500 surviving victims gathered to carry the coffins to the cemetery. Outraged by the presence of Rios Montt in Rabinal they decided to carry the coffins to the FRG rally as a demonstration against the ongoing impunity enjoyed by the authors of genocide in Guatemala. Many accused war criminals, including Rios Montt and Rabinal’s mayor, form part of the FRG-controlled government, which dominates the executive branch and congress. Only 3 paramilitaries (PAC – Patrullas de Autodefensa Civil) and 1 civilian Military Commissioner have been convicted for atrocities committed during the State sponsored genocide and repression in which more than 200,000 people were killed and disappeared. At the rally, approximately 2,000 people were gathered. The majority were former paramilitaries – PAC – the FRG brought in from the neighboring municipalities of Cubulco, San Jeronimo, Grandos and El Chol. They were rumored to be collecting the controversial State payment to former paramilitaries that the FRG government promised last year (for their “services” during the repression and genocide) and began disbursing recently during the electoral campaign. Few PAC from Rabinal were present, though many residents of the town center of Rabinal gathered to watch the rally. The victims, from outlying Rabinal villages, arrived and began shouting “murderer”, “genocidist”, and “thief” at the FRG congressional candidate for Baja Verapaz, former military officer Juan Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz responded by accusing the protesters of being manipulated by opposition parties and foreigners who steal babies. The latter is an accusation Guatemalan journalists and human rights organizations say is promoted by evangelical churches, former paramilitaries and right wing politicians which have spawned violence against tourists, including at least two mob murders. When an Associated Press photographer climbed onto the stage for better photos, Santa Cruz pushed or kicked him violently off the stage. The angered crowd, including townspeople from Rabinal who had gathered before the arrival of the victims, began throwing rocks at the stage and burning FRG banners. The stage was evacuated, but when the crowd began to disburse they saw another stage had been set up 100 meters away where Rios Montt and his vice presidential candidate, Edin Barrientos, were speaking. The crowd then proceeded to throw sticks, bottles and stones. Rios Montt was hit but not seriously injured. He was rushed off to the stage into a nearby car, where he was shuttled to Cubulco. In Cubulco, according to press reports, he promised the PAC a third payment for their “services” during the state sponsored genocide, but in response the PAC called him a liar and a thief. The surviving victims proceeded to the cemetery to bury their loved ones with Mayan and Christian ceremonies. The next day one activist with ADIVMA received a written death threat referring to the previous day’s incident. This is the latest in a constant stream of violence and threats directed against ADIVIMA members since they formed the organization in 1995.

Mexico (see Spain)

Reuters 10 Jun 2003 Mexico to extradite "dirty war" Argentine to Spain By Elizabeth Fullerton MEXICO CITY, June 10 (Reuters) - In a landmark ruling, Mexico's highest court on Tuesday ordered the extradition of an Argentine ex-Navy officer to Spain on charges of genocide and terrorism connected to Argentina's "dirty war." A majority of Supreme Court judges voted to extradite Ricardo Cavallo, who was arrested in Mexico in 2000 and is accused by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon of human rights crimes during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship. A Supreme Court official said it would only be a question of days before Cavallo was sent to Spain. Human Rights Watch hailed the ruling as "a real victory for international justice." "Mexico will become the first Latin American country to extradite someone for gross human rights violations under the principle of universal jurisdiction," Jose Miguel Vivanco of the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement. Mexico had resolved to extradite the Argentine last year but his lawyers obtained a stay while they appealed the decision. Tuesday's ruling cannot be appealed. Rights groups say it could pave the way for similar extraditions to third countries of alleged human rights abusers who may enjoy immunity from prosecution in their homeland. Cavallo, who Mexican media said is 51, allegedly worked in the notorious School of Naval Mechanics in Buenos Aires, which served as a secret torture center under military rule. Cavallo was detained in the Mexican resort of Cancun bound for Argentina after a Mexican newspaper accused him of being a former dirty war intelligence agent who went by the alias Serpico. PINOCHET COMPARISON Judge Garzon, who earned international fame in his failed effort to try Chilean former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, had requested Cavallo's extradition on charges of torture, terrorism and genocide. The Supreme Court judges unanimously threw out the charge of torture, arguing it exceeded the statute of limitation. "It's a historic ruling that opens the doors for starting the process of bringing to trial these criminals who have enjoyed total impunity and have mocked justice permanently," said Oswaldo Caldu, an Argentine former activist in Mexico. Outside the court rights activists held aloft a banner saying: "Supreme Court: torture, genocide and forced disappearances must not expire." Cavallo denies the charges against him. Genocide, most commonly linked with the Nazi slaughter of 6 million Jews, has increasingly been used in international cases as a criminal charge against alleged human rights violators. Up to 30,000 people were killed or "disappeared" in the Argentine military's war against leftist guerrillas and their sympathizers. Many were tortured, drugged and thrown from aircraft into the River Plate or the Atlantic Ocean. Cavallo, who has fair hair and glasses, had operated a government concession for a national car registry program in Mexico before his arrest. His lawyers had pushed to have Cavallo returned to Argentina where he would probably not face trial thanks to an amnesty for "dirty war" participants.

VOA News 19 Jun 2003 Mexico Agrees to Extradite Ricardo Cavallo to Spain The Mexican government has signed an order agreeing to extradite a former Argentine military official to Spain to face genocide and terrorism charges. The government signed the order Wednesday after the Mexican Supreme Court last week cleared the way for the extradition of Ricardo Cavallo. Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon has sought the extradition of Mr. Cavallo to stand trial on charges of human rights atrocities against Spanish-born citizens in Argentina. The former military official was taken into custody in August 2000 after a Mexican newspaper linked him to Argentina's so-called "dirty war." Some 30,000 people died or disappeared during a crackdown on leftist rebels and suspected civilian supporters during military rule in Argentina in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

United States (see Ukraine)

Tribune Media Services 2 June 2003 CAL THOMAS: Rekindling the fires of Auschwitz (TMS) - It was good that President George W. Bush visited the Auschwitz crematory during his European trip. The Holocaust museums in Washington and Jerusalem remind visitors of what happened 60 years ago, but not until people set foot in places where history's greatest atrocity occurred can they fully know. The president said that good came to Europe because "there were people willing to take up arms against evil." In a guest book, the president wrote, "never forget." Evil ceased being a concept, except when politically convenient, sometime in the '60s. Some of the same theologians, politicians, educators and pundits who dismissed evil as a proper metaphor for our "modern time" were quick to invoke the word when it came to policies (mostly Republican) they disliked. Words such as "racism" and "homophobe" have replaced evil in our contemporary lexicon. Those same people who reject evil (as well as its companion and even more "outmoded" word, "sin") ask us to accept that certain things they do not like are wrong, while rejecting a standard - other than opinion polls - by which right and wrong can be measured. It is puzzling, therefore, that President Bush - fresh from his visit to Auschwitz - now asks Israel to trust its future to the ideological descendants of the architect of the death camps. One might expect that a people so close to getting what they want would modify their rhetoric and mollify their deeds to show the world how they plan to conduct themselves in a Palestinian state. One might also expect Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to think more clearly about the "final solution" that Hitler failed to achieve but that his Arab disciples see as their mandate. In both cases, one would be wrong to think this way. On the eve of Bush's visit to the Middle East, Egyptian government newspapers unloaded invective on the president. Some samples: "Bush is like Saddam, a murderer, tyrant and oppressor" (Muhammad Nafi', writing in Al-Gumhuriya); "Bush suffers from Oedipus Complex" (Anis Mansour in Al-Ahram, the main government daily); "The removal of sanctions against Iraq require the Iraqi people to fight the Americans" (Al-Ahram editorial). This is from a nation that has a peace treaty with Israel and is an "ally" of the United States. The Palestinian Authority is not letting up on its high-octane diatribes. The PA Education Ministry has announced the top 10 winners among 1 million entries in a children's writing contest. One searches in vain for sentiments expressed by the winners concerning peace, brotherhood and cooperation with Israel. They are all about war, hate and taking all of the land to the sea. The essays reflect what the next generation of Palestinian children is being taught. It is not a preparatory course for coexistence. Last Sunday, Israel Television Channel Two showed a tape of Yasser Arafat speaking to a group of children in Ramallah to mark International Children's Day. Arafat's remarks were about "shahid" (die for the cause). He said one shahid who dies for the sake of Jerusalem has power equal to 40 of the enemy dying. Arafat said nothing about peace and reconciliation. Don't expect Arafat's sham prime minister, Abu Mazen, to denounce Arafat's remarks. The Bush administration and Sharon's government persist with the fiction that further concessions by Israel will satisfy her enemies and that Palestinian promises can be trusted. So, Sharon announces the imminent release of 100 terrorists, including Ahmed Jabara, who was sentenced to life for the 1975 murder of 14 Israelis in a terror attack in Jerusalem. This is styled as a "confidence-building" measure, along with the decision by Sharon to withdraw soldiers from areas where they had been placed to thwart the movement of homicide bombers. The confidence built by these actions will be that of Israel's enemies, who will rightly see them as another sign of weakness by Israel and America and confirm that terrorism works. President Bush correctly said at Auschwitz that evil must be opposed, even to point of taking up arms against it. If that is true, why does American policy support the forcible dismantling of Saddam Hussein's evil regime, but pressure the democratically elected government of Israel to take steps that are suicidal in the face of evil? Such a move guarantees the rekindling of the fires of Auschwitz. Cal Thomas hosts "After Hours " on Fox News Channel Saturdays at 11 p.m. ET. Direct all mail for Cal Thomas to: Tribune Media Services, 435 N. Michigan Ave, Suite 1500, Chicago, Ill. 60611. Readers may also leave e-mail at www.calthomas.com.

The U.S. Experience The Impact of U.S. Re-entry into UNESCO Tuesday, June 3, 2003 8:30 a.m - 12:30 p.m In a September 12, 2002 statement to the UN General Assembly, President George W. Bush announced the U.S. decision to rejoin the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In co-sponsorship with National Geographic and UNESCO's World Heritage Centre, the United Nations Foundation is sponsoring a half-day conference on Tuesday, June 3, 2003 to discuss the importance of UNESCO's World Heritage program and its mission to "protect natural and cultural properties of outstanding universal value against the threat of damage in a rapidly developing world." A range of speakers, including Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Centre; Senator Timothy E. Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation; John Fahey, President of the National Geographic Society; Bonnie Burnham, President of the World Monuments Fund; William Norman, President and CEO of the Travel Industry Association of America; and Terry Miller, U.S. State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, will discuss the significance of World Heritage in their field of work. Throughout the program the audience will learn of the United States' early participation in the creation and support of the World Heritage program, its many successes and future goals, as well as new ways to partner in preserving our world's unique biodiversity.

NYT 15 June 2003 Showdown for a Tool in Human Rights Lawsuits By ALEX MARKELS IN a watershed case that could affect how multinationals do business in developing countries, a federal appeals court will consider on Tuesday whether the energy giant Unocal should stand trial in connection with human rights abuses that the government of Myanmar is accused of inflicting on villagers during construction of a natural-gas pipeline. The crucial question before the unusually large panel of 11 judges is whether to apply international legal standards that hold parties responsible for aiding and abetting human rights abuses. The case is in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. The plaintiffs are a group of villagers from Tenasserim, a region in southeastern Myanmar, the country once known as Burma. They say Unocal paid the military to provide security for the project and supported the government, which forced villagers to help build the $1.2 billion pipeline in the 1990's and threatened those who refused with rape and other atrocities. Unocal denies the accusations. If the court allows the civil suit to go to a jury trial, "this will raise the stakes for multinationals that do business with repressive regimes," said William S. Dodge, an international law professor at the Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. "There are plenty of repressive regimes around the world, and there are plenty of multinationals that do business with them. The question is, how far can a corporation like Unocal go in cooperating with such a regime before the company bears some legal responsibility?" THE case is among a growing number based on the once-obscure Alien Tort Claims Act, a 1789 law originally intended to help prosecute international pirates in American courts. Since the early 1980's, it has been used to argue cases successfully against foreign military and police personnel accused of human rights abuses. More recently, human rights and labor groups have seized on it to do battle with oil, mining and other multinational companies that work with governments that they say engage in torture, genocide and similar violations of international law. There have been more than a dozen alien tort cases filed against companies since the mid-1990's, but none have so far gone to a jury trial. Some have been dismissed on procedural grounds, while others are pending. The possibility of trials has raised concerns among both corporations and the Bush administration over potentially embarrassing testimony — and worry that a verdict could set a precedent that encourages thousands of foreign plaintiffs to seek damages for crimes committed by their own governments. "You get a perfect storm of sympathetic plaintiffs, trial lawyers and anti-globalization activists working together to bring these suits," said William A. Reinsch, the president of the National Foreign Trade Council, an industry group based in Washington. He cites cases like one recently filed against dozens of companies that did business in South Africa under apartheid. "It could be disastrous for global trade," he added. Though there has not been a single verdict against them, companies are feeling the impact of the litigation, which they must increasingly factor into investment decisions. "It's causing companies to run away from situations like Burma," said Errol P. Mendes, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and recently a co-author of "Global Governance, Economy and Law" (Taylor & Francis), which details the impact of such lawsuits on multinational companies. He and others point to a variety of recent corporate decisions to demur or pull back from projects in countries where governments have been accused of human-rights abuses, including Nigeria, Indonesia and Sudan, as well as Myanmar. Although Unocal, based in El Segundo, Calif., continues to do business in Myanmar, "this has created a great deal of uncertainty about future investing," said Charles O. Strathman, its vice president and chief legal officer. "It's not just the legal fees involved; it's also very disruptive and a big time commitment." The negative publicity from such cases may be even more costly. Social-justice and environmental groups see the Unocal case as an example of globalization gone bad, inspiring protests on college campuses and campaigns to pressure school administrators to sell Unocal stock. "Whether these companies prevail in a court of law, they are already losing in the court of public opinion," Professor Mendes said. "Just the launching of these lawsuits has a huge impact on companies' brand equity, which these days is their most important asset." The suits are just one way to try to bring pressure on companies. In resolutions being put before corporate directors, shareholders are calling for companies to pull out of projects implicated in human-rights lawsuits. For example, after a shareholder resolution and negative publicity from a pending human-rights lawsuit, Talisman Energy in March sold its $770 million stake in an oil development project in Sudan. It had been accused of assisting Sudanese forces in an ethnic cleansing campaign against villagers near its oil fields. "There was shareholder fatigue" in the investment, said David W. Mann, a senior manager for investor relations at Talisman, which is based in Calgary, Alberta, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He denied the suit's accusations. Although a lawsuit filed against ChevronTexaco by villagers in Ecuador was dismissed last year by a federal judge, the company decided to end its oil development there last fall. The case is now scheduled to be heard in an Ecuadorian court. Various factors led to the decision to leave Ecuador, but the litigation "was not a positive indicator to say this is a place we want to continue to do business," said Edward B. Scott, vice president and general counsel for the company's overseas division. The threat of similar litigation, he said, "adds a further element of risk and makes us less competitive." SECURITY experts regard such statements as signs that multinational companies based in the United States are increasingly worried about their liability for acts committed by host governments, which have long provided security and other services for their oil, mining and other projects. While corporate officials emphatically defend their human-rights records overseas, "business leaders are getting very nervous about these lawsuits," said Catherine J. Boggs, a lawyer at Baker & McKensie in Chicago, who advises companies about security arrangements with local governments. "Some think the best way to deal with them is to try to repeal the law altogether, or at least modify it." To that end, pro-trade groups and the Justice Department filed briefs in May in the Unocal case, arguing that the alien tort statute had been misapplied by plaintiffs and that such lawsuits could undermine American business interests and the war or terrorism. The lawsuit bears "serious implications for our current war against terrorism" and permits similar claims to be easily asserted against allies in that war, an assistant attorney general, Robert D. McCallum, wrote in the government's brief. Despite increased pressure on judges to support the antiterrorism effort, legal experts say it is unlikely that the court will move to invalidate use of the alien tort statute in the Unocal case. Yet even if it advances to a jury trial, it may be difficult to prove that Unocal actively participated in abuse by Myanmar. "It's not to say that these acts weren't horrible, but the aiding and abetting by Unocal is not obvious," said Anthony J. Sebok, a professor at the Brooklyn Law School who specializes in tort law. "These are difficult allegations to prove because they have to show that Unocal knew precisely how its aid was being used to commit human rights abuses." Yet company officials worry that the aiding-and-abetting standard, which can include "knowing practical assistance, encouragement or moral support" to the perpetrator of the abuse, is so broad that practically any involvement with the government of Myanmar could be misconstrued as complicity. "The investment itself could be considered moral support or assistance," said M. Randall Oppenheimer, a lawyer at O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, who represents Unocal in the case. "It seems fundamentally unfair to hold people liable for a situation that they don't control." The plaintiffs argue, however, that Unocal was well aware of the military's poor human rights record in Myanmar and should have known that its security forces would engage in brutal practices, like forcing villagers who lived in the path of the pipeline not only to relocate, but to help build it. Their lawyers cite a 1992 report by consultants who advised the company on the risks of doing business with the government of Myanmar. The report warned that the military "habitually uses forced labor to construct roads." A lawyer who represents the plaintiffs, Katharine J. Redford of EarthRights International in Washington, said: "Their own consultants told them they could be implicated as a willing partner in the abuse. That's exactly our allegation." EVEN if the suit fails to prove that such actions amounted to aiding and abetting Myanmar's military, legal experts say that potentially embarrassing evidence made public during a jury trial could embolden potential plaintiffs in other cases to come forward. "It's similar to what happened with tobacco," Professor Sebok said. "The very fact that they were able to see the corporate files raises the threat value, so the next time around there would be greater willingness to settle at some price." While companies aggressively fight both the lawsuits and the statute on which they are based, many have also endorsed documents like the State Department's Voluntary Principles on Human Rights and Security. It outlines ways to ensure security for corporate operations and to prevent abuse — to add human rights clauses to contracts with security firms, for example. Some have also begun to work with organizations outside government. Executives at the Royal Dutch/Shell Group are working with members of Human Rights Watch, based in New York, to improve the human rights situation in Nigeria, where the company has been accused of assisting in abuses against members of a local opposition group. And Unocal has met with representatives of Amnesty International and recently allowed observers from the Collaborative for Development Action, an independent consulting group based in Boston, to visit the Myanmar pipeline and study its impact on the local people. "It's a very cynical strategy," said Arvind Ganesan, director of the business and human rights program at Human Rights Watch, "because you end up with companies' trying to do the right thing, but also trying to ensure that there's no consequences for doing the wrong thing."

Observer UK 18 June 2003 Why the US Needs This Court -- America's Rejection of the International Criminal Court is a Threat to its Own Security by Steve Crawshaw First, the good news, which deserves to be savored for a moment. The inauguration in the Hague tomorrow of the first chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court marks a remarkable moment in history. Dictators and tyrants around the world can be brought to book, by a single court. It is an astonishing achievement - and one that seemed, until just a few years ago, quite unimaginable. Even after the signing in 1998 of the Rome Treaty, which laid the foundations for the new court, many believed that the ICC would never become real. They were wrong. Last year, the number of countries ratifying the treaty reached 60, thus allowing the court itself to be created. The prosecutor and judges have been selected. Now, to crown that process, the inauguration tomorrow of Luis Moreno Ocampo - a former prosecutor of the Argentine junta - means that the ICC show is well and truly on the road. Last July, when the court was constituted as a formal entity, it remained without practical power. From tomorrow, its power will be tangible. The court will be authorized to prosecute some of the horrific crimes now being committed around the world - for example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which may provide the first cases. Ninety countries, including almost all the world's major democracies, have now ratified the treaty. But not the United States - which is where the problems begin. Those problems are increasing by the month and by the day. The US administration, not content with refusing to ratify, and then 'unsigning' the treaty (a murky legal concept, at best), seeks to prevent this crucial instrument of international justice from building up the strength it needs to do its work successfully. It is, in short, doing its level best to kill the court. (The 'Hague invasion clause', signed into law by President Bush last year, allows him to use 'all means necessary and appropriate' to free US servicemen detained by the ICC.) In recent days, there have been small glimmers of light. A vote in the Security Council last Thursday was 12-0 in favor of a renewal of a special one-year deal that was agreed last July, allowing US peacekeepers immunity from prosecution. That sounds like another victory for the US hawks. But equally significant were the diplomatic dogs that refused to bark: France and Germany both withheld their vote, because they were so unhappy at the US pressures. Nor was this just the same old post-Iraq rift. Kofi Annan himself warned that the court - and the Security Council - would be undermined, if such renewals became an annual routine. Many countries - from Switzerland to South Africa - spoke out against the idea that the Security Council should start rewriting international treaties. The US pressures at the United Nations have been only part of the story. The bully tactics against countries which defy America by refusing to weaken their commitment to the court have become blatant in recent months, as private (and much-denied) arm-twisting has given way to public threats. Countries vulnerable to American pressure - these days, the list of such countries is long - are told that unless they offer the Americans the desired immunity from prosecution, punishment will be swift and severe. Thus, the US ambassador to Zagreb recently published an open letter warning that Croatia would lose $19 million in military assistance if it failed to sign. Other countries have received similar threats; some - like the Bosnians, who, one might think, had already suffered more than their fair share of threats and ultimatums in recent years - have reluctantly surrendered. The irony is obvious: that Washington simultaneously demands complete co-operation with international justice at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal (or else), and complete non-co-operation with international justice at the ICC (or else). Elsewhere, Caribbean countries have been told that they will no longer be eligible for hurricane assistance unless they give the Americans what they want, right now. Like every practiced bully, Washington has given an early date for the implementation of its threats. For many countries, the proclaimed deadline for kowtowing to the US pressures runs out on 1 July, the first anniversary of the court itself. The American view of the court, described by the deputy US ambassador to the UN as 'a fatally flawed institution', is that the court will act as a giant conspiracy against America. Accordingly, Americans will be unfairly targeted. But this misunderstands the essence of the court. The ICC is a court of last resort, which prosecutes only the most serious war crimes and crimes against humanity, and comes into play only where domestic courts have shown themselves unwilling or unable to prosecute. Despite the depressing and dangerous insouciance about international law shown by America at Guantanamo and elsewhere, one would assume that US politicians and commanders are not eager to commit atrocities on a grand scale, à la Saddam or Milosevic, which could bring them before the ICC. As Kofi Annan pointed out, no UN peacekeeper of any nationality has been accused of a crime 'anywhere near the crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC'. The Americans may be right to fear that there will be attempts to bring politically motivated cases. But the court has a solid panoply of safeguards, which make it difficult to imagine that malicious and frivolous cases could get past judicial first base. Britain, which played a key role during the negotiations of the Rome treaty five years ago, has in recent months played a less dignified role - constantly eager to tweak the European diplomatic language in order (unsuccessfully) to appease the US loathing of the court. The UK has been depressingly reluctant to confront Washington's bully tactics, confining itself instead to occasional hand wringing expressions of regret. And yet, almost no issue can be of greater importance. The strength of the ICC - which does not have retrospective jurisdiction beyond July 2002 - can become an international guarantor of stability in the years to come. American contempt for the court - and its determination to bring the court's supporters to heel - sends a disastrous message worldwide. It suggests that there is one standard of justice for Americans and another for everybody else. Such haughty foolishness makes the world a less safe place - for Americans too. Steve Crawshaw is London director of Human Rights Watch.

NYT June 24, 2003 Court Rejects Law Designed to Help Holocaust Survivors Get Insurance Information By JOSEPH B. TREASTER The Supreme Court yesterday struck down a California law designed to help Holocaust survivors receive payment on insurance policies that European companies have long denied, saying that the law improperly interfered with United States foreign policy. But California officials, several members of Congress and private lawyers said they would increase their efforts to force the companies to publish lists of their Holocaust-era policyholders and to make good on what some Holocaust and insurance experts estimate could be several billion dollars worth of unpaid life insurance policies. "These companies must still deal with California," said John Garamendi, the California insurance commissioner, who has broad authority to regulate insurers. "I am sure that companies that operate now and wish to continue operating in the fifth-largest economy in the world will do everything they can to address this issue." The American Insurance Association, which took the case to the Supreme Court on behalf of member companies that are subsidiaries of European insurers, said it was gratified by the decision. But in response to Mr. Garamendi's remark, a spokeswoman, Nicole Mahrt, would only say, "We'll have to review any decisions or actions he takes." The California governor, Gray Davis, said in a statement that he would do "everything in my power to bring some measure of peace to survivors and victims' families." Writing for the majority in the 5-to-4 decision, Justice David Souter said letting the California law stand would "hamstring the President's settling international controversies." The California law, adopted in 1999, required the subsidiaries of European companies to produce the names of millions of policyholders who bought coverage from their parent companies in Germany, Italy and elsewhere in Europe between 1920 and 1945. Failure to comply could have cost the companies their licenses to do business in the state. California officials and historians have contended that because documents were lost in the Holocaust and many with knowledge of the insurance died in concentration camps, the only way survivors can know if they are owed money is if the names of policyholders are published. But the insurers have persistently refused to produce full lists of policyholders. They say European privacy laws bar publication of names, that producing such lists would be costly and that in any case many records have been destroyed — a point disputed by some Holocaust experts. In both the majority opinion and a dissent written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court noted that during the Holocaust, the German authorities confiscated many life insurance policies and that insurers simply refused to pay claims on many others, sometimes insisting that claimants meet the impossible demand of presenting copies of policies and death certificates. As a result, the court said, the rightful beneficiaries were never paid. In 1998, facing more than a dozen lawsuits and under the threat from regulators of having their licenses to do business revoked, a half-dozen European insurers agreed to join in the founding of the International Commission on Holocaust-Era Insurance Claims. One goal of the commission, which included regulators and Jewish groups, is the publication of the names of policyholders. It has so far published on the Internet about 422,000 names, most obtained through a settlement between the United States and Germany over several Holocaust issues. But Holocaust experts say millions of policies remain unaccounted for. In the settlement with Germany, the United States also agreed to discourage lawsuits or regulatory action against German companies, and it filed a brief in the California case. For several years, Justice Souter noted, the United States policy has been to try to resolve Holocaust insurance issues through negotiations, rather than litigation or unilateral lawmaking. Washington has regarded the international commission as the proper forum for resolving the insurance disputes. But the commission has been criticized by many people as being ineffectual. In the decision yesterday, Justice Souter wrote that by trying to force action by the insurance companies, "California seeks to use an iron fist, where the president has consistently chosen kid gloves." "We have heard powerful arguments that the iron fist would work better," he continued, adding that it was not for the court to decide between the two. Rather, he said, it was the court's task to deal with the conflict over foreign policy. "The evidence," he concluded, quoting an earlier decision, "is more than sufficient to demonstrate that the state act stands in the way of diplomatic objectives" of the president. Two lawyers pursuing lawsuits over Holocaust-era insurance policies against Assicurazioni Generali, an Italian company — Linda Gerstel in New York and Bill Shernoff in California — said the decision would not derail their cases. Both have said they hope to obtain full policyholder lists in their litigation. Earlier this year, four congressmen introduced legislation requg — or permitting states to require — publication of the lists. One of them, Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, said in a statement that he had signed up 50 co-sponsors and that he believed the court's decision "would spur momentum to get more sponsors and move this legislation forward."

NYT 15 June 2003 Holocaust Documentaries: Too Much of a Bad Thing? By BARRY GEWEN The turning point may have come in 1985 with "Shoah," Claude Lanzmann's nine-and-a-half-hour epic of death camp survivors, Nazi officials, Polish bystanders, righteous gentiles and meticulous historians hunched over aging documents. It marked — if it did not initiate — the moment when documentary filmmakers started giving their full attention to Hitler's planned extermination of the Jews. "When I began exploring how films have grappled with the Holocaust in 1979, there were merely a few dozen titles to warrant attention," Annette Insdorf writes in her encyclopedic study "Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust." But for the book's third edition, published this year, she lists, together with the fiction films, 69 documentaries made since 1990 alone — a rate of almost one every two months. Elsewhere she estimates that there are at least six completed Holocaust documentaries that do not get distribution for every one that does. And the stream has continued at flood tide into 2003. Last month "Secret Lives," Aviva Slesin's emotionally complex film about Jewish children hidden by gentile families during the Nazi era, opened in New York. Shortly after, PBS showed Charles Guggenheim's "Berga: Soldiers of Another War," about Jewish-American soldiers captured by the Germans. "Bonhoeffer," Martin Doblmeier's intellectual, spiritually suffused account of the anti-Nazi German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is opening on June 27, two days before A & E broadcasts Liz Garbus's "Nazi Officer's Wife," the biography of a Jewish woman who survived by assuming an Aryan identity and marrying a Nazi party member. But simply listing these new films raises a troubling question: Are too many Holocaust documentaries now being made? Has supply outstripped demand? It's a question that makes people uncomfortable. Who would want to appear callous in the face of such suffering, or, worse, anti-Semitic? Yet there are definite signs of Holocaust fatigue. Perhaps because she is a survivor, Ms. Slesin is more forthright than most. "I can't bear to see evil over and over again," she says. "Even I roll my eyes when I hear about another Holocaust documentary" — but then she quickly adds, "until I see what it's about." Stephen Feinstein, the director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota, has sat on a selection committee for a Jewish film festival when more than 15 Holocaust documentaries were submitted. With each year bringing still more films, he says, "you can't see them all." Many of the films have become formulaic, using the same German footage, the same static interviewing techniques. "Get out of the talking-head format," Mr. Feinstein advises. Raye Farr, the director of the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, says that filmmakers are too often taking the easy way out, showing an "increasing inclination to go for sentimentality." With an undertone of exasperation in her voice, she says, "Crying is not very edifying." Why do filmmakers have such an abiding interest in the Holocaust? In part, they are simply reflecting the extraordinary phenomenon that the Holocaust has become in American life. Publishers churn out books on the subject in voluminous numbers, state governments legislate the teaching of the Holocaust in public schools, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington greets millions of visitors each year. It would be odd if filmmakers didn't share this general fascination. And yet many of them feel a particular urgency about their work. As the documentarian Joseph Dorman observed in a recent interview, anyone with a relative who went through the Holocaust has a "natural desire" to tell that story. Most of these films are made not for any commercial reason, and not really with an educational intent. They are works of moral witness. Melissa Hacker's mother was a survivor of the Kindertransport, one of thousands of Jewish children from Germany and Austria who were sent to England in the months before the start of World War II. Ms. Hacker had grown up with the story, but there were many things her mother wouldn't talk about, "forbidden stuff." It was only when she set about making a documentary, "My Knees Were Jumping: Remembering the Kindertransports" (1995), that her mother opened up to her. The film, Ms. Hacker says, "was a way of learning more about my own family." Such personal involvement can inspire intense dedication. Ms. Slesin took three and a half years to complete her film. Ms. Hacker, a first-time documentarian when she made "My Knees Were Jumping," required seven. Funding is always a problem. Sometimes, it seems that Holocaust documentaries have a lock on all the awards: they have won five Oscars over the last eight years. But their commercial prospects are generally slim, and rare is the investor willing to back a film almost guaranteed to be a box-office loser. (Ms. Slesin likes to think of her supporters as donors rather than investors.) Most movie audiences want to be entertained; they don't want to dwell on the sealed boxcars, extermination camps and mounds of corpses that are the staples of the Holocaust narrative. There has been a tendency of late among documentary filmmakers to concentrate on the more "positive" side — gentiles who opposed Hitler or rescued victims; Jewish resisters in the Warsaw Ghetto and elsewhere; and of course the survivors themselves. These individuals are often presented as inspirational (although, with the millions of victims who are not here to go before the camera, there is nothing inspirational about the Holocaust). Even so, their stories don't readily win financial backing. Independent filmmakers speak of "endless hours" of fund-raising, "a tremendous amount of scrambling." Even established institutions have trouble. Major archives exist for the express purpose of capturing the survivors on film. Yale's Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies has a collection of more than 4,000 testimonies. The Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, established by Steven Spielberg in 1994 following the success of "Schindler's List," is by far the largest. It houses more than 50,000 testimonies. Both the Fortunoff Archive and the Shoah Foundation have produced films using their collections, but they, too, have had to struggle to raise money. Douglas Greenberg, the president and C.E.O. of the Shoah Foundation, describes "banging with a tin cup" for outside support. "Steven doesn't pay all the bills," Mr. Greenberg says. There is one grand exception to this rule of penury. Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, speaks with the confidence and ebullience of a man who knows he sits astride a well-oiled machine. The center has its own movie division, Moriah Films, and it turns out a film about once every two years (not all of them about the Holocaust). Two, "Genocide" and "The Long Way Home," have won Oscars. Unlike everyone else involved in making Holocaust documentaries, Rabbi Hier says raising money has been "very easy," and since 1989 Moriah Films has collected about $15 million. The minimum gift the center accepts is $100,000 spread over five years, and Hollywood celebrities like Orson Welles, Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Douglas have volunteered their services as narrators for the films. The scrambling documentarians clustered on the East Coast can only stare across the continent with envy at this odd coupling of Hollywood star power and the awesome atrocity of the Holocaust. But rich or poor, every Holocaust documentarian is working the same territory, and some critics complain that the basic plot line of the Holocaust has become too familiar by now to permit genuinely original work. We all know it: first the arrival of the Nazis, then the initial terror, then the rounding up into ghettos, then the shipment to the camps, then the gassing and death or, alternatively, the humiliation, degradation, starvation, torture, gassing and death. And at this point, it seems, just about all that documentarians can do with the history is to fill in the gaps. The recently shown "Berga" is an example. It tells of 350 G.I.'s captured during the Battle of the Bulge who were Jewish or looked Jewish, and who were shipped off to a concentration camp to be slave laborers. No one is suggesting that documentarians stop making Holocaust films. As Ms. Farr puts it, "There'll always be more to discover and understand." But Mr. Dorman, for one, believes it is time to pay more attention to the perpetrators. Film, he says, has proved "an ideal medium" for allowing the victims to tell their stories, but where, he wonders, are the far more complex stories of the criminals? Books have been written about them — Christopher R. Browning's "Ordinary Men" (1992), for example, has become an instant classic — yet filmmakers have exhibited a greater reluctance than historians to examine this aspect of the Holocaust. Perhaps they are fearful of humanizing the inhuman. Audiences, after all, feel a natural tendency to identify with the person on the screen. Even the archivists shy away. Mr. Greenberg argues that the perpetrators "have had their say," and sees the Shoah Foundation's work as "redressing the balance." (Among its collections are 1,000 interviews with rescuers.) Besides, Mr. Greenberg says, "perpetrators aren't lining up to be interviewed." He's surely right. And yet one of the most gripping — and disturbing — moments in the foundation's own film "The Last Days" is an interview with a former Nazi doctor who participated in the human experiments at Auschwitz. One way out of their box is for documentarians to cease being documentarians. Among the most astute commentators on the Holocaust is Lawrence L. Langer, the author of "Holocaust Testimonies" (1991) and several other works. He believes that the standard narrative has scarcely been exhausted, but that the individual experiences of the victims can most accurately be captured through fiction films. Mr. Feinstein seconds this view, saying that fiction films will "take over" because there's only so much you can show in a documentary. However, Mr. Langer is not optimistic. It requires great courage and imagination to make honest fiction films about the Holocaust, he says. Mr. Langer praises the "raw reality" of Tim Blake Nelson's "Grey Zone," a dramatization of the Sonderkommando, the Jewish slaves forced to work in the gas chambers and crematoria of Auschwitz. It's an unrelenting film of ubiquitous terror and arbitrary death, with no consoling message. It opened and closed in New York City last year in a matter of days. Perhaps the most fruitful avenue for documentarians at the present time is to follow the lead of the historians and broaden their canvas. Many scholars are now reaching beyond the standard Holocaust narrative to ask questions that require wider comparative and contextual analyses. Samantha Power, for instance, writes about "the age of genocide" in her book " `A Problem From Hell.' " Institutions devoted to the Holocaust have also enlarged their perspective. The Holocaust Museum in Washington has run exhibits and programs on Sudan, Bosnia and Rwanda. Mr. Greenberg says the Shoah Foundation is looking to expand its range because "the pace of genocides has increased." He is confident that filmmakers are already moving in the same direction. "We will have documentaries about Rwanda in reasonably short order," he predicts. The Holocaust will no doubt remain the defining atrocity of our time — for several reasons, good and bad — and a springboard for any discussion of mass extermination. But now it coexists with the slaughter of the Armenians, the malignity of the gulag, the autogenocide in Cambodia, the ethnic cleansings in the Balkans and the sanguinary tribal wars across Africa. For filmmakers interested in examining man's inhumanity to man or bringing it to public attention or simply bearing witness, there is no shortage of material. Barry Gewen is an editor at The New York Times Book Review.

