Are Farsi-language broadcasts helping?

Washington Times

TODAY'S EDITORIAL
March 9, 2007

Today, as Washington grapples with the threats posed by Iranian support for terrorism and efforts to develop nuclear weapons, it appears that American policy-makers are being forced to choose between very bad options: 1) taking military action against Iranian nuclear sites and other regime targets, or 2) continuing to push for passage of largely unenforceable U.N. resolutions and hoping that if the regime develops nuclear weapons, we would somehow be able to use some form of "containment" to deal with the problem.

We find ourselves in this untenable position today due in part to our neglect of alternatives such as the development of radio stations oriented towards taking the American message directly to the Iranian people. In his position as ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Government Information, Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, has made it his mission to reform what he views as a largely dysfunctional system of broadcasting to Iran. In a letter to President Bush last month, Mr. Coburn made a powerful case that Radio Farda, which broadcasts music and other entertainment programs to Iran, and the Voice of America's Farsi-language service "may actually be harming American interests rather than helping."

As chairman of the subcommittee last year, Mr. Coburn held a hearing on the Iranian nuclear question, in which lawmakers heard testimony from Amirabbas Fakhravar, an Iranian dissident who wants the United States to publicly support regime change in his country. Imprisoned in 2002 after writing a book denouncing Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he managed to escape Iran three years later. Mr. Fakhravar told the subcommittee in July that Radio Farda and VOA "are presently giving more assistance to the regime than to the dissident movement" in Iran by touting fraudulent efforts to institute reforms within the Islamist regime. Subsequent complaints from native Farsi speakers who monitor U.S. broadcasts to Iran and a report commissioned by the State Department and National Security Council mirrored Mr. Fakhravar's testimony. The federal Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) disputes the criticisms and periodically provides examples of broadcasts it describes as balanced. But according to Mr. Coburn, the board has not conducted a systematic review of all content broadcast into Iran and is limited in its ability to oversee broadcasting content because there are no English-language transcripts of U.S. international broadcasting. Along with his letter to the president, Mr. Coburn attached several transcripts of VOA's Farsi-language coverage of the State of the Union address. One of the two guests provided by VOA, Dr. Mansour Farhang, "uses a Farsi term best described as 'baseless statement' to describe your State of the Union speech," Mr. Coburn wrote. "Dr. Farhang's hostility is further expressed when he describes your Iraq policy as having 'no connection to reality.' " Dr. Farhang then went on to blame the United States for increased violence and instability in Iraq. The only other guest, who was supposed to balance the criticism, said he agreed with this harsh assessment of U.S. policy.

All of this is particularly tragic in view of the fact that the Iranian government would appear to be quite vulnerable to the kinds of pressures that U.S. radio broadcasts, properly done, could help generate. Public-opinion polls taken in recent years suggest that an overwhelming majority of Iranians admire the United States and/or want to bring down the Islamist regime in Tehran, and despite a brutal secret-police, visitors to the country frequently say they have little trouble finding Iranians who want to be rid of clerical rule. Iran has been convulsed by unrest and violence, particularly in the southeastern Baluchistan region, where last month Sunni radicals killed 11 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards in a bus bombing. On Feb. 19, one week after the bombing, the regime televised the hanging of a man it said was responsible for the attack. It would be a positive thing if BBG were offering Iranians a real alternative -- something better than the likes of both Dr. Farhang and public hangings.

But, that does not appear to be happening today. As Mr. Coburn wrote in his letter to the president: "Our international broadcasting needs serious management and accountability reforms. Given the international challenges and threats to our national security, I believe it is vital that this important public diplomacy does not undermine your role as our lead diplomat. The status quo should not continue."

And if BBG thinks it is getting a bum rap from Mr. Coburn, it would do well to conduct its own comprehensive study of its Farsi-language broadcasts and set the record straight.

German plot suspect's laptop stored recipe for bomb

By Agence France Presse (AFP).

BERLIN: Bomb-building instructions have been found on the deleted hard drive of a computer belonging to one of the suspects in the attempted bombing last summer of two trains in Germany, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Investigators believe two of the Lebanese men arrested on suspicion of planting the bombs had used the instructions to build the devices, which failed to explode on two suburban trains on July 31 last year, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung said in an advance extract of its Thursday edition.

German police experts managed to retrieve the data from a deleted hard drive on a laptop which one of the suspects, Jihad Hamad, had taken with him on his return trip from Germany to Lebanon.

Hamad is due to go on trial with four other men in Lebanon on April 11, Lebanese authorities said this week.

The other main suspect in the case, Youssef Mohammed al-Hajj Dib, remains in custody in Germany.

German federal police said the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Western and some Arab media had been the catalyst for the bombing plot.

Investigators believe faulty detonators prevented the bombs from exploding.

Hamad had confessed earlier this week under judicial interrogation to planting one of the bombs, a Lebanese judicial source said. He had told Investigating Magistrate Michel Abou Arraj that he was trying to avenge the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, judicial reports added.

On Monday, police took the four suspects under heavy security from Roumieh prison to the Justice Palace in Beirut, where they underwent preliminary interrogation. - With AFP.

Historical issues stall Japan-North Korea talks

Source: CNN.

HANOI, Vietnam (Reuters) -- Japan and North Korea cut short talks on Thursday about establishing diplomatic ties after wrangling again over historical differences, officials said.

Japan said the two sides would "continue to exchange views" but no date was scheduled for more talks, part of a six-country deal last month to halt impoverished Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid and diplomatic recognition.

Japan says forming ties is impossible without resolution of the issue of Japanese abducted by the reclusive communist state in the 1970s and 1980s. Meanwhile, North Korea is pressing for settlement of issues stemming from Japan's harsh 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.

North Korea's chief negotiator Song Il-ho told reporters after Thursday's session at the North Korean embassy in Hanoi that the abduction issue "has been completely resolved by our sincere efforts".