NYT 29 June 2003 HOLOCAUST DOCUMENTARIES Hunger for Insight To the Editor: I feel compelled to let you know how deeply offended I was by some parts of your lead article on June 15 about Holocaust documentaries ["Holocaust Documentaries: Too Much of a Bad Thing?" by Barry Gewen]. For anyone who lost relatives in the camps, the details of terror and torture and murder are not mere "gaps" to be filled in. Indeed, films that humanize the experience are aimed at preventing the very kind of cold eye toward the subject that Mr. Gewen seemed to exhibit. I've tried to read many books and, yes, watch many films, and I still feel the Holocaust is a subject of confounding complexity that I never seem to get a handle on and that holds endless relevance to today's events. It did not seem to occur to Mr. Gewen that if there weren't a hunger for more insight into such a dark period, there probably wouldn't be so much artistic energy poured into it. SUSAN ORENSTEIN San Francisco Aiding the Witnesses To the Editor: I am astonished at the question of whether there have been too many films on the subject of the Holocaust. There were six million lost. There are at least six million stories to be told. Of the 40 feature-length films I have made, four have been related to the Holocaust. Somehow, each one had to be made and each one was told in a different way. HARRY RASKY Toronto Closer Horrors To the Editor: In reciting the horrors of inhumanity — the Holocaust, genocides in Rwanda and Armenia, etc. — and how and why they have received attention, Barry Gewen inferentially exposes an answer: in his lengthy litany he neglects to mention what befell Native Americans and Africans in the Western Hemisphere, including the United States. Focusing on distant horrors becomes a way to distance oneself from the very real catastrophes that have drenched our own soil with blood. GERALD HORNE Chapel Hill, N.C. The writer is professor of African and Afro-American Studies at the University of North Carolina. Perpetrators' Stories To the Editor: In his thoughtful article, Barry Gewen writes that some filmmakers and archivists have shied away from the stories of perpetrators of, and collaborators in, Nazi atrocities. However, since 1996 the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has spearheaded a documentation project to collect such testimony. Interviews with perpetrators, collaborators and witnesses add an important dimension to our understanding that survivors are unable to report. JOAN RINGELHEIM Washington The writer is director of the Department of Oral History at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Asia-Pacific

Bangladesh

AFP 19 June 2003 Powell pays lightning visit to Bangladesh after protests DHAKA, US Secretary of State Colin Powell held talks Thursday in Bangladesh in a short stop a US official said was meant to "support a Muslim democracy." Islamist groups had demanded the welcome mat be pulled from Powell and thousands of protesters took to the streets a day earlier chanting that the top US diplomat was a "war criminal" responsible for civilian deaths in the Iraq war. But Dhaka was mostly quiet as Powell arrived, with much of the city shut down by a half-day strike unrelated to the visit called by the main opposition party. A senior State Department official said the rare high-level US visit to Bangladesh was meant "to support a Muslim democracy with some economic progress." "We want to support a country on the path to freedom. The reason ... is to go to a country that is trying to make democracy succeed and we do what we can to encourage them, push them and help," the official said. The official said trip had been supposed to include the signing of an agreement exempting US nationals in Bangladesh from any prosecution by the International Criminal Court. But the so-called Article 98 agreement was not expected to be ready for signing during Powell's visit, the official said. The United States strongly opposes the court, saying it could prosecute US nationals for political reasons, and has secured exemption deals with 39 countries including Bangladesh's neighbor India. Bangladeshi official sources have said the Iraq situation would likely come up during talks with Powell along with economic issues as the cash-strapped South Asian country seeks greater foreign investment. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's government, which includes Islamists, rejected appeals to cancel the trip and -- hoping to make a good impression on the economic front -- had urged the opposition Awami League to call off the strike meant to protest the killing of a party leader this week. Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri is in Bangladesh on a three-day visit meant to boost trade between the two Muslim countries. Powell held talks with Foreign Minister Morshed Khan and was due to meet later both with Zia and her bitter rival, Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina Wajed. The State Department said earlier that Powell's visit was also meant to thank Bangladesh in its support for the "war on terrorism" launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. While Bangladesh had offered US warplanes air rights during the Afghanistan operation, it opposed the war that unseated Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, urging that any action be authorized by the UN Security Council. The only other US secretaries of state to visit Bangladesh were Henry Kissinger in 1973 and Madeleine Albright in 2000 who visited with Bill Clinton, the only US president to travel to Bangladesh while in office.

Cambodia

Reuters 2 Jun 2003 Accord on Khmer Rouge trials to be signed Friday UNITED NATIONS, June 2 (Reuters) - U.N. and Cambodian officials are due to sign an agreement this week setting up long-delayed special courts to try leaders of Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge regime, the United Nations announced on Monday. The signing will take place in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh on Friday, U.N. chief spokesman Fred Eckhard said. U.N. Legal Counsel Hans Corell will sign on behalf of the United Nations after the 191-nation General Assembly last month endorsed the plan for creating the "extraordinary chambers" within the Cambodian judicial system. His Cambodian counterpart, Senior Minister Sok An, will sign on behalf of the Cambodian government, Eckhard said. The goal of the special courts is to try "senior leaders" of the Khmer Rouge and "those who were most responsible" for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. An estimated 1.7 million people died under the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge's four-year reign of terror in the 1970s. Most victims were executed or died of starvation, overwork or disease as the Khmer Rouge vision of a peasant utopia in the southeast Asian nation turned into the nightmare of the "killing fields," rural areas where people were slain and buried in shallow graves. U.N. and Cambodian officials completed work on the agreement in March, after more than five years of negotiations and many compromises. The courts, staffed with a mix of international and Cambodian judges, will function in some ways like national courts and in other ways like the international tribunals set up to prosecute grave crimes against humanity in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Some human rights groups have criticized the plan as failing to meet international justice standards, arguing the Cambodian government -- whose ranks include numerous former Khmer Rouge officials and soldiers including Prime Minister Hun Sen -- would be able to influence the proceedings. But many governments countered that blocking the deal would deprive the Cambodian people of their last chance to bring to justice those responsible for one of the 20th century's worst atrocities.

Reuters 2 Jue 2003 Film Review -- S21: Khmer Rouge By Kirk Honeycutt CANNES (Hollywood Reporter) - The banality of evil has seldom been more terrifyingly demonstrated than in Rithy Panh's "S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine." Most of the film takes place in S21, a detention center located in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, where some 17,000 prisoners were tortured and interrogated from 1975-79 under the Khmer Rouge regime. Somehow the filmmaker persuaded former guards and torturers as well as two of the three remaining survivors to return to S21, now a genocide museum, to testify as to what took place within that house of horrors. One of the two survivors breaks down even before he enters the building. The result of this confrontation, though not easy to sit through, makes for vital, compelling viewing. Despite the number of years since the murder of 2 million Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge, little literature or films have emerged to document that holocaust. Thus, "S21" is an invaluable addition to the international festival circuit. When these two groups come together, one immediately notices the striking dissimilarities in their ages. The torturers are still young men, meaning that they were youngsters of 12 and 13 when indoctrinated by the revolutionary government. No wonder they were so easily convinced that their prisoners were the "enemy" and, as such, unworthy of human consideration or kindness. To his credit, the director withholds judgments, letting the audience decide if both groups were not victims of the Khmer Rouge, one robbed of their lives and the other of their humanity. The torturers' goal was something out of "Alice in Wonderland." Their prisoners were people the communist regime sought to eliminate. Yet for the society to be deemed "just," a reason for their execution must be found, meaning that the prisoners must confess to a crime, no matter how nonsensical. The former torturers had to convince them to make these confessions, first through intimidation and then, failing this, through torture and beatings. Confronted with the evidence of the past -- photos of prisoners who committed suicide, infirmary and execution records and other testimony -- the guards open up. Yes, they now see what they did is outside the law, but at the time they believed in the system and wanted to prove their loyalty to it. Gradually, some former guards re-enact the past, repeating the routine of mistreatment as if they left the jobs only yesterday. In these routines, they never consider the prisoners as anything more than dead people. "So nothing human was left, was there?" one former prisoner asks, forcing his torturers to acknowledge the reality of what they did. The film bears witness to the process by which a fascist state can convince its citizens of the commonality of a great evil and to make the mechanics of brutality part of everyday life so the stench of corpses is no longer noticed and violence against humanity is always justified. What a sad commentary on human progress that within a few years, we may see similar films detailing the horrors of Rwanda and Iraq. A l'Institut national de l'audiovisuel and ARTE production. Credits: Director: Rithy Panh; Producer: Cati Couteau; Executive producers: Liane Willemont, Aline Sasson; Directors of photography: Prum Mesar, Rithy Panh; Music: Marc Marder; Editors: Isabelle Roudy, Marie-Christine Rougerie. Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

ABC Radio Australia News 3 June 2003 Cambodia prepares to prosecute Khmer leaders United Nations and Cambodian officials are due to sign an agreement this week setting up long-delayed special courts to try leaders of Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge regime. The UN says the signing will take place in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh on Friday. UN legal counsel Hans Corell will sign on behalf of the United Nations after the 191-nation general assembly last month endorsed the plan for creating the extraordinary chambers within the Cambodian judicial system. His Cambodian counterpart, senior minister Sok An, will sign on behalf of the Cambodian Government. The goal of the special courts is to try senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge and those who prosecutors say were most responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

AFP 19 June 2003 Hun Sen tells Powell no objection to ICC immunity deal for US citizens PHNOM PENH, Prime Minister Hun Sen told US Secretary of State Colin Powell Thursday that Cambodia has no objections to exempting US nationals on its territory from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Chief of Cabinet Sok An told reporters that Powell had raised ICC exemptions as a bilateral issue during talks on the sidelines of ministerial meetings hosted by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). "On that point our Prime Minister Hun Sen has replied to the United States' request positively," Sok An said. "The prime minister clarified that Cambodia has no objection." The United States strongly opposes the court, and has secured exemption deals with 39 countries -- Togo becoming the latest when it signed an agreement with Washington last Friday. Washington is expected to make public the full list of countries to grant the exemptions after July 1, the deadline for ICC member countries to agree to the pacts or suffer US aid cuts. Sok An said Cambodian lawyers would have to examine documents in regards to the so-called Article 98 of the ICC agreement, and a timetable would be set to sign the required documents. The Article 98 agreement is controversial, particularly in Europe where the European Union -- which supports the court -- has campaigned to limit the scope of deals signed with the US by EU members or aspirants. Washington argues that the court could become a forum for politically motivated prosecutions of US citizens, including civilian military contractors and former officials, and has been unapologetic in its pursuit of signing Article 98 agreements

AFP 27 June 2003 Cambodia signs deal to exempt US citizens from ICC prosecution, PHNOM PENH, June 27 Phnom Penh and Washington Friday signed a deal that will exempt US citizens on Cambodian soil from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), officials said. The deal on the so-called Article 98 of the ICC agreement was inked after US Secretary of State Colin Powell raised the exemption issue in talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen during a visit here last week. The ICC is the world's first permanent international court to try cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. But the US fears the court could become a forum for politically motivated prosecutions of its citizens and has launched a campaign to secure bilateral immunity deals since the court came into being in July last year. Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said, after the signing with US ambassador to Phnom Penh Charles Ray, that Washington's deepening role in combatting terrorism had justified the exemption. "Taking into account the role, the big role, of the US in combating terrorism, we accept to sign this agreement with the US for the sake of the whole international community's (war) against terrorism," he said. The Article 98 agreement is controversial, particularly in Europe where the European Union -- which supports the court -- has campaigned to limit the scope of deals signed with the US by EU members or aspirants. To date, the US has signed Article 98 agreements with 39 countries.

Reuters 30 June 2003 Cambodia's Cham Muslims Latest Target in War on Terror By Ed Cropley PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - For years, few Cambodians have taken much notice of the bearded foreigners coming to pray at the simple, white-washed mosques dotted alongside the murky waters of the Mekong river. In a country awash with outside organizations all doing their bit to rebuild a nation shattered by decades of civil war, Arabs do not raise eyebrows as they help Cambodia's ethnic Cham Muslims recover from the Khmer Rouge genocide. That was until last month, when the deeply impoverished Southeast Asian nation and its population of a few hundred thousand "forgotten Muslims" became the latest front in the U.S. "war on terror." Acting on intelligence gleaned from joint operations with the United States, Cambodian police swooped on a Saudi-funded Om al-Qura school near the capital to arrest three foreigners with suspected links to militant Islam, possibly even Osama bin Laden. An Egyptian, two Thais and a Cambodian are in a Phnom Penh jail, accused of being members of Jemaah Islamiah, the Southeast Asian militant group believed to be behind the bombings in the Indonesian resort island of Bali. More than 200 people, most of them young Western tourists, died in October's blasts. Nearly 50 people, including teachers at the 500-pupil school and their families, left the country as part of the crackdown. The arrests and closure of the school have been a rude awakening for the Cham and Cambodian authorities, whose relaxed attitude toward their Muslim compatriots could be about to change. "Khmer Islam is very peaceful and the people are innocent. What I am afraid of is the people from outside. We are going to have to have more inspections," said Minister of Cults and Religions Chea Savoeun. FISHING PEOPLE Although Cambodia is a predominantly Buddhist country of about 13 million people, the haunting cry of the muezzin summoning the faithful to prayer across the lush green paddyfields has been a feature of Cambodian life for centuries. Descendants of the ancient kingdom of Champa in what is now central Vietnam, the Cham migrated to Cambodia in the early 1800s to escape religious and cultural persecution. On the shores of the great Tonle Sap lake and the banks of the Mekong, they continued their idiosyncratic form of Islam, still heavily influenced by ancient beliefs including Buddhism and tribal magic. It is these beliefs, which deviate from the strict Islamic canon, that make Cambodia's Muslims a likely target for Islamic puritans from overseas, scholars say. "In Cambodia...religious activists from the Arab world are arriving with a new view on religion and they preach an austere Wahhabiyya version of Islam," said Bjorn Blengsli, a Norwegian anthropologist who recently spent 10 months with the Cham. "These organizations want to purify Cham Islamic practice by getting rid of the many influences from Buddhism," he said. As well as financing haj pilgrimages to Mecca, Islamic aid organizations from countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have built schools and mosques for Cham children, who are otherwise too poor to afford schooling. PURITANISM TO TERRORISM? The number of Islamic schools in Cambodia has been increasing steadily since the early 1990s, when United Nations-brokered elections signaled the beginning of the end of nearly three decades of civil war that included the 1975-79 reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge. The Ministry of Cults and Religions has 210 registered mosques but says it has no means of tracking the number or background of Islamic teachers floating around the country. With its porous borders and lack of any intelligence infrastructure, foreign countries, especially the United States, are becoming extremely nervous that senior Jemaah Islamiah or al Qaeda members might have gone to ground in Cambodia's backwaters. "There are only four things the Americans care about in Cambodia: Wahabis, Wahabis, Wahabis and the elections -- in that order," one non-American diplomat said. Cambodia goes to the polls next month. Whether teaching a strict form of Islam translates into propagating militancy remains to be seen. The four arrested men face probes by investigating judges, a process which could take six months. What is sure is that the Cham now fear their peaceful universe is being shattered as they become possible targets for discrimination. "I don't believe that they are involved in terrorism or al Qaeda. Om al-Qura came to help the Cham people in Cambodia," said Ahmad Yahya, a minister and Cambodia's most vocal Cham.

China

WP 2 June 2003 China's Monumental Gamble River Halted by Dam That Will Bring Power, or Untold Destruction By John Pomfret Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, June 2, 2003; Page A11 ON THE YANGTZE RIVER, China, June 1 -- China halted the flow of the Yangtze River today and began filling what will be the world's biggest reservoir as part of a controversial $24 billion wager to generate clean energy and stop the deluges that have swept across central China for centuries. Engineers blocked 19 of the 22 sluice gates on the Three Gorges Dam, located in the central province of Hubei. The water level began rising from 330 feet and will hit 445 feet in two weeks, ultimately reaching 577 feet when the dam, China's most formidable engineering feat since the construction of the Great Wall, is completed in 2009. Limited power generation is scheduled to begin in August. With as much water as Lake Superior, the reservoir will stretch 385 miles east to west and more than one mile north to south. Two cities, 11 county seats and 1,352 villages will be submerged under its chocolate-colored flow. To make room for the massive basin, more than 1.3 million people are being forced to leave their homes, a process that already has been fraught with corruption and complaints. An estimated $500 million is being spent to build more than 20 wastewater treatment plants along its banks. Nonetheless, environmental scientists are concerned that the reservoir will become little more than a cesspool for the 15 million people and thousands of factories nearby. At a time when many countries around the world, including the United States, are dismantling dams faster than they are constructing them, China's project is emblematic of a political system run by builders. All nine members of the Communist Party's all-powerful Standing Committee of the Politburo were trained as engineers, and their faith in the power of man over nature remains unshaken. Li Peng, the former premier who championed the project in the early 1990s despite unprecedented opposition from the normally submissive parliament, was a hydrologist. The project and the Tiananmen Square crackdown he oversaw in 1989 constitute his legacy. The project fulfills a dream held by people as varied as U.S. Army engineers who surveyed the region in the 1940s, and Chinese dictator Mao Zedong, who wrote in 1956: "Walls of stone will stand upstream to the west. . . . The mountain goddess will marvel at a world so changed." Fashioned from white stone, the dam straddles the Yangtze and measures 7,600 feet across and 600 feet high. With a series of record-high locks on the north side of the structure, the dam will open up Chongqing, China's largest urban area, home to 30 million people, to ocean-going vessels 2,539 miles from where the Yangtze pours into the Pacific Ocean near Shanghai. The dam project highlights the willingness of the Communist Party to take enormous risks with citizens throughout its 54-year reign. A disastrous economic program designed to propel China past Britain in the late 1950s left 30 million people dead of starvation. China has tested nuclear weapons near farming villages in the Taklimakan Desert. In the current, furious bout of multibillion-dollar development in Chongqing, with tunnels, bridges and highways, workers have actually threaded part of a light-rail network through an office tower perched on one of the city's precarious ledges. China's government recently gambled that severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, was not a serious disease and would disappear. The risks inherent in the Three Gorges project span the spectrum, from social ills to science, finance to geology. Forecasts made by government economists in the 1990s about the cost of electrical power are now considered too high, so it is unclear whether the dam, which is expected to significantly exceed its $24 billion price tag, will make any money. The dam will ultimately be able to crank out 18,200 megawatts of energy a year, the equivalent of 26 nuclear power plants or 10 big coal-fired power stations burning 50 million tons of coal. But electricity prices in China have plummeted in the last several years as more power plants have come on line. Small cracks have already been discovered in the dam's structure. Officials have been arrested for providing construction companies with shoddy materials. The dam is believed to sit on stable ground, but the land that holds the reservoir is so vulnerable to landslides that tour boat operators point out famous landslide sites along the route to the Three Gorges. The city of Fengjie, which is being submerged by the reservoir, has been moved twice because part of the first site risked slipping into the river, officials said. The prospect of an environmental disaster also petrifies some experts. Each year, the area around Chongqing will dump 12.4 billion cubic feet of wastewater and 14.1 billion cubic feet of industrial waste into the reservoir, enough to fill it with muck in 50 years. An additional 21.2 billion cubic feet of silt will roll into the lake, creating what some engineers predict will be a mountain-size headache for the 36 energy-generating turbines at the dam below. In recent years, the government has acknowledged the brewing environmental disaster and is taking steps to ensure that the reservoir does not become a cesspool. The World Bank is backing Chongqing's effort to centralize 600 waste outtake pipes through two main water treatment plants, a huge feat in this mountainous city. "There is a big change in the attitude of the government," said Zhou Lin Jun, a senior official working on the World Bank project team. "In the past the bank pushed us to do environmental projects. Now we're doing them ourselves." But environmentalists say it might be too late. For one, 60 percent of the waste entering the reservoir comes from sources that can't be treated, such as fields laden with fertilizer and insecticide. Of the 90 tributaries entering the reservoir, 60 are now considered heavily polluted. Along the river, the water has already been rising slowly for weeks, covering the islands and reefs that dot the river and crawling up the river's verdant banks. Soon, it will submerge graveyards and old temples, the sites of countless poems by China's masters from its imperial past. Hundreds of thousands of workers up and down the river are engaged in a furious battle to prepare for the rising lake. The old city of Fengjie, 394 miles downriver from Chongqing, resembles a war zone. Miles of streets and houses have been knocked down and a new city has been hacked out of the cliffs above. On Saturday, dozens of scrawny farmers and their children rooted among the rubble for metal scraps, an old tire, soda cans or plastic bags. Thousands of people have been moved from the old city and from villages near it. While the government insists their lives have improved, it appears that the move has generally benefited government workers and members of the Communist Party, who have been given preferential housing and secure jobs. "The average people are being treated badly," said Du Xiaoshan, 60, a farmer who was forced to leave his orange groves and vegetable fields and now ekes out a living picking through trash in Fengjie. "The water is going to take my livelihood away from me. Farming oranges is all I know." Already the water's rise has prompted unexpected consequences. Millions of water rats have scampered up the banks, seeking succor in the new towns. That has sparked a mass campaign to kill them, and their carcasses, laden with poison, will now roll back into the reservoir.

East Timor

ICRC 6 June 2003 Press Release 03/37 Timor-Leste becomes 191st State party to the Geneva Conventions Geneva (ICRC) – On 8 May 2003, less than a year after independence, Timor-Leste has deposited with the Swiss government the instrument of accession to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949. This makes Timor-Leste the 191st State party to these treaties, which form the core of international humanitarian law. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been present in the country since 1979 and is continuing its work in the fields of detention, missing persons, international humanitarian law training for armed and security forces and support for the government in the implementation of international humanitarian law. The ICRC is also working closely with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to set up a Red Cross Society in Timor-Leste.

India

National Geographic News 2 June 2003 India's "Untouchables" Face Violence, Discrimination by Hillary Mayell For More than 160 million people in India are considered "Untouchable"—people tainted by their birth into a caste system that deems them impure, less than human. Human rights abuses against these people, known as Dalits, are legion. A random sampling of headlines in mainstream Indian newspapers tells their story: "Dalit boy beaten to death for plucking flowers"; "Dalit tortured by cops for three days"; "Dalit 'witch' paraded naked in Bihar"; "Dalit killed in lock-up at Kurnool"; "7 Dalits burnt alive in caste clash"; "5 Dalits lynched in Haryana"; "Dalit woman gang-raped, paraded naked"; "Police egged on mob to lynch Dalits". "Dalits are not allowed to drink from the same wells, attend the same temples, wear shoes in the presence of an upper caste, or drink from the same cups in tea stalls," said Smita Narula, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, and author of Broken People: Caste Violence Against India's "Untouchables." Human Rights Watch is a worldwide activist organization based in New York. India's Untouchables are relegated to the lowest jobs, and live in constant fear of being publicly humiliated, paraded naked, beaten, and raped with impunity by upper-caste Hindus seeking to keep them in their place. Merely walking through an upper-caste neighborhood is a life-threatening offense. Nearly 90 percent of all the poor Indians and 95 percent of all the illiterate Indians are Dalits, according to figures presented at the International Dalit Conference that took place May 16 to 18 in Vancouver, Canada. Crime Against Dalits Statistics compiled by India's National Crime Records Bureau indicate that in the year 2000, the last year for which figures are available, 25,455 crimes were committed against Dalits. Every hour two Dalits are assaulted; every day three Dalit women are raped, two Dalits are murdered, and two Dalit homes are torched. No one believes these numbers are anywhere close to the reality of crimes committed against Dalits. Because the police, village councils, and government officials often support the caste system, which is based on the religious teachings of Hinduism, many crimes go unreported due to fear of reprisal, intimidation by police, inability to pay bribes demanded by police, or simply the knowledge that the police will do nothing. "There have been large-scale abuses by the police, acting in collusion with upper castes, including raids, beatings in custody, failure to charge offenders or investigate reported crimes," said Narula. That same year, 68,160 complaints were filed against the police for activities ranging from murder, torture, and collusion in acts of atrocity, to refusal to file a complaint. Sixty two percent of the cases were dismissed as unsubstantiated; 26 police officers were convicted in court. Despite the fact that untouchability was officially banned when India adopted its constitution in 1950, discrimination against Dalits remained so pervasive that in 1989 the government passed legislation known as The Prevention of Atrocities Act. The act specifically made it illegal to parade people naked through the streets, force them to eat feces, take away their land, foul their water, interfere with their right to vote, and burn down their homes. Since then, the violence has escalated, largely as a result of the emergence of a grassroots human rights movement among Dalits to demand their rights and resist the dictates of untouchability, said Narula. Lack of Enforcement, Not Laws Enforcement of laws designed to protect Dalits is lax if not non-existent in many regions of India. The practice of untouchability is strongest in rural areas, where 80 percent of the country's population resides. There, the underlying religious principles of Hinduism dominate. Hindus believe a person is born into one of four castes based on karma and "purity"—how he or she lived their past lives. Those born as Brahmans are priests and teachers; Kshatriyas are rulers and soldiers; Vaisyas are merchants and traders; and Sudras are laborers. Within the four castes, there are thousands of sub-castes, defined by profession, region, dialect, and other factors. Untouchables are literally outcastes; a fifth group that is so unworthy it doesn't fall within the caste system. Although based on religious principles practiced for some 1,500 years, the system persists today for economic as much as religious reasons. Because they are considered impure from birth, Untouchables perform jobs that are traditionally considered "unclean" or exceedingly menial, and for very little pay. One million Dalits work as manual scavengers, cleaning latrines and sewers by hand and clearing away dead animals. Millions more are agricultural workers trapped in an inescapable cycle of extreme poverty, illiteracy, and oppression. Although illegal, 40 million people in India, most of them Dalits, are bonded workers, many working to pay off debts that were incurred generations ago, according to a report by Human Rights Watch published in 1999. These people, 15 million of whom are children, work under slave-like conditions hauling rocks, or working in fields or factories for less than U.S. $1 day. Crimes Against Women Dalit women are particularly hard hit. They are frequently raped or beaten as a means of reprisal against male relatives who are thought to have committed some act worthy of upper-caste vengeance. They are also subject to arrest if they have male relatives hiding from the authorities. A case reported in 1999 illustrates the toxic mix of gender and caste. A 42-year-old Dalit woman was gang-raped and then burnt alive after she, her husband, and two sons had been held in captivity and tortured for eight days. Her crime? Another son had eloped with the daughter of the higher-caste family doing the torturing. The local police knew the Dalit family was being held, but did nothing because of the higher-caste family's local influence. There is very little recourse available to victims. A report released by Amnesty International in 2001 found an "extremely high" number of sexual assaults on Dalit women, frequently perpetrated by landlords, upper-caste villagers, and police officers. The study estimates that only about 5 percent of attacks are registered, and that police officers dismissed at least 30 percent of rape complaints as false. The study also found that the police routinely demand bribes, intimidate witnesses, cover up evidence, and beat up the women's husbands. Little or nothing is done to prevent attacks on rape victims by gangs of upper-caste villagers seeking to prevent a case from being pursued. Sometimes the policemen even join in, the study suggests. Rape victims have also been murdered. Such crimes often go unpunished. Thousands of pre-teen Dalit girls are forced into prostitution under cover of a religious practice known as devadasis, which means "female servant of god." The girls are dedicated or "married" to a deity or a temple. Once dedicated, they are unable to marry, forced to have sex with upper-caste community members, and eventually sold to an urban brothel. Resistance and Progress Within India, grassroots efforts to change are emerging, despite retaliation and intimidation by local officials and upper-caste villagers. In some states, caste conflict has escalated to caste warfare, and militia-like vigilante groups have conducted raids on villages, burning homes, raping, and massacring the people. These raids are sometimes conducted with the tacit approval of the police. In the province Bihar, local Dalits are retaliating, committing atrocities also. Non-aligned Dalits are frequently caught in the middle, victims of both groups. "There is a growing grassroots movement of activists, trade unions, and other NGOs that are organizing to democratically and peacefully demand their rights, higher wages, and more equitable land distribution," said Narula. "There has been progress in terms of building a human rights movement within India, and in drawing international attention to the issue." In August 2002, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN CERD) approved a resolution condemning caste or descent-based discrimination. "But at the national level, very little is being done to implement or enforce the laws," said Narula.

BBC 23 June 2003 Two killed in Kashmir grenade attack Kashmir has been at the centre of Pakistan-Indian tensions At least two civilians have been killed and 38 injured in a grenade attack on a crowded market in Indian-administered Kashmir. Suspected Islamic militants are thought to have carried out the attack, deliberately targeting civilians. "There was no security patrol there that could have been a possible target," local police chief Amarjeet Singh told Associated Press. At least six of the injured were in serious condition after the blast in Shopian town, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which is the third in four days. Thirty people were injured in two grenade attacks in the region on Friday. The blast in Shopian comes a day before Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf meets US President George W Bush at Camp David. India hopes Washington will put pressure on President Musharraf to end the cross-border infiltration of militants. Pakistan insists the infiltration has stopped, and also denies training and funding the militants saying it offers only diplomatic support for what it calls a Kashmiri freedom struggle. Islamic militant groups, who want either independence for Kashmir or a merger with Pakistan, have been fighting security forces in the region since 1989.

PTI 10 June 2003 Fresh ethnic violence in Assam claims five lives Press Trust of India Guwahati, June 10 Five persons were killed and 49 houses torched in fresh outbreak of ethnic violence in curfew-bound North Cachar Hills district of Assam on Tuesday. Members belonging to Dimasas tribe attacked a village inhabited by Hmar tribe at Hebrang killing one person and set ablaze nine houses, Superintendent of Police DP Singh said. A joint team of army and police rushed to the site and in an exchange of fire one Dimasa person was killed while a police Sub-inspector, a constable and army jawan were injured, he said. Simultaneously, another group of Dimasa members attacked Saran block killing one Hmar member and burnt down 40 houses belonging to the tribe, Singh said. They also exchanged fire with a group of security forces in which two Dimasa members were killed. The SP said 13 people have been arrested in connection with the incidents and the situation was now under control.

Indonesia

BBC 2 Jun 2003 Indonesia to try Aceh soldiers There are concerns for the safety of Acehnese civilians At least four Indonesian soldiers are due to go on trial this week, accused of mistreating civilians during the military's ongoing offensive in the province of Aceh. Brigadier General Bambang Darmono said on Monday that the soldiers were to be tried for allegedly beating up villagers in Lawang in Bireun district on 27 May. This is the first time that Indonesia's military has acknowledged the possibility that its troops might have committed human rights abuses during the two-week-old campaign. Gam and Aceh villagers have accused the army of perpetrating a number of atrocities against civilians, and the military has a poor human rights record in the province. But the army has repeatedly denied the accusations, arguing that it never targets the civilian population. Indonesia launched its offensive in Aceh on 19 May, to crush separatist rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (Gam) after the collapse of a five-month ceasefire agreement. Up to 40,000 Indonesian troops are confronting 5,000 Gam rebels in the province, which has been the scene of separatist fighting since 1976. Fighting continued in the province on Monday. Soldiers killed four rebels during a gun battle near the Gam stronghold of Pidie, Lieutenant Colonel Supartodi told the Associated Press. A soldier is also said to have died in the fighting. The military has said it has shot more than 100 rebels since the offensive began - a figure disputed by the rebels, who have claimed that many of the dead are civilians. But armed forces chief General Endriartono Sutarto told the French news agency AFP that civilian casualties were "only about 20 or so, and they are mostly people deemed to be collaborators of the military". Also on Monday, Indonesia's Defence Minister Abdul Djalil announced his intention to reduce ties with Sweden, after Stockholm rejected Jakarta's demands for the extradition of Gam leaders in exile there. Sweden has refused repeated requests to send the rebel leaders to be questioned in Jakarta, according to Reuters news agency. "We cannot react before we have any evidence that these Gam people have done anything illegal," Swedish Foreign Ministry spokesman Lars-Olof Lundberg said at the weekend. Civilian safety Since the conflict began two weeks ago, there have been mounting concerns for the safety of Aceh's 4.3m civilian population. On Friday, United Nations chief Kofi Annan called for the Indonesian Government to protect civilians caught up in the fighting. The Acehnese people have also seen the prices of staple foods increase dramatically since the crackdown began, with trucks carrying food supplies being attacked en route to the province. More than 21,000 people are reported to have fled their homes as a result of the violence, especially in eastern areas which have been experiencing heavy gunfights almost every day.

Jakarta Post 3 June 2003 RI seeks clarification of E. Timor PM's call for rights tribunal JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia sought clarification Monday of reports that the East Timorese prime minister has called for an international tribunal to delve into atrocities by Indonesian troops in 1999. Foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said a ministry director met East Timor's charge d'affaires "to seek clarification and information" about reported comments by Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri last week. "We wish first of all to confirm the accuracy of those reports before going further," Marty said, as quoted by AFP. Alkatiri reportedly called for an international tribunal to try Indonesian military personnel for the violence that devastated East Timor in 1999. Reports said he also criticized trials related to the violence at Jakarta's own human rights court. His comments appear to conflict with the long-standing position of East Timor's president, the former anti-Indonesia guerrilla chief Xanana Gusmao, who has said the two countries must move on despite their past history. Marty said a call for an international tribunal would conflict "with the two countries' wish to move forward in their relations." Jakarta's state-appointed human rights court on May 22 issued its latest acquittal of an Indonesian soldier charged with crimes against humanity in East Timor.

Jakarta Post 3 June 2003 Four soldiers to be put on trial Tuesday LHOKSEUMAWE, Aceh (JP): Four Indonesian soldiers will go on trial this week accused of beating up villagers in Aceh province during the military's ongoing offensive against separatist rebels, a military official said Monday. Operation commander Brig. Gen. Bambang Darmono said four soldiers from the 144th Infantry Battalion were accused of beating up five villagers in a raid on the north Acehnese village of Lawang on May 27. All five of the villagers were hospitalized, but their injuries weren't life threatening. "Four soldiers ... will be put on trial in a military tribunal on Tuesday," Bambang was quoted as saying by AP here.He didn't give their names or ranks. Soldiers also shot and killed 35-year-old Abu Bakar during the raid. Villagers told AP the day after the raid that Abu was a farmer with no links to the insurgents and had been executed. The military denied this, saying Bakar was a rebel and was shot as he tried to flee. There were no plans to charge anyone over the killing. Indonesia launched the offensive to crush the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on May 19 after a five-month internationally mediated cease-fire collapsed amid violations by both sides.

Jakarta Post 3 June 2003 13 local officials abducted, Aceh rebels say BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Separatist rebels in the restive province of Aceh said Monday they have abducted 13 local civilian leaders for carrying out the military's orders. Free Aceh Movement (GAM) local commander Ishak Daud claimed responsibility for the abduction. "They are now with us and the reason we have captured them is that they have respected the orders of the Indonesian military," Ishak said as quoted by AFP. Indonesian authorities, who launched an all-out assault on the rebels and imposed martial law on May 19, have told village officials to issue temporary ID cards to residents after the separatists confiscated many of the regular cards. "We are detaining them to give them advice. Once we have given them this advice, then we will free them," Daud said without giving a date. East Aceh district chief Azman Usmanuddin told AFP that several suspected rebels on Sunday abducted a man called Furqan, the head of the Peureulak Timur subdistrict, from his home as he was preparing to visit refugees in the area. "At about the same time armed men abducted 12 village heads across Peureulak Timur," Azman added.

AFP 2 Jun 2003 Indonesia says Aceh offensive going faster than expected JAKARTA, June 2 (AFP) - Indonesia's major military assault to crush Aceh separatist rebels is making faster progress than expected, armed forces chief General Endriartono Sutarto said Monday. The offensive "is on the right track and the progress exceeds our expectations in every aspect," Sutarto told reporters as the country's biggest military offensive in a quarter-century entered its third week. Operation spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Yani Basuki said earlier in Lhokseumawe that more than 100 members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have been killed but declined to give further figures. Sutarto said civilian casualties "are only about 20 or so and they are mostly people deemed to be collaborators of the military." Top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia would send a team of officials to Sweden this week to persuade it to clamp down on exiled Aceh separatist rebel leaders. It would present "concrete evidence of the involvement of Hasan Tiro and colleagues, who are Swedish citizens, in crimes against the security of Indonesia and acts of terrorism," he said. Tiro, who founded GAM in 1976, has lived in Sweden since 1979. Like some other exiled top GAM leaders, he has acquired Swedish citizenship. Indonesia wants Stockholm to take unspecified action against Tiro and others. But Sweden has responded that it has no legal grounds to act unless GAM leaders break laws there. National police chief Dai Bachtiar said Interpol had notified member countries about Indonesia's request that GAM's exiled leadership be put on a list of international terrorists. Bachtiar accused the rebels of involvement in a series of bombings in recent years in Jakarta and the Sumatran city of Medan on orders from Tiro. He cited the stock exchange bombing in Jakarta in September 2000, the Atrium mall bombing in August 2001, the Cijantung Mall bombing in July 2002 and blasts in Medan on March 31 and April 1. GAM has always denied involvement in operations outside Aceh province. In East Aceh, area GAM commander Ishak Daud said his men seized 13 local civilian leaders on Sunday for complying with military orders. "They are now with us and the reason we have captured them is that they have respected the orders of the Indonesian military," Daud told local reporters. Authorities had told village officials to issue temporary ID cards to residents after the separatists confiscated many of the regular cards. "We are detaining them to give them advice. Once we have given them this advice, then we will free them," Daud said without giving a date. The fighting has driven more than 21,000 people from their homes, according to United Nations figures. Food supplies have been disrupted and more than 400 schools have gone up in smoke. Each side blames the other for the school arson. The military has denied reports from some villagers that troops shot dead civilians on May 21, describing those killed as GAM members. The operation's commander, Brigadier General Bambang Darmono, said a court martial was on Tuesday to start hearing the case of six soldiers accused of mistreating three villagers at Lawang in Bireuen district on May 27. "You will be able to see tomorrow the open and rapid trial, which will be conducted by the Indonesian armed forces military operation command to judge soldiers who did not perform their duties well," Darmono said, as quoted by the Detikcom online news service. A soldier who had demanded cash and gold jewelry from residents would also face trial soon, Darmono said. The general said he "will firmly punish" errant soldiers. Up to 40,000 police and soldiers are confronting an estimated 5,000 rebels from GAM.

BBC 5 June 2003 Indonesian's Timor trial setback The highest-ranking Indonesian soldier to go on trial over human rights offences in East Timor looked set to walk free after a prosecutor said there was not enough evidence against him. Major-General Adam Damiri headed the regional command in charge of East Timor in 1999, when it was gripped by violence relating to the former Indonesian province's independence The collapse of the case against him is likely to stoke criticism from international human rights groups who say Indonesian authorities have not done enough to punish those responsible. Chief prosecutor Sarani Hozie insisted he had been under no pressure to ask for the acquittal, according to the state Antara news agency. "This is purely my own decision," he said. The chief judge said the court would still reconvene on 1 July to hear a statement from Mr Damiri before passing its judgment. Adam Damiri was the last and most senior of 18 soldiers to go on trial over alleged offences in East Timor. Most have been acquitted, and the five who have been found guilty are all free pending appeals. Mr Damiri's hearing should have been held several weeks ago, but he repeatedly failed to turn up, citing the pressure of duties in Aceh province, where the military is mounting a major operation against separatist rebels. Adam Damiri was accused of failing to prevent his troops from committing atrocities during the violence following East Timor's vote for independence in August 1999. The overwhelming vote to cede from Indonesia, which ended Jakarta's 24 year rule there, coincided with a civil conflict which left more than 1,000 people dead. Prosecutors in the Timorese capital of Dili have launched their own war crimes tribunal, indicting more than 260 people for crimes during the independence struggle, including the former chief of the Indonesian military, General Wiranto. However, it is unlikely that Indonesia will extradite any suspects to face trial. But prosecutors in Dili said on Thursday that they had filed their first charges against an Indonesian man recently arrested inside East Timor. The Serious Crimes Unit said it had charged Beny Ludji, who allegedly led a militia unit in East Timor, with the murder of independence campaigner Guido Alves Correia.

BBC 12 June 2003 Indonesia's religious schools row By Jill McGivering BBC's Asia analyst Indonesia's parliament has passed a new and controversial education bill, which has highlighted the tension between the country's Muslim and Christian communities. The National Education Systems Bill contains a clause about the teaching of religion in schools which has been criticised by opponents who say it discriminates against and interferes in Christian schools. The bill ignited the passions of both religious communities But supporters say it is non-discriminatory and could even promote inter-religious harmony. The controversial clause says that school children must be taught their own religion by a teacher of the same faith. At the moment, schools are free to choose what religious education they provide, so for example a Christian school would probably teach everyone the Bible, including Muslim pupils. Some Christian groups see the move as an attempt to interfere with Christian schools. Many Muslim families send their children to Christian-run schools because they have a reputation for high academic standards. An Indonesian government advisor said that in good Christian schools, as many as a quarter of pupils are Muslims. If the freedom of expression is denied to people... in effect what you have is a system of religious apartheid being imposed on the education system Jeff Hammond, evangelical Christian He said they should be able to study Islam in school, not be obliged to learn about Christianity. The law will apply equally to Christian pupils in Muslim schools - and to other religions - although they're likely to be fewer in number. Dr Jeff Hammond is an Evangelical Christian active in Indonesia for the last thirty years. He sees this as taking choice away from parents. "At home they might be getting taught one religion, at school they might be learning about another religion, " he told the BBC. "If the freedom of expression is denied to people by forcing them to follow only one religious perspective, in effect what you have is a system of religious apartheid being imposed on the education system," he said. But supporters of the bill say it is not designed to promote a particular religion but to make sure people are free to follow the religion of their choice. Inter-communal tension Some analysts have expressed concern that, whatever its intention, the bill is causing new tension in the relationship between Muslim and Christian communities; a relationship which already has a troubled, often violent history. The debate may have resonance too in other parts of the developing world where there's ambivalence about the influence of the Christian church. Christian missionaries, often funded by churches in the West, have for decades made an important social contribution - working to reduce poverty and running schools and hospitals. The ambivalence is heightened by the widespread belief that Christian schools do generally offer a good education.

Reuters 19 Jun 2003 Fierce fight in Indonesia's Aceh kills 12 BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, 19 June (Reuters) - A bloody clash between Indonesian troops and rebels in troubled Aceh killed at least 12 people, a military official said on Thursday, showing the war to crush the rebellion was far from over. Indonesian military (TNI) spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Firdaus Komarno told Reuters the battle began with an attempted ambush by soldiers on a rebel convoy in North Aceh. "We received reports from locals that there would be a group of rebels passing the area. The information we have said 10 GAM members and two TNI soldier were killed in the incident," he said, adding the fight occurred at dawn. The military offensive in Aceh began on May 19 after talks between Jakarta and the rebels collapsed. With today's North Aceh count at least 254 people have been killed in Aceh, including 226 rebels from the Free Aceh Movement and 28 members of the security forces. The rebels have held out for independence instead of the special autonomy Jakarta was willing to offer to the oil- and gas-rich province. Aceh is one of two major separatist hot spots in Indonesia's sprawling archipelago. The other is in Papua at the eastern end of the country.

AFP 25 Jun 2003 Thousands of Aceh refugees treated for illness: health official by Ian Timberlake JAKARTA, June 25 (AFP) - Health officials in Indonesia's conflict-hit Aceh province have treated thousands of refugees for illnesses since they were moved into camps around the province to avoid fighting, an official said Wednesday. Health posts set up within each of the 16 refugee camps have recorded some 14,000 visits by patients since a military operation aimed at crushing separatist rebels began on May 19, said Teuku Muhammad, deputy head of the provincial health agency. Muhammad listed respiratory ailments, skin disease, bronchitis and diarrhoea among the conditions suffered by the refugees. "These are ordinary illnesses and we are already treating them," Muhammad told AFP by phone from Banda Aceh. "There are malnourished children." He said 14,000 is the number of visits, not the number of individual patients treated, and he did not consider the figure to be alarming. "On a daily basis the number of visits is small," Muhammad said, estimating Aceh's total refugee population at about 32,000. Authorities prepared the refugee camps after the military said it wanted to separate civilians from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels. Muhammad said the camps are equipped with tents, kitchens, clean water and toilets. There is no shortage of medicine, he said. The government said last week it would improve water supplies after officials reported that some refugees are suffering health problems due to overcrowding and a lack of clean water. Some of the refugees have been moved into camps against their will in what the military says is an attempt to avoid civilian casualties. Also Wednesday police said they have arrested a former senior spokesman for GAM. Irwandi Yusuf, alias Isnandar al-Pase, is being detained at a police station in Banda Aceh and faces charges of treason, said provincial police spokesman Sayed Husaini. The bespectacled Al-Pase, a veterinarian by profession, speaks fluent English and was frequently quoted in news reports as GAM's military spokesman. Yusuf is among the most senior of what the military says are some 535 rebels who were detained or surrendered during the operation. The military says another 270 GAM members have been killed in the operation launched to neutralize the rebels after attempts to negotiate a solution to the 27-year conflict failed. Eight of the rebels died in four separate firefights across Aceh Tuesday, Lieutenant Colonel Ahmad Yani Basuki, spokesman for the operation, said Wednesday. The government no longer talks publicly about a political solution. But a senior US official told reporters that Indonesian authorities see the military approach as "a tactic to create a more favourable set of circumstances on the ground." Speaking Tuesday, the official who spoke of condition of anonymity said "there's every intention of pursuing a comprehensive political approach to the process." Authorities have strictly controlled operations of foreign humanitarian organizations in Aceh and have imposed some restrictions on journalists. "We have made clear that more transparency not less transparency is needed in Aceh," the US official said.

Deutsche Presse Agentur 26 Jun 2003 Indonesian president says martial law in Aceh may be extended Jakarta (dpa) - Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has hinted that martial law in war-torn Aceh province could be extended beyond the original six month period, the state-run Antara news agency reported out of Vietnam on Thursday. "We have originally planned for the operation to run for six months. However, if it is necessary, I will seek approval from the House of Representatives to extend the operation," Megawati told the Indonesian community in Hanoi, Vietnam, where she is currently paying a state visit. On May 19, Indonesia imposed martial law in Aceh and ordered an offensive against the GAM rebels, who have been fighting for an independent state in the resource-rich province since 1976. The offensive was launched after a five-month old ceasefire between the government and GAM, brokered by the Henry Dunant Centre, fell apart amid mutual accusations of infringements of the peace pact by both sides. Military authorities claim that 255 rebels have been killed since the launch of their all-out offensive and more than 300 others have been captured or surrendered. During the same period, 29 military troops and police officers have died. The massive military assault has also forced more than 40,000 people to flee their homes, seeking temporary shelter in refugee camps.

AFP 27 Jun 2003 Indonesia curbs foreign media and NGOs in Aceh, photographer held JAKARTA, June 27 (AFP) - Indonesia has further restricted foreign media access to war-torn Aceh province, confining correspondents to main towns unless they obtain an escort from soldiers or police. The military also announced that a Japanese photographer has been arrested for working without a permit -- the second such arrest in two days after a US freelance reporter was detained by police Wednesday. An order from martial law authorities curbing media access also bans foreign tourists and restricts the operations of overseas non-government organisations (NGOs). The order, a copy of which was printed in Friday's Koran Tempo newspaper, forbids both foreign and local NGOs from issuing statements or talking to the media without permission from the martial law administrator. Indonesia on May 19 clamped martial law on the province and launched an all-out offensive against separatist rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Some foreign media reports of rights abuses by troops have angered the military. The Jakarta Foreign Correspondents' Club (JFCC) expressed "mounting concern" at restrictions which it said had effectively barred many journalists from the province on Sumatra island. The latest order bans tourists from Aceh and says all other foreigners must get permission from the justice ministry before travelling to the province. Foreigners are restricted to major towns. Foreign correspondents who want to leave towns must be escorted by police or troops "to protect safety and security." Michael Elmquist, of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said they were in contact with the government to try to clarify the regulations. The UN has three foreign staff members and about 10 locals in Aceh. Six international NGOs including Oxfam remain in Aceh. The Japanese photographer was arrested Thursday night while taking pictures of refugees fleeing clashes, the military said. It said the photographer, Takagi Tadatomo, 25, did not have a permit from the foreign ministry to cover Aceh. The Japanese embassy said he was an amateur photographer and not a journalist. The photographer told the military he was taking pictures for an exhibition and was not aware he had to get a permit. It was not clear whether he would be charged. Military spokesman Ditya Sudarsono said 281 rebels have been killed since the start of the operation. He put the death toll among troops at 26. Aceh police meanwhile said they have refused a request from his lawyer to free US freelance William Nessen, who has been detained for questioning about possible visa violations. Nessen, 46, spent weeks with the rebels before handing himself over to authorities on Tuesday. Police formally detained him on Wednesday and say he could be held for questioning until July 11. Police spokesman Sayed Husaini said Nessen would also be questioned about his "closeness" to rebels. He did not elaborate. Some senior military officers have said they suspect he may be a spy for GAM. The US embassy says he came to Indonesia with a valid journalist's visa. The JFCC, in a letter to security and foreign ministers, also expressed deep concern that Indonesians working with foreign media had been threatened by the military with eviction from Aceh until they obtain foreign ministry permits. Under a new ruling, local "stringers" for foreign media must obtain the permits. The JFCC also protested at the latest order restricting foreign media to main towns unless they travel with a security forces escort. "This puts foreign journalists directly at risk of attack and is a further violation of press freedoms," it said.

Iraq

Daily Telegraph UK 1 June 2003 British scientists piece together evidence of Saddam's genocide By Philip Sherwell in Musayib (Filed: 01/06/2003) Among the newly unearthed pits of a mass grave next to the Euphrates, a team of British forensic scientists started a painstaking mission to bring Saddam Hussein's followers to justice for war crimes. The team of eight was scrambled into action in Iraq's killing fields last week by the Foreign Office after fears that crucial evidence of massacres was being destroyed. Desperate relatives have been clawing through the earth at sites across the country. At the first grave site that the team is investigating - a bleak square-mile expanse of sand and silt near the town of Musayib, 40 miles south of Baghdad - local people have already dug up the skeletal remains of almost 650 victims. Blindfolded with their hands tied, they had been herded into trenches and shot - executed in March and April 1991 during the failed uprising that followed the first Gulf war. Some were buried alive when the holes were filled in over them by bulldozer. In a race against time, it is now up to the scientists from Inforce (the International Forensic Centre), a British charity set up 18 months ago to investigate mass killings and genocide, to persuade their relatives not to uncover any more bodies so that vital forensic evidence is kept intact. "We need to identify certain key sites where we can gather evidence for a future judicial process," said Margaret Cox, a forensic archaeologist and the founder of Inforce who is surveying the sun-baked terrain and trenches dotted with bones, sandals and clothing. "The priority is to identify the remains so that relatives can bury their loved ones. To be honest, the remains already dug up are not going to be valuable as evidence." At Musayib last week, Prof Cox and her colleagues came across an elderly man who, in the search for his son's remains, was about to start digging into previously untouched earth. When an interpreter explained the importance of scenes of crime evidence, the man put his shovel back over his shoulder. "I understand," he said. "God willing, the guilty will be punished." The Inforce scientists - many of whom are veterans of the Balkans and Rwanda - are using the latest radar and electro-magnetic devices to measure abnormalities beneath the surface that could indicate earth had been moved for mass burials. The results of tests carried out at Musayib are expected today but 40 other suspicious sites - and unverified reports of dozens more - have already been identified across Iraq. Unlike the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, there are no plans for an international criminal court for Iraq, not least because of American scepticism about such tribunals. Instead, Western legal experts are working on plans to set up a new Iraqi judicial process which would allow former regime officials to be tried at home. The Inforce party is the first of several foreign forensic teams that will be drafted in to investigate the mass graves. In addition to collecting evidence, its priority is to train Iraqis to exhume sites and identify remains themselves. In the absence so far of any discovery of weapons of mass destruction, the investigations into the horrors of Saddam's regime have taken on added importance in London and Washington as a justification for the war. The figures tell their own horrific story: up to 300,000 Iraqis are thought to have been murdered during the suppression of the Kurds in the 1980s, the 1991 uprising and further revolts in Shia areas in 1999. "The biggest weapon of mass destruction in this country was the regime of Saddam Hussein. The evidence of that is being uncovered in mass graves across the country," said Peter Bouckaert, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch. At Musayib, exhumations have been carried out by local people with impressive care, even if they lacked the precision required by forensic scientists. Hundreds of numbered bundles of white cloth containing yellowing bones and ragged clothes have been laid out in neat rows along the floor of the town youth centre. On one skull the flesh has long since rotted away but a blindfold still covers the eye sockets. At the entrance to the hall, the details of the shrouds are recorded on a white board. Each day scores of relatives sift through the remains in the hope that they will recognise an item of clothing or find an identity card. In this predominantly Shia town, many are ageing women wrapped in the traditional black robes and headdress of their religion. Fatiya Hamza, 43, a mother of six children, has visited three mass graves in search of her husband. Samir Hassan, a soldier, was taken away from his unit by military intelligence in March 1991. She is looking for any scraps of the grey trousers, red shirt and blue raincoat that he had been wearing at the time. "I will visit every grave until I find him," she said. "But if this British team finds the evidence to prosecute the criminals who committed these acts, I will be very happy. They must be punished for what they did to our husbands, brothers and sons." Rajiya Mohsen believed that she had finally found the remains of her 18-year-old son after identifying a ragged piece of filthy black and white check cloth as part of the shirt that he was wearing when he disappeared in April 1991. Matter-of-factly, she added that her son's name was Saddam Hussein Naji - named by his father in honour of the Iraqi leader whose forces would later execute him. Related reports Ba'ath party police held External links International Forensic Centre

NYT June 1, 2003 A Grim Graveyard Window on Hussein's Iraq By SUSAN SACHS HILLA, Iraq, May 30 — He was a good soldier, so when he heard the first crack of the executioners' guns, Fadel al-Shaati said he instinctively dropped to the ground and pressed himself against a wall of the freshly dug trench. He could not get it straight in his mind. The men firing at him were comrades in arms, men of his own Iraqi Army. But they had inexplicably dragged him from his bed in his nightclothes, as they had so many others, and forced him, blindfolded and bound, into this pit in the darkness of night. Now, 12 years later, Mr. Shaati cannot remember if the women and children beside him screamed as the bullets hit, or whether the men in the hole moaned as they died. He only recalls a moment of hollow silence when the soldiers stopped shooting. Then came the throaty rumble of a backhoe and the thud of wet earth dropping on bodies. He survived but saw hundreds of other innocents buried in another of Saddam Hussein's anonymous mass graves. The killing ground of Hilla lies between pockmarked fields, stands of date palms and tufted pastures where sheep and cattle graze. Even today, after the bullet-shattered remains of more than 3,000 people have been pulled from its soil, there is nothing much to distinguish it on the pastoral landscape. What is remarkable about the site is that it is just one of dozens, possibly hundreds, of secret graveyards scattered across Iraq. "The truly frightening part is that the number of suspected mass graves is so unfathomable," said Sandra L. Hodgkinson, a State Department official who has been documenting some of the sites for the American occupation forces in Iraq. "They are everywhere. Literally every neighborhood and town is reporting possible grave sites, and from all different periods of time. I think we're going to find them everywhere." No one really knows how many people were slaughtered by the Iraqi government over the past 35 years. It apparently killed its citizens on a huge scale, both systematically and indiscriminately. Human rights groups, which have tried to document the carnage for years, estimate that nearly 300,000 Iraqis are missing and were probably executed. Tens of thousands more, according to Iraqi opposition groups, may have been imprisoned and tortured, their lives warped forever by what they saw and experienced. The executions took place through the late 1970's and 1980's, when Iraq's Arab neighbors and most Western governments considered Saddam Hussein an ally against the threat of Islamic militancy in Iran. They occurred, survivors and witnesses said, while American troops were still occupying much of southern Iraq, sometimes just on the outskirts of the killing fields, in the weeks after the Persian Gulf war in 1991. The government killed in purges aimed at specific political opposition groups, like the Communists, and it killed to suppress the political ambitions of the Shiite Muslim majority. It killed the relatives of dissidents, Muslim clerics and Christians whose loyalty was suspect. It killed Kurds, with bullets and poison gas, in a wholesale campaign meant to subdue an entire ethnic group. The killing continued through that decade and beyond, when much of the world shunned but tolerated the Iraqi leader. Iraq, post-Hussein, is a reflection of the misery its people suffered. But it is also rediscovering its pain, now that the prisons have been emptied and the reality of the mass graves exposed. No longer can the relatives of the missing console themselves with the hope that their loved ones might turn up. With that realization, many people are bitterly striking out at a world that seemed indifferent to their fate for so long. Every day, young men from the nearby village of Husseini come to the Hilla burial ground and carefully wrap the unclaimed bones in strips of white muslin, tying up the brittle little bundles at each end. Sometimes, in a simulation of the Muslim tradition of washing the dead, they tenderly stroke the exposed skulls. The men from Husseini come because they want to find the 60 men taken from their village in March 1991, when Republican Guard troops brutally put down a Shiite uprising. The men have only identified 10 of their missing neighbors in the field by the palm trees, but they have not lost hope. They believe there are four or five other mass graves in the immediate area that have yet to be excavated. If they were thankful for the American invasion that toppled the Iraqi government, their gratitude has soured a bit with every pile of bones they exhume. American troops were in Iraq at the time of these killings, they said, but they stood by. "All those years, the families of these people were waiting for them to come home," said Raid al-Husseini, a doctor from the village, as he surveyed the scarred landscape. "All those years since 1991, Saddam Hussein was alive. But the Iraqi people were left for dead, whether they were walking on this earth or lying in a mass grave." A Roundup of Young Men Iraq is a land of tormented survivors and ghosts. "And miracles," said Mr. Shaati, who needed one to survive execution in a dark field near Hilla 12 years ago. He is 39 now, a gaunt man who makes his living as a mechanic. Until last week, he had told no one but his father what he saw in that trench. "He told me not to tell this to anyone because they would realize I was a witness and I would be killed," Mr. Shaati said. "So I didn't. I couldn't sentence myself to death again." In 1991, he was just a tired soldier who wanted to get home. The Iraqi Army, driven from Kuwait by American-led forces, was disintegrating. As it collapsed, so did the government's control of Shiite cities in the south and much of the Kurdish north. Emboldened by the suggestion from the first President Bush that they rebel against Mr. Hussein, Iraqis attacked government offices and killed Baath Party officials. In the pandemonium, Mr. Shaati bolted for home, arriving in Hilla just as the largely Shiite city began its own feeble revolt in early March. Within a week, special Republican Guard units arrived and began rounding up any young men they could find. Mr. Shaati was taken one day at 4 a.m. and transferred to Mahawil military base, a sprawling compound of corrugated steel warehouses and low concrete buildings that became a staging area for that spring's killings. As the detainees milled about waiting for instructions, Iraqi soldiers opened fire on the crowd, Mr. Shaati said. "I remember one officer shouting: `If you shoot them here, you're just going to mess this place up with all the blood and filth. Take them somewhere else and kill them.' So they stopped shooting and pushed us into the big warehouses." He spent six days there, in a crowded room with no food or water. A man he knew who suffered from ulcers died at his feet. "After two days, the body smelled horrible and we begged them to take it away. But nobody did anything." The soldiers took them out in groups of 100 to 150 people. When his time came, Mr. Shaati was ordered to remove his T-shirt and rip it into strips that were tied over his eyes and around his hands. The prisoners were herded onto a bus, everyone holding on with their teeth to the shirt of the person in front of them. When they arrived at a field — Mr. Shaati is still not sure where — their grave had already been prepared. "They led us down an incline into a wide long hole," he said. "It was quiet. No one fell or even cried. I was positioned very close to the corner, maybe second or third from the wall. Then they started shooting. Somehow I wasn't hit. By then, I guess, they didn't go to the trouble of shooting all of us." After the grave was covered, Mr. Shaati, alive but choking on dirt, wormed his way out of the ditch. He punched through the earthen blanket with his head, and worked himself free of the cloth straps. Gulping the cold night air, he knew that all his soldierly ideas about honor and country counted for nothing. "That's the worst thing," he said. "To fight for them and then be slaughtered." That is why, in his view, American forces could conquer Iraq so quickly 12 years later. "We didn't fight," he said. "It's not that we were afraid of them. But we sold our country in order to get rid of Saddam Hussein." Guilt by Association Her most disturbing memory is of the time she felt nothing but her own pain. After the beatings and electric shocks, Suriya Abdel Khader would find herself once again in the fetid cell, a room so crowded that most prisoners could only stand. The women died upright, then slumped to the floor, but Ms. Abdel Khader remembers registering only a dull flash of annoyance whenever that happened. "Get this body out of the way," she would think to herself. "It's taking up room." She was imprisoned, she believes, because her four brothers had been arrested in Mr. Hussein's blanket crackdown on Shiites suspected of supporting Iran or the Islamic Dawa Party. The systematic arrest of Shiites, and the torture and the executions that began in 1979, were the first of the Iraqi leader's huge purges. Men were rounded up first. It was not long before entire families were swallowed by the prisons and the execution grounds. "They took the first of my brothers in 1980," said Ms. Abdel Khader, a plump, blue-eyed woman who had been searching the mass graves for traces of her vanished siblings. "He was 16. He was part of a group feared by the regime: he prayed at the mosque." Two more brothers, ages 17 and 18, were arrested in 1985 when Iraqi soldiers raided a remote farm where many young Shiite men had gone to avoid the government's house-to-house searches. She learned that a friend of her brothers was wounded, so she left bandages for him near the farm. That day, she was also arrested, along with her father, sister and a 3-year-old brother. She spent one year being moved from prison to torture center to prison and back. Her tormenters would hang her from a hook in the ceiling by her arms, which were bound behind her back. Sometimes they added electric shocks. Sometimes they beat her on the soles of her feet until they were engorged with blood and her toenails fell off. She was 25. "I was lucky that I became like a dead body," she said. "I didn't know what was going on around me. There was no water, no bathroom. The only food was two big pots they brought in, one with dirty rice and one of soup. You had to fight for it. If you were strong and healthy, you'd get food. If you were weak, you'd wait." After the torture came the sham trial, then a sentence to spend her life at Rashad women's prison, a maze of unheated cells where the sewage would float from the one toilet down the corridors and seep onto the women's rough mattresses. "They'd make us wait for water," she said, "and we'd have to gather it drop by drop from the pipes in the early morning." Women with death sentences were kept in the same compound where she stayed. The executions followed a schedule, like trains. "We knew that on Sundays and Wednesdays, they came and took the Shiite prisoners. There were other days for the Kurds and the Christians and everybody else." She was released in 1991, in one of Mr. Hussein's sporadic amnesties, and married a man who had lost five brothers to the same campaign against Shiites. Last week, she took him to see the prison, where squatters have now set up house in the cell where she once suffered. Memories surged to the surface, so powerful that Ms. Abdel Khader, a sturdy woman, swayed like a storm-tossed willow tree. "All this because I brought bandages to an injured boy," she said in a flat voice, turning to leave. "That was my big crime against Saddam Hussein." Random Executions Clawing through the dirt, Abdelhassan al-Mohani collected his brother bone by bone. He knelt in a hole at the edge of a cemetery near the village of Muhammad Sakran, just outside Baghdad. The faded writing on a plastic armband in the grave told him this was his brother, Abdelhussein. Mr. Mohani held the skull and gently brushed the dirt from the eye socket. Then he wept. Abdelhussein had disappeared on his way to work in Baghdad on Jan. 23, 1981. His family never heard a word from the government, but eventually they drew the obvious conclusion: as a Shiite, he must have been arrested in the Islamic Dawa Party roundup. Ten years later, Saddam Hussein's agents found the family again. On April 11, 1991, a few weeks into the Shiite rebellion, Iraqi helicopters dropped leaflets over Karbala ordering everyone to leave or be attacked with chemical weapons. Mr. Mohani piled his relatives into a pickup truck and a car and fled. About four miles south of the city, the escape route was blocked. There, he said, he saw Mr. Hussein's son-in-law, Hussein Kamal, executing people randomly at a checkpoint. "He was telling people to get out of their cars and then he would shoot them, shoot them until his arm was too tired to do it anymore." The helicopter gunships returned. They hovered like lazy birds and fired. "I had a friend from the army," Mr. Mohani said. "He was walking. Lots of people were walking and the helicopters were shooting at them. My friend's wife was shot in the leg. They had four kids and he and the children just sat with her, sat with her until she died." Scarred for Life "Pray." That was the last thing Nasir al-Husseini's mother said to him before the shooting started. It was April 1991 and they had ventured out on a walk from their village of Sadha with two 12-year-old relatives. It seemed safe. The fighting between rebels and the forces of the government was over. At a checkpoint, they were stopped by jittery Iraqi soldiers and arrested. Two days later, bound and blindfolded, they were dumped in an open field with hundreds of other people. Mr. Husseini was only 10 at the time. "We arrived at a place where a shovel had already made a hole," he said. "We saw a brick factory and behind us a small canal. They started taking us out in ones and twos." His mother tried to keep him close, but her hands were tied and she could not hold the children. They all stumbled into the ready-made grave. "They were shooting at us, but I didn't get hit," Mr. Husseini said. "I was lying on top of my mother. Then someone came down in the hole and dragged me up by my collar and yelled, `Shoot this kid!' I was pretending to be dead. And they started shooting at me again, but still I didn't get hit. Then the shovel came." He felt himself being lifted with the dirt and dropped once again into the hole. "I rolled myself to the edge and then to a place where there were reeds and water and the reeds were all sticking in my face," he recalled. "My body wasn't covered with the dirt, just my head. I could breath but I didn't move. A man came to check and was standing over the hole where everyone was buried and he called to the shovel driver, `Come and cover this kid.' But the driver, maybe he didn't hear, because he didn't come. "I could still hear the sounds of the motors of the buses but after awhile I heard them driving away," he continued. "I listened and then there was silence. So I lifted my head and I stood up. I saw nothing. Just a small hill where the hole had been." He walked toward the lights of a highway. His clothes were wet with blood. Out of the darkness, he suddenly saw four men, apparently army deserters. "They forced me to tell them what happened and I told them, and they said, `Stop, stop. Don't talk about this anymore.' We walked until we reached a small canal and they washed my hands and clothes and face until they were sure I didn't have any more blood or dirt on me." The men dropped him at his aunt's house. She, too, refused to hear the story. "She said, `Stop saying these things. Don't talk about this anymore.' Everyone said, `He's lying, he's crazy.' But when my dad came back on leave from the army, he knew I was telling the truth and he knew his family had been killed." When people started exhuming the bodies in the Hilla field three weeks ago, Mr. Husseini returned to his nightmare as he joined the search. "I walked and I was pushing the dirt aside with my feet, and I saw a shirt with bullet holes," he said as he described how he looked for his mother's body. "I had something in my heart that said this was the place. But we didn't find her. Then the neighbors said that four years ago, some Iraqi soldiers came and dug up some of the bones to give to Iran in a prisoner exchange. I told my dad, and he said, `Don't go there anymore. You don't have to prove anything to me." Mr. Husseini is 22 now, a solitary young man with a curl of dark hair falling over his forehead. "I never allowed myself to live all these years," he said. "Every day I thought, now they're going to come and take me. I was always waiting." He has no use for talk of justice or retribution. "Whatever you're going to do to them, it won't be enough. For a long time I thought I was the only one who lost someone. Then I saw all those people lining up and looking for their lost people at that mass grave. And I thought, what can possibly be done to help them?"

www.arabicnews.com 27 June 2003 Arab human rights commission urges for suing authors of genocide in Iraq Regional-Iraq, Politics, 6/27/2003 The Arab Permanent Human Rights Commission condemned on Wednesday, at the end of its extraordinary session, the genocide discovered in Iraq and urged for taking legal action against their authors. This came in a report, containing the commissions' recommendations and amendment projects of the Arab Human Rights Charter, and that will be submitted to the Arab League's foreign affairs ministers' council. Chairman of the commission, Khaled Naciri, told MAP that the hideous acts, perpetrated at the time of the former regime, are crimes against humanity and a genocide. Despite the multiple signs on the dangerous practices of the former Iraqi regime, the commission did not have the mechanisms to check the acts, he stressed, underlining that the delegations that took part in the session submitted proposals for the creation of new mechanisms to monitor human rights practices in Arab countries. Naciri also underscored divergences in the Arab countries approaches concerning human rights.

KurdishMedia.com 4 June 2003 Images of poison gas still haunt people in Kurdistan - By Asad Gozeh An eerie silence enveloped me as I walked through the village of Sheikh Wasan in Iraqi Kurdistan early on that morning, it resembled a ghost village. All the doors were open but I could not see anyone. There was no movement at all. The day before there had been several hundred people living here. Now, dead animals and chickens were lying everywhere. The few that were still alive were blind and crying for each other. Then the artillery shells began falling on the village and I could hear the roar of approaching tanks. A strange, sweet, fruity smell began to overwhelm me, a bit like apricots or apples. The higher I went up the hill, the stronger it smellt. The grass around me had a yellow coating. Suddenly right in front of me was an exploded bomb that was still leaking Mustard Gas. Trying to avoid it, I climbed higher. I ran for a few minutes and the smell increased again. I had run into another leaking bomb. I avoided that one too, but there were more. I could not run any more and fell exhausted on my back. I had not eaten since the previous evening. "You are going to die a horrible death by gas" I told myself. But still thinking about the people I had left behind in the cave and the need to take food and water to them gave me the courage to go on. The evening before, just as the villagers had returned to their homes for the night from their hiding places around their villages, Saddam launched the first large-scale gas attack on Kurdish civilians in five villages in the middle of Balisan valley. The Kurdish peasants had no idea what a gas attack was. It was around dusk on the evening of April 16th, (1987), when eight bomber planes dropped their bombs and left. Saddam had never before sent planes in the evening. The bomb blasts were dull thuds. "What a light attack!" said one villager "It is a gas attack and you should avoid it by going higher" I told him. "The poison gases are heavier than air and they will roll down the hills". He opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out breathing deeply. "Let the gas kill me; I do not believe this can kill people." He survived that attack, but 15 months later he died in a nerve gas attack. Most of the villagers were nonchalant and visited each other that evening. An hour after the attack the noise of 36 helicopters filled the dark sky. Saddam was setting out to kill any survivors. The choppers dropped gas bombs on every mountain passage that people might take later. Everyone was trapped. Within hours the incubation period was over. The real horror was just beginning. The symptoms appeared on everyone. Everyone lost their sight. Their lungs and every exposed part of the skin began to burn. Horrible, dark skin rashes and severe respiratory symptoms appeared. The pain elicited by any light was like needles in the eyes. People were getting sicker and sicker. Panic deepened quickly with news of a military incursion into the valley, and everyone tried to escape. Several pregnant women had miscarriages as they fled. The new-born babies that did not survive were named ’Chimya’ meaning "chemical". A number of people made it to the towns to be with their relatives and get treatment; however the secret police rounded them up the next day and murdered them all. We found their mass graves after the Gulf war. Some hid in isolated caves and died. Others took the mountain passes and died from the gas bombs dropped by the helicopters. The total death toll reached over two hundred. That night I learned that my brother, also a freedom fighter, was one of those affected by the chemicals. He was in our little field hospital in one of the side valleys. I went to find him, looking at each patient as I passed. As I talked to another person I heard my name "Asad I am here, you passed me" said my brother. He had heard my voice. His face was so dark, I had not recognized him. I tried to take his clothes off and give him a cold bath to wash the gas residue away when I heard the tanks approaching. I gripped my brother’s hand and told another five patients to hold each other’s hands. They had all lost their sight. I led the chain of men through the valley to the top of the mountain peak where I knew there was a large cave. Others arrived in the same cave later. We spent the night there. The next morning I told the group, "You stay here where you are safe. I have to go down to my headquarters to hide a list of the freedom fighters names that I have. If it gets into the hands of the approaching army, their families in the cities could be targeted by the army. Also, I have to get some food and water or we will starve to death." When I arrived back at the cave most of the other people who spent the night there had left. They crossed the mountain into the next valley. There were no car roads leading to that valley so people thought they will be safer there. On the contrary I thought that valley will be subjected to another gas attack. I saw the danger in that not in tanks and soldiers. I took the group that I was taking care of to another location closer to the villages and the Iraqi Army. I could hide well there and avoid another gas attack. I managed to save the life of my brother and the other five. Four days later, after burning and destroying all the 42 villages, the Iraqi army retreated from the valley. Two of the men set out to find their families but sadly, they were arrested by the Army on the other side of the mountain and were executed there. Four days later, on April 20, the survivors one by one were coming out of their hideouts. Suddenly around 9AM two Gazelle helicopters flew low over the valley. Their loud noise spread the fear again. They fired from their 20mm heavy machine guns towards the mountain pass and left. When I reached the scene, five peasants who had survived the Gas attack on their village were now dead. The bullets had ripped through their bodies. A mother was among the dead. Her baby had survived the attack and was still sucking milk from her dead mother’s breast. I will never forget that picture. Over a week after the attack the bombs were still leaking gas, turning the area to a death zone, thus preventing the return of the survivors. Mustard gas will remain lethally active until it is burned or washed away from the region. It became very essential to get rid of that leakage. We managed to get few gas masks and nylon clothes, so we dressed in those and poured some diesel on each bomb and set fire to them. There was no let up for us in the following months even, many more people died by gas. Forty one days later and on May 27th, Saddam launched another mustard gas attack on two other villages, Malakan and Bila. Several people died. Many more injured. One of the bombs landed in the spring water at the top of the valley. For over three years there were no fish living in the over 10 mile long river. It was eleven months after that first terrible day, on March 16th, 1988 that Saddam, using a cocktail of chemicals unleashed the worst chemical attack ever recorded, on the Kurdish city of Halabja. It left 5000 civilians dead and more than 10,000 others injured. Recent medical investigations on the survivors have revealed a horrific and tragic saga of infertility, severe birth defects, genetic abnormalities, cancers and many other serious medical problems. Saddam soon realized that Mustard gas was relatively easy to avoid; so he turned to using nerve agents on us. Some of the nerve gases did not even leave us enough time to put the masks on, that only few of us had managed to get. They are highly lethal with one breath if it is a direct hit on the target. While mustard gas was sometimes survivable but caused slow and painful death. If the victim is in contact with mustard gas constantly, it quickly becomes lethal. On May 15th the valley was subject to another large scale gas attack. Only in the village of Ware 33 people perished and another 4 people in other locations. We had advised the villagers to breathe through a wet piece of cloth and seek high lands in case of gas attacks. Instead, they ran to the village spring and poured water on themselves. They all died there. It was a horrible scene to behold that all these people died in a little spot around the water source. A week later gas was unleashed on the valley again in a large scale but only two people died. The next day the Iraqi Army attempted for two weeks to control the valley but failed. In the second week, Saddam used germs against us. In one day over two hundred people were infected with malaria in an area where malaria had never previously existed. Then on July 31st, 1988, Saddam sprayed the same valley with a cocktail of nerve gases using twenty-four planes. Two dozen people lost their lives. Hundreds were injured. One of the bombs landed in front of one of our headquarters. Seven people were killed instantly. A freedom fighter named Darseem ran to rescue them, he was killed too. The gas rolled down the hill and killed another five people. In the outskirts of Balisan village, three families of 12 people, including the man who survived the first attack, were living close to a few caves. A bomb landed nearby. They ran up the hill to seek safe ground but they didn’t make it and all except one died. The day before, a MIG25 plane flew low over the valley. Normally the Iraqis did this to photograph the valley and provide new images of the concentrations of people prior to an attack. After the first attack most of the civilians deserted their villages and took up residence close to the sources of water, among the big rocks or near the caves. I warned everyone that there will be an attack the next day. I was scanning my FM radio late in the afternoon when I picked up the conversation of a lot of pilots; I knew immediately that there was going to be a gas attack. I ran up the hill to another headquarters where I knew they had some gas masks. "Give me a mask and get ready for a gas attack!" I told them. Few minutes later, gas bombs were falling everywhere and on every source of water. After the attack I ran down the hill to help but it was too late so I returned to my headquarters. A bomb was dropped there too but further up the hill-side. Some of the gas drifted down to an area where we were cooking. Later, I went down with everybody to eat and as I tasted the rice they had cooked I realized it had absorbed the poison. "Do not eat this, it is contaminated" I shouted. I immediately gave everyone a glass of milk and they all threw-up the poison. I threw the food away and we had to cook again. Following the first attack, I tried to always carry some Atropine injections and some powdered milk. I used most of it that evening on the injured people. Some of the bombs were dropped on the slope of the valley and the gas went down through the valley. Several miles away, it reached the town of Khalifan. A few thousand people got sick from it. After this attack most of the civilians deserted the valley. During August of 1988, Saddam really confused us. We were targeted first with conventional weapons, next with cluster bombs, then with gas bombs. For the gas, we had to avoid the lowlands into which the gas would flow downwards. We also had to avoid the bunkers where we would risk suffocating to death. However, to seek protection from cluster and conventional bombs, we needed to be in those places. Worst of all was that we did not have any canned food. We had to eat food that got poisoned all the time. Finally, by August 27th the Iraqi Army launched a massive campaign and conquered the valley. Most of the freedom fighters retreated to a very mountainous region by the border; however I was within a group of 14 fighters that stayed in that region for another 3 months. There were over 100,000 Iraqi soldiers in the nearby valleys who constantly combed the area looking for us. Those three months were harsh and a real struggle for survival. All through these times, as a political freedom fighter working with one of the Kurdish parties, I did my best to gather knowledge about poison gases. That, and luck, is how I survived the first gas attack and several others that I witnessed in the 16 months that followed. I have lived with the symptoms for many years. Rashes, severe muscle pain, constant weight loss, weakness, bouts of uncontrollable sweating and upper respiratory symptoms. Still today, the effects remain with me, and exposure to any chemicals, smoke or fumes, especially from diesel fuel, causes the symptoms to return. After the Gulf-War Saddam accused us of being U.S. spies and marked me and my family for death. Nine years after that attack, and on December, 4th 1996 I was evacuated to the USA. I am now living in Colorado Springs which, in many ways, looks like my home town. We feel incredibly blessed to enjoy the personal rights and securities of this country. It has been my wish and duty to inform the world about the crimes that Saddam perpetrated against innocent Kurds.