He urged Japan to settle the past, lift sanctions and stop "suppressing" North Koreans living in Japan.

North Korea admitted in 2002 that its agents had abducted 13 Japanese to train Pyongyang spies in Japanese culture and language, sparking outrage in Japan.

Five people were repatriated. Japan has demanded the return of any survivors, but Pyongyang says the other eight are dead and cannot be sent back.

In a briefing, Song described Japan's position as "an unreasonable insistence." But Japan's delegation head, Koichi Haraguchi said, "It is deplorable that North Korea did not respond sincerely to the abduction issue."

The original schedule had called for two full days of talks in communist-run Vietnam, which has good relations with both Japan and North Korea.

Delegates met on Wednesday morning at the Japanese embassy, but then cancelled an afternoon session at the North Korean embassy. Thursday's meeting lasted less than an hour.

As part of the deal struck in Beijing, North Korea this week sent its chief nuclear envoy to the United States for talks and a delegation to meet the Japanese. By contrast, the talks in New York were "very good" according to an American envoy.

The Japan-North Korea talks were the first since they met in Beijing more than a year ago. Those made no visible progress, either.

In Tokyo, Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might order a new study of the government's role in forcing women, many of them Koreans, to act as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War Two.

Abe has angered the Koreans and other Asians with remarks that appeared to question the state's role, although he has also said a 1993 apology acknowledging coercion remained in effect. (Full story)

Separately on Wednesday at the United Nations, North Korea's envoy accused Japan of creating "a horrific atmosphere of terror" for pro-Pyongyang groups in Japan with investigations into their activities following Pyongyang's 2006 nuclear and missile tests.

Western, Asian and developing nations on the board of the Vienna-based U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency watchdog on Wednesday urged North Korea to honor the deal toward de-nuclearization of the divided Korean Peninsula.

The six-party agreement included North and South Korea, which are still technically at war after the truce that ended the 1950-53 Korean war. The others are the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

Deal with Syria, but first impose Lebanese sovereignty

By Michael Young

Add Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht to the list of dignitaries who have left Damascus biting their fists in frustration. After meeting with his Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Moallem, on Tuesday, de Gucht said he was "disappointed" that Syria would not surrender its nationals to a mixed tribunal being set up to try suspects in Rafik Hariri's assassination. Moallem added: "If the United Nations wants anything of Syria, then it must talk to Syria and base the statutes of the tribunal on Syrian law."

That's revealing coming from a regime that supposedly had nothing to do with Hariri's murder, and that often affirms its "non-involvement" in the resultant judicial process. Thanks to Syria's continued refusal to concede anything on the tribunal, the Lebanese crisis continues. This coming weekend the Syrians will get a chance to practice more of their brand of diplomacy when Iraq's neighbors meet in Baghdad to discuss the country's future. The United States should not give Syria an opportunity there to break free from the tribunal, which provides the only real leverage over President Bashar Assad to change his regime's behavior.

It is perhaps understandable that a number of policymakers and analysts in the US feel the Bush administration's present policy of isolating Syria is going nowhere. Their framework for saying so is Iraq. My friend David Ignatius expressed this view in the commentary published above, pointing out that the "administration should also start a real dialogue with Syria - and in the process shelve any half-baked ideas about regime change that may be lurking in the Old Executive Office Building. The Syrians pose a deadly threat in Lebanon, which is all the more reason to be talking with them." Isolation, the argument goes, also isolates the US. If Washington negotiates, it can use its weight to bring about desirable outcomes.

There are several problems with this assumption when it comes to Syria. The first is that opening a new page with Syria is premature. If the aim of negotiations is to advance one's aims, then Syria has shown no willingness to consider those of the US and the UN - who told Syria in late 2004 that it was time to end its interference in Lebanon's affairs and recognize Lebanese sovereignty. To talk now, while the Syrians threaten Lebanon on a daily basis, would validate their claim that threats work, and that Syria can bring envoys to its door by spawning instability in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories. That's precisely the wrong message to send. The right message is that Syria can only put an end to its isolation once it accepts international law - which in Lebanon means accepting the tribunal and giving up on the dream of reimposing its hegemony over the country.

That's why defending the Hariri tribunal is so essential. The body has international backing, which means that the credibility of the five permanent members of the Security Council is tied into its success. By initiating a dialogue with Syria, by therefore implying that the crime the tribunal is seeking to punish shouldn't reflect badly on relations with Damascus, the US would empty the tribunal of its meaning. Why give up this weapon when it can make future negotiations more successful?

The quid pro quo demanded of Assad would be a simple one, and the Saudis and the Egyptians have already floated it in one way or another: Any effort to narrow the Hariri tribunal's statutes, or even to improve relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria, requires that Syria first change its conduct in Lebanon. Nor is isolation of Syria necessarily failing. Even Syrian allies like Iran and Russia can see that Assad's stance on the tribunal is untenable and might cost them politically. Iran is said to have agreed with Saudi Arabia on the principle of establishing the tribunal, even if it won't take a position that might alienate Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly told the Saudis that if the tribunal were blocked in Lebanon, Russia might abstain in a Security Council vote to place it under the authority of Chapter VII of the UN Charter.

A second problem with the invitation to dialogue with Assad is that there is no evidence Syria will get the message and alter its behavior. Here is the Catch-22: If you engage Syria, Assad will assume this is due to his intransigence, which will encourage him to remain intransigent in the expectation that this will bring more rewards. The Saudis and Egyptians know the pitfalls of this logic, but also see the Syrians caught in a more sinister vicious circle: Because Assad is weak he must export instability, which is only isolating him further in the region, making him even weaker.

The Europeans, never shy about engaging Syria for the sake of engagement, particularly with so many troops deployed in South Lebanon, are also beginning to see the light. De Gucht's regrets echoed those of the European Union's representative in Beirut, Patrick Laurent. He recently admitted that the EU had "tried everything [with Syria], as did many others, employing both gentle means and pressure." To no avail.

A third reason to be wary of engaging Syria is that Assad doesn't have the confidence to carry through on many of the demands that would be made of him. The Syrian president can intimidate his domestic foes, but his authority rests on a narrower power base than his father's. He can talk to the Israelis, but it's doubtful that he can reach a final deal with them, since peace would mean substantially dismantling the security apparatus that keeps him in office. He can pretend to help stabilize Iraq, but knows that actually doing so would mean that Syria becomes less relevant. He can claim to have played a positive role in the Mecca accord between the Palestinian factions, but he knows that this only came after he failed to sponsor such an agreement himself. Today, Assad fears a Hamas exit from the Syrian orbit, which is one reason why he has been trying to place pro-Syrian groups in a Palestinian national unity government.

And, most important, Assad knows that if he were to give up on Lebanon finally and unconditionally, he might face the wrath of those within his own regime who silently blame him for the debacle of 2005. But this all begs the question: Why, therefore, should Syria abandon Lebanon at all, or capitulate in Iraq and in the Palestinian territories, if nothing is to be gained from these concessions?

The reason is that Assad, though weak, would thus be able to win his long-term political survival. Such steps would buy him Arab and international forbearance. A new attitude would mean less resistance to a narrowing of the Hariri tribunal's statutes, more vital investment in Syria, a beneficial Syrian relationship with the US and the EU; and, once Assad can broaden his power base, peace with Israel. But building up Assad's confidence and then expecting him to relinquish his cards makes no sense. If a power struggle with Syria is unavoidable, so be it. With major Arab states, the US, the UN and the Europeans on the same wavelength, it will be tough for Assad to impose his will - unless the bell of dialogue saves him first.

That's why the US should remind Syria at the Baghdad conference that deeper contacts remain undesirable. Dealing with Iran on Iraq may be inevitable; dealing with Syria is not, particularly after Assad burned more bridges to the Sunnis by trying and failing to seize control of the Iraqi Baath Party. The Syrians have to be made to realize that their regime can only last if they make fundamental concessions in the region. Assad is too brittle to demand more than recognition of his survival.

Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR.

Saudi authorities warn foreigners of attacks

Embassies issue travel warnings to nationals

Compiled by Daily Star staff.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia have warned foreign embassies that a group blamed for last month's killing of four French nationals could strike again, diplomats said on Wednesday.

"We received a message from the Saudi foreign ministry, addressed to all embassies and diplomatic and international representations in Riyadh, stating that the group responsible for the killing of our compatriots on February 26 might perpetrate other similar acts in town or elsewhere," a French Embassy spokesman said.

"We have reacted immediately by informing our nationals of the warning which urged foreigners in general to be cautious and to call police as soon as they notice that they are being monitored," he said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Turki could not provide immediate comment.

Some French residents in Riyadh said they received text messages on Tuesday from their embassy informing them of the Saudi warning.

Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it had arrested some suspects in the killing of the four French nationals and gave 24 hours to two Saudi nationals to turn themselves in.

Abdullah Sayer al-Mohammadi and Nasser bin Latif al-Balawi have not abided by the ultimatum which expired at 0500 GMT on Wednesday, Turki said.

The ministry offered 7 million riyals ($1.9 million) for information leading to the arrest of the two men whose pictures were published on front pages of local newspapers.

The four French nationals, including a teenager, were killed on February 26 during a desert trip in the Arab country. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Saudi authorities said that two attackers perpetrated the killing which was the first attack on foreigners since 2005.

The US and British embassies in Riyadh also urged their citizens to be vigilant in the wake of the killings.

In a new warden message posted on its Web site, the US Embassy said it had been notified by Saudi authorities that "embassy personnel should defer travel to desert areas in northern Saudi Arabia from Medina, north to Qurayat, and in the vicinity of the ruins at Madain Saleh until further notice."

The slain Frenchmen were returning to their homes in Riyadh after visiting the historic site of Madain Saleh, a popular destination for Western expatriates.

The US warden message said that since May 2006, US diplomatic personnel had been restricted from "recreational activities" outside the city limits of Riyadh, Jeddah on the Red Sea, and the Dahran/Dammam/Khobar area in the east.

"The embassy recommends American citizens living in Saudi Arabia consider this information and take appropriate personal security precautions," it added.

Saudi Arabia has vowed to crack down on Islamic militants and condemned the attack.

Islamic militants swearing allegiance to Al-Qaeda launched a violent campaign to topple the US-allied Saudi monarchy in 2003, carrying out suicide bomb attacks on foreigners and government installations, including the oil industry.

Some of the estimated 100,000 Western residents in the kingdom left after the earlier attacks, reducing the number to around 60,000, but many have since returned, diplomats said.

Tough security measures and a powerful publicity campaign helped crush the violence but analysts and diplomats have said the underlying drives of radical Islamic ideology and anger at Western policy in the region remain strong. - AFP.

Impunity for war crimes against women

By Louise Arbour

FIRST PERSON Louise Arbour.

The plight of victims of sexual attacks during conflict has come to the fore once again when last week, the International Criminal Court's prosecutor requested summons for two Sudanese connected with atrocities in Darfur. According to the prosecutor, there is strong evidence pointing to the suspects' responsibility for mass rape and other war crimes. Previously, the ICC had issued an arrest warrant for the leader of the Lord Resistance Army, a rebel group in Uganda, on the ground of war crimes, including ordering sexual enslavement and rape.

Thus, ICC action is gearing up to bolster the cumulative experience of international justice mechanisms that have brought to light specific types and patterns of sexual crimes targeting mainly women and girls in war-torn zones, as well as identified individual responsibilities in their commission. The work of these courts has also highlighted the difficulties in prosecuting perpetrators and countering the culture of impunity that shields their criminal acts. Such impunity, of course, permeates all societies, be they peaceful or at war. Not by coincidence, this year International Women Day is dedicated to combating this pervasive lack of accountability. It is, however, in times of war that the effects and consequences of impunity are at their starkest. This is due both to the widespread, systematic and often sustained nature of sexual attacks and to the number and callousness of perpetrators.