Z Macaine 5 June 2003 Kurds at the Nexus of Global Politics: How the U.S. uses one genocide to justify another 05 June 2003 Z Magazine - By Jesse Benjamin Kurds once again have made a brief, if fleeting, appearance in the news. For Kurds, however, and those who follow Kurdish issues with concern, this revived attention is shallow in both its commitment and in its analytic depth. Colorful pictures of Kurds fleeing in panic from the threat of renewed chemical weapons attacks at the onset of the war showed Kurds as victims, while colorful photos of peshmergah fighters alongside U.S. Marines confirm other aspects of the typical orientalist stereotypes. The truth is that the story of the Kurds is far too damning of U.S. and Western complicity in one of the 20th century’s worst cases of ethnic cleansing and genocide to ever be a part of mainstream media. The truth of Kurdish history would get in the way of the current U.S. regime’s narrative of justifications for its war against Iraq and its neo-colonial pretensions throughout the Middle East. The Kurds are particularly troublesome now in the post-war articulation of power in the region, especially to the extent that this most deserving of people will again be left out of the super-power politics that determine the region’s fate. Kurds appear in Western discourse, when they do at all, as seemingly inert pre-historic (or non-historic) objects amidst the world of states and geo-power. The Kurds are the racialized victim of much of the “Middle East,” which is itself the racialized victim of U.S. and Western imperialism. As such, this twice marginalized people, doubly erased and oppressed, remain one of the most enigmatic and obscure communities in the world. The recent U.S. stand-off with Turkey, and the splitting of NATO and the UN from which this occasioned, are of historic import. The first round of U.S.-Turkish negotiations was revealing. The U.S. promised first $5, then $15, and finally $30 billion in “aid” and military assistance to Turkey, in exchange for using Turkey as a staging ground from which to launch troops into Iraq as a northern front. U.S. military planners saw this as crucial because this is the closest border to the main Iraqi oil fields, which are, after all, the real strategic objective. Also negotiated, but far less discussed, was the issue of Turkish military presence in Iraq, not just in policing border refugee camps, but also their explicitly stated desire to enter deep into Iraqi territory to seize the oil fields. While it seemed at first that the U.S. wanted to use Turkish forces as shock troops during the campaign and as an administrative buffer afterwards, they balked at Turkey’s greater ambitions. Turkey is caught here between not only the U.S. and the EEC, but also between the West and the Arab world. As Mohammad Noureddine, in Beirut’s Daily Star put it, Turkey is “between an American rock and a European hard place.” Yet, the driving force in their at times bizarre policy decisions appears to be the stateless Kurds in the southeast of their nation. We repeatedly heard the media mantra, ostensibly true, that Turkey’s primary concern was that if Saddam Hussein fell and Iraqi Kurds achieved an independent Kurdish state, Turkish Kurds might be inspired to attain fuller rights, or even to join such a state. Noureddine was correct when he stated on the eve of war, “It sometimes seems that the keys to war and peace are in Ankara’s hands rather than in those of Washington and Baghdad.” Ankara’s decisions seem to be based on their calculations about the Kurds. Most Western observers thought that the massive protests in Turkey wouldn’t alter its support of the U.S. plan, especially with all the money involved. Thus, when the Turkish Parliament failed to give the outright majority needed to authorize the U.S. invasion plans, many were stunned. The Bush administration went into frantic spin control and floated various Plan B scenarios and withdrew its cash offers almost entirely, while an armada of personnel and military equipment languished and was finally transferred out of Turkey’s Mediterranean ports. The planned second vote of Parliament never materialized and as the war began in earnest, Turkey gave, retracted, and then gave again permission only to use its airspace for U.S. military fly-overs. This time around, the U.S. would not even be allowed to use Incirlik airforce base, which was central to its first Gulf War campaign. Last year, the Bush administration tried unsuccessfully to broker a deal to purchase Incirlik for its own private use so that they could avoid just such a problem in the future. The U.S. has invested billions of dollars over five decades cultivating Turkey as a key strategic ally in the region, so it is curious that Turkey should diverge so momentously from its senior partner at this particular moment. Along with U.S. military “aid” came strong Israeli support and ties that helped Turkey in its ethnic cleansing campaigns and probably the capture of Ocalan in Kenya. With the capture of Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the main guerilla opposition (the PKK) to Turkish domination, perhaps Turkey felt it could do without the U.S. aid package it garnered throughout the 1990s. This theory aside, why was Turkey willing to forsake the U.S.-Israel nexus, with its “valuable” lessons in repressing Palestinians? Perhaps it was throwing in its lot with Europe, now that the latter’s standoff with the U.S. has gone so public, and its EU membership is in the balance. Or perhaps its single-minded obsession with repressing Kurds in Turkey and elsewhere is driving Turkey to jeopardize both its alliance with the U.S. and Israel and its campaign to enter the European Union. Some flatly suggest that Turkey is no longer vital in the post-Cold War world and is being discarded. Turkey’s close U.S. ties explain why few media pundits here took note when Turkey openly demanded a military role in northern (i.e., Kurdish) Iraq. Turkey made plain its intention to “disarm Iraqi Kurds,” seize control of the oil fields, and occupy or rule northern Iraq, if not annex it entirely. Recently, Turkey’s leadership could be heard invoking a greatly exaggerated Turkmen presence and imperilment in northern Iraq as a pretext for an impending intervention. Crazy as all this is, it should have caused a strenuous reaction from the U.S. Wasn’t the breach of the supposedly inviolable laws of sovereignty the thin U.S. pretext for the first Gulf War, when Iraq invaded Kuwait? How could sovereignty be a sacred principle at one moment and, at the next, simply a pawn to be traded for greater U.S. interests? Yet, it was reported that part of the final fly-over agreement between Turkey and the U.S. included vague provisions for a Turkish invasion of Iraq in the event that Iraqi Kurdish forces seized control of the oil fields around Mosul and Kirkuk. So, while President Bush states publicly that he warned Turkey to stay clear of this conflict, his Administration has already agreed to plans to the contrary, should Kurds finally achieve a resources base from which to become a viable entity on the world stage of nations. Denied a country in the post-World War I division of the Ottoman Empire, Kurds were briefly promised a country by President Woodrow Wilson, but then were left out in the cold as the former colonial powers (France and Britain) drew up artificial lines of control for their future neo-colonial predation of the region’s resources and labor. The Kurds remained stateless “minorities” in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Armenia. As such, they have been subjected to horrible repression, countless human rights abuses, and genocide not only in Iraq, Iran, and Syria, but also in Turkey—and the world community has been largely unable to intervene because this was seen as “the sovereign affairs of other nations.” This at least, has been the case when those nations were U.S. allies, such as Iraq in the 1980s, and Turkey all along. So much so, that the U.S. has gone to the extent of denying atrocities and genocide in both countries until, in the case of Iraq, Hussein made the transition from ally to enemy, at which point it not only became possible, but necessary to invoke Kurdish suffering there. The Oil Fields of Kirkuk and Mosul Iraq’s main oil fields, around the cities of Kirkuk and Mosul, are not only among the world’s largest, but are also the world’s most productive. While the biggest fields elsewhere (Saudi Arabia, for example) passed their peak extraction capacity years ago and are currently declining, Iraq’s major oil fields have decades of ascendant productive potential. This, along with the fact that there are still compliant regimes in Saudi Arabia and many other major oil producing nations, explains why Iraq was the target of the moment. The question for more than a year has been: will other Middle East governments be targeted for “regime change” after Iraq and what will be the nature of post-invasion U.S. power and presence? The key here is the hidden ethnic history of this vital oil producing region. Recently, one could see Peter Jennings or some other anchor nightly discussing an ethnic map of Iraq: Sunni Muslims in the middle, Shi’a Muslims to the south, and Kurds in the far north and northeast. According to these maps, the oil fields are in the Sunni regions in which Hussein’s party is anchored. These maps, however, represent the engineered results of 20th century ethnic cleansing campaigns, begun by the British and continued and intensified under Hussein’s Iraq. The carefully kept secret is that the major oil fields are located in historically Kurdish regions. This, at least, is the case, if the oil fields are to be allocated along linear, majority-rules ethnic lines. Before the 20th century colonial and post-colonial ethnic cleansing of this area, eradicating or relocating its Kurdish majority, the region was one of largely harmonious multi-ethnic coexistence between Kurds, Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, Turkmen, Jews, and others. Here, as in most of the world, ethnic or national conflicts in their modern sense were occasioned by Western invention and intervention. As the current war arrived, we saw elements of this cultural coexistence in the fact that Kurdish political parties in northern Iraq were collecting names of defectors from the Iraqi army who wanted to be protected when they surrendered. Many of the surrender plans involved deals cut with rural Kurds, so that Iraqi soldiers and intelligence officers could obtain civilian clothes and shelter by slipping into Kurdish homes until official surrender could be arranged. As much as media pundits love to speak of “primordial tribal hatred,” these actions, as in Gulf War I, speak to the existence of inter-ethnic and inter-denominational alliances that are still the historic norm in the region. Kurds have great reason to hate their tormenters, but they can see the difference between the regime and its elite commanders, on the one hand, and the rank and file soldiers and civilians swept up in the ethnic maelstrom of Iraqi politics and survival, on the other. However, while one might hear brief discussion of potential Kurdish involvement in a post-Hussein Iraqi government, it is close to impossible to hear of Kurdish entitlement to the oil wells of central and northern Iraq. The Politics of Post-Modern Genocide There is a constant fear that the justified resistance of Kurds there will lead to the creation of a state not only for Iraqi Kurds, but also for Kurds in Turkey and elsewhere. This is why Turkey lobbies the U.S. so persistently. This is why the Kurds are only brought out for discussion when it is the case of their victimization at the hands of then U.S. protégé, Saddam Hussein; only then, when it fits the needs of U.S. war-making, in this case the need to make a case for its first strike against Iraq. Ironically, whereas the nation-state status of Kuwait allowed for a thin U.S. pretext in the Gulf War I, it is the lack of Kurdish statehood that makes them a less viable legitimation for U.S. imperial intervention. That, and the fact of U.S. shared responsibility for Kurdish suffering. Turkey’s history of ethnic cleansing and genocide is rooted in its particular brand of virulent and racially supremacist nationalism. When Mustafa Kemal Attaturk founded the modern nation of Turkey, he did so on the foundation of genocide against Armenians—a genocide that is yet to be recognized by much of global public opinion or the U.S. Congress. In addition to Armenians, almost a millions Kurds were deported or massacred at that time, and more than a million Greeks were also forced from Anatolia, in a broad attempt to create a racially “pure” Turkish society. Nevertheless, Kurdish leaders and fighters were instrumental in securing Turkey’s borders from various would-be usurpers. Their reward for this help was the mass execution of its leadership, reneged promises, and ongoing repression. After the Armenians, Kurds became the primary targets of nationalist terror, as their “stubbornly” held separate identity posed a threat to Turkey’s vision of a monocultural secular society. The ensuing decades saw dozens of uprisings, all of which were ruthlessly crushed, until guerillas asserted themselves in the mountains and engaged with the Turkish army in the 1980s. This cycle reached its apex in the 1980s and 1990s, when Turkey’s scorched earth policy destroyed more than 3,000 villages, forcing more than 2 million Kurds into internal exile or permanent refugee status. The penalty for returning to villages remains torture or death, as recent killings by Turkish military and paramilitary forces have shown. Kurds are prevented from using their language, naming their children Kurdish names, wearing Kurdish colors— even the traffic lights have been changed to red, yellow, and blue because red, yellow, and green are the Kurdish national colors. Turkey’s efforts to annihilate Kurdish culture—it refers to Kurds only as “mountain Turks”—has been repudiated by all of the world’s respected human rights organizations, notably Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and even the U.S. State Department Reports on Human Rights, as well as by numerous European Union representatives and bodies. Turkey’s efforts, including the mass transfer of Kurdish children to boarding schools where they are “decultured” and raised as Turks, constitute in the language of the Geneva Conventions Against Genocide acts of cultural genocide aimed at reduction or elimination of a distinct group of people. The U.S. provided more than 80 percent of Turkey’s arms during the height of this repression, and so is directly complicit in this under-reported, but brutal policy of ethnic cleansing. In 1977, Mehdi Zana, a courageous Kurdish leader who emerged from the grassroots was elected Mayor of Diyarbakir, the largest city and capital of Turkish Kurdistan. He was soon arrested and imprisoned for more than a decade and suffered unspeakable torture and humiliation that will affect him for the rest of his life, now spent in exile from his native land. This is recounted in his testimonial Prison No. 5: Eleven Years in Turkish Jails, with a preface by Elie Wiesel. The main charge was “separatism,” as evidenced according to his “trial” by the fact that he spoke to his aids in the Kurdish tongue, their only language. Even with the support of European presidents and countless influential people, his plight was not alleviated for more than ten years. Even now he is separated from his family, as well as his people and his homeland. Similarly, Leyla Zana (Mehdi is her husband) became increasingly radicalized and she and five other Kurds were elected to Parliament in 1991, but soon after were stripped of parliamentary immunity and arrested. Their “crimes,” also under the label of “separatism,” consisted of wearing Kurdish colors in their hair, speaking the Kurdish language, and testifying before Europe and the U.S. Congress about human rights abuses in Kurdish areas. They were given 15-year sentences and remain in jail. Leyla Zana has been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize and received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, as well as numerous other awards and honors. Her story is chronicled in her Writings From Prison. At the back of Mehdi Zana’s blood curdling account of some of the tortures he endured is a powerful essay by Kendal Nezan, a Kurdish activist living in exile in France. This Kurdish history is the single best short scholarly account of Kurdish politics and history and is invaluable for all activists wishing to understand the Kurdish place in world politics. Even more indispensable for U.S.-based activists is the office of AKIN, the American Kurdish Information Network, founded and operated almost single-handedly by Kurdish exile and Gandhian pacifist, Kani Xulam. AKIN is based in Washington, DC and is the only significant Kurdish organization in the U.S. responsible for lobbying on Capital Hill. Xulam organizes protests and rallies—disseminating information, working with Kurdish refugees throughout the country, and traveling widely to give talks on college campuses and at conferences and events. Whatever happens to the Kurds at this most hopeful and most perilous moment, the history of suffering must eventually be addressed. Kurds often discuss their position in relation to that of the Palestinians, saying things like: “When the Palestinian question is answered, then it will be the Kurdish turn.” Yet, if the startling Turkish fall from U.S. graces proves in the end not to be a mirage, some are now asking if an emergent Kurdistan might function more like Israel, as a U.S. ally and base in the region. Such comparisons are too loaded and complex to make lightly, but the paradigm questions remain real. Kurds and Palestinians, like other oppressed and stateless people, desire some of the national privileges accorded Jews via Israel in the wake of World War II—a nation-state, a safe haven from persecution, the chance for an economy. After 80 years of persecution, the present conjuncture does not offer particularly clear paths toward liberation for Kurds, but nevertheless Kurds will undoubtedly engage what opportunities there are to the best of their advantage. Will the people of the world, especially progressives, support them? Anti-war activists sickened by the war and the genocidal sanctions against the Iraqi people should be horror-struck by the contemptuous use of Kurdish suffering to justify Iraqi torment. We must not accept a world order that justifies one genocide by the use of another—genocides which it alternately covers up, supports, and/or deplores for its own ends. Though it will undoubtedly make our organizing efforts more complex, activists must directly address the Kurdish issue, now more than ever. Jesse Benjamin is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Relations and Multicultural Education at St. Cloud State University, Minnesota.

Al-Ahram (Cairo) 5 -11 June 2003 Issue No. 641 The killing fields Survivors of the 1991 Intifada are finally able to search for their dead, but as volunteers continue to uncover mass graves in southern Iraq, evidence that could be used in future tribunals is slipping away, reports Nyier Abdou in Hilla - Karim Aziz Kathem Al-Hussein is looking for his father. He carries with him his father's ID card as he searches through bundles of belongings uncovered with the remains of thousands of Iraqis who were killed by the Ba'th regime during the 1991 Shi'a uprising in southern Iraq. Nine of Karim's relatives are believed to be buried here, although he has found none of them. Like many of the mourners who come to the mass grave sites recently uncovered by local volunteers at Al-Muhawwil, near the city of Hilla, Karim can give the exact day his father was taken: 24 March 1991. He remembers that he was fasting then, as it was Ramadan. His father was a well-known religious leader in the area, and at the time of the Intifada, that was enough to make him an enemy of the state. "The government wanted to eliminate those who might encourage people to resist the regime," says Karim. "If they had the smallest doubt about someone, they took him." Arriving at Muhawwil is a powerful reminder of the ruthlessness with which Saddam Hussein's regime carried out this doctrine of extermination. The sea of small mounds, each tagged with a plastic bag holding the belongings found with each body, brings home the extent of the overwhelming tragedy that took place here. While men dig doggedly in the blazing heat, others carefully separate the remains of uncovered bodies and wrap them in anonymous white bundles. Walking through the makeshift cemetery where bodies have been reburied, the tears began to flow and I wiped them away as I tried to take pictures. Click to view caption Digger points to bullet hole in a skull unearthed at Jurf Al-Sakhr mass burial site; INFORCE team offer to train diggers identify forensic evidence; Jaber Al-Hussein led diggers to the Al-Muhawwil burial site; Karim Al-Hussein holds his father's ID card as he searches for his nine missing relatives; workers load remains of more than 3,000 bodies recently unearthed from Jurn Al-Sakhr site -- COUNTING THE DEAD: Diggers have been working here for a month, and as of last week, they had uncovered more than 3,100 bodies. In the early days, a stream of some 2,000 people a day were descending on the site, hoping to identify the remains of those they had lost. Workers were forced to ask the United States military to help keep the crowds back, and a handful soldiers remain at the site. All the people working at Al-Muhawwil are volunteers, mostly from the nearby village of Al- Hussein. The men come every day, from 7.00 in the morning to 5.00 in the evening. Mohamed Gasm was one of the first people to start work at the site. "When we came here it was just a hill, like that one," he says, pointing to a long, low ridge behind the site. "We came on our own. We didn't have any equipment for excavation, just some basic tools." When the workers found that the graves were quite deep, they went to the American military for help. The Americans provided more equipment and still lend a hand clearing away the top layers of soil. The occasional sight of an American soldier lumbering by bundles of cloth- wrapped remains in a tractor and kicking up clouds of dust seems incongruous and manifestly inappropriate given the solemn task at hand, but diggers maintain it has been an invaluable help. When diggers find a body, they do what they can to identify it -- often, the person was buried with some form of identification -- and give the name to authorities in the governorate. The names are assembled and listed regularly on television. Small groups of mourners still haunt the gravesite, walking slowly, purposefully, through the maze of graves, the sight of a woman's black abbaya standing out in the monotonous landscape as she bends down to fish in the bags of belongings looking for something familiar. Most people who claim the remains of their family members or friends take the bodies to the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf and rebury them in the holy city's vast Shi'a cemetery. But many bodies remain unclaimed. "A lot of the bodies, we don't know who they are," says Gasm. "Maybe no one comes to look for them because their whole family is buried here." An imam performs burial rites on rows of bodies before they are reburied. I watched over the burial of a woman and her baby. The man held up the small bundle before tucking it into the grave and wedging a stone beside it. Somberly, the workers filled the grave with soil. "I found my nephew here," says Gasm quietly, gesturing at what is now rows of graves. "Just over there. He was arrested on 20 April 1991. He didn't do anything. They just came and took him." JOURNEY INTO THE UNKNOWN: The search for Iraq's disappeared is perhaps one of the most public and immediate facets of the social catharsis that the people of Iraq are undergoing in the post-war period. The scouring of intelligence files, the search for mass graves -- all are being undertaken by assiduous locals who have seized the long-awaited chance to bring the crimes of the Ba'th regime to light. The US and UK have yet to unveil evidence of the weapons of mass destruction that were the grounds on which the war in Iraq was built, but with each day, the register of atrocities lengthens. As men arrange the bones of the dead, cupping their hands gently around the muddy skulls, I check myself from taking pictures. But the workers motioned to continue. "Let them see," says one, wrapping the bundle with string and pointing to the row of remains. "Let people see how we suffered." People here are determined to make it clear to Arabs who supported Saddam that they were wrong. While men reburied the bodies of the woman and her son, one man indicated the row of bodies waiting to be buried and said, "Those who stood by Saddam, those who said he was a hero for standing up to the US -- let them come here and see this." Basm Mohamed Kathem denounces Arab regimes in particular for their silent acquiescence during the years of Hussein's rule, but he has special venom for Egypt. "There are many Egyptians buried here, so we contacted the embassy," he says. "The Egyptian ambassador came here and we ended up fighting with him. He told the people here, 'You supported Saddam once'. But all the Arab regimes supported Saddam. We told him that if we supported Saddam, it was by force. 'You, you supported him by choice. It was you who supported him, not us'." HEART OF DARKNESS: The land that is now the Al-Muhawwil gravesite was seized from a local farmer and allotted to a Ba'thist supporter who villagers identify as a "criminal" named Khais Al-Atwani. An armed guard was posted at the site and, according to locals, was paid 250,000 Iraqi dinars a month for his silent vigil. Al-Atwani disappeared before the war, but his relative, Mohamed Juad I'Nefas, who people maintain collaborated with Al-Atwani in the crimes committed at Al- Muhawwil, was apprehended by villagers and handed over to American troops. But it was reported this week that the US military mistakenly released Al-Nefas, and there is $25,000 reward for his apprehension. Jaber Al-Hussein continued to farm the land adjacent to the site, and at the time of the 1991 massacres, he hid himself nearby with a telescope. It was he who first identified the site to those searching for the graves, although there were others who lived nearby who saw what he did. Like Jaber, they said nothing at the time. More than a decade later, he describes the atrocities he witnessed with clinical calm. During the period between 7 March and 6 April 1991, says Jaber, prisoners were brought to the site in batches. Before the buses arrived, people were already in the field, digging trenches, and Ba'th henchmen were out in force to seal off the area. Minibuses carrying about 40 passengers each arrived daily in groups of two or three. "They came in shifts. First in the morning at 9.00, then at noon, and again around 5.00 in evening," says Jaber. "The prisoners' arms were tied behind their backs, and they were blindfolded, their heads pressed against the seats. The buses would pull up close to the trench and one by one, they pushed them from the door. Then they'd just shoot into the trench. It didn't matter if they were dead or alive; they used shovels and buried them." The hasty and indiscriminate killing is unmistakable in the bodies uncovered. One woman was found still wearing her elaborate and expensive gold jewellery. Most bodies still have their watches, their rings, their IDs. Many show no indication of being shot, meaning they were probably buried alive. All across the site, one sees remnants of uncovered graves -- a sandal, a bit of clothing, shoes with the cloth used to tie someone's feet wound around them. "I have three brothers buried here," says Jaber. "Most of Iraqi land has been turned into graves. All Iraq is now one big grave for the Iraqi people." FLYING BLIND: About an hour's drive from Al- Muhawwil, on the way to Rumadi, the desert is barren and full of long, low ridges, most of them either natural, or formed by defunct irrigation projects. But it was in this expanse of harsh territory that a group of villagers from Al- Mussayib came to look for graves they had been told were in the area. Diggers Mohamed Abu Awwas and Hamza Mattar Hussein say they spent days scouring the ground for bullet casings or large areas of shifted soil. The graves they finally uncovered, in a place called Jurf Al-Sakher, are believed to hold 390 people from one clan alone, the Shamali, who come from the town of Shamali, close to Kut. In the 12 days workers have been digging here, they have found the remains of more than 600 people, 40 from Shamali. Like those found at Al- Muhawwil, they are victims of the Shi'a Intifada. Near the group's pickup truck, wrapped remains are lined up in rows of two, most with their names written on the white cloth. At the end of the day the bodies are unceremoniously loaded onto the truck and taken to Al-Mussayib. Here, as well as at Al-Muhawwil, the workers are methodical and organised, but untrained. They rely on intuition and luck, often digging large trenches and clearing away layers of soil with a tractor lent by the municipality without knowing that there is anything below. In one disturbing case, instead of finding bodies, they uncovered a dump of chemical waste. We watch as a group slowly removes layers of a trench, bringing the tractor in, digging, and repeating the process numerous times. Suddenly, the tractor pulls up a piece of faded clothing and a couple of men leap into the trench, digging gently around the area. They unearth the remains of two bodies, the skulls still blindfolded. A bullet hole is evident in the forehead of one. As one man carefully pulls away the mud around the remains and arranges them, two men are digging a new trench nearby. There they hit upon another body, and one man walks over carrying the skull on his shovel. Watching from afar is Jonathan Forrest, of the British charity INFORCE (the International Forensic Centre of Excellence for Investigation of Genocide). This is the first visit to Jurf Al- Sakher for Forrest's group of seven forensic scientists and one senior crime officer, who are part of an advance assessment team commissioned by the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA). Asked by ORHA to help formulate a policy on dealing with the mass graves, INFORCE has been given an almost prohibitively delicate task. In the weeks since the war ended, locals have established a surprisingly rigorous programme of self-administered excavation in what is a very emotional and political matter. The intrusion of foreign influence is unlikely to be welcome. The US and UK have indicated that they may seek to try cases of gross human rights violations against Iraqis, like the massacres of the Intifada, as part of an "Iraqi process", rather than in an international war crimes tribunal, which will surely be sought for senior Ba'th leaders. But with every day that workers vigorously seek and uncover graves, the forensic evidence that would be crucial in such tribunals is lost, either because the families are actually taking the remains and burying them, or simply because the method of excavation and identification is grossly insufficient to be used as evidence in a court of law. HOW IT'S DONE: The INFORCE team observe the digging unobtrusively at first, but it is clear that the haphazard means by which the workers are unearthing the remains is painful to watch. Most of the scientists have worked in former Yugoslavia doing similar work, but Forrest says that handling the sensitivities of workers whose aims are personal rather than legal is a new and daunting challenge. "They are obviously organised and work in an extremely efficient way," says Forrest. But he underscores the unnecessarily severe conditions the workers are dealing with, given that modern equipment can easily identify graves. What took the workers from Al-Mussayib days of gruelling searching could have been swiftly completed with equipment that provides a three- dimensional underground picture -- equipment sitting in the back of the INFORCE team's van. Ground-penetrating radar can tell where the ground has been disturbed and pick up anomalies. "We can find the graves," says Forrest confidently, his tone indicating that this is the least of their difficulties. Members of the INFORCE team are squatting next to diggers, all of them huddled around a cloth with the two sets of remains just uncovered laid out on it. "We can help you," I hear one woman tell them, through their translator. "We can help you identify the bodies." But the man guards the remains jealously and looks at the INFORCE team, their bright white tee-shirts and bandannas wrapped around their heads, with a look of impatience that borders on disdain. The woman explains that they can teach them to separate and recognise the bones, but this offer is rebuffed on the basis that the workers already know how. "Do they know about bones?" she asks. The question is rhetorical, but the answer is firm. "Yes," the translator says. "All of them? All of them know about bones?" Forrest says that one of the major problems he has seen in both Al-Muhawwil and Jurf Al-Sakher is that remains that are piled on top of one another are being mixed up in the process of being unearthed. "We can help them to uncover the remains in a more scientific way," he says, noting that this means separating the remains more effectively and keeping "more" of one body. "Right now, they're leaving the hands and feet behind -- the small bones that are not easily uncovered," he notes. "Forensic evidence has to be held and dealt with in a certain way," explains Forrest. "There are currently no facilities in Iraq to secure evidence." What INFORCE can do, he says, is put such facilities in place, so that international teams can come to the country and prepare evidence that could be used in tribunals. "There are many things we can do," says Forrest. The problem is, they have to be done fast. The scale of the graves in this region has yet to be made clear, but one thing is certain: locals are not only more aware than ORHA, they are also acting swiftly. At Al- Muhawwil workers told us that they knew of another site, some two kilometres away, and that they intended to start digging there this week. It is estimated that over 20,000 people could be buried in the mass graves south of Baghdad and it seems doubtful that INFORCE will be able to get to them as quickly as they are found in order to initiate procedures for comprehensive excavations. "Iraq is a country full of graves," says Forrest. "We have to prioritise where we work. It's important that we work on graves that can lead to prosecutions." Last week US administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer visited the gravesites -- the clearest sign yet that the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is aware that an effective policy on the mass graves needs to come sooner rather than later. On Sunday, British Prime minister Tony Blair's special human rights envoy, Ann Clwyd, visited the gravesites with the INFORCE team. While the commissioning of the INFORCE team is a strong indication that such a policy is being made a priority, it is likely that locals will remain a step ahead of the bureaucratic behemoth that the CPA has already become. With INFORCE only in its "assessment" stages, a concrete policy still needs to be formulated by ORHA, and then a larger forensic team will need to be assembled and deployed. In the time it takes for this to happen, countless more bodies will be spirited away, while workers at gravesites grow more settled in their routine. Every day that passes augments the inevitable confrontation between modern science and dry legal procedures and a very natural process of recovering and burying one's dead. The long-term project of legal retribution falls uneasily in between and time is of the essence. .

Israel (see Belgium)

btselem.org (Israel) 18 June 2003: The Knesset: Enshrining Racism in Law A joint release with Hamoked - Center for the defence of the individual “The State of Israel…will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex…” Israeli Declaration of Independence Today, the Knesset approved the first reading of a bill submitted by the government that rescinds the right of Israeli residents and citizens who have married residents of the Occupied Territories to establish their home in Israel. The implications of the decision are clear: Israel is forcing those who want to marry Palestinians to choose the lesser of two evils: either not to get married, or to leave their homes. The bill makes a cynical use of flimsy security arguments to disguise blatant discrimination. The bill will harm the right of couples from opposite sides of the Green Line to marry and form a family. This bill is racist, and goes against the principle of equality for all citizens. As such, the bill is illegal.

AFP 23 Jun 2003 Gaza's children caught in real-life nightmare by Majeda El-Batsch GAZA CITY, June 23 (AFP) - In Gaza City's crowded al-Sabra neighborhood, 12-year-old Abd al-Ghoul's face drops as he remembers his friends who were wounded in an Israeli missile strike which killed a militant from the radical Islamic group Hamas. Ghoul, like many other children in Gaza, says he is not scared of the strikes carried out by Apache helicopters, like the one on June 13 which blew up Adel al-Lidawi in a car and wounded about two dozen others, including eight children under the age of 10. But their bravado is easily cracked and child-care professionals in the territory worry about the long-term damage the violence is causing them. "We see the Apaches and when they fire on a car, we go there right away," says Ahmad, 10. "We're not scared. We're used to seeing wounded people and martyrs." But another boy cuts him off: "That's not true. You and your little brother peed in your beds the night of the bombing." Doctor Samir Qouteh of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program says "a large proportion of the children in the territory are psychologically shocked by the bombings and incursions" which Israel says it carries out to stem militant attacks on its own citizens. He estimates that more than 35 percent of children living in areas where fighting occurs wet their beds and that many "become nervous and can't stay still." "When a child has a shock, he relives the incident while sleeping, his fears gives him nightmares, his dependence on his parents increases and he can't recover," he said, adding that the Israeli military blockade of the Gaza Strip made it impossible to properly treat them. In the al-Zeitoun neighborhood next to the eastern al-Sabra district, eight members of the Rashid household were wounded in the missile strike which killed Lidawi, including several children. Some have left the city's main al-Shifa hospital, others are still being treated. At their home, Tahrir Rashid, 7, lay down on a bed, still recovering from being hit by shrapnel in the shoulders and back. His mother says he was playing in front of the house with his friends when the missile exploded. "Where can they play when they don't have anywhere else to go? My children wake up in the middle of the night terrified and crying 'the missile! the missile! and they wet their beds," she said. Zaher Haniya, a counselor at one of Gaza's day camps, which are for the most part run by Hamas or leader Yasser Arafat's main Fatah faction, said they at least help "decrease the tension created by the siege and bombings." "It helps the children's psychology, teaches them to cooperate, improves their self-confidence and sense of belonging to a group," he said, estimating that some 60,000 Palestinian children would be attending the camps starting in July. "But this number is not nearly enough," said Haniya, noting that more than half Gaza's 1.2 million population are children.