Although at their most brutal in war, sexual abuses against women often stem from longstanding prejudices, a lack of equality and discrimination that had condoned such violence all along. When perpetrators go unpunished, they are emboldened to strike again, perpetuating and encouraging vicious cycles of attack and reprisal even when a country emerges from conflict. Rendering justice to the victims is, therefore, not only a moral imperative, but also a precondition for reconciliation and peace to take hold.

Yet, sexual violence has been traditionally underreported and under-prosecuted. As a result, such crimes have long been considered as regrettable but unavoidable byproducts of armed confrontation. Women as victims or pawns of belligerents could demand no recourse.

Only recently has this powerlessness been addressed, primarily by the groundbreaking work of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The tribunals defined systematic violence against women as crimes for which those responsible could be held accountable, thereby empowering victims to have their day in court. The creation of the International Criminal Court gave an additional boost to such emerging jurisprudence and changing mind set. Its statute stipulates that rape, sexual slavery, enforced sterilization, or any other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity are considered as war crimes. If these acts are committed as part of widespread or systematic attacks on a civilian population, they constitute crimes against humanity.

It now remains to be seen whether governments will accede to the Court's requests and surrender the suspects for trial. But if government non-compliance is potentially the main obstacle to the course of international justice, there are other factors that hamper prosecution. Victims of all forms of violence are often reluctant to come forward, in large part because they have little confidence that justice will be done. Although some of the perpetrators may have been apprehended, others, as well as their accomplices, may remain at large and therefore capable of inflicting further harm to victims, witnesses and their families.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone has made strides in addressing such hindrances in the face of a monumental task: as the result of ten years of conflict and the belligerents' methods of warfare in that country, the brutality of sexual violence was extraordinary, and its victims were to be counted in the thousands. The Court benefited from its proximity to the victims, the parallel work of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a framework that protected the victims and ensured that their dignity was preserved. The ICC, too, is building on previous experiences and strengthening legal assistance and protection for victims.

Although the mandate and machinery of international courts have become increasingly more sophisticated and far-reaching over the years, gender justice continues to remain the exception rather than the rule. Successfully prosecuted cases represent just the tip of the iceberg. The crux of the matter in combating impunity is the requisite political will to tackle it. Often slow to gear up into motion, such political will needs to be mobilized through domestic and international pressure as well as continuous scrutiny.

Louise Arbour is United Nations high commissioner for human rights.

Iraqi MP: Some lawmakers to lose immunity

By Agence France Presse (AFP).

BAGHDAD: Iraq's Parliament is to be asked to strip immunity from several of its members to allow them to be investigated for various alleged crimes, senior lawmaker Abbas al-Bayyati said Wednesday. "There is request prepared by the executive bodies and sent to the Supreme Court urging Parliament to lift the immunity on some members so investigations can be carried out. This is not an arrest order," he said. Confirmation of the impending probe came as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki prepared to announce a reshuffle in Iraq's national unity government, but Bayyati insisted the vote was not a political witch hunt. "This action is not political. Complaints had been made against some of these people before they entered Parliament. The accusations are not based on their opinions. An MP enjoys immunity over his views," he said. Officials said the vote could come as early as Monday. - AFP

Iran releases 8 women's rights activists from jail

By Agence France Presse (AFP).

TEHRAN: Eight Iranian women's rights activists arrested during a demonstration this week have been released but 25 others still detained are on hunger strike, one of their lawyers said on Wednesday. Thirty-three women's rights activists were arrested in Sunday's demonstration outside a revolutionary court where five other feminists were standing trial. "Eight of the 33 detained activists were released on Tuesday evening," lawyer Nisrine Sotoudeh said. "The hunger strike goes on. We hope they are all released before March 8." She added that two activists, Parvin Ardalan and Mahnaz Mohammadi, "who suffer from multiple sclerosis, are in bad health and the prison officials are refusing to deliver their medicine." Sotoudeh said the authorities have asked for a hefty bail of 500,000 rials (about $54,000) each for three of the detainees, and three others "have been transferred to the inmates' section, which has poor conditions." - AFP

Darfur genocide tops U.S. list of world's worst abuses

Source: CNN:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The continuing genocide in Sudan's troubled Darfur region was the world's worst human rights abuse last year, the United States said Tuesday in a global report that found freedoms eroding in many other nations, including U.S. allies Afghanistan and Iraq.

In its annual survey of human rights practices, the State Department also criticized Russia for a "further erosion of government accountability" and said China's human rights record deteriorated in some areas.

"Genocide was the most sobering reality of all," the department said in the 2006 "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices," noting that mass killings continued to "ravage" Darfur nearly 60 years after the world vowed never again following the Holocaust.

Just days before senior U.S. diplomats expect to meet Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum, the State Department lashed out at the Sudanese government, blaming its military and proxy militia for the genocide in Darfur, the western Sudan region where more than 200,000 people have died and some 2.5 million have been displaced, according to some estimates.

"The Sudanese government and government-backed Janjaweed militia bear responsibility for the genocide in Darfur," the department said, adding that they, along with indigenous rebels, had and continued to commit atrocities as the four-year-old war rages unabated.

"All parties to the conflagration committed serious abuses, including widespread killing of civilians, rape as a tool of war, systematic torture, robbery and recruitment of child soldiers," the report said.

Washington first declared the situation in Darfur a genocide in 2004 when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell used the word in congressional testimony, but other countries and the United Nations have refrained from using the word, and some U.S. officials have recently toned down such language.

Tuesday's blunt criticism, particularly of Khartoum, comes a day before U.S. special envoy for Sudan Andrew Natsios is to see al-Bashir and a week before Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Barry Lowenkron plans to meet the Sudanese president.