WP 29 May 2003 Israel's Lethal Weapon of Choice As Assassinations of Militants Increase, Citizens' Uneasiness Grows By Molly Moore Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, June 29, 2003 JERUSALEM -- Nazih Abu Sibaa, 35, died seconds after he opened the trunk of his booby-trapped car. Abdel Rahman Hamad, 33, was shot dead by a sniper as he sat on his roof reading the Koran. Mohammad Abayat, 27, was killed when he picked up the receiver of a pay phone that blew up outside a hospital where he was visiting his sick mother. All three men, whose deaths were described by witnesses and Palestinian officials, were suspected Palestinian militants marked for assassination -- one of Israel's primary weapons in its effort to curb suicide bombings and other attacks against Israelis. These "targeted killings," as they are known here, were described by Israeli officials two years ago as "rare and exceptional" measures. But now they are carried out with regularity, using missiles, bombs, tanks, booby traps and gunfire, and they are stirring increasing disapproval from the Israeli public. Their frequency increased as Palestinian militants sent a wave of suicide bombers to attack Israelis, intensifying the level of violence in the 33-month-long Palestinian uprising, in which approximately 2,950 people have been killed. The number of suspected Palestinian militants tracked and killed by Israel more than doubled from 35 in 2001 to 72 last year. The toll of civilian bystanders and others killed who were not intended targets of the missions increased 2 1/2 times during the same period, according to studies of the cases by The Washington Post, which were based partly on research by two Israeli human rights groups, B'Tselem and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel; and three Palestinian organizations, the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment (known by its Arabic acronym, LAW), the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The figures exclude incidents that were not targeted killings -- such as gunfights, street fights or other shootings that appeared to be random -- or in which suspected militants were killed during general arrests or military operations. According to the data, Israeli military forces and undercover operations teams have killed at least 249 Palestinians during targeted attacks since the fall of 2000. Of that total, 149 were the targets and 100 were civilians or, in some cases, bodyguards or members of militant groups who were not the primary targets. Slightly more than one of every 10 Palestinians who has died in the conflict was killed during a targeted killing operation, the data show. "Targeted killing is not only very valuable," Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, chief of planning and policy in the Israeli military and one its most senior officers, said in a recent interview. "If we could not use this method in areas like Gaza, where we do not control the territory . . . we could not fight effectively against terrorist groups." "In 2003, the main weapon the Israeli army has in its arsenal against terrorism is the assassination policy," said Michael Sfard, a Tel Aviv attorney representing LAW and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, which are challenging the policy as a violation of international law and human rights standards in a suit now before the Israeli Supreme Court. "Today we execute people without trial. It's so simple. That's what we're doing. No one shows evidence to anyone." 'New Rules' of the Conflict Israel's increased use of targeted killings, and the civilian deaths that have accompanied them, has sharpened debate here on a critical question: Should a Jewish state that describes itself as the only true democracy in the Middle East refrain from conducting assassinations, or does Palestinian use of suicide bombers to attack Israelis in cafes and on buses justify extreme measures to protect Israeli citizens? "Terrorism has introduced new rules into the game," said Yaron Ezrahi, a Hebrew University professor and one of Israel's leading political scientists and philosophers, "and therefore the situation for a state like Israel, and the United States, is how to maintain its constitutionality in the face of terror." Today in Israel, he said, "what we're seeing is a process of erosion of democratic norms." Although Israelis have suffered more than 2 1/2 years of suicide bombings and other attacks, Israeli society is becoming increasingly opposed to the tactic of assassination. In a recent public opinion poll by the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, large numbers of Israelis who were questioned expressed doubts about both the tactics and the motives of such operations. A majority of Israelis polled -- 58 percent -- said the military should at least temporarily discontinue targeted killings. Two of every five Israelis polled said they believed the government had used targeted killings to sabotage a new, U.S.-backed peace process. Israel's policy of targeted killings has become one of the most divisive issues in the debate over a U.S.-backed peace plan known as the "road map." Palestinian militant leaders have said they will honor a cease-fire agreement with Israel only if the practice is ended. Israelis have insisted that they reserve the right to go after militants that they consider imminent threats if Palestinian security forces don't detain them or prevent the attack after being advised about it. The United States, which last year killed suspected al Qaeda operatives in Yemen using a Hellfire missile fired from a remote-controlled Predator aircraft, has criticized Israel's policy of assassinations as "unhelpful" to the peace effort but has not issued strong condemnations. In deference to Israel's arguments that assassinations are necessary to prevent terrorist attacks, the United States reportedly has pushed Israeli officials to limit their targets to "ticking bombs" -- individuals who can be tied to impending threats -- though critics argue that such limits are open to broad interpretation. History of Assassination In the spring of 1973, a group of Israeli commandos guided a speedboat up the Mediterranean coast and scrambled ashore in Beirut. Their covert mission: to assassinate three of the Palestine Liberation Organization's top officials in their downtown apartments. The leader of the team, Ehud Barak, commander of Israel's special forces, wore a long, dark wig, false breasts and women's clothing. He and his men gunned down all three targets, according to accounts confirmed by Barak, who later became Israel's prime minister. Israel's history of assassinations stretches back decades. In the early 1970s, prominent members of Palestinian organizations were killed in rocket attacks and car bomb explosions in Lebanon. Prime Minister Golda Meir authorized hit squads to locate and kill members of the Black September cell responsible for the kidnapping and murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Israeli undercover squads, dressed as Arabs, hunted down suspected militants in the Palestinian territories during the first uprising, or intifada, from 1987 to 1993. In the fall of 2000, as the second intifada began, Barak was prime minister and authorized security forces to assassinate Palestinian militants suspected of planning or conducting attacks against Israelis. Just before noon on Nov. 9 of that year, Hussein Abayat, a 37-year-old father of four, was driving his gray Mitsubishi through the West Bank village of Beit Sahur on the eastern edge of Bethlehem when antitank missiles fired by Israeli gunships slammed into his car. Neighbors found his charred body melted to the driver's seat. Two women, Aziza Jubran, 58, and Rahma Hindi, 54, who had been standing on the roadside, also died, their bodies burned black by the missiles. Abayat, identified by Israelis as an activist with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement who allegedly organized shooting attacks on the nearby Jewish community of Gilo, became the first known targeted killing of the current conflict. After the hit, Barak vowed to "continue with such operations." As the intifada intensified under Barak's successor, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the military's reliance on assassinations and the scope of the targets expanded, buttressed by advances in intelligence gathering and adaptations of high-technology military equipment and weaponry. The Israeli government has not released official data on targeted killings. In some cases, the government says Palestinians were killed because Israeli security forces had to fire in self-defense. Details about evidence gathered by Israel on suspects, and facts about the decision to assassinate them, usually remain secret after the attacks. In carrying out the targeted killings, Israeli forces have lifted some of their tactics from the murky world of covert operations and integrated them into the daily missions of regular troops. Frequently, several types of security units participate in a single operation: The mission will be directed by Shin Bet, the country's civilian security agency, with military commandos providing the muscle and army tanks and air force helicopters supplying the firepower. In an example of such a coordinated hit, three suspected Islamic Jihad militants driving on an isolated road north of the West Bank city of Jenin last October were ambushed by eight undercover Israeli operatives, four armored personnel carriers and three helicopters. Two of the suspects were killed. Palestinian hospital officials said one of the men, Wassim Ahmed Sabana, 23, was shot seven times. Israeli security officials later said intelligence reports indicated the men were en route to a suicide bombing inside Israel. Other missions have relied more on finesse. In 16 known incidents, Israeli operatives or Palestinian agents cooperating with Israelis have planted explosive devices in telephone booths, cars and other locations where they were detonated by remote control, sometimes from unmanned drones or helicopters. Because such operations are often carried out in secret by security services, Israeli officials usually deny involvement and attribute the explosions to accidents caused by Palestinians building or carrying explosive devices that detonated prematurely. Military officials said they used targeted killings when they were unable to arrest the wanted militant, which officials said was always their first choice. But human rights officials argue that Israel has made thousands of arrests under difficult circumstances since the intifada began, challenging the claim that some targets must be killed rather than arrested. Israeli officials say the justification for targeted killings is self-defense: "a means to prevent in-progress and future terrorist attacks that will kill Israeli civilians," according to court documents recently filed to the Israeli Supreme Court by the Israeli government in response to the human rights groups' suit. Human rights officials argue, however, that the practice of targeted killings is a denial of due process in a country that grants its own citizens accused of crimes extensive judicial rights and does not have a death penalty. Increasingly, in the past two years, proposed operations have been screened by military lawyers. The most important targets are sent to Sharon for approval, according to civilian and military officials. "Did we make some mistakes?" the military's Eiland said. "Yes. Did we sometimes miss the target? Yes. Did we sometimes cause collateral damage? Yes." But he also said operations have been delayed or canceled "hundreds of times" because of concerns over civilian casualties and other factors. Unintended Victims Abdel Aziz Rantisi said he never heard the helicopters coming. He didn't realize a missile had slammed through the engine block of his car until the blue Mitsubishi filled with white smoke. "It took me three seconds to realize we were being targeted," said Rantisi, 60, one of the most senior and most strident Gaza leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, "and I started to think, 'How are we going to survive the second rocket?' " He leaped out a back door and his 19-year-old son, Ahmed, who was driving, crawled out a window. As the car rolled into a nearby intersection, AH-64 Apache gunships spit five more missiles at it. Amal Jarosheh, 8, was standing in the gate leading to her family's house a few feet away when the first missile punched through the hood of the Rantisi car at 11:50 a.m. on June 10. "I gave her some money to buy candy," said her father, Nimer Jarosheh, 46, a mechanic. "She never got a chance to eat it." Rantisi, the target, survived the operation. But five other people, including Amal, died from their wounds. "The thing that makes me angry is they mean to kill as many people as they can," Rantisi, still nursing a leg injury from the attack, said in an interview in Gaza City. "Their assassinations all occur in very crowded areas. This was one of the most crowded areas of Gaza. "I'm sure I was monitored and observed from the time I left my house. They could have tried to assassinate me in a place that was not crowded and avoided spilling civilian blood." About one-third of all the suspected militants killed in targeted assassinations have been hit with missiles fired from aircraft and, in one case, a 2,000-pound bomb dropped by an F-16 fighter plane. But more than two-thirds of all unintended victims were killed in these airstrikes, making them the most controversial of the targeted killings. "Israel fails to apply the principle of proportionality," said Donatella Rovera, who monitors Israeli and Palestinian human rights issues for Amnesty International, the London-based rights group. "So many bystanders have been killed in pursuit of this policy." The largest number of fatalities occurred last July when an Israeli fighter jet dropped a one-ton bomb on a house in a central Gaza City neighborhood where concrete apartment buildings are packed together. The target was Salah Shehada, the founder and leader of Hamas's militant wing in Gaza. He was killed. So were 14 other people, including Shehada's wife. While the international backlash over the bombing did not surprise Israeli officials, they were stunned by the reaction from their own public. "The bomb in Gaza that killed 14 innocent people left a very profound impact on Israelis," said Ezrahi, the Israeli political scientist. "There is a certain kind of agonizing over events where there is killing of civilians." After the attempted assassination of Rantisi, public opinion responded even more severely, according to the newspaper poll that showed 40 percent of those questioned believed the attack was an attempt to disrupt the peace initiative. Though Israeli officials defended the targeting of Shehada and Rantisi, both had prompted vociferous debates within the military and intelligence communities before they were carried out, according to military officials. In the case of Shehada, some officers argued that more precise missiles, rather than a one-ton bomb, should have been used. But Shehada had escaped a previous assassination attempt and had shown an ability to outwit Israeli security forces, according to Eiland. "We didn't know exactly where he would be inside the house," Eiland said. "If we attacked him with a helicopter [using a missile], the probability that we would kill him was considered too low." The military has not used an air-dropped bomb in a targeted killing attempt since the Shehada bombing. The attempted killing of Rantisi was also vigorously debated within the government. Many officials, including one of the country's top military and intelligence officials, believed it would be too provocative at a time when the United States was attempting to launch a new Middle East peace process. Final authorization for targeting Rantisi came from Sharon, according to Israeli officials. Correspondent John Ward Anderson and researcher Islam Abdelkarim in Gaza City and researchers Hillary Claussen and Ian Dietch in Jerusalem contributed to this report

Myanmar

BBC 7 June 2003 Suu Kyi party blamed for clash One of Burma's top generals has accused detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party of corruption and blamed it for the violence last week in which she was reportedly injured. The comments by military intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt were published in Saturday's state-controlled media ahead of a meeting with UN special envoy to Burma Razali Ismail. The recent course of confrontation taken by the NLD (National League of Democracy) led to creating the untoward incidents, causing a great loss to the state General Khin Nyunt Mr Razali, who is pushing for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, is demanding to be given access to the opposition leader. After the talks, Mr Razali said he had not yet been granted a meeting with the pro-democracy leader. Further meetings are planned at the foreign ministry. Aung San Suu Kyi was taken into what military authorities described as "protective custody" after violence in the north of the country on 30 May, which the military junta said left four people dead and 50 injured. The military authorities said she was not injured during the clashes, but no-one has been allowed to see her and there is mounting concern for her health and safety. AUNG SAN SUU KYI 1990: National League for Democracy (NLD) wins general election while Suu Kyi under house arrest; military does not recognise the result 1991: Wins Nobel Peace Prize 1995: Released from house arrest, but movements restricted 2000-02: Second period of house arrest May 2003: Detained after clash between NLD and government forces Full profile Some reports say more than 60 people died in the incident. A number of eyewitnesses are in hiding, fearing military reprisals. Officials from the United States embassy in Rangoon, who have visited the scene, said it appeared to have been a deliberate attack by "government-affiliated thugs". The government denied that. Diplomats in Rangoon see the general's declaration as a sign that the opposition leader is unlikely to be released soon, says the BBC's Larry Jagan. UN officials have hinted strongly that Mr Razali may leave early if he is not allowed to see Aung San Suu Kyi. Mr Razali had hoped to get substantive political talks started between the generals and the opposition leader. Now he has to concentrate on securing Aung San Suu Kyi's release, our correspondent says. Mr Razali helped broker peace talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military more than two years ago. It led to Aung San Suu Kyi being released last May after nearly 20 months under house arrest, but progress has since stalled. The US and the European Union have said they are considering imposing new trade and investment sanctions on Myanmar as a result of Aung San Suu Kyi's treatment. Razali wants Burma's generals and the opposition to resume talks On Friday, Washington said it had put more members of the military junta on a visa ban list. Aung San Suu Kyi is believed to have suffered cuts to her face and shoulder after the window of her car was smashed. Since her release, Aung San Suu Kyi has attracted large crowds during her travels around the country. Under her leadership, the National League for Democracy won 1990 elections by a landslide but the military junta refused to hand over power.

BBC 31 May 2003 Concern over fate of Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi has spent much of the last decade under house arrest International expressions of concern have followed the the arrest of Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and closure of her pro-democracy party headquarters in Rangoon. Burma's ruling military junta said she was taken into "protective custody" after clashes overnight between her supporters and pro-government protesters. More than a dozen members of her entourage were also being held, officials said. Four people died and 50 were injured in the violence, according to the military. Almost exactly a year ago Aung San Suu Kyi was released from a long spell under house arrest - a move welcomed at the time as a sign that the junta was ready for political reform. A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was following the situation closely and with concern - and said developments underlined the urgent need for national reconciliation in Burma. Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Burma are reported to be trying to get access to Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi has recently attacked the military for the slow pace of change and their apparent reluctance to start political talks, and tensions have been rising between the opposition and the government. Ten members of the pro-democracy movement were sentenced last week to stiff jail terms for organising public protests and being involved in clandestine activities. Strong support Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won elections in 1990 by a landslide, but the military regime which has run the country since 1962 refused to hand over power. Aung San Suu Kyi has been temporarily placed under the protection of local authorities Brigadier General Than Tun She has spent much of the last decade under house arrest, but her popularity among the Burmese has not waned. Aung San Suu Kyi had been making a political tour of the north of the country when violence broke out in the in the town of Yaway Oo, about 560 km (400 miles) from Rangoon. The BBC's Burma analyst Larry Jagan says the government has been irritated by the amount of support she continues to receive when she leaves the city. He says that on recent trips the government has harassed and intimidated the large numbers of party supporters who tried to come and meet her, and a number of clashes have broken out. After a seven month interlude, the military junta had hinted this month it wanted to meet Aung San Suu Kyi again, raising expectations that the dialogue process between the two sides could be resumed. But her detention, recent violence and last week's convictions of pro-democracy campaigners are thought to have seriously undermined those hopes

BBC 16 June 2003 Burma's 'Black Friday' By Simon Montlake In northern Burma Suu Kyi's convoy was travelling along this country road Our correspondent is one of the few journalists to have visited a remote part of northern Burma that was the scene of a violent clash last month leading to the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Overhung by tamarind trees beside a dusty creek in northern Burma, the two timber-framed houses were once desirable places to live. But today they lie empty, haunted by the ghosts of a massacre that took place on 30 May. That night, thousands of men armed with sticks, clubs and rocks attacked a convoy led by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and supporters from her National League for Democracy (NLD). As many as 70 people may have died in the violence, according to exiled opposition groups, who blame the attack on the ruling military junta. Aung San Suu Kyi was detained that night along with several party colleagues. Many more have since been put under house arrest or taken into custody. Troubling memories Two weeks on, the reverberations from the attack are still being felt both inside and outside Burma. For the villagers who live along the one-lane country road where the ambush occurred, the memories of so-called "Black Friday" are vivid and troubling. Some local residents were press-ganged to join the attack, without being told whom they were lining up to fight. US diplomats who travelled to the site of the attack found blood stained clothes and weapons strewn across the road. They say the debris corroborates eyewitness accounts of a planned attack by pro-government thugs against the convoy of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Opposition groups outside Burma agree. "This was a vicious, one-sided attack on the democracy movement. It's one of the biggest political crimes in Burma since 1988," said Soe Aung of the National Council of the Union of Burma. Trained convicts Eyewitnesses say thousands of men were involved in the operation, which continued late into the night. Among them was a group of 30 or more convicts. Opposition sources say they were taken from Mandalay prison and trained at a nearby army camp. The talks gave hope to the people of a change. Now... the door to change is closed. Where is the hope? Zaw Moe Kyaw, exiled opposition member That afternoon, they were moved into the two houses next to the creek, whose occupants had been sent packing, and plied with free alcohol. The attack began soon after sunset, when Suu Kyi's convoy was trapped at a narrow crossing. It was a frenzied, one-sided battle that lasted late into the night. Now the convicts have gone and the two houses are empty and shuttered. Local residents say the families that lived there before are reluctant to return, at least until life returns to normal. Tensions are still running high, particularly among villagers who were tricked into fighting against a courageous woman known to Burmese simply as "the Lady". Security forces have responded by stepping up patrols to clamp down on any dissent. Aung San Suu Kyi is now in "protective custody" In Monywa, the largest town in the area, an undeclared curfew keeps most people home after 2000 local time. The cinema, whose Burmese and Indian offerings are advertised in splashy hand-painted signs, has cancelled evening screenings. A foreign observer who was in Monywa on the night of the attack describes the morning-after mood there as "furious but resigned", as word got around of what had happened. "There was a feeling of outrage, but then what are you going to do? I saw very aggressive patrolling by the police. They were pointing weapons and casting dirty looks at everyone. It was tense. You couldn't talk to anyone," he said. 'Ready to fight' Elsewhere in Burma - a formerly prosperous British colony that has gradually slid into penury during decades of military misrule - reaction seems muted to the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi. Given the rough treatment meted out to "destructive elements" by security forces, public protests carry a heavy price tag. It is unclear whether her continued detention could trigger demonstrations. Some opposition sources in northern Burma say monks are prepared to use their moral force against the regime, if "the Lady" is not released unharmed. Others warn, however, that soldiers fired on monks during the 1988 uprising and would be ready to do so again. "We're ready to fight with our fists, but we can't fight against the guns," an opposition politician told the foreign observer in Monywa. But for most ordinary people in Burma, the hardships of daily life prevail over politics. Annual inflation is estimated at 60%, and incomes are falling behind. Even middle-class households are feeling the pinch, after a banking crisis earlier this year led to limits on cash withdrawals. An artisan in Mandalay said his family could no longer afford to give a full meal to the monks who collect morning alms. Instead, he said, they dole out only rice without curry or vegetables, when monks pass by in the morning. "Even the rice is expensive, so we are struggling every day," he said. For the Burmese frustrated with life under the regime, the latest crackdown is a heavy blow, after talks began two years ago promised progress towards national reconciliation. "The talks gave hope to the people of a change. Now the regime has attacked the NLD and suddenly the door to change is closed. Where is the hope?" asked Zaw Moe Kyaw, an exiled member of the banned Democratic Party for a New Society.

Nepal

WP 1 June 2003 Nepal Deports 18 Tibetans to China Move Could Cut Off Refugee Route to India By Philip P. Pan Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, June 1, 2003; Page A16 BEIJING, May 31 -- Nepal deported 18 Tibetans, including four children, to China today, breaking a long-standing policy of handing refugees over to U.N. authorities and setting a precedent that could cut off the primary route for Tibetans trying to reach the Dalai Lama's exile government in India. The deportation occurred despite the protests of the United States and European nations, as well as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Witnesses said the Tibetans shouted and cried for help as Nepalese police in Katmandu loaded them into an unmarked minibus this morning, according to Wangchuk Tsering, the Dalai Lama's representative to Nepal. A Tibetan woman threw herself in front of the minibus in an attempt to stop it, but police dragged her away, said Robbie Barnett, a Tibetan studies scholar who watched the minibus cross the Chinese border in Kodari at 12:30 p.m. Barnett said the Nepalese police officers on the bus then disembarked and walked back across the border carrying handcuffs and ropes that apparently had been used to bind the refugees. "The police spoke to us and said they were sorry and just doing their jobs," Barnett said by telephone. Nepal occasionally forces Tibetan refugees it captures near the border to return to China, but it has never publicly deported Tibetans who make it past the border area. Instead, the government usually transfers them to the UNHCR, which runs a center for Tibetan refugees in Katmandu and resettles about 1,500 Tibetans every year in India. "We fear for the immediate safety of these 18 Tibetans, but we are also concerned that China will be able to routinely remove Tibetans from Nepalese jails. This is a terrifying precedent," said John Ackerly, president of the International Campaign for Tibet. He urged the world "to ensure that Nepal does not close itself off to refugees seeking safe passage to India." Ackerly said Tibetans caught trying to cross the border by Chinese police are typically detained for weeks or months as they are interrogated and tortured to determine if they had political motives for leaving. China contends that Tibet is part of its territory, but many Tibetans believe that Tibet should be an independent country. It was unclear what prompted the Nepalese government to abandon its usual practice and deport the 18 refugees, who were detained in mid-April. Tsering described them as "ordinary Tibetans," ages 13 to 30. He said that in addition, three children ages 6 to 9 who were detained with the group were placed in UNHCR custody. The deportation comes during a political crisis in Nepal that resulted in the resignation of the prime minister on Friday. At the same time, envoys of the Dalai Lama are in Beijing on a "confidence building" mission, and officials in China opposed to a reconciliation with the Tibetan Buddhist leader may have arranged the refugee incident to undermine the talks. The deportation might also be linked to Beijing's displeasure with Nepal's celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest. China had asked the world to stop calling the mountain Everest and instead use the Chinese name, Qomolangma, and was deeply embarrassed when Nepal and other nations ignored the request. China has been steadily exerting greater influence over Nepal in recent years, demanding stricter limits on the political activities of the 35,000 Tibetan refugees who live there in exchange for economic aid and support for Nepal's fight with Maoist rebels. "This is an extraordinary failure for the UNHCR," Barnett said. "The Nepalese have been moving in this direction for months, but the UNHCR was unprepared." Phone calls to the UNHCR office in Katmandu went unanswered, and there was no immediate statement from the Nepalese government. But China's Foreign Ministry said the Tibetans had been repatriated in line with international law. "These people are Chinese citizens," a spokesman told the Reuters news agency. "They will be dealt with according to law."

Pakistan

BBC 2 June 2003 Pakistan province cheers Sharia By Paul Anderson BBC correspondent in Pakistan Islamists have a strong presence in the province There were cheers and shouts of "Allah is Great" in Peshawar's elegant assembly building when the bill introducing Sharia, or Islamic law, went into the statute books. There was never any chance it would not be passed - the alliance of radical religious parties which governs the province, the MMA, has an absolute majority. Nonetheless, it went through unanimously and without debate, and that says something about the influence which the alliance enjoys in North West Frontier Province and across the country. The MMA were delivering on an election promise to line the province's education, judicial and economic systems with Islamic principles. The Taleban were totally different - they were uneducated and revolutionary. We are doing things though through democracy Zafar Azam, provincial law minister In practice, that means abolishing interest payments in banks, imposing more Koranic studies in school, and subjecting the administration of justice to Sharia interpretation. The architects of the law say they want a society free of the evil and corruption. After decades of misadministration, bribery and soaring crime, not many people object to that. 'Best for the poor' On the streets, people were pleased when the Sharia bill was introduced. "We should have the freedom to decide whether we need to work or not." Meraj Humayun Khan, NGO worker In pictures "This is best for the poor," said one man. "As Muslims, we should all support it." However, many liberals and political moderates dismiss the Sharia law as a political crowd pleaser, which may not have any real effect. Years ago, Sharia was enshrined in the Pakistani constitution. A Federal Shariat Court exists to make legal judgments based on Sharia. But what worries many people is the agenda of the Islamists beyond the Sharia law in the province. They look at the imminent introduction of another bill establishing an accountability bureau to promote virtue and police vice, and fear the worst. Fear of 'Talebanisation' "Our society is gradually being pushed towards religious totalitarianism - a system that was practised by the Taleban in Afghanistan in a crude form, which is carried out here in a more sophisticated way," said Afrasiab Khattak, head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Radical religious parties control the provincial government Mr Khattak says that unlike the Taleban, the North West Frontier Province's leaders are moderate, but are driven to immoderate lengths by a support base of young radicals straight out of the Islamic religious schools. In a show of strength and religious zeal in Peshawar last month, vigilante groups of such radicals tore down posters and billboards depicting women. "My fear isn't about the chief minister or his ministers," says Meraj Khan, who manages an NGO project. "It's about the workers of the religious parties who take the law into their own hands and start to implement Sharia according to their interpretation." "But I feel the most serious danger is they will not take up our issues - literacy, health, domestic violence, poverty. The problems are of such magnitude now, and they don't have the capacity to address them. So they're trying to distract us," she says. Democracy The provincial government dismisses such arguments along with the charge it is overseeing the creeping Talebanisation of North West Frontier Province. Adverts showing women have been torn down "The Taleban were totally different," says the provincial law minister, Zafar Azam. "They were uneducated and revolutionary. We are doing things though through democracy." Mr Azam says he wants his province to be a test case for the rest of the country. But Islamic party leaders are not waiting for the results. They are already pushing their agenda at national level, using their influence as a powerful opposition force to squeeze concessions from the government. In protracted negotiations over changes made by President Pervez Musharraf last year to shore up his power, religious leaders have demanded - among other things - measures which Islamise the economy, education and the media. They may get them. If they do, they will be able to show their voters they are a force to be reckoned with in national politics. And this just eight months after they stormed onto the political scene.

BBC 8 June 2003 Police massacre in Pakistan Distraught relatives identified victims' bodies at Quetta hospital Eleven trainee Pakistani police officers have been shot dead in what is believed to have been a sectarian attack in the capital of Balochistan province, Quetta. Another nine are reported to have been wounded in the attack, carried out by two men on a motorcycle. No group has said it was behind the killing - the second in a week targeting members of the minority Shia community. The Inspector General of Police in Balochistan Shoeb Suddle, told the BBC's Urdu service that it might have been the work of a banned Sunni militant organisation, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Thousands of people have been killed in violence blamed on militants from the country's Sunni and Shia communities since the late 1980s. Sectarian attack? The incident is reported to have happened near the city's fruit market. "Two men came riding on a motorbike and opened fire with a Kalashnikov at the vehicle carrying the police recruits to their school at 1600 (1100 GMT)," police officer Raja Ishtiaq told AFP news agency. "We were returning to police training school from our homes after spending the weekend, and suddenly two men came on a motorbike and open fire on our vehicle," AFP quoted one of the survivors, M. Ali, as saying from hospital. He said he believed it was a sectarian attack "because we all are [Shia] and ethnic Hazaras". Police have fanned out across the city, setting up checkpoints. The governor and chief minister of Balochistan visited the hospital where the injured were being treated and promised the culprits would be found. Last Friday, two armed men riding on a motorbike sprayed bullets at Shia activist Syed Niaz Hussain Shah, 50, as he was returning home from his office in the city. A week earlier, a Shia trader was also killed. Over the past decade, there have been hundreds of sectarian attacks in Pakistan, in which thousands of people have been killed. Many have been in Karachi, where the greatest number of Shias live. In April, Pakistani police arrested Shabir Ahmed, a suspected member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi which has been linked to the killings of both Shia Muslims and Christians. The group has also been accused of having connections with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan.

Solomon Islands

BBC 21 June 2003 Solomons villages torched Civil war three years ago left about 200 dead Hundreds of people have fled their homes after militants torched their villages on the Solomon Islands. Supporters of the self-styled warlord Harold Keke forced up to 1,200 people to stand as human shields to prevent police landing on nearby beaches, police say. "They kept villagers at gunpoint on the beaches," police Assistant Commissioner Wilfred Akao told the Associated Press news agency on Friday. The Solomon Islands have suffered serious civil unrest in recent years, due to ethnic rivalry between indigenous residents on the main island of Guadalcanal and new settlers from Malaita. Australia and New Zealand are considering sending a small military force to support an international police unit. This is in response to a request by the Solomon Islands' Prime Minister Sir Alan Kemakeza. Crime motives? Two villages were burned down in the remote Marasa district on the main island of Guadalcanal. About 200 people are reported to be sheltering near Honiara, the Solomon Islands' capital, and aid agencies say they expect many more over the weekend. Keke is understood to have attacked the villages because he believed some inhabitants were informing police of his activities. His supporters have been accused of killing at least 50 people recently. Last year, he also claimed responsibility for killing a cabinet minister. Help needed Of several militant leaders, Keke is the only one who refused to sign a peace accord in 2000 aimed at ending three years of ethnic violence that has killed an estimated 200 people and displaced 20,000. At least 1,000 people had been displaced by the recent violence, Red Cross coordinator Rex Para told AP. The foreign ministers of both Australia and New Zealand say the situation has reached crisis point, with half a million people in the Solomons in desperate need of help.

BBC 25 June 2003 Australia 'ready to help Solomons' Australia fears the knock-on effects of a security breakdown The Australian Government has said it is ready to take part in a multi-national force to help restore law and order in the violence-wracked Solomon Islands. Prime Minister John Howard said on Wednesday that he was "strongly disposed" to meet a request for assistance from his Solomons counterpart, Allan Kemakeza, as increasing ethnic violence continued to threaten the archipelago. But Mr Howard added that no final decisions had been taken. "The assistance that is being contemplated includes substantial policing, law and justice and economic assistance, backed up by significant operational support from the Australian Defence Force," Mr Howard told parliament. But he said that help would only be offered after a formal request from the Solomon Islands Government, and co-operation with New Zealand and other Pacific island nations. Ethnic tensions The Solomons have suffered serious ethnic unrest in recent years, according to the BBC correspondent in Sydney, Phil Mercer. Law and order across many parts of the snaking archipelago have collapsed. The economy is almost bankrupt and, according to our correspondent, Australians are worried that a failing state on their doorstep could become a haven for terrorists and drug traffickers. "It is not in Australia's interest to have a number of failed states in the Pacific," Mr Howard told parliament on Wednesday. The Red Cross in the Solomons' capital, Honiara, says that up to 1,000 people have fled their villages on the remote Weather Coast to escape militants. The militants have torched homes and reportedly taken hostages to bolster their control over the mountainous region. The plague of violence is mainly due to an ethnic war between indigenous residents of the main island of Guadalcanal and migrants from the nearby province of Malaita. The conflict was officially brought to an end three years ago by the Townsville Accord. But the peace has been uneasy, and armed gangs operate with impunity in many areas. So far this year more than 30 people have been murdered, and last month an Australian missionary was beheaded.

BBC 30 June 2003 Solomons force takes shape The so-called "Happy Isles" have been brought to collapse by civil war A forum of Pacific nations has unanimously agreed to intervene in the Solomon Islands, to restore law and order. Foreign ministers from 16 South Pacific nations decided at an emergency meeting in Sydney that they would support an Australian proposal for a multinational force to be sent to the troubled archipelago. Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Laurie Chan said his country was happy with the decision. "I think... we finally have an opportunity to feel safe, an opportunity to get back to normal," said Mr Chan after the meeting. The final decision to deploy an international force will only be made when the Solomon Islands parliament makes an official request for outside help. A special parliamentary sitting to discuss the issue is scheduled for early July. The impoverished Solomon Islands, with a population of around half a million, have been ruined by three years of ethnic conflict and corruption. Matter of weeks Australia - which is expected to spearhead the intervention - announced last week that it was ready to commit some 1,500 troops and 150 police to the force, which is envisaged to be about 2,000-strong. Q&A: Solomons crisis New Zealand and Papua New Guinea had also already said they would contribute. But Australia and New Zealand were eager to get the backing of regional governments to avoid charges of neo-colonialism. A peacekeeping force from eight nations, including Papua New Guinea and New Zealand, could now be on its way to the Solomons within a matter of weeks, according to the BBC correspondent in Sydney, Phil Mercer. Violence continues The Solomon Islands, an archipelago 2,500 km (1,550 miles) north-east of Sydney, is a former British colony. Much of the police force was involved in a coup three years ago. This happened during a bitter civil war between ethnic groups from the islands of Guadalcanal and Malaita over land rights and jobs. Hostilities were officially brought to an end by the Townsville Peace Agreement brokered by Australia in October 2000. However, violence and corruption have continued, as have the killings, with dozens of people - including an Australian missionary - murdered this year alone.

Sri Lanka

AFP 2 Jun 2003 Sri Lanka seeks talks with Tigers to break impasse COLOMBO, June 2 (AFP) - Sri Lanka has asked Tamil Tiger rebels to "clarify" their counter-demands for greater political authority in exchange for ending their boycott of peace negotiations, officials said Monday. The government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe late Sunday sent a reply to the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) seeking dialogue on the latest issues, an official source said. "The government feels that the legitimate concerns of the LTTE can be addressed by the structures proposed," an official close to the peace process said. "There is a lot of misunderstanding to be sorted out." On Friday, the LTTE categorically rejected greater financial authority in exchange for re-entering peace talks. The rebels said a fresh proposal sent to them Tuesday by the government through peace broker Norway was insufficient to revive the stalled peace bid. "The leadership of the LTTE has rejected the new set of proposals submitted by the government ... instituting a development structure for the rehabilitation and development of the northeast," the Tigers said in a statement. The LTTE pulled out of peace talks on April 21 and since then there have been demands by the United States, European nations, Japan and India that the Tigers resume talks and attend a donors conference this month in Tokyo.

AFP 24 Jun 2003 - Sri Lanka: Tamil Tigers hint at reviving peace talks amid killing spree by Amal Jayasinghe COLOMBO, June 24 (AFP) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels Tuesday raised the prospect of ending the deadlock in the Norwegian-backed peace process even as the authorities accused them of killing more than 30 rivals since the ceasefire began. Tamil Tiger guerrillas said the stalled talks with the Colombo government could be revived soon based on a proposal to grant them greater political authority ahead of a final settlement, a report said Tuesday. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief negotiator Anton Balasingham said the they were waiting for a government proposal for an interim administration that would give them political, administrative and financial power. London-based Balasingham told the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website that he held talks with Norwegian peace broker Erik Solheim Monday on ways to end the deadlock in negotiations. The LTTE suspended their participation in the talks on April 21 after accusing the government of failing to deliver on promises made at the six rounds of face-to-face negotiations held since September. The Tigers have since then insisted that the government must propose an interim administrative structure that meets their aspirations before a final settlement to the conflict which has claimed over 60,000 lives. "If a concrete set of proposals is presented, the LTTE will study the framework and suggest improvements," Balasingham said. "Thereafter, the parties could enter into negotiations to formalise and finalise the envisaged interim administration," he said. "Mr. Balasingham also explained to the Norwegian peace envoys the need to redefine the agenda for talks," Tamilnet said. "Instead of pursuing guidelines, milestones and roadmaps for an imaginary solution, the talks should address crucial issues related to the harsh existential realities of the ground situation." The talks between Solheim and Balasingham came as Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was visiting London for talks with British Premier Tony Blair. Wickremesinghe is also scheduled to hold talks with Norwegian diplomats about plans to revive the peace process. However, officials here said the faltering process suffered another blow Monday when a suspected Tiger gunman shot dead a senior intelligence officer at a police station just outside the capital Colombo. A rival Tamil politician was also killed in the eastern district of Ampara hours later. Officials said the killings brought to just over 30 the number of security personnel and rival Tamil politicians allegedly killed by the Tigers since a Norwegian-arranged truce went into effect from February 23 last year. Inspector Thabrew became the first police officer to be gunned down by suspected Tiger rebels since the ceasefire. His attacker, who had acted as a police informant in the past, tried to escape in a taxi and later attempted suicide by taking cyanide when he was cornered by police. However, he was prevented from taking the poison and was currently being held by police, officials said, adding that another suspected Tiger rebel tried a similar suicide on June 10 when he was caught with a pistol. The spate of killings was discussed by the LTTE and the Norwegian ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar, last week, official sources said, adding that the government had already lodged a strong protest.

AFP 25 Jun 2003 Sri Lankan president fears country is slipping back to war COLOMBO, June 25 (AFP) - Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga fears Tamil Tiger rebels are gearing up for war as Norwegian-backed peace talks remain deadlocked, her spokesman said Wednesday. Kumaratunga, who is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, believes that troops have ammunition to last them only 10 days in the event of a major rebel onslaught to retake their former heartland of Jaffna, spokesman Harim Peiris said. "The president believes that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) is once again preparing to go to war," Peiris told reporters here, noting the Tigers were attacking intelligence operatives to weaken security forces. Kumaratunga, who is in an uneasy cohabitation government, is highly critical of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's handling of the peace process. Talks between the LTTE and the government have been deadlocked since April 21 when the rebels announced they were suspending their participation to protest what they called the failure on the part of the government to fulfil promises. Norway has been trying to revive the talks which are aimed at ending three decades of ethnic bloodshed that has claimed over 60,000 lives. Peiris said the Tigers were behaving in the same way they did just before the failure of a previous peace process with Kumaratunga which ended in more fighting in April 1995. "Indications are that things that happened in 1995 are happening again.... media controlled by the LTTE attacked the president then and now they are attacking the (peace) process. "They are making impossible demands, rearming themselves, eliminating opponents and destroying the capability of the military intelligence." The LTTE has been accused of killing over 30 rival Tamils and intelligence operatives and a senior intelligence police officer despite a ceasefire in place since February 23 last year. But on Tuesday the LTTE said the stalled talks could be revived soon based on a government proposal to grant them greater political authority ahead of a final settlement.

AFP 25 Jun 2003 Tamil Tigers oppose press meets, 'internationalisation' of peace bid COLOMBO, June 25 (AFP) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers oppose the media briefings held at the end of each round of peace talks and the "internationalisation" of the Norwegian-brokered process, a pro-rebel newspaper reported Wednesday. The London-based Tamil Guardian newspaper quoted Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), saying that the group was against the involvement of "powerful extra-territorial forces". Balasingham, during talks with Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim in London Monday, "argued that the facilitators were inclined to work on an agenda to placate the international donor community," the newspaper said. On Friday, the LTTE demanded a "radical overhaul" of the peace bid and rejected the government's latest offer to save the faltering process which has been deadlocked since April over rebel demands. The Tigers have made clear they will return to the table only after the government presents them with a draft for the setting up of an interim administrative council that grants them greater political and financial powers. The Tamil Guardian said Balasingham criticised the "extraordinary high profile given to each round of talks propping up international press conferences that generate expectations of substantial breakthroughs within a short period of time." Balasingham also told the Norwegian envoy that excess "internationalisation of the peace process" allowing "powerful extra-territorial forces" to get involved and complicate the process. The remarks are seen by diplomats here as a reference to the involvement of Japan and the United States which have strongly supported the Norwegian-led initiative and asked the Tigers to return to the negotiating table.

Uzbekistan

ICG 30 June 2003 Radical Islam in Central Asia: Responding to Hizb ut-Tahrir The emergence of Hizb ut-Tahrir is a significant but poorly understood political phenomena. ICG's report contains much information from interviews with the movement's members. Heavy-handed repression threatens to radicalise those members still further and sow the seeds of further Islamist extremism. It may have actually contributed to growth of the movement, particularly in Uzbekistan. Hizb ut-Tahrir claims to reject violence but has highly radical goals: the overthrow of governments throughout the Muslim world and their replacement by a single Islamic state or Caliphate. Too often, however, governments in Central Asia use it as an excuse for failing to carry out political and economic reforms. It is in the international community's security interests to ensure that political opposition to unpopular regimes does not by default turn into a more militant group, with a more violent agenda than the present-day Hizb-ut-Tahrir. For the full report, please see CrisisWeb - http://www.crisisweb.org

Europe

BBC 3 Jun 2003 Zero immigration 'not an option' Asylum needs to be 'properly managed' Zero immigration to EU countries like the UK is not an option as Europe's working population shrinks, according to a report from Brussels. With the working-age population in Europe widely expected to contract from 2010, immigration will become "increasingly necessary", according to the European Commission (EC). In a new policy paper the EC also says the UK Government - in common with its European counterparts - must do more to help immigrants adjust to life in Britain. Employment and social affairs commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou called for new initiatives to counter discrimination, boost social inclusion and for employment in order to help immigrants integrate. Immigration 'inevitable' New policies should "take specifically into account the needs of immigrants to be strengthened in these areas with greater participation by immigrants themselves," she said in a paper published on Tuesday. "Zero immigration is not an option. "Increased immigration flows are inevitable as a result of 'push' factors such as political instability in the world or welfare differentials." Properly managed immigration was crucial to ensure the future needs of the European labour market were met, Ms Diamantopoulou argued. "In order to make immigration a success, not least for current EU citizens, Europe must achieve radically better integration of immigrants already based in the EU and prepare now for future immigration." A separate report by the EC backed a British proposal to set up camps outside Europe where asylum seekers could stay in safety while their applications were being processed. The Home Office initiative was described as "very timely" by the commission which added that the plan would need to be resourced properly and needed "political commitment" if it was to succeed. 'Broad support' Home Office minister Beverley Hughes said: "The UK is working with a number of EU partners to develop pilot schemes which we hope to have under way before the end of the year. "As with any pilot these would start on a small scale with limited numbers, with plans to build on them. "We have broad support in Europe for the key principles set out by the UK on better protection for refugees, and more enforceable and effective assessment of some asylum claims for people closer to their regions of origin. "Now we will continue to push forward with the zones pilots." Bold action was needed to tackle illegal immigration and to deal with large numbers of asylum applications. "We want to move towards a system where migrants who come to destination countries do so through legal channels, rather than arriving illegally, often having paid criminal organisations many thousands of dollars," she said. A Home Office spokesman said: "The government is committed to helping refugees become settled and valued members of our society. "Immigrants can and do contribute an enormous amount to our society, both culturally and economically."

AFP 24 June 2003 Tuesday EU candidate countries defy US to support international war crimes court ATHENS, June 24 Countries set to join the European Union have opted to defy the United States and follow the EU in supporting a controversial international war crimes court, the Greek EU presidency said Tuesday. The move comes as Washington continues to seek bilateral agreements exempting Americans from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), notably with former communist and developing countries. In the face of a US boycott of the court, EU leaders meeting in Greece last week reaffirmed their commitment to the ICC, the first permanent international court for cases of warcrimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. A statement from Greece, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said Tuesday that the 10 countries set to join in 2004, plus Bulgaria and Romania, had signed an agreement to ensure their national policies on the ICC meet the line set by the EU. Those 12, plus members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), including Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, promise "to ensure that their national policies conform to the common position", the statement said. EU leaders released a joint statement on Saturday in Greece saying: "The European Union strongly supports the ICC as an important step forward in the implementation of international law and human rights." Although Romania signed a deal with the United States last August exempting US nationals from prosecution by the ICC, the Romanian parliament refused to ratify the deal in the face of criticism from the EU. The United States, which strongly opposes the court, has so far secured such deals with at least 39 countries. Washington fears the ICC could become a forum for policitally motivated prosecutions of US citizens. Judges and prosecutor at the Hague-based ICC were appointed this year, but no case has yet been brought before it. Washington is expected to make public the full list of countries to grant them exemptions after July 1, the deadline for ICC member countries to agree to the pacts or suffer US aid cuts. The question of ICC jurisdiction and bilateral immunity agreements are expected to figure prominently in Wednesday's EU-US summit in Washington. The 10 countries due to join the EU in 2004 are the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

AP 24 June 2003 Candidates for European Union express support for International Criminal Court DATELINE: BRUSSELS, Belgium Twelve countries preparing to join the European Union on Tuesday backed the EU's policy supporting the International Criminal Court, which has been criticized by the United States. However, Romania said its support for the court did not affect its agreement with the United States exempting U.S. citizens from war crimes prosecutions at the new tribunal. The United States, which opposes the tribunal, wants more nations to join Romania in agreeing U.S. citizens should not be handed over to the court, where it fears they could face politically motivated or biased prosecutions. The European Union says countries seeking to join the 15-member bloc should back the tribunal and not to sign agreements granting U.S. citizens blanket immunity. Instead, any bilateral deals should be within guidelines agreed by the EU in September. Those guidelines stipulate that member governments exempt serving U.S. military and government personal from trials at the ICC, only if Washington guarantee the U.S. citizens would be investigated in the United States. The dispute has forced eastern European nations to chose between damaging ties with EU or risk losing U.S. military assistance. Croatia and Slovenia this month refused to open negotiations with the United States. Romania, Albania and Bosnia, however, have joined around 40 nations worldwide in signing agreements with the United States. EU diplomats said the nine nations that, with Slovenia, are due to join the Union in May - Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Malta, and Cyprus - are expected to back the EU position. Romania, which along with Bulgaria hopes to join the EU in 2007, sought a middle ground, supporting the court but sticking by its agreement to exempt Americans. "Romania as a candidate country has aligned itself to the EU common position regarding the ICC," said Alina Badeanu, a foreign ministry official in Bucharest. That "has nothing to do with the agreement signed with the United States." In a statement, the EU said all 12 candidates "declare that they share the (EU's) objectives" and "will ensure that their national policies conform to that common position." The court dispute is expected to loom large at a summit Wednesday in Washington.

AFP 25 June 2003 International Criminal Court remains a thorn in US-EU ties WASHINGTON, June 25 The United States and the European Union failed Wednesday to make any progress in overcoming their rift over the International Criminal Court (ICC) as leaders from the two sides stuck to their respective positions for and against the tribunal. Neither the United States nor the European Union budged in the stances that have led to bitter mutual recriminations over the court that Washington vehemently opposes and Europe strongly supports, officials said. Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, speaking to reporters after the annual US-EU summit here with US President George W. Bush, said the split was one in which the two sides would likely have to "agree to disagree." "We should have the possibility to agree to disagree and to accept that we can disagree on this matter where we disagree," said Simitis, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency. "This was made very clear." The split has resulted in US officials accusing Brussels of trying to sabotage their negotiation of bilateral agreements with EU members that would give US citizens there immunity from prosecution by the ICC. The ICC is the world's first permanent international court to try cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide but the United States fears it could become a forum for politically motivated prosecutions of US citizens and has been on a worldwide campaign to sign such immunity deals. Washington wants the so-called "Article 98 agreements" to cover all US citizens while the European Commission wants the deals limited to only troops and government officials. At the same time, the Europeans want the agreements to stipulate that the United States will turn over European citizens accused of war crimes to the court, something that the United States opposes. Simitis acknowledged that the disagreement had become problematic but denied that the European Union had tried to block the United States from signing the immunity deals with individual EU members. He also held firm to the EU's principle that impunity from war crimes allegations could not be allowed. "We explained to President Bush and the United States that there are certain points that we cannot accept," Simitis said. "But on the other hand we stressed also that this issue has been unnecessarily divisive. "We have never lobbied against specific US bilateral non-surrender agreements," he said. Asked whether he believed the split could be resolved, Simitis was non-committal. "I think that there will be contacts with the United States and, as in other cases, maybe the difficulties will be overcome," he said. "You are never sure of the future." Under US law, countries that are members of the ICC and have not signed an Article 98 agreement will lose all US military assistance unless they are given a presidential exemption. The United States has signed agreements with 39 countries thus far, including at least five in secret, but to date not a single EU member has inked such a deal although several EU aspirants -- Albania, Bosnia and Romania -- have done so. However, under heavy EU pressure, the Romanian parliament has refused to ratify the agreement. On Tuesday, the European Union presidency announced that all 10 countries set to join the EU in 2004, plus Bulgaria and Romania, had signed an agreement to ensure their national policies on the ICC meet the line set by the union.

AFP 25 June 2003 Washington, EU to sign multilateral extradition treaty by PATRICK ANIDJAR WASHINGTON, June 25 The United States and the European Union are to sign an extradition treaty Wednesday during a summit in which the fight against terrorism will be a key theme. US Attorney General John Ashcroft and Greek Justice Minister Philippos Petsalnikos, representing the EU, will sign the treaty after the Washington summit. The treaty will not replace bilateral accords already made between the United States and several EU member nations however. But the provisions will prevail over existing bilateral accords for "specified criminal offences" punishable by at least one year in jail. The treaty, outlined in a document that does not explicitly mention the fight against terrorism, comes as part of the two blocs' desire "to combat crime in a more effective way as a means of protecting our respective democratic societies and our common values." The agreement guarantees for a suspect "the right to a fair trial including the "right to adjudication by an impartial tribunal established pursuant to law." The provisions underline the European Union's categorical opposition to the trial of any of its nationals by special military tribunals such as those announced by Washington after the September 11, 2001 attacks. EU members, which all oppose the death penalty, get assurance under the treaty that no EU citizen extradited to the United States, which enforces capital punishment, will be put to death. "The requested State may grant extradition on the condition that the death penalty shall not be imposed on the person sought," according to the treaty. Moreover, Europeans have made it clear that they remain committed to the provisions of the International Criminal Court which the US administration of President George W. Bush refuses to adhere to, unlike his predecessor president Bill Clinton who had embarked the United States on a course to joining the ICC. The extradition treaty makes note of the fact that US non-membership of the ICC should not penalize it regarding the treaty's clauses. The ICC objective is to promote a supranational justice system permanently tasked with bringing war crimes perpetrators to justice. Washington refutes this principle and has sought bilateral accords with individual member states to make sure US citizens are not extradited to face ICC justice -- a stance the European Union objects to. The EU and USA have also agreed to exchange through diplomatic channels all documents that may be used to support reasons motivating extradition. Several EU members, notably Germany and France, had opposed giving Washington the files on Frenchman Zacarias Moussaoui -- indicted in the United States in the inquiry into the September 11 attacks -- on grounds that they could be used to sentence Moussaoui to death.

Belgium

BBC 10 June 2003 Israeli general 'can be tried' Hundreds died in the refugee camp massacres A Belgian court has ruled that a case brought against an Israeli general for crimes against humanity can go ahead. Twenty-three survivors of the 1982 massacres at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon filed the lawsuit against General Amos Yaron, responsible at the time for the Beirut sector of the Israeli defence ministry. The so-called "universal competence" law under which the case was brought allows Belgian courts to prosecute people with no direct link to Belgium, for crimes with no direct link. Israel will no longer take part in this lawsuit, which is becoming a political issue Irit Kahn Israeli justice ministry Ariel Sharon - current Israeli prime minister, and defence minister at the time of the massacres - was also named in the original lawsuit, causing Israeli outrage at Belgian "interference". Israel temporarily recalled its ambassador to Brussels. The law was amended in early April under intense pressure from the US and Israel to allow Belgium to refer accused foreigners to courts in their country of origin if they were democracies with a fair judicial record. But this time, the court ruled there was no reason not to allow the case to proceed. Three-day killing spree On 16 September 1982 Lebanese Christian militiamen went into Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, bent on revenging the assassination of their leader Bashir Gemayel. Three days later, hundreds, possibly thousands of civilians inside were dead. It was during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and Israeli forces had encircled the area. General Yaron is now director-general at the Israeli defence ministry. If a judge decides to press charges, technically he could be arrested to stand trial if he enters Belgium. Last month the Israeli justice ministry said it would boycott the suit against General Yaron. "We have announced in a letter that enough was enough, that the game was over and that Israel will no longer take part in this lawsuit, which is becoming a political issue," Irit Kahn, in charge of international affairs at the chief prosecutor's office, was quoted as saying by AFP news agency. 'Discrimination' She cited an earlier decision to allow US courts to handle lawsuits filed in Belgium against former US President George Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell for their roles in the 1991 Gulf War. "Belgian justice has accepted to transfer these cases to the United States but are continuing their lawsuit against Amos Yaron. "We have no reason to tolerate such discrimination." In 1994, one year after the universal competence law took effect, four Rwandans were convicted for up to 20 years by a Brussels court for their role in the 1994 genocide.

Copley News Service 17 June 2003 Tuesday, WASHINGTON WIRE; PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY, Tiny Belgium makes big mistake in challenging U.S. sovereignty, Phyllis Schlafly Copley News Service Should the United States permit Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of allied forces in Iraq, to be prosecuted in Belgium for alleged war crimes committed during the recent war? Most Americans would say, "You have to be kidding; that could never happen." But little Belgium, trying to be a player on the world stage, has adopted what it calls a universal-jurisdiction law. It purports to give Belgium jurisdiction over war crimes committed anywhere in the world and give Belgian judges the authority to hear complaints brought by anyone. Already on file are complaints not only against Gen. Franks, but also against former President Bush, retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Vice President Cheney, for alleged war crimes committed against civilians when U.S. forces bombed a Baghdad bunker during the first Gulf War. Claims have also been filed against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld properly and publicly lowered the boom on Belgium last week. He said the United States would provide no funds for the new NATO headquarters unless Belgium repeals this law. Brussels has been host to NATO since 1967. NATO, which has long since completed its genuine mission of keeping troops from the former Soviet Union out of Western Europe, is now kept on life-support in order to continue channeling U.S. taxpayer money into Europe. NATO is planning to pretend it has a reason to exist by building a $352.4 million futuristic headquarters in Belgium. U.S. taxpayers are expected to contribute at least 22 percent of the cost. In Brussels recently, Secretary Rumsfeld said, "If the civilian and military leaders of member states cannot come to Belgium without fear of harassment by Belgian courts enforcing spurious charges by political prosecutors, then it calls into question Belgium's attitude about its responsibilities as a host nation." Rumsfeld said the Belgian law "has turned its legal system into a platform for divisive politicized lawsuits against her NATO allies." He added that it doesn't make sense for the United States to build a headquarters in Belgium if U.S. officials can't come to Belgium without fear of being arrested, and "I've just stated a fact." Meanwhile, the Netherlands is trying to move to the center of the world stage with the International Criminal Court, headquartered in The Hague. The ICC bureaucrats, who are pseudo judges pretentiously asserting the power to enforce pseudo law, assert jurisdiction over U.S. citizens even though we are not now and never will be a party to the treaty and no international law can bind a country that has not signed a treaty consenting to be bound by it. One of President Clinton's last official acts was his New Year's Eve signing of the International Criminal Court Treaty, but the U.S. Senate never ratified it. Current President Bush courageously stood up for U.S. sovereignty when he took the unprecedented step of "unsigning" the treaty. Last year, the United Nations Security Council reluctantly granted the United States a one-year grace period from the risk of having U.S. soldiers on overseas peacekeeping missions arrested for prosecution by the ICC. Our so-called allies were worried that they would have to take over the costs of peacekeeping in Bosnia if U.S. troops pulled out. The Bush administration has been trying to cajole separate nations into signing promises that they won't arrest U.S. service personnel stationed on their territory. So far, 38 such agreements have been signed, yet most major governments have declined to enter into such agreements with the United States. The one-year exemption granted by the United Nations last year just expired, and the U.N. Security Council reluctantly approved a one-year extension. France, Germany and Syria abstained, 17 countries spoke out against the United States, and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan undiplomatically sneered at the U.S. exemption. Our so-called European allies, whom American blood and treasure have again and again protected against military aggression and economic ruin, deserve a prize for impertinence. We should nip in the bud the heady hopes of the pompous bureaucrats in The Hague and Brussels, who were not elected, yet dream that they can exercise global judicial power. U.S. officials don't need to pussyfoot around with diplomatic language. They should say, "Bug off. America already enjoys the rule of law that best protects human rights; our Bill of Rights is not up for negotiation with foreigners; and we will not subject our citizens to rules or judges in foreign countries." Fortunately, we have moved on from the era of President Clinton, who told the United Nations in 1997 that he wanted to put the United States into a "web of institutions" to set "the international ground rules for the 21st century." We now have a president who will stand up for U.S. sovereignty. Phyllis Schlafly is a lawyer and conservative political analyst.

Bosnia

AP 27 June 2003 Bosnia ratifies agreement exempting United States from International Criminal Court, SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnia on Friday ratified an agreement that exempts Americans from prosecution by the newly established International Criminal Court. "We have successfully ended the process," said Zeljana Zovko, an adviser to Bosnia's multiethnic presidency, which signed the final ratification in Sarajevo. Bosnia first signed the agreement last month, promising not to extradite U.S. troops and other Americans charged with genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. The agreement was then presented to Bosnia's two parliaments, which adopted it earlier this month. Nearly 40 other nations have signed similar agreements. Washington opposes the court, saying it fears its troops could be subjected to politically motivated trials. It has threatened to withhold aid from countries that refuse to exempt Americans from the court's jurisdiction. The court, inaugurated on March 12, is charged with intervening only when a country is unable or lacks the political will to carry out a trial. It was signed by 78 nations and is charged with prosecuting crimes committed after July 1, 2002.

zaman.com 30 June 2003 Srebrenican Mothers Head Search for Bosnians Losts in 8 Years Sarejevo, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, June 30, 2003 - The Bosnians who survived the ravages of a three-year war and genocide are now struggling with the aftermath of the turmoil. Bosnian women have organized the "Srebrenican Mothers' Association," which is working to find the traces of people who were lost during the war. There is much data about the people who were killed in Srebrenica; DNA samples and the clothing they were wearing when last seen alive are all archived. Belongings taken out of mass graves are being photographed one by one. Srebrenican mothers, working in the association as volunteers, are preparing a social content-law proposal and are tracing the lost ones with the committees they have organized. The collection of data and documentation related to the massacre by members of the association has been enough to bring six Serbian Commanders before the Court of International War Criminals. Adem Yavuz Arslan / Sarejevo / BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

Croatia

BBC 13 June 2003 Vukovar massacre: What happened By Gabriel Partos BBC south east Europe analyst Vukovar was a modestly prosperous, sleepy, provincial town in eastern Croatia, near the border with Serbia, noted for its picturesque baroque architecture. That was before the war for Croatia's independence erupted in July 1991. By the end of its three-month siege at the hands of Serb forces in November 1991, Vukovar had become utterly devastated. Vukovar suffered a three-month siege by Serb forces It was, perhaps, the most comprehensively destroyed town of any size in either Bosnia-Herzegovina or Croatia during the wars of the first half of the 1990s. Capture of the town was an important strategic objective for the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army. It was designed to consolidate Serb control over the region of Croatia known as eastern Slavonia. That objective was achieved, even though there was little left, apart from than ruins, following the siege. It was also accompanied by the ethnic cleansing of Croats, who prior to the war were present in Vukovar municipality in roughly the same numbers as Serbs. Croat defenders of Vukovar later claimed that the town could have been saved from capture by Serb forces if the nationalist President Franjo Tudjman had been willing to send reinforcements. Mr Tudjman was accused of deliberately sacrificing Vukovar - dubbed the Croatian Stalingrad because of its devastation - so as to reinforce his portrayal of Croatia as the victim of Serb aggression. Grim events Whatever the late President Tudjman's intentions, Vukovar has since become a symbol of destruction - and atrocities. When the Serb forces took control of Vukovar on 19 November 1991, several hundred people took refuge in the town's hospital in the hope that they would be evacuated in the presence of neutral observers. A deal to that effect had earlier been agreed in negotiations between the Yugoslav army and the Croatian government. But instead of the hoped-for evacuation, about 400 individuals - including wounded patients, soldiers, hospital staff and Croatian political activists - were removed from the hospital by Yugoslav army and Serb paramilitary forces. According to The Hague Tribunal's indictment, which was originally issued in 1995, three Yugoslav army officers, Colonel Mile Mrksic, Major Veselin Sljivancanin and Captain Miroslav Radic, oversaw the removal of some 300 men to Ovcara farm, four kilometres outside Vukovar. The detainees were beaten up. Some died of their injuries and approximately 260 of them were executed and then buried in a mass grave. Details of the Vukovar massacre soon began to emerge as survivors reported on the events, and doubts began to appear about the large number of missing detainees. But it took several years of exhumations and painstaking investigations to gather the evidence that formed the basis of the Tribunal's indictment. Trail of guilt Subsequently, the Tribunal also issued the first of its sealed, secret indictments; against the wartime Serb mayor of Vukovar, Slavko Dokmanovic. With the three army officers out of the Tribunal's reach in President Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia, and with the danger that Mr Dokmanovic might escape from eastern Slavonia across the border to Yugoslavia if he were to be publicly indicted, his arrest by UN forces was swiftly accomplished in 1996. Two years later Mr Dokmanovic hanged himself in prison while awaiting the verdict at the end of his trial in The Hague. Miroslav Radic: Accused of role in Vukovar massacre Most wanted: The Vukovar three Mr Mrksic and Mr Radic surrendered to the Tribunal after Belgrade began to enact laws on the extradition of indicted war crimes suspects last year. Mr Sljivancanin's arrest will now make it possible to go ahead with the trial of all members of the group known as the "Vukovar Three". Vukovar, as part of eastern Slavonia, was the only region of Croatia's rebel Serb-held areas to escape capture by the Croatian army in 1995. Because it was spared a military campaign in that year with the subsequent refugee exodus, it has also remained the only region with a substantial ethnic Serb community. After the Dayton peace treaty for Bosnia and the Erdut agreement for Croatia brought the wars in the region to an end, eastern Slavonia was placed under UN administration for two years. It was finally reintegrated with Croatia in 1998. Since then the painful process of reconstruction has been underway.

Estonia

CICC 27 June 2003 With the signature of Estonia on 27 June 2003, 30 states have signed the Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the ICC. Congratulations Estonia! The Agreement was adopted on 9 September 2002 and opened for signatures on 10 September 2002. Hopefully, most States Parties and Signatories to the Rome Statute will use the opportunity to deposit their signatures and/or ratifications at the Second Meeting of the Assembly of States Parties in September 2003, exactly one year after the Agreement was adopted. The Agreement enters into force after 10 ratifications and so far only two states have ratified: Norway and Trinidad and Tobago. A number of statements have been issued recently underlining the importance for signatures and ratifications of the Agreement. Here are some of them: ‘Similarly, in the focus on ratification of the Statute, due attention may have been lost from ratification of the Agreement on Privileges and Immunities. At present, to my knowledge, only two States – Norway and Trinidad and Tobago - have ratified that Agreement, without which the Court would be hampered in its operations. While the Rome Statute was clearly the sine qua non of the ICC, the Agreement on Privileges and Immunities is now of increasing importance as the Court begins its work in earnest and I call on States Parties to accelerate the ratification of this key agreement. ’ Statement by the President, Judge Kirsch, at the Second (Resumed) Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 22 April 2003 ‘To urge the member states of the Organization, whether or not they are parties to the Rome Statue, to consider the signature and ratification, or the ratification, as the case may be, of the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court and, in the case of states that are already parties to the Agreement, to take measures to ensure its effective application at the domestic level.’ Paragraph 4, OAS General Assembly, AG/RES. 1929 (XXXIII-O/03), adopted June 10, 2003 ‘In order to support the independence of the Court, the Union and its Member States shall, in particular: […] - make every effort towards the signature and ratification by Member States of the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the Court as soon as possible and promote such signature and ratification by other States; […]’ Article 3, EU, Council Common Position (doc.10400/03) CFSP, adopted June 16, 2003 ‘Also encourages Member States that have ratified the Rome Statute to consider becoming Parties to the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the ICC’; Paragraph 2, The Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization, RES 42/10, adopted 20 June, 2003

NYT 14 June 2003 Belgium Resists Pressure From U.S. to Repeal War Crimes Law By CRAIG S. SMITH BRUSSELS, June 13 — Belgium's government reacted angrily today to mounting American pressure to rescind controversial war crimes legislation, arguing that the country had already addressed Washington's concerns. Belgian government officials said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had only made the issue more difficult to deal with by threatening Thursday to find another venue for NATO meetings if Brussels failed to act on United States demands. "I'd like to once again repeat to Mr. Rumsfeld that Belgium has amended the genocide law," the country's foreign minister, Louis Michel, told the country's state radio on Friday. "We have changed it precisely to meet the fears of our American friends." The law, which allows anyone to bring war crimes charges in Belgian courts, regardless of where the crimes are said to have taken place, was recently amended to allow the government to dismiss politically motivated cases by transferring them to the defendants' home country. This was done with a recent lawsuit brought by a group of Iraqis against Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the commander of allied forces in Iraq. But the United States has said it is not satisfied with case-by-case resolutions and wants Belgium to strike the law altogether. A senior NATO official said there was broad support for the American position and that member countries were considering joint action to persuade the Belgian government to act on the American demands. During a meeting of NATO defense ministers here on Thursday, Mr. Rumsfeld said that the United States would have to "seriously consider" whether it would continue to allow senior American officials to visit Brussels and added that the United States would withhold financing for a new $350 million NATO headquarters in Belgium as long as the law remained on the books. The United States is expected to finance about a quarter of that project. Many Belgian officials said Mr. Rumsfeld's remarks would only complicate efforts to fix what they agree is an ill-conceived law. "This isn't the way to get them to rescind the law," one NATO diplomat said late Thursday, referring to Mr. Rumsfeld's approach. "People will turn this into plucky little Belgium standing up to the bully, America, disguising the issue that this is a bad law that best be disposed of." The Belgian war crimes law was initiated in 1993 and expanded after the 1994 killing of 10 Belgian soldiers in Rwanda. The law allows anyone to file suit in Belgian courts after residing in the country for two years. "What wasn't foreseen, and where we were perhaps naïve, was the potential for abuse in these third party cases," said Peter Moors, head of the policy unit in the Belgian prime minister's office, in an interview today. About 30 such cases have been filed so far, including cases against former President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf for their roles in an incident during the 1991 Persian Gulf war in which civilians were killed in an attack on a bunker.

AP 21 June 2003 Belgium debates future of war crimes law; former PM urges repeal after US criticism By Paul Ames, Associated Press, 6/21/2003 09:16 BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) A leading Belgian politician has proposed abolishing his country's war crimes law, which has soured relations with the United States after it was used to file charges against President Bush and other prominent Americans. Former Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene made the proposal after repeated U.S. demands for the repeal of the 1993 law. The criticism has sparked a widening political debate in about the future of the legislation, which allows Belgian courts to prosecute war crimes regardless of where they occurred. ''I think our ambitions are higher than our possibilities and that can jeopardize the role we have to play as European capital,'' Dehaene told the Canvas television network late Friday. ''It's a bit crazy to think we could be the conscience of the world,'' he added. The leading party in the center-left government on Saturday rejected calls drop the law but said it would have to be further amended. ''We have to keep the spirit of the genocide law, but we have to adapt it to ensure that people from democratic nations and NATO allies are not affected,'' said Karel De Gucht, chairman of Flemish Liberal Democratic party. Earlier Friday, Dehaene's party, the main opposition Christian Democratic and Flemish party, said it would propose amendments to the law limiting its scope to Belgian citizens. The law was first used to convict four Rwandans involved in the 1994 genocide there. Since then, cases have been filed against a slew of world figures, including Saddam Hussein and Cuban President Fidel Castro as well as British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. The government has already pushed through changes that allow authorities to reject complaints against citizens from the United States or other countries judged to have fair legal systems. Under those changes, complaints filed last week against Bush, Rumsfeld, Powell, Blair and others were blocked within 24 hours. Washington says that is not enough. ''The law that allows the filing of these cases ... is indefensible,'' State Department spokesman Philip T. Reeker said Friday. ''These cases demonstrate that, even with the recent amendments, the law does not work and we believe should be repealed.'' That would dismay human rights campaigners who say the unique Belgian law provides a court of last resort for victims of war crimes around the would. Repealing the law could kill efforts to put Chad's fallen dictator Hissene Habre in a Brussels dock this year on charges of torture, murder and other crimes. Campaigners are seeking Habre's extradition from Senegal, where he has lived in exile since 1990. Foreign Minister Louis Michel on Friday became the first Belgian politician to be accused under the law. A small opposition group lodged a complaint concerning arms sales to Nepal.

Expatica, Netherlands 24 June 2003 Belgium unveils new genocide law BRUSSELS – The latest changes to Belgium’s controversial law of universal competence were presented to Nato Secretary General Lord Robertson and US Ambassador to Belgium Stephen Brauer Monday. “I made clear that there was no reason to fear this law… I hope the changes will close the door to political games that people have tried to play with the law to destroy our relations with our allies,” Foreign Affairs Minister Louis Michel told the Associated Press. Print this article Email this article Write to the editor Start or join a discussion Michel met with both representatives separately to discuss the latest changes to the law - changes which the Belgian government hopes will go some way to stemming Washington’s fury after several US political figures being targeted under the legislation. In recent weeks, cases pertaining to the Iraqi conflict and the Afghanistan invasion and directly targeting President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defence Secretary Colin Powell, amongst others, were submitted to the Belgian courts. Ambassador Brauer indicated Monday that it was too early to say whether Washington would be satisfied with the latest amendments – the law had already gone through a politico-diplomatic cleanup following US pressure in May. “I hope that the changes address the concerns that have been raised; if they do, I think we will have avoided a major crisis,” said Mr Robertson following his meeting with Minister Michel. Pressure had been mounting on the Belgian government to amend the law since US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld threatened to withhold monies earmarked for the construction of new Nato buildings in Brussels and ban Americans from attending Alliance meetings unless Belgium repealed the legislation. “It does not make sense to have meetings at Brussels HQ if military and civil officials can no longer enter the country without the risk of being arrested,” Rumsfeld said while attending a Nato conference in Brussels. Human rights groups have been dismayed at Belgium’s weakness in the face of US political pressure, with Amnesty International calling it an enormous step backwards. “It is regrettable that under irrational pressure from the United States the Belgian Government is renouncing fundamental principles,” Human Rights Watch official Reed Brody told the Associated Press. “Our reaction is a mixed one; they (the Belgian Government) managed to salvage something, but too many concessions were made to the United States.” Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt insisted that Belgium had not been moved to amend the law under US pressure and that the changes simply allowed Belgium to keep the legislation. Minister Michel however told Belgian Daily La Soir Tuesday that “once the law drove the Americans to want to move Nato HQ out of Brussels, it became impossible not to modify the law.” Agreement on the law’s new form was reached Saturday evening by the Liberal-Socialist coalition – the bill is expected to be approved as soon as the incoming government becomes operational in the coming weeks.

Germany

UPI 6 Junr 2003 Massive Jewish Migration into Germany by Uwe Siemon-Netto Friday June 06, 2003 at 06:52 AM As a result of this accelerating migration, the Jewish population in Germany has swollen from 33,000 in 1990, the year of that nation's reunification, to 200,000 today, according to Schoeps. Before World War II more than half a million Jews lived in that country. At the end of the war there were only 15,000 left. WASHINGTON, June 5 (UPI) -- The turbulent relationship between Jews and Germany is taking yet another stunning turn. Seventy years after Hitler's ascendance to power and 60 years after the Holocaust, more Jews are flooding into Germany than into any other country, Israel included. This makes Germany the one nation with the fastest-growing Jewish community in the world. Ironically, one reason for this state of affairs is the anti-Semitism in their countries of origin, chiefly successor states of the former Soviet Union, Julius H. Schoeps, head of the Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies in Potsdam, told United Press International Thursday. "Of course there are other reasons as well, such as economic considerations and the chance to give their children a better education," Schoeps allowed. "Moreover, they see Germany as a 'safe country.'" As a result of this accelerating migration, the Jewish population in Germany has swollen from 33,000 in 1990, the year of that nation's reunification, to 200,000 today, according to Schoeps. Before World War II more than half a million Jews lived in that country. At the end of the war there were only 15,000 left. But in 2002, 19,262 Jews from the former Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States settled in Germany, compared with 18,878 who went to Israel and fewer than 10,000 who were admitted into the United States. German consulates in CIS cities report that 70,000 more Jews have already applied for resettlement visas. In addition, thousands of Israelis, whose parents had fled to Palestine in the Nazi years, are now claiming German passports to which they are entitled by German law. "Thanks to these developments I believe there is a good chance for the emergence of a new German Jewry," said Schoeps, a historian who was born in World War II in Stockholm, where his parents had found exile. "I absolutely welcome this," Rabbi Carl Feit, a Talmudic scholar and cancer researcher at New York's Yeshiva University, told UPI in an interview. Feit interpreted the Jews' return to Germany as "a fulfillment of a biblical spiritual theme -- the rebirth and rejuvenation for which there are many examples in history, where Jewish people in one part of the world or another have seemed to have been eclipsed only to reappear against all odds and common expectations." Feit added, "The biblical paradigm for this rebirth was the return of the Jews to Israel" from the Babylonian captivity in 516 B.C. There are many ironies in this sudden rejuvenation of Ashkenazic Judaism. The very word, Ashkenaz, which defines German and Eastern European Jews, is the Hebrew term for Germany. This is so, explained Feit, "because the entire Jewish culture in Eastern Europe derives from Jewish communities that lived in three German cities along the Rhine more than 900 years ago." "The German and Jewish cultures used to fertilize each other," Feit went on. Yiddish, the idiom spoken by 12 million Jews up until World War II, is essentially a medieval German dialect. The two languages are so close that Arnold Beichman, the New York-born writer and political scientist, often quips, "I like to speak German because it is just Yiddish with a better accent." According to Feit, Yiddish, too, is currently undergoing rejuvenation after decades of decline. This is to some extent also true in Germany, where the ultra-orthodox Lubavichers, coming primarily from New York and London, are doing mission among the mostly secularized Russian-speaking immigrants, most of whom "don't even know the difference between a synagogue and a church," Schoeps said. The Yiddish-speaking Lubavichers are a Hassidic sect. In their effort to bring immigrants from Eastern Europe to faith, they compete with assorted other religious movements, including Messianic Jews. Only about 60,000 of the 175,000 Jewish immigrants in Germany are already registered with any of the 84 synagogue congregations, most of which have sprung up in the past decade, Schoeps related. "In some eastern German cities, such as Potsdam, Halle and Rostock, our congregations are now 100 percent Russian-speaking," he said. Do they fear that anti-Semitism in Germany might once again be on the rise? "They are not really worried," replied Schoeps, who attributed the spate of racist outrages in the early 1990s primarily to hooligans raised without any values in eastern Germany's gray Moscow-style housing estates. As for the rest of the population, "there are now between 200,000 and 300,000 Russians in Berlin alone, and Germans don't know and don't really care who among them is Jewish and who is not." But there is another irony in this influx of Jews from the East: Although most are highly educated -- Schoeps described the quintessential immigrant as a mathematician from, say, St. Petersburg -- they cost the German taxpayer money. "Between 60 and 70 percent of them are on welfare because they cannot find work. They don't speak German yet, and their Soviet diplomas are not recognized by Germany." There are now programs to retrain them. "We have developed projects to turn mathematicians into computer specialists, for example," said Schoeps. But that's only one side. The other side is that now there is a sudden need for teachers, social workers, rabbis and cantors. At Potsdam University, of which Schoeps' center is part, a rabbinical seminary -- the Abraham Geiger Kolleg --has been created. What will Germany's new Jewish culture look like? Before Hitler, German Jews were among the most assimilated in Europe; culturally they were thoroughly German. Berlin was the first city in Europe with a Jewish high school, created in 1778 along the traditional German "Gymnasium" lines at the instigation of Moses Mendelssohn, the great Jewish Enlightenment philosopher. This school was closed in 1942 and did not reopen until 1993, when the sudden influx of Jews from the East commenced. But then most of its students and faculty were gentiles, and the Hebrew teacher was a Protestant pastor. Reflecting on the rich cultural history of Jews in Germany, which this school represents, Schoeps mused, "The intellectual heritage of German Jews included Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and Heinrich Heine, while this new Jewish community is at home with Tolstoy and Gogol." But then, what about the next generation of German Jews? "Probably Goethe, Schiller and Heine, plus Gogol and Tolstoy -- not a bad prospect, don't you think?"

BBC 27 June 2003 The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung comments on a "landmark ruling" by the German supreme court, which on Thursday pronounced that Germany is not required to compensate surviving dependants of victims of crimes committed during World War Two. The court turned down a claim for damages lodged by four Greek nationals whose parents were killed by German troops almost 60 years ago, the paper explains. The case could have caused a deluge of further claims amounting to billions of euros Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung "Germany signed a lump-sum agreement with Greece in 1960 when it paid reparations" of some 67.9 million dollars, the paper recalls. At that time it asked Athens "to ensure that its citizens refrained from lodging lawsuits". The present case received international attention, the paper notes, "because it could have caused a deluge of further claims amounting to billions of euros" against Berlin. But the plaintiffs may still appeal to the German constitutional court, it points out. The European press review is compiled by BBC Monitoring from internet editions of the main European newspapers and some early printed editions.

Greece (see Germany)

Hungary

BBC 24 June 2003 Hungary amends 'status' law The Hungarian parliament has amended a controversial law which grants work, health and travel benefits to ethnic Hungarians living in neighbouring countries. The Socialist-led government removed several key aspects in the so-called Status Law, including a reference to a "unified Hungarian nation" spanning borders. Romania and Slovakia, both home to large Hungarian minorities, say the law discriminates against other ethnic groups and interferes with their sovereignty as it allows Budapest to give aid to about three million people on the basis of their being ethnic Hungarians. Correspondents say Hungary made the changes to the law in an attempt to make it conform with European Union guidelines, after the law had been criticised by Brussels. Hungary is set to join the EU next year - while several of its neighbours will remain outside. Objections The amendments to the law were supported by 195 members of parliament, while 173 deputies from opposition parties rejected the changes. Hungarians abroad Croatia - 25,000 Romania - 1.7m Slovakia - 600,000 Slovenia - 10,000 Ukraine - 125,000 Ex-Yugoslavia - 340,000 "With Hungary close to joining the European Union, we cannot disregard the EU's legal system," Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs said before the vote. Despite the changes, officials in Romania and Slovakia have expressed reservations about the law. "We still have objections," Gheorghi Prisacaru, head of the Foreign Policy Committee in Romania's Senate was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying. "The European Council, which is due to vote on this issue on Wednesday, should have the final say," Mr Prisacaru said. Last week, the Slovakian Prime Minister, Mikulas Dzurinda, said the law was being approved against Slovakia's will and without consultations with Hungary's neighbours. Under the Status Law - introduced in 2001 - ethnic Hungarians living in Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia are entitled to work in Hungary for a limited period, health treatment and educational aid. Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory under the 1920 Trianon Treaty after World War I, and about three million ethnic Hungarians now live outside their historic homeland.