Ahead of those talks, expected to focus in part on the deployment of a hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force to Darfur, the State Department also noted that Sudan has continued to give mixed signals about its acceptance of the mission.

In addition to the crisis in Darfur, Tuesday's report said human rights conditions worsened in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In Iraq, where deadly attacks have surged despite the formation of a democratically elected government following the ouster of Saddam Hussein, "both deepening sectarian violence and acts of terrorism seriously undercut human rights and democratic progress in 2006," it said.

The Afghan government has made "important" progress on the human rights front, but its performance "remained poor" last year, the report said, attributing lapses to a weak central administration, abuses by authorities, and Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents.

The report noted failures in Fiji and Thailand, where coups brought down democratically elected governments in 2006, and lambasted U.S. foes Cuba, Myanmar and North Korea for systematic violations of basic human rights.

On China, the report said there were an increased number of high-profile cases involving the monitoring, harassment, detention, arrest and imprisonment of journalists, writers, activists and defense lawyers.

The situation in Russia was highlighted, the report said, by continuing centralization of power in the executive branch, a compliant legislature, political pressure on the judiciary, intolerance of ethnic minorities, corruption and selectivity in enforcement of the law, and continuing media restrictions and self-censorship.

Major problems in Pakistan, a close U.S. ally in the struggle against terrorism, included restrictions on citizens' right to change their government, extrajudicial killings, torture and rape, the report said. The country experienced an increase in disappearances of provincial activists and political opponents.

The report had these observations on other countries:

• Egypt: There were "serious abuses" in many areas, including torture of prisoners and detainees. Other shortcomings included limits on an independent judiciary, denial of fair public trial and lack of due process, and restrictions on civil liberties.
  
  
• Iran: The country's poor human rights record "worsened, and it continued to commit numerous, serious abuses." They included severe restrictions of the rights of citizens to change their government peacefully and unjust executions after reportedly unfair trials.
  
  
• Syria: "In a climate of impunity, there were instances of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life, and members of the security forces tortured and physically abused prisoners and detainees."
  
  
• Lebanon: There were limitations on the right of citizens to change their government peacefully. In a climate of impunity, there were instances of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life, torture and other abuse.
  
  
• Zimbabwe: The government engaged in the pervasive and systematic abuse of human rights. The ruling party dominated control and manipulation of the political process through intimidation and corruption. Unlawful killings and politically motivated kidnappings occurred.
  
  
• Venezuela: Problems included politicization of the judiciary, harassment of the media and harassment of the political opposition. There were also unlawful killings; disappearances reportedly involving security forces; torture and abuse of detainees; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary arrests and detentions.
  
  
• Cuba: There were at least 283 political prisoners and detainees at year's end. Thousands of citizens served sentences for "dangerousness," in the absence of any criminal activity. Other reported abuses were beatings and abuse of detainees and prisoners, including human rights activists; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, including denial of medical care.

Editor's Note: It's about time someone said something. Now let's see if they'll DO something...

Chad may consider U.N. police to protect Darfur refugees

CNN March 1, 2007.

N'DJAMENA, Chad (AP) -- Chad's government is voicing opposition to a U.N. plan to deploy troops along its border with Sudan to protect tens of thousands of people who have sought refuge there from the conflict in neighboring Darfur.

The U.N. Security Council is considering sending up to 10,000 troops to Chad, largely because Sudan's government has resisted efforts to send U.N. peacekeepers to the Darfur region itself.

The goal of the mission would be to protect refugees and aid workers, and monitor borders to reduce cross-border attacks.

Djidda Moussa Outman, Chad's minister of foreign affairs, said late Wednesday that Chad had never accepted the idea of a military force of "whatever nature" on its eastern border.

"It was more a question of deploying a civil force made up of police and gendarmes with the aim of protecting the camps of Sudanese refugees, the displaced persons and humanitarian workers in the region," Outman told diplomats representing Security Council members in the Chadian capital, N'djamena.

By "displaced persons," he was referring to the many Chadians who have fled their homes because of an insurgency in the region.

Rebels bent on toppling Chadian President Idriss Deby have clashed sporadically with the government since 2005. They have been able to exploit volatility in Sudan to establish rear bases in Darfur.

Deby expressed concerns about the deployment of a U.N. military force during the Security Council's closed consultations on the issue this week, diplomats at the U.N. said.

Deby is worried about inflaming tensions with Sudan. The two countries have strained relations because Chad supports the Darfur rebellion against the Sudanese government, and Sudan strongly backs the Chadian rebels based in Darfur.

Of the 2.5 million people who have fled Darfur, 230,000 have ended up in refugee camps inside Chad. There are also 90,000 internally displaced Chadians living in camps close to the border.

More than 200,000 people have died since ethnic African tribesmen in Darfur took up arms four years ago, complaining of discrimination by the Arab-dominated Sudanese government.

The U.N. blames the Sudanese government's counterinsurgency for the bulk of the atrocities. Khartoum denies the allegations.

Iran, Sudan close ranks in face of Western pressure

CNN March 1, 2007.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- Leaders of two nations faced with strong international pressure -- Iran for its nuclear program and Sudan because of the conflict in Darfur -- closed ranks as Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and visiting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran gushed in support of one another.

"Enemies try by force to prevent Sudan from emerging powerful in the region, as they do in Iran's case," Ahmadinejad declared on Wednesday after arriving in Khartoum.

The Persian nation's president said Iran considers "progress, dignity and power of Sudan" as important as its own, and "extends ideological support" to the country, Iran's state IRNA news agency reported.

"There is no limit to the expansion of relations with Sudan," said Ahmadinejad, announcing a "new chapter" in oil, energy, industry and agriculture sectors between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Sudan's President al-Bashir said Iran was within its "absolute right" to pursue a nuclear program -- which is condemned by the U.N. Security Council and the United States, worried that Tehran is using it to mask efforts to create nuclear weapons.