Italy

WP 24 June 2003 Evil's Human Faces Infamous Dictators Open Up to Italian Journalist By Alona Wartofsky Special to The Washington Post Tuesday, June 24, 2003; Page C01 NEW YORK -- Italian journalist Riccardo Orizio is an affable man with lovely manners. He shakes your hand with evident pleasure and makes charming small talk. The interview will take place nearby, in the Upper East Side apartment of a former colleague. On the way, he offers to carry your bag. Twice. You can't help wondering whether Orizio's ingratiating manner helped him in the reporting of his fascinating new book, "Talk of the Devil: Encounters With Seven Dictators." For years, Orizio prowled the globe looking for deposed dictators, several of whom proved somewhat elusive. Once he found his subjects, Orizio spent hours or days with them -- subject to their availability, of course -- and tried to learn whether forced retirement and the benefits of hindsight had any effect on their consciences. Not surprisingly, none of Orizio's ignominious seven was contrite. The Central African Republic's Jean-Bedel Bokassa, Albania's Nexhmije Hoxha and Uganda's Idi Amin shrugged off any wrongdoing. Others -- Ethiopia's Mengistu Haile-Mariam, Poland's Wojciech Jaruzelski and Serbia's Mira Markovic (wife of Slobodan Milosevic) -- insisted that history will prove them right. Jean-Claude Duvalier asked Orizio whether Haiti is really any better off today than it was during his rule. But what was surprising, says Orizio, is how much empathy he felt for his subjects. "Even when you know that they are monsters and you know all about their past, when you meet them face to face . . . it's difficult not to feel some sort of human compassion for them," he says. "When you -- what is the word? -- dissect the life of somebody in one thousand, one million little pieces, then it's very, very difficult not to find a few pieces that you feel comfortable for, or feel some sort of sympathy for," says Orizio. Take, for example, Idi Amin, living in Saudi Arabia, where the Saudi government pays him a salary, reports Orizio, "in the name of 'Islamic solidarity.' " Amin, responsible for more than 300,000 deaths during his reign, told Orizio that he is no longer interested in politics and now dedicates himself to religion. He fills his days by reading the Koran, playing the organ, swimming and fishing. When Orizio asked him if he felt any remorse, Amin replied, "No. Only nostalgia." Orizio calls Amin the "craziest" of the ex-dictators he interviewed. "But still, if you read the telexes that he used to send to Queen Elizabeth, or Richard Nixon . . . there is a highly sardonic, ironic, farcical element in many of those messages. It's like a Mel Brooks movie. It makes you laugh, and for a moment, you forget about the suffering, the sufferers, the blood, the corpses, the people dead, the people killed. "When you read the telex that says to the queen, 'Dear Liz, if you want to know a real man, come to Kampala,' or to Richard Nixon, 'I hear you have troubles with this problem called Watergate, but you know what, when a leader has problems with some politicians, they simply should be killed. That's how you should deal with it. I know it's a bit harsh, but believe me, that's how we do things here and they work out quite well.' " Orizio laughs. "It's difficult to avoid that moment where you smile and say, 'Okay, well, that telex was not bad at all.' " (He may be extremely polite, but Orizio possesses a dark sense of humor. In the chapter on Bokassa, who was accused of eating several of his political opponents, the author manages to work in the phrase "fillet of opposition leader.") Something else that Orizio found surprising was that when talking with his "devils," he would occasionally find himself in unwinnable political debates. "Even if they're monsters and they are unreasonable and have been unreasonable, they're still able to make a political point. Or, let's say, to ask me questions that I found very difficult to answer," he says. "They talk about double standards. They say, 'You in the West . . . always need symbols. And you use me -- you use my name in a highly symbolic way. But are you sure that I was the only one doing what you accuse me of doing? Or in other words, why are you supporting other people that basically are doing or have been doing just what I did, and why don't you label them as monsters and you label me as a monster?' " Before Orizio embarked on this project, he served as London correspondent for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, and prior to that he worked in Atlanta on a joint venture between La Repubblica and CNN known as CNN Italia. He wrote one book previously, "Lost White Tribes: Journeys Among the Forgotten," about white enclaves in former colonial territories. In the preface to "Talk of the Devil," he recounts that for many years, he carried two newspaper clippings in his wallet. Both were about African dictators who had been accused of cannibalism: Bokassa and Amin. Later, his list of deposed despots grew. Orizio selected Jaruzelski in part because he "wanted a general with sunglasses in my book, and he was available for an interview," he says with a wry smile. "The dark sunglasses we've seen on many Latin American dictators' faces for so many years -- these were so symbolic." While collecting ex-dictators, Orizio came to one dismaying realization: how quickly most of the world had forgotten them. "Our memory span is very, very short, and we are ready to forget -- meaning that we are maybe also ready to forgive -- most of the killing fields littering our contemporary history," he says sadly. "I'm pretty sure in 10 years' time, you stop any college student and say, 'Do you remember Saddam Hussein?' and he will say, 'Saddam who?' And we staged a war; we killed and got killed, all in the name of one monster that needed to be removed," he says. "It's incredible how a certain time distance puts everything in a completely different perspective. You know, time is the best ally that these deposed, disgraced dictators have." Orizio, 41, has been visiting the United States to promote the book with signings and lectures, but by the time you read this, he'll be back at his new home in Kenya's Masai Mara wildlife reserve. Six months ago, after he finished "Talk of the Devil," Orizio quit journalism. He had been going on safaris as a tourist for more than a decade. Over the years, he says, his passion for the African wilderness outgrew his passion for journalism. So to the incredulity of their friends, colleagues and relatives, he and his British wife left London and moved to the remote bush country of the Masai Mara, where they are building a small but luxurious safari lodge. Orizio will work as a safari guide, while his wife, a physician, is launching a medical project for nearby Masai settlements. "You're in the middle of nowhere, meaning no roads, no electricity, no water. No mail, no telephone. No nothing. And you build your own little paradise," he says. For Orizio, paradise translates to satellite e-mail and the luxury of eating breakfast with 25 elephants, and, he says, "having all those elephants all to yourself, without being bothered by any other human being, any other noise, any element of so-called civilization." Sitting on the coffee table before him is an album of photographs taken at and around his lodge. Interspersed with pictures of simple but elegant rooms are shots of lions, zebras and a hippopotamus. Ever obliging, Orizio, if asked, will imitate the "hu-hu-hu-huuuu" sound that hippos make. The conversation turns to recent news reports about Iraq's Saddam Hussein, and the question is raised: Will he write about Saddam someday? "No, I think I'm done with dictators," he says firmly. "Any update would be a full-time job for the rest of my life because there are so many dictators who are just waiting to be deposed and disgraced. It would be an endless update." His eyes rest briefly on his photo album, though he seems to be thinking about something else. "But I am fascinated by the subject of dictatorships, and I've been to a place called Kalmykia in the Russian Federation. It's one of the independent republics," he says. "It's a bizarre place ruled by a very bizarre chess champion who's imposing Buddhism and chess as the two national religions. So it's an incredible place, so I might do something on that subject."

Netherlands

BBC 2 June 2003 Milosevic ally denies war crimes Simatovic is accused of murdering and deporting Croats and Muslims Serbia's former head of special police, Franko Simatovic, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and persecution in Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s. Mr Simatovic - appearing at the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague - also denied forcibly transferring Croats and Muslims during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. He was the founder and first commander of the special operations unit known as the Red Berets, which fought alongside Serb paramilitary forces in Croatia and Bosnia. He was indicted last month, together with former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic's one-time state security chief, Jovica Stanisic. Mr Simatovic was arrested in Belgrade in March and charged in connection with the assassination of the Serbian prime minister, Zoran Djindjic. While he was in detention the war crimes tribunal unsealed its indictment against him and Mr Simatovic decided to go voluntarily to The Hague. Important role Mr Milosevic is himself on trial for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. His case continued earlier in the same courtroom, with testimony from a Muslim who said he was a survivor of a massacre in eastern Bosnia. Mr Simatovic may play an important role in the Milosevic trial. Prosecutors hope he will be willing to give evidence, possibly in return for reducing the charges against him. The BBC's Geraldine Coughlan in The Hague says that if the prosecution can prove that Mr Simatovic fought with the Red Berets in Bosnia and Croatia while he was on Serbia's payroll, they will be able to link Mr Milosevic directly with the fighting there.

ABS CBN News, Philippines 25 June 2003 Chief prosecutor named as ICC gets 200 cases By ESTRELLA TORRES TODAY Reporter The International Criminal Court (ICC) has received more than 200 cases of genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity since it began operating in July last year. Judge Phillipe Kirsch, ICC president, said chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo of Argentina will be tasked with investigating and prosecuting war crimes. Ocampo was appointed chief prosecutor on June 12. The immediate task before the prosecutor is to retain a team of key advisers to review the more than 200 referrals to the ICC and to devise a prosecutorial strategy. Kirsch also announced Wednesday the appointment of Bruno Cathala as registrar of the court. Cathala became the first officer of the ICC when he was appointed director of the Common Services in October 2002 by the Assembly of State Parties and the functions of the registrar were assigned to him. The Coalition for the ICC composed of 2,000 international nongovernment organizations welcomed the appointment of the ICC chief prosecutor and the registrar. “We feel very fortunate to have Luis Moreno Ocampo, who brings extraordinary prosecutorial experience and personal qualities to the ICC, to fill this crucial role,” the coalition said. Ocampo had prosecuted military leaders accused of kidnapping, torture and disappearances during Argentina’s “dirty war.” The ICC’s chief prosecutor also led the prosecutions during Argentina’s September 1987 military rebellion and investigations into violations of the laws of war during the Malvinas-Falkland conflict. Cathala once served as deputy registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Among his responsibilities include assisting the registrar in carrying out his work and ensuring coordination of the work of judges, the administrative services and judicial division. The Philippines has signed the Non-Surrender Agreement with the United States, which grants US personnel immunity from the prosecution by ICC. On Tuesday Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. revealed that the agreement is directly linked to the grant of the US military assistance to the Philippines. Guingona warned about the “dubious constitutionality” of the executive agreement, which covers criminal charges that may be filed against military personnel and other citizens of the two countries before the ICC. “The so-called Patriot Act of the United States, officially called the American Service Members’ Protection Act, prohibits military aid to the government of a country that is party to the International Criminal Court. But the Patriot Law authorizes the President of the United States to waive the prohibition if the prohibition is the foreign country, like the Philippines, concluded a nonsurrender agreement with the US,” Guingona disclosed. “By means of the Ople-Ricciardone agreement, the Patriot Act is extended to apply to the Philippines, with the result that we are prevented from cooperating with the ICC by the surrender of US personnel who are under investigation or prosecution for criminal acts committed within Philippine territory.” “Is it now a matter of national policy that the Philippines obtain foreign military assistance by some coercive process and at the price of abdicating its sovereign choice as to how it will related to the International Court?” Guingona asked. In an interview, Guingona pointed out that the executive agreement, concluded on May 13 in an exchange of diplomatic notes between Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople and US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone, “encroaches upon the legislative authority of Congress and violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law of all citizens.” Under the agreement, Guingona said, “we cannot surrender American servicemen or officers charged before the ICC without the consent of the US government. We may, however, be forced to surrender Philippine servicemen or officers named in the same before the international court.” The Vice President said it is “doubtful” if the power exercised by the Executive Department through Ople properly belongs to it. “As the nonsurrender agreement involves the avoidance of criminal liability, it is the proper province of congressional authority,” Guingona said. The Vice President reiterated his call for a congressional inquiry into the issue, with the Senate taking action “as this category of international commitment on the part of the Philippines actually constitutes a formal treaty that is subject to Senate concurrence under our fundamental law.”

BBC 18 June 2003 Milosevic 'outraged' over Srebrenica Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic had nothing to do with the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia, his predecessor has told his trial at The Hague. Zoran Lilic said the 1995 massacre, which killed thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and boys, had left Mr Milosevic "outraged". Milosevic and Lilic were allies on Yugoslavia's defence council Mr Milosevic is facing more than 60 charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, including responsibility for the Srebrenica massacre. Mr Lilic told the tribunal on Tuesday that he was certain that Mr Milosevic had not ordered the Srebrenica massacre, which was the worst single atrocity of the Bosnian war. "I know that he was personally very upset and angry (about the massacre)," Mr Lilic said. "I think that he was very sincere in his behaviour and conduct. "His reaction was very strong and he considered that this kind of behaviour and conduct would worsen our position with respect to the Dayton (peace) conference." In other evidence, Mr Lilic did accuse Mr Milosevic of supporting a Serb paramilitary training camp to fight in Bosnia shortly before the war ended. "The camp had been established or organised with the approval of President Milosevic. "I was surprised and astonished because this was the end of September or beginning of October 1995 after enormous efforts by Milosevic... for the Dayton agreements to be signed," Mr Lilic told the court. That evidence could help prosecutors show that Mr Milosevic was wielding major influence over Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia. Court questioning Mr Lilic was Yugoslav president from 1993 to 1997, although the post then wielded little real power. At the time, Mr Milosevic was Serbian president, but he then took over the Yugoslav presidency and turned it into a more significant power base. Both men were at the time members of the body in charge of defence strategy, the Supreme Defence Council. Mr Milosevic was expected to cross-examine Mr Lilic on Wednesday. Mr Lilic last year declined to give evidence because he said he was not free to divulge state secrets. He now says he has been given permission by Belgrade to give evidence, but there were limits on what he could say.

AP 21 June 2003 The Hague — Prosecutors at the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic may have produced the first document linking the former Yugoslav president to the massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, legal experts said Friday. The killing of 7,500 Muslims at the UN protected enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995 was the worse massacre in Europe since World War II. Mr. Milosevic faces 66 counts of war crimes, including genocide for Srebrenica. He has denied knowledge or involvement in the killings. He has been on trial since February 2002 and is defending himself despite serious heart trouble and illness that has repeatedly delayed hearings. The one-page document, introduced last week, is dated July 10, 1995, two days before the killings started at the end of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. The document is signed by the Bosnian Serb wartime staff commander and chief of police, Tomislav Kovac, and written on Bosnian Serb Interior Ministry letterhead. It orders seven subordinate officers to move their troops, including the Serbian police unit, to "crush the enemy" in Srebrenica. Mr. Milosevic was president of neighboring Serbia at the time. "It is very significant, it is the first piece of evidence that places Serbian police in Srebrenica," said Judith Armatta, of the Coalition for International Justice, a Washington-based advocacy group. "But whether these troops were involved in the massacres is yet to be seen." Prosecution spokeswoman Florence Hartmann said the document was just one element in the overall case against Mr. Milosevic. "We will have further elements and bring specific witnesses for Srebrenica," she said. To gain a conviction, prosecutors must substantiate claims that Mr. Milosevic ordered or knew about the Srebrenica atrocities, or compelled the Bosnian Serb leaders to carry them out. "It is without a doubt the first document indicating forces from Serbia participated in the fighting," said Mirko Klarin, head of the Brussels-based Croatian news agency SENSE that reports on the tribunal. "But in itself, this document is not enough, it is not the smoking gun." Former Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic testified earlier this week that he believed Mr. Milosevic could not have ordered the Srebrenica massacres. Bosnian Serb wartime leaders, Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, have also been charged with genocide for Srebrenica, but remain at large.

NYT 26 June 2003 U.S. Diplomat Tells Court of Milosevic Influence By REUTERS AMSTERDAM, June 25 (Reuters) — Slobodan Milosevic wielded huge influence over Croatian Serbs who drove out non-Serbs from their breakaway republic in Croatia in the 1990's, a former American ambassador to Croatia said today at Mr. Milosevic's trial in The Hague. The ambassador, Peter Galbraith, who was also a peace negotiator in the Balkans, is the latest international official to testify against Mr. Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president, at the United Nations tribunal. Prosecutors have accused Mr. Milosevic of providing money and military support to the Krajina Serb Republic during a campaign in 1991 and 1992 to expel non-Serbs from about a third of Croatian territory. Mr. Galbraith told the tribunal that the Krajina Serb Republic did not deny that Mr. Milosevic exercised considerable influence over its destiny. He told the court that the leaders with whom he negotiated "said they regularly consulted with the defendant, and further, the so-called Republika Srpska Krajina was itself completely dependent on Serbia." "The Krajina Serb leadership," he continued, "would not take any substantive decision for a peace agreement without his approval." Mr. Galbraith was the United States ambassador to Croatia from 1993 to 1998 and took part in the Dayton peace talks that ended the Bosnian war in 1995. "It was apparent to me," he said, "as indeed it was to virtually all the other international mediators, that the defendant was the key to any peace settlement." He said he believed that Mr. Milosevic was behind the rebels' rejection of an international peace plan in January 1995. Failure of the plan was followed by renewed fighting in which Croatian troops recaptured rebel-held territory. Mr. Galbraith said the failure of the plan helped to usher in Operation Storm in August 1995, which prompted 200,000 Serbs in Krajina to flee their homes, the largest single exodus of the 1991-95 Balkan wars. He said he had no doubt that the Krajina Serb leaders, Milan Babic and Milan Martic, deferred to Mr. Milosevic. Mr. Milosevic is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990's. He is to cross-examine Mr. Galbraith on Thursday.

Russia

www.russiajournal.com 30 June 2003 Ultranationalist writer convicted of firearms charges freed on parole June 30, 2003 Posted: 11:14 Moscow time (07:14 GMT) MOSCOW - An ultranationalist writer was freed on parole Monday after serving half of a four-year sentence on firearms charges from a trial where he had been accused of trying to form a private army to invade neighboring Kazakhstan. Eduard Limonov walked out of a prison in the southern city of Saratov Monday morning, Russian news agencies reported. Limonov and five members of his National Bolshevik Party were convicted in April on weapons charges but acquitted of more serious allegations, including attempted terrorism, forming an illegal armed group and trying to overthrow the government. A court in the city of Engels decided June 18 to parole Limonov because he had served more than half the sentence, mostly before the trial, and for good behavior in prison. Several parliament members had also called for Limonov to be freed, including nationalist Vladimir Zhovsky, Interfax news agency reported. Speaking to reporters after his release, Limonov said he hadn't changed or abandoned his political beliefs. He said he would continue work in politics "trying to change the system altogether and to uproot the tradition of Russian slavery," Interfax reported. He said he had no plans to run for office himself, but that his party should nominate candidates for parliament. Russia's Federal Security Service had accused Limonov of trying to form a private army to carry out an invasion of northern Kazakhstan, home to a large population of ethnic Russians. Authorities said he and the other suspects set up a criminal ring in 2001 to acquire weapons and ammunition in Saratov and bring them to a village in the remote Altai region near the Kazakh border. Limonov was arrested in Altai in spring 2001 and the trial began last summer. He denied the charges and called himself a political prisoner. A former dissident and critic of the Soviet regime, Limonov returned to Russia in 1991 after exile abroad and became an extreme nationalist. He is known for his sexually explicit, mostly autobiographical books. Last year, a Moscow court closed down his party's newspaper, Limonka - a slang term for hand grenade - saying it incited ethnic conflict and called for the violent overthrow of the government. The Associated Press

Prague Watchdog 26 Jun 2003 Chechens claim amnesty guarantees no pardons for rebels Timur Aliev, Northern Caucasus - The amnesty, as written, does not mean that rebels will receive pardons. At a round table discussion in Grozny June 24th, members of Chechen society and the intelligentsia discussed this issue under, "Chechnya after the Referendum: The New Threats." "According to Article 317, amnesty does not apply to anyone whose activities may have threatened the lives of law enforcement officers," said Usam Baysayev from the human rights organization Memorial, "and so this includes practically all the guerilla fighters." Memorial cited the case of a rebel group headed by Abubakar Magomadov that had surrendered near the town of Komsomosk on March 21. "Immediately after appearing on television, 13 of the men were shot. The soldiers then cut off the head of one victim and placed it in a pail of boiling liquid. Seventy other captives were later transported to Alkhan-Kala where several received 3 to 5 year sentences, so amnesty will certainly never be granted them," Baysayev declared. He also claims that televised scenes showing the surrender of guerillas are primarily orchestrated for Russian viewers. Edilbek Khasmagomadov, a political scientist from the Lam Cultural Center said that in order to defeat political terrorism in Chechnya it would be necessary to politically isolate the radicals. "An overall amnesty is not enough; what is needed is a political amnesty that would include the full spectrum of political parties," he maintains. He also believes that the authorities do not want this to happen. "It is unfortunate that on a political level, separatism and terrorism are merging," he stated, adding that a political reform of separatism is necessary. Nadirsolt Elsunkayev from the Center of Humanitarian Studies of the Chechen Republic thinks that strengthening national power within the republic might be a common meeting ground for Kadyrov and Maskhadov. "Kadyrov wouldn't mind being just a Kremlin appointee, but a strong leader in Chechnya as well," he stated.

Serbia

NYT 3 June 2003EX-PARAMILITARY LEADER PLEADS NOT GUILTY Franko Simatovic, the Yugoslav paramilitary leader whose secretive Serbian unit is accused of committing some of the worst atrocities in the Balkans in the 1990's, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and "ethnic cleansing" at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Mr. Simatovic, an ethnic Croat, is accused of forming a "criminal enterprise" to evict non-Serbs from parts of Croatia and Bosnia. Mr. Simatovic's unit was the core of the Serbian police's special operations unit whose senior officers are accused of killing the Serbian prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, in March. Peter S. Green (NYT)

Guardian Uk 13 June 2003 Riots erupt as war crimes suspect detained Agencies Friday June 13, 2003 Hardline nationalist supporters of Serbia's former regime engaged in fierce clashes with riot police in Belgrade today, as a leading war crimes suspect was arrested. The detention of former Yugoslav army colonel Veselin Sljivancanin, 50, was made after a tense 10-hour police siege of his suburban apartment building. The police action to root out the hiding war crimes suspect was accompanied by hours of street battles not seen even when the former president Slobodan Milosevic was arrested in October 2000. The confrontation began when Col Sljivancanin's supporters - including members of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical party and Serbian Unity party - threw stones, bricks, beer bottles, a burning tyre and other missiles at the officers inside the building. As the crowd swelled to at least 1,000, police called in reinforcements and charged the protesters to prevent them entering the building. But after police pushed the protesters away, some of them set a nearby grass field on fire. Dozens of cars, including several police vehicles, also were burned. "Drunk hooligans and members of several political parties worsened the situation," a police statement said. At least 30 protesters and about 15 policemen were injured in the clashes, three of them seriously, a statement from Belgrade's Emergency Hospital said. Police fired teargas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd as Col Sljivancanin was eventually captured by elite police commandos, who broke through a steel-reinforced door to reach him. A convoy of armoured police vehicles then drove him off to Belgrade's central prison, prompting the protesters to attack the security forces again. Col Sljivancanin is wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague in connection with the 1991 massacre of 200 Croat and other non-Serb civilians following the army's capture of the town of Vukovar. The arrest comes two days before a US decision as to whether Belgrade is cooperating with the tribunal in the pursuit of war crimes suspects, a step essential for the release of further economic aid worth millions of dollars. He was one of three top suspects still at large after being indicted by the Hague tribunal for war crimes allegedly committed during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1999. The former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic and army commander Ratko Mladic are still on the run.

AFP 21 Jun 2003 Belgrade, Pristina agree to direct talks on Kosovo by Lorne Cook PORTO CARRAS, Greece, June 21 (AFP) - In a potential breakthrough in efforts to resolve the future of the troubled province of Kosovo, authorities in Belgrade and Pristina are set to launch a joint dialogue next month, the EU's foreign policy chief announced Saturday. "Belgrade and Pristina very clearly expressed their readiness to enter in to a practical dialogue on issues of mutual interest and that that dialogue will begin before the end of the month of July," Javier Solana said. "This is very good news," he told reporters after an EU-Balkans summit, the final event of a three-day meeting in this Aegean Sea resort. The southern Serbian province has been administered by the United Nations since June 1999, when NATO bombed Belgrade to put an end to a brutal repression of majority ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership under president Ibrahim Rugova continues to claim independence from Belgrade and took part in the summit as part of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) delegation. Serbia and Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic confirmed the talks would take place next month with the help of the international community. "The talks will start in July with the US, the UN and the EU. We want dialogue. It is important that we have a solution, for all of us," he said. The head of UNMIK, Michael Steiner, said Kosovo's leaders were ready to take part in the dialogue but would not commit to a timetable for the talks. "This delegation is ready for this dialogue on practical issues of mutual concern. The president of Serbia and Montenegro has announced a corresponding intention and that is good," Steiner said. "I think we have also an agreement that the EU and the US should be part of this process on the first steps that are made. I think it is fair to say that the essential preconditions are there so that the dialogue on practical issues can start soon." The parties did not clarify what the practical issues might include. But Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic has said that the subjects should be the "safety and return" of more than 200,000 Serbs who have fled ethnic Albanian violence since UNMIK began its work in 1999. The Kosovars have stepped up attacks on ethnic Serbs in the province in a show of lingering ethnic resentment, after years of brutal repression at the hands of Serb-run troops under former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic. The remaining 80,000 ethnic Serbs in Kosovo live in enclaves heavily guarded by NATO soldiers. It was the first time Kosovo's representatives had taken part in such a high-level summit, which grouped together 25 European leaders and those from Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro. Diplomats had said the EU-Balkan summit could produce a symbolic handshake between Serbia and Montenegro leaders and the Albanian leadership of Kosovo. Marovic said he had not yet shaken hands with a Kosovo leader, but added: "If I have the occasion I would absolutely, shake hands. We must work together." Kosovo has an elected parliament and a government, although the UN mission and Steiner himself hold most decision-making powers.

Spain

BBC 14 June 2003 Spanish police defuse car bomb Police cordoned off the area during their search Spanish police have defused a powerful car bomb in the northern city of Bilbao after an anonymous caller - claiming to be from the Basque separatist group ETA - gave a warning to a local newspaper. The bomb - comprised of 30 kilos (50 lbs) of explosives packed inside a pressure cooker and wired to a timer - was inside a car parked near the city's San Mames soccer stadium and a finance ministry building, a police spokesman said. The thwarted attack comes as many town halls in the Basque region swore in new councillors. It also comes as street protests have been held by supporters of the now banned pro-Basque independence party Batasuna, which the Spanish Government has linked to ETA. Last month ETA claimed responsibility for the deaths of two police officers, who died when a bomb exploded underneath their car in the town of Sanguesa in Navarra. 'Terror' group The councils were elected on 25 May, when more than 1,000 candidates, described as members of Batasuna, were barred from running. Thousands marched in Bilbao in protest at the ban. Batasuna was banned in Spain on the grounds that it is part of the "terrorist network" of ETA - a charge Batasuna members vehemently deny. In May the United States added Batasuna to its list of terrorist groups. The decision, which makes the group liable to sanctions in the US, came after pressure from Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

24 June 2003 Spain warns Basques it may suspend autonomy BILBAO, Spain, June 24 (Reuters) - The Spanish government's senior representative in the Basque country warned on Tuesday that Madrid could suspend the region's autonomous status if its nationalist government continued to defy court orders. The repeated refusal of the Basque parliament in recent weeks to implement a Supreme Court order to dissolve a party alleged to support the armed separatist group ETA has brought its political relations with Madrid to the brink of collapse. "If there is uninterrupted defiance then clearly there will come a point when it will be possible to apply the famous constitutional clause allowing the suspension of autonomy," Jaime Mayor Oreja, the head of Spain's ruling Popular Party in the Basque Country, told local radio. Talk of suspending Basque autonomy for the first time since Spain's 1979 constitution raised an outcry from the region's ruling nationalist coalition. "This is not a gracious concession from the PP's government which can be installed or eliminated by decree in a manner reminiscent of past times," said Basque government spokesman Josu Jon Imaz, in reference to the 1939-1975 rule of dictator Francisco Franco. "These are historical rights recognised by the Spanish constitution as predating it," he added. Spanish prosecutors filed criminal charges against three leaders of the Basque parliament on Friday for "defying authority" by refusing to disband Sozialista Abertzaleak. The party is the successor to outlawed group Batasuna which the Supreme Court banned in March as the political wing of ETA. The armed guerrillas, listed as terrorists by the United States and the European Union, have killed some 841 people since 1968 in a bloody campaign for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwest France.

AP 30 June 2003 Spanish Judge Sends Argentine to Prison on Genocide Charge By EMMA DALY MADRID, June 29 — The former Argentine naval officer extradited from Mexico was jailed without bail today pending his trial here on charges of genocide and terrorism relating to the years of Argentina's military dictatorship. In an unusual act of international judicial cooperation, and a victory for the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, Mexico's Supreme Court ruled this month that the former officer, Ricardo Miguel Cavallo, could be extradited to Spain for crimes reportedly committed in a third country, Argentina. Judge Garzón failed three years ago to have Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator, extradited to Spain on similar charges, and human rights activists hailed the Cavallo decision as a vindication of the principle of "universal jurisdiction" for very serious crimes. Mr. Cavallo is accused of kidnapping, torturing and murdering hundreds of people, including several Spaniards, at the School of Naval Mechanics, known as ESMA, in Buenos Aires, which functioned as a clandestine torture center. As many as 30,000 people were killed or disappeared in Argentina from 1976 to 1983, part of a policy to wipe out opposition to the military dictatorship. Many were tortured, drugged and thrown from aircraft into the River Plate or the Atlantic Ocean, or buried in mass graves. This systematic pursuit of opponents prompted the charges of genocide and terrorism, although the Mexican court ruled that Mr. Cavallo could not be tried on the charge of torture because the statute of limitations had expired. When ordering Mr. Cavallo's imprisonment today, Judge Garzón wrote, "All the structures of the Argentinian state were put at the service of one purpose: to end all subversion." Judge Garzón interviewed Mr. Cavallo twice in his office at Spain's National Court in Madrid. At their first meeting, in the morning, the 51-year-old Argentine said he had not seen the charges, and was handed an indictment that runs to almost 200 pages. In the afternoon, Mr. Cavallo refused to make a statement, maintaing that, as an Argentine Navy captain, doing so would violate his country's rules. A Spanish state prosecutor, Pedro Rubira, whose office argued against legal efforts to have General Pinochet extradited, asked for Mr. Cavallo's release, saying that Spain did not have jurisdiction in the case. Judge Garzón disagreed. In the ruling ordering that Mr. Cavallo be sent at once to Soto del Real Prison outside Madrid, Judge Garzón wrote, "It should not be forgotten that he is accused of the international crimes of genocide and terrorism, which assault the very essence of humanity, and whose victims are not only those directly affected but also the international community." Outside the court, a small crowd of protesters carried banners recalling the 30,000 who "disappeared" in Argentina's so-called dirty war. On Jan, 12, 1977, Malou Cerruti watched helplessly as soldiers seized her husband, Omar Masera, at their home, along with her father, Victorio Cerruti. "I never heard anything from them again," she said. "I found out from human rights groups that they were in ESMA. I don't know how long they were kept there alive." But within weeks they had signed over the family fortune, estimated then at $10 million, to their torturers. "Now I want Cavallo to tell us where they were killed, if they are buried in mass graves or if they were thrown out of planes," said Ms. Cerruti, one of 23 witnesses set to testify against Mr. Cavallo. "And where the money went." Marcelo Hernández, a left-wing activist, was kidnapped along with a colleague and benefactor, Conrado Gómez, and held at the School of Naval Mechanics for two years. He was released, but Mr. Gómez, who was forced to turn over his cars, property, race horses and cash to his torturers, was never seen by his family again. "This is a good sign to the world," said Mr. Hernández, who will testify at Mr. Cavallo's trial. "But I will not sing with joy because I still have those memories — one can never be happy again after that. I'm not seeking vengeance, but justice for the thousands of Conrados." He, Ms. Cerruti and Federico Gómez, son of Conrado, say that Mr. Cavallo and his military comrades used the money stolen from their victims to set up a network of businesses across Latin America. At the time of his arrest in 2000, Mr. Cavallo, who went by the name of Miguel Ángel Cavallo, was living in Mexico, where he ran the private National Registry of Motor Vehicles. He has acknowledged being a member of the Argentine military, but denied involvement in torture. After Judge Garzón closes his phase of the case, it will be sent to a three-judge tribunal. Lawyers for the prosecution said Mr. Cavallo's trial was not likely to start before 2004.

Turkey

AZG Daily 28 June 2003 #122 HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP CALLS ON TURKEY TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE A leading human rights organization on Wednesday called on Turkey to recognize that the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians at the beginning of the last century was genocide, AFP reported. The International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR) said in an open letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that it was worried by recent Turkish educational guidelines regarding Turkey's treatment of minorities, especially Armenians. The guidelines, said the IFHR, called on schools to "lead a negationist campaign regarding the oppression of minorities throughout Turkish history, in particular with regard for the Armenian community." In 2001, France triggered a storm in its relations with Turkey when its parliament passed a law describing the massacres as genocide. At a 1948 United Nations international convention on the prevention of genocide the mass killings of Armenians were referred to as genocide, along with the Holocaust. The IFHR is a non-governmental organization based in Paris. www.fidh.org/fidh-en

Ukraine

UPI 2 June 2003 Analysis: Shame of Duranty's Pulitzer By Martin Sieff UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, June 2 (UPI) -- As the U.S. media still digests the shock and lessons of the Jayson Blair affair at The New York Times, a far older and far worse journalistic wrong may soon be posthumously righted. The Pulitzer Prize board is reviewing the award it gave to New York Times Moscow correspondent Walter Duranty more than 70 years ago for his shamefully -- and knowingly -- false coverage of the great Ukrainian famine. "In response to an international campaign, the Pulitzer Prize board has begun an 'appropriate and serious review' of the 1932 award given to Walter Duranty of The New York Times," Andrew Nynka reported in the May 25 edition of the New Jersey-published Ukrainian Weekly. The campaign included a powerful article in the May 7 edition of the conservative National Review magazine. Sig Gissler, administrator for the Pulitzer Prize board, told the Ukrainian Weekly that the "confidential review by the 18-member Pulitzer Prize board is intended to seriously consider all relevant information regarding Mr. Duranty's award," Nynka wrote. The utter falsehood of Duranty's claims that there was no famine at all in the Ukraine -- a whopping lie that was credulously swallowed unconditionally by the likes of George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells and many others -- has been documented and common knowledge for decades. But neither the Times nor the Pulitzer board ever before steeled themselves to launch such a ponderous, unprecedented -- and potentially immensely embarrassing -- procedure. Indeed, Gissler told The Ukrainian Weekly that there are no written procedures regarding prize revocation. There are no standards or precedents for revoking the prize. The Ukrainian famine of 1929-33, named the "Harvest of Sorrow" by historian Robert Conquest in his classic book on the subject, was the largest single act of genocide in European history. The death toll even exceeded the Nazi Holocaust against the Jewish people a few years later. In all, 10 million Ukrainians, most of them peasants, died as catastrophic, stupid and cruel collectivization policies were imposed by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin on the richest, most fertile, wheat-exporting breadbasket in the world. In the decades before World War I, its annual grain exports regularly vastly outstripped those of the American Midwest. The enforced collectivization of land and the unbelievable death toll were deliberately whipped up by conscious policy and malice. Stalin was determined to crush the slightest remaining glimmer of Ukrainian national identity and also to liquidate the "kulaks" or wealthy peasants, which in practical terms meant any family with the expertise to raise a decent crop on the land. Mass shootings of entire families, or so-called liquidations, were commonplace. The production of food collapsed. Yet the mainstream Western media was virtually blind to what was going on. And in the United States, serious newspapers across the nation took their lead from the then-revered and utterly trusted Duranty. As Richard Pipes, a leading U.S. authority on Soviet history, noted, "It has been said that no man has done more to paint in the United States a favorable image of the Soviet Union at a time when it was suffering under the most savage tyranny known to man." British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, London correspondent for the left-wing Manchester Guardian, scooped the world by fearlessly going into the Ukraine and defying the Soviet secret police -- then known as the OGPU -- to expose the true horrors of the famine. He also knew Duranty well and observed him closely. Writing 40 years later in his classic memoirs "Chronicles of Wasted Time," Muggeridge concluded that Duranty was a sociopath without a grain of professional integrity or human decency to his name. He described Duranty as "a little, sharp-witted, energetic man" who liked "to hint at aristocratic connections and classical learning, of which, I must say, he produced little evidence. One of his legs had been amputated after a train accident, but he was very agile at getting about with an artificial one." Duranty may well have been blackmailed or bribed or both by the Soviets, but Muggeridge concluded that his real motive in lying outright about what he knew to be true and helping the Soviets in their unprecedented, astonishingly successful cover-up was a far simpler one: He loved and revered Stalin precisely because he was so colossally murderous and cruel. "He admired Stalin and the regime precisely because they were so strong and ruthless. 'I put my money on Stalin' was one of his favorite sayings.'" Indeed, Muggeridge related that in one conversation they had, Duranty even admitted to him that he knew there was a catastrophic food shortage, even famine in Ukraine and that he knew the Soviet authorities were prepared to kill large numbers of people there to keep control. As Muggeridge described the conversation, "But, he said, banging the sides of the sofa, remember that you can't make omelettes without breaking eggs -- another favorite saying. They'll win, he went on; they're bound to win. If necessary, they'll harness the peasants to the ploughs but I tell you they'll get the harvest in and feed the people that matter. The people that mattered were the men in the Kremlin and their underlings. ... The others were just serfs, reserves of the proletariat, as Stalin called them. Some would die, surely, perhaps, quite a lot, but there were enough, and to spare." An appalled and a fascinated Muggeridge listened to all this and later recalled, "I had the feeling, listening to this outburst, that in thus justifying Soviet brutality and ruthlessness, Duranty was in someway getting his own back for being small, and losing a leg, and not having the aristocratic lineage ... he claimed to have. ... Duranty was a little browbeaten boy looking up admiringly at a big bully." In his own lifetime -- he lived to the age of 73, though he died broke and forgotten -- Duranty was never called to account. Indeed, as Muggeridge also noted, "He came to be accepted as the great Russian expert in America, and played a major part in shaping President Roosevelt's policies" towards the Soviet Union. The Pulitzer Prize board's re-evaluation of Duranty's award therefore comes late in the day, to put it mildly, but it is still a welcome, indeed necessary gesture towards American journalistic integrity and to the hecatombs of dead whose cries were hushed.