"Attempts by some countries that possess lethal nuclear weapons to frustrate Iran's right in using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes reflect double standards that dominate the international scene," al-Bashir said.

Those same countries "turn a blind eye on Israel's nuclear arsenal and are incapable of forcing it to relinquish its arms so that the Middle East could be a nuclear-free zone," al-Bashir added. Israel, which is believed to possess nuclear weapons of its own but has never publicly acknowledged it, considers a nuclear armed Iran as the greatest threat to its existence.

Ahmadinejad's visit to Sudan comes a day after the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor accused a junior member of al-Bashir's Cabinet of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

During his two-day visit, Ahmadinejad will deliver a lecture at a private institution in Khartoum and witness the signing of several bilateral agreements, according to Sudan's Information Ministry.

Sudanese state SUNA news agency said the visit would promote "cooperation in defense relations, the exchange of expertise and scientific and technological capabilities."

Iranian ambassador in Khartoum, Ridha Amiri, said the trade volume between the two countries is expected to jump from $43 million to about $70 million.

During Ahmadinejad's visit, Sudanese defense minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Hussein said that "both Sudan and Iran are being subjected to similar international challenges, particularly from the Untied States in its attempt to rearrange the Middle East."

For his part, Ahmadinejad said "foreign presence" -- shorthand for U.S. troops -- is the root cause of problems in Iraq. "Today, continued occupation has added to insecurity and problems in Iraq," he said, and urged the "occupiers of the country" to revise their policies.

Ahmadinejad said that preserving the "legal government, territorial integrity and national unity in Iraq is the key to resolving the country's problems."

The U.S. has accused Iran of helping support Shiite militants in Iraq, but Ahmadinejad hurled accusations back on Wednesday, saying the "occupiers" want to prevent Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and other ethnic groups in Iraq from living peacefully together.

High expectations set for NK talks

Source: CNN.

SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) -- North Korea is fully prepared to shut down its nuclear facilities and allow inspections, a South Korean official said in New York, where envoys from Pyongyang and Washington are set to begin rare talks on improving ties.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan has been on a visit to the United States since Thursday, becoming the highest-ranking official to do so since 2000.

"I don't think there's any doubt about the North's readiness to execute the initial steps," South Korean envoy Chun Yung-woo was quoted as saying in New York, referring to measures Pyongyang has agreed to on shutting down its nuclear activities.

"The North has agreed to the initial steps and has the intention to fully do its part," Chun was quoted as saying by South Korean media after he met Kim at a hotel on Saturday.

Chun, South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, is accompanying Foreign Minister Song Ming-soon's visit to the United States.

In Beijing, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said he hoped Pyongyang would not delay in fulfilling its commitments but declined to comment further.

"I would be reluctant to give you an assessment as to whether they have begun activity leading to the shutdown or not," he told a news conference.

Highest-level meeting in U.S. since 2000

Kim is scheduled to meet U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill on Monday to discuss improving ties.

It will be the highest-level meeting on U.S. soil since a top military officer and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's special envoy, Jo Myong Rok, visited Washington in 2000.

That was followed by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's visit to Pyongyang and eased tensions -- until George W. Bush took office in 2001 and labeled North Korea as part of an "axis of evil".

In a breakthrough February 13 agreement in Beijing, North Korea agreed with South Korea, the United States, and three other countries to shut down within 60 days its nuclear facilities and allow inspectors in return for 50,000 tons of fuel oil.

Further steps to completely "disable" its nuclear weapons program will entitle the energy-strapped state to another 950,000 tons of oil or other forms of aid of equivalent value.

North Korea is also set to hold similar discussions with Japan in Hanoi next week, and separate meetings on energy aid are planned among the six countries in the international talks, which include China, Russia and Japan.

Negroponte said that the working group on denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, one of five working groups to be set up under the February 13 agreement, would begin its work imminently.

"It's a matter of days, not weeks," he said of the group, which will be chaired by China.

On March 13, International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei will be in Pyongyang to discuss the mechanics of North Korea's deal to close down its nuclear program and readmit inspectors from the U.N. watchdog.

Chad lawmakers pass amnesty law for rebels

February 27, 2007.

N'DJAMENA, Chad (AP) -- The national assembly has passed an amnesty law for a Chadian rebel group that signed a cease-fire deal with the government two months ago.

Also late Monday, President Idriss Deby appointed Nouradine Delwa Kassire Koumakoye prime minister. Koumakoye was minister of state for territorial administration before his appointment. He was also one of Deby's allies who ran against him in a May 2006 election boycotted by the main opposition parties.

Koumakoye's predecessor, Pascal Yoadimnadji, died last week in Paris, France, following a brain hemorrhage.

The amnesty law was part of the Libya-brokered deal that saw one of several rebel groups in eastern Chad lay down arms and agree to work with the government in December.

The national assembly voted late Monday 91-2 in favor of the law. Under Chadian law, Deby has two weeks to sign the amnesty law for it to take effect; otherwise it will automatically take effect after two weeks.

Once it takes effect, members of the rebel United Front for Democratic Change group will be allowed return to their homes without interference from the government. The law, however, does not cover any violations they may have committed before becoming rebels or after they return to civilian life.

The United Front for Democratic Change, which has fought an insurgency in eastern Chad since 2005, launched a failed assault on the Chadian capital, N'djamena, in April 2006.

The violence in eastern Chad has followed repeated warnings that the conflict in the neighboring Darfur region of western Sudan could spill over and engulf the region where Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic meet.

The governments of Chad and Sudan trade accusations that each is supporting the other's rebels -- each side denies the allegations.

Source: CNN.

Key facts about Darfur

February 26, 2006.

(Reuters) -- The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor will name the first suspects accused of committing war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region on Tuesday.

Here are some facts about the conflict in the Darfur region.

The conflict.

• Rebels in Sudan's western region of Darfur rose up against the government in February 2003, saying Khartoum discriminated against non-Arab farmers there.
• Khartoum mobilised proxy Arab militia to help quell the revolt. Some militiamen, known locally as Janjaweed, pillaged and burned villages, and killed civilians. The government has called the Janjaweed outlaws and denied supporting them.
• Experts have estimated 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in the region since early 2003, some crossing the border into Chad exacerbating a refugee crisis there.
• The United Nations calls Darfur one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. The United States says the violence in Darfur amounts to genocide.

Cease-fires:

• A ceasefire was agreed in Darfur in April 2004 and the African Union eventually sent nearly 7,000 peacekeepers with a mandate to monitor the peace and protect those displaced in the camps. The ceasefire has been violated frequently, with fighting blamed on government troops, rebels and Janjaweed militias.
• A peace deal in May 2006 was signed by only one of three rebel negotiating factions. The agreement was almost immediately rejected by many people in Darfur who said it did not go far enough in ensuring their security. A new rebel coalition has since formed and renewed hostilities with the government.

Peacekeeping force for Darfur:

• In August 2006, the U.N Security Council adopted a resolution on deploying a 22,500-strong peacekeeping force in Darfur to replace and absorb African Union forces who have been unable to stem the violence in western Sudan.
• It invited the consent of Sudan, which has so far refused.
  Then-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan suggested a hybrid force, which Khartoum also rejected. But Sudan has agreed to allow a "hybrid operation", involving technical U.N. support personnel, to deploy to Darfur to help the AU. It has allowed the first phase of that three-phased deployment to proceed but has balked at phase two, which involves some 3,000 U.N. personnel, as well as equipment.

Source: CNN.

NOTE: Consider the source and the outcome so far. I give them below a failing grade. I call it complicit.

Darfur rebels look to unify

February 26, 2007.

WADI ANKA, Sudan (AP) -- Amid the vast sands of a dry Darfur riverbed, more than 100 rebel commanders and tribal chiefs are hoping for a turning point in Darfur's humanitarian disaster: A unity deal among rival rebel factions as a step toward new peace talks with the government.

Sudan's government has done everything it can to discourage the milestone unity conference from taking place: It has bombed previous gatherings of rebel leaders and made overtures to individual rebel commanders to try to lure them from the meeting.

But the rebels gathering here from various factions of the Sudan Liberation Army claim nothing will dissuade them this time.

Camping in a secret location near a place called Wadi Anka as they wait for the formal conference to begin this week, rebel leaders say they are determined to unite their rival political and military leaders, as a first step toward proposing new peace talks with the government.

"We've tried before, but this is the first time we're really serious about it," said Saleh Adam Itzahk, a senior rebel commander from the northeastern Jebbel Midob mountains of Darfur, the vast arid region of western Sudan.

"The war is dragging on because of our disunion," he said. "And we've been cheated of our rights too many times because of it."

The conference comes at a time when the situation in Darfur -- widely viewed as the world's worst humanitarian crisis -- is only getting worse. More than 200,000 people have died in Darfur since 2003, when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-led central government, accusing it of neglect.

Another 2.5 million people are now refugees, with many inside Darfur and others spilling across borders into Chad and Central African Republic, says the U.N. It accuses Sudan's pro-government forces of atrocities against Darfur civilians.

The SLA conference's main goal is to avoid a repeat of the Darfur peace agreement signed last May in Abuja, Nigeria, by the Sudanese government and one rebel leader -- under intense international pressure.

The rebels' longtime overall leader, Abdelwahid Elnur, refused that deal. Although many in the SLA now contest his leadership, most Darfur rebels and civilians also rejected the accord. They contend it provided too little compensation for refugees and offered no real guarantee the Sudanese government would rein in fierce janjaweed militias if the rebels disarmed.

In part because of that, chaos and violence have only worsened across Darfur in recent months, with new government and janjaweed attacks on rebels, and aid groups increasingly unable to help refugees.

Trust in peacekeepers lost.

Jar al-Naby, the SLA spokesman and a rebel field commander, said rebels have no trust left in the African Union, which brokered the Abuja accord. About 7,000 overwhelmed AU peacekeepers in Darfur have been unable to enforce the agreement, and Sudan's government in Khartoum rejects a Security Council resolution to replace them with 22,000 U.N. peacekeepers.

"We want the United Nations to act as mediator and its troops to come here," al-Naby said.

The one rebel chief who signed the previous peace deal, Minni Minawi, is scorned here. "The international community must finally recognize that we represent the vast majority of Darfur," said al-Naby. "Look around you."

Around him, an Associated Press reporter who traveled to Wadi Anka recently saw 100 rebel commanders in camouflage combat gear and tribal chiefs in floating white cotton gowns and turbans. Along with clusters of armed bodyguards, they gathered in small groups across the vast sandy stretch here, sipping cups of mint tea under the shade of scattered trees.

As they wait for other rebel commanders to reach the secret meeting place, dozens of pickup trucks jammed with rebels patrol the area. Sudan's government bombed a previous, tentative SLA conference in December, drawing angry denunciations from the AU force chief who called it wrong for Khartoum to hinder rebel unity efforts.

Many of the field commanders here claim they left hundreds of fighters back home, although none of their numbers could be independently verified.

One rebel commander, Mohammed Ibrahim, was nervously shouting orders into a satellite phone on a recent day last week. A janjaweed militia had entered his sector of the remote western Jebbel Moon mountains that morning, he said, and he was organizing a counterattack by phone.

The U.N. says a previous janjaweed militia raid in Jebbel Moon killed 53 civilians, including 27 children, last December, and Ibrahim wanted to prevent another calamity.

Outside observers claim Sudan's government has armed and organized the janjaweed to beef up its regular army. But Sudan's government may be losing its grip on the militia because of new infighting among its members: Several hundred nomads have died in intertribal fighting this year, the U.N. says.