NewsHour PBS 11 June 2003 PULITZER PRIZE BOARD REVIEWS REPORTER'S 1932 AWARD June 11, 2003 An Online Report The Pulitzer Prize Board announced late Tuesday it would reconsider the 1932 award given to New York Times Moscow correspondent Walter Duranty, accused of deliberately not reporting the "forced famine" in Ukraine during the regime of Soviet Union leader Josef Stalin. Online Special Media Watch Browse the NewsHour's coverage of the media The New York Times The New York Times Company The Pulitzer Prizes Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Sig Gissler, the Pulitzer board's administrator, said on Tuesday the 18-member group's review "is intended to seriously consider all relevant information regarding Mr. Duranty's award." The board in 1932 honored Duranty "for his series of dispatches on Russia, especially the working out of the Five Year Plan," Stalin's proposed economic system intended to boost production and improve citizens' living standards. Duranty had covered the Soviet Union for the Times from 1922 to 1941. He had previously earned critical acclaim for a 1929 interview with Stalin, whom Duranty once described as "the greatest living statesman." The board's announcement follows a massive campaign launched in February by Ukrainians across the world to demand the posthumous withdrawal of Duranty's prize. Members of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) joined the international effort and bombarded the Pulitzer board with more than 15,000 postcards and thousands of letters and e-mails, urging the group to revoke Duranty's honor, the UCCA said in a press statement on its Web site. The campaign was timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Ukraine's Great Famine, which claimed at least seven million lives. The famine came as Stalin's regime imposed a brutal agricultural quota system on a largely Ukrainian populace deemed resistant to communism. The UCCA said Duranty "not only disregarded the famine-genocide in his dispatches but called other journalists outright liars" for reporting on the story. Gissler said the board decided to review Duranty's award in April -- before most of the postcards and letters had arrived -- but said the group's comments would be taken seriously. "Like any significant complaint, we take them seriously," Gissler said Tuesday. "They are under review by a board subcommittee, and all aspects and ramifications will be considered." Gissler said that the Pulitzer board honored Duranty in 1932 for his stories from the previous year, which were unrelated to the famine. The Pulitzer Prize recognizes the work during a single year rather than "a winner's body of work over time," Gissler added. "There are no written procedures regarding prize revocation. There are no standards or precedents for revoking the prize. We look at what would be reasonable and analyze the factors that would have to be considered," Gissler, a former editor of The Milwaukee Journal and professor at the Columbia School of Journalism, said. Though the Times continues to list Duranty among its Pulitzer Prize-winners on its Web site, it cautions that "other writers in The Times and elsewhere have discredited this coverage." "The Times has reported often and thoroughly on the defects in Duranty's journalism as viewed through the lens of later events," Toby Usnik, director of public relations at The Times, told the Associated Press on Tuesday. This is not the first time the Pulitzer board has reconsidered Duranty's honor. In 1990, the board decided against withdrawing the prize, awarded "in a different era and under different circumstances." Scholars and other journalists have repeatedly questioned the objectivity and accuracy of Duranty's work. According to the 1990 book Stalin's Apologist by S.J. Taylor, the British-born correspondent reported Communist Party propaganda rather than the facts of daily life in the Soviet Union. Taylor maintained that Duranty knew of the famine and other atrocities, but did not report on it to preserve his special access to Stalin. Even as other foreign correspondents detailed the famine story, Duranty derided their work as "an exaggeration of malignant propaganda" in an August 1933 New York Times article. Duranty acknowledged Stalin's political methods could be brutal, but said that "you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs." At the same time, Duranty is recorded in 1933 as telling British Embassy officials that some 10 million Ukrainians had died during the famine. Since the creation of the Pulitzer Prize in 1917, the board has never revoked an award. In 1981, The Washington Post returned a Pulitzer awarded to Janet Cooke, a reporter who fabricated a story about an eight-year-old heroin addict. Walter Duranty's surviving relatives could not be reached for comment. .

AP 11 June 2003 Pulitzer for '32 'NY Times' Story Could Be Revoked Reporter Charged With Ignoring Ukranian Famine By Larry McShane, Associated Press Writer NEW YORK -- (AP) A Pulitzer Prize awarded in 1932 to a New York Times correspondent is under review and could be revoked because of complaints that he deliberately ignored the forced famine in the Ukraine that killed millions. The review of Walter Duranty's work was launched in April by a Pulitzer subcommittee. No Pulitzer has ever been revoked in the 86 years that the prize has been awarded. Members of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America joined Ukrainians worldwide this year in urging the withdrawal of Duranty's award, said President Michael Sawkiw Jr., adding that more than 15,000 postcards and thousands more letters and e-mails were sent to the Pulitzer Board. "Exactly like Jayson Blair, the heart of all this is journalistic integrity and ethics," said Sawkiw, referring to the Times reporter who was recently found to have falsified and plagiarized dozens of stories. The effort was timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the famine, which claimed as many as 7 million Ukrainian lives. Josef Stalin's regime created the famine to force Ukrainian peasants into surrendering their land. "Like any significant complaint, we take them seriously," Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzer Board, said Tuesday of the charges against Duranty. "They are under review by a board subcommittee, and all aspects and ramifications will be considered." Gissler said the decision to review the Duranty award was made before most of the postcards and letters arrived. The story was first reported Tuesday in The New York Sun. Duranty covered the Soviet Union for the Times from 1922 to 1941, earning acclaim for an exclusive 1929 interview with Stalin. But Duranty was eventually exposed for reporting the Communist line rather than the facts. According to the 1990 book Stalin's Apologist, Duranty knew of the famine but ignored the atrocities to preserve his access to Stalin. The Times has also distanced itself from Duranty's work. The reporter's 1932 Pulitzer is displayed with this caveat: "Other writers in the Times and elsewhere have discredited this coverage." "The Times has reported often and thoroughly on the defects in Duranty's journalism as viewed through the lens of later events," said Toby Usnik, director of public relations at the Times. This was not the first time that the Pulitzer Board has reconsidered its award to Duranty. A similar probe in 1990 ended with a decision to let the Pulitzer stand. Gissler pointed out that most of the complaints related to Duranty's coverage of the forced famine, which began in 1932. Although the foreign correspondent won the Pulitzer that year, it was for stories he had written a year earlier. In addition, he noted, the Pulitzer is awarded for work in a single year rather than "a winner's body of work over time." Although the Pulitzer has never been revoked, it was once returned. Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke surrendered her prize in 1981, after admitting she had fabricated stories. Source: Editor & Publisher Online

Moscow Times 16 June 2003. Page 10 One Pulitzer That Should Shake the World By Matt Bivens To Our Readers Has something you've read here startled you? Are you angry, excited, puzzled or pleased? Do you have ideas to improve our coverage? Then please write to us. All we ask is that you include your full name, the name of the city from which you are writing and a contact telephone number in case we need to get in touch. We look forward to hearing from you. Email the Opinion Page Editor WASHINGTON -- America's most coveted journalism award is the Pulitzer Prize, and The New York Times has collected 89 of them. But now one of those Pulitzers is being challenged because the honored reporter was a fraud. Is this about Jayson Blair, the whiz kid whose faked articles have deeply embarrassed his paper? Yes and no. The prize in question was won in 1932 by Walter Duranty for "excellence in reporting" out of the Soviet Union. That same year, the Stalin regime sealed the borders of Ukraine, ordered the confiscation of grain, and engineered a mass famine -- one so neatly political that it stopped precisely at the Ukrainian-Russian internal border. The Soviets called it "collectivization," the forcing of millions of people into collective farms. Ukrainians in America refer to it as the Holodomor -- roughly, the Famine-Genocide -- and they consciously use a capital "H" in imitation of the Holocaust. The Holocaust -- the killing of about 6 million Jews, along with some 3 million Soviet POWs and thousands of Gypsies -- is woven into the textbooks, the consciousness and the monuments of nations everywhere. And the Holodomor? It claimed some 7 million innocents. At its height, while the Soviets exported thousands of tons of grain to the West, Ukrainians were dying at a rate of 25,000 per day. Yet no one has heard of it. Every November, the U.S. president sends a short letter to Ukrainians marking the tragedy. Other than that, it passes virtually unmentioned. To understand how the Holodomor slipped down the memory hole, one has to look back to the 1930s. The Great Depression was on, and in the West communism was admired or feared. That, plus the Soviet practice of deporting critics, soon filled the Moscow foreign press corps with apologists for Stalin. Duranty was not alone. (Another apologist, Eugene Lyons of UPI, repented and wrote one of my favorite books, "Assignment in Utopia." Check out chapter XV, "The Press Corps Conceals a Famine," at www.colley.co.uk/garethjones/soviet_articles/assignment_in_utopia.htm) But Duranty was unusually cynical. He would talk about millions of famine deaths, and then add, "But they're only Russians," and, "you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs." And incredibly, he won the Pulitzer for reporting in 1931 on Stalin's Five-Year Plans. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Holodomor, and in January the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America launched a campaign to have Duranty's Pulitzer rescinded. The Pulitzer board is formally studying that. But in the past, the board has split hairs, arguing that Duranty's Pulitzer was for reporting that predated the famine and had nothing to do with it, while The New York Times has taken the position that its own pages have since denounced and debunked Duranty's work, and his Pulitzer is displayed with an asterisk to that effect at Times' headquarters. And that's apparently good enough. So, a cub reporter publishes a string of articles that plagiarize or embellish upon some pretty minor realities -- and this provokes a monster mea culpa on the front page detailing the paper's sins, followed by the resignations of its editors. Meanwhile, another reporter is known to have been a serial liar, someone who actively worked over many years to cover up the equivalent of the Holocaust -- and The New York Times admits as much, yet feels OK holding on to his Pulitzer. Doesn't that tarnish the other 88? Matt Bivens, a former editor of The Moscow Times, writes the Daily Outrage for The Nation magazine. [www.thenation.com]

United Kingdom

BBC 13 June 2003 UK law 'aiding' religious hate crimes One young woman was targeted by a mob 'because of her veil' British law is failing to protect people from religious hate crimes, the head of the Commission for Racial Equality has said. Trevor Phillips said a "feeble response" by Parliament to an "increasingly common" problem made it easier for people to get away with targeting people on the basis of their religion. "One of the ways people can get away with it is that they know the power of the law doesn't exist in quite the same way as it does for racial violence," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Mr Phillips's comments followed the story of a 25-year-old Iraqi woman who has lived in England for nine years and is studying computer science. 'Lynch mob' She said she would feel safer in Baghdad than she did at the moment in Portsmouth, where she has been subjected to months of abuse because she is a Muslim. A one point a crowd of more than 30 people, described as a "lynch mob" by local police officer Paul Oliver, gathered outside her home in the city's Buckland Estate chanting abuse and throwing eggs. They say, 'You people who wear scarves, you are bombers and have things in your bag to destroy the place' Young Muslim in Portsmouth "They pick on me every time I go outside," said the woman, who is too fearful to be named. "They say, 'You people who wear scarves and are Muslim, you are bombers and have things in your bag to destroy the place'." She said she was going to leave the UK because she did not feel safe and would rather live in war torn Iraq. "All who see me there with a scarf will treat me with respect and that's all that I need," she said. Mr Phillips said her story was part of a growing picture of religious attacks in Britain. Unreported crimes He listed the recent desecration of the Central Birmingham Mosque and Iranians being stabbed in Newcastle. He said there were probably countless unreported crimes because "the law doesn't provide for them". "Whereas someone who is racially abused would be able to come to the Commission for Racial Equality and ask for help and support, someone who is abused and subject to violence because of their religion cannot because the law doesn't provide for them," he said. He said Parliament had failed to address the problem despite having opportunities like David Blunkett's rejected attempts in 2001 to introduce a law against incitement to religious hatred. This week the House of Lords said a law on religious discrimination would cause controversy and therefore should be avoided, he said. "Our law and our politics have created a kind of climate in which this kind of violence, discrimination and attacks on Muslims because they are Muslims, has somehow become acceptable," he said.

BBC 13 June 2003 Tributes to fatal attack victim Johnny Delaney: 'A lovely child' Two Wrexham schools have paid tribute to a former pupil who died following an attack in Cheshire. Traveller Johnny Delaney, who would have celebrated his sixteenth birthday on Thursday, was found with serious head injuries in a field in Ellesmere Port on 28 May. He was taken to The Countess of Chester hospital where he was confirmed dead. Two teenagers have been charged with the murder. Johnny Delaney attended St Mary's Primary School and St Joseph's Secondary School while he lived with his family on a travellers site next to Wrexham Maelor Hospital. John Kenworthy, head teacher at St Joseph's, said staff and pupils have been left reeling from the news. He was such a nice boy, I was really, really saddened to hear about his death Kathy Jones, head teacher "I can't believe he'd be the victim of such a crime," he said. "We've sent our commiserations to his parents and we've sent a mass card. "He had a very innocent personality. He was very quiet and well-behaved." Johnny attended St Joseph's for two years between the ages of 11 and 13. Mr Kenworthy said they have many children from the travelling community and his death has angered and upset many pupils. "The children were shocked, particularly the year group that he was a member of," he said. Flowers have been placed at the scene of the attack "There is also a lot of shock amongst the travelling community." The teenager moved from Wrexham with his family to an Irish travelling community in Liverpool. He had been visiting friends in Ellesmere Port when he was attacked. Johnny's family have paid tribute to their "fun-loving" boy. His aunt Ann Gavin said: "Johnny was a fun-loving, very happy lad. He was a wonderful boy. We'll miss him." Kathy Jones, head teacher at St Mary's Catholic School in Wrexham, said Johnny was educated there whenever he was in the area. "He came to our school when he was here because they travelled in and out, travellers access education where they are. "He was such a nice boy, I was really, really saddened to hear about his death."

Reuters 16 June 2003 Two men arrested after bomb find BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- Police in Northern Ireland early Monday arrested two men in connection with the discovery of a bomb a day earlier in Londonderry. The men, ages 33 and 24, are helping police with their inquiries, according to the Police Service for Northern Ireland. A huge bomb was found Sunday packed into an abandoned van in Londonderry. British army demolitions experts have since defused it. Security forces believe the device, which contained 600 pounds of explosives, was made by dissident republicans opposed to a 1997 cease-fire by the Irish Republican Army. The once promising peace process in Northern Ireland has been stalled since last fall, when the power-sharing Catholic-Protestant government collapsed under pro-British Protestant unionists' anger over allegations of an IRA spy ring in government. A meeting of the Ulster Unionist Party, the largest Protestant organization, on Monday could bring a challenge to the long-time leadership of David Trimble, who had been First Minister in the power-sharing government. Nearly 4,000 people have been killed in Catholic-Protestant violence since 1966 and thousands more wounded. In 1998, the battling sides signed the "Good Friday Accord," brokered by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, but since that time "The Troubles" -- as the long period of conflict is known -- have barely abated. New elections, scheduled for May, were postponed until fall because the IRA had not given assurances it would cease all paramilitary activities. "

BBC 16 July 2003 Fan convicted over racist chant A football fan who took part in racist chanting at a match has been convicted in a landmark court case. Two High Court judges ruled the 21-year-old fan should have been convicted of a criminal offence when he came before magistrates. In what is understood to be the first case of its kind to reach the High Court, the judges ruled Sean Ratcliffe, from Cross Heath, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, was guilty of chanting in "a racialist nature". The chanting came under the 1991 Football (Offences) Act, they said. Ratcliffe was in a crowd of fans of second division Port Vale who used a chant containing the word "Paki" at Oldham Athletic supporters during a league match at the Port Vale ground at Stoke-on-Trent in October last year. Lord Justice Auld, sitting with Mr Justice Goldring, said it was clear the word "Paki" - short for Pakistani - was "a slang expression which is racially offensive". 'Unpleasant context' They dismissed any suggestion it could be used affectionately in the manner of "Aussie" or "Brit". The judge said: "It is odd and a shame that this is so in this country, but the unpleasant context in which it is so often used has left it with a derogatory or insulting, racialist connotation." The ruling overturned a decision by Stoke-on-Trent Magistrates' Court district judge Graham Richards in January to acquit Ratcliffe on the basis the chant was "mere doggerel" and need not be classed as an offence. The judges also took the unusual step of telling the magistrates' court to pay the estimated £1,000 costs of the appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions. After the hearing, Maureen Shea, head of trials for the Crown Prosecution Service in north Staffordshire, said: "It is clarification of the fact that 'Paki' is derogatory and racialist within the terms of this Act. "If any football crowd is chanting, and the word Paki, or Pakis, is in the chant, it is going to contravene the act."

BBC 27 June 2003 Race attacks continue to rise More consultation is urged with minority communities The number of racist incidents in Scotland has continued to rise, according to a report. However, community relations leaders have said that the rate of increase is slowing, reflecting improved police practice when dealing with black and ethnic minority issues. Last year there were 3,607 racist incidents reported to police. That was an increase of 250 on 2001 - the smallest annual increase for four years. The study by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) highlighted a number of measures needed to improve the current situation. These include consultation with minority groups on the issues of asylum and immigration. The report, Pride and Prejudice, reviews police race relations in Scotland and makes 24 recommendations to chief constables. Much remains to be done and HMIC detected a strong desire within the police forces of Scotland to push on with the agenda of reform Sir Roy Cameron Chief inspector of constabulary It calls for a broadening of the existing consultation with minority groups, with particular focus on those seen as "hard to reach" such as ethnic minority young people and women. It also highlights the need to improve levels of senior liaison and dialogue in Scotland on the issues of immigration and asylum and positive action in recruiting ethnic minority police officers. Sir Roy Cameron, the chief inspector of constabulary, said: "It is clear that much has been done, with programmes of reform well under way on many issues, including police training, community consultation, and responding to racist incidents. "It is equally clear that much remains to be done and HMIC detected a strong desire within the police forces of Scotland to push on with the agenda of reform." He said the review showed that race relations in Scotland were dynamic, with emerging issues presenting themselves as challenges to be addressed and overcome alongside the already established concerns. "Consequently, there is a focus in the report on the subjects of community cohesion, asylum and immigration, and the link between international tensions and domestic policing," Sir Roy added. When racism occurs in the community, the police must be swift to respond and effective in the way they do it Cathy Jamieson Justice Minister "These are issues which HMIC sees as providing significant challenges for police services in the future." The West of Scotland Community Relations Council said police practice had become much more consistent following the reports into the killing of the black London teenager Stephen Lawrence - which alleged institutional racism in the Metropolitan service. But senior community relations officer Maggie Chetty said there was still evidence of under-reporting, particularly among refugees and asylum seekers. "There nervous perhaps about asylum applications that are going in, so they don't want to rock the boat," she said. "They don't know where to go or where to access help and they may feel that if they report crime they'll end up with further attacks." Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson welcomed the report and said she was confident progress would continue as police forces build on the work which has already been done. She said: "The people in Scotland deserve a police service which works to meet the needs of everyone, taking account of cultural, religious and language difference. "When racism occurs in the community, the police must be swift to respond and effective in the way they do it. "HMIC highlights some important areas which chief constables will now wish to give attention to. "Indeed, I know that some issues are already being addressed and the Scottish Executive will play its part in assisting with this process."

30 June 2003 Attack motive investigated Army technical officers made the device safe Police are investigating whether a pipe bomb attack on a house in south Belfast was racially motivated. A couple who live in the house at Donegall Avenue with their eight-week old baby twins are believed to be from an ethnic background. Army bomb experts made safe the device, which was taken away for examination. The home of two black South African women on the same road was attacked with a pipe bomb earlier this month. Inspector Darrin Jones said police were stepping up security for minority groups in the area. Police have revealed a number of other possibly racially motivated incidents in the same area were being investigated. They say literature bearing the name of a militant British political party had been posted through the doors of people from ethnic backgrounds. Last week, Dr Alasdair McDonnell of the SDLP said an undercurrent of racism in some loyalist areas had led to a string of attacks on African people. He said many asylum seekers had escaped persecution in their own countries, only to be attacked in Northern Ireland. Dr James Uhomoibhi, chairman of the Northern Ireland African Cultural Centre, said they were just trying to make a life for themselves. Higher level Earlier this year, the Equality Commission said racist attacks in Northern Ireland were running at a higher level than in England and Wales. Racist attacks in Northern Ireland are 16.4 per 1,000 of the population compared to 12.6 in England and Wales, said the commission. Last year, a report said there were more than 350 racial incidents reported to the police between 1996 and 1999 - a 400% increase. The number of racist attacks on children doubled - rising from 8.5% of total attacks in 1996 to more than 16% in 1999. The annual total increased from 186 to 269 incidents between 1999 and 2000 - a rise of 45%. The report was commissioned by the equality and social need division of the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in 2002.

General

AZG Daily 4 June 2003 #105 Armenian Daily, Armenia ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GENOCIDE GOES ELECTRONIC The Armenian National Institute's (ANI) said its scholarly work received further recognition this month with the electronic publication of the Encyclopedia of Genocide, a prominent French publication on the Holocaust which devoted its April issue to Armenia, and another important book review. ANI announced that the electronic version of the Encyclopedia of Genocide is now available at , thanks to its American publisher ABC-CLIO. ANI Director Dr. Rouben Adalian is an associate editor and contributor to the encyclopedia, which has received a number of awards, including CHOICE Magazine's Outstanding Academic Title award. Also available in French as "Le livre noir de l'humanite: Encyclopedie Mondiale des Genocides" (Editions Privat: 2001) the highly-acclaimed encyclopedia is the first reference work to chart the full extent of this subject and covers all known genocides, each with leads to further information, in over 200 A-Z entries. Editor in Chief Dr. Israel W. Charny, who is also executive director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, Israel, called the e-book version " a testimony to the great success of the Encyclopedia." "This will now make the Encyclopedia readily available to many thousands more people and institutions. As the interdisciplinary field of genocide studies continues to evolve, this state-of-the art electronic version of the Encyclopedia provides an additional foundation for future research and education in this vital field," he said. In another example of the growing public and scholarly attention given to the subject of genocide and its comparative study, the French journal on the history of the Holocaust, Revue d'histoire de la Shoah, has published a special issue on the Armenian Genocide, co-edited by ANI Academic Council member Dr. Claire Mouradian. ANI's Dr. Rouben Adalian is a contributor and the only American specialist included in the publication. His submission, entitled "Genocide and Intervention: Ambassador Morgenthau and the Making of a U.S. Policy" is based on the paper he presented at the 1999 conference "Ambassador Morgenthau and the American Response (1914-1915)" in Yerevan, organized by ANI, the National Academy of Sciences and the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute of Armenia. Contributors to the special issue include Yves Ternon (also co-editor), Atom Egoyan, Yair Auron, Raymond Kevorkian, Vahe Tachjian, and others. A review and purchase information is available at www. NetArmenie.com. In its April 2003 issue, CHOICE Magazine that publishes independent reviews and recommendations on behalf of the American Library Association gave a glowing review to ANI Director Dr. Rouben Adalian's latest book, Historical Dictionary of Armenia. CHOICE said in part, "This particularly welcome contribution by the director of the Armenian National Institute, who is a historian and expert on the Armenian genocide, reflects the author's training in its thorough coverage." It went on to note that the book's detailed chronology covers cultural events alongside the standard historical backbone and notes that its biographical entries cover "not only important figures from Armenian history and politics but also important members of the Armenian diaspora in the U.S. and elsewhere." Noting its "outstanding bibliography," CHOICE recommends Adalian's Historical Dictionary as a critical source for current and future scholars and points out that the bibliographic essay that precedes it discusses experts in Armenian history, culture, and politics "so that students will recognize the major researchers in the field."

NYT 13 June 2003 U.N. Renews U.S. Peacekeepers' Exemption From Prosecution By FELICITY BARRINGER UNITED NATIONS, June 12 — In the face of polite but firm opposition from the European Union, the Security Council today approved a one-year renewal of a 2002 measure exempting United States peacekeepers from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. The vote was 12 to 0 as France, Germany and Syria abstained, arguing that the year-old court was undermined by a blanket grant of immunity for officials and personnel of the United States. One year ago the same measure passed 15 to 0. The vote, which will give immunity to United States citizens serving as peacekeepers or civilian police in six United Nations missions from Kosovo to East Timor, revived some of the discontent with the United States that erupted during the weeks before the Iraq war. This time, though, Germany and France kept their opposition low-key. A year ago, a sharp fight broke out when the United States, to underline its demand that its peacekeepers not be vulnerable to possible politically motivated prosecutions, initially vetoed a resolution extending the mission in Bosnia. To ensure the continuity of these missions, other Council members agreed to a compromise that gave American peacekeepers immunity from the International Criminal Court for a year, with the option of annual renewal. Secretary General Kofi Annan supported the compromise then, but he was lukewarm about its renewal today. If such renewals become "an annual routine," he said, they "would undermine not only the authority of the I.C.C., but also the authority of this Council and the legitimacy of United Nations peacekeeping." Earlier this week the Council decided to open today's session to comment from any nation wishing to speak. Of the 19 speeches that preceded the vote — by representatives from Canada, Iran, Jordan, Argentina, Nigeria and Switzerland, among others — all but two opposed the extension. In his remarks, Prince Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the Jordanian ambassador, was blunt. "We are still concerned over how this resolution has attempted to elevate an entire category of people to a point above the law," he said, "a feeling sharpened still further when thought is given to the revolting nature of the crimes covered by the court's jurisdiction." The American deputy representative, James B. Cunningham, told Council members today that the vote was in keeping with a central principle of international law, "the need for a state to consent before it is to be bound" by a treaty. The resolution, he said, does not "elevate an entire category of people above the law. The I.C.C. is not the law." He said the court "is a fatally flawed institution," because it operates outside the context of the United States Constitution. The United States has been signing separate accords with various countries stipulating that neither side will extradite the other's citizens to the international court. In today's debate, Adamantios Vassilakis, the representative of Greece, speaking on behalf of his country and the European Union's president, worried that the renewal would be the first of many, permanently hamstringing the court. "The E.U. firmly believes that an automatic renewal of that resolution would be undermining the letter and the spirit of the I.C.C. and its purpose," he said. Britain, Spain and Bulgaria supported the extension, though the British ambassador, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, emphasized that his government fully endorsed the European Union's support for the court. Sir Jeremy, added that "under the circumstances, we regard the adoption of this resolution as an acceptable outcome in what is, for the Council, a difficult situation." The International Criminal Court came into existence in 1998 under the Rome Statue, which gave it jurisdiction over systematic war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The statute has been signed by at least 137 countries — and ratified by 90. The Clinton administration signed the document at the end of 2000, but that action was withdrawn by the Bush administration.

Toronto Star 16 June 2003 Monday, Ontario Edition, EDITORIAL;, Pg. A18 Craven U.N. caves in -Should Americans be above international law? The United Nations Security Council seems to think so.Over Canada's principled objections, the council, by a 12-0 vote with three abstentions, has just cravenly bent to pressure from Washington, and granted Americans serving on peacekeeping missions immunity from prosecution by the U.N.'s own International Criminal Court. This is the second toadying one-year exemption for the United States and other countries that don't accept the ICC. It undermines the court's legitimacy. It is probably unlawful. And it is unwise and unnecessary. Even peacekeepers commit crimes. A Canadian, Elvin Kyle Brown, was convicted of manslaughter and torture by Canadian military judges in the death of a Somali teenager back in 1993. He got five years. The ICC's role is to prosecute worse offenders: Those involved in Rwanda-style genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Most nations, including Canada, accept the court's jurisdiction. The U.S., which threatens to veto U.N. peacekeeping missions unless it has immunity despite the fact that fewer than 600 Americans are on U.N. duty, is the chief holdout. While it's hard to imagine U.N. peacekeepers involved in widespread criminal horrors, no country should be above the law. Speaking before the U.N. voted, Canadian ambassador Paul Heinbecker rightly made that point with vigour, saying it is in everyone's interest to have "a system based on law - the fair, predictable, equal application of principles agreed to by all." The Americans fret about being hauled up on frivolous charges. But they have ample protections. A U.S. peacekeeper accused of heinous crimes would face the ICC only if Washington refused to prosecute. Moreover, the Security Council has the power to block malicious, politically motivated prosecutions. But Washington's objections are ideological, not practical. It won't play by the same rules as others. And the U.N., shamefully, has buckled.

The Independent (London) 30 June 2003, Monday, NEWS; Pg. 3, 460 words, US FORCES NATIONS TO HELP ITS CITIZENS AVOID INTERNATIONAL COURT, ROBERT VERKAIK LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT FORTY-THREE of the world's poorest nations have caved in to American pressure and signed agreements not to send US citizens for trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was set up last year to hear allegations of crimes against humanity. Governments that continue to defy America after its deadline expires tomorrow risk losing US military support and economic aid. Washington, which has forces deployed in more than 140 countries, is vehemently opposed to the ICC arguing that US soldiers, officials and citizens will become targets for political reasons. Although President Bill Clinton signed the treaty establishing the ICC, he was not able to persuade Congress to ratify it and President George Bush later rescinded his predecessor's signature. A report published by Amnesty International shows that most of the 43 states that have already signed bilateral immunity treaties are heavily indebted to the United States. Albania, Bolivia and Afghanistan are reliant on America for their military aid. Others, such as Tongo and the Marshall Islands, are dependent on trade with the US. Critics of the American policy towards the ICC argue that the bilateral agreements will undermine the authority of the world's first permanent tribunal for hearing allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Amnesty International says that many countries have come under intense US pressure to sign bilateral agreements. Amnesty's media director, Lesley Warner, said: "Less than 10 years after the horrific genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia Herzegovina, the new International Criminal Court, which starts its second year tomorrow, offers great hope. That hope is that crimes committed on such a scale will increasingly be confined to the past and where they do occur, justice will be done." "The Court enjoys enormous support from the international community," Ms Warner said. The court is authorised to deal with crimes committed after 1 July 2002, provided that either the accused are citizens of a country that has ratified the court's statute, or the alleged crimes were committed on the territory of a ratifying country. BOWING TO THE US Afghanistan Albania Azerbaijan Bahrain Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia- Herzegovinia Cambodia Democratic Republic of Congo Djibouti Dominican Republic East Timor Egypt El Salvador Gabon Gambia Georgia Ghana Honduras India Madagascar Maldives Marshall Islands Mauritania Micronesia Mongolia Nauru Nepal Nicaragua Palua Philippines Romania Rwanda Seychelles Sierra Leone Sri Lanka Tajikistan Thailand Togo Tonga Tunisia Tuvala Uzbekistan

Toronto Star, June 29, 2003 Sunday, Ontario Edition, BUSINESS; Pg. F04 Countries must choose: ICC or U.S. dollars, Karen Kleiss, Toronto Star More than 40 countries around the world face losing hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance on Tuesday, when a new U.S. law makes it illegal for the United States to give military aid to nations that support the International Criminal Court. Members of NATO, including Canada, major non-NATO allies and countries that have received a presidential waiver are exempt from the law. Washington strongly opposes the court, claiming it threatens U.S. sovereignty and will be used to put Americans on trial for political reasons. The permanent International Criminal Court, which prosecutes exceptionally heinous, calculated and large-scale crimes like genocide, was hailed as an historic triumph for human rights when it was created in July of 1998. Since then, 139 of the world's 193 nations have signed the court's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, and 90 countries have ratified it. The U.S. was intensely involved in shaping the court and former president Bill Clinton signed the Rome Statute in December, 2000. But last year, President George W. Bush officially withdrew support for the court, becoming the first U.S. president ever to remove his country's signature from an international treaty. He then signed into law the American Servicemember's Protection Act, which enshrined his opposition to the court and set Tuesday's deadline, when countries must either sign an immunity agreement, promising not to turn Americans over to the court, or face the prospect of losing millions in military assistance. An estimated 45 nations already have signed such immunity agreements. But critics say the contracts contravene international law and those who sign them do so because the United States has threatened to withdraw essential aid. "The U.S. is preying on small, vulnerable, impoverished states that are hugely dependent on assistance - military, economic, political - from the United States," says Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice program at Human Rights Watch. Those reported to have signed include Micronesia, which is set to receive $1.8 billion (all figures U.S.) in aid over 20 years, and the Marshall Islands, which will get nearly $1 billion over the same period. Israel and India have also signed. Canada, Sweden and the European Union support the ICC and have steadfastly refused to sign immunity agreements. Japan and Norway are expected to register their refusal shortly. U.S. diplomats around the world have been spreading the American message. An op-ed letter from U.S. ambassador Lawrence Rossin, published in a Zagreb newspaper last month, warned that Croatia "could forfeit up to $19 million" in military aid if it fails to sign an immunity agreement. "U.S. military assistance is significant," he wrote. "It helps prepare the Croatian Armed Forces for NATO membership." The U.S. embassy in Zagreb says the ambassador was simply giving a clear explanation of the American position, but Dicker says the letter implies that Croatia will essentially forfeit NATO membership if it doesn't sign the immunity agreement. "It's essentially saying the $19 million in military assistance you're going to lose is crucial to modernizing your armed forces and, as we know, modern forces are essential for NATO accession." Last month, Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came under harsh criticism from a government opposition member after she signed an immunity agreement with the U.S. and the Philippines received $30 million in military aid. Bayan Muna party-list representative Satur Ocampo said the bill "practically allows GIs to act at will while in Philippine territory and would render useless any effort to regulate their actions." Washington, meanwhile, insists the agreements are both legal and essential "to protect American citizens from politically motivated prosecutions by a court of which we are not a member." "We believe in justice and the rule of law and accountability," a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Reuters after signing an immunity agreement with the former Soviet republic of Georgia. "As a sovereign nation, the United States accepts the responsibility to investigate and prosecute its own citizens for such offences should they occur." But supporters of the court say it has built-in protections against politically motivated trials, the most important being that the ICC would step in to prosecute a U.S. citizen for war crimes only if the United States refuses to do so. Washington is not persuaded, however, and continues to reject the court. "Their whole approach to the ICC is coloured and shaped by U.S. exceptionalism," says Dicker of Human Rights Watch. "I think they see their role as superpower as a licence to roam the world, deploying armed forces where they see fit, and they see the court as some potential arbiter of that conduct." Antonio Cassese, professor of international law at Italy's Florence University and former president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, notes that the immunity agreements don't obligate the United States to prosecute any of its citizens accused of war crimes. "These immunity agreements are very vague," he says. "One would expect they would be made conditional on the obligation by the Americans to bring (an accused American) to trial ... but there is no such obligation." Rights groups have said the United States is effectively undermining the ICC by inducing countries to sign the immunity agreements and that a court powerless to prosecute the world's superpower will quickly lose its legitimacy with the rest of the world. But Cassese doesn't agree. "The ICC is going to become stronger," he says. "It will get a lot of support, and it will take action where horrendous crimes are being committed, and in a matter of 10 or 15 years, it will show (itself) to be effective." In the end, he predicts, "the Americans will gradually have to come to terms with the ICC."

International Herald Tribune 18 June 2003 www.iht.com 'New justice' vs. impunity Kenneth Roth IHT Wednesday, June 18, 2003 The International Criminal Court NEW YORK Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld may see a divide between "old" and "new" Europe, but Europe and much of the rest of the world are standing united behind what might be called "new justice." On Monday, the respected Argentine jurist Luis Moreno Ocampo was sworn in as chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court after being elected by the court's 90 member governments. This historic institution is now open for business, ready to prosecute those who commit genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity. Unlike the "old justice" of impunity that allowed the likes of Augusto Pinochet and Pol Pot to go unpunished, the "new justice" of the international court, known as the ICC, reflects a growing global determination to bring the worst human rights criminals to justice. Yet the Bush administration continues its campaign against the court, although it is increasingly isolated in its opposition. On June 12, for example, Rumsfeld announced that Washington would oppose further spending on a new NATO headquarters in Brussels until Belgium repealed its universal jurisdiction law that allows the perpetrators of atrocities to be prosecuted in Belgian courts. Rumsfeld made the threat even though Belgium adopted legislation in April that provides ample protection against misdirected cases, while allowing its courts to continue as a forum of last resort for atrocity victims. Also on June 12, in the United Nations Security Council, the Bush administration secured renewal of a one-year exemption from ICC jurisdiction for American troops involved in UN-authorized military operations. After the extraordinary tensions over Iraq, the council wasn't game for another fight with the United States. Still, Washington had hoped to pave the way toward a permanent exemption. Its exceptionalism was greeted by a chorus of governmental objections. Meanwhile, U.S. envoys have been circling the globe threatening to cut off military aid and other benefits to any government that won't agree by July 1 never to send a U.S. suspect to the ICC. The European Union and its associated states have stood up to this strong-arming, but weaker and more vulnerable governments are having a harder time resisting. The Bush administration tries to justify its quest for such agreements by saying that it doesn't want to be held to a treaty it hasn't ratified. But that falsely characterizes the issue. No one suggests that, without ratification, the ICC should bind the United States. Rather, the question is whether other governments have a right to choose how to address crimes committed on their own territory, even if by U.S. citizens. Under long-accepted legal principles, the British government, say, is entitled to prosecute an American for committing murder on the streets of London. Similarly, in the case of atrocities committed on its territory, Britain can choose to delegate prosecuting power to the ICC. That the United States hasn't ratified the ICC treaty is irrelevant. All that matters is that the government on whose territory an American might commit such crimes has ratified the treaty and granted prosecuting power to the court. The Bush administration also tries to justify the bilateral agreements it is pursuing with other countries by citing a provision in the ICC treaty that allows governments to prioritize competing claims to prosecute certain suspects. For example, when a suspect's nationality differs from that of the territory where the alleged crime was committed, two governments have an interest in prosecution. In some cases, the ICC treaty allows these governments to agree between themselves which would have first crack at the case. The provision must be read in light of the ICC's purpose, however. Ruthless regimes have long committed atrocities with impunity. Dictators occasionally promised prosecutions, but with no international justice system to hold them accountable, the pledges were usually empty. The ICC's ability to override national prosecuting efforts that are not conducted in good faith reflects the determination of ICC member states to move beyond unverified pledges. The agreements sought by the Bush administration would undermine this core ICC principle. The stakes are high in the struggle to resist the Bush administration's vision of "old justice." If Washington prevails, other governments will inevitably try to evade ICC oversight. That will advance impunity. Even if the United States succeeds only in immunizing its citizens from ICC scrutiny, the resulting two-tiered system of justice risks delegitimizing this important new institution. The writer is executive director of Human Rights Watch.