SLA leaders say that reinforces their conviction that Sudan's government has no choice but to renegotiate a peace deal. They warn of a massive campaign against towns and other government positions if the government rejects their eventual unity overture.

"Time is on our side," al-Naby said.

Source: CNN.

Thought: Why are the people who live here called rebels instead of insurgents? After all, they are just trying to protect what is rightfully theirs...

Darfur's tragedy spills into Central African Republic

February 26, 2007.

BIRAO, Central African Republic (AP) -- The lucky ones live in this former rebel stronghold secured by a handful of French and government forces. The unlucky live in the lawless countryside, their villages abandoned, their lives at the mercy of bandits, rebels and renegade soldiers.

Central African Republic has struggled for more than a year to contain a homegrown low-intensity rebellion in the northwest. Now, a new insurgency in the northeast near Sudan's Darfur region has compounded this fragile nation's troubles and displaced tens of thousands of people.

"The security situation was always deplorable, but it's gotten worse with Darfur," regional Gov. Franck Francis Gazi said in Birao, the small sun-blasted capital of Vakaga, a region held for a month by rebels until late 2006. "The conflict in Sudan has consequences for us. There is a cause and effect."

President Francois Bozize accuses Sudan's Omar al-Bashir of backing the northeastern rebels, charges Sudan denies. Diplomats and U.N. officials say it's unclear who is supporting them, but insurgents are believed to operate in part from bases in lawless Darfur.

The U.N. Security Council said in a report Friday that a recent U.N. assessment mission to Birao found no "compelling evidence" that troubles in the northeast are directly related to Darfur. But the mission, it said, "took note of the government's view that the two situations are linked."

U.N. considering peacekeeping force.

Nevertheless, the U.N. is studying creating a peacekeeping force that would deploy hundreds of troops to Central African Republic and thousands more to Chad to prevent incursions along the two countries' borders with Darfur.

The barren frontier region is porous, remote and poorly policed. Central African Republic, a nation of 4 million, has an army of fewer than 4,500 men, with only 1,000 soldiers actively deployed. A "border post" can be one guard.

Herdsmen and smugglers have crossed these borderlands without passports for centuries with ease -- as have armed groups and arms trafficked through Africa's war-torn heart.

In April 2006, Chadian rebels based in Darfur traversed Central African Republic en route to attack Chad's capital, N'djamena. The same month, a cargo plane carrying arms and dozens of unidentified combatants left Sudan and landed on two consecutive days in the Central African Republic town of Tiringoulou. Some diplomats and senior U.N. officials believe the plane carried the seeds of the northeast rebellion.

The region suffered its first major rebel attack October 29, when insurgents seized Birao and held it for weeks. Gazi said Sudanese and Chadians were among the attackers, who went on to seize half a dozen small towns before retreating from the last in December after a government assault led by French forces, who turned the tide with attack helicopters and Mirage fighter jets.

For now, Vakaga is quiet, though rebels still control territory in the area. Two weeks ago, one woman was shot dead by unknown attackers in a roadside ambush near Birao, Gazi said.

About 60 percent of Vakaga's villages are abandoned, said Karline Kleyer of MSF-Holland, the only non-governmental humanitarian organization operating here. The prefecture is home to about 56,000 people.

"People are afraid, very afraid ... of the rebels, of the governmental troops," Kleyer said. "The population is almost forced to take sides. They're told 'You're with us, or you're against us.' They're trapped in the middle."

'We lived like animals'

During the rebel occupation, most residents fled Birao, living as refugees in the open, prone to cold night air with little or no shelter. They survived on wild fruit, roots and what was left of their fields.

"We lived like animals. We ate whatever we could find," said Sende Dieudonne, a 34-year-old teacher, who returned to find his home looted. Some women said rebels had raped them.

Similar insecurity elsewhere in the country has displaced about 150,000 people, while 70,000 more fled to Chad and Cameroon, according to the U.N, which says tens of thousands of women have been raped by combatants.

Most of Central African Republic's problems appear internal, however, borne of a long history of poverty, coups, mutinies and rebellions. But conflict in Darfur can easily affect the situation here.

Sudan has staunchly opposed pressure to accept a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur, a region at war since 2003, when rebels from ethnic African tribes rose up against the central Arab-led government. The Sudanese government is accused of responding in part by backing Arab militia in Darfur who have been accused of some of the conflict's worst atrocities.

The U.N.'s special envoy to Bangui, Lamine Cisse, said if Sudan was supporting the rebellion, it might be doing so to discourage peacekeepers from deploying here.

"Their strategy is no troops in Darfur," Cisse said. "So, no troops close to the boundary with Darfur. They can't say ... 'Don't accept troops in your country,' because it's a question of sovereignty. But on the ground they can make trouble."

Sudan also may be supporting rebels in Chad and Central African Republic to undermine their governments. Bozize is closely allied with Chad, and Chadian soldiers form a crucial part of Bozize's presidential guard. Under a security agreement, Chad's military is free to cross into Central African Republic.

Around 2,000 Chadian troops used to be on Central African Republic's northern border, keeping pressure on the northwestern rebellion. But those troops were sent to fight Darfur-based Chadian rebels in eastern Chad last year.

The result: emboldened rebels here launched new attacks, prompting Bozize's presidential guard to retaliate brutally, burning countless villages whose inhabitants were suspected of supporting the rebellion.

Vehicles frighten residents.

Along the main northern road from Paoua to Markounda on the Chad border, village after village sits silent and abandoned. Thatched roofs have collapsed and burned. Red-earth walls have been torn down and charred.

So terrorized are people that the mere sound of an approaching vehicle one recent day sent dozens of women and children running for their lives.

The villagers thought the convoy contained soldiers. They returned minutes later when they saw the vehicles carried aid workers and human rights officials.

Source: CNN.

PS. I have a few words for the UN. Go to hell. Sudan started this genocide. How dare you say it was the other way around. You are nothing but a bunch of dirty, lying dogs